Chapter 64


“Do-ah, I’m tired, so come out and sleep with me.”

Dad’s voice calling for Do-ah from outside.

And then I woke up to a sensation pressing down on me.

When I opened my eyes, Do-ah was rolling on top of me.

  

I guess she was happy to see me after a long time.

I hugged Do-ah tightly and kissed her cheek.

“Do-ah, did you miss me?”

“Not like that.”

Do-ah’s cute, innocent expression.

Though her face said one thing, her actions screamed excitement.

She was just too adorable, I couldn’t resist giving her more kisses.

Amidst that, I heard Mom calling for me from outside.

“Is our daughter up? If she’s awake, come out and eat!”

I’d returned to reality.

After the competition ended yesterday, I collapsed onto my bed as soon as I got home at 4 AM.

When I woke up, it was 3 PM.

I really slept late.

It felt like I had slept a lot, but my body was still tired.

The fatigue only hit me after the tension of the stage had melted away.

Forcing myself to get out of bed when I wanted to lounge around longer, I sat down at the table and started my late lunch.

While eating, I couldn’t resist picking up my phone.

I had planned to check it after I ate, but I just couldn’t wait any longer.

The moment I was most excited about.

What are they saying on the internet?

First, I searched for myself on YouTube.

Oh… it’s even posted on YouTube.

<[ENG sub] Justdol3 Topist (Do-hee Lee) #CoolSweatGirlToCoolOffSummerHeat #SelfIntroduction_1MinPR >

(Video)

– Topist really went all out this time, only sending out pretty girls, haha, especially Do-hee is the best-looking, for real!

└ Eun Se-ra is prettier though, lol.

└ It’s obvious she got plastic surgery, and she’s still number one in looks, haha.

└ No one can deny she’s natural, how is that even plastic surgery, haha?

└ Who gets plastic surgery for a 15-year-old? Stop talking nonsense, seriously.

└ To me, Do-hee is the prettiest! Second is Mei-rin and Eun Se-ra.

– Damn, the visuals this season are no joke!

– She’s actually considered the NO.1 Visual in Jdol3 by K-netizens! Sooooo pretty~

– Do-hee Lee is so beautiful. She’s a talent that will shine in Kpop.

– She’s so cute! Her charm is no joke!

– Seriously, she’s tall, has great proportions, and is so pretty. Among currently active idols, I think she’s one of the prettiest.

– She’s my favorite so far! She moves so beautifully.

– Seriously beautiful.

– Do-hee’s face could save the world and the universe… With that one face, she could achieve global domination. For real, she’s so damn pretty, cute, and lovable, I’m losing my mind… For real, my heart almost can’t take it… Please, don’t act up, heart… Ha… Do-hee, just do everything… Do what you want… I love you so much… From today, I’m a fan… ♡♡
It’s her face… with this one face, she can unify everything… Do-hee’s face could conquer the universe… seriously, she’s so pretty, cute, and lovely that I’m about to lose my mind… my heart almost exploded… please don’t act up, heart… ㅠㅠ Ha… Do-hee, just take it all, do everything you want… ㅠㅠ I love you so much, older sister… I’m a fan from today… ♡♡

– ㅠㅜㅜㅠ Her beauty is unbelievable, how is she that stunning… I’m just in awe.

– Whose daughter is she to be this pretty? Her mother must be gorgeous too… ㅠㅠ

It’s already half taken over by English comments, proof that K-pop programs are definitely getting attention.

“Do-hee, eat your food first.”

Mom said to me, who was laughing while looking at my phone instead of eating.

I showed my phone screen to Mom and said.

“Mom, did you see this video of mine?”

“Of course, I watched it. You think I wouldn’t?”

“Oh~”

“Dad saw it too. And he even left comments with me.”

“Really?”

Dad, who had been proudly sitting next to me even after lunch, pointed at the two comments on my phone screen.

“Here are the two.”

The two comments Dad pointed at were:

“Whose daughter is she to be this pretty? Her mother must be gorgeous too… ㅠㅠ”

Right, looking at it now, anyone can tell Mom left that comment.

But… first of all, let’s set Mom aside…

“Dad…”

“Do-hee is very pretty. She will be a talent that shines in the music industry.”

My face is burning.

“How touching, huh?”

Is it touching…?

“Dad should learn a bit from Mom. You’re acting like a total uncle.”

Dad looked shocked and dazed, but I’m shocked too…

Who talks like this in their early 40s…

You should at least teach us…

*

The hot topic heating up the community.

First competition review.

[First competition review.]
– Do-hee is so pretty, I’m glad I went to the audience, lol.

[Competition review spoiler alert]
– Sara is the best, absolutely 1st place.

[Real first competition review]
– So glad I went to the audience, lol.

[Going to vividly post the competition review. Warning for long post.]
(Frog photo)

What a lie.

└ You guys, stop joking and post real reviews!

└ Spoil it for me, I feel like I’m going crazyaaahhh!

With high hopes, I clicked on the review post, but there was nothing in it.

Then one post popped up.

[Real review. Slight spoiler) Just came back from the first competition]

(Ticket photo) (Studio exterior photo) Proof of entry.

It was my first time experiencing an idol stage and audience, and I was super excited.
This is my first time attending a show and I was really looking forward to it.

I don’t know if it’s always like this, but they were super thorough.

They made us sign a waiver, collected our phones, and even had metal detectors.

Right now, it’s all vague talk, and since the production staff are so scared, nothing juicy is coming out, even with Netflix collaborating.

Anyway, I was a bit nervous too, so I’ll share a little spoiler.

First of all, the MC, Lee Si-hoon, came and he was super handsome.

And the trainees are all pretty, overall even more than Season 1, but here I am talking about looks? They’re unbelievably pretty.

Moreover, I read something about vocal ability before, saying that when you watch actual idol stages, their voices get drowned out and you can’t hear them properly.

They say that those who manage to project their voices in that chaos really have singing skills.

So I was curious and saw it during the competition, and wow, it was true.

I couldn’t hear the kids’ voices well; anyway, it just didn’t come through.

Some were out of breath and couldn’t sing properly.

Amid that, there were a few kids who managed to project their voices decently…

The problem is, I was standing the whole time during the competition, so I don’t remember well…

I decided to jot down the kids who stood out and were pretty.

First Competition – Tea Party [One Sip]

Both teams had some recognizable faces, so I was excited, but just total flop, haha.

Especially Yoon Seo-won… she’s incredibly pretty, but she hit a lot of wrong notes.

Anyway, most of them couldn’t even be heard properly, pitch was unstable, and after listening to this, I thought about leaving…

But one person stood out: Kim Na-eun.

She sang well, and when I saw her in pictures, I didn’t realize it, but she’s way prettier in person…

Tall, good proportions, and she was cute introducing herself before performing, lol.

.

.

.

Last Competition – 3M [It G]

Group 1…

Well, both the members and stage were just so-so.

But Group 2 might have been the star of the show; their visuals were insane.

I remember Mei-rin, Do-hee, Park Ye-eun, and Gong Chae-rin were in Group 2, and wow… Mei-rin and Do-hee were especially gorgeous.

But Do-hee outshined Mei-rin… you really have to see it in person to understand.

Anyway, to sum it up:

Gong Chae-rin *

They said not to spoil, but the production staff knew spoilers would come out regardless.

And as he read those posts, the main PD, Hyun-woong Lim, was weighing his options.

Who should he give more screen time to, and who should he highlight?

Now that the first round of evaluations was over, he had to lock down the overall structure and buildup of the broadcast from episode one by looking at the skill and star power of the participants.

Especially episode one was crucial.

The image that would carry through to the finale was already established.

It wasn’t by chance that the final debut members from seasons 1 and 2 were mostly first-tier members, except for a few underdogs.

Of course, since he had already been envisioning the editing during the shoot, most of the editing directions and framework were already in place in Hyun-woong’s mind.

This broadcast was for Netflix.

The important thing was pure viewership ratings.

To achieve that, there was nothing better than leveraging the name value of the four major entertainment agencies.

Most of the global K-pop fandoms belonged to these agencies.

That’s why he brought in trainees from the four major agencies under the condition that the editing would favor them.

His gaze shifted to Eun Se-ra on the editing room screen.

Since the third-tier trainees were performing well, even favorably editing their footage wouldn’t necessarily grant them special privileges.

  

Having pinpointed the editing points for the four major agency trainees, he began to think of the multitude of participants.

“This time, there are a lot of kids to use.”

This season boasted many talented individuals.

Thus, reducing the final debut number to seven felt regrettable.

It was an absurd directive from the director, based on the fact that the most popular K-pop group currently had seven members, so there was no other choice.

However, the survival aspect would become even more intense, so the ratings should benefit from it.