The Second Mission (1)
"Everyone! You all worked so hard on the last mission, didn't you?"
The MC's voice had grown familiar by now, though it still sent a ripple of tension through every trainee in the room. He pressed forward without a moment's pause.
"If the last mission was about showing off your individual skills, this time is a little different."
Behind the stage, enormous letters flared to life across the display board, blinking in and out like a warning siren.
Second Mission — Team Battle Evaluation
A stir ran through the trainees. A team battle, after all, wasn't something you could win on talent alone. Chemistry had to click. Teamwork actually mattered.
And more than anything else—
"Once this mission is over, trainee eliminations will begin. Only those who place in the top fifty will survive."
"...!"
A collective gasp tore through the room. Among the startled faces, the lower-ranked trainees couldn't even manage that much. They simply sat there with their mouths hanging open.
The MC had been waiting for exactly that reaction. He gestured at just the right moment, timing it like a conductor.
"Now then — let's reveal the evaluation songs for the team mission!"
The display board flickered once more, and the song titles bloomed across the screen.
Electric Fever
Sugar Melon
Fatal Music
· · ·
Lose Control
Goodbye Nightmare
The concepts could not have been more sharply divided. Innocent. Girl crush. Sexy. Cute. Hip-hop. Dark. Would we go for something fierce, or something that pulled at the heart? The choice would completely rewrite a team's image.
"Two teams will compete on each song. Of the two teams that pick the same track, one will be the winner and one will be the loser — and the winning team receives a very important benefit, so you'll want to come out on top, won't you?"
I could see the calculation starting behind every pair of eyes in the room. Which song gave you the best odds of winning?
I needed to think this through strategically. A track like Electric Fever demanded a powerful performance — the strong dancers would almost certainly flock to it. Sugar Melon required facial acting and a naturally cute image, so anyone whose concept already leaned that way would have the advantage. Fatal Music was a sexy concept, and if you handled it poorly, the image consumption could tilt completely the wrong way. Nothing on that list was easy.
If you picked a good song without any grand strategy, you'd still be fine. Every one of them was a famous girl-group track. But what I wanted wasn't a simple victory. I needed a song that would leave a definite impression.
Leaving a likable image behind is what matters.
That was when the next announcement dropped.
"A-Class trainees will receive the privilege of choosing their teams and songs first!"
"...?"
I froze for a second. A new rule had been added: A-Class trainees could not be placed on the same team. In other words, the top-ranked contestants were going to be forcibly split apart.
I'd completely forgotten how the teams had been divided.
If I thought about it for even a moment, it was obvious. If you could pick your own members, of course the A-Class trainees would clump together and coast through the mission.
I reached one conclusion immediately. No matter what, I had to avoid landing on the same song as Yu Na-bin.
Na-bin was, without question, one of the strongest contestants here — a perfect center-type trainee with the dancing, the vocals, the looks, and the stage presence to match. But that wasn't the reason.
I had taken center in the first mission, so I didn't assume I would automatically lose to her. Still, there was no need for one of us to walk away wearing the image of a loser. The best outcome was for both of us to win.
"Well then — the center from the first mission, yes?"
Every trainee's gaze found me at the MC's words.
"Lee Seo-yeon, you'll be choosing your song first."
...Damn it.
Of all people, I had to go first. Na-bin wouldn't deliberately pick the same song as me... right? Fine. I would just focus on choosing the best possible track.
"How should we divide the parts?"
"This song has a pretty heavy performance load, so..."
"Oh, this section! Do you want it? But for main vocal..."
A dull roar filled my skull. My teammates were discussing part assignments right in front of me, and not a single word of it was getting through.
I'm screwed....
The sheet music in front of me blurred. The song I had chosen was Electric Fever — the most fiercely contested track on the list, and the one I had picked specifically to avoid Na-bin. Whatever else I might have forgotten, I still remembered which song she had taken the stage with.
So why...
A-Class trainees were supposed to have priority in choosing their songs and teammates. The reality had been different. Every A-Class trainee except me — the center — had settled it with rock-paper-scissors whenever three or more people wanted the same song.
And that was how I ended up on the same track as Na-bin.
Had the future changed because I became center? The privilege granted to the center trainee — the benefit — was first pick of the songs. And the song the center chose could not be taken from her.
In my previous life, Na-bin had been the center. She would have picked the song she wanted and simply waited.
Na-bin is genuinely, catastrophically bad at rock-paper-scissors...
Just once. If she could have won just once! How does someone lose every single round?
Nobody had wanted to take the same song as me. My slot had sat there empty. Pushed back again and again, Na-bin had ended up here.
They could have skipped the whole speech about letting us choose the songs we wanted, about A-Class privileges. Then again, the lower-ranked trainees hadn't even been given a chance at rock-paper-scissors, so it wasn't exactly a lie.
"...Hah."
I dropped my head. The practice room floor was cold against my awareness.
"Um... are you okay?"
A quiet voice asked from right beside me. I lifted my head on reflex.
D-Class. Kang Se-rin. Judging by her face alone, she looked even more cowed than I did — and she was still asking if I was all right.
It doesn't feel like she's performing for the cameras. Maybe this is just how she is.
Looking at every single action through a calculated lens was going to drive me insane. I felt like garbage. Anyway.
She was one of the teammates I had picked by looks alone, from among the trainees who weren't in the Debut Group — after Na-bin and I had landed on the same song. The reason I had excluded the Debut Group and any future idols I recognized was simple.
From this point on, I fully intended to lose.
Not that I planned to look like I was slacking. The best-case scenario was simply that the team's average was low enough for us to lose on merit.
"Why do you look like that? Is something wrong?"
"It's nothing. Let's practice."
"Um... we're still dividing the parts, though."
"Ah, sorry. I'll focus."
That was when one of my teammates, Park Hye-in, opened her mouth.
"Seo-yeon, you already got to be center last time. Could you maybe give someone else a turn?"
The comment came out of nowhere. I hadn't even said I wanted to be center.
"I'm really confident I can do well, and honestly, instead of just you being center every time, other people should get a shot at least once, don't you think?"
The way she said it was so natural it was almost impressive. She had dressed it up as a request, but the tone wasn't a request at all. It sounded like she was claiming something that was already hers.
I nearly let out a hollow laugh. But whatever. It didn't matter. I hadn't built this team so I could take center. If anything, her taking the position instead of me made it even more likely that Na-bin would win.
"Sure. If you want it, go ahead."
"Really?"
Park Hye-in's eyes lit up. I nodded, slow and unhurried. Whether I meant it from the heart or not was entirely beside the point.
"But... if Seo-yeon isn't center, aren't we in trouble?"
A small, timid voice. Kang Se-rin. She kept glancing around for cues, but she pushed the words out anyway.
"I just thought our team winning should come first.... They said there's a really important benefit, didn't they?"
Park Hye-in's face went rigid.
"What? So you're saying I'll ruin it?"
"Ah — no, that's not what I—"
Se-rin waved her hands in a flustered panic. Hye-in's brow was already furrowed tight.
What are you doing? The cameras are rolling.
I sighed inwardly.
"Let's start by saying which positions we actually want."
I turned the subject with a light touch and settled the air. The other members, who had been sitting quietly, began to open their mouths as well.
"If Seo-yeon isn't going to be center, then maybe I could..."
"I want to try being center too..."
The greed was starting to surface. Or rather, not greed — survival instinct. All except for one person. Kang Se-rin.
Se-rin glanced at my face, then simply pressed her lips shut.
"Se-rin, you don't want to try being center?"
"I-I think it would be better if you did it, Seo-yeon."
"Do you? I was thinking—"
"We'll leave out anyone who doesn't want it. Seo-yeon already gave it up, so let's decide among the rest of us."
Park Hye-in cut across me and stepped in. Survival instinct or not, the greed was blatant. Did she not realize how ugly that looked?
Even if she takes center and does well, she'll only break even.
Once you got stamped as unlikeable, even strong skills wouldn't save you from the hate — and rival fandoms would come after you on principle. The boards would flood with posts about her personality. That would happen if she did well. And if she didn't?
An unlikeable girl who snatched the position out of greed, then wrecked the stage on top of it, had a survival rate of exactly zero.
"I recommend Hye-in."
At my words, the other two who had said they wanted the position themselves let disappointment flicker across their faces. But nobody pushed back in any real way.
Don't worry. In a little while, you'll be grateful you didn't take center.
And Park Hye-in. You are going to regret being greedy for that spot.