Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Top Sexy Girl-Group
I stood in the middle of the stage. It was dark. Suddenly, the sound of a haegeum permeated the air, which was then joined by the notes from a daegeum. A lone spotlight beamed down on me and I slowly raised my sword. I lowered it until it was pointing right in front of me. The light from the spotlight bounced off the edge and I began to move. The sword cut through the air with loud whoosh, and a harmony of cloth whipping sounds joined in. A serene tranquility took over me. Peaceful and calm…but I felt strong. Powerful. Every time the sword whipped by, a trail of blossoms seemed to follow, leaving a path of permeating scent. The sound of a taepyeongso joined the daegeum, and the tempo picked up. My body joined. It moved as if it had the wings of a crane, whipping down to catch its bait. The sword followed my every command, and my body equally obeyed the sword. You could almost see the watersprouts followed by the flowers, blooming and opening, wafting the air with its powerful scent. The sword moved faster in all four directions, sending the powerful scent to cut through the air and through everyone’s body. It was overwhelming, enough to make one drunk. The taepyeongso and daegeum let out a final note as I slowly lowered the sword to its final position. The light disappeared, encasing me back in darkness.
Soon, it was over and the lights turned on again, but no one moved. No one could speak and they all stared at me kneeling in the middle of the stage. I gracefully stood back up. After a few more turns with the sword, I slipped it back into its hilt just as gracefully. Then with a slight bow, I finished my performance.
Suddenly, the applause was thunderous and Jinwoo even stood up from his chair, his face an epitome of disbelief. Everyone surged forward to tell me I did a great job, and I thanked them for their kind words. In the midst of all this, I found C-Night. After a few obligatory claps, she stood up from her chair and stomped out of the room.
“Sian…that was amazing,” Jinwoo complimented me with a thumbs up. I returned it with a big smile.
“But why is it so short? Can’t you show us more?”
“No, I can’t,” I answered firmly and Jinwoo looked disappointed. In fact, everyone did. But I ignored them all as I stepped off the stage. Then, it was Jumi’s turn. I felt a little bad for her, but I did get rid of C-Night for her. I think it helped for Jumi that C-Night wasn’t there, because she sang pretty well, but it was very obvious that I was the victor of this round.
***
The rival missions were now over and it was break time. We all made our way to the waiting room and sat down. I was the center of attention the whole day, as everyone kept telling me how cool I was and how amazing my performance had been. Interestingly, they kept mentioning a certain scent that came about during my performance, though they couldn’t explain where it had come from. That’s the Intoxicating Jab…though I didn’t tell them that. It’s not like they would believe me.
But wait…where was Jumi? I suddenly realized I didn’t see her.
“Where’s Jumi?”
“Huh? Where is she?”
“She was right here.”
“Maybe she went to the bathroom?”
We all looked this way and that, trying to see if Jumi was standing nearby, but she was nowhere in sight.
“I’m going to the bathroom.”
I stood up and walked out of the room. I couldn’t help but worry about Jumi. She was definitely affected by what C-Night said earlier, I should know. I had been standing right next to her.
I hastened my steps.
I arrived at the girls’ bathroom. If she was crying, she’d definitely be inside. I walked in and the first thing I saw was a girl standing in front of the sink. She had her pants down and seemed to be washing what looked like a pair of underwear…They were pink. I forced myself to look away and began to check the stalls.
“No one in stall 1…nope, not in stall 2…stall 3 is empty too…”
Then, I got to Stall 4. The door was shut.
I knocked.
Knock, knock…
I heard someone moving inside. I knew immediately it was Jumi.
“Hey, Jumi.”
“Sniff…sniff….”
“Jumi, open up.”
“Just…wait…sniff…”
I could easily hear the tears in her voice.
“Jumi, don’t listen to what C-Night said earlier. She has no idea what she’s talking about.”
“Yeah…but…sniff…but s-still….sniff…”
As Jumi continued to cry, a bout of anger suddenly overcame me. You know that feeling – the one you get when someone messes with your baby sister.
“Hey, Jumi. Just a few more minutes okay? Then, I want you to go to the waiting room.”
With that, I stalked out of the bathroom and went to look for C-Night. But speak of the devil – the bitch walked into the bathroom herself. Our eyes met.
***
“Why the hell are you looking at me?”
“You don’t like me, do you, C-Night?”
“I said, why the fuck are you looking at me?”
C-Night slapped me. I slapped her back even harder.
Slap!
I slapped her so hard that she fell to the ground. This time, when she looked at me, her eyes were full of rage, her hand covering her cheek in disbelief. But there was no covering my hand imprint.
“Fucking bitch!”
“Yes, I am. Get up.”
I gestured toward her to stand up, which she did. She immediately swung forward to hit me again, but I managed to avoid her hand easily by simply ducking. From my angle, I had the perfect opportunity to jab upward, getting her in the jaw.
“Ah!”
C-Night fell backward again. Just then, Jumi attempted to come out of the bathroom stall. I blocked the door.
“Jumi, just wait a second, okay.”
Jumi didn’t say anything, but she quietly obeyed me. I turned to look at C-Night.
“How old are you?”
“Crazy bitch! You think you can get away with this?”
C-Night got up and hurriedly looked around for something to attack me with. So I took out my sword and threw it at her. She quickly picked it up and started swinging it at me. But I dodged it easily. I managed to get my hand in her hair and pulled hard.
And no joke, no lie, her entire hairdo just came off. C-Night was suddenly bald. But I don’t think she realized, because she continued to come at me. It took about five whole seconds for her to realize she had no hair. The moment she saw what I was holding, she froze. The sword slipped out of her hand and clattered to the ground.
I picked it up and slipped it back into the hilt. You never know when you’re going to need a prop sword.
“Kyaah! Fuck you, Sian! I’m going to kill you! I’ll sue your fucking ass!”
With those words, C-Night picked up a fire-extinguisher nearby and threw it at me. I immediately whipped the sword out of its hilt and cut it through the canister.
Pfffft! Pffffffffffffft!
The extinguisher exploded, spraying the chemicals everywhere. I quickly reached out to attack her…but she quickly retreated backwards, her fear pushing her to move. I could see that she was planning to get out of the bathroom, but I quickly blocked the door. She pushed my arm, but that only allowed me to grab her hand and pull her towards me. With her back towards me, I pushed forward until we were against the wall. Suddenly, a sense of déjà vu came over me.
‘Hey. I’m in a bathroom again. What a coincidence.’
When I was dealing with Chun-ah, I was in a bathroom too. I mean, considering there’s no security cameras, it really does make it easier to fight.
“How old are you again?” I asked the rapper one more time.
“T…T-twenty…twenty-s-seven…”
I could hear the fear trembling in her voice. Maybe it was because she saw me cut the extinguisher in half. Makes sense considering that a prop sword ain’t that sharp. And it was a clean cut too. I’d be scared if that also happened to me to be honest. There’s not that many people who can look fear in the face. No matter how arrogant and confident you look, everyone is the same the moment they’re scared.
“Twenty-seven? Jesus, you’re young.”
What? My soul is thirty. Technically, I am older than her.
“Wait…please…don’t hurt me…!”
“You want to live?”
“Aaah!”
At those words, the bitch cried out, her scream filling the bathroom. I reached forward and put my hand on her throat. That shut her out. Not voluntarily, mind you. My hand was stopping her. I guess it was uncomfortable for her, because she soon began to struggle.
