Episode 11
The rumor that a trainee from Class X was acknowledged by Trainer Kim Na-hee spread quickly among the trainees.
"Huh? Isn't that the beloved disciple of Teacher Kim Na-hee, Sunwoo?"
"Wait, is that the rumored person who melted her cold expression in one go?"
"Ugh, grumble..."
When the Boo brothers, whom I bumped into while passing by, started teasing me, all the surrounding gazes focused on this side.
Among them were some friendly looks, but it seemed there were more looks of envy or jealousy than that.
After that incident back then, the number of people staying behind in the practice room to practice until night suddenly increased.
Of course, most of them just showed their faces a few times, and as time passed, they were no longer seen.
"Where are you going in such a hurry again?"
"Well, it's obvious you're heading to the practice room."
"You take all the regular classes, stay behind until night to practice, are you even human, Sunwoo Rin? Are you actually a robot? Where's your power switch? Is it here?"
I lightly placed my hand on the back of Boo Ji-seok, who was groping my body.
Slap-
"Ugh..."
"Ji-seok! Uwaaaah! Don't die! I told you not to die, open your eyes!"
"Stop overreacting. I didn't even hit you that hard. Anyway, I'm leaving first!"
"Sunwoo Rin, you cruel bastard!"
I returned to my room, quietly ignoring the Boo brothers who were still looking at me and acting.
When I entered the room, I saw the X-rank kids waiting for me.
"Hyung, when are we going to the practice room?"
"Should we go right now?"
"Yes, that's great!"
"I'm going too."
They were the X-rank trainees who had become noticeably closer over the past few days.
Perhaps because we shared the same room, it seemed we had quickly grown close to each other even in a short period of time.
Sim Seong-ha seemed to have regained his bright personality at some point, becoming the mood maker of this room.
Wei Tianyu also tried his best to talk with us, despite his clumsy Korean.
"Si-hyun, you're going too, right?"
At Sim Seong-ha's words, Baek Si-hyun nodded.
Although Baek Si-hyun's words hadn't increased much, nor had his shyness lessened, he was gradually adapting.
Especially during choreography practice time, he now took the initiative to help without even being asked.
"But what about Yoo-jin?"
"It seems he's not feeling well again today."
Yoojin Kim seemed to have been suffering from poor condition ever since the first day of the training camp.
Since I didn't spend much time in the dorm, I hadn't been able to pay much attention to him.
Hearing from the other kids, they said he often went straight up to the top bunk as soon as he entered the dorm without even giving anyone a chance to talk to him.
Even now, Yoojin Kim was lying in bed with earplugs in, making it look difficult to try and talk to him.
"Then let's just go without him."
"Yes!"
The four X-rank trainees, excluding Yoojin Kim, headed to the practice room together.
"There's no one here today."
"Well, this isn't the only practice room. And it makes sense that everyone is tired."
Come to think of it, we were the strange ones for being so energetic until night; the other trainees weren't the weird ones.
They had rank-specific training, personal practice, individual interviews whenever there was a chance, and if not, the thorough production team would create something for broadcast footage.
It would be stranger for trainees who were exhausted like that all day to come out and practice until night.
That might be true for me, but the other members of the X-rank were unexpected.
"Aren't you guys tired?"
"I'm fine! If I were at home, I'd be tormented by my 10 younger siblings, but since coming here, it's been so comfortable!"
Ah, everyone nodded at Sim Seong-ha's words.
I hadn't experienced it, but 10 younger siblings?
'10 younger sisters for me? Just thinking about it is terrifying.'
"Me too, when I was in China, I went to a dance school, compared to that, this is much easier."
Wei Tianyu said with a slight smile.
"Tianyu, don't just smile carelessly wherever you go."
"Huh? Why?"
Even the way he tilted his head in curiosity was handsome.
'Even if you just stand there, you won't have to worry about broadcast screentime.'
The three of us, excluding Wei Tianyu, nodded in silent empathy.
"You're handsome."
"I guess so."
Wei Tianyu nodded as if it were obvious and answered.
Such a confident attitude, but I couldn't argue against it.
"Whatever, let's just practice."
I shook off my seat and stood up, feeling unjustly treated.
If Wei Tianyu had a born face, I had born stamina.
If Wei Tianyu practiced once, I had to practice 10 times, no, 100 times.
Only then did it feel like the unfairness would fade a little.
Just as I was about to start practicing, suddenly a bustling sound was heard from outside.
'What is it? Other trainees? There's no way they'd swarm in all at once at this time.'
Then, the door to the practice room opened, and a writer came in along with a few cameras.
The cameras took their places in every corner of the practice room and started filming us.
The writer approached us and spoke.
"Is trainee Yoojin Kim here by any chance?"
"Yes, he's in the dorm right now."
"Ah, I see."
The writer had abruptly asked for Yoojin Kim, then looked disappointed and went back to the corner.
"Kids, eat this and practice."
Ah, so this was it.
Through the open door, the figure of Kim Na-hee carrying a bunch of food could be seen.
I quickly ran to the door and took the bags Kim Na-hee was holding.
"Thank you for the food, Teacher. Please come inside and eat with us."
Kim Na-hee nodded at my words and came inside the practice room.
I placed the food in the center of the practice room and gestured for the kids, who had frozen up at Kim Na-hee's appearance, to gather.
"What, I came because I heard everyone was working hard lately, but there are only four of you here? I brought a lot thinking there would be more. What are we going to do with all this?"
Grumbling, Kim Na-hee approached us and took a seat.
The three trainees, naturally, seemed to have no intention of speaking to Kim Na-hee first and were busy just unwrapping the food packaging.
Kim Na-hee also just looked at us without saying anything in particular.
'These guys with no social skills.'
No matter how I looked at it, I was the only one here who could handle Kim Na-hee.
As I was thinking that and pondering what topic I should bring up first.
Fortunately, Kim Na-hee spoke first.
"Alright, you must be hungry. Let's eat first and talk."
"Thank you. We'll eat well!"
"We'll eat well!"
The four of us, answering harmoniously, started eating the food in an awkward atmosphere.
After some time had passed, seeing us eating without saying a word, Kim Na-hee seemed conscious of the cameras and opened her mouth again.
"Have you been practicing like this continuously since the first day?"
"After seeing Rin hyung practicing every night first, we thought we should practice together too, so we followed along."
At Kim Na-hee's words, Sim Seong-ha answered carefully.
Well, strictly speaking, Baek Si-hyun had also practiced with us since the first day. But it didn't seem like Baek Si-hyun was going to say that himself.
"If one person works hard, the people around them will work hard together. You're all doing well. Especially Rin, it's really nice to see you leading the younger ones and practicing together."
"Not at all. I'm actually learning a lot from these guys."
"Is that so? Then if you've eaten enough, push it to the side for a moment."
At Kim Na-hee's words, the eyes of Baek Si-hyun and Wei Tianyu, who had been eating in silence, widened.
After roughly organizing the food, the four of us approached Kim Na-hee, who was already standing at the front of the practice room.
"Since I'm here, I should check your skills one by one. Now, who wants to go first?"
"I'll try first."
When I raised my hand first, Kim Na-hee nodded as if telling me to go ahead.
I immediately started dancing to the playing intro.
"Wait, your arm went up too much here."
"Relax your body! Dancing isn't just about power!"
"The step there was half a beat fast. Try again."
"You kids in the back, watch closely too, I'm going to make every single one of you do it. Just try making a mistake in the same spot!"
Like that, Kim Na-hee's passionate teaching continued non-stop for about 2 hours, even after everyone had danced in front of her once.
***
"Uuuugh."
What is that sound?
At the sound of groaning coming from somewhere, I struggled to lift my eyelids.
Kim Na-hee's intensive training was by no means an easy task for me either.
'Still, I definitely gained a lot.'
Kim Na-hee's teachings were a great experience for me right now that I couldn't buy even with money.
'But wait, didn't I hear a sound earlier?'
Driving away the rushing sleepiness, I checked the watch on my wrist, and the current time was 3:30 AM.
Since I came into the dorm around 1 AM and passed out right away, a little over 2 hours had passed.
"Uuuu."
The sound was heard once again.
I quietly got up from my spot and headed in the direction the sound was coming from.
'Yoojin Kim?'
It was dark so I couldn't see well, but the sound kept coming from the direction of the top bunk where Yoojin Kim was.
I carefully climbed the ladder and went up onto the bed.
Seeing him up close, I saw Yoojin Kim sweating profusely and groaning.
I placed my hand on his forehead.
'He has a severe fever.'
He looked worse than I had thought.
I shook Yoojin Kim awake.
"Yoo-jin, are you okay? Try to get up."
"Ugh, Sunwoo Rin hyung?"
"Yeah, it's me. Does it hurt a lot? Come down here for now."
"Wait a moment..."
I grabbed Yoojin Kim, who was stumbling down from the top bunk, and hoisted him onto my back.
"W-wait a moment."
"Let's go to the infirmary."
The three trainees who had passed out didn't even show signs of waking up even when we were making a fuss.
With Yoojin Kim on my back, I went outside and walked quickly to the infirmary.
When I entered the infirmary, a man, who seemed to be the person on duty, was dozing off in a chair.
"Excuse me!"
"Uh... yes?"
"There's a patient here."
"Ah! Just a moment... the name?"
"Yoojin Kim. I'm Sunwoo Rin."
Leaving the duty officer who seemed to have vaguely come to his senses behind, I laid Yoojin Kim down on the bed in the infirmary for now.
"Is there a thermometer?"
"Over there, it should be there."
I immediately brought the thermometer and measured his temperature.
"It's 38.7 degrees. I think we need to call an ambulance."
"What? 38.7 degrees? Just a moment, I'll check."
While the duty officer checked the temperature again, I looked at the shelf and saw what looked like antipyretics, so I brought them for now.
"Is this an antipyretic?"
"Uh, yes! That's right!"
"Yoo-jin, let's take this first."
Wondering if it might be some other medicine, I even checked the contents before giving Yoojin Kim the medicine.
In the meantime, a few more people arrived here.
"What's going on? What happened?"
"There's a trainee with a high fever, so I called 119 for now."
"Who is the other trainee over there?"
"I'm Sunwoo Rin."
It seemed like they were talking about me, so I answered first.
"Did trainee Sunwoo Rin bring him here all by himself?"
"Yes, that's right."
"They said they've called an ambulance, so the trainee can go back to the dorm now."
"I brought him, so I'll stay by his side until the ambulance comes."
At my words, the person who seemed to be in charge thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright. Then do that."
Having received permission, I sat on the chair next to the bed where Yoojin Kim was lying.
"Hyung, thank you."
"It's nothing. They called an ambulance, so just hold on a little. It'll be here soon."
I sat there like that beside Yoojin Kim and waited for the ambulance to come.
***
"It's been a while, everyone."
In the room where the judges were gathered, Ria, who entered last, greeted them and sat down.
"It's already time for the rank re-evaluation. I heard there have been many things happening in the meantime."
At Ria's words, everyone nodded.
"Ah! I heard a trainee went to the hospital in the early morning because they were sick during the training camp. Who was it?"
"Trainee Yoojin Kim. Fortunately, his condition improved in just a day and he came back."
"Still, he probably couldn't practice properly."
"It can't be helped. Managing one's condition is also a personal skill."
Kim Na-hee answered Ria's words.
Ria nodded as if empathizing with Kim Na-hee's words and said.
"Well, we can check that today. By the way, how about the teachers who directly trained the trainees here? Was there any trainee who caught your eye?"
At Ria's question, everyone pondered for a moment, then suddenly started looking at Kim Na-hee one by one.
"Everyone's looking at Teacher Kim Na-hee? It's not easy to be acknowledged by Teacher Kim Na-hee. Who is it? It seems everyone knows except me?"
"It's not really an acknowledgment. There was a kid who worked the hardest among the trainees."
"And who is that?"
Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the attention focused on her, Kim Na-hee slowly opened her mouth.
"Trainee Sunwoo Rin."