Free Web NovelA feeling of emptiness was wrapping around Ryu Ayeon’s body and sliding down.
But Ayeon was gritting her teeth and enduring it, not wanting to show how exhausted she was.
It couldn’t be helped, because even though the teammates standing around her had just finished an intense stage too, not a single one of them was collapsing or showing how tired they were.
‘Were stages always this hard?’
Up until now, Ayeon had rarely thought a stage was hard, even after finishing one.
But today, even though they had only done a performance that was just over three minutes long, her head felt dizzy like it was spinning, and her hands and feet felt like they had weights tied to them, ready to sag at any moment.
Her body was in a condition where it wouldn’t have been strange if she collapsed right away, but in contrast to that state, her mind was perfectly clear.
–Waaaaaah!
Even though quite a bit of time had passed since the stage had ended, the cheers pouring down continued.
In Ayeon’s eyes right now, she could see the audience members screaming as if they’d never been happier, bright smiles on their faces.
Not just the audience; even the judges seated in front of the stage were smiling at Bang! Bang! Love Team, their expressions a mixture of surprise and admiration.
‘This was it···.’
Suddenly, Ayeon remembered the stage that had first made her dream of becoming an idol when she was young.
The people who had been watching G.G’s stage at the amusement park that day along with young Ayeon had probably been making the exact same expressions as the people she was looking at now.
Faces that looked incredibly happy.
“See? I told you, if you judge me by your standards, you’re going to get burned.”
The voice that pulled Ayeon, who had briefly fallen into sentimentality, back to reality.
Ayeon turned her head and looked at Lee Sion, who was standing next to her. freёweɓnovel.com
‘Does this girl not get tired?’
Normally, she would have fired back at Sion, who was clowning around with a confident expression as usual, but right now she didn’t have the energy, and she didn’t even want to.
Right now, she was just grateful that Sion had pulled off the reckless request she’d made.
‘She actually did it···.’
There had been exactly one thing that worried Ayeon when she created the new choreography.
The mirror choreography.
When she’d thought of mirror choreography for the rap part, which could be called the ending of the song, in order to give the stage impact, Ayeon herself had judged that it was too much, even though she was the one who came up with it.
The reason was obvious: mirror choreography was far too difficult for the teammates to handle.
Because it was the Dance Position Evaluation, she had come up with it wanting to make a clear impression on the judges and the audience with the choreography alone.
But even so, it had been hard for Ayeon to confidently say that even she could pull it off easily, so she had hesitated, wondering if she should just do her original plan and make the rap part into her own solo section.
However,
–This isn’t going to be easy. Honestly, even if you did it with Seo Ryujin, there’s a high chance you wouldn’t match it within the time limit.
–That’s by the standards of newbies like you and Seo Ryujin. I’m different.
For some reason, no, rather, precisely because she was an ignorant beginner who didn’t understand how hard mirror choreography was when Ayeon explained it, Sion was spouting off lines like that.
Their mirror choreography practice had begun with Sion saying they should at least try it once, and Ayeon thinking that once she actually tried it, she would see for herself and give up.
But once practice started, Ayeon couldn’t help being shocked.
–Ryu Ayeon, do the choreography once while looking in the mirror.
At first Sion had been floundering, unable to get a grip on it, but then she asked Ayeon to dance the choreography while looking in the mirror, and stared at it like she was drilling a hole through it.
And from then on, Sion started more or less getting a feel for it and following the choreography.
Watching that process in real time, Ryu Ayeon had not been able to hide her shock.
Because they had to match it as mirror choreography, they had slightly lowered the difficulty of the moves themselves to a level that was just a bit hard, but even then, it wasn’t a difficulty level a beginner could handle.
But when she remembered how Sion had started by imitating it clumsily and then, before she knew it, had gotten to the point where she was dancing it in a pretty convincing way, Ayeon still got goosebumps.
In less than a week, Sion’s dancing had gradually changed into a form close to Ayeon, the original choreographer. Calling that talent would have almost felt ridiculous.
People around Ryu Ayeon had praised her for having talent ever since she’d first come in as a trainee, but if any of them had seen Sion, none of them would have called Ayeon talented.
‘Sometimes she focuses to a scary degree.’
Of course, Sion hadn’t pulled off the choreography with talent alone.
If there was something Ayeon had realized while practicing together with Sion, it was that Sion wasn’t always just playful.
She actually practiced seriously, and sometimes there were even moments when she focused like she was possessed.
That was mostly when she was watching Ayeon create choreography, or when she was learning skills she hadn’t learned yet.
Whenever that happened, she didn’t call the teammates by their usual nicknames, which made her feel quite chilly.
Even Im Yunkyung, who always stuck to Sion’s side in that state, would stay far away, not wanting to get in Sion’s way.
–When Sion is in focus mode, it’s scary to even talk to her!
Geum Shinyu called that version of Sion “focus mode,” and sure enough, whenever Ayeon saw Sion in that state, it was hard to casually talk to her.
She was usually playful, but if you only looked at her appearance, Sion looked so cold it was like she was giving off a chill.
“Hoo··· to be honest, I was really surprised. Since I became a judge on this program, I’ve always imagined that if a stage went really well, maybe it could reach about this level? But this one went beyond that.”
As she was thinking about Sion like that, before she realized it, the judges’ evaluations had started, and Ayeon listened.
“Three minutes. In a way, it’s a really short time, but even that short time can easily feel boring on an idol stage, right?”
Hyeryeong, who started giving her evaluation first among the judges, continued with a fairly long critique, unlike her evaluations for the earlier stages.
“But this wasn’t boring at all. Every member of the team was charming, and at the end I forgot about judging and just watched. Thank you so much for a truly great stage.”
“···Thank you!”
At Hyeryeong’s critique, all the members of Bang! Bang! Love Team bowed their heads and said thank you in voices full of emotion.
But the judges’ evaluations didn’t end there.
“I thought this song was really a double-edged sword. Because it’s such a good song, if you did it well, it could become the best stage, but if you did it half-baked, there’d be nothing messier. But this time, it was the former. I think even the original singers would praise it if they saw it.”
Even Producer Ahn Seongho, who had once harshly criticized a previous stage, saying that if they were going to do it like that, why pick that song at all, now ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ continued with glowing praise.
Now the only one left was Lee Jungyoon, the dance trainer in charge of Idol Ground 100.
“I said some pretty harsh things to this team during the mid-check, and I want to apologize for that. Especially to Shinyu, Yunkyung, and Gahyeon, I said you three were dragging the team down, right? But I’m really grateful you showed me a side of you that I didn’t know.”
“Sniff··· hng. Thank you!”
At Jungyoon’s words, the three teammates finally burst into the tears they had been holding back.
Geum Shinyu and Im Yunkyung had their heads bowed, crying like children, and Lee Gahyeon, though she was barely holding back her tears by tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling, already had her eyes brimming full.
Watching those three, Ayeon almost started crying without realizing it.
To say it wasn’t irritating at all when the team had first formed and the three of them had been lacking in skill would have been a lie, but afterward, she’d seen just how hard those three had worked to follow the choreography she’d made.
The fact that Ayeon had been able to create new choreography at all was thanks to their efforts.
But Ayeon didn’t want to cry on stage, so she forced herself to hold back the tears that were about to come.
However,
“And you too, Ayeon.”
“···Yes.”
“I want to apologize to you as well. I thought it would be hard for you to change. But the way you looked today was really cool.”
“···Thank··· you.”
When Jungyoon continued, she could no longer hold back the tears that were flowing.
In the past, when she saw trainees or other contestants crying on stage, she had thought they looked unsightly.
But now she understood.
That tears didn’t only come out when you were sad.
***
“Do everything humanly possible and leave the rest to heaven.”
It’s a saying I really like.
If you break it down, it means that if a person does everything they can, then the result is decided by heaven. There’s really no better saying for shifting responsibility onto someone else.
For example, separate from the fact that my actual skill in Legend of Valley is at a Platinum level (probably practically Diamond), my visible tier is Bronze. There are always going to be things that can’t be helped by human will alone.
That’s why, if I do my best at only the things I can do, then no matter what result comes out···.
“Boss, did you really not cry just now?”
“I’ve never cried except when my mom hit me.”
“Amazing! When we heard the critiques earlier, even Jihae was crying!”
The cheeky middle-school brat looking at me like she didn’t believe me, and my precious Shinyu looking at me with respect.
“Don’t lie. We saw on the waiting room monitor when you teared up a little earlier.”
“Really, Ryujin?”
“Sion··· don’t tell me you cried and now you’re lying about not crying?”
But Seo Ryujin suddenly barged into the conversation between me and the youngest ones and started spreading rumors.
“You’re spreading fake news, Sluggish Ryujin!”
“Don’t make me laugh. Suyeon, you saw it too, right?”
“Sion··· your eyes are so unique it shows right away.”
Suyeon agreeing with what Ryujin said.
Seeing that pure-hearted Suyeon had already fallen under Ryujin’s influence made my heart hurt.
There’s a saying that goes, “If three people say there’s a tiger in the market, people believe it.”
In other words, if three people repeat a lie, it starts to sound like the truth. Thanks to that dirty trick of a lie-spreading campaign by Seo Ryujin, before I knew it I was being driven into a corner.
“If you cried, you cried. Why are you trying so hard to act like you didn’t?”
“Forget it, Gahyeon. You know she was totally going to tease us later about how she was the only one who didn’t cry.”
“I wouldn’t think it was strange even if Sion cried. Everyone worked so hard up till now.”
After Ryu Ayeon spoke, Lee Gahyeon and Kim Nayeon started closing in on me, and even leader Yoo Jihae, though she put it nicely, seemed to believe I’d cried.
If this kept going, it was obvious we’d end up dancing to that wicked Seo Ryujin’s tune.
“You’re really going to believe what the coward is saying?”
“Cow··· coward? You trash, are you talking about me?”
“Of course! You ran away to the Vocal Position because you were scared that if you stayed in Dance Position you’d fall to second place behind our team··· mmf!”
“I went there because I wanted to challenge myself as a vocalist!”
As Seo Ryujin pinched my lips shut and only said what she wanted, I hurriedly called for backup.
“Ryu Wu··· I mean, Ayeon, you think so too, right? Even if Seo Ryujin had been in Dance Position, we still would’ve beaten them, right?”
“···I agree. Our stage was the best.”
When, for once, Ryu Ayeon agreed with me instead of contradicting me, Ryujin’s eyes went wide and she stared at Ayeon with an expression like she couldn’t believe it.
“Ryu Ayeon··· did you already get corrupted by Lee Sion?”
“I’m not corrupted, I’m just telling the truth. The reason you got first in the Vocal & Rap Position was because we weren’t there.”
Now so flabbergasted it went beyond disbelief, Ryujin just stammered, pointing at Ayeon.
Sure enough, rookies really are good at provoking people. It was just like back in the army, when the trouble a problem soldier caused was scary, but it was even scarier when a supposedly normal guy suddenly snapped and caused an incident.
“As expected of our Ryu Ayeon, first place in Dance Position. What a statement.”
I gave a compliment to Ayeon, who had so splendidly repelled Sluggish Ryujin.
“It’s not because I did well··· that I got it.”
“Hm?”
But for some reason, even as I praised her, Ayeon suddenly started trailing off and stuttering.
After pausing for a moment and letting her eyes dart here and there, Ayeon opened her mouth again.
“Thank you, Shinyu, Yunkyung.”
“Uh··· hey?”
At Ayeon’s words of thanks, Shinyu and Yunkyung froze on the spot.
“Thank you, Nayeon, and you too, Gahyeon.”
“Uh··· yeah!”
The other teammates were just as unable to collect themselves under the sudden barrage of thanks from Ayeon.
“Jihae. I think I was able to practice without any problems because of you. I’ve always been grateful.”
“R-right, Ayeon.”
Even Yoo Jihae, who didn’t get flustered easily and had laughed it off even when we’d staged a great escape and gotten caught, was rattled by Ayeon’s thanks.
“The reason I got first in Dance Position today was thanks to our team.”
That’s right.
Our team had taken first place in Dance Position in this Position Evaluation.
As soon as our Bang! Bang! Love Team’s turn, which had been the final stage of the Position Evaluation, ended, the result announcement followed right away.
–The first-place team in the Vocal & Rap Position stages was Team “Breath”! And the contestant who received the most votes among the participants was contestant Seo Ryujin!
When the rankings for the Vocal & Rap Position teams came out of Jang Junseok’s mouth, Seo Ryujin and her teammates in the waiting room hugged each other and shouted in celebration.
As my teammates and I watched, we applauded to congratulate them, but from that moment on, Ayeon had started looking unusually anxious.
And then Jang Junseok’s announcement continued.
–Now for the result announcement for the Dance Position stages. The Dance Position team stages were incredibly fierce! Among them, the team that took first place is··· none other than Bang! Bang! Love Team!
This time the camera turned on our team.
I tried to calm everyone down, telling them not to bawl their eyes out because this was going to be broadcast, but it was no use.
Ryujin’s team had cried too, but over here they were sobbing so hard that there was no way to stop them.
While my teammates were crying like that, the individual contestant rankings started being announced.
–Next is the individual contestant rankings. The contestant who took first place among the Dance Position participants is··· contestant Ryu Ayeon!
I thought it was only natural.
Honestly, the reason our team had been able to choose a difficult song like Bang! Bang! Love and still get a good result was because Ryu Ayeon had worked herself to death.
However,
–Thank you.
For some reason, Ayeon just quietly lifted her head, said thank you to me, and received congratulations from the teammates.
***
“Hoo···.”
“Why are you sighing, senior? I feel like today’s broadcast is going to turn out amazing!”
“That’s exactly why I’m sighing, you idiot junior.”
“Wow, that’s harsh. By the way, senior, since we got support this time, what if we edit the vertical stage footage and upload it to YouTube?”
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea.”
Miyoung looked at her junior, Lee Hyuksu, who was giggling and going on about how the stages today were insane, completely oblivious to what was going on inside her.
‘Must be nice to live without a single worry like that.’
With today, Idol Ground 100’s second mission was wrapped up, and now the contestants would return to the dorm, where they would hold the ranking announcement ceremony.
Which meant another 25 contestants would be eliminated, and the 50 who survived would once again go through two more missions, endlessly fighting in a survival battle until only the final seven remained.
‘I didn’t think it would be to this extent, though.’
From the moment she first planned Idol Ground 100, Miyoung had been certain it would definitely attract attention. freēwēbnovel.com
It was a format that hadn’t existed on TV before: a full 100 idol trainees fighting in a survival battle for debut. She’d thought people would be half in doubt about it, but get drawn in anyway once they started watching.
The problem was that it had ended up succeeding even more than she’d expected.
And at the center of that success was her niece, Lee Sion, whom Miyoung had slotted in at the very last moment.
“I’m going to drop by the department head’s office before I go home, so finish up the editing on today’s footage and the YouTube cuts, then you go home too.”
“The department head’s office? Why all of a sudden···?”
“Because there are things that need to be done.”
Miyoung had watched today’s Position Evaluation stages from start to finish as well.
And after seeing the final stage, she had finally made up her mind.
She had decided to do what she had to do.
