Chapter 193:


    <b>Trantor: MarcTempest</b>


    <b>Editor: NicoleTempest</b>


    Chapter 193 Their Own Ways (3)


    Did you fight? I suppressed the reflexive retort that almost came out of my mouth.


    “No, I just came up too.”


    “Then why…”


    Hwijin looked around anxiously, unable to understand the situation.


    Yu-geon shook his head as if he had a clue.


    “He packed all his stuff. He probably won’te back.”Hwijin asked with a tone of certainty.


    “Do you know something?”


    “Um…”


    Yu-geon hesitated for a moment, then quietly pointed to the camera with his chin.


    “Oh.”


    It meant that he couldn’t talk about it while the camera and the recorder were on.


    Hwijin wasn’t so clueless that he couldn’t catch his drift, so he quietly closed his mouth.


    “We don’t need to… tell the producers or anything, right?”


    He must have notified them of his departure himself. He had to get his phone before he left.


    How could he leave without a car here… I unconsciously looked down and moved to the window to pull the curtain. Then I learned a new fact.


    “…”


    When I pulled the curtain, I saw a wall. Not the wall of the next building, but the wall of this room.


    The frame that looked like a window was attached, and it was covered with a curtain. I thought it was a window for sure.


    “This is fake.”


    It was a decoration made to look like a window on the broadcast.


    “Sigh…”


    Everyone started to get ready quietly in the awkward situation.


    Tick tock. The sound of the clock’s second hand was loud in the silence.


    And finally, at 10 o’clock, the sound of the camera and the device turning off was heard. Everyone got up from their nkets and sat up straight.


    “Hyun-seong, it must be ufortable. Do you want toe down?”


    Hwijin pushed his nket to one side of his bed on the opposite lower floor and made room for me.


    “Ah, yes.”


    As I came down thedder with a short answer, Yu-geon opened his mouth.


    “You might not have known if you were in the upper ranks, but the stage arrangement changed on the spot as people dropped out from the lower ranks.”


    Hwijin nodded at Yu-geon’s words.


    “Ah, I heard that. So some trainees went to less visible positions to adjust the arrangement…”


    “Yeah. And An Juhyeon was one of them. I almost went down too, but… There were too many trainees in the lower ranks who didn’t master the choreography, so they had to have one person who could do it properly in each position. So I stayed in my original ce.”


    “Ah…”


    A sense of powerlessness that nothing would change here. A sense of resignation that no matter how hard he tried, he was just a screw holding up the system and could never be the main product.


    He had hoped that he could get some spotlight if he tried hard enough in the lower ranks, but that seemed to have copsed.


    What was Juhyeon thinking as he looked at the stage that seemed so high from the 90th rank?


    The debut was a feast for only those at the top.


    I realized that their debut was nothing but a headcount filler to create a grand ‘narrative’ of how amazing it was.


    I might have felt ashamed of my humble dream of just showing my face a little bit, like an egg in front of a rock.


    “…”


    I was a bit embarrassed that he snapped at me, but there was someone else who should be held ountable for Juhyeon’s behavior.


    Adults who sell the dreams and desperation of young kids in their teens or early twenties.


    Holding on to your dream is not the only skill.


    I couldn’t think of what to say. Hwijin seemed the same.


    As the top-ranked ones, we risked looking like liars to Yu-geon no matter what we said. Hwijin didn’t open his mouth either, maybe thinking the same.


    Yu-geon, sensing the awkward atmosphere, suddenly burst intoughter.


    “What, what is it? Why are youughing?”


    Hwijin asked cautiously, looking surprised. Yu-geon flopped down on his bed and answered.


    “You don’t have to mind me so much. Well, you probably know already, but I was marked by the production team. I thought it couldn’t get worse than this anyway.”


    Did he give up on himself? I asked with a worried expression.


    “What are you going to do from now on?”


    I knew that Yu-geon would debut in the future, but… No, this was also something I was curious about. Anyone could see that he was an A-grade who was dumped into F-grade.


    How did he manage to get the final debut? I was left with nothing but questions.


    “Well… I have a card too, you know. I don’t know if they’ll take me, but they didn’t drop me in the pre-audition, so I think they still see some value in me…”


    He didn’t seem to want to tell me what it was. Then I didn’t need to bother asking.


    “So you’re not quitting, right?”


    Hwijin finally opened his mouth, sounding a bit hesitant. He wanted to confirm that first.


    “Yeah, I’m not. I can’t help it if they cut me off first.”


    That meant… Yu-geon also considered the first re-evaluation as a crucial crossroad.


    If he didn’t get a good evaluation there, it would mean that they just gave him a spot to fill the headcount.


    “Everyone has a different situation… There’s nothing I can say.”


    Hwijin muttered weakly. Then Yu-geon smirked.


    “Don’t worry. Even if it wasn’t for this, there were some agencies that wanted to take me, but I didn’t go.”


    Hwijin’s eyes widened.


    “You’d have a better chance if you had an agency… Why didn’t you go?”


    Dude, are you digging into his personal stuff without any care? I looked at Hwijin with a slightly uneasy expression.


    Yu-geon hummed… He pursed his lips for a moment, as if thinking. Then he answered after a brief silence.


    “Because of my pride.”


    “Pride?”


    “Uh…”


    Should I stop him from saying more? While I was watching him, Yu-geon opened his mouth first with an awkward smile.


    “Just. Pure arrogance that I wanted to start with my own strength?”


    Then Hwijin and I tilted our heads in the same direction.


    “Are you some kind of chaebol’s son or something?”


    I was caught off guard by Hwijin’s words, which he threw out like a joke.


    No, not all chaebol sons are sessful. I had to suppress the urge to say that it wasn’t as easy as they thought.


    “It’s not like that… There are quite a fewpanies that want to use me, even though I don’t have a very impressive background.”


    That meant… It was probably his father’s business. I finally figured out why Yu-geon got an F grade.


    Yu-geon also received a pre-contract offer, and they probably put a condition that he would use his father’s story in his storytelling.


    And after he refused, he came back with an F grade, 87th ce… I didn’t need to hear more to picture it.


    The producers must be thinking that they’re giving Yu-geon a st chance’.


    Think about it. It’s something that will be revealed sooner orter anyway. Why not use it well and debut with an advantage? Your father in heaven would be happy too.


    They must be spouting nonsense like that.


    The atmosphere became awkward, and Yu-geonughed heartily again to end it.


    “Anyway, even if I get cut, I’m not going to give up and be ignored. Don’t worry too much.”


    My image of Yu-geon until then was a pro-runner who had a shitty life.


    He was talented, but… I didn’t get the impression that he was using a good strategy. I had no idea what he was trying to do, and I was a bit anxious.


    “We all… have to do our best.”


    Hwijin nodded as he tidied up his nket, and the ceiling lights went off as it was time to sleep.


    “Let’s go to bed. We have to assign groups and prepare tomorrow. It’ll be busy again.”


    We had finished the first hurdle, the opening stage, and now the remaining people had to prepare for the first group mission.


    The group mission was… a cover battle. My head was already throbbing.


    “Yeah. We all worked hard, and let’s do our best tomorrow.”


    “Yeah.”


    We each covered ourselves with our nkets and got ready to sleep, but I couldn’t fall asleep.


    Come to think of it, had I ever closed my eyes on time since I came here?


    I was stressed out too, of course, since the situation was like this.


    ‘Only one week left.’


    I clenched my fist and sighed. This was already half over, I just had to do a little more.


    The next morning, we ate breakfast by grade and went down to the auditorium, where the MC was standing on the stage in a neat suit.


    “Shooting will start soon! Please gather by group.”


    We followed the instructions of the production team and scattered to join the A-grade line with Yu-geon and Hwijin, and the air felt awkward in an instant.


    Do you think they’ll film with the losers? I smirked at the tant rejection and confrontation. And I felt a bit annoyed when I saw Naru, who was at the center of it.


    [Hello, trainees! Are you all running towards your dreams with enthusiasm?]


    The MC’sment prompted a response from everyone, who looked at the stage with soulless expressions and raised their voices.


    “Yes!”


    “Yes!!!”


    They all blinked their eyes, hoping for a chance to be caught on camera.


    [Today, finally, you must be looking forward to the first group mission that makes your heart flutter. To encourage you to challenge yourself, I prepared a small gift for you.]


    What is it? Did they bring something for PPL again? I looked at the box that the production team brought with cloudy eyes, and my eyes widened.


    “That’s…”


    I blinked my eyes, wondering if I was seeing things wrong. But no matter how many times I looked again, the scene in front of me didn’t change.


    “Holy cow, it’s chicken!”


    Crispy chips, sweet chili sauce, and a special cheese dip. A perfect bnce of sweet and salty, a masterpiece called ‘Crispy Cheese Chili Chicken’.


    ‘That came out of nowhere as a PPL?’


    I tried to recall my memory. The brand had done PPLs all over the ce, so it must have appeared in some variety shows… Was it here?


    I didn’t know what it was like in reality, since this was a virtual world. But seeing something familiar after a long time made my eyes moist.


    It made sense. I have been involved in this product since the development stage.


    As I looked at the box with teary eyes, the other A-rank trainees around me whispered to each other.


    “What’s wrong with him… It’s not like he’s risking his life for chicken…”


    I didn’t care. I waited for the MC’sment with a grateful expression, looking back at the trace of my hard work.


    [Well, well, but it would be too boring to just give it to you, right? Let’s make teams first, and then have a mini-game with side dishes as the prize.]


    The chicken would be cold by then. How mean.


    “Wow!!! Chicken!!! Chicken!!!”


    “Chicken, chicken, chicken!!!”


    The F-rank trainees who had suffered from kimchi, rice, retort, sd without dressing, ramen, etc. for a week screamed like zombies.


    [Okay, calm down a bit! Let’s start with the team formation for the mini-game!]


    The MC, who had been rxed all along, urged the progress with a face of genuine horror. It was total chaos.