A Monster Growing in Real Time
If you had to sum up the final grade evaluations for F Rank in a single phrase, it would be this:
"We'll keep you at F Rank. Next."
"Thank you for your hard work. Your grade remains F. Next."
…It was a guillotine.
Han Siwoo and the rest of the judging panel handed down F Rank sentences without a single extra comment. They were so coldly efficient they might as well have been factory machines.
Of course, the judges weren't forcing F Ranks on anyone for no reason.
"We are dreaming! We're always dreaming… Ah—!"
Most of the F Rank contestants made one mistake after another, big and small, right there on stage.
Almost none of them forgot the lyrics. The problem was the choreography.
For trainees who still lacked real foundation, a single week simply wasn't enough time to lock down every move.
"…Yes. Thank you for your hard work. We'll keep you at F Rank. Next."
"……."
This contestant also flubbed the choreography midway through, which made the song fall apart. Another F Rank was born, and the atmosphere in the room darkened even further.
Not every trainee stayed at F Rank, though.
"…That's all."
"……."
For the first time, a contestant finished both the dance and the vocals without a single mistake. Instead of immediately announcing a grade, the judges leaned in and began discussing among themselves.
And then—
"Thank you for your hard work. Trainee Yeo Minji has been promoted to E Rank."
"Th-thank you!"
In the middle of that merciless atmosphere, the first promotion finally appeared. Honestly, her pitch still wavered and her dancing lacked detail, but the judges clearly valued the fact that she had finished the stage cleanly.
After that, the frozen mood thawed just a little…
"You've been promoted to E Rank."
"Promotion to E Rank."
Quite a few F Rank contestants managed to climb up.
That hopeful atmosphere carried all the way through the evaluations for C, D, and E Rank as well. Maybe it was because the F Rank stages had ruined everyone's eyes, but the quality of the C, D, and E Rank performances looked noticeably better by comparison.
The judges seemed quite satisfied and handed out positive evaluations. The production crew filmed it all with easy, knowing smiles, as if everything was going according to plan.
In that moment I understood exactly how the editors planned to cut this episode.
A growth narrative centered on the lower-ranked contestants.
In the first grade evaluation they had deliberately graded harshly, creating a large pool of low-ranked trainees. Now, in the final evaluation, they would grade generously so those same trainees' "growth" would stand out in sharp relief.
Of course, the F Rank contestants weren't part of that story.
If you want a fire to burn brighter, you need firewood.
The only purpose of the F Rank trainees was to make everyone else's skills look better by comparison. Nothing more.
…Scary.
While I was feeling the cold edge of broadcasting firsthand, another stage ended and the set began to stir.
"Trainee Park Yujeong, originally D Rank, will be promoted two ranks to B Rank."
"Waaah…! Thank you! Thank you so much…!!"
The first double promotion. The surprising star of the moment was Park Yujeong.
The unexpected two-rank jump sent the other contestants into a flurry of whispers.
"…Wait, you can actually get a double promotion?"
"She really was good, though."
"Wow, still… a double promotion…"
I was one of the people who were genuinely shocked.
…Is Yujeong actually going to debut?
It was a fair thought. Until now the judges had only ever lowered ranks. Now they were picking up their microphones one after another to praise her.
"Last evaluation there were a few regrettable moments because of mistakes, but this stage had none of that."
"You can clearly see how much her skill has improved since last time."
"This was the best stage so far, and I'm looking forward to what comes next."
Whirr—
And the production crew filmed every second of it with pure delight.
The growth narrative audiences loved. Park Yujeong had delivered the most dramatic version of it possible—a double promotion. I could already see her getting a huge amount of screen time once the episode aired.
"That concludes the final grade evaluations for the C Rank contestants."
With the discovery of Park Yujeong's double promotion as its biggest impact, the C, D, and E Rank final evaluations came to an end.
And then—
"We will now begin the final grade evaluations for the B Rank contestants."
The real game was about to start.
The ones who had fallen just short of A Rank.
According to Lee Hyejeong—who had been promoted from B Rank to A Rank on the very first day—every single B Rank trainee was grinding their teeth for this moment.
I pulled my chair forward and watched the stage with tense eyes. From here on, every person who walked out was someone who could actually threaten my spot.
Even the great Yu Seol watched with a serious gaze.
And under that weight of tension, the vanguard of B Rank appeared.
"First up for the B Rank final grade evaluation—please come forward, SAV's Seo Yujin."
…It was Seo Yujin from SAV.
"……."
For the past week she had glared and growled every time she so much as caught sight of me or Yu Seol. Today, though, she didn't have the luxury. She walked out looking thoroughly nervous.
"Alright. Whenever you're ready, please begin."
"…Yes."
Seo Yujin carefully took her opening pose.
Watching her, I thought back to her previous stages.
Dance and vocals.
Overall solid—a classic hexagon type.
But being a hexagon also meant, strictly speaking, that she didn't have any particularly outstanding specialty.
Seo Yujin's vocal ability was higher than mine, but her dance stats were far lower. Compared to Lee Hyejeong she had better dance stats, but her vocals were significantly weaker.
If I had to put it bluntly, Seo Yujin was a downgraded version of Yu Seol.
Would she be able to prove her worth on this stage?
The tense atmosphere settled, and the performance began.
We're always dreaming.
The moment she sang the first verse and launched into the first move, I immediately noticed something different from before.
We are dreaming!
The moment you saw us.
In the first grade evaluation, Seo Yujin had received a brutal critique from Han Siwoo.
Don't you think your stage is a little too full of empty flash?
Exactly that—empty flash.
Looking back, even with my limited experience I could tell her previous stage had been over-forced, full of unnecessary tension.
But now?
…Clean.
Before I entered My Idol Academia, Teacher Jiu—who had taught me dance—had drilled one word into me over and over.
Clean.
At the time I hadn't really understood what she meant.
Watching Seo Yujin's stage now, I finally thought I got it.
There's no excess in her movements.
Her arms and legs flowed freely. Then, at the exact right moment, they snapped into something powerful.
Perfect control of dynamics.
And on top of that—
We open our eyes!
A clear, pure voice that was genuinely pleasant to listen to.
Last time she had forced power into her voice, trying too hard to sound alluring, and it had grated. Now she was simply using her natural tone, and it put the listener at ease.
Ease… yes.
Seo Yujin's stage felt far more relaxed than before.
The judges seemed to feel it too. They watched her with warm, satisfied smiles.
"…That concludes my performance."
Seo Yujin's stage ended without any major issues.
Swoosh—
Someone raised a microphone first.
"Trainee Seo Yujin."
"…Yes."
"You really took my previous feedback to heart. That was a very pleasant stage to watch."
It was Han Siwoo.
The man who almost never spoke first had delivered the opening critique—and with a pleased smile, no less.
"Once you took the force out of it, Trainee Seo Yujin's true ability came through clearly. Letting go of that tension couldn't have been easy… Well done."
"…Thank you."
"We'll discuss briefly and then decide Trainee Seo Yujin's grade."
Han Siwoo lowered the mic and conferred quietly with the other judges.
The result came quickly.
"Yes. We'll announce it now."
Her new grade was—
"Trainee Seo Yujin will be promoted to A Rank."
"……!"
A Rank.
The fourth A Rank had been born.
"Th-thank you—! Thank you—!!"
Overjoyed that she had finally made A Rank, the usually haughty Seo Yujin jumped up and down on stage, shouting at the top of her lungs.
Then her eyes met mine as I was clapping, and—
Hmph, see that? This is how good I am.
She flashed me a grin full of that exact meaning, the corner of her mouth curling up.
A moment later she made the same face at Yu Seol sitting next to me.
Maybe it was because the whole thing looked so cute.
"Pfft."
I couldn't help letting out a small laugh.
Strictly speaking, Seo Yujin was my rival. She had openly treated me as an enemy… and by joining the A Rank roster she was now a direct threat to my position.
But seeing her finally drop the venom and smile so brightly, like an ordinary girl…
In this one moment, I genuinely wanted to congratulate her.
"Trainee Na Hanna will be promoted to A Rank."
"Thank youuu…"
After Seo Yujin, another new A Rank was born from the final B Rank contestant.
A girl who had reached the A Rank everyone dreamed of, yet showed not a single flicker of joy through her sleepy eyes.
Eighteen years old—one year younger than me. Name: Na Hanna.
They said she was an influencer who made a name for herself through Shorts, right?
Na Hanna was a dance-focused trainee rather than a vocalist. That didn't mean her vocal stats were particularly weak, though, so she had successfully completed the final grade evaluation stage.
Her looks were outstanding as well. The judges must have decided she had real center potential.
If Seo Yujin is a downgraded Yu Seol…
Does that make this one a downgraded me?
…Looking purely at the stats, yes.
Anyway, that brought the B Rank final evaluations to a close.
"Alright, next up… A Rank."
The long-awaited A Rank final grade evaluations had arrived.
"The first contestant to take the stage from A Rank is…"
Please.
Going first was stressful. I silently prayed it wouldn't be me.
"Trainee Ha Yerin."
…And of course I was called first.
Damn it…
I cursed inwardly and stood up.
As I rose—
"Fighting!"
"…Do your best."
Lee Hyejeong and Yu Seol each offered their own style of encouragement.
"I'll do well and come back."
I accepted their support and headed toward the stage.
Thump.
Even though I had already done this once before, the tension refused to fade easily.
Having more than a hundred pairs of eyes fixed solely on me… yeah. It really did make your heart race like this.
I managed to calm my pounding chest just as Han Siwoo, unusually, raised his microphone before the stage even began.
"Miss Yerin."
"…Yes."
"Your training period was one month, correct? Ah—now it's one month and one week."
"Yes, that's right."
"Trainees usually show their most dramatic growth in the first few months of training. I'm looking forward to seeing how much Miss Yerin has grown in this past week."
…Why are you doing this to me.
What did I do wrong to deserve this much extra pressure piled on top of me?
Is meaningful growth in just one week even possible?
For an ordinary human, no. You couldn't pull out significant improvement in a single week.
…Yes. For an ordinary human.
Status Window.
I opened my status window and checked my Vocal stat.
Vocal:66
Originally my Vocal had been 65, but somehow it had risen by one point.
The past week of practice, plus the full month of training I'd received from Teacher Suhyeon before entering My Idol Academia, must have finally paid off.
By simple calculation, that meant roughly forty days of grinding myself into the ground just to raise a single stat point.
And on top of that—
Remaining Points:10
…I decided to invest extra points.
Four additional points into Vocal.
Whoosh.
Vocal:70
The moment I thought it, my Vocal stat became 70.
In the previous grade evaluation my Vocal had been 65. Now it was 70.
How meaningful that five-point difference would prove to be… was for the judges to decide.
♪♩♬—!
I gave the signal that I was ready, and the intro of the theme song began to play.