I Was Trying To Debut My Baby, But I Ended Up Debuting Instead

Chapter 2

The day Na Yeonwoo failed to debut was one of the worst memories in Hyesung’s recent life.

She couldn’t even win the draw to attend the final live show. In the end, she argued with a strange logic, “Why should a mother need to win a draw to see her daughter?” Eventually, she emptied her not-so-plentiful wallet to get a companion ticket and went.

But the heavens did not side with Hyesung. She spent a considerable amount of money to see Yeonwoo get called into the debut lineup, but Yeonwoo was captured in the last quarter and eliminated during the final ranking announcement. Hyesung witnessed her favorite shedding tears up close.

Like many fans of fallen trainees, Hyesung did not want to accept the results either.

She cried and raged, claiming the votes were rigged, and ended up injuring her already weak ankle, landing herself in the hospital for a while. She spent a few days there, feeling lethargic.

But she had her own life to return to, so she had to come back to reality eventually.

Hyesung expected to feel gloomy for weeks, thinking she wouldn’t see Na Yeonwoo anywhere anymore. However, she quickly pulled herself together and focused on job hunting.

It was because Management A, Yeonwoo’s agency, published an article saying, “There is already a debut team centered around Na Yeonwoo, and they are set to debut soon.”

The article was somewhat comforting to Hyesung, who was feeling quite bitter at the time, and she believed it firmly.

Thinking she would need to spend a lot of money once Yeonwoo debuted, she worked hard and succeeded in getting a job the following quarter.

She knew that when a small agency said “soon,” it could be delayed for over a year. Still, she took it positively, thinking she could save up funds for fan activities during that time.

“What on earth happened?”

As soon as she saw the recent post, she trembled and checked the account again, hoping it wasn’t true. The ID and profile picture seemed to match Na Yeonwoo’s account.

No, it was definitely Na Yeonwoo’s account. Although she couldn’t see the feed, Hyesung was convinced by the seal emoticon in the profile and the username ‘bummy_w.’

The username combined Bummy (a favorite character of Na Yeonwoo’s from “Room Sealers”) and Yeonwoo’s initials (YW). The profile photo, taken in front of a mirror, had her face mostly hidden by the camera, but Hyesung could tell.

It was definitely Na Yeonwoo.

And it was a photo she hadn’t seen before, probably a photo of 20-year-old Na Yeonwoo.

“Damn those bastards. Do they think only they can see? I have eyes too. But they hid her away so well that I couldn’t see her grow!”

Hyesung shouted, exhaling sharply, expressing considerable anger toward the agency.

“But what is Yeonwoo thinking? If she plans to move to another agency, why make an account she’ll have to delete again? No way, not as a regular person… No!”

Generally, agencies that manage trainees well don’t allow them to have personal SNS accounts.

Therefore, if she planned to join another agency soon, there was no reason to create an account she’d have to delete again. It made sense to interpret it as a sign that she wouldn’t be signing with another agency for a while.

‘Why did she leave the company when her debut was just around the corner…….’

Na Yeonwoo’s agency, which now seemed to be her former agency, Management A, was a company that only managed actors, so its planning capabilities were not reliable. However, it housed three Hallyu actors who earned significant foreign revenue in the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets and had several actors participating in major domestic productions.

In other words, it wasn’t short of money. There were plenty of places to pull investment funds from through connections.

Hyesung was full of questions. Just a few weeks ago, she had seen an article titled “Supernova Season 5 Na Yeonwoo, preparing for debut in the first half of the year.”

As Na Yeonwoo was a key member who played a major role in the group, the current situation was even more incomprehensible.

‘Did they delay the debut seeing how competitive girl groups are these days? So Yeonwoo couldn’t wait and left? What’s really going on?’

Whatever the reason, the fact that her ultimate bias, who was a beacon of light in her tough life, might remain a regular person had Hyesung’s anxiety at its peak.

“If she debuts, she’ll turn the K-pop scene upside down. Damn…….”

Hyesung, who had planned to hold a grudge-releasing show with high-end products on the day Yeonwoo debuted, bit her lower lip and sobbed.

“Love is self-harm, no, it’s murder. They took Yeonwoo from me, so they killed me! Huh?! They did! Those culture killers!”

Right now, the only ones she could blame were the agency.

‘…Could it be that the entire debut team fell apart? Surely, Yeonwoo isn’t the only one who left?’

“If it’s the latter, they’re dead.”

Hyesung, in the center of her room, exuded a murderous intent. Her eyes, red from crying, gleamed with immense hostility.

“The company that’s never even managed idols tried to act up and only ended up hurting her……! What’s so lacking in Yeonwoo that she has to go through this again!”

Hyesung, who was lying flat on the floor, voiced her grievances with a resentful face.

“Give Yeonwoo back! Why do I work my bones off at a crappy company! Waaah!!”

Her current company was tough, one that only operated by grinding people down, so Hyesung thought about quitting every day she went to work. But there were reasons she couldn’t quit immediately.

First, to make a living.

Second, to fill her “Yeonwoo savings.”

In “Yeonwoo savings,” Yeonwoo, of course, referred to Na Yeonwoo, and savings meant exactly that.

“XX savings” is a culture among idol fans, where they save a certain amount every time their bias’s selfies or videos are posted. In Hyesung’s case, she deposited 818,000 won every month (Na Yeonwoo’s birthday is August 18th) until Yeonwoo debuted.

She had already saved for over a year, so she had a little over 10 million won saved up.

With this amount, it was possible to attend all fansigns of a rookie girl group from a small agency, not just for one promotion but possibly for the next promotion and the one after that, maybe even until the group disbanded, depending on their growth.

But from the fan Hyesung’s perspective, Na Yeonwoo was someone destined to be a superstar, so she never even considered the thought of “attending all fansigns” with just 10 million won.

‘What if I quit because it’s too hard and I can’t get another job, and my saved money runs out? Then I won’t be able to see Yeonwoo.’

This thought made her hands tremble. So whenever she wanted to quit, she pictured herself as a jobless person and Na Yeonwoo as a star. Then the desire to quit disappeared completely.

That’s how she endured the company with frequent weekend work and overtime, gritting her teeth. But now, the driving force behind her endurance had been shattered.

“Give Yeonwoo back, damn bastards… Waaah……”

Love was indeed self-harm. Loving someone you couldn’t see tore your heart apart.

Creak.

Hearing the noise of Hyesung’s loud sobbing, someone opened the door slightly.

“Sis… what are you doing right now?”

Hyesung’s younger brother, Yoon Eunho, peeked his head into the room and asked with a slightly reluctant face. His eyes showed he had seen something he didn’t want to see.

“Mind your own business, sniff, leave, sniff sniff.”

“I heard crying, so I came to see if something happened, but there’s a beggar crying here.”

“Close the, sniff, door, sniff, and go. Sniff.”

Hyesung didn’t realize how she looked, being in shock and sadness, but she probably resembled a beggar crying over stolen food.

“Didn’t you just go into your room saying, ‘Chicken after overtime, delicious. None for you.’ Weren’t you in a good mood? Why are you crying all of a sudden!”

Yoon Eunho seemed worried about his sister, even though she looked ragged.

“Sniff, that was earlier, now it’s all messed up. Sniff, sob.”

“Why are you wearing that again? I told you to throw it away. You look ridiculous.”

Yoon Eunho gestured at Hyesung’s outfit with his eyes.

“Leave it, sniff, it’s just pajamas, sniff, what’s the problem.”

The t-shirt she received during her university orientation and had worn for years as pajamas was stretched to the point it seemed to be begging for mercy, and her face was greasy from tears and chicken oil.

“What is it, really? Is work too hard? Because of all the overtime? At least wipe your face. What is that…?”

As he approached her with some tissues, Yoon Eunho’s gaze fell to the floor.

There was a mess of oil and crumbs from the chicken leg Hyesung dropped in shock upon seeing the post about Na Yeonwoo, staining her sleep pants.

The floor was dirty from her tears, snot, and other miscellaneous things (she hadn’t cleaned her room properly due to consecutive overtime).

“Sis……”

Yoon Eunho seemed at a loss for words at his sister’s condition.

“…Are you crying because you spilled chicken on your pants?”

Yoon Eunho quickly stepped back, repulsed. He seemed to want to get out of this space as quickly as possible.

“I thought something serious happened. Why did I worry? You can pick it up and eat it. No, if it’s on your room’s floor, eating it might kill you. So, clean your room regularly. Oh, it’s dirty.”

“Just get out!”

Hyesung picked up the chicken leg lying next to her butt and threw it at Yoon Eunho. But Yoon Eunho had already quickly closed the door and fled.

Roll, roll.

Watching the chicken leg bounce off the door and roll away, Hyesung wiped her face with the back of her hand. The pitiful sight of the chicken leg rolling on the floor somehow reminded her of Yeonwoo, who was probably alone right now.

“Sniff, instead of crying here……. Sob!”

She should send a supportive message.

Sniffling, Hyesung wiped her greasy hands roughly on her pants and started typing a long message.

[Yeonwoo, hi (smiling emoji) I’m sorry for suddenly sending this message. You might not see this, but…]

She wrote about how she had been watching since Supernova and how cool and bright Yeonwoo had been, how much strength she had given her, and how she wanted to see her on stage again. She wrote that she would wait and support her no matter what decision Yeonwoo made.

She reduced and reduced it to a 1,000-character message without spaces and sent it.

“Did I… overdo it? Will Yeonwoo be shocked?”

What should she do? Hyesung considered canceling the message but decided to leave it, hoping Yeonwoo would know there was still someone cheering for her.

“I miss you even more today, my baby……”

Hyesung pulled out a cold beer from the fridge, sat in front of her monitor, and started replaying Supernova Season 5 from episode 1.