[First Place~!]
[Ah, hyung!]
"…?"
I frowned at the familiar voice that suddenly came through.
"Aiden?"
[Yeah. Yuha, are you okay?]
Hearing that casual, bright voice made my head throb as I asked,
"Why are you two together?"
[Serim is at my place right now—we're gonna watch DEAR DOLL together.]
Only then did I check the date again. Friday was the broadcast day for DEAR DOLL, and tonight's episode would be the ranking announcement from last week.
[Yuha, is it true you really didn't sleep a single moment this whole week?]
[Hyung, I haven't even once seen you lie down in bed.]
[If you keep living without taking care of your body like that, you'll die young, Yuha.]
At Aiden Lee's brightly spoken yet vicious scolding, I stayed silent.
This is me taking care of my body as much as possible…
I swallowed a thought I could never say aloud.
If I hadn't stayed up for seven nights straight, I would've died anyway—forget "taking care of my body." But these two didn't know about the quests and penalties forced on me, so they could say things like that.
"Yeah, I know. Thanks for worrying. I'll take better care from now on. More importantly—what's that about first place?"
As I replied vaguely and asked, this time it was Cheon Serim who answered.
[We got first place overall. Ah, I wanted to tell you in a more dramatic way.]
"First place?"
Completely unexpected. I had a vague feeling we wouldn't be in the lower ranks, but I hadn't anticipated a result like this.
[And Aiden-hyung's team got second.]
"What?"
What shocked me more than my own team getting first place was the fact that Aiden Lee's team came second.
Because that meant…
"…Aiden, your team won?"
[I told you—I'm always dead serious about competition.]
It meant Kang Hyunjin had been eliminated from Design Your Idol.
"..."
[Yuha, did you think I'd lose?]
[Isn't this good news? Hyunjin-hyung weirdly held some grudge against you, right? Now you don't have to deal with that tension anymore.]
I stayed quiet from the sheer unexpectedness, and Aiden Lee sounded like he was half-pouting. Before I could say anything, Serim jumped in smoothly.
[Hyunjin-hyung wasn't like that during the very first level evaluation.]
[Maybe he got competitive because you were right on his heels?]
[He suddenly started acting weird from the center-decision day. The ranks hadn't even been revealed then. Did you two fight?]
It was less "fighting" and more "one-sided hostility."
It had started out of nowhere while I was talking to Yoo Chanhee. Something Chanhee said to me must have provoked him, but there was no way to check now.
[But I don't think the production will let Hyunjin-hyung go that easily.]
[I think Danwoo-hyung's the bigger loss. He did really well.]
[Oh, he did well, yeah—Danwoo-hyung did.]
At Serim's vaguely meaningful comment and Aiden mentioning Joo Danwoo, Serim answered with a regretful tone. I agreed.
He really did do well.
Joo Danwoo entered DEAR DOLL wanting to be in the rapper position, but so far he'd been evaluated as having more talent in vocals. During the level reevaluation, he even became the D-class vocal leader and got praise from mentor Cha Mina.
But in the first mission and again in the second, he engraved into the public's mind that he was truly a rapper, not a vocalist.
On Team 6's stage, Danwoo was the only one you could see.
His vocal ability was still strong, but on the main rapper position he exploded with skills he hadn't been able to show before.
While the other team members who had reversed positions—and all the other trainees—struggled just to fulfill their own parts, Danwoo alone performed more than one person's share, showing ability beyond what he probably intended.
Whatever went through Danwoo's mind, his elimination would feel regretful to him and to his fans.
"How was Danwoo-hyung yesterday?"
[Mm, he didn't look as bad as I expected. Instead of being down about getting eliminated, he looked distracted by something else. Text him, okay? He looked really worried after hearing you didn't wake up yesterday.]
"Yeah. Thanks."
[If you're thankful, tell us which hospital you're at—we'll come visit!]
"I… need to check that too. Anyway, got it—I'll hang up."
[Huh?]
[Wait, hyung, how long has it been since you—]
I cut them off and hung up. Then I checked my message history.
…Mm. As expected.
There was a text from Joo Danwoo.
[Yuha, I had no way of finding which hospital you were admitted to, so I'm texting you like this. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. I'm really worried about your health.
…The results for our battle evaluation came out today. I'm sure the others already told you, but… congratulations on first place overall. Your stage was really amazing.]
The message went on for a long time. Judging from the timestamp—early dawn—he probably wrote it right after finishing the battle-evaluation shoot.
[…And thank you, and I'm sorry. Thanks to you, I was able to give it my all. I always feel like I'm getting help from you. I wanted us to debut together, so I'm sorry and disappointed that we can't. I'll be cheering for you from afar. I won't give up either. Let's meet again for sure.]
The message ended with "let's meet again." He must've tried hard to hold back, but the final line dripped with regret.
And he wasn't the only one who felt that way.
The second-mission narrative will probably focus on Danwoo.
Ours would be interesting too, but Chanhee and I confronted each other only in the practice room at night when the cameras and mics were all off.
From the production's perspective, they hadn't gotten the dramatic storyline they wanted, which must be disappointing. Meanwhile, Danwoo's team had an outright conflict occur.
Park Woojae grabbing an eliminated trainee by the collar would be edited out, but the tension between Danwoo and Woojae, plus the friction among other trainees, would be stitched together just enough to make broadcast.
Trainee conflict, struggle, growth, and then Joo Danwoo—who overcame everything and lit up the stage with unprecedented potential—was a character the DEAR DOLL staff would be reluctant to let go of.
That's why, unlike Danwoo, I wasn't disappointed.
[Thanks for worrying. See you soon.]
Because, as Serim said, DEAR DOLL had no intention of truly letting go of either Kang Hyunjin or Joo Danwoo.
***
"Hyung, are you really sure you're okay?"
"…That's the sixth time you asked. Stop already."
I sighed as Yoo Chanhee looked at me with a sour face. Do Ji-hyuk patted him lightly and defended me.
"Cut him some slack. Chanhee was the most shocked that time."
"That's also the sixth time you've said that."
"No, I mean, this wouldn't have happened if hyung had just taken care of his body and not collapsed…"
"…That's also the sixth time you said that."
I let out a deep sigh and turned away from them. I could feel their eyes boring into my face, but I no longer tried to reassure them. There was no point. It never worked.
…At this rate, they're going to stay like this until DEAR DOLL ends.
Apparently seeing someone they'd just performed with suddenly collapse had been quite the shock. Even Hwang Young-oh—who had been openly hostile to me—was now treating me like fragile glass that might crack at any moment. Every tiny movement I made drew their worried eyes.
"Don't push yourself too hard."
"I'll take it easy."
I said that as I stretched. On stage, the senior idol group's performance was nearing its end. Thanks to that, the gazes that had been stuck to me shifted toward the stage.
"Ah, I'm so nervous…"
"Take deep breaths. Don't lose the cameras."
"Do I look okay right now?"
"What about me? Is my makeup fine?"
While the team members each tried to deal with their nerves in their own way, I picked up a plastic bottle and took a sip of water.
Today, our team Nemam Key was at A-Net Broadcasting Station to appear on a Music A stage— a special opportunity given only to the team that won first place in the mission. I had just barely managed to recover in time to join today's performance.
I didn't have any physical abnormalities, but since I'd collapsed right after the mission stage, I still had to stay in the hospital for about three days after waking up.
Good thing I was discharged in time.
I set the bottle down with that thought.
Apparently, the fact that I collapsed had leaked outside immediately via staff rumors after the mission. Because of that, our agency had been bombarded with questions from DEAR DOLL fans and reporters for a while. KRM eventually had to release an official statement confirming my condition.
Since I had no parents, the responsibility of looking after my body fell entirely on the company. So right after I passed out, they had quite a lot to take care of.
Which is exactly why today's stage is important.
Not only could I show fans—who had been worrying since yesterday—that I was fine, but Music A was a major music program watched by K-POP fans everywhere. It was another chance to make an impression and collect votes.
And I was confident about today's performance. Not just because Nemam Key's stage was good.
"Hyung, any tips? Like, something to be less nervous…"
"Mm, I don't really have something like that…"
But also because one of the members performing with me was Yoo Chanhee.
…I really didn't expect him to have something like that.
I thought about a trait that had been updated in Chanhee's status window when we met again today.
『Yoo Chanhee』
Detailed Traits
Specialty (Rap): A- (Vocal C)
Specialty (Dance): B+
Charm (Appearance): B+
Charm (Aura): C+
Talent (Expression): A-
Talent (Focus): B+
Stamina (Physical): A
Stamina (Mental): B
Buff: If you give up, that's the moment the game is over
"Effort will never betray me."
Trait Growth Acceleration based on Immersion: +150
Audience Stage Immersion: +100
The buff that had been locked last time in the practice room was now visible.
With that revealed, I finally understood that Yoo Chanhee had an astonishing trait.
To accelerate growth based on immersion, and also increase the audience's immersion…
After seeing the buff, I understood how Chanhee had improved so quickly all this time.
From the level reevaluation to the reverse-position mission, Chanhee had been able to rapidly grow thanks to his relentless effort plus this assisting buff.
And since a stage's quality ultimately depends on how immersed the audience is, Chanhee's ability to increase that immersion was an unbelievably valuable talent for any trainee aiming to become an idol.
"Nemam Key Team, it's time to go up!"
"Yes!"
As a member of the same group as someone like that, it made me feel rather reassured.
Chanhee had never failed to immerse himself on stage, and his trait applied to the entire performance—meaning it would benefit me too.
More than anything, I was planning to use this opportunity to check my own updated stats.
『
Detailed Traits
Specialty (Singing): A- (Locked)
Specialty (Dancing): B (Locked)
Charm (Appearance): A- (Locked)
Charm (Aura): B (Locked)
Talent (Expression): S- (Unlocked)
Talent (Focus): A+ (Unlocked)
Stamina (Physical): C (Locked)
Stamina (Mental): D- (Locked)
I, too, had undergone another update.
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