Chapter 1358 – ##14.5_Idol Rhapsody (4)
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1.
“Oh my, you’ve been through so much?”
“Indeed.”
“Looks like you’ve had a lot of heartache.”
The trainer in charge of the idols could tell.
L’Riel and the handsome man who introduced himself as Siwoo were lovers.
Even a fool could see that much.
The sight of the man sitting on the sofa in the corner of the practice room and L’Riel complaining to him like a spoiled child screamed that they were a couple, even if you were looking at them upside down.
Still, it was hard to believe.
A man dating a witch?
It was something you’d occasionally hear about somewhere on Earth, but seeing it happen right before your eyes was so surreal. Yet, when you looked closely at the man’s face, you couldn’t help but nod in agreement, a confusing feeling.
“Ms. Sua, you two are… a couple, right?”
“We are married.”
Asking Ms. Sua, who seemed the easiest to talk to, she pondered for a moment before nodding readily.
Ah, she’s married.
An idol, who would cause a huge scandal just by being rumored to be dating, is married…?
It could happen.
After all, they weren’t going to continue activities officially, and it was just a surprise event-like idol group, right?
But the trainer’s confusion wasn’t strictly from the scene unfolding before her eyes.
“How do I look~? I learned this dance.”
“Ooh.”
“Like this, like this, like this! Ta-da~!”
“I’m giving you a standing ovation. Your expression is really something, you know?”
“Right?”
The man, after comforting L’Riel, was casually chatting with Dorothy.
It was a normal conversation that any close man and woman could have.
But this was an industry where secret relationships were rampant, and the trainer had been in charge of countless trainees and idols.
She had the nose of a hunting dog that could smell a scandal just by looking at the angle of someone’s phone.
Her gut feeling told her.
That man and Dorothy… were flirting, or even more than that.
A soap opera was unfolding before her eyes, where a man was casually talking to his mistress in front of his wife.
And the soap opera didn’t end there.
“Teacher, would you like to show us too?”
“No, I know you’ll just make fun of me again.”
“When have I ever done that?”
This time, the man was talking to Eloa.
For some reason, he was calling her ‘Teacher,’ but this was even more obvious.
This one was just openly a relationship.
She seemed to be trying her best to restrain herself, but Eloa’s eyes, as she looked at Siwoo, were dripping with a sweet love that the trainer had never seen before.
If there were no eyes watching, she probably would have run over and kissed him right away.
Let’s recap.
That man was married to L’Riel, was flirting with Dorothy, and was also in a relationship with Eloa, who was as dignified as Ms. Sua.
“……”
What about Ms. Sua?
She looked, but Ms. Sua subtly avoided her gaze.
So, not her.
The trainer pondered how to accept this surreal situation and eventually chose to remain silent.
“Uh, I… I need to take an urgent call for a moment…”
She hadn’t seen anything.
According to CEO Oh, the other party was not just an ordinary witch but a ‘Great Witch’ who was specially revered, and they were powerful witches that even Ms. Sua would have to defer to.
If she were to reveal this enormous fact to the outside world, she would surely be quietly eliminated by the National Intelligence Service.
2.
Time passed, and the debut date of Witches was approaching.
The music had already been released to the public, and the venue for their first performance was the Han River Park Music Festival, where many domestic idols and singers would be performing.
With so much attention focused on it, the ticket sales were also incredibly fierce.
Early bird tickets sold out in literally 0.5 seconds.
The subsequent ticket sales also sold out in the blink of an eye.
The atmosphere at the venue was even more heated.
Amelia and Siwoo were also there.
“It’s so hot even though it’s night.”
“The city is usually a bit hotter than Gehenna. It’s especially so in Korea because of the humidity.”
“Still, I’m happy because it’s been a while since I’ve had a date with Siwoo.”
Sadly, the other lovers and their daughters couldn’t come.
It was also a time when their daughters hadn’t grown enough to roam the mortal world, and the other lovers were taking turns filling the childcare void left by Dorothy and Eloa.
For a while, Amelia, who had experience in childcare, had been especially struggling, so today was an outing for her vacation.
“Mom, Dad. Aren’t you being too lovey-dovey in front of everyone?”
Ah, by the way, Malika had come to the mortal world with them.
It was about time to let her experience the mortal world.
“Our Malika is jealous again? Come here, Daddy will give you a hug.”
“Ah! Daddy! Don’t! I’m nine years old now, you know? I’m too old to be acting cute in Daddy’s arms!”
“Malika, you kept following Daddy around saying you were going to marry him. Don’t you remember?”
“Ugh, Mom talks about that every day. It’s annoying.”
Surprisingly, it was indeed the same little Malika who used to babble, now complaining with such clear and precise pronunciation.
She was holding her mom and dad’s hands tightly, coming to watch the other moms debut as idols.
“Malika, is Daddy’s hometown boring?”
“It’s boring. The clothes are old-fashioned, the people are all blunt, and the buildings are just unnecessarily tall. I’d rather go back to Gehenna and play with the kids.”
“Malika, I told you not to pout like that with your lips. It makes you look unrefined.”
When she first came to the mortal world with Amelia, it was fun to watch her half-panicked state, but nine-year-old Malika was not like that at all.
At first, she seemed a bit surprised with wide eyes, but she quickly adapted and wandered around, grumbling.
“She’s different from Amelia.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you remember when we first traveled together? You booked a hotel in Jeju Island, and you flinched every time the car moved.”
“Really? Mom did?”
“Yeah, didn’t you see? She said she’d book the hotel with confidence, and then she booked a hotel way over there!”
“I, when did I ever!”
As Siwoo lightly wrapped his arm around Amelia’s waist, who was embarrassed, and their faces got closer, Malika turned her back.
“Ugh, ugh, I’m so embarrassed.”
Sometimes, Malika found her mom and dad’s intense love to be a bit much.
3.
Unexpectedly, the first performance of the music festival doesn’t get as much attention as the headliner performance in the latter half.
People who haven’t arrived at the venue might miss the performance altogether, and other audience members are usually still arriving, making the atmosphere chaotic.
Moreover, all the stage settings are focused on the headliner.
However, Witches overturned all those common assumptions.
Even though the venue had 1.5 times more capacity than usual, the area in front of the temporary stage was swarming with people like a beehive.
Everyone was staring intently at the stage, as if they were glaring at it.
“When is it starting?”
“I came from Busan to see the Witches’ performance!”
“Sua unnie! Dorothy unnie! Show us your faces!”
“I heard the other members also protected Korea when the monsters appeared before?”
It was their first performance, with only the music released and no music video, just member profiles, yet stories about Witches were already being heard from all directions.
Perhaps this scene was also created by Siwoo.
If the atmosphere of the witch society had been captured as wanting to subjugate all humans.
Conversely, if humans had harbored infinite malice towards witches who were carrying out harsh politics, this scene would not have unfolded.
“By the way, I wonder if she’ll do well…”
“L’Riel?”
“Yes, she wasn’t that skilled when I last checked.”
“No, L’Riel mom will definitely succeed wonderfully.”
“Yeah, yeah, she definitely will.”
Although she had stopped using her as a role model, Malika, who still supported L’Riel, defended her.
In fact, this trip to the mortal world was also because Malika really wanted to see L’Riel’s mom as an idol.
After the host finished explaining the schedule with some silly jokes.
“Now, a magical stage will begin. Many of you have probably come to see this group. With Korea’s guardian, Ms. Sua! Let’s heat up this festival with their hot first performance! Witches! Please welcome them with a warm round of applause!”
As the Witches appeared on stage, screams of cheers pierced the ears.
“Sua unnie! Sua unnie!”
“Sua mama!”
Ms. Sua, skillfully moving to the front as planned and performing her solo part.
She, who had been somewhat clumsy when last checked, was now smiling like a real idol and showing off various dance moves.
Of course, Siwoo, who had very good eyesight, could tell that Ms. Sua’s brow was twisted at a subtle angle.
“What, wasn’t Ms. Sua the leader because she’s the prettiest?”
“No… is that waistline even real…?”
“The pink witch is so cute…”
The parts of the teacher, who didn’t disappoint, and Dorothy’s part also passed by in an instant.
Just as the heat of the concert was rising to a new level with their unimaginable beauty and performance, Siwoo’s family swallowed hard.
L’Riel, who was still stiff just a week ago.
Would she really have performed her part well?
Malika put her small hands together in prayer and looked at the stage with earnest eyes.
And then.
-Paaang!!!
The color of the spotlight changed in an instant.
In the stage lighting that resembled the waves of the blue sea, L’Riel stepped forward more confidently than anyone else and began to dance.
Although her expression was full of dignity, the movements were actually like rhythmic exercises, but to Malika’s eyes, they looked incredibly cool.
“Wow…”
“Phew…”
Siwoo also let out a sigh of relief and smiled.
As expected, L’Riel was a wife who could do anything if she put her mind to it!
