“Hyung, thank you so much.”
After the midterm rankings were announced, Lee Danbi was the first to run to me, obviously overjoyed to see his ranking rise.
“…I have to keep my promise. I said I could do it.”
I scoffed and gave Lee Danbi a sarcastic reply. I thought he might feel hurt, but instead, he smiled even brighter at my tone and nodded.
…I didn’t know why he liked me this much.
While it was great news that Lee Danbi’s ranking had jumped significantly, it was time to focus entirely on our original performance. After Lee Hwayoung’s team finished their performance earlier, I was feeling quite a sense of crisis.
“…….”
At the problematic part where the mantis choreo was supposed to be, Lee Hwayoung had casually lifted his shirt to reveal his abs.
‘So what I thought was going to happen when we were assigned to teams ended up actually happening.’
I still vividly remember how the roar of a beast ripped through the audience, drowning out everything else, choreography included. People lost their minds, almost as if they were possessed, shaking their heads and screaming. It wasn’t just a simple “Kyaaaaa”, it was something far beyond that.
“HYAAAAAA!”
The trainees’ waiting room was just as heated as the audience. However, while the audience’s roar resembled the menacing sound of predators hunting their prey, the atmosphere here felt more like the wild cheers when a goal was scored during the World Cup.
“Oh my.”
“Not for viewing. Not suitable for minors.”
“…Zen-hyung, you’re also a minor.”
Do Yuda made a dumbfounded sound upon seeing that sight, while Zen covered his mouth with one hand and shielded Lee Danbi’s eyes with the other. This was despite the fact that Lee Danbi was the calmest of the three.
I watched in amusement as I watched Lee Hwayoung practically flying around on stage.
‘….His head is ridiculously good.’
It was quite clever and bold of him to naturally omit the somewhat complex choreography, yet still provide the audience with such intense bait that they wouldn’t even notice. His ability to navigate this situation so gracefully, without disrespecting the choreographer, was truly impressive.
It seemed like he really would rather die than do the praying mantis choreography.
‘Since the choreographer’s choreography demo has already been made public, people might criticize him for trying to avoid the choreography.’
But what could they do? He must have done it thinking that this method would be more beneficial for him.
‘Lee Hwayoung doesn’t care about criticism anyway.’
Once he showed a ruined appearance, it could have been immortalized on short-form videos
1
or SNS, and people might have referenced it over and over again, like old beef leg bones being boiled into a soup
2
, until the day he retired. If the MCs kept making you do the same thing every time you appear on a variety show, it would lead to repetitive, awkward moments that make both the person doing it and the viewers uncomfortable. Everyone had their own struggles, that’s what people claimed.
….He should just fill in this damn meme and be done with it.
“…….”
‘Button up, you cheeky Nicholas Hwayoung Lee.’
I understood, but I was a little regretful. I had a perfect plan to make use of it after we debuted.
Unable to hide my disappointment, I put on a lukewarm expression and, suddenly struck by a question, looked down at Han Seungbeom’s smooth stomach. I then gently stroked its flat surface.
‘Will this ever develop any curves eventually?’
For now, I can see some curves of the bones, but … is this okay?
I let out a quiet laugh at Han Seungbeom’s thinness and nodded serenely as if I had reached enlightenment.
‘You did well to use it now. Clever brat, leave me alone.’
“Whoever doesn’t have abs by the day of the concert, I’ll beat them up and make them artificially. Put your life on the line and and get those abs.”
“Please spare my life.”
“You won’t die. Go work out.”
“Gorillas can never understand the human body.”
“Aren’t you going to be quiet, Seo Yuseong?”
The days of Prism, when I was just healthy, felt like a distant dream.
But what’s the point of regretting it? Reality stayed the same, and all I had to do was focus on doing the best I could. Starting with light exercise, step by step. Even if there was something particularly wrong with Han Seungbeom’s body, if I kept doing it consistently, there would surely be some change.
As I was thinking that, my team members walked into the waiting room, hands full of something.
“How did everyone manage with the school uniforms?”
Instead of the costumes prepared for the stage, we decided to wear the uniforms that the trainees actually wore at school.
“Tada, my school uniforms are pretty, right? Since it’s a performing arts high school, the colors are really vibrant.”
Do Yuda, dressed in a colorful but slightly wrinkled uniform, struck a pose like a model and asked me. In response, the stylist, with a calm expression, took the blazer from him without a word and began to iron it.
“Ugh.”
“…….”
I turned my blurry eyes away from Do Yuda and noticed Lee Danbi standing beside him. I let out a sigh, unable to hide my dismay at his appearance.
Lee Danbi’s school uniform was neatly ironed, just like his personality, but the problem was that the design looked like something an old man would wear. There were so many stylish and pretty school uniforms these days, so why did the design look like that?
A dull, somewhat outdated navy vest, pants that were exactly the same color as the vest, and a grimy gray tie that completely failed to serve as an accessory. With that face, wearing a uniform that looked like an old man’s suit … it was so mismatched that it gave me chills.
“…Take it off.”
“Why?”
“Put that pink hoodie on over your white shirt. I think it will suit you better.”
“Why?”
“You should wear something cute, not old-fashioned. Isn’t that obvious?”
“…….”
When I mentioned that ‘
Lee Danbi would look better in something cute
‘, the members looked at me with strange expressions.
Why, why are you all looking at me like that?
“Danbi doesn’t look that young. This hyung’s infatuation is no joke.”
3
“Leada, please call me cute too.”
“…….”
Zen, who was too tall to be cute, wearing a gakuran
4
, piercings, and a black mask hanging from his chin—looking like the embodiment of a thug—gazed down at me and spoke. Before I could even respond, Do Yuda began to spin Zen’s body around like a mannequin and started chattering away.
“Woow, this is the first time I’ve seen a gakuran in person. So it really exists.”
“It’s very uncomfortable. But I chose this school specifically for this. The coolness offsets all the inconvenience.”
“Zen-hyung, in Korea, we call that
pomsaeng pomsa
5
,
ganjuk gansal
6
.”
“Pomsengpomsa. Ganjukgansal. I memorized it. Input complete.”
So, among these guys who were so full of individuality, what exactly did I wear?
Let’s save that answer for the performance. But let me give you a hint. Do Yuda’s reaction was this.
“Seungbeom-hyung really has a solid character.”
“Be quiet.”
***
The
Maiden’s Prayer
7
, a piece of music commonly used as a school bell in South Korea, played.
I opened the classroom door set up as the stage and stood in front of the teacher’s desk, quietly looking down at the members.
Then, after the lights turned on, I rested my arms on the teacher’s desk and spoke.
“What kind of children of darkness are you?”
That’s right. I wasn’t a student, but a teacher.
What’s more, it’s the chief teacher in charge of the student affairs
8
.
Right now, I was wearing glasses, a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black slacks, and holding a wooden sword with the words “
Peace
” and “
Rest
” written on it. On top of that, I also had a teacher’s ID and a whistle hanging around my neck.
‘Ha, when will I ever get rid of my instructor image?’
The reason for this position was the stage composition.
Based on the lyrics and the choreography provided by the choreographers,
School Bell
sounded like a musical with seven mischievous students who repeatedly causing trouble, and one teacher in the center role who scolded them.
First of all, the oldest members of the team were 20 years old, and I had to take on the center position. The idea of me being scolded by the chick on this team just didn’t suit me. So, it was only right that the role of the student affairs’ chief teacher would fall to me.
Bam!
With a lively sound effect, the members who had been pretending to sleep by lying face down on the desk or covering their faces with books slumped over in exaggerated exhaustion.
And then, Lee Danbi jumped up from his chair and exclaimed cheerfully, and the other members followed suit, standing up and greeting me as the song officially began.
“I love you, Teacher-nim!”
“I love you, Teacher-nim!”
I heard that kids these days didn’t do “
attention, hands clasped, salute to the teacher
” anymore.
“Teacher! I have a question
.
“
“Okay, go ahead (
Go!
)”
“I’m really, really tired today (
ah- ah- ah!
) Can you please end the lesson early?”
“No, no, no. Your class is the slowest right now.”
I sang back and forth with Lee Danbi at a fast pace, and when I shook my head at the camera, Do Yuda abruptly stood up and belted out a high note.
“Lie! (Look here, click!)”
“Listen, Teacher-nim!”
In sync with his singing, all the members simultaneously turned toward the audience, and with the sound effect of “
click
” each of them struck a pose. Then, when the bell rang, they got up from their seats and started running toward the main stage.
“
Ring
, once the ring bell rings, freedom begins (
Yeah, it’s party time!
)
We are pretty good
Boys
“
As Zen took the lead and confidently sang in a husky voice, winking at the camera, screams erupted from the audience.
“
Let’s start our own race
The canteen as our
Goal
Short distance, long distance running,
let’s go
!”
When Zen’s singing began to falter due to the running, Do Yuda, who was following behind, smoothly took over the song. While the members ran through the corridor, laughing, I was chasing after them from behind, wielding the wooden sword with a murderous look in my eyes.
“Ahahaha!”
“Hahahahaha!”
As my face was displayed on the screen, the audience exploded with laughter.
I was convinced when I heard their laughter.
Ah, I guess I’ll never escape the instructor image for good
.
.
.
.
After that, the parts of the other trainees continued for a while, and finally, after arriving at the main stage, it was my turn. After throwing my wooden sword into the gap between the stage and the audience, I ran my hands through my hair in frustration, then began to sing while dancing to the choreography.
“
You troublemakers
If you don’t cause trouble even for a day
You must be getting itchy
This teacher is really troubled.
I wonder if you all truly understand how I feel.”
As soon as my part ended, the members gathered around me, surrounding me. Then, with a mischievous laugh, they clapped their hands together above me in time with the beat and spread their fingers to make flashy motions.
“Teacher-nim, we’re sorry, but it’s the time when we really want to have fun (
yeah yeah yeah!
)”
“No matter how much you try to stop us, it won’t work? (
No No No
!)”
While I was crossing my arms and making a sullen expression as if I was angry about the members’ slightly teasing lyrics and choreography, one of them sang this line.
“But you still love us, right?”
Babababam! Bam! Bam!
Along with a slightly comedic sound effect, the stage lights flickered at a fast speed
After the sound effects and accompaniment faded, the stage lights returned to normal.
“…….”
As I stood alone on the now quiet stage, the red light on the camera facing me lit up. It was a close-up shot.
I smiled brightly at the camera and made a heart shape with my arms
“Of course!”
Bang!
With my answer, a loud sound echoed, and confetti exploded across the stage. The members smiled broadly at the upbeat and grandiose accompaniment, and together we held hands and marched toward the edge of the stage, approaching the audience.
And like a scene in an amusement park parade, the members, who was still holding hands in a line, stepped in unison, singing in harmony in the dazzling choreography.
“Yeah!”
“NA NA NA NA NA NA”
As soon as the song finished, the group huddled around me, just like a graduation photo, waving their hands at the camera and shouting.
“Thank you, Teacher-nim!”
The audience erupted into thunderous applause, and we bowed deeply in gratitude to them.
“Thank you!”
“Thank you!”
Just like that, we had already finished the third performance of the live broadcast.
And what came next was the final performance, the ballad song composed by Cha Woon.
‘.…He must be feeling anxious.’
I lowered my head, recalling Cha Woon’s dark expression.
Then, I stepped off the stage with the wish that the audience would love Cha Woon’s song as much as I did.
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Translator’s Corner:
Like TikTok/Instagram Reels/YouTube shorts ↩︎
beef leg bone
(사골) usually boiled to create a broth which is traditionally believed to reinvigorate the body. The thing about this soup is, if you leave it in the refrigerator, the gelatin that melts from the beef bones hardens and becomes a white jelly-like state. If you boil it again, it melts and returns to its original state. So, people can eat it for a long time, like 4-5 times, because the bones can be boiled over and over again. In this way, 사골 are used to describe a content that being posted repeatedly over time (like in this context, an overused joke). ↩︎
The word used for infatuation is
콩깍지 (bean pod)
is kinda an idiomatic expression for “being blinded by love”. You know, the comparison of a bean being completely enclosed by its pod here is used symbolize
someone being adored another person so much that they can’t see their flaws
. They only see the positive aspects of the other person. Kinda like “rose colored glasses” but I want to highlight the adoration part so I used infatuation instead. ↩︎
Gakuran (学ラン)
, also called the tsume-eri (詰襟), is the uniform for many middle-school and high-school boys in Japan. The colour is normally black, but some schools use navy blue.
Basically it’s the all black uniform that you usually see in japan movies, especially one with a troublemaking student MC. ↩︎
Pomsaeng-pomsa
(
폼생폼사
): to live for appearance, to die for appearance.
It’s an idiomatic expression from 폼에 살고 폼에 죽는다. It refers to a personality or person who prioritizes appearance/physical form above all else, regardless of the situation. Kinda get popularized as term since it’s used as a song title by the legendary Korean group Sechs Kies. ↩︎
Ganjuk-gansal
(간죽간살)
: live for style, die for style. Kinda the same with above, It conveys a sense of someone who is prioritizing style over practicality, even at the cost of comfort or well-being. ↩︎
Maiden’s Prayer
is a famous piano piece created by Polish composer Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska (1834–1861). ↩︎
Chief Teacher of Student Affairs literally translated from 학생부장, it’s that one is teacher with a scary image at school who manages students ‘ hair, clothing, attendance, etc. Basically their main duties are things like overseeing student affairs, especially school violence, student guidance (student education, i.e. student discipline), student council, meal guidance, and guiding students with the principal, vice principal, and homeroom teachers during school trips and camping. So, they’re very busy. ↩︎
I dont think this chapter has any business having this many footnotes