“We might get chewed out for this.”“For Sion?”“For Sion, and for us.”Lee Jungyoon raised both hands with an expression that said, I don’t know anymore, and shook their head.Hyeryeong could understand that attitude.Sion, to be honest, I don’t think you’re at a level that deserves an A grade yet. But when we compare the stage you showed at the Entrance Ceremony and today’s stage— your pace of improvement, and the charm that only you have— that’s why we’re giving you this grade.It was a drastic decision that the judges, including Hyeryeong, had made only after thinking and thinking again right up to the very end.Promoting Lee Sion to A grade was definitely a decision with plenty of room to cause problems.“But even if we get cursed out, I want to see it once.”“I agree with that.”“I still think it’s too early for A grade, but if I were producing a girl group, Sion would be a participant I’d pick no matter what.”With Hyeryeong strongly recommending, Jungyoon remaining neutral, and producer Ahn Seongho opposing, the sharp clash over whether to promote Lee Sion to A grade had, in the end, been settled in favor of promotion.Even if there were differences in opinion among the judges, when it came to Sion’s rate of growth and potential, they felt that, compared to the other A class participants, Sion was, if anything, ahead rather than lacking.I couldn’t say this out loud because it’d be a disaster once it aired, but...After getting into the van to head back once filming wrapped, Hyeryeong went over the stages from today.If she had to pick two who had stood out especially, it would be Ryu Ayeon, who had taken center in A class, and Lee Sion, who had taken center in F class.And there was one thing she hadn’t been able to say to anyone, because if it came out of her mouth it would sound far too biased.Sion’s center was more attractive than Ryu Ayeon’s.Though a bit rough, the stage from Sion— who had undeniably led all of F class— had moved Hyeryeong more than Ryu Ayeon’s performance, which had led center with a level of perfection that would not have looked out of place even if Ayeon debuted as an idol right now.***I’m fucked.Trying to remember the last time I’d felt like this, it was probably when I’d gotten CSAT score sheets that averaged out to a Grade 5.I’d agonized so much over what to do because I knew that once I went home my mom wouldn’t leave me alone.Now, standing in front of the door of the practice room where A class was gathered, those memories floated up and dragged my mood down.A grade.Even though I’d gotten that amazing result that only twenty out of a hundred participants could receive, I was more afraid than happy.Did I show the judges something wrong? No, is this my aunt’s scheme?I’m someone who can evaluate myself objectively.I did think that I’d done not bad in the stage F class had shown this time, but if you asked whether I had the same level of skill as the A class participants, the answer was absolutely not.We’re giving this grade because participant Lee Sion showed that the “devotion” mentioned at the Entrance Ceremony stage wasn’t just words but results. We’re giving you A grade because we believe you’ll continue to do well in the future.At first I’d wondered if they were filming some kind of hidden camera prank on me, but once I heard the reason for picking me as A grade, I knew this was my karma.No, that’s wrong. That was the script my aunt wrote for me!The face of my aunt, which I’d snuck a look at from the auditorium earlier during filming, floated into my mind.—Hey, just smile! I’ll double your allowance! Double!!When I got the unexpected A grade and was so flustered I didn’t know what to do, my aunt, standing behind the cameras, had looked at me and let out this frantic, silent scream.And at the words “double your allowance,” I’d been possessed like by a ghost and ended up beaming a huge smile.Creak.“What are you doing, let’s go in.”“Yeah... I guess we have to.”As I just hovered awkwardly in front of the A class practice room door, unable to bring myself to open it, Nayeon, apparently frustrated by the sight, grabbed the handle and threw it open in one go.Only three people had been promoted to A class in this mid-check.Nayeon, who’d gone up from F class with me, and—“Hello, I’m Park Soyeon, I came up from B class. We’re comrades who got promoted to A class together, so let’s do well!”—participant Park Soyeon, the only one to be promoted from B class to A class.What is this weird feeling?Looking at Park Soyeon, who was smiling brightly and greeting me and Nayeon, I felt an unknown, subtle sense of unease.Kim Musik?And then I realized why I felt uneasy looking at Park Soyeon.—First Lieutenant Kang, welcome to our company. Let’s do well together, okay?In my soldier days, my first company commander, Kim Musik.Among the soldiers, Captain Kim had been called “Stupid” as a kind of slang nickname and was famous for always smiling cheerfully.Of course, there’s nothing wrong with smiling, but the problem was that Kim Musik’s hobby was to smile while screwing people over, making him an incredibly nasty bastard.Even for me, I’d suffered so much because “Stupid” would beam at me and dump his own work on me before going home.Then, whenever he made some mistake himself, he’d feed the company’s other officers to the alligators one by one as substitutes, selling them out, so he remained one of the bastards I still remembered to this day.Right now, I was seeing that Kim Musik overlaid on top of Park Soyeon.“Why are your eyes like that again.”“Hey, what do you mean ‘your eyes’? You know the cameras are rolling, right?”“...I’ll see you later when the cameras are off.”As I observed Park Soyeon with my four pupils, Kim Nayeon once again scolded me.At this point, she practically treated me like a punching bag, and the way she dismissed me grieved me to no end.“Lee Sion, we came up here representing F class. We absolutely cannot let them look down on us.”“That’s true.”I’d thought Nayeon was calm because she hadn’t really reacted on the way to the A class practice room, but I guess not.Saying that we were representing F class and had to carry a sense of responsibility, Nayeon’s eyes were blazing with fighting spirit, completely different from before.I’m sorry I hit you then. But thanks to you, I think our F class was able to all move up.Sion, I really think you’re talented. You’ll do well in A class too!Unni!!! No, leader! You can’t abandon me and go!! I’ll follow you!!After the grade changes were over, our F class had a brief farewell.Even though it had only been a week, we’d suffered together, rolling around in the same mud, so I guess we’d grown attached; even though we weren’t really parting forever and were just being split into different classes, it was still pretty sad.In Yunkyung’s case, it had been quite a hassle to peel Yunkyung off, since Yunkyung had grabbed onto my leg and refused to let go, saying, How can you go up to A class and leave me behind.And—...At first, I felt like you were looking down on me, like I’d become a useless person, and that was really hard. But once I let go and stepped back, there were things I started to see. If it weren’t for you, I probably never would have seen them to the end.—Thank you.Just as I was about to leave after saying goodbye to the other F class members, those were the words Lee Gahyeon had given me, coming up alone.From someone I’d thought would have every right to resent me, they were so unexpected that even now, complicated emotions were still shaking in my chest.“It’s not like A class is anything special! They’re the same trainees as us! Let’s give it our all!”“Yeah, let’s do it!”“We got evaluated and came up here just the same as they did!”It was time to enter the A class practice room.The three of us who’d become A class promotion comrades put our hands together in front of that door, steeled our resolve, shouted “fighting,” and only then went in through the open door into the practice room.'Yeah, just like Nayeon said, the people in A class are all trainees just like us! Let’s see what happens!'With that resolve in my heart, I walked toward where the A class members were gathered.***“Kim Miyoung... damn Kim Miyoung!”“Unni, why are you hitting the pillow again?”After dinner, once we’d returned to the dorm, I was on my bed, pummeling the pillow nonstop while imagining it was my aunt.Seeing that, Suyeon freaked out and tried to stop me, but I just couldn’t hold it in.It’s not like A class is anything special! They’re the same trainees as us!Even Nayeon, who’d said that, was someone I wanted to beat up right now.“Did something happen during A class practice?”“...No, nothing happened.”That wasn’t a lie.The first practice we did in A class hadn’t had any problems.The one with the problem was me.Is there really that big a difference?There’s a phrase, “peak of foolishness.”No matter what you’re doing, when you first start, you don’t know anything, so you can actually challenge it with confidence.Even when you watch people who are good at something, you think,If I just put in some effort, I can probably do it like that too, right?—and you rush in with that mindset.But once you start getting interested, and you learn a little more, you run into something.Your own ignorance.Didn’t our foot angle just slip a little there?We should subdivide the rhythm once more going into this part.Let’s pay more attention to the vocal harmony section. Right now, Sion’s voice is sticking out a bit.The theme song “Spotlight” was something I’d sung and danced to hundreds of times over the past week, so I’d arrogantly thought I’d gotten it down to a certain extent.To think the gap between F class and A class was this big.Back when trainer Lee Jungyoon had brought us to observe A class practice, my thoughts had ended at just, They’re good, but nothing beyond that.Now, I was starting to see a little why they were good.In F class, we’d simply looked at whether the shapes of the moves lined up or not, whether we were in sync or not.Here, they picked apart down to the smallest detail where the choreography started and ended with the beat.At first, I’d thought, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} What difference could that possibly make, why are they making such a fuss, but as I practiced with the A class members, I could clearly feel just how big a difference that tiny distinction made from the perspective of someone watching the stage.And that wasn’t all.Even Nayeon, who had led me and the others with overwhelming skill in F class, was here just barely managing to pull her own weight.Seeing that, I felt something close to fear.Especially Ryu Ayeon and Seo Ryujin.Ah, the Double Ryu? Those two are just on another level anyway.Is that what real idols are like?Ryu Ayeon at center shone so much among the formidable A class members that it was hard to take your eyes off.As for Seo Ryujin, it was like Ryujin was the original singer; from start to finish of practice, Ryujin digested the song perfectly without a single break in focus.“Suyeon, how many years did you say you’d been a trainee?”“Uh... three years. Why?”“Then what do you usually learn after basic steps?”“Basic steps? After that, usually you start learning genre dances, or you cover actual idol group choreographies to gradually build your skill.”Genre dances?When I couldn’t understand the explanation and my expression turned doubtful, Suyeon calmly continued.“There are lots of different kinds of dance, right? But most of the genres idols learn are hip-hop and urban, and I’ve heard that sometimes the big-name agencies even have trainees learn modern dance.”Well, even in games, there were dozens of different types— LoL, RTS, AOS— so of course dance would be varied too.“Teach me.”“Huh?”“I follow the moves exactly, but somehow, when I do them, it doesn’t feel the same as when Ryu Ayeon or Seo Ryujin does.”At my words, Suyeon looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.Like, Are you serious.I guess I have to admit it.Honestly, up until now, rather than wanting to do stages well, I’d just been working hard because I was ashamed of the disastrous F grade I’d gotten.But during this mid-check stage, that thought changed a little.It was fun.At first I hadn’t been able to do anything— neither the choreography nor the singing— but putting our strength together with everyone else to create a stage that was still lacking but looked decent was enjoyable.The moment I felt myself gradually getting better as I learned singing and dancing, things I’d never known, it was hard to deny that I’d gotten hooked.More than anything—Good job.The judges who had torn our stage apart just a few days before had now seen our changed stage, looked at us in surprise, and praised us.When the participants and staff watching from behind sent us applause, I felt this indescribable electric thrill wrap around my whole body.It was the first time I’d ever felt something like that.Whether playing games,Or watching dramas,Even if I put together all the feelings I’d gotten from the things I’d enjoyed up to now, it still wouldn’t be enough to match that overwhelming feeling.I decided to admit that I wanted to feel that emotion bigger, and more often.

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