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

Chapter 3

In the screen, 18-year-old Na Yeonwoo was singing and dancing to an energetic electronica pop dance song.

Her voice occasionally got drowned out by the MR, and her expressions and movements weren’t perfectly smooth, possibly due to her nervousness.

At the time, Na Yeonwoo received a Beginner grade in the class evaluation, just above the lowest F grade.

Even if she hadn’t been nervous, she would have received the Basic grade above it. Hyesung, an ardent fan of Yeonwoo, also agreed that it wasn’t a stage that deserved the highest grade in terms of skill…

However, the sight of her long hair flowing with her movements to the refreshing piano sound and her sparkling eyes like a flowing galaxy, along with her delicate yet clear tone, seemed to bring light to the bleak studio.

All of this combined was truly a fresh shock to Hyesung.

“It’s like bringing summer right in front of you.”

The production team seemed to think the same, as they applied slow-motion effects and added stars falling and petals fluttering when introducing Na Yeonwoo. The subtitles read “The Epitome of Freshness” and “The Personification of Summer.”

While it seemed like they edited well to highlight her strengths, it was a huge disadvantage for Na Yeonwoo that she was edited together with another visual trainee.

The trainee she was grouped with had such poor skills that it was embarrassing to watch the stage.

Later, it was revealed through SNS that the trainee, who had been eliminated, was actually an influencer recruited by the production team due to a lack of applicants, not a proper trainee.

The broadcast showed scenes of both trainees making mistakes alternately, giving the impression that both had top visuals but poor skills, which Hyesung criticized as serious undercutting of Yeonwoo.

“Don’t hold back my baby!”

Hyesung shouted at the monitor. Despite the broadcast ending a year and a half ago, her resentment towards the production team remained.

“It’s a bad edit, a bad edit.”

While Na Yeonwoo made a minor misstep, the grouped trainee hadn’t even properly memorized the moves.

Yet the malicious broadcasting station magnified Na Yeonwoo’s mistakes, even adding sound effects, and showed judges’ stony faces clearly taken from different scenes.

It wasn’t surprising that Hyesung had raged, feeling that the production team was crushing her spirit.

‘If it weren’t for Youngmin pulling that stunt, our Yeonwoo wouldn’t have lost all her confidence.’

Hyesung swallowed her grumbles about the main PD and skipped forward on the video.

The screen now showed Na Yeonwoo deciding her position for the first competition. The team members of her group were accepting candidates for the center position.

Except for the leader and the rapper, all the other team members raised their hands.

Na Yeonwoo clenched and unclenched her hands, as if she wanted to raise them, but in the end, she just blinked her big eyes, unable to muster the courage to do so.

The subtitles read, [Na Yeonwoo, biting her lips unable to volunteer], and the scene transitioned to an interview.

[Q. Why didn’t you raise your hand?]

[Na Yeonwoo (Management A): Um, I think Nana unnie would do well… Her grade is Ace…]

[Q. Na Yeonwoo says she didn’t volunteer because she thought Hyun Nana would do well.]

[Hyun Nana (Shark Music): Really? If Yeonwoo had volunteered, I would have voted for her.]

Hyun Nana’s eyes widened in surprise, with exclamation marks popping up above her head.

[Hyun Nana (Shark Music): Anyway, thanks for thinking highly of me, Yeonwoo♡]

The scene ended with Hyun Nana smiling and leaving a video message, then transitioned to another team practicing hard.

“If only she had had the courage to volunteer for the center position…”

Hyesung was certain that if Na Yeonwoo had been the center for the first competition, she would have shown her not-bad skills and swept up fans from the start with her already complete visuals.

“My baby is pretty, kind, and good on stage, but she got stuck with a clumsy image due to bad editing early on…”

In reality, Hyun Nana, who was the center for that stage, swept up fans from the start, and eventually debuted by ranking first in the final.

Viewers, who called themselves the ‘Handful Squad’ due to the show’s mediocre average rating of 1%, saw a significant portion of them become her fans from the center stage of the first competition.

While not all of them would become her ultimate bias, it was enough to solidify her position as a secondary favorite or a favorable pick.

Of course, Hyun Nana had solid skills and visual demand to the extent that she received the top grade in the class evaluation, making it possible.

“She was going to debut anyway.”

Hyesung acknowledged that part as well.

“So Yeonwoo should have been the center! They say the rich get richer, and it’s true. Why say you would have picked her if she volunteered? Who are you trying to mess with now?”

Hyesung stood up suddenly, looking extremely aggrieved as if the center position originally belonged to Na Yeonwoo but was taken away.

“How could none of the team members recommend Yeonwoo? She suits being the center for this song the best…”

No matter how busy they were securing their own spots, they had no eye for talent. That’s why they lost, Hyesung clicked her tongue.

It was a stage where they couldn’t receive the benefit and only Hyun Nana, who was the center, received all the attention again.

Thinking about it again made Hyesung fume as she stood there briefly, but she soon slumped back into her seat.

“If Yeonwoo had been the center here, she would have been in the debut line-up till the final.”

Throughout her rewatch of the Season 5 stage, Hyesung couldn’t stop repeating, “If she had done this here, she would have debuted.” She knew it was a ridiculous thing to do, but it was the only way to make herself feel better.

While indulging in IF fantasies in her room all night to calm herself, Hyesung suddenly realized that she didn’t know the current status of the Supernova Project’s debut group.

She had a secondary favorite, but since Na Yeonwoo didn’t debut, she had completely cut off her interest in the debut group after the program ended.

“Come to think of it, it’s about time they disbanded. Or have they already?”

Hyesung quickly searched for articles.

[“Dream-like moments, will never forget” Supernova Project Season 5 debut group… disbands after their last solo concert in tears.]

“They’ve already disbanded. Was it even yesterday? How did I miss this?”

No wonder there were sudden updates about the Supernova Project eliminated trainees. Hyesung felt bitter about how, due to working overtime, or rather since she started working, she had drifted away from the content she used to enjoy.

“Wow, Yoon Hyesung. You missed this issue. You’ve really been worn out by overtime.”

She had been saying she would quit K-pop for years, but didn’t expect to end up quitting like this.

“You have to work to pay off the card bills, save money, collect photocards, and enter fan sign events…”

…or so she thought.

But there would be no fan signs.

Recalling that Na Yeonwoo’s debut had fallen through again, frustration surged.

“I really thought she would debut this year.”

Despite hearing comments about still following idols at 27, Hyesung had persistently been saving up for her ‘Yeonwoo savings’.

“I hope another company picks up our Yeonwoo this time. Preferably a big company. Management A was a small company, not even experienced in raising idols, so it wasn’t great…”

Hyesung began to fantasize about Na Yeonwoo being scouted by a big agency now that she was a free agent.

Imagining a packed stadium and Na Yeonwoo on stage made her feel a bit better.

“Anyway, I’ll wait a bit longer for Yeonwoo’s debut and not quit my job. Besides, tomorrow is Sunday, so I can watch Yeonwoo’s cut scenes once more… Wait, today is Saturday and I went to work…?”

Realizing the harsh reality sent chills down her spine.

“Ugh! I have work tomorrow too! What time is it? 4:30 in the morning?!”

Work wasn’t tomorrow, it was today. And only a few hours left. Hyesung hurriedly cleaned up and lay down on the bed.

“Damn that manager. He starts all the trouble but the suffering is ours. Should I just quit?”

Cursing her boss, Hyesung fell asleep calculating how many hours she could sleep.

* * *

“Why now of all times?”

Just a while ago, exhausted, Hyesung had finally fallen asleep and crossed into dreamland, but she wasn’t happy at all.

Seeing herself floating alone in an empty purple space, she figured it was a dream. Realizing she was dreaming meant Hyesung had entered the realm of lucid dreaming.

Lucid dreaming, also known as a hypnotic state, allowed one to realize they were dreaming and potentially control the dream.

“I had a feeling I would get sleep paralysis before I fell asleep.”

Lucid dreams, which usually occurred during REM sleep, were not a sign of healthy sleep.

“I won’t feel rested at all when I wake up. Damn it!”

Frustrated that she couldn’t sleep properly, Hyesung kicked at the empty space.

At that moment, as if teleporting, the surrounding space instantly changed.

‘Oh, that scared me.’

Forced to move from the empty space to a new unfamiliar place, Hyesung was momentarily dumbfounded.

She found herself in a large hospital waiting room, awkwardly seated in a corner.

Looking around, she saw a few teenage girls quietly chatting with shy expressions. They also seemed to be meeting for the first time.

‘Why are there so many young girls… Where am I?’

A few empty chairs had bags on them, suggesting there were more people.

‘It doesn’t look like a hospital. Is it a school?’

Knock, knock.

Almost simultaneously with the sound, a young woman holding a file folder entered.

Flipping through papers, she spoke.

“Numbers 62 to 72, please come over here and wait. If you pass, you’ll be contacted separately, so you can leave after finishing.”

The last part was clearly directed at Hyesung.

“Oh, okay.”

Though she responded, she still didn’t understand what was going on. But sensing she should leave, she grabbed the bag she was half-sitting on and stood up.

‘This must be my bag, right?’

As she was about to leave the room with her bag, someone called out to her from behind.

“Unnie, wait a moment!”