Chapter 5: If Mangdol Returns Three Times (5)

If a regular high school is the law of the jungle version 1.0, then this practice room filled with idol trainees would be around version 9.1 of that jungle.

Just as cliques form within a classroom based on students’ tendencies or personalities, a league of their own existed among the trainees.

For example, Ji Cheonseong and I were the rude newcomer clique.

Since we were stones that suddenly rolled in, there were only two of us, and the ’embedded stone’ faction hated us.

The ’embedded stones’ were the guys among the trainees who had been stagnant for ages, a position I myself had held when I was a trainee at an unknown small agency.

Guys who had been trainees for at least 3 years, and some for as long as 6 years, belonged to this clique.

However, they weren’t all the same kind; even within this faction, they were divided into moderates and radicals, with the moderates being humans who had no particular intention of keeping others in check.

A representative figure of this group was Son Minyoung.

Most of these guys had an underlying conviction that they would be able to debut, and since their actual chances of debuting were very high, they didn’t have significant personality problems.

The representative figure leading the ’embedded stone’ radical faction was a vocal line trainee named Kim Seokje;
being twenty, he was relatively older among the trainees,
and having been a trainee for about four years, he seemed to be known informally as the leader of this clique.

The guys who hazed me and occasionally showed passive aggression usually belonged to this clique.

Kim Seokje himself, however, was merely awkward with me and didn’t try to torment me like the other guys.

This was because our positions were completely different.

I inwardly chuckled a bit seeing Kim Seokje’s sharp gaze fixed on Ji Cheonseong’s back.

‘Since my inner self was twenty-six, the behavior of a twenty-year-old like that was glaringly obvious to me.’

‘Ji Cheonseong probably felt it too.’

‘It was a little funny because I couldn’t quite remember if I had been that jealous and envious of others when I was twenty.’

At first, I was unsure, but as time passed, it became clear that Kim Seokje was Perfection’s gambling-addicted main vocalist.

‘Found you, Kim Seokje!’

‘You were the key to the group’s downfall!’

When I subtly asked Ji Cheonseong, he said it wasn’t just any gambling, but an addiction to sports betting.

Regardless of him keeping Ji Cheonseong in check like that, he was a guy who had to be dropped no matter what, if only because of his gambling problem.

He was someone who had to be dropped anyway because Ji Cheonseong needed to debut as Perfection’s main vocalist,
so it was fortunate that he conveniently had a problem.

‘If I had to push out a decent guy like Son Minyoung, I would have felt so sorry that I’d lose sleep at night.’

As I spent more time there, I remembered that Lee Seungjun,
one of Kim Seokje’s cronies who was kind of hazing me, was also a member of Perfection in my previous life.

‘I would take his spot under the pretext of karmic retribution.’

‘The way to drop Kim Seokje… was simply for Ji Cheonseong to do well.’

Ji Cheonseong was a definite main vocalist.

Unless Perfection’s main vocalist spot somehow self-multiplied into two,
it would be difficult for Kim Seokje to make it into the debut lineup without being pushed to a lead or sub-vocalist position.

Ji Cheonseong’s speaking voice itself was soft and low, but his vocal range was wide.

He could hit high notes cleanly without any raspiness, and his descents were smooth as his natural voice was in the mid-low range.

I decided to just chalk up his third-life vocal skills to talent.

If someone could just fill the lead vocalist spot well, it would be like solving a problem without lifting a finger.

‘At moments like this, I was glad that Ji Cheonseong’s and my positions didn’t overlap.’

“What are you thinking so hard about? If practice is over, you should go home.”

A cold sports drink PET bottle touched my back.

Son Minyoung was holding a sports drink in one hand and a white towel in the other.

If Ji Cheonseong was a truly strange guy, Son Minyoung was a genuinely good one.

‘He was such a practice fiend, to the point where I wondered if a person could be this good-natured and hardworking, and his care for those around him was entirely sincere.’

I took the sports drink and towel, then bowed my head to Son Minyoung in thanks.

“Just… I was thinking that things have gotten a bit intense lately.”

“The practice room atmosphere?”

“Yes. Probably because two more people suddenly joined.”

Son Minyoung was born with the definite makings of a leader.

‘Talented, good-looking, and with a decent personality on top of that – he was the kind of person Ji Cheonseong should observe and learn from.’

‘Even though he was only twenty-one, the way he took care of the younger trainees one by one and asked what was wrong if they seemed down, just because he’d been a trainee for a long time, already showed what kind of person he was.’

‘This guy… he’s a Buddha.’

‘Seeing him do almost unconsciously the kind of care I used to provide out of a sense of duty in the past was even awe-inspiring.’

“It’s not because of Cheonseong and you; it’s because there are rumors that we’ll have a month-end evaluation soon and then some kind of program will start.”

“A program?”

“They’re saying it’s something like a debut group survival show.
The official announcement isn’t out yet, but it seems confirmed.
They’re currently taking suggestions for the program name.”

‘I thought only unknown small agencies were vicious, but large companies were no pushover either.’

‘I could already picture the young lambs who would be frustrated, cry, and have their mental states shattered in the storm of the entertainment industry.’

‘Most of them aren’t even adults yet. Such ruthless people.’

I secretly clenched my fists behind Son Minyoung’s back.

While I was chatting amicably with Son Minyoung, Ji Cheonseong,
who had finished his additional choreography practice, walked towards me.

‘Ji Cheonseong’s dancing skill wasn’t bad… but it wasn’t great either.’

‘His choreography memorization speed was fast, but in group dances,
he often made mistakes like being half a beat slow or missing detailed expressions.’

‘Dance lines are partly something you’re born with, after all.’

‘Since Ji Cheonseong’s everyday movements were heavy and somewhat languid, strictly speaking, his dance style itself was far from one that emphasized details.’

‘It wasn’t such a noticeable flaw during our Overflash days,
but among the exceptionally talented Saesom trainees,
it was inevitable that Ji Cheonseong’s dance skills looked somewhat lacking.’

‘It wasn’t strange, considering my own vocal skills, which were roughly overlooked within Overflash, were miserably exposed here.’

‘I was only “complete” when I was a frog in a well.’

‘Everyone has their own talents, and no matter how much you practice, it’s difficult to improve your skills beyond a certain level.’

‘From my perspective, having experience practicing group dances with Ji Cheonseong in our previous life,
it seemed like he was trying hard enough… but to the dance trainer, he always appeared to be lacking.’

‘Seeing them make him practice until he was so exhausted,
I wondered if it was an expression of their determination to make him debut no matter what.’

“Are they really doing that? I thought the debut members were somewhat decided.”

Ji Cheonseong asked, wiping his sweaty face with a white towel as he squeezed in between Son Minyoung and me.

‘This guy would be curious too.’

‘As I remembered, Perfection wasn’t a group that debuted through a debut survival program.’

‘Saesom had revealed the members one by one over a period, releasing their profile pictures, subtly boasting, “These are the kids we’re debuting this time,” and then ta-da, presented the group.’

‘It seemed that with the arrival of Ji Cheonseong and me, Perfection’s debut direction had also changed.’

‘Since the Perfection members themselves would change,
the facts I knew from my previous life would also change going forward.’

‘I just hope the hit stock picks don’t change.’

‘When I debut, just in case, I should tell my father to sell all his entertainment-related stocks.’

“Yeah. To build some recognition before debut and…”

Son Minyoung looked around and then lowered his voice.

Although there was some distance, Kim Seokje was still staring at Ji Cheonseong with a burning gaze.

It was such an intense gaze that an uninformed observer might spontaneously ask, ‘Does Seokje perhaps like Cheonseong?’

Son Minyoung wasn’t a fool; even if he didn’t want to notice, he couldn’t have failed to.

And since he had known Kim Seokje’s side longer, it wouldn’t be good for him to be seen openly giving us information.

“They’re probably going to see the performances of the top 10 from this month’s evaluation and then decide.
The kids who were originally in the debut lineup will hate it, but it’s a chance for you guys.
If you miss it now, your trainee life will just get longer, like mine.”

I stealthily observed Son Minyoung’s and Ji Cheonseong’s expressions in the full-length mirrors installed on both walls of the choreography practice room.

‘I was trying to figure out if Son Minyoung was saying this out of pure goodwill or if he had some ulterior motive,
but looking at their reflected faces, all I could think was… ‘They’re both handsome,’ so it was quite difficult to discern any intent.’

Anyway, Son Minyoung continued speaking to me in a favorable tone.

“Because I want to debut with someone who dances well like you, Hyunoh.”

‘According to my social skills, developed from navigating the idol industry, that statement roughly meant,
‘My life will be much more comfortable in the future if there’s at least one more solid dance member.’’

‘I, too, knew keenly from my experience with Overflash how difficult it is to compose choreography for group activities when there’s only one good dancer.’

“Hyung, what about me?”

“Huh?”

“You only want to debut with Hyunoh, and not with me?”

Before I could even nod at Son Minyoung in agreement, Ji Cheonseong beat me to it.

‘Why is this kid acting so clueless today?’

Leaving Son Minyoung, who was laughing awkwardly and trailing off with,
“Of course, I want to debut with Cheonseong too,” I lightly tapped Ji Cheonseong’s back with my hand.

‘I had nudged him, meaning there was nothing to gain from earning negative points with Son Minyoung,
who was clearly going to debut no matter what program they did,
but Ji Cheonseong just shrugged with a smile, saying, “It’s a joke,” as if he’d taken it some other way.’

***

MMI.

It’s an abbreviation for Make My Idol.

Commonly known as Two M.I.

The name is really tacky.

Thinking that even large corporations are no different, I looked through the list of submitted program title names, and surprisingly, that was the best one.

Seeing things like ‘Arirang Boys’ or ‘Saesom Cotton Candy’ written in the middle of the list made MMI feel like an incredibly sophisticated name.

I was wondering who on earth would submit such terrible names, but then Ji Cheonseong said with a laugh, ‘I submitted Saesom Cotton Candy,’ and I almost fainted.

A debut group survival show was something almost every agency had done at least once when launching a group, so it wasn’t surprising.

It seemed that as the number of trainees suddenly increased, it was evident the program was hastily put together, likely as a ploy by the higher-ups to shake up the debut lineup members whose discipline had supposedly loosened.

Naturally, various complaints arose among the trainees, but since only the top 10 from the month-end evaluation could participate in the first place, their grievances were largely meaningless.

As trainees who hadn’t even reached the ‘A’ of ‘artist’ yet, they had to do whatever they were told.

Since becoming a trainee, I had built somewhat friendly relationships not only with Son Minyoung and the other dance line members but also with the trainers, so I managed to gloss over my slightly lacking vocal abilities without much difficulty and squeezed into the program by placing 8th in the August comprehensive month-end evaluation.