Top Girl Group Scenario Rewritten with My Own Hands - Chapter 8

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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 8
Don’t Give Up
Even though it’s difficult and hard
I can still change
all of this with my own hands
“…Is this song originally this high?”
“Yeah, it’s originally in F key. This part isn’t that high, is it?”
“Ughhhh…….”
“Come on, you’re just making excuses.”
“You wouldn’t understand, Kang Su-a, since you sing so well…….”
Hyun Jae-i was probably regretting her song choice. The others seemed to share the thought. Well, according to Kang Su-a, it was all just dramatics anyway.
The highest note in the chorus of was D in the third octave—I knew perfectly well she could reach it. The excuses were…….
“You’re just scared. Before the bridge, it’s not as high as you think. Sometimes a song that’s actually high is easier to sing than one that’s awkwardly low. We decided on this song with the plan that Ji-on and I would handle the high parts later, so don’t worry too much about it.”
“Wow, you were really cool just then.”
“Um……, what about my opinion?”
“Nothing. Start earning your keep as a specialist.”
“You’re really too much…….”
Whining. My Ji-on is only cold to me……. I gently pushed away Kang Su-a, who was pretending to cry, and handed out the lyrics sheets I’d printed to everyone.
“When did you print these……?”
“After we ate, I had some time.”
I gave a casual shrug, and Go Hyun-seo turned her gaze to the lyrics sheet with a dissatisfied expression.
Could she have gotten upset because I said I’d eat separately earlier? Really? At nineteen?!
I’m long past the age where my height would grow, so I don’t see why it matters if I eat carelessly.
It seems like Go Hyun-seo sometimes sees me as weaker than I am, and I don’t understand why.
We probably need to talk about this separately. Go Hyun-seo is someone I don’t know very well, and besides, she seems to have some kind of misunderstanding about my health…….
Anyway, that’s not the important part.
After my urgent persuasion(?), we finally decided to swap the end-of-month evaluation live performance song to .
We planned to learn the choreography after dinner, but I felt we should discuss the live performance parts before we started.
“You don’t need to memorize the lyrics right away, but if you find a part you want to sing once you start learning the choreography, let’s mark those down in advance. Ideally, once we divide the parts, you should be able to sing without the lyrics sheet by the next day. That’s all I had to say!”
I clapped once lightly and stared at Go Hyun-seo.
I was done with my job. Now it was her turn.
A good leader should know how to organize a situation first and foremost.
***
“Five, six… Kang Su-a, you need to come in faster!”
“Ugh, sorry! Let me just do this part one more time!”
Evening of the fifth day of full-scale end-of-month evaluation preparation, in the dance practice room at Music Proof.
A Friday in July, after the live performance parts had been distributed and choreography practice was proceeding smoothly.
“Okay~, should we take about ten minutes to rest?”
“Yes, agreed!”
“I agree too…….”
“Ju Hye-rin doesn’t look tired at all?”
“I probably have the best stamina among all of us? I’ve always had good stamina, even when I exercised before.”
While the others collapsed like autumn leaves at Hyun Jae-i’s suggestion to rest, Ju Hye-rin, whose breathing was only slightly elevated, still looked calm and made a small V-sign.
“But are you really okay? Should you maybe go rest first……?”
“No, I’m fine. Why doesn’t anyone believe what I say……?”
Oh no, what a life……. Now I was getting my stamina questioned by a middle schooler four years younger than me.
My original plan was to train intensely only during the weekly daily quest period and then pace myself more comfortably afterward.
After all, there are limits to human stamina—I can’t practice this intensely every week.
But when I tried to slack off a bit, this cursed system and that old-fashioned geezer wouldn’t leave me alone…….
According to my original plan, I should have reduced the practice volume, but at the current level, I need to practice all day just to avoid looking incompetent during group choreography.
If it’s hard, it’s hard—but I can’t tolerate a drop in completion. I really hate being a burden to others…….
And then another problem emerges.
The concept of is cheerleading.
Let me make an excuse first: I had no idea the choreography for this song would demand this much stamina. Looking at photos of a girl group with over a decade of history, the ones wearing sneakers should have been a sign—but man, they really jump around a lot…….
It’s genuinely a stamina-intensive routine. Hyun Jae-i and Go Hyun-seo say it’s easier because there’s less detail and they just need stamina; Ju Hye-rin’s stamina is basically a cheat code; and Lee Han-byeol, probably because she’s still young, seems full of energy—but Kang Su-a and I are the only two whose stamina gauges are hitting rock bottom from the repetitive practice.
Again, I’ll say it: my natural stamina is not bad. Really!
It’s just been tough recently…….
A nosebleed is really nothing, but everyone panicked and started fussing about whether I have a fever or something.
“…Could someone get me a tissue?”
“Are you hurt somewhere? There’s blood on your hand…….”
“No, it’s just a nosebleed. But it’s kind of awkward to move around.”
I clearly just asked for a tissue.
“Oh my gosh, there’s no such thing as ‘just’ a nosebleed!”
“Blood is dripping. Just get me a tissue first…….”
“Go Hyun-seo!”
“Yes? Have you been struggling lately?”
“Oh, thanks. I’m not particularly struggling, though. ……What?”
“You seemed off this morning, so let me check if you have a fever. If you do, we’re going to the hospital.”
But these kids really freaked out.
Go Hyun-seo eventually pressed her hand to my forehead without hesitation and then went straight to get a thermometer…….
I did look a bit zombie-like this morning, but that was just because I didn’t get enough sleep.
“37.4 degrees……. You do have a fever. Let’s just go to the hospital.”
“I’m fine. The nosebleed stopped anyway. I get nosebleeds often. It’s not like I’m exhausted or sick or anything.”
“But you have a fever. It’s over 37 degrees……?”
“We were dancing until just now. Of course my body temperature is higher than usual. Isn’t that obvious?”
I was planning to ask about this slowly after the monthly evaluation…….
“Thanks for worrying. But I’m really fine, okay? I’m not pushing through pain or overexerting myself. The nosebleed stopped right away.”
I looked directly at Go Hyun-seo as I spoke.
This won’t do—you’re getting a private conversation with me today.
“Let’s just keep going. If we fall behind on practice, it’s only going to be harder on me…….”
Everyone seems to have forgotten: I’m the strongest beginner dancer in this area.
Once this sank in, things settled down, and I made it through Friday’s practice in full.
It’s genuinely exhausting. Brutally exhausting.
But that’s just because the training is intense.
“Go Hyun-seo.”
“…Yes?”
“Let’s talk a bit when we get back to the dormitory. I’m not trying to lecture you or anything—I just wanted to ask you something.”
“Oh……, okay.”
It’s nowhere near as bad as she’s worried it is.
What’s really the problem? Whatever happened before that makes her keep worrying about a newbie’s stamina—I’m going to figure it out today.
***
“Let’s step outside for a bit. Want to go to the convenience store?”
“Um……, I don’t really mind either way.”
“I’m saying that because I think this conversation might get long.”
I looked at Go Hyun-seo, who seemed to be writing on her face “This situation is really uncomfortable for me.”
“There’s a 24-hour unmanned café nearby, if that works.”
“……. The convenience store might be better.”
“Right?”
In front of the convenience store near the dormitory, there are plenty of plastic chairs known as the “chairs of truth.”
Parasol, plastic table, plastic chairs……. Sit out here on a summer night like this, and the atmosphere makes you say all sorts of things starting with “Honestly!”—that’s why they call them the chairs of truth.
Well, I wasn’t really counting on the power of atmosphere. Truth is, what I had to talk to Go Hyun-seo about was more like “What’s the problem?” than “If I’m being honest”—so it wouldn’t help much anyway.
And if she doesn’t seem like she wants to talk, I’m planning to let it slide.
Go Hyun-seo grabbed a banana milk, I grabbed an iced americano, and we sat at one of the many plastic tables.
Convenience store americano isn’t very strong, so it won’t keep you from sleeping.
Of course I bought them. No one wants to have a talk with an older sister they’re not particularly close to late on a Friday night with the weekend in sight—so the least I could do was get these…….
“Is it okay to drink coffee at this hour?”
“Convenience store coffee is lighter than you’d think, so it’s fine. Do you like banana milk?”
“No, I don’t, but my sibling does……. My sibling likes it, so I had it often.”
“You have a sibling? I kind of sensed that.”
“Yes, two of them. There’s a decent age gap…….”
“That kind of explains some things.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why you worry about everything.”
When you have younger siblings with an age gap, there’s definitely a lot to worry about.
I gave a light nod and sipped the watered-down iced americano. Ugh, convenience store americano really tastes like garbage…….
“That’s a hit-the-mark expression.”
“…….”
“You already knew you were worrying too much?”
“I apologize…….”
“You don’t need to apologize. I told you I wasn’t calling you here to scold you.”
I hadn’t done it intentionally, but seeing Go Hyun-seo this flustered was a first.
So when I kept laughing, Go Hyun-seo started looking at me like “What is this person trying to do by calling me out here?”
Okay, okay. I’ll stop dancing around the subject. No matter how you look at it, this is someone whose MBTI would definitely have a capital T.
“Is it okay if I ask why you do it so much?”
“…….”
“If it’s okay, I’ll ask. If not, I can just go ‘I see, makes sense~’ and move on.”
“…That’s not what you called me here to talk about?”
“Huh? Yeah, it is. But if it’s something you don’t want to say, I’m not going to force it.”
“…….”
“Honestly, if the benefit of this conversation is just me hearing less nagging, that’s plenty.”
Half joke, half sincere. If I hear less nagging, that alone counts as a successful conversation.
I’m not good at being a good listener or empathizing with people, so truthfully I’m already thinking about heading in soon anyway.
“It’s not a big deal. And if you see someone like you, anyone would worry, right?”
“……Why? My stamina isn’t lacking, and I’m not doing anything to ruin my health.”
“Because you don’t exercise.”
“Ah.”
……That one stings a bit.
In my case, I’m the type where “I’d rather watch other people work out than actually do it myself”…….
Personal training is boring and expensive, but I can’t just go to the gym alone—it feels too awkward……. And going to neighborhood pick-up games or something doesn’t feel right either.
In many ways, I’m far removed from actually working out on my own. Go Hyun-seo hit a real nerve.
“When I look at you……, you’re very thin. Thinness looks different—there’s the thinness of someone who exercises, and then there’s the thinness of someone who doesn’t eat or is sick. You look like someone who doesn’t exercise.”
“Am I really that bad?”
“Well……, yes. I used to be at Indigo Studio?”
“Indigo Studio?”
“That’s the one. Our OneND seniors were there, so Indigo Studio had a lot of trainees. There were a lot of female trainees including me, and weight management was pretty strict.”
Indigo Studio…….
I knew about it. No matter how unfamiliar I was with Go Hyun-seo from a previous timeline, I couldn’t not know the name of her former company—it was written in big letters during the Dream Girl Friends era.
The company where OneND, the leading second-generation boy group, didn’t just build the foundation but built a new headquarters. That’s roughly the public image of Indigo Studio.
“Since I’m tall, they let me off easier, but the other trainees with average height had a tight cut line, so some just didn’t eat anything at all, starving themselves…….”
“This industry really doesn’t treat people like human beings.”
“The reason I left Dream Girl Friends was because I didn’t make it into Indigo Studio’s debut team. There was a final selection for the debut team before that…….”
“But Indigo Studio hasn’t released any new groups recently.”
“Apparently it collapsed right before debut. The girl they were going to make the center had committed school violence.”
Wow.
It’s not a common story, but it’s not unheard of either. A jerk who’s supposed to be the face of the team turns out to have been bullying people—that happens a fair bit.
“Anyway, during that debut team selection, the minimum cut line was based on weight.”
“That’s……, really ridiculous, this company.”
“But everyone says it’s the same. They think if you can’t manage your weight, you can’t manage yourself. Indigo Studio was really strict about it, so everyone starved because they were desperate, and they came to practice in that state. That was a time when…….”
“You too?”
“Well……, I never skipped lunch, but I didn’t eat dinner for a long time. I was desperate too, and back then it felt like that was the only chance I’d get.”
Go Hyun-seo’s words became hesitant, as if embarrassed. It’s awkward enough to scold someone, let alone tell them about the time you starved yourself for a diet.
“Anyway, that’s why. There was someone like you back then.”
“……What do you mean ‘like me’? That’s too broad a category.”
“Someone who had just joined, was pretty, sang well, and spent all day in the practice room dancing—there was a senior like that.”
Ah, so that’s what she meant…….
I was honestly worried about what keywords might come up, so I’m relieved it’s relatively innocuous.
“You mentioned before that you’d seen someone collapse.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the senior I’m talking about. She was already thin to begin with, ate carelessly, kept up with the choreography, stayed in the practice room late into the night. She was dieting and said singing doesn’t go well on a full stomach, so she just starved—I think that’s what happened.”
“Man. Singing actually requires you to eat well…….”
“We practiced together for the monthly evaluation right before the debut team was confirmed. Everyone was sensitive, so we didn’t even check each other’s condition, and then she suddenly collapsed and we called 119. Later when I called her, her parents said they absolutely wouldn’t let her go back to Indigo Studio, so she left the company. After that, I didn’t make the debut team and went to Dream Girl Friends, and now I’m here.”
I gave a light nod and drank the rest of my coffee. The ice had all melted, so it was so bland—I’d believe it if you told me it was barley tea instead of an americano.
“So……. The reason you worry about me excessively is because of that incident.”
“……Probably? But it was just worry, not something with a hidden agenda or anything like that.”
“What would be the best way to handle this?”
“What?”
“I mean, even someone like me would feel uneasy. Should we come up with a plan?”
That’s how people’s psychology works. When you see someone collapse, it’s scary, and later when you see someone who seems similar, you worry.
I thought maybe three weeks wasn’t nearly enough time and she was being too careful—but apparently that incident was the reason.
If I didn’t already sense it, Go Hyun-seo’s expression makes it clear what she’s thinking anyway.
What, you thought I wouldn’t accept this so straightforwardly?
“What worries you the most?”
“……, Can I just say it?”
“I won’t be hurt by that much.”
“You said your stamina is fine, but when I watch you practice, it doesn’t look like stamina—it looks like willpower. And the fact that you don’t exercise and you’re really thin……?”
The stamina talk is really Dormammu. My stamina is actually better than you’d think…….
Still, knowing the source of anxiety usually makes it easier to deal with.
“If I started exercising, would that put your mind more at ease?”
“Probably? If you exercise, you’d build up stamina…….”
“Okay, then starting next week, let’s go exercise together. I’ll tell the manager.”
“……Yes?”
“Let’s go together. If you’re worried about me not exercising and having no stamina and being really thin……. Well, then I just need to start working out.”
Honestly, I think it’s a bit absurd.
I think it is……, but…….
“Isn’t it better for the leader of the practice room to actively start exercising herself rather than keep worrying that someone might collapse?”
That’s right.
It’s just……, more efficient.
Even though exercising together with Go Hyun-seo probably won’t be comfortable.
And I have a feeling my future self is going to want to hit me for this decision…….
My Hand-Written Rewrite of a Top Girl Group Scenario
Author
: Nam Seo-rang
Production Date
: January 5, 2026
Publisher
: Aces Media Inc.
Editor
: Aces Media Editorial Team
Address
: 4F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by Aces Media Inc. under contract with the copyright holder,
and the content may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260102083.0008

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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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