"...is—"
"HAN JIWON!"
I didn't move.
The enormous LED screens flashed:
HAN JIWON
7TH PLACE — DEBUT CONFIRMED
The audience erupted.
I stared at the screen. My portrait. My name in white letters against a pale-blue background.
Seventh.
I was seventh.
Which meant—
I was going to debut.
The words existed separately in my head, refusing to become something real. For days, I had told myself that returning to the finale was enough. Now the possibility I had been afraid to want was staring back at me from the screen.
"Jiwon!"
Sejin caught my arm, smiling as he gestured toward the platform where six people waited.
Hyunki stood beside me. I turned toward him, guilt arriving before I could stop it. His name hadn't been called. Mine had taken the final seat.
He caught my expression.
"What are you looking at?"
"Hyunki, I—"
"They called your name, idiot."
I blinked.
"Go."
