"Do you think I'm a liar? When have you ever seen me show any falsehood?"
Llana asked, her voice calm and even as she stared straight into Minyoung's eyes.
Minyoung wasn't in the right state of mind. She was far from it. She wasn't thinking clearly, so Llana had to remain calm and couldn't let her anger take over. If she matched Minyoung's anger, everything could easily spiral into something far worse.
Something neither of them could take back.
When a person is angry, they lose the ability to think properly. Their actions become driven by impulse, and Minyoung was clearly in that state. Her eyes were bloodshot, filled with aggression.
Lack of sleep and jealousy only fueled it further.
Llana took a small step forward as she spoke. She couldn't step back, because Minyoung might interpret it as fear or guilt. She might begin to believe her accusations were right, and Llana couldn't let her come to that conclusion, especially when she didn't know what reckless action Minyoung might take.
If this were her past life, Llana would have already punched her until she came back to her senses.
Who cared about the consequences?
She would have beaten her senseless just for threatening her.
But now, she didn't think that way anymore.
Her body might be that of a fifteen-year-old, but her mentality was already that of someone in her twenties, while Minyoung was clearly just a seventeen-year-old girl.
As someone older, wouldn't it be shameful, even embarrassing, to stoop to her level?
And like she said, Minyoung was still young. Easily influenced. Easily swayed by rumors and opinions.
Llana couldn't believe she came up with something like this on her own, unless someone had planted those thoughts in her mind.
But… who would?
She couldn't think of anyone.
Or was she underestimating how cunning the youth in this world could be?
Let's see how easily she can be swayed.
Let's play the kid card.
"And being VP-nim's whore?" Llana took another slow step forward, a faint, amused smile playing on her lips. "Since when did you come to that conclusion?"
"I heard it from the employees," Minyoung snapped. "You suddenly got included in SEVENTEEN, you're always first in the online voting. Isn't that already proof you have someone backing you? And I saw you… you always get into a black luxury car when leaving the company."
"And that's enough for you to call me a whore?" Llana asked in disbelief. 'Did she even hear herself?'
Getting included in the show and already being labeled like that? Wasn't it possible she was simply too talented to be overlooked? Weren't her vocals enough? Wasn't having perfect pitch and a Vocal Limit Breaker ability enough reason to be included? And being first in the online voting… couldn't it just mean she had many supporters who genuinely liked her?
She didn't believe this was her brothers' doing. If it ever turned out that they were behind her votes… she would feel offended.
Did they not trust her abilities?
Llana bit her lip, feigning hurt. "You don't even know if it's true, yet you've already labeled me as one? I'm just fifteen years old, unnie. Do you really think a fifteen-year-old could do something that shameless?"
Minyoung's expression faltered slightly.
Llana saw it clearly.
It was working.
"Do you even hear yourself, Minyoung-unnie?" she continued softly. "How can you accuse me like that…?"
A beat of silence passed before she spoke again, quieter this time.
"Is it because of my age… that you think it's impossible for me to achieve all of this?"
"You yourself said that I am talented, didn't you? Isn't that reason enough for the trainers and the A&R team to include me in the selection? Isn't it possible that they saw something special in me, which is why they included me?"
"Are people not allowed to vote and support me?"
"Are you really willing to ruin my reputation… my credibility… for that?"
"If someone said the same thing about you, would you just accept it?"
"What would you feel?"
"I thought you were better than that, unnie," Llana continued.
"Stop! Stop!" Minyoung snapped, pointing at her with rage.
"Why, unnie? Does it hurt to hear that from me? Are yo—"
Minyoung cuts her off "You think you can control me with your words?!"
"You're manipulative and a liar! JD-sunbaenim was right!"
Llana froze for a moment at the name, her expression tightening into a frown. "JD?"
So it was him… again.
How many times would he do this before he finally stopped?
She had almost believed he was done. That being a judge, twisting his authority to deny her the score she deserved and masking it with subtle criticisms, was the extent of what he could do.
But no. That was never the end.
How naive of her to believe that man was finished.
All along, he had been preparing something deeper, laying each step in place, slow, careful, deliberate. Nothing obvious. Nothing she could easily confront.
A strike without a hand. Using Minyoung as a tool, while he hides behind the back.
Acting like the snake he was.
Llana remembered a certain scheming aunt of hers, a quiet scoff slipped past her lips,'Of course… like mother, like child.'
JD was on hiatus, or so she'd heard.
Supposedly because of certain health issues.
What a convenient excuse.
She'd be a fool to believe those excuses. It moore likely, he was just hiding in whatever hole he crawled into, waiting… thinking… preparing.
Brewing another scheme, just like what he always does.
A quiet scoff left her lips.
Did he never get tired?
"That's right!" Minyoung shouted. "JD told me everything. I was supposed to win that time! I should've been in the major group, and maybe I wouldn't have been eliminated if you hadn't cheated!"
She started marching toward Llana snapping her from her own thought, forcing her to step back until her back hit the railing.
Llana's expression hardened.
One wrong move—
And she would fall.
"It's all your fault!" Minyoung snapped, raising her hands as she prepared to push her.
Llana's vision darkened.
She couldn't risk her life on the belief that Minyoung wouldn't push her, that she wasn't capable of killing her.
Acting on instinct, Llana shoved her away with all her strength.
Minyoung lost her balance and crashed hard onto the ground.
"Ouch!" she cried, clutching her left elbow, which had clearly taken the brunt of the impact.
Y-you dare?!" Minyoung shot her a hateful glare before her attention dropped back to her injured arm. She clutched her left elbow, wincing as the pain throbbed through it. The impact from the fall was not serious, but enough to sting. Her other hand moved to her lower back, her face tightening slightly as the dull ache from landing hard on the ground set in.
Tears welled in her eyes as her voice trembled. "How could you shove me?"
Llana stared down at her coldly, watching in silence as she struggled to ease the pain.
Why do people willing to kill because of jealousy?
She had seen it before. Different faces, different situations, yet it always followed the same pattern.
Jealousy did not appear all at once. It began quietly as a harmlessly comparison. A fleeting thought. A moment of dissatisfaction. Something most people dismissed.
But some....held onto it.
They fed it.
Until it became a monster.
The realization that someone else possessed something they believed they lacked, and the growing fear that they would never reach it themselves.
That fear hollowed people out.
Slowly.
Silently.
Until their thoughts no longer sought truth, only justification.
Blame became easier than reflection.
Because they can't accept the fact that someone is better than them.
Accusations easier than acceptance.
And eventually, the other person stopped being human in their eyes.
They become an obstacle.
Something that needed to be brought down.
Llana felt no anger as she watched it unfold.
Only a quiet, familiar disappointment.
Humans were fragile in ways they refused to acknowledge. They spoke of fairness and justice, yet so often twisted both to suit their own emotions. When faced with their own limitations, many of them chose not to confront them, but to redirect the weight onto someone else.
Because it was easier that way.
Its easier to believe that someone else was the reason.
Easier to convince themselves that what they lacked had been taken, rather than never attained.
Her fingers tightened slightly at her side.
Even now, it remained the same.
No matter the world, no matter the life.
The pattern did not change.
It was dissapointing to see.
People did not fall because they were forced to.
They fell because they allowed themselves to drift toward that edge, step by step, until there was nothing left to hold onto.
And when they finally lost their footing, they reached out.
Not to save themselves.
....But to pull someone else down with them.
"Pathetic."