117 – Audition Preliminary (6)
After finishing the Japanese preliminaries, I returned to Korea.
I thought I could rest until the finals,
-Four people are not enough.
I received a call from the PD in charge.
“Four people are not enough?”
-Yes, there are a total of 96 people selected by the Vice President. So, we need to select four more people.
“… “Everyone who was worthy of being selected was selected.”
-Of course I know. However, this is because the number of people has to be limited to exactly 100 people. If you find it inconvenient, it is okay to choose a reasonable amount from us.
Are there four people to match the assortment?
Even if it is obvious that I will drop out, it would be right for me to choose myself.
“We will make a list of 10 Korean and 10 Japanese applicants within today and send it to you.”
-Okay.
I circled [Failed], But I guess we can pick out the kids who had potential and were returned as our trainees.
We compiled a list of 20 trainees who were talented and had the right direction of effort, but whose training period was still short so it was difficult to advance them to the finals.
Quick—.
Secretary Jeong Song-i entered the vice president’s office.
She then placed coffee on my desk and looked at the monitor screen.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, we need to fill 100 people, but we’re short by 4 people, so I guess we’ll have a reprisal match with these 20 people.”
“… “So you have to go to Japan again?”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do.”
The last time I went to Japan to judge the preliminaries, the broadcasting station paid all the expenses, so I didn’t lose anything.
There is no jet lag, so you don’t have to feel that much fatigue.
“Would you like to go to a theme love hotel when you go to Japan this time?”
At my joking words, secretary Jeong Song-i blushed and nodded her head.
She was cute, so I lightly stroked her head.
***
Was Tokyo such an unforgiving, cold, and expensive city?
It’s been a week since I lived homeless alone in the body of a woman.
Tomoe woke up again today, removing boxes used for bedding from the street.
‘… ‘I never thought it would be this hard to find a part-time job.’
Because I had nothing but a computer and a smartphone, it was difficult to find job postings.
Even though I saw the advertisement in passing, I couldn’t attend the interview because I didn’t even have the money to travel to the workplace.
After sleeping out in the open for a few days, I suddenly became smelly and dirty.
Even though I managed to get an interview, there was no employer who would hire a smelly, dirty beggar.
One night, while I was sleeping on the street, some drunk men tried to attack me.
I didn’t have the strength to resist, so I almost got beat up.
I sighed and realized that I wish the men hadn’t been scared by Tomoe’s bad breath.
‘Even if I take charge of it, it sucks.’
I never thought I would end up in a bad situation when I couldn’t brush my teeth because I didn’t have a toothbrush or toothpaste.
It wasn’t even funny.
I didn’t regret running out of the house, but it was a very miserable end.
Still, I didn’t want to die painfully.
From what Tomoe remembers, suffocation with inert gas was clearly the most painless method of suicide.
Once she had enough money to buy nitrogen or helium gas cylinders, she decided on her future direction.
‘You should drink water.’
Near where Tomoe was located was an office district.
The bathrooms in most buildings were locked, so it was impossible to enter.
The third floor of this building could be accessed freely.
It seemed to be used in the office of a foreign company called ‘GI Production Japan Branch’, but there was little interest.
People at this company go into the bathroom before going to work and open their mouths in front of the faucet.
Maybe because it was the newest building in this neighborhood, the pipes were clean.
“Hey… ….”
“Phuheup—.”
Suddenly, a woman spoke to her from behind, and her Tomoe squirted the water she was drinking.
Are you a company employee who went to work?
I was resentful of this woman as to why she came to work earlier than usual today.
“… “I won’t come again.”
Tomoe knew very well that people would hate it if a homeless person kept going in and out of the building’s bathroom.
And she was embarrassed to show herself like this to others.
She had to be shameless about these things to live as a homeless person, but in the end, she said that she was just a flower in a greenhouse.
She thought.
“Now, wait a minute!”
The woman grabbed Tomoe’s hand as he was rushing out of the bathroom.
Tomoe was startled and her body jumped.
Are you sure they want to charge me for the water I drank so far?
Depending on her perspective, you can see her as a thief of her water.
“You seem quite young, but why did you do something like this?” .”
“Because I’m homeless.”
“Yes?”
“… “Even young women are homeless and if they don’t have money, they become homeless.”
It seemed strange that there were more men living homeless on the streets than women.
She wasn’t in a position to say anything, but this female employee really didn’t know much about the world, she thought to Tomoe.
She tried to shake off the female clerk’s hand,
“I’ll buy you food, so can I hear what’s going on?”
She has been a temptation that is hard to resist.
Eating was limited, other than food that people threw away on the street or free meals for homeless people.
Even clean water was harder to obtain than expected, so in a way, it was natural.
“If you feed a homeless person once, you’ll have a headache.”
You may be grateful at first, but later you treat it as if it is your right.
If you give a canned food to a stray cat, it will invite other stray cats around, and the same goes for homeless cats.
If they start not giving it to you, they will start to scratch the person who first opened the canned food as a favor.
“I’ll think about it later.”
A female employee answers with a grin.
I glanced at the employee ID card around her neck.
[GI Production Japanese Producer]
[Ishinami Hikari]
I don’t know what kind of producer he was, but he didn’t seem to be in a lower position than I thought.
Tomoe couldn’t understand why someone like this would commit the foolish act of buying food for a homeless person.
I thought it would be convenient to use it for a while.
… For some reason, I was compared to the producer Lim Boo-gil.
The culprit behind all of this was my older brother, but producer Lim Boo-gil also had a significant share.
I even thought that maybe the two of them had planned it out.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Cheese gyudon.”
“I thought you were going to say something more expensive.”
Isanami Hikari laughed slightly.
If you look closely, this person was indeed a pretty woman.
Her styling was a bit like a Japanese female idol.
I went to a nearby Gyudon chain restaurant.
I never thought I would eat cheese gyudon again, which I once ate out of curiosity.
Unlike back then, I finished my meal with the intention of even chewing her bowl.
“Shall we go to the bathroom?”
When I left the restaurant, Ishinami Hikari, who was waiting in front, asked.
“… “Aren’t you going to work?”
“I don’t have much work today. “Our CEO is not the kind of person to say something like this.”
She went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth for the first time in a long time, washed her face with soap, and cleaned herself.
She was so dirty that she had to rub it two or three times to get it off.
While drying my hair with a cheap hair dryer, Tomoe thought.
Daily life, which I took for granted not long ago, was very welcome today.
If she had continued to live in that tycoon’s house, she would have just felt bored.
“Oh… !”
Ishinami Hikari’s eyes widened when she saw Tomoe’s innocent appearance disappear.
I heard that she was pretty, and even got a confession from the son of a famous entrepreneur.
She didn’t think it was that big of a deal, so she just passed it by one ear.
“Shall we go for coffee now?”
When Tomoe nodded her head, Hikari Ishinami took her hand and led her to her cafe.
Before, this was a byeoldabang, just a cafe that was neither delicious nor bad.
Up to now, it was the world’s most delicious drink.
Ishinami Hikari drinks Americano through a straw,
“Can you tell me now what’s going on?”
She asked Tomoe carefully.
“Nothing special. “I got kicked out of my house.”
“… Why?”
“Because of money issues.”
“Money??”
Ishinami Hikari probably wondered why such a young girl was kicked out after fighting with her parents over money.
Maybe she had a wild imagination.
In fact, from her perspective as a normal person, Tomoe’s current situation is also absurd.
“How long has it been since you were kicked out?”
“Not long ago. One week.”
Tomoe added that by the standards of the homeless, he is just a newcomer.
Just one week.
But those seven days were enough time to break a person.
Especially since she was born into the best family in Japan.
“How old are you exactly?”
“Twenty-two.”
Ishinami Hikari somehow grinned.
Do you have any plans?
I heard it sometimes.
She said that there are people who lure young women into prostitution by pretending to save them in trouble.
Feeding, washing, and even dessert.
When a woman feels full, her s*x drive increases.
Tomoe warned that her intention may be to lower the psychological barrier to prostitution by increasing s*xual desire.
“What is your name?”
“… “I’m Tomo Kojo.”
“Kojo, don’t you want to sing and dance?”
Sing and dance?
Is it a euphemism?
It was clear that moaning in front of a man was compared to singing, and moving one’s hips over a man’s body was compared to dancing!
“I will tell you clearly.”
“What?”
“I have no intention of selling myself. “I would rather remain homeless than become a prostitute.”
“… Yes?”
There was silence between Ishinami Hikari and Tomoe for 10 seconds.
Soon Hikiri Ishinami waved her arms vigorously from side to side.
“We are not that kind of company!”
Then she handed out one of her business cards to Tomoe.
I already knew that you were a GI production producer.
But when it came to setting up a front company, business cards like this were nothing more than pieces of paper that could be sold for money.
“We are a Korean entertainment company that produced Cursed Dolls, Berries, Afternoon Sweets, Yeomseonjeong, and Yellow Cow.”
Cursed Dolls, Berries, Afternoon Sweets, Yeomseonjeong, Yellow Cow.
Uh… ?
“Producer Lim Boo-gil… ?”
“That’s right, our representative. “The CEO is also very famous these days.”
“… ….”
Hikari Ishinami took out her smartphone and showed off a photo of her with her pregnant Gil producer.
The female secretary next to him at Budokan was also captured in the photo.
What Ishinami Hikari said was not a lie.
I let out a deep sigh.
After listening to the story, it seemed like he didn’t know that producer Lim Boo-gil had rejected him from the audition.
And then you tried to cast on the street?
“I can’t. “Because I have no will.”
“Okay…. It can’t be helped. Still, take the business card. “I can buy you some cheese gyudon.”
“… Even receiving a business card is useless. “I don’t have a phone.”
“Oh, then when you want to eat cheese gyudon, come to our office. That might be more convenient. Now I will go to work too. “Take care of yourself.”
Ishinami Hikari got up from her seat and left her cafe.
Left alone, Tomoe stared blankly at the coffee cup she had bought for her.
I was active enough to do street casting, but I gave up immediately after hearing that I had no will.
What on earth is will?
Is willpower that important in becoming an idol?
‘What on earth have I lost?’
The ice in the cup melted, making the coffee bland.