Chapter 110
You clueless people. That’s what a real “queen” looks like.
└ For real. The number one spot is originally a lonely position.
I’m definitely seeing Jang Sehee debut.
Honestly, judging only by skill, if she makes it to the finals and the live votes are added, she’s guaranteed to debut.
‘That’s true.’
At some point, Ji-hyun had become just another viewer, and she nodded in agreement with their words.
As for Sehee’s skills—since Ahn Ji-hyun was inside that body, they were certain.
With the ability to completely dominate the stage like that, as long as she didn’t get eliminated midway, audiences watching live would definitely vote for Jang Sehee. If she just reached the finals, her debut would practically be confirmed.
‘Come to think of it, I wonder if Sehee talked things through well.’
She had spoken as if she wouldn’t, but from the way her back looked, anyone could tell she had a lot she wanted to say to Ah-young.
She probably handled it well.
Sehee must have spent time together with Ah-young, and above all, strong feelings of affection toward Ah-young still remained in that body.
If Sehee was anything like Ji-hyun, she wouldn’t be able to easily ignore those emotions.
‘Oh, it’s Ah-young!’
While she was lost in thought, Ah-young finally appeared on screen.
She had just woken up, looking messy and groggy as she blinked and looked around her surroundings.
Ji-hyun chuckled repeatedly, as if she might die from cuteness, taking screenshot after screenshot.
Come to think of it, Ah-young really was adorable and approachable right after waking up.
She really takes forever to wake up.
Cute.
But what’s that next to her pillow?
Seeing someone’s comment, Ji-hyun unconsciously began rapidly posting replies that hinted at the answer. She wanted everyone to notice this particular charm of Ah-young.
Everyone absolutely needed to know how cute Ah-young was.
Is she sleeping with snacks next to her pillow right now?
Another one.
Falling asleep happy thinking about eating that after waking up, then waking up and eating it to fully wake herself up—this is seriously cute lol
‘This was even mentioned once among the Mates as being cute.’
Smiling warmly, Ji-hyun watched Ah-young on screen nibbling on snacks.
Ah-young had a habit of placing things she would need the next morning beside her pillow before going to sleep.
Things like clothes she absolutely had to wear, or cosmetics she needed to apply.
So no matter where the dorm changed to, Ah-young’s bedside was always filled with items like a beaver’s nest.
And there was one thing that was never missing—snacks.
Whether it was jelly or small bread, Ah-young always placed something to eat there before sleeping.
She said that when she woke up exhausted, she liked falling asleep with the expectation that there would be something within reach to eat.
Wasn’t that thought just unbearably cute?
Sure enough, the chat filled with positive reactions in real time.
Cuteㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The snack itself is so simple it makes it funnier.
Isn’t that junk food? I like that too though.
She feels humanㅋㅋㅋㅋ
For a former idol, she has strong “neighborhood friend” vibes.
Watching her half-asleep opening snacks is hilariousㅋㅋ
‘At times like this, being an unpopular idol actually helps.’
Since Ah-young didn’t earn much, the only things she could buy were cheap convenience-store snacks.
Her extremely ordinary daily life seemed to leave quite a good impression.
However, despite the positive reactions, Ah-young’s dorm life didn’t get much screen time.
‘Well, there are sixty survival contestants after all.’
It wasn’t Ah-young’s personal reality show, so it couldn’t be helped.
Still, Ji-hyun was satisfied that Ah-young’s human side had been imprinted on viewers. Quite a few fans fell for idols because of these small, cute charms.
After all, those very traits had played a significant role in Ji-hyun becoming a fan herself.
After that, about ten to twenty more minutes showed the contestants’ dorm life and scenes of them hanging out together and bonding.
The ones who stood out the most in those parts were, as expected, Seunghye and Rin.
‘It seems Young-joon 씨 secretly wants to push those two in this direction.’
Seunghye and Rin both had great personalities and moved around comfortably with everyone, but they also kept appearing in other people’s footage.
It was obvious the show was trying to establish their character images that way.
‘This kind of thing helps too.’
Even if Rin and Seunghye failed to debut in this audition, building them up like this would help later.
Knowing they had good personalities could lead to variety show invitations, or at least make viewers remember them more if they appeared in future auditions.
Already, many comments praised or liked their personalities.
‘So the talk about them being popular wasn’t for nothing.’
Afterward, the main content of Episode 2 focused on preparing the group choreography, the rank reevaluation that happened in between, and the performance itself.
‘The broadcast is pretty long.’
Resting her chin on her hand, Ji-hyun watched the show continue.
Ah-young only appeared briefly during the group choreography preparation, so there wasn’t much evaluation about her.
During the rank reevaluation, she also wasn’t mentioned much. Overall, people seemed to accept her B rank without issue.
Ji-hyun nodded again while reading reactions, thinking it had been the right decision not to force an A rank back then.
If Ah-young had received a high score earlier and ended up getting an A rank this episode, the comments would definitely have exploded.
Then came the group performance.
‘Ah-young has more screen time than I expected.’
From Ji-hyun’s perspective, it was quite a satisfying stage.
Compared to the past, when group stages never mentioned Ah-young at all, this was tremendous progress.
Just looking at the comments Ji-hyun found about Ah-young—
Ah-young is cute. She stands out lol
The way she dances with those small hands is kind of cute. And she works really hard.
You can tell from her expressions on camera that she used to be an idol.
Why didn’t I know about her until now?
Among them, her favorite was undoubtedly the last comment.
Ji-hyun grinned foolishly as she stared at it.
Why didn’t I know about her until now?
That single comment felt like recognition for everything Ji-hyun had done so far.
‘I always thought that.’
It wasn’t that Ah-young lacked charm—the world simply didn’t know it. If someone just created a stage where people could notice her appeal, Ah-young would soar.
Wasn’t this comment proof that her belief had been correct?
‘That’s right. Exactly right.’
It finally felt like the world was starting to move in the right direction.
Watching Ah-young cutely catching her breath after finishing the performance, Ji-hyun smiled contentedly and turned off the broadcast.
The group mission would probably start next week.
‘Honestly… I don’t want to watch that part.’
A nightmare resurfaced—the memory of Ah-young making a mistake on stage.
She didn’t know how it would be edited or how viewers would react, but the mere possibility that it might not be portrayed positively made her head ache.
In the worst case, controversy over biased judging could arise.
Even if interview footage explained the reason for her survival, the fact that she had made a critical mistake wouldn’t change.
And that would lead to a bigger problem: the controversy could continue into future episodes.
Especially since Ji-hyun had mentored Ah-young’s team multiple times, any accusation of biased judging would affect her even more strongly.
She just hoped that part would pass smoothly.
‘Producer Young-joon will have handled it well.’
Ah-young had made a good impression on him. So things would probably be fine.
Trying to shake off her worries, Ji-hyun swallowed the bitterness rising in her throat.
Right. No need to worry unnecessarily.
Just then, as the broadcast ended, her phone rang.
‘Who’s calling at dinner time…?’
She picked up the phone, and the name Young-joon appeared on the screen.
Feeling pleased, she quickly answered. His voice sounded just as bright, as if he was equally glad.
— Ah, Ji-hyun 씨! Did you watch the broadcast well?
“Yes, PD-nim. I just finished watching it.”
— That’s good. Thank you for always keeping up with it.
“It’s nothing. More importantly, what did you call about?”
