You Promised Me, Mr. Lee San-ha - Chapter 82



Only Noblemtl

Episode 82: When one door closes, another door opens (3)

All articles related to Project 108 have been completed.

‘Great. The timing is perfect. I won’t have to work overtime!’

I headed straight to my studio.

……however?

“Eww!?”

I was startled when I saw a shadow sitting in front of the front door.

I wondered who had put a large, regular garbage bag here… … Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was Bae Eun-ji.

“Why are you so late!? I almost froze to death!”

She shouted with an expression like an abandoned dog looking up at its owner whom she had finally reunited with after going through many hardships.

The convenience store bags held in both hands are full of green glass bottles.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be a plum drink.

I asked in bewilderment.

“Is it okay for idols to drink that much alcohol?”

“Idols are a profession that sells illusions, right? So I have to get drunk like Van Gogh and indulge in illusions.”

I shook my head and opened the door to my studio.

Bae Eun-ji looks around with a surprised expression.

“What? What? Why is it so clean? Did you know I was coming and call a cleaning company in advance?”

“It’s always like this.”

In fact, there is almost nothing to clean.

Bed, desk, chair, bookshelf, wardrobe.

Could this be called an extreme minimalist life?

Bae Eun-ji, who had finished looking around the room, spoke cautiously.

“Could this place have originally been a prison? It’s so desolate and scary.”

“If you came here to criticize other people’s interiors, get out.”

“Oh, that’s true. When I become very successful, I’ll buy you a bunch of interior decoration items for your little one’s house!”

“Okay.”

I went to the sink and took out my apron.

“What do you want to eat? Something simple to cook… … .”

Cadduk-

Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a green bottle cap opening was heard.

“Any side dish is fine, just come quickly.”

“… … Okay. Then I’ll fry some ham and eggs, so just wait a little bit.”

Take out a pack of ham and slice it thinly.

I put some oil in the frying pan and started frying the ham and eggs.

Knock, knock.

A savory smell rises along with the sound of oil frying.

“Wow! You’re a good cook, little one?! Do you want to marry me?”

“Okay.”

“Ugh, is this the 427 confession, the 427 chime?”

Bae Eun-ji is more absent-minded than usual.

It feels like you’re consciously avoiding certain conversation topics.

I asked point blank.

“More than that, what happened to the confirmation of 9th place?”

“… … .”

The once lively Bae Eun-ji suddenly becomes quiet.

She began to pour alcohol into a shot glass with a gloomy expression.

“I was moving after filming ended.”

“… … .”

“I couldn’t quite remember where I left my earphones. I hurried back to the set and was crawling between the chairs… … when I heard voices.”

Bae Eun-ji raised her glass.

There wasn’t even a toast, but the glass was empty.

“The PD was saying something to the mentors. There’s this guy named PD Son Sung-woo… … .”

I know him because he is a fairly famous PD in the broadcasting industry.

He is a person who stands out especially in audition programs.

There are countless nicknames.

Issue maker, ratings machine, devil in the editing room, robber with a camera.

Some netizens even gave him the nickname ‘dream predator’, meaning that he sells other people’s dreams.

It’s a derogatory term that tells us a lot about what kind of person he is.

PD Son Sung-woo says that he only airs a show after each and every subtitle has passed through his hands.

‘Probably the camera angles and the amount of adjustment were all done by Son Sung-woo.’

What could that person have been saying behind the scenes?

I waited quietly for the next words.

Bae Eun-ji began to describe that moment vividly.

* * *

PD Son Sung-woo was drawing the character for “river” between his eyebrows.

He spoke with his arms crossed as usual.

“I told you again~.”

A thick tone of speech that elongates the endings.

Nobody likes that tone.

Even PD Son Sung-woo’s parents wouldn’t like it.

“I told you to stop giving Bae Eun-ji some attention~? Pay more attention to the other kids’ portions~ How many times do I have to repeat this?”

The choreography mentor answered.

“I praise Eun-ji because she does it so well without any flaws. I always see other kids’ movements being slightly off-key, and Ye-jin even moved in the opposite direction at the end, so I praise her for that, then?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m praising.”

“… … .”

The mentors look at PD Son Sung-woo, speechless.

PD Son Seong-woo said with an annoyed expression.

“Even if you promote him, he won’t be on the show anyway. The issue-making is over, so why do you keep giving him more screen time when he’s going to drop next week? It’s just hard to edit.”

Bae Eun-ji, who was hiding between the chairs, freezes in place.

PD Son Seong-woo’s remarks continue.

“What did I say when you were casting? I said that we already had the cast, and that we should focus on them. But why do you keep worrying about useless people?”

Mentors have no answers.

It was a reaction that acknowledged that they were in cahoots.

Bae Eun-ji belatedly thinks that she should record this fact.

This is unfair.

It is unfair before it is injustice.

Before it was unfair, it was nothing more than a crime, a fraud.

At that moment, she thought of Isanha.

‘If you hand me the recording file, Sanha will publish it as an article.’

Even if the result cannot be changed, even if you are eliminated from the next round.

The thought of having to tell the world the truth dominates her mind.

Bae Eun-ji took out her cell phone and carefully pressed the [Start Recording] button.

Right then.

thud-

Is it because my hands are sweaty?

The sound of a dropped cell phone echoed throughout the quiet set.

* * *

That was the extent of Bae Eun-ji’s explanation of the situation.

I leaned forward and asked.

“What, what? Why did you cut off at such an important point?!”

On the contrary, Bae Eun-ji’s upper body gradually leans backwards.

“Eww- I don’t know-.”

Thump.

Her sad face is buried in the bed mattress.

“What if I cut it off there… … Huh?”

Before I knew it, there were two empty bottles standing on the table.

Considering that I couldn’t even drink a single glass while concentrating on the story… … that means that Bae Eun-ji alone drank two bottles.

“You drank all this by yourself? Are you okay?!”

I walk up to her and shake her shoulder.

Bae Eun-ji’s upper body shakes from side to side.

“Ugh~ Don’t do that… … I’m dizzy~.”

“No, no matter how upset I am, it’s like that.”

I was speechless.

This is because I realized that the expression ‘no matter how upset I am’ is too light.

How can I understand?

The feeling of someone who has walked one path all his life.

How many times has that will been broken by others?

“… … .”

Look quietly at Bae Eun-ji’s face.

A lively face that has been looked upon by countless people and given them energy.

I could feel a deep sense of fatigue settling on her face.

I sat down next to her.

“It was hard.”

Bae Eun-ji answered.

“… … A little?”

The calm voice didn’t last long.

“Kkeuy, ugh… … .”

Bae Eun-ji leaned her head on my shoulder and grabbed my collar.

“I, I worked hard, really… … I really worked hard.”

I consoled her and answered briefly.

“know.”

It’s not that her arms are bent inward, but Bae Eun-ji was actually the best among the 108 contestants.

Vocals, dance, expressions, and even entertainment sense.

Even if you look at it only from an objective standpoint, there was no indicator that could belittle her.

And it wasn’t just a matter of talent.

A dozen years of painstaking effort.

It was the result of constant effort, even after losing his family and being looked down on by his relatives.

Bae Eun-ji started crying, practically clinging to me.

“I, I now… … this is all I have… … .”

Her speech is choppy.

I patted her back for a while.

After a while, the crying subsides a little.

Bae Eun-ji raised her head and met his eyes as she spoke.

“Do ‘that’ for me.”

“uh?”

A statement that suddenly made me breathless.

My mind went blank and I asked again.

“What, what… … .”

“There’s something I used to do when I was little! I used to hug you tightly!”

When I was young? Were my kindergarten days that chaotic?

I was so paralyzed by embarrassment that I couldn’t really respond.

Okay then.

“Ouch, really!”

Bae Eun-ji’s arms began to wrap around the back of my neck.

The front of her soft, warm body pressed against mine.

I raised my hand to release the hold.

“Ugh, dude, you’re really drunk. Stop… … .”

But that hand was stopped by Bae Eun-ji’s scolding.

“Now you should hug me too and say, ‘Good job!’”

“Oh, that?”

I remembered it because of the loudness that made my eardrums feel like they were going to burst.

‘Good job’, a greeting devised by a teacher for a struggling classmate in kindergarten.

I don’t remember well, but he was a really good teacher.

The teacher told everyone this greeting and said:

‘Everyone has times when things don’t work out no matter how hard they try. It’s not a bad thing if something doesn’t work out. It’s just something that happens all the time.’

‘Like a dragonfly eating a mosquito?’

‘That’s right. But even a dragonfly misses a mosquito sometimes. How upset would that be?’

‘You must be hungry!’

‘Okay. So… … let’s all say this when our precious friends are upset.’

… … I said, carefully hugging Bae Eun-ji’s shoulders.

“Well done.”

A very long time.

For more than half the time I’ve been alive.

No one would have hugged her and said something like that.

“You’ve done well so far. Just keep doing it the way you’ve been doing.”

“but…….”

I grabbed Bae Eun-ji’s shoulders tightly.

And he said in a firm voice.

“So, make a promise with me.”