Idol Hides His Military Service

“Shall we listen to the song first?”

Guilt, anger, wariness, hope.

I could feel the strange emotions being emitted by our team members, the four of them excluding me.

First, Yunkyung, who had taken on the role of team leader, seemed to be feeling guilty about choosing a difficult song; her expression looked dark.

Maybe because of that, she was now suggesting that we listen to the song, trying to break through what felt like the hell of awkwardness, as if there were such a place, and this was it.

“If it’s ‘Lucid Dive’, that’s Boyvicious sunbaenims’ song, right?”

And Suyeon, who had been shooting me resentful looks ever since the moment the team was formed, now seemed to have accepted reality, answering Yunkyung’s words.

‘Boyvicious? I think I’ve heard of them.’

At Suyeon’s words that the original artist of our team’s song was Boyvicious, I was a bit unsure, but I was pretty sure I’d once seen a boy group by that name on TV.

For even someone like me, who didn’t know much about idols, to remember them, it was clear they were a fairly well-known group, but as for the song ‘Lucid Dive’ itself, I knew absolutely nothing.

“Is there anyone who hasn’t heard this song?”

Maybe noticing my reaction, Lee Gahyeon asked the team members.

I raised my hand and reported myself honestly.

Wondering if there might be anyone besides me who didn’t know it, I looked around at the team members, but unfortunately, I was the only one.

“Sion-nim! How can a trainee not know Boyvicious sunbaenims’ ‘Lucid Dive’?!”

“···Sorry.”

And seeing that, team member Geum Shinyu started making a huge fuss at me, saying it made no sense.

“‘Lucid Dive’ is a song that’s like the very essence of Boyvicious sunbaenims! It’s a song that makes you feel like you’ve fallen into a world of dreams, a song that groovily unfolds the emotions that blur at the boundary between reality and dreams with spatial, dimensional sound and a dreamy vocal tone!”

As she looked at me and asked if I now understood just how good this song was, I could do nothing but nod.

‘What is with this kid’s way of talking. No, more than that, this is···.’

All I’d said was that I’d never heard of a song called ‘Lucid Dive’, but seeing Shinyu get excited and launch into a full-on long speech, I was reminded of the times back when I was a company commander doing transfer interviews.

- Ah! Company commander-nim, you know Dungeon & Fighter too? I think Dungeon & Fighter is the very essence of games! When I was outside I was actually a pretty famous ranked player in Dungeon & Fighter, and this game isn’t something you can do well in just by spending money like this···.

As usual, I’d asked what his hobbies were, and when he said he liked games, I’d asked what game he played, and it turned out to be a game I’d heard of before, so I’d made the mistake of acting like I knew it.

And for about an hour after that, I had no choice but to sit through his seminar on Dungeon & Fighter.

‘What, is she like a Boyvicious fan or something?’

Of course, Geum Shinyu and that old recruit didn’t resemble each other at all in appearance, but the crazed look in her eyes as she explained Boyvicious’s song was exactly the same as that recruit back then.

Come to think of it, I realized that I didn’t know anything about this participant named Geum Shinyu.

We hadn’t even had any overlapping classes, and we didn’t share a dorm, so there had been no chance for any closeness to develop.

If it hadn’t been for Ryujin’s words, she was a member I wouldn’t have picked.

“I’m going to go see Ryujin for a bit.”

“Ryujin unni?”

“Yeah.”

If a question arises, you have to confirm it right away, don’t you think?

After telling Yunkyung I was going to see Ryujin and come back, I immediately got up from my seat and headed to where Ryujin’s team was gathered.

“Seochijol, let’s talk for a sec.”

“Seochijol? Okay, what is this scrub now?”

Scrub? This scrub?!

For a moment I seriously considered whether I should punish Seo Ryujin, who had seized the team leader position using such petty methods and now dared to give me the title of scrub,

‘Hold it in. Take care of business first and get revenge later.’

For a gentleman’s revenge, even ten years is not too late.

First I took Ryujin to a secluded spot where there were no other participants and got straight to the point.

“Hey, why did you tell us to pick Geum Shinyu?”

“Ah, you came because of Shinyu?”

“Then what else would I have come for?”

At my words, Ryujin answered with a look that said this was ridiculous.

“You should know to be grateful. Your team would’ve been doomed without Shinyu, you know?”

“What?”

“Shinyu’s someone who knows how to do producing.”

Producing?

It was a term I’d heard before.

Articles would sometimes come out on TV saying that famous idols or singers had been produced by some famous composer.

But I didn’t see what that had to do with us picking Geum Shinyu, and when I tilted my head, Ryujin must have found it frustrating, because she started explaining further.

“This stage is a competition where two teams go against each other with one song, right. But don’t tell me you were planning to just do the original song as is?”

“Then of course we’d do it as the original, how else would we sing it?”

“You idiot! In that case it’s just a cover stage. This is a mission! Each team has to show a new stage based on their own interpretation.”

What?!

I could only be shocked at Ryujin’s words.

Because I hadn’t understood them.

And maybe she picked up on my state?

Ryujin started explaining kindly one more time.

“A cover is, literally, following the original stage exactly. The focus is on singing in a way that preserves the original’s feel rather than on variation.”

“Ohh.”

“But in this competition mission, following it exactly like a cover stage will probably be a reason for deductions instead. If you show a stage that’s just like the original without any color of your own, will the judges, not to mention the audience, really want to see it?”

When I heard it, it did make sense.

“So you have to newly arrange the song and give it variation, and that’s a kind of producing too. It’s something you can only do if you’ve studied composition.”

“And you’re saying Geum Shinyu knows how to do that?”

“Yeah. And not just ‘knows how’—she’s good at it.”

Once I’d heard the whole explanation, I understood why Ryujin had kept telling us to pick Geum Shinyu.

It was just that,

“Then why did you hand over such a talent to us? Don’t you need her too?”

“I’m already learning producing. I can arrange this song alone.”

Damn it··· Ryujin, are you telling me you’re top tier in producing too?

I imagined a worldline where Ryujin had picked me.

Lee Sion in that world, doing nothing but what she was told in Ryujin’s team, a world that looked peaceful.

Just thinking about it for a moment made my anger rise, so I stopped imagining it.

‘Tsk··· I’m going to have to find a way to make use of Geum Shinyu no matter what.’

I didn’t care if I crashed and burned, but for some reason gloomy little Yunkyung was weighing on me.

And starting with Suyeon, who’d been dragged along because of me, then Gahyeon, then Geum Shinyu—thinking of them all made me feel like I had to at least do something.

***

- You, you think you’re good or something? How dare you act all high and mighty!

After Lee Sion left her spot and disappeared somewhere, Geum Shinyu felt anxious.

‘Was it my fault again···.’

She couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d gotten too excited and explained things when Sion said she didn’t know ‘Lucid Dive’.

‘But this song really is such a good song···.’

There was something about Geum Shinyu that was a little different from other trainees.

If other trainees had generally fallen for the flashy stages of idols and started trainee life that way, Shinyu had fallen for idols’ songs and then become a trainee.

Some people would sometimes say that idols just had flashy looks and dances, and their songs themselves weren’t anything special.

Shinyu absolutely did not agree with that opinion.

In her view, the music of Korean idols, so-called K-POP, was experimental music that showed unpredictable progression where EDM and hip-hop, as well as classical, Latin, pop, and other various genres coexisted in a single song.

And in order to make those various genres coexist, they meticulously designed the sound, and carried out high-quality mixing work, so

abroad, there were even reviews that said K-POP was "the most popular yet the most experimental music in the world".

And Shinyu didn’t just like K-POP; she loved it.

The lyrics that were closely tied to worldview and concept, unlike other music.

The way it didn’t focus solely on vocals, but combined performance in order to complete the stage.

Things that might sound difficult and complicated at first seemed so lovable to her precisely because they ultimately came together as one.

But,

‘If you’re a trainee, shouldn’t you just practice dance and singing hard, what’s with her always going on about analyzing songs?’

‘I know, right. She keeps saying we have to understand the worldview and melt the emotions into it, it’s so annoying.’

‘Is she trying to show off that she’s the only one learning producing or something.’

Someone like Geum Shinyu was not welcomed among the trainees.

In her eyes, idols were not simply people who danced and sang,

but a kind of ‘actor’ who had to unfold and convey the story contained in the song, and she’d said as much to the other trainees a few times.

But what always came back were only cold reactions.

- You’re good. I agree with what you said. Idols are actors too.

The only trainee who had agreed with Shinyu’s opinion was Seo Ryujin.

Before she came to her current company, UI Entertainment, back when she’d stayed at Logic Entertainment, Ryujin had been the only person who understood Shinyu’s opinion.

But after she left Logic for lack of ability and entered UI Entertainment, there was no one who understood someone like her.

Even the company, which had at first said they’d back her because she “had talent for producing”, now openly disliked having to spend money on teaching her composition.

‘I shouldn’t have shown off···.’

Even now, as soon as the song she loved, ‘Lucid Dive’, came up, she was regretting that she hadn’t been able to stop herself from running her mouth.

Coming onto Idol Ground 100 this time, she’d sworn to herself she would absolutely not show off, so she was ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ beginning to worry that the other team members might be seeing her as weird.

Seeing Sion disappear after hearing her words had also brought back old trauma.

- You, you think you’re good or something? How dare you act all high and mighty!

Suddenly, words from Park Soyeon, who was in the same company as her and had entered the show this time as well, came back to Geum Shinyu.

Preparing the Entrance Ceremony stage together with Park Soyeon, who was also from UI Entertainment, Shinyu had had to hear harsh words from Soyeon in the process.

Starting from “Who do you think you are, to be arranging the song however you like”, all the way to ripping up the sheet music that Shinyu had drafted for her arrangement, saying it wasn’t a composition that made her stand out enough—Park Soyeon had gone that far.

Someone like that, to Geum Shinyu, was nothing short of a trauma.

Fortunately, after the Entrance Ceremony, Soyeon had been placed in B class and Shinyu had been placed in C class, so they hadn’t had to run into each other.

- Participant Park Soyeon, you stood out the most among B class stages. You’re A class.

Having taken the center position for B class, Park Soyeon had been given an A grade after the mid-check, and then, in today’s chicken fight, she’d even won and obtained the position of team leader.

And as if it were some kind of cruel joke of fate, the song Park Soyeon had chosen as team leader was also ‘Lucid Dive’.

‘What, you got this song too? Go ahead and try taking charge again. You never know, there might be a team out there willing to accept that ridiculous producing of yours.’

Soyeon had tossed out sharp words toward Shinyu, who had ended up with the same song, and because of that, Shinyu was afraid.

Unlike the aggressiveness in Soyeon’s words, Shinyu herself could no longer be sure whether she really had talent for producing.

And it was only natural—after all, the one who had ignored her producing was A grade, and she was only a mere C grade.

“I’m back.”

“You’re back, unni?” 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“Yeah.”

Shinyu, who had been so deflated, now looked at Lee Sion, who had returned to the team.

‘Thank goodness. I guess she wasn’t mad because of me.’

Sion’s expression as she came back looked perfectly bright, and only then did Shinyu finally let out a sigh of relief.

However,

“Shinyu, you do the producing for this song!”

“Yes?!”

At the words that popped out of Sion’s mouth, all the team members, including Geum Shinyu, had no choice but to be flustered, and only Lee Sion, who had spoken them, was wearing a confident expression.