Is This a Real Naruto-Sasuke Rivalry?
Is this a real Naruto-Sasuke staring contest level of rivalry?
Why is she smiling at me?
Yu Seol’s sudden behavior left me puzzled.
And even more puzzling was…
Whirr—.
As if it had been waiting for this exact moment, a camera locked onto a two-shot of me and Yu Seol.
Swoosh—.
But before I could resolve that question, Yu Seol turned away again. And then… she stepped onto the stage.
“Alright, please introduce yourself.”
“Ah… I’m Yu Seol, twenty-one, from JJ Entertainment. Looking forward to working with you…!”
Yu Seol gave a short self-introduction and greeted the judges with a slightly bashful expression, as if the stage made her nervous.
The way her small frame fidgeted and fluttered was honestly…
“Haha, she’s adorable.”
…Yeah. She was cute.
That tiny face and adorable looks somehow brought to mind little animals like chicks, hamsters, or hedgehogs.
Even though she was two years older than me, she felt more like a little sister, and a protective instinct welled up out of nowhere.
I wasn’t the only one who thought so. The expressions of the other contestants and the judges watching her on stage had softened considerably.
Tch. When I came out, everyone was busy sizing me up…
Still, our Han Siwoo didn’t seem to have fallen for Yu Seol’s cute appearance. He launched into his usual cold questions.
“You’re rather old for a trainee… Did your debut get delayed at JJ?”
“……!”
…How could he bring up such a sensitive issue right from the start?
It was the kind of question that made not only the contestants but even the other judges flinch, yet Yu Seol answered without panicking.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“……!!”
…And she said it so calmly.
“Ah…”
“Aigoo…”
Was there anything more terrible for a trainee than having their debut delayed?
Whether they empathized with that pain or not, sighs rose from the contestants around me.
“There was originally an opportunity two years ago, but due to circumstances I wasn’t able to debut at JJ.”
“…That’s unfortunate.”
“It’s alright. Thanks to that, I got the chance to appear on My Idol Academia.”
There are moments like that. Moments when someone says they’re fine, yet they don’t look fine at all. Moments when they look even sadder instead.
“May I ask what those circumstances were?”
“My parents were unwell.”
“……!”
That was Yu Seol right now. She spoke as if it were nothing, but she looked far from fine.
If anything, the way she bravely insisted she was okay only made my chest ache more.
“Of course they still haven’t fully recovered… but they say their dream now is for me to debut as an idol.”
“…….”
“So I really want to debut with this opportunity.”
Whirr—.
The moment Yu Seol finished speaking, the gazes around us and the cameras outside the stage all swung toward me.
Because her story overlapped with mine… they were clearly planning a comparison edit.
When the camera pointed at me, I roughly put on a look of sympathy and let it pass.
“That concludes the questions. Please begin whenever you’re ready.”
“…Yes!”
With that brief exchange finished, Yu Seol’s stage began…
♪♬♩♬—!
“……Huh!”
“This is…!”
The moment the song she had chosen started playing, the room stirred.
I was just as surprised at the rare appearance of a song I actually knew.
“That’s senior Cindy’s Letter from the Moon and the Lake…!”
Cindy, Korea’s number-one female singer-songwriter, and her song Letter from the Moon and the Lake.
An acoustic track that created a lyrical atmosphere, famous for its extremely high notes that made it difficult to sing.
And that’s not the only problem.
The bigger issue was that the original artist was Cindy.
Cindy, who held the largest single fandom in the country.
The reason she commanded so many fans was precisely because she was an outstanding singer with a unique tone of her own.
If you clumsily tried to imitate her tone, you’d only look worse by comparison to the original.
But if you sang it completely differently, you might get flamed by Cindy’s hardcore fans.
In short, there was no good option no matter which way you looked at it.
Avoiding songs by overly famous artists was an unwritten rule in auditions like this to begin with. So why had Yu Seol gone out of her way to choose this one?
Everyone watched her stage with tense eyes.
And then…
This moonlit night. And the lake.
“……!”
The moment Yu Seol sang the first verse, those worries scattered from my mind like dust in the wind.
Are you watching?
Do you remember?
The original’s lyrical atmosphere was perfectly melted into the song. It conjured the feeling of a sweltering summer night… a bright moon and the lake surface reflecting it.
But was it similar to how the original singer Cindy had performed it? Not at all.
Because the tone was completely different.
Yu Seol melted into the song with a tone entirely her own, nothing like Cindy’s.
She kept the same lyrical atmosphere as the original while using her tone to give it a different feeling.
Respect for the original… and a clear distinction from it.
She had truly caught both rabbits at once.
“…Hiah.”
It wasn’t only the contestants who were moved by Yu Seol’s stage. Sighs of admiration spilled from the judges as well.
Han Siwoo was no exception.
Did he look at me with those eyes too?
He stared at the stage with eyes wide open, as if he had never expected Yu Seol’s skill at all.
Before long, people began swaying their heads this way and that, carried by the lyrical mood… and as the song continued, the place transformed into something like Yu Seol’s personal concert hall.
The finishing touch was the bridge right before the chorus.
The highest-difficulty part that made this a song not just anyone could sing.
Come with me to that place—
“……Wow.”
“Insane…….”
Yu Seol blasted the bridge a full key higher than the original, clean and powerful.
Yet it wasn’t uncomfortable to listen to or hard on the ears at all.
Everyone simply marveled at her technique, which was practically a feat of strength.
Together there.
Let’s read our letter—
She finished the chorus with a soft tone as well, perfectly, and Yu Seol’s stage came to an end.
“…That’s all. Thank you for watching.”
“…….”
Yu Seol finished her stage, gave a shy smile, and bowed toward the judges, but no one could answer.
They were lost in the deep aftertaste, speechless.
Clap, clap, clap.
What broke the long silence wasn’t a critique, but applause.
The one clapping was none other than the vocal trainer.
With a deeply moved expression, she clapped vigorously and then picked up the microphone.
“That was an absolutely perfect stage.”
The vocal trainer was normally the one who poured out harsh words right after Han Siwoo.
Yet she continued with eyes that looked almost entranced.
“It was a stage where flaws simply didn’t exist. As a vocal, there was absolutely nothing to criticize.”
It sounded a little over the top, but no one could refute her words.
Because Yu Seol’s vocals really had been historic.
A guaranteed main vocal. No… looking only at vocal skill, she’s beyond idol level.
I suddenly wanted to check Yu Seol’s stats.
And the moment I thought that, her Status Window appeared before my eyes.
Yu Seol
Age: 21
Traits:Protagonist, ?? (Locked)
[Physical Detailed Stats]
[Intelligence Detailed Stats]
[Artistic Detailed Stats]
I was about to dive straight into the artistic detailed stats when I paused at her traits.
…Protagonist?
It was a name that sounded incredibly grand. With slightly trembling hands, I entered the trait first. An explanation of her trait appeared.
You are the protagonist of this story. Of course, your life is not peaceful. But no matter what hardships come, advance toward your dream. If you do not stop… the final victor will surely be you.
Currently locked.
Trait Effect: ?? — Currently unviewable.
She had a total of two traits.
One of them was locked… and the other was…
…This is completely broken.
It greatly boosted Perseverance, Endurance, Mental Strength, and Stamina, while also slightly raising every other stat.
It looked far better than the Cheonma trait I had.
But what bothered me most was the naming sense of the traits.
My trait was called Heavenly Demon, so why was Yu Seol’s trait called Protagonist?
It felt like good and evil were being clearly divided.
The Heavenly Demon… always loses to the protagonist in the end.
I had lived just as hard as she had. Adversity and hardship? Those were my everyday life.
So what exactly made Yu Seol and me different…
“…….”
Something rose up from my chest, and a competitive fire sparked to life.
I barely managed to calm that feeling and checked Yu Seol’s artistic detailed stats.
Appearance:96
Vocal Ability:99
Acting Ability:99
Dance:88
“……She’s insane.”
The artistic stats were so dazzling they made me gasp.
At this point, I was starting to think JJ was a bunch of idiots for not debuting her ages ago.
Yeah. With stats like these, of course she had to be the protagonist.
Her artistic stats were literally at the level of someone born to be a celebrity.
Only after seeing her stats could I understand why her trait was named Protagonist.
But even as I understood…
Clench—.
I couldn’t help the strange discomfort rising from my core.
What kind of feeling was this?
Before appearing on My Idol Academia, I had made a resolution.
Not to get greedy.
It would be nice to get into the debut group, but even if I didn’t, I’d just accept it and aim for the next opportunity.
Winning? I hadn’t even dreamed of it.
But…
“…….”
Yu Seol.
Looking at her now, a strange desire welled up.
I wanted to crush her… make her kneel before me…
I wanted to place her firmly under my feet…
That kind of strange desire.
Even while I was thinking those things, Yu Seol was receiving evaluations from the judges.
Now it was Han Siwoo’s turn.
“First of all, I was deeply impressed. Among the trainees I’ve seen recently… no, even including the singers I’ve seen recently, this was the most striking vocal.”
Excessive praise that didn’t suit the usual Han Siwoo.
Apparently Yu Seol’s stage had looked different even to him.
But…
“However.”
His tone shifted abruptly, as if something still didn’t sit right.
He seemed to ponder for a moment before speaking.
“The vocals on that stage just now were impressive… but there were no dance moves. Do you acknowledge that?”
“I do.”
“Have you… prepared a separate dance track?”
“……!!”
The moment Han Siwoo said that, the gazes around us subtly turned toward me.
Because the question Yu Seol was hearing from Han Siwoo right now… was the same one I had heard earlier.
Yu Seol looked briefly flustered, then…
“Yes…! I have one prepared. But the thing is…”
She nodded with difficulty, fidgeting as if something was bothering her.
When Yu Seol reacted as if something was holding her back, Han Siwoo tilted his head.
“Is there some problem with performing the dance track?”
“No, it’s not that… it’s just…”
“If there’s no problem, then please show us. I’m quite looking forward to trainee Yu Seol’s dancing skills as well.”
“…Yes, yes! Then I’ll give it a try.”
At Han Siwoo’s urging, Yu Seol set down the microphone, changed into dance clothes offstage, and returned.
And the moment she stepped back onto the stage…
“Camera—! Hurry—!”
“Zoom over there!”
The production staff outside the stage suddenly grew very busy.
Normally I would have just thought they were that excited about Yu Seol’s dance track.
But something was strange…
Swoosh—.
“……?”
Several of the cameras were pointed in my direction.
As if they were trying to film my reaction.
…Why?
Why on earth would they want the reaction of a mere contestant like me?
At first I couldn’t understand it.
But…
“Then I’ll begin now.”
With those words, the dance track Yu Seol had prepared started playing…
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
“……!”
“……Huh?”
“……Huhhh?!”
The moment the familiar intro flowed out, I understood the production staff’s behavior.
“U-Unnie…! This is the one Unnie did earlier…!”
That’s right.
The dance track Yu Seol had prepared was 24 Hours Isn’t Enough.
The same one I had prepared.
“Ha.”
With that, I finally understood why Yu Seol had smiled at me earlier.
At the same time, a sense of absurdity hit me, and I looked at Yu Seol with a hollow laugh.
Before the first move even began.
Yu Seol was looking at me too.
Looking at me… and smiling.
Crack.
Her smile somehow made my blood boil.
Why is she smiling? That confident? Do I look easy?
Or… is she trying to start a staring contest with me right now?
I didn’t look away from her gaze.
Like that, we locked eyes as if we had just met our destined fated rivals… as if we had just encountered a lifelong connection.
It felt like time had slowed to a stop.
I didn’t miss that moment. Without making a sound, I mouthed the words to her.
Yeah, go ahead.
As if she understood what I meant, Yu Seol grinned once more and winked at me.
Alright, watch closely.
That seemed to be the meaning of the wink.
In response, I crossed my arms… and watched her stage with cold eyes.