I Became An Idol To Pay Off My Debt

When I named Seo Yoo-jin, it wasn’t just the characters on the broadcast that were surprised, but the viewers as well.

“…Ehhh?!! Ye-rin, did you pick her at that moment?”
Lee Ji-woo, who was looking at Na Ah Ah, asked me with wide eyes the moment I chose Seo Yoo-jin.

“Yes, that’s right. I picked Yoo-jin.”
“…Why? At that time, she was totally at rock bottom… That couldn’t have been an easy choice…?”

“It wasn’t easy, but… I knew it wasn’t Yoo-jin’s fault… and it was just too hard watching her struggle alone…”
“Ugh…”

And after hearing my answer…
“Why is my trainee so lovable…!”
She squeezed me tightly and rubbed her face against my body.

“Look at you worrying about another kid while being a kid yourself! How can my trainee be so kind-hearted?”
“Ugh…, Teacher, this is frustrating. Can you let go of me…?”

“No! I can’t help it until I give my Ye-rin a kiss!”
So I continued watching the broadcast while Ji-woo pouted at me.

On the broadcast, Han Si-woo was looking at me with a dazed expression.
[Han Si-woo: …Huh? Ye-rin, what does that mean…?]
[Ha Ye-rin (Brotherhood Planning): I, once again, will choose participant Seo Yoo-jin.]
[Han Si-woo, caught off guard.]

[At that moment.]
[Seo Yoo-jin (SAV): Huhhhh…, Huhhhh….]
[Seo Yoo-jin, crying like there’s no tomorrow.]

Until now, Seo Yoo-jin had been trying to hold back tears, but she finally couldn’t take it anymore and burst into tears like a dam breaking, amplifying the viewers’ sympathy.
Han Si-woo also glanced at her with a worried expression and quickly turned back to me and asked,
[Han Si-woo: Ah, no…, but Seo Yoo-jin is a leader like Ye-rin, so she can’t be chosen, right?]
[Ha Ye-rin (Brotherhood Planning): But there’s no rule saying leaders can’t choose other leaders, right? I picked Yoo-jin because she hasn’t been picked by anyone yet!]
[…Is that so?]

[The atmosphere becomes tense due to Ha Ye-rin’s words.]
[At that moment,]
[Na Han-na (Hairst): Um, then I’d like to choose Ye-rin unnie.]
[Laughter erupts in the room because of Na Han-na’s unexpected words haha.]
[Cut, cut! We’ll take a short break!]

[In the end, the production team holds an emergency meeting…]
[What will happen to the fates of Ha Ye-rin and Seo Yoo-jin?]
And with a conclusion that piques the viewers’ curiosity, a commercial comes on.

One minute after the ad ends, Han Si-woo appears on the broadcast with a serious expression, holding a microphone.
[Han Si-woo: Yes~ Ha Ye-rin has chosen participant Seo Yoo-jin, the leader of another team. This was unexpected, so the production team went into a meeting. The result is….]
Dun dun!
[Tension fills the moment.]
[Everyone turns their attention to Han Si-woo’s mouth.]
[Han Si-woo: We’ve decided to acknowledge it! Haha, as Ye-rin said, there’s no rule against a leader choosing another leader! However, we will ban leader-to-leader selections in the future, and the third team competition originally planned for six teams will proceed with five teams!]

[The rules have changed!]
[Han Si-woo continues with a smile.]
[Han Si-woo: Now, only Seo Yoo-jin’s answer remains. Yoo-jin! You’ve been chosen by Ha Ye-rin! Will you accept it?]
[Everyone’s eyes are on Seo Yoo-jin…!]
[What will Seo Yoo-jin decide?]
[Seo Yoo-jin (SAV): Yes…! Yes! I will definitely… definitely accept it!]
[Han Si-woo: Then this means Seo Yoo-jin will join Ha Ye-rin’s team! Congratulations!]
[Seo Yoo-jin joins Ha Ye-rin’s team!]

As the subtitles pop up, Seo Yoo-jin runs to me crying and hugs me.
I hugged her back… and then the production team added some heartwarming background music, making it feel like a scene from a movie.
And the viewers’ reactions were…

– Wow
– Wow
– Wow
– I’m crying ㅠㅠ
– Great Ye-rin! Great Ye-rin! Great Ye-rin! Great Ye-rin!
– If you have both skills and personality…, dammit, I can’t help but love you!
– Ha Ye-rin ㅠㅠ

…It was truly explosive.

Who has the largest fandom in Na Ah Ah right now?
Some might say Yoo Seol, who took first place in the last 2nd voting is currently holding the biggest fandom.
But strictly speaking, the contestant with the most fans is me.
The reason Yoo Seol came first in the second voting was largely due to the sympathy vote and the performances she showed at that time.

‘Well…, it doesn’t seem like there’s that much difference from Yoo Seol anyway…’
Anyway, I have a lot of fans.

And since my screen time was low at the beginning of this episode, the fans who had been hiding for a bit…

– Ha Ye-rin! Ha Ye-rin! Ha Ye-rin! Ha Ye-rin! Ha Ye-rin! Ha Ye-rin! Ha Ye-rin!
– Ha Ye-rin my love, Ha Ye-rin my soul, Ha Ye-rin Na!

– Seriously, look at Ye-rin picking Seo Yoo-jin in that situation.
– Seo Yoo-jin and Ye-rin were on a team before. Maybe that’s why Seo Yoo-jin looks so pitiful alone ㅠㅠ

Suddenly, they appeared like a ghost army and started chanting my name.
On top of that, with my personal interview added in…

[Q: Why did you choose participant Seo Yoo-jin?]
[Ha Ye-rin (Brotherhood Planning): After being on a team together last time, I became close with Yoo-jin.]
[Ha Ye-rin (Brotherhood Planning): She’s a kind, talented kid, and it was just too sad seeing her alone crying…]
[Ha Ye-rin (Brotherhood Planning): So I picked her.]

– Wow
– Wow
– Wow
– Wait…, why is this so sweet;; really?
– Ha Ye-rin! Marry me!!

– What will happen to the Ye-rin and Yoo-jin duo ㅠㅠ
– They both look like cats hugging, they really look like sisters haha.

My fandom joined forces with Seo Yoo-jin’s and literally took over the comment section.
After that, my warm moments with Seo Yoo-jin continued on air.

[Snuggle.]
[Seo Yoo-jin, who won’t let go of Ha Ye-rin.]
The production team kept showing her looking like a little kitten cuddling me.
They even…

[On a dark night.]
[Seo Yoo-jin takes a pillow and walks to Ha Ye-rin’s room!]
[Could it be…?]
[Q: Did you sleep together with Ha Ye-rin by any chance?]
[Seo Yoo-jin (SAV): (turning red) Yes…]
[Seo Yoo-jin (SAV): I couldn’t sleep at night…. so I hugged my unnie to sleep….]

I never thought this would be used in the broadcast material…, but the production team unveiled that Yoo-jin and I slept together every night.
By the time it got to this point, my fandom and Seo Yoo-jin’s fandom chanted “Ye-rin Yoo-jin” like a slogan.

– Absolutely supporting Ye-rin Yoo-jin.
– The Ye-rin Yoo-jin duo is crazy.
– Love Ye-rin Yoo-jin.
– From now on, attacks on Seo Yoo-jin will be regarded as attacks on our Ye-rin.

And this atmosphere continued until the end of the broadcast.
When our team successfully completed the stage, people kept praising it and chanting Ye-rin Yoo-jin.

– What are you going to do about Ye-rin’s cat ears ㅠㅠ
– Ah, I really can’t take it anymore, Ye-rin.
– The tail…! Can I just touch Ye-rin’s tail once!?

– This stage was awesome again.
– Whenever there’s a performance with Ha Ye-rin, it seems like a legend is being made haha.
– Seo Yoo-jin is also cute.
– Big cat, little cat, both are so adorable ㅠㅠ
– Love Ye-rin Yoo-jin.
– Let’s keep going until the end, Ye-rin Yoo-jin.
– Ye-rin Yoo-jin must debut.

But at the end of episode 7, a scene came that quieted my fandom that was chanting Ye-rin Yoo-jin as if to brainwash others.
That was…

[Ha Ye-rin (Brotherhood Planning): Ugh, please vote for our team a lot…, meow….]
Now, that was my aegyo that I wanted to forget in my memories…

“Ugh, our Ye-rin…, ugh, her aegyo…, ugh ugh…, what is this…, ugh…, ughhh…!”
As soon as Ji-woo saw that scene, she couldn’t hold back, twisting her body as if she were broken, and hugged me tightly.

“Ahh…! What do I do, what do I do? So cute…!!”
“Ah…, Teacher…”

In daily life and on Na Ah Ah, I often appeared indifferent, so I didn’t expect others to have such extreme reactions.
But considering that, Ji-woo was overly exaggerated, and I hung my head, my face flushed.

“We played rock-paper-scissors and I lost, so I had to do it as a punishment… Don’t tease me too much…”
“Teasing? Ye-rin! I just think you’re really cute! My heart almost stopped!”

“Heart almost stopped? How is that even possible… You’re overdoing it…”
“Overdoing it? Ye-rin! I’m not the only one who thinks that! Look at this.”

And with Ji-woo’s words, I looked at the laptop screen….

– Kyaaaaaaaaaa
– Wow, damn
– Ugh…! Omg…! Ugh…, ugh…, agh…, uhhhhh…
– No way, Ha Ye-rin, no, damn, Ye-rin, no no no.
– Ah damn, I can’t breathe.

– Wow…, it’s really just wow. All I can say is wow….
– Where can I find a kitten like that?
– Love Ha Ye-rin, sincerely, truly.

– This level of cuteness is so out of this world, damn wow, really wow ㅠㅠ
– I’ve lived this long just to see this.

…The reactions were like an uprising.

“Ye-rin…, could you do it just one more time in front of me? Please?”
“…No.”
“This is my last wish before I die…, please…”
“…I absolutely won’t.”

After episode 7 of Na Ah Ah ended…, Ji-woo kept begging me to show her the aegyo again.
Since I vehemently refused…

“Okay, if you won’t do it, I guess I’ll have to watch the aegyo video of you that’s already on YouTube.”
…She pulled out her phone and started playing YouTube.

“Ah, no…, Na Ah Ah just ended, and you’re saying there’s already a video on YouTube?”
I couldn’t believe this fact, but…

[Ugh, please vote for our team a lot…, meow….]
…I could only despair at the voice flowing out from Ji-woo’s phone.

I thought I’d be archived, but who could have uploaded it so quickly… what kind of psycho would do that?

“It’s on the official Na Ah Ah YouTube channel. Looks like the production team uploaded it.”
“Ugh…, those damn production team members….”
“It was only uploaded six minutes ago, and there are already 30,000 views! Ye-rin, this could reach a million views by tomorrow morning!”

Feeling ashamed that 30,000 people had already seen it, I collapsed, as Ji-woo, who was repeatedly replaying the video, suddenly said something with an emotional voice.
“I never imagined one of my trainees could be so pretty, cute, dance well, and even do aegyo…”

“Genius? Are you messing with me again?”
“You haven’t even been a trainee for a month and you’re already getting public love and about to debut; if that’s not genius then what is? Perhaps a total genius, Ha Ye-rin?”

“Debut isn’t even confirmed yet…”
When I said it in a slightly weak voice, Ji-woo replied seriously.
“Ye-rin, I assure you. Even if you tumble while doing a crazy dance on the next competition stage, you’re confirmed to debut.”

“……”
I hesitated for a moment at Ji-woo’s words and then nodded.
Definitely, given my current popularity…, I was far beyond the level of worrying about whether I could debut or not.

‘Debut….’
Thinking of that word, I suddenly realized that Na Ah Ah has now crossed well into the second half of the show.
This brought another thought to mind.
‘Who will the other members be?’

Debut isn’t just about me.
There were five other members who would debut alongside me.
As I imagined the other five members in my head, I asked Ji-woo,
“Teacher, how about…”
“Hmm?”
“If I’m confirmed to debut…, who do you think the other five will be?”
“Hmm…”

At my question, Ji-woo rested her chin for a moment and then…
“Here’s what I think…”
Scratch scratch.
She pulled out a piece of paper and started writing names on it.
Looking at the names on it, I couldn’t help but flinch.

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