The Goal is the Ending Fairy

Practice was conducted under the leadership of Won Chaeseo.

After matching some details, when we got into formation for the chorus part…

It was quite… novel to see four people forming a circle around me as the center.

Ah. For reference, here’s how I ended up with the center part.

First, Won Chaeseo, being the only one capable of rapping in the team, naturally had to take the main rapper part.

Fortunately, she also had the center part for the first chorus, so there was no unfortunate situation of Won Chaeseo lacking lines.

Remember what I said? The part distribution was almost equal.

While it could have been a situation where we’d risk angering Won Chaeseo’s fans, we were safe thanks to choosing the right song.

The main dancer part went to the 11th place trainee.

She was the member most passionate about dance after Won Chaeseo.

She actually received good reviews for her dancing in the first mission. Though her vocals were lacking, given the part’s characteristics, we readily agreed to the decision.

In contrast, the remaining two trainees seemed quite worried about part decisions.

I too was trying to find parts I could do well rather than parts that would make me stand out.

Initially, I thought I should take a position with more lines in the later verse since there was a lot to show there.

So I had my heart set on the sub-vocal part with many lines in the second verse.

But when I expressed my desired part, another trainee simultaneously said they wanted that part too.

Eventually, we both sang one line of that part each, and let the other three decide…

“For this part specifically, I think it suits Yeonseo unnie better.”

That was Won Chaeseo’s assessment.

The other two kind of read the room and split their votes, resulting in the 15th place trainee winning the part with a 2:1 vote.

It was disappointing, but what could I do?

Since she was probably the one with the best eye among us, I figured there must be some sense to her pick.

“And I’d like Dan-ah unnie to take this part.”

That was Won Chaeseo’s judgment right after.

Looking at it now, she seemed to have wanted me to do this part from the beginning.

That’s probably why she didn’t support me for the previous part.

But this part was responsible for all the center positions in the most important sections of the song.

From the intro through the second chorus and right before the dance break’s dynamics… a part that took center in all of these.

Literally the real ‘center’ part.

Actually, when choosing this song, I had hoped Won Chaeseo would take this part, but…

That would be unrealistic now that she was decided as main rapper.

With the team’s support, I tried singing the part a bit and immediately got everyone’s approval.

Everyone gave thumbs up and exaggerated about how perfect I was for the part – obviously playing it up for the cameras.

Still, I responded with appropriate embarrassment, so the scene probably looked fine.

“Good.”

Though there was one person who gave a thumbs up quite seriously – that was Won Chaeseo.

She stuck out a single thumb with her characteristically stoic expression and tone.

While it seemed somewhat out of character, she appeared genuinely sincere in her own way.

So I gave her a thumbs up back while meeting her eyes.

Anyway, back to the practice situation.

“Then I’ll count slowly.”

Surprisingly, that was me speaking.

Since I could see the other team members better from my center position, I ended up taking charge of counting by default.

Plus, what was unexpected was that everyone was a bit slow at picking up the choreography.

That included both Won Chaeseo and the trainee in the main dancer position.

I suppose there’s a difference between being good at dancing and quickly catching and memorizing choreography.

While I knew this mentally, it was surprisingly refreshing to see even Won Chaeseo showing signs of struggle.

Of course, her graceful dance lines still stood out regardless.

And as for me… I wasn’t really memorizing with my own brain anyway.

Since I was learning the dance through that damn mini-game, as long as I didn’t get a ‘Miss’ score, I could perform the moves somewhat decently.

That’s how I unexpectedly became the person who picked up the choreography fastest in the team.

“…five, six, seven, eight.”

Because of this process, I watched the members through the mirror while slowly counting.

Maybe because our team had many upper-middle ranked trainees.

Even though we’d just learned the choreography, you could see the formations starting to take shape.

* * *

On the day of the interim evaluation.

“This is pretty good!”

The trainer smiled brightly at our team of five.

“You distributed the parts well. I can clearly see what each person is good at.”

“Thank you!”

Since we hadn’t received harsh criticism in the vocal evaluation either, this meant we’d passed the interim evaluation triumphantly.

“It must not have been easy for Chaeseo to lead your unnies.”

When the trainer singled out Won Chaeseo, she shook her head.

‘…If this isn’t answered right, the editing could go in a weird direction.’

I internally waited, hoping our leader would respond well.

“No, it was fine because Dan-ah unnie helped.”

“Oh, Dan-ah did?”

No, I didn’t mean for you to mention me that directly.

The trainers all turned to look at me at Won Chaeseo’s answer. So did the nearby team members and trainees sitting on the floor.

Finding myself suddenly the center of everyone’s attention, I smiled awkwardly, hoping this moment would pass quickly.

Anyway, after that, our team finished the interim evaluation and returned to where the other trainees were sitting.

The team members on either side of me held out their palms, so I high-fived them back.

“I’m glad we did well in the evaluation.”

“If we keep going like this, we should have no problems, right?”

I smiled and nodded at my teammates’ excited whispers.

They were right. If we kept this up, we could successfully complete the second mission stage.

All our recent day-and-night efforts were paying off.

And then.

—– —–

>>You have succeeded in the challenge ‘Achieve over 60% satisfaction from trainers in the interim evaluation’!

>>As a reward, your ‘Likability’ stat experience points will increase by +5! [Collect]

—– —–

Good, I successfully got this too.

Since the broadcast hasn’t aired yet, it would be good to raise my likability stat early.

Then even the unfriendly trainees might be a bit less so…

Above all, it was natural since it would increase the chances of viewers reacting positively to me.

After secretly reading the screen window, I quickly closed it.

Now that I’d collected the reward, it was time to check on how the other teams were doing.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a team live mission? Where’s the ‘team’ here? Everyone’s doing their own thing!”

“What practice have you been doing? The team atmosphere is good but the skills aren’t? That’s just playing around, not practicing.”

“If you’re unstable with pitch, you shouldn’t take the main vocal part. Besides Se-i, there’s nothing worth listening to.”

Harsh criticism poured out during other teams’ interim evaluations.

I’d seen a trainee crying in the hallway earlier – seems like some teams were having conflicts.

“Well done. This team is the best.”

On the flip side, one team received quite a lot of praise.

“Thank you!”

Bowing at a 90-degree angle and responding energetically to the trainers was Chae Seonha’s team. The one with Cha Sihyun in it.

“Everyone’s expressions are good. There’s energy, and you can see the enthusiasm.”

The trainers then explained the team’s strengths based on their respective areas of expertise.

Chae Seonha’s team, having received plenty of praise disguised as feedback, soon returned to the group of trainees with bright faces.

With this, the interim evaluations were all finished.

But while applauding for Chae Seonha’s returning team…

I barely managed to hide my sour expression.

‘Why does she have to sit right in front of me…’

Unlike earlier seating, Cha Sihyun had chosen to sit right in front of me.

Thankfully, maybe it was just my oversensitivity, but she didn’t try to talk to me or anything.

However, unfortunately, even that didn’t last long.

“Earlier I couldn’t say this because we were sitting far apart.”

Just don’t say it then, seriously.

Holding back those words that almost burst out, I smiled at Cha Sihyun who was whispering to me.

‘Think about the cameras… think about the cameras, Seo Dan-ah.’

“Hm?”

“Your team did really well earlier. Did you know your opening part was really good?”

“…”

Is she mocking me? Or is this winner’s composure? Something like that?

If someone else had said it, I would have taken it at face value and just said thanks, but coming from Cha Sihyun, it somehow sounded suspicious.

Still… maybe she really meant it sincerely. So I didn’t show any sign of my doubts.

“…Ah, thanks. Your team was amazing too. Really looking forward to your stage.”

And there was Cha Sihyun, grinning happily again.

She showed that pretty smile for a moment, then leaned back.

Not just that, she actually leaned on me.

‘What’s she trying to do now?’

Not understanding her intention, I silently looked at Cha Sihyun, but she was looking somewhere else entirely.

Then she smiled at me again.

The direction her eyes pointed to was none other than several cameras.

It was as if she was saying ‘It would be troublesome if you pushed me away because of the cameras, wouldn’t it?’

‘Huh.’

Until the first mission she at least pretended to hide it, but now she’s completely blatant about it.

Thanks to this, one thing became clear. My discomfort with her wasn’t just groundless suspicion.

My instincts were just damn good.

So playing along with someone like her was subtly irritating.

“Ah, what are you doing. Go away.”

So I pushed Cha Sihyun away, but with a playful tone.

I pushed very gently because of the cameras… but even with that, Cha Sihyun willingly backed off.

She was really someone whose intentions I couldn’t figure out, which made me uncomfortable.

“So mean.”

“No, the position is uncomfortable.”

After that, Cha Sihyun kept clinging to me and giggling. Despite her smiling face, she was blocked by my firm hand several times.

While I was pretending to joke around with Cha Sihyun like this, intervention came. From none other than Chae Seonha.

“You two, stop making so much noise.”

Sitting next to Cha Sihyun, she had been watching silently before frowning.

She even forcefully made Cha Sihyun sit up straight when she was still trying to lean on me.

“We were being quiet though…”

“Just don’t make any noise at all.”

When Cha Sihyun mumbled to Chae Seonha while pretending to be dejected, she cut that off too.

At this point, I looked toward the cameras, but while we were waiting, some staff members had left their posts. The cameras were off too.

…If you’re going to cut the cameras, at least tell us, you production team jerks.

‘I had to deal with Cha Sihyun’s annoying behavior for nothing.’

Though I was complaining internally, thanks to Chae Seonha, I could be comfortable again.

She probably just didn’t want to see me fooling around with her team member… but anyway.

“Dan-ah, what’s for lunch today?”

“Uh… I can’t remember.”

This time, I shook my head at my teammate’s question from beside me.

By the way, among trainees, ‘lunch’ referred to the company cafeteria.

As expected of a big entertainment company, the cafeteria food here was really delicious. That’s one thing I actually liked.

Plus, the week’s menu was posted in front of the cafeteria, and many trainees had it memorized.

At times like this, they really seemed like high school students.

“Aw~ What was it? Was it tonkatsu?”

While we were supposed to stay quiet during waiting time, that apparently wasn’t the case for this team mission.

I keenly felt this as another teammate pressed close to my shoulder, taking Cha Sihyun’s former place.

“Today’s Set 1 is kimchi stew, and Set 2 is omurice. Tonkatsu is tomorrow.”

This time Won Chaeseo, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, chimed in.

She seemed like someone who wouldn’t care about such things, yet here she was robotically reciting the menu.

It was somehow unexpected and kind of funny.

“Oh my, I’m on a diet. I guess I’ll just have to eat from the salad bar.”

“Oh no, I’m on a diet too.”

“This is so sad for real…”

Fortunately, the teammate who had been talking to me continued chatting with another team’s trainee beside her.

I felt relieved, thinking I’d finally escaped from the noisy people.

‘…?’

Then I happened to look to my left.

There was Won Chaeseo, who had just been reciting the menu, fanning her t-shirt.

But her condition seemed a bit…

“Are you hot?”

“What?”

Her sweat hadn’t dried yet, and her complexion was pale – her color really didn’t look good.

You could say she looked unwell.

But she responded that it was just leftover heat from the evaluation.

“I’m really fine. I’m not sick.”

Even when I asked again, she kept insisting she was fine like that…

Since she answered so firmly, I just nodded, thinking she might get annoyed if I asked more.

Still, I told her to take medicine or go to the hospital if she felt sick, and Won Chaeseo nodded with her characteristic expressionless face.

I had an ominous feeling about this, but…

Since she was such a capable person, I figured she’d take care of herself and let it go.