On the way to the PR department, Kaeul murmured.

Huu. Why am I shaking so much

Yeorum replied.

You scared?

Nn. Im scared of being judged by someone.

Then you judge them back.

Nn?

You can give scores to the judges. That guy doesnt know anything about singing and dares to judge? 4 out of 10. Wait, that other guy is bald? 2 out of 10.

Hehe. Whats that.

Kaeul found that absurd and laughed. However, her uneasiness remained and she murmured yet again after a few more steps.

s

Uhh ahjussi. What if I make a mistake and sing out of tune by accident?

Have you made that mistake before?

No but I might go off-key by accident right.

If that happens, Ill break the speaker.

What?

Kaeul faintly smiled and with a slightly brighter expression, she continued.

Then, in that case, if the opponent is better than me, knock them out please!

If the judge gives you a bad score, Ill kill them as well.

Uhihi! Oh, right! What if theres a camera?

Should I bring a hammer?

Kyaa~ ahahaha! Youre not going to actually do it right? If you say that, ahjussi, it feels like you will actually do it!

Nonsense erased a little bit of tension. Kaeul started chatting to the kids with a better voice.

Actually, the bigger problem is that I cant really understand the song.

You cant understand the song? asked Bom.

Nn. This song is about waiting on and on even if its tiring, and being happy some time in the future, right?

I guess?

Maybe its because Im happy right now? But I cant, like, empathise with the song.

Really?

Hmm, I dont really know how to say it but when Im singing, it feels like I can somewhat understand and I can express it to some extent right? I can feel it now that Ive practised a little, but I dont understand what emotion that is.

Thats not something we can do right now.

Nn Pretty sure I can do better if I know what that is.

They were immersed in their conversation as they arrived at the PR department. The Yu household entered through the rear door and were allocated a waiting room.

The quick rehearsal was to be carried out at a theatre stage. As they had guessed, cameras and lights were already prepared and were facing the theatre stage, while a few staff members from the PR team were also nearby.

Since it was meant to be a quick rehearsal, they didnt have to wait for long and soon, there was a loud announcement for participants of the singing contest to come up to the stage. Kaeul wore the baby chicken mask and followed one of the staff to the stage, while Yu Jitae and the kids remained and watched from the waiting room.

Team Leader Yong Dohee recognised Kaeul but didnt show it on the outside.

On the other side stood a cadet wearing a rabbit mask but to everyones surprise, she was wearing some shocking clothes.

Wat da heck? Yeorum frowned, staring at the cadet wearing a dress that revealed both the shoulders and the chest.

That damn girl. Why did she open up a whole load of her titties when shes here to sing?

It wasnt even a real rehearsal and yet she was wearing her costume. Added on top of that were high heels that looked like she would fall once in two steps. She looked ready to fight.

On the other hand, Kaeul was wearing a loose sweatshirt and a pair of short pants in order to hide her identity further.

Shes not even as good as a quarter of Yu Kaeul

Yeorum grumbled at their contrasting starting points.

Thats her right? asked Bom and Yu Jitae returned a nod.

He had seen her a few times when he was accompanying Kaeul so he knew the quality of her mana. Closing his eyes, he tried feeling her mana with his senses and it appeared that the rabbit mask was indeed Jung Yuran.

Gyeoul crumpled the cushion in her hands, seemingly discontent.

Soon began the quick rehearsal. Four people were sitting in the judges seat, including the director of the PR department, Yong Dohee and two other team leaders.

Well only be playing the instrumental

One of the team leaders opened their mouth.

And for the songs, we will just be listening to the one song that you have applied with, and depending on the result, one of you would have to change your song.

Theres no script either, so we have to start off by choosing the order. Do you guys have any experience on the stage by any chance?

The rabbit mask shot her hand up.

I have been to several concerts in my home country.

Her voice sounded like she had taken a dose of helium. It was because the voices were disguised before and after the performance.

Can you tell me how many times?

So I have been to 3 singing contests and around 10 concerts. And Ive busked countless times.

Have you gotten any awards at the singing contests?

Yes yes. I can hand the documents over if you would like to see them.

Sounds to me like you have brought them here?

I have!

Haha. Very energetic I see. Its fine.

Meanwhile, Kaeul was simply holding the mic, without saying anything in particular.

So Miss Rabbit mask has a fair bit of experience and, what about you, Miss Baby Chicken mask?

Uhh. I dont have any.

Is it your first time ever standing on stage?

No. Just once

Her voice was lacking in confidence. The team leader turned away from the microphone and explained something to the director while the director returned a nod.

Which one of you two would like to go first?

Im fine with offering her to go first, but well, if it is burdensome for her since she doesnt have enough experience on the stage, I can go first.

Despite saying that, she slowly moved to the centre of the stage and appeared like she was fully keen to go first. Uhh, Ill go second then said Kaeul with a disguised voice that couldnt actually disguise her nervousness. When Kaeul slowly took a few steps back, the stage darkened and the spotlights were turned on.

Along with the signal began the instrumental of the song.

The rabbit mask started the song by humming which wasnt a part of the original song. She definitely had something to prove her experience with concerts and she started taking over the stage with natural gestures.

She was natural and impressive. The judges were in admiration and they started being immersed in the song as it went on.

Thinks shes an actual singer or something, grumbled Yeorum in the waiting room while irritatedly drinking a mouthful of water. Gyeoul appeared like she was also in a bad mood and chugged the water after snatching the bottle away from Yeorum.

Hiya. Thanks for that. I thought we were having a guest singer for a second.

A team leader started it off after the end of the song, and others returned nods in agreement. They started praising the singer.

Bullcrap.

Is that person, also a cadet?

How is that a superhuman cadet? Just a lil entertainer b*tch.

When Yeorum scoffed, Gyeoul also nodded with a glare. It didnt matter whether she was good or bad at singing: they just didnt like her.

In fact, even the judges suggested that she became a singer instead of staying a cadet. The rabbit mask embarrassedly covered her chest with her hand and gave a bow. The judges were wearing bright smiles on their faces and the atmosphere had already gone to their side.

She walked away from the centre and left the stage empty. Only after a team leaders reminder did Kaeul hurriedly stand in the centre of the stage.

Tch. Oi stupid Gyeoul.

Nn?

Even if things dont turn out well, dont do something useless like consoling her.

Why?

Shes the type to keep things to herself. If others say Its fine Its fine from nearby, shell whimper even harder by herself.

Nn But, shell do well.

It would be great if that were the case right when they were all thinking somewhere along the lines of that, the music began and the camera focused on the baby chicken mask.

The child who was awkwardly holding the microphone at the bottom, stayed quiet like a nice kid despite the instrumental having begun. She didnt try to grasp the atmosphere or gather the eyes of others with her gestures. Because of that, the 30-second-long instrumental part at the start felt even longer than normal and the judges found it boring staring at the standing girl.

In half doubt, the Regressor paid attention to the situation. He remembered the arc stadium where 80,000 had gathered, and how BYs single exhale that marked the start of the song caused the listeners to shiver.

Soon, the instrumental ended and Kaeul started singing.

[When]

She closed her eyes.

Her vision was already limited inside the mask and after closing her eyes, everything nearby disappeared and she felt like she was alone in space all by herself.

At the start, she tried to follow the tone, or the word, and mimicked the expressions of Jung Yuran in her memories, but none of those remained in her head after a certain point.

Something that blossomed in a tough situation. What was an example? The first and only one that came to her mind was Yu Jitae.

Kaeul didnt know why Yu Jitae had come across her mind but after thinking about him, this difficult feeling became slightly easier to understand. Some time or other, the hard times will end and it will bear some kind of fruit some type of happiness. Delving deeper into that thought, she suddenly started feeling strangely melancholic.

As the song began to hit the high notes, such feelings became even stronger and Kaeul therefore had to stop immersing herself into the song at a certain point.

When she did that, the song stopped.

What? Why are you stopping there?

Ah.

Oi! Why did you stop!

Yeorum shouted at the waiting room.

***

The director of the PR department couldnt believe his ears.

Right when the song began, a voice clearer than anything started gently echoing across the stage. Mid-day after a downpour; like a cluster of myosotis blossoming in blue, the pure and clean sound tickled the ears of the listeners.

That was when surprise spread across the faces of the judges who had previously been bored. The director quickly took off the spectacles he had put on to read the documents, and stared at the cadet, wondering how a human voice could possibly be like that.

There was not a single exaggerated motion in her gesture or tone. With nothing but voice and song, she made the background and the surroundings vanish from the eyes of the audience.

Eyes that were trying to weigh the two of them on a scale for a comparison vanished like melting butter. Without even thinking about judging her, they became immersed in appreciating the song.

However, the song suddenly stopped. The music was still there but her voice wasnt.

A team leader urgently raised his hand and gave a sign. When the instrumental stopped, he shouted.

Cadet Baby Chicken. Is your mic working now?

Ah, yes, yes

Audio team! Can you please properly check it next time?

He mistook that as a mic problem and got upset. Meanwhile, the director placed his glasses back on and went through the list of participant profiles. The baby chicken mask was a 2nd grade cadet but neither her name nor association were written down. He thought he had heard the voice somewhere but after reflecting on the purpose of the Masked Singing Contest, he decided to stop his trail of thought.

In any case, the people were rowdy. Team leaders turned their mics off and chatted among themselves.

Lets make her do it again. That was way too shocking. Are you sure it was a mic problem just then. Didnt she stop in the middle.

While they were sharing such thoughts, the director turned his mic on and gathered the eyes of everyone nearby.

Cadet Baby Chicken. Please repeat the refrain part.

Refrain?

I mean the last part of the chorus. Well give the instrumental soon.

Since the team leaders all wanted to listen to the final part of the song, they were glad to hear the directors request.

Instead of being a gentle song, Some time or other was one where the singer had to retch out their sorrowful emotions. Even if the first part of the song sounded decent, the latter part of the song required more. The singer had to go on for a long time with such emotions and high notes

The rabbit mask managed to handle it with her soft and high voice. However, the baby chicken mask seemed to be the type that increased in volume alongside the pitch like one of the famous virtuosos. If the tone reached higher, her voice also needed to be louder, but can she express that with such a small body?

When the song started again, they completely forgot about evaluating her once again and fully immersed themselves in the performance.

The voice that sounded clear started becoming tenser as it increased in pitch. As the resonance became louder, she started giving off unpolished and coarse sounds but even the somewhat husky voice was pleasing to the ears.

The tone went higher and higher, and when it reached the highest pitch, the baby chicken mask slightly bent her body forward. Her husky shout splattered across and her high-pitched wail gushed over them like a ray of light.

Wahh!

Yong Dohee felt goosebumps crawling up her skin from her arms. Her mind shivered at the song.

One of them unconsciously stood up from the seat and embarrassedly glanced around after realising that he was standing up, but no-one was even staring at him.

It was literally overwhelming. The depth of her expressions was on a different level, but none of them could even guess that the baby chicken mask was in fact containing and controlling her emotions and expressions.

The high notes came to an end and a feeble sobbing voice decorated the end of the song. The director felt his hands sweating and dumbfoundedly, he gave an empty laugh. He had forgotten for a second that this was a rehearsal for the cadets festival singing contest.

While the music was also slowly coming to a close, Kaeul urgently removed her immersion and unconsciously turned around to stare at someone that was standing behind the curtains of the stage.

The rabbit mask was staring at her. Although her face was being covered with a mask, her two hands were clenched tight and it was apparent that she was very surprised.

Feeling competitive for some reason, Kaeul covered the chest part of her sweatshirt which wasnt even open, and gave a bow by bending her back in a straight angle.

s

The rabbit masks fists started trembling and seeing that, Kaeul was strangely put in a good mood.

Uh? Why am I in a good mood? Im usually not like this

However, their glaring contest was forced to a stop.

Click

The director turned his mic on.