Chapter 8.11 - Act 8: Lively 11 (2/2)
Thinking as such, I glanced around when finally it was Lee Suh-ah’s turn to draw her lots. Indifferently, she took out a paper and glanced at it before turning towards Song Mirae.
“Number 8.”
8…?
8 is straight after 7 right…
“Ah…”
Oblivious to my crumbling emotions, Song Mirae floundered her arms and jumped around in joy.
“Oh good good! The middle is the best! Our Suh-ah is lucky as well!”
“What number are you?”
“I’m number 12!”
Blankly, I watched them talk when I caught sight of Kim Wuju inserting his hand into the box from the side. After casually taking it out without much thought, Kim Wuju then handed it over to the helper next to him.
“What number is it?”
“It is number 6, young master.”
“Oh~ number 6~ Right in front of Yunjae?”
“…Hahah.”
Seeing Kim Wuju smiling amusedly, an empty laughter escaped my lips.
So was it like this?
Number 6 Kim Wuju, Number 7 me, and Number 8 Lee Suh-ah.
“…Hahahah.”
Interesting; it was the best. So I could now have a real battle with the greatest geniuses of the school, huh? As expected of lucky 7.
While I was letting out empty laughs, eyes of sympathy fell on me.
“Wow… wasn’t he number 7?”
“Between Kim Wuju and Lee Suh-ah… I feel sorry for him.”
“It’s a hellish position.”
Then, Noh Jusup placed his hand on my shoulder and let out a scoff.
“Hey, did you commit a grave sin in your previous life or something? What’s with your luck, puhuhuh.”
Heaving out a sigh, I opened my mouth disheartened.
“Ha… Don’t sing at a church drunk man…”
“Have you gone mad? Kuhuk.”
After that, I joked around with Noh Jusup a bit before slapping myself awake.
Whatever.
Somehow, I ended up in the middle of Kim Wuju and Lee Suh-ah but thinking about it, it was a good opportunity.
In the end, I had to surpass Lee Suh-ah to lay my hands on the scholarship and had to surpass Kim Wuju to enter the Prac High-achievers Concert.
Besides, it was a good opportunity to fight them head-on like this.
‘Right. Everything will be made clear once we all sing together.’
In the middle of my self-brainwashes, the prac test finally began as students started leaving for the test room one by one.
Number 1, number 2, number 3…
As the number of students leaving the room increased, the mood of the waiting room turned heavier. The faces of the students stiffened as silence was the only thing filling the room.
They were forced to feel with their bodies that their turn was surely arriving.
“Number 6!”
“Yes~”
Finally, Kim Wuju stood up from his seat with a smile as my turn to sing was right before me. Sitting on the seat, I quavered my leg and quickly repeated the song inside my head.
Elf King. After going through it one more time, I didn’t really like it.
‘Should I add a more dramatic effect during the vocalisation change? No, I can’t change it right now. I haven’t even practised it but… it feels somewhat weird right now. What should I do? Should I exaggerate it?”’
Countless thoughts appeared on my head and I bit my lips when suddenly I felt something touch my hand.
“Yunjae.”
When I came to myself, I realised that Han Dasom was sitting next to me. The hair that covered her small face was pulled back and there was a cute hairpin on her hair. It was Han Dasom’s face which I had become accustomed to.
“…Hu.”
I felt myself relaxing down.
Ah, I was nervous huh.
Lightly, I breathed in and out to settle my heart as my head turned a level clearer.
Reopening my eyes, I opened my lips while staring at Han Dasom.
“Thanks. I must have been nervous because I was right behind Kim Wuju.”
Glancing into my eyes, Han Dasom made a bashful smile before fidgeting with her fingers and taking something out. On the wrinkled paper, the number 10 was written.
She whispered with her clear eyes.
“I’m also behind Suh-ah…”
“Wow what is this. We’re all clumped up. Isn’t this rigged by the teacher?”
“Huhu… I don’t think so? There’s in fact only 20 of us so…”
“Yeah I guess.”
Seeing me nod, Han Dasom smiled.
“Un… just a coincidence. Both you… and me… When I saw my number was close to Suh-ah’s, my heart was shook, you know…?”
“Yeah. Why did she have to pick that number?”
“You’re right.”
She then turned her face to stare at a distant place before opening her mouth.
“But… it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.”
“Un?”
My blurry eyes caught sight of Han Dasom moving her lips.
“You taught me Yunjae, to sing confidently whenever.”
“…I did.”
“That’s why… I’ll try doing just that. Like when doing the chorus… and like when I was at the concour…”
Her eyes bent into beautiful crescents.
“I believe it would work out well this time, like how it had always been.”
“,,,”
With confidence…
I faced down before breaking into a bright smile. Yes, no matter Kim Wuju or Lee Suh-ah, I will go and sing my own song. Rather than singing with shrunken shoulders, that would have a higher chance of winning right?
“Yeah. Lee Suh-ah’s nothing much. Let’s do it. Let’s try beating her Dasom.”
“Un!”
Lee Suh-ah who had been watching us from the side made a dumbfounded expression.
“Can you not speak like I’m a final boss or something?”
“Oi! Number 7! They’re telling you to come in!”
Shooting out from my seat, I turned around.
I saw Lee Suh-ah wearing a pouty expression and Song Mirae smiling awkwardly next to her. There was also Jun Shihyuk sitting in the distance with folded arms and Noh Jusup waving his hand.
Good. Let’s do this prac test.
Finally, I glanced at Han Dasom who seemed to be slightly quivering and made a smile.
“Hey after making a great speech, you seem to be slightly nervous yourself.”
“U…un. A bit…”
Well, since she had come third at the concour after losing to Lee Suh-ah, it was natural for her to be nervous. I made another smile before raising my finger up.
“What was the solution I told you? It was to exercise and get rid of your excess strength. Running would be a bit weird here so… do you want to do squats?”
“…Un?”
“You can do squats inside right? Do it if you feel like it. I’m going then!”
I flicked my body away and followed the student who was in charge of guiding us to the venue.
My heart started thumping pleasantly.