Idol Hides His Military Service

Pushing people out?

At Jang Junseok’s words, the participants gathered inside the auditorium began to stir.

Just hearing it briefly didn’t make it clear how we were supposed to choose songs, so each participant was exchanging their own guesses with the people next to them.

“Then, starting now, from participant Park Soyeon, who ranked 75th in the first ranking announcement last time, we will begin choosing songs!”

At the explanation that followed, everyone could only make expressions full of shock.

“Hearing that just now made an incredibly devilish idea come to mind, but no way··· was that what pushing people out meant?”

“Yeah··· it looks like that.”

The reactions of the participants around me were not much different from mine.

Right now, there were fourteen placards placed on the stage.

Those placards had the titles of the songs for this Position Evaluation, and next to each song title, a different number was written.

For example, in the case of the vocal & rap position song “When I Reach You,” the number 5 was written.

And for the remaining thirteen placards, the numbers ranged from as high as 7 to as low as 3, each different depending on the song.

And what this meant was,

“It must be the number of participants who can choose that song.”

Just like Sluggish Ryujin said, even an elementary schooler would figure out that the number indicated how many participants the song needed.

“So ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) that’s what pushing people out meant.”

Suddenly, I wanted to see my aunt’s face.

Because I wanted to smack her back very, very hard.

‘This is cruel—way too cruel, actually.’

You could tell that just by looking at the expression of Park Soyeon, who was called first to choose a song.

Unable to stay still, watching the participant ranked 74th coming up after her, Park Soyeon honestly looked pitiful.

Setting aside that I personally disliked her, the lower-ranked participants had no choice but to choose the song they wanted and then tremble in fear.

Each song had a fixed number of spots, so what would happen if that number filled up?

“A method where you’re pushed out according to your vote rank···.”

At Lee Gahyeon’s dazed mutter, the other participants, including me, could only stay silent.

‘If the number of people for a song exceeds the limit, the lower-ranked participants get pushed out first.’

The “pushing out” that Jang Junseok mentioned meant that higher-ranked participants pushed lower-ranked participants out of songs.

And this method could only give extreme fear to the lower ranks.

Because even if they chose a song, their fate would be decided by the higher-ranked participants; all they could do was pray that the song they chose wouldn’t also be chosen by the upper ranks.

In this situation, for someone like Lee Gahyeon, who had recorded the low rank of 69th in the first ranking announcement, it would have been strange not to be nervous.

But there was nothing good about being nervous.

“Don’t get scared, unni.”

“What?”

“When did we ever get to do the songs we wanted anyway.”

Just last mission, we had all been dragged into Lucid Dive because of Water-Ghost Im Yunkyung, hadn’t we?

“If you keep making that face, I’m going to want to push you out without even meaning to, so watch out.”

“You just wait. I’m going to survive and hit you once.”

I had only nudged her a little, yet unlike earlier when she looked half-dead, Lee Gahyeon’s expression was now full of fiery determination.

‘Maybe my calling was being a motivational speaker.’

From my first case, Kim Nayeon, all the way to Lee Gahyeon.

Just poking them a little like this made them burn with motivation.

***

Before I knew it, only two people remained among the participants gathered around me.

Sluggish Ryujin and Kim Nayeon.

The three of us had ranked 1st, 2nd, and 14th in the previous ranking announcement, so we had to wait quite a long time until it was our turn to choose a song.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going for vocals.”

“Huh? Why not dance?”

By now, there weren’t many participants left, and our turn to choose was approaching as well.

So when I asked Sluggish Ryujin which position she was choosing, she answered vocals without even a moment of hesitation.

Sluggish Ryujin was good at both vocals and dance, but in my opinion she had a bit more advantage in dance, so I was wondering why, when—

“I already showed enough dance in the Group Battle Mission. Now it’s time to show the judges and viewers that I can do vocals too.”

A reason full of confidence—just the kind of thing only the tyrant Sluggish Ryujin would say.

But thinking about it, it sounded convincing.

‘I was the main vocal last time too. If I pick vocals again, will it feel stale?’

Now that I was seriously aiming for the final top 7, I felt like simply surviving wasn’t enough, and my eyes drifted toward the placards with the song titles on stage.

[Vocal & Rap Position]

Candy Pop Heart

00:59 (Almost One)

When I Reach You

Blooming Day

You Know

Breath

Summer Glow

[Dance Position]

Bang! Bang! Love

Blackout

Fine

Glass Flower

Replay Me

Run (Right Now)

Hidden Sketch

Then the fourteen songs for this mission came into view.

Among them, several were already full.

“Sluggish Ryujin, then I’m going to dance.”

“What?”

At my words, Sluggish Ryujin looked at me like I had lost my mind.

It was true that showing a side you had not shown before was the kind of choice that skilled people like Sluggish Ryujin would make, but—

‘No more gags. Starting from this mission, I need to show people my real side.’

Given how my aunt’s demonic editing had solidified my character as a comedic one, I needed to show something different now.

“So, which song is good?”

“Ugh··· you rushed into it without thinking again, didn’t you? Anyway, Blackout and Hidden Sketch are good songs if we do them well.”

“Why?”

“The choreography difficulty is high, but the routines leave a really strong impression on stage, so they’ll be favorable in competition.”

When I looked at the placards for the songs Sluggish Ryujin mentioned, they were already full.

“They’re all full.”

“Then just push people out, Miss 1st Place.”

I wanted to smack her smug mouth for talking like that just because she wasn’t the one who had to do the pushing, but I held back—because I still needed her help.

“Then which songs shouldn’t I pick?”

“Bang! Bang! Love.”

She answered instantly, without thinking.

“Reason?”

“That song is originally a vocal power-show by three female singers. Because of that, it has no choreography, so you’d have to make a 100% original choreo, and that’s not easy.”

After explaining Bang! Bang! Love, Sluggish Ryujin added that honestly, the production staff had no conscience for putting that song in the mission.

Hmm···

Sure enough, unlike the other songs, nobody was going anywhere near the placard with “Bang! Bang! Love” written on it.

‘Okay, just avoiding what the expert says to avoid is enough to save your skin··· wait?’

Just as I was about to add Bang! Bang! Love to my mental blacklist, a strange sense of familiarity hit me.

A déjà vu feeling like I had experienced something similar before.

‘Come to think of it, during the Group Battle Mission too···.’

And the memories of the Group Battle Mission suddenly flashed by.

Back then, I had nodded at Suyeon’s advice to avoid Lucid Dive, and I still ended up being chosen by Yunkyung anyway.

‘No way··· surely not?’

I felt a slightly anxious premonition, but unlike that time, I would be the one choosing this time, not getting chosen—so such a disaster obviously wouldn’t happen.

***

“Now it’s time for participant Kim Nayeon, who ranked 14th in the previous ranking announcement, to choose her song.”

The rank of 14th came with a huge advantage for this mission.

Because there were fourteen songs in total for the Position Evaluation.

So from 14th place upward, it was basically guaranteed that you could choose exactly the song you wanted.

However—

“Why does it have to start from me···.”

Ranked 14th, Nayeon wore a sorrowful expression like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse when the main MC Jang Junseok called her.

It seemed she was bothered by the fact that she would have to push someone out herself.

Participants from 15th to 75th had already chosen their songs.

As a result, most of the songs—especially the ones advantageous in competition—were already full.

Up to Nayeon’s turn, there had still been some room in the songs, so pushing hadn’t happened yet, but from now on, unless she pushed someone out, she wouldn’t be able to choose the song she wanted.

So as the first person who would perform a push-out, the burden on Nayeon had to be huge.

“Nayeon.”

“What?”

Maybe her nerves were worn thin, but she snapped sharply just because I called her name.

“Anyone would think you ranked first. A mere 14th place should choose comfortably. Burdens like that are for someone like me to feel.”

“You little—!”

Nayeon even stopped walking toward the stage and glared at me, but I merely pointed at the cameras silently.

Realizing she was being filmed, Nayeon could only grit her teeth and go up to the stage.

‘Still too much pressure?’

Honestly, she looked so nervous that I teased her on purpose so she could relax.

But it seemed that alone wasn’t enough to calm her down.

If you wanted to pick your desired song, you had to push out whoever was standing there before you.

Being able to choose what you wanted was a massive benefit—but this system, which forced participants to push others out, was basically a devil’s design.

And thinking about how giving this kind of privilege to the top ranks must have been planned deliberately to make the show more thrilling—

I realized I had something to take care of during the break after this dorm stay ended.

It seemed I needed a long, deep “physical conversation” with Kim Miyoung-ssi.

While I was considering how to deal with my aunt, Nayeon, the first among us to go up on stage, was still wandering nervously among the placards with the song titles.

“Hey! Pick confidently!”

That shout came from Lee Gahyeon, who was standing in line for the vocal & rap song “You Know,” sounding like she couldn’t stand it anymore.

Her voice was so loud it was guaranteed to be aired, leaving the other participants staring at her in shock.

“That right is something you earned fair and square. Even if you get pushed out by others including yourself, we’re not eliminated—we just get a chance to do another song. So pick the song you want!”

At Gahyeon’s continued words, other participants began chiming in.

“What, you think we can’t do any song besides this one?!”

“Yeah, we’ll be in the upper ranks next time and push people out too, so don’t feel bad!”

“Kim Nayeon, act like you did when you were in F class! What’s with you now?!”

In an instant, the frozen atmosphere in the auditorium regained warmth.

“Gahyeon-unni’s pretty good, huh?”

“She has that side to her, which is why people follow her.”

If Gahyeon had been a high-ranking contestant, her words might not have sounded sincere.

But since she was rank 68, the one most likely to be pushed out first, her telling the higher ranks to choose what they wanted seemed to ignite something in the others too.

“Gahyeon-unni is right. We’re here to get into the top 7, not to receive pity, so don’t start pitying anyone.”

“Me? Don’t be ridiculous. Even in middle school I was—”

“Stop, right there. Why do you drag old stories into everything you say? You sound like someone’s uncle.”

Before I could even finish, Sluggish Ryujin blocked her ears like she refused to listen.

How had the beautiful Confucian spirit of the Republic of Korea fallen so low?

Back when I was a company commander, if a soldier or junior officer like Sluggish Ryujin had said something like that, I would have re-educated them thoroughly in a private meeting.

A pity, really.

But I agreed with her.

Since I had decided to take this program seriously, pitying other participants was overstepping.

‘Lend me strength, Madam Sukja!’

My mother, born in 1965, the Year of the Snake—a pure-blooded cold-blooded human with no mercy even for family.

I needed to channel Madam Sukja.

Pity?

My own situation was a mess; who was I supposed to pity?

I vowed that when my turn came, I would choose the song I had already decided on without a shred of hesitation.

First, the Blackout that Sluggish Ryujin had recommended most strongly.

It was a song by the male idol group by teen, and supposedly it allowed for a powerful, intense group choreography.

—by teen sunbaenim wore military uniforms for Blackout and the stage was insanely popular. Just recreating that would get you halfway there!

Then there was Hidden Sketch by the rising group WTX.

Even though it was a male idol song, the choreography was soft and flowing, so Sluggish Ryujin recommended it because women could bring out the feeling well.

She also recommended Glass Flower, a song by the female soloist Jooyeon, saying it only had a total of three spots, so it would be good for standing out.

—But Glass Flower feels similar to the Lucid Dive stage you did before, so you should avoid it if possible.

A perfect recommendation list from Sluggish Ryujin, who had even considered my previous stage.

‘They all have strong points. I don’t know what to choose.’

While I was debating what to pick, the high-ranked participants’ choices that started from Nayeon continued,

‘Ryu Ayeon is choosing Bang! Bang! Love?’

until before I knew it, the turn of Ryu Ayeon—who had ranked 3rd in the first vote—had already passed.

The unusual part was that several participants had started choosing Bang! Bang! Love, which earlier participants had avoided.

Some had no choice but to join because they had been pushed out by upper ranks, while some, like Ryu Ayeon, chose Bang! Bang! Love voluntarily.

And with the 3rd-ranked Ryu Ayeon joining Bang! Bang! Love, suddenly only one slot was left in the song, which had a limit of seven members.

Honestly, that part had nothing to do with me—but the problem was that among those who had been pushed in,

‘Are they magnets or something?’

were Lee Gahyeon, Geum Shinyu, and Im Yunkyung—former Lucid Dive A members.

It made sense for Gahyeon since her rank was low, but Shinyu and Yunkyung were just unlucky.

They had chosen songs that happened to be targeted heavily by the upper ranks, so they got pushed.

“The choice of participant Sluggish Ryujin, who ranked 2nd, is the vocal‧rap song ‘Breath’! Then now, the final remaining participant!”

While I had been watching those three—no, three sisters of misfortune—clustered together in the Bang! Bang! Love team, even Sluggish Ryujin’s choice ahead of me had already ended.

“It is now time for participant Lee Sion, who ranked 1st in the first ranking announcement, to choose a song!”

At Jang Junseok’s call, I prepared to go up to the stage.