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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Seora noona waved her hand, telling me to go in.
“Have fun. Call me.”
“Hey, if you want to learn how to work out, call me!”
The hyung who was serious about raising newbies cut in, not giving up. It was the hyung who got punched in the stomach earlier.
Seora noona glared.
“Hey! Cheol-jin, these kids can just ignore your calls!”
“Haha….”
I awkwardly laughed, said goodbye, and headed to the auditorium.
‘Seora noona has more personality than I thought.’
We jogged together every morning, but this was the first time I saw this side of her. I should stay on her good side.
“We got a lot of numbers from the Sports Science hyungs.”
I barely knew the numbers of the kids in my own department, but to think I’d get numbers from upperclassmen in other departments. Every day since I entered university has been a series of unexpected events.
“Kangcheol-ah, sit down quickly. They said the first group’s performance is starting soon.”
A-reum tapped the seat next to her. As I sat down, Sunbae Yoo Bam stared at me and asked,
“Cheol-jin, I have something I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“A-reum calls you Kangcheol. Is that a nickname?”
“Ah, yes. My name is Kang Cheol-jin, so….”
“Kang Cheol-jin, so Kangcheol? Ah, Kangcheol! Kangcheol!”
Sunbae Yoo Bam clapped her hands as if she had realized something amazing. Maybe it was difficult for her to connect the nickname and the name because she’s a foreigner.
Soon, the first talent show began.
The talent shows prepared by each group were all similar. They danced or sang simple songs as a group. There weren’t any special performances because the preparation time was short.
It was only natural since our department wasn’t in the arts or physical education fields. How special could a freshman MT performance be anyway?
Actually, our group 3 was the same. We just prepared a few props and a concept.
It wasn’t long before our turn came.
– Next up is the performance by “Winning Group”!
Following the host’s introduction, we went up on stage with the props we had prepared. There was a short setup time before the music started.
First, we laid a large mat in the center of the stage.
We arranged props on the mat, like lunch boxes and straw baskets, to give it a picnic feel, and the group members moved to their predetermined positions.
Noh Juwan, Pi A-reum, Sunbae Yoo Bam, and I sat around the mat.
Sung-joo hyung stood at the left end of the stage. Outside the mat, Sihyun stood facing Sung-joo hyung.
Lastly, group leader Soyeon and Sung-hyun wore couple t-shirts at the right end of the stage.
– Ooh, Winning Group seems to have prepared a lot.
The host spoke with anticipation, but it was closer to a flashy trick to make it look elaborate. What we were actually doing wasn’t that different from the other groups who sang normally.
Stage preparations were quickly finished.
The lights dimmed, darkening the auditorium.
– ♩♪♬♪♬♩♪
A cozy spring song began to play.
The title of the song was ‘Love Under the Cherry Blossoms’.
It was a song by a very famous female solo artist, but unusually, it was a song she sang with a four-member boy group. Thanks to that, it was possible to divide the parts into smaller sections and distribute them, reducing the burden.
The song started with Sung-joo hyung.
Snap. The stage lights came on, and Sung-joo hyung, wearing a coat, began to sing the first verse.
“Cold winter days~ Empty coat pockets~.”
Two people with their arms crossed walked slowly towards the mat. Meanwhile, those of us sitting around the mat waited our turn without moving.
“My hands in my pockets are lonely. Left alone, they wander around in empty pockets. Winter is so cold.”
Sung-joo hyung, who had reached the front of the mat, stopped there. He faced Sihyun. Like us on the mat, time seemed to have stopped, and their movements froze.
The next part of the song came from the right.
“Warm spring breeze~ Beside me is my love~”
Sung-hyun, wearing a couple t-shirt, put his arm around group leader Soyeon’s shoulder and walked slowly.
“The scent of you next to me. This street we walk together. The warm spring sunlight and spring breeze~.”
Like Sung-joo hyung and Sihyun before them, they stopped in front of the mat.
After a beat.
The four of them entered the mat at the same time and sang.
[Oh, love is under the cherry blossoms~]
Although only two people held microphones, all eight of us sang the chorus together.
And then they naturally passed the microphone to the person next to them.
Now it was my part.
“Love is under the cherry blossoms~ Cherry blossom petals tickling my cheeks, landing on my hand~.”
Fortunately, my voice didn’t crack. My voice came out smoother than I expected, so I was able to successfully sing my part.
Was it because the first verse went well, or was I just meant for the stage? I wasn’t as nervous as I was during practice.
I naturally acted like I was rummaging through the straw basket. I pretended to open the lunch box and enjoy a picnic together. I took out my phone and pretended to take a selfie, displaying the lyrics.
I also used a prop I had prepared beforehand so it wouldn’t be visible on stage. I sprayed pink snowflake spray from bottom to top so that it wouldn’t be visible from the audience.
Chiiiiik—.
Pink snowflakes fluttered. Thanks to the stage lighting, it looked like scattered cherry blossom petals.
Chorus again.
[Oh, love is under the cherry blossoms]
[Love is under the cherry blossoms]
[Under the scattered cherry blossoms]
It wasn’t all smooth sailing.
One of the group members momentarily forgot the lyrics. Because of that, they stumbled for a moment, but they quickly recovered after looking at the lyrics on their phone.
Unlike the original plan, all eight of us in our group shared the parts. Of course, there were differences in individual portions, but what mattered was that everyone in the group participated.
My turn again. This time it was a duet part.
I received the microphone, intertwined my fingers with A-reum’s, and sang.
“Immersed in the spring air.”
“My heart flutters like flower petals.”
We exchanged one line each.
““I confess with ticklish words.””
We sang the last line together.
It was a fairly high part, but thankfully, my voice reached it smoothly.
[Oh, love is under the cherry blossoms]
[Love is under the cherry blossoms]
[Under the scattered cherry blossoms]
The eight of us sang the chorus again.
Our voices gradually subsided.
Ttiriring~.
The piano keys signaled the end of the song.
‘Did it end well?’
I was anxious for a moment because of the silence, but it was only for a very short time. Soon, applause filled the auditorium.
– Wow! That felt like watching a whole music video! That was “Love Under the Cherry Blossoms” by Winning Group!
Ah, it ended well.
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After the performance ended, the group members cleaned up the props.
Sung-joo hyung and I quickly wiped the stage with mops. Thanks to the mops we had prepared beforehand, we were able to clean the stage quickly.
“Oh, it wipes off easily. I was worried because of the spray, but thankfully.”
“I looked for a non-sticky kind. We can’t interfere with the next performers.”
“As expected of Kangcheol. Thorough.”
Sung-joo hyung gave me a thumbs up and spoke as he came down from the stage.
“With this, the wine is ours.”
He smacked his lips, looking like he really craved the wine.
“We don’t know yet. There are still other group performances left.”
“Hey, with this, winning is certain. The reaction was good. You planned well.”
Sung-joo hyung patted my back as he spoke.
It was a bit burdensome, but I felt good nonetheless. It must be because the performance ended well. Being on stage wasn’t as nerve-wracking as I thought.
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The last group’s performance ended.
And as Sung-joo hyung predicted, our group won first place in the talent show.
“Nice! Wine! Wine!”
“Wine! Expensive wine!”
Sung-joo hyung and A-reum cheered. A-reum had also developed a taste for alcohol at the last gathering.
‘I wonder what kind of wine it is.’
I also smacked my lips in anticipation. I was controlling myself because of my diet, but I had also developed a taste for alcohol.
Back at our accommodation, we eagerly waited for the wine. After a while, group leader Soyeon, who went as our group representative, returned with the wine.
However, for some reason, Soyeon’s face was flushed. She held out a fancy-looking white wine and said,
“Guys, this is really expensive wine. This one bottle costs almost a million won!”
“A, a million won?!”
“Gasp, then two bottles would be two…?”
The group members’ eyes widened at the unexpectedly large amount. Of course, I was the same. Crazy, is this department rolling in money?
“Can the student council budget cover this?”
“I thought it would be under 100,000 won at most.”
“Are we going to have some kind of student council fee controversy later?”
Some people expressed concern because the price was so high. It was a natural reaction, I thought. It didn’t make sense to spend two million won on a prize for an MT game.
The group leader shook her head reassuringly.
“I was surprised too, so I asked, and they said this was personally sponsored. They didn’t use a single won from the student council fees.”
“Ah, now that I think about it, they said there was an anonymous sponsor, right?”
“Wow. Is there some chaebol heir in our department? There’s no way the professors would’ve sponsored this.”
For a while, we started speculating about who the hidden rich person was. But would we find the answer just by putting our heads together?
The group leader wrapped things up.
“Stop that and let’s open the wine quickly. If we take too long, the kids from other groups will come.”
“The group leader is right. Let’s quickly drink it ourselves. It’d be a waste to share it with others.”
We quickly started opening the wine.
Honestly, I didn’t really know much about the flavor of wine. What would twenty-year-old kids know?
We poured the wine into paper cups and put our hands together.
“Toast! Toast!”
“The person who suggests it should do it, you know?”
“Eh? The group leader is here?”
“Why are you dragging me into this? Just drink.”
“Yeah, let’s just drink quickly. Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
We made a vigorous toast and drank the wine.
“Kyaa! First glass is bottoms up, you know?”
At someone’s shout, we emptied the wine down our throats.
“Hey! Who bottoms up wine, you crazy…?”
Sung-joo hyung’s bewildered voice could be heard, but
Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp.
It was just an empty cry.
“This is sweet!”
“Delicious!”
“Isn’t this juice? It’s so sweet.”
“What was the name of this again? Chateau Direct Cam?”
“I don’t know, just drink it. Maybe because it’s sweet, it goes down smoothly even without snacks.”
The group members and I poured the expensive wine into our stomachs as if we were in a competition, and
“Hey! Give us a glass of wine too!”
When the other groups came rushing in, we had already finished one bottle and half of the other.
It wasn’t exactly a secret that the professors who happened to come by were shocked to see us like that.
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Hmm. Horny senses are tingling.