The day after the premiere of *I Fell for You*.
The official website for *Jodol Season 3* uploaded the profiles and self-introduction videos of the participating trainees.
Though not all of them—only ten randomly selected participants.
The remaining eighty-nine would be uploaded over the course of nine days.
The reason they did not reveal them all at once was obvious.
[ So when are Dohui’s profile and self-introduction video coming out? ]
[ This is such torture... Give us more... ]
[ Hurry up and post the profiles from the Big Three agencies ]
[ Is it really okay for today’s twenty-five-year-old auntie contestant to be this cute in her self-introduction video? ]
The netizens were already setting the profile bait ablaze across the online communities.
Meanwhile, the contestants returned to the training center—the filming location—for their next recording.
It was time for all the trainees to hand over their phones, cut themselves off from the outside world once again, and devote themselves to practice.
The training center’s main auditorium.
As always, MC Jin Taeseop walked up onto the platform to the applause of the trainees.
“ It’s nice to see you all again. Did you have a good rest over the past two weeks? ”
“ Yes~! ”
“ As all of you know, starting today, you’ll be practicing for a new assignment, moving on from the grade evaluation. ”
“ And once this assignment is over, we’ll have the first ranking announcement ceremony, where the first contestants to be eliminated will be determined. ”
“ Just how many trainees will survive the first ranking announcement ceremony? ”
The MC drew out the suspense for a long while, then said in a strange tone,
“ There, there~ ”
...?
In response to the contestants’ chilly reaction, the MC awkwardly asked,
“ Wasn’t that funny? ”
He just blurted things out since anything unfunny would get edited anyway.
I hoped he would be publicly executed without any editing.
The MC composed his voice again and shouted solemnly,
“ Yes. The trainees who survive will be those ranked from first to fifty-ninth! ”
“ Ah... We’re screwed. ”
“ What do we do... ”
I could hear several contestants in the back letting out groans.
“ Then I’ll announce the first assignment, which will determine the first eliminations through the evaluations and votes of the viewers. ”
“ This assignment is a random team battle! ”
Anyone who had watched Seasons 1 and 2 could have predicted the team battle.
It was the word “random” in front of it that bothered me.
“ You’ll be divided into sixteen groups of six to seven members and evaluated in a team battle. ”
“ There will be eight evaluation songs in total. In other words, two groups will compete over each song. ”
“ Every member of the winning team will receive three thousand votes as a reward. ”
In the previous seasons, the reward had been at most a thousand votes. Since a thousand votes hadn’t caused any meaningful changes in the rankings, I suppose they had increased the reward.
“ And! The trainee who receives the most votes on the winning team will receive an additional reward equal to ten times the number of votes they received from the on-site audience! ”
There were five hundred members of the on-site audience.
If I remembered correctly, the highest vote count had been three hundred, so that meant the winner would receive between 1,800 and 3,000 votes.
“ Before we reveal the songs, we’ll form the teams first! ”
“ Before selecting the songs, you need to decide who you’ll be sharing the stage with, right? ”
“ Now then, shall we have the center trainees raise their hands? ”
As expected, just like in Seasons 1 and 2, there must have been a privilege for the center.
I casually raised my arm.
“ Yes, Trainee Lee Dohui. In Seasons 1 and 2, the center trainee had the privilege of calling out their teammates first, correct? ”
“ Yes! ”
I had already thought of the teammate I wanted to choose, just in case.
First, I would pick Kim Seoyun and get my revenge.
“ But not anymore! ”
What?
“ Since this is a random team battle, the teams will be formed randomly as well! ”
The MC pulled away the black cloth covering a square object.
“ They’ll be selected through the draw box right here. ”
For a moment, I failed to control my expression, and my face stiffened.
The trainees around me, on the other hand, looked secretly pleased.
“ Trainee Lee Dohui, are you disappointed that the privilege has disappeared? ”
I hurriedly composed my expression.
I could already see the interview that would be inserted into the broadcast.
[ Trainee Dohui, you were actually pretty disappointed, weren’t you? ]
[ Yes. I almost cursed. ]
Of course, in the actual interview, I would have to soften it to something like, “Yes, I was a little disappointed.”
Why did they have to get rid of it starting in Season 3?
Give me back the center privilegeee...
“ No, I’m fine! ”
“ That’s a relief! Instead, as a privilege of being the center, we’ll give you the chance to draw first! ”
I’m so grateful...
Fuck.
I went up front and pulled out one of the balls from the box, which was packed full of them.
“ Now, split open the ball and read what’s inside! ”
I opened the ball in half and found a slip of paper inside.
‘Group 1.’
“ It’s Group 1. ”
“ Yes, Lee Dohui will be in Group 1! ”
That’s it?
Really?
Just like this?
Isn’t there any privilege...?
One after another, all the contestants drew their balls, and every team was formed.
Group 1, which included me.
Six contestants stood behind the Group 1 placard.
We introduced ourselves to one another.
Lee Dohui, Gong Chaerin, An Eunseo, Meilin, Hwang Eunchae, and Park Yeeun.
Everyone was a member with good visuals.
Having good visuals meant an advantage in a team battle.
Meilin and Park Yeeun in particular were members frequently mentioned by the online communities as the visual standouts.
Of course, I was the prettiest.
That was the public consensus.
The public consensus.
I wouldn’t deny it, of course.
However, if there was a problem with this team...
“ Who’s going to be our main vocalist...? ”
Chaerin unnie spoke up worriedly.
“ I know... ”
“ Haah... ”
The three members—Tier 1 Chaerin unnie, along with Tier 3 An Eunseo and Hwang Eunchae—were all hoping for the rapper position.
And Meilin, a Tier 4, and Park Yeeun, a Tier 5, were in the lower tiers because their vocals were unstable.
“ I guess we’ll have to choose a song without any high notes... ”
“ Are there even any girl-group songs like that...? ”
“ Hip-hop songs tend to have fewer high notes. ”
“ Or maybe something like ‘BOO,’ which came out last year? It’s practically a rap song, and it’s mostly in the lower register. ”
My vocals were the most stable among us, at least...
But since I hadn’t managed to fix my vocal technique yet, my tone quickly became rough.
That was why I had been planning to be a rapper until I fixed it...
Should I really take the main vocalist position myself?
“ Have you all introduced yourselves? Now it’s time to reveal the competition songs, right? ”
The songs weren’t random too, were they?
We had to choose a song in the lower register.
“ Before the reveal, please tear off the papers attached to the placards in front of you. ”
Tear them off?
Following everyone else’s lead, I tore off the paper attached to my placard.
Once it came off, it revealed the number ‘2021-2.’
“ What do the numbers written on the placards mean? ”
“ The four digits at the front indicate the year the competition song was released. The number at the back indicates whether you’re in Group 1 or Group 2. ”
“ Then now, we’ll finally reveal the competition songs. ”
The MC pointed toward a wall in one corner of the auditorium, hidden behind a canopy, and shouted,
“ Reveal them! ”
The canopy was pulled away, revealing an electrically powered spinning wheel.
“ In this team battle, you’ll be evaluated on hit songs by girl groups released in the year written on your placard. ”
“ And which hit songs you receive will be decided through this spinning wheel! ”
“ A random team battle where everything is truly random! ”
“ Only trainees who can show what they’re capable of with any teammates and any song will survive. ”
Haah...
I understood why they had made both the teams and the songs random—and why they were using a spinning wheel instead of a roulette wheel, in particular.
They wanted to emphasize that the competition songs hadn’t been leaked beforehand and that there had been absolutely no manipulation.
Even so, this was excessive...
“ Shall we choose the song for 2014 first? ”
The lights on the wheel went out, then came back on, filling each section with songs from 2014.
“ All right~ I’m spinning it! ”
As he spoke, the host gave the wheel a vigorous spin.
The wheel spun and finally stopped at ‘Tea Party.’
The competition song for Groups 1 and 2 of 2014 was ‘Tea Party.’
As the wheel continued spinning, some groups cheered while others let out groans.
“ Now~ it’s time for the final competition song, the one from 2021! ”
It was our turn.
The wheel’s lights flashed, and a list of hit girl-group songs from 2021 appeared.
Fortunately, the ‘BOO’ our group members had hoped for was on the list as well.
The wheel began to spin...
“ Please... Let it be BOO, please... ”
Chaerin unnie clasped her hands and muttered beside me.
The wheel gradually slowed down, and just as it was about to stop—
The arrow was pointing at ‘BOO.’
“ Oh!!! ”
Chaerin unnie let out a cheer.
—Tak—
But the wheel, which had been about to stop so tantalizingly close, cruelly turned one section farther.
“ 3M’s ‘It G’! ”
“ Noooo! ”
The song we had wanted was a low-register hip-hop track.
The song we got, on the other hand, was 3M’s ‘It G.’
It was a song that portrayed a playful confession to a man.
Who the hell was going to be the main vocalist?
***
“ I know the choreography for ‘It G’ really well, so I think I could help us by being the leader. ”
My goal this time was to take on the leader position and escape from being the youngest, Dohui.
“ Really? One of us unnies could do it. ”
“ That’s right, Dohui. ”
Go be rappers, unnies.
“ I really can do it. If it doesn’t work out, we can switch. ”
“ Are you sure you’ll be okay...? ”
“ Well, no one else seems particularly eager to do it, so let’s have Dohui be the leader! ”
“ Okay. Tell us if it gets too hard, all right? ”
Chaerin unnie pinned an L, signifying leader, onto my clothes and said,
“ Youngest Dohui, fighting! ”
Fuck.
I might have to bite my tongue off.
“ F-fighting... ”
.
.
.
The center, Rapper 1, and Rapper 2 parts were distributed among the three rappers first.
“ Now there are only the three vocal parts left... The main vocalist... ”
Haah...
On other teams, people rushed to claim the main vocalist position just as eagerly as they did the center position. How had our team ended up like this?
“ Does anyone want to do it? ”
Unnie Yeeun and unnie Eunchae both remained silent.
Should I just do it?
If we didn’t decide quickly, we might get edited into a team lacking in skill for no reason.
Of course, showing growth during the competition and building a narrative was one possible approach, but in the end, we still had to perform well.
Just as I was about to say that I would do it, unnie Yeeun began fidgeting with her fingers.
“ Unnie Yeeun, do you want to be the main vocalist? ”
After hesitating, unnie Yeeun opened her mouth while watching everyone’s reactions.
“ I do want to try it... but I’m not confident... ”
She had a personality that reminded me of Sohee.
But these days, humility was no longer considered a virtue.
Especially for idols, this was the age of self-promotion.
“ Say it confidently. ‘I can do it.’ Okay? Even if something goes wrong, we’ll all take responsibility together. ”
“ Okay... ”
“ Hey! With confidence! ”
“ I-I... Okay! Everyone, get out of the way! I’m doing the main vocal! Any complaints!? ”
Huh?