Incomprehensible
I watched Seo Yujin's retreating back for a long time as she stormed off, yelling that she'd handle things herself.
"Haa…."
…I'd done everything I could.
If someone won't listen even when you give them advice… well, that was just their fate.
Still, if Yujin's going to have a long idol career, getting burned now might actually be better for her.
If Seo Yujin debuted without fixing that spoiled-brat personality of hers, she was bound to cause a major controversy during her idol activities someday.
Better to get a taste of the public's harshness now, while she was still a trainee — a kind of preventive vaccine for her.
"Right… so I should stop worrying about it now."
Stepping in any further wouldn't be advice — it'd just be meddling.
Our Team 1's stage still wasn't perfect either. I needed to focus on our own work.
After watching Seo Yujin completely disappear at the end of the hallway, I headed for our team's practice room.
But….
"…Ugh, just listen for once…!"
Even on the way back to the practice room, my worries about Seo Yujin didn't fade as quickly as I'd hoped.
"……."
"……."
Silence filled the practice room.
After the mid-check evaluation, Team 1 had decided to hold a meeting about what to do going forward….
"…Alright, everyone. Don't hold back — I'd like you all to freely share your thoughts."
"……."
"……."
"……."
Amazingly, no one raised a hand or spoke up, so the meeting went nowhere.
Do I have to go first…?
In this brutally cold atmosphere, I wondered if I should throw out an idea or at least attempt some icebreaking….
Damn it, I can't think of anything either.
Unfortunately, I was just as stuck. Nothing came to mind at all.
As the suffocating silence froze our already chilly team atmosphere even further, that was when it happened.
Swoosh—.
"……!"
Someone raised a hand and broke the silence. I looked over gratefully….
…Ah.
…Only to be disappointed the moment I saw whose face it was.
…Nothing good ever comes out of her mouth.
The one who'd raised her hand was none other than Na Hanna.
Whenever Na Hanna opened her mouth, she only ever killed the mood, so I hesitated for a moment….
"…Alright, Hanna. Go ahead."
She was the only one who'd raised her hand, so I couldn't just ignore her. I gave her the floor.
Given the chance, Na Hanna began speaking in her signature sleepy eyes and languid tone.
"I think I know what everyone's worried about…. You're all fretting over how to change the stage composition because of what the trainers pointed out at the mid-check just now, right?"
She was right.
Originally, Team 1 had been preparing Magical Love☆ with the original concept intact.
But at the mid-check just now, the trainers had pointed out that the song's vibe didn't match our team.
In reality, our current stage felt awkward, and there wasn't just one or two things that bothered me about it….
Even Heavenly Demon Illusion is on the verge of failing, so rearranging is inevitable.
So I'd been thinking about how to rearrange Magical Love☆ and what new concept to go with. The other members were surely wrestling with the same problem.
And if Na Hanna was raising her hand to speak first at this timing….
Did she come up with a good rearrangement idea?
But Na Hanna was someone whose thinking ordinary people like me simply couldn't grasp.
"How about we just don't rearrange it and go as is?"
"…Huh?"
Her completely unexpected suggestion left me with nothing but a dumb reaction.
I quickly collected myself and stammered out a question.
"W-what are you talking about, Hanna?"
"…I mean exactly what I said?"
"We just got told at the mid-check that the song doesn't fit us, and you're saying we should give up on rearranging?"
When I pressed her urgently, Na Hanna nodded and answered.
"Yeah, let's just go with it as is. Honestly, didn't everyone feel from the start that Magical Love☆ didn't really match our team's vibe?"
"……."
Everyone nodded slightly at her words.
Our team had a lot of dancers and a more cynical atmosphere than a bright image, so from the beginning it hadn't meshed well with a bright, hopeful song like Magical Love☆.
"Even so, the reason we decided to go with the original without rearranging was because the difficulty of rearranging it was insanely high."
…That was also true.
Actually, we'd considered rearranging from the moment we got the song assigned… but we had no ideas for how to rearrange Magical Love☆ with its unique magical girl concept, so we'd stuck with the original.
"It's not like some brilliant rearrangement idea is going to magically appear now either…. You know, right? If we mess with it half-heartedly and get it wrong, we'll just ruin the stage even more."
"……."
"So instead of wasting time trying to rearrange, let's just start practicing right away. That seems more efficient."
Then Na Hanna let out a big yawn.
Her face said she wanted to knock out practice quickly and go sleep in her room right now.
"But Hanna."
The moment she finished, I raised my hand to push back.
"If we just go ahead with a stage that already got a bad evaluation at the mid-check, won't we get the same bad evaluation at the actual performance? Looking bad at the main competition would affect our rankings too."
"……!!!"
At my words, every member except Na Hanna flinched immediately.
In our Team 1, everyone except me and Na Hanna was in the elimination danger zone.
If they bombed the main performance, they'd feel a direct threat to their survival.
"I get that Magical Love☆ is hard to rearrange. But if we want to look good at the main competition, shouldn't we change something?"
"I-I… I think the same as Yerin unni…!"
"Y-yeah. We should at least try something for the competition…."
Just as the other members started agreeing with me and the mood shifted toward trying something, that was when it happened.
"…If this were a normal competition where every team competed all at once, I wouldn't be saying this either. But… this second team competition is a one-on-one team match, right?"
Na Hanna raised her hand and coolly countered.
"Our only comparison is Team 2. And as we saw earlier… Team 2 is self-destructing on their own."
"……."
"If we just solidly raise the quality of our current stage instead of making pointless attempts, we can beat Team 2 without any trouble."
The second team competition was, as everyone knew, a one-on-one team match.
At the main performance, the audience would have to pick either Team 1 or Team 2 whether they wanted to or not.
Better the lesser evil than the worst…. Even if both teams' stages were mediocre, the audience would pick our relatively better team — was that her logic?
"So let's not push ourselves unnecessarily and just practice harder at what we're already doing."
"……."
"If we do something stupid and run out of practice time, we'll just hand the other team a chance to turn things around."
Na Hanna's words were rationally correct.
And so….
"Hanna's point… does make sense."
"Yeah, practicing our current stage more instead of burning time on rearranging…."
The mood shifted again, and the members started agreeing with her.
"……."
But I still couldn't understand it.
Sure, the rearrangement difficulty was extremely high… but we still had four days left.
Most of the members had already finished learning the choreography, so we clearly had enough time.
There was still so much we could do… so why give up already and only take the safe path?
…I just couldn't understand it.
But… we were a team, and no matter how much I was the leader, I couldn't force things my way alone.
So I….
"…Then let's decide by vote."
I put it to a vote — whether to spend time rearranging, or give up and just practice more.
"……."
"……."
"First, raise your hand if you think rearranging would be better."
As the members wavered between the two options, the vote began….
"…Looks like we have a result."
…Our team concluded that we would give up on rearranging and continue practicing as is.
Like every other day this week, Team 1 wrapped up practice the moment the clock struck twelve.
"Good work, everyone."
"See you tomorrow~"
After a brief goodbye with the members, Na Hanna headed back to her room.
A private room she'd earned by catching the last A-grade train at the final grade evaluation.
Whoosh—.
In her now-familiar room, Na Hanna finished a quick shower and lay down on the bed.
That cozy, drowsy feeling right before falling asleep after finishing everything for the day.
It was her favorite moment of the day.
But….
"Ah…."
She soon realized her beloved sleep mask wasn't here.
"Did I leave it in the practice room…?"
The only places she'd been all day were the practice room and the cafeteria, so if she hadn't dropped it at the cafeteria, it had to be in the practice room.
"What a pain…."
She considered just going to sleep… but then realized she couldn't sleep comfortably without it, and forced her heavy body up.
Thud… thud….
Walking to the practice room at a pace that would make a sloth cry, Na Hanna cursed her past self for leaving the mask behind.
I could've fallen asleep so nicely….
Grumbling like that, the moment Na Hanna's footsteps reached Team 1's practice room door—
"…Hmm?"
Na Hanna immediately spotted something odd.
The lights in Team 1's practice room, where practice had already ended… still hadn't been turned off.
Peeking secretly into the practice room….
…What?
Ha Yerin, Team 1's leader and center, was sitting in the middle of the practice room looking at something on a tablet PC.
With her sharp eyes, Na Hanna instantly confirmed the screen was the music video for Magical Love☆, and clicked her tongue quietly.
So that unni still can't let go of rearranging.
Na Hanna couldn't understand Ha Yerin.
Their competition, Team 2, was already self-destructing. If they just stubbornly practiced what they were already doing a bit more, they'd win the competition.
Why keep trying to take the hard path when an easy one was right there?
And she's already ranked first individually.
Ha Yerin was a contestant with overwhelming popularity on My Idol Academia.
Unless some weird controversy blew up, the viewers would keep voting for her all the way to the finals even if she just did a crab dance on stage.
So why was she working this hard?
Na Hanna kept watching Ha Yerin replay the music video over and over….
Should I just go back…?
She thought about leaving.
Not having her sleep mask was a shame… but walking into the practice room right now would be suffocatingly awkward.
Yeah, let's go back.
Having decided, Na Hanna turned around with her same listless steps and headed back the way she'd come.
But….
"……."
…With every step she took back, Ha Yerin's image kept flashing through her mind.
More precisely….
…That stubborn look is familiar.
In Ha Yerin's appearance, she kept seeing someone from her past.
And so Na Hanna….
"Haa…."
Stopped in her tracks and let out a sigh right there.
Then….
Creak—.
"…Who's— oh?"
She walked straight into the practice room where Ha Yerin was.