If Someone Asks About the Future of Girl Idols
If anyone ever asks about the future of girl idols, raise your head and look right there.
“Um, would it be all right if I changed my outfit a little before going on stage?”
“Go ahead.”
Right now every contestant on My Idol Academia was wearing the same school-uniform-style outfit: a white dress shirt and necktie under a sharply tailored jacket that looked half military, paired with a tennis skirt. It was completely unsuitable for intense dancing, so some people changed before their stages. Han Siwoo granted the request without a second thought.
And then…
Whoosh.
The instant permission left his mouth, Ha Yerin peeled the jacket off and flung it aside.
“…?”
Han Siwoo and the rest of the judging panel froze at the sudden move.
Then—
Swoosh—
“Y-Yerin!!”
Only when she started sliding the skirt down as well did they finally snap out of it and shout. How many people were sitting right here? And she was still a high-school girl who hadn’t even turned twenty!
“W-what do you think you’re doing?!”
“…Excuse me?”
Everyone else was having a collective heart attack, yet Ha Yerin remained perfectly calm. She tilted her head as if she genuinely couldn’t figure out what she’d done wrong.
“Y-you have to change offstage, not right here!”
“Ah…”
Han Siwoo spoke while desperately covering his eyes. Yerin paused for a beat, then pointed at her bare legs.
“I’m wearing shorts under the skirt.”
There they were—short pants that had been hidden beneath the tennis skirt.
“Oh.”
Only then did the judges dare open their eyes again. Han Siwoo, the sole man on the panel, didn’t fully calm his racing heart until he confirmed the shorts with his own eyes.
“Haha… just a… little misunderstanding.”
All because Yerin had stripped so casually.
Is there some middle-aged guy living inside her…?
After the brief chaos, Yerin carried the discarded jacket and skirt offstage and returned.
…Hmm?
Something about the sight made Han Siwoo uneasy.
“Trainee Ha Yerin, is that the full outfit change?”
“Yes, that’s everything.”
Calling it an “outfit change” was generous. All she had done was take off the jacket and skirt.
And yet…
It suits her. Insanely well.
Slightly wrinkled white dress shirt. Loosened necktie. Black shorts that stopped mid-thigh. The careless mix of office wear and casual pieces created an atmosphere that somehow stabbed straight into the male psyche.
Gulp.
Han Siwoo wasn’t the only one who felt it. The other judges and every contestant in the room felt it too.
“…Just shoot a few solo shots of her.”
Even the production staff outside the stage had fallen under the spell of her new vibe and were staring hard. Whether she noticed or not, Yerin simply prepared for her stage with her usual indifferent expression—and that very indifference only made her more magnetic.
“Then we’ll begin.”
With every gaze locked even tighter than before, the stage lights came up…
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
“……!!”
“……Wha—?!”
The second the clock-hand intro began, everyone still hypnotized by Yerin jolted awake.
“This song is…!”
“She’s doing that…?!”
The shock dwarfed even Seo Yujin’s choice of Taehwan’s “Moving” or Yerin’s own earlier Digimon Adventure pick, “Butter-Dragon.”
“That’s… ‘24 Hours Aren’t Enough’!”
The title track from Miseon’s first solo album—Miseon, the legendary idol from JJ. A perfectly crafted female performance song whose choreography wasn’t overly explosive, making it friendly for live vocals… except for one fatal flaw: the original was simply too good. Miseon fit the track so perfectly that no matter how hard anyone prepared, they always looked painfully inferior. And the deeper problem was that “24 Hours Aren’t Enough” was brutally difficult to pull off. Dreamlike dancing paired with a seductive voice—those were things only a seasoned veteran could summon. Plenty of girl groups had tried the song and left nothing but black history behind. Unofficially it had become a forbidden cover… and she was going to attempt it?
While most people sat stunned, Han Siwoo took the biggest hit of all.
This… is over.
He had been genuinely intrigued by Yerin’s singing just moments ago and had quietly hoped she would shine. Of all songs, she picked this one. Instantly his mind painted a picture of her flailing awkwardly on stage and killing the entire mood.
This is a worse song choice than dog-leg dancing.
Someone who’d only trained for a month couldn’t possibly handle this track—unless she was a heaven-sent genius.
And that’s not happening.
Han Siwoo watched with quiet pity.
And then…
“……!”
As the stage unfolded, the frown that had been carved into his eyes began filling with an entirely different emotion. At some point his jaw had dropped open without him even noticing.
Rewind a little.
Somewhere in Gangwon Province.
XX Division Headquarters Duty Unit, Guard Company C-2 Barracks.
Friday, 23:43.
After a day of gate guard and labor details, the company members were clustered on the bunks in front of the TV, enjoying their evening free time. Of course… not everyone was having a happy free time.
“You fucking idiot. Are you retarded? Can’t you tell the division commander just because he’s in civilian clothes? You know the chief of staff reamed our platoon leader because you didn’t salute the commander coming down from the residence?”
“S-sorry, sir…!”
“You’ve been on duty two months and you still can’t memorize the license plates, you piece of shit. Hey—what’s the intel staff officer’s plate?”
“I-Intel Staff Officer Lieutenant Colonel Han Yeonghui’s car… car number… 1721…! 1721, sir…!”
“That’s the counter-infiltration operations officer’s plate, you moron. Haa… this absolute waste of oxygen. Fine. You’re on the 02:00 shift with me, right? Don’t you dare sleep until then—memorize every fucking plate from now until duty.”
“…Yes, sir! Understood!”
“If you get it wrong when I ask again, you’re actually dead.”
In the back, a clueless private first class was getting shredded by his senior. Up front, Sergeant Yu Changseon—king of the guard company with only ninety-three days left until discharge—yawned and flipped channels however he pleased.
If you’re just gonna do that, go to sleep already so the rest of us can watch!
The juniors silently cursed the sergeant who kept changing channels instead of settling on anything, but their voices never reached him. Anyone who at least got to sit near the TV was already blessed; the lowest privates and PFCs without enough rank had no seats and were already lying in their own bunks pretending to sleep.
This was Guard Company C-2 Barracks—a place where absurdity and irrationality lived side by side.
“Um… Sergeant Yu Changseon?”
In that heavy atmosphere one junior carefully raised a hand.
“What?”
“If there’s nothing good on, how about switching to Nnet?”
“Nnet? What, new season of Show Me?”
“No, sir. Nnet is airing a girl-idol audition show called My Idol Academia right now.”
“…What?”
The second the words left the junior’s mouth, Sergeant Yu Changseon spun the remote and demanded,
“Idol audition…? What time does it start?”
“I believe it started at 23:00. It should be on right now.”
“What…? You fucking idiot! You should’ve said so earlier! Ah, shit, so much time’s already gone!”
“…Sorry, sir.”
The junior hadn’t actually done anything wrong, but he apologized out of habit. Still, he was secretly pleased—he’d finally get to watch the first episode of My Idol Academia he’d been waiting for. The moment the words “idol audition” were spoken, every other junior’s attention snapped to the TV as well. To soldiers, girl idols were an inseparable part of life.
Click.
“Oh… it’s on.”
Luckily they hadn’t missed the good parts. When Sergeant Yu Changseon landed on the channel, the contestants were already mid-grade evaluation. And the current performer was Seo Yujin.
Staring at the huge caption and Seo Yujin’s face, Sergeant Yu Changseon let out a pure groan of appreciation.
“Holy shit…! She’s insanely pretty!!”
A cat-like beauty any man would fall for.
She sounded a little full of herself, but that was fine. Seo Yujin was pretty. And she didn’t just look pretty—
In this strange atmosphere I’m dizzy—
I can’t let you go.
—she had real stage skill too.
“Damn… she can really sing…”
“Her dancing looks insane too.”
“Guess that’s SAV for you. She could debut just like this.”
The other juniors piled on with admiration. When Han Siwoo started criticizing her stage, they united in pure hatred.
“Who the fuck does that bastard think he’s talking about?”
“How dare he touch my future wife.”
“People have been saying Han Siwoo’s always been an asshole.”
That was how thoroughly Seo Yujin had burrowed into the company’s hearts.
“What… she only got a B? That’s bullshit.”
“Isn’t Han Siwoo just screwing with an SAV trainee because he used to be under YW?”
“That stage didn’t deserve a B.”
Regret over the B grade and pure support for Seo Yujin mixed together…
“Hey, how do you vote for this? We’re doing it first thing tomorrow.”
“We’ll vote too. Seo Yujin has to debut.”
They were already swearing to vote the moment the sun rose when—
Doo-doong—
“Huh?”
Seo Yujin returned to her seat and the BGM suddenly changed—grand, pounding, final-boss energy.
“What the hell is this? Is Prince Suyang about to walk out?”
“Looks like the show’s pushing the next contestant hard.”
Nothing else explained music that dramatic.
The second the agency name “Hyeongje Entertainment” appeared, every expectation died.
“Hyeongje Entertainment? What kind of middle-aged gangster named that? Is it even a real company?”
“F-first time hearing it.”
“Same…”
If she came from a company that sounded that old and corny, she had to be a nobody. Sergeant Yu Changseon flopped sideways onto a junior’s legs with a bored face.
“If they’re just gonna give screen time to talentless ugly nobodies, they should’ve kept showing that Seo Yujin girl. At least her agency is proper SAV… wait—”
Click.
The camera started at Ha Yerin’s feet as she walked onto the stage, slowly climbing her body… and the moment her face filled the frame—
“……!!”
Even the complaining king of the company, Sergeant Yu Changseon…
“…Holy shit.”
“…Insane.”
The other seniors watching beside him…
“…Whoa.”
The privates and PFCs who had been fake-sleeping and peeking through the gaps…
“What’s the logistics officer’s plate number?”
“….”
“You little shit, your senior is talking and your eyes are going— wait…?”
Even the junior getting chewed out and the senior doing the chewing—
—every single one of them stared at the girl on the screen as if under hypnosis, as if their bodies had simply forgotten how to look away.
Long straight hair falling to her waist. Proportions that could pass for a model’s. Just the right amount of glamorous chest. A tiny waist. Features that looked ripped straight out of a comic. And the school uniform on top of it all.
She possessed every single thing a man could possibly want. The entire company froze like they’d been hit with a tranquilizer dart. Seo Yujin’s existence had already been completely erased from their minds.
“…….”
“…….”
In a barracks full of lonely men, her presence was pure destruction. Each of them sank into silence while their imaginations ran wild.
The first to speak was, of course, Sergeant Yu Changseon.
“…She’s fucking insanely pretty.”
It was the highest praise he was capable of giving.