"Yuha, great work!"
It was Aiden Lee.
Keeping his arm slung over my shoulders as we walked, he said,
"I think it was a good call to tweak the group choreography so we could show more character chemistry, just like you suggested."
"You worked hard too. Supporting me must've been tough."
"It was fun~."
I had suggested a method where, through acting-infused pair choreography and occasional background vocals during the song, we could cover slightly unstable live sections and make each member's solo parts feel fuller.
Even putting everything else aside, harmonies weren't something I could do alone; someone else's help was indispensable. And Aiden Lee had done his role well even while dancing the formation with me.
"It was really fun~. I want to team up with you again next time."
It didn't sound like empty praise—Aiden truly looked satisfied. It seemed this stage met his personal passing line.
"What do you think? Our score. I think we have a real chance."
"Not sure."
Even as I said that, I recalled the reaction from the audience below the stage.
Because Lumiere's "BINGO" has such a strong sexy-concept image, the crowd seemed confused and unable to adjust at first—but as the performance went on, the initial unfamiliarity visibly turned into excitement.
'Overall, we preserved the concept well along with the rearrangement. Unless something unexpected happens, we probably have a strong chance of winning the team match.'
Thinking that, I arrived in the waiting room with the members. The opposing Team 14 seemed to be finishing their final preparations.
The members exchanged words while staring tensely at the monitor.
"Team 14 did well."
"Junho hyung basically handled all the choreography creation, right? Makes sense—he's worked as a backup dancer for seniors in his company. I heard his major is broadcast choreography."
"Ah, this is killing me… Their mid-evaluation was really good too…"
"W-we did w-well too! D-don't get so n-nervous…!"
"Zixuan, you're the one who's the most nervous… Relax."
I quietly watched the monitor. During the mid-evaluation, Team 14 had received praise from the mentors for solid choreography creation, a safe live performance, and good harmony. If they kept that momentum, their results this round wouldn't be bad either.
Soon, as Team 14 stepped onto the stage, we held our breath. Unlike us, they kept the original sexy concept of "BINGO" intact as the intro began to play.
"Great work~!"
"Thank you for your hard work!!"
"Everyone worked so hard!"
Team 14 and our team exchanged compliments like courteous rivals as they entered the waiting room to check the scores.
But our eyes kept scanning one another.
'Honestly, we were better.'
…is what both sides were clearly thinking.
Watching Team 14 pass us with that challenging gaze, I thought:
'They did well. But—'
Their stage held no surprises.
None of their members truly stood out, most of them were slightly overshadowed by one another, as if they were being folded away.
The song key was lowered just enough to land in a predictable range, and more than anything, the main vocal clearly didn't show the full extent of their power.
While we had structured the stage to highlight the main vocal while still giving each member at least one moment in the spotlight, Team 14 moved as a uniformly stable formation—so stable that no one managed to showcase a distinctive strength.
And I knew exactly how these two stages must have felt to the audience.
"...!"
"Gasp…!"
"Whoa!!"
Stability is important, yes—but audiences always value challenge, and above all, character.
A boyish-fresh, game-like "BINGO" that brought out each character and emphasized daring choices would naturally be more exciting.
「Total Votes: 806
YourType Team: 579
NeedLove Team: 227」
The proof was in the difference in votes. We received nearly twice as many as Team 14.
As the numbers appeared on the monitor, the mood split sharply.
"Ah…"
"…Good work."
"You did well. We did great. Everyone worked so hard."
"This isn't the end."
Team 14 sank at once, comforting one another through the bitterness.
Meanwhile—
"Waaaaah!!"
"H-hic…"
"You worked so hard, really…!"
We were hugging each other, overwhelmed by everything we'd gone through.
"You all worked so hard."
"We really did."
"I'm so relieved…"
"Thank you. Thank you, everyone."
Emotion washed over everyone as we looked at each other, patting one another's backs. I, too, was caught in that embrace as I quietly spoke.
"Thank you all for your hard work."
"Yuha…"
Then Joo danwoo opened his mouth. His eyes were already reddened with emotion.
"Thanks… for asking me to team up with you."
"You did well—that's why I asked. You were amazing out there."
Honestly, I was surprised. It was the first time I'd seen Joo danwoo rap with such confidence.
He looked like someone who had finally let go of whatever weighed on him—someone who had focused solely on that one stage, carrying a firm resolve. The audience went wild for that charisma.
When I tossed out those words, the other members quickly added their own.
"Yeah, hyung! You were so cool on stage."
"Your charisma was insane. You tore the stage apart!"
"Joo danwoo! Joo danwoo!"
"…Thanks…"
Joo danwoo murmured and lowered his head. His exposed ears were red. It seemed he was either hearing this kind of praise for the first time, or for the first time in a very long while—he looked genuinely awkward.
'…Maybe I should dig a little.'
Watching him, I thought so. I felt it was time to find out what exactly had crushed Joo danwoo's self-esteem so badly.
From here on, there was a high chance I would continue competing together with Joo danwoo.Unless I managed to pull off a mid-season escape, which was unlikely, we'd be tied together until then — after all, we'd gone through the level reevaluation and the first mission side by side.
If so, I needed to know more about Joo danwoo.
'We have quite a few trainees in our company with wide connections.'
Some trainees stay with one agency for a long time, but many bounce between different agencies before settling. Quite a few still keep ties with people who left for other companies. Because of that, it wouldn't be hard to gather information about C's Label.
Besides, Joo danwoo was a sixth-year long-term trainee of C's Label. With that much time, there should be plenty of information floating around.
'Park Woojae… right.'
The trainee from C's Label who got a B grade in the first individual evaluation and stayed there — the same one who participated alongside Joo danwoo. And if my guess was right, he was part of their likely debut lineup.
I had a strong feeling it would be best to dig through that guy first. I remembered well how strangely Joo danwoo acted around him.
"Yuha~ congratulations!"
Aiden Lee tapped my back while I was lost deep in thought, pulling me out of it. When I looked up, I saw him smiling brightly.
"First place in the team~! You're truly a born idol!"
"Congrats on second place to you too."
I looked again at the monitor. Just as he said, Aiden Lee and I had taken first and second place side by side.
The votes we earned were pretty high as well.
「Won Yuha (Main Vocal): 180 votesAiden Lee (Sub Vocal 1): 110 votes」
Together, the two of us had taken over half the total votes.
'Well, we did have a lot of parts.'
As main vocal and sub vocal 1, I sang throughout the entire song, even in the background.
And considering that Aiden Lee and I currently had some of the highest recognition among
Luckily, everyone was too absorbed in the 3,000-vote benefit to feel too bitter about the large vote gap we took.Or maybe they did feel something, but judged it wasn't the right moment to bring it up.
Still, we couldn't relax.
Even with the benefit, vote settlement wasn't finished yet.
'Contribution evaluation.'
The evaluation where, every night during dorm life, we had to vote for the teammate who contributed the least. Depending on that result, everyone's attitude could shift.
'Objectively, none of our teammates deserves a low contribution score.'
Everyone showed up diligently to practice and gave input. Even in the creative parts, no one lagged behind.
Which meant the evaluation would turn even more emotional.
'If there's no one who objectively deserves it, votes naturally go to whoever someone is less close to, annoyed by, or sees as the easiest target.'
That was why whoever received the votes would have a hard time accepting it — resentment would form.
Everyone knew, intellectually, that blaming one another was pointless. But people's hearts don't move by logic.
Even though we just hugged and comforted each other, once people found out who voted for whom, the team would inevitably become awkward.That was exactly what this program aimed for.
'They really want to squeeze a conflict storyline out of us…'
It gave the public something to talk about.
The audience loved emotional moments — but they also loved rivalry, tension, and drama.
"Let's seriously… make a group chat and stick together until the end. Our team was seriously the best."
"Our division of roles was perfect, everyone worked hard! Honestly, I doubt any team had teamwork as good as ours!"
"Everyone, you worked so hard, hyungs!! I love you! I love you all so much!"
"Ugh! Get off me, Zixuan!"
Surrounded by teammates laughing and chattering loudly, I quietly waited for the upcoming final evaluation — unable to fully enjoy what might be our last warm moment.
"First place goes to… the Powerade Team!"
"Waaaaaah!!"
"Woooooo!!"
We clapped politely and watched Team 1 celebrate. Behind me, I heard Aiden Lee click his tongue softly.
"What a shame."
"..."
I looked at the screen. The Powerade Team — the one with Kang Hyunjin — won first place by a small margin.
Just as Aiden said, it was disappointing, but not unexpected.
And there was no reason to feel discouraged.
"We still got second place. We really did well."
"For our first mission evaluation, second place is amazing."
"Everyone worked so hard."
Because right behind them, taking second place… was our team.