The First Evaluation
Going back a little, the day after the music show filming for Sunlight and BLOSSOM wrapped, during the single day of rest we had been given, I met with Kwon Do-ha to talk things over. It was to check a few precautions regarding I'm the Producer (U+).
Kwon Do-ha stayed firmly no-comment about his own trait, but he did open up about my ability.
"Didn't I warn you?"
"But all I did was change a few titles a little."
He asked me what on earth I had done in that short span of time to collapse so suddenly, and I felt wronged. Changing six people's titles was that big a deal?
"The number of people is high, but… it shouldn't have been that bad. The warning grade was yellow?"
I nodded and replayed the situation in my head.
When I changed four titles at dawn, all I got that morning was a slightly off sense of taste. Adding two more on top of that, though, and things went downhill in an instant. It wasn't as if I had no guess.
"Maybe I got a random penalty? For using the ability while unregistered."
Considering how much this game loved randomness, it was a plausible theory. I could only hope the people who made it got their salaries in random loot boxes.
"That makes sense."
Kwon Do-ha nodded without argument. The way he had looked startled when I suddenly collapsed suggested the penalty had hit especially hard that time. My luck really was rotten. Speaking of which—
"So you don't know everything, then."
"A certain someone is the type who doesn't show much."
He gave a light shrug and continued.
"And he doesn't particularly enjoy spelling everything out, either."
"…"
That much was true. I preferred learning game strategies by running into them myself. There were things you only saw once you actually tried.
He seems pretty good at reading this kind of thing, though.
He had an enigmatic air about him, but piecing together the things he said from time to time, it was clear he had a solid grasp of me.
"The day we first met. Did you help me because you knew it was me?"
I meant that day in January, when he had left his coat with me while I stood trembling in the bathroom.
"…No comment."
He wore the same smiling face as that day, and I could only shake my head. What did it matter if I sorted it out now? Still—
"Whatever the intention was, thank you. I made good use of the long padding."
"Right. I'm glad it helped."
It was a belated greeting. For some reason, the faintly hollow smile on Kwon Do-ha's face stayed with me.
And then, returning to the present—on the fourth day after the team mission began, the first evaluation to check our progress took place, and I was panting for breath.
"What are you guys? Whose idea was this?"
"Wow, if you finish this properly, it's going to look incredible."
KCOM's choreographer Crusoe and Vesta's leader Huey had shown their faces. I forced down my slightly ragged breathing and pressed a hand to my heaving chest. While we waited for the evaluation, Crusoe smiled broadly and said,
"Ah, Erina-sunbaenim should have come to see this too."
"Right? I'll have to brag when I see her. Tell her there was an amazing team she missed out on."
At the direct praise coming from Huey's own mouth, Nam Hye-seong and Go Ju-ha practically jumped.
"Wah! Wah! What do we do?!"
"Ugh, this feels like a dream for real."
To idol hopefuls, Vesta's leader was nothing short of a living legend, so the news that they would actually get to see him today had already brightened the faces of the other members who had been practicing desperately. Even Yu Sang-hyeon, who had been oddly shadowed, broke into a wide smile. I had never seen that expression on him before.
Among teammates so busy delighting in the praise that they forgot their greetings, I called out loudly and bowed at the waist.
"Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
I straightened before the others who were belatedly following suit, and my eyes met Huey's squarely. He had a somewhat cool impression, but when he smiled his eyes curved gently. The way he created a soft atmosphere in an instant was fascinating. Fans were said to fall sick over that gap. He felt like an idol itself.
While I was having such frivolous thoughts, the mood settled a little and the proper evaluation began. Crusoe went first.
"Of course there are still a lot of awkward or unfinished parts in the transitions between moves, but considering the practice period, it's understandable, so we'll let that slide."
Kim Yo-han, who had managed to memorize everything but still made small mistakes because the moves weren't fully polished, flinched hard.
"Unlike the other teams that paid a bit less attention to the singing, this team felt like they prepared properly, so it was a pleasure for the ears. And the staging that deliberately catches the eye in the intro and ending was good too."
After Crusoe's thoroughly favorable evaluation finished, Huey continued the praise.
"Honestly, selecting To Myself for a stage with a rival theme looked like a fresh yet risky attempt, but my worries were unfounded. I think you can keep going just like this. I'll be looking forward to the next evaluation."
"Yes, we'll work hard!"
"We'll work hard!"
With the high praise continuing, the members' tension looked ready to shoot straight through the ceiling.
"Great. Then we'll be going. Keep it up with practice!"
"Fighting~."
Once Huey and Crusoe left and a short beat passed, cheers of pure joy erupted all at once. Someone even let out a scream-like shriek; they must have been holding it in hard.
"Keuh! Nice! This really feels good!"
"Ah, at this rate aren't we going to take first in the first team mission?"
First place. Kim Yo-han and Go Ju-ha were overdoing the excitement at being praised by their idol, and inwardly I shook my head, but as long as it didn't turn into arrogance, a state of being fired up by accomplishment was something to welcome, so I didn't rein them in. Getting excited was fine.
Up to now it had been an extremely successful group project. But I didn't completely drop my guard. When things went too well, problems had a way of appearing.
And right on cue, a problem situation arose.
Yeah, if it just sailed through smoothly it wouldn't be a group project.
Three days after the first evaluation, on Tuesday afternoon at two o'clock, one day before the second evaluation. After practicing late and barely making it back from a rushed lunch, I found the practice room in such chaos that I wanted to press my palm to my forehead.
"So we are working hard."
"You call that working hard? That?"
"Hey, stop it."
Bronze-grade contestant Go Ju-ha stood with tears welling in his eyes, and in front of him was Silver-grade contestant Choi An-seong. They must already have had a full-blown fight; discarded towels and water bottles were rolling across the practice room floor. What if someone stepped on them and fell?
I picked them up one by one as I approached slowly. I didn't particularly want to get involved, but as team leader it was unthinkable to pretend I didn't see a fight.
Fortunately, before I had to force my way in and break it up, Go Ju-ha whipped his head around, scrubbed at his eyes, and took the towel and water bottle I had gathered with an awkward face. Choi An-seong also bowed his head once and left the practice room. In the quiet that followed I scanned the people still inside and met Kim Yo-han's eyes. He was the only one I could ask what had happened.
"Let's rest a little more, take care of personal things, and start group practice in thirty minutes. Please pass that along to the others. And hyung, can I talk to you for a second?"
I gestured to Kim Yo-han so we could go somewhere without people. He followed without protest as I led him to a hallway with no cameras. Then I asked what the situation had been. I needed at least a rough grasp.
"Hyung, what happened earlier?"
"Ah, so…"
Kim Yo-han mumbled and checked my expression. Honestly I was puzzled. The team atmosphere had been good, and the stage preparations weren't bad considering we still had about a week left. Conflict exploding so suddenly when I hadn't sensed any particular signs until now felt completely out of the blue.
"It's that An-seong and Ju-ha never really got along that well to begin with."
I didn't know whether those two had gotten along or not, but I accepted it for now. I had thought they simply didn't mesh, but apparently there had been an emotional rift I wasn't aware of.
"Tomorrow's the second evaluation. An-seong said he wanted to raise the completeness more, and Ju-ha said something back."
"…He did?"
"Um…"
Wanting to raise completeness was a natural desire for anyone standing on stage. What reason was there to argue? Watching Kim Yo-han roll his eyes as if troubled, I asked again.
"What exactly did he say? Did he curse at him?"
"No, not that. Uh, An-seong said something like if your grade is lower you should work even harder, and Ju-ha shot back that An-seong was only Silver himself so why was he throwing his weight around."
Choi An-seong and Go Ju-ha were both eighteen. Including Bronze-grade Kim Jin-su, those three were the same age, but Choi An-seong didn't mix well with his age-mates and tended to hang around with the Silver-grade contestants.
I had assumed it was just because that was more comfortable for him, but listening to this, it seemed Choi An-seong was overly fixated on ranks. The production staff had lined everyone up by grade and even ranked them within that, but getting swept along by it was a problem.
It looked like I would need to talk to him at least once. We had a stage to build together; if the chemistry didn't work it wouldn't do. I also felt a little sorry for not having paid more attention until now.
It got pushed down the priority list a bit.
Truthfully I had so many other things to mind that I hadn't had the mental energy to spare for that far.
The other side—namely the effort that went into the Producer-Only Quest—took quite a lot out of me.
"How have you been lately, hyung? Getting used to the joint stretching?"
"Yeah, it hurts a bit, but my dance lines definitely feel smoother, so there's a sense of reward and it makes me want to keep going."
Lately, under the name of stretching, I had been tearing and lengthening Kim Yo-han's muscles to build flexibility, and the response hadn't been bad at all. Maybe because a stiff body had been his biggest obstacle. As long as he endured a little pain, his dancing improved by leaps and bounds. Compared to the other two, he was raising his dance stats relatively easily.
"Can you spare a minute?"
Then Lee Won-yeong poked his head out from behind Kim Yo-han. How long had he been there?
"Me?"
"Yeah. I've got something to ask."
"Will it take long?"
"No."
"We've still got time until the thirty minutes. Yo-han hyung, you go first."
It was a sudden request, but there was no reason to refuse. We had grown somewhat close over the short time, too.
If he had once been as prickly as a hedgehog with all its spines out, these days he seemed to have settled down a lot. The inexplicable hostility felt diluted here and there.
I sent Kim Yo-han off first and stood in front of Lee Won-yeong. With his large eyes, slightly pale face, and faint dark circles, he looked utterly exhausted.
"Are you okay? Your face hasn't looked good lately."
"I'm fine. More importantly, I want to ask… that day, you knew, right?"
As if the greeting was done, Lee Won-yeong cut straight to the point. That day—what day?
"That day?"
"The sports festival day."
"Ah…"
Come to think of it, they had said last week's sports festival episode aired through Idol Survival Plus. I still hadn't monitored it so I didn't know what he was talking about. Had something come out there?
"What is it you think I knew?"
"That I fell on purpose. You knew, right?"
"What?"
At the sudden no-holds-barred question, five question marks planted themselves in my head. How had the broadcast come out for him to ask this? While I hesitated to answer easily, Lee Won-yeong nodded.
"I knew it. You knew after all."
Even though I hadn't answered, he smiled as if he had gotten the answer he wanted, looking relieved. My questions never got a chance to resolve as I watched Lee Won-yeong's receding back and thought,
What the hell?
Left standing alone for a moment, I shook my head once and followed after him. Either way, it was practice time now.
Tomorrow was the second evaluation, and in a week we had to step onto the stage, so today as well the road ahead was long.