NOVEL NEXT Chapter 22
“Ah, hello! This is Lee Hye-jeong from Kidship! Starting today, I’ll be taking classes in A class! Please take care of me…!!”
Kidship’s Lee Hye-jeong.
At 22 years old, she was one of the oldest in Na Ah Ah and quite the celebrity among the 100 participants.
No wonder…
‘She ranked 7th on K-Star with her skills.’
She was a talented trainee who had ranked 7th purely based on her singing ability in another audition show, K-Star.
This could be confirmed through her status window.
[Art Stats]
(Appearance: 81)
(Vocal Ability: 98)
(Acting Skill: 53)
(Dance: 66)
It was her overwhelming vocal ability that caught the eye.
She was even a threat to Yoo Seol’s position as the main vocalist.
Moreover, her appearance stat was quite high, and her dancing was at least up to par with group choreography.
Clearly, just based on stats, Hye-jeong had enough talent to be A Rank.
Well, that’s if you looked only at the stats.
However, she had a huge disqualification when it came to being an idol…
Fluffy.
Her figure was a bit… um… chubby.
Oh, but it wasn’t ugly.
To begin with, Hye-jeong had a very cute face, and her weight wasn’t far off from the average for Korean women.
The problem was that other idol trainees were exceptionally skinny.
Just looking at Yoo Seol in front of us, she was practically a paper doll, and since I had a skinny muscle build, Hye-jeong, sandwiched between us, looked rather plump.
Jiggle-.
‘No, should I say she’s well-proportioned instead of chubby…?’
Suddenly, I recalled Hye-jeong’s ranking evaluation.
While successfully finishing a stage, she got her arms tangled up with her chest and ended up receiving a B due to a dance mishap.
Looking back, her figure didn’t seem to be a problem after all.
Even though she appeared unsuitable to be an idol…, she could definitely appeal to certain male fans’ preferences.
And above all, she was like a refreshing rain falling on the drought-stricken A class.
“Welcome!”
I decided to greet her warmly.
I had a misconception.
I thought that with more people, the comparisons by trainers would decrease.
Showing a lacking performance compared to Yoo Seol was all due to vocal ability.
And new face Hye-jeong had a vocal ability stat of 98.
“…Ye-rin! Dance like Seol and Hye-jeong!”
Ever since Hye-jeong arrived, I was being compared not just with Yoo Seol, but also with Hye-jeong.
On the flip side, Hye-jeong was being compared to me and Yoo Seol in dancing.
“Hye-jeong, is this hard? Ye-rin, show her how to do it. Yeah, do it like this.”
“…Yes, I will!”
Thus, the first day of lessons ended with countless comparisons amidst the production team’s awkwardness.
My heart was in tatters from the ongoing criticism from the trainers, but there were still some gains to be had.
The biggest harvest was that I became close with Hye-jeong.
“Yes, Ye-rin. When you’re hitting those high notes, don’t just tense your throat, try to feel like you’re vocalizing using your head….”
At first, Hye-jeong didn’t easily approach me due to my cold expression, but having received the same trainer’s scolding, camaraderie emerged from nowhere.
So we helped each other with our lacking dance and singing skills.
“Watch me closely-!!”
“Y-Yeah! Just like that…! You did great!”
Surprisingly, Hye-jeong had a knack for teaching.
I could feel my skills improving under her separate lessons.
“Unnie, you should move your arms like this…”
“Ah… aaah….”
Fortunately, my dance coaching seemed to help as Hye-jeong also expressed her gratitude with a bright smile.
“Ah…! I think I’m starting to get it, Ye-rin. Thank you.”
“…It’s nothing.”
That’s how we supported each other, enduring the harsh A class.
Day 3.
After finishing our morning lesson, Hye-jeong and I trudged to the cafeteria, exhausted.
Today’s lunch menu was stir-fried pork and seaweed soup.
“Ah… I’m so tired today that I don’t even have an appetite… I’ll just eat a little….”
Clatter.
‘…A little?’
Hye-jeong piled a giant portion onto her tray.
As I grabbed an appropriate amount, Park Yoo-jung, who’d been saving us a spot, called us over.
“Unnie-! Over here!”
“Ah, Yoo-jung.”
By the way, Hye-jeong, Yoo-jung, and I had become quite close over the past three days.
Yoo-jung and Hye-jeong hit it off quickly because of their similar personalities.
“Whoa, Yoo-jung! You got promoted to D rank?”
“Hehe, yes! The trainer said I could rank up during the morning session!”
Next to Yoo-jung’s name tag was the letter D instead of the original E.
Well, Yoo-jung’s skills didn’t seem bad at all.
‘Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen her status window.’
As that thought crossed my mind, I decided to take a peek into Yoo-jung’s status window.
And…
‘Hmm…?’
Upon entering her status window, I noticed something strange.
[Park Yoo-jung]
[Age: 18]
[Trait: (Locked)]
[Physical Detailed Stats]
[Intelligence Detailed Stats]
[Art Detailed Stats]
Most people usually don’t have traits, but Yoo-jung did.
Moreover…, it was locked.
This was the second time seeing a locked trait. The first was Yoo Seol. And now it was Park Yoo-jung.
‘Why is the trait locked?’
I tilted my head and entered her art detailed stats.
[Art Detailed Stats]
(Appearance: 84)
(Vocal Ability: 75)
(Acting Skill: 93)
(Dance: 81)
‘Oh….’
As expected, her stats were quite good. With these, she could shoot for a solid C rank, if not B rank.
‘I can expect a good outcome in the end.’
Initially, I flinched when I first saw Yoo-jung because her face seemed familiar.
Perhaps Yoo-jung might also make it to the debut team, I thought while nodding, and then Yoo-jung asked us while eating.
“Oh, but is there still just three people in A class? No one got promoted this morning either?”
“…Nope, no one.”
For reference, A class had managed to maintain three members for the past three days. After Hye-jeong, no one else had risen from B class.
“It must feel super empty only practicing with three people… Ah, how’s that Yoo Seol unnie? Are you two close?”
“…….”
As soon as Yoo Seol’s name came up, Hye-jeong gave an awkward smile.
Now she understood the difference between when Yoo Seol was in front of the camera and when she wasn’t.
“Well, we’re not that close with her…”
“Huh? Is that so? She looked really friendly and nice when I saw her before?”
“She’s not bad, but how should I put it….”
Right. Yoo Seol hadn’t exactly done anything bad.
It was just that she was indifferent to us when the camera was off.
‘With her personality, she would’ve matched better with Ha Ye-rin’s looks….’
Hye-jeong and I had been staying late for extra practice besides the lessons over the past three days.
But Yoo Seol didn’t seem to have an interest in joining us outside of the assigned times.
‘It seemed like she was practicing on her own somewhere…’
Since she hadn’t mentioned anything about herself, we knew nothing about her.
With one of the three A class members acting that coldly, it was no surprise that A class felt desolate.
I wasn’t the only one feeling this way; Hye-jeong, who had been shoveling food into her mouth, set her spoon down with a gloomy expression and said to me.
“I don’t know… I just hope more people join A class… right, Ye-rin?”
“…Yeah.”
As of now, the trainers had been honing in on our weaknesses and criticizing us for three days.
So, we could only hope for more members in A class.
“Well, there are still a few days left, so some people should come by then.”
“Yeah, that’s true?”
Upon my words, Hye-jeong smiled hopefully and dug back into her mountain of stir-fried pork.
But…
By the last practice day, there hadn’t been any additions to our trio in A class.
After the final practice on the last day of the tailored class.
The trainers gathered us three A class members together.
Whirr-.
Today, there were quite a few cameras capturing us.
And… I would soon find out the reason.
Snap.
The vocal trainer stood in front of us with a serious and solemn expression.
“This is it for A class lessons. Depending on the final ranking evaluation tomorrow, you’ll either remain A rank or drop to B rank. First, I want to thank you all for your hard work. However…”
The vocal trainer deliberately wrinkled his face as he continued speaking.
“I can’t say that all three of you here did well.”
Thud.
Maybe if this were an edited broadcast, there would’ve been some sound effects right now.
“First up is Ye-rin.”
“…Yes.”
I raised my hand with my usual expressionless face upon being called.
“Ye-rin, you’ve shown unexpected achievement considering the practice period, and I want to commend you for that. However, your vocal ability is far too lacking compared to your dance skills. Am I right?”
“…Yes.”
“Dance is important for an idol, but the foundation should always be singing. That has always been the case and will always be. Understand?”
“…Yes.”
“Tomorrow… I’ll be watching how much you’ve improved in vocal skills. And if there’s no progress… I can’t guarantee you’ll keep your A rank.”
Whir-!
Zing-!
As the trainer’s words ended, I could hear cameras zooming in on my expression with a click.