The First Code Ceremony
After stepping off the stage and returning to my seat, one piece of welcome news came back to me.
83%(▼ 2%)
I did well enough to drop it by two whole points?
More than the judges' praise, that number hit me the hardest.
It's shrinking.
That fact alone was enough to let me breathe again.
Yiyul had prowled that stage like a man finally releasing an old grudge. His movements were so fearless it was hard to believe that arm had ever been injured. If anything, watching him made me more nervous than him.
Please, for the love of god, take care of your body.
He winced every time he snapped his arm out, swallowed hard before every turn—while wearing the face of someone having the time of his life.
And when the praise came pouring down as if it were only natural, my shoulders straightened on their own.
Joo Han and Han Sangyoon tore the stage apart too, exactly as expected.
Those three are basically locked in.
Skill, star quality, presence. The fight for the debut group had, in practice, become a competition for the remaining two spots.
And one of those spots absolutely has to be mine.
"That wraps up filming for the first mission stages!"
The moment those words landed, cheers erupted from every corner.
"Finally!"
"It's over..."
Postures collapsed all at once, like strings had been cut. Some trainees simply sprawled out on the spot—hardly surprising, given nearly ten hours of continuous filming. My own back felt ready to snap, but I held my posture as best I could.
Wasn't there a kid who got hit with an attitude controversy for slacking like that?
Common sense said the cameras kept rolling until wrap. And yet, there was something I'd briefly forgotten.
"Trainees, please change quickly and gather back here!"
...It wasn't over.
Clocking out? Where had I dreamed up such a ridiculous fantasy.
Right, this is what an idol survival show is supposed to be.
The production crew was clearly determined to squeeze every won's worth out of that expensive studio.
"We will begin the first Code Announcement Ceremony immediately!"
"Wow, seriously..."
Faced with a shooting schedule even tighter than expected, a few souls looked like they'd left their bodies entirely.
The trainees changed back into the matching uniforms from the signal song and reassembled. The stage set had, at some point, already been transformed.
And then—
"The long-awaited first Code Announcement Ceremony begins now!"
Lights bloomed over the darkened stage, and gasps broke out all around.
"Unbelievable."
"Whoa..."
Kang Sejun had changed his outfit again.
No wonder nobody realized they were shooting everything in a single day.
This time it was a military-style dress uniform—clearly tailored, from the shoulder line all the way down to the fit at the waist.
The styling team really went all in.
It was no coincidence that Boys Code viewers kept saying they watched just to see what the MC would wear next.
"Oh my god, he's so handsome."
"So that's what a real idol looks like."
Even as a man, I couldn't help but marvel. After receiving a sign from the production crew below the stage, he raised his microphone.
"Yesterday's teammate behind you may be the one who passes you today."
Doom—!
With a sweeping sound effect, the lights churned busily across the stage—then stopped on one spot.
The five seats that signified the debut group.
"Who, I wonder, will be the five to claim the first debut group?"
The sound of swallowed saliva rose from everywhere.
"How are they going to announce it?"
"Please, just spare us the middle part—"
Kang Sejun smiled.
"The Boys Code Announcement Ceremony is a little... special."
Yeah. This thing got called cruel and dragged through the mud.
"You will all be moving to new seats according to your new Codes."
"...Huh?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The screen at the back lit up.
"Starting from Code 20, each trainee will come up to the stage in turn to confirm their new Code."
A demonstration video played. Code 20 checked his result, and if it read Code 12, he moved straight to the Code 12 seat.
"The trainee who was sitting there will then be pushed out, shifting down according to the displaced rank."
"Wait, hold on—"
Only then did the color start draining from the trainees' faces.
Simply put: the moment your rank changed, you had your seat stolen—or stole one—right in front of everyone.
"...What."
"That's way too harsh...?"
Of course, a few of the bastards were already snickering like it was the best entertainment they'd ever seen.
"Having someone rip your seat out from under you would wreck anyone's pride—"
"Doesn't matter for us, we can only stay put or move up anyway, right?"
But that wasn't the end of it.
Kang Sejun tapped his own chest.
"Not only your seat—you will also exchange your Code nameplates with your own hands."
That was the true humiliation.
"Whoa—"
"That's just cruel, come on."
Some trainees must have sensed the future bearing down on them, because they squeezed their eyes shut.
Please, please, don't let me be the one who has to tear off Yiyul's nameplate.
That, I genuinely could not bear even to imagine.
"Now then, first up—Code 20 trainee, please come to the stage."
"...Y-yes!"
Behind the trainee who climbed up with a face frozen solid, the electronic display lit up. The first Code, thick with tension.
[Code 20 ▶ Code 18]
"Code 20 trainee, congratulations! You've risen two steps to Code 18."
"Th-thank you!"
His joy lasted only a moment before Code 20's expression turned complicated.
"Now, move to the Code 18 seat and exchange nameplates."
The screen caught both trainees. Code 18 bit down hard on his lip, pride clearly wounded. Code 20 couldn't manage a smile either.
Rip. Rrrip—
The nameplates, it turned out, had been deliberately manufactured to resist coming off. The more the flustered Code 20 fumbled at the fastener, the stonier Code 18's face became.
These people are genuinely evil.
It was so frustrating I wanted to march up there and tear it off myself.
"Don't be too discouraged. This may simply be a step on your way to a higher rank."
Kang Sejun tried to soften the atmosphere, but—
[Code 18 ▶ Code 20]
"Ah..."
The room grew colder still.
The reversals kept coming after that too, trainees' faces ping-ponging between heaven and hell. Numbers 7 and 9 swapped seats, which meant the turn arrived to announce the Code of number 6—Go Jaeseong.
From here on out, this was the debut group fight in earnest.
Go Jaeseong rose from his seat.
Before the regression, he slid comfortably into debut range too.
I couldn't afford to relax. After the mid-episode evaluation, Go Jaeseong had clearly leveled up another notch.
Every eye locked onto the shape of Kang Sejun's mouth.
"Please reveal the final Code of Code 6!"
[Code ??]
The number behind the question marks spun rapidly.
The best-case scenario was holding at Code 6.
Drawing it out like this... my gut says something's off.
[Code 6 ▶ Code 4]
And my instincts had been right.
"...!"
It lasted only an instant, but I felt the blood drain cold through my whole body.
Go Jaeseong had taken my seat.
Should I be relieved it wasn't Yiyul...?
Gasps burst out around the studio. Well, of course—a trainee of barely a month suddenly walking into the debut group? He must have been an eyesore to every single one of them.
"Code 6 trainee, you've been selected at Code 4, two steps up, securing your place in the debut group. How do you feel right now?"
Go Jaeseong opened his mouth wearing an expression of disbelief.
"Making the debut group... it truly feels like a dream."
Being forced to sit there and watch that detestable performance was its own special torment.
Kang Sejun explained the reasoning.
"The factors behind Go Jaeseong's rise were his stage command and the completeness of his performance."
So that's what separated us.
My producing skill was clearly the stronger, but the moment anyone asked who they'd rather put on stage—me or Go Jaeseong—the answer was still him.
It stung, but for now I had no choice but to accept it.
"Code 6, please move to the Code 4 seat."
Go Jaeseong began walking toward me.
"Congrats!"
"Lucky you—"
Bathed in the trainees' congratulations, he stopped in front of me.
"Sorry—I'll be taking your nameplate."
Rip. Rrrip.
Nothing.
"Huh, this one's stuck..."
Rip.
Failed again.
You son of a— you're doing this on purpose.
The truth was, the instant Go Jaeseong's Code was announced, I had quietly loosened one edge of my nameplate myself—primed so the slightest tug would send it flying. There was no way he'd missed that.
And yet he kept stalling. Dragging it out so the cameras would capture my defeat in long, lingering detail.
What the viewers at home would never see, though, was this particular brand of his pettiness.
"Got it!"
RRRIP—!
The final yank nearly knocked me off balance.
Our eyes met. His gaze performed contrition; his mouth was unmistakably smiling.
They say you can't spit in a smiling face? Watch me.
Just then, the camera swung closer to us.
I reached out without a moment's hesitation.
"And I'll take yours, nice and clean."
"...?"
And I ripped it off without a moment's hesitation.
Snap—!
With a crisp little sound, the nameplate came away far too easily.
"Wait, what...?"
"It just... came off?"
The temperature of the room shifted, subtly but surely. Not once until now had a trainee who'd lost his seat reached out and torn off his rival's plate himself.
Go Jaeseong froze for a beat.
I lifted the nameplate high and smiled.
"I'll take good care of it."
And then—
"See? It comes off just fine."
I murmured it under my breath as I brushed past him.
Now it was my turn. I climbed the stage to check my final Code.
[Code 4 ▶ Code 6]
"The final Code of Code 4 is... Code 6!"
Sixth place. One step below the debut group—so close, and yet not close enough to touch.
"This was a stage that truly showcased Code 4's potential. However, your overall skill still leaves room to grow, and that proved to be the biggest factor in your rank dropping."
Maybe because I'd braced myself, it wasn't the crushing blow it might have been.
"Thank you."
I bowed my head.
"I still have a long way to go—but I will prove it on the stage."
The rest of the announcements unfolded exactly as predicted. Every debut group trainee except me held their rank.
"Boys Code! The debut group that will open our first gate has been decided!"
Light poured up from beneath the five debut group chairs. The dazzling production and stagecraft drew a round of awkward laughter.
So this was Nyx's one and only big-budget flex. The rumors weren't wrong.
Frankly, it was a little tacky—but the trainees gushed anyway.
"What even is this?"
"Crazy, they must have burned through a fortune."
The faces of the five debut group members were caught on camera, one by one.
And in that moment, a strange feeling stirred in me.
I have to debut with Kang Yiyul.
That had been my one and only goal, all this time. But at some point—when, exactly?—a different proposition had taken root in my head, one that existed entirely apart from him.
I want to go up.
Not merely to survive. I wanted to be recognized.
Small as a spark, but burning with perfect clarity—the ember of ambition glowed inside me.
It was a thirst I had never once known as a producer.
The kind of greed that only someone who has stood on a stage can carry.