You're Rivals From Now On

"You two are rivals from now on."

The commercial break wrapped up quickly, and the broadcast resumed.

And my screen time was unmistakably greater than that of the other contestants.

Those captions rolled across the screen alongside footage of me deliberating.

In reality, I'd only spent a few seconds deciding where to sit. But the production team had clearly stitched the footage together, stretching those scant seconds into something far longer and cranking the tension to a fever pitch.

No wonder the comment section was on fire.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

The camera slipped into slow motion again, zooming in on my feet, tracking which direction they pointed—

The comments were all but certain I'd claim Rank 1. And then—

Plop.

On screen, I sat down in the Rank 99 seat.

The comment section froze solid for a beat — and then my individual interview rolled.

"Yerin, the comments are looking pretty good?"

"…They are, aren't they."

Choosing Rank 99 had clearly been the right call. I'd been worried viewers would take one look at my appearance and assume I had a rotten personality. But with this one decision, I'd secured a humble image on top of everything else.

After that, the broadcast showed me exchanging greetings with the contestants around me for a few more seconds of screen time.

My total airtime dwarfed that of the other contestants several times over — and compared to Lee Hyejeong, who'd been completely iced out by the production team, there was simply no comparison. It was an overwhelming early buzz, and aside from the occasional mention of Seo Yujin or Na Hanna, the comment section was talking about me and me alone.

Just as my standing was solidifying in the comments, someone typed—

Click.

Once again, a silhouette appeared at the entrance — and at the same time—

Boom.

Another of the Big Three agency names lit up on the display board.

The moment JJ appeared on the board, the camera caught contestants gaping in open shock. And then—

—it also caught my face, staring at the entrance with a blank expression.

Naturally, the comments went berserk.

Click. Click.

Among all the contestants on My Idol Academia, the one with the most overwhelming stats… the girl from JJ Entertainment.

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Yu Seol.

She revealed herself slowly, accompanied by screen time that rivaled mine — no, that might have slightly exceeded it.

The moment Yu Seol appeared, a BGM the complete opposite of mine began to play, and—

—the individual interviews from the other contestants came loaded with bright, beaming reactions.

Meanwhile I got edited like some kind of final boss had just dropped…

The comments mirrored the contestants' reactions almost exactly.

At Yu Seol's question, someone pointed to the Rank 1 seat—

The moment she saw Rank 1, Yu Seol fretted in place, shuffling her feet in visible distress. Knowing her actual personality, I could only gape at her acting stats.

Of course, the comments — blissfully unaware — were losing their minds over her cuteness.

Was this what they called nade-nade? The comments were practically vibrating with the urge to pet her.

Thud. Thud.

Yu Seol climbed the stairs toward the one remaining seat as if she had no other choice—

Thump.

—and settled into place.

The comment section erupted in cheers at the sight. Even though I'd already seen it once before, I couldn't help but marvel as Yu Seol took the Rank 1 seat.

That image of her — ascending the glittering Rank 1 throne with demure steps and settling into it with a demure posture — looked like something out of a painting.

The production team clearly wanted to drive the point home, cutting to the faces of contestants gazing up at her in awe.

Seo Yujin, Na Hanna, and the other contestants. Even Lee Hyejeong got a brief cut of screen time.

And then there was me.

What had I said again?

I couldn't quite remember, but I was pretty sure I'd given a safe, unremarkable answer.

Ah. So that's what I'd said.

I watched the screen and absently reached for the iced americano beside me, taking a sip.

And then—

"Pffft—!!"

The interview that followed made me spit my drink clean across the room.

"Cough, cough…!!"

"Y-Yerin, are you okay? Here, let me wipe that—"

"N-no, that's not the problem — I never said that!"

I wracked my brain, trying to reconstruct how those words could possibly have come out of my mouth.

The original questions had definitely been—

Right. Those had been the original questions and answers. But those damn My Idol Academia editors had spliced them together with surgical precision.

Watching that interview, it looked for all the world like I was issuing a challenge to Yu Seol!

And the production team didn't stop there — they even pulled Yu Seol in for her own interview.

With the production team brazenly manufacturing a rivalry between Yu Seol and me, the broadcast cut to commercial once more.

The second the ads started, I checked the comments.

"……."

Was this the reaction the production team had been after?

The comment section was ablaze with the rivalry between Yu Seol and me. The fandoms that had already formed around each of us were drawing battle lines, tearing down the other side and worshipping their own.

Lee Jiwoo, who'd been reading the comments alongside me, spoke up.

"Whoa… Yerin. They've got you and that Yu Seol girl locked into a proper rival narrative."

"They really do…."

It was still early in the broadcast. There were plenty more moments later on where Yu Seol and I would get tangled together. As the show progressed, our rival narrative would only deepen.

And yet the production team had already dumped a whole armload of firewood onto what was still just a spark of a rivalry.

Which meant… they'd decided to make our storyline one of the program's main plot threads.

Lee Jiwoo seemed to pick up on it too. She patted my shoulder.

"Still, it's not a bad thing, right? From where I'm sitting, the My Idol Academia producers have marked you as one of the show's protagonists. If you've been picked by the production team… well, that should make getting into the debut lineup a lot easier."

"Is that… so."

"What's that Yu Seol girl like skill-wise? Vocals? Dance? Ah… wait—"

Lee Jiwoo had been asking me about Yu Seol when something seemed to occur to her. She abruptly turned her head the other way.

"Coach Suhyeon!"

"……."

"Come to think of it, you said one of your students was on My Idol Academia! So is that Yu Seol girl your student?"

"…What?!"

I was the one who reacted first.

Yu Seol was a JJ trainee. And Kang Suhyeon was a former JJ vocal trainer. I'd considered the possibility that the two of them might know each other… but Yu Seol had been Kang Suhyeon's student?

I stared at Kang Suhyeon with wide eyes, and—

"…Yes, that's right."

—she slowly nodded.

Even among the My Idol Academia contestants, Yu Seol was especially prone to putting up walls. There'd been so much I'd wanted to ask about her but never could. And now Kang Suhyeon turned out to be her teacher.

But then—

"…I taught Seol for six years."

The way Kang Suhyeon said it, the atmosphere around her eyes looked ready to spill over into tears at any second.

"Six years… hah…."

I couldn't bring myself to ask her anything about Yu Seol after that.