Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Five Question Marks
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Ban Yo-han, Oh Hyun-jin, Ji Yeon-woo, Park Soo-hyun, Ma Tae-won.
These five remained.
Jena handled it smoothly, as if she'd anticipated this.
"All the rankings have been announced, but we still have five trainees who don't fit into any grade. What could this mean?"
The trainees stared at her wide-eyed. This was unprecedented, even from past seasons.
"Alright, then! The remaining trainees, please reveal your cards and show us your grades!"
At the staff's signal, the five flipped their cards open wide.
[?]
"What?"
"Question marks?"
Instead of A through F, their cards bore question marks.
Even the trainees themselves blinked in confusion, as if they had no idea what it meant.
After deliberately flashing a mysterious smile for a moment, Jena spoke.
"Four of these trainees will take center positions in grades A, B, C, and D, as decided by our mentors."
Five left, four centers. Which meant...
"And the other one is the F-grade trainee we consider the most lacking out of all 100."
Shocked murmurs of "That's cruel" rippled through the trainees.
I thought the same. Getting an F here was like making an enemy of the PD.
Among the question-mark holders, Park Soo-hyun—who'd already debuted once with a group called Whistler—and Ma Tae-won—who'd appeared on another audition survival show—looked especially pale.
Was this always how they did it? I whispered to the guy next to me.
"Did they pick centers like this last season?"
"No. I think they had a separate center battle among the A-grades."
This was the third season, so maybe they were pulling stunts like this to drum up interest now that it was getting stale.
Jena wore a briefly sympathetic expression before snapping back to her professional demeanor and turning to Oh Hyun-jin.
"Hyun-jin, do you think you could handle center?"
"I always aimed for A-grade during practice. Center... there are hyungs better than me in A, so I'm not sure. But among the ones left, I'd say I'm the best, right?"
Wow, talk about confidence.
Then again, the leftovers were the ones who hadn't stood out during mentor evaluations, the two-month newbie, and the guy whose expression screamed doom. He had reason to boast.
"And what about you, Yo-han?"
"I think the process matters as much as the results. More than anything, I want to thank Ra-on for helping me practice day and night during camp."
'Age is no barrier to finding your dream' was followed by 'The process matters as much as the results'—another quotable gem.
It was humble and touching enough for a self-help book. But!
The system revealed his true feelings without a shred of mercy.
Smiling and thanking me while inwardly cringing.
Look at him using my name to dodge a tough spot.
You little snake. I'll grab your hand—er, collar—and drag you to the practice room from now on.
The remaining three finished their interviews.
My legs were starting to ache.
"Look closely at your cards. There's a sticker you can peel off in the bottom right."
At Jena's words, the trainees examined their cards.
"Peel them off the moment I finish saying 'reveal.' All at once, neatly."
The production crew gave the cue.
Jena took a deep breath and declared firmly.
"Now, reveal your grades—the centers for each rank and the lowest-ranked trainee for the signal song evaluation!"
With the sound of peeling stickers, their grades were exposed.
Some squeezed their eyes shut, too scared to look even after peeling.
The results: Ma Tae-won for D-center, Ji Yeon-woo for C-center, Ban Yo-han for B-center, Oh Hyun-jin for A-center, and Park Soo-hyun for F.
"We had high expectations for trainee Park Soo-hyun since he'd debuted once before, but his practice shortage was obvious in the evaluation footage. This is his second chance—a chance that won't come again—so we selected him for that reason."
Park Soo-hyun apologized for disappointing everyone, promised to work harder, and broke into tears.
The PD must be loving this.
During Ban Yo-han's interview, one camera blatantly zoomed in on me.
They were probably fishing for a jealous scowl from the guy who helped him, to edit into some drama.
Fat chance. He's an NPC, I'm the player. I don't get jealous of game characters.
Finally, the A through D centers lined up front and center as the mentors gave their remarks. The F-grade trainee had to stand off to the side.
Did the PD thrive on hate comments? Trying to achieve immortality off the backlash?
As I pondered that, after Joo An—who'd delivered the harshest critique of his team's behavior with the iciest expression yet—Muk Hye-seong spoke up.
"Truth be told, our team started with the trainees who lacked the most basics. Their condition was dire. But through hard practice, most reached the minimum stage-ready level, and as a mentor, I'm truly proud of that. This is just the beginning—don't get complacent. I hope you'll keep improving, and I'll do my best to help."
I'd never seen him string together such kind words. Our team's trainees gazed at him, moved.
Muk Hye-seong averted his eyes uncomfortably, ignoring us.
"And with that, the signal song evaluation rankings are fully revealed. Great job, everyone."
As Jena wrapped up, the system window popped open.
[Sudden Quest <Listening to the Class Leader Raises Your Rank Even in Your Sleep> Failed!]
[Passed Trainees: 31/32]
Damn, that stings. So close. Really close. You bastard Lee Yoo-jin.
Farewell, my precious 10 Wisdom.
Eh?
+ Distributable Stat Points Available
Eh eh?
Only then did it all click.
Then I realized the damn system had toyed with me.
Lame success rewards, vague question-mark penalties, insane difficulty.
We'd nearly made it, but failure was inevitable.
A quest you were crazy to accept.
Come to think of it, the initial description said just "On Failure" instead of "Failure Penalty," unlike the main quest's wording. It had bugged me a bit.
I'd brushed it off as semantics.
Rejecting it outright would've meant missing these rewards entirely.
Half of me was annoyed at being tested like a lab rat; the other half didn't care because the payoff was sweet.
Okay, the second half won out.
Haha, what a spineless punk.
"Whoa, kicked out already."
"Congrats on B-center, Yo-han."
"Thanks. So when's Jun-woo hyung buying meat?"
Kim Jun-woo shot back with a face screaming 'shouldn't have said it.'
"...You won't forget?"
"I haven't forgotten anything since I was eight."
"At least make your bluff believable."
"Kinda sounds plausible now that hyung says it."
"Agreed."
"Hey, treasure."
"Nab him. That's a Korean."
We bantered as we dragged our suitcases to the first floor.
Once everyone gathered in the lobby, staff outlined the next schedule: staggered individual PR video shoots over three days, Heart Attack rehearsal for music show in four days, pre-recording the next day, then a group costume fitting and mini fanmeet at Sangam the day after.
We got our confiscated phones back on the first day. I asked the staff about my wiped data.
"Um... my phone broke right before shooting, so I lost all my contacts and notices."
"Really? One sec. On Ra-on, right? Number still the same?"
"Yes."
"I'll resend everything today."
"Thanks."
I also checked my PR video schedule.
"Looks like you and a few others filmed yours a month ago."
Unexpected.
Less work for me was good, but scary imagining what 'On Ra-on'—who'd boldly put 100th for expected rank—did in his PR video.
But more pressing matters first.
"Can I stay in the dorm until the next shoot...? Haha, obviously not. Got too attached, don't wanna leave."
The staff eyed me weirdly, said if I liked it that much, wait for round two camp, and walked off.
That's not it. I got nowhere to crash tonight.
Just a week ago, 95% of my daily activity was fingers and wrists as a gaming shut-in. How'd I end up here?
"No one would believe me, but this is inside a game."
...I wanted to shout.
Muttering under my breath was the best I could do.
Like the barber who couldn't say the emperor had donkey ears.
Trainees piled into pickup cars and left one by one.
"See you at rehearsal, Ra-on."
"Yeah. Take care."
How much time passed? The crew packed up, and suddenly I was alone.
The cleaner spotted me.
"Student, you leaving?"
"Yeah, gotta go. Too cold to head out."
"Don't catch a cold."
I mechanically opened my maps app, found the nearest bus stop, and started walking.
"......"
Big problem. Where am I sleeping tonight?