Day 3 of practice.
The production staff called out the participants who were hard at work practicing the title song, one after another.
“Gwon Hana, Gim Seyeon, I Dohee, Eun Sera, Jeon Harang, trainees, please follow us for a moment.”
The place we arrived at after following the production staff was the vocal room.
The staff returned each of our phones and told us that we could call our families from inside the vocal room.
Of course, on speakerphone.
It seemed like they were going for a moving episode while also getting some airtime.
When I entered the vocal room and turned on my phone, it was filled with missed calls and KakaoTalk messages from Mom and Dad.
I hadn’t had the chance to tell them that our phones had been taken away, so they must have kept trying to contact me.
The messages I saw after opening KakaoTalk were filled with Mom and Dad’s worried feelings.
I hadn’t planned on crying, but seeing those messages when I was already exhausted made something well up inside me.
For once, even our Doa had sent me five KakaoTalk messages.
[Our Baby: Unnie, I love you♡] 5
When I opened Doa’s messages, they popped up one after another.
[Our Baby: I bragged to my friends about the Animal Crossing you bought me]
[Our Baby: And they were all jealous?]
[Our Baby: (Crying puppy emoticon) But I want to play Pokémon too! ㅠㅠ]
[Our Baby: (Kissing puppy emoticon) Can’t you buy me Pokémon too...? I’ll be a good daughter to you later!]
[Our Baby: I love you, Unnie~♡]
Did I raise Doa wrong...?
...Her older sister was suffering this much, and instead of cheering me on, she was asking me to buy her Nintendo games...
[Me: (Puppy emoticon blowing a heart) Okay, I’ll buy it when I go home~ I love you too~]
But it couldn’t be helped...
Doa was cute, so it was okay...
After sending Doa a KakaoTalk message, I called Mom.
Mom picked up right away.
Her voice was so loud and happy that it practically rang through the phone’s speaker.
—Dohee! Have you been doing well?—
I could feel how worried Mom was even through her loud voice.
“Yeah... I’ve been doing fine.”
Without me realizing it, the heart that had gone cold because of Doa began to swell with emotion again.
—Is our daughter crying?—
“Do you think I’d cry? I’m not crying.”
—Yes, yes. It must be really hard for our daughter, right?—
“I told you I’m not... I’m just happy to hear your voice.”
It was Mom’s voice, making it impossible for me to control my emotions for no reason.
.
.
.
After three days of nonstop practice, day five of filming arrived.
It was the day of the tier reevaluation.
The reevaluation was conducted through video assessments.
The trainees demonstrated their singing and dancing in front of the camera, after which the judges gathered together and evaluated the trainees while watching their videos.
Of course, each trainee had only one chance to film.
Even if you made a mistake, there would be no second opportunity.
After finishing my individual interview with the production staff before the video assessment, I returned to the Tier 1 classroom.
Everyone was sitting in their places, waiting, as if filming was about to begin.
Some of the trainees who still weren’t used to the cameras looked pale with nerves, but most of them seemed relaxed.
Well, camera tests had been an everyday thing at my company, so I assumed everyone else was used to them as well.
“We’ll film in order, starting with the people sitting in front~”
At the staff member’s words, Sera unnie, who was sitting in the very front, went forward.
“Hello. I’m Eun Sera from JS Entertainment...”
Sera unnie’s performance that followed was clean and polished.
Her dancing wasn’t particularly impactful, but she danced with such ease, and her vocals were so good that it seemed as though she were simply standing still and singing.
Several trainees let out sighs after watching Sera unnie’s performance.
One of them was Hana unnie, who was sitting next to me.
“What should I do, Dohee...? Sera’s so good... Ah... What am I supposed to do...? I’m totally screwed...”
And yet Hana unnie was one of the top three trainees in the Tier 1 class.
Hana unnie was unintentionally very good at humblebragging.
“I know... Sera unnie is so pretty that I feel like I’m going to look ugly next to her...”
Somehow, I felt like I was getting used to speaking like a girl.
***
“Okay, we’re rolling. Cue!”
At the PD’s words, the trainers entered a conference room containing nothing but a table and a television.
The trainers sat around the conference room and began having a somewhat contrived conversation.
“You’ve all worked so hard.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. The kids are the ones who’ve really been working hard.”
“That’s right. The kids have really been through a lot.”
“I know. I hope everyone’s improved a lot.”
After finishing the conversation that would appear during the early part of the broadcast, as written in the script, Moon Jinwoo, a ten-year veteran idol who served as the MC among the judges, spoke up to move things along.
“So, isn’t the reason we’ve all gathered here today the tier reevaluation?”
“Yes, that’s right. This tier evaluation is especially important because it’s a camera test.”
“That’s right. They’re idols, after all. What could be more important than how they appear on camera?”
“Ah, but what I’m worried about is that some of the kids do well during practice, only to freeze up in front of the camera...”
“True, but that’s a skill in itself.”
“That’s how we distinguish the trainees who have the qualities of idols, isn’t it? Let’s all take a look and see for ourselves.”
The television flickered to life, and the first trainee to appear on the screen was Eun Sera.
“Wow, JS. We’re starting with one of the Big Three agencies.”
“Forget the Big Three. I like this girl, Sera.”
“Who wouldn’t? She’s pretty and talented.”
“Exactly. Aren’t we setting the bar too high right from the start?”
“In other words, if you’re not as good as Sera, you won’t make it into the final seven.”
“This could all be getting ahead of ourselves, so let’s watch before we start talking.”
After greeting the camera, Eun Sera began her performance.
“See? There’s no way she could be bad.”
“I know. Besides, Sera seems to know exactly what she needs to do to look pretty.”
“Right. There’s nothing more to evaluate.”
The videos of the other trainees followed.
The trainers evaluated them while repeating reactions, both big and small.
“Wow~ Park Yeeun! She’s going to shoot right to the top.”
“Yes, Yeeun hasn’t been a trainee for very long, but she learns quickly.”
“She’s a hidden gem in Tier 5, isn’t she?”
“Ah... Heehyun’s tone is really nice, though.”
“I know. But her dancing is a complete mess.”
“Why did we give Heehyun Tier 1 again?”
“She chose a good song for the first evaluation.”
“Why did Yeonhee stop halfway through?”
“She should at least have tried to smile and finish... Sigh.”
“Exactly. At least trying until the end is what makes it pleasant to watch. This is frustrating.”
The trainees’ video assessments continued, and then I Dohee appeared on the screen.
—Hello. I’m I Dohee from Top East Entertainment.—
“Oh, the pianist~ I wonder how she’ll do.”
“For starters, Dohee looks good on camera.”
“Oh, exactly. She’s so pretty.”
“I’m really looking forward to Dohee as well.”
“That’s right, since she’s Tier 1. But whether she’ll do as well as we expect... We’ll have to see.”
I Dohee’s voice flowed from the video on the screen.
—The way you look at me is thrilling (so thrilling)—
Moon Jinwoo laughed.
“Pfft. Why is she so cute?”
On the screen, I Dohee performed a cute dance and song while staring intently into the camera without a break.
“Doesn’t Dohee seem to love the camera more than anyone we’ve seen so far?”
“Exactly. Ah~ She’s so cute~”
“Regardless of her actual skills, she seems to know how she should look on camera.”
“Yes, her strengths definitely stand out before her weaknesses.”
“That doesn’t mean she has no weaknesses.”
“That’s true.”
“But you should know that she’s probably the youngest in the Tier 1 class.”
“Oh, really?”
After I Dohee’s video ended, the judges wrote their tier assessments on their evaluation sheets before moving on to evaluate the videos of the other participants.
***
While the judges spent half a day conducting their evaluations separately, the trainees were given a rare break.
I was tired from practicing while cutting back on sleep, too, so I passed out the moment I lay down on the bed.
“Dohee, wake up.”
When I opened my eyes at the voice calling my name, Hana unnie was peeking her head over the bunk bed I was lying on and calling me.
“We have to get ready and film now.”
“Ah... What time is it?”
“It’s seven in the evening.”
I had slept for roughly five hours as an afternoon nap, but I was still tired.
Yawning, I asked Hana unnie,
“Aren’t you tired, unnie...?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Just as she said, Hana unnie looked completely energetic.
I had exercised consistently since I was young, so it wasn’t as though I lacked stamina.
“Were you an athlete or something, unnie?”
“Huh? How did you know? I was a short-track speed skater until middle school.”
Ah.
I climbed out of bed, dragging my tired body along, and saw that Seyeon unnie was no longer in the room, probably having already gone to wash up.
And Eun Sera was still lying there as silently as a dead mouse.
“Sera unnie isn’t awake?”
“She doesn’t wake up even when I shake her... She must be really tired.”
“Go wash up and get ready first, unnie. I’ll wake her.”
“Okay~”
Hana unnie went to wash up.
I shook Sera unnie to wake her, but she simply wouldn’t get up.
With no other choice, I loosened Eun Sera’s arms and pulled the stuffed toy out of her embrace.
Only then did Eun Sera open her eyes and suddenly grab my hand.
Whoa, you scared me.
“Dohee.”
“Yes...?”
“I’m hungry...”
I still had no idea what Sera unnie was supposed to be.
“Wipe the sleep from your eyes. They’re announcing the tiers after we eat.”
“Ah... Okay.”
.
.
.
It was time to announce the results of the tier reevaluation.
Trainer Moon Jinwoo entered the Tier 1 classroom holding a sheet of paper with the trainees’ new tiers written on it.
All the trainees stood up and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
“Hello~”
“Nice to meet you~”
Moon Jinwoo sat down on a chair placed in the center of the classroom and spoke.
“First, everyone, sit comfortably on the floor.”
Once all the trainees had sat down, Moon Jinwoo spoke in a gentle tone.
“Did everyone get some good rest?”
“Yes!”
In an instant, Moon Jinwoo’s expression hardened.
“Really? I guess all the Tier 1 trainees must be feeling at ease.”
“As you all know, the trainees called here to the Tier 1 classroom today are the ones whose tiers have gone down.”
“In other words, the trainees who are called won’t be able to receive the spotlight on the title-song stage, right?”
“And because that spotlight is limited, the more trainees who move up, the more of you will have to move down.”
“Now, before I announce the trainees who will be removed from the Tier 1 classroom today!”
“Let’s first wait for the trainees who have newly become Tier 1.”
...Hmm.
I guess he was saying all that to make us nervous.
Honestly, I didn’t think it would be me.
Seeing me like that, Seoyun unnie whispered in my ear.
“You should try being a little nervous.”
What was she talking about?