Top Girl Group Scenario Rewritten with My Own Hands - Chapter 94
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 94
Before the first half of January had passed, For the CROWN sent Music Proof a formal request with a proposal document.
Looking at the proposal document, which was more organized than Han Jeong-yeon’s statement, they seemed to want an image of royalty fighting over the throne rather than some prince’s rebellion…….
And they seemed to want it directed in a Western style rather than Korean.
“We can’t really turn down this request, you know? It’s not that I don’t want to do it…, it’s just that the whole vibe feels a bit off.”
“That’s how it worked out……. I’m sorry, Ji-on. Since the company doing the investment is the one directing this, it seems we’re not in a position to decline the request.”
Team Lead Lee Su-bin apologized to me quite a bit after that, but I didn’t think there was really anything for her to apologize for. I told her as much.
If I had to find a cause, it’d be me—the one who gave a presentation to the CEO asking for investment in the first place…….
I do think it’s advantageous to secure capital beforehand for albums and activities and participate in a survival show.
But in doing so, the news of the survival show appearance was delivered to the members almost as a notification.
I feel bad toward Han Jeong-yeon, but we didn’t even hold a vote for form’s sake……. The ones doing all kinds of things are probably us.
The fortunate thing was that they mostly seemed confident about the survival show appearance?
“Honestly, I’m most confident I’ll sing the best.”
“Yeah, then I’m gonna take first place in dancing!”
Starting with Kang Su-ah and Hyun Jae-yi, who casually said they’d rank first through their own skills.
“It’s like a competition, isn’t it…….”
“Actually, competition fits better than survival show. If you look at the program proposal. Why, are you suddenly nervous?”
“…A little? When I was an athlete, I used to get nervous during competitions too, but even so, I’m confident I’ll do well.”
Ju Hye-rin, nervous but still confident.
“I never thought I’d go on a survival show twice…….”
“Yeah, if you don’t like it, should we figure out how to turn it down reasonably?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to go or anything. Honestly, I’m confident I’ll do well. But that sharp atmosphere unique to survival shows…… I’m not too fond of it, so there’s nothing to be done.”
Go Hyun-seo, who’d already figured out what she liked and disliked about survival shows in her second go-around.
And……, Lee Han-byul, who seemed quite nervous.
Lee Han-byul had the least stage experience among the members and the least exposure time to the public, so she couldn’t help but be nervous.
It’s not something that’ll happen right away, and we’re still in the recruitment stage…….
“It’s not like we’re performing right now or anything.”
“Yes…….”
“Apparently they’re giving us at least three months of leeway before filming starts. By then, you’ll have plenty of time to practice whatever you think you’re lacking in. Don’t be too nervous.”
Of course, if nervousness could be cured by a single word like this, there’d be no nervous people in the world.
But for Lee Han-byul right now, this much seemed to be enough.
***
“You really are a master at stirring up trouble, aren’t you? What? A survival show?”
“This is still confidential. As a collaborative producer, please be careful with your words.”
“That’s hilarious.”
Shim Yu-jeong let out a light laugh and patted my back playfully.
It seemed she found it amusing that her close younger friend was quietly multiplying her workload on her own…….
“I didn’t stir this one up, really.”
“If you didn’t stir it up, why are you going on a survival show?”
“Ah, it just…… happened that way. It’s a long story if I explain it. It all connects back to the investment…….”
“That investment—the one you got by presenting to the CEO saying you’d sweep all the new artist awards, right?”
“…Yeah, that’s true.”
“So you did stir it up.”
“Ugh, I’m telling you I didn’t.”
My arguments with Shim Yu-jeong always end up going in circles like this…….
The evening I half-notified the members about the For the CROWN appearance, I went to the studio to tell Shim Yu-jeong, whose workload was about to increase, and that’s when this happened…….
“By the way, did you graduate?”
“Wow, that’s a bit unfair. I already graduated last semester?”
“Then that’s fortunate. The survival show filming will probably be during a school semester…….”
“My workload’s about to increase again.”
“You’re getting a stable income source. Think of it positively.”
“Is that the attitude of someone hiring?”
“I’m not hiring, I’m asking as a collaborative producer.”
“Oh come on…….”
“Every fan knows you. Your name’s always on the album credits—there’s no way not to recognize it.”
“Ugh, I should’ve come up with a professional composer name.”
“Your naming sense is terrible, so I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Really?”
But I tease Shim Yu-jeong pretty well too, so it didn’t seem like a big deal.
Just as I was joking around with Shim Yu-jeong under the guise of work talk, Team Lead Lee Su-bin called.
“Yes, Team Lead?”
[Ji-on, where are you right now?]
“I’m……, at Producer Shim Yu-jeong’s studio. Is something wrong?”
[Well, your mother is at the company right now.]
“…What?”
Did I hear that wrong?
Why would my mom come here? For a moment my thoughts froze, then I heard Team Lead Lee Su-bin’s voice again.
[She came because she couldn’t reach you. Are you okay?]
Come to think of it, Team Lead Lee Su-bin was one of the few people who knew even lightly about my family situation.
I took a slow breath in and let it out slowly.
It’s a habit that surfaces consciously and unconsciously when I need a physical and mental reset. I need to be aware now that I’m old enough not to be swayed by her.
“Yes, …I’m okay. I’ll be there soon, I’m sorry.”
[You can take your time. Just be careful and come safely.]
“Yes, I understand.”
I hung up and explained the situation to Shim Yu-jeong.
Once I’d explained, Shim Yu-jeong stopped me from walking and called a taxi using an app.
It’s already dark and icy out there—there’s no way I have the luxury to walk back in a situation like this.
I really am fortunate. To have people around me with good fortune…….
For the first time in what feels like years, to have someone who helps me keep my head together even when parents I’ve basically been cut off from for a year come looking for me.
***
The fastest way to escape from parents who want to control almost everything about their child is economic independence.
And once you act first and ask for forgiveness later, the success rate is higher than asking for permission first and then acting.
I realized this at nineteen in winter, when I was accepted through early admission and had left myself only one university option: Seo Jung Arts University.
Even though I wasn’t in a situation where I could practice professional practical music extensively, I somehow got into Seo Jung Arts University where the practical exam had an overwhelming weight. Looking back now, it’s something I could never do again, but…….
That’s how I created a situation in my senior year where I was accepted through early admission and could only pursue Seo Jung Arts University as my one university option.
I still remember the day of the College Entrance Exam quite vividly.
The weather was too nice for winter, and I got swayed by Shim Yu-jeong’s comment saying “You’ll do well anyway, but what’s the point? Why don’t we just go to Lotte World? I’ll pay.” So on the way to the test site, I changed course and had a blast at Lotte World all day.
I don’t particularly like amusement park rides, and I’m not especially fond of amusement parks either, but for some reason, that day alone never faded from my memory.
And when I got home, I told my parents about my early admission acceptance, saying if it wasn’t there, I couldn’t go to university that year.
It was quite……, spectacular in many ways.
There were times when I envied friends who had siblings, but that day I was grateful that this kind of household had just one child like me.
If I’d been a good child who couldn’t even think of talking back, I would’ve lived my whole life oppressed.
My lack of manners comes from Dad, and the way I look with eyes lifted arrogantly also comes from Dad. Where would that stubbornness from genetics go, right? I’ve been acting up like crazy about it, and it hasn’t even been ten years…….
It feels like it’s been well over ten years subjectively, and that’s what being someone who lived a past life is like.
They told me to do well on mock exams, so I did well. Doing well didn’t give me confidence or make me want more.
They told me to go to a top university in Seoul, so I got into Seo Jung Arts University, the best university in the practical music field in Seoul.
I did everything my parents wanted, so at nineteen I asked them to just pay the tuition…….
It’s embarrassing, so let’s really stop. There’s a reason I can’t talk much about my high school stories in front of fans…….
To begin with, I skipped the College Entrance Exam and went to an amusement park, so there’s no entrance exam score, which means I can’t tell those stories, and for the university, I narrowed down my options so extremely and notified them, so it’s awkward to answer questions like “How did you end up going?”
The fundamental reason I’m thinking like this is.
“Seo Ji-on.”
“Yes, why did you come, really.”
Because one of the reasons I ended up going to university in such an unusual way is standing right in front of me.
“I said I’d handle things on my own since I’m an adult now when I turned into an adult that summer, anyway.”
“So stop with the defiance,”
“Why do you think it’s defiance? Am I still a minor? I was old enough not to need a guardian even when I signed the contract with this company.”
The words…… aren’t coming out nicely, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Yeah, really nothing.
I rented the conference room because I was too embarrassed, but I don’t even understand why she came all the way here…….
“Since you came all this way, you’d know. I’m an adult earning money, I have a job, I work, so just leave.”
“You’re twenty-two now. How much longer are you going to live doing only what you want?”
“I’m twenty-two and I have a job, right…? I got a job doing what I want, so why would I have to stop doing what I want……?”
Now that I think about it, Dad never liked entertainers or singers, calling them charlatans. Is it because of that?
Whatever the case, I’m past the age of moving at my parents’ whim anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.
The conference room was filled only with awkward silence.
Mom was taken aback by my attitude, and it was natural that I had no expectations of her.
If you have no expectations, you don’t get disappointed. Getting hurt by family is all because you have expectations like “well, they’re family, so this much is okay.”
That night was truly meaningless.
Just a night where my feelings were hurt, truly just like that.
***
Even though Kang Su-ah was her former dormitory roommate from university, she knew surprisingly little about Seo Ji-on.
That she’d had trouble with her family over university entrance, that she’d bickered back and forth over tuition, and that she’d fought frequently even after moving into the dormitory—that much or so?
“…How is she?”
“Completely hopeless. I’m scared to even go into the room.”
“I get it. Ji-on noona originally scares me anyway, but she just looks so down…… .”
Kang Su-ah was seeing Seo Ji-on’s family for the first time today. Even though she couldn’t feel it when she’d grumble about them being worse than nothing, now that she’d been faced with the heavy atmosphere, even if just briefly, she couldn’t bring herself to speak carelessly to Seo Ji-on.
But…….
“Su-ah, fighting.”
“Noona, try to cheer up Ji-on noona a bit…….”
“Me, I don’t really know anything except that we shared a dorm in college…?!”
“But noona probably knows her best out of us…?! Ji-on noona really doesn’t talk about herself that much…!”
Go Hyun-seo and Hyun Jae-yi, who’d already gone into their own room, eagerly egged her on, and so Kang Su-ah found herself in front of Seo Ji-on’s door, about to face (?) her in her worst mood.
Seo Ji-on really doesn’t talk much about herself.
Among college friends too, she was the kind of person who preferred talking about music to talking about herself, so everyone probably didn’t know much about Seo Ji-on’s circumstances.
To the extent that Kang Su-ah, who’d been her roommate, knew her the best.
Knocking carefully and opening the door, Seo Ji-on was surprisingly in decent condition…….
No, wait. She did seem quite irritated. Seeing that her fingernails were all bitten down, the manager noona would probably scold her a bit…….
But right now it looks like her mood had improved a bit. At least she didn’t seem like she was so furious about her family that she couldn’t stand it!
Just as Kang Su-ah was observing her expression,
“Hey, Su-ah.”
“Huh, huh?”
Seo Ji-on spoke to Kang Su-ah first.
“Do you think you could handle college while doing the survival show? You don’t need to worry about grades, just graduating is fine.”
“Huh?”
“Mom wants me to get a college diploma. She said she’d pay tuition too. She came to the company today to say that. Thinking about it slowly, there’s nothing bad for me, but if I do it alone, it won’t make good content, right.”
“Wait, what…?”
“Let’s transfer back to school together. If I’m the only one going to university, it’ll be too boring.”
Wait, friend.
Why are you saying something about transferring back to university with such an irritated expression……?
Kang Su-ah wanted to cry a little.
Seriously, turn on your indicator lights before you turn!
Rewriting the Top Girl Group Scenario with My Own Hands
Author
: Nam Seo-rang
Date of Creation
: May 27, 2026
Publisher
: ACS Media Co., Ltd.
Editor
: ACS Media Editorial Team
Address
: 4F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam District, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by ACS Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with the copyright holder’s contract,
and its contents may not be used in any form or manner without permission from the company and the author.
This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260102083
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————