I blinked into the sudden darkness, heart hammering so loud it drowned out the air conditioner's hum. The practice room felt smaller, colder, like the walls had leaned in to listen. Then the fluorescents buzzed back to life, harsher than before, and there she was—Ae-Ri—hovering at eye level, wings fluttering lazily, pink eyes glittering with pure, wicked delight.
She clapped again, the sound tiny and sharp, like glass beads hitting marble. "Yay! You didn't faint! I was worried my new baby girl might be a fainter. So many trainees are these days."
I took a stumbling step backward. My heel caught on a stray water bottle. I almost fell. Almost. My body caught itself with a smoothness I'd never had, muscles remembering steps my brain hadn't even processed yet. Weird. Wrong.
"Who… what are you?" My voice cracked on the last word. Pathetic.
Ae-Ri twirled once in midair, skirt flaring like a sugar-spun flower. "I already told you, silly~ I'm Ae-Ri. Your cutest forever fan. Your personal miracle worker. Your very own shortcut to the top." She leaned forward, nose almost brushing mine, breath smelling like melted cotton candy and something faintly electric. "And you said anything. Remember?"
I remembered. The scream. The plea. The stupid, desperate promise I'd hurled into the void at 2:47 a.m. like a drunk girl throwing darts at fate. "That was… I didn't mean…"
"Oh, but you did." She poked my cheek with one tiny finger. Her nail was painted glittery black. It felt real. Too real. "Words have weight, superstar. Especially the ones you scream when no one's watching. They're the honest ones. The dangerous ones."
I swatted at her. My hand passed straight through. She giggled, dissolving into sparkles for half a second before reforming, now perched on my shoulder like a demonic parrot. Her weight was nothing. Her presence was everything.
"First things first," she chirped, kicking her little boots against my collarbone. "We can't have you debuting like this. All shaky pitch and floppy footwork? Embarrassing! The fans deserve better. You deserve better. I deserve better."
She snapped her fingers. A translucent blue window shimmered into existence between us, floating like a fancy phone screen made of light.
**[System: Eternal Encore – First Upgrade Available]**
**Trade Offer #1**
**Gain: Perfect Pitch (100% stability across all registers)**
**Cost: Childhood Lullabies – All memory of songs your grandmother sang to you will be erased**
**Accept? [Y/N]**
I stared at the words until they blurred. My grandmother. Halmeoni. The way she used to hum "Arirang" while braiding my hair, voice soft and cracked like old paper. The smell of camellia oil. The warmth of her lap. Gone? Just like that?
Ae-Ri tilted her head, smile never wavering. "Aww, don't look so sad! It's just a few songs. You'll still remember her face. Her hugs. Just… not the music part. And think about it! Perfect pitch! No more cracked high notes. No more 'unstable' written in red pen. You'll sound like an angel. Or at least like someone who belongs on stage."
My throat closed. I wanted to say no. I wanted to tell her to disappear. To take her ribbons and her horns and her stupid sparkling eyes and leave me alone with my mediocre dreams.
But the memory of today's evaluation burned fresh. Passable. Passable. Passable.
I lifted a trembling finger.
Pressed Y.
The blue window pulsed once, bright and satisfied, then vanished.
For a heartbeat nothing happened.
Then it hit.
A soft, sweet hum filled my skull—not a sound from outside, but inside, like someone had tuned my vocal cords to concert pitch while I wasn't looking. I opened my mouth experimentally. A single note slipped out, clear and round and impossibly steady. Middle C. Then higher. Then higher still. No strain. No waver. Just… perfection.
Ae-Ri squealed, clapping so fast her hands blurred. "See? SEE? I told you! You're already prettier on the inside!"
I touched my throat. It felt the same. Normal skin. Normal pulse. But something was missing. A quiet, gentle absence. Like a radio had been playing softly in the background my whole life and someone finally turned it off.
I tried to hum the lullaby. The one about the moon rabbit. The one Halmeoni sang when thunderstorms scared me.
Nothing.
Just silence where the melody used to live.
My eyes stung. No tears came. I waited for them. Begged for them. Nothing.
Ae-Ri floated down to sit cross-legged on my palm. She looked up at me with those too-big eyes and patted my thumb like I was the one who needed comforting.
"Don't cry, baby girl. You can't anyway. Not like you used to." She grinned, all sharp sweetness. "That was trade number two. Free bonus~ Tears are so last season. Real idols only cry on cue. Pretty, sparkling, camera-ready tears."
I stared at her. At the tiny monster wearing ribbons who'd just stolen my grandmother's voice from me.
And somewhere, deep under the shock and the horror and the strange electric thrill of that perfect note still ringing in my chest, a tiny, treacherous part of me whispered:
Do it again.
Ae-Ri's smile widened, as if she'd heard the thought loud and clear.
"That's my superstar," she whispered, voice syrupy and proud. "We're just getting started."