Chapter 42 - Am I Really Fighting Against Eun-Soon? (Part 1)

“She’s a piece of work,” Ji-hyun muttered next to me. We were all witnessing Hye-jeong’s popularity firsthand, and Ji-hyun did not look happy. I could definitely detect some jealousy there.

“She sure is popular,” I acknowledged with a nod. The audience members were still looking at Hye-jeong and cheering for her. Hey, if she’s popular, she’s popular. It’s only right to admit – that’s what a real man does.

“Hi, everyone~”

Hye-jeong waved down at everyone with a wink. That made the audience cheer even louder. A few even said hello back to her with a bow, though I couldn’t imagine why they thought she’d see it. Anyways, Hye-jeong continued.

“Hi, everyone~ You know who I am, right~?”

“Yes!”

“The Black Knight of Apgujeong!

“Ladies’ Generation!”

“You’re from Ladies’ Generation~”

A few people were calling out her group name. Hye-jeong was certainly having fun and enjoying herself up there. It hasn’t been that long since she became a top celebrity, but she was a natural at this. Like she was born for this.

“Lucky bitch,” Jia said, sounding resentful. So I asked, “Are you jealous?”

“I am. This is our concert. But all anyone cares about is her.”

“Hmm.”

I gripped the sword and eyed the railing that Hye-jeong was leaning on. Should I throw the sword and cut the railing? Then, Hye-jeong would fall. If she were to fall, it would hurt like a bitch. She’d probably scream. And if she screamed, people would be shocked. Then, someone would call 911 and an ambulance would come. The ambulance would take Hye-jeong away. If they took her, we’d be the only ones left in the venue. And if we were the only ones, the audience would turn their attention back to us. But Hye-jeong couldn’t get hurt too much. Judging by the height, she wouldn’t die, but she was wearing heels. She’d probably break an ankle, or at least a bone or two.

“Hang on.”

I reached for one of my back pockets and quietly plucked off a button. Then, I balanced it at the tip of my fingers, like you would a hard-crusted booger. I aimed it towards Hye-jeong’s face. Some may worry about hitting her right in the eye, but I’m a crack shot so I wasn’t worried. Others may worry about hitting that pretty high nose and making it flat, but I’m a crack shot so I wasn’t worried. The point is, I’m one of the best so there simply no need for me to worry about those things. I flicked the boog- I mean, button.

Ping!

No one saw the button fly across the room, but it hit Hye-jeong square in the middle of her forehead, just as I had intended.

Puck~!

Hye-jeong’s head flew back a full 120 degrees, and so, the girl fell all the way backwards.

Thud.

Everyone cried out in concern and Jinwoo burst out of his seat. The security guards that were stationed near her all ran towards her.

It probably hadn’t hurt that much. Hye-jeong got up slowly. She looked like she’d just stepped on something disgusting.

But anyways, once again, she leaned against the railing and tried to act all sweet again, though her lips showed her struggling. She looked like she wanted to curse.

‘Spit it out. Spit it out. Spit it out.’

A lot of people were taking videos of her with their phones. If she were to say even just one curse word, it would’ve been awesome. Unfortunately, Hye-jeong managed to calm herself down. So I took another button that I had prepared, took my aim, and gave a flick. And like the first, it hit its mark.

Puck~!

Only this time, Hye-jeong didn’t fall back. Maybe she knew it was coming. This time, her head only fell back about 42 degrees and she came right back. And when she did, she exploded.

“Who the fuck is doing this? Don’t hide yourself, you fucking coward! Come out and face me, you piece of shit! I said come out, you fucking turd! Fuck you!!!”

That girl spat out curses like a sailor. I had always known she could curse, but I had no idea it was to this level. Of course, it wasn’t enough.

“Hey, Jia, give me your button.”

I groped Jia’s butt and pulled off a button from the back of her pants. I was so focused on my game with Hye-jeong that I couldn’t even enjoy the fact that I got to touch Jia on the butt. Anyways, I took the button from Jia’s back pocket and aimed it again.

Flick!

Puck!

“Kyaaah!”

Hye-jeong fell back once more and this time, the security guards ran forward and blocked her completely. They were so big that they completely covered Hye-jeong. Jinwoo came forward and spoke to the audience.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Jinwoo Park, founder of YH Entertainment. I don’t know who threw the button, but I request you to stop.”

He didn’t seem angry at all, but spoke like a true gentlemen. At these times, he really did look like the company president. But I aimed a button at him as well.

Flick!

Puck!

“Ah!”

Jinwoo’s hands flew to his forehead as the man stumbled back a few steps. I groped Ji-hyun’s back pockets for a button and aimed that one too.

Flick!

Puck!

“Argh!”

Jinwoo stumbled back some more, but I could still hit that. So I said, “Hey, Hainan, come over here.”

At that, Hainan came to stand next to me. My hand reached for her butt…wait...

I paused. Hainan was still a minor. I had to protect her. So, I decided to not throw anymore buttons. Since it hadn’t been a major incident, it passed fairly quickly. And with that, that wrapped up the mini concert. But when I checked the search sites later, the number one search topic wasn’t the members of Fifteen, but Hye-jeong. Someone had posted a video of her cursing and it was going viral, turning her into a laughingstock. Let’s see some of the search results.

MAVER

Hot Topics

Hye-jeong Jung

Hye-jeong spitfire

Hye-jeong cursing

Hye-jeong’s personality

Hye-jeong’s fortune

Hye-jeong in Myeong-dong

Hye-jeong from Ladies’ Generation

Hye-jeong in the Black Knight of Apgujeong

Hye-jeong’s attitude

Hye-jeong with Fifteen

So Fifteen was mentioned slightly in the 10th search result. Hye-jeong got what she wanted. She really is something. Even when she falls, she still does it better than anyone else. The next time the members of Fifteen see her, we really should give her the respect she is due.

***

Today was our day off.

Oh, for the team missions, my team won by one vote. And Yoo-young won the most votes for the solo category. I was 2nd. Everyone else was pretty much the same rank they’d always been.

“Hye-jeong is getting a lot of criticism online,” I said as I read the comments under Hye-jeong’s cursing video. Some of the comments seemed pretty harsh, even for me. It’s like a dam had exploded, giving away to the flood of negative comments. Looking at the statistics, most of them were women.

“Girls really are each other’s worst enemy,” I said with a nod. It was like they had been waiting for this moment. The hyenas were now tearing Hye-jeong apart, relishing in their chance to take her down.

“Let the orc boil to death? What’s an orc?”

“It’s what you call someone who’s ugly but claims she’s pretty and gets jealous of other pretty girls,” Jia explained.

“The kormapests are at it again. What’s a kormapest?”

“A Korean male who acts like a pest,” Jia explained again.

“It’s amazing what people come up with these days.”

It seemed that the men and women were against each other on this one. But it’s always been like this so it’s not really surprising.

“It’s really bad these days. But it’s also kind of funny. The girls are criticizing her and the men are supporting her.”

Jia pulled up the article on her phone and began to read some of the comments herself. She even put up a negative comment herself. Well, not that negative.

JiaCutie (1 minute ago)

Sticking my tongue out LOL x10

[Reply]

“It’s true what the elders say.”

“What?”

“If you use your mouth with no purpose, you’ll hurt yourself.”

“Pffft.”

Jia grinned at my statement.

“That’s true. Why did she curse like that in a place full of people?”

“I know, right?” I said with a shrug.

“But who threw the button?”

“I don’t know,” I replied with another shrug.

“Hey, Sian, did you see this article?”

Jia asked, holding out her phone to me. The title read ‘Korea’s top athlete Eun-soon Lee challenges girl-group member Sian Lee to a fight.’

“What the hell?” I asked. Wow, this girl.

“Are you really going to fight her?”

“I guess. Jinwoo will figure it out.”

“Do you really have to go through with it? I’m worried.” Jia said with true concern. How could someone be so lovable? Not like we can actually be together. Jia is a woman, as am I.

“Don’t worry.” I said, patting her but…I mean, her head. My hand keeps reaching for her butt...you could just say it’s me being indulgent...but technically, it’s wrong. I’m a girl and I want to touch a girl’s butt. I feel bad about it, but…what can I do?

“At least learn some MMA from Snake.”

“Snake? Can he fight?”

Snake. From what I’ve seen, I’m not sure he’s a fighter. He just talks big. He has no real muscle on him.

“I hear he does some MMA fighting sometimes. It can’t hurt, can it?”

“Hmm.”

I was still hesitant.

“What about Jun-jin?” I asked Jia with a smile. Jun-jin. The guy with a face you just want to punch – I know that wasn’t okay, but still.

“I doubt he’d want to help you.”

“Right.”

That’s true.

“I’ll talk to Jinwoo first. See what’s going on,” I said, standing up.

“I’ll go with you.”

Jia immediately stood up herself and linked her arm with mine.

“If you want.”

We quickly left the café and headed towards YH Entertainment.

***

We arrived at Jinwoo’s office.

Knock knock.

“Come in~” Jinwoo called from inside.

I opened the door and walked inside, with Jia right behind me.

“Hi, Jin…Sir.”

Oh god, I almost called him by his name.

“Hi, Sian. What’s up? Jia too?”

“Hello.”

“Have a seat.”

Jia and I sat across from him.

“Did you see the article?” I asked.

“The one about Hye-jeong?”

“Pfft.”

Jia choked with laughter next to me. Hye-jeong’s career was truly over. Her SNS accounts have all closed and she had apparently put up an apology letter as well.

“No, the one with Eun-soon.”

“Ah, Eun-soon Lee. You just say her name so casually,” Jinwoo said with an amused smile.

“They sent another request, but I’m still thinking about it.”

“About what?”

“They want to have a match next week, since that’s the only time they’re available.”

“Oh.”

The sooner, the better. Just the thought of grabbing Eun-soon by the hair was enough to relieve my stress.

“But that’s just inconsiderate. We’re busy as well with this program. You can’t have a match in the middle of auditions. What will people think?”

“They’ll eat it up.”

“Oh.”

Judging by Jinwoo’s reaction, he hadn’t thought of that. But I knew I was right. A pretty and sexy girl like me who can fight is going to have an MMA match? Not to mention I’m pretty popular. It’d be a great publicity stunt.

“But it’s still complicated. We’re already locked in with the Fifteen program and I’ll have to discuss this with the executives at the music studio. We have to think about the online voters before anything else. They might be against this.”

“I’ve seen the comments and they’re all for it.”

It was true. The comments were all saying that they wanted to see it. Rather unanimously on top of that. It was most likely because of the video of me fighting against those four guys. And when I use my sword and dance as well, I always show my fighting spirit. The way the public sees it, I’m a beautiful idol that is born to be a fighter.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

Jinwoo stroked his chin with his fingers in contemplation.

“But there’s a lot of people who are worried about Sian. Especially the women,” Jia finally spoke up. So basically, it was more women than men who were worried about me. Considering that my image is more appealing to a woman, that makes sense.

“Well, since we have to give our answer soon, I’ll do my best to make a decision quickly. So Sian, this means you’re okay with it, right?”

“I don’t care when we have the fight,” I replied with a casual tone. Now that I think about it, Jinwoo would make a good fighting opponent as well. It would be so satisfying to give him a good blow to the head.