episode_0012

[Name: Seo Yujin]

[Age: 17]

[Trait: Self-centered – Living a life where you are always catered to, you are arrogant and look down on others. You always believe that you are the center of the world.]

[Physical Stats]

[Intelligence Stats]

[Art Stats]

…Wait, can I see other people’s status windows too?

I was momentarily taken aback by Seo Yujin’s sudden appearance, but soon I understood it.

The first thing that caught my eye was her being 2 years younger than me and…

‘Self-centered…?’

It was a trait called self-centered.

‘Arrogant, looking down on others, and believing that you are the center of the world…’

It was definitely a trait befitting her.

I nodded slightly and moved on to her Art Stats.

And…

[Art Stats]

(Appearance: 91)

(Singing: 87)

(Acting: 1)

(Dancing: 84)

“Oh.”

I could roughly understand why Seo Yujin became self-centered.

With an Acting stat of 1… in other words, she may not be able to fake emotions that she doesn’t feel, but her other stats required for an idol were quite high.

Is she also under SAV Entertainment? With those stats, she must have the skills close to a trainee.

“Hello, I’m Seo Yujin from SAV Entertainment.”

She seemed to be well aware of this fact, as her face exuded a considerable amount of confidence. It seemed like she was determined to turn the stage upside down.

The judges who noticed this attitude started asking questions with a small smile, saying she was cute.

“Trainee Seo Yujin. This must be your first time on such a stage, but you don’t seem nervous.”

“Yes, I don’t get nervous.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I’m with SAV!”

Seo Yujin’s Acting stat was 1, which meant she couldn’t fake emotions she didn’t feel.

“I will prove through this stage that I am different from the other contestants!”

With her bold ambition, the stage began to buzz.

Her statement was… quite arrogant, which could be perceived as ignoring the other contestants.

‘…Doesn’t she worry about the cameras?’

Of course, if she shows a perfect stage to back up her statement, her confident attitude could be a plus.

‘…She might get criticized a lot…’

The production crew outside the stage.

They were watching Seo Yujin like a pack of hyenas eyeing their prey.

Their malicious intentions were well-known from past experiences.

The direction in which the production crew edits Seo Yujin will determine her broadcast image.

Of course, if Seo Yujin, who seems close to debut, fails in this matter, it might benefit me.

But… I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, knowing that she would face public criticism in the future due to her young age.

‘…Just do your best.’

That’s why I found myself silently cheering for her.

At that moment…

“……”

“Hmph.”

Whether she knew my thoughts or not, Seo Yujin met my gaze, turned her head, and let out a snort.

And then…

“If there are no more questions, I will start the stage.”

Before the judges could finish their questions, she took the mic and continued the proceedings.

“Haha, that friend is quite cheeky.”

“She seems really confident in her skills, doesn’t she?”

To the judges, her actions seemed cute. Indeed, looking at Seo Yujin, she reminded me of a feisty little kitten, and no matter what she said, she gave off a cute vibe.

But…

“Why is she acting so arrogantly?”

“She’s so confident in the company, huh.”

The participants began to whisper unkind words. They covered their mouths to prevent their words from being captured by the microphone and murmured criticisms about Seo Yujin.

“Unnie, she’s really unlucky, right?”

Even Park Yoojung next to me seemed to agree.

Even she, who was like the epitome of a golden retriever, seemed to think that Seo Yujin was indeed unlucky.

As the biggest interest and scrutiny during the evaluation so far turned towards Seo Yujin on stage…

“Then, let’s start Seo Yujin’s trainee stage.”

With the words of the main MC Han Siwoo, her evaluation began.

♪♪♪♬-!

“….!”

“….!”

As the music played, most people were taken aback. Both the participants and the judges.

‘…Why?’

I couldn’t understand why people were surprised at first. But as the melody progressed…

‘…This song.’

When a recent idol song that I had practiced came on, I understood why people were shocked.

Most participants had prepared idol songs for their evaluation stage.

Of course, the song Seo Yujin had prepared was also an idol song.

But…

“This is Taehwan sunbaenim’s …!”

“She’s doing this…?”

Seo Yujin, a male idol from the same agency SAV Entertainment.

And it was Taehwan’s solo performance song, known as one of the top 3 dancers in SAV.

“She’s doing this for her evaluation?”

Of course, was a high-quality performance song.

But…

‘The difficulty level…’

The concern was the difficulty level. It would be quite burdensome for a trainee to perform this on camera for the first time.

However, it seemed that Seo Yujin didn’t have such worries.

She started her stage confidently with a bright smile as always.

And…

– In this strange atmosphere, I can’t let you go.

“….!”

The moment she sang the first verse, I knew.

‘It’s different.’

Her stage was… different from the other trainees’ performances so far. It was somehow more captivating and entrancing.

– Unable to escape you in this dizzying moment.

I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. The participants who had been criticizing Seo Yujin were now captivated by her stage.

Among them, the more astute ones…

“Wow.”

“Amazing.”

Realized that reacting here would almost guarantee them airtime on the broadcast, so they looked surprised at the camera.

Finally, as the song entered the chorus…

– Under the dark sky, I’m captivated by moving. This strange feeling.

Seo Yujin’s confident smile and graceful dance moves combined to exude an aura that was truly captivating.

But her true strength lay not in her dancing but in her singing ability.

– Even if my neat skirt gets wrinkled, it’s okay, look at me yeah.

Perhaps because it was a male key song, Seo Yujin performed the performance very comfortably, adding a sense of ease and charm to her performance.

“Phew… that was amazing.”

With the same confident smile as when she started, she finished her stage…

“….”

“….”

There was a moment of silence among the judges. It seemed like they were silently competing to see who would speak first.

While the other judges seemed to want Han Siwoo to speak first, he didn’t grab the microphone first.

Instead, the first to speak was the dance trainer.

“I really enjoyed it. It was a stage that truly made me think of SAV.”

As soon as she heard those words, Seo Yujin’s lips curled upwards.

“Even though it’s not an easy song to express, the level of completion was incredibly high.”

As the dance trainer praised her, the other judges followed suit with compliments.

“The tone of your voice is truly charming. It was comfortable to listen to.”

“Above all, your expression is outstanding. Up until now, the faces of the trainees were full of tension, but Seo Yujin was different. Did it feel like watching a professional rather than an amateur?”

“Thank you.”

Certainly, compared to the previous stages, it was overwhelming, but I couldn’t help but think that it was a bit overdone.

At that moment, I saw the production crew outside the set making exaggerated gestures towards the judges.

It was a signal to give more compliments.

“It seems like Seo Yujin is in the debut group that the production crew has planned.”

With a slightly exaggerated chain of compliments coming to an end, it seemed like Seo Yujin’s evaluation was about to be concluded.

“However, Seo Yujin trainee.”

As Han Siwoo took the microphone for the last time….

“Do you not think that your performance was a bit superficial?”

…he poured salt on a well-prepared dish.

“S-Superficial…?”

“Yes, superficial. Seo Yujin trainee, you seem to be putting too much tension in your voice. It seems overly calculated.”

“……”

Seo Yujin’s face began to stiffen unexpectedly. But even in that moment, Han Siwoo continued his evaluation.

“It’s true that your overall performance was better than the other contestants. However… your vocalization in the chorus part was lacking and, most importantly, your dance was too noisy.”

Even up to this point, his critique was harsh enough, but Han Siwoo hit the nail on the head with his final words.

“It felt like you were imitating a professional too much as an amateur.”

“……!”

“In the next stage, I hope you can relax a bit more and focus on your basics.”

Among the judges, there were clearly divided opinions.

And naturally, Han Siwoo’s opinion was the most prominent.

As he highlighted Seo Yujin’s shortcomings, the praises from the other judges towards her faded away.

“…In fact, there was a half-beat mistake in the second verse.”

“…I agree with Producer Han Siwoo’s comment that there was too much tension in her voice.”

“……”

In the end, as the other judges awkwardly gave their praises, Seo Yujin’s eyes widened as if she had been betrayed.

“Alright, after discussing among ourselves, we will announce Seo Yujin trainee’s grade.”

This… the atmosphere had already shifted.

At the end of the brief discussion, the judges immediately announced the results.

“The grade for SAV Entertainment’s Seo Yujin trainee is B.”

“……!!”

As soon as the grade was announced, the stage began to buzz again.

Despite her flaws, everyone was shocked by the fact that a performance of this caliber was given a B grade.

“B grade…, understood…., thank you….”

Of course, the most shocked person was Seo Yujin.

She seemed to have a look of disbelief on her face, but she knew that she couldn’t overturn the result, so she reluctantly nodded.

‘Tsk tsk, what a shame.’

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Seo Yujin.

And then….

“……!”

…I met her eyes again.

Tingling.

‘Why again….’

She seemed to think I was mocking her, as she glared at me for a few seconds before turning her head to glance at Yoo Seol in the first place seat, then returned to her seat.

It seemed that both Yoo Seol and I had already left a bad impression on her.

**

Although Seo Yujin received a B grade, it was an undeniable fact that she had shown the best performance among the contestants so far.

“Now, the next contestant to perform on stage is….”

Most of the contestants looked to Han Siwoo for cues. It was daunting to perform right after Seo Yujin.

As Han Siwoo was about to call out the next contestant, a breathless silence filled the room for a few seconds….

“The contestant from Hyungje Planning, Ha Yerin.”

The spotlight was on me.

‘Finally, my time has come.’

I was nervous, but not afraid.

I had prepared for this moment, so I was not scared.

Swoosh-.

With my characteristic poker face, I stood up from my seat.

The anticipation was palpable.

And then… I felt a gaze on me that was incomparable to the attention I received during the Seo Yujin era.

The jealousy and admiration of the other participants.

The expectations of the judges. And even the greed of the production crew outside the stage.

Taking all of this in, I took a step onto the stage.