Broadcast Angles Are Calculated
Broadcast angles aren't something you overcome. They're something you calculate.
The trainer's words — that I might not be able to hold on to my A Rank in the final grade evaluation — hung in the air. Honestly, I didn't think there was much chance of that. It felt a little awkward to say it myself, but I figured I was the second most influential contestant on My Idol Academia after Yu Seol.
I had the highest appearance stat among all the contestants, a dance stat of 99, and I'd been the first to receive an A Rank. There were already so few A Ranks to begin with — would they really drop someone like me to B? Frankly, it barely made any sense.
But still...
...You never know.
A tiny, lingering possibility remained. Namely, my vocal stat of 65. It was above average among the contestants on My Idol Academia, but it was still a bit lacking for an A Rank. If the production team decided to go all out for the ratings — if they wanted to stage something dramatic...
There was a very small chance they might force me down...
Falling from a high place always hurt more. If I did drop to B Rank, the blow would be massive. Just thinking about it made my expression darken on its own.
And that—
Whirr—
The camera captured it all on screen.
"So do your best, Yerin. You've got talent. If you want that talent to bloom, you need to work even harder than you are now. You know what I mean, right?"
I was already cutting sleep short and practicing hard with Lee Hyejeong until two in the morning. How was I supposed to work any harder than this? Frustration swelled inside me, but I kept it off my face and answered with my usual blank expression.
"...Yes. I'll keep that in mind."
"...Good."
The trainer nodded at my answer and shifted her gaze elsewhere. Her next target was Lee Hyejeong.
"Hyejeong, you're next. You know what your problem is, right?"
"...Y-yes."
"Alright, then tell me what it is."
"D-dancing."
Unlike me, who'd answered with a cold blank face, Lee Hyejeong was trembling with nerves as she barely managed to get the words out. But the trainer showed her no mercy and pressed on ruthlessly.
"That's right, dancing. Hyejeong, you're not trying to become a singer — you're trying to become an idol. Do you really think it's okay that you can't dance? Especially when you're supposed to be standing center out of a hundred people?"
"I-I'm sorr—"
And the arrows that had started with her dancing...
"What's going on with your weight management?"
"...!"
...finally struck her rawest nerve.
"The dance trainer told me. With your body the way it is now, no matter how well you dance, it looks weird. Your lines just aren't pretty."
"......"
"We've been telling you to manage your weight for a week now, haven't we? So what happened? Did you think we wouldn't notice you eating two bowls of rice every day?"
I'd been watching from the side every day — sometimes she even ate three. Honestly, even I couldn't defend Lee Hyejeong's weight management.
"For an idol, weight management is the bare minimum — the bare minimum! If you can't do that, you need to leave."
"......"
"Or... do you want to get demoted to B Rank right this second?"
"N-no...! Of course not...!!"
Strictly speaking, the custom class session wasn't over yet. If the trainer felt like it, she could demote her right then and there. Realizing this, Lee Hyejeong went pale and waved her hands frantically.
"Hyejeong, so work hard."
The trainer growled one last time at her.
"Tomorrow... I'll be watching. You need to show me real results, Hyejeong."
"...Yes."
After receiving Lee Hyejeong's dejected answer, the trainer turned her head toward Yu Seol.
"And Seol."
"......Yes."
When the trainer glared at her, Yu Seol lowered her head with a dark expression. To me, it looked like she was deliberately putting on a gloomy act for the camera.
"Do you think you're perfect right now? No? That's a delusion."
Apparently thinking it would be unfair to only scold me and Lee Hyejeong, the trainer squeezed out Yu Seol's flaws and forced herself to lecture her.
Whirr—
Of course, the camera captured every bit of it. And in that moment, I saw it — the production staff giving an okay sign, as if to say that was enough.
......!
I couldn't help but flinch. So the trainer's especially harsh wording and brutal scolding this time... had been the production team's scheme after all. Those ratings demons... It made my teeth grind.
"Ahem... Anyway, that'll be all for today... The final grade evaluation starts early tomorrow morning, so take care of your condition tonight. Got it?"
Having received the production team's okay, the trainer finally stopped the venom and cleared her throat.
"Take everything I said today to heart."
"...Yes."
"......"
The sharp barbs had clearly swept through the room, and the atmosphere refused to recover. Apparently deciding that leaving was the better option, the trainers began packing up one by one. That included the vocal trainer who'd been tasked with delivering the venom to us. But before she left, she gave us one more word.
"...I hope all of you hold on to your A Ranks in the final grade evaluation."
The vocal trainer's face looked quite uncomfortable as she said it. She was probably... sorry for having forced herself to dig up things to scold us over.
Thud.
Starting with the vocal trainer, all the trainers filed out of the practice room...
"Cut! Great work, everyone. We'll be heading out too, so feel free to use your time as you like!"
The production staff left as well, leaving only a few unmanned cameras behind.
"......"
"......"
Once even the production staff were gone, the room — with only the three of us left — turned into the dead of winter. Especially Lee Hyejeong.
"......"
She wasn't crying, but her face was right on the edge of it. The trainer's words this time must have hit her hard.
...Do I need to comfort her?
...I wasn't any good at warm words.
I shot Yu Seol a look that begged for a helping hand. But the moment the cameras pulled back, she slipped into her usual indifference and wouldn't even glance our way. No choice. I was the only one left who could comfort Lee Hyejeong.
"...Unnie."
I walked over to Lee Hyejeong and patted her on the back.
"Unnie, you're a great singer and your dancing is fine. The trainer was probably just being harsh for the broadcast."
"...You really think so?"
"Yes, so don't worry too much. Tomorrow, you'll definitely keep your A Rank."
"......Yeah. Thanks."
When I managed to get the comfort out, Lee Hyejeong gave me a faint, grateful smile. I took her hand and said,
"We have to get up early tomorrow, so let's head back to the dorm and rest. We need to take care of our condition."
Until now, Lee Hyejeong and I had always practiced together late into the night even after lessons ended. But tomorrow the final grade evaluation started first thing in the morning. For the sake of our condition, resting well tonight was the better call.
"Yeah, let's go back."
Lee Hyejeong seemed to understand and nodded, agreeing to head back.
But then—
"...Wait."
"......?"
A voice stopped us as we were about to return to the dorm. And to our complete surprise, it was Yu Seol. She never spoke to us when the cameras were off, so when she initiated conversation, Lee Hyejeong and I both flinched. Even more unexpected was what she said.
"How about the three of us stay and practice more tonight?"
Yu Seol said it with a bright smile, and Lee Hyejeong and I could only tilt our heads. And for good reason...
"...Now? But we have to get up early tomorrow morning."
Until now, Yu Seol had always skipped practicing with us — and yet here she was, on the last night, suggesting we practice together. Yu Seol had the deepest foundation of any trainee on My Idol Academia. There was no way someone like her didn't understand how important it was to manage your condition before a stage.
But Yu Seol just kept smiling, unbothered by our questioning looks.
"Come on, stay with me. I'll look over both of your singing and dancing tonight."
And on top of that...
"If the three of us practice together tonight, something good will happen."
...she said it with words whose meaning we couldn't begin to grasp.
"Haa..."
Kim Yesol, the A Class vocal trainer for My Idol Academia, swallowed water and a pill for her throbbing headache. The reason she was suffering such a severe headache was stress. And the source of that stress was none other than the A Class she'd been assigned.
When she'd first been assigned to A Class, she'd been happy. She'd gotten the chance to teach even more talented kids. And indeed, the A Class trainees all had outstanding ability.
First, Yu Seol and Lee Hyejeong. Both of their vocal abilities far surpassed the idol standard. Either one could confidently take main vocal.
And Ha Yerin. Her strength was dancing. The immersion and stage presence she'd shown at the grade evaluation — that was an enormous talent you simply didn't see in a trainee who'd only been learning for a month. Compared to Yu Seol and Lee Hyejeong, her vocals were a bit lacking, but they were fine. Ha Yerin was main dancer material. And for a main dancer, her vocals were more than enough — overflowing, even.
With kids this talented, teaching them had been no problem. Kim Yesol had thought she'd be able to train the A Class smoothly.
But the problems started on the first day, after the production team called her aside.
"Trainer Kim Yesol. Right now, A Class has no footage we can put on air. We need special measures."
"Special measures... meaning what?"
"For dramatic effect, we'd like you to show yourself scolding the contestants excessively."
"......!"
Scolding kids who had nothing to scold them for. It was absurd. She'd tried to refuse the production team's demand.
But...
"Trainer Kim Yesol, we'd like you to remember that under your contract with the network, you're obligated to faithfully carry out the production team's requests."
...Faced with the production team's thinly veiled threat, she'd had no choice. And so she'd started picking at the kids' flaws.
Yerin, is that right?
Hyejeong, do you not want to debut?
Seol, you can do better than that. You need to put in the effort.
They were kids with many strengths and few weaknesses. Forcing herself to dig up those few flaws and jab at them was truly heartbreaking. That had become the source of her stress, and now... she was living with acid reflux and constant headaches.
"Haa..."
All she could do now was pray that the kids would put on a good showing at tomorrow's final grade evaluation.
And so, just as she was turning in early for tomorrow's judging—
"...Huh?"
She realized in that moment that her phone wasn't there. Come to think of it, earlier...
"Teacher, I need to call my parents later — could I borrow your phone?"
Contestants on My Idol Academia had to surrender their personal phones to the production team during filming. But Yu Seol had said she needed to use a phone...
"Oh? Here you go."
"Thank you. I'll call my parents later and leave it on the practice room table."
She'd handed over her phone. It was probably still sitting on the practice room table. So she got up to go retrieve it before bed. The dorm and practice room weren't far apart, so she figured she'd grab it quickly.
"Haa... it's cold."
It was already past midnight. The corridor connecting the My Idol Academia dorm to the practice rooms was empty and quiet.
Filming starts early tomorrow morning.
Almost all the contestants had probably already gone to bed to manage their condition.
The practice room should be empty too, right? I'll just grab my phone and go.
Thinking that, Kim Yesol headed into the practice room entrance.
That was when—
"Oh...? Trainer Kim Yesol?"
"Oh? Writer."
Before she could enter the practice room, someone called out. She turned to find a My Idol Academia writer standing there with a cameraman.
"What brings you out this late?"
"I felt like we were short on footage... Thought maybe there was another cut we could grab."
"This late? Come on~ All the trainees will have gone back by now."
"Yeah, I figured. What about you, Trainer Kim?"
"I left my phone behind. Since no one's here, I'll just duck in and grab it—"
She said, opening the practice room door—
♪♬♩—!
"Hmm...?"
"Huh...?"
A faint singing voice drifted out from inside the practice room, and the two of them — plus the cameraman — all flinched.
"Tomorrow's the final grade evaluation, and they're still practicing at this hour...?"
Kim Yesol was stunned, and the production staff immediately...
Whirr—
...switched on the camera.
Because right now, the practice room reeked of an enormous broadcast angle.