Translator: Dreamscribe
Do you know the place where going in feels miserable, but coming out leaves you with a bittersweet feeling and even a sense of refreshment?
It’s none other than the military training center.
“Unnie! Did you rest well?”
“Yeah... Did you rest well too?”
“Yes!”
Seeing Yun-kyung, who was holding a suitcase as big as her own body and greeting me cheerfully, made me fully realize that I had returned to the training camp dormitory.
‘Why do I hate going back in so much?’
There were only a few steps left to the entrance of the dormitory, yet I could feel every cell in my body resisting setting foot inside.
No matter how I looked at it, the Idol Ground 100 dormitory was similar to a military training center.
One thing people don’t really know is that even officers have to enter training centers.
Under the name of basic military training, they must undergo five weeks of training, and during that time, they’re in the same position as the trainees.
‘No, it’s even tougher.’
Anyway, this dormitory brought back memories of that time.
But I couldn’t dawdle any longer, so I had no choice but to go inside the dormitory with Yun-kyung.
“You’re here?”
“Yeah.”
Even though I didn’t take my time, quite a few participants had already arrived inside the dormitory, and among them, I immediately spotted a familiar face.
It seemed like they had come together, Na-yeon and Seo Ryu-jin were talking to each other, then noticed me and acknowledged me.
“The reaction to our performance is insane!”
“Right? I heard the views already passed 500,000?”
They seemed to be chatting enthusiastically about something, and it turned out they were talking about the Music Count performance we had performed live last time.
“1 minute 17 seconds! If you rewind to that point, my face shows up!”
Yun-kyung also seemed interested in the topic and squeezed in between them, proudly boasting that her face appeared for exactly one second in a clip of the performance video.
And then,
“What’s this, our superstar doesn’t even need to talk about screen time and is just walking away?”
I tried to quietly slip away while the three of them were chatting, but I ended up getting caught by Seo Ryu-jin.
“Let’s practice, right? Ugh, I seriously want to practice right now, I’m going crazy!”
“Don’t change the subject, our ending fairy.”
I was doomed.
The moment I saw the gazes of the three beasts looking at me with sly smiles as if I were an amusing prey, I knew there was no escaping this.
Ending Fairy.
This pitiful nickname was something I had earned over the weekend.
‘W... What the heck! Why are people watching this so much?’
Until now, I had always been grateful for the dazzling modern innovations of the 21st century, but this time was an exception.
The Music Count performance that aired live last Friday had become the biggest hot topic of the weekend in many ways.
‘Did 100 participants really perform together? That’s insane.’
‘More than that, who is she? She’s really pretty.’
‘Seriously, it looks like MPlay went all out and gathered all trainees for this.’
Thanks to the sensational concept of having 100 participants perform on one stage, even people who normally had no interest in idols ended up watching the video.
Of course, there was also quite a bit of harsh criticism saying things like, “This isn’t Japan, why does it look like an idol exhibition?”
But even that was still a form of attention, and there was no doubt that Idol Ground 100 had stirred up massive buzz.
‘Huh? Isn’t that the person who was on that show?’
The problem was... it became too popular.
Wearing my usual fuzzy pajama pants, a hoodie, and slippers, I went to the convenience store in front of my house and encountered the disaster of being recognized.
Worse yet, not just once, on the way to the dormitory today, I ran into people who recognized me literally dozens of times. I wasn’t exaggerating. It was enough to make me want to die of embarrassment.
‘Wow! You look better in person than on TV.’
‘Please give me your autograph!’
‘I’ll be cheering you on!’
Strangers knowing things about me.
It was more embarrassing than I had imagined.
Regret washed over me, like, ‘Why didn’t I wash my hair and just lazed around all weekend...’ and I resented the fact that I’d been wearing the same pilling pajama pants for three years just because they were comfortable.
‘That’s right! My daughter became an idol this time!’
Meanwhile, my mom was so excited, telling everyone in the neighborhood, “My daughter’s the one who was on TV~” acting like a blabbermouth servant from a historical drama, pushing me deeper into a pit of self-loathing.
‘I really underestimated the power of broadcasting...’
To be honest, I just wanted to beat up my past self, right up to the brink of death, for misjudging how many people would actually watch this bizarre and absurd idol survival program.
‘Calm down... At least I got 10 bitcoins, right?’
I barely managed to calm myself by thinking of the bitcoin I purchased with the 2 million won allowance I got this time.
I had considered leaving some spare funds aside, but knowing myself better than anyone, I knew I’d waste it on something useless, so I closed my eyes and bought bitcoin straight away.
Fame is fleeting, but bitcoin is forever.
Once again, my motivation flared up.
‘Still, it wasn’t so bad.’
Honestly, this was too embarrassing to say to others, but I, too just like the trio now making a fuss, had watched the performance I was in dozens, no, probably hundreds of times.
Watching myself perform on stage through the monitor was always embarrassing, no matter how many times I saw it.
But when I saw myself dancing and singing on that stage, I could feel that I was someone necessary for that performance.
And for some reason, that didn’t feel all that bad.
***
“Everyone, though it was a short break, did you get some good rest?”
At MC Jang Joon-seok’s words, all the participants responded in unison with a loud “Yes!”
‘Ugh... It’s cold, couldn’t we just gather in the auditorium? Why are we meeting outside?’
Once all the participants returned to the dormitory, an announcement through the broadcast ordered everyone to assemble on the field.
The field, or more accurately, this was much closer to a military training ground, was where the participants were lined up in formation.
Since it was still January, the cold was at its peak, and gathering outdoors in this weather was a tyranny that could warrant sending a heartfelt letter from the army, if we were in one.
“You have now completed the first two weeks of life here, and from this moment forward, the real survival competition begins.”
Even in this freezing weather, Jang Joon-seok continued the announcement with a relaxed expression, as if he were in a warm room, flaunting the fact that he was, after all, a celebrity.
“If the last dormitory phase was training for the live Music Count performance, from now on, it’s time for you to compete against each other through performances.”
Competition.
At Jang Joon-seok’s words, the bodies of the participants, who had been shivering from the cold, seemed to freeze completely, as if someone had pressed a pause button.
‘Up to now, things went smoothly because we did everything together...’
Even I felt uneasy at the word competition.
In my past life, maybe, but in this life, I had lived a life with almost no connection to competition. And the idea of competing with kids who were much younger than me didn’t sit well.
“For the next two weeks, you will form groups of five, and perform in front of an audience who applied for studio viewing.”
Five people per team?
Upon hearing Jang Joon-seok’s words, my mental computer started spinning rapidly.
With 100 participants, dividing them into teams of five would result in a total of 20 teams....
That was no small number.
‘Will they even be able to show all of us?’
Even if each performance takes only 3 minutes, just showing the 20 teams would take an hour.
From what I overheard my aunt say, each episode of Idol Ground 100 would be about 100 minutes long.
It seemed inevitable that a whole episode wouldn’t be spent just on performances.
“Now, let me introduce this week’s mission! On the board next to me are written 10 hit songs from idol groups that defined an era.”
As expected.
A board with stickers, the kind you’d see in ranking-type variety shows, was brought up to the platform where Jang Joon-seok stood.
“There are 20 teams and 10 songs. Do you know what that means?”
Usually, some participants would eagerly answer Jang Joon-seok’s questions, but this time, not a single one opened their mouth.
20 teams and 10 songs.
Anyone could tell, it meant that two teams would go head-to-head using the same song.
***
“Shwoop! Shwoop-shwoop!”
“Hey, I told you to warm up, why are you throwing punches?”
“Tsk tsk. Soon, your figure rolling across the field after getting hit by my dazzling fists will be caught on camera.”
Despite Seo Ryu-jin’s scolding, I continued to warm up by shadowboxing.
“This isn’t just a fight, it’s a chicken fight, you know?”
“Even a chicken fight is still a fight.”
I stopped shadowboxing and gazed softly at Seo Ryu-jin.
“W-What... Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Seo Ryu-jin, you’ve treated me far too carelessly until now.”
They say life is full of ups and downs.
Just as the dark night is always followed by a bright morning, the time for revenge had finally come for me, who had endured so much torment through dance and singing.
-Out of the 10 songs, there are probably tracks each of you really want. However, only 10 people can choose each song! So, the order is extremely important, right?
Surely, among the 10 songs, each participant had preferences, and how those would be divided was a very important matter.
-That’s why you’ll be playing a game to select the 20 team leaders who will choose the songs!
When we first heard that, the participants’ faces lit up with fiery determination.
Since there was no set standard for selecting team leaders, deciding through a game was, in a way, fair and even I thought it sounded good.
-And the game you’ll be playing for the team leader positions is... chicken fight!
Chicken fight.
It’s a traditional Korean game where you squat on one leg, holding the other in a cross-legged position, and hop around on one foot to knock your opponent down.
If you’re Korean, you’ve probably played it at least once during your school days.
‘Kim Mi-young! I believed in you!!!’
The moment the words “chicken fight” came out of Jang Joon-seok’s mouth, I barely stopped myself from cheering out loud.
‘Company Commander, you’re seriously the best at chicken fights!’
Back in the army, every holiday season, our battalion commander would offer reward vacations and make us play company-versus-company team games.
Soccer, tug-of-war, foot volleyball, there were many events, and one of them was chicken fight.
And during my military days, I had never once lost a chicken fight, I was the “Saker” falcon of the chicken fighting world.
“First, eliminate Seo Ryu-jin, then Na-yeon? No, lately Yun-kyung’s been getting too cocky, so I’ll put her in her place first....”
Everything, from the bullying and torment I endured for not being able to sing or dance at the hands of villains like Seo Ryu-jin, had all led up to this very moment.
As I stretched, I calmly began scanning my prey.
‘Adorable little things.’
I was going to win anyway, but the sight of them earnestly warming up caught my eye.
Chicken fight isn’t just about strength.
It’s a profound game of psychological warfare, using your sense of balance to deflect your opponent’s attacks and break their stance with your own.
These immature rookies, lacking experience, were no match for me.
***
“What the, Lee Si-on’s totally trash.”
“Exactly. What were you thinking, charging straight into the center like that?”
“Seriously, Lee Si-on must be obsessed with screen time. She clearly got herself eliminated first on purpose, right?”
“Please... Just leave me alone.”
Right now, I was more embarrassed than when I ran into people who recognized me on the street while looking a complete mess.
-100-person chicken fight, starts now!
At Jang Joon-seok’s cry announcing the beginning, I had confidently moved to the center.
‘If I stay in the corner, I’ll just get pushed out of the ring easily. But if I take the center, others won’t dare to come at me recklessly.’
It was a tactically perfect decision, and I executed it flawlessly.
What I hadn’t anticipated was.
‘Oh! There's Lee Si-on! Get her!’
‘You're done for, take this!’
‘Unnie, I’m sorry!’
That there would be far more people determined to take me down than I had expected.
Right flank.
Left thigh.
Front abdomen.
Back tailbone.
After being simultaneously kneed in all four spots,
‘Gaaaargh!’
I let out a terrible scream and collapsed onto the cold ground of the field.
And in that moment, I realized.
There is no fairness in this world.