Dream Star

"Thank you for going with me," Yori thanked as they stepped into the elevator. Currently, she and Jae-hee were in the London branch of Moonlight entertainment. While Lila already confirmed the details and everything. She still had to show up in person. A deep sigh pa.s.sed her lips, "That guy is unreasonable. How does Lila deal with him?"

The exchange just now with Soichiro left her shuddering. For a president of an entertainment company, even if it is a cover-up. His lack of interest is undoubtedly something. Then again, all the artists under this agency.

"It"s all right but," Jae-hee patted her shoulder, "Good luck with that."

Yori sighed, "Thanks I guess."

It"s like signing of her soul to the devil, while she understands that the circ.u.mstances couldn"t be avoided.

"By the way, what was up with that after the performance was over? Why did you accept the bouquet by Itsuki?"

"Well, he"s technically going to be in charge of my team for the third round. So I figured it was just a formality," Yori trailed, "Wait, did that make me seem like a cheap woman?"

"I"m sure your image can"t get worse than it was the first time around."

"..."

The first time, huh? When she first entered, Jae-hee was also a partic.i.p.ant. But after Jae-hee found out about the bribery. She forfeited from the next round without hesitating. Yori always felt terrible about it but Jae-hee told her not to apologize, and they spoke no more on the subject.

"Was that really okay? The performance."

"Eh?"

"I"m talking about Lila. Haven"t you seen the articles the last few days? The speculations have started again, and some people are actually making comparisons with old stages. It"s just a matter of time. By the third round, she will surely enter with her real name."

Yori frowned, "It"s not like Lila just acted recklessly."

"I know, she did it for Austin Kiryu," Jae-hee trailed off, "But that"s the issue. I understand that n.o.body can break the bond between the two. But right now she is dating Haruka and not Austin Kiryu. Meaning there are certain things she has to consider."

"Like?

"For one, openly mentioning another guy and bringing private affairs into the matter of the public. It"s one thing to dedicate your performance to somebody else, but then openly admit it was an old lover?" Jae-hee rubbed the temple of her forehead with an annoyed look, "Honestly, that was the wrong move, and your response was wrong too."

Her response, that"s right her performance. The feelings she held back this whole time, she put it in her recent performance. Including the emotions behind her promise with Lila when they were younger.

"People will talk more now since you openly responded to her song with fond memories. They"ll quickly dig up the past. Honestly Lila aside, what were you thinking? Are you that much of an idiot?"

"What? What did you call me?"

"An i-d-io-t," Jae-hee spelled out, "Your an idiot. You risk bringing on yet another scandal to yourself. Do you know there are limits to how many times you can enter the Dream Stars tournament? Even then entering more than once is already frowned upon. People believe once you get kicked out once, you no longer have the right to stand on this stage. It"s cruel, isn"t it? But that"s just the way things work. With your careless action, you"ll end up getting booted out by the next round. At least Lila had her reasons but what were you thinking?"

Yori looked down, does she have to be so harsh about? "In the end, I won the second round, so what"s the problem?"

"You didn"t win; you had a tie."

"Is that any different?"

"It is, would you rather win with equal numbers as another person? Or would you rather lose with a lower score? I"m neither of those two; I"m option three. I want to win with high numbers - rather than play a stupid game of friends.h.i.+p."

!!!

Stupid? Stupid? Yori repeated this in her head and looked at her in disbelief. After all this time Jae-hee is saying things like this? Yori said nothing in response. What could she say? Right now she felt agitated. While Yori knew from their first meeting that

"Since you"re turning quiet, I hope you consider what I just said. I may be, being overly blunt with you. But I said something similar to Maika who wanted to form a unit. I turned down the offer because I don"t want to get distracted even for a moment. The same goes for you. Your performance was good. But even after telling me you won"t be Lila"s shadow anymore, that"s all I got from your performance. Haruka"s evaluation of you was right. But if you ask me, he seemed reluctant to give you full marks."

"That"s--"

"Surely you noticed it?" Jae-hee asked, "Haruka only gave you that score because he wanted to even out your score with Lila. Lila should have won the second round. But if she won, then all the critics would be directed solely at her and her alone. Do you think Haruka would let that happen considering her health as of late?"