BLDGF 19

Chapter 19

“Is that a high score or a low one?”
The trainees were all busy calculating in their heads.

But I had roughly calculated it before I came, so I already knew what that score meant.

At this rate… there was going to be quite a big gap between first place and the rest.

Not a good sign.

“Ikyung-ah trainee, please step forward.”

A sudden burst of sobbing echoed.

Of course, it was Ikyung-ah crying.

But it wasn’t just sorrow in her cry.

Rather, it was mixed with relief.

Relief that she had escaped 12th place.

…Right, she was in 12th place during the last mid-evaluation.

On the large screen behind the set, Ikyung-ah’s face appeared along with her mid-evaluation ranking:

Ikyung-ah (11th ▲1), 1,250 votes

On the other hand, dark clouds started forming on the faces of the other lower-ranked trainees.

Do Hee-young proceeded to announce the rankings of the other trainees:

Bang Soo-in (10th ▼2), 1,307 votes
Park Ha-eun (9th ▲2), 1,505 votes
Shin Yoo-hyun (8th ▼1), 1,629 votes
Jo Hee-on (7th ▼1), 1,731 votes

With that, the middle-to-lower rankings were all announced.

Whether their rankings went up or down, none of their expressions looked particularly happy.

The most noticeable expression belonged to Yeon Juhong.

She was ranked 9th in the mid-evaluation, but her name hadn’t been called yet.

She must have thought she had dropped to 12th place, as tears were already welling up in her eyes.

The same went for Lee Joosun, who had been in 10th last time.

One of the two would definitely rise to the upper ranks, but the other was almost certainly in last place.

The remaining trainees were all those considered most likely to debut.

It was a cruel system.

“Next, we will announce 6th place. This trainee received 1,950 votes.”

Do Hee-young glanced at the trainees for a moment before speaking.

“Yeon Juhong trainee, please come forward.”

A silent scream echoed in the air.

Yeon Juhong stood frozen, mouth agape, unable to move.

Then, she suddenly burst into tears.

Other trainees, especially Seo Baek-young and Kim Geum, hugged and comforted her.

I also stood behind her and patted her shoulder.

“Yeon Juhong trainee. Please go up on stage and share your thoughts.”

Only then did Yeon Juhong wipe her tears and walk up to the stage.

Of course, even as she wiped them, more tears kept flowing.

“I-I…”

She continued sobbing.

“I don’t know if I… if I deserve to be here. Sniff.”

She cried so much that both sleeves were soaked, wiping her face did nothing.

“My… my unnies did so well… and I’m the worst one… I didn’t think I should be here.”

Even as she hiccupped and sniffled, she continued her speech bravely.

A born entertainer.

Yeah, she’s made for broadcast.

“I really… I really wanted to go home so badly… but now I don’t want to, sniff. T-Today’s 6th place… means more to me than 1st place. It’s the most precious, hiccup, meaningful 6th place ever. I’ll keep working hard… following my unnies… waah.”

Eventually, she gave up holding back and started bawling again.

Oh dear.

All the other trainees were getting emotional too.

She was the youngest among us 17-year-olds.

There wasn’t a single person who didn’t know how hard she blamed herself and practiced every day.

And there wasn’t a single one of us who couldn’t understand her feelings.

Do Hee-young ended up hugging Yeon Juhong and guiding her to the 6th place seat.

Even after sitting, she kept sniffling, and Hee-young gave her a handkerchief to comfort her.

“Now, we’ll continue with the 5th place announcement.”

Once Yeon Juhong looked a bit calmer, PD Oh pushed forward with the recording without hesitation.

They’d filmed enough—time to move on.

Cold and heartless…

“From this point on, it’s the debut zone. Congratulations to all trainees who’ve made it this far.”

Do Hee-young smiled warmly at us.

“This trainee covered White Noise and received a total of 2,017 votes.”

There were three trainees left who had performed White Noise: Kim Ryeoyu, Ryu Bora, and Lee Joosun.

Joosun likely wouldn’t rank 5th, so it was essentially a showdown between Kim Ryeoyu and Ryu Bora.

Unlike the expressionless Ryu Bora, Kim Ryeoyu’s face darkened.

She was clearly thinking she shouldn’t be called here—
She was aiming for at least the top 3.

Meanwhile, Ryu Bora maintained a calm, detached attitude, as if the rankings didn’t matter to her.

It was hard to tell if she truly didn’t care or if she was just putting on an act.

Kim Ryeoyu clenched her hem tightly, and Ryu Bora lowered her big eyes.

Both were shown on screen—

“First mission, first debut-zone trainee is—”

Caption: Check back in 1 minute!

“….”
“….”

A living room in a typical household.

A cheerful family watching MenuColor suddenly threw the remote.

“Are you freaking serious, M10?”

After a short but furious round of commercials,

The trainees returned to the screen.

“Thank you for waiting. Without delay, we’ll now announce. The first mission, first debut-zone trainee is—”

Do Hee-young paused for dramatic effect, then declared:

“Ryu Bora.”

…Lower than expected.

As a former successful child actress, her fandom should’ve been strong.

It was surprising.

But Ryu Bora didn’t seem fazed at all. Calmly, she stepped onto the stage.

“Thank you to the Colorists for bringing someone like me this far. I’ll make sure to show you the best side of me, worthy of such a generous rank.”

A bright, flawless smile with the most textbook speech.

There was nothing wrong with it—and that was the problem.

There wasn’t a single hint of emotion—
Her oddly soulless comment left others confused.

She wasn’t upset or sad about her lower-than-expected rank.

In fact—

“…Does she not want to debut…?”

A staff member muttered.

Yeah, she really seemed like a trainee who didn’t want to debut.

Weird. If she didn’t want to debut, why work so hard in practice?

Why stay as a trainee at all?

Leaving everyone puzzled, Ryu Bora sat in the 5th place seat.

Do Hee-young composed herself and called the next name.

“Next, we’ll announce the trainee who drew attention with a bold concept.”

A bold concept, huh.

I recalled the remaining performances.

Kim Geum, who covered a boy group with a powerful street theme.
Kim Ryeoyu, who chose a daring sexy concept.
…and me, who showed up with an eyepatch from the start.

I had a hunch.

This time it’s—

“Congratulations, Yoon Cheong trainee. Please come up.”

It’s me.

??? What the heck just happened

? Yoon Cheong is 4th?

????

This is insane lmao. M10, are you serious??

If you’re talking pure skill, she’s hands-down 1st. And she’s 4th???

She’s already being targeted lol

This is why standing out early = death. ㅠ Cheong-ah, let’s just focus on debuting, that’s all we need

LOL fans are already panicking. That vibe war during song selection was brutal

└What nonsense; they’re not even in the same position. Why drag someone else into this?

└└ Yeah yeah, next bloodline pick please

The first mission rankings were finally finished.

My final rank: 4th.

It was still within the debut zone—
Not a bad rank, but not one to get too comfortable with either.

Fortunately, audience reactions were mixed.

So-called “muggles,” the casual viewers rather than hardcore idol fans, had a lot of questions about my rank.

Because based on skill alone, I should’ve been 1st, no contest.

But I knew.

The most skilled trainee doesn’t always debut.

In idols, skill isn’t everything—
It’s not an exaggeration to say that charm is everything.

Skill is one part of charm,
but it can’t cover everything.

And this time, I lost in the charm category.

Though, I wouldn’t say I completely lost.

As the SNS reactions said, I had definitely been target-picked.

Because I seemed like a strong debut candidate, other trainees’ fans intentionally gave me low scores.

That’s why my fans were so upset.

I’m seriously pissed. Team Baby Beast, we’re NOT letting our guard down anymore. Promise me.

Everyone, stay focused and apply for audience seats. Pre-seating is EVERYTHING.

We MUST protect our baby beast Cheong-cheong.

That’s all sweet and great but…

…Why… why am I a baby beast…?

That “baby” nickname was just too weird for me.

Hearing that at 30 in my past life made me itchy all over.

Though Yoon Cheong is only 20 now, so technically it’s not weird…

In my past life as a solo idol, I never got the “baby” nickname.

I had plenty of cute nicknames, but… “baby” was a bit hard to adjust to.

Still, fans gave it with love, so shut up and accept it.

Anyway, from my point of view, 4th place wasn’t bad.

It was better to clearly establish myself as someone to watch out for now.

Better to maintain my rank from the start, than to slack off and drop later.

I turned on Yoon Cheong’s phone.

And saw her first wish every time it booted up.

[Debut in 1st place on the agency’s survival program “Make a New Color.”]

If I was aiming for final 1st place,
starting off at 4th wasn’t a bad thing at all.

I opened the screen to check the rankings of the remaining trainees—

The final list with all changes displayed:

Yoon Cheong (4th ▼3), 2,201 votes