“Contestant number 100, Lee Sion, please enter!”At last, my number was called.I left the waiting area and walked slowly toward the filming site.“Please don’t mind me—just enter naturally.”A cameraman stuck a lens right in front of me.I hadn’t been planning to mind him anyway, but there’s such a thing as too close, and by the time that thought occurred—I had already stepped into the set with the stage prepared.‘What the… this stage is just for this program?’A filming site far larger and more orderly than I’d expected.For a moment, I was overwhelmed by its scale.In the center, a wide performance stage spread out, and in front of it were tiered seats stacked like a pyramid.‘One… two… three…’Counting them, thirteen tiers in total.And what really caught my eye was the single seat set at the top—on the thirteenth tier.‘Isn’t that a kill seat?’A gaudy chair fit for some medieval king.Usually when decoration is excessive it feels cheap; this chair did exactly that. So over the top it was burdensome just to look at.While I was looking over the stage and the seats—“Unni! Over here!!”A familiar voice called from the seats.It was that squirrel-like Kim Suyeon I’d chatted with in the waiting room.‘This crazy kid…?’Just when I was about to greet her happily—the only person I knew was Suyeon—the spot she was sitting in came into view.Dead center. And smack in the middle of the sixth tier.The kind of seat that basically advertises, “I want to stand out!”Suyeon was waving at me from there with a beaming smile.I could feel the cameras installed in the set automatically turning to her, filming that wave like crazy.No matter how thick-faced I am, that’s too much.Since I wanted to stand out as little as possible, I was about to quietly turn toward a still-empty corner seat when—‘Why are you making that pitiful face again…!’I tried hard not to meet Suyeon’s eyes, but our gazes clicked anyway.Eyes like a cat abandoned by its owner.Seeing me angle my body in another direction, Suyeon hung her head with a resigned expression.The moment I saw that, my heart wavered again.‘If I sit there I’ll draw way too much attention… but am I really going to pretend I didn’t see that face?’In the span of a few seconds, my head bounced between go and don’t go a few hundred times.“Unni!”“See you after this is over.”In the end, with the mindset of a prisoner being dragged to jail, I had no choice but to head for the center seat Suyeon had saved.Somehow I felt that if I ignored those bright, shining eyes, I wouldn’t sleep easy for the full two weeks we’d be living together.“Unni! I really picked a great seat, right? If we sit here, we might show up a lot on the broadcast!”“You saved it because you wanted to show up a lot?”“Yes! Of course! Don’t we need lots of screen time for viewers to vote for us?!”…Right.Suyeon was a kid who’d entered this program to become an idol.I was only now realizing that obvious fact.Probably, of the 99 contestants gathered here excluding me, every single one had come with a serious dream of debuting.‘…Should I even be sitting here?’I suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if I’d stolen someone’s seat.With that slight discomfort, I used Suyeon’s cheerful chatter beside me as ASMR and just nodded appropriately as I listened.Before I knew it, the seats were almost full.“But wouldn’t that be the spot that gets the most attention?”“Ah… that seat will definitely get attention, but… unless you’re really confident, the moment you sit there it’s actually a minus.”Now, except for a single seat—the golden throne at the very top tier—every seat the contestants were sitting in was filled.The thirteenth tier, that lavish, throne-like chair at the top, was the only one left empty.‘There’s one person left, so… they’ll be forced to sit there. Poor thing.’That’s what I was thinking when—“Unni!! It’s Ryu Ayeon!!”“Ryu Ayeon? Who’s that?”“Unni, you really don’t know Ryu Ayeon?! Number one in pre-interview views! TSP’s number one pick to debut! How can you not know?!”“TSP’s number one pick? Then why’d she come here?”“That… I don’t know either…”TSP.Even people who don’t care about entertainment have heard the name—Korea’s top mega-agency.‘Starting with the CEO being so famous.’TSP’s CEO was Park Taesu, a famous male solo singer, known for personally producing his artists’ albums.And not just “producing”—every idol group he touched became a hit, making TSP, once a mid-sized agency, one of Korea’s big three.Anyway, why would Ryu Ayeon—called the number one to debut at that best-of-the-best agency—come out on this program?With that question, I naturally turned my head toward the entrance.Step.The last contestant, Ryu Ayeon, walked toward the pyramid’s top seat without a moment’s hesitation.With a confident, composed gait, as if it had been her seat all along, she sat on the golden chair.It made enough of an impression that I stared at her blankly.And maybe it was my imagination, but it looked like Ryu Ayeon was looking my way too.Our eyes met.‘If Suyeon’s right, this kid’s going to do well too, right? Then… better make a good impression.’Of course, I had nothing to do with the entertainment industry, but still—wouldn’t it be nice if I could say I knew famous people later?It was a bit shallow, but she’d never know anyway, so I gave Ryu Ayeon a slight nod of greeting and my most affected smile.***“The number of idol groups currently in Korea exceeds several hundred. Of course, those several hundred are groups that have appeared on broadcast at least once.”At the very center of the stage, a male MC appeared with a microphone.All the lights in the filming site went out, and only the spotlight on him came on.I recognized him at a glance.‘Jang Junseok? …Wow, a really famous person is the MC.’If I’d run into him outside, I might have pulled out my phone and taken a picture without thinking.When actor Jang Junseok appeared as MC, thunderous applause and cheers burst from the contestants’ seats.Receiving those cheers with ease and skill and giving a wave, Jang Junseok began introducing the program.“K-POP idol groups that represent Korea and Asia. But here today are people gathered to become a group for viewers and only viewers.”He paused a moment, then gestured toward the dark area the lights weren’t hitting.“Introducing—out of the hundreds of idol groups, the national girl group project born solely by viewers’ choice! The one hundred contestants of Idol Ground 100!”The moment his shout ended, the lights of the set washed the entire front of the pyramid seats.“Hello! We are, those who have gathered to become the viewers’ idols.”At the topmost seat, Ryu Ayeon stood and began elegantly,“One hundred survivors who want to survive by your votes! We look forward to your support!”Following her, the chorus of the remaining ninety-nine shook the filming site.‘W-what… what is this?!’Of course I too was dutifully spitting out this cringe-inducing line.—You’ll have heard the program explanation during prior contact, but the concept of our program is “survival.” Every two weeks, through voting, we’ll separate survivors from the eliminated…I hadn’t heard any such explanation.All Aunt had told me was, “Just do as you’re told.”Thanks to that, here I was, reciting cringe-inducing lines that weren’t in my fate,working hard with my mouth.“In two weeks, you contestants will appear on MPlay’s music show Music Count.”No sooner had Jang Junseok finished than explosive cheers erupted again in the set.“Unni! We’re going on Music Count in two weeks!”Suyeon’s «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» eyes sparkled—not a broadcast reaction, but genuine joy.According to Suyeon, among the hundreds of idol groups currently promoting, the number that can actually appear on music shows is only about twenty teams.Thanks to that, unless you’re with a famous agency, there are a ton of idol groups that debut and disband without appearing even once.In that situation, even though it would be a stage with one hundred people together, being able to appear on Music Count, one of the four major music shows, was an enormous opportunity for trainees—so Suyeon explained.No wonder the contestants were excited.‘Even she looks excited.’Even Ryu Ayeon—who had sat on the golden chair without a flicker of expression from entrance until now—seemed slightly buoyed.“However, not all one hundred contestants can stand on the same stage.”At Jang Junseok’s next line, the cheers filling the set cut off at once.The contestants’ faces settled into tension.“Through today’s entrance ceremony stage, contestants will be evaluated and divided into grades A, B, C, D, and F. And depending on the grade, the time you are exposed to viewers on stage will also be allotted differently.”Gulp.I heard, startlingly clearly, the sound of the contestant next to me swallowing.‘A bit cruel for kids.’Not just that contestant, whose nervousness was written all over her face—Suyeon on my other side, and most of those around us, had hardened eyes and kept silent.Hearing that screen time would differ by grade didn’t just mean a simple rank competition—there was a sense of crisis that your very existence could vanish from the screen.“And the center spot of Idol Ground 100’s first broadcast stage, which only one person can stand in, will be competed for by A-grade contestants only.”Even if you got an A, you had to compete again within it for the center spot.It hit me again just how fierce and brutal a world the idol job is.Honestly, it seemed harsher than the army.‘One, two, five, seven, ten, …’Corporal Lee Hojin, who revealed a new number system after meeting my eyes just once on the annual physical test day.The army was a place with invisible, sticky affection that turned a sit-up count of 20 into 70.A place where grades exist, but no one gets hurt like here.Thinking about it, the army might unexpectedly be a good place.“Contestants, do you know how the grades are selected? Ah! Contestant number 12, Lee Jisoo—how do you think it’ll be selected?”“Me? Ah… by the viewers’ votes…?”“Ah! Unfortunately, there will be no viewer voting for this entrance ceremony stage. So, on behalf of the viewers, we’ve brought in judges who will evaluate your stages. Please welcome them with a big round of applause!”As I started clapping at Jang Junseok’s cue, the set lights went out again and only the entrance area was lit.“Introducing the three judges who will evaluate you! First, Hyeryeong from the legendary girl group ‘G.G.’; next, choreographer Lee Jungyoon, creator of countless hit choreographies; and last, top producer Ahn Seongho—these three experts from their respective fields will be evaluating you!”With Jang Junseok’s introduction, three people entered in order to the judges’ table set at the front of the stage.I didn’t know the other two, but one of them I knew.‘Hyeryeong?’Golden Girls.She had been the main vocal of a girl group for which “defined an era” was no exaggeration.How popular were they? Back when I was a platoon leader, I once caught a kid who had smuggled a phone into the unit.‘Sir! I’ll go to the guardhouse, just please let me use the phone!’Even after getting caught, he begged to use it for thirty minutes, saying he’d accept the guardhouse.I thought maybe his girlfriend had cheated, but it turned out he wanted to ticket for a G.G. concert.‘Since you were honest, I’ll confiscate the phone and also send you to the guardhouse.’I sent him straight to the guardhouse.“Okay, then the contestants who will be showing today’s first stage are…”While I’d slipped into memories for a moment, the entrance ceremony had already begun.At last, the true start of the program.

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