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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Chapter 3
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Even in a different body, the day dawned without fail.
7 AM.
I was on my way to the practice room.
In Yun Cheong's memories, she always went to the practice room at this time.
As if it were the most natural thing, she would open the practice room door, clean, and then practice.
Most of the other trainees would arrive shortly after.
And today was no different.
However, the atmosphere was different from usual.
Because today marked the start of filming for 'Make a New Color'.
Currently, there were 50 female trainees under Colors.
But only twelve of them had made it into the debut candidate pool.
Out of these, only five would debut.
The other seven would have to return to square one and continue striving for debut.
And out of these twelve, I knew seven.
Because only seven of them had actually debuted.
Five who debuted as StillBlue, and two more who debuted later.
The remaining five never debuted at all and pursued different paths.
And among those seven who debuted, only two managed to last ten years.
Three members of StillBlue disappeared within a year, and another vanished from the entertainment industry within five years.
That's just how this industry was.
So many people vanished that it was hard to even keep track of who was gone.
The biggest problem was that such cases were so common, everyone thought it was natural.
Even though, in reality, it wasn't natural at all.
Well, that was that.
"The atmosphere is no joke."
Perhaps because filming was starting today, everyone was stiff with tension.
It made sense.
It felt similar to a high school senior's SAT day.
By the way, no one was greeting me.
Yun Cheong had actually been a trainee at a different agency until a few months ago.
But after being dropped from that agency's debut group, she transferred to Colors, who were looking for a potential main vocal trainee.
So, she wasn't very familiar with the trainees here.
Not that being in the same agency necessarily meant they had to be close.
I casually sat down right in front of the mirror and started stretching.
Gotta warm up first... Huh?
...Why is everyone staring at me?
"Hey."
Just then, someone called out to me.
Not even by name, just "Hey." Either my presence was so negligible they didn't know my name, or they really disliked me.
Neither option was particularly welcome.
"That's Seo Baek-yeong Unnie's spot."
...There are assigned seats in the practice room?
I moved aside without much resistance.
No need to create conflict right from the start.
Especially not with Seo Baek-yeong.
A soft click.
"Seo Baek-yeong Unnie!"
"You're here, Unnie?"
"Hello!"
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
It was Seo Baek-yeong.
Seo Baek-yeong was the longest-training trainee at Colors, and she held a sort of 'leader Unnie' position that everyone relied on.
She had endured here for nine years, after all.
Everyone believed she would debut.
Perhaps that's why, unlike Yun Cheong, Seo Baek-yeong received greetings from everyone.
Seo Baek-yeong casually acknowledged each greeting, then came towards me.
Well, it was her spot, after all.
Seo Baek-yeong stared at me for a moment.
"Unexpected."
"...What is?"
"You were always in the corner spot."
Seo Baek-yeong plopped down next to me and started warming up, just like I was.
"Decided to suddenly act proactive because of the filming, I guess?"
Ah, I definitely understood now.
"Everything's fine, but let's not hold others back. Like last time."
She dislikes me.
No, all the kids in this practice room...
...dislike Yun Cheong.
I'm screwed.
***
Even though I had seen Yun Cheong's memories, they were mostly just general recollections.
To summarize Yun Cheong's life—she was, quite literally, a loner.
For some reason, Yun Cheong chose to live without a single friend or colleague.
I guessed it was because she was afraid of people.
It was a vicious cycle.
Afraid of people, she kept her distance; keeping her distance, she became even more afraid of people.
And being afraid of people, she naturally became afraid of the stage and cameras too.
Yun Cheong even practiced alone.
In a place where no one else was.
So, no one knew that Yun Cheong was working hard.
They only saw Yun Cheong's results.
...Results that showed her stiffening up the moment the camera turned on.
This was somewhat acceptable during individual evaluations.
But during group evaluations, the problem became much bigger.
'Are you messing with us right now? Is it enough if only you sing well? The choreography isn't matching at all!'
For group evaluations, they had to practice together.
They needed to match dance formations, and naturally, vocal harmonies too.
But Yun Cheong practiced alone outside of the "mandatory" times they had to practice together.
Although it was because she was afraid of people, it naturally didn't look good in the eyes of the other trainees.
'She's so selfish. She thinks it's fine if she just debuts as a main vocal by herself.'
It would have been fortunate if her solo practice led to good results... but her results were disastrous.
"Everything's fine, but let's not hold others back. Like last time."
So, Seo Baek-yeong's reaction wasn't entirely unreasonable.
Especially since Seo Baek-yeong had just been evaluated on the same team as Yun Cheong.
The problem was, though,
"That won't happen again."
"!"
Things were going to be different from now on.
"Well, that's a relief then."
Seo Baek-yeong seemed quite surprised, but soon replied indifferently.
Seo Baek-yeong wasn't the only one surprised.
All the trainees nearby who could hear my answer seemed surprised.
'...Did she take some kind of drug for the broadcast?'
'Just leave her. Quiet ones like her are scarier when they suddenly go crazy.'
I can hear everything, you know.
Well, anyway.
This is where the real start begins.
***
Make a New Color.
A new girl group debut survival program from Colors, one of the top five major agencies and famous as a 'girl group powerhouse'.
Out of twelve trainees, only five would debut.
Four would be chosen entirely by viewer popularity votes, and one by the judges' choice.
Voting happened once every two weeks, but only the final vote would be reflected in the debut lineup.
This meant that even if you ranked first in the initial vote, it would be useless if you didn't make it into the top four in the final vote.
However, there was still a way to debut even if you didn't make it into the top four.
That was to catch the eye of the judges.
There were a total of four judges.
Director Kim Mo-gyeong, who was also a producer at the agency.
Do Hui-yeong of 'Grayish', Colors' representative girl group and a 12-year senior.
Kang Sun-hwa, Colors' head vocal trainer.
Jo Won-ho, Colors' head dance trainer and choreographer.
All of them were people I knew in my previous life.
...Though I didn't say I knew them *well*.
Instead of eliminations, popularity rankings would be continuously announced every two weeks.
And the MVP for each mission, chosen by the judges, would also be announced.
The popularity ranking's 1st place and the MVP would receive benefits in the next mission.
And the lowest-ranked, 12th place, would be given a handicap.
And Yun Cheong never escaped 12th place throughout all 12 episodes, eventually debuting by the judges' choice.
That's how it was supposed to happen.
But not anymore.
***
Before long, cameras and various broadcasting equipment began to line one side of the practice room.
Then, a man who appeared to be the PD stood at the very front of the practice room.
"Alright, today, just do as you normally do during practice. Everyone, just do what you usually do."
...If we just do what we usually do, then twelve people wouldn't even be using one practice room together very often.
I looked up at the PD.
It was a familiar face.
PD O Baek-gyeong.
The problem was, I didn't know him in a good way.
"Talk amongst yourselves, okay? Just go with the flow."
If this PD was directing the broadcast, it was dangerous.
"Don't just put on a boring facade."
He was famous for his malicious editing.
...Though he was famous for something else too, that wasn't important right now.
Naturally, the broadcasting station benefited more the more provocative the scenes were.
In a competitive survival program like this, a fight between participants was a goldmine.
They could milk a five-minute fight for three episodes.
The problem, however, was the participants' images.
Trainees didn't have fans or pre-established images.
Therefore, the image created in the beginning stuck for a very long time.
So, for now, I needed to stay quiet in the beginning.
"Cheong-ah."
But why was she so tactless, calling out to me?
"Our first group choreography practice, are you done with it?"
Seo Baek-yeong, seemingly having finished her warm-up, asked me loud enough for everyone to hear.
She was probably doing this 100% to get some screen time.
"Our group choreography isn't easy, you know. I'm worried."
The first stage of this program was a 'group dance performance'.
It wasn't a mission, but a stage used to introduce the trainees at the beginning.
A first-impression stage that would be used for about four minutes and then forgotten.
The problem was that, despite its purpose, the choreography's difficulty was quite high.
It was something the original Yun Cheong would barely be able to handle.
And I had only seen the choreography for the first time just 12 hours ago.
"Ah, I'm still practicing, but it's not easy."
Be humble no matter what. Humble.
"Oh? What part is difficult? I can help you."
...I see what kind of role you're trying to play.
The cool Unnie, the kind leader role.
"Ah, then could you perhaps take a look? Just the chorus part for us."
Still, I should play along.
"Of course I can."
Seo Baek-yeong readily accepted, then stood up.
"Then, why don't you show it to me first? I'll point out any parts that would be good to fix."
Look at this.
Instantly, the trainees' gazes converged on us.
"I'll play the song now. Just dance the chorus part."
Yun Cheong, who was good at singing but an absolute disaster at dancing.
If things continued like this, she would probably be utterly humiliated in front of the cameras.
It would probably appear in the preview with a caption like, 'A trainee in jeopardy from her very first appearance...?'
In short, it meant she would carry a 'Black Hole' image from the very beginning.
"Ah, I'm worried it might be a bit of a bother since everyone else is practicing..."
"No!"
"Absolutely not. We're fine, so don't worry about it and just do it."
The other trainees quickly waved their hands.
*You* guys would be fine, I guess.
The problem was that Yun Cheong wouldn't be fine.
Most of the trainees looked at Yun Cheong with slightly pitying eyes.
Seo Baek-yeong, meanwhile, was watching with a truly cold gaze.
And finally, PD O Baek-gyeong—
"Oh, good, good. Let's go for it."
He had a face that clearly said he was dying of amusement.
PD O Baek-gyeong had probably heard about the trainees' profiles beforehand.
All of each trainee's strengths, weaknesses, positions, personalities, and characteristics.
That meant PD O Baek-gyeong also knew Yun Cheong was weak at dancing.
Yet he was still telling her to do it... meaning, of course, that Yun Cheong's crisis would benefit the broadcast.
"Ah... my skills are still lacking, so..."
"It's fine. We're all lacking in some way, you know."
"Then, Unnie."
I looked at Seo Baek-yeong and smiled sweetly.
"Could you perhaps dance with me?"
"Huh?"
"Since you're so good, Unnie, if we dance together, I think I'll find the rhythm right away and feel more secure."
Seo Baek-yeong's eyes widened slightly, as if she hadn't expected me to react this way.
But she quickly nodded.
"Sure, I guess so."
It seemed she didn't think it would be a disadvantage for her.
"Then, since we're dancing anyway, why don't we dance from the beginning instead of just the chorus?"
Damn PD O Baek-gyeong.
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