"Doa, your sister’s tired, so come out and let her sleep."
It was Dad’s voice calling for Doa from outside.
I woke up to the sensation of something pressing down on me.
When I opened my eyes, Doa was sprawled on top of me, rolling around.
I suppose she was happy to see me after so long.
I hugged Doa tightly, kissed her cheeks, and said,
"Lee Doa. Did you miss your sister?"
"It’s not like that."
Doa had an affected look on her face.
Her actions, however, were clearly saying that she was happy to see me.
She was so cute that I couldn’t stop kissing her.
Perhaps Mom heard our conversation, because she called for me from outside.
"Sweetie, are you awake? If you are, come out and eat~"
I really had returned to my everyday life.
After the competition ended yesterday, I came home at four in the morning and collapsed onto my bed.
When I woke up, it was three in the afternoon.
I’d slept until quite late.
I had clearly slept a lot, but my body was still tired.
It was the fatigue that only became apparent once the tension of the stage had finally faded.
I somehow resisted the urge to lie back down, got out of bed, sat at the dining table, and began eating a late lunch.
While I was eating, I eventually picked up my phone.
I’d planned to do it after eating, but I couldn’t wait any longer.
This was the moment I’d been looking forward to the most.
What were people saying online?
First, I searched my name on YouTube.
Oh… it had been uploaded to YouTube, too.
(Video)
- Top East really went all out this time. They only sent out pretty girls lol. Especially Dohee—she’s No. 1 in terms of looks, for real.
└ Eun Sera is prettier lol
└ It’s obvious she had plastic surgery, but she’s still No. 1 in looks lol
└ Anyone can tell she’s natural. How could that possibly be plastic surgery? lol
└ Who gets plastic surgery for a fifteen-year-old who hasn’t even finished growing? Stop spouting bullshit, idiot.
└ Dohee’s the prettiest in my eyes. Then Meilin, Eun Sera.
- Damn, the visuals this season are no joke!
- Actually, she is considered the NO.1 visual in Jdol3 by K-netizens! Sooooo pretty~
- Lee Dohee is so beautiful. She’s a talent who will brighten the future of K-pop.
- She’s so cute! Her charm is no joke!
- She’s really tall, has great proportions, and her face is insanely beautiful. Among the idols currently active, she honestly seems like one of the prettiest by farㅠㅠ
- She’s my favorite so far! She moves so beautifully.
- Seriously beautiful.
- Dohee’s face is the kind of face that could save the world and even the universe… With this one face, she could unite everything… She could even conquer the world and universe… For real, she’s so freaking pretty, cute, and lovable that I’m going insane. Seriously… My heart almost gave out… Please, don’t get so excited, heart…ㅠㅠ Ha… Dohee, just take it all for yourself… Do whatever you want, Dohee…ㅠㅠ Unnie loves you so much… I’m a fan starting today…♡♡
- ㅠㅜㅜㅠ Her beauty is seriously unbelievable. How can anyone look like that? She’s so pretty I can only marvel at her…ㅠㅠ
- Whose daughter is she to be this beautiful? Her mother must be incredibly beautiful tooㅠㅠ
The fact that more than half the comments had already been taken over by English comments made it clear that, as a K-pop program, it was attracting plenty of attention.
"Lee Dohee, eat your food first at the table."
Mom spoke to me as I giggled at my phone instead of eating.
I showed her the screen and said,
"Mom, did you watch my video?"
"Of course I did. Did you think I wouldn’t?"
"Oh~"
"Your father watched it too. And we even left comments together."
"Really?"
Dad, who had stayed seated beside me even after finishing lunch, pointed at the two comments on my phone with a proud smile.
"These two."
The two comments Dad pointed out were:
‘Whose daughter is she to be this beautiful? Her mother must be incredibly beautiful tooㅠㅠ’
Now that I looked at it…
It was obviously a comment Mom had written.
But… putting Mom aside for the moment…
"Dad…"
‘Lee Dohee is so beautiful. She’s a talent who will brighten the future of the music industry.’
My face burned with embarrassment.
"Touching, isn’t it?"
Touching, my ass…
"Dad, you really need to learn from Mom. You sound completely like an old man."
Dad looked devastated, as though he had suffered a great shock, but I was shocked too…
Who in their early forties talked like that?
I should really teach him a thing or two…
***
The topic heating up the Jdol3 community.
Reviews of the first competition.
[Review of the First Competition]
- Dohee is freaking pretty. Glad I went to the live recording lol
[Competition Review—Spoilers]
- Sera is the best. She’s definitely taking first place.
[The Real Review of the First Competition]
- I’m so glad I went to the live recording lol
[Posting a Vivid Review of the Competition. Extremely Long]
(Frog picture)
Just kidding.
└ You fucking assholes, stop messing around and post a proper review already.
└ Give us spoilers, I feel like I’m going insaneeeeeeeee
People clicked on the review posts with high expectations, only to find that they contained nothing at all.
Then, one post appeared.
[Real Review. Minor Spoilers—I Went to the First Competition]
(Photo of admission ticket) (Photo of the studio exterior) Proof
This was my first time attending an idol stage and a live recording, so I was really excited.
I don’t know if this is how it usually is, but they were incredibly thorough.
We had to sign an agreement, hand over our phones, and even go through metal detectors.
The reason only vague comments have been appearing and no actual spoilers have been posted is because the production staff scared the hell out of us, supposedly because they’re working with Netflix.
Anyway, I’m nervous too, so I’ll only give a few spoilers.
First of all, Lee Sihun came as the MC, and he was incredibly handsome.
The trainees were generally prettier than the ones in Season 1, but am I mentioning their looks despite that? That’s how insanely pretty they were.
More importantly, I saw a post before about singing ability that said when you watch an actual idol performance, the voices get drowned out and you can’t hear them properly.
Apparently, the ones who overcome that and project their own voices are the ones with actual singing ability.
So I watched carefully during the competition to see if that was true, and it really was.
I don’t know if the girls’ voices just weren’t carrying, but you couldn’t hear them.
Some of them were out of breath and couldn’t sing properly, either.
Even so, there were a few girls who could at least project their voices properly…
The problem is, I was exhausted from standing the entire time, so I don’t remember very well…
I’ll organize this around the girls I remember and the pretty ones.
First Competition—Tea Party
Both teams had some fairly well-known girls, so I had high expectations, but they completely bombed lol
Especially Yun Seowon… She was incredibly pretty, but… she cracked terribly.
Anyway, most of them couldn’t be heard at all, and their pitch was unstable. I was already thinking about leaving right after this…
Still, one person I remembered was Kim Naeun.
First of all, she sang well. I didn’t really notice it from her photos, but in person, she was much prettier than I expected…
She was tall, had great proportions, and she was cute when introducing herself before the stageㅋㅋㅋㅋ
.
.
.
Final Competition—3M
Group 1…
Hmm, both the members and the stage were pretty average.
But I don’t know if they put everything into Group 2, because their visuals were insane.
As far as I remember, Group 2 had Meilin, Lee Dohee, Park Yeeun, and Gong Chaerin, and wow… Meilin and Lee Dohee in particular were absolutely gorgeous.
But Dohee was even more incredible than Meilin… You really have to see her in person to understand.
Anyway, to sum up the stage:
Gong Chaerin << Her rap was seriously… She rapped, and every word went straight into my ears. I heard she had been a rapper in Zy, but her rap didn’t get drowned out at all—you could hear everything. She was like a top online lecture instructor. Obviously the main rapper.
Park Yeeun << She sings well. If this were Season 1, she’d be a main-vocal candidate, but Eun Sera and Kim Seoyoon both sang well, and Eun Sera in particular was on another level, so maybe a lead vocalist?
Meilin << Just like people say on the community, she’s a fairy. But as for her skills, I’m not sure.
Lee Dohee << Surprisingly, she didn’t miss her pitch or timing, and her singing voice didn’t get drowned out. It came through cleanly.
If you only consider her visuals, stage presence, dance lines, and ability, she’s definitely center material.
Unless some controversy about her personality comes up, she’ll debut for sure based on her looks alone. The question is whether she’ll debut in first place.
Anyway, there are a lot of girls to choose from in Jdol3, and I’m curious how many of them will debut. I’m looking forward to the first broadcast.
+++ Oh, and there was one audience member who kept loudly muttering negative things like, “No, no,” every time a certain trainee did her PR. She was seriously disgusting. Why did you even come if you were going to act like that? I wrote negatively about some girls here too, but I don’t think that’s any excuse to act like an anti-fan the way you did. It was truly repulsive.
└ Wow, finally a genuinely proper review.
└ Thanks, that was a good read.
└ If their skills are similar, being pretty is a skill lol
└ Such a completely subjective review. You didn’t mention a single one of the girls I’m interested in. Tsk.
└ Be grateful they wrote anything at all.
└ Effort post, upvoted.
└ “Yun Seowon was bad,” my ass. The author’s a woman, isn’t she? lol
└ Good read. Take my upvote.
***
The production staff knew that, despite telling people not to post spoilers, spoiler posts would inevitably appear.
And as he read through those posts, main producer Im Hyeonung was weighing his options.
Which contestants should be given more screen time, and which ones should be promoted?
Now that the first competition was over, he had to look at the contestants’ abilities and star quality as demonstrated during the competition and establish the overall framework and buildup of the show starting from Episode 1.
Episode 1 was particularly important.
The images that would essentially carry them all the way to the finale had to be established there.
There was a reason the final debut members of Seasons 1 and 2 had consisted mostly of the initial Tier 1 members, aside from a few underdogs.
Of course, since he had been envisioning the editing as filming progressed, most of the framework and the direction of the edits were already complete in Im Hyeonung’s mind.
This season would air on Netflix.
The important thing was pure viewership.
And to achieve that, there was nothing better than leveraging the name value of the Big Four agencies.
Most K-pop fandoms around the world belonged to the Big Four agencies, after all.
That was why he had brought in trainees from the Big Four agencies in exchange for giving them favorable edits.
His gaze shifted to Eun Sera on the editing-room monitor.
The Big Four trainees happened to be skilled as well, so giving them favorable edits wouldn’t exactly count as special treatment.
After sorting out the editing points for the Big Four trainees, he turned his thoughts to the many other contestants.
‘There are a lot of girls worth using this time.’
This season had an unusually large number of talented contestants.
That made him regret reducing the number of final debut members to seven.
It couldn’t be helped, since the bureau chief’s order had been based on the somewhat arbitrary reasoning that the most successful group in K-pop at the moment had seven members.
Still, the survival competition would become even fiercer, so he didn’t think it would hurt the ratings.