Top Girl Group Scenario Rewritten with My Own Hands - Chapter 60

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 60
December 1st, Saitama, Japan.
“We’re not going to have enough transition time. I think we need to move faster after the opener?”
“I think we should just lengthen the transition time overall. The stage is huge, so… should we skip the ending shot and just walk straight out?”
“Yeah, I think you’re right. Let’s do a quick ending pose, no pause, just walk straight. Got it? Let’s run through the whole thing once from start to finish!”
The bigger the venue, the more variables there are to account for. Especially with a stage designed to use every inch of space, including a thrust stage, some things can only be checked once you’re on site.
We’d performed at awards shows twice before, but this was the first time we’d seen one with this much money thrown at it. The scale caught us off guard for a moment.
Drawing on experience built up at festivals and events, we quickly spotted what needed fixing.
We used every minute of rehearsal time we were given, and then the members all headed back to the hotel.
And I…
“Ah, I got it right.”
“…You knew as soon as you looked? Did you two make a bet or something?”
“Yeah, with Yeon. We were betting on who Evergreat would send out for the opening stage.”
“…So who won?”
“I did. Yeon thought Su-ah would play keyboard, but I said it’d be you on guitar.”
“Didn’t you already get the instrument setup and opening lineup ahead of time?”
“Ha! That’s a secret from Yeon.”
I was greeted by Yeo Eun-jae’s bright laughter, and then Jo Eun-bin with a polite bow.
Since their schedules were tight, we had to scramble together for a last-minute VMA opening stage rehearsal.
***
The practice room V-Net had set up in Saitama was clean and perfectly satisfactory.
“Honestly, I have no idea why we’re doing a band concept…”
“Ha, I’d say the same. Even our company people don’t seem to know the reason.”
“But you don’t actually play an instrument. You’re the vocalist…”
“Exactly why the Rock Spirit has to shine through even more, apparently. Our division head said…”
Seriously. I had to bite back a laugh at Yeo Eun-jae’s comment.
The opening concept keyword for VMA was FREE. They told us to let the Rock Spirit flow freely.
Me on guitar, Yeo Eun-jae on vocals. The bass had a rookie male idol from a major agency, and the drums had a veteran male idol from an idol band.
By vocal ability standards, Yeo Eun-jae as vocalist wasn’t a bad choice. The other positions made enough sense too.
As for me… they probably just picked someone who plays guitar reasonably well and has decent name recognition.
And finally, Jo Eun-bin…
“Did you study violin as your major? Your skill wouldn’t be believable if it wasn’t.”
“Oh, I majored in violin through second year of middle school. Does it look okay?”
“It’s more than okay—”
“Just say she’s good! Why not just say it straight?”
“…That’s what I was trying to say.”
Her part wasn’t long, but she played the electric violin with real style.
At first I thought it was just a plug for a rookie, but that wasn’t it. Her skill was better than expected, honestly. I was a little surprised.
“Alright, everyone’s practiced well! If we just nail the stage movements tomorrow morning, we should be good. Let’s call it for today and see you at rehearsal tomorrow!”
At the PD’s words, we exchanged quick goodbyes and parted ways.
It wasn’t so much that I was looking forward to it—I just wanted to get this stage over with.
***
“How was the opening rehearsal?”
“Well, the sound wasn’t bad, but I was pretty exhausted.”
“What do you mean? I’m curious.”
“Just… being in a room with people I’m not that close to.”
“Ha ha!”
Am I funny… yeah, go ahead and laugh.
For this VMA trip, I’d been randomly assigned Hyun Jae-yi as my roommate. What a ridiculous coincidence.
Just days ago when I was angry with Hyun Jae-yi, I would never have imagined sharing a room with her. I would’ve asked Su-ah to switch roommates even if they told me to share with her.
But after they did the random roommate draw, Hyun Jae-yi went ahead and declared, “No switching roommates!”
This girl wasn’t uncomfortable, and I didn’t find her particularly unbearable either, but in my mind, Hyun Jae-yi wasn’t exactly an ideal roommate.
Usually when Hyun Jae-yi shares a room, she prefers a loud environment to a quiet one. Even on days when I felt fine, keeping up with her endless chatter was something of a job.
But since coming to Japan, she’d been surprisingly quiet. I hadn’t told her to shut up, but starting yesterday she just… was quiet on her own.
I decided to just go to sleep early.
After turning off the mood light beside the bed and lying down, that was when I heard Hyun Jae-yi’s voice.
“Unnie.”
“…What. Aren’t you asleep?”
“It’s not even eleven yet… I can’t sleep.”
“I see… so what?”
“You said it the other day. Why do you keep looking for weird things?”
“…”
I haven’t forgotten. It’s not that I’ve forgotten…
I just didn’t expect this conversation to come up here.
“You didn’t answer because you didn’t want to, right?”
“Then?”
“I just… don’t understand why I do it either.”
“…”
“So I couldn’t answer. Not that I wouldn’t—that I couldn’t.”
A laugh escaped me. All this setup just for that…
Hyun Jae-yi had been thinking about this the whole time. She’d held onto that one careless remark I’d made, turned it over and over in her mind, and planned out how to respond.
You could tell from her voice—that careful, pleading tone. If she hadn’t been assigned to my room, she probably would’ve asked to switch with whoever got paired with me.
“So I’ve been thinking about it too.”
“…And?”
“I don’t really know. Why do I keep wanting to find everything bad that people say about me…”
When I turned my head slightly, I could see Hyun Jae-yi’s silhouette in the light from her mood lamp still on. Leaning against the headboard, talking about what she wanted to say, she’d clearly spent these past two days thinking about nothing but this. What a fool.
“I think I thought if I found the reason people hated me and fixed it, they’d like me.”
“You thought that?”
“Um, well… not exactly, but close. I think I used to think that way when I was searching for everything.”
“What…”
“No, I’m not joking. I really thought that even people who were cursing me out wouldn’t hate me if I just fixed whatever they thought was wrong. At least that’s what I thought back then.”
Then Hyun Jae-yi paused.
The silence hanging in the quiet hotel room wasn’t heavy.
“But I think I learned something from this whole thing… people hate others for less reason than you’d think. After you got upset with me—”
“Wait. I never scolded you.”
“Anyway. That wasn’t scolding? But after that, I started thinking and realized those people were creating reasons to hate me on purpose. The cause and effect were reversed from what I thought.”
Oh, and by the way, I’m suing all of them, so don’t worry.
There was a hint of laughter in Hyun Jae-yi’s voice.
“When I think about it more carefully, I realize there’s no need to look for reasons why people hate me and feel depressed about it. Um, I still don’t know the right way to monitor myself properly though…”
“I don’t know either. But you need to know that places where people just complain and trash-talk aren’t sources of healthy feedback.”
“What, so you were just telling me to go easy on it without knowing?”
“If I knew, would I have stopped at ‘go easy on it’? Would I have set a time limit on your monitoring?”
“Ugh, no! I’m done!”
Hyun Jae-yi laughed for quite a while after that.
A faint guilt flickered through my mind and vanished, and only after I let loose an annoyed lecture did her laughter finally fade.
***
“Wow, this is delicious. Five hundred yen but I’d buy it again—Saitama matcha ice cream.”
“Acorn… wait, what is that thing? Anyway.”
“You’re addicted to shorts…”
“Yeah, so are you.”
“A senior who just finished the college entrance exam addicted to shorts—so what?”
In front of the concert venue in Saitama, Japan.
Even though I’m bickering with my sister, what could I possibly complain about to a high schooler who just finished the exam?
A few months ago, the high schooler who promised Seo Ji-on to “meet again and laugh comfortably” really kept that promise. She peaked her three-year high school career at the college entrance exam!
How tough her life had been… Evergreat even performed at her sister’s school festival at Munseong University, but she couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity at all.
Of course not—she was a senior with sixty days left to the exam when that happened.
She’d begged her sister to film her, but the contrary sister just enjoyed the festival herself and left a single-line review: “Evergreat? Those girls are good!” That was it.
Frustrated, the high schooler threw everything she had into studying for the exam. She’d definitely get into a good university and enjoy the festival herself. Of course, only if her school invited Evergreat could she enjoy it the way her sister did…
But about two weeks ago, a big event happened to the high schooler after finishing the exam.
– What’s this?
– …What?
– VMA ticket. The ticket sales were insanely competitive.
– Wow, jealous… but why are you telling me?
– Funny thing is, this is two tickets. Bought it for two people per person so we could go together.
– Seriously, unnie?
Her actual older sister’s VMA ticket acquisition incident!
While the ticket price and travel costs were covered by Mom, the fact that there was a band that her sister’s been into lately on the VMA lineup meant she was basically using me to satisfy her own interests.
Still, the high schooler appreciated her sister’s consideration in coming to Japan with her even during exam period.
“But unnie, what about your exam?”
“…Last-minute cramming. Don’t ask me about exams. I don’t hear you. I don’t know anything.”
“But you’re always nagging me about the college entrance exam…”
“Are entrance exams and college exams the same thing?”
Though we bicker whenever we get a chance, we’re connected through K-pop, so we get along well despite the age gap.
“When’s Evergreat coming back? You have to go to their fan sign.”
“I hope I can go… early-to-mid January? No date’s out yet but I think teasers are coming soon?”
“The results won’t drop before the official admission announcement anyway. You coming to my officetel this time too?”
“…Is that not okay?”
“No, just come. You came when you were a senior anyway, so why ask?”
“Wow, unnie’s the best.”
The high schooler cheered, suddenly feeling her sister’s kindness anew. (Actually, I couldn’t have gotten in here without her!)
“Oh, opening spoilers dropped. It’s a band concept?”
Suddenly my sister stopped mid-scroll and said that.
My sister’s favorite idol is a band idol, so seeing her say this meant her idol group was doing a special opening stage! That’s what I thought.
“Ooh… so Retry’s doing an opening performance?”
“No, just Ju Ho.”
“Who’s Ju Ho?”
“Drums. I guess everyone else is from different groups.”
My sister frowned and enlarged the cue sheet with the opening spoiler as much as possible to read it.
“Vocals are Yeo Eun-jae, Daylight? Violin is Noah, who’s this? Oh, I might remember…”
“That’s Ashcord. She went to middle school for arts and got pretty famous, I think?”
“Bass is Andy… who the heck is he?”
“Andy? Isn’t he from Rublet? Or no, not them? He plays bass too?”
“Yeah. Guitar is… wait? Kim Ye-jin?”
“Why what?”
“Does your favorite idol play guitar? There’s someone named Ji-on here. Is that her?”
“…Huh?!”
The high schooler nearly dropped her matcha ice cream in shock.
The surprise gift that Seo Ji-on hadn’t even mentioned at her birthday live was unfolding right before her eyes.
Rewriting the Top Girl Group Scenario in My Own Hands
Author
: Nam Seo-rang
Production Date
: February 11, 202X
Publisher
: AcesMedia Inc.
Editor
: AcesMedia Editorial Team
Address
: 4F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam District, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by AcesMedia Inc. in accordance with the copyright holder’s contract.
The content cannot be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260102083

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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