The Pyramid of First Impressions
The four girls stood before the massive black door leading to the studio, waiting quietly for it to open amid the unmanned cameras with no staff in sight. Perhaps finding the brief wait tedious, Kim Yujin began offering Gyeoul unsolicited advice on dancing.
"Gyeoul, dancing is fundamentally a sequence of movements that showcase how flexible your body is. Of course, people prioritize different things—rhythm, powerful moves, and so on—so there's room for debate, but in the end, that's what matters most. In that sense, when you're training..."
"Hey, Kim Yujin, shut it. I think something's starting!"
"What? What is it?"
The spot Garnet pointed to was the corridor they had already passed. What had seemed like an ordinary black wall now glowed with waves of violet and pink light seeping through the seams, creating a romantic spectacle as if some enormous machine were coming to life.
"Whoa."
The light that began at the end of the corridor gradually advanced, reaching the black door where they stood. The moment the wave of light touched the door, it emitted a mysterious glow blending violet and pink, and the number 100 materialized on its surface.
"Mnet's got style."
"Kim Yujin, stop acting like you're some kind of expert."
"Hey, this kind of raw reaction is what works. If it were the other girls, all we'd get is stuff like 'Whoa,' 'That's amazing!' or 'It feels like Disneyland!'—all fake. Which one do you think viewers would prefer? Out of a hundred people, which reaction do you think will actually make it on air?"
"...Hearing you explain it like that, it's strangely convincing."
"Right?"
Just as Kim Yujin, puffed up by Garnet's reaction, was about to say more, a line of light split down the center of the glowing 100 on the door, and it began to part in half.
"...So it was an automatic door."
"Yeah, Yujin. Good thing we didn't have to push it. It looked heavy."
"Han Sora, you're the most impressive one for humoring that kind of comment."
While the others bickered, Gyeoul, who had been staring straight ahead, spoke up.
"...It looks like a stage with an audience seating area."
"It's so dark I can't see anything."
"I'm basically a hikikomori, so I live with the lights off in my room, relying only on my monitor. That's why my night vision is pretty good."
"...She's got a solid character too."
At Kim Yujin's muttered remark—"What happens if the three bread shuttles get bossed around by someone like that?"—Gyeoul was still trying to figure out how to respond when Han Sora stepped into the darkness and asked,
"Gyeoul, you said it's a stage, right? So which way do we go to reach it?"
Gyeoul followed her and replied,
"The stage is right here."
"Here?"
Gyeoul pointed to the floor beneath their feet.
"This spot we're standing on."
The moment she finished speaking, violet and pink lights flared to life, spreading widely from the center of where the four girls stood. The wave of light that had started from the door illuminated the entire studio, revealing that the place they occupied was the stage for the first impression test.
"...This isn't just 'pretty good.' They straight-up threw money at this."
Even Garnet, who had been wary of Kim Yujin's unfiltered reactions, couldn't help but admire it sincerely this time.
"Seriously. It's no joke."
Just when they thought the spectacle had reached its peak, the wave of light didn't stop at illuminating the stage. It continued onward, climbing the massive pyramid-shaped audience seating area where the other trainees would watch the performances. The lights swept up the tiered seats, illuminating every chair, and letters appeared on each level.
"...A, B, C, D, E, F. Are those the same letters we wrote on our chests? Then we should sit at the very top, in A, right?"
"Maybe. Or maybe we have to sit according to the grade we receive after evaluation."
"Wow, so the endless competition starts from the very beginning? Mnet's brutal."
Han Sora turned to Kim Yujin, who was clicking her tongue.
"You already knew coming in, didn't you? Only eleven people get to debut in the project group."
"And realistically, it's impossible for all of us to make it into those eleven. From now on, we're competitors too."
The two of them couldn't hide their tension now that the broadcast had truly begun. Kim Yujin looked at them, smirked, and said,
"Oh, you scaredy-cats."
Then she grabbed Gyeoul's hand.
"Hey, don't worry. Big sis will take care of you!"
"...Um, thank you, but where are we going?"
"To the top of that ridiculously cool pyramid, the A-class seats."
"Excuse me?"
Kim Yujin dragged Gyeoul toward the summit of the pyramid seating.
"Uwaaaah..."
"These... stairs... are ridiculously... high. Do they not consider short people at all?"
"...Huff, Yujin unni... isn't short... you know."
"Empty... huff... flattery... Thanks!"
"It's... huff... not empty..."
Having finally reached the top with Gyeoul in tow, Kim Yujin plopped down in the center of the A-rank seats and patted the spot beside her.
"Sit. Gyeoul."
Gyeoul glanced around the seats and said,
"...Isn't this the A-class section? I should be in E."
"It's fine! We haven't even been evaluated yet. We might as well claim the spot early."
"Still, I feel like we should sit according to the letter we wrote..."
Garnet, who had climbed up at a leisurely pace, spoke.
"...Come on. How many girls would have the guts to write A on their chest from the start? There'll be plenty of empty seats. So just sit here. If you're alone, you won't get any screen time. You need to talk and have some back-and-forth if you want to be caught on camera."
"That's right, Gyeoul. There probably aren't many girls as overflowing with spirit and fighting spirit as us."
"Overflowing to the point of being a problem... I wonder where our agency found all these mantis-like women."
"...Anyway, just sit next to her and chat. Not many people will come up here."
Gyeoul tilted her head.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Unless they're as confident as us, most people will be too scared."
***
They were wrong.
"Excuse me, I'd like to sit here. Could you move?"
"...Hmm, did I look that easy to push around? Out of everyone, you picked me?"
"I just picked the closest person. It doesn't matter who it is."
"Haha... It doesn't matter who? I'm not the kind of person who gets called 'anyone.'"
"Then how about a free dance? Thirty seconds each to a random song."
"...Fine."
Even though neither the MC nor the judges had arrived yet, two girls with A written on their chests descended to the stage and began dancing against each other. Gyeoul couldn't last even five minutes in that battlefield of proud geniuses and had to retreat. In truth, "last" was an exaggeration—she had apologized the moment another trainee spoke to her and voluntarily rolled down to the E-class seats.
Oh Yuri, seated beside the quietly settled Gyeoul in a corner of the E section, spoke up.
"Those unnis are really cool, Gyeoul unni!"
"Yeah, they really are."
"Come on, speak casually! It makes me sad when the only person I can talk to uses honorifics."
Oh Yuri made a gesture of wiping away tears and glanced at Gyeoul. Gyeoul smiled softly at the sight of the girl acting like a tiny hamster.
"Alright, Yuri. Let's do our best together from now on!"
"Yes!"
While the two were bonding, the massive monitor on stage flickered to life and began playing a video. Through the footage, the MC appeared with the catchphrase "Choose your girl. Girl 100!" and skillfully drew everyone's attention before introducing the judging panel. Following the introduction, two legendary second-generation girl group members were presented as K-pop Masters, along with two dance specialists and two vocal specialists, each titled Master. All of them were top-tier experts in the industry.
"To live up to the title of Vocal Master, I'll be evaluating you thoroughly and without mercy."
"...Wow, that guy with the glasses looks scary."
Oh Yuri trembled as she looked at the vocal specialist introduced as James Oh. He certainly lived up to her impression—meticulous and strict.
Once the introductions ended and the stage was being prepared, writer Yeo Hanna called for Gyeoul.
"Gyeoul, you're up early. You need to head backstage now."
"Ah, yes! I'll go right away!"
"Gyeoul unni, fighting!"
Following Yeo Hanna's guidance, Gyeoul moved backstage and spotted familiar faces.
"Hey! Gyeoul again?"
"Ah, nice to see you, Counter unnis!"
After returning her greeting, Garnet, Kim Yujin, and Han Sora finished their aggressive stretching and strode confidently toward the door.
"We'll go tear up the stage, unni!"
"Let's do this!"
"Let's rip it apart!"
"...Watching them, Sora really is different from us."
***
The girls who had stormed the stage with such momentum were all evaluated as B-class.
"Why are we B?"
Seated in the B-class section, Kim Yujin voiced her opinion without restraint, seemingly forgetting they were filming.
Even Garnet, who usually tried to stop her from saying things that could lead to malicious editing, agreed this time.
"Right? At least one of us should've gotten an A. We didn't make a single mistake."
"Maybe because we went first, the judges scored us more strictly."
"...It's not like we volunteered to go first."
"Hey, quiet. Gyeoul's up! Gyeoul, fighting!"
Gyeoul, her face tense and unable to hide her nervousness, began dancing to the music. Kim Yujin, watching with her mouth agape in a dumbfounded expression, muttered,
"...Was I really giving advice to someone like that?"
Garnet, equally slack-jawed, added,
"You should probably get on your knees later."