The Release System
The next morning, the moment I opened my eyes on the bed, yesterday’s memories slammed into me and I buried my face in my hands. Why had I done that? Why had I slammed the accelerator out of nowhere? I wanted to clutch my head and scream.
I checked my phone. The Game Addiction value was slowly dropping—still yellow, though. I smacked my own forehead. I couldn’t even tell when I’d stopped being in my right mind.
A healthy spirit lives in a healthy body. It was such an obvious truth. Just because the pain was gone and I could move didn’t mean I was fine, and yet I’d been far too careless with my own condition, hiding behind the excuse of being busy.
I never thought I’d collapse this suddenly. I’d clearly been pushed further past my limit than I’d realized.
“Why are you smacking your forehead first thing in the morning? Bad news or something?”
A mug was thrust toward me along with the voice. I took it and followed the line of sight—Han Min-hyeok was tilting his head at me, puzzled.
“Uh, it’s nothing.”
“That so?”
While the heat of the mug seeped into my hands, I snuck a sideways glance at Min-hyeok checking his own phone.
Seeing how much Min-hyeok’s stats had climbed, the corners of my mouth lifted under the mug without me meaning to. Sipping the familiar herbal tea, I ran the numbers: three stats totaling 257. Broken down, he’d gone from 81, 81, and 90—Vocal and Dance each up by two, and Charm up by one more to hit A0. In just two weeks, a full five-point jump.
At this rate, that’s more than a respectable result.
If this kept up, he might even pick up a second trait soon.
There had been a forced edge to the gains, born of impatience, but maybe that hardship had been worth it. Charm specialists were naturally at a disadvantage compared to Vocal or Dance, but these numbers were finally solid enough to make a real run at the debut line. It felt good.
“Where’s Sang-jin hyung?”
“Sent him off to work out. Anyway, once you’re done with that, we need to hit the infirmary, so go wash up first. Want me to help?”
“No, I can manage…”
“You’ve got cuts on your hands, too. Washing your hair’s gonna be rough. Get in here.”
Before I could even answer, Min-hyeok walked straight into the bathroom, grabbed the showerhead, and checked the water temperature.
I hadn’t expected the karma from yesterday to come back this fast. When it was only my side that had split open, I could wave him off—both hands were fine. Now I was being treated like a full-blown patient.
I looked down at the big bandage on the back of my right hand, then shuffled into the bathroom after him.
I brushed my teeth first, then clumsily washed my face with one hand. By the time I snapped back to myself, the shampooing was already done and the suds rinsed clean. In barely ten minutes I was out again with a towel wrapped around my head, hair being dried, feeling completely dazed.
“Infirmary first, then food, and we’ll be right up against filming time. Afternoon schedule’s not looking easy…”
Yesterday had been the end of the Round 3 after-party, which meant the shooting schedule was about to crash down on us starting today. The final stage date was right around the corner, after all.
I counted out the remaining broadcast episodes. Episode 12 today, Episode 13 next week, then the final Episode 14.
Once he’d confirmed I’d roughly towel-dried the dampness, Han Sang-jin switched on the hair dryer.
“Anyway, go downstairs, get the wound dressed, eat a solid meal…”
Wheeeee. Through the noisy whir of the dryer came a calm voice that still carried a faint, strange urgency.
Episode 14 FINAL would be a live stage, so once again we had barely two weeks of prep time left until performance day. His face was already troubled—he was clearly worried whether I, injured only the day before yesterday, would even be able to practice properly in that window.
Truth was, even with a torn side, I could kill the pain, so practice itself was perfectly doable. The real problem was that if the wound reopened, I’d have to deal with everyone fretting over me.
Moving around while bleeding would look pretty bad, wouldn’t it?
Of all the places to get hurt. I clicked my tongue inwardly.
“I’m fine. There was just a little blood—the cut itself is small. About this big?”
Whatever the circumstances, I couldn’t skip practice just because I was hurt, so I needed to shorten the recovery time on my own. The ER doctor who treated me would have a heart attack if he heard, but the one doing the dressing was a different doctor, so maybe I could work something out.
I prided myself on a fairly sturdy body. And I had a trump card.
Recovery Rate +50%
Even thinking about it again, it really had been a perfectly timed title.
“Mm~ alright, alright. Let’s head down first.”
My hair, stripped of moisture, floated soft and fluffy as we went down to the infirmary. Just as expected, the title was doing its work—the wound was healing remarkably well.
“I’ll be checking the progress every day. Still, try not to strain the wound whenever possible. Always be careful, understood?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
I’d moved a little roughly yesterday, but nothing had gone wrong in the end, so maybe I’d be fine going forward too? Hiding that thought, I nodded obediently. As long as no one found out, it’d be fine.
It would be fine. Once the treatment was done, we headed to the cafeteria. With a packed schedule ahead, I needed to fill up properly.
“The third team stages of the idol survival show have come to an end—but for all of you, one final gate remains: the FINAL stage.”
Somehow a whole crowd had joined us for a noisy lunch, and now we moved together into the studio. Sitting on the tiered seats looking down at the stage, I watched MC Cheon Tae-rim continue in his refined formal suit. By now, his face was a familiar one.
“Only two weeks left until the FINAL stage! With so little time remaining, we can no longer simply wait around for the voting results the way we have until now. So we’ve introduced a new system—the Release System!”
Release? An unfamiliar word from a familiar face, and every contestant’s eyes went round. Release?
“You will begin FINAL stage preparations with the current roster intact until voting concludes. However, based on individual rankings from Round 3, releases will take place during FINAL stage practice. Please note that the number of contestants who can ultimately take the stage is limited.”
Saying he would explain in more detail, a massive display screen was prepared. Fourteen circles arranged beneath three divided zones—half filled in, half empty. And labeled on each zone: Alpha, Beta, Gamma.
“Only three songs have been prepared for the FINAL stage! Each song already has its concept and positions fully set.”
And of those, only seven slots per song could truly be called positions. The remaining seven existed purely as subs. Contestants’ faces hardened at the explanation.
“Priority in choosing songs and positions is determined by the most recent rankings. If you pick Main Vocal for the Alpha song and a higher-ranked contestant wants that seat? Of course you’ll have to yield. And the contestant pushed out will go on to push someone else out in turn, won’t they?”
In the end, the top twenty-one would claim the positions, and the bottom twenty-one would be shoved into sub roles. Which meant that if you failed to secure a position, you were released.
“However, since the current positions will be chosen based on Round 2 results, please keep in mind that if rankings shift after the Round 3 tally, you will have one more chance to change positions.”
Because so much was changing from the previous format, contestants were handed informational sheets with the details written out. Looking at the tiny print crammed onto the white paper, their expressions fell into three types.
“What is this even saying?”
“I don’t understand a single word.”
Those still baffled and lost…
“So you’re saying that with barely a week left until the stage, our positions might get swapped?”
“Unless you’re ridiculously confident, don’t even look at the good seats.”
Those who understood and went grimly still…
“Not my problem.”
…or those who simply didn’t care at all.
I traced the ranking announcement date. July 9th. With the stage on the 15th, any position change would leave an extremely—extremely—short prep window.
Getting your position switched midstream with no preparation at all would be pure disaster. From the top ranks down through the upper-mid, everyone looked equally appalled by the outrageous rule.
“Telling us to switch positions then is basically saying, go die once…”
Seo Woo-ri, sitting in the front row, slumped over, then irritably pushed his hair back.
“If someone snipes wrong, the whole stage is going to tank.”
Lee Jae-jin frowned as he spoke, and Woo Cheong-hee added in a deflated voice,
“It’s a live broadcast on top of everything. We’re already going to be so nervous…”
Even a little thought made it clear how easily you could sabotage another contestant with this setup, and the mood grew heavier.
For someone in the upper ranks, say—someone who’d been aiming for Main Vocal of the Beta song from the start—they could deliberately enter as Main Dancer of the Gamma song, then a week later switch into Main Vocal of the Beta song.
If that happened, the whole position board could collapse in a cascade.
“If it goes wrong, all the practice time you’ve put in could just… evaporate…”
I wanted to think no one would go that far—but you never know with people. I couldn’t be sure.
From people already gripping trembling hands to those heaving long sighs, groans never stopped among those reading the guide. But even that was only the worry of people who still believed they could reach the Final.
A few of those stuck in the lower ranks looked thoroughly uninterested.
“From 22nd down it’s basically a guaranteed sub release anyway. What’s the point?”
The ones sitting in the bottom half when you split forty-two people clean down the middle. And among them, those who couldn’t be sure their rankings would meaningfully rebound after Round 3—whether they’d even stand on the FINAL stage was already unclear.
As if reading that discontent, the MC continued with an additional explanation.
“Do you remember the Passes I mentioned before?”
Passes. The eyes of contestants who’d looked half-checked-out snapped into focus at once.
“Just as the Sunflower team, first place in Round 3’s Legends Never Die, earned the right through their Pass for every member to stand on the FINAL stage regardless of individual ranking—there will be more opportunities for Passes to be distributed as filming continues. So please, all of you, don’t give up. Give it everything you’ve got until the very end.”
In other words, it wouldn’t be a clean cut of only twenty-one people making the stage.
“No gaps at all…”
Exactly how and how many they’d hand out was unknown, but this meant even the lower ranks still had a chance to stay until the end. With things like this, completely giving up wasn’t an option either. Their talent for hope-torture was impressive.
Upper ranks carrying anxiety over position swaps, lower ranks carrying anxiety over release—every contestant’s attention locked in. And then the first FINAL team selection began.
Three songs prepared in total. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma—all three teams would receive original tracks with no existing original artist.
Unlike previous cover songs, originals had no prior owner, so the sense of building something together would be stronger. Completely new construction from the ground up.
“First up is the Gamma song. The title the composer gave it is—Sunshine!”
And so the first song revealed was Gamma’s. Listening, it had a breezy vacation feel, a cool melody full of charm.
People listening started dancing with their shoulders to the rhythm. It was the kind of beat that conjured California beaches under blazing sun. Given that the viewers were called Sunshine, it wasn’t meaningless either. If they could properly capture this song’s unique bright, refreshing energy, it would be a solid choice.
“Next is the Beta song. The title is Meteor Shower!”
The Beta song. The moment the interlude hit, Song A-seong, sitting beside me, lit up.
“Meteor Shower…”
Some spark of inspiration must have struck—his fingers tapped along to the beat. The longer he listened, the more his face filled with a smile. Clearly, Song A-seong had already made his choice.
“And finally, the Alpha song is…”
The MC gestured toward the screen, and a crisp beat filled our ears. Whew. A whistle cut through. Of the three, this one had by far the strongest presence.
“Festival Night!”
A sensory yet emotional melody thick with festival energy. Most people probably felt it on instinct. This was the main track.
Even with all these uncertain variables layered on, the most important thing was still picking a good song and building a successful stage around it.
The refined yet raw-edged melody of Festival Night was addictive. Even setting the competition aside, this felt like a song that could stream hard for a long time on its own merits.
Looking around, plenty of people clearly wanted this one. With the songs structured like this, a bloodbath was already on the horizon.
“Alright then—please choose your songs!”
The war began.