Idol Hides His Military Service

“Good work.”

“Yeah.”

Since it’s better to get it over with sooner rather than later, once we’d shown our team stage first, we could watch the other teams’ stages in the waiting room with some breathing room.

Starting with the Starlight Umbrella team stage, which included Lee Gahyeon, Im Yunkyung, and Kim Suyeon, then the Don’ touch team stage that included Geum Shinyu.

And lastly, the Bang! Bang! Love! team stage that included Ryu Ayeon, who had just finished a stage and come down a moment ago.

Watching with a little more room to breathe, I could really feel how hard the other teams had prepared their stages for the Final Round.

“Haa···.”

Just looking at Ryu Ayeon sitting next to me and letting out rough breaths made that obvious.

Ryu Ayeon might fall short compared to me, but even after practicing for three straight hours on a normal day, Ryu Ayeon never complained once—yet now, after doing only two stages, Ryu Ayeon was breathing roughly.

‘This burns more stamina than I thought.’

Practice room and real stage were definitely different.

Even though it was the same moves and the same song, it felt like the stamina drain was—without exaggeration—about ten times worse.

While I was actually onstage, I couldn’t even feel how hard it was because of the crowd’s cheers, but from the moment I started exiting after the stage, it felt like all the strength drained straight out of my body.

Since it wasn’t a small crowd and we were performing in front of ten thousand people, maybe I’d felt pressure without realizing it.

“Wow···so many celebrities showed up.”

“Yeah. Since it’s the last one, it looks like the network really put effort into it.”

Now that the last team’s stage had ended, onstage, main MC Jang Junseok was conducting interviews with the celebrities who had come to the Final Round.

Jang Junseok first asked EM from WTX—who had participated as a producer during the concept evaluation—who EM was rooting for.

-I’m rooting for all the contestants.

“Come on···you told Shinyu you were rooting for Shinyu last time, so say it here too—go all-in and say you’re rooting for Shinyu!”

Hearing EM’s standard answer, I felt disappointed.

Back at the concept evaluation, EM had praised Shinyu a lot, saying Shinyu had talent, so I’d been thinking it would be nice if EM said—if only as a polite line—that EM was rooting for Shinyu.

But—

“That would be a disaster!”

“Huh? Why?”

Seeing Geum Shinyu flinch and insist I absolutely couldn’t say that, I was thrown off.

When I said it would be good because if a member of WTX, a hot idol group these days, said it, the fans would follow and root for Shinyu too, Ryu Ayeon—who’d been watching—let out a sigh and answered in Shinyu’s place.

“You have to be careful now too.”

“About what?”

“The reason EM didn’t say Shinyu’s name is because EM was being considerate of us. If EM singled Shinyu out and said it, WTX fans might’ve voted for a contestant around Shinyu’s rank just to make Shinyu drop.”

“Seriously?”

“Could be even worse. And if Shinyu actually debuts, they might keep this in mind for ages—glare with that ‘I’m looking away’ attitude—and if something happens later, they might pounce right away.”

I was shocked by Ryu Ayeon’s answer.

Would they really go that far just because a male idol they like said the name of a trainee who isn’t even an idol?

Hearing it, I could tell EM’s answer was actually EM being considerate of Shinyu.

‘Good character.’

Anyway, while we talked among ourselves for a moment, Jang Junseok moved past EM and went to another celebrity to ask questions.

“We’ll prepare for the next stage now! Contestants, please change outfits right away!”

“Yes!”

I wanted to watch a little more of the interviews with the celebrities who said they came to see us, but with staff urging us to prepare for the stage again, the contestants—including me—ended our short break and hurried back into preparation.

“How many outfits are we even changing into today.”

“At a real concert, you change dozens of times in one show!”

“Seriously? If I open a laundromat near the arena later, I could make some money.”

Huh.

I was already feeling intense mental fatigue just from changing into my third outfit, so hearing the horrifying story that at a real concert you change into more than ten made me think I should stop complaining.

A light purple dress.

‘This one’s nice since it’s simple to put on.’

While changing into the stage outfit for the next stage, “Our Spring Isn’t Over Yet,” we prepared for the Final Round’s last group stage.

***

“What a shame.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden, Jinsu?”

“I just hate the thought that this program is ending.”

Jinsu was having a great time right now.

It felt like the production team had really made up their mind and was trying to show the audience every last memory of Idol Ground 100, because they seemed to have paid attention to each and every stage setup.

When everyone sang “Spotlight” together at the start, it reminded Jinsu of when Jinsu first found out about Idol Ground 100.

And after that, they showed team stages of the performances that had stood out the most in each mission, so from the perspective of a devoted Idol Ground 100 viewer, it even felt like something was swelling up in Jinsu’s chest.

“After this ends, people are going to get eliminated.”

“···Yeah.”

Jinsu’s pick had been Lee Sion from the beginning up to now, but that didn’t mean Jinsu had no affection for the other contestants.

But hearing Jang Junseok say that after this stage ended, the final seven out of the twenty-five contestants would be announced, Jinsu’s feelings got complicated for no reason.

Honestly, Jinsu felt like it would be better if the ending didn’t come at all.

“Still, we have to watch.”

“Yeah. We do.”

And even though Jiyeon understood how Jinsu felt, Jiyeon didn’t comfort Jinsu indirectly.

“Please···please···.”

Compared to one female fan in the seat in front of Jiyeon, who had both hands clasped and was praying so desperately that the fan couldn’t even watch the stage, Jiyeon’s group was lucky.

‘This is why people say that even if you’re going to be a fan in the idol world, you should be a fan of a major-agency idol.’

Jiyeon and Jinsu’s pick was Lee Sion.

Honestly, Lee Sion was safe enough that people were even saying debut was basically confirmed, so Jiyeon and Jinsu could worry about the other contestants and get swept up in emotions like this.

Fans of contestants whose ranks were on a knife-edge would, stage or no stage, be thinking, ‘I have to save my kid,’ and even now would definitely be running around trying to figure out how to add even one more vote.

-Ah, please let Jihye get picked

↳Jihye is seriously so pitiful. May Girl’s agency ditched her a long time ago, so she just got neglected, and then she came out on Agbaek

↳Those agency bastards, for real. They tied up a kid and didn’t let her promote even once for two years—are they even human?

↳She was safe just a month ago, so why did she get pushed down like this···

↳The production team openly discriminates between contestants, damn, this is so disgusting

-If you have any shame, DubDub Trio fans should hold back on promoting

↳For real. I’m running around communities right now posting promos to save my kid, but those guys are debut-confirmed and still trying to raise rank by one, and every time I see my promo posts get buried under their posts, I feel like my blood is boiling

↳I’m losing it. Why don’t they show the rankings and only do a mid-reveal of seventh place?

↳Are these assholes rigging it or what?

↳Please, just give Sojeong one more cut on camera, for the love of God. It’s the final and they barely show her at all

Watching the Agbaek fans’ posts going up in real time on Jiyeon’s smartphone, Jiyeon steeled herself.

Since the score weight for live text voting was especially high, even if Lee Sion was evaluated as safe, there was no guarantee Lee Sion wouldn’t get pushed down depending on the results, so Jiyeon had to gather votes with everything Jiyeon had.

-Sion will go on variety shows later, right?

↳If she goes on Great Korean Man, it’ll be guaranteed hilarious

↳Since she’s from MPlay, will they give her a self-produced variety show?

↳Even if she just does solo queue streams, it’ll blow up lol

Because Lee Sion’s fandom was so broadly popular, even though the voting wasn’t over yet, it wasn’t hard to find posts chatting about what would happen after debut—so letting your guard down was the last thing you could do.

“It’s starting!”

While thinking about voting for a ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) moment, Jiyeon lifted her head at the cheers around her, and the lights that had been shining across the arena focused on the stage, and Jiyeon could see a new stage beginning.

♬

A very gentle piano melody flowing out.

To that melody, contestants began walking out through three entrances.

-The melody’s nice

↳Wait, the lyricist/composer says Raon—no way it’s singer Raon?

↳Nah, it’s probably just someone with the same name

↳Either way, the song’s good. It’s already sticking in my ear

↳Their outfits look floaty too, it suits them

The contestants came out wearing pastel-tone dresses in different shades, from light to dark, like a gradient.

With very careful steps, the contestants moved to the edges of the stage.

And a triangle formation completed.

The contestants formed the lines of the triangle and faced the audience.

On the field where sunlight spreads

That day’s us runs forward

As contestant Yoon Sohee at the very tip of the formation raised the mic and started singing in a calm voice,

With every small breath

It sparkled as it became a dream

the contestant right next to Yoon Sohee took over the next part and continued singing.

Like that, all twenty-five contestants sang one very short line each as the song gradually moved forward, and that scene was shown to people through the camera—on the screen and on broadcast.

Even if you fall and cry, it’s okay

Because that was us

The time given to each person was, at most, just a few seconds.

Clumsy days piled up

And made the me of today

Some contestants had to sing a part together with someone else, but the expressions were happier than anything.

“Hngh···snff···.”

But in the stands, the sound of people holding back tears started spreading like coughs, one by one.

Even if the cherry blossoms fall, spring remains

And blooms inside our hearts

The closer the song got to the highlight, the more the crying sounds grew.

At the end of this road that looked like it was the end

There’s another beginning again

Who said it?

That laughter and tears are contagious.

Since they knew the camera would catch them, the contestants tried as hard as they could to look calm, but you could see tears gradually pooling in their eyes.

Should we run through time

So we can smile like back then

Seo Ryujin’s voice, singing the highlight part she had practiced countless times and felt confident in, was trembling.

And Lee Sion, who had the last part, lifted the hand holding the mic to sing the ending part that was her turn.

Holding each other’s hands tight

Our spring is still

As if a child in an unfamiliar place was gripping a parent’s hand tight in anxious fear of losing it, Lee Sion clutched the mic—and with a small tapping sound, a tiny drop fell onto the back of Lee Sion’s hand.

***

-I’m losing it, why am I crying?

↳Seriously, I’m so pathetic too. I can’t stop tearing up, what do I do?

↳This was obviously made to make people cry

↳At the end the contestants are hugging each other and crying—how are you not supposed to cry watching that?

↳I can’t watch survival shows anymore. The emotional drain is too brutal···

-Isn’t this the first time we’ve seen Lee Sion cry?

↳Yeah. Even at the last rankings announcement when Kim Nara dropped, she held it in, but she let it spill here

↳She’s pretty even when she cries, it looked like a picture

↳Not just Lee Sion, I never imagined Ryu Ayeon would bawl like that either

↳Honestly, we got choked up just watching, so for the contestants who’ve been on the program for three months, it has to be even worse

-The voting really ended. I tried just in case and the text won’t send

↳Ah, damn, I forgot I was going to vote on my mom’s phone while I was watching the stage

↳Then does that mean the people who went on earlier have an advantage?

↳No, the people who were still debating until the last second might make the later teams more advantageous

↳Please show the rankings···people are dying here!!!

With the final rankings announcement ceremony for Idol Ground 100 approaching, once the last stage, “Our Spring Isn’t Over Yet,” ended, posts started pouring out like crazy across communities.

During the stage, the boards had gone quiet as if the power had gone out, but the moment it ended, tens and hundreds of posts went up.

Everyone looked busy pouring out their impressions, like they couldn’t escape the afterglow of the stage.

And that made sense, because the broadcast showed the contestants crying as they sang a lyrical melody and lyrics in the Final Round, so the people watching couldn’t help but get choked up too.

Maybe because of that?

Until just before, the boards had been full of posts where fans fought other contestants’ fans to promote their own pick, but now those boards had somehow become filled with nothing but posts about impressions of the stage.

As if everyone felt the final moment had come, viewers talked about moments and scenes that had been fun while watching Idol Ground 100 in the past.

But—

[With the stage for the new song “Our Spring Isn’t Over Yet” that the contestants prepared for this Final Round as the end, we will now announce the number of live text votes that have been tallied up to this point!]

As if to remind everyone the program wasn’t over yet, Jang Junseok’s voice saying he would reveal the live text vote count pulled viewers’ focus back to the screen.

The moment Jang Junseok finished speaking, an enormous number appeared on the screen: 3,529,461.

Behind Jang Junseok announcing the staggering text vote count of over three million, all twenty-five contestants stood in a line, waiting for the results.

Maybe because of the stage they’d just done, every contestant’s eye makeup was smudged, and depending on how you looked at it, it could have been ugly—but nobody tried to fix it or hide it.

Just the sight of contestants, eyes closed, hands clasped, waiting anxiously for the announcement.

[The online vote you conducted online over the past week and the live text vote scores that have just been tallied will be combined, and Idol Ground 100’s final seven will be decided right now, in this moment···.]

Jang Junseok also knew how their hearts were shaking and wanted to announce it as quickly as possible, but because of the huge number of text votes, time kept getting delayed, and Jang Junseok was just as anxious.

So while waiting for the voting results, Jang Junseok—unintentionally, for once—burned the nerves of both viewers and contestants, and then, through the earpiece, the staff voice everyone had been waiting for came through.

[Then, we’ll begin announcing the final rankings starting from sixth place!]

Hearing the result for the first rank to be revealed—sixth—Jang Junseok continued without hesitation.

[The contestant who recorded sixth place in Idol Ground 100’s final rankings is···Kurosawa Yuri!!!]

It was the moment the first member of Idol Ground 100 was finally decided.