Cleaning Up the Punch Bowl
My role is to clean up the punch bowl when the party is in full swing.
Name:Seo Yujin
Age:17
Trait:Looking Down on Everyone
Having lived a life of being coddled and elevated by others, you are arrogant and look down on people. You must always be the center of the world.
[Physical Detailed Stats]
[Intelligence Detailed Stats]
[Artistic Detailed Stats]
…Wait. I could see other people's status windows too?
Startled by the sudden appearance of Seo Yujin's status window, I stared at it for a moment before examining it properly.
The first things that jumped out were her age — two years younger than me — and…
Looking Down on Everyone…?
That was the trait.
Arrogant, contemptuous of others, and convinced the world has to revolve around her…
It suited her perfectly, I had to admit.
I gave a small nod and moved on to the artistic detailed stats.
And then…
Appearance:91
Vocal Ability:87
Acting Ability: 1
Dance:84
"Oh."
I could more or less see why Seo Yujin had turned out the way she had.
An acting stat of 1 was… impressive in its own disastrous way, but every other stat an idol needed sat remarkably high.
Of course she was from SAV. With numbers like those, she could perform at a level that put most trainees to shame.
"Hello. I'm Seo Yujin from SAV Entertainment."
She clearly knew it too — her face was loaded with confidence, the kind that said she fully intended to flip the stage upside down.
The judges picked up on that energy and started asking questions with small, amused smiles, as if they found her adorable.
"Trainee Seo Yujin. This must be your first time on a stage like this, but you don't look nervous at all."
"No. I'm not nervous."
"And why is that?"
"Because I'm from SAV!"
Seo Yujin's acting stat was 1. That meant she was incapable of dressing up anything she didn't actually feel.
"Through this stage, I'm going to prove that I'm different from every other contestant here!"
Her bold declaration sent a ripple through the stage.
What she'd just said was… far too arrogant. It could easily come across as dismissing every other contestant in the room.
…Does she not care about the cameras at all?
Of course, if she backed that statement up with a flawless performance, her swagger could actually work in her favor. But…
She's probably going to get torn apart online…
Beyond the stage, the production staff of My Idol Academia were watching Seo Yujin the way a pack of hyenas watches prey.
Their talent for malicious editing had been infamous even in my previous life.
Right now, they were sizing her up — deciding whether to use her as fuel for a public opinion storm.
How they chose to cut her footage would determine her entire image on this show.
If someone who looked this close to the debut lineup crashed and burned over this, it would only help me. But… maybe it was her young age, or maybe it was the certainty that she was about to get crushed by public opinion — either way, I felt a twinge of pity.
…Fine. Just do well, then.
And so, against my better judgment, I found myself rooting for her.
At that exact moment…
"……."
"…Hmph."
Whether she sensed my thoughts or not, Seo Yujin's eyes met mine. She snorted and turned her head away.
And then…
"If there are no more questions, I'll start my performance."
She picked up the mic and moved things along before the judges had even finished questioning her.
"Haha, this kid is completely fearless."
"She must be ridiculously confident in her skills."
The judges seemed to find the whole thing endearing. Looking at Seo Yujin, you really did get the impression of a fierce little cat — everything she said somehow came off as cute.
But…
"Why is she acting so full of herself?"
"Look at her strutting around just because of her company."
Among the contestants, the muttering had already turned ugly. They covered their mouths so the mics wouldn't catch it and whispered venom about Seo Yujin.
"Unni, that girl is so annoying. Right?"
Even Park Yujeong beside me was doing it.
When the living embodiment of a golden retriever was saying that, yeah — she really must have been that insufferable.
And so, of every grade evaluation so far, Seo Yujin drew the most attention and the most complicated stares as she stood on that stage.
"Then please begin, Trainee Seo Yujin."
With main MC Han Siwoo's words, her grade evaluation started.
♪♪♪♬—!
"……!"
"……!"
The moment the accompaniment kicked in, nearly everyone flinched — contestants and judges alike.
…Why?
At first I couldn't tell what had startled them. But as the melody unfolded…
……This song.
Once I recognized a track I'd heard while practicing recent idol songs, I understood the reaction.
Most contestants had prepared idol songs for their grade evaluations.
Seo Yujin's choice was an idol song too, technically.
But…
That's not a girl group song. That's a boy group song.
Unlike everyone else, Seo Yujin had prepared a male idol track.
And not just any track…
"That's Senior Taehwan's Moving…!"
"She's doing that…?"
Taehwan — a male idol from the same agency, SAV Entertainment. One of SAV's three legendary dancers, and this was his solo performance track.
She's doing this for a grade evaluation?
Moving was one of the more polished performance songs out there, no question.
But…
The difficulty on this thing…
That was the problem. For a trainee's first stage in front of cameras, the pressure alone would be crushing.
Apparently none of that concern existed for Seo Yujin.
She started the stage with the same unshakable smile she'd worn the whole time.
And then…
This strange atmosphere makes me dizzy — I can't let you go.
"……!"
The instant she sang that first line, I knew.
She's different.
Something about her stage set her apart from every trainee who'd gone before. The others had mostly hit their notes and kept time just fine. But Seo Yujin's performance… it pulled your eyes in, like you were being drawn under some kind of spell.
I can't escape you — this dizzying moment.
I wasn't the only one who felt it. The contestants who'd been tearing her apart moments earlier were now staring at the stage, completely captivated.
The sharper ones among them…
"Kyaa~!"
"Whoa… insane."
…had already figured out that reacting here basically guaranteed camera time, so they turned toward the lenses with carefully shocked expressions.
At last the song hit the chorus…
Under a dark sky, the moving that seized me. That strange feeling.
Seo Yujin's signature confident smile blended with her fluid dance lines, and the whole thing radiated pure aura.
But her real strength wasn't the dancing — it was her singing.
Even if my neat little skirt gets all wrinkled, it's fine — look at me properly, yeah.
Since it was a song written for a male key, Seo Yujin carried the performance with almost casual ease — and that ease only added another layer of flavor to the whole thing.
"Whew… that's all."
She finished the stage the same way she'd started it — with that unshakable, confident smile.
"……."
"……."
A brief silence settled over the judges' panel, as if they were all waiting to see who would speak first.
The other judges seemed to want Han Siwoo to go first, but he didn't reach for the mic.
So the dance trainer stepped up instead.
"That was excellent. It really made me think, of course she's from SAV."
The corner of Seo Yujin's mouth lifted the moment she heard it.
"It's not an easy song to express, and yet the level of completion was incredibly high."
Once the dance trainer opened the floodgates, the other judges piled on with praise.
"Your tone is genuinely charming. It was so easy on the ears."
"More than anything, your expressions were outstanding. Every trainee so far has had tension written all over their face — but not you. It felt less like watching an amateur and more like watching a pro."
"Thank you."
Compared to every stage before hers, it really had been overwhelming — but the compliments still felt a little over the top.
That was when I noticed the production staff outside the set making exaggerated gestures at the judges.
They were telling them to pile on more praise.
Looks like Seo Yujin is already locked into the debut lineup the producers have cooked up.
And just when it seemed like the slightly excessive praise relay would wrap up her grade evaluation…
"But you know, Trainee Seo Yujin."
Han Siwoo finally took the mic.
"Don't you think your stage was a little too full of empty flash?"
…and dumped an entire salt shaker into a dish that had been coming together perfectly.
"E-empty flash…?"
"Yes. Empty flash. Trainee Seo Yujin — there's too much tension in your neck. And the technical flourishes are excessive."
"……."
She clearly hadn't seen this coming at all. Her face began to harden. But Han Siwoo kept going.
"It's true that your level of completion was higher than the other contestants. However… there was so much tension in your body that the vocal production on the chorus was disappointing, and more than anything, the dancing was far too flashy."
That alone would have been cutting enough — but Han Siwoo drove the final nail home.
"It felt like an amateur trying too hard to imitate a professional."
"……!"
"On your next stage, I'd like to see you ease up a little and focus on the fundamentals."
Even among the judges, there was a hierarchy.
And Han Siwoo sat firmly at the top of it.
Once someone of his caliber zeroed in on Seo Yujin's weaknesses, the wall of praise from the other judges crumbled.
"…She did drop half a beat in the second verse, actually."
"…I agree with Producer Han Siwoo about the excess tension in the body."
"……."
As the other judges awkwardly walked back their compliments, Seo Yujin's eyes went wide — like someone who'd just been betrayed.
"Alright. The judges will deliberate briefly, then announce Trainee Seo Yujin's grade."
This… the momentum had already shifted.
After a short discussion, the judges delivered the result immediately.
"……!!"
The moment the grade was announced, the stage erupted in murmurs again.
Even with the flaws they'd pointed out, a stage of that quality landing a B left everyone stunned.
"B Rank… under… stood…."
Of course, no one was more shocked than Seo Yujin herself.
Her face said she absolutely could not accept it — but she seemed to understand she couldn't overturn the result, and she forced a difficult nod.
Tsk tsk. What a shame.
I watched her with genuine sympathy.
And then…
"……!"
…our eyes met again.
A jolt.
Wait, why again——
She must have thought I was laughing at her, because the second she saw my face she glared daggers at me.
She stared me down for a few seconds, then turned and shot the same look at Yu Seol in the first-place seat before heading back to her own spot.
Apparently Yu Seol and I had already made it firmly onto her bad side.
Seo Yujin may have gotten a B, but there was no denying she'd put on the best stage of any contestant so far.
"Alright. The next contestant to take the stage is…"
Most of the contestants immediately started reading Han Siwoo's face. Going on right after Seo Yujin was a brutal ask.
A few seconds of suffocating silence stretched out while Han Siwoo prepared to call the next name…
"Contestant Ha Yerin of Hyeongje Entertainment."
And the lucky winner was me.
So the time has finally come.
It wasn't that I felt no nerves.
But after everything I'd prepared, I wasn't afraid either.
I rose from my seat with my usual blank expression.
A stir ran through the room.
And then… I felt every eye in the place lock onto me — attention that made Seo Yujin's moment look mild by comparison.
The jealousy and longing of the other contestants.
The expectations of the judges. And beyond the stage, the naked greed of the production staff.
I took all of it in, and stepped toward the stage.