Idol Hides His Military Service

Hmm...

"What is that half-lidded stare, Lee Sion?"

"I finally figured it out."

"What?"

"I’ve learned your entire pattern, Seo-Chaos."

"This is seriously just you saying random stuff every day."

Seo Ryujin grabbed my shoulders and shook me, demanding I tell her what I’d figured out.

But I quietly held out my palm toward her, as if to say, You don’t need to know.

Maybe that annoyed her, because Ryujin drove a spike into my back. Then she shot me a look once, made a grossed-out face, and went back to practicing.

'To think you were hiding something like this. Seo-Chaos, you’re awfully sneaky.'

Once the afternoon practice for the new song, 'Our Spring Isn’t Over ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Yet,' and the individual styling for the Final Round stage were finished, we started doing team-based individual practice time.

-For this Final, you will be performing a total of five mission songs. First is Lucid Dive from the group battle mission, then Sumgyeol and Bang! Bang! Love! from the position evaluation. Lastly, you’ll do Starlight Umbrella and Don’t touch... from the concept evaluation.

Because the 25 contestants were split into five teams and had to recreate the stages we’d done earlier on the program, we had to gather by team and practice the stages.

-The Lucid Dive team is Lee Sion, Seo Ryujin, Kurosawa Yuri, Yoo Jihye, and Kim Nayeon.

Five songs to show on the Final stage.

Out of those, I was assigned to the Lucid Dive team—the one we performed during the group battle mission—so I was practicing with the other four while bringing back old memories.

'I wanted to be on the Don’t touch team, though.'

If it were up to me, rather than picking songs I’d already done before, I wanted to choose Sumgyeol or Don’t touch, which I’d never gotten to do.

-It looks like they made sure to place at least one person on each team who did that stage before.

Unfortunately, for Lucid Dive, it seemed I’d been selected as the returning member.

"Sion, look at this part for me."

"Okay."

And for the first time in this program, instead of learning a position, I was in the role of teaching the other team members.

"Here, Yuri, you have to sing it a little more sticky than you usually do. Especially this part, right? This connects into the choreography, so..."

"Oh! I totally get it!"

"Try it once."

After listening to my explanation, Yuri went straight back to her spot and practiced the part she’d just learned from me.

'She’s good.'

And watching her, she was so proficient it was embarrassing to even compare her to the original Lucid Dive team.

Back then, our Lucid Dive A team was honestly at a level where it wouldn’t have been weird to call us a total mess, so the first day of practice had been a complete disaster.

"Nayeon, let’s match up this part again."

"Yes. Then I’ll line it up with Jihye."

Even though they hadn’t been together long, the current team members already looked pretty convincing.

As expected of the skilled contestants who survived all the way to the Final Round, this kind of thing didn’t seem to even register as a hurdle anymore.

Watching the team’s practice process, I was especially sneaking looks at Seo Ryujin’s practice.

'Wow... she’s insane, Seo Ryujin.'

Up to now, the contestant I’d learned the most from was Ryujin.

So I thought I could imitate her to some extent now, but seeing her like this, I realized I’d been wrong.

With every single movement, with every single vocal line, Ryujin split the beat into unbelievably fine pieces and created her own distinct feel.

And I realized something new.

'Everyone’s individuality is intense.'

All the contestants who’d survived until now had their own distinct feel.

For example, in our team right now, Ryujin had a firm, solid tone, but her signature was a vocal that wasn’t heavy in contrast to that.

Because of that, the stages of any team Ryujin was on always felt stable.

Like Ryujin held everyone tightly at the center.

On the other hand, Kurosawa Yuri had a clear, refreshing tone, and she kept her vocal style light to match it, so it really felt like a breeze brushing past your ears.

And Yoo Jihye and Kim Nayeon also each had their own feel, so no matter what song they sang, their personal color came through.

"Hmm..."

"What are you doing again, Sion?"

"Well, I’m not sure if it’s right to just show it the exact same way we did before."

Maybe she noticed me sinking into thought while watching the others practice, because Yoo Jihye came over and spoke to me.

"But you did well on the stage the first time."

"Right, but that’s the thing... I feel like I don’t have my own distinctive thing."

"Distinctive how?"

"That feeling of, ‘This is Lee Sion.’"

Among soccer players, the ones who were good all had their own defining traits.

In Ronaldo’s case, even if the opposing defender tried to mark him all match long, the moment there was even the smallest gap, he’d break the line, charge the goal, and cram in a score.

'I need something that’s mine, too.'

When I looked back on my stages so far, they’d always been someone else’s imitation.

Sometimes I followed Seo Ryujin, sometimes Ryu Ayeon, sometimes I copied the original singer.

Of course, my skills had been so pathetically lacking that it was a choice I had to make for the sake of the immediate stage.

But now it was different.

-I will become your idol.

When I thought about it again, it was a cringey, embarrassing line, but after I’d shouted that kind of declaration at the rank announcement ceremony, it didn’t make sense to show the exact same stage as before.

"Um... in my opinion, Sion, you naturally have this charm that pulls people’s eyes in."

"I do have a bit of that, yeah."

Jihye looked a little flustered by what I said, but it was true.

Like how Liu Bei could be selling straw mats and still not be able to hide his extraordinary nature, and heroes from all over the land gathered to him and created an era of warlords.

For some reason, ever since my previous life, even if I just stayed still, people would gather around me.

"Uh... right, anyway. So rather than trying to force yourself to make something ‘distinctive,’ I think it’s fine if you’re just yourself as you are."

"Like I thought, you’re the only normal person here."

"Huh?"

I appreciated Jihye’s character for trying, in her own way, to give me advice.

Because compared to the other team members, who were watching me and Jihye with extremely disrespectful expressions, Jihye was basically an angel.

"Sion is an idiot!"

"Yuri, didn’t I tell you that even if you say it in Japanese, an insult is still obviously an insult?"

Jihye and I had barely finished talking when Kurosawa Yuri started gnawing at me with a frustrated expression.

"Dummy, it’s not ‘idiot.’ It’s ‘idiot.’"

"Huh?"

Just as I was about to punish Yuri for saying something so obnoxious, Seo Ryujin stopped me and handed me the “translation.”

"Basically, Yuri’s saying you drive people crazy—fans and haters alike."

"That’s right! Is there any contestant who gets people as worked up as Sion? Sion is a genius at stirring people up!"

"Yuri’s right about that. Honestly, what other contestant who hasn’t even debuted yet has made the program’s main PD hold two press conferences?"

A nonstop barrage from the team members, including one pirate from a foreign land who kept slipping in slander.

'Now that I think about it, I do seem to pull attention unusually well.'

Even in Legend of Valley, both my own team and the opposing team couldn’t hold back when they saw me—they’d rush me.

Even soccer’s GOAT Ronaldo got smeared like I was right now, but wasn’t he also the one who received the most attention from fans?

Maybe that was the fate of a superstar.

A worry that was far too early for those kids over there to understand.

"Let’s practice again, guys."

"Yeah."

I still didn’t have a perfect answer, but at times like this, practicing was the right move.

Worrying nonstop didn’t solve anything, so it was better to work my body harder.

'Today, I’ll use Seo Ryujin’s complaining as my lullaby.'

If I had a small hobby, it was pulling a surrender declaration out of my teammates while practicing together.

The most satisfying surrender I’d gotten recently was from Ryu Ayeon.

-...It’s not because I’m tired. It’s for practice efficiency. Today, we’re stopping here!

Ryu Ayeon, who used to practice until dawn like she was competing with me, ran away while delivering a line like a villain who’d lost to the protagonist in a comic.

I was curious how long Seo Ryujin could hold out.

***

"Yunkyung, you got really good?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. I figured you’d fit this song well from the start, but you’re really good."

At Suyeon’s praise, Yunkyung lifted her chin and brought her hand to her waist.

Even to herself, it felt like she’d done pretty well in this practice, and hearing it from someone else’s mouth made her feel proud for some reason.

But—

Thunk.

"Ouch!"

Lee Gahyeon, who’d been watching, flicked Yunkyung’s head as if she’d been waiting for it, right as Yunkyung struck a cocky pose.

"This is because you learned only bad things from Lee Sion."

"Why!"

"Just now, you were exactly like Lee Sion."

Getting a forehead flick for the unfair reason of “you’re like Sion,” Yunkyung was deeply wronged.

Lately, people had been telling Yunkyung more and more that her behavior was starting to resemble Sion’s, but in Yunkyung’s opinion, it was a smear campaign.

"Have I ever said, like Sion, that you’re getting lazy and slacking off because you trust your chest—ah! Ow!!!"

"You’ve finally lost it!"

"I surrender! I surrender!!!"

Before Yunkyung could even finish, Gahyeon grabbed Yunkyung’s body and put her in a wrestling hold.

In an instant, Yunkyung’s upper and lower body were twisted in different directions, and only when Yunkyung urgently slapped the floor and shouted surrender did Gahyeon finally let go.

"Ugh... no violence!"

"Stop being dramatic."

Yunkyung sprawled out and tried to whine at Gahyeon, but Gahyeon was cold and simply told her to start practicing again.

'It’s really unfair to compare me to Sion.'

With her lips pushed out, Yunkyung got up and moved back to her position, thinking that.

-The Starlight Umbrella team is Lee Gahyeon, Kim Suyeon, Im Yunkyung, Park Garam, and Choi Sojeong.

Yunkyung had been assigned to Starlight Umbrella for this Final Round stage.

'It’s a shame I got split up from Sion, but at least Gahyeon and Suyeon are here.'

After hearing the team lineup, Yunkyung felt relief and regret at the same time.

After splitting from Sion for the first time during the last concept evaluation, Yunkyung had wanted to be on the same team this time too, but unfortunately, she got split up again.

At the same time, Yunkyung felt lucky that Gahyeon and Suyeon were on her team.

"Producer Park Taesu emphasized that we have to subtly change the emotional tone between verse one and verse two."

"Yeah, that part really stood out on the actual stage."

"Right. It’s the key point of this song."

Even now, Kim Suyeon—one of the original members for the song—was helping the team, and it was always nice because when Suyeon was on the same team, Suyeon always took care of Yunkyung.

"Should we go out holding umbrellas too?"

"I think that’d be good. Even if we can’t do stage devices, it’s a good choreography accent."

And unlike before, Gahyeon, who now led the team well, was reassuring in a quiet way.

'Have I grown too, like them?'

Suyeon and Gahyeon—and Shinyu as well, who wasn’t here right now.

The contestants who’d struggled alongside Yunkyung from the beginning had changed so much that even Yunkyung could barely recognize them.

Especially Lee Gahyeon and Geum Shinyu, who’d been called the Lucid Dive trio together—on the internet, you could see posts every day saying their skills had improved.

-Yunkyung is cute. She’s still young, so her skills will improve.

-Definitely not a “skills pick.”

-She climbed up off chemistry with Lee Sion.

On the other hand, most posts about Yunkyung were about being young, or having good chemistry with someone.

So to try to change that, Yunkyung had performed stages even while separated from Sion, and the more she did, the more strongly she felt Sion’s presence.

-Kid.

-Lieutenant Yoon! fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

-Yunkyung-ssi.

'How many nicknames do I even have?'

Whenever Yunkyung was feeling down, Lee Sion would quietly slip over, joke around, and also take care of Yunkyung when no one was looking.

Just being together made it feel like all worries disappeared.

So Yunkyung wanted to be together.

Rather than becoming an idol, Yunkyung’s honest goal right now was to be on the same team as Lee Sion.

Truthfully, Yunkyung hadn’t entered the program with some grand ambition.

'I just wanted to do it because idols are popular.'

As the youngest at home, unlike the older siblings, Yunkyung wasn’t that good at studying.

Of course, it wasn’t like the parents scolded her or treated her differently, but it was still like Yunkyung’s Achilles’ heel.

My older brother... My older sister...

Even if Yunkyung tried not to care, she couldn’t ignore the voices around her comparing Yunkyung.

So unlike the older siblings, Yunkyung wanted something only Yunkyung could do, and that was being an idol.

-Yunkyung is pretty. I think she’d be good as an idol.

A casual compliment from a classmate at school, once upon a time.

After that, Yunkyung convinced Mom and got into an idol agency through connections.

The agency kept Yunkyung’s family background secret from the trainees, but the way the staff treated Yunkyung was different, so without realizing it, everyone at the company treated Yunkyung like a princess.

So rather than learning to sing and dance,

-I’m an idol trainee.

Yunkyung enjoyed the changed attention from people around her.

But—

'Not anymore.'

Now, Yunkyung regretted that past more than anyone.

-Getting angry is normal as a person.

Yunkyung remembered something Lee Sion once said.

-But how you get angry matters.

-There are different kinds of anger?

-Of course. Getting angry at a person is third-rate. Getting angry at a situation is second-rate.

-What’s first-rate?

-Getting angry at myself.

-Huh?

-I get angry at myself more than anyone. Asking myself, is this really the result of me doing my best?

-I can accept a bad result for something I don’t like, but when I’ve decided to do something and it turns out badly, getting angry at myself for that—that’s real anger.

Those words, which Sion had said to Yunkyung when Yunkyung snapped that practice was exhausting and asked if this was really necessary, still hadn’t faded.

If you were going to be angry, it should be at yourself, not something else.

"We’re going one more time—everyone okay?"

"Yes!"

At Suyeon’s words about practicing one more time without resting, Yunkyung answered immediately, louder than anyone.

Yunkyung had quit, long ago, snapping at teammates or the production staff, or acting cute because it was hard.

Now, Yunkyung had to fill in the lacking skills.

-I will become your idol.

Otherwise, Yunkyung couldn’t become an idol.

***

"TSP is preparing to launch a new girl group this time, right?"

"Yes. The group name isn’t out yet, but I’m hearing they’re already locking in music show schedules, from the major networks to our side."

At Hakyun’s words, Hyungsoo stared at something for a moment as if thinking deeply, then asked again.

"And Logic’s doing well with that boy group and they’re on a world tour right now too."

"Right. There are rumors they’re also preparing a girl group for next year."

Hmm.

Hyungsoo’s worry only deepened.

Choosing a support agency—something that couldn’t be postponed anymore.

All three candidates were excellent to the point of feeling like an honor, but for some reason, Hyungsoo felt strangely reluctant to choose any of them.

"Can’t we do it ourselves?"

"Pardon?"

Because the KJ Group, which MPLAY belonged to, was one of the top conglomerates even in Korea.

Because of that, KJ had its reach spread into the heads of multiple media fields, including music broadcast stations, and Hyungsoo thought it wouldn’t be bad if KJ properly entered the market.

More than anything—

"Going forward, our Agbaek Season 2 and Season 3 are guaranteed, no matter what. And it’d be a shame to hand it off to someone else every time."

"That’s true..."

"If we send them to another agency right now, they’ll be like kids we gave away. They won’t get proper care. They’ll just do a bare-minimum run, and the impact won’t be anything like it is now."

No matter how famous SY, TSP, and Logic were, it was questionable whether they’d really support the Idol Ground 100 project group as fully as their own idols.

"But running idols isn’t easy. Managing would be fine since there’s KJ E&M, but it’s not like we have a producer or anything..."

"What if we did?"

"Pardon?"

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy for KJ to operate an agency directly.

But today, Hyungsoo had found hope.

"This isn’t a size I can handle alone."

"What is it, exactly?"

"Hoo... I don’t know if that person would take it, but it did look like they might be interested, so I have to try."

After speaking, Hyungsoo grabbed the car keys and left the conference room, ignoring Hakyun behind him, urgently asking what the hell he meant.

It looked like it was time to sit down with the boss for the first time in a while.