Free Web Novel“Those booths outside—are you saying the fans made them themselves?”
“Yes. They say each contestant’s fans made their own booths and are handing out self-made goods and cheering tools.”
“They really are idols.”
Hyungsoo was personally inspecting the area around the venue ahead of the Final Round stage that was about to begin.
So the contestants wouldn’t draw attention, preparations for the Final Round had started last night.
As soon as dawn broke, Hyungsoo loaded the half-asleep contestants onto buses, transported them to the Gymnastics Arena, and spent the entire morning doing stage checks and rehearsals.
Even then, he still didn’t feel at ease, so before the broadcast started, he said he wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong outside and was walking around the area with Hyungseok.
‘This is actually possible···.’
Looking at the crowd packed tight in front of the Gymnastics Arena, a tight, aching emotion rose in Hyungsoo’s chest.
-A survival program that makes an idol group. For Season 1, we start with a girl group for mass appeal, then later even a boy group. How about a national girl group?
He remembered the planning proposal for Idol Ground 100 that Kim Miyoung, his senior a few years ago, had proudly shown him, saying she was going to submit it upstairs.
-Can that even work? Seriously···from production costs to casting, this is a money-eating monster, isn’t it?
And back then, Hyungsoo had been negative about Miyoung’s plan.
Because how were they supposed to find 100 trainees in the first place, and could they really squeeze entertainment out of 100 trainees who didn’t even know broadcasting?
On top of that, with 100 participants, they needed a space for them to stay and film, and they had to prepare a stage every time, so even a rough calculation made the costs monstrous.
A plan where money would pour in, but the chances of success looked faint no matter who saw it.
‘And she pushed it through.’
Miyoung made that reckless plan a success.
Then she quit without hesitation, saying she was going to go make money, so Miyoung would probably be remembered forever in Mplay history.
“Can we request more security personnel from the vendor right now?”
“Right now?”
“More people showed up than expected. There are still four hours left until entry time, and if there’s an accident, it’ll be a disaster.”
With interest in Idol Ground 100 at its recent peak, Hyungsoo hadn’t made the naive assumption that exactly 10,000 people would come to see the Final Round stage.
But seeing a crowd that far exceeded that, Hyungsoo felt uneasy with just the security he’d already arranged.
Understanding his concern, Hyungseok said he’d try requesting support, lifted his phone, and ran off to somewhere quiet.
‘Idols···.’
Left alone, Hyungsoo stared at the crowd gathered at the Gymnastics Arena and thought.
Then, suddenly, he realized he might be just as crazy as Miyoung.
-Idols won’t be a temporary trend. They’ll become a culture that represents Korea. And this project group will become the beginning of our KJ.
The KJ media affiliates integration meeting from not long ago.
The topic was establishing KJ’s idol agency.
It wasn’t something that came out of nowhere. It had been one of the plans they’d been considering, but after Idol Ground 100’s massive success, discussions had started in earnest.
A plausible plan: gain experience by managing the project group, then later launch KJ’s own in-house group, and on top of that, since Idol Ground 100’s next seasons were confirmed, manage those future project groups themselves to increase profits.
But among entertainment agencies, idol agencies carried especially high risk, so opposition was inevitable.
And the one who stepped up and persuaded the executives in that meeting was Hyungsoo.
He even convinced Raon and had her do a presentation, going as far as presenting the idol industry’s growth and future, and got KJ Entertainment approved.
‘It would’ve been fine if I’d just stayed still.’
As just the program’s PD, Hyungsoo didn’t have to go that far.
Even if an agency was created, it wouldn’t benefit him.
But—
‘I want to see it. How far they’ll go.’
Was it because he’d grown attached to the contestants while making the program?
Normally, Hyungsoo wouldn’t care whether the debut group succeeded or failed after the program ended, but now he wasn’t like that.
Even if it was only for a year, he wanted to see with his own eyes how far the contestants he’d watched could go.
“Senior! The vendor says they’ll send support as fast as possible!”
“Okay. Then you keep watching the outside with the support people when they arrive. If anything happens, contact me right away.”
“Yes!”
“I’m going to check the stage one more time.”
After finishing, Hyungsoo waved to Hyeoksu and headed back inside the Gymnastics Arena through the staff-only entrance again. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
‘Should I have increased it even if I got cursed out?’
Walking while watching staff members hurry through the entry corridors, Hyungsoo suddenly thought about who the project group members revealed today would be.
Even Hyungsoo didn’t know who the final seven would be.
He could make a rough prediction, but since the live text voting during today’s broadcast took up a large portion, he couldn’t be sure of the lineup.
Maybe he really had grown attached, because thinking about the 18 who would be eliminated rather than the 7 who would debut made Hyungsoo’s heart feel heavy.
But no matter how he thought about it, seven was an appropriate number.
Because seven flowers blooming, fed by the tears of ninety-three, would surely be beautiful.
***
“I don’t know if Mom and Dad will do it right.”
“You said you taught them well.”
“What if they make a mistake and vote for a different contestant?”
Jiyeon and Jinsu were talking while waiting to enter in front of the Gymnastics Arena.
Their hands were full of things—placards they’d made themselves for this day, and goods with Lee Sion’s photos printed on them to hand out to people.
Up until just now, the two of them had been handing out goods and the drinks they’d prepared at the booth set up outside the Gymnastics Arena, but they only came out after leaving things to people who couldn’t get tickets once entry time was finally close.
“Jiyeon!”
“ Sis!”
And today, because she couldn’t do text voting from her parents’ phones herself, Jiyeon had gone as far as writing out detailed voting instructions on paper and explaining it too. Even then, maybe it still wasn’t enough, because she was voicing her anxiety to Jinsu when—
From far away, a woman approached, waving her hand.
“What is it, sis, you upgraded?”
“This? I got lucky.”
That woman was none other than Hyejeong, who was scheduled to watch the Final Round stage with Jiyeon and Jinsu today.
“Did everything work out?”
“Yeah. I finished talking with the other fansite masters about exchanging the photos we each take.”
Unlike the two who’d arrived early and worked at the booth, Hyejeong arrived late because she’d been coordinating with other contestants’ fansite masters about how they’d handle today’s photo shooting.
“There’s a limit to what we can capture from our seats.”
Maybe not on a broadcast stage, but since the Final Round was being held at the Gymnastics Arena, the stage was so wide that the angles you could get from a single section were limited.
Because of that, for fansite masters who had to upload a variety of photos, it was standard practice to share photos with other fansite masters they already knew in preparation for situations like this.
“It’s the first time we’re allowed to take stage photos, and if I miss it, I’ll be too mad to sleep!”
“Right! They controlled it super strictly until now.”
“They had to, though. If everything got spoiled before it aired, it would kill the excitement.”
Idol Ground 100 fans often complained that there was no environment better and worse for stanning than this.
Because on the one hand, being able to watch the contestants they liked do variety through the weekly broadcast was a great thing, but—
-If photos or videos taken on site are leaked, we will proceed with legal action.
Because of the spoiler issue, the network banned anything related to recorded broadcast stages, which meant fans had very little material to enjoy.
And since the contestants hadn’t even debuted, there was no way they’d have other activities, so fans could only wait for the broadcast and twiddle their thumbs.
In that situation, since this Final Round was a live broadcast, filming was permitted, and the Idol Ground 100 fandom was in chaos.
Since this was the last one, every fandom was burning with the will to get high-quality videos and photos of the contestants they supported, no matter what.
So Hyejeong couldn’t come early because she’d been carefully discussing with other fansite masters who would shoot whose photos and exchange them.
“Sis, isn’t that camera pretty expensive?”
“Ah, this? It’s sponsored.”
“Huh? Sponsored?”
“Looks like the traffic to Sion’s Day Off was pretty high this holiday. They lent it to me in exchange for me posting one ad post!”
Sion’s Day Off.
Lee Sion’s personal website that Hyejeong ran—starting with photos Hyejeong took herself, and edited video materials too—called a holy land for Lee Sion’s real fans.
Normally, for personal fansites like that, only the truest fans gathered there, so it was standard for the operator to run the site out of pocket, not to mention ads.
“Sion really is on a different level.”
“Exactly. Back when it was D‧P, I ran it for years and there wasn’t a single ad.”
Amazingly, Sion’s Day Off seemed to have drawn advertisers’ attention with traffic numbers that didn’t fit a personal fansite.
Thanks to that, after swapping out her old camera for a new device and fully preparing, Hyejeong felt reassured, like a soldier resupplied with a new weapon before heading to the battlefield.
“We’ll let you enter in order now! There’s plenty of waiting time, so please follow the control!”
“Looks like we’re going in!”
“I want to see it already.”
“What did they prepare?”
Talking while they waited, the three of them finally turned their gaze toward the entrance of the Gymnastics Arena at the staff member’s announcement of entry.
A three-month long march that started in January.
Its end was waiting for them.
***
“Ah-.”
I rounded my mouth and let out a sound while looking into the mirror.
It was a vocal warm-up I learned from Seo Ryujin. At first it felt unfamiliar, but after performing on stage, I realized how important warming up was, so lately it had become one of my daily routines.
It was especially effective in places where your voice echoed well, like a bathroom.
‘This feels weird.’
In the middle of warming up, I suddenly saw myself reflected in the bathroom sink mirror, and it felt incredibly unfamiliar.
Hair bleached pure white, then dyed silver over the bleach.
My hair had grown without me noticing, down to my waist, and under the bathroom light it looked like a faint lavender tint was shimmering through.
-Sion! Your hair is so nice! I’ve never seen someone bleach it and have it barely get damaged like this! What shampoo do you use?
Yesterday I suffered all day while being held captive by the stylist for dyeing, and everyone was making a fuss saying it suited me, but it still felt awkward beyond belief.
‘Does it really suit me?’
And on top of that, I was wearing lenses for the first time in my life, so the unfamiliarity doubled.
My eye color wasn’t exactly ordinary to begin with, but with colored lenses matched to my hair color, the way I looked was so different it felt like it wasn’t even me. No matter how many times I looked, it didn’t get familiar.
“Captain! They said all the contestants have to gather!”
“Okay!”
I didn’t have the luxury of paying attention to that awkwardness anymore.
Thump thump.
At Yunkyung calling for me, I left the bathroom and, with Yunkyung waiting in the hallway, headed toward the waiting room.
And even though I didn’t show it, I could feel my heart thumping for the first time in a while.
My heart thumping, and for some reason my hands and feet tingling.
‘Am I nervous?’
I thought about how long it had been since I’d felt something like nervousness.
The last time I’d been nervous was back when I forced myself to play an FPS game to overcome my old gunshot PTSD.
It wasn’t as bad as then, when even my heart and every organ in my body felt like it was shaking and I felt like I’d pass out if I stayed still, but I was definitely nervous right now.
Click.
When I opened the waiting room door and went in, it looked like everyone besides me and Yunkyung had already gathered. They were each sitting in their places, waiting for staff instructions.
‘Everyone’s the same.’
Seo Ryujin, who always looked relaxed, had her hands clasped like she was praying, eyes closed, and Ryu Ayeon had her arms crossed, biting her lip hard.
And beyond them, the other contestants couldn’t hide their tension either, each showing their anxiety in their own way.
“You’re nervous, right?”
“Huh? Yeah···.”
“Me too.”
I patted Yunkyung’s head as she tried to act calm beside me.
‘So this day really came.’
It felt strange, the end of Idol Ground 100 finally arriving—the show I joined after getting tricked by my aunt.
At first I planned to do only the entrance ceremony, then only up to the first ranking announcement, and somehow I’d made it all the way here.
“Final check on outfits and makeup! We’re going on standby soon!”
“Yes!”
At the staff member’s voice announcing the Final Round stage was about to begin, all the contestants stood up and checked their condition one last time.
I checked my outfit again too. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
For Spotlight, the theme song that was first in the Final Round order, all contestants were wearing matching school uniforms.
“Sis, your skirt folded here.”
“Thanks.”
Paired up, we checked each other to make sure nothing was wrong.
With only twenty-five left now, we felt less like rivals and more like comrades who’d made it through a brutal battlefield together.
Watching that, my heart that had been thumping settled down into its usual calm.
It didn’t matter whether I’d been forced onto the program or whether these stage outfits and makeup still felt unfamiliar.
I was having fun performing on stage together with the people here.
‘That’s enough for now.’
Once my head cleared, I realized what I needed to do.
“Guys!!!”
“What is it, Lee Sion all of a sudden?!”
“You scared me!”
“What are you doing now?!”
At my voice echoing through the waiting room, the other contestants jumped.
“Are you ready to wreck the stage today?”
Shouldn’t I loosen up these brats who were still half-asleep?
“Idiot. In a situation like that, you don’t say ‘wreck.’ You say ‘tear it up.’”
“That’s right! Today we have to make people say we tore up the stage!”
“Why does she love ‘wrecking’ things so much?”
They grumbled, but their tension seemed looser than before, and they gradually started showing their usual selves again.
“Then let’s wreck it and tear it up!”
“Does that sound like something an idol would say?”
“Just tearing it up isn’t enough, is it?”
“That’s true.”
We were the ones who’d worked day and night for the last three months for today.
So we needed to forget all the complicated stuff and focus only on today’s stage.
Tap.
I didn’t say anything, but when I held my hand out in the air, the others started stacking their hands on top and below.
“One, two, three!”
“Fighting!!!”
And at my chant, the other contestants answered together, and in that voice—mixed with the right amount of tension and excitement—I could feel that everyone was finally ready to go up for the last stage.
