A Class of Three

Can't breathe, baby—

"Ah, hello! I'm Lee Hyejeong from Kidship! Starting today I'll be taking classes in A Class! Please take good care of me…!!"

Lee Hyejeong of Kidship.

At twenty-two she was one of the oldest among us, and even among the hundred contestants she was already something of a celebrity.

And for good reason…

She made it all the way to seventh place on K-Star on pure vocal skill alone.

She was a powerhouse trainee who had climbed to seventh on another audition program, K-Star, relying solely on her singing. Her status window confirmed it.

What stood out, of course, was that overwhelming vocal score. It was high enough to threaten even Yu Seol’s position as the undisputed main vocal. Her appearance stat was solid too, and her dance was good enough to keep up with group choreography. Looking purely at the numbers, Lee Hyejeong more than deserved a spot in A Class.

Yes… looking purely at the numbers.

But she had one enormous disqualifying factor for an idol.

Jiggle.

Her figure was a little… well… plump.

Not that she looked bad. Far from it. Hyejeong’s face was pure and adorable, and her weight wasn’t wildly outside the Korean female average. The real problem was that every other idol trainee was simply too thin. Yu Seol alone looked like a paper doll, and I myself had a lean, muscular build. Sandwich Hyejeong between the two of us and she suddenly looked considerably heavier.

Sway—

Wait… is “plump” even the right word? More like… curvy? Voluptuous?

I suddenly remembered her grade evaluation. She had been finishing her stage successfully when her arm snagged on her own chest mid-dance, the choreography fell apart, and she ended up with a B. Looking at her now, though, that body didn’t seem like it would be a problem at all. Unsuitable for the classic idol image, maybe—but it would definitely hit a certain type of male fan right in the preferences.

And more importantly, she was a newcomer who had fallen like rain on the drought that was A Class.

"Welcome."

I decided to greet her warmly.

I had been wrong about something.

I had foolishly thought that more people would mean fewer comparisons from the trainers.

The area where I fell short of Yu Seol was vocals. And the new face, Lee Hyejeong, had a vocal stat of 98.

"…Yerin! Do it like Seol and Hyejeong, I said?!"

After Hyejeong arrived, I found myself being compared not only to Yu Seol but to her as well. Of course, the reverse was also true—Hyejeong got compared to Yu Seol and me in dance.

"Hyejeong, is this hard for you? Yerin, show her how it’s done. Yes, just like that."

"…Yes, yes!"

And so the first day’s lessons ended under a relentless barrage of comparisons, all carefully engineered by the production staff. The trainers’ constant nitpicking left my heart in tatters, but it wasn’t without its rewards.

The biggest of those rewards was that I became close with Lee Hyejeong.

"Ye-Yerin. When you hit the high notes here, don’t just force it from your throat—think of projecting the sound from the top of your head…"

At first Hyejeong had been intimidated by my cold expression and kept her distance. But after we both got thoroughly chewed out by the same trainers, a sense of camaraderie we never knew we had suddenly bloomed. We started covering for each other’s weak points—her dance, my singing—and steadily improved together.

"Watch over me—!!"

"Th-that’s it! Just like that…! That was good just now."

Surprisingly, Hyejeong had a real gift for teaching. Taking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠private lessons from her, I could feel my own skill climbing.

"Unnie… here, your arm goes like this…"

"Ah… ahhh…"

Fortunately my dance coaching seemed to help her too; she beamed and thanked me with a bright smile.

"Ah…! I think I get it now, Yerin. Thank you."

"…It’s nothing."

And so we propped each other up and endured the brutal A Class together.

Day three.

After morning lessons, Hyejeong and I dragged our exhausted bodies toward the cafeteria. Today’s lunch was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spicy stir-fried pork and seaweed soup.

"Ahh… I’m so tired today I don’t even have an appetite…. I’ll just eat a little…"

Heap.

……A little?

By giant-portion standards, Hyejeong loaded what she called “a little” onto her tray. I took a more moderate amount myself, and Park Yujeong—who had already claimed a table—waved us over.

"Unnies—! Over here!"

"Ah… Yujeong."

For the record, Hyejeong, Yujeong, and I had grown fairly close over the past three days. Yujeong and Hyejeong had similar personalities, so they hit it off quickly.

"Oh, Yujeong. You got promoted to D rank?"

"Heheh, yes. The trainer said I could move up this morning."

The letter next to Park Yujeong’s name tag was no longer E but D. Her skills had never looked that bad to begin with, so it made sense.

Come to think of it, I’ve never checked her status window.

Since the topic had come up, I decided to take a look and opened Park Yujeong’s status window.

And then…

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Hmm…?

Something strange appeared.

Most people didn’t have a trait at all. Park Yujeong had one—and it was locked. This was only the second locked trait I had ever seen. The first had been Yu Seol. Now Park Yujeong.

Why would a trait be locked?

I tilted my head and opened her artistic detailed stats.

Oh…

As expected, her stats were solid. Solid enough to comfortably aim for C Rank—maybe even B Rank.

I can look forward to a good result from her toward the end.

The reason I had flinched the first time I saw Park Yujeong was that her face had felt strangely familiar. Maybe she would even make the debut lineup. I nodded to myself just as Yujeong, still eating, asked us a question.

"Ah, but is A Class still only three people? Nobody got promoted this morning either?"

"…Yeah, nobody."

For the record, A Class had stayed at three members for three straight days. After Hyejeong, no one else had been promoted from B Class.

"Practicing with only three people must feel so empty…. Ah, how’s that Yu Seol unnie? Are you two close with her too?"

"……"

At the mention of Yu Seol, Hyejeong gave an awkward smile. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠By now she had also noticed the difference between camera-on Yu Seol and camera-off Yu Seol.

"Well… I’m not really close with her…"

"Huh? Really? When I saw her before she seemed super warm and nice."

"She’s not a bad person, it’s just… how do I put it…"

True, Yu Seol hadn’t done or said anything particularly mean. She simply became completely indifferent to us the moment the cameras turned off.

Personality-wise, Yu Seol actually matches Ha Yerin’s face better than I do…

Hyejeong and I had stayed late every night for the past three days to practice extra. Yu Seol, however, never made any effort to hang around with us outside of the scheduled hours.

She seems to practice on her own somewhere, but who knows where…

She never talked about herself either, so we knew absolutely nothing about her. With one of the three A Class members acting that cold, the atmosphere was bound to turn bleak.

I wasn’t the only one who felt it. Hyejeong set down the spoon she had been shoveling food with and spoke to me in a gloomy voice.

"I don’t know…. I just wish A Class would get more people…. Right, Yerin?"

"…Yeah."

Even on day three the trainers were still picking apart Hyejeong’s and my weak points without mercy. All we could do was hope more people would join A Class.

"Still… there are a few days left. A few more people will probably come up by then."

"You think so?"

Hyejeong gave a hopeful little smile and plunged her spoon back into the mountain of spicy pork rice.

But…

Right up until the final day of practice, A Class never gained a single member beyond the three of us.

The last practice of the final day of specialized classes ended.

The trainers gathered the three of us from A Class in one place.

Whirr—

There were more cameras on us than usual today. And… I soon understood why.

Thud.

The vocal trainer stepped in front of the three of us with a solemn, grave expression and opened his mouth.

"That concludes A Class lessons. Tomorrow’s final grade evaluation will decide whether you stay in A Rank or drop to B Rank. First of all, I want to tell you all that you worked hard. But…"

He deliberately twisted his face and continued.

"I absolutely cannot say that all three of you here did well."

Boom.

If this were the edited broadcast, that would have been the sound effect right there.

"First, Yerin."

"…Yes."

I raised my hand with my usual blank expression when my name was called first.

"Yerin, it’s true you’ve shown remarkable progress compared to when practice started. I want to praise you for that. But Yerin, your vocals are lagging way too far behind your dance skill. Am I wrong?"

"…You’re not."

"Dance is important for an idol, but the real foundation—more than anything else—is singing. That was true in the past and it will be true in the future. Understand?"

"…Yes."

"Tomorrow… I’m going to see how much you’ve improved in the vocal department. And if there’s no progress… I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to stay in A Rank."

Whirr—!

Ziiing—!

The instant the vocal trainer finished speaking, every camera zoomed in on my face at once.