Translator: Dreamscribe
The people at the broadcasting station must have forgotten that struggle and revolution are the history of humankind.
'It looks like the practice spaces have been divided by grade... I'll see you later after practice, unnie!'
You might not see me later, Soo-yeon.
I might freeze to death before that.
The schedule after breakfast was self-practice for the theme song "Spotlight" of 'Idol Ground 100', which we were to present in a week.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely self-directed, since the judges assigned as trainers were supposed to rotate and give guidance.
"So... cold."
The problem was the vicious scheme of the broadcasting station people who divided us by grade into separate classes.
"I sneaked a look at the Grade A class, and they have proper heating over there...."
"From the start, only Class F’s practice room is stuck in some remote area...."
It was still winter, and the weather was quite chilly. The practice room where I and the other Grade F participants were gathered was absolutely freezing.
It was cold enough to remind me of cold-weather training during military service.
"Still, we should practice. If we move, we’ll sweat and warm up a bit, right?"
While everyone was expressing disappointment at the harsh environment, one participant spoke up, and the others nodded as if in agreement.
"First, I think it’d be good to watch the choreography video and start memorizing the moves."
"I’ll play it now."
At least the broadcasting station bastards seemed to have a sliver of conscience left, since they had provided the minimum equipment necessary for practice.
Starting with a wall-length mirror so we could check our movements while dancing, there was also a TV installed to play the performance video for the song.
I’ve been waiting for this moment (Oh yeah)
The light I’ve been hiding
Now it’s time to show it
You can't avoid my eyes
Since getting familiar with the song was the first step, all members of Class F huddled in front of the TV to watch the stage performance.
'Looking at it again, this choreography isn’t easy at all.'
When I saw it in the auditorium yesterday, everything was so chaotic I couldn’t grasp the details, but now I was starting to notice things bit by bit.
First of all, due to the nature of the song being one that had to be sung as a group, there weren’t any big movements across the stage like other idol performances- instead, the choreography was mostly done in place.
'Their feet never stop moving.'
When I only looked at the upper body, the moves seemed like simple motions, but watching the lower body too, it looked incredibly intense.
Especially from the highlight part of the song, they stomped nonstop and even jumped, which made it hard to breathe just watching.
Is it really possible to sing and dance to this choreography at the same time?
"Shall we try it together once?"
After watching the performance several times on repeat, someone finally suggested we try practicing.
The first thing we did was form a triangle formation like the dancers in the video.
"Should we start using casual speech? We’ll be practicing together for the next week, and it’d be awkward if we stayed formal the whole time."
At the suggestion of one participant who had been leading the mood since the beginning, the F-grade participants awkwardly paused forming the formation to introduce themselves.
‘Lee Ga-hyun from Dion Music? Hmm... she looks like Grade A material.’
Normally, taking the lead was a bothersome role that everyone tried to avoid.
But the trainee named "Lee Ga-hyun" had stepped up and was introducing herself first, leading the atmosphere.
"I'm the oldest here, so would it be okay if we all spoke casually?"
"Yes."
Lee Ga-hyun introduced herself as 22 years old, and the others all readily agreed.
Though 22 is still considered baby age in society, here on 'Idol Ground 100', she was treated as the eldest.
‘Only three people out of twenty are older than me?’
Surprisingly, even though I had just turned 19 this year, I was among the older ones, there were that many young participants.
Especially.
"Hello, I kept watching your interview videos, unnie."
"Why?"
"Because you're really pretty... hehe."
The participant named "Yun-kyung" who was now tagging along beside me was only 15 years old.
It was still hard to believe that a middle schooler had joined a survival program like this to become an idol.
‘Has she gone mad over viewership ratings? Kim Mi-young... So she’s finally thrown away the last bit of human decency....’
As I thought this was all a bit too much, I was considering lowering my aunt’s personality score from a C to a D-.
“I’m considered young too, but there are lots of trainees even younger than me.”
“What?”
“Most idols debut in their late teens these days. Some people even train for like seven years!”
Listening to Yun-kyung’s explanation sent a chill down my spine.
Military service is currently 21 months and is expected to be reduced to 18 months in the future, but trainees have no fixed term, and they have to wait anywhere from a year to even seven or eight years.
‘So that’s why Soo-yeon was whining like that?’
When we first met, Soo-yeon had said she was anxious after being cut from the debut team. Now, I was starting to understand her feelings.
"How about we keep the practice formation like this for now?"
After talking to Yun-kyung for a bit about trainee life, it was finally time to start practicing properly.
“Since I’m tall, I think it’d be best for me to stand at the front. Is everyone okay with that?”
At Ga-hyun’s suggestion, leading the atmosphere from the front, the other participants looked a little reluctant but eventually nodded.
However.
“Um... Ga-hyun unnie is tall, but I think Si-on unnie might be a little taller.”
Yun-kyung, who had been standing next to me, suddenly raised her hand and brought me up, turning everyone’s attention toward me.
'No! Why are you doing this?!'
To be fair, my height was on the taller side for a woman.
The last time I measured it, I was around 169 cm, and these days it felt like I might be even taller.
Anyway, when Ga-hyun heard Yun-kyung’s words, her expression briefly stiffened, and I started to feel uncomfortable.
“Ah... yeah. Si-on might be a bit taller than me, but I thought she might feel pressured.”
“What?”
“We all heard what Si-on said during the entrance ceremony, right? Isn’t it a bit much to put someone who’s only practiced for three weeks in such a position?”
"That's...."
Before Yun-kyung could say anything, Ga-hyun cut her off and continued talking.
“More importantly, our goal as Class F is to get good grades in the evaluation a week from now. So, I think someone with more trainee experience should take the front.”
At Ga-hyun’s words, murmurs began to spread among the Class F participants.
‘I think Ga-hyun unnie is right.’
‘If we want to look more skilled, the person in front should be competent....’
‘That person already has the second-highest views on her interview video, right? We need to stand out somehow too....’
As voices murmuring agreement with Ga-hyun came from all directions, the expression on Yun-kyung’s face began to darken.
Pat.
“Unnie....”
“Thanks for speaking up. But I’m really okay.”
I gently patted Yun-kyung on the shoulder and told her it was fine. She looked like she was about to cry.
‘Interesting.’
At first, I’d wondered why someone with leadership skills and pretty decent looks was placed in Class F.
On the surface, she looked like Grade A material.
But after watching her lead the atmosphere and how she handled the conversation with Yun-kyung, I got a sense of it.
‘That one’s dangerous.’
I had served nearly ten years in the military.
Which meant that from the time I was a squad leader to a company commander, I had overseen at least hundreds of soldiers.
Through that experience, I acquired a particular skill, the Sharingan.
‘She’s overly eager, but does she have the skills to back it up?’
After conducting interviews with hundreds of people, I had learned firsthand the unchanging truth that you should never judge a person by appearances.
Even though I only saw a glimpse of it now, she reminded me of a subordinate I once had.
Back when I was a company commander, there was a very enthusiastic squad leader who always volunteered to do things without being told, and even asked to take over my tasks.
Then one day, without consulting me, he shredded classified documents and got me a written warning.
There’s a reason for the saying, a lazy incompetent soldier is better than a diligent incompetent one.
‘Still, it’s too early to conclude anything.’
I kept seeing that squad leader’s image in Lee Ga-hyun, who had stepped up as the leader, and it bothered me, but for now, I decided to just observe.
To begin with, I never intended to stand in the center, and regardless of who did, what mattered now was starting practice as quickly as possible.
We were already a group gathered together in Class F due to our relatively lacking skills compared to the other classes. We couldn’t afford to fall behind in practice too.
***
“You guys are in serious trouble.”
“...We’re sorry.”
Hye-ryeong looked at the participants who answered with bowed heads and felt both pity and frustration.
“Are you protesting because you're in Class F?”
“...”
“Why is no one singing out loud properly while doing the choreography? What, have you already given up because you’re in Class F and think your mics won’t get turned on anyway?”
The reason Hye-ryeong was angry wasn’t simply because of their lack of skill.
'I don't see grit.'
From the beginning, Hye-ryeong hadn’t expected outstanding talent from the Class F participants.
What she wanted to see was grit and effort.
Some might call her old-fashioned, but to her, grit was the most essential talent an idol could have.
That belief came from her own experience surviving in the idol world thanks to sheer grit.
When she first debuted, she had nothing special going for her in G.G other than dancing, so she practiced singing like crazy to survive.
And in the end, the one who used to be called the "vocal hole" miraculously ended up taking the main vocalist position on G.G’s final album.
“Is there a leader in this class?”
Hye-ryeong addressed the participants still standing in stage formation,
“...I’m acting as the leader.”
The participant standing at the front of the formation, named Lee Ga-hyun, raised her hand and responded to Hye-ryeong’s question.
“Then let me ask you a few things. First, is this formation correct?”
"Yes?"
“I see tall participants standing in the front row, but then the members in the back get completely buried, don’t they?”
“Well, usually in idol groups, the taller members are placed in the center....”
“That’s for performances with changing positions. ‘Spotlight’ doesn’t have any positional shifts, it’s all performed in place. So when tall members are in front, the whole stage looks cramped.”
At Hye-ryeong’s words, Lee Ga-hyun, who claimed to be the leader, lowered her head without being able to respond.
“More importantly, does it make sense to put someone in the center who can’t sing through the song until the end?”
“...I’m sorry.”
“If you’re the leader, you need to lead the class with a bit more responsibility.”
After saying that, Hye-ryeong wondered if she had gone too far, and thought that on camera, she might come off as the bad person,
‘But sugarcoating it only harms the trainees.’
Since she had taken on the role of both judge and trainer, she decided to commit fully and go hard till the end.
Of course, it wasn’t all bad.
“Number 100, Lee Si-on?”
“Yes.”
“You did well. The choreography is still lacking in many areas, but at least you memorized it to the end, right?”
“I tend to do well once I get going.”
At the brazen response from contestant number 100, Lee Si-on, Hye-ryeong couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
“I’m not saying you danced well?”
“Yes.”
“But you’re the only one who sang the entire song properly while dancing. I liked that.”
“Thank you.”
It wasn’t an empty compliment, it came from the heart.
In fact, if she had to pick the most worrying participant from Class F, Hye-ryeong would’ve chosen Si-on without hesitation.
Her trainee period was so short, it was practically nonexistent.
She was practically a civilian. Could someone like Si-on really prepare for a stage in just a week? That doubt had definitely been there.
But surprisingly, Si-on had shown decent coordination in the performance just now, without noticeably falling behind.
‘What the...? She improved this much in a single day?’
Though there were still many rough parts, her unexpectedly decent dance movements left Hye-ryeong surprised.
And that wasn’t all.
Shine me now, light me up
Keep believing in me till the end
In the highlight section of “Spotlight”, a part that even participants from Class A had struggled to sing, Si-on was the only one in Class F singing it.
‘Her singing is clearly unpolished. But her vocal tone is irreplaceable.’
Though there was still a sense of technical immaturity, Hye-ryeong could clearly feel that Si-on’s voice, which had resonated alone during the highlight part, was shining.
A clear voice, almost like that of a boy.
And at the same time, it carried a delicate quality unique to women, creating a mysterious and dreamy sound.
'Will she be able to show improved performance a week from now?'
Hye-ryeong herself thought it was far too short a time, but for some reason, she had a feeling that Si-on would manage to show something on stage at the next grade evaluation.