Idol Hides His Military Service

20 people.

The twenty victors who had proudly won in the massive chicken fight with 100 participants were standing up on the platform where MC Jang Junseok was.

“You said I should get ready to be picked since unni was going to become a team leader.”

“··· The kids played way too dirty.”

Next to me, Suyeon grumbled in a small voice.

Even though we used the same dorm room, during the last dorm stay our classes had been different so we’d practiced separately, and Suyeon had said that this time we should definitely end up on the same team.

Don’t worry. This game was practically made just for me.

To that Suyeon, past me had told her I’d pick her, so she should just sit tight and wait.

Why did past me keep making such catastrophically bad judgments and choices?

When I looked up at the platform, I could see Seo Ryujin and Yunkyung pointing at me and laughing.

‘Did Seo Ryujin regress too or something? Was she like in some special forces unit in her past life?’

Ryujin and the forces of evil that had taken me down with their early combined attack.

Among them, Nayeon had been knocked out by an attack from another participant and eliminated, but the ringleader Seo Ryujin and her lackey, middle schooler Im Yunkyung, had survived to the end and climbed all the way up to the position of team leader.

Especially Ryujin—whether she was some kind of chicken fight prodigy or something, she showed off an overwhelming performance, knocking down every participant that came charging at her with flashy one-leg footwork, and astonished everyone.

‘Why is that the sight I was supposed to have···.’

Ryujin, standing tall and alone among the fallen participants.

That was the figure I’d imagined as mine, but it had been snatched away from me.

And then,

‘Wow!! I survived, unni!’

Enfant terrible.

It was a French word that meant a frightening child, but for some reason, when I saw Yunkyung that word came to mind.

Unlike Ryujin, who had subdued everyone by force, Yunkyung had merely survived quietly.

It was a bizarre sight, like she’d become invisible—everyone passed right by Yunkyung and went running toward other participants.

‘People are being fooled. What’s inside that thing is a monster!’

On the outside she just looked like a cute little girl, so the other participants were reluctant to attack, and Yunkyung had used that as a weapon to survive all the way to the final twenty.

If I’d still been alive, I wouldn’t have been deceived by that exterior and would have attacked decisively, so I really resented the world.

“Please give a big round of applause for the twenty participants who’ve been selected as team leaders through a fierce game!”

Clap, clap, clap.

But all we losers could do, myself included, was clap for the victors.

‘Oh, that one survived too?’

Scanning the survivors up on the platform like that, I could see Ryu Ayeon standing on one side with a blank expression.

I’d felt it during the Entrance Ceremony too, but being in the winner’s position as if it were the most natural thing in the world suited that participant very well.

“Now then, it’s time for the twenty team leaders who’ve been selected like this to choose their songs.”

At Jang Junseok’s words, the participants’ gazes turned toward the board with the song list written on it.

[Youth·Flutter]

On the Day of the First Snow

LOVE:ON

What’s Your Temperature?

[Charisma·Sophistication]

NO SIGNAL

Venomous Whisper

REIGN OVER ME

[Dreamy·Mystic]

The Moon and Your Shadow

Lucid Dive

[Addictive Dance]

BOOM BANG BURN

Click Click Heart

Even I, who didn’t know much about idols, had heard quite a few of the songs on the list classified according to the four concepts.

‘I want to skip Youth·Flutter for starters.’

I was a loser with no right to choose songs, but if we were doing this anyway, wasn’t it the height of logical thinking to say that the Charisma·Sophistication concept would suit me?

“It’s better not to touch the Charisma side unless you’re really ready.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Those are all boy group songs. If you cover them half-baked, it’ll be a disaster.”

Ohh.

Sure enough, having an expert next to you meant you got to learn things you didn’t know.

According to Suyeon, the most popular concept would be “Addictive Dance.”

Since the songs themselves were hype, the audience members who came on site would like them intuitively, that was the reason.

Next, Suyeon said Youth·Flutter wasn’t bad either, because all the songs in that concept were by hit girl groups, so it was a safe choice.

On the other hand, she said the hardest was Dreamy·Mystic.

“Dreamy and mysterious concepts are ones even working idols try and then struggle with. From stage styling to the mood of the song, and even the members’ images, everything has to mesh perfectly, so the difficulty is way too high.”

Listening to that explanation, I drew a firm line through the Dreamy·Mystic concept in my mind.

A concept we absolutely must not do.

If you just don’t do the things an expert tells you not to do, accidents won’t happen in the first place.

***

“···Yunkyung.”

“···Yes, unni···.”

“Did I maybe do something wrong to you?”

At my question, Yunkyung shook her head.

“No! If anything, I only trust unni.”

“The people our Yunkyung trusts must be really careful, then. Tell me, why did you let go and fall together when such a precious person was falling off a cliff?”

I was standing behind Yunkyung, speaking like a ventriloquist.

“Then what was I supposed to do···. It was obvious other people wouldn’t want to be on my team···.”

“I didn’t want to either, though?”

“It’s okay! Because unni is my captain.”

Ah.

Who was it that said pushing someone into a corner was not malice but goodwill?

The preceding sequence of events that had led to this disaster flashed through my mind.

- Now it’s time for the team leaders to choose their songs!

When the moment came for the twenty team leaders to choose their songs, the field, which had been noisy, went quiet at once.

Since the songs would be decided by the team leaders’ choices here, every participant had no choice but to pay attention to which team leader would pick the song they’d set their heart on.

And then,

- The order for choosing songs will be decided with flag-snatching. The team leaders who grab the flag at the turning point first and cross the finish line holding it will have the right to choose their songs in that order.

You could clearly see the production team’s intention not to just hand over the order, for the sake of broadcast material.

In the end, the twenty team leaders who’d won the chicken fight had to run in another race for their songs,

‘Participant Seo Ryujin in 1st place! Next is participant Ryu Ayeon···.’

As if to prove my special forces regression theory I’d been pushing, Seo Ryujin grabbed first place with an overwhelming score, and following behind, participants including Ryu Ayeon took the earlier slots in order.

And then,

‘Huff··· huff.’

Was it because she was short? Or did she just suck at running?

Apparently chicken-fight-bold middle schooler Im Yunkyung was hopeless when it came to running.

With the low placing of 17th out of 20, Yunkyung, who had earned a late pick, looked like she was about to burst into tears.

- Team leader Im Yunkyung, participant number 68, chooses “Lucid Dive”!

So when it finally came time for Yunkyung to choose a song near the very end, her choice was a song called “Lucid Dive.”

To be precise, more than saying she’d chosen it, it was mostly because, just as Suyeon had said, everyone shied away from the Dreamy·Mystic concept, so that was the only song left.

- Now that the team leaders have finished choosing their songs, it’s time to select the team members. This time, in reverse order of song selection, the team leaders will each choose their team members one at a time!

Once Jang Junseok finished his explanation, the team leaders began choosing team members in order, starting from the one who’d come last in the flag-grab race.

And when it became the turn of Yunkyung, who was third in that order, back then I was still silently cheering for her in my heart.

No matter how much Yunkyung had betrayed me in the chicken fight by siding with Seo Ryujin to knock me out, she was still a young middle schooler taking on the heavy role of team leader.

On top of that, she’d ended up with a song in the difficult concept everyone avoided, so at the very least I wanted her to be able to pick good members as her team.

‘Um··· I’ll choose participant number 100, Lee Sion, as my team member.’

I still don’t remember the moment when Yunkyung made her first team member selection.

Blackout.

They say that sometimes when you take too big a shock, or when you experience something you simply can’t comprehend with common sense, the brain makes you lose consciousness for a moment to protect its owner.

To others it probably looked like I was standing there perfectly fine, but in that moment I definitely experienced a blackout.

And when I came to my senses, before I knew it I was already up on the platform, standing behind Yunkyung as her first pick.

“I-I-It’s okay, unni! We made it through just fine in F class too, right!”

“Hey··· you! Ah! You little!”

Right now my head and my mouth were locked in a fierce war.

My mouth

Was telling me to let fly a glorious string of curses straight at that impudent middle schooler.

My head

Was holding me back, saying that no matter what insane stunt Yunkyung had just pulled, she was still young and I must not forget we were in the middle of filming.

“So, do you have someone in mind for the next member?”

“I was going to pick Nayeon unni, but someone took her.”

Now that things had happened, there was no use blaming Yunkyung any further.

In that case, what we needed now was follow-up measures to reduce the damage of the catastrophe as much as possible.

‘Neither I nor Yunkyung are what you’d call good in terms of skill.’

The reason I’d gotten an A grade in the first place was purely because the judges had evaluated me kindly based on my potential; objectively speaking, I still had a huge gap with the other A class participants.

There were 20 members in A class in total.

Since 7 of them had been picked as team leaders, that meant only 13 A class members were left.

“I choose participant number 33, Lee Jihae, as my team member.”

Because of that, when the team leaders picked their first members, A class participants inevitably got chosen no matter what.

“Unni, that team over there already has two A grades.”

“It should be illegal for an A class team leader to pick an A class team member.”

Before even the first round was over, the A grade members were already sold out.

“For now, pick Suyeon as the next member.”

“Suyeon unni? Yep, I’ll pick her right away.”

At this point, we had to make the most of at least the B grade members.

And among the B class members, there was exactly one person I knew well and who was also decent in terms of skill.

‘I kept my promise, Suyeon!’

Suyeon wouldn’t feel hard done by.

She herself had said with her own mouth that this time we should definitely be on the same team.

This was absolutely not some act of a water ghost grabbing someone’s ankles because I didn’t want to die alone!

***

“Hello, I’m Geum Shinyu, a trainee from UI Entertainment!”

“I’m Lee Gahyeon from Daon Entertainment.”

“···I’m independent trainee Kim Suyeon.”

Clap, clap, clap.

As the members of Team Yunkyung, who were sitting in a circle like at a campfire, finished introducing themselves one by one, Yunkyung and I had no choice but to clap until our hands were about to break.

Starting with Suyeon, who was looking at me like she wanted to kill me, then Lee Gahyeon, who was staring with a face full of “Why on earth did you pick me?”

And then,

‘Hey! Pick Shinyu, you have to pick Shinyu no matter what!’

When we’d picked Suyeon as our third member and were in a panic, Seo Ryujin, who had been watching, had sidled up and half-threatened us, telling us to pick a participant named Geum Shinyu.

‘Geum Shinyu?’

Looking at the grade, it was C class, and I had no idea why we were supposed to pick that participant, but Ryujin’s expression had been so serious that we decided to pick first and think later.

So we picked Geum Shinyu, and then, with our last turn, we picked Lee Gahyeon.

Gahyeon was still sitting there with a subtle expression, like it still hadn’t sunk in that Yunkyung and I had chosen that participant.

In fact, when I’d suggested we pick Gahyeon last, Yunkyung had been vehemently against it.

‘Unni, do you maybe··· hate me that much?’

Im Yunkyung had looked at me with eyes full of distrust, asking if this was how I was venting my grudge for being picked first.

Which was only natural, considering that back when we were in F class, the ones who’d driven out former leader Lee Gahyeon and made Nayeon the leader instead had been none other than me and Yunkyung.

Facing that very person on the same team now wasn’t just uncomfortable; if other people saw, they might say we were straight-up sociopaths.

But I thought we needed Gahyeon on our team.

‘Gahyeon was just the one who fit.’

With me, Im Yunkyung, Kim Suyeon, and Geum Shinyu already picked, I pictured in my head who we should choose last to fit the team best.

And what came to mind then was a formation with Gahyeon in the center, me and Geum Shinyu on either side, and Suyeon and Yunkyung on the sides.

My knowledge was too lacking to explain it in words, but the moment that formation appeared in my head, I felt that we needed Gahyeon on our team.

And so, despite Yunkyung’s opposition, I chose Lee Gahyeon as our last member.