Grade Evaluation: Despair Edition
Rewind a few minutes — just after Yu Seol had taken her seat, and a little time had passed.
Thuduum—.
Clack. Clack.
A grand sound effect rolled through the hall, and from the entrance came the unmistakable sound of someone approaching — no attempt to hide it.
"Ooh—."
"Who is that? All the contestants are already out, right?"
The contestants, hungry for camera time, piled on exaggerated reactions and locked their eyes on the entrance.
Thududuum—.
Every gaze in the room converged, and just as the sound effect hit its peak—!
Clack.
"Hello, everyone."
"……!"
A man stepped into view.
The moment he appeared, the contestants dropped every last scrap of pretense, each of them becoming nothing more than a screaming girl.
"W-wooooaaah—!!"
"H-Han Siwoo—!! Han Siwoo—!!"
"Kyaaaaaah—!!"
Han Siwoo.
The titles attached to his name were endless.
The greatest artist in the world — not just Korea.
The idol of idols.
And…
The genius producer who had broken free of YW, one of the Big Three agencies, five years ago and raised countless idols since.
"I'm Han Siwoo. And… I've taken on the role of main MC and overall producer of My Idol Academia."
That man had joined NIA. As both MC and producer.
The contestants who heard the news split cleanly into two camps.
"Waaaah—!! No way—!!"
"H-Han Siwoo is the producer…?!"
Those who stared in dazed, open-mouthed delight, unable to believe it…
And—
"……."
Those who simply nodded, as if they had known all along.
The ones nodding over there are probably the kids from the big-name agencies.
For the record, Hyeongje Entertainment had of course known nothing about Han Siwoo's appearance.
Still… I already knew the future, so.
Having known in advance that Han Siwoo would show up, I watched his entrance without much of a reaction.
That was when it happened.
"…Han Siwoo just walked in and you barely even flinched?"
"……Excuse me?"
The girl sitting to my left in seat 100 suddenly spoke to me.
"Did you… already know?"
"……."
At that, I checked the name tag of the girl in seat 100.
[Levi Entertainment — Park Yujeong]
Levi Entertainment… First time I'd heard of it. Probably a mid-sized company.
Still, her face was remarkably pretty for a trainee. There was something simple and wholesome about her looks — the kind of country-girl charm that tended to go over well with guys.
That same Park Yujeong turned to me with an innocent expression and kept talking.
A little flustered, I answered her straight.
"No… I had no idea."
"Ah… really? You didn't react at all when you saw Han Siwoo, so I figured you must have known."
"…I just have a blank face."
"Ahh."
Swoosh—.
Park Yujeong beamed as if that settled it and held out her hand.
"Hehe, sitting next to each other like this is fate, right? Want to be friends? I'm Park Yujeong, eighteen."
"…Ha Yerin. Nineteen."
"Ah! Then you're my unni? I'll call you Unni, Unni. Hehe. Looking forward to working with you."
The way she smiled as she said it made her look exactly like a dog.
…Not in a bad way. An actual dog.
That harmless, golden-retriever smile of hers made me take the hand she offered.
"Looking forward to it too."
Squish.
"Unni, you're already so pretty, and your skin is amazing too. It's so firm — like porcelain."
"……."
Whether she was naturally that friendly or just that bold, Park Yujeong kneaded my hand without the slightest hesitation after I accepted the handshake.
It was a little overwhelming, but I didn't actively pull away.
In a place that was basically a battlefield, making allies was a necessity.
And more than that…
Her face looks familiar…
It was hazy, but Park Yujeong's face rang a bell somehow.
She was sitting in seat 100 for now, but I couldn't rule out the possibility that she would end up in the debut lineup.
If I got close to someone who might be a future debut member, some of that luck might rub off on me too.
So I answered her with a carefully offhand compliment — nothing that reeked of flattery.
"You're pretty too, Yujeong."
"Ah, Unni! Talk casually!"
"Okay. You're pretty too, Yujeong."
"Thank you, hehe."
While I was building that small bit of rapport with Park Yujeong, the rest of the judging panel filed onto the stage one after another alongside Han Siwoo.
A solo singer who had started as an idol, a famous dance trainer who had appeared on television more than once — the lineup beyond Han Siwoo was pure luxury casting.
"Waaaah—!!"
"Kyaaaaaah—!!"
With every new arrival, the contestants screamed their genuine hearts out.
By the time the final judge stepped out, the atmosphere was white-hot.
"That completes the full judging panel of My Idol Academia."
Main MC Han Siwoo took the mic and pressed on.
"Everyone here is a new student of our Idol Academy. Are you all ready to chase your dreams?"
"Yeeees—!!!!!"
"Then from this moment, the grade evaluation begins—!! Show me your dream!"
"Waaaaaah—!!!!"
Han Siwoo's cry set off a thunderous roar among the contestants.
My Idol Academia — a program that could become a stepping stone to an idol debut.
The grade evaluation that marked its beginning.
Hope for their dreams swelled in every contestant's chest, filling them with excitement and anticipation.
It felt like everything might just roll forward in a warm, happy glow from here.
But…
"You do realize not a single note was in tune?"
"That stage felt like a high school talent show."
"……."
Not long after the grade evaluation started, the mood plummeted as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over the room.
The judges, who everyone had expected to smile brightly and keep things soft, turned ice-cold the second the evaluations began.
Han Siwoo especially.
"Trainee Oh Hyeonhui. According to this, you've been training for a year. Is that correct?"
"I-I've actually been training for a year and a half…"
"What exactly have you been practicing all that time?"
"……!"
The man with the warm looks and big-brother image opened the first evaluation with a scathing line that made everyone watching flinch.
"…Trainee Oh Hyeonhui of Taihai Entertainment receives an F."
An F on the very first grade evaluation.
Shock rippled through every contestant, and Park Yujeong, sitting beside me, whispered,
"…Honestly, I don't think that was F-level."
She was right.
Objectively speaking, the performance had been lacking, but it hadn't been an F stage.
But…
"…It feels like they graded the first stage extra harshly."
The first stage set the tone for everything that followed. By judging it so ruthlessly, the panel was sending a clear warning: this evaluation would not be soft.
"Next, please come up — Trainee Kim Huiseon of Taihai."
"……."
With a fellow company trainee already hit with an F, the remaining Taihai trainees took the stage frozen solid.
"…F."
"…D."
"…E."
Two Fs, one E, one D.
Taihai wasn't even that small of a company, and the report card was still catastrophic.
"……Hic."
One of the Taihai trainees who had held it together until then finally broke into tears, and the atmosphere sank even further.
Sensing the shift, Han Siwoo picked up the mic after Taihai's evaluations were done.
"I think some of you are misunderstanding because of the word 'Academy' in the title… We are selecting an idol group that will debut the moment this program ends."
"……."
"So of course we have to evaluate coldly. Does everyone understand what I'm saying?"
"……Yes."
From a hundred contestants came a reply so thin it might as well have been ants crawling.
"…The grades you've received today can still change, so I hope to see all of you grow. We'll continue the grade evaluation. Next, please come up — Lahiti Entertainment."
"……Yes."
Taihai and Lahiti were similar in scale, and their trainees' skill levels were much of a muchness. Naturally, the critiques and grades that followed were much the same.
The long-term trainee who had been practicing for over a decade was the real spectacle.
"Contestant Lee Yeoreum…. You've been a trainee for over ten years?"
"…Yes. I started at ten, so it's been twelve years now."
"Twelve years… twelve years, huh… Haah…"
Han Siwoo tapped his pen against the desk as if the whole thing were difficult, then spoke.
"Honestly, it does show that you've worked hard. Pitch, rhythm — nothing is off. In terms of pure completeness, you're the strongest contestant so far."
"Th-thank…"
"But."
Thuduum—.
If this had been a broadcast, that kind of sound effect would have dropped right there.
As if aware of it, Han Siwoo paused a beat after the setup before continuing.
"Contestant Lee Yeoreum… how do I put this. There's nothing that draws the eye. It's solid enough, but… there's no distinct color to it."
"……."
"No matter how well you sing or dance, my eyes just don't go to you."
Han Siwoo had softened the edges, but the point was clear.
She had no talent as an idol.
"Ah, I'll try har-harder from now…"
The long-term trainee, realizing exactly what he meant, stammered out a barely coherent answer.
Looking pained by the sight, Han Siwoo set his face and closed the evaluation.
"…Yes. Thank you for your hard work. Trainee Lee Yeoreum of Lahiti Entertainment receives a C Rank."
C Rank.
It was the highest grade any contestant had received so far… and not a single person envied her.
Because the years she had spent to earn that C Rank numbered twelve.
"…That concludes the grade evaluation for Lahiti Entertainment. Next…"
And so the second group, the Lahiti Entertainment trainees, filed out with long faces — and the bloodbath began in earnest.
"Trainee Park Yujeong of Levi Entertainment receives an E Rank."
Park Yujeong, the sole contestant from Levi Entertainment, finished her solo stage and took an E Rank.
Second from the bottom — hardly a glowing review. And yet…
"Yes, thank you! I'll work even harder!"
She came down from the stage with a bright, unbothered smile, as if it were nothing.
"…You okay?"
When she returned, I asked out of basic courtesy.
She laughed like it truly didn't matter.
"I just made a lot of mistakes. I'm fine! I'll just work harder next time and put on a better stage!"
"……."
It was the textbook line of a sunny, unbreakable girl. I nodded.
In truth, her stage hadn't been that bad. If she hadn't tangled her feet and fallen mid-performance, she would have landed a much higher grade.
Falling on stage probably got her a decent amount of camera time too, so it might not even be that bad for her…. …Wait.
Had she fallen on purpose…?
Thinking back, the fall had looked a little unnatural — almost deliberate.
I eyed Park Yujeong, still beaming away in seat 100, with a flicker of suspicion, then shook my head.
……No way.
A girl with a face that pure wouldn't be capable of something that calculated.
I dropped the useless thought and focused on the next stage.
Because the next stage was…
"Next, please come up — Trainee Seo Yujin of SAV Entertainment."
…Seo Yujin, another Big Three trainee alongside Yu Seol.
"Finally, SAV…"
Murmur, murmur—.
I wasn't the only one waiting for her stage. The moment her name was called, the room around us stirred.
Seo Yujin didn't seem to mind the attention. She let out a little snort, rose with a confident expression—
And then…
Bam—.
She shot a sidelong glare at Yu Seol in seat 1…
Swoosh—.
…Me too?
Turned her head and glared at me as well before heading down to the stage.
…The intent in that look was impossible to miss.
Yu Seol and I haven't even performed yet. Why is she already checking us…
Glared at us that openly, right in front of the cameras…. Seo Yujin clearly had no talent for hiding her feelings.
If I opened her Status Window, her acting would probably be lower than mine.
The moment that thought crossed my mind—
Fwaat—!
A Status Window unlike the one I usually saw suddenly bloomed into view before my eyes.
"……!"
I couldn't help but flinch.