Idol Hides His Military Service

"Doesn't Kim PD-nim look like she's in a bad mood these days?"
"Hm?"
"These days, no matter where you go, people are only talking about Idol Ground, but her expression weirdly looks dark."
"Isn't it probably the pressure? Episode 1 did insanely well from the start."
Break time before the last stage of the final check, the stages of Lucid Dive A and B teams.
Behind the set, while drinking coffee and taking a break, talk about Kim Miyoung flowed out of the mouths of the program’s filming staff.
Since the response to Idol Ground 100 had been so hot lately, they had thought main PD Kim Miyoung would be grinning from ear to ear.
But for some reason, the fact that she was always wearing a dark expression had become their topic of conversation.
Ever since last week’s Episode 1 aired, Idol Ground 100 videos had been circulating around all kinds of communities, still gathering buzz.
[Lee Sion Pink Spell]
(a gif of Lee Sion drawing a V-sign and sticking out her tongue)
↳The first time I watched it I unconsciously got so embarrassed I turned off the TV, but weirdly I keep coming back to watch it.
↳What’s so fucking ridiculous is, why does her face look so full of confidence while she’s doing that?
↳I heard this stage video already passed 2 million views, there really are a lot of crazy bastards in the world.
↳Honestly, if you mute it and turn off your monitor, it’s actually really not bad.
↳You son of a bitch, that means you’re not watching it at all!
↳Just look at her face. Honestly, if you only look at the face, she’s an idol itself.
Of course, the main star of that buzz was Lee Sion, who had shown a stage that wasn’t just unconventional but outright shocking.
There were people who said they couldn’t possibly watch it the first time because they were too embarrassed, but as they kept seeking it out, at some point, Lee Sion’s Pink Spell stage video had become the one with the highest view count among all the Idol Ground 100 related videos.
Of course it wasn’t only Lee Sion who was a hot topic; the Idol Ground 100 program itself was the hottest subject on the internet right now.
Idol Ground 100 gallery
[My picked TOP7 members]
[You retards, didn’t you watch the last Music Count live?? Just from a glance you can tell Lee Sion is ···.]
[When you don’t know who to pick, you absolutely start by taking care of the pretty ones]
[You fuckers, don’t you dare purposely vote for shitty kids just because your own picks are losing!!!]
[Ryu Ayeon stans checking Seo Ryujin]
[What the!!! Unreleased A.G.100 video just dropped!!!!]
[↑↑↑ Fuck, post above is a Pink Spell gif of Lee Sion]
On the biggest domestic community site, a dedicated board had already been created, and tens of thousands of posts were going up every single day.
What was even more surprising was that the buzz wasn’t just in the Idol Ground 100 community, but also in other communities unrelated to broadcasting.
-Yoo Jihae is so pitiful··· it’s so obvious the PD shoved that one in just to drag in buzz and then throw away
-Who were the two sitting in the middle of the Idol Ground 100 pyramid? Their faces are totally my type
-Didn’t expect anything but why is Idol Ground so fun?
-Please love my baby too (vote link attached)
-Watched the live and fell for Ryu Ayeon
Of course, since these were communities that had nothing to do with the show, there were also plenty of critical reactions, but those were being buried under the nonstop stream of stories and promotion about the broadcast and the contestants.
"Episode 1 is getting this much response, if Episode 2 goes out it’s gonna be crazy, right?"
"That’s what I’m saying. Honestly, the parts we felt were really fun while filming didn’t even show up in Episode 1 at all, right?"
The filming staff, who had been checking Idol Ground 100’s reception on their phones and chatting, couldn’t help but look forward to what kind of reactions people would show once Episode 2 aired.
And with good reason—none of the scenes that had made them clutch their stomachs and cackle while filming had made it into Episode 1.
Because of the nature of the program, only one episode aired per week, so no matter how long they set the running time for a single episode, it was a shame that they couldn’t show everything.
"Ah, this kind of show would be so good if we could just drop three or four episodes at once."
"How would that even be possible. You’d need American capital to make that happen."
While they were chattering with pointless talk and community reactions,
"All right! We’re starting filming again!"
"Let’s go."
At the voice of a staff member announcing the resumption of filming, the staff who had been talking hurried back to their places to get ready to film the final check’s last stage.
***
Hmm··· there really is nothing better than the standard route.
Hyeryeong thought that as she watched Lucid Dive B team’s stage, which had gone first among the two teams.
If the original stage had been a dualistic one that mixed freshness with dreamy mystery, Lucid Dive B team had gone with a stage that chose innocence instead of freshness.
The harmony between food and alcohol is commonly called a marriage, and just as you usually pair red wine with meat and white wine with seafood, there are combinations that naturally go well together.
It was the same for a music concept.
From the beginning, dreaminess and innocence were famous as a pairing that fit together well, as if they had always been a single set.
Since both concepts gave off soft, lingering images, when they were combined, the synergy was so good that at one point it was a combo girl groups unconditionally used for their debuts.
And that meant that, in other words, the concept’s level of completion was as good as already somewhat proven, so Lucid Dive B team’s stage was a model stage with no real faults to pick out, even from the judges’ point of view.
It was just # Nоvеlight # that,
Park Soyeon stands out, in a good way and in a bad way.
Among the hundred contestants, Hyeryeong was sorry, but she didn’t even remember one third of their names.
With that many contestants and only being able to see them about once a week, the only ones who stuck in her memory were those who had left a strong impression on her.
And Park Soyeon was included among them.
From the Entrance Ceremony stage to the grade adjustment stage, and now the final check stage, Park Soyeon had always been a contestant who caught Hyeryeong’s eye.
This kid is too greedy.
This time as well, as if it were a given, Park Soyeon had taken both center and main vocal, monopolizing an excessive number of parts.
Since Park Soyeon had always taken center and main vocal positions on the previous stages, Hyeryeong had looked forward to seeing a slightly different side of her in this group battle mission, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
It was a survival stage, so securing your own screen time wasn’t bad in itself.

But there was a limit to everything, and once you crossed a certain line, there was no way you didn’t know that it would instead have a negative effect on you.
Is she impatient?
In fact, was there any trainee among those who had joined Idol Ground 100 who wasn’t desperate?
Since they were all people who, for one reason or another, had failed to debut at their current agency and had entered the program, it was obvious their desire to debut would be different from others.
But even so, acting the way Park Soyeon was acting right now was not right.
At first, she might be able to attract attention, but as the program went on, more and more contestants and viewers would see her behavior in a negative light.
"The arrangement wasn’t bad, and the parts you adjusted were fine, too. It was a model stage, but if I had to pick something that was a shame, it feels like Soyeon took too many concentrated parts in this team. Did the other team members all agree to that?"
"···Yes."
"There are only two days left until the actual live stage, and I’d like it if this was a stage where we could see a bit more of the other team members’ charms too."
"Yes, since I’m the leader, I think it ended up that way because I tried to take the parts the kids were having a hard time with or the difficult sections instead. I’ll discuss it more with the team members during the remaining time and try to make the best possible stage!"
"···All right."
Hearing Park Soyeon’s answer, Hyeryeong couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.
That kid crossed the line.
Until now, Hyeryeong had just thought of Park Soyeon as a contestant who was greedy for screen time, but after hearing her answer just now, she changed her mind.
The way Park Soyeon spoke sounded as if she hadn’t monopolized the screen time, but had sacrificed herself for her teammates.
Considering that even the team members’ expressions when they had just answered Hyeryeong’s question hadn’t looked very good, it was clear that from the beginning, this was something Park Soyeon had engineered to flow this way.
However, this was truly a stupid move.
Viewers aren’t idiots. No, more importantly, will the broadcasting station really try to protect you?
In their team meetings, she had probably also, just like in her answer just now, subtly framed it as if she was sacrificing herself for her teammates.
But even that only went so far. If she kept behaving like that, viewers weren’t generous enough people to keep believing it.
On top of that, would the production team work hard to sugarcoat those scenes and protect a character on the level of Park Soyeon, when they had characters like Ryu Ayeon, Seo Ryujin, or Lee Sion instead?
That would never happen.
If anything, they’d be happy to egg it on, saying they’d found the program’s villain.
Looking at the cameras and directors filming Lucid Dive B team’s critiques and reactions with interest, Hyeryeong could roughly see how this would go.
"Next is A team, right?"
"I’m worried about them, but also really looking forward to them."
"What, you too, Yoonjung-ssi? Honestly, this is the team I’m most curious about as well."
Once Lucid Dive B team came down and they had a brief break before meeting the next team, the judges started talking about the next group in line, Lucid Dive A team.
"The concept is radical, and the stage composition is radical, too. Honestly, if they can pull this off, it’ll be a huge hit, but···."
"The arrangement was really good. I saw it last time, and they basically have a good sense. Personally, among these teams, I think their arrangement was the best."
Hyeryeong was also most interested in Lucid Dive A team, so she listened carefully to the other two judges’ conversation as she waited for the next stage’s turn.
"Hello. We are Lucid Dive A team."
After a short wait, Lucid Dive A team climbed up to the platform where the judges were seated.
"Did you fix the part I mentioned last time?"
Hyeryeong began the final check by asking about the points she had picked out for Lucid Dive A team during the last mid-check.
The mission she had given Lucid Dive A team at the last mid-check was to prepare a part that would leave a strong impression on the audience.
"Yes, so we added a new part in the highlight section of the stage."
"Really?"
At the answer from Geum Shinyu, who was in charge of the arrangement in this team, Hyeryeong felt excited to see what method they had used to create a memorable single cut.
Honestly, since the arrangement emphasized the impact of the five members so much, it was by no means easy to add something that could tie all of that together.
And under the judges’ expectations, A team’s stage unfolded.
Watching that stage, Hyeryeong had an inevitable premonition that the main characters of this group battle mission would be Lucid Dive A team.
***
"In the end, this is how it ends up between you and me."
"Gahyeon unni, for the record, I don’t give any leeway for anyone twenty years above or below me."
"Today, I am definitely going to fix your manners."
Clang!
Chopsticks and chopsticks clashed in the air, scattering.
The sight of the two of them putting their whole lives on the line for the pork cutlet on the tray looked extremely fierce and at the same time incredibly petty.
Did she maybe use Pororo training chopsticks when she was little or something?
I was surprised that Lee Gahyeon could control her chopsticks better than I’d thought.
I’d never in my life lost in chopstick skills anywhere, but facing such a tough opponent made my competitive spirit flare up.
Pork cutlet.
Maybe because my aunt had taken my dietary complaints to heart, but for once, pork cutlet had appeared as a side dish in the dorm cafeteria.
Even contestants who normally only picked at their food in the name of diet management couldn’t resist the temptation of pork cutlet, so the side dishes that would normally have been overflowing were, for today, being distributed in fixed portions.
One per person.
A truly petty number.
Company commander-nim, would you like some more of this?
Normally, officers ate in the officers’ dining hall, but on days when I took weekend duty, I had to eat with the soldiers in the soldiers’ dining hall.
And every time, the cook Kim Jaehyun would put two pieces of pork cutlet on my tray.
I still couldn’t forget the kid’s warm smile.
But unlike that Jaehyun, the lady at this dorm cafeteria had firmly rejected me, saying I absolutely couldn’t have more than one pork cutlet.
On top of that,
No way!
Even Suyeon, who always scolded me asking how I could eat so much and always yielded side dishes to me, was now guarding her tray with a steel defense line, unwilling to yield her pork cutlet.
Pork cutlet was definitely a serious matter.
I don’t have much of an appetite today, so I’m fine. Please split mine among yourselves.
But in this world, there were always saints like Shinyu.
Saying she didn’t have much of an appetite today, barely touching her food, Shinyu had presented her pork cutlet to our team members and left the table first.
And just as I was naturally about to take the pork cutlet Shinyu had left behind,
Why are you eating that. I want to eat it too, you know?
Gahyeon had barged in and challenged me to a duel.
"Yes!"
I lost?
The chopstick war with Lee Gahyeon that had started like that ended in my defeat.
A chunk of pork cutlet, drenched in sauce, held in Gahyeon’s chopsticks.
My chopsticks held nothing, only dripping with sauce.
If it’s like this, there’s no helping it?
Back in my cadet days at the military academy, there were a few books we had to read.
One of them was Clausewitz’s On War. That book had a lot of good content, but if you had to pick the single most important line, it was this.
— War is the continuation of politics.
Just because I seemed to have lost to Lee Gahyeon in the pork cutlet war, that didn’t mean it was over until it was over.
"Honestly, I’m most worried about our Yunkyung."
"Me? Why?"
"Fifteen years old. You’re still in the middle of a huge growth spurt. Can you really grow properly on just the dorm cafeteria food?"
"I’m full, though?"
"See? You’re already so hungry you can’t make a normal judgment."
Yunkyung looked at me with a puzzled expression as if she didn’t understand what I was saying, but that wasn’t what mattered.
Lee Gahyeon.
Lee Gahyeon’s expression was wavering.
"I mean, I’m already a fully grown ‘adult’! But our Yunkyung still needs to eat lots and grow, you know."
If the war had ended the moment you lost a battle, Xiang Yu would have united the world instead of Liu Bang.
And how could Liu Bei have, despite losing over and over, still managed to divide the world into three and thrust his blade right under Cao Cao’s chin?
"Y-you, Lee Sion, you dirty···."
It seemed Gahyeon had only now realized my scheme. She lowered the pork cutlet in her hand slowly back down onto the tray, wearing an expression full of frustration.
If I couldn’t eat it and Gahyeon got to eat it, then having Yunkyung, who hadn’t been involved in the duel, eat it instead—that was my ‘Pork Cutlet Three-way Strategy’.
Smack!
"Stop being so pathetically petty, unni!"
"Ow!"
But just when my Pork Cutlet Three-way Strategy was about to succeed, Suyeon spiked my back and ruined it.
"Gahyeon unni, just don’t mind her and eat. Seriously, this unni is getting more childish by the day."
"Thanks, Suyeon!"
Ah, was this how Zhuge Liang had felt at Wuzhang Plains, lamenting as rain fell on the eve of a great enterprise?
Because of Suyeon’s betrayal, I was unable to achieve my goal and could only watch as Gahyeon ate the pork cutlet.
"But will Shinyu unni be okay?"
"Huh?"
"Even before we started eating, her expression didn’t look so good. What if she’s really sick?"
While I was watching Gahyeon’s eating broadcast, Yunkyung, sitting next to me, brought up something that made me recall the way Shinyu had looked before leaving the cafeteria.
Those eyes that had seemed anxious and nervous.
Back then, I’d been too distracted by the pork cutlet to pay proper attention, but now that I thought about it, something definitely felt off.
We’d just received good evaluations from the judges during the final check before the meal, so there really shouldn’t have been anything to worry about, so why had she had such anxious eyes?
"I’ll go ahead. You guys come slowly."
"Huh? Where are you going!"
"I have somewhere to be."
I couldn’t deny that I was usually lazy, but when something bothered me, I couldn’t stand it without checking.
***
"Hey, get a grip. Are you planning to stay stuck here forever or what?"
"···No. But···."
"What do you mean, but! How long have you even known those kids compared to how long you’ve been with me at the same agency, and you’re gonna betray me?"
Shinyu could feel her own hands shaking.
Park Soyeon.
A fellow trainee from UI Entertainment, who had been the leader among the trainees even before Shinyu joined.
And from the day Shinyu entered UI Entertainment, Park Soyeon had started nitpicking her dialect and bullying her, and later on, had practically treated her like she was invisible,
So even now, whenever Shinyu saw Park Soyeon, she couldn’t stop her body from trembling.
"Just look for a chance to rip their stage outfits a bit. Is that so hard?"
"But··· this stage··· it’s not just me, it’s our whole team’s survival on the line···."
"Shinyu, no one’s ever going to know you did it anyway. And do you really think you’re going to debut here? Absolutely not. You have to think about your future. When I go back to the company, I’ll recommend you to the higher-ups to put you in the debut lineup."
After the final check earlier today ended, coming down from the stage, Park Soyeon had whispered quietly to Geum Shinyu.
—Come see me later.
Shinyu had wanted to ignore the words of Park Soyeon, who hadn’t even acknowledged her existence since the Entrance Ceremony, but she couldn’t do that either, so when they met, Soyeon had demanded that Shinyu sabotage the group battle mission stage.
No··· I can’t betray our team···.
Even though she was terrified of the way Park Soyeon had dragged her to a secluded place and was hemming her in like a threat, Shinyu couldn’t betray her team.
Because this was the first team that had ever believed in and accepted her, who had always been a burden wherever she went.
When Shinyu kept her mouth tightly shut and didn’t answer, it seemed Soyeon had finally reached the limit of her patience and raised her hand high.
Seeing that, Shinyu could only squeeze her eyes shut.
But,
"Freeze right there."
From somewhere, a very familiar voice reached Geum Shinyu’s ears.