Chapter 6

"你们……" Jessica couldn't help but mimic YoonA, angrily snatching vegetables from SooYoung and YooRi's bowls.

"Brother SeongWoo, how can you... how can you eat so fast?" After YoonA and SooYoung had been fighting for a while, they realized that the biggest culprit in clearing the food was actually Kim SeongWoo.

Kim SeongWoo's eating pace wasn't particularly fast, but one chopstickful from him was equivalent to two from YoonA, and he never stopped chewing, like a production line, subtly exuding a simple elegance.

"Hehe, who made you girls and kids?" Kim SeongWoo, seemingly lacking any sense of being the host, swallowed the food in his mouth and said, "My appetite is at least three times yours. If I don't eat fast, won't I be left with just plain rice later?"

"Hmph!" YoonA followed Kim SeongWoo's gaze and realized that only the top layer of rice in her and SooYoung's bowls was gone, while he had already served himself another bowl of rice.

"Brother SeongWoo's cooking is much better than restaurant food." YooRi praised with a bright smile, but her chopsticks quietly snatched a piece of chicken from under Kim SeongWoo.

Kim SeongWoo smiled slightly, not minding, and picked up a chopstickful of fish-flavored shredded pork for SeulGi, saying, "SeulGi, if you don't speed up, the vegetables will be all gone."

Kim SeongWoo had prepared plenty of dishes, but he didn't expect YoonA and SooYoung to eat almost only vegetables and no rice, and YooRi was only slightly better.

"Chew slowly when eating, and overeating is bad for your health, ..." SeulGi said softly.

"Once in a while is fine." Kim SeongWoo quickly interrupted SeulGi, knowing that if she continued, it would be "deadly."

SeulGi was slightly taken aback, looking at Kim SeongWoo's gentle smile, and finally softly said, "Mm."

"SeulGi, I've always been so nice to you, often holding you on my lap to listen to lessons, but you never listened to me and even gave me the nickname 'Ice Mountain.' Now you're so obedient, it makes me jealous." Jessica looked at Kim SeongWoo in surprise and whispered to SeulGi.

"JiCa-ssi, I'm sorry." SeulGi's face turned slightly red, and she apologized softly.

Jessica was momentarily speechless.

"JiCa-ssi, how can you compare yourself to Brother SeongWoo? Brother SeongWoo has known SeulGi since she was a baby. This bond, tsk tsk..." YoonA said, mimicking some comedian's expression and making a strange sound.

"Hey, Brother SeongWoo, don't take my vegetables." YoonA suddenly called out.

...

The meal took nearly an hour, and it seemed the five little girls had endured a lot of hardship. The bottoms of the plates were almost licked clean by YoonA and SooYoung, showing no sense of being girls.

"Brother SeongWoo, you rest. We'll clean up the table." Jessica stood up and said.

Although YoonA and the others' bellies were already bulging, they started to clean up the table on their own.

"Brother SeongWoo, we actually prepared a cake to celebrate your retirement, but now we can't eat anything." After cleaning up, YoonA took out a beautiful cake and said with an innocent look.

"Perfect, I'll enjoy it myself, so I don't have to share with little pigs." Kim SeongWoo looked at the slightly embarrassed group and said.

"Hmph!" YoonA knew Kim SeongWoo's good intentions but still couldn't help but huff.

"Brother SeongWoo, it's already very late, and we should go back." After a brief chat, Jessica stood up and said.

"I'll see you off." Kim SeongWoo nodded and said.

"No need to trouble you. We can go back on our own," Jessica glanced at the bright lights outside and paused, saying.

"Let's just stay here," YoonA leaned lazily on the sofa, not wanting to move, and said, "As long as we're not late for tomorrow morning's practice, it's fine."

"Right." SooYoung was also full and didn't want to move, quickly agreeing, adding, "SeulGi hasn't even had a chance to talk to Brother SeongWoo. We can't just come for dinner and leave."

"Right, Brother SeongWoo shouldn't mind letting us use his bedroom." YoonA and SooYoung chimed in, not giving Jessica a chance to argue.

Jessica couldn't help but frown slightly. Kim SeongWoo was almost like SeulGi's older brother, and it was fine to be close, but staying at his place on their first visit seemed inappropriate, even though they were still young girls.

"I don't mind, whatever is fine." YooRi, seeing Jessica look at her, quickly shook her head and said.

"Let SeulGi decide." Kim SeongWoo, seeing Jessica look at him for help, felt a bit overwhelmed and said after some thought.

"JiCa-ssi, let's stay." SeulGi bit her lower lip and said to Jessica.

"Yay! SeulGi, you're so nice." YoonA and SooYoung couldn't help but high-five, as they had eaten twice as much as usual and really didn't want to move.

"Then we'll trouble Brother SeongWoo." Jessica bowed and said.

"JiCa-ssi, you don't need to be so polite. Treat Brother SeongWoo like your older brother." YoonA said casually.

"I'll go prepare the bedding." Kim SeongWoo went to the bedroom, took out two new sets of bedding, and tidied up the desk.

"Brother SeongWoo, have you read all these books?" YoonA followed Kim SeongWoo.

"Not yet," Kim SeongWoo shook his head and said, "These are all foreign novels, used to improve my foreign language skills and for leisure."

"When did you learn French? And how did you get a student ID from Seoul University?" YoonA's eyes sparkled with curiosity as she asked in one breath.

"I've only been learning French for a short time. I took the exam at Seoul University earlier today. Are you considering becoming my junior?" Kim SeongWoo smiled and said to YoonA.

"Maybe not, I don't have that ability," YoonA stuck out her tongue and said, "And my dream is to become a world superstar."

"That's not just about putting in effort," Kim SeongWoo was slightly taken aback and said.

"Um—, it's okay. If one effort isn't enough, I'll put in two or three times the effort!" YoonA said firmly.

"Ha, I'll be waiting for the day you become a world superstar," Kim SeongWoo patted YoonA's head and said with a smile, "Alright, I'm going downstairs."

YoonA didn't mind and followed Kim SeongWoo like a little shadow.

After a simple wash, YoonA and the others returned to the bedroom to rest, leaving SeulGi in the living room to "talk" with Kim SeongWoo. Indeed, SeulGi had a serious and orderly manner, and YoonA and the others couldn't bear it, so they went to rest early.

"Thump thump thump..." While talking to SeulGi, Kim SeongWoo heard heavy footsteps and turned to see a small patch of plaster.

"I'm going to the bathroom." YoonA's face was slightly red as she said.

"How long do you practice dancing each day, SeulGi?" Kim SeongWoo's mind was full of the image of the plaster.

"Usually half a day, and then we practice singing, foreign languages, and so on," SeulGi answered.

"Is dancing very tiring? Is your foot injured?"

"No, I mainly practice singing. Is YoonA's foot injured?" SeulGi suddenly realized, her eyes showing a hint of worry as she asked anxiously.

"YoonA, come here." Just as YoonA came out of the bathroom, Kim SeongWoo called out.

"What's wrong?" YoonA walked to SeulGi's side, preparing to sit down.

"YoonA, when did your foot get injured? Why didn't you tell me?" SeulGi looked at the plaster on YoonA's foot, concerned.

"This? It's nothing." YoonA pulled back her foot and said casually, "It's just a bit tired, not injured."

Long hours of dance practice put a lot of strain on the feet, especially for YoonA, who was still young, making it easy to cause muscle and bone damage in the ankles. This was a common issue among many trainees.

"Stretch out your foot, I'll massage it for you." Kim SeongWoo knew this was inevitable and said to YoonA.

"Okay." YoonA obediently responded, placing her feet on Kim SeongWoo's knees, vaguely remembering that Kim SeongWoo knew this skill.

"It might hurt a bit, you'll have to bear with it." Kim SeongWoo found a tube of ointment and evenly applied it to YoonA's feet.

"Okay." YoonA nodded nervously.

"SeulGi, watch carefully. In the future, you can help YoonA with massages." Kim SeongWoo said to the concerned SeulGi.

"Okay!" SeulGi nodded, her eyes wide, carefully memorizing the massage techniques and explanations.

"Oma, it really hurts!" After about ten minutes, Kim SeongWoo finally stopped, and YoonA bit her lip, her eyes already filled with moisture.

"Too many accumulated injuries, of course it hurts." Kim SeongWoo placed YoonA's legs on the sofa and said, "Now you should feel like your feet have no strength, right?"

"Yes, it feels like they're not mine." YoonA frowned, a layer of sweat appearing on her forehead.

"This way, your feet will get proper rest. I'll massage SeulGi's feet next, and YoonA, you can learn. In the future, you two can help each other." Kim SeongWoo indicated to SeulGi.

Half an hour later, YoonA and SeulGi, supporting each other, returned to the bedroom.

"What happened to you two?" Jessica, seeing the unsteady steps of the two, asked curiously.

"We just had a foot massage, it was so comfortable." YoonA showed an exaggerated smile and said happily.

Jessica looked at YoonA's feet with the plaster, nodded, and said no more.

"Hey! YoonA, don't take my meat." SooYoung's drowsy voice suddenly sounded.

"SooYoung-ssi is talking in her sleep again." YoonA giggled and said.

Jessica sighed inwardly: Although they didn't need to go through the intense training of pre-debut trainees, each of them was working hard to debut early, and it was inevitable to have some aftereffects when sleeping. Especially SooYoung, who appeared carefree and innocent, but after experiencing the failure of debut, she actually had more pressure than anyone else.

"Rest quickly, you need to wake up early tomorrow." Jessica's voice was as soft as cotton candy, afraid of waking the two who were already asleep.

YoonA and SeulGi nodded.

A moment later, with a "click," the lights went out, and the bedroom gradually became quiet, with only the faint breathing sounds rising and falling.