A New A Rank

As the seven o'clock assembly time drew near, every contestant on My Idol Academia pushed through the dawn chill and made their way toward the set.

"Haaaawn…."

"So sleepy…."

Yesterday's exhaustion still clung to them; they trudged along, each one stifling a yawn.

I was right there among them, but my condition was holding up just fine.

Years of juggling school, part-time jobs, and housework under the brutal Cinderella training regimen had left my Physical stat at…

A full ninety-three.

Seo Yujin, walking beside me, was another story. She seemed to have almost no stamina at all, groaning with every step as she barely managed to put one foot in front of the other.

Curious, I checked her Status Window. Her Physical stat was…

…absolutely catastrophic.

…That's what my Vocal stat used to be before I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠raised it.

Thinking of it that way really drove home just how trash-tier her Physical was, and I almost felt sorry for her.

"Uuuugh… where am I…."

Half-asleep and completely directionless, she started drifting off the path. I caught her hand.

"Not that way. This way."

"Ah…… thank you……."

Still not fully awake, I supposed.

Yesterday she had been nothing short of a spitting cat, but today she seemed almost… docile—

"Wait, who are yo…, ………!!"

A sharp jolt of recognition.

…or so I thought. The second she realized who I was, her eyes flared wide.

Of course, glaring at someone through half-lidded, sleep-crusted eyes didn't exactly pack a punch.

"…Eek, eeeeek!"

"…Stop hissing and just follow me. Before I shove you into that rice paddy."

There were no cameras around, so I'd said it as a joke.

But the moment the words left my mouth, Seo Yujin dropped her gaze like a switch had been flipped and fell silently into step behind me.

Fear was written all over her face.

Looking at her like that, I almost laughed.

Her baseless hostility still grated on me, but when she was this transparent—this easy to read—it was almost… cute.

I was still smirking to myself, holding her hand as we walked, when a voice rang out behind us.

"Unni—! Yerin unni!"

I turned around and—

Woof—! Woof woof!!

—Park Yujeong came barreling toward us like an actual dog.

"Unni—!!"

"…Oh. Hey, Yujeong."

Even at this hour she was overflowing with energy, slamming into me with a full-body hug.

Come to think of it, the first letter of my MBTI is I… an extreme I, at that….

Park Yujeong, by contrast, was clearly an extreme E. The fact that she could radiate this much friendliness after knowing me for a single day said everything.

"I'm so glad I ran into you again! I was worried I might not see you all day!"

"Yeah. Good to see you too."

Having her wrap her whole body around me was a little overwhelming, but that didn't mean I wasn't happy to see her.

Spending the entire day together yesterday had left me genuinely fond of her.

And with that golden-retriever face of hers, she was just plain adorable.

So I accepted the hug and ruffled her hair.

"Hehe… hm?"

Mid-pet, Park Yujeong noticed my left hand still holding Seo Yujin's and flinched.

"Unni, who's that…?"

"Oh. She looked completely wiped out, so I was just holding her hand."

"……."

Park Yujeong's expression hardened for a split second.

Right—she'd been less than thrilled with Seo Yujin's attitude yesterday too.

"…I see."

Even so, she smoothed her face back out almost immediately and stretched a hand toward Seo Yujin.

"Hi! I'm Park Yujeong from Levi Entertainment! Nice to meet you!"

I'd thought this before, but Park Yujeong's sunny smile really was a wall-demolishing weapon of mass friendliness.

I wasn't the type to let people in easily, and even I'd opened up to that smile.

Seo Yujin, however, proved a tougher opponent than expected.

"Hmph."

"……."

She snorted and turned her head away.

I caught it in that instant—her eyes flicking to the E-rank badge pinned to Park Yujeong's clothes.

Apparently she'd decided that a low rank was grounds for dismissal.

Consistently, spectacularly rude.

But Park Yujeong, faced with that attitude, simply—

"Haha—! Someone's a little shy, huh!"

—brushed it off with a laugh and let it roll right past her.

…The steel in that girl's mental fortitude was genuinely terrifying.

"But you two holding hands all by yourselves is making me jealous. I want in!"

"…Ah."

With that, Park Yujeong grabbed my free right hand and laced our fingers together.

"……."

Seo Yujin glared at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scene through sleepy eyes, then—exactly like a child who refused ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to share—

Squeeze.

—clamped down on my hand hard enough to hurt.

Suddenly I was the one who didn't know what to do with herself.

What are these two even doing with me in the middle….

Both of them tugging my hands in opposite directions—it was basically a tug-of-war.

And yet, being pulled back and forth like that… didn't feel bad.

It was almost like I'd gained little sisters—something I'd never had in either of my lives.

And so I headed for the set with a cat in my left hand and a dog in my right.

Maybe it was because both hands were full, but even with the dawn wind cutting across us, the morning didn't feel all that cold.

The set we arrived at already had a massive screen installed beside Han Siwoo, the main MC of My Idol Academia.

The moment the main PD gave the signal to start filming, Han Siwoo took the mic.

"Everyone, good to see you again. Did you all sleep well last night?"

"Yes—!!"

"Then from this moment on, I'll be revealing the theme song of My Idol Academia—the track you'll be practicing for the next week."

Flash—!

At Han Siwoo's cue, the screen lit up.

Dancers stood ready inside the frame, waiting to perform.

"Watch carefully. This is the My Idol Academia theme song: We are dreaming idol!"

Even without having watched the show myself, I knew this song. My Idol Academia had been a national phenomenon.

You couldn't walk down a street without hearing it at least once or twice—there was no way I wouldn't recognize it.

A song whose difficulty sat comfortably within the average girl-group range.

But this was my first time seeing the choreography in person.

The opening section wasn't particularly hard—whether that was for mass appeal or out of consideration for the lower-ranked contestants, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn't say.

And then…

"…Huh?"

"……Hmm."

A murmur rippled through the contestants watching the screen.

And for good reason.

Only the center's choreography just changed…?

And not a little—it became complex enough that following along would be genuinely difficult.

Which meant… anyone who landed center would be held to an extremely high standard.

Out of a hundred contestants, the center spots would naturally go to the A-rank trainees.

So they're saying they won't just hand out A ranks to anyone?

Most of the B-rank trainees seemed to catch on; their faces went ashen.

I clicked my tongue in sympathy, watching them face the towering, near-impenetrable wall of A rank.

But at the time, I had no idea what it would mean for me that those B-rank trainees couldn't break through to A.

Once the theme song introduction wrapped up, the trainees filed off to their rank-specific classes.

F ranks to F Class, B ranks to B Class.

And since I was A rank, I headed to A Class.

And then…

"Yerin. Are you even paying attention?"

…hell began.

"Yerin, sing this part one more time."

The section the vocal trainer pointed out was the bridge leading into the chorus.

"…Watch over me—!"

"No, no, no! Haa… Seol, you try it."

The name of this particular hell was Comparison Hell.

"Watch over me—!!!"

"Yes! Right there—you have to belt it out like Seol just did, give it that dramatic punch, you know?"

"…I'm sorry."

The fundamental problem with A Class was that it contained exactly two people: me and Yu Seol.

With only two of us, the trainers inevitably ended up comparing us side by side.

My Dance stat was a little higher than Yu Seol's, so aside from technique and experience, I held my own against her in choreography.

The problem was vocals.

I'd raised the stat, sure… but my Vocal was 65.

Yu Seol's Vocal was 99.

Sixty-five wasn't a low number by any means, but set next to Yu Seol it felt like the difference between heaven and earth.

Even that hadn't been a major issue at first.

The trainers knew there was a gap between our vocal abilities.

Yerin, I think you came in half a beat early on that part.

I'm sorry.

Haha, it's fine. Shall we try it again?

In the beginning, they taught me kindly without pitting my vocals against Yu Seol's.

But then…

Trainer Kim Yesol. A word, please.

The main PD pulled the vocal trainer outside for a private conversation, and after that…

…Yerin. Do you not understand what I'm saying? Do it like Seol! Like Seol!

Suddenly they were comparing us and chewing me out.

Damn production staff.

If things kept going smoothly there wouldn't be any usable footage, so of course they'd ordered the trainer to start comparing me to Yu Seol.

"Haa… let's take a short break."

The vocal trainer let out a sigh, shot me a look that almost seemed apologetic, and stepped outside.

The camera kept rolling on the practice room, now occupied by only me and Yu Seol.

She didn't miss the moment. She came right over.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah…."

"Don't take it too hard. I'm sure the teacher just wants you to improve…."

"Thank you."

Yu Seol clenched a fist in a little cheer-up gesture.

"Want to practice a bit more before the teacher comes back? The bridge was tough, right? I can…."

That was when it happened.

"We'll swap tapes real quick."

The moment the crew lowered the camera, Yu Seol pulled back as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"……."

That was the second reason A Class was so hard.

Yu Seol.

This person was completely different front and back.

The version of her that existed when the camera was rolling and the version that existed when it wasn't were two entirely different people.

Even now… one second she was offering to teach me the bridge, and the next—camera down—she was already putting distance between us.

"……Ha."

It was so absurd I almost said something, but I couldn't.

Pick a fight, get it on camera by accident, and the next thing you know you're being broadcast to the entire country for a public beating.

So all I could do was wait.

Under the trainer's comparisons, the production staff's deliberate sabotage, and Yu Seol's coldness…

All I could do was wait for another A-rank trainee to be born.

Even Seo Yujin would be fine, just please….

I prayed for it—snappy, prickly Seo Yujin, I didn't care, just anyone else with an A rank, please come.

And maybe those prayers actually reached someone.

"Everyone, a new A-rank trainee has been born."

"……!"

A staff member opened the door and announced the birth of a new A rank.

"Come on in."

And when I saw who the new A rank was…

"……Huh."

…I couldn't help but flinch.