Son Chaeyoung shrugged.

“Do you think there are any celebrities with 10 years of experience without a mental illness?”

So there is something. Well, just seeing her temper showed she was walking psychiatric ward. If I ever brought her to a hospital, they would have an endless list of illnesses. From personality disorder to perhaps antisocial personality disorder.

“Why are you asking?! You said you had no interest in me!”

“Well, I was wondering if you weren’t working because of something like that.”

I answered while looking at one side of the table. There were a few scripts and scenarios lying here and there. The scenario closest to me was one I recently read. They were in the middle of casting their leads.

Seeing as she had these in her house, it seemed she did want to work on another project.

Son Chaeyoung clicked her tongue,

“It’s none of your business. I’m going to work after getting out of this exclusive contract.”

“Do you really plan on leaving W&U?”

“Why? Did CEO Baek say that it would never happen?”

CEO Baek Hansung said it was like a yearly event and regarded it like a child’s tantrum.

I don’t know. Son Chaeyoung’s reaction was too sharp for it to be considered a child’s tantrum.

“I want to ask you something as well.”

Son Chaeyoung said, narrowing her eyes.

“Lee Songha before. Seeing her reaction, it seemed she knew that you are working on this. Did she just quietly let you do it? When it’s concerning me? I didn’t hear about a commotion at the company.”

“Why would there be a commotion at the company. Songha isn’t someone like you…”

“Did she meet with CEO Baek?”

I stopped speaking. Son Chaeyoung smirked at my expression.

“What did they talk about?”

“Why are you curious?”

“You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to. It’s obvious.”

The smile on Son Chaeyoung grew. An unpleasant feeling slowly made its way up when I recalled CEO Baek Hansung and Lee Songha’s private meeting. I asked her multiple times during our drive, but her answer was always the same.

That CEO Baek Hansung leisurely brought it up while they were settling finances.

Was that true? I could always tell when she was lying to me, but I couldn’t be sure this time.

To be honest, one thing weighed on my mind.

The photo.

The photo where Lee Songha touched me while I was sleeping. The one CEO Baek Hansung personally met with the Daily Fact reporter to bury the scandal. The photo that must be in his hands right now. That troubled me.

“Should I give you some advice?”

Son Chaeyoung didn’t wait for my reply and continued,

“Once someone gets ahold of your weakness, it lasts a long time in this industry. A disgustingly long time.”

*

It felt like various colors of paint was splattered on my vision It was like my current mental state.

I entered the basement practice room. The project team members and Making Film crew greeted me. The cameraman in charge of filming me quickly came over and started filming. Am I smiling well right now?

“Oppaaa!”

My body lurched forward. Someone smacked my back with both hands.

When I turned around, Im Seoyoung stuck to me with a flushed face. Her large eyes glanced and calculated the distance between her and the cameraman. Still smiling brightly, she secretly whispered to me like some ventriloquist,

“Why are you acting like an amateur? Aren’t you more nervous than back with us?”

“I am?”

“You seem menacing yesterday and today. It’s like your head’s going to fly off if Pretty Girls’ song doesn’t go to the top of the charts? The girls are acting really cautious right now. Yeondu’s face is pale from indigestion after eating next to you!”

I look menacing?

I paid close attention to my expression even if my thoughts were a mess.

I rubbed my face with my hands. It did seem a little stiff. I pushed the corners of my lips up and looked around. I saw Lee Songha who was doing an interview in front of the full-wall mirror. Although she prepped for this interview ahead of time, she looked experienced as she faced the cameraman.

To the point where it almost felt unfamiliar.

Damn it. No, not her.

I turned around. In the middle of the practice room full of cameras and lights, in the same place Neptune was huddled around the laptop last spring, were Pretty Girls. They all had smiles on their lips but their eyes shifted side to side.

They glanced at me before visibly flinching and turning their gaze.

So there was a problem with me.

On a day as important as today, while they have it tough with all the pressure they are under, I couldn’t help them relieve any of that pressure and only added to it. I let out a sigh and cleared my complicated mind. Then I went over to the Pretty Girls and asked,

“How are you all? Are you nervous?”

“Pardon?”

Oh Yeondu replied in surprise.

“I asked if you were nervous.”

“Pardon?”

“Nevermind.”

“Pardon?”

Her eyes had lost focus. It was the same for Yoon Sol and Lee Hwain. They were completely out of it, just breathing in and out. They acted all brave during the last performance despite their trembling arms and legs, yet it looked like they didn’t have the composure to act brave today.

I looked at Jung Jae, the eldest. She at least looked composed enough to answer. Though her face was paler than the laptop screen, she was still trying to meet my gaze.

“Where did Chief Lee Taeshin go?”

“Ah, he went upstairs to look for a phone charger. The battery was almost drained.”

Come to think of it, they were all clenching on their phones.

What the heck? Were they talismans?

“Why are you holding your phones so tightly?”

“… We’re on the phone with our parents.”

“Right now? You’re on the phone right now?”

Their phone screens definitely indicated they were calling someone.

Jung Jae replied with a nervous look,

“We couldn’t calm down by ourselves. We felt like we would be less nervous if we did this, so we decided to do this until the album releases. If we aren’t allowed…”

“It’s not like you’re not allowed, but are you that nervous?”

As soon as I asked, Yoon Sol, completely red in the face, hastily put her phone against her ear.

“Mom! Mom! I can’t breathe! You can hear my voice, right? You can’t hang up!”

So they are that nervous. With Yoon Sol’s actions, the other two quickly reacted the same way. They held their phones and called out to their parents. Jung Jae’s hand holding her phone trembled as she looked up at me with an anxious expression. Like she was waiting for my approval.

As soon as I nodded, she put her phone against her ear,

“Dad, are you still there?”

Someone might think they were passengers on a falling plane.

I was so dumbfounded that I laughed. When I looked around, Producer Yoo Sooyoung had a motherly smile. The cameramen and project team members, everyone who was looking this way had happy smiles on their faces.

Breathing easy again, the girls dropped their phones. Im Seoyoung, who had been waiting around them, came over. She was particularly noisy amongst the Neptune members, but she tried hard to act like a sunbae in front of the goldfish.

Should I say she looked like a first-born trying to act like the adult in front of her younger siblings?

“Girls, calm down! You need to be calmer at times like this!”

I could hear LJ snort all the way over here.

“The mood was completely celebratory when our double title tracks on our last album hit 11th and 14th place. I bet you’ll do even better.”

“Sunbaenim…!^{1} What if it’s not there when we refresh the chart once it’s released?”

“Hey! Did you not see the internet? There are so many people waiting for your song to drop! You should be worried, instead, you should be excited!”

Im Seoyoung shouted, but the goldfish’s faces had no signs of calming down.

Yoon Sol said in a quiet voice,

“Our luck has been too good for the past few months. That’s why I think we’re more nervous. Bad things always happen in the end.”

“Driving away bad luck! We should have done that! Someone hit me!”

Oh Yeondu spoke nonsense. The others joined in. To drive away bad luck before their song releases, they began to pinch and slap each other’s arms. Some of the spectators burst out laughing.

During this time, the minute hand continued to tick.

The noisy commotion soon died down. The people spread around soon gathered. Pretty Girls held their breaths as they looked at the laptop.

I also observed the music charts on the laptop.

Just then…

“It’s been released!”

^{1} Sunbaenim – a more formal version of ‘sunbae’