Chapter 2: Public Broadcasting

The next morning, I called Hikari to the practice room.

“…..Did you sleep well?”

“Yes… I’m a little tired.”

Hikari rubbed her sleepy eyes and got up.

Yes, if we’re going to live together anyway, let’s be nice to each other.

I’ve been fighting with the president a lot lately, so I didn’t want to get caught by the president’s nephew and get into trouble for no reason.

“First, sing this once.”

“Oh, yes!”

Hikari, who received the lyrics from me, started singing.

To be honest, I was somewhat looking forward to it.

Even though she was an untrained ordinary person, she was still the main heroine.

Her singing was really…

‘….the worst.’

I grimaced at her ear-piercing voice.

There were squeaks here and there in the song, and I could hear her breathing loudly.

Aside from those things, we were idols.

If you were comparing us to ordinary people, you might think we sang pretty well.

But with that kind of singing ability, it was impossible.

‘I remember that Hikari was supposed to be pretty good at singing, wasn’t I?’

It had been almost 20 years since I last played that game, so I couldn’t remember the details.

“Uh, what do you think?”

Hikari asked me, breathing heavily after finishing the song.

Her eyes were surprisingly full of confidence.

“….You’ve never sung before, right?”

“Ugh…”

And, I had no intention of satisfying her confidence at all.

Even considering that I was just an ordinary person, reality is reality.

‘Well, I guess the vocal teacher will see to that…’

I couldn’t teach her how to breathe or control her pitch when singing anyway.

No matter how well I did, I thought the teachers would handle it.

It was a procedure to check my skills before that, but it was all in vain.

“….Okay, let’s go now.”

“Ah, yes!”

Hikari, who had come to her senses, followed me.

Maybe because she was younger than me, she had good stamina.

“….Get some rest, we’ll be filming soon.”

This afternoon, our Cornelia appeared on a talk show.

Of course, Hikari, who hadn’t officially debuted yet, didn’t appear on the show.

But for some reason, a request came down to have her accompany the program.

It was meant to be a preview for when she would appear on a TV program as an idol.

“Wow! Filming?!”

“….Yes.”

Even though she wasn’t going to appear anyway, she just smiled as if she was full of anticipation.

Yes, it would be easy for someone seeing the filming set for the first time.

I had high expectations at first too.

‘Well, it’s just really annoying now.’

When we returned to the dorm, the members who had already woken up greeted us.

Since it was already time for everyone to wake up, I was in my right mind.

“Okay, everyone, let’s get ready.”

“Yes, unnie!”

At my words, everyone started getting ready in a jiffy.

“Hikari, you should get ready too.”

“Ah… yes.”

After sending Hikari to her room, I also started getting ready.

“Okay, everyone, come quickly.”

After we finished getting ready, we got into the moving vehicle according to Sion’s instructions.

“Unnie! How about this?”

In the car heading to the filming location, Hina leaned in to me.

Something golden and shiny dangled from her ear.

“… Those are earrings, did you get them new?”

“Hehe, my older sister made them for me as a gift!”

The quality of the earrings she was wearing was clearly inferior to the branded jewelry she usually wore.

Compared to the street jewelry I often saw in Korea, they were probably a little better.

Despite that, Hina just smiled faintly as if she liked it.

She was just happy that her precious family had given her something as a gift.

‘….That’s a little jealous.’

I felt a strange sense of deprivation, but I soon forgot about that feeling.

After all, those people are not worthy of being called parents.

Receiving a gift?

Well, in that case, it would be better to just cut them off for the rest of your life.

“…Well, it suits you well.”

“What do you think? I think it would be good to wear it for this performance!”

“….. Well, I’m not sure.”

I looked at the earrings a little more closely.

The quality of the earrings themselves may be poor, but since they were made by her family, they had enough elements to bring out Hina’s charm.

Since the quality of idol fancams in Japan wasn’t that good yet, there was no way the quality of the earrings would be compromised.

It was a good suggestion.

Above all, since Hina likes it, it would help her mental health.

Since she doesn’t appear on camera much anyway, if it could help her relax, I would be grateful.

“…. I don’t think that’s a problem. But please don’t wear them during this shoot.”

No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t stand having to answer all the sponsors’ complaints.

“Wow! Thank you, Unnie!!”

Hina’s eyes sparkled at my words and she hugged me.

“…Don’t do that in the car, it’s dangerous.”

“It’s a red light anyway~”

“….It’s uncomfortable for me.”

“Hey, lie! You’re nice too, sis!”

“Ren, hug me too!”

“Yui, don’t be like that. Everyone, sit quietly like Airi.”

Click!

At the same time, the sound of a camera shutter was heard.

I turned my head in the direction of the sound and saw Airi raising her phone and taking continuous shots.

“….Airi?”

“Ah, uh…senpai! T-that’s why!! You all look so good together…!”

“Even you…”

In the end, even Airi, whom I had trusted, ended up joining our chaotic procession.

It’s clear that everyone was in their right minds when we first met.

Why do they seem to be getting stranger and stranger?

“Hey, can you all please be quiet?”

Sion, who was sitting in the front seat, finally said something.

“””””Yeah…”””””

The guys who hadn’t flinched at my words sullenly returned to their seats at Sion’s words.

I guess it’s because they all like Sion.

Since the original character was Miyeonshi, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that they felt favorable towards him.

‘But I can’t allow it.’

Would I give the younger siblings I raised to some other man?

If it were to get revealed that they’re entangled with a man, these kids’ idol life might just end.

As I continued to look at Sion with that thought, he abruptly turned his face away.

His ears were slightly red.

“…………..”

Hikari was watching us with a meaningful expression.

About an hour after we arrived at the filming location by car,

“Hello, I’m Takamine Sion, the producer of Cornelia.”

“Hello. I’m Hiroshi Gojo, the director of photography.”

Since filming would start soon, we headed to the waiting room.

“Oh, by the way, I heard that Hikari will be participating in the filming of Part 2.”

“….Huh?”

I was speechless at the thought of having a kid with no proper broadcast experience appear right away.

Not in the first part, but in the second part?

“…Just in case, I didn’t say the first part wrong, did I?”

“…..Yeah, I said it was the second part.”

The appearance itself didn’t matter.

Since it was a pre-ordered version that was going to air on TV, people would have a hard time, but they could edit out any controversial parts and re-film them.

Anyway, she probably didn’t know how to act as an idol or what not to say yet.

“…I wonder if the president has some thoughts? He probably wants the company to go under.”

“Ha…I hope so.”

I was still angry that he hadn’t given me any advice, but I decided to let it slide for now.

I couldn’t keep making a bad face when I was going to appear on TV soon.

“Hina, for now, don’t wear that.”

“Oh, yes!”

Hina seemed regretful at my words, put her earrings on the desk, and quickly walked out.

As everyone left the waiting room, the filming set filled with countless cameras and lights came into view.

“It’s almost time to go on stage.”

“I’m so nervous…”

“Hina Unnie does this every time, right? Isn’t that right, Nano?”

“So what? I’m still nervous. As long as I don’t make any mistakes, that’s fine.”

There were two reasons why idols appeared on talk shows or variety shows.

Either the broadcasting station wanted to use the idol’s popularity to increase viewership, or the idol wanted to promote a new song they were going to release on a popular show.

Today’s filming was the latter case, as they planned to promote a new song that would be released soon through this show.

“…..But don’t be too nervous. It might be better to make a mistake than to be frozen.”

It might be different at a concert hall, but…

I didn’t plan on catching them, saying that they shouldn’t make mistakes even in a place like this.

There were many cases where idols found it cute when they made mistakes.

“Ah… yes!!!”

I smiled to reassure them, and the members’ faces lit up.

“Okay, today’s guest is…!”

As soon as the signal to enter came, we quickly walked into the filming set.

“Hello! This is the girl group ‘Cornelia’!”

“Ahh… It’s hard.”

After the first part of filming was over, we returned to the waiting room.

“Ugh… I think this is harder than the previous performance…”

“By the way, where is Hikari?”

“I wonder if she went out for a bit?”

I told her to stay when filming started, but… she went somewhere again.

“….Well, it’s okay as long as she comes before it starts.”

The moment we each took our seats in the waiting room, we heard Hina’s voice.

“Huh…? Where did my earring go?”

Hina looked around in confusion.

Her eyes began to look increasingly anxious.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hina, what’s wrong?”

The other members approached her, worried as they saw her searching through the desk here and there.

“Sister, is your earring gone?”

“Huh… What should I do…”

Hina, who had been searching through the waiting room desk, started to cry.

They searched everything from the vanity to the floor, but her earring was nowhere to be found.

“Huh? What are you all doing?”

At that moment, Hikari walked into the waiting room.

Perhaps because she had been looking for earrings just a moment ago, an earring dangling from her ear caught my eye.

It looked strangely similar to Hina’s.