Chapter 128

Today's Miro Maze opened, unusually, with trainee interviews.

> Trainee Jung Siwoo: Since I quit high school at 19…. so, um, about four years now. > Trainee Seo Taehyun: Since I came to Miro, about three years? But if I count from back when I was working in entertainment before that…. it really has been a long time. > Trainee Park Jaeyoung: I came in at fifteen. I finished middle school here.

Prompted by the crew's questions, the trainees talked about what had been disappointing or hard about trainee life. The fatigue of being deep in the survival right now came up too.

> Trainee Lee Parang: Uh — school sports days, festivals, field trips…. missing out on stuff like that is a little sad, I guess. > Trainee Ju Eunchan: But this is what I chose to do, so no regrets. > Trainee Gong Seok: I've…. actually gotten pretty worn down, if I'm honest. It's nonstop competition, no matter how you slice it.

So it wouldn't land too heavy on viewers, the interview was cushioned with clean, quiet BGM and bright color grading.

Last up in the sentimental interview lineup was Dan Haru.

> Trainee Dan Haru: I…. want to hang out with the hyungs. > Trainee Dan Haru: Set the headache-thoughts aside for a bit and…. just, really, spend a fun day.

Right around when the slow-mo kicked in on Haru's bright smile, viewers were thinking,

'Ah, today's gonna be a snoozer.'

Given the flow, up next would be that sports-day thing from the preview.

Trainees getting along, no conflict, all giggles — peaceful, sure, but not exactly compelling television.

On top of that, these were still-not-debuted chick trainees.

Variety greenhorns nowhere near ready to drop their guard in front of a camera enough to hand editors the setups for good bits!

'They'll spotlight a few of the athletically-inclined ones and wrap it up with a warm-fuzzies bow.'

That's what most people thought. Some were even planning to skip the live airing and just watch the cut for their bias trainee once it was up.

But a handful of Destis held the remote down firm and refused to change the channel.

Their faith rested on one thing: the production crew that had reeled everyone in with the whole escape-the-maze stunt back in episode 1 was never going to play a sports day straight.

And the production crew didn't betray that faith for a second!

> So — today's story we've cooked up! Kangha-hyung, do you play footvolley with your feet? Ah — wait, footvolley IS played with your feet. Phoenix team, sortie!!!! (sortieeeee!!!!!!) Aaaaaaargh!!!! Kyaaaaaaaeeeek!!!!!

Right after Haru's emotional interview came today's highlight reel.

The opening shot started with Kang Hajin whiffing one hell of a kick clean into empty air,

followed by Jaeyoung, Eunchan, and Haru charging forward through a foamed-up soap-water pool on Siwoo's command,

past every kind of scream and shriek, past Seo Taehyun striking a random ending pose while locking eyes dead-on with the camera,

ending with the trainees, en masse, doing the wave under the direction of someone whose face was blurred behind a question mark — pure chaos.

- ? weren't they saying sports day, wtf - what did i even just watch - what kind of survival show is more committed to variety than to actual stage competition;

At the anything-but-ordinary highlight reel, viewers who'd been running live-watching threads started perking up, one by one.

As if reading the audience's reactions in real time, the production crew moved fast to reveal today's special MC — the one who'd properly crank the tension up.

So how long am I supposed to wait out here, exactly? Huh? Daun-ah, hyung's still talking…. Sure, sure, you're talking, but too much. This isn't a Pia Land shoot, is it? And meanwhile the hoobaes over there are struggling — (2× speed) This is exactly why I didn't want to bring you along…. (worn-out soul-leaving-body CG) - ah ㅁㅊ nam daun - nam daun lololololololololololololololol - the second nam daun shows up, the audio's already blown out > seo taeil's eardrums and the trainees' going with it ㅠ

Upia's Nam Daun, brought in for the express purpose of jacking up the atmosphere, delivered on the brief without question.

The trainees, a little frozen at the top of the shoot, had completely lost it within five minutes of Nam Daun's arrival.

Okay, now we've got the opening runtime out of that. We got it, right, production? > ♥ God of variety, god of screentime, His Highness Nam-T-J, we love you ♥ Then — at long last, time to divide up the teams we'll be doing today with!

With the opening chatter wrapped smoothly, it was finally time for the team announcements.

Trainee by trainee, ball-drawing shots zipped by as quick inserts.

The Vermillion Bird team, who might as well have been called 'Jung Siwoo's Children,'

the Azure Dragon team, a collection of somewhat gung-ho characters,

the Lilac team, put together with the more modest, softly-spoken types (by Miro-trainee standards).

And the grand… (plain old) Yellow team.

The visual — funny beyond words — had people howling.

handle: @tae_day name: Taeri-day ah i've seen this in movies usually the smallest kid dead-center in the yellow crew is the final boss [photo] title: [[On Air] why on earth did they have to put them in yellow of all colors] they look like preschoolers who had a growth spurt way too fast - that's the cute part, don't you know big-and-cute? - of all people the ones with the peak physicals got put over THERE lololololol - what we expected: hot PE-major oppas what MRMZ gave us: beasts busy tucking their shoulders in so the chick outfits don't rip

Maybe it was because expectations for laughs had been a solid 0%?

They'd only just divided the teams up, and already they were stacking up the good bits.

The Destis felt like they'd be perfectly happy with 50 more minutes of a straight-boring athletic-ability showcase after this.

'For starters, the visuals are killing it.'

Trainees in natural light, no heavy makeup, comfortable trackwear, scattered across a wide sports field — that alone!

Alright, then — kicking off the first event! > First Event: Soap-Water Futsal

At last, the sports day proper had kicked off.

They'd banked their laughs; from here, if they could just enjoy those good-looking kids running around the field savoring their youth, today would be plenty…

Ah, athlete Kang Hajin! Home run!! It's a home run!!! But our event is futsal, though? And as I speak — athlete Dan Haru with an unbelievable slide! Right, we are playing futsal here, though? Turns out the soap water's just fun on its own!

Plenty…

> Mom, they're fighting again...ㅠ > The Kang-bros' fight rages on Yahhhh!!!! Kang Hajin, you told us you were on the elementary school track team!!!!! Get your act together!!?? I AM giving it everything!!! How can you be worse than Lee Yugeon, who's got perfectly good shoes on AND flippers!?!! Guess flippers are just Lee Yugeon's calling!!! ……? Excuse me? > Yugeon finds an unexpected calling!

Plent-, plenty…

Athlete Ju Eunchan! Bonus 100 points! …? Why though? Athlete Eunchan didn't do anything? He didn't do anything AND he's still that good-looking! > Trainee Jung Siwoo: (satisfied applause) > Yellow team: (frantically bringing every reflector they can find over to Taehyun) > Azure Dragon team: (rushing to strike poses, refusing to lose) > Lilac team: (just wants all of this to be over as fast as possible)

…was way too much fun!

The born-funny trainees' unhinged variety chops had the Destis outright shrieking with joy.

---

- somebody please tell these kids they don't have to try this hard on the variety stuff - ha is this an idol survival or is this variety-show boot camp lololololololololᅲ - oh right… they were miro, weren't they… - still too funny, i'm crying ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ - from now on nobody's allowed to call miro maze "boring" - forget debut, just make miro maze the permanent variety show for these boys ㅜㅠㅠ!!

'…yeah. Everyone had fun, that's what matters.'

Sure, I was going to end up permanently taxidermied as an all-timer of a bumbling foot,

sure, iTube Shorts was getting flooded with things like 'Compilation of Hajin Playing Footvolley With His Feet,'

sure, my crappy-resolution shots of horrific ball-handling were spreading among fans decked out with every kind of edit and filter…!

Hajin decided he was going to be satisfied with it.

Either way, the Destis had clearly had a blast.

'It's no joke picking a trainee on a survival show as your bias. If they get to laugh even just this much, that's a win.'

As someone who'd done his share of stan life, Hajin knew perfectly well that he was the type whose mass appeal outran his core fandom, and that the mood on the fan side lately wasn't exactly great because of it.

Afraid it might start getting to him without his noticing, he hadn't gone deep-diving into that abyss just yet, but….

You didn't have to dig hard to see that Hajin's fans had been through the wringer lately with every kind of troll take and forced-hate pile-on.

Amid days that had been getting drier and harder to swallow one after the other, Hajin's playful antics in episode 5 seemed to have hit them like rain in a long drought.

Liking someone really is no easy thing…. System is feeling sympathy for the Kang-stans…. (◞‸◟；) Wish I could actually help somehow.

What can you do. Fandoms aren't something I can run the way I want either.

Knowing he was a mass-appeal pick with a soft core didn't give Hajin anything he could actually do about it.

Core fandoms weren't a muscle you could grow by working out, and something like "the thing that hooks the fan-heart" wasn't something anyone could manufacture on demand.

Fans just found it themselves, in whatever fit their own taste.

Still…. aren't you anxious about it? I saw the stats — 'mass-appeal picks' in survivals tend to slide down the ranks as it gets closer to the finals…!

And where'd you find those stats?

I did some studying! Since my partner is currently appearing on a survival show, I judged it was fitting for me to build up some background knowledge to match. Expressing pride…. ( *๑•̀д•́๑)

Well, well. Good on you.

Watching Thirteen puff himself up with a fwip-fwip! page-flipping effect, Hajin let his shoulders shake with a laugh, exasperated. The laugh was loud enough that he tipped his head up to check whether Eunchan, asleep in the next bed, had woken up.

…if it's going to be like this, wouldn't it be better to just enter the Unconscious Space?

No way. Remember last time when the kids nearly passed out on me? That was barely any time ago.

Ahem…. we're working hard on those side effects….

The blue system window shrank a little, sheepish.

Giving Thirteen a done-with-you side-eye, Hajin settled back into his pillow and started scrolling the fan accounts in his Bluebird timeline.

Well, honestly…. saying I'm not anxious would be a lie.

He'd overcome a lot, but the fear of failure and hitting a ceiling still had a seat in Hajin's chest.

He'd already piled up plenty of results, and that had become a solid foundation to stand back up on….

But every so often, anxiety and fear rattled him anyway. Couldn't be helped.

Regressions and missions aside…. I really do want to go for this now. Idol. I want to make it.

The more passion caught fire, the higher the dream climbed —

the more terrifying the drop became.

Back in the very first life Hajin remembered, the first time he'd given up being a trainee.

When Hajin had started this round, when he'd been handed his mission.

Every time, he'd tried his hardest to keep a cynical face on — this was why.

Because he was afraid he'd come to love this dream too much.

Loving something too desperately could hand you back a loss and emptiness of matching size.

Hajin had been afraid of that, and the life after that loss had been unbearable.

But in the end, this life — the dream he'd found again, the connections he'd newly made — Hajin had come to love hot and hard, all over again.

And that had become, for Hajin, a big realization.

'…still, at least now I know there's a life after failure.'

The regrets left lukewarm from failing to burn hot enough,

the wound of being cast off by a dream he'd loved with his whole heart —

Hajin knew that all of it was what had shaped him into who he was now.

'So let's just live thinking about today, only that. Even that alone's more than enough to fill our hands.'

…one day, that's exactly what I'd love to say to the Selected Regressor and the Returner too.

Yeah. Let's hurry up and catch those bastards. I'll grab 'em by the collar and drill it into their heads.

A fine plan!

Alright — now I'm actually going to sleep.

Hajin set his phone down loosely beside his pillow and closed his eyes.

By the time the already-taped third mission finished airing, they'd be well past episode 7.

'…so, about a month left.'

Just a month, until the debut lineup would be decided.

Brushing off the worries and concerns billowing up in his head, Hajin dropped into a deep sleep in no time.

---

And then,

- guys the miro maze voting notice just went up

A new Miro Maze voting notice had been posted.

The vote, which had previously let you pick seven trainees at a time, was now capped at two.

On top of that,

- and now they're saying we're getting eliminations ㅅㅂ