The Fruits of Four Years (1)
The ten contestants who had finished rehearsal gathered around Kang PD.
"Alright, everyone. Great work. That wraps up today's rehearsal. I'll go over the next schedule."
Kang PD rolled the back of his neck with the hand holding the cue sheet. Dark circles already sat heavy under his eyes.
"The semi-final live performance will take place exactly one month from now."
"A whole month?"
A low murmur rippled through the contestants. The gap was longer than anyone had expected. But soon they were all nodding, accepting it.
"You already know the results of the Round 3 stage leaked online."
Kang PD's voice dropped a register. His gaze swept sharply over them.
"The director ordered us to let in a live audience, and sure enough the articles poured out. But a leak is a leak—and a broadcast has a power of its own."
He paused, staring straight at me for a beat, then continued.
"So I'm asking you: for the next month, keep all outside activity to an absolute minimum. Events, interviews, personal SNS—everything. You may already feel like stars, but while you're under contract with the network, your mystique is this program's asset. We need the live broadcast to land with a bigger impact than the leaked information. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
Everyone answered as if they had rehearsed it. I nodded silently as well. A ban on outside activities? For a homebody like me, it was basically a reward.
"...I'm going to lose my mind."
Kang PD glared holes through the broadcast schedule and editing timeline spread across his desk.
Ep. 3: Aired
Ep. 4: Han Jiyoung's Round 2 stage & Losers' Revival Hell Race
Ep. 5: Round 3 mission reveal & Rival cohabitation arc
Ep. 6: Round 3 Nomination Deathmatch
Ep. 7: Semi-Final — Producer Original Song Stage
"One month, huh..."
His head throbbed. As of now, only Episode 3 had aired. Between this moment and the live shoot for the semi-final they had just rehearsed, at least a full month remained.
Which meant the contestants who had just poured their blood into today's rehearsal would have to sit on that finished product for an entire month, nerves fraying the whole time.
We have to ride the Han Jiyoung wave for every scrap of buzz we can get! When the water rises you don't just row—you strap on a motor!
The director's voice hammered at his ears like a hallucination. Because of that pressure—to start airing the moment Han Jiyoung's reverse-chart myth hit its peak—the production team had gambled on an early premiere without enough reserve footage in the can.
Ratings had exploded as a result. The working conditions, however, had become pure hell.
"Kang PD, Episode 3 ratings just came in. Instant peak of 18 percent when the Han Jiyoung stage teaser dropped."
At the assistant director's report, Kang PD sighed instead of celebrating.
"Of course it did well. It's Han Jiyoung."
The ratings weren't the problem. The real disaster had been letting a live audience into the Round 3 Nomination Deathmatch. The idea had been atmosphere and extra buzz. What they got was exactly what everyone had feared: the list of surviving contestants leaked across the entire internet.
Goddamn director.
Kang PD swallowed a string of curses. Intellectually he understood that a leak could function as noise marketing. But Han Jiyoung alone was already generating more than enough heat; they never needed to take that risk. Upper management's bullheaded pressure had forced the audience in anyway, and a handful of entertainment reporters had gleefully flooded the portals.
Spoiler articles designed to stoke public anticipation already dominated the portal main pages. From the production team's perspective, it was a complete deflation of their own balloons.
Still... looking at the ratings curve, it hasn't dropped.
Silver lining: even after the leak, public interest and the numbers kept climbing steadily upward. If anything, the clamor to see Han Jiyoung's live performance on the actual broadcast was only getting louder.
Kang PD shook his head hard.
"I don't have time to sit around staring into space. Get back to editing."
The semi-final was, literally, a new-song stage on which the producers' pride was on the line. The scale had to grow. They needed to lock down a large venue capable of delivering a polished live show. Venue scouting, stage direction, and the endless mountain of footage waiting to be cut—one month. He would have to work until his soul ground itself to powder.
Kang PD exhaled a long breath and hurried toward the editing suite.
Whirrr—the practice-room air conditioner filled the silence. In the mirror, Naeun was soaked through with sweat.
She had crashed into the massive wall named Kang Minhyuk in Round 3 and been eliminated, yet her eyes were firmer than ever. Having walked through the hellish battlefield of Voice of Legend, she could feel in every cell of her body just how much she had grown.
"Oh, really? The semi-final is a whole month away... What are you going to do until then, Unnie?"
"We've been filming nonstop—I barely had time to breathe. I'm going to catch up on sleep, take it easy, and finally work on some of the compositions I've only been thinking about."
"Wow, composing...! That's so cool. I should've started learning ages ago. Is there anything you can't do?"
Naeun's sincere admiration drew a small laugh from Jiyoung.
"It's nothing special. Anyway, Naeun-ah, let's meet up soon. Don't overdo practice, okay?"
"Yes! You rest up too, Unnie!"
The call ended. Naeun stared blankly at the dark screen for a long moment. She had smiled brightly while talking to Jiyoung, but the second the line went dead a heavy unease rose in her chest.
What happens to me now?
The audition was over. She had shown good work, but the result was still elimination. CEO Kim Taesung had hinted more than once that this year was her last chance—if she came up empty again, keeping the contract would be difficult.
Fourth-year trainee. The friends who had started with her were already far ahead in Velvet Night or other groups.
Then the phone in her palm buzzed.
Naeun's heart dropped. The dread that the moment had finally arrived settled over her.
It's okay. I did everything I could.
She forced her heavy feet into the elevator. When she reached the door of the CEO's office, her heart hammered so hard it felt ready to burst. She steadied it as best she could and knocked carefully.
"CEO, it's Naeun."
"Come in."
Kim Taesung did not look up from the stack of documents as he pointed to the sofa opposite him.
"Sit."
Naeun perched on the very edge as if the cushions were made of thorns.
"It's been about a week since you were eliminated, right? I hear you still haven't taken a single day off—you've been living in the practice room."
He closed the folder and finally looked at her.
"Yes... You said this year was my last chance! I felt like I had to use every extra minute for practice."
Naeun clenched the fists resting on her knees. Kim Taesung let out a short, low laugh.
"That's right. This year is the last. The end of your endless trainee life, too."
The color drained from Naeun's face in an instant.
He's telling me to pack my bags. It's finally here.
Her eyes burned and her throat closed. Just as the tears threatened to fall, Kim Taesung scrubbed a hand over his face and continued.
"In four years as a trainee you went on a few idol survival shows, right? But you've never posted results this good. Am I wrong?"
Naeun could only nod. Speaking would have let the tears loose. In the earlier programs she had either been edited out completely or eliminated so early she barely registered.
"I'll admit it. What you showed this time was a completely different person. Thanks to Han Jiyoung, you really grew a lot. She did an excellent job of pulling out the color you'd been hiding."
"N-no, sir! You helped me too! And Ria Unnie cheered me on—!"
Naeun rushed to deny it, but Kim Taesung cut her off with a shake of his head.
"No. I was no help at all. I only tried to force you into the idol mold with a merchant's eyes. But I've realized something now. Naeun-ah—you're better alone than in a group."
He pulled his chair forward and locked eyes with her.
"Let's debut you as a soloist."
"S-solo...?"
Naeun's eyes went round.
"Yeah. There was a track I made for Han Jiyoung a while back. She swore she'd rather die than do it, so I scrapped it. But watching you sing this round, I thought: this song's rightful owner should be you."
A confident smile curved Kim Taesung's mouth. The song in question was the pop-rock dance track Jiyoung had rejected in horror over the cat-ear concept. With Naeun's bouncy energy and the vocals she had refined through this audition, he was certain she could own it.
The moment the situation fully registered, Naeun burst into the tears she had been holding back.
"Waaah...! CEO! Really? I'm actually debuting? Thank you, thank you so much...!"
She shot up from the sofa and bowed so deeply her back nearly folded, sobbing. It was the sound of four years of resentment washing away.
"Hey—hey! Calm down. Just calm down first."
Flustered, Kim Taesung shoved a box of tissues at her and put on a stern face.
"I said we'll debut you with a digital single and then watch how it goes. I'm not handing you a full album right away, so don't get ahead of yourself. Got it?"
"Hic—yes! I'll work so hard! I'll grind my bones for this!"
Naeun answered while sniffling and wiping her nose. Kim Taesung made a face of pure disgust, yet the pleased smile at the corner of his mouth refused to disappear.
This is all thanks to you, Han Jiyoung. You found your own path. I'll take responsibility for guiding Naeun onto hers.