Chapter 132

Miro Maze's first eliminations had been finalized.

The rankings-and-eliminations ceremony that aired in Miro Maze episode 7 had every idol fan in the country glued to their screens.

title: [emg-emg-emgcy sp Miro Maze 1st ranks/cuts results] in order of ranking +Wings class (debut zone, 1st–7th) Seo Taehyun Jung Siwoo Ju Eunchan Lee Yugeon Dan Haru Lee Doha Kim Wonho +Feather class (out of debut zone, survived, 8th–13th) Yuki Kang Hajin Park Jaeyoung Jayden Gong Seok Shin Kyungho +1st eliminated Lee Parang, Kim Minwook, Kim Heegeon, Yoon Taewon +every score up to now is reset, starting fresh +voting runs 10 more days, then 3 more get cut in episode 9 +final 10 go to the live finale - kang hajin isn't wings????? > 22 huge shock, i figured for sure he'd be top > 33333333333 9th, are you SERIOUS right now??????? > see this is why i said don't get cocky ㅠㅠㅠㅠ - wow lee yugeon absolutely skyrocketed ㄷㄷ sympathy-picks really are the scariest > shut up if you don't know, lee yugeon had the single highest individual votes in round 3 > yeah that IS a sympathy-pick lolololol honestly if you say a kid played head-of-household with no parents people will feel bad and dump votes on him you know it's true > this asshole still hasn't learned to fear lawsuits, yeah you got pdf'd have fun in prison~ > yeah nobody's getting sued here anyway~ lolol not like it isn't true, yubbang fans have really outdone themselves in legendary drama > what are you talking about did you not see the account who wrote a whole tearful post yesterday about the lawsuit paperwork showing up? try not to cry at the police stationㅎ - so parang really got cut ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ - MRMZ is really nearing the end now...i got so attached to everyone this is so sad...guys great work ㅜㅜㅜㅠ i hope they get another good shot at debut somewhere else ㅠㅜㅜ - the debut lineup's not bad? if you slot Kang Hajin in there isn't that basically survival-show best-case-scenario mode? > 222 i had my doubts but this actually looks solid, problem is who do we take OUT for Kang Hajin; let's just debut all 16 ㅜ > take Kim Wonho out and put Kang Hajin in, perfection ㅇㅇ > honestly i've been thinking the same > insane...ㅎ > there are Wonho fans in here too, y'know? that's fucking rude

With the debut lineup finally starting to come into focus, everyone piled in with their own take.

The first eliminations, arriving only after seven full episodes.

Rankings shifting up and down with no way to see even a step ahead.

Three more eliminations coming in ten days.

And after that, the seven-member final debut lineup that the finale itself would decide.

Maybe it was because Miro Maze had spent all this time shining such a warm light on every single trainee —

but faced with this cold reality now, plenty of Destis felt like they were waking up from a happy dream.

Amid all that loss and hollowness, the worry and the unease —

Miro Maze's production crew staged even the farewells to the eliminated trainees with a cruel, cruel kindness.

Solo performance videos for the eliminated trainees went up on the official Miro Maze iTube.

Each video opened with an interview capturing the trainee's thoughts and story, then closed with a single song — the one they were most confident in and most wanted to show the Destis.

title: [MRMZ PLEASE stop making me cry] booking a studio and prepping props one by one for every eliminated trainee to give them a goodbye stage — what kind of insane survival show is this title: [guys the goodbye stage was seo taeil's idea] apparently he asked miro directly if he could fund it himself just to give each kid one last stage. is this oppa actually god?????? and miro said ok, so they and the production crew put it together in a rush... - seo taeil please just found a country already - wow but miro and the production crew agreeing to it are amazing too - it's an agency survival right...all these trainee kids were probably at miro forever....ㅠㅜ ah i really wish the whole "6 more eliminations" thing was just a lie honestly

The eliminated trainees' goodbye stages set the boards on fire all over again.

And that heat rolled naturally over onto the surviving trainees.

Who, exactly, was going to fall — and who was going to make it.

With every score fully reset, there was nothing anyone could safely predict now.

title: [so what's coming in episode 8?] the 3rd mission taping already got fully burned through in ep 6 and no announcement about the next live-audience slot yet ep 9 will be the 2nd ranking/eliminations announcement... what does ep 8 do? anyone got spoilers?

What was the fourth mission — the one that would decide the next round of votes — actually going to be?

While everyone was on tenterhooks, the fourth mission got announced through the Miro Maze official account.

[Miro Maze Fourth Mission — Guerrilla Concert (includes online live broadcast) Info Notice]

Miro Maze's next mission was —

an offline guerrilla concert, streamed live online.

---

"……."

"……."

"…what's going on, why is the mood in here like this?"

A practice room in the new Miro building, where the members had gathered to prep for the fourth mission — the guerrilla concert.

Hajin forced himself to speak, cutting through the unusually gloomy, on-edge air in the practice room.

But even Hajin, master of the ice-breaker, had no idea how to salvage this mood.

Haru — eyes puffy from what looked like a whole night of crying — was sniffling and hunting for tissues, so Hajin just slid the tissue box from behind him over.

"…the dorm feels too empty."

Yanking a fistful of tissues out of the box Hajin had handed him, Haru blew his nose loudly and muttered.

Remembering that Haru's roommate had been Parang, one of the trainees who'd just been cut, Hajin patted Haru's back and scratched his head.

Just last night, the eliminated trainees had packed up their rooms in the dorm and left.

Since none of the four had chosen to stay on with the agency, they'd terminated their contracts too — a clean break, out of Miro entirely.

The eliminated trainees knew what that meant, the surviving trainees knew what that meant, and last night the dorm had turned into one big sobfest.

I get where all of them are coming from, so I can't really say anything.

The ache of parting.

The unease that next time it might be them.

Bodies and minds slowly wearing thin inside this competition with no right answers.

All of it hitting at once, right now.

Hajin couldn't quite bring himself to firmly tell the fourth-mission teammates sniffling in front of him to pull themselves together.

And of all things, the team lineup had to end up like this….

Hajin picked up the tissue box Haru had set back down on the floor and handed it across to the other teammate sitting opposite.

"Seok-hyung. You use some too."

"…yeah. Thanks, Hajin-ah."

A dejected timid one and a wilted sparkly one.

Hajin glanced at the fixed cameras rolling from every corner of the practice room and let out a small sigh.

Where on earth do I even start with coaxing this along?

"What's going on? Why is everyone just sitting there like that?"

Just as Hajin — figuring he'd at least pat them on the back — was lifting both hands, he froze mid-gesture.

Someone in neat practice clothes walked in, a stack of sheet music in one hand.

The last member of this fourth-mission team, and the appointed leader — Jung Siwoo.

"Did you all figure out the references and concept ideas? You said you'd get started on that while I went to print the sheet music."

"Ah. About that, hyung-nim. Well, we were going to….."

At Siwoo's cynical question, Hajin drummed his fingers on his thigh and let the sentence trail off.

Even without Hajin finishing the thought, Siwoo — one glance at Haru and Gong Seok with their puffy eyes and cherry-red noses — seemed to have picked up on the situation.

Figuring Siwoo could probably smooth things over with the two of them, Hajin shot him a pleading look — silently asking for help.

Whether he'd read that in Hajin's expression or not, Siwoo let out a small sigh of his own and set a hand on his hip.

What came out of Siwoo's mouth next, though, was a little different from what Hajin had been hoping for.

"Dan Haru and Gong Seok. Both of you — out."

"……? Hy-, hyung-nim?"

"Go out, splash cold water on your faces, and come back when you've stopped crying."

Wait, what's gotten into that hyung now?

Siwoo's words weren't just cold — they were sharp — and Hajin's and the two trainees' eyes all went wide.

But Jung Siwoo didn't so much as shift his expression as he kept going, tone chilly.

"Do your crying and your grieving off-camera and come back after. This survival isn't over. We're already short on time to prep — how long do you plan on sitting here crying?"

"…no, hyung-nim, just — hold on."

"Think about the eliminated kids — how much they'd be craving every minute, every second, right now. You gonna waste that precious time crying and tank the whole fourth mission?"

"……."

Hajin, who had been about to jump in to stop Siwoo before this could turn into full-on bawling from the timid one and the sparkly one, quietly shut his mouth as Siwoo kept going.

His gut told him that opening it right now might get him wrecked.

Hajin hadn't known Siwoo properly for all that long….

But even his limited experience of the man had been enough to teach him one thing: when Siwoo went dead-serious like this, you did not butt in.

And, well, he's not wrong.

Hajin himself understood exactly why Gong Seok and Haru were upset — that was the only reason he hadn't been able to open his mouth on it.

But that they needed to get the meeting going and start prepping the show as fast as possible — on that, he fully agreed.

And that they weren't exactly in a position to sit around indulging in leisurely sadness, either.

"……."

A silence settled in the wake of Siwoo's final, chilly line.

Without speaking, Hajin studied Siwoo's face, then the other two trainees'.

A few minutes must have passed.

Dan Haru bit his lower lip, holding back the tears welling up, and abruptly stood.

"…I'm shorry. I'll — I'll go wash up real quick, an' come right back…."

His pronunciation crumbled to mush as he fought back the crying between words, but in the end, Haru didn't cry.

He just ducked his head in a small bow and bolted out of the practice room.

Gong Seok, still shifting awkwardly in his seat, hurried out after him a beat later.

"……."

"……."

Suddenly alone in the practice room with Siwoo, Hajin just stared at him.

Siwoo, unbothered by the stare, sat down on the practice-room floor and started neatly organizing the sheet music he'd printed.

Helping Siwoo sort the pages, Hajin thought:

This hyung, too, is a whole thing…. Just when you think you've got him, you don't.

Siwoo was, without question, a Selected Regressor candidate — but Hajin still couldn't pin down what kind of person he was.

Yes, they'd grown closer through the infinite regressions in the Blue Flare team the other day — but had Hajin actually figured Jung Siwoo out?

The answer would be a flat no.

Part of it was that Siwoo just wasn't the type to show himself, but for Hajin, there was also something about it that was just….

Hard, somehow. Jung Siwoo was.

Still, he's a Selreg candidate — I do need to get closer to him….

"…something to say?"

"H-, huh?"

"You keep staring."

Siwoo asked without so much as looking up, and it caught Hajin unusually off-balance.

That was how it always went.

Every time Hajin talked to Siwoo, he couldn't shake the feeling of being several moves behind.

The silver he'd bleached to for the third mission had almost fully washed out, and the light brown he'd re-dyed over it slid softly down across his forehead.

…that fine hair.

Recalling the physical traits he'd seen in the Selreg's past, Hajin slowly took Siwoo in as he went on organizing the sheet music.

A soft, unangular jawline; moderately dark brows over wide, deep eyes.

A nose bridge sculpted like it had been chiseled from stone, thin translucent lips — a textbook double-eyelid Agrippa-cast handsome face Rene would drool over…

"Am I that good-looking?"

"Yes…. hyung-nim, you're really han— eh?"

Hajin, nodding along dazedly in reply as if his mind had been read, snapped back to himself in shock.

Siwoo, having somehow already finished sorting the sheet music, had his chin propped on one hand and was smiling at Hajin, sunny.

"Yeah? Thanks for calling me good-looking."

"…I really, really can't figure you out, hyung-nim. Every time I think I have, I don't."

"Yeah. I feel the same about you."

…what the hell IS this guy?

Hajin blinked stupidly. What was there to grab onto in an exchange like that?