Episode 3 Goes on Air
My Idol Academia, Episode 3 was going on air.
"Ah… but this might not be as big a deal as I thought. Maybe I'm just making noise over nothing…."
As the writer hesitated, Shin PD flashed a bright smile.
"Come on~ Why are you like this? You know I sweat the small stuff too~ Don't hold back — just spit it out."
"Alright then… yes, sir. This is something that happened with the team I was assigned to…."
Whisper, whisper.
In a tiny voice, the writer recounted everything she had witnessed to the room.
And the faces of everyone who heard it….
"……."
"……."
All of them had gone strangely stiff.
Not because what the writer had said was absurd or useless.
On the contrary….
This could work….
The same thought bloomed in every head in the room: this was something worth detonating.
But….
"Hss… she's a tough one to mess with, though…."
Just as Shin PD said, the real problem was the contestant's backing.
No matter how much the production staff reigned as kings inside My Idol Academia, above kings sat the sky and the gods.
Touching that contestant would mean challenging heaven itself — even for the show, it was a burden they didn't want to shoulder.
"…Without a rock-solid justification, I don't think we can put that on air."
"Ah… so should we just scrap it, then?"
"What? No way."
Shin PD chuckled once at the writer's suggestion and swept his hand back through his hair.
"Keep it on ice for now. We can't use it immediately, but… the day to drop it will come eventually, won't it?"
The look on Shin PD's face as he said it was pure mischief — a kid who'd just found a new toy.
Seeing that expression, the writers silently offered a prayer for the contestant in question.
That face… was the one Shin PD always wore when a delicious idea had just taken root.
"Anyway, we'll keep this one on hold. Any other ideas for Episode 3?"
"……."
"Aigoo, tsk tsk. Useless, the lot of you. Fine, no choice then. For Episode 3 we'll just lock in the Yu Seol–Ha Yerin rivalry angle and build the rest around the team performances."
"…Yes, sir!"
"Ah — how's the voting looking right now? Can we see it?"
"Yes, sunbae-nim. I'll pull it up right away."
Of course, ever since Episode 1 of My Idol Academia had aired, the audience vote had been running nonstop.
Next week's shoot would open with the ranking announcement, so the production team needed a clear read on the current standings if they wanted the filming to go smoothly.
"This is from 100th place up…."
"I don't care about the bottom. Show me from tenth."
"From tenth… yes. Here we are."
Swoosh—.
At Shin PD's request, the writer scrolled the screen to display the current rankings from first through tenth.
"Oh, the vote count's already solid for this early? Nice, nice."
Shin PD ran his eyes slowly up the list from the bottom, looking thoroughly pleased.
But….
He froze.
Even a man of his caliber couldn't help tensing as the page for first and second place came into view.
Yu Seol and Ha Yerin — together commanding a staggering forty percent of the total votes.
Which of those two sat in first was not something even he could easily predict.
And the result….
"Hoh…."
Yu Seol held a narrow lead over Ha Yerin.
Confirming who sat at number one, Shin PD tipped his head back with a low chuckle.
"Well now. Should I say this is exactly what I expected… or call it a surprise…. Either way, it's fun."
"Of course, nothing's locked in. The third episode could still shift things."
"Yeah, true enough."
Shin PD kept smiling as he looked at Ha Yerin's face on the screen — currently sitting in second place.
"Haa… a girl I never saw coming is pulling her weight like a model daughter… you really never know how the world works."
"No kidding, sir."
Ha Yerin was, for all practical purposes, a parachute contestant the sponsors had forced onto the show.
And yet that same Ha Yerin was performing like a gift from the heavens — from his perspective, it was almost endearing.
"This is just my gut, but… I think Ha Yerin's going to win this season of My Idol Academia."
"…Excuse me? But sunbae-nim, we're still early in the broadcast, and Ha Yerin barely has any trainee experience. Winning might be a stretch, don't you think? If anyone takes the crown, it'd be Yu Seol…."
"Haha, I was just saying it for fun. Lighten up."
The remark had genuinely been a joke on Shin PD's part.
But through that single throwaway line, the writers could tell he held a considerable amount of goodwill toward Ha Yerin.
So the PD's pick is Ha Yerin.
Shin PD's pick.
It was a poisoned chalice — and what she did with it would be entirely up to her.
"Alright, let's wrap the meeting here. Episode 3 of My Idol Academia stays on the same footing as Episodes 1 and 2~ Everybody back to the editing bay?"
"Thank you for your hard work."
The moment Shin PD declared the meeting over, the staff rose from their seats and started filing back toward the editing rooms out of pure habit.
Then someone bravely raised a hand.
"Um… Shin PD-nim!"
"Hm? What is it?"
It was the youngest writer — a rookie, female, twenty-five, fresh out of school last year, no prior industry experience.
Watching her seniors head for the editing bay as if nothing were wrong, she simply could not process the situation and put her hand up.
"It's… past midnight. Are we… not going home?"
"……."
Icy stares from the seniors locked onto the junior the second the word "home" left her mouth — but Shin PD only laughed and opened his mouth.
"Ahaha, kiddo. 'Going home'? What are you talking about. We air next week. If you leave now, who's going to edit, and who's going to put the show on the air?"
"Th-then tonight we're pulling an all-nighter…."
"Tonight? Hahat, listen to this one. This is that young generation these days… what do they call it again? It just slipped my mind."
"The MZ generation, sir."
"Ah, right — MZ! Must be an MZ thing, you're so free-spirited. Listen, kiddo. Call home right now and…."
Shin PD beamed as he finished the sentence.
"Tell them to send you five days' worth of underwear and socks."
"……."
"Outer clothes are fine, but if you don't change your underwear regularly it gets nasty."
And so Episode 3 of My Idol Academia was born from the sweat of a production team that pulled four consecutive all-nighters.
Even thinking back on it now, the team assignment segment still made my stomach drop.
What I'd written off as simple product placement — the sandwiches — had actually been the device for sorting the teams.
The screen showed me, Park Yujeong, and Lee Hyejeong celebrating the fact that we'd landed on the same team.
Watching it, I also glanced over the live audience reactions Lee Jiwoo had pulled up beside me.
For the record, the early part of the episode gave me a pretty generous amount of screen time over the mackerel sandwich controversy.
The mackerel sandwich really was delicious… and even Seo Yujin, who gave off pure rich-girl energy, hadn't she also picked the mackerel sandwich?
If you counted Lee Hyejeong, who had originally been A-rank as well, our team basically had three A-ranks.
Looking back, my team luck had been absurdly good.
The viewers seemed to feel it too — the comment section flooded with impressed reactions.
But the higher the viewers' expectations climbed, the more I couldn't help worrying.
Specifically about the scene right after song selection — the leader and center ranking moment.
Yujin declaring she'd take both leader and center… yeah, that definitely came off as unlikable….
How exactly had the production team chosen to edit that….
I kept watching without letting my guard down.