Chapter 189:

Chapter 189:

But the trainee who ranked first had a rather calm expression. He even smiled as if he had been waiting for this.

The MC asked them to move to their seats according to their ranks. The trainee who had been sitting in the first place since the grade evaluation started turned red as a tomato.

‘What the hell are they doing?’

Several cameras moved busily to capture the faces of the participants who were burning with embarrassment.

Was this fun? They let them sit in the order of their desired ranks, and then they said there was a real rank, and they changed it like flipping their palms.

Who would like this kind of thing?

Their shallow intentions were obvious. The fans who cheered for the trainees who went up would feel relieved, and the fans who cheered for the trainees who went down would unite to prevent their trainees from going through this humiliation again.

They would try to gather votes and raise their ranks in the second re-evaluation, which was determined by voting.

‘Sigh...’

This was the right thing to do to squeeze out the maximum profit from the program. But there was one very important prerequisite for that decision.

They had to see people as business tools, not as human beings.

They were selling products that could hurt and frustrate anyone in the process.

‘...’

My mouth tasted bitter. The atmosphere was dampened by the feeling of helplessness, but I tried to cheer up and talk to Yu-geon again.

“Hey.”

He finally came to his senses when I drew his attention again.

“Oh, oh... I guess I’m over there.”

Yu-geon pointed to a staff member holding an F sign and answered.

“They said we’ll eat and then shoot the introduction videos individually, right?”

“Yes, see you later.”

I nodded and exchanged dry greetings with Yu-geon and parted ways. Then I felt the piercing gazes around me.

There were only nine people who received A grade among these many people.

Many young friends looked at me with faces mixed with envy, admiration, and rivalry.

The heart card mark on their name tags seemed to mock me, saying ‘Do you care?’

[Remaining attempts: 1]

‘I know.’

I ignored the status window that popped up and headed to the A grade escort staff.

Most of the A grades (only nine, though) were already gathered.

“We’ll move to the restaurant as soon as everyone is here.”

I wondered if they discriminated even by grade, but these stingy organizers didn’t stop there.

When the A grades ate the top-notch catering buffet, the B and C grades were provided with a decent level of meal, the D grades were given diet lunch boxes, and the F grades were only given basic food ingredients at the level of a boarding house.

It wasn’t like they just gave them rice and kimchi. They provided eggs and basic seasonings, sauces, and ingredients, but they had to cook and eat them themselves.

How could the 1020 boys who had lived on the food that others had made for them all their lives cook and fill their stomachs by themselves?

It was a hard story to believe. The best dish they could make was ramen, so kimchi and curry were the most luxurious meal they could eat. Even that ran out after about 10 people ate, and the rest was just fried eggs and kimchi.

‘This makes me feel bad for eating the lavish buffet.’

I didn’t know what their intention was, but it was very vicious to install observation cameras in each restaurant and let them watch what other grades were eating in real time on a large screen.

To the higher-ranked trainees, it meant ‘keep your rank if you don’t want to eat like that’, and to the lower-ranked ones, it showed that they would get ‘that kind of’ treatment if they raised their rank.

It was petty to discriminate against the kids based on what the adults ate.

“Ah, this is really delicious.”

“Wow, meat, meat.”

Among the current A-ranked trainees, only three of them, including Naru, had made it to the debut of Floss.

Naru kept glancing at me as if he was conscious of Seong-won, but it didn’t seem like he was particularly interested in me.

‘It feels like he considers anyone who has a better vocal than him as a potential rival for the main vocal position.’

I raised my eyebrows at his unexpected reaction, and Yu-geon hurried to explain.

“It’s not that.”

But when I pressed him further, his face darkened and he couldn’t say a word.

‘What’s with this suffocating atmosphere?’

I wondered if I had come for nothing, but I didn’t want to leave him alone and go to the A-grade side either. It would bother me just as much.

As we waited in silence, it was soon Yu-geon’s turn.

“I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

I didn’t say anything to cheer him up. It wouldn’t help much anyway, and I didn’t want to sound like I was rubbing salt in his wound.

Soon, Yu-geon came back from the shooting, which ended faster than I thought, and the long wait in silence began.

‘This is so frustrating.’

It was supposed to be quick and easy, taking only about five minutes per person, but there were so many people that it would take eight hours even then.

Fortunately, some really fast people went into the shooting booth and came out in less than two minutes, and there were about three shooting booths, so the number of people was decreasing faster than expected.

But still, it was a three-hour ordeal, and after waiting for about an hour, I yawned.

‘When is it my turn?’

I kept my mouth shut next to Yu-geon, who was staring at the floor without a word, and my body felt restless.

Then, a familiar name was called.

“Lee Hwijin, please move to booth A.”

Oh.

Hwijin, who had a B-grade mark on his chest, walked briskly to the studio with big strides.

‘He was B-grade, right.’

His rank was closer to A-grade than C-grade. He was 13th.

I had a higher grade, but a lower rank.

‘It doesn’t make sense, no matter how I think about it.’

The impression I got from the grade and the rank was, the grade was an indicator that considered the potential and the possibility of growth. The rank was the order of the current skill level.

Then, I had one question left.

The debut was decided by the rank, so what was the point of getting a high grade?

It was the ‘exposure’ that the contestants of the competition program couldn’t miss.

They said that the trainee profiles on the My Idol Stage website were posted according to the grades.

The cameras followed the A-grade trainees around, giving them access to luxurious facilities. Even their sleeping quarters seemed to be different.

The choreographer in his thirties had used a super pass to put me in the A-grade, meaning that he wanted me to make a good impression and build a strong image in the beginning.

‘If I appeal to the fans with a higher proportion and a cool appearance than others in the early stages, it will be a big help in the later stages.’

I was grateful for his consideration, but at the same time, I wasn’t thankful at all.

Because my goal was not to debut.

I felt bitter for a moment and bit the tip of my lip, when Hwijin came out of the studio.

He looked calm enough, but I was sure he was trembling inside because of his timid personality.

Hwijin, who had finished shooting, stood blankly in front of the waiting room, then came to his senses and squeezed himself into the corner of the room again.

‘Is that his preference... or is it intentional?’

I found it amusing to see him tucked away in the corner with his handsome face and large build. It was one of the few scenes that made me laugh after the audition.

Soon, a staff member came and told him that he shouldn’t be in such an inconspicuous place as a high-grade participant. They dragged Hwijin to a relatively front seat.

As I watched Hwijin’s timid attitude without exchanging a word with Yu-geon, it was finally my turn after two long hours.

“I’ll be back soon.”

I saw Yu-geon nod briefly and headed to the designated studio with quick steps.