Translator: Dreamscribe
“Participant number 100, Lee Si-on, please enter!”
At last, my number was called.
I left the waiting area and slowly walked toward the filming location.
“Please don’t mind me, just enter naturally.”
One cameraman pointed a lens right in front of me.
I hadn’t been paying attention anyway, but just as I was starting to think that shoving the camera that close was a bit too much.
Before I knew it, I had stepped inside the filming set where the stage was prepared.
‘What... this stage is just for this program?’
A filming set much larger and more organized than I had expected.
I was momentarily overwhelmed by the scale.
In the center was a wide performance stage, and in front of it were tiered seats stacked up like a pyramid.
‘One... two... three...’
I counted, thirteen tiers in total.
What caught my eye the most was the one and only seat placed at the very top, the thirteenth tier.
'Isn't that tacky?'
A dazzling chair that looked like something a medieval king would sit on.
Usually, too much decoration gives off a cheap vibe, and this chair was exactly that. So excessively ornate, it felt burdensome just to look at.
As I was scanning the stage and the seating area,
“Unnie! Over here!!”
A familiar voice called out from the seats.
It was that squirrel-like Kim Soo-yeon I had talked with in the waiting room.
'That crazy girl...?'
She was the only person I knew, so I was about to greet her warmly, but then I saw where she was sitting.
Dead center. And not just anywhere, dead center of the sixth tier.
A seat screaming, “I want to stand out!”
Soo-yeon was sitting there, beaming brightly, waving her hand at me.
The cameras installed around the set automatically turned to her, filming that wave from every angle.
Even I, shameless as I am, couldn't do that.
I didn’t want to stand out, so I quietly turned to head for a seat tucked away in the corner.
‘Why is she making that pitiful face again...!’
I tried to avoid eye contact with Soo-yeon, but our eyes met at just the wrong moment.
Eyes like a cat abandoned by its owner.
When she saw me turning away, she lowered her head with a resigned expression.
The moment I saw that, my heart wavered again.
‘If I sit there, I’ll stand out way too much... but can I just ignore that face?’
In just a few seconds, my brain went back and forth hundreds of times, go vs. don’t go.
“Unnie!”
“Let’s talk after this is over.”
In the end, I had no choice but to head toward the center seat Soo-yeon had saved, like a prisoner being dragged to jail.
Something about those sparkling eyes told me I’d never get a good night’s sleep during our two-week training camp if I ignored them now.
“Unnie! I really picked a good seat, didn’t I? If you sit here, we might show up a lot on camera!”
“You picked it because you wanted more screen time?”
“Yeah! Of course! We have to appear a lot for the viewers to vote for us, right?!”
...That's right.
Soo-yeon joined this program to become an idol.
It only hit me just now, that obvious fact.
Probably everyone else here, all 99 other participants besides me, came with the serious dream of debuting.
‘...Is it okay for me to be sitting here?’
I suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if I had stolen someone else's spot.
With that uneasy feeling in my chest, I just nodded appropriately while listening to Soo-yeon chattering happily beside me, using her voice as ASMR.
Before I knew it, the seats were almost full.
“Don’t you think that one’s the best spot to get attention?”
“Ah... well, it definitely attracts a lot of attention... but unless you’re really confident, sitting there could actually backfire.”
All the seats the participants were sitting in were now filled, except for one. The golden throne at the top tier remained empty.
Thirteenth tier, the only seat that looked like a king’s throne.
‘There’s only one person left... they’ll be forced to sit there. Poor thing.’
That’s what I was thinking when.
“Unnie!! It’s Ryu A-yeon!!”
“Ryu A-yeon? Who’s that?”
“Unnie, you seriously don’t know Ryu A-yeon?! The one with the most views in the pre-interview video! TSP’s number one debut candidate! How can you not know?!”
“TSP’s top debut candidate? Then why is she here?”
“That’s... I don’t really know either....”
TSP.
Even people who aren't interested in the entertainment industry would have at least heard the name, Korea’s top-tier major entertainment agency.
'Well, the CEO is already quite famous.'
The CEO of TSP was Park Tae-soo, a well-known male solo singer, famous for personally producing the albums of the artists under his label.
And not just producing, he turned every idol group he touched into a hit, transforming what used to be a mid-sized company into one of Korea’s Big 3 agencies.
So why would Ryu A-yeon, the number one debut candidate at such a top agency, appear on this program?
With that question in mind, I naturally turned my head toward the entrance.
Step.
The final participant, Ryu A-yeon, walked toward the pyramid’s top seat without a hint of hesitation.
As if it had always been her seat from the beginning, she walked with confidence and composure and sat in the golden chair.
Her demeanor was so impressive that I found myself staring at her in a daze.
And maybe it was just my imagination, but it looked like Ryu A-yeon was looking my way, too.
Our eyes met.
‘If what Soo-yeon said is true, then this girl is going to make it, right? Then... I should make a good impression.’
Of course, I had no plans to get involved in the entertainment industry, but still- maybe someday I could name-drop that I knew someone famous?
A bit of a shallow thought, but since the person in question wouldn’t know, I gave Ryu A-yeon a polite nod and flashed the most fake smile I could muster.
***
“There are currently over hundreds of idol groups in Korea. Of course, those hundreds are only the ones that have appeared on broadcast at least once.”
In the center of the stage, a male MC appeared holding a microphone.
All the lights in the filming set turned off, leaving only a spotlight shining down on him.
I recognized him instantly.
‘Jang Joon-seok? ...Wow, they really brought in a famous MC.’
If I’d seen him outside, I probably would’ve instinctively taken out my phone for a photo.
As actor Jang Joon-seok took the stage as MC, thunderous applause and cheers erupted from the seats where the participants were sitting.
Receiving that excitement with ease and confidence, Jang Joon-seok waved to the crowd and began introducing the program.
"K-POP idol groups representing Korea and Asia. But today, there are people gathered here to become a group only for you, the viewers."
He paused for a moment, then pointed toward the dark area where the lights weren’t shining.
“Introducing! Among hundreds of idol groups, a national girl group project born purely from the viewers’ votes! The 100 participants of Idol Ground 100!”
As his announcement ended, the lights in the studio lit up the front of the pyramid seats brightly.
“Hello! We’ve gathered here to become the viewers’ idols.”
From the very top seat, Ryu A-yeon stood and began speaking gracefully.
“We are the 100 survivors who want to stay in the game through your votes! Please support us!”
Following her, the remaining 99 participants shouted in unison, their chorus echoing throughout the studio.
'Wh... what is this?!'
Of course, I was also shouting out that cringey line with full effort.
-You may have heard about the program’s format during prior casting, but our concept is ‘survival’. Every two weeks, votes will determine who stays and who gets eliminated...
I had heard no such explanation.
All my aunt told me was, “Just do whatever they tell you.”
And now, here I was, mouthing these cheesy lines like it was part of my destiny.
“From now on, all participants will appear on MPlay’s music broadcast, Music Count, in two weeks.”
Before Jang Joon-seok could even finish his sentence, another explosion of cheers erupted in the studio.
“Unnie! We’re going to be on Music Count in two weeks!”
Soo-yeon said, eyes sparkling, not for the camera, but from genuine excitement.
According to Soo-yeon, of the hundreds of currently active idol groups, only about 20 actually get to appear on music shows.
Because of that, unless you’re with a well-known agency, many idol groups disband without ever having made a single broadcast appearance.
In that context, even if it’s a stage shared by 100 people, getting to appear on Music Count, one of the four major music shows, is a massive opportunity for trainees, according to Soo-yeon.
No wonder the participants were thrilled.
‘Even she looks excited.’
Even Ryu A-yeon, who had been sitting on the golden chair without the slightest change in expression since the moment she entered, now showed a hint of excitement in her demeanor.
“But not all 100 participants will be able to stand on the same stage.”
With that single sentence from Jang Joon-seok, the cheers that had filled the filming set vanished in an instant.
The expressions of the participants hardened with tension.
“Participants will be evaluated through today’s entrance stage and divided into Grades A, B, C, D, and F. Depending on your grade, the amount of screen time you receive on stage will also differ.”
Gulp.
I clearly heard the sound of a participant sitting next to me swallowing hard.
'This is a bit cruel to these young kids.'
Not just the participant beside me, who was visibly nervous, Soo-yeon across from me, and most others when I looked around, had hardened eyes and remained silent.
The statement that screen time would vary by grade wasn’t just about rankings, it meant there was a real risk of disappearing from the screen altogether.
“And the center position on the first broadcast stage of Idol Ground 100, which only one person can take, will be contested solely among the Grade A participants.”
Even if you make it into Grade A, you still have to compete again for the center spot.
I was once again reminded of how intense and merciless the idol profession really was.
Honestly, it seemed even more brutal than the military.
‘One, two, five, seven, ten, ...’
Corporal Lee Ho-jin, who had once exchanged a glance with me during the once-a-year physical fitness test and then invented a whole new number system.
The military was a place where invisible bonds turned twenty sit-ups into seventy.
Grades existed, but no one got hurt the way they do here.
Come to think of it, maybe the military wasn’t so bad after all.
“Participants, do you know how the grades will be determined? Ah! Participant number 12, Lee Ji-su, how do you think it’ll be decided?”
“Huh? Ah... through viewer votes...?”
“Ah! Unfortunately, there will be no viewer voting for this entrance performace. So, to evaluate your performances on behalf of the viewers, we’ve invited a panel of judges. Please welcome them with a big round of applause!”
As we started clapping at Jang Joon-seok’s prompting, the lights in the filming set turned off again, with only the entrance area lit up.
“Introducing the three judges who will evaluate your performances! First, from the legendary girl group ‘G.G’, member Hye-ryeong; next, choreographer Lee Jung-yoon, creator of countless hit choreographies; and finally, top producer Ahn Sung-ho, three experts in their respective fields will be judging you!”
With Jang Joon-seok’s introduction, the three people began walking to the judges’ table prepared in front of the stage.
I didn’t recognize two of them, but one I knew.
‘Hye-ryeong?’
Golden Girls.
She had been the main vocalist of a girl group that truly defined an era.
She was so popular that, back in my days as a squad leader, I once caught a guy who had smuggled a phone into the base.
'Squad Leader! I’ll go to the guardhouse, just please let me use my phone!'
Even after getting caught, he begged to use it for just 30 minutes, saying he’d go to the guardhouse.
I thought maybe his girlfriend had cheated on him or something, but it turned out.
He was trying to get tickets to a G.G concert.
‘Since you were honest, I’ll take your phone and still send you to the guardhouse.’
I sent him straight to the guardhouse.
“Now, the participants who will perform the first today are...”
While I had been lost in nostalgic memories, the entrance ceremony had already begun.
It was finally the true start of the program.