Episode 25
By the time episode 3 had aired, 'National Idol Season 2' was now inching closer to becoming a true national audition, standing at the center of public attention, not just within the idol industry.
[‘National Idol Season 2’ proves its dominance by surpassing the final episode viewership of ‘Season 1’ in just 3 episodes.]
[The secret to ‘Nat-Idol’s’ consecutive box-office success despite the devil's editing controversy is the ‘Yujin Kim, Sunwoo Rin’ effect!]
[Average viewership of 5.6%, peak viewership of 6.7% in just 3 episodes. Is ‘Nat-Idol 2’ aiming for the highest record among all Musicnet auditions?]
Showing a steep growth in viewership with each episode, it topped the view counts of entertainment articles.
It was also sparking discussions in entertainment communities all day long.
Views: 301102 Comments: 1023
1. Yujin Kim (20)
Agency: Universe Music
Notable Fact: American Idol runner-up
Needless to say, a strong candidate for 1st place in this Nat-Idol.
Undeniably the best main vocal material, but dancing remains a weakness.
Demoted to D-grade in the re-evaluation due to poor condition.
Looking forward to his future performances on stage.
2. Sim Seongha (19)
Agency: Forest Ent (2nd-year trainee)
Notable Fact: The hot topic from Human Drama. Eldest of 11 siblings
Cast by an agency after appearing on Human Drama. Forest Ent is an actor-focused agency, but is currently producing its own idol group.
Skills are still lacking, but showing effort and growing. Secured a debut rank based on popularity.
3. Wi Cheonwoo (20)
Agency: Staroad (3rd-year trainee)
Notable Fact: From Shanghai, China, Visual Center
From the global agency Staroad, participated in the audition 3 months after coming to Korea, seems to rely heavily on Sunwoo Rin in the same dorm for communication.
Maintaining a top rank with his handsome looks, but being from China remains a risk factor.
4. Baek Sihyun (18)
Agency: WD (4th-year trainee)
Notable Fact: X-grade maknae
A trainee about whom little is known.
Acknowledged as the best dancer by trainer Song Youngjun in the re-evaluation.
Timid personality and lack of confidence are downsides.
5. Sunwoo Rin (21)
Agency: Independent trainee
Notable Fact: Completed military service, Captain Kore...
Had a lot of screen time from the beginning, leading to rumors of being the PD's son, but rapidly emerged as the protagonist of this Nat-Idol 2 from episode 2.
Currently ranked 7th as of episode 3, securing a debut spot.
Mentioned in episode 1 to have no trainee experience.
Per his resume, his strengths are sports and foreign languages. Possesses Chinese skills capable of free-talking with Wi Cheonwoo.
Hardworking trainee. Sunwoo Rin fighting!
- OP is a Sunwoo Rin anti-fan lolololololol
└Was this a build-up for Sunwoo Rin's promotion? lol
- Our Cheonwoo isn't just good-looking, he dances well too!!!
└Not interested in that.
└Looks like you're already thinking of shipping them, aren't you?
- Honestly, does it make sense to push X-grade more than A-grade?
└Real talk, it's been like that since last season, but the screen time bias is way too severe this season too.
Thus, not only Sunwoo Rin and Yujin Kim but the X-grade trainees as a whole received attention, and shifts in the rankings began to occur.
In the rankings revealed up to 10th place this time, all five X-grade trainees were included, with Yujin Kim at 1st and Wi Cheonwoo at 3rd.
Sim Seongha at 5th, Sunwoo Rin at 7th, and Baek Sihyun at 9th.
The three trainees whose ranks hadn't been revealed until now entered the ranking brackets.
However, as attention focused on the X-grade trainees, as a trade-off, backlash began to arise from the fandoms of other trainees.
- My friend went to the same school as S.W.R, and said he fooled around a lot during his school days.
└Right, I live in the same neighborhood and heard some things too...
Malicious rumors about individual trainees without any basis began to surface.
- Anyone seen Wi Cheonwoo's past photos? Looks like he got his nose, eyes, and jaw done. Looks like he touched other places too.
└Doesn't look like Wi Cheonwoo? Where did you get the photo?
- Honestly, Yujin Kim being sick is all an excuse. He just got D-grade because he didn't work hard. They packaged it well and turned it into working hard despite being sick.
Besides that, posts tearing down the trainees in various ways started to appear.
The severity of those posts began to rise higher and higher as the 1st ranking announcement ceremony approached.
- Sunwoo Rin is so fucking annoying, just annoying for no reason. I don't even want to see his face.
└I change the channel immediately whenever Sunwoo Rin's face comes on lololol
"These crazy bastards, do they really want to die?!"
Tadadadadak- tadak tadak dadak-
Accordingly, someone's keyboard was suffering greatly, struggling to endure its owner's increasingly harsh touch day by day.
***
Since entering the dorm, aside from group schedules or interviews, I had been spending all my time except eating and sleeping solely on practicing.
"Hyung, for that part, you do it like this..."
I was learning dance from the basics with Baek Sihyun's help.
Sihyun didn't explain it theoretically or suggest methods.
He just showed the movements himself one by one and made me follow along.
Just by watching Sihyun's movements, I was gaining great insight into how to move my body and how to avoid looking stiff.
"You do it well right after seeing it once."
"I told you, that hyung is a monster."
Ignoring Sim Seongha's grumbling beside me, I focused on my dance practice.
Even though my stats hadn't increased, I could feel myself improving on my own, so practicing wasn't hard at all.
And for vocals, there was visible progress.
Just yesterday, my vocal stat rose by one level from C- to C.
Of course, behind that...
"Did everyone practice the assignments I gave you yesterday properly?"
"Yees!"
It seemed like about 70% of it was due to Yujin Kim, who had somehow awakened his talent as a vocal trainer.
"Then who should start?"
"I'll go first!"
At Yujin Kim's words, Baek Sihyun raised his hand and said.
'He seems to be getting brighter as time goes by?'
The one who changed the most through vocal lessons wasn't me, but Baek Sihyun.
Lately, Yujin Kim and Baek Sihyun had gotten much closer, and now they seemed to share personal stories with each other.
'Well, it's a good thing that Sihyun is gradually brightening up.'
When Baek Sihyun and Yujin Kim disappeared together, Sim Seongha and Wi Cheonwoo came up to me and vented their complaints.
"Phew, isn't everyone working too hard? It feels like I'm working 10 times harder now than during my trainee life at the agency."
"Right, if I had worked this hard like now, I would have debuted already."
While I was listening to the grievances of the two who slumped down next to me like that.
"Hyung, but do you feel it too?"
"Feel what?"
"Doesn't it feel like everyone is keeping us in check?"
"Exactly!"
At Sim Seongha's words, Wi Cheonwoo nodded vigorously.
'Keeping us in check.'
"Now everyone feels it, that it's a competition."
Just as Sim Seongha said, as the 1st ranking announcement ceremony approached, the atmosphere in this dorm began to grow heavier.
Especially the gazes toward us, the five former X-grade trainees, were not very good.
'Granted, we did get an excessive amount of screen time.'
The reason I knew about that was because Yujin Kim had subtly hinted at it to me.
'The more the buzz grows and the more you're mentioned, the more anti-fans will inevitably arise. In this episode 3, hyung, you were even set up in a rivalry with Park Hanhui hyung, so you have to be careful not to give them any ammunition from now on.'
'How do you know about all that? Wasn't bringing phones into the dorm banned?'
At my words, Yujin Kim stealthily pointed to his pocket.
'As long as you don't get caught, it doesn't matter.'
Just as Yujin Kim said, we received a concentrated amount of screen time.
Considering that there were trainees who hadn't even gotten a proper single shot of their face until episode 3.
It was all too obvious what the lower-ranked trainees would think of us.
"We have to be careful for now; if we cause unnecessary trouble, we're the ones who'll lose out. Of course, it doesn't seem like anyone here would do that openly."
Inside the dorm, cameras were rolling wherever you went.
Unless it was a truly extreme situation, it was hard for someone to openly sabotage another in front of the cameras.
'Still, just in case.'
No one knew when someone who didn't seem like that might suddenly change. Hadn't I experienced all sorts of people in the military?
"Ah, I wish the ranking announcement would end quickly. No, I wish this audition would end quickly! Please!!"
When Sim Seongha shouted like that, the practice room door carefully opened.
I thought Yujin Kim and Baek Sihyun had returned, but the face visible through the open door wasn't theirs.
'Kang Ajin?'
"Um, could we share the practice room?"
When Kang Ajin spoke cautiously in front of the door, Sim Seongha and Wi Cheonwoo looked at my face.
'Why are they naturally looking at me?'
"The practice room doesn't belong to anyone, and practicing here is free. Come on in, Ajin."
At my words, Kang Ajin bowed his head and came inside.
Then he took a spot in one corner and quietly began preparing to practice.
'Is something going on?'
I knew the practice room Kang Ajin usually practiced in was mainly where the A-grade trainees were.
I was curious if something had happened there.
I thought about asking him directly, but seeing Kang Ajin looking noticeably down, I thought unnecessary meddling might have a worse effect, so I leaned towards not bringing it up for now.
Like that, the practice room suddenly had an awkward atmosphere.
Time passed, and as it neared dinner time, I thought about asking if he wanted to eat together, but Kang Ajin disappeared before I could even bring it up.
Eventually giving up on eating with Kang Ajin, as I came out of the practice room.
"Hold up!"
"Huh? It's Rin?"
"Hi!"
I stopped the Boo brothers, who I ran into while passing by.
"Hey, let's talk for a bit, come with me."
As I grabbed their arms and dragged them along.
"Ugh! Kidnapping! Jihun, at least you survive...!"
"Hyung, sorry, I got caught too."
"Shut up. Do you happen to know anything about Ajin?"
After finding a place without cameras and making sure no one was around, I asked the two of them.
Hearing my words, the two made unusually serious expressions.
"Hmm, that's a bit hard for us to say."
"Actually, we also just heard it through someone else. So it's not certain."
Did something happen?
They would normally be chatting excitedly about it, but they seemed cautious about this matter.
"Well, is it something you can't say?"
"No, rather than that, it's because we didn't see it ourselves."
"Then just tell me what you know for now."
At my words, the two looked at each other's faces, then sighed and answered.
"You know Yuwon hyung, right?"
"Yuwon?"
A-grade trainee Yuwon.
An unexpected name popped up.
"Why him?"
"It seems Ajin used to be a trainee at JW Ent. So it looks like the two of them knew each other from before."
"From here on, it's purely our guess, but it seems there were bad rumors going around when Ajin left the agency."
"Bad rumors? What were they?"
"That, we don't know either."
"What?"
"No, I said it's a guess, a guess!"
When I glared at them, the Boo brothers spoke urgently.
"So he left on bad terms, so what? Nothing has happened until now."
"Recently, Yuwon hyung's rank has dropped a lot."
"And Ajin, who ranks higher than him, got on his nerves."
So that's how it was?
Yuwon was the trainee who placed 5th in episode 1.
But since then his rank kept dropping, and maybe he became impatient or his true personality was showing. Did that affect his relationship with Kang Ajin?
"So what did Yuwon do?"
"Besides that hyung, there are a few other JW kids here, and it seems they acted petty together. They unnecessarily went and sat next to him at meals, and practiced around him during practice time."
"They kept getting on his nerves like that, just enough so it wouldn't show on camera."
So that's why he took refuge in the practice room I was in.
Now everything made sense.
"But you guys knew about that and just stayed still?"
"We only found out recently!"
"Right, and..."
"And what?"
"Even if we knew, we couldn't step forward first. We don't know what Ajin did at his former agency."
"And it's not like he asked us for help first either."
That was true.
He hadn't asked for help first, and since we didn't know the situation well, it was hard to step forward.
Moreover, this was an audition site.
Which meant everyone was ultimately a competitor.
If we helped someone carelessly without knowing the details, it could end up harming us.
"Okay, I understand."
"Yeah."
"We're going."
The departing figures of the Boo brothers somehow looked deflated.
'What should I do?'
Setting aside the personal meaning that Kang Ajin was the first trainee I met and prepared a stage with.
When considering the characteristic 'Perfect Match', he was someone I should take with me if at all possible.
'But is there anything I can do?'
I personally really disliked multiple people acting petty towards one person, but since I didn't know the relationship between Kang Ajin and those involved, it was hard to intervene first.
'I guess I have no choice but to watch for now.'
The 1st ranking announcement ceremony wasn't far away.
And right after that, we would immediately start preparing for the next competition's stage.
'I don't have time to worry about things like this.'
Still, it kept weighing on my mind.
'If he directly asks me for help, I'll listen to his side of the story and decide then.'
I came to that conclusion, but.
Even after I made my resolution, Kang Ajin said nothing to me.
Fortunately, after that day, time passed without any major issues.
At least, from what I could see.
And before I knew it.
The 1st ranking announcement ceremony was right around the corner.