Second Place Is Still Good!
"Second place is still good! Second place is still good!"
And with that, Yu Seol's team's stage came to an end.
"Waaaaaah—!!"
"Kyaaaaaaah—!!"
"They're insane—!!!"
"Yu Seol—!!"
"Encore—!!!"
An overwhelming roar of cheers exploded from the audience seats.
It was enough to make every one of us waiting backstage shrink into ourselves.
"……."
"……."
Our team fell silent under the crushing weight of the cheers for Yu Seol, until Seo Yujin, who had been watching the screen the whole time, finally opened her mouth.
"Why are you all being so annoying? Our cheers were just as loud. The audience loved us! So why are you all making those faces? It's pissing me off! At this rate nothing good is going to happen!"
The way she said it was pure brat. I'd thought the kid had finally learned a little manners these past few days, but apparently she was right back to her old self.
Still…
"…Yeah. She's right."
Seo Yujin wasn't wrong.
"We did well enough. You never know until you actually go head-to-head, right? So stop looking so gloomy. And…"
I nodded along with her words, trying to rally the team, when—
"Kyaaaaaaah—!!"
"Yu Seol—!!!!!"
"…Second place is still good. Let's not get too down…"
Another wave of audience cheers crashed over us, and I instantly crumpled.
"Aargh—! Yerin unni! Stop saying stuff like that!"
"But it feels like we're going to lose…"
"And this is our center?! You little—!"
While Seo Yujin fumed at my pathetic state, the next stage began.
The final performance belonged to the team that included Na Hanna, who had been A-rank. Like Yu Seol's team, they put on a stage that radiated girl crush energy…
"Hmm…"
"They were good, but a little…"
Yu Seol's team had simply been too strong; compared to them, this one felt a bit lacking.
With Na Hanna's team as the last act, every team performance of the competition finally came to a close.
Main MC Han Siwoo took the microphone again.
"That concludes every stage of the team competition!"
"Aaaaaah—!"
After hours of performances the audience should have been exhausted, yet they still let out disappointed cries as if they wanted more.
Han Siwoo smiled at them and continued.
"Looking at your reactions, I can tell just how much you enjoyed today's stages. All right, then—it's time to open the results."
With a snap of his fingers, the monitor above the stage expanded.
60.
59.
…
A one-minute countdown ticked across the screen.
"For the remaining minute, audience members can cast one final vote for the team you think performed best! You may freely change your choice until time runs out, so please choose carefully after careful thought!"
47.
46.
…
Time kept slipping by.
The one silver lining was that another camera kept diligently filming us in the waiting room.
Having gone first had already put us at a disadvantage, so we waved our fingers and desperately appealed for votes.
3.
2.
1.
The countdown ended.
"All right—no more changing your votes!"
"Aaaaaah—!"
Voting closed.
"Hoo…"
The moment it locked, I finally let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
Everything was decided now. All that remained was the announcement.
"…Everyone worked hard. And one last time, let me say…"
"……."
"…Second place is still good."
"Stop saying that!"
Even under Seo Yujin's hiss, I pressed on stubbornly.
"…Fine. Not second—third place is still good. We went first, which put us at a disadvantage, and also…"
"Ugh!"
I wasn't usually this negative…
Why were these gloomy thoughts flooding in?
And well… the first team competition didn't even give any special benefits for ranking high, so we didn't strictly need first place.
As long as we're not in the bottom six, there's no penalty either…
I waited for Han Siwoo to continue, ready to accept whatever result came with quiet humility.
"Then we'll begin with the rankings of the safe teams."
Han Siwoo deliberately started with the relatively less important mid-tier placements.
"…In fourth place is the Smoked Salmon Sandwich Team!"
"Kyaaaaah—!"
Fans whose teams had landed in the safe zone breathed sighs of relief.
And when the bottom ranks were announced…
"Finally, the team that will receive a penalty is… the Crab Mayo Sandwich Team."
"Ahh…"
"Nooooo…!"
They wailed as if someone had died.
"Hic…"
"Sob…"
Contestants whose teams had fallen into the bottom six broke into tears one after another.
Most of them were lower-ranked trainees.
They would almost certainly be eliminated at next week's ranking announcement; of course they were devastated.
Once the funeral atmosphere had passed… only three teams remained.
Our team, Yu Seol's team, and Na Hanna's team.
The stage monitor cut between the faces of the contestants in each waiting room, cranking up the tension.
"Now then, we'll announce third place first. In third place is…"
Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised no matter which team took third.
Still, if we're talking pure impact, Na Hanna's team is probably the most likely…
And the result was…
"The Avocado Sandwich Team—!"
"Aaaaaaah—!"
"Waaaaaah—!"
Just as expected: Na Hanna's team.
The instant third place was announced, the big screen filled with Na Hanna's face.
The production staff clearly wanted a shot of her looking disappointed.
But…
She simply bowed her head once, as if the ranking meant nothing to her at all.
…Looking at her now, she really was something else. The only emotion on her face was pure, undiluted desire to sleep.
…Well, her fans treat that exact look as her charm point.
With third place announced, only two teams were left.
"……."
"……."
By this point the hope of first place had clearly taken root; my teammates fell silent, faces tight with tension.
I, however, was not among them.
Even thinking about it now, Yu Seol's stage was just too good.
Objectively speaking, second place looked like our most likely outcome, so I watched the screen with a relatively calm heart.
"Now only the announcement of first and second remains. Between the Mackerel Sandwich Team and the Veggie Sandwich Team, which will claim the glory of first place?"
Han Siwoo seemed determined to drag out the final reveal a little longer; he didn't move straight to the result.
"Of course, the ranking of this first team competition carries no benefits whatsoever. However… we have a rather interesting statistic."
He grinned and put up a data screen.
"…That is."
Every member of our team flinched the moment we saw it.
"In every idol audition program hosted by Nnet so far, every single winner has come from the team that took first place in the first team competition."
"……!"
"It's just a fun statistic, of course… but isn't it rather intriguing?"
Intriguing? That was an understatement.
It was the kind of thing that made your nerves scream.
I, who had been telling myself second place would be fine, scooted my chair forward until it was flush against the table.
"Until now I haven't revealed the vote counts for each team. But this time I'll give you a little hint…"
"……."
"The difference between first and second place is only four votes."
"……!"
The margin was even narrower than I'd imagined; I couldn't help thinking, maybe…
My teammates' faces hardened as well.
And on the opposite waiting-room monitor, Yu Seol…
"Ah… please…"
She clasped her hands and trembled.
She looked so pitiful you almost wanted to hand her first place on a silver platter.
But…
That's acting.
Maybe I'd watched her long enough now; I could tell her current expression was pure performance.
Yu Seol clearly believed her team had already won.
I found myself hoping that confident face of hers would crack.
"All right—now for the real announcement of first place!"
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
A little cheesy, maybe, but nothing built tension quite like that BGM.
"……."
"……."
Our team, Yu Seol's team, every other team, and the entire audience locked their eyes on the shape of Han Siwoo's mouth…!
"The glorious first-place team is…!"
Please…
…I want first place.
Before I knew it I had clenched both fists and was praying toward the ceiling when the result dropped.
"Congratulations! The Mackerel Sandwich Team!"
"……!"
The moment our team name was called, my teammates' eyes flew wide as if they truly hadn't expected it.
"Waaaaaah—!"
I was the only one who screamed. With a bizarre reaction I'd never shown before, I shot up out of my chair.
"Puhah—!"
My teammates burst out laughing at the sight of me, then piled into the center and threw their arms around one another.
"Waaaaaah—!"
"We're first—!!!"
And so, in the first team competition of My Idol Academia, the Mackerel Sandwich Team I belonged to claimed a dramatic victory by a mere four votes.
The fact that the Mackerel Sandwich Team had taken first place was such a shock to the audience that the arena fell into a one-second lull.
But that silence…
"Waaaaaah—!"
…shattered under Ha Yerin's bizarre scream.
"Ahahahaha—!"
"Aww, so cute—!!"
Until now Ha Yerin had only ever shown a cold, aloof image; watching that character crack was fresh and adorable to the audience.
A wave of laughter rolled through the seats, followed by a flood of cheers and applause for the first-place Mackerel Sandwich Team.
"Waaaaaah—!!"
"You did so well—!!"
"I love you, Ha Yerin—!!!"
After such a fierce, razor-thin victory, most of the audience poured out their support.
Of course, a few hardcore fans refused to accept it.
"No way we lost to that? This is ridiculous!"
One female spectator who had voted for Yu Seol's team exploded in frustration that Ha Yerin's team had taken first instead, and turned on the friend she'd come with.
"Hey, you voted for Seol's team too, right? The whole vibe felt like everyone was voting for our Seol, so how did that other team win?"
"Umm… I actually voted for the Mackerel Sandwich Team…"
"What?"
Her friend's betrayal made the woman's eyes go wide.
"Excuse me?! I'm the one who brought you here! You said you liked Seol too! Her girl-crush stage today was insane, so why—why didn't you vote for her?!"
"C-calm down…"
Of course she liked Yu Seol. Watching today's stage, she had fully intended to vote for her.
But…
At the very last second, she switched from Yu Seol's team to Ha Yerin's.
Yu Seol's performance and composition had been excellent… yet Ha Yerin's stage had lodged itself deeper in her memory.
It was so cool…
Being a timid girl herself, she had always loved idols who shone with unshakable confidence.
And today's stage by Ha Yerin's team—
the story of a shy girl who learns love and is reborn in Where Is My First Love!—
had felt as if Ha Yerin herself were whispering directly into her ear:
You can do it too.
You can become like me.
She simply couldn't not vote for Ha Yerin's team.
Because through that stage, she had begun to… admire Ha Yerin.
She was certain most of the audience here had chosen Ha Yerin's team for reasons similar to her own.
That's why our Yerin's team could win.
Without even realizing that the nickname in her heart had already shifted to "our Yerin," the hardcore Yu Seol fan beside her spoke in a sulky voice.
"Ugh… so annoying…. Han Siwoo just had to say that weird stuff before the results…. What if Ha Yerin actually wins the whole show now…. And our Seol ends up second…"
"Well… second place is still good."
"Are you mocking me right now?"
She shot the traitor a glare, then turned her eyes to Yu Seol on the stage monitor.
Yu Seol was smiling as if second place were perfectly fine, yet somehow the smile still looked bitter.
"Aigoo… our Seol must be so sad, right? She absolutely tore up that stage today…"
Among all the contestants on My Idol Academia, the one who had shown the most overwhelming skill was, without question, Yu Seol.
Even Ha Yerin's fans had no choice but to admit it.
Yet despite that absolute talent, she kept getting edged out in these subtle ways…
"…Isn't there anything we can do for Seol?"
The discontent among Yu Seol's fandom had no choice but to keep quietly stacking up.