“Ugh··· I’m tired.”
“I’m sorry, Hyeryeong. I was going to avoid booking you on other variety shows while you were doing this··· but you know how it is. That PD called us when our solo ca out, so I couldn’t exactly say no.”
“I know, I know. People should help each other out.”
Before getting out of the van, Hyeryeong loosened up her stiff body for a mont and prepared herself to go back into filming.
‘Still, this one is actually pretty fun.’
She had just finished shooting a network variety show. But even though she had to go straight into filming Idol Ground 100 without a break, she wasn’t really in a bad mood.
She had been reluctant about the judge position at first, but watching the contestants, who were aiming to beco idols, grow a little every ti they received weekly training had turned out to be unexpectedly enjoyable.
In particular, there was one contestant she had her eye on, soone who not only showed an astonishing rate of growth every ti but also sohow gave her a sense of anticipation. That was another reason she was curious how that contestant was doing now.
“You’re here? Would you like us to do your makeup separately?”
“No, I’m fine. I just ca straight from a broadcast, so I think I can go in as is.”
“Okay, then I’ll take you straight to the evaluation room!”
When she arrived at the dorm where Idol Ground 100 was being fild and got out of the van, she was greeted by one of the program’s assistant directors who had co out to et her.
The kid still looked young and green, sweating nervously, so Hyeryeong tried to speak as casually as possible, feeling sorry for them, but even that seed to make them stiffen up as if it was a burden.
“Is there a set order for which group battle mission teams I’m supposed to train today?”
“No! Is there a team you’d particularly like to see?”
“Yes, then I’d like to evaluate the team with contestant Lee Sion first.”
“Understood! I’ll bring them right away.”
Following the AD’s lead, Hyeryeong sat down at the desk and chair set up in the evaluation room and began skimming through the materials in front of her.
‘They really picked these songs with care. Producer Ahn chose them, right?’
The person who had selected the songs used for this group battle mission, where contestants would go head-to-head on the sa track, was Producer Ahn Seongho, who was serving as a judge alongside her.
Looking at the list of songs, Hyeryeong thought they were very well chosen, just like you’d expect from a hot producer these days.
Each track had a strong, distinct personality, and they all allowed for vocals, choreography, and stage performance to be shown off, making them excellent songs to evaluate.
As a trainer, Hyeryeong ca in once a week.
The system of Idol Ground 100 was a bit unique.
First a mission was given, and the contestants had to practice that mission for two weeks, then present it to the judges and the audience.
In that process, each judge had to set specific dates and, once a week, train the contestants while also doing a mid-evaluation.
And now, as she ca for the first training-cum-mid-check, Hyeryeong was going over the checklist she had made for herself one more ti.
‘The concept is the most important thing first.’
Since Producer Ahn had likely already done his training first, it would only be natural for the teams to have pinned down their concepts to so extent by now.
So for today’s mid-check, Hyeryeong planned to focus primarily on evaluating how well the teams embodied their concept and their vocals.
The main points she would be looking at were: how appropriately the teams had interpreted and digested their chosen concept, and what kind of vocal approaches they had explored in order to bring that concept to life.
In the second week, when the pre-recorded broadcast before a studio audience was scheduled, all three judges would be doing the check together and the evaluation would be more detailed, but for week one, Hyeryeong thought this level of focus was appropriate.
“Hello!”
“Right, it’s been a week, hasn’t it?”
“Yes!”
As she briefly checked the songs and jotted notes on her checklist, Hyeryeong heard a loud greeting and lifted her head to look toward the source of the voice.
And there, standing before her, were five girls.
‘The mber composition is nice.’
Lined up in formation in a straight row, they looked quite good together.
“You’re Lucid Dive ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) A team, right?”
“Yes!”
Hyeryeong let out a small laugh to herself.
‘What kind of fun song did this kid pick this ti to make look forward to it again?’
Boyvicious, the original artist of Lucid Dive and still an actively promoting junior idol group that Hyeryeong really liked.
So people said their concepts were too over-the-top and burdenso, but the skill with which Boyvicious pulled off those concepts was the real deal.
However,
‘Fun is one thing, but with this team’s skill level, it’ll be hard for them to handle this.’
Since she had trained all of the contestants and had evaluated them from the Entrance Ceremony stage through the mid-check stage, she had a rough grasp of the ability of the contestants standing in front of her now.
From what she could see, the problem was that this team didn’t really have anyone with firmly solid skills.
If anything, contestant number 42, Kim Suyeon, had a sowhat stable skill set, but the others weren’t particularly strong.
Even the team’s only A class, Lee Sion, had been graded A more for potential than for current ability.
“Why don’t we watch it once first and then talk? Ready?”
“Yes!”
Rather than dwell too deeply on this team’s skill level, Hyeryeong decided it would be best to judge after seeing the stage they’d prepared.
And then,
A quiet night cos down
When you close your eyes, you see
In that smile that looks at you
Your heart sinks again
The mber who ca out to lead the intro was Lee Gahyeon.
‘What the, this is completely different.’
Seeing Gahyeon present a vibe completely different from the Lucid Dive intro she knew, Hyeryeong’s eyes were drawn to her without her even realizing it.
‘Was she always this charming?’
At the mid-check stage, Gahyeon had shown enough competence to be promoted from F class to C class, but she hadn’t struck Hyeryeong as particularly captivating.
Yet now, in the intro, the presence she was showing carried a clear, distinct charm that had not been there before.
With her visuals closer to a model than a typical idol, the way Gahyeon began the intro in a whispering tone actually made it more impactful.
In the faint brush of my scent
Hold your breath and follow
In the dazzling light of my eyes
You fall in deeper
Then, following behind Gahyeon, Suyeon carried on the song with an alluring voice and expression, as if she intended to seduce the Hyeryeong standing right in front of her.
‘Suyeon? Doing this kind of thing? But··· seeing it now, it actually works!’
With Kim Suyeon, most people would probably think of the word “pure” first. Her looks were a bit plain on the surface but gave off a sense of innocence.
Contrary to that appearance, singing with a thick, almost sticky voice created a contrasting charm.
And as Suyeon passed the baton and stepped back, Im Yunkyung and Geum Shinyu stepped forward, exchanging one line each and presenting a kind of partner choreography, almost like a ballroom dance.
‘Well, would you look at them? They really ca here determined.’
With the bold rearrangent, a concept that matched that arrangent, and finally even the choreography reworked to fit, the stage they had created was, contrary to the worries Hyeryeong had held earlier, remarkably complete.
However,
‘It can’t end here. There needs to be one more thing··· if just one more thing hits hard, this will be a killer stage.’
If there was a flaw, it was that because each person’s individuality was pushed so strongly, the overall sense of unity on stage was faint.
From Hyeryeong’s perspective, she could already evaluate this as a “good stage that clearly shows traces of hard work,” but to the audience that would co to watch the group battle mission in person, there was a risk it might look like a confusing stage.
But,
Lucid dive, I’ll take you away
To you within that deep dream
In this mont where ti has stopped
I’ll stay here with you
Watching Sion appear at the end and sing from the very center of the stage, Hyeryeong realized her worries had been completely unfounded
***
“Who did the arrangent for this?”
“Our whole team did it together!”
“No, that’s not right. Ms. Hyeryeong, for this arrangent, it was entirely Shinyu.”
At Hyeryeong’s question after seeing Lucid Dive A team’s stage, Geum Shinyu, standing on the far right of the line and gasping for breath, shot her hand up and answered first.
Then Sion imdiately corrected her answer.
‘I’m weak to this kind of thing.’
Hyeryeong liked seeing this kind of bond between mbers, where they stuck together and looked out for each other.
Back when she herself had been a trainee at SY and in the early debut days of G.G, she’d had relationships like this with her mbers, so maybe it hit even harder because it reminded her of those days.
But as always, she had to judge coldly, so she steeled herself again.
“I’ll start with the good parts first. Honestly, I usually don’t recomnd changing an original this much, it’s a really risky move. But this ti, I have to say you did a great job.”
“Th-thank you!”
“More than anything, I don’t know if it’s because your concept digestion is good, or because you, Shinyu, guided the mbers’ concepts well, but it was excellent.”
Objectively speaking, Lucid Dive A team’s skills were still lacking.
But when she watched the stage, that lack didn’t stand out much, and as she thought about why, Hyeryeong realized the answer lay in the concept.
‘Since the concept itself is strong, they cut back on the choreography and made it softer. Thanks to that, the lack of skill is naturally hidden.’
This was a technique professional idols often used.
Sotis, trainees with extrely strong visuals would debut even if their skills were a bit lacking.
In those situations, the biggest concern for the agency was “how do we make soone with insufficient skill blend into the team?”
And the answer was concept.
During that mber’s parts, they would minimize both vocals and choreography and instead insert a section that highlighted their concept, almost like a model, thereby hiding their weaker skills.
Right now, Lucid Dive A team was presenting a very bold stage composition, using that thod with all five mbers at once.
‘Normally, doing this would just turn into a total mishmash and ruin imrsion···.’
Of course, you couldn’t outright declare that this bold choice was a good one.
If it were truly such a great thod, then every agency would have filled their lineups with purely visual mbers with weaker skills and debuted them like that.
At most one.
Relying on concept instead of skill to carry a mber’s part on stage worked, but if you tried it with more than two, in most cases the stage just beca ssy and lost its sense of unity.
“Sion, did you practice vocals separately?”
“Yes, I practiced on my own to match this stage.”
But in Hyeryeong’s view, there were two reasons why A team’s stage hadn’t crossed into chaotic territory.
The first reason was that the arranger, Geum Shinyu, had designed the new structure of the song from the ground up anticipating this kind of stage.
Thanks to that, you had a stage where all five mbers’ individual charms were fully expressed without clashing.
And the second was Lee Sion.
No matter how well the song was rearranged, if you emphasized individuality this much, it was only natural that it would be hard for viewers to digest.
And yet, surprisingly, Sion was accepting and tying together the other four mbers’ personalities, weaving them into harmony.
‘It really is like she’s possessed by a ghost. She’s made her vocals that flexible in such a short ti?’
What especially surprised Hyeryeong was the way Sion balanced out the strong personalities of the mbers.
As the main vocal of the team, Sion shifted her voice from part to part, making sure the structure of the song didn’t fall apart. It was nearly unbelievable to watch.
If you compared the Sion you saw now with the Sion from the Entrance Ceremony, her skills had improved to the point it was hard to believe they were the sa person.
In this stage, where each mber stepped forward one by one to flaunt their own concept, only Sion was, in a sense, “sacrificing” herself for the others.
The situation now was the complete opposite of the F class mid-check stage.
Back then, F class had sacrificed themselves to make center Sion shine. Now, it was Sion sacrificing herself to make the other four shine, and that was sothing Hyeryeong could clearly see.
‘But just like back then, she ends up making the whole thing shine instead.’
Of course, if that sacrifice had killed Sion’s charm, Hyeryeong wouldn’t have been able to evaluate this stage positively.
But maybe because Sion’s presence was just that strong?
By stepping one pace back and leaving center to Gahyeon this ti, her presence instead felt properly diffused, letting her blend into the team.
‘The chemistry is good. Every mber of this team has such strong individuality that they should have been a tough combination to sh··· but when they co together, it becos part of the appeal.’
Internally, Hyeryeong gave a high score to the team’s leader, Im Yunkyung.
Picking a team like this was a skill in itself.
However,
“Now I should talk about the bad points too, right?”
“···Yes.”
That didn’t an Lucid Dive A team’s stage had been perfect.
“First, your mastery of the new choreography is still really low. Even if you hide it for now, once you’re on the real stage, everything will show.”
There was always a limit to how much you could hide a lack of skill.
For now, because this was just a mid-check, she was being generous, but if their level of mastery were still like this in the actual performance, she couldn’t give them a good score.
“And you, Shinyu.”
“Yes!”
“The arrangent was good. But you do realize that because it’s divided up so evenly, there isn’t any one part that really sticks in your mory, right?”
“Ah···.”
The arrangent had its own issues as well.
The intention to show all five mbers’ charms and individuality had been good, and in practice it had been executed well.
But on the flip side, there wasn’t really any one thing you could call a “highlight.”
‘An idol song absolutely has to have at least one mont that sticks in your head.’
If this had been a regular song, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but they needed to rember that this track was for a group battle mission against another team.
Even a high-completion stage could be overshadowed by a stage that had one impactful mont.
“If you fix the parts I ntioned, it’ll beco an even better stage.”
“Yes!”
Seeing A team respond in strong, loud voices to her words, Hyeryeong felt relieved.
Sotis, after hearing criticism of a stage they’d poured effort into, people would get discouraged.
But now, after listening to her comnts, A team seed less dejected and more eager to take those notes and turn them into a better stage as quickly as possible.
That was proof that a good team had ford.
‘Well, I kind of feel like this team will win safely just because they have Lee Sion anyway.’
Looking at Geum Shinyu, then at Sion, who looked like her mouth was itching to say sothing, Hyeryeong smirked to herself.
Since all the contestants had had their electronic devices confiscated and outside news was blocked off, they probably didn’t know.
But outside, Lee Sion was already a hot topic.
Because just yesterday, the first broadcast of Idol Ground 100 had aired.
And no matter what anyone said, the star of episode 1 had been Lee Sion.
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