Do You Want to Be Special? (2)

Why bring up month-end evaluations right before the survival? Obvious.

"We're still doing month-end evaluations this time."

"Ah~."

"But this month's evaluation is a bit special."

At a signal from Ji Suho, the staffer who'd come in with him took the large sheet of paper he was holding and pinned it to the wall behind them. The neatly designed chart had the trainees' names split into different groups.

"The top ten in this month-end evaluation will start off in the 'special class' for the survival launching in March."

Special class. The moment those words — basically Miro's own private caste system — hit the air, the mood in the studio shifted. The scattered excitement in the room went cold in an instant. Sharp looks flew back and forth.

"Obviously the word 'special class' won't be used on air, but the meaning and the perks are exactly what you're picturing. The special class gets its title cards up front on air, and gets better positioning on title-track parts."

"……"

"You'll get an edge on posters and various other things too. The special-class lineup will shift again once the show's rolling, but this is your first impression on the public."

Whatever the case, first impressions are what count. Sure, Seo Taehyun — currently soaking up all the early push — was an unavoidable frontrunner thanks to name recognition alone, but the rest of us were raw civilians who'd never once been put in front of the public.

For guys like us, gaining fans and popularity came down to one thing: exposure. Getting your face out there was the only answer. Even I was (thanks to that whole cat's-gratitude business) already getting mentioned online off a single 'spotted' post, wasn't I?

And as if reading my thoughts, a new quest shimmered into view.

title: Single Quest 03. 'Want to Be Special?' description: The training staff isn't yet showing much interest in you, still a fresh chick of a trainee. Post an outstanding result in the month-end evaluation, make yourself stand out, and break into the top 10! reward: Clues for tracking the regressions & companion recruitment penalty: 40% increase in probability of a fifth regression triggering, 15% increase in survival-show elimination probability

'Is the game balance actually broken?'

Right, so — let's take stock of my current specs.

Name: Kang Hajin.

Age: twenty. (Actually twenty-nine +α in disguise.)

Notable: lived 2n years as a bog-standard human. Currently one month into being a Miro trainee.

'Making top 10 among guys who've been at this for years? Easy, right?'

This system, seriously. Can't they patch the whole 'threatening you with a regression' thing? Except this whole clown show existed to stop the regressions in the first place.

I ran the head count of trainees against the skill level I'd been watching for the past few days, and tried to guess where I'd land.

"Normally we'd let you pick your own teams, but since this affects the survival too, we did team assignments ourselves to get a better read on individual ability. Check your team."

"Yes sir!"

"Practice from now until the eval will run around the month-end teams — keep that in mind. That's it. Any questions?"

"No, sir!"

"Great. I'm heading out — check your teams and get to practice. Fighting! You got this, kids!"

"Yes! Thank you!"

Ji Suho's sincere pep landed and hearty responses shot up from all over the studio. Definitely a well-liked position inside Miro. The second Ji Suho and the staffer stepped out, the trainees rushed toward the notice board as if on cue.

"Hope we're in the same group."

"Hmm. You and I probably didn't land together."

Seo Taehyun — who'd noticed I was hanging back and slowed to walk alongside me — got a headshake from me. Almost certainly not.

'Our positions are worlds apart.'

Without the Head of Department in the picture, Seo Taehyun was a near-locked-in debut member. This was a guy who could scream "I don't wanna be an idol anymore!" mid-survival, pull a full death-metal turn in satanic makeup, and still have fans falling over each other to cheer on our Taehyun's transformation.

Whereas me?

'Miro's Zhuge Liang or whatever — I'm still just a one-month rookie.'

I hadn't even finished a proper song in front of the training staff yet — no way they'd paired me with Seo Taehyun.

"Ah! I'm done for."

"Whoa, we're together."

"Hmm… I'm with him, huh."

All sorts of reactions poured out of the trainees checking their groups. If this had been the actual survival, the cameras would've zoomed in tight on those exact shots. Watching kids who hadn't yet learned there was such a thing as 'broadcast mode' let it all show unfiltered, I was clicking my tongue when—

"Hyung! We got matched."

Spotting it first from up high, Ju Eunchan pushed out of the crowd and called Seo Taehyun. Seo Taehyun — who'd been briefly bummed at the thought of not being with me — brightened right back up at being grouped with Ju Eunchan.

"Really? Ah, thank god. At least I've worked with you plenty."

"Right? Having even one hyung I'm close with—"

"One? Why? Just me? Who are the other groupmates?"

At the relief in shy Ju Eunchan's voice, Seo Taehyun suddenly got uneasy, and the two of them hurried toward the notice board together.

I wasn't in any rush, and pushing up now wouldn't get me a clear view anyway, so I stayed back and waited my turn — when Dan Haru, wearing a face on the verge of tears, dragged himself over.

"What now."

"…I'm with hyungs I don't know."

"Guess you got split off from me too."

"Yeah. You're in Group A. I'm in Group C…"

The youngest of all the trainees, Dan Haru — perpetually stuck reading the mood around a swarm of hyungs — puffed his cheeks out into two full pouches of grievance and whined, what am I supposed to do?

'Even like this he'll crush it, though.'

I'd already practiced with him enough times to know what he was capable of, so I wasn't particularly worried.

"Who's in your group?"

"Siwoo-hyung… Yuki-hyung, Minwook-hyung, Taewon-hyung, and Kyungho-hyung."

"That's bleak."

"Hnghh. What do I do?"

Pureblood ex-special-class Jung Siwoo, two of Han Seongwoo's flunkies from the general class, plus two timid centrists. Perfect combo for Dan Haru to get his back broken between them.

'More importantly — who the hell am I grouped with?'

Getting anxious now, I figured I'd better check too. I wasn't a teenager off on a school picnic — I didn't care about not knowing anyone, but a slacker in the group was a real problem. This month-end had my whole life riding on it.

Tap tap.

"……?"

A hand tapped my shoulder. I turned — bear-boy from earlier, Lee Doha. What was with him hovering around me all day?

"Ah, Doha. If it's about earlier, let me check my group first—"

"We're in the same group."

"Huh?"

"Same group, you and me."

Lee Doha pointed at the notice board. The trainees had mostly checked and scattered by now, opening up enough space to read the sheet.

〈■ February Month-End Evaluation Group Assignments〉

—Group A

Kang Hajin (Vocal)

Vacant (Vocal)

Lee Doha (Rap)

Kim Wonho (Dance)

Yoon Taehee (Dance)

—Group B

Seo Taehyun (Vocal)

Ju Eunchan (Vocal)

Lee Yugeon (Dance)

Jayden (Rap)

Park Jaeyoung (Dance)

—Group C

Jung Siwoo (Vocal)

Dan Haru (Vocal)

Yuki (Vocal)

Kim Minwook (Dance)

Yoon Taewon (Dance)

Shin Kyungho (Rap)

—Group D

……

'Vicious group assignments.'

Each group had a clear concept — you could see what the staff wanted to test. Ji Suho definitely had a read on things.

Take Group B, for instance.

"Push a dance track, probably? Would be smarter."

"Yeah, with Yugeon in the mix… and you and I are both solid on dance anyway."

Certified main dancer Lee Yugeon — who'd made a name for himself on the street scene before he ever set foot in a company — plus Seo Taehyun, whose sheer charisma had carried him all the way to a live broadcast, plus Ju Eunchan, whose crisp dynamic control and expressiveness had made him the performance-center pick more often than not. Definitely a stack-the-dance-guys-and-see-what-happens setup.

Group C wasn't lightweight either.

"Ah. Siwoo-hyung sings so well… we're screwed."

Jung Siwoo — who had the kind of textbook-handsome, awkwardly-stiff visual you'd expect out of Rene, and on top of that came out of one of the country's top three practical-music departments — and,

"Can't sleep on Dan Haru either. He's the one kid who's ever beaten Siwoo-hyung on vocal in a month-end eval."

Dan Haru, who'd shrugged off puberty like it wasn't worth the trouble, sailed through the cursed 16-year-old voice-drop with an insanely clear tone still intact, and had been the general class's main vocal.

'Group C is basically those two duking it out.'

Not quite clash-of-the-top-tier-verse-final-bosses territory, but close.

'…hang on, why does our group feel off?'

Purely by position, our group was actually the most balanced. The problem was that all the other groups had concept and stats stacked hard in one direction, and that balance ended up looking like plain vanilla by comparison.

'In this business, not standing out is a minus.'

However well-rounded your stats, in this industry an extreme isoceles triangle beat a nice even hexagon — because the isoceles could actually be sold. A hexagon good at everything just got knocked around by the isoceles types until it wore down into a circle.

'Genuinely tough combo.'

As I looked over the groupmates, feeling stuck on what to make of it, Lee Doha came back over. Right — he was another one I couldn't read. The only ex-special-class member in the group, and the least legible of them all.

"The others look like they're waiting on us."

"Oh, right. Let's go."

'Still, at least he's better than the rest.'

I glanced at the three remaining trainees waiting on the other side — none of them exactly inspiring confidence — and let out a small, private sigh.

'Kim Wonho, Gong Seok, Yoon Taehee. All three general class, all short trainee tenures.'

Not one of them was in the 'high' tier for the class-level breakdown. Right before a survival, the staff had matched the strong ones together, and swept the leftover odd-fits into one group. Basically a throwaway lineup.

'I'm an untested one-month rookie, so fine — but why him?'

I tilted my head again, wondering what Lee Doha, the sole ex-special-class member of this combo, was doing here. He must have felt my gaze, but he didn't react — just walked quietly toward where the others were gathered.

"Haha, hi."

"Hi, hyungs."

"This is our first time all together like this!"

"Right? Our positions split up cleanly too. Feels good?"

"And we've got Doha, so no worries about arrangements or anything!"

Kicked off by youngest Yoon Taehee's chipper voice, the three no-hopers (nothing personal, just no other way to describe them) tossed out surprisingly hopeful takes. A shadow you couldn't quite scrub off one side of each of their faces said they were uneasy about the lineup too, but obviously they couldn't say so out loud — you could see the forced tension pushing them along.

'…is this actually going to be okay?'

An ominous feeling started building in my head, thick and cloudy.

And by now this pattern should feel familiar — hunches like this usually turn out to be right.