“Hello, I’m trainee Kim Nara from Muse Entertainment.”“I’m individual trainee Kim Suyeon. And this is the same individual trainee, my unni Sion!”Suyeon did my introduction for me.All excited like she’d become my manager just because we’d been assigned the same dorm room, she was introducing me to the people we’d be rooming with.“How old is everyone?”“I’m 17. Sion unni is 19.”“I’m 17 too!”“Then should we talk comfortably?”“Yeah! I’m glad—I’ve got a same-age friend.”“I mean, seriously, I also…”Oh, what a pity.One thing I’ve realized while living as a woman: women are such capable beings that they can chatter for a full thirty minutes off something as simple as age, like now.Of course, if it were a topic I’m interested in—say, games, dramas, or the Three Kingdoms—I could easily chatter for thirty minutes too.But keeping small talk flowing naturally off any random topic, like now, was a stretch for me.“Unni, your entrance ceremony stage earlier was really impressive.”“…Thanks.”Nara from Muse Enter, who was the same age as Suyeon, resurrected my painful memories.While I was seriously considering desertion as Nara made me relive that entrance-ceremony fiasco,-Contestants, after changing into the daily wear provided in the dorm, please gather in the auditorium right now.an announcement came over telling us to assemble.“Wow, look at this. This must be the group outfit!”Before the announcement even finished, Suyeon—simply excited because she’d been assigned the same dorm as me—immediately grabbed the clothes that looked like gym wear and waved them around.Seeing that, I checked the bed with my name on it and found the same outfit placed there.‘This reminds me of when I first entered the Korea Military Academy.’I don’t know how it is now, but back in my time the dorms at the Academy were four to a room.Back then too, just like now, gym wear called “daily wear” was laid out on the bed.I never imagined they’d tell us to keep wearing that for all four years without issuing new ones.‘By senior year it was basically a rag.’If the daily wear back then was a dingy gray, the one we just received was gym wear with a clean design—white and black in harmony.As I changed into that gym wear, I repeated something endlessly in my head.Two weeks.Somehow, just survive two weeks.***“Contestants, do you like the dorm?”“Yes!”“Good. Then I’ll explain why you’re gathered in the auditorium right now!”Seeing the MC host with a lively voice and expression as if the shoot had just started made me think: pros really are different.‘We spent hours just on the entrance ceremony stage. Impressive.’Looking around, the contestants all looked visibly tired.“As we previewed earlier, two weeks from now you will appear on MPlay’s music broadcast, Music Count.”When Jang Junseok gestured, a video of music-show stages flashed quickly across the screen installed at the very front of the auditorium.‘I’m going to appear there?’I don’t usually get nervous about much.But thinking of singing and dancing in front of hundreds of people, like the stage video being shown now, I could feel my heart thumping for some reason.“Of course, for you to get on the Music Count stage, you need a song of your own, right?”“Yes!”Before our answer even finished, several people began to appear on the stage set up above the auditorium.“Oh! It’s Judge Lee Jungyoon!”At the center of those who appeared stood choreographer Lee Jungyoon, who had been judging contestants just a moment ago.Tak!She snapped her fingers to make a sound, and the lights all went out at once.Only a single remaining light was illuminating the people on stage.And at the same time, music flowed out.I’ve been waiting for this moment (Oh yeah)The light I’ve been hidingNow it’s my turn to show itYou can’t avoid my eyesIn time with the music, around ten people began to dance in unison.“The song’s really exciting.”“That’s because it mixes EDM and dance-pop style.”“If you mix those, it gets exciting?”“Mm… usually, yeah. You hear it, right, how the tempo is really fast? When the tempo is fast, listeners’ heartbeats speed up and they get fluttery. Plus it’s using a four-beat, so it’s good for people to sway along.”Thanks to Suyeon explaining that the synthesizer and bassline also make listeners’ ears tingle, I felt like I understood the song we were hearing at least a little.Maybe it’ll feel like a dreamBut I’ll make it realNow it’s my turnMake everyone remember meWatching the stage with Suyeon’s commentary, even I could sense the song steadily heading toward the climax before I knew it.The electronic sounds Suyeon had described were building an ever-rising mood, and the choreography was growing more intense to match.Pick me now, pick me wowA name that’ll make you flutterAmong countless starsChoose me— now!Shine me now, light me upBelieve in me to the endThere’s only one chance“It’s me now, it’s now!”The stage’s climax burst out at last.“Wow…”The people dancing to the song on stage all, in perfect unison with the climax, raised their index fingers toward the sky and stamped their feet in place, then all jumped together without a hair’s breadth of error.It’s not like I’d never seen idol stages before.Idol stages come out on TV constantly—whether you want to see them or not, you see them.But—‘It’s completely different from watching on TV.’Back then, even if I watched a stage, my only reaction was “they’re pretty” or “he’s handsome,” but what I felt now was close to wonder.It was only about ten people dancing in unison; how did it feel like there were hundreds of people on stage?Only belatedly did I realize that my heart was pounding.“Please give a hand to choreographer Lee Jungyoon and the team members who showed you that awesome stage!”Clap clap clap!Even without the MC’s words, I was already clapping with all my might.Once the applause gradually died down, Jang Junseok took the mic again and resumed hosting.“The song you just heard is Idol Ground 100’s official theme, ‘Spotlight’! Ms. Lee Jungyoon herself did the choreography, and producer Ahn Seongho—also a judge—composed it.”Hearing Jang Junseok say that choreographer Lee Jungyoon and producer Ahn Seongho made the song, Suyeon got all worked up.“This is seriously insane, unni! Teacher Lee Jungyoon has idol groups lining up to get choreography from her, and producer Ahn Seongho is the hottest composer right now!”Hoh.Honestly, aside from Hyeryeong I didn’t know either of those judges, but from what Suyeon said, they must be pretty incredible.“Within these two weeks, you must do your very best to master this song. Of course, it may be hard on your own strength, right?”At Jang Junseok’s question, the contestants all nodded at once.Then, as if he’d been waiting for that reaction, he continued.“For all of you, Idol Ground 100 will have Ms. Hyeryeong as your vocal trainer, and as your dance trainer, Ms. Lee Jungyoon here will be training you going forward!”“Waaa!!!!”Was I the only one who heard that attaching those two famous people as trainers meant they’d work us that much more harshly?The other contestants were shouting for joy, like this was the best.“Lastly, as for the grades A, B, C, D, and F you’re currently divided into…”Pausing briefly, Jang Junseok looked around at us gathered in the auditorium, then spoke again.“Your current grades are not fixed. At the mid-check one week from now, your grades will be readjusted once more, and you’ll get on the Music Count stage with those grades!”At the words that grades could change, the previously excited mood among the contestants cooled in an instant.Even Suyeon, who had been smiling ear to ear the whole time we were in the auditorium, now had a tense expression.‘An F is just too humiliating on a human level. I have to at least get to D—no, C.’My zeal was blazing.No matter how uninterested I am in idols and how much I’m not a trainee, the big F grade badge stuck right on the front of my daily wear was far too disgraceful.Even on the CSAT I averaged a grade 5; how does it make sense to get an F here?This was more shameful than getting kicked out early from the gifted education center after a year.“Before we begin the training process starting tomorrow, tonight is the last time you’ll be able to sleep comfortably. I hope you all survive until the day you become the viewers’ girl group.”With Jang Junseok’s final lines, the long day finally came to a close.***Bam-ba ba-ba-bam~ bam-bara bam-ba bam-ba-bam♬“Gah!”At the bugle fanfare so familiar it was chilling ringing in my ear, I had no choice but to spring straight up.This sound that pierced my ear and thumped my heart—“What lunatic…”I never imagined I would hear the devil’s melody here—the one that wakes you from sleep in a single note and tenses your body.“Uuugh… unni, you’re up?”“…Yeah.”Starting with me—maybe thanks to the wake-up music—the contestants sharing my room began getting up one by one.Suyeon, and Nara and Jihae whom we met yesterday.All three stretched as if they’d slept soundly, with refreshed faces; none of them felt anything at all about the music now ringing, treating it as just some loud noise.‘Is this Aunt’s scheme too?’I was the only one here who would know this accursed music, so I # Nоvеlight # suspected it might be Aunt’s ploy aimed at me.But there was no time to ponder that either.“Let’s go eat!”It was time to go straight to breakfast.– From now on, contestants, please follow the schedule posted on your door. If you’re even a little late, everyone suffers, so you must keep time.I remembered what the staffer said last night before bed while posting the schedule on our door.‘Why does it feel like I’m back in the army?’The distributed schedule was crammed with items from wake-up to lights-out, tight enough that there was hardly a moment to slack.Even now, before going to breakfast we had to at least wash up, so everyone grabbed their toiletries and headed for the washroom.Rubbing sleepy eyes, we arrived at the washroom with the others.There, contestants who’d arrived ahead of us were already washing their faces at the sinks lined up in a row; seeing that, try as I might to shake it off, I couldn’t help recalling the army’s training center.“Let’s go. I’m hungry.”Debating whether this place was really a dorm or a training center, we finished washing up, and by then my stomach was already feeling empty.I usually skip breakfast, but maybe because we were in an army-like dorm, my stomach was growling from the morning.“Wait a second! We still need to put something on our faces.”“We already put on toner and lotion.”“I don’t have skin like unni, so I have to do base makeup. I’m sure there’ll be a ton of cameras in the cafeteria too.”Saying I might not understand because my skin is good, but people like her look weird on camera if they don’t do base makeup, Suyeon busied herself applying products to her face.I couldn’t understand it—I’ve never done makeup in my past life or this one.Anyway, Suyeon, and Nara and Jihae too, all did their makeup desperately in that short time, and I could only watch.No—to be precise, the way they did their makeup felt like the mettle of warriors checking their gear before heading to the battlefield, so I couldn’t do anything.Only after hurriedly finishing their busy makeup did we finally reach the dorm cafeteria.‘This is actual food?’It was surprising.Because of facilities like the army’s, I’d long since given up on expecting anything from meals.But when we arrived and checked the menu, my lack of expectation was magnificently betrayed.Stir-fried pork, seaweed soup.There were side items like kimchi and salad, but the important thing was that there was meat and seaweed soup.And the taste was excellent.To be honest, Madam Sukja’s cooking is catastrophic, so the food at home is in the realm of survival; a proper home-style stir-fried pork taste after so long—“Unni… isn’t that a bit too much?”“Hm? It’s good. Why, aren’t you eating more?”As I was mindlessly enjoying the one-two punch of stir-fried pork and seaweed soup, Nari sitting across from me asked worriedly if I wasn’t eating too much.“It is good, but… I have to manage my weight too. Unni, if you eat like that, don’t you gain weight?”“Well… I think I usually eat about this much?”Hearing my answer, our room’s members looked at me with shocked faces.Certainly, even after regressing as a woman, my meal portions weren’t much different from when I was a man, and I’d never once gained weight.‘Right—at school too, the kids were surprised watching how much I ate.’I briefly wondered if I was sick, but I’ve been eating like this for eighteen years already.If there were a problem, it would’ve shown up long ago, I thought, and finished my meal.

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