The Butterfly Effect (2)
I agonized over the decision for a long time.
In my previous life, Na-bin had chosen Overdrive. Girl-crush pop — a pounding bassline and a blistering tempo. It was a performance-driven track, the kind where powerful dance and vocals locked together into a single force. The dramatic arc was razor-sharp, and command of the stage was everything.
It was the greatest stage of my life. We still didn't win.
I couldn't quite remember which song had beaten us. All that lingered was the bitter certainty that Na-bin's team had fallen short.
But this time, we might actually win.
With that thought, I tried to wrap up my choice quickly. That was the plan, anyway. And yet I kept getting pulled toward a song called Blue Echo.
Girlish pop. A track that wove a gentle piano into a fierce breakdown, its signature a powerful performance set against a lyrical atmosphere. The emotional through-line ran delicate and precise, and vocal ability would clearly be the deciding factor.
...What is this. I don't even remember this song.
For reasons I couldn't name, I felt like I absolutely had to choose Blue Echo. Maybe it wasn't me being drawn to it. Maybe it was Lee Seo-yeon.
Still, Na-bin would've picked Overdrive.
So I followed after her, opened the door to the Overdrive practice room, and stepped inside. The scene that unfolded wiped my mind completely blank.
...Huh?
If Na-bin had chosen her song before I did, she should have been here. But the trainees in front of me were nothing like what I'd expected. Na-bin was nowhere in sight.
What the hell is going on?
Was I only remembering the end result? Meaning... had Na-bin started out practicing a different song, then gotten reassigned here after the ranking announcement reshuffled the teams?
No way. This time it was a real team battle, with votes cast by team. There was no chance they'd send Na-bin away.
If some other team kicked her out, that would be actual trolling.
Na-bin was a popular member who pulled in guaranteed votes. Anyone with eyes would want her on their team. And that Na-bin had switched songs midway through? That simply could not happen.
Don't tell me the future already changed?
But why? The order of selection wasn't supposed to affect anything, so why had the future shifted?
"Seo-yeon, what's with that face?"
"Did you walk into the wrong room?"
"...!"
The sudden voices snapped me back to reality. I'd let my expression slip without realizing it.
Get it together.
If it looked like I was disappointed by my teammates, that would be a disaster. One careless moment and the broadcast crew would slap a malicious frame on me.
"I knew our song would be popular, but I didn't expect this many people. Caught me off guard."
An excuse for the slightly frozen look on my face. Not bad, considering how quickly I'd improvised it. Just as I was catching my breath—
"Right? I was shocked too! I picked early and there were already more than six people when I walked in."
The one who picked up my words was Park Hye-in.
Park Hye-in?
Right. Hye-in was a rapper, so she'd chosen pretty early. Whether she was genuinely relating or just covering for me, I was grateful either way... but my head was killing me.
"Our team's gonna win!"
Another familiar voice jumped in. Han Yu-ri.
I kept my face carefully blank, but inside I was spiraling.
...Han Yu-ri and Park Hye-in weren't on the Overdrive team in my previous life.
Well, even if they'd picked this song at first, they might have been eliminated at the ranking announcement. But even so, the fact that only one person on this team matched my memories was strange.
Besides Eun-bi unnie... there's nobody.
My head was spinning. This wasn't some minor variable. Something had gotten completely tangled. Forcing a smile made my cheeks ache.
A short while later, every trainee had finished choosing their songs. Needless to say, I never caught a glimpse of Na-bin's face. How the other teams had been assembled was kept under tight wraps as well.
What song did Na-bin even go to?
Where had things started to go wrong? My head began to throb. And still, I had to smile.
I knew being on camera would be exhausting, but I didn't think it'd be this bad before we even debuted...
Even if my feelings weren't what they looked like, I had to hide them to avoid being misunderstood. Yes, I was thrown off by the unexpected teammates — but not because I disliked them. It could easily look that way, though, so I couldn't afford to be honest.
Well, if you think about it, that's just how being a professional works.
Right. The only difference was the cameras following us around around the clock. Other than that, it was no different from any other workplace. I'd think of it that way for now.
"So this is the final lineup, then?"
Someone's words yanked me back to reality once more. This team had exceeded ten members just a moment ago and needed to cut people, but in the end, I'd been kept. I couldn't let on that I wanted to leave, so I'd stayed quiet — and just like that, I'd naturally fallen within the roster limit.
If I'd just managed my expression from the start...
I could've found some way to spin it and get out. Now it was impossible. At this point, no matter how I dressed it up, people would assume I wanted out because the team looked like it had no chance of winning. The malicious framing would stick. And since the roster was full, no additional members would be coming in either.
Practice started immediately with the newly confirmed teammates.
"Should we start by dividing up positions based on who we have now?"
"But the rap position can handle sub-vocals too, right?"
Opinions flew back and forth about part assignments, but none of it was getting through.
Focus. I need to focus.
I knew that intellectually, but just like during the first team battle, the words washed over me without landing. Back then, my mental state had crumbled because I'd ended up competing against Na-bin on the same song. Now I couldn't concentrate because I was reeling over how the future had changed.
No. Focus!
If I looked like I couldn't concentrate at a time this important, it would be a genuine catastrophe. It could easily look like my passion had gone cold because I didn't like the team. And if that happened, my ranking would plummet in an instant.
Lee Seo-yeon, snap out of it!
Now that things had come to this, I had to throw myself into it even more passionately, so there wasn't the slightest opening for that kind of narrative. I needed to make the debut lineup myself, first of all. Without that, I wouldn't have the power to save Lumiere or Yu Na-bin.
"We need to pick a center now. Anyone want it?"
Someone tossed out the question, and my hand shot up on reflex.
"Seo-yeon's really fired up this time, huh?"
Eun-bi unnie sounded a little surprised. I smiled naturally and brushed it off.
"Last time the trainer said I looked like I lacked confidence. So I wanted to show some this time."
"Wow. That's so cool."
"Unnie, are you already campaigning for Seo-yeon?"
"Ah, nooo... that's not it... Seo-yeon just makes everything sound cool no matter what she says."
"That's true."
Han Yu-ri grinned, then whipped her head around.
"Then let's ask everyone one by one. Hye-in, what do you think?"
"...Me?"
Park Hye-in's eyes widened slightly before she answered.
"I... I don't necessarily need to be center. I just want to do the part I'm given really well."
"Ahh! I see? But Hye-in, I asked who you'd want as center?"
"Ah..."
Park Hye-in's ears flushed red in an instant.
"I-I'd want Seo-yeon to do it."
At the same time, the position evaluation stage had been pre-released online.