Chapter 16

Chapter 16.

“I'll pretend I didn't hear what you just said.”

Kang Chan's brow furrowed slightly at Yuseong's answer, delivered without a moment's hesitation.

The emotion revealed by that silent change, as though asking what he meant, was unexpectedly one of anxiety.

“You don't seem to understand the situation-”

“No, I understand perfectly. That's exactly why I'm saying I'll pretend I didn't hear it.”

“...Why?”

Yuseong merely smiled.

The words he eventually spoke were an entirely obvious answer.

“There's still one spot left.”

“...?”

“You said five people will debut, but only four have been predetermined. That means there's still one spot left, doesn't it?”

Yuseong looked straight at Kang Chan.

“And this entire conversation... must be top-secret information that contestants aren't supposed to hear. They haven't even announced how many people will debut, have they? That's always been revealed in the final episode.”

“That's...”

“I know. Even if I pretend I never heard this, it won't change anything. But that doesn't mean I have any reason to give up on debuting. So... I'm saying I'll let it go.”

His words weren't wrong, but they probably didn't provide Kang Chan with a satisfactory answer.

Normally, hearing about predetermined debut candidates would immediately crush someone's motivation.

One might find hope in the fact that a single position remained, but it was difficult to be confident that the position would become one's own.

If the first four places were reserved for predetermined candidates, the fifth-ranked contestant would join the debut lineup. But would the producer willingly allow that position to go to someone else?

Especially to 'Soyuseong,' of all people?

Kang Chan remained silent.

What more could he say to someone standing before him with his chest proudly puffed out, as though he intended to take first place—or rather, as though he had already claimed it?

Yuseong waited for his next reaction.

Until he used the word 'hyung.'

“...Do you really think you can do it?”

“It would be stranger if I couldn't.”

Yuseong gave a small shrug.

“Let me ask you something in return... Does that mean you aren't going to work hard anymore, Chan?”

It was something he was genuinely curious about.

Even so, shouldn't you put your best effort into something you've decided to do?

He asked the question but kept the rest of his grumbling to himself.

Before long, he heard a murmur that sounded half resigned.

“...I'll just do enough to get by.”

“I don't particularly like that answer...”

At those casually spoken words, Kang Chan's tightly clenched fist began trembling faintly.

Perhaps Yuseong had touched on something he shouldn't have. The expression Kang Chan had struggled to keep composed gradually twisted.

“...I want to work hard too...!”

He strained to force the words out, grinding his teeth until his emotions finally burst forth.

“Do you think I'm doing this because I don't want to debut? This is my last chance too. My last chance to show that I've spent my life working hard in this industry...!...My last opportunity.”

The person facing him was breathing heavily. It didn't suit him.

“But they say I'm just a disposable piece too... I've spent all this time waiting to debut, only to be dropped from the debut lineup. Hyung,...I'm twenty-five now. Where could I possibly go and try again at this age...?”

Kang Chan's chin trembled faintly.

“...All that's left is to live while making reasonable compromises. So I need to start learning how to live that way now. Even if it was my dream...”

“...Wouldn't it be a waste? To give up so helplessly like this?”

“...Just because I think it's a waste... doesn't mean anyone else will think I'm worth keeping. Even so, I suppose I've been put to good use.”

Faced with Kang Chan's resignation, Yuseong slipped both hands into his pockets and burst out laughing.

“Ah, sorry... I couldn't help it. I thought that was a rather funny thing to say in front of me.”

It wasn't that he couldn't understand Chan's desperation.

Dreams collided with the wall of reality and shattered, and to get to the other side of that wall, one had to pass through a door smaller than one's dreams.

How could he not understand that feeling?

However, the part where Chan said, 'I'm twenty-five now,' struck Yuseong as so ridiculous that he couldn't suppress his laughter.

How dare he complain about an age barely older than a newborn to someone like him!

But because he understood the circumstances and reasons that had led Chan to say those words, he didn't make light of them any further.

“Shall I make a prophecy?”

“...A prophecy...?”

Yuseong calmly let the last of his laughter fade before looking Kang Chan straight in the eyes.

“You'll place in the top ten at the first ranking announcement.”

“...I wondered what you were going to say.”

“No, I'm serious.”

“If you're trying to persuade me with ridiculous words... you'd better stop. Even coming from you, hyung... that's unpleasant.”

“I'm not trying to persuade you. I told you, it's a prophecy.”

Although it might have sounded like empty reassurance to the other person, it wasn't an entirely groundless claim.

He had two reasons.

First.

From the first evaluation performance, when the special effect 'Imprint' had activated, until today, he had spent most of his time practically glued to Kang Chan.

That should have been more than enough time to imprint Kang Chan's existence on the public's minds.

Second.

Kang Chan had already secured an initial fanbase strong enough to rank highly in the profile voting.

On top of that, he had proven his abilities as an idol, so all that remained was for him to rise through the rankings.

At this point, it's more of a prediction than a prophecy.

Yuseong removed his left hand, which had remained in his trouser pocket throughout their conversation, and lowered it.

“If my prophecy comes true... then work hard. Give it everything you've got, without leaving a single regret.”

“...”

“It'd be such a waste otherwise. With results like that, everyone would think you were too valuable to lose. You're easily worthy of fifth place, at the very least.”

“I really... don't understand what you're saying. I'm telling you there are predetermined candidates, so why do you keep saying things like that...?”

Yuseong lightly clenched and unclenched his fist, then held out his hand.

“...Let's debut together, Kang Chan.”

More than anything else, Yuseong was honestly surprised that such words had come out of his own mouth.

Good heavens. Here I am making such irresponsible promises.

Had he spent so long inside a human body that he'd developed compassion?

That was truly a ridiculous thing for someone like him, but he decided to consider it an investment in the future and beckoned with his hand.

Quite apart from his Enchantment skill, wouldn't it be worthwhile to secure another reliable ally through words alone?

Kang Chan looked down at the offered hand and hesitated before cautiously placing his own hand in it.

Yuseong didn't miss the opportunity. He grasped it firmly first, shook it once, and released it.

Kang Chan muttered with his head lowered.

“...You know you're really strange, right, hyung?”

“Who knows? Am I?”

Pretending not to understand, Yuseong patted him on the shoulder.

He didn't bother asking why Kang Chan had followed him all the way here to tell him these things, or where he had obtained the information about the debut lineup.

Seong Iseong and Kim Hwanyeong were one thing,

But he was curious about the source of the information concerning the other two...

'He called himself a disposable piece earlier. For him to describe himself that way... someone must have called him that. Perhaps his agency or the producer told him in advance...'

For example, Kang Chan might have been ordered to serve as a background figure supporting Seong Iseong and the other predetermined candidates.

Since he belonged to the same agency as Iseong, whose maternal uncle was the producer, the information could have leaked from that side.

Or he might have overheard it somewhere entirely different.

Whichever it was, it was undeniably cruel to Kang Chan.

Yuseong kept his mouth shut, feeling that probing out of curiosity might cause him to crumble.

“Then I'll get going. See you at the studio....Ah, I think it'd be better if we just kept speaking casually like this. Even during filming.”

Leaving Kang Chan, who merely lowered his head without answering, Yuseong slowly walked away.

Even as he moved farther into the distance, he heard no other footsteps.

Only after he had completely disappeared from Kang Chan's sight did Yuseong let out a hollow laugh.

'I thought all I had to do was debut... but at this rate, I'm only going to become more displeased. There's only one way to preserve my dignity.'

...I'll make those predetermined positions meaningless.

And I'll be the one to take first place.

Shall we see about turning everything upside down?

_____________

“Oh, hyung, you're my new roomie~”

A few days later.

After their short vacation ended and they returned to the studio, the first official schedule they filmed was changing roommates.

Before that, Yuseong had filmed a full cover video of 'Chicken Stock Soup' with Rubin, the special benefit they had received from the cover song content.

Rubin expressed his disappointment that he couldn't become roommates with Yuseong,

While Juan, who had been selected as his new roommate through a grade-based drawing of lots...

“Hyung, which bed would you like to use~? Though there are only the left and right beds, I suppose there's also the question of whether you'd prefer to turn left or right when entering the room, so in my opinion, it wouldn't hurt to consider the decision carefully.”

...Apparently excited, he was speaking faster than usual and even worrying about the most pointless details.

Before discussing the beds, he'd spent ages talking about what temperature they should keep the air conditioner at, and before that, he'd talked nonstop about who should use the upper and lower compartments of the shoe cabinet.

Yuseong almost told him they could simply work those things out as they went, but he held back.

The incongruity of seeing Juan behave so frivolously also helped prevent Yuseong from completely forgetting that he was one of the predetermined debut candidates.

“I don't really mind which one I use...”

“But?”

“I do know a good method for situations like this, when neither of us has any particular preference.”

“What is it?”

Yuseong chuckled softly, then—

“If you don't throw, you lose! Rock, paper, scissors!”

“Huh! Hup, cha!”

At the sudden signal, Juan reflexively threw rock with an inexplicable shout, while Yuseong threw paper.

“You won, hyung~”

“Looks like it.”

“...So which one are you going to use?”

“Ah.”

Right, we never decided that.

They established a rule that the winner would use the bed on the left and played rock-paper-scissors again.

This time, Juan won.

“Earthworm.”

“Iguana.”

“Rakshasa.”

“Charlie Charlie.”

“...What's that supposed to be? Is that even a word?”

“Uh, that doesn't end with the right syllable, though?”

“No, I'm asking what that is.”

“Wrong, wrong, wrong!”

“No, I'm saying I need you to tell me what the word Charlie Charlie means first. Not Charlie, but Charlie Charlie? Do you have to say Charlie twice?”

“Hyung, you're really good at pronouncing that.”

The meaningless games continued.

“For example, you start rolling the word 'orange' like this. O~range! Orange~ O! Then I pass it over to you like this~”

“So... I just have to roll it even bigger than you before passing it back.”

“Correct!”

Immediately afterward, the two energetically moved their bodies as they rolled the word 'orange' back and forth.

Juan got so carried away that he jumped, hit his head on the ceiling light, and collapsed onto the floor.

It wasn't that Yuseong had suddenly regressed to Juan's mental age.

The production team had assigned them a mission to spend some quality time alone with their new roommate inside this room, where cameras were filming,

So he was merely letting Juan, who was good at this kind of content, come up with ideas and following along.

“Timing game, one!”

“One... Ah.”

“Hyung, hurry, your forehead—”

WEEEEEEEEEEEEE—!!

“Wh-what was that just now?”

“A siren...?”

Just as their enthusiasm was building and the atmosphere was heating up, a siren rang throughout the entire building, bringing their actions to a halt.

[Evacuation alert, evacuation alert. For your safety, please evacuate immediately.]

An evacuation alert?

The two immediately flung open the door.

The sound grew even louder when they opened it.

The alarm continued without stopping, and trainees from other rooms came rushing out in surprise.

Had a fire really broken out somewhere? Had something happened...?

Since the dormitory had already experienced problems requiring repairs on the very first day, everyone was trembling with anxiety.

[Channel synchronization failed. Channel synchronization failed.]

“...Did you hear that just now? It said channel.”

“Channel?...Ah, hyung, could this be...?”

[Dimensional transfer has failed.]

[Severe damage detected in 47 transport devices.]

[60 seconds until explosion.]

[All operators, please evacuate immediately.]

Rumble, rumble.

Through the speakers throughout the building came sounds resembling something collapsing and cracking apart, or objects being sent flying, accompanied by the evacuation warning to heighten the sense of urgency.

Aha, so everything from beginning to end was building up to this.

To spring an event like this on us while our guard was down, thinking we were just passing the time... What kind of variety show are they trying to film?

Having grasped the situation, Yuseong and Juan started running.

Along the way, they guided other trainees who were panicking and asking where they were supposed to go,

And searched for an escape route while avoiding the acrid smells billowing from various places and the threatening bangs that rang out.

When they finally managed to get outside, they found themselves in an open area beside the dormitory.

As all eighty-seven people gathered in the middle of the artificially designed open space, which had been constructed to evoke a science-fiction atmosphere, every sound finally stopped.

[All operators have successfully evacuated.]

[Initiating survival mission in response to losses.]

At the words spoken by the almost mechanical voice actor, another wave of commotion instantly erupted.

Everyone had caught on to the significance of the word 'mission.'

[2nd Mission]

['Survive']

The word echoed through the air.

[47 transport devices have been lost.]

[Number of remaining devices,]

[A total of 40.]

That precise number represented the number of trainees who would survive the first ranking announcement.

This was, quite literally, the starting signal for the second evaluation mission... a mission for 'survival.'