The Viewing Party
Three days after the first training camp ended, on May 13th—the day episode five of Idol Survival was set to air—I had promised to gather with my Team 16 roommates to watch it together. So I bought some drinks and arrived at a familiar street for the first time in a while. Han Min-hyeok had provided the venue, and when I got there, it turned out to be a newly built officetel near XX University, where he often did busking.
"Welcome, Han-hee hyung!"
As I checked the address I'd received in advance and rang the doorbell, Song A-seong came out and opened the door. He must have arrived first.
"Yeah, been resting well?"
I lightly handed the drinks over to Song A-seong and stepped inside with him, where a delicious smell filled the apartment.
"You're here? Dinner's almost ready, so go make yourself comfortable on the sofa over there~."
I greeted Han Min-hyeok as he poked his head out from the kitchen, then sat on the sofa and looked around. The living room had clean interiors and simple decorations—lived-in just enough, yet carefully put together.
It was a world of difference from my own place, which still had almost nothing in it and looked completely empty.
As I reflected a little, thinking of that house with no TV or sofa, a ding-dong rang out. I turned my head to see Han Sang-jin and Kwon Do-ha come in.
"Welcome."
"Ah, come on in~. Did you two meet up on the way?"
"We ran into each other just out front. Ah, please take this."
The moment Kwon Do-ha arrived he held out a shopping bag stamped with a department-store logo, and Han Min-hyeok narrowed his eyes.
"I thought I told you to come empty-handed…."
"You invited us—I couldn't do that. It's wine. I chose something light and easy to drink."
"Hmm."
Bringing what was clearly expensive wine as a housewarming gift… I wondered whether he even remembered he was twenty-one. Han Min-hyeok looked thoroughly unimpressed, but in the end he nodded his thanks. He'd already bought it, after all; there was no taking it back.
"When did you get here?"
"I just arrived as well."
Han Sang-jin smoothly bypassed the two of them and came over to greet me, setting the gift he'd brought on the table. A diffuser, maybe? Smart choice. Song A-seong, who had been in the kitchen, came out carrying dishes.
"Since all the hyungs are here, if you haven't eaten yet, shall we start with dinner?"
"Shall we?"
We'd agreed to meet around 6:30, so I'd naturally expected we'd end up eating together, but I hadn't expected to feel this thoroughly treated. Plates appeared one after another until, before I knew it, a not-so-small table was completely full.
"Did you make all of this yourself?"
"Yeah, I like cooking~."
"It looks too good to eat right away—should we take pictures first?"
Faced with a table that had clearly taken serious effort, I pulled out my phone without thinking. I wasn't usually the type who enjoyed photographing food, but this visual was impossible to leave alone.
Individual steak plates for each of us, a salad in the center, pasta, and even lobster. At this point it was basically a restaurant.
It felt wasteful to only shoot the food, so I took a few group photos first, then picked up my knife—and nearly dropped it.
"Whoa, what kind of meat is this? It just melts."
"Sous-vide tenderloin. I put some real care into it."
Han Min-hyeok added that he'd felt like we'd been eating too poorly lately, so he'd gone all out this time, and poured the juice I'd brought. Was this guy a chef? Why was he this good at cooking? His specs were ridiculous on this side too.
The more I ate, the more the flavors drew out involuntary sounds of admiration. By the time I'd cleaned my plate, it was already seven. Commercials were still rolling on the TV screen.
"Do you think all the rival-match stages will air today?"
"Probably, right? Voting runs until the day after tomorrow."
Song A-seong answered Han Min-hyeok's question. Given that voting was ending soon, it made sense that all ten stages would come out tonight. I was looking forward to seeing how they felt on screen.
"Ah, it's starting."
"I'm kind of nervous."
Gathered in the living room, staring at the Idol Survival logo, we soon saw our own faces fill the screen. Come to think of it, of the people here, everyone except Han Min-hyeok had been a team leader.
First up was the rival match between Lee Jae-jin's team—who had picked their idol first—and Cha Ji-heon's team. In simple terms, it was a showdown overflowing with passion and respect.
Lee Jae-jin was on the Green Team, Cha Ji-heon on the Orange Team. Where the Orange Team focused on "the idol of the past," the Green Team focused on "their future selves"—that was the difference.
Both teams boldly chose famous songs. The Orange Team didn't change the track much, pouring respect into it while capturing the original feel well; the Green Team went through considerable rearrangement, and watching the stage, the professional polish practically radiated off them. It looked like a thoroughly successful attempt.
"They're too good."
A continuous run of dazzling choreography over a fast beat that made you bounce along without realizing it. By the time the stage that forced every viewer's mouth open finally ended, gasps and applause exploded from the studio audience. My own face flashed by for a moment. I think I'd thought it was cool even then.
Cha Ji-heon was a participant with excellent fundamentals, and the chemistry with his teammates was solid, so objectively the stage's completion wasn't bad—but after Lee Jae-jin had swept through so fiercely, I couldn't help finding it a little flat. The result was a win for Lee Jae-jin's team. Woo Cheong-hee's brightly smiling face filled the screen.
"Ah, Sang-jin hyung's turn. Blue Team."
"People were singing your praises, you know."
In the previous episode, Han Sang-jin's habit of taking good care of the people around him had drawn attention, and he was currently being introduced across communities as [Ideal Son-in-Law.jpg].
"They called him the proper son-in-law, right? Super popular~."
"…I'm not."
Han Sang-jin shook his head at Han Min-hyeok's easygoing grin. Thinking about it, Han Min-hyeok seemed to especially enjoy teasing Song A-seong and Han Sang-jin. Did the two of them have something in common?
The fact that they're both FM types who like principles and rules?
Their strict personalities did feel similar. I snorted at the silly thought, and Kwon Do-ha spoke up.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Uh… that Min-hyeok hyung has a terrible personality?"
"That's correct."
"What's correct?"
Seizing the chance, Song A-seong answered right away, only for Han Min-hyeok to mash down on his head. Behind him, I saw Han Sang-jin give a small nod.
"Waaaaaah!"
Then a scream made every gaze snap to the TV. The participants were reacting in pure shock. The moment the next image appeared on screen, I swallowed a laugh.
"Whoa."
"…."
Han Sang-jin's team, who had prepared a stage for the fans, was up against one of the three teams that hadn't made the top seven—the First Team. The First Team went on first, and their stage outfits were anything but ordinary. All eleven members were wearing rabbit ears, and the visual impact was considerable.
"Rabbit ears…."
Whether the deciding factor was supposed to be aegyo or not, they had gone for a cute concept, but the stage was lacking in a lot of ways. The only thing that stuck was the rabbit ears.
The stage that followed was genuinely moving. True to the theme of a letter to fans, you could feel the traces of real thought. Clean white-toned outfits and concept, yet the lyrics and overall atmosphere were excellent. In particular, the quietly ringing line about how "you made me into a better me" stayed with me. It felt like they had tried to convey sincerity rather than flash.
Perhaps because it aligned so well with the image Han Sang-jin had built up until now, his team received enthusiastic responses from the live audience and won by a wide margin.
And then the next order: the Rival team. I had experienced it myself, so I already knew the stage, but I couldn't help worrying whether the meaning would come across properly to people watching on TV.
"Yes, the third rival match—theme: Rival! Who will be the winner of this showdown!"
Each team wasn't allotted much time, so the stages flew by in an instant. After they finished, right before the results were announced, commercial break hit and Song A-seong flopped onto his back.
"We'll check after the commercials!"
"Why cut it here!"
While Song A-seong lay sprawled, I slipped out of my seat. I pretended it was nothing, but watching straight-on was harder than I'd expected. It wasn't even my turn, yet they kept cutting to reaction close-ups of my face.
I needed to monitor, but for some reason I couldn't look at my own face. Was I still that shy?
I thought about killing a little more time in the bathroom, then met my own eyes in the mirror. Still unfamiliar.
I quickly looked away. When would I get used to this?
"Hyung, where did you go?"
"Hm? Yeah. Bathroom."
When I returned, our team's turn had thankfully already passed. Now Kwon Do-ha's team, who had chosen Lover as their theme, was facing the Second Team in a rival match—and, as expected, Kwon Do-ha was single-handedly devouring both his own teammates and the opponents. Even if you tried to widen your view, there was no one who could stand next to him.
Overwhelming vocals and dance execution. Comparing him to rookies who hadn't even debuted yet was clearly excessive.
Just as everyone predicted, Kwon Do-ha's team took a clean win. Now Song A-seong and Han Min-hyeok's team was up against the final Third Team. The theme was Friend.
"Ah, this one was tough."
Han Min-hyeok spoke in a tone of reminiscence. Looking at the concept of the Red Team that Song A-seong and Han Min-hyeok belonged to, you could tell just how hard he must have worked. It was pure youth—singing about friendship and dreams.
On a stage decorated in sky blue and white, a boy talking about friendship and dreams.
"But you know who I am. I pull off even the hard ones."
"Quiet."
Carrying a boyish image at twenty-four couldn't have been easy, but watching the stage, Han Min-hyeok melted into the concept with less resistance than expected. Being able to fit yourself in that well was a talent too.
"Impressive."
"Right? Not bad, huh?"
Youth. A concept that could easily turn cringey, but they had held it with real seriousness, and that was good. Song A-seong's rap entered and exited at just the right moments, lifting the atmosphere even higher. This side matched the concept well too.
The opposing team's stage wasn't bad either, but the Red Team took the win without much trouble.
"So we all won~."
"Looks like they'll announce the number-one team later."
After all ten stages, five winning teams had been decided. Which of them would take first place still hadn't been revealed, but I wasn't particularly looking forward to it. There were so many teams that had done well, and I doubted the benefits would amount to anything real. I just hoped they wouldn't mess around with us for no reason.
"Everyone worked hard."
"Shall we start cleaning up?"
Before I knew it the time was approaching nine, and outside it was already dark. I felt a jolt. I should have left before sunset, but somehow I'd ended up watching all the way through. How was I supposed to get home?
I was still avoiding alleys at night, so the situation was awkward.
"I'll give you a ride."
"Ah, I'm close."
Han Sang-jin shook his head, saying his place was nearby. Kwon Do-ha turned to me—a perfectly timed offer.
"What about you, Han-hee-ssi? You're quite far, aren't you?"
"…Please."
After helping with the cleanup before leaving, night had fully fallen. Leaving Song A-seong, who said he would sleep over at Han Min-hyeok's, the three of us headed out to Kwon Do-ha's car. Even in that short stretch outside, my hands and feet felt like they were turning cold, so I quickened my steps. This trauma showed no intention of healing.
Moving around at night like this was so uncomfortable that the number of things I had to watch out for kept growing. I'd tried every way I could think of to fix it, but it wasn't easy. There were so many parked cars that the hit-and-run from that day kept flashing through my mind….
"Han-hee-ssi, get in."
I was scanning the surroundings, still half-expecting a car to leap out from somewhere, when Kwon Do-ha's voice reached me. I folded myself into the car, nodding at whatever greeting Han Sang-jin offered while pressing hard on my fingertips. Why was I making such a fuss over something like this?
I couldn't spend my whole life avoiding dark alleys, yet if possible I just wanted the memory erased.
"Han-hee-ssi."
"Yes?"
I answered while blankly watching the neon-filled night streets.
"…Never mind. More importantly—about the second training camp starting Monday."
"Yes."
"That day, if possible, you should stick close to Lee Jae-jin."
"Jae-jin hyung?"
It was a bit out of nowhere, but if Kwon Do-ha was saying it, it was worth listening to. There had to be a reason.
"Just that day?"
"Yes, for now."
"Understood."
"…You're not going to ask more?"
When I simply nodded, Kwon Do-ha hesitated before speaking again.
"I feel like there's a reason you're not explaining."
"…Yes."
"Then that's fine."
From what I had observed so far, if anything Kwon Do-ha was an ally—certainly not someone who would cause harm.
"…."
Trust was something you gave and received. Sometimes you had to make the first gesture yourself.
Unless something unexpected happened, we would end up working in the same group—and even if not, he knew about the system's existence, so either way he was someone I would be seeing for a long time.
"I'll trust you."
Looking at Kwon Do-ha's complicated expression, I thought: Please live up to that trust.