Idol Factory

58 | Episode Four

"Jiminjeong! Jiminjeong! Jiminjeong! Jiminjeong! Jiminjeong!"

As the two girls stood in front of the cheering crowd, panting beautifully, waiting for the lights to go dim, Minjeong abruptly felt the pain lingering inside her legs get stronger.

This is bad.

Due to the pain, the world around her suddenly slowed down. Waiting for the lights to go dim felt like an eternity... standing onstage like this felt like an eternity.

Forcing the same expression on her face to remain as the crowd continued to cheer, Minjeong's hands began to sweat. There was no other explanation— the injury transfer is about to wear off and Minjeong needed to get off the stage as soon as possible.

Well, after all of the things that happened these past few days, Minjeong was happy enough to have performed with Jimin. Of course, the past performance with the other contestants was fun. But, with Jimin, it just felt amazing.

It was different.

Minjeong was one hundred percent sure that they'd win this round thanks to the chemistry and her personal skill from the system onstage. She took advantage of it.

It was certain that she and her girlfriend earned the crowd's favorite title too.

Nonetheless, she had already predicted that something like this would happen— and it looks like it was already waving at her.

Just then, the stage was finally getting darker and it was at the same time Minjeong's vision began to fuzzily deteriorate. It felt like her legs were getting crushed into pieces, throbbing nonstop.

When the stage was dark enough, she grabbed Jimin's hand, took off both their mics, and whispered.

"Jimin, don't panic... but I think I'm going to pass out."

"...What?"

"My legs... head hurt... so much..."

Minjeong said in a faint voice as she suddenly fell forward into Jimin's arms with a red face, sweating. At that moment, Jimin took a deep breath and carried her girlfriend in a bridal way backstage.

When the staffs caught sight of them, they immediately called the medical team and brought Minjeong to the clinic area with a stretcher.

It didn't take long for the other contestants to notice and approach Jimin who had a worried look on her face. Maybe it'll give her more screentime, but at the same time, she just couldn't suppress the feeling.

Because it's Minjeong, she's going to be fine.

Jimin thought to herself with a nod and sighed.

Somi frowned, "Did she overwork herself again?"

Jimin pursed her lips and shook her head slowly, "I don't know. Sometimes, she's just too secretive."

Instead of looking worried like everyone else, Aeri puts up a smile and placed a hand on Jimin's shoulder to squeeze softly. "But, don'cha guys think this is a good sign for her?"

"What?"

Everyone said in unison, causing Aeri to chuckle. After calming herself while analyzing the situation, she cleared her throat and continued.

"Since the very beginning, she had no experience. Because of that, I bet she had more misfortunes and worked twice as hard compared to us. And if she didn't, she wouldn't have worked all the way up to where she is now, right?"

"...So, she's been overworking herself all of this time." Ryujin slammed a fist on her palm as she got the idea, "How admirable... It might've looked fine and easy outside, but when no one's looking, she's doing her best to catch up with us."