Kim Yuhyun was a trainee under TSP.
Yuhyun, who had beco a trainee after auditioning for TSP because she wanted to be an idol, had one role model.
Ryu Ayeon.
Among the TSP trainees, the most famous one, and currently appearing on Idol Ground 100, Ryu Ayeon was the very definition of a role model to Yuhyun.
The most outstanding skill among TSP trainees.
And looks that matched that skill, cold and haughty, plus a chilly attitude that didn’t allow people to easily approach.
So people sneered that Ryu Ayeon was rude because of that, but in the eyes of still-young Yuhyun, she simply looked cool.
Maybe that was why.
These days, Yuhyun would replay ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Idol Ground 100 stage videos and follow along while imagining, ‘What if I were standing on that stage?’
It wasn’t just Yuhyun.
Among trainees from other agencies she knew, there were even stories going around about people copying Idol Ground 100 stages, that was how much Agbaek had beco a hot topic program not only among regular viewers but among trainees too.
So today, as always, Yuhyun sat down in front of the TV to watch Ryu Ayeon and Idol Ground 100.
But right now, Yuhyun was in major shock.
“W-what is this?”
Thud.
Startled while watching TV, she dropped the remote without realizing it.
「– A secret spell
hidden in everyday life
Love, laugh,
but don’t co on too strong!
(Jang Junseok, the contestants, and the production staff all staring with their mouths hanging open in shock)」
Pink Spell.
A song that had gone viral at the ti of its original release thanks to its provocative concept and lyrics, but had recently resurrected like a zombie and started being heard everywhere again.
‘Didn’t they say they were grateful because of Lee Sion?’
That was because Pink Spell had gone back up the charts and beco a hot topic again after Lee Sion perford it as the Entrance Ceremony stage on Idol Ground 100, which she was watching right now.
Thanks to that, the original singer, Jihyun,
[Thank you, junior!]
(A photo of Lee Sion sticking her tongue out and making a V sign)
↳Jihyun, are you... supporting her? Or trying to kill her?
↳Was your junior so annoying you decided to publicly execute her like this? 😂
↳I’m dying 😂 these days whenever I’m depressed I just watch this
↳Makes realize again how well Jihyun pulled it off originally
↳Sorry, Jihyun, I honestly can’t rember how the original sounded these days
had even ntioned Lee Sion’s Pink Spell on social dia.
Anyway, that very Pink Spell that had caused such a sensation was now being recreated right in front of Yuhyun’s eyes.
And by none other than Ryu Ayeon.
[Am I seeing this wrong right now?]
[Ayeon!! This is not your character!!]
[Why is she pointlessly doing the exact sa thing again!]
[Did she want chicken that badly?]
The Ryu Ayeon gallery, where her usual fans gathered, had an especially high proportion of female fans.
And if you had to pick the reason the female fan ratio was so high,
‘Because Ayeon just has that strong, badass older-sister vibe.’
Among the Idol Ground 100 contestants, Ryu Ayeon, who was evaluated as having the best skills, was usually quiet and ca off as rather blunt.
That matched perfectly with the “girl crush” concept currently trending among girl groups, which in turn drew a great response from female fans.
After all, girl idols with that icy, cool-beauty concept had always been popular with won.
But now that sa Ryu Ayeon was doing Lee Sion’s Pink Spell as a talent show act, so the gallery was in chaos.
Female fans flailing in confusion as if Doomsday had arrived.
Even the stage before Ryu Ayeon’s Pink Spell had been shock and horror.
– Mommy Bear is slim, Baby Bear is so cute, shimmy shimmy, good job.
Seo Ryujin’s “Three Bears” stage, where she’d danced and made provocative expressions that were so embarrassing to watch that Yuhyun had turned her eyes away and coughed for no reason.
[That’s Lee Sion! There’s no way Seo Ryujin would do sothing like that!]
[Lee Sion must have poisoned the contestants]
[I get it... after she headbutted and broke roof tiles earlier, nothing less than this would have any effect]
Because of Seo Ryujin’s Three Bears, and because Seo Ryujin was also famous for having a lot of female fans like Ryu Ayeon, the internet had been going crazy.
Yuhyun had been so curious about the reaction that she’d even gone to the Seo Ryujin gallery to read the posts and giggle to herself.
But thanks to Ryu Ayeon’s Pink Spell, which was even more shocking than Seo Ryujin’s Three Bears, the Ryu Ayeon gallery was now just as confused as the Seo Ryujin gallery had been.
Of course, they were only confused, not negative.
If anything—
[All those complaints about Ayeon having a bad personality are probably going to disappear now]
[I’m just happy she showed she can do variety-type stuff like this too]
[Honestly, her skill side has been emphasized so much, but I like this kind of side as well]
[But seriously, how did those two even get close with Lee Sion? From the outside they look like total opposites]
Reading the gallery’s reactions, Kim Yuhyun found herself nodding as she read the last post.
Ever since photos of Lee Sion and Ryu Ayeon looking close had been uploaded a few days ago, that had been the biggest question in the Ryu Ayeon gallery.
‘It makes sense they ended up on the sa team. But how did they get close?’
It was a perfectly reasonable question not only for fans of Lee Sion and Ryu Ayeon, but for any viewer watching Idol Ground 100.
Of course, there was an almost certain prediction that Lee Sion must have done sothing, but not knowing the details was frustrating.
「– How could you sell out your teammates!!
...I just did exactly what I saw earlier.
– Let go of ! Let punish that traitor who sold out our team!
(Lee Sion, looking shocked after watching the stage, playfully lunging at Ryu Ayeon, and the Bang! Bang! Love! teammates laughing as they watch)」
Even now, the way Ryu Ayeon and her teammates appeared on broadcast looked as close as could be.
Considering the atmosphere of Ryu Ayeon’s team during the previous Group Battle Mission, it was sothing you never could have imagined.
‘She got a lot of flak for that.’
Fortunately, a huge incident—naly the controversy involving Lee Sion and the main PD—had blown up afterward, so it hadn’t turned into an even bigger scandal, but during the previous Group Battle Mission, bad talk about Ryu Ayeon had surfaced because of conflicts with her teammates regarding practice.
On top of that, the evaluation of their stage hadn’t been good either, so there had even been so talk within the fandom that if things kept going like that, she might not only lose first place, but fall out of the debut range, out of seventh place.
That was why Yuhyun had been glad that Ayeon ended up on the sa team as Lee Sion.
If you had to pick the team with the best atmosphere, the opposite of Ryu Ayeon’s team, everyone picked Lee Sion’s team.
「– Contestant Yoo Jihae chose second place! Then, from now on, please enjoy the pizza and chicken! It’s Cheating ti!
(Contestants screaming as they frantically eat the chicken and pizza provided)
– I’m sorry, guys, for deciding on my own.
– It’s fine. There’s more than enough even if we all eat together.
– The chicken and pizza our Ryu Wuss got by selling out her teammates sure tastes good.
– I told you not to call a wuss!
And among them, the atmosphere of the Bang! Bang! Love! team, which took first place in the talent show, looks more harmonious than ever?!」
Whirr.
As the broadcast screen switched, contestant interview clips began to play.
Avengers Team Assembled?!
Avengers Team Assembled?!
(The cara focusing on Lee Sion, Ryu Ayeon, Yoo Jihae, and the other contestants who chose Bang! Bang! Love!)
– Which team are you most looking forward to?
– I’m looking forward to the Bang! Bang! Love! team.
– Why?
– There are skilled contestants, and there are also a lot of popular contestants gathered, so I think that’s why I’m excited.
The hot Bang! Bang! Love! team, receiving all the other contestants’ expectations.
However—
– Isn’t this part going to be too hard?
– But to bring out the vocal feel of the song, we need powerful choreography here.
(Ryu Ayeon firmly rejecting Im Yunkyung’s suggestion, Yunkyung looking exhausted)
– What part of the practice process was the hardest?
– ...I’m not very good at getting close with teammates...」
‘Oh!’
Watching the broadcast, Yuhyun let out a ntal exclamation.
As if they knew exactly what viewers were curious about, they were slyly showing how the Bang! Bang! Love! team had beco close.
「– The microphone looks funny.
– It’s the kind they use in recording studios. It’s called a condenser mic, and the sensitivity is really high, so it captures even tiny breaths and the nuances of your voice.
– Haaaaah~.
– ...We’re not recording right now, so it’s not picking anything up, but still stop it.
(Lee Sion blowing air into the mic, and Ryu Ayeon, face bright red, trying to stop her)
– Ayeon-ss, how did you just do that?
– Don’t call Ayeon-ss.
– Calling you just Ryu Ayeon sounds too cold, and calling you Ayeon feels like we’re not that close yet. So I’m going with Ayeon-ss—do you hate it?
(Ryu Ayeon groaning, unable to respond to Lee Sion’s words)
– I told you not to call a wuss!
– Aaaah! Guys, Ryu Wuss is trying to kill !!! Save !!!
(Ryu Ayeon smacking Lee Sion’s back in the practice room, and the Bang! Bang! Love! teammates grinning widely as they watch the two)
Whirr.
With a whooshing sound, the screen cut to a clip of one of Ryu Ayeon’s past interviews.
– ...I’m not very good at getting close with teammates...
What on earth happened between Ryu Ayeon and her teammates?! (For details, please check the video that will be uploaded to YouTube after the main broadcast!)」
“Th-these people are insane, aren’t they?! Why won’t they explain the reason in the main broadcast!”
Watching the show, Kim Yuhyun was so dumbfounded she got angry.
They whipped people into curiosity, only to tell them to check YouTube later for the reason, like so sketchy pill peddler at a senior center telling them to buy the dicine if they wanted the performance to continue.
But despite Yuhyun’s outrage, the TV screen calmly continued to show the contestants receiving midterm evaluations from the judges as if nothing had happened.
***
Lee Geunwoo worked the night shift at a convenience store.
He was originally a college student, but at the start of winter break, he’d started working at the convenience store two months ago to earn tuition money and spending money, and he was quite satisfied with the job.
‘The hourly pay sucks, but at least the work is easy.’
The convenience store he worked at was in a residential neighborhood, so once it got late at night, custor traffic dropped off.
After midnight, maybe one or two custors ca in per hour, if that, so Geunwoo sotis even worried about the store owner instead.
Of course, there was physical work like receiving deliveries and stocking shelves, but even so, it was definitely easy work for the money.
Compared to going to a construction site or logistics center for short-term work to make a lot of money fast and then being bedridden for days, this was much better.
The only unavoidable downside was that his sleep schedule was flipped because he worked nights, but that was sothing he could accept.
Ding-ling.
As usual, Geunwoo was leisurely organizing products to pass the ti when the bell on the door rang and he moved back to the counter to get ready to greet the custor.
“Welco.”
One of the few requests the owner had made of Geunwoo was to greet custors politely, so he welcod the custor cheerfully.
The custor nodded to him, then headed straight for the ran aisle.
‘There are more late-night ran custors than you’d think.’
There were quite a few people who ca in at dawn to satisfy their hunger, so Geunwoo figured this custor was probably like that too and waited behind the counter for the custor to bring the items over.
Thunk.
“Please ring this up.”
“Yes, that’ll be 2,800 won.”
So custors took ti to decide what to eat, but this female custor put two cup noodles on the counter right away, as if she’d co in with her mind already made up.
‘Two?’
Two cup noodles that didn’t seem to go together at all: Buldak Hot Chicken Ran and Gonghwachun Jjajang Cup Noodles.
Thinking she must be really hungry, Geunwoo rang them up, bagged them, and handed the cup noodles to the custor.
Once the custor left, he was about to go back to stocking shelves.
Ding-ling.
But the bell rang again, forcing him back to the counter.
“Please ring this up!”
“Ah... yes! That’ll be 2,800 won.”
Another custor walked in and imdiately set items down.
‘What the...?’
Seeing that the new custor had put Buldak Hot Chicken Stir-Fried Ran and Gonghwachun Black Bean Sauce Noodles on the counter again, just like before, gave Geunwoo a strange, uneasy feeling.
Ding-ling.
But before he had ti to think about that creepy feeling, the bell rang again.
‘I’m screwed.’
At that mont, Geunwoo realized.
This was not going to be one of those relaxed early mornings where he could take it easy.
“Ugh, what, they don’t sell this as an Agbaek set yet?”
As Geunwoo stood there, tense, he heard the voice of the new custor who had just co in.
The custor headed for the cup-noodle shelves, just like the ones before, and at the word “Agbaek set,” Geunwoo tilted his head.
‘Agbaek? Oh, right, Episode 5 airs today, doesn’t it?’
He didn’t know exactly what an Agbaek set was, but he realized that the strange phenonon unfolding right now had sothing to do with Idol Ground 100.
“Please ring this up.”
“Ah, yes!”
He wanted to watch the broadcast and check it right away, but unfortunately, that would only be possible after his shift ended.
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