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May, as spring is coming to an end

School is finally over.

“Dohee, where are you going every day?”

Sujin, who had caught me leaving carrying my bag, asked.
Sujin, who was in the same class as me in the first grade, had since been in a different class, but now that we’re both in fifth grade, we’re in the same class again, and she sticks close to me.

“Just have some things to do.”

I kept quiet because I thought it would be annoying if people knew I was an idol trainee at school.

“Can’t you hang out with me today?”

“Sorry, Sujin. Unni is a bit busy.”

“Sob… You always say that and never hang out with me.”

“What can I do if I’m always busy? See you tomorrow.”

“Okay…”

Leaving Sujin behind, I headed out of school.

After taking the bus and arriving at the company, I went up to the third floor, greeted the staff, and signed the attendance sheet.

“Oh, Dohee, It’s been a while?”

When I turned around, it was Team Leader Kim Jinwoo from the New Talent Development Team, who had scouted me.
Since he’s always out on business for casting, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen him.
But since no one he cast has shown up, he’s just like Arsène Lupin¹.

“Hello, Team Leader!”

“Yeah, Dohee, I’ve heard a lot of praise about you doing well.”

“Ah, really? That’s the first I’m hearing of it.”

“Team Leader Sohyun said so, didn’t she?”

“Really?”

“Seems like she didn’t encourage you to work harder.”

Ah… As expected, Team Leader Jeong is a tsundere.

“Anyway, work hard in your lessons. I have high expectations for you, Dohee.”

“Yes! Thank you~”

After finishing my conversation with Team Leader Kim, I went down to the basement choreography practice room for today’s lesson.
Today’s first lesson was dance.

Wooa Unni, who had arrived earlier, was already there.
Since she’s a middle school student now, she said she left school early during the second or fourth period in the morning.

“Unni, I’m here.”

“Dohee-yaa~”

Unni stopped dancing and ran over to hug me.

“Doesn’t it get tiring to hug me when you were just dancing?”

“Not at all.”

Sigh.

While I practiced the dance for the monthly evaluation with my Unni, Teacher Yerim came in.

““Hello~””

“Oh, hey kids. What’s with the dance practice today?”

“Today, Unni came early and finished her foreign language homework in advance.”

“Really? Keep doing that in the future. Now, let’s start the lesson.”

Teacher Yerim stood in front first and demonstrated the dance.

“Alright, now follow along.”

““Yes.””

“Imagine there’s a wall in front of you and hit it with your elbows like this! Again.”
“Dohee, focus, focus.”
“Lock in your shoulders and arms tight! Again. Wooa and Dohee are out of sync.”

“”Yes!””

Lately, I’ve been feeling chest pain when dancing, which makes it hard to concentrate on dancing.
In the end, I lost focus again and made a mistake.

“Dohee, why aren’t you pushing out your chest? I told you to push it out with more energy.”

Eventually, Teacher-nim stopped the song and spoke to me.

“Dohee, why are you having such a hard time concentrating these days?”

“I’m sorry. Actually, I’ve been having chest pain while dancing lately…”

“Chest pain?”

Teacher-nim thought for a moment, then approached reaching out touching my chest.
For a moment, I was shocked when she suddenly touched my chest but the brief shock was short lived as I grimaced in pain from where I was touched.

“Is this where it hurts?”

The area Teacher-nim touched felt rigid.

“Ugh… Yes, there.”

Teacher-nim smiled for a moment and then said,

“Looks like Dohee’s chest is developing.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a breast lump. Dohee is going through puberty now, huh?”

Ah, so this was a lump.
Does this mean my breasts will start growing now?
They should at least grow bigger than Mom’s…

“How tall are you now, Dohee?”

“I’m 154.6 centimeters.”

“You might surpass 160 this year if things go well.”

“Really? So, could I reach 170?”

“Well, even Teacher-nim doesn’t know that. But they say that the later secondary sexual characteristics develop, the taller you might get.”

“Oh!”

“Anyway, it’s natural to feel chest pains, so just bear with it for a little bit and focus.”

“Yes!”

“Oh, and Dohee, are you still doing your stretching exercises at home regularly?”

Of course, I do them consistently for 30 minutes every night before bed when I get home.

“Yes, I’ve been doing them regularly.”

“Flexibility decreases as you grow taller, so work even harder on stretching from now on.”

“Yes!”

“Or maybe you could take this opportunity to start doing Pilates² with Wooa.”

I thought I was flexible enough, so I’ve been letting my Unni take Pilates classes by herself

“Yes. If I feel it’s not enough, I’ll tell Team Leader-nim.”

“Okay. Now, let’s focus again and start the dance from the opposite foot this time.”

“Yes!”

After the choreography lesson, I went up to the fifth floor with Wooa Unni to have dinner.
Looking at the menu in the restaurant, today’s options were cheese katsu, sprouts bibimbap, and Vietnamese spring rolls.

“Oh! I’m getting the cheese katsu. Are you having the cheese katsu too?”

“Ah… I need to lose weight, so I’m going to have the Vietnamese spring rolls.”

“Hmm…”

I checked Unni’s body with my eyes.

“Why?”

I took out my transit card from my pocket and placed it against Unni’s chest.

“Beep beep, it’s a child.”

“Ah, don’t do that.”

My Unni blushed and tapped my shoulder.
If it were my Mom she would have hit my head instead of my shoulder.

“All you’re going to lose is the fat from your chest. Unni is still at an age where she’s growing like me, so there’s no need to lose weight. Just have the cheese katsu.”

Without even listening to Unni’s words, I scanned my card at the kiosk and ordered two cheese katsu.

“Ah, I really do need to lose weight though…”

“You really don’t need to lose weight. You’re doing Pilates too, so what’s the harm?”

“Still…”

“No wait, what’s your height and weight?”

“I’m 161 centimeters and 48 kilograms.”

“Eh, what’s this?”

I thought so.
What weight does she need to lose?

“Do you think it’s okay for me not to lose weight?”

“Actually, maybe you should lose a bit?”

“Hey!”

“Hehe. Just kidding, you don’t need to lose weight. You’re already thin enough.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But when they pick the debut team later, you might need to lose a bit? For camera reasons, you might look a bit plump.”

The camera lens can distort images, making people appear plumper than they are in reality.
That’s why so many celebrities who appear to be at a healthy weight on TV are actually very thin in real life.

“Right…? I guess I should just eat Vietnamese spring rolls.”

“But if we lose weight right now, our chest will end up as flat as a cliff like my Mom’s chest.”

“Really…? But isn’t chest size genetic?”

“Unni what size is your mother?”

“Probably a D-cup?”

“Ah.”

Genetics is a ******** game.

“Unni, you should just eat Vietnamese spring rolls from now on.”

“Huh.”

I took out my phone and sent a KakaoTalk message to Mom.

– Mom, Wooa’s mom is a D cup –

Oh, the message was read.
And then Mom immediately responded..

– ㅗ –

I replied right away.

– Lol –

After dinner, I went to my vocal lesson.
Vocal lessons are different from choreography lessons because unlike dance, vocal lessons are taken one-on-one, so whenever I take vocal lessons my Unni takes a different class.
My Unni is probably having a rap lesson right now.

When I entered the vocal room, Teacher Kwon was there.

“Hello~ Teacher Kwon, I’m here~”

Our vocal Teacher Kwon Hyuk, is a male teacher so he is less harsh to me and Wooa who are girls, so he’s easier to get along with than other teachers.

“Okay, Dohee, come and sit down.”

I naturally went to the piano seat and sat down.
Since I play the piano well, I don’t need to look at the sheet music. I can play the song as soon as I hear it, so I started singing while playing.
I’ll have to show this off on TV someday.

“Teacher-nim, what are we doing today?”

“What do you mean, what are we doing? We’re going to practice extending our vocal range just like last time.”

“Hm2… I don’t think I should do high notes.”

“Why? Does something hurt?”

“I’m going through puberty starting today.”

“What does that mean?”

“If I’m going through puberty, my voice will change. So what will you do if my throat gets damaged and my voice becomes weird?”

“For girls, voice changes are only about a 3-note drop. It shouldn’t be a big deal, so just sing quickly.”

“Ah, what a shame.”

So, in the end, I had to sing.

“Dohee, try to relax a bit and focus on the bending.”

“Yes~”

After finishing singing, Teacher-nim made an ambiguous expression.

“Ha… that’s strange.”

“Why?”

“It seems like you’re singing well because you play the piano too well.”

“That’s right, I am singing well.”

Ignoring my words, Teacher-nim made me stand up from the piano bench.

“Dohee, come here. I’ll play the piano.”

Teacher-nim played the piano, and I just sang the song again.

“Look at this. This kid is a fraud.”

Ah.
I got caught.

“You keep covering up your weak voice with the piano sound, right?”

“Hehe, you got me.”

“I told you to pay attention to your suspension and release, right? Sing again.”

“Yes!”

I sang the song again.

“This isn’t working. Lee Dohee, plank.”

“Ah. Teacher-nim.”

“Quickly, plank.”

Reluctantly, I had no choice but to lay on the floor and assume a plank position.

“Now, pay attention to your breathing while you sing. If you keep that posture you’ll get better in no time.”

“Yes…”

I ended up singing while holding the plank position for three minutes and collapsed sprawled out on the floor immediately after finishing.

“Ugh… I’m going to die…”

Teacher-nim gave me water as I lay flat on the ground and said,

“Well done. If you keep doing this, your skills will improve rapidly.”

“Yes…”

“Okay, shall we do it three more times?”

“Ugh, yes, okay?”

As I was drinking I choked on my water at Teacher-nim’s words.

“Okay. Now, plank again!”

“Ah, Teacher-nim.”

“Quickly.”

Scratch the previous statement about being lenient.

After finishing what felt like a physical exercise disguised as a vocal lesson, I left the vocal room to find Wooa Unni who was waiting outside.

“Dohee, are you’re done?”

“Ugh… I thought I was going to die.”

“Haha, come on, let’s do something fun after the lesson~.”

Now comes the part I’m least confident about—rap lessons.

The rap teacher is an external guest instructor, and apparently they said they are a well-known rapper.
His rap name is ‘Jo,’ which is pronounced Jay-O, and seems to be derived from his real name, Jo Bongsik.
Jo Bongsik the rapper.
Pfft.

I sluggishly entered the vocal room trudging weakly to where the rap teacher was.

“Oh, Dohee, you’re here?”

“Yo~ Jay-O-Teach~ I’m back…”

“Dohee, I told you that you don’t have to go that far just because it’s rap time.”

“Yes…”

For a rapper, he is very polite.

“Dohee, did you come up with some lyrics?”

“Yes. Shall I try?”

“Yeah, give it a try.”

“I’m Dohee, not a boy. Gold trophies fill my home. I tread you like a broken glass.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes. I don’t know what to write beyond that.”

“It’s okay, you did well on your first try. It’s a bit disappointing that you’re only matching the rhyme in English.”

“Yes.”

“Also, Dohee, as I mentioned before, you have a nasal sound when you rap, right? That’s making your pronunciation muffled and you can’t emphasize the accents.”

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just be more mindful of it.”

“Yes.”

Rap is the hardest…

Finally, after all the classes were over, it was time to leave.
Wooa Unni, who was writing in her practice log next to me, asked,

“Dohee, what are you doing this Sunday?”

“I need to rest. I’m so tired I could die.”

“Can’t you hang out with me?”

“I’m tired.”

“The two of us haven’t hung out alone before, right~ Hmm?”

“We’re together six days a week, isn’t that enough…”

“Let’s have fun. Eat something delicious and go shopping, okay?”

“Shall we do that?”

“Yes! Let’s go, let’s go.”

“No.”

“Aw, pleaseee~”

In the end, after so much whining, we promised to meet and hang out on Sunday.
Sigh, so annoying.

As I left the office with Wooa Unni, I noticed that usually, Mom’s car would be parked here, but it wasn’t.

Oh, where did she go again?

I took out my phone and called Mom.

“Mom, where are you?”

– Mom? Mom’s at home~ –

“Aren’t you coming to pick me up?”

– Yeah~ –

“Is it because of the message I sent you on KakaoTalk today? Why are you being so childish.”

– That’s because Mom’s heart is as narrow as her chest, that’s why she’s like that~ –

“Oh, come quickly.”

– I saw you come home by yourself last time. Dohee is all grown up now. I’m hanging up now! –

Ah.

The call was cut off.

I tried calling Mom again.

– The customer is not available right now. Please call again later. –

Ah.

“Wooa Unni asks me,

“Your Mom can’t come?”

“No, she said she isn’t coming.”

“That’s good. Let’s take the bus together.”

“I guess so… sigh.”

1. Arsène Lupin is a fictional character created by Maurice Leblanc, a French writer, who is a gentleman thief, detective, and master of disguise.
2. Pilates is a form of strength training, but it doesn’t look like some of the other strength training exercises you might be familiar with. Pilates focuses more on improving muscle tone than building muscles, but the result is similar: greater stability and endurance.