“Good work, Sion.”

“You’re welcome. It’s the unavoidable fate of a superstar, so I’ll just have to accept it.”

“Anyone listening would think you came back from the military, not a music show.”

When I entered the practice room, I saw Kaella, who was telling me I’d worked hard, and Esther, who was grumbling about why I was acting so self-important.

“I can understand.”

“Understand what?”

“Watching me busily promoting at my peak, you might feel jealous.”

“That’s what it was?”

“No!”

Even now, Esther’s face turned bright red as she jumped at my joke, asking if that was what it was.

‘It’s like looking at Seo Ryujin in the early days.’

The way she reacted exactly as much as I poked her overlapped with the old Seo Ryujin, who used to pick fights with everything I did.

Back then, teasing her had been pretty fun, but at some point she had started getting stranger and stranger, and these days, far from teasing Seo Ryujin, I was gradually finding her hard to handle.

-How’s this?

-Stop··· please stop!

-Do you know how Bill Gates sings?

-Are you going to say he sings micro-softly, by any chance?

-Seo Ryujin!

-The History Journal: Today in History PD’s discipline wasn’t enough for you?

Ever since the Fascism Nazis incident, Seo Ryujin had gotten noticeably greedier for comedy, so I could not let my guard down even at the dorm.

I had no idea where she had discovered some utopia that collected no-fun jokes, but Seo Ryujin kept bringing jokes at all hours and unleashing them on the members.

Even while we were showering, even while we were using the bathroom,

-Listen to this one. This one is seriously funny!

-I’m sorry··· I’ll never tease you for being no-fun again, so please forgive me.

-No, this one’s different, I’m telling you?

The dance ghost Ryu Ayeon had attained Buddhahood the moment our comeback began, only for a new no-fun ghost to appear and torment us instead.

‘She’s probably the biggest reason I dropped back down to silver.’

It was bad enough that even while I was playing games, Seo Ryujin would come up and whisper in my ear, making me freak out.

-A type like Ryujin can’t be helped. Her mindset is to try first no matter what.

The members, unable to watch any longer, sent a rescue request to Raon the producer, but Raon said that even she could not stop Seo Ryujin’s atrocious behavior.

She answered that a type like Seo Ryujin was the type to charge in first even if it did not work, and charge in again even after getting broken, so the members had no choice but to suffer.

“Shall we start practicing now?”

“Did you try matching it before I got here?”

“We’ve only got the choreography roughly memorized. To practice properly, all three of us need to be here after all.”

While I was looking at Esther and thinking of Seo Ryujin like that, Kaella, apparently already ready to practice, spoke in a lively voice and suggested we start.

“Okay, let’s try matching from here to here first.”

“Okay.”

“The characteristic of this song is its sexy feel, so we have to bring that out well.”

“Sexy, huh··· brings back old memories.”

“What are you saying? You’re the person who least suits sexy.”

“There was a cheeky little brat who made me do a sexy concept once.”

“What?”

Before choreography practice, I stretched and recalled an old memory.

-Sion, you’re the prince on a white horse!

Geum Shinyu, the cheeky little brat who first made me do a sexy concept during the Agbaek Group Battle Mission.

‘This is the first time since then.’

For the first time in a while, I had to prepare a stage with a sexy concept.

“Remember the formations properly. There are several stages, so the moment you get them mixed up, it’ll be a broadcast accident.”

The year-end stage.

It was normal for broadcasting stations to plan special music programs at the end of the year.

Since they were big events that wrapped up the year, singers who normally did not appear on broadcasts all performed, of course.

And for idols, they were important stages that determined the measure of their popularity.

-The girls are coming out on the year-end stages, right?

Since so many singers appeared, it was impossible to appear at all without recognition or popularity, and even if you did appear, the year-end music programs were where you could not even properly sing one song.

‘I don’t know whether this is good or bad for us.’

However, in Iam’s case, the problem was that we had been booked for too many things.

-We have to prepare four broadcasting stations’ special stages and main performances in total. I think we’ll have no choice but to turn down the MC offers because of the schedule.

Every broadcasting station had requested Iam prepare not only main performances, but also special stages.

Thanks to that, I had come all the way to SY’s practice room right now for UBS’s year-end music program special stage.

UBS had requested a boy-group cover stage, gathering the most buzzworthy members from this year’s most active rookie girl groups, Iam, VYNNIA, and LYNX.

With only three days left until the broadcast, I had to prepare the special stage together with Kaella and Esther, who had received the same stage request.

The song the three of us had to cover was Exy’s mega-hit song “Howling,” which had lifted them to the top of the idol industry several years ago.

The original song was a flashy song where as many as twelve members appeared while crossing past one another, and the three of us had to perform that song, which was no ordinary task.

“It starts with each person appearing one by one, so in that case, the person who comes out alone first and has to carry the stage is important.”

“They have to grab attention all at once.”

Unlike the original, where many members appeared from the beginning and drew people’s eyes, the structure had one person appearing at a time, little by little, so should I say it looked a bit empty?

“The stylists are gathered and having a meeting because of that right now. It seems they think we need to catch attention with the outfits.”

“For the choreography, it’s the final draft for now, but they said if we need changes while practicing, they’ll look at it until tomorrow.”

Because of that, the three of us continued discussing the special stage while exchanging opinions here and there even during practice.

‘This is fun too.’

Unlike until now, when we had invested at least a month, or sometimes several months, into one stage, preparing a new stage in less than even a week was difficult, but it had a new kind of fun.

It felt similar to when we had to prepare a stage in a short time back during Agbaek.

The difference from back then was that this time, there were people supporting us in each field.

For this stage, SY had specially provided their choreographer and practice room, while TSP had prepared the recording studio and the devices to be used onstage.

-What do we do?

-School life is always comfortable when you have rich friends.

-Are we friends?

-Didn’t you say that if you work together, you’re friends, Miss Sion?

Since the other agencies were taking charge of everything, I asked if it was really okay for us to just stand there awkwardly, and CEO Kim Sanghyeok told me that just staying quiet would be a great help.

I had no idea when he had gotten that shameless, but that was CEO Kim Sanghyeok, stylishly talking around the fact that we should leech off them.

‘They really see me as too much of a troublemaker.’

Though I had unintentionally caused a few minor incidents, I was not so unethical that I would cause trouble even at another company that was helping us.

“Lee Sion, focus!”

“Sorry, sorry! Let’s go one more time!”

When I got briefly lost in thought and slightly messed up the choreography, Esther’s sharp criticism came flying in.

‘These girls are no joke either.’

It feels weird to say it with my own mouth, but while preparing this album, I personally thought my skills had improved quite a bit. But watching Kaella and Esther, there were still many things to learn.

Of course, we had skilled members like Seo Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon in Iam too, but should I say I kept seeing new things to learn that I had not seen from those two?

I had a feeling that watching those two carefully would definitely help.

There was not even enough time to copy everything about the two of them. Right now, I had no time to cause any accidents.

***

“Hoo···.”

Hyeyeon breathed roughly and lay down right on the cold practice room floor.

Her clothes were wet with sweat flowing down her whole body, and her body had sagged as much as the sweat she had shed.

The chill of the practice room floor she lay on wrapped around Hyeyeon’s entire body.

The shivery feeling made her think she might catch a cold if she kept lying here like this, but she did not have the strength to sit up right away, so she had no choice but to stay lying down for now.

‘What time is it already?’

The practice room where Hyeyeon lay was empty, since all the other trainees had finished practice and gone back.

Whenever she stayed alone in such a practice room and practiced until late, it was scary and also lonely.

So sometimes, she thought she wanted to stop practicing and go home, but she had never put that into action.

‘I have to practice.’

That was because the trainee monthly evaluation that came around every month was waiting for her.

When she had first entered SY, called the best idol agency in Korea, Hyeyeon had felt as if she had the whole world.

As befitted the words “best agency,” countless idol hopefuls came to audition for SY, from Korea as well as overseas.

Among them, the people who passed the audition were an extremely small fraction.

At severe times, the competition rate was an unrealistic ten thousand to one, so passing an SY audition was truly an incredible thing.

-You really became an SY trainee?

-That’s amazing! Hyeyeon’s going to become an idol now! I should get your autograph in advance.

-Hey! Don’t pretend you don’t know us later!

She remembered how her friends and family had all congratulated her when they heard she had passed the SY audition, as if she had already become an idol.

But she realized as soon as she started trainee life that passing the audition was not the end.

-Trainees who do not reach the standard in the monthly evaluation are expelled.

The trainees each had separate assignments given to them individually.

Every trainee had different skills, physiques, and talents, so the company gave assignments tailored to that. It was the sort of thoughtful consideration that showed why SY was one of the leading idol agencies in the country.

However, those assignments were never easy.

For trainees who weighed a lot, they gave target weights as weekly assignments. For trainees lacking in dance, they gave assignments related to dance, and conversely, for trainees lacking in vocals, they gave vocal assignments.

If a trainee failed more than a set number of those segmented assignments, that trainee was mercilessly expelled.

SY was a place where becoming a trainee was not the end, and where you had to struggle endlessly in order to survive.

Tap.

‘Let’s try one more time.’

Hyeyeon placed her hand on the floor and got up.

There were many things to prepare with the December monthly evaluation now just around the corner, so she had no time to act leisurely.

-I was a mess at first too. So I practiced all night, just like you. I’m sure you can do it too.

She remembered the advice given to her by Hyeryeong, the senior who was practically Hyeyeon’s idol.

Hyeryeong had run into Hyeyeon by chance {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} when Hyeyeon was in the practice room late into the night, and encouraged her to keep working hard.

Hyeyeon wanted to become a shining idol like Hyeryeong.

So, just as Hyeyeon recalled that memory again and moved to turn on the music to practice one more time,

Bang!

“Who are you?”

“Shh! Please be quiet for a moment!”

“No··· outsiders aren’t allowed in here···.”

“A person’s life is at stake!”

“What?”

A mysterious woman appeared, shattering the silence of the quiet practice room.

Unlike the way she had almost kicked the door open, as soon as she entered the practice room, she brought her index finger to her lips and signaled Hyeyeon to be quiet.

At first, Hyeyeon was flustered by the sudden appearance of an uninvited guest and nearly screamed, but only for a moment.

‘Lee Sion?’

Hyeyeon could immediately recognize who the uninvited guest who had barged into the practice room was.

The girl group Iam.

There was no way Hyeyeon would fail to recognize the popular member of the hottest girl group recently.

“Rich agencies really are different. They even have this many practice rooms.”

Lee Sion, who had noticed Hyeyeon and was standing there bewildered, looked around the practice room and let out an exclamation of admiration.

‘What is this? Am I dreaming?’

Hyeyeon could only wonder why on earth Lee Sion was at SY, and in a practice room mostly used by trainees at that.

“No, our KJ Entertainment only has exactly one practice room. Well, apparently next year they’re going to empty out another floor and make practice rooms, but those won’t be ours either. They said they’re for the boy group.”

“Ah··· yes.”

“This is why people need to join major corporations. This place even has a company cafeteria!”

Hyeyeon had clearly been about to ask why she was here, but she was getting swept up in Lee Sion’s pace as Lee Sion talked to her brazenly, as if meeting an old friend after a long time.

“There are still many people I don’t know. Are you perhaps a trainee?”

“Yes! I’m trainee Choi Hyeyeon!”

At Lee Sion’s question asking if she was a trainee, Hyeyeon answered like a recruit with military discipline drilled all the way in.

It could not be helped, because although Lee Sion was not a senior from the same company, to Hyeyeon, who was still a trainee, Lee Sion was a senior as high as the sky.

“Come on, we’re from different agencies, so you can speak comfortably. Even in the military, if you’re from a different unit, you’re just some man.”

“No, but still, how could I to a senior···.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. We might end up doing stages together later anyway, so wouldn’t it be nice if we got close now?”

“···Yes.”

Hyeyeon was not smooth enough to speak comfortably just because she had been told to, but she also could not answer no to Lee Sion, who was treating her so warmly, so she had no choice but to say yes.

“But why are you here, senior?”

“Ah, right! Could you maybe help me?”

“What? What kind of help···.”

“It’s nothing much··· one moment.”

After small-talking with Lee Sion for a moment, Hyeyeon came back to her senses and asked why she had come here. Perhaps Lee Sion really had forgotten too, because she urgently began rummaging through the practice room.

“Hmm···.”

Then Lee Sion discovered a microphone cable, picked it up, and thought for a moment.

“Where is Lee Sion!!!”

At the same time, a monstrous scream came from outside, piercing through the practice room’s soundproofing.

“There’s no time. Please stand here holding this cable with me!”

“Ah··· yes!”

Hyeyeon could not tell exactly what was going on, but Lee Sion’s voice and expression looked so urgent that she first did as she was told, grabbed the end of the microphone cable, went to the opposite side from Lee Sion, and pulled the cord taut.

And then,

Bang!

With the sound of the door opening, another person barged into the practice room.

Thud.

Separate from the force with which she had kicked the door open, she got caught in the booby trap Lee Sion and Hyeyeon had set and sprawled right onto the practice room floor.

“Thank you, Hyeyeon! See you again later!”

As if she was not worried about the person who had fallen at all, Lee Sion quickly fled out of the practice room.

“Hyeyeon?”

“Senior!!!”

Hyeyeon’s eyes met Hyeryeong’s, who was sprawled shamefully across the practice room floor and looking up at her.