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Chapter Text

As I thought, I really should have become a civil servant instead, Ryu Gunwoo thought.

He was blank-faced as he stood behind the stage waiting for his turn to go up and perform. Inwardly though, he was kind of wishing for the floor to open up and swallow him right at that very moment.

Really, how did his life decisions so far lead him to this moment?

Sighing, his eyes glanced across the filming studio.

He could see Park Moondae with some of the staff busy quietly giving instructions to the other contestants who hadn’t had a go yet and adjusting their in-ear monitors while others fiddled with the expensive filming equipment.

The judges were listening to the not-great singing of the kids that were currently performing, barely managing to suppress their wince when one of them went off-tune as he danced while the director and writers looked hopeless as they worried about whether or not this season would have a good rating.

Gunwoo could understand their concern. Out of the 38 kids that had gone up so far, he could count on one hand those who actually had the potential to become a successful idol. He could say this confidently because of his experience of being a data seller back in his university days. He had to be good at discerning which one had quality and which one was trash.

Well, at least none of them look suspicious, Ryu Gunwoo thought as he murmured a quiet thank you to Moondae when the younger agent handed him a handheld microphone and told him to get ready.

The kids on stage bowed to the judges and made cutesy poses to the camera. He suppressed a cringe at the thought of having to do that himself. You really had to be able to completely forget your shame to become an idol. Thank goodness he wasn’t actually required to win this so he could probably get by with half-assing his ‘idol persona’.

“Next contestant, please come up to the stage,” the emcee announced.

Ryu Gunwoo calmly walked to the center of the small stage after exchanging a subtle nod with Moondae and held up his mic.

“Hello, I’m Ryu Gunwoo,” he said calmly as he made eye contact with the judges. “Pleased to meet everyone.”

Chapter Text

Ryu Gunwoo grew up in a loving family of three. His late parents were never too strict with monitoring his grades at school and were indulgent with his hobbies whenever he found something new.

Despite his doting parents though, Gunwoo always made sure to get the highest grades he possibly could so his parents didn’t have to worry about him. It wasn’t that he was super intelligent or anything, but he was a diligent hard worker who had a bit of a perfectionist tendency so he wouldn’t be satisfied until he got every question right.

On top of being in the top 1% of the school-wide ranking, Gunwoo was also the quiet kid in class and had zero interest in team sports or nerdy stuff like manga, anime, or games so he never really fit in with kids his age. Being in elementary school he had a lot of time to spare, but since he didn’t have friends to play with he convinced his parents to sign him up for a martial arts class to pass the time.

Unsurprisingly, he became one of the best taekwondoin in their dojang and won many medals to present to his parents so they knew their money didn’t go to waste. It wasn’t that he was super talented or anything, but he was a diligent hard worker who had a bit of a perfectionist tendency so he wouldn’t be satisfied until he got every move right.

His parents were so proud of him and he liked making them happy, so this routine of his continued for years even after he entered high school. 

He would wake up early, go on a run, shower, help his mom prepare breakfast, eat, go to school, go home, go to the dojang and train until dinner, go home again, help mom prepare dinner, greet his dad when he got home and studied until midnight.

It was a nice and comfortable routine that he liked very much.

And then his loving parents suddenly left him. They were tragically killed in a house fire during their trip to visit the main branch of their clan.

Ryu Gunwoo, only 16 years old at the time, was left to fend for himself.

Well, some of his many relatives enthusiastically offered to take him in, but Gunwoo could see the greed in their eyes. He could guess that they were aiming for the inheritance money that his parents left for him, so he politely told them to go fuck themselves, block the numbers of  all his relatives (including the good ones because he was an angry child who didn’t discriminate and hate everyone equally), got himself emancipated, successfully negotiated his early graduation with the headmaster of his school, applied to a university at the same year, and somehow got himself a job professionally editing pictures of idols online to get by.

He decided to save his late parents’ money for when he inevitably fucked up his budgeting or to pay for university if he failed to get the scholarship he was hoping for, but unsurprisingly he managed to get into Yeonhee University on full scholarship so he decided to get himself a professional camera with his inheritance money and expanded his business by becoming an idol data seller.

Competition with other data sellers was fierce and his perfectionist tendency overtook him again, so he got really good really fast. Before he knew it he became rather well known in that circle after the video of 'Saint U performing acrobatics in the rain while smiling' that he took went viral online.

It was a surprisingly tough job and he had to deal with a lot of asshole clients, but somehow Gunwoo really enjoyed his job. All his life, he never really had any hobby besides practicing  taekwondo,  but he found himself really enjoying photography. He also really enjoyed the deep dive research into the internet forums aspect of his job, as well as the art of haggling prices with his clients.

All in all, life wasn’t bad for Ryu Gunwoo despite being orphaned at such a young age. He earned enough money to live somewhat comfortably, found a new hobby, was still winning a lot of national-level taekwondo competitions, had completed his military service, and was set to graduate from his business major early since his grades were good. 

All that before he was even 20. Not bad.

Once he graduated he planned to take an exam to become a civil servant to secure a high-rate pension and other tempting benefits, but… unexpectedly he failed the exam. 

It was Ryu Gunwoo’s first failure and the effect was devastating to his self-esteem. He got a little depressed then and things got really dark for a while for him, but then one of his seniors at Yeonhee who had always been nice to him dragged him out of his mushroom corner of depression and sweet-talked him into joining the National Intelligence Services together with him after getting him completely drunk at a noraebang.

‘You’re really smart, Gunwoo-ya~ they’ll love to have a bright mind like you there!’

‘No, no, what are you talking about? A failure? You’re the current national  taekwondo champion and you're super smart! They’ll be stupid to not welcome you~’

‘It’ll be fun, Gunwoo-ya~ you’ll lose nothing for tryiiinng…! Come with me and let’s be super-secret spies togetheeer~’

Han Yoojin really did sound like the voice of reason to his alcohol-filled brain, so Gunwoo decided to try it out despite his reservation.

He thought he would definitely get rejected, but somehow he managed to get hired into the domestic affairs directorates of the NIS even though he failed the civil servant exam.

In what world was the chance of being hired by an intelligence agency higher than the chance of being a mere civil servant? This stupid world, apparently. 

And so began Ryu Gunwoo’s career as a secret agent. He excelled during the training period for new recruits, marking himself as the most promising future field agent to his superiors, so once he finished basic training quickly got approved to go on missions.

Unsurprisingly, being a secret agent wasn’t as exciting as the movies made it seem. He was mostly sent to do surveillance or gather data and evidence undercover since he had a plain and forgettable face, but sometimes he also carried out arrests and raids. Honestly it was just a normal job, kind of like what the police did, really.

Most of his cases were pretty boring, like involving illegal drugs or firearms, but sometimes it could be exciting too.

Well. Maybe too much excitement. 

Just last week he and his team managed to save a lot of children from an international human trafficking ring. Shots were fired, buildings were burned down. It was kind of a lot, but they won and arrested all of the traffickers that survived that chaotic shoot-out.

Unfortunately, Gunwoo also got shot in the process because he kind of got distracted by a panic attack when the fire started spreading.

Honestly, it wasn’t even a major wound or anything. Just a scratch, really! A pretty deep scratch that made him bleed quite a lot on his left shoulder, but whatever. The point was he could totally go right back to the field after their medics stitched him up, but his boss ordered him to rest and go do paperwork until he ‘recovered’.

And, listen. Ryu Gunwoo was a very capable man. He could do anything he wanted perfectly (except for passing the civil servant exams), but he hated paperwork with a passion. He was so bored he was on the verge of jumping from his office window just to feel some adrenaline from falling.

That was why when Yoojin-hyung came to his office asking if he was willing to do ‘an easy job’ he immediately agreed without asking for details.

Which led him to this situation.

Apparently, an anonymous bomb threat was sent to the big broadcasting company TNET. This made some important people panic, but they wanted to keep it hush-hush so the public wouldn’t freak out so they hired the police to investigate and protect them in secret. 

Usually, the NIS were only given assignments that concerned national security, but apparently, the police had a shortage of capable personnel so some of their agents were lent to assist with this case and they were the unlucky bastards chosen (or foolishly volunteered themselves) for this mission.

“They were sent a bomb threat and decided to continue the program anyway? Are they idiots?” Officer Han Yoohyun scoffed and shook his head after their team leader, Inspector Sung Hyunje, finished briefing them of the situation.

“Wasn’t season 2 canceled early? Something about… a pregnancy?” Officer Park Yerim asked with an uncertain lilt to her voice.

Agent Park Moondae, who was Gunwoo’s close junior and their resident tech wizard, nodded and eagerly shared what he knew of the situation. 

“Yeah, it was the biggest scandal in audition show history. It was such a messy scandal! One of the male contestants got a female contestant pregnant and then he cheated on her,” Moondae explained. “Honestly I don’t even know how they could even think that making a season 3 is a good idea… people are cursing them so much on the internet right now.”

Gunwoo was familiar with this scandal. He might have quit being a data seller, but he was still active in idol forums and had witnessed the downfall of Idol Inc.’s second season in real-time.

The boy who’d gotten the girl pregnant had been cheating on her with another girl. This other girl had been meaning to keep silent for the sake of her career, but the romantic subplot the producers had been pushing had driven her up the wall and she’d sent screenshots of her text conversations with him to a news agency. *

After that, things got… well, even worse. The story had flooded search engine rankings, celebrity news pages, and social media. Inevitably, season two never reached the finale and, instead, closed up shop early. And as long as the audience still remembered the monumental scandal, the new season was never going to avoid its fair share of mockery, especially early on. *

It really  was  a wonder why they thought a new season would be a good idea. Even without the bomb threat, making a new season was already a bad idea, but then the main producer for the show got an ominous e-mail two days ago. He didn’t remember the exact wording of the e-mail, but basically it went like this:

‘If you continue with the 3rd season we’ll detonate a bomb on stage and innocent kids will die and it’ll be your fault lol’

And yet the producer-director was going through with this and they were keeping the threat under wraps because they didn’t want more scandal on top of everything. Pretty dumb idea, if you asked him, and people told him that he was smart all the time so his opinion must carry some weight at the very least.

“…ndercover?”

Ah, Yoojin-hyung said something while Gunwoo was daydreaming.

“As one of the staff? What about Agent Park? He’s good with tech, right? He could be one of the audio technicians.” Park Yerim suggested. “I could also go as a stylist or a make-up artist!”

Yoojin-hyung shook his head. “No, I meant as a contestant. The email said they were going to kill the contestants with the bomb on stage, so someone needed to stay close to them to protect them since staff usually aren’t allowed on stage. But we can send others as staff too.”

Gunwoo finally decided to add to the discussion and tilted his head. “Who can we send though? I mean, most of you are strangely very good-looking and could easily fit in with the idols—except Officer Park since she’s a woman—but idols aren’t just looks. This isn’t a beauty pageant.”

“Some of us are the wrong age for this,” Sung Hyunje added.

“Perhaps not Sung Hyunje then, but most of you are still in your early 20s.” Park Yerim pointed out.

“Not me, I can’t sing at all,” Yoojin-hyung said with a laugh. “My brother is also… well. His face is really nice, but… have you ever heard him sing? It’s eardrum-shattering kind of awful. I’ve even heard our neighbor’s dogs bark at him in fear when he sang one time. They must have thought he was possessed by demons.”

Han Yoohyun glared at his brother for exposing his nonexistent singing talent in front of strangers but didn’t refute his comments so it must be true.

“What about Agent Park? He’s the right age and his face is pretty cute for a guy,” Sung Hyunje suggested. “He doesn’t have to be super good. We can just mess with the votes so he won’t get eliminated until the last stage.”

Moondae shook his head. “I also can’t sing or dance. Like, completely hopeless. It’ll be really suspicious if someone like me somehow managed to not get eliminated until the final.”

And then. Han Yoojin, that bastard, gasped as if he just remembered something.

“Come to think of it… Gunwoo-ya’s really  good at singing,” The Traitor said.

Gunwoo blanched upon hearing his words.

Chapter Text

And then. Han Yoojin, that bastard, gasped as if he just remembered something.

“Come to think of it… Gunwoo-ya’s  really  good   at singing,” the Traitor said.

Gunwoo blanched upon hearing his words.

Moondae perked up at that, interested. “Is he really? I’ve never heard him sing before and we hang out a lot!”

The Traitor smirked at him. “Well, he was my junior in university so I used to take full advantage of my seniority to drag him to  noraebang  with my other friends. I swear he’s better than most professional singers. He can sing any song, any notes, effortlessly.”

“Gunwoo-hyung, really? We should go together sometimes!” Moondae looked at him with sparkles in his eyes.

“No, I’m not that good,” Gunwoo denied, glaring at the Traitor who looked unapologetic at all as he kept digging Gunwoo's grave.

“He’s really good-looking too! He just hides it behind his unflattering glasses and unkempt hair. Back when he just come back from military service and had shorter hair that revealed his face, the girls used to giggle and gossip about him. ‘Cool Beauty’, they called him,” the Traitor added with a smirk in his direction.

What nonsense was he saying… were they even living in the same reality? Since when was he good-looking or have girls admiring him?

“…Weren’t they laughing at me because I looked ridiculous with shorn hair?” Gunwoo asked with a frown.

At this, Moondae gasped. He looked affronted. “What, no way! Hyung, surely you know you’re really handsome?”

“Seriously?” The Traitor shook his head incredulously at his question. “So smart and yet so oblivious.”

Sung Hyunje looked up and down at him interestedly. “Gunwoo-ssi, take off your glasses and sweep your bangs up, please.”

Gunwoo sighed but complied with the team leader’s request. What ‘Cool Beauty’? What ‘really good looking?’ He could admit that his face was not ugly, but it was a very plain and forgettable face.  It was the whole reason why he was so good at undercover work—because he blended in well with the crowds.

If you asked him, Park Moondae was the one who was the best-looking person out of everyone in this room.

But when he took off his glasses and swept his hair up with his hand, he heard Park Yerim gasp in delight.

“Gunwoo-ssi!! You’re so handsome!” She exclaimed excitedly. Strangely, Gunwoo couldn’t detect any signs of dishonesty from her words. “Your facial structure is great and your skin is so clear it makes me jealous. Your eyebrows are a bit sparse at the end, but nothing we couldn’t fix with a little make-up. Are you wearing mascara?”

Gunwoo frowned at her. “…No? I don’t wear make-up.”

Park Yerim sighed forlornly. “No mascara and yet your eyelashes are so pretty already. If we give you a little makeover, you could totally be an idol if you want. You’re hotter than some of the idols out there who have already debuted.”

Han Yoohyun also looked at him in interest. “Sing something for us.”

“And don’t make it sound bad on purpose,” Sung Hyunje smiled at him threateningly.

Damn, there goes his plan.

He sighed. “Fine. What should I sing?”

“Anything will do. You can even sing the national anthem if you want,” Yoojin-hyung said with a goading smirk. Gunwoo shot his most judging deadpan stare at him and had to control himself lest he started throwing his empty coffee cup at the bastard.

After choosing a random song from his phone, Gunwoo began to sing.

"What are we born for, and what are we born to do?
I don't want to be unable to answer!
Living in the present is what makes our hearts passionately burn
That's why you keep on smiling

That's right! I'm happy! Being alive is a joy!
Even if the scar in my heart hurts
Oh, Anpanman, how kind you are
Go! To protect everyone's dream!"

It was the Korean version of a popular children's anime opening song. The melody was simple, but since he was putting an effort into singing it, it was quite nice to hear. His voice was clear, the high notes effortless even though he was singing it in the original key.

Since he felt ridiculous singing a children's song in front of his very serious work colleagues, he stopped singing after the first chorus and opened his eyes to see looks of amazement on their faces.

Even though he wasn’t that good, somehow after his demonstration his coworkers unanimously voted for him to be the one to go undercover as one of the contestants despite his protests that he couldn’t dance well. They just dismissed his worries and told him that there was time to learn.

Gunwoo didn’t agree with their decision, but he was outvoted. He admitted his singing didn’t sound too terrible, but there was no way people were going to think he was good enough to fool people that he deserved to stay in the competition until the last stage.

“Agent Park Moondae will also be going undercover as an audio technician as previously discussed while Agent Han Yoojin and Officer Han Yoohyun will join the security team. Officer Park Yerim and I will monitor the situation from the outside and provide backup when needed,” their team leader announced before turning to address Yerim.

“Officer Park Yerim. You and Agent Park Moondae will take Agent Ryu Gunwoo to the best salon you can find. After you clean him up, go to the department store and buy him whatever he needs for the audition,” Sung Hyunje said as he handed Park Yerim a card. “Here’s the agency credit card. You can pay for everything with this.”

Park Yerim cheered as she gleefully received the card from the team leader's hands.

Finally, he addressed Gunwoo.

“Agent Ryu Gunwoo. The first filming is in 15 days, but you will have to film an interview at TNET’s studio in 5 days. I will submit your registration form to the PD and find a dance and vocal trainer for you by tomorrow at the latest,” Sung Hyunje smiled at him. “The rest of us will take care of the details so you can take it easy and prepare for the show in the meantime.”

With that, the meeting was adjourned.

Not even 1 minute after that, Park Yerim was already dragging him out towards her car with Moondae following behind them excitedly.

“Come on, Gunwoo-ssi! I can call you Gunwoo-ssi, right? I know a good salon! They have a lot of celebrity clients and their reviews are great!” The woman babbled excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to go there but their prices are insanely expensive so I never did.”

Gunwoo just let her drag his arm quietly, already tired even though it was barely noon. 

Moondae asked him if he was okay and he nodded, but he was lying. He wasn’t mentally prepared for this day. He thought he would be doing something easy, not… not becoming an idol contestant on TV for months.

…Why was life so difficult for him today?

They got into Park Yerim’s car and she drove them to the salon. A girl who worked there smiled and greeted them when she saw them coming in. Park Yerim pushed him toward the girl.

“I want you to make my friend here into an idol material, please!” She said to the girl. 

Said girl looked skeptical seeing his gloomy appearance but nodded determinedly at the request.

“We… we certainly will strive to do that! This way please, sir!”

Ryu Gunwoo scrolled on his phone while the hairdresser discussed with Yerim and Moondae about the style they were going for. Park Yerim asked for something that would make him look more friendly and approachable and Moondae asked him about possibly coloring his hair.

Instinctively Gunwoo wanted to reject the suggestion. He  liked  his dark hair. But in the end, his rationality won. 

Aside from the fact that he had to blend in with the other contestants who probably would have various shades of hair color, since this program would be broadcasted to the entire country, if he wanted to go back to field work after this job was done he needed to look as different as possible from his idol persona.

It was a hard decision, but in the end, Gunwoo decided to let the hairstylist dye his hair a light shade of blond like what Moondae used to sport back when they first met.

While he was getting his hair dyed and styled, Moondae started chatting with one of the hairdressers about hair care products.

The hairstylist who was cutting his hair was so gentle with him that Gunwoo almost fell asleep. He became sleepy enough that somehow, he missed the passage of time (even when they dragged him out back to wash his hair) and was only brought back to clarity when he heard Park Yerim and Moondae gasping in shock at the finished look.

He looked up and saw the hairstylist looking proud as she removed the cape from his shoulders.

“You’re all set, sir! I didn’t trim too much on the sides, as Miss Park requested!” She chirped happily. “This color and hairstyle look really great on you!”

“Hyung!! You really do look like an idol now!” Moondae told him with an excited smile.

“Right? Even without makeup he’s such a hottie! Gunwoo-ssi, you’re going to be so popular now!” Park Yerim agreed as Moondae took dozens of pictures with his phone. 

He just gave them his most unimpressed stare.

They paid for the salon quickly, leaving a nice tip for the talented hairstylist, and got back to the car to get to their next destination.

Ryu Gunwoo has worked as an NIS agent for almost three years now. He had gone on many different missions. Some of them last for days, weeks, and even months. Some nights, he even had to stay awake all night keeping watch on their targets.

The point was, Gunwoo had a lot of stamina to keep up with his demanding job, but somehow this one day of shopping really drained him of his energy in a way that no mission ever did.

Park Yerim took him to an expensive optical store and they were there for nearly an hour choosing new fashionable glasses since his current ones were called ‘ugly’ multiple times during their meeting earlier. Moondae also reminded him to buy prescription contact lenses for when he’d be on stage performing.

Then, it was the department store where Park Yerim and Moondae teamed up choosing simple but stylish clothes for him.

His ‘Idol Inc. Contestant’ persona was supposed to be a normal person with a normal background so he couldn’t look too fashionable and put together, but he must still look presentable to make a good impression on others. 

Gunwoo himself admitted that most of his clothes were too ratty and his only good outfits were his work suits so he agreed to buy some new clothes for the show, but it took them hours just to settle on the most basic-looking clothes (almost a full wardrobe!) and Gunwoo really wanted to hand in his resignation. 

Because they were not done yet. 

No, it was just the beginning.

His colleagues also got him several comfortable pairs of training shoes to dance in. Vitamins to keep his skin glowing and to boost his stamina during practice, various accessories that he probably would never wear ever, and way too many skin care products that Park Yerim swore must have worked miracle because she knew Sung Hyunje used them and that man was almost 40 but looked 10 years younger.

They also bought him a complete make-up set that he didn’t even know how to apply on himself and Moondae revealed during dinner that he bought an entire line of hair products back at the salon before cheerfully shoving them into Gunwoo’s hands.

They really went crazy shopping since the agency was paying for everything.

This was entirely too many products for one person to have, but both of them assured him that idols needed to take care of their appearance so this was a good investment! And then proceeded to lecture him on how to use every single product and what clothing combination looked best on him until they finished eating.

…Did they forget he wasn’t actually aiming to win the audition show and become an idol for real?

He only managed to get rid of his fellow agents after he swore that he would start using the skin and hair products they got him religiously from tonight, but he didn’t know if he could do this.

Ryu Gunwoo took ibuprofen for his headache after he took a shower and pulled out his phone. He scrolled for Yoojin-hyung’s name and sent him photos of everything they bought that day as well as a terrible selfie of his exhausted face.

‘ Your fault, you bastard ,’ Gunwoo told him.

‘ LOL ,’ the bastard replied back.

He attempted to use the products that Park Yerim and Moondae bought for him but gave up after a while because he was too tired to use his brain on how to figure out the usage orders.

He usually just slapped on some cheap moisturizer he bought in a convenience store after he showered and his skin was as clear as it could be anyway, so missing just one night of complicated skincare wouldn’t hurt his ‘beauty’ right?

…

…He woke up with a pimple on the side of his forehead.

He blamed it on the stress from the shopping yesterday.

Chapter Text

“Nice to meet you. My name is Shin Jaehyun.”

A very good-looking man who looked very familiar introduced himself, holding his hand out towards Gunwoo who shook it firmly.

“Ryu Gunwoo. I look forward to your guidance for the next 13 days,” Gunwoo said politely. He tilted his head slightly in puzzlement. “How did VTIC’s leader get roped into being my dance trainer?”

“Ah, so you recognized me.” Cheongryeo chuckled in amusement.

Cheongryeo was the leader of the current most popular boy group in the country, VTIC. This was already their 7th year and yet they were still as popular as ever. They were one of the only groups that were able to break the 7-Year curse that plagued the idol society.

Back when Gunwoo was a data seller, his highest-paying clientele was composed of mostly TICAs so of course Gunwoo recognized the man at first glance.

Well, even if Gunwoo had never sold his photos to the man’s fangirls, CHeongryeo got so many brand deals that his face was plastered pretty much everywhere. It would be stranger if Gunwoo didn’t recognize him.

“And the answer to your question is because Inspector Sung asked me to, I have some free time because the promotion period is over, and… I’m very good at dancing, I guess,” Cheongryeo said, smiling slightly at him.

Hah. Smug bastard.

Gunwoo kept his face blank to keep his true thoughts to himself.

“You agreed just because he asked?” He asked the idol who just smiled at him.

That smile looked somewhat… familiar. It was similar to Sung Hyunje’s smile. The one that made his face look like the [^^] emoji.

Something clicked inside Gunwoo's brain.

“Ah. He’s your relative,” he deduced.

“As expected of a secret agent. You connected the dots really fast even though I didn't really give any hint.” Cheongryeo’s smile widened. “He's the man who raised me.”

Well. That was a terrifying thought. The willful, vain, insensitive, fake gentleman Sung Hyunje, raising a child? That child must have grown up into a terror.

And he was proven right when their dancing lessons finally started properly.

Cheongryeo was a bastard.

No, he was a psychopath. A sadist. A demon that came out straight from Dancing Hell. Even his taekwondo master, his commanding officer in the military, and the NIS instructors back when he was a new recruit weren’t this awful.

“Stop! Repeat that part again until you get it right. Ten more times, from the start.”

“Gunwoo-ssi… are you trying to emulate an octopus? Why are you moving your legs like that? Do it like this. Like THIS. You’re wearing your glasses—I know you should have been able to SEE CLEARLY how I make the turn.”

“Is your waist made of wood? No, that’s an insult to the wood. I’ve seen a wooden marionette dance better than you.”

“Not like that. Like this. See how I move my legs? Gunwoo-ssi… I know I’m beautiful, but instead of my face, you should start looking at how I move my feet. Maybe you’ll finally get it.” 

“Control your expressions! Even if you’re dying from exhaustion, never show it on your face. And don’t move your arms like that while opening your mouth, you look like a particularly ugly Cactuar.”

“Are you even trying? I’ve shown you how to do it 10 times already. Wow. Even pigs have a better memory than you. Your body is already uncoordinated, and now your brain isn’t working either?”

…Ryu Gunwoo was sorely tempted to throw this man into the ground, but he was too much of a stubborn perfectionist to quit now. After all, this was how he became one of the best taekwondoin in the country.

He wasn’t talented. He wasn't a genius. He was just a stubborn hard worker with a perfectionist tendency and he would conquer dancing the same way he conquered taekwondo.

So despite glaring at Cheongryeo whenever he was yelling snarky corrections from across the training room, he followed the bastard’s suggestions and listened well to his teaching. Before long he could see himself improving bit by bit.

Cheongryeo handed him a water bottle once he was done repeating the same moves for what seemed like the 100th time that day.

“Good job. You’re not hopeless at this, Gunwoo-ssi,” the bastard told him with a small smile. “I expect you will improve by a lot in the next two weeks.”

Gunwoo just panted harshly in response. He was so tired he felt like if he fell asleep he might actually never wake up again. He knew that idols trained really hard, but was this what they had to go through every time? If so, his respect for them just skyrocketed.

“Your stamina is really amazing though. My group members would have complained or passed out 3 hours ago,” Cheongryeo continued with a pleasant smile. “I intentionally didn’t call for a break to see how long you would last, but look at that! You still have the energy to glare at me. Gunwoo-ssi is incredible.”

…

…He was going to throw this bastard, after all.

Maybe after he caught his breath, though.

His days continued like that. From day 2 of training, he paced himself a little better and asked for breaks every hour now.

He had learned his lesson that one time. Cheongryeo was a bastard who liked to mess with people for fun so he must be vigilant and not give him the opportunity to prank him again.

Despite being a dance instructor from hell, Cheongryeo was really good at teaching him. The older man had no patience at all, but he was good at explaining what to do and correcting Gunwoo’s movements.

He had a short break from training on D-10 to film an interview at TNET. When he arrived at the broadcasting station, he thought he would have to perform a short dance or sing a verse for formality’s sake at the very least, but nope. He ended up barely doing anything.

One of the show’s writers (who somehow looked a bit familiar to him) simply asked him to sit down in front of a camera and just asked him simple questions. What was his name, his age, his occupation, his family, his hobby, his reason for auditioning, also if he had special talent, etc.

Either she was one of the few people in the know of him being an agent sent to protect the contestants so she didn’t need to know his capabilities as a contestant, or she wanted to push him into a cannon fodder role—the funny clueless non-trainee that made a fool of himself during the audition for the viewers to laugh at and hate on.

It shouldn’t matter much to Gunwoo. He was there for a job, not to debut as an idols.

But somehow this pissed him off a bit so he vowed to do really, really well just to spite her.

When he drove back to the private dance studio the next day with a newfound fire in his eyes, he found there were several other people already waiting for him along with Cheongryeo. It was the other VTIC members. Jin Chaeyul, Shin-Oh, and even Judan was there.

What in the world…

“Oh, he’s here!” Jin Chaeyul exclaimed when he stepped into the studio.

When Ryu Gunwoo paused in front of the door to stare at them in surprise, Jin Chaeyul stood up and approached him eagerly instead.

“Hello! I’m Chaeyul, you’re Cheongryeo-hyung’s friend Gunwoo, right?” The blond greeted him cheerfully, grabbing and shaking Gunwoo’s hands as he introduced himself.

Gunwoo blinked, looking at his hands that were held by the golden retriever-like idol. He didn’t really know how to react to this. He ended up just nodding at Jin Chaeyul who was still waiting for his response eagerly.

“I know who you are. Pleased to meet you,” Gunwoo said at last. “My name is Ryu Gunwoo.”

Chaeyul gasped in delight and beamed at him. “You know me?”

"Yes." Gunwoo nodded at him. “It’s because of your face that I was able to go through my university days.”

Unexpectedly, Jin Chaeyul’s cheeks flushed into a dark shade of pink upon hearing his words. Strange, why did he react like that? Surely he must have heard other people complimenting his face like that before since this was his 7th year of being an idol. Gunwoo couldn’t help but find his reaction a bit endearing.

“M-my face?” Jin Chaeyul let go of his hands to cover his burning cheeks.

Gunwoo nodded again.

“I was a data seller in my university days and your fans hired me to take your photos and videos often,” he explained, glancing at Cheongryeo briefly.

“Actually Cheongryeo-ssi’s fans hired me a lot too, but his fans are stingy with their payments while your fans never haggled with my price. They’re even willing to pay more if the photos are exceptionally good, so I was able to go through university without going hungry thanks to you.”

He finished, smiling slightly at the idol.

“O-oh.” Jin Chaeyul stammered. “I thought you meant… Shut up Yoonshin, don’t laugh at me!”

And indeed, Shin-Oh was wheezing from laughing so hard. Even Judan and Cheongryeo had an amused smile on their face.

Perhaps it was because these people were part of the entertainment industry, they all seemed to have rather unique personalities.

That was him trying to politely say that they were really fucking weird.

He was tempted to ask them what was so funny but decided not to. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

Judan approached him with a smile. “Sorry about Chaeyul. My name is Jung Woodan, and that one there is Oh Yoonshin.”

“It’s fine. Pleased to meet you all,” Gunwoo said, nodding his head at each of them before turning back to Cheongryeo. “I thought the whole training thing was to be kept secret?” He said, unimpressed at the older man who apparently couldn’t be trusted to keep his mouth shut.

Cheongryeo just shrugged at him.

“Chaeyul woke up early and followed me before texting the others to come here too. I can’t do anything about that,” the man smiled at him. “I’m just an idol, not a super spy that knows what to do when someone is tailing me, you know?”

...

Annoying bastard.

“I’m sorry! It’s my fault! It’s just that Hyung had been sneaking out alone the past few days without telling us where he was going, so I got curious and followed him because I thought he was dating someone in secret!” Jin Chaeyul explained. “When I cornered him, he explained the circumstances and I got really curious about you so I called everyone here! It’s not often that Hyung would train someone personally like this. He won’t even do this for our juniors at LeTi, you know? I’m sorry… I didn’t know this was supposed to be a secret.”

He finished, giving him puppy eyes to express how sorry he was.

And Gunwoo was—well. He couldn’t even be mad when the idol was sending him that look.

“Well, can’t be helped then,” Gunwoo said, sighing as he put his stuff in the corner of the studio. He took off his sweater and began to stretch. “I’m still going to practice even if you’re here. You can watch if you want, or leave. That’s okay too.”

“I, I’ll stay! Gunwoo-ssi, Hyung said you’re going to join an idol competition soon so he’s teaching you dancing basics as a favor to his friend,” Jin Chaeyul approached him again with a smile. “We can help! We have nothing to do back at the dorm anyway.”

“Thank you, but that’s not necessary.” Gunwoo immediately refused the offer. “Just that bas—I mean, Cheongryeo-ssi alone is enough already.”

Everyone caught his slip and Shin-Oh had to physically block his own mouth so he didn’t make a sound. It seems everyone was a bit afraid of Cheongryeo so they didn’t dare to laugh at him. Understandable, since he had experienced firsthand what the idol had called a ‘dance practice’.

“Haha, I know what you mean. Hyung is… he’s strict, isn’t he? He’s like that with us too,” Judan joked with a very awkward smile, trying not to aggravate the demonic dance coach who was smiling at them threateningly like [^^] in the back.

Strict? You mean sadistic , Gunwoo grumbled inwardly. But good effort on Judan’s part to make his words as mild as possible.

Still, they all jumped in fright when Cheongryeo clapped his hand loudly to gain all their attention.

“Well, enough fooling around. Let’s begin with vocal training first for 2 hours, break, and then dance training,” Cheongryeo announced when they all turned to face him. “Gunwoo-ssi, have you decided on the song you want to perform?”

Gunwoo nodded. “Yes, I decided on T-Holic’s Party in Me.”

“Hm… not bad. It’s an unusual choice, but you picked a good song,” Cheongryeo nodded approvingly.

Of course he did. He had done some research on audition show songs and audience reactions to them last night and had narrowed down the criteria for a ‘safe’ song to perform and they went like this:

No slow ballads ( because they rarely have choreography at all ), no songs that were released within the last 3 years (he  would be compared to the original artist instead of the other contestants ), no songs that were too niche and weren’t sung by idol groups ( because this is an idol survival show and he needed to appear like he was serious about becoming an idol ), and no songs that were sung by more than 3 people ( so he didn’t appear overzealous and overly ambitious ).

And then, since he was still a beginner in dancing he also decided not to include songs with hardcore choreography since he didn’t want to be criticized and mocked too badly for not being able to dance as well as the original. Cheongryeo’s training was helping, but getting better will take time and hard work.

With those criteria in mind, he chose a song that ranked high on the music charts from the songs that were left after eliminating a lot from his list. That song ended up being ‘Party in Me’ by a member of T-Holic.

It was an unusual song and not one people would think to perform at an audition, but it was a really good song that he thought would get him a high enough position, hopefully within the top 20.

He had someone to spite after all, he couldn’t perform poorly.

“Yes. The melody is catchy and it’s not too recent,” Judan added with a nod as well. “But the rhythm is really complex in the second half and the bridge is really high. Will you be able to do it?”

“Well…” Gunwoo smiled slightly. “Why don’t you judge for yourself?”

And then, he began to sing.

Chapter Text

“Wow… oh, my gosh!!!! Gunwoo-ssi, you sang really well!” Jin Chaeyul gushed when Gunwoo finished singing. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were sparkling as he clutched Shin-Oh’s sleeve to contain his excitement while Judan and Shin-Oh himself were clapping after he sang the last line of the song. 

It felt good to know that these people who sing for a living thought that he was good.

Ryu Gunwoo smiled at him. “Thank you for your kind words.”

Jin Chaeyul shook his head. “No, no, I’m serious. That was really great! I think you’re better than Judan!”

“It’s true. You’re way better than me,” Judan complimented matter-of-factly.

Gunwoo looked conflicted at his admission. Even though he was the lead vocalist of VTIC, he admitted it so easily… where was your pride, young man?

“He’s way better than Bihan too!” Shin-Oh added, causing Jin Chaeyul and Judan to look at him with horror. Chaeyul immediately smacked his hand over Shin-Oh’s mouth.

“Shush! Don’t say that name around Cheongryeo-hyung! Do you want to die at our next practice?!” He hissed at Shin-Oh.

What a reaction , Gunwoo thought.

He had heard of Bihan, the former main vocalist of VTIC. His voice was really nice and he danced well, but he caused a huge accident last year due to him driving under the influence that resulted in him being indicted in a criminal case and kicked out of the group.

Rumor said Cheongryeo had personally chosen him out of all the trainees in LeTi to debut back then, so he was really, really angry when the person he chose went and caused a scandal that almost caused VTIC to disband. It seemed like it was true since they were so cautious not to even say that name around him.

Thankfully for them, the man himself was busy checking the recording of Gunwoo’s performance that he just took with his phone. The three regular victims of Cheongryeo’s demonic dance training all breathed a sigh of relief.

Gunwoo’s lips quirked up a bit. These people were hilarious.

“Gunwoo-ssi, come here and watch this,” Cheongryeo called out to him.

Gunwoo came over and saw that he was playing the recording from earlier. His phone was put on loudspeaker so the sound quality was not great, but he thought he sang the song really well despite some imperfections in the second verse. He really needed to get the hang of the song’s tricky beat quickly.

“Okay, now watch this one next.” Cheongryeo played the original singer’s live singing video. “Compared to you, Senior T-Holic’s voice is mid at best, and yet his version is more entertaining and lively to watch. Why do you think that is? …Yoonshin, this isn’t a classroom. Why are you raising your hand?”

Gunwoo looked to his left to see Shin-Oh putting down his hand awkwardly.

“I think… while Gunwoo-ssi’s voice is way better and pretty much perfect, his body language and expression are off,” Shin-Oh answered before Gunwoo could think of the answer. “His face was blank and he stood like his back was strapped onto a wooden plank. So stiff!”

“Correct.” Cheongryeo smiled at him before turning to Gunwoo.

“Gunwoo-ssi, the audience don’t listen to music with just their ears. Facial expressions, gestures, and body language help people perceive the meaning of your songs better. You’re singing about celebrating your life and yet you look like a dead fish. It created a sense of disconnect and uncertainty in your audience,” Cheongryeo ranted mercilessly. “Pay attention to the lyrics. You need to look like you love your life and are proud of the person you have become.”

Gunwoo hummed. “I understand it theoretically, but it’s hard for me to show expressions on my face even in everyday life.”

Cheongryeo clicked his tongue at him. “Which is why we’re going to practice for that. Your vocal is already great, so I think we can just leave your technique alone for now.”

“Well. Gunwoo-ssi, your vocal  is  great… when you're stationary, that is. Can you maintain your voice while dancing? Maintaining a stable voice while moving around and doing complicated moves is harder than it looks,” Judan added.

Gunwoo paused at that. “I… have no idea, actually. I’ve never done that before. The only times I ever sing is when I'm sitting at a noraebang.”

“Cheongryeo-hyung liked to make us sing our entire set list while running on a treadmill,” Jin Chaeyul said. “It made me cry and throw up every single time, but it’s great practice for our concerts! TICAs said we sang like it was a studio recording in our latest concert!”

What the hell. Don’t give that sadist strange ideas, man.

“I’m  not  practicing for a concert,” Gunwoo said firmly, making eye contact with Cheongryeo pointedly before he made him go through that kind of practice.

He was an undercover agent on a job, he wasn’t actually practicing to become an idol!! Why did everyone seem to forget this?

“Ah, that’s right,” Cheongryeo nodded with a wide smile. “We won’t go that far then. Just sing a few songs while running around the studio before dance practice. Think of it as a warm-up, okay?”

…

He really wasn’t paid enough for this.

“Oh, wait. You chose Party in Me for your audition, right? But I noticed the choreography for that song is too simple it could barely called a dance,” Shin-Oh chimed in again. “The judges might ask for another performance if they can’t judge your dancing with one song.”

“…Good point. But I’m still too much of a beginner for songs with difficult choreography.” Gunwoo clicked his tongue as he went through the list of songs he knew in his mind. “The only dance that I can do is Marshmellow’s POP☆CON since the moves are really simple, but it’s not an option.”

Cheongryeo smiled at him. It was that unsettling [^^] smile of his. Gunwoo braced himself for another of the man’s schemes.

“Why not?” The idol asked.

Gunwoo looked at him warily. "What do you mean?"

"Why is it not an option for you?" Cheongryeo tilted his head.

“…Because. People will mock me online if I dance it,” Gunwoo answered, looking at Cheongryeo like he was crazy for not knowing this. 

It should be common sense to know that he would be obliterated online if he was deemed like he was messing around dancing the song instead of taking it seriously like the other contestants.

He didn’t like where this conversation was going. Fuck, why did he have to mention that cursedly addictive song that made him fail his civil servant exam?

Jin Chaeyul shook his head. “They won’t! POP☆CON is fun! I don’t think people will make fun of you if you dance it well.”

“Maybe people might laugh, but it’ll be because the situation is funny and not because you suck so badly they’re making fun of you,” Judan said as if he was enlightened by something. “I don’t think that’s a bad strategy. The viewers will like it. You're guaranteed to have some screen time, at the very least.”

He didn't want screen time though?!

He glanced at Cheongryeo for help, but the man seemed to like the idea too. Fuck.

“Mhm… if you were dancing it  correctly  they won’t make fun of you,” Cheongryeo nodded. “Especially after you blew their mind with Party in Me. They won’t be able to say that you’re not talented or that you’re not taking the audition seriously.”

Gunwoo stared at them.

“You’re not serious.”

Judan, Shin-Oh, Jin Chaeyul, and Cheongryeo all looked at him with sparkling eyes that screamed, ‘DO IT DO IT DO IT IT’LL BE FUN DO IT’.

"Oh. You're actually serious."

Gunwoo realized that they were all fucking nuts.

The worst part was, he could see their point. The dance was easy and almost everyone in South Korea has seen the dance at least once in their life. If he managed to dance it in a way that impressed the judges…

“Fine.” He said defeatedly. “Let’s do it.”

Jin Chaeyul and Shin-Oh cheered.

It was a crazy idea, but well. Whatever. Even if he became a meme, he’d join the meme graveyard after a few weeks anyway.

Gunwoo practiced every day with VTIC until D-1 of the first filming when he went back to the police headquarters meeting room for a final briefing.

Everyone (except for Cheongryeo) expressed their sadness when their dance and vocal practice finally came to an end and Jin Chaeyul immediately made a new chat group for all of them so they could stay in touch afterward. 

He didn’t know why, but during the days they were training together the supposedly untouchable idols somehow got attached to a boring person like him.

It was wild to think that this was his life now. These people whom he had thought he could only see from beyond his camera lenses were now in his phone contact list and sending him cat memes in their group chat.

He also ended up receiving a signed copy of all the albums VTIC had released so far to celebrate their new friendship. If he was still in his data seller days, he would have sold them for an exorbitant price to the TICAs with no hesitation, but because he was their friend now he decided to keep them on display in his apartment.

He took a picture of the albums sitting nicely amid his medals and trophies on his display cabinet and sent it to the VTIC chat room as well as to Moondae and Park Yerim.

Jin Chaeyul and Shin-Oh sent a lot of heart emojis, Judan asked about his many medals, and Cheongryeo sent 20 photos of his dog Kongi out of the blue for no reason.

Gunwoo secretly saved all of those pictures anyway.

Moondae and Park Yerim, on the other hand, sent him voice messages of both of them screaming in envy and excitement. Gunwoo didn’t particularly care about the signed albums, but it was nice to be able to gloat to the two idol fans as a payback for that truly exhausting shopping trip two weeks ago.

When they finally gathered for the meeting, Sung Hyunje smiled that smile [^^] at him, and it instantly made him nauseous because it reminded him of Cheongryeo and that reminded him of all the suffering he endured in Cheongryeo’s dance class from hell.

This must be what people call PTSD , Gunwoo thought.

Hah. He couldn’t believe that it was not any of his missions, not the criminals he faced, not the shoot-outs he’d been in, or being shot that gave him PTSD, but instead, it was a pretty-faced idol whose mouth was just a bit brutal.

“Everyone knows their roles so I won’t bother talking about that again. Yesterday Moondae-ssi and Yoojin-gun had finished installing cameras at the studio in case our anonymous bomber can tamper with the CCTV there. We’ll catch them in action if they decide to move under the impression that the cameras are down.”

Sung Hyunje kept talking about the security measures they had taken. Gunwoo supposed they were paid quite a lot of money by T1 since they were being so thorough.

“… and Gunwoo-ssi. You just have to do your best on stage and be vigilant of your surroundings. Report immediately if you see something unusual or suspicious. Even if it’s just gut feeling, report it. Either Yoojin-gun or his brother will check just to be safe.” Sung Hyunje continued. “Regarding the rankings, we’ll manipulate the votes if you are at risk of being eliminated so don’t worry.”

Gunwoo nodded at that. He knew this. They would make sure he stayed within the top 20. Not high enough to be included in the debut line so he didn’t trample on the dreams and efforts of the actual contestants, but he’d still be on stage until the end or the bomber was found.

“How’s your preparation going, Gunwoo-ya? What song are you going to perform?” Yoojin-hyung asked with a teasing grin on his face. Gunwoo scowled at him and took a sip of his usual overpriced coffee.

“I’m not telling,” he huffed. He was still miffed at his senior for getting him into this situation.

“Boo! No fun,” Yoojin-hyung pouted at him. “I guess I will see it tomorrow during filming anyway.”

Hearing his words, Gunwoo stilled.

…

…Fuck.

He was so busy that he forgot this asshole and his brother was going to be there too since they were part of the security staff. Why did he let those crazy VTIC members talk him into thinking performing POP☆CON for the audition was a good idea!!

It was already too late to learn a new dance too. Goddamnit. He would never stop being teased for this, would he?

Life… why was it so difficult…

That night, a dejected Gunwoo packed some of his new clothes in his overnight mission bag which has a secret inner compartment in which he could put his gun and knives. He put his NIS ID there too, as well as a mini toolkit that he could use to defuse the bomb if possible. 

He knew that with bombs the best method to get rid of them was controlled detonation, but it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared just in case.

He had been told during his interview that contestants were required to wear the uniforms they show provided during filming so he didn’t pack in too many casual clothes, but he did pack a lot of underwear along with his comfortable ratty sleepwear.

He also decided to bring his vitamins, skin and hair care products, and some makeup that Moondae and Park Yerim bought for him. He liked the skincare, but the hair products and makeup were too much for him so he didn’t know if he would actually use them, but he put them in his bag anyway.

The extremely busy days of intense training passed and before he knew it, it was already the day of the first shoot. Like most other survival audition shows, the first evaluations were of the contestants’ individual performances. And so began the first round of screening. *

“Everyone remembers their numbers, right? Contestants will be called in order by number. When you are called, please come out into the hallway,” one of the staff yelled out at them.

Gunwoo’s eyes flitted across the vast backstage waiting room.

Everyone’s so young,  he thought. Well, he supposed this was just the right age for people who aspire to become idols, like that bratty middle school kid from before who immediately lost interest in him when Gunwoo told him that he wasn’t affiliated with any entertainment agencies.

He didn’t know how these young kids were able to stomach the tension and bloodthirsty competition. Back when he was 16, he was… well. He was an angry, spiteful kid who was determined to speedrun his way to success so perhaps he could understand why these kids were doing this after all.

“All right, everyone. Let’s move to the set!” *

They were finally starting to film the actual show. He followed the crowd of middle schoolers huddled together like a gang of meerkats as they watched the contestants who were performing on stage with a nervous air among them.

Somehow, this was the thing that finally made him realize, Oh shit, I'm actually doing this.

As I thought, I really should have become a civil servant instead,  Ryu Gunwoo thought.

He was blank-faced as he stood behind the stage waiting for his turn to go up and perform. Inwardly though, he was kind of wishing for the floor to open up and swallow him right at that very moment.

Really, how did his life decisions so far lead him to this moment?

Sighing, his eyes glanced across the filming studio.

He could see Park Moondae with some of the staff busy quietly giving instructions to the other contestants who hadn’t had a go yet and adjusting their in-ear monitors while others fiddled with the expensive filming equipment.

The judges were listening to the not-great singing of the kids that were currently performing, barely managing to suppress their wince when one of them went off-tune as he danced while the director and writers looked hopeless as they worried about whether or not this season would have a good rating.

Gunwoo could understand their concern. Out of the 38 kids that had gone up so far, he could count on one hand those who actually had the potential to become a successful idol. He could say this confidently because of his experience of being a data seller back in his university days. He had to be good at discerning which one had quality and which one was trash.

Well, at least none of them look suspicious,  Ryu Gunwoo thought as he murmured a quiet thank you to Moondae when the younger agent handed him a handheld microphone and told him to get ready.

The kids on stage bowed to the judges and made cutesy poses to the camera. He suppressed a cringe at the thought of having to do that himself. You really had to be able to completely forget your shame to become an idol. Thank goodness he wasn’t actually required to win this so he could probably get by with half-assing his ‘idol persona’.

“Next contestant, please come up to the stage,” the emcee announced.

Ryu Gunwoo calmly walked to the center of the small stage after exchanging a subtle nod with Moondae and held up his mic.

“Hello, I’m Ryu Gunwoo,” he said calmly as he made eye contact with the judges. “Pleased to meet everyone.”

Chapter Text

“Hello, I’m Ryu Gunwoo,” he said calmly as he made eye contact with the judges. “Pleased to meet everyone.”

There was silence as everyone waited for him to speak more, but he just blinked at them.

“Wait, is that it?” Asked one of the male judges, chuckling into the microphone in his hand.

What the judge meant was that he expected him to introduce himself with more detail, but Gunwoo only nodded sincerely. What else would he say about himself? That he wasn’t actually a contestant and was actually an undercover agent?

“Yes, I don’t have any other experience in this field that is worth talking about,” he said, giving them his usual blank stare.

He was hoping for them to lose interest in him and just make him perform quickly and send him back out again, but it seemed that the judges thought that he was doing a comedy act because they burst into laughter at his response.

“Geez, this one’s really something!”

“Hilarious.”

Several of the judges whispered softly while making sure everything they said was picked up by the microphone. Gunwoo saw Mewdy, a female singer who was starring as a vocal coach this season, flipping through his application form.

“Oh, looking at his application form, he really doesn’t have any experience,” Mewdy commented, showing the papers to another female judge whose face Gunwoo was really familiar with. After all, it was she who made him gain fame in the data seller circle a few years ago.

“Indeed.” Saint U's Youngrin nodded as she examined the paper Mewdy showed her. She looked up to give him an assessing look before saying, “Well, let’s see your performance, then.”

Gunwoo nodded at them and made eye contact with Moondae who gave him the cue that they’d started playing the instrumental backing. Soon, the intro of the song started playing and Gunwoo got into his starting position, ignoring the faint murmuring of the judges at his chosen song as he raised the microphone to his face.

“I remember who I’ve always been
Not just in the shining and dazzling seasons
But also all the times I felt weary and weak
At the end of these endless days
The one who’ll embrace my broken self
Will always be me
Yeah, it’s me”

He began to sing, taking care not to miss the beat as the song had a tricky rhythm. Remembering Cheongryeo’s snarky comments about his dead fish eyes, he quickly schooled his face into a proper expression for the song as his body went through the simple motions of the choreography.

Gunwoo smiled softly as he sang, as it was appropriate for the song. It felt weird singing in front of so many strangers like this. Usually, he only ever sang in front of a small audience of friends. The unfamiliar environment made something as simple as singing a song feel daunting, somehow.

“I’ve managed to live through another day
That itself is a wondrous miracle
Don’t forget it, don’t erase it
So remember
And celebrate this moment
That’s the party in me
As if every day is a party, ooh
Let’s party”

After the chorus, the song proceeded to the second verse. While the melody was the same as the first, the rhythm was much more complex. Gunwoo tried to keep up with the beat and he finally reached the really high notes he moved into the bridge and toward the final chorus, closing his eyes to concentrate better.

He still remembered Judan’s advice for this part.  ‘Don’t exaggerate the high notes, sing it softly as if you’re whispering it to the listeners. This isn’t a song that requires powerful singing.’

“I remember who I’ve always been…”

Finally, the song ended by returning to the first line of the lyrics. He maintained a nice tone until the final note. As soon as the instrumental ended, he bowed and said to the judges, “Thank you for listening.”

There was a brief moment of silence as the judges looked at him in shock. Gunwoo began to frown because he thought he performed poorly after all, but then again it was impossible because he sang the song just like this during practice and those VTIC guys seemed to really like it.

And then Mewdy spoke to her microphone with great enthusiasm.

“Gunwoo-ssi! You know you’re amazing, right?!” Mewdy exclaimed excitedly, her previous disinterest in him totally gone after hearing him sing.

Gunwoo inwardly sighed in relief at the confirmation that he didn’t do badly.

“Thank you for your kind words. I practiced hard so I could give a good performance,” he said back with a carefully composed face. It wouldn’t do for him to look too happy. He shouldn’t attract too much attention from the judges or the cameras.

One of the judges interrupted with a wide grin, “No, I’m telling you. This is something you’re born with. You’ve got talent.”

He was Jeok Taesong, a choreographer infamous for his blunt attitude. Mewdy also seemed especially impressed and showered him with praise.

“First of all, I’d like to say that your tone is very refreshing. You can hear that very clearly since your vocalization is so good,” Mewdy began with her evaluation. “Also, your voice seems like it would suit many genres that are really important for an idol. You also don’t seem to have developed any bad singing habits, so I’m very much looking forward to your future performances. I mean it.”

“Thank you.”

Gunwoo thanked them calmly as his eyes searched that one glasses-wearing writer. She was looking at him wide-eyed in shock too.

His lips curled up in satisfaction seeing her reaction.

What, you didn’t expect me to sing this well? See how the judges react to me just now? They  really  like me. Try shoving me into the role of a foolish, hateable non-trainee now, bastard,  Gunwoo gloated at her in his mind while maintaining a blank expression outwardly.

He felt so refreshed now that he had achieved victory against that writer. After his performance, he would surely get a pretty high rank now. Somewhere in the upper 20s, most likely.

As he reveled in his satisfaction, another judge who was a popular male idol spoke to the microphone.

“Gunwoo-ssi, you’ve never worked with an agency before, right? Earlier, you mentioned that you have no experience in this field, and looking at your application form that’s certainly true. Does that mean you’ve never taken any lessons before?”

“Yes, that is true.” Gunwoo nodded at him.

“Nothing at all? Not even after school lessons?” The idol continued, looking a bit skeptical.

At this, Gunwoo hesitated a bit before he nodded again. “Nothing formal, at least. I just sang at  noraebang  a lot when I was attending university so I had a lot of practice… and for the past two weeks several friends of mine who worked in the industry gave me basic vocal and dancing lessons to help me prepare for this show.”

Youngrin, who had been sitting quietly until then, picked up her microphone.

“Speaking of dancing, the dance you just showed us barely passed for choreography. Can you perform something else that shows your dance skills better?” She asked him. “I understand that you’re a total beginner at this, but since this is the first round of auditions, we still need to know whether you have the basics down or not. I’m sure you must have come prepared with at least one song.”

Ah, shit. He just dug his own grave by mentioning the dance practice, didn’t he? He thought they would forget to ask him to do another dance because they were too focused on praising his voice earlier.

There was a strange sparkle in Youngrin’s eyes when she looked at him. She was taking the role of the strict judge, but it seemed like she was looking forward to his performance too like the other judges. And… was that recognition he was seeing in her face?

He nodded at Youngrin and decided to get it over with already.

“Yes, is it possible for me to do this song?”

Moondae, as one of the crew, hurriedly approached the stage and gestured me over. He told the younger agent the name of the song. The camera followed them and filmed the moment Moondae jolted, surprised.

“Wha—seriously?!” Moondae exclaimed in disbelief as he looked at him for confirmation, thinking that he must have heard wrong somehow. When Gunwoo nodded with a defeated expression, Moondae’s lips twitched as if he wanted to laugh, but he valiantly held it in as he went back to tell the senior crew of his song choice.

Park Moondae, you traitor… how dare you laugh at my misery like this…  Gunwoo thought to himself as he put his body in POP☆CON’s iconic starting pose that everyone from a child to old people could recognize from even a brief glance.

Fuck. He was really doing this, wasn’t he? He could feel his soul leaving his body as the studio was filled with POP☆CON’s cheerful opening instrumental. Jeok Taesong spat out the water he was drinking upon realizing the dance he was going to perform.

Hysterical laughter and whispers exploded across the studio, but Gunwoo decided to ignore them all to wink and beam a bright smile at the judges as he danced to the song.

“POP! POP!
You’re my popcorn (Oh yeah!)
You control
CON CON CON CON
Control my heart  ☆ ”

POP☆CON’s irritatingly catchy chorus blasted loudly from the sound system and his body moved to follow the upbeat melody.

‘Forget your shame and dance like you’re having the best time of your life, Gunwoo-ssi! Smile!’…  was what Jin Chaeyul told him as he danced along with Gunwoo during practice.

As expected of an experienced idol, Chaeyul really was shameless as he cutely moved his hands and feet following the choreography. Gunwoo felt his cheeks warming from embarrassment, but he did exactly as he practiced with VTIC and tried to emulate Chaeyul’s cute and cheerful aura while dancing.

The steps and choreography were simple enough that even elementary school kids could follow them, but thanks to VTIC’s special training, he was able to perform them in a way that made sure the judges knew that he was taking this seriously and wasn’t just dancing it for humorous purposes.

He tried to convey that he had worked hard to prepare the best performance to show them with every little gesture and expression he made.

‘Witness this Ryu Gunwoo’s determination, you bastards.’

And witnessed them, they did. Despite the laughter, all of them looked like they enjoyed his performance. Even Youngrin was smiling slightly as she tapped her finger to the beat of the song.

Finally, he finished the dance with enthusiastic applause from his audience. He bowed respectfully and murmured, “Thank you,” to his microphone.

Jeok Taesong wiped the tears from his eyes before picking up his own. “Oh wow, sheesh… That was the last song I expected to hear. Gunwoo-ssi, weren’t you like ten years old when “POP☆CON” came out? Did you perform that for a talent show as a kid or something?”

Gosh. If he was laughing this much, he couldn’t imagine how his team would react. It was a blessing that he thought to turn off his communicator earpiece and put it in his pocket.

“I was thirteen… and no, I never performed it before,” Gunwoo answered, still blank-faced even as his red were red from both exertion and embarrassment. “I chose this song because I’m a huge fan of Marshmallow.”

Gunwoo lied, expressionless and serious like the trained spy he was. He couldn’t possibly admit that he chose the song because of its really simple choreography because he needed to appear like he was one of the hopeful idol contestants so this was his excuse for choosing it.

“Aw… that’s cute,” Mewdy muttered to herself fondly as Jeok Taesong burst out laughing again.

“Well, I enjoyed your performance,” Youngrin said with a smile. “Compared to other contestants, it’s easy to tell that you’re not very skilled at dancing, but as a beginner, you did really well. I like that you weren’t just going through the motion and added your own flair to it.”

“Yes! I also really like that you put your heart into the dance, even your expressions were on point!” Mewdy added with a happy clap.

Gunwoo murmured his thanks again to the microphone but inwardly he was in disbelief because would you look at that, those VTIC guys were right after all. The judges actually really liked it even though he danced to such a memeable song.

Perhaps it was because the song was released almost over a decade ago it gave them a good feeling of nostalgia instead of the feeling that he was making fun of the audition. In any case, from the reaction of the judges, it would be unlikely that he would be edited in a mocking light so he could rest easy.

He was fine if the viewers at home laughed because the situation was funny, but not if they did it because they wanted to ridicule him.

Youngrin nodded before addressing him again. “You were taught well by your friends at the basics. But you have to understand that future missions will be very challenging. With the skill that you have right now… it would be hard to keep up.”

It wasn’t like he needed to be the best and Sung Hyunje would adjust the votes to make sure he’d survive no matter how he performed so it didn’t really matter to him, but he still nodded at her anyway.

“I will be prepared,” Gunwoo told her in his most natural sincere tone.

“…All right,” Youngrin said finally, giving him a small smile. “Ah. Also… this might be a weird question, but Gunwoo-ssi, do you perhaps usually wear glasses?”

Gunwoo blinked at her in confusion but nodded. “Yes… I’m wearing contacts right now so it didn’t fall during my performance.”

Youngrin’s smile widened.

“As I thought,” Youngrin said. “It seems I was right. Gunwoo-ssi, you’re the person who took that viral video of me a few years ago, aren’t you? I thought I’d seen you before, but it’s hard to be certain because you look so different now.”

…

…Oh fuck. So the recognition he felt from her eyes earlier was because she remembered him? What a terrifying memory you have there, Youngrin-nim, to be able to remember one person from the crowd at a concert that happened close to 6 years ago.

He really didn’t need any more attention from the judges, but since Youngrin said that he might get extra screen time after all. This was a bit troubling.

“…Youngrin-ssi has a really good memory,” Gunwoo said instead of confirming her theory outright, but it seemed like she was happy with his answer anyway as she nodded in satisfaction.

The other judges, especially Mewdy and that male idol broke out into excited chatters that he couldn’t hear clearly as they chattered at Youngrin who was nodding and smiling at them. It was a while before she picked up her microphone again.

“In any case, as a judge, I know I’m supposed to be impartial, but I really hope you’ll be able to do well in this competition, Gunwoo-ssi,” Youngrin told him. “Good luck.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

He was dismissed from the stage and went to seat number 16, the same as the rank he got after his performance.

There were still a lot of contestants left and they were not allowed to leave for at least the next few hours until everyone had been ranked, so Ryu Gunwoo decided to get comfortable in his CEO-like chair as he watched the next contestant get called on stage.

It was at this time that the person sitting next to him turned to him and poked his shoulder. He was handsome, like most of the other contestants were, and also incredibly tall. Gunwoo himself wasn’t short at 180 cm, but even sitting down the other was visibly taller than him.

“Hi!” He chirped. “Your singing was amazing!”

Gunwoo nodded back at him. “Thank you. I didn’t see your performance, but I’m sure you did great as well since you ranked higher than me.”

The guy laughed, apparently finding his comment amusing. “Thanks! But it was nothing compared to your dancing!”

This motherf—

Gunwoo felt his cheeks warming again and he looked away from the other man, sulking a bit. His prediction was true, he was going to be teased about this for a long time after all. What was he thinking, letting those VTIC guys convince him to do it?

“Aw, don’t ignore me! I really mean it! It’s amazing that you danced so well even though you only started learning a few weeks ago!” He said with a grin. Gunwoo just gave him a deadpan look in return, which the other took no notice of as he leaned closer to introduce himself.

“By the way, I’m Lee Sejin! Let’s both do well in this competition!”

Gunwoo glanced at him before turning back to watch the stage. “Ryu Gunwoo. I’m 23.”

“Oh! Haha, I thought we were the same age. Should I call you  hyung  then?” Lee Sejin teased with a smile that made his eyes crinkle upward.

“Hyung-nim  will be acceptable,” Gunwoo told him coolly.

“Pft, ahahah! You’re so funny, Gunwoo-hyung!” Lee Sejin broke into a giggle again. “Not only you’re talented, you also have a good sense of humor. I really respect you, for real! And you're the one who took Youngrin's video? I used to watch it all the time during dance practice, along with all of your other fancams too in your Wetube account! And-”

Lee Sejin kept on chattering as contestant after contestant went up the stage and Gunwoo could feel his social battery draining at an extremely fast pace. He hoped not all of the contestants would be this talkative and bright. He wouldn’t last long if they were all as extroverted and annoying as this guy.

Gunwoo was convinced Lee Sejin was a vampire that drained people’s energy instead of blood because the more he talked the more tired and sleepier he became. It didn’t help that the kids who came on stage kept giving boring performances that didn’t show potential at all.

The producers were really shameless for keeping them seated there until every single contestant had been evaluated. They were still 20+ kids too. Fuck. He needed something exciting to happen or he was going to be caught asleep on camera at this rate.

Just as he thought that, the next contestant came on stage and whispers exploded from the others that had already been ranked. It wasn’t because he was alone, but because he was super good-looking.

“Oh, wow. That’s insane.”

Someone in the row in front of him murmured in awe, and Gunwoo 100% understood that person’s feelings. The boy on stage had long limbs and a slender build. His face was more beautiful than most of the idols Gunwoo used to take fancams of and the way he carried himself was gentle and graceful.

Gunwoo looked at Lee Sejin, back at the boy on stage, and back at Lee Sejin again.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Hyung?” Lee Sejin grinned at him coyly.

Gunwoo didn’t take his bait this time and looked away again, sighing.

The difference was like day and night…

In the end, after an awkward performance, Seon Ahyeon, the beautiful boy, ended up ranking lower than even Gunwoo at 18th place because of his anxiety.

To be honest Seon Ahyeon didn’t do that bad. His voice has a really nice tone, but because he kept shaking, he kept going out of tune at the high notes. He also said that his specialty was dancing and it was easy to tell that he was a really good dancer from how he carried himself, but he looked even stiffer than Gunwoo who was a total beginner. Not to mention, that worried expression on his face when he was supposed to be singing about an exciting first love…

Oh. He had to stop there before he turned into Cheongryeo 2.0, but his point was his performance was messy because he had stage fright.

It was such a shame because Gunwoo could tell that he had the potential to make it big in this industry, but he understood how it could be hard for him as well, what with his stuttering. Seon Ahyeon seemed like he was really self-conscious about it, most likely because he had been bullied because of his speech disorder before.

Gunwoo knew how children could be cruel to those who had disabilities. It was such a shame because they indirectly caused this unpolished gem to flop before he even had the chance to shine.

Still, Gunwoo clapped for him when he walked up to the seat across his own.

Seon Ahyeon sat there quietly with his head down, looking dejected at his poor performance.

Well. That was a bit depressing. Gunwoo didn’t know what to feel with the extremely cheerful person on his right and the depressed one on his left. Seon Ahyeon kept glancing at him but he wouldn’t say anything, so Gunwoo decided to greet him first.

“Hello,” he said, nodding to Seon Ahyeon in greeting. The kid jolted in surprise and nodded back awkwardly several times.

His lips quirked up a bit at that. He seemed like a good kid. He hoped that he would be able to get over his stage fright in the future. It would be a waste if someone like him didn’t win.

“Next up, we have… five contestants who’ll be evaluated at the same time! Choi Jinsoo, Hong Sung…”

Gunwoo counted the remaining contestants in his head and sighed softly.

There was still a long way to go. He hoped not everyone would be mind-numbingly boring like before.

He seriously would fall asleep at this rate.

Chapter Text

Contrary to his expectations, the following contestants were actually pretty good. 

There was Min Junghoon  who  was good at dancing  and  Nam Minjae  who  was pretty good at singing, but the ones that really caught his eye were Kim Raebin and Cha Eugene, who ranked 2nd and 1st after their evaluation  respectively . 

Especially Cha Eugene. Not only did he look really striking with his bright red hair and pointy canine teeth, but he was tall with a good body proportion. 

His performance was also particularly impressive, especially compared to the trash grade of most of the contestants. His singing needed improvement, but he was great at rapping and he was probably the best dancer out of everyone here. It was like he was a black hole, sucking in everyone's attention towards him when he was standing on that stage.

Not only that, his personality was good as well, cheerful and bright that it made even his broken Korean sound charming somehow. Despite being one of the youngest contestants, his charisma was through the roof that it made even Gunwoo feel the need to buy his stocks to make sure he debuted.

…Perhaps he should do that later. Even if he thought Idol Inc. was a stupid competition, it would be a  major  waste if someone who had that much potential fell before he even had the chance to shine.

Aside from that, there was also a major surprise for him when a familiar name was called to the stage as the last contestant.

Ryu Chungwoo.

At his young age, he was already a former professional archery athlete and an Olympic gold medalist. Not only that, he was good-looking and talented at both singing and dancing. And this impressive person was... a relative of his.

Back when they were children, they often played together (or just hung out talking and reading books together) during the yearly Ryu clan reunion as they were close in age (with Gunwoo being only one year older) and had similar hobbies (competitive sports). 

They even visited each other’s competition a lot since they lived close to each other, and even though Gunwoo was unable to support him in person at the Olympics because he had  an important  competition of his own at the same time, he was really proud of his cousin for winning gold for their country.

But the same Ryu clan reunion that took his parents’ lives also took Chungwoo’s dreams from him. That year, their Ryu clan was  truly  cursed with bad luck. Just a few hours before the electrical fire that killed his parents happened, the bus that carried Chungwoo’s family got into an accident that damaged his shoulders so much that he was unable to continue doing archery. 

At that time, Gunwoo felt resentful because he felt that it was unfair that Chungwoo and his family were able to escape relatively unscathed with only a few injuries while his parents had to die, but he realized now that it must have been hard for Chungwoo as well.

Being a professional archer has been Chungwoo's dream since they were kids. Even if he survived the accident, having his dream and life goal taken away from him so abruptly must have not been easy, but because he was too angry at everyone and the world back then he deprived his cousin of the support and companionship that he could have given him as a fellow athlete when he blocked any communications with all of his relatives.

Looking at him now at the center of the stage, dancing like he was born to do this, made him feel bittersweet somehow, but he was also very proud of his cousin for still being able to hold his head high and overcome his painful past.

“Contestant Ryu Chungwoo ranks… 9th place!”

Gunwoo clapped  silently  as he watched his cousin bow to the judges with a genial expression  on his face . Chungwoo looked pleased that he was able to rank high. He should congratulate him in person later once they have some free time. And vote for him too. He had a lot of savings since his job paid well and he wasn't a big spender. Supporting his cousin in his new career choice seemed like a good excuse to blow his bank account.

But for now, he should move to sit in his new chair since Chungwoo just shifted the ranks again. His final rank was 21st, huh? 

Not bad at all.

After the long and torturous audition  was finally done , the production team ushered them to the bus so they could film the next scene at the dorm. Well, ranked 11th to 25th  got  the premium bus. Chungwoo and the other top ranks got to ride a “VVIP limo” while the rest of the contestants had to go on foot to get there. 

The distance to the dorm itself was only a short 10-minute’ walk, but Gunwoo thought it was really disgusting how the production team did this to get footage of the low rankers’ shame and humiliation. Did they forget that a lot of these kids were still underage? Even from his seat on the bus, he could see a few of the kids were fighting back tears,  and  yet the cameras kept following them unrelentingly.

Still, he was glad to finally be able to rest for a bit after having to sit through that agonizingly long audition. And he was even blessed with quieter roommates, like Seon Ahyeon, who chose the bed above him after also choosing to sit beside him on the bus. 

In fact, the younger man kept following behind him even after they got changed into the provided sweatsuits and told to assemble, almost like a second shadow… perhaps he disliked the other kids’ noises too  so  he stuck to the only other quiet person he knew, which was Gunwoo.

Well.  He  didn’t really mind. We quiet introverts should stick together and protect each other from the loud and tiring extroverts after all. Thank goodness that the Social Battery Vampire from before ranked high so they were not grouped together.

In the assembly hall, the emcee then explained about the customized classes  that were  based on their grades in the initial screening, which meant that Gunwoo  of   course  got the advanced badge for the vocal class and the beginner badge for the dancing class. Considering that there were a lot of contestants who didn’t receive any badges at all, this meant that he wasn’t doing too badly.

After all the badges were handed out, a gigantic screen lit up.

“The song you will be practicing will now be revealed! For the next ten days, you will put forth your best effort to master this song, then perform it for the shareholders of 'Idol Incorporated!' The song for this season is called 'Shining Star!'”

An addictive beat suddenly began blasting from the speakers, accompanied by  emotional,  but ultimately cringy lyrics. Gunwoo  decided to ignore  the lyrics for now as he focused on the choreography that Jeok Taesong was demonstrating on stage with the assistant dance coach.

The choreography looked simple at first glance, but it had  a really  tricky footwork in the chorus.

Gunwoo sighed and resisted the urge to massage his forehead. Youngrin wasn’t kidding when she warned that it would get  harder  in the future.

…He should  have a  talk with the PD later so that he’d be positioned in the middle or the back during the first performance  just  in case. He really didn’t want to make a fool of himself live on air when they couldn't edit out his mistakes.

Beginner dance class was exhausting, but it was nowhere as crazy as Cheongryeo’s Dance Class From Hell. Jeok Taesong was also a strict teacher, but his words were not as biting and ruthless as Cheongryeo's. In other words, Gunwoo was doing just fine there. 

Oh, he wasn’t excelling, but he also wasn’t hopeless at it. Progress was slow and he only just memorized 50% of the choreography even after dancing for hours, but it was fine. He had 9 more days to perfect it. And he was yelled at only once during the 2 hours of practice! That was a win for him.

Previously, Gunwoo had planned to meet with his cousin during their dinner time after practice, but he was tired and sleepy  so  the thought of having to walk around the cafeteria full of loud  cheerful  kids really didn’t appeal to him. Perhaps he should do it tomorrow instead...

And then.  He  thought that that was all and  he  was done, that  he would be able to finally sleep, but the bastards of Idol Inc. suddenly announced that there would be additional practice for the Nobodies and the Bronzes.

Fuck!!!!!  Three more hours of dance practice! He took it back, these people were as evil as Cheongryeo!! 

Moreover, this hellish schedule would continue until the next evaluation. It seems that Gunwoo wouldn’t get  the chance  to congratulate his cousin anytime soon since their schedules didn’t match. He had underestimated those Idol Inc. bastards , they  were actually insane for making these kids go through this kind of grueling schedule. 

…Thank you, Park Yerim, for insisting on getting him those expensive skincare products and vitamins. It seemed  that he would really  need its help since he wouldn’t get much sleep this week.

In the end, Gunwoo’s first day as an idol trainee ended at 1 AM, two hours later than the other kids  because there was this annoyingly difficult turn that he still didn’t get quite right yet  and  he was so frustrated at himself for failing again that he kept trying until he lost track of time. 

His perfectionist tendency could be a curse  too , sometimes…

Before  he went back  to his dorm room, he stopped by the restroom at the end of the long hallway back to their sleeping quarters—the one with the ‘out of order’ sign plastered on the door. It was locked to prevent the actual contestants and other staff from entering, but Gunwoo had the key for it, given to him personally by the PD that morning before filming started.

When he opened the door, Yoojin-hyung looked up from his phone from where he was leaning against the wall and grinned at him.

“Gunwoo-ya! Good work today!” His senior greeted him, still annoyingly cheerful  even  though it was past midnight.

His cheerfulness felt disgusting to Gunwoo who was so tired he felt like he could fall asleep any second now.

“…Hyung  too .” He replied, his tone  rather  subdued due to his fatigue from all the dance practice from earlier. He turned on the faucet and splashed his face with cold water to perk himself up  a little bit . “Where’s your brother?”

Yoojin-hyung shrugged. “Patrolling, most likely.”

Gunwoo hummed as he wiped his face with his shirt. “Find anything on our bomber?”

Yoojin-hyung shook his head. 

“Nope. We think they probably won’t even do anything until the first stage, or maybe the first episode. Don't let your guard down just because that's our current theory though.” 

Gunwoo nodded.

The first episode, huh? That makes sense. Their bomber seemed like the attention-seeking type from their threat letter. It wouldn’t make much of an impact if they were to act now when only the die-hard idol fans knew of the program.

“Oh  right . Here, Gunwoo-ya,” Yoojin-hyung said suddenly. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a small black pouch. “Your in-ear communicator is too visible and hard to conceal, right? Not to mention  there  are times when you have to switch to other in-ears for your performances, so Sung Hyunje told me to give you these instead.”

Gunwoo took the pouch and pulled out a pair of inconspicuous earrings and plain black hair clips. Looking closely, it seemed to be one of their more subtle communicators.

“See those buttons? Just push them once if you want to tell us something and once more to turn off the microphone. The batteries will last for a  month  so don’t worry about charging them,” Yoojin-hyung explained to him. “Both have speakers  too . Low volume  so it doesn’t attract attention, but you should still be able to hear it clearly. Don’t worry, we will contact you with it only in emergencies.”

Hmm… not bad.  His  ears weren’t pierced  though   so   he would have to settle for the hairpins for now even though it would be harder to hear from the speakers. He should have his ears pierced later when he has the time.

“Thanks. I will use them well,” Gunwoo nodded to Yoojin-hyung, suppressing a yawn with his hand. “Well, if there is no urgent update on our bomber, I’m gonna go back  to my room and rest.”

“Okay. Sleep well , you  must be exhausted today,” Yoojin-hyung told him and ruffled his hair with a teasing grin. 

Gunwoo just slapped his hand away with a scowl and walked towards the door, but as he was about to turn the  handle  he heard Han Yoojin’s voice calling out to him again.

“Oh, right. Gunwoo-ya!”

Gunwoo turned around and squinted at him, suspicious at the way his senior's lips were twitching.

“…What?”

“I just want to say that I really  e-enjoyed  your audition,  pft ,” Yoojin-hyung said, his voice trembling with suppressed giggles. “If you were  actually  competing, I’d vote for you, for real. That was the first time in years that I laughed that hard, snrrk—POP…  hah , you’re  my  POP☆CON. Pfffft—!”

Yoojin-hyung couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into laughter.

Gunwoo’s cheeks reddened in mortification hearing his senior’s relentless teasing. So many things happened today that he forgot that they were watching his auditions. 

Fuck. He was so embarrassed…

“I’m going to break your legs,” he promised Han Yoojin with a mortified glare, but the bastard only laughed harder at his threat.

“PFT—HAHAH! Try if you can! Snrk, I’m going back to patrol. Bye!”

And with that, Han Yoojin gave his hair another teasing ruffle and left him alone in the unused restroom to steep in his embarrassment.

Gunwoo's cheeks felt like it was burning. He smacked his face to calm down and sighed, mourning his dignity in the eyes of his professional colleagues.

One day, Gunwoo promised himself with a scowl. One day he would slip a Carolina Reaper into Yoojin-hyung's bowl the next time he invited the jerk to dine at his place.

Nodding to himself, he left the restroom and went back to his dorm.

He had a 6 hour date with his bed.

Chapter Text

The contestants at Idol Inc. were separated into 5 grades depending on their ranks and skills.

The ‘no grade at all’, also known as the ‘trash grade’ in the online community, was the lowest of the grades. Most of them would be eliminated in the first round of elimination. Then there was the bronze grade and the silver grade. The top contestants would get the gold grade, but there was another grade above even gold—platinum.

In the previous seasons of Idol Inc., the platinum grade was reserved for less than a handful of contestants who the judges deemed as the ones who were most likely to debut. In the first season, all of the platinum contestants also ended up debuting.

…So tell him why he was getting a platinum badge?

“W-w-wooow!” Seon Ahyeon gasped in awe beside him seeing the iridescent shine of his platinum badge.

This attracted the attention of Lee Sejin who immediately attached himself to him.

“No way! Wow, that’s amazing! Congratulations, Hyung! Platinum, huh? Haha, should I actually call you Hyung-nim now?” Lee Sejin chattered with a laugh as he smacked Gunwoo’s back cheerfully. “Hyung, why aren’t you saying anything to the camera? Are you so moved that you’re speechless? I got gold by the way! What about you, Ahyeon?”

Seon Ahyeon smiled brightly at his new friend and showed him the badge that he received.

“I-I got gold t-too!”

“…Congratulations to you both.”

Gunwoo congratulated them with a forced smile. He could only swallow his sigh and attempt to look grateful for his grade for the camera even though inside, he was distraught and a bit flustered.

Because this didn’t make any sense at all.

This wasn’t what they agreed on, PD Jeong!!

This past week, his schedule was pretty much the same as the first day of filming. In the morning were the dance classes, after lunch there were vocal classes, after dinner there would be the supplementary class for the nobodies and the bronzes, and then he’d go do his extra practice until midnight.

Gunwoo was often scolded during the dance class for content and drama, but vocal classes were a breeze to him and Mewdy, the trainer, always gazed at him with stars in her eyes when he sang and complimented him a lot after he finished.

This blatant favoritism told him that the singer would probably try to take him under her wings and bring him to her agency even if he happened to be eliminated from the show, and this wasn’t lost to the other contestants.

Choi Wongil, the brat who ignored him for not being affiliated with an agency back during the audition, was especially jealous and resentful of him because of Mewdy’s favoritism and kept making snide comments about him even though most of the contestants were smart and kept their mouth shut despite their resentment.

“Wow. You’re getting so much good feedback for your singing, at least. You should really work your way up from the lower-level dance class!”

“You sing like an amateur. I think that makes your vocals sound cleaner, which is a perfect match for this song.”

“You have such good luck. I envy you. Having good luck is one of the most important parts of succeeding in the entertainment industry, you know. It’d be great if you could channel that good luck into making yourself a better dancer, too, what a shame. Don’t give up, though!”

“I guess people with good luck have it better than hard workers. Everyone here is really desperate to do well, you know. You got here by accident, but you’re getting pretty good feedback.”*

Those were the kind of petty insults that he’d throw at Gunwoo whenever he thought the camera wasn’t filming him, but since Gunwoo didn’t even want to be an idol in the first place those comments didn’t affect him at all.

There was also the big 6-year gap between their ages. Not only it would be pathetic of him if he let himself get provoked by a literal child’s playground insults, Choi Wongil's pouts and very ineffective insults combined with his very young baby face only served to make him look like… a tiny hedgehog in his mind. Prickly, but ultimately not intimidating at all, so Gunwoo just ignored him whenever the brat was in one of his tirades.

Halfway through the week, Lee Sejin, who was always busy bouncing around making friends with different groups, also settled down and started hanging out with him during dinner for some reason. Since Seon Ahyeon was always sticking to him too, the two good dancers started to become friends after they found out that they were the same age.

Seon Ahyeon was so happy about finally making friends with someone of the same age that Gunwoo didn’t have it in him to drive the annoyingly friendly extrovert away despite his social battery always being drained whenever Lee Sejin started chattering at him.

Well, he could put up with it as payment for Seon Ahyeon’s tutoring.

The younger man had started coming to Gunwoo’s extra practice time to keep him company when he noticed that Gunwoo was always late coming back to their dorm room, and after noticing his struggles with the choreography, the former danseur decided to teach him every night right until the day before the grading evaluation.

After only having been taught by hard-asses like Cheongryeo and Jeok Taesong, Seon Ahyeon’s patience and earnestness really touched Gunwoo that it motivated him to work even harder. The younger man even willingly gave Gunwoo his stash of snacks when he noticed that Gunwoo needed the extra calories! He was an angel inside and outside and Gunwoo would actually lay down his life for him.

Now, what were the chances of a beginner dancer like Gunwoo getting better at dancing in only a week and completing his grading evaluation performance with a glowing review from the judges? Without Seon Ahyeon’s help  it was close to zero, and yet here he was listening to Jeok Taesong telling him that he did a good job. The man even looked happy, he was smiling so wide!

Most of the lower ranks were petrified at the thought of public evaluation and ended up either completely forgetting the choreography or flubbing their performances, but he didn’t think that he was that good . Though even if he was, he credited Seon Ahyeon for his help when the judges asked him how he got better. Surely that painted the former danseur as the main contributor to his progress instead of Gunwoo being talented?

And yet, Seon Ahyeon, who taught him how to dance for the past week, who gave him his stash of snacks every night, who stayed up late with him practicing even though he could have left with the others to sleep early, only got gold rank while Gunwoo got platinum?

This wasn’t what they agreed on!!

Actually, Gunwoo had discussed his grade with the PD beforehand. They had agreed on a silver grade for him since even though he was ranked in the upper 20s his dancing skills were still not as good as the actual contestants. This way, he wouldn’t get too much screen time while still not being at risk of immediate elimination.

The fact that he got platinum meant that he would get more screen time. Moreover, he was the only platinum from the rank 20s instead of the top rankers. He was going to stand out now, dammit.

As Seon Ahyeon and Lee Sejin chatted with each other, he stared at the iridescent badge inside the box that he was given, then looked up at PD Jeong who was cowering behind the cameraman.

The treacherous PD kept anxiously looking at the camera, at the ceiling, at the judges. He looked everywhere but at Gunwoo’s direction.

When the coward finally looked at Gunwoo, he nervously winked and shot finger guns at him before fleeing to the other cameras that were filming Cha Eugene and the other platinums to escape his glare.

…

…Run and hide while you can, PD Jeong, he thought darkly as he plotted to catch the slippery man.

He owed Gunwoo some explanations for this mess and he’d get his answer one way or another.

Back when he was a data seller, Gunwoo was used to queuing for an idol’s performances at all kinds of unholy hours in all kinds of unholy weathers so he was well aware of what kind of hardship live audiences had to go through just to be able to see their favorite idol up close even for just a short time, but he didn’t know that the idols themselves had it even harder than their fans.

The day after the grading evaluation, the contestants had to gather in the studio to prepare for the stage at 6 AM even though the main performance would be filmed 10 hours later at 4 PM. And knowing these Idol Inc. bastards with their hellish schedules, they would probably end up finishing late at 8 or 9 PM.

…Seems like today was going to be a long, hard day.

Right when he thought that he wanted to curse someone, Gunwoo saw PD Jeong walking toward the restroom while yawning. Perfect.

He followed the main producer’s steps silently and quickly slipped into the restroom after the director got inside. Seeing Gunwoo's reflection in the mirror behind him, PD Jeong gasped audibly and turned around quickly to face him with fear in his eyes as if he were a victim in a horror movie.

“A-Agent Ryu! What a coincidence! Are you going to use the restroom too? This is the staff restroom though, haha… ha…” PD Jeong laughed nervously when Gunwoo gave him his blank unimpressed stare. The PD stepped back until his back hit the sink, squirming under the weight of his glare.

“My grade. Explain it,” was the only thing Gunwoo said to him, and PD Jeong quickly held up his hand in a gesture of surrender.

“Aah, it’s really not my fault, Agent Ryu!” PD Jeong told him, ruffling a hand through his short hair. “I tried to influence your grade placement , really ! I told the judges that maybe they should pick Lee Sejin B instead of you for the platinum, but they gave me dirty looks and told me that they would grade the contestants solely based on their talents and abilities and wouldn’t listen to me! They thought I had a deal with Lee Sejin’s agency now. Youngrin was so scary… she looked at me as if I was a bug. It really hurts, you know…”

The director vented, almost in tears.

Listening to his word vomit, Gunwo got distracted and thought, why did he recommend Lee Sejin, why not Seon Ahyeon? His face was better, his personality was better, and he danced better too.

Wait no, it wasn’t what was important here.

“Based on talent and ability?” Gunwoo asked him in an incredulous tone. “But I got platinum. ”

The ‘ And I’m shit at dancing’ at the end of his sentence was unspoken but heard clearly by the PD.

“That’s what I told them! But I was outvoted!” PD Jeong whined at him. “They said that you’re a diamond in the rough. That you improved so much in just 10 days, if we gave you even just several more weeks of practice you could probably catch up with the other contestants, so they chose you instead.”

That was…

He stifled a groan and resisted the urge to pull out his hair. Seon Ahyeon, you were so good at teaching people that the judges thought I actually had a talent for dancing…

“Fine. Fine, nothing can be done now. Just… make sure I don’t get too much screen time,” Gunwoo finally said with a sigh.

PD Jeong nodded in relief. “Yes, yes, of course! I can do that! Don’t worry, Agent Ryu, I actually have authority on what gets broadcasted so I won’t fail you this time!”

After giving him a last deadpan glare, Gunwoo left him alone in the restroom.

Shit. Well. He couldn’t ask to change his grades since he had been filmed receiving the platinum badge. What was done couldn’t be undone, so he should just suck it up and do his job as planned. All that was left for this round of filming was to perform the theme song and then he would have a break for a full seven blissful days so he just had to hang in there for a little bit more.

Thankfully, PD Jeong kept his word and managed to convince the choreographer to place Gunwoo near the back of the fan-like formation of the performance, far away from the camera.

Even though he was a platinum , it wouldn’t look good on screen after all if a dancing newbie like him performed beside the other platinums who were already experts at dancing, so he was positioned behind the gold grades for the dance breaks and ended up right next to Seon Ahyeon and Lee Sejin—who was thankfully already well acquainted with him and not annoying social climbers like the other boys who kept approaching him after they found out about his grade.

“Hyung, aren’t you a bit disappointed?” Lee Sejin asked as he stretched his limbs.

“About my position on stage? Not really,” Gunwoo replied calmly.

Indeed, he was actually very happy with his position. So many other people in front of him, that he probably would only get a split second of appearance at most which was ideal for him.

Lee Sejin looked surprised. “Whoa , really ? I would have been really disappointed if I got platinum and ended up positioned behind the golds.”

“Hm… that would be understandable in your case wouldn’t it? Since you’re good at dancing,” Gunwoo said matter-of-factly without looking at the younger boy. He had to focus on his stretching.

“Aw, Hyung-nim…!” Lee Sejin beamed at him, so happy at the compliment that he actually got a respectful honorific. “Thanks! Hehe, do you want help with stretching? I’m really good at loosening the neck muscles!”

Lee Sejin wiggled his hands in front of Gunwoo’s face.

Gunwoo gave him a dubious look. How would he even help someone else loosen their neck muscles…

An image of the younger man stepping behind him, wrapping his arms around his neck before snapping it with a sharp crack suddenly flitted through his mind and he rolled his eyes at his own absurd imagination.

Clearly, he had been working too much and was in desperate need of a vacation if he started looking for threats in places where there were none. Imagining this overly friendly kid as a neck-breaking assassin when he was probably just offering a massage, seriously…

Before he could reply, another voice interjected, “You can’t dance?”

It was Cha Eugene! How unexpected that he would approach Gunwoo on his own. Was he scoping out his competitions? His questioning expression was innocent and lacked any ill intent though.

Maybe he was just genuinely curious, but he really should be careful of what came out of his mouth when the cameras were running and the microphones were on. A talented guy like you… what if you got evil edited by these Idol Inc. bastards, man?

“You didn’t see my performance?” He asked the redhead back since admitting his nonexistent dancing ability out loud was a bit embarrassing when it could be caught on camera.

Cha Eugene shook his head with a guilty expression.

“I was busy preparing my own performance so I didn’t watch yours closely,” the boy explained.

“Then, next time you can see my dancing and judge for yourself,” Gunwoo told him with a small smile that he hoped looked friendly enough.

“Hm… okay!” Cha Eugene nodded with a determined gleam in his eyes before turning his attention back toward the front.

“He has a unique way of speaking, doesn’t he? Maybe it’s because he’s been living overseas?” Lee Sejin laughed weakly, looking a bit taken aback by the current Rank 1 contestant.

Gunwoo understood exactly how he felt. Cha Eugene was a bit like a storm. Or more like… a cat? He came approaching suddenly and left just as suddenly.

“Seems so,” he agreed.

Rehearsal started soon after that so they didn’t talk anymore.

The rehearsal lasted all morning until they were all weak in their knees. Only after rehearsal was over did they finally get a break for lunch. Apparently, the production team hadn’t been able to secure any food-related sponsorships, since all they got was kimbap wrapped in aluminium foil and mineral water.

After receiving his lunch, Gunwoo looked around the studio and saw Seon Ahyeon eating at the edge of the stage with Lee Sejin. He was about to go join them when he saw his cousin eating with some other contestants in the middle of the stage floor.

It seemed like the opportunity to talk to him had finally arisen, so he decided to take it.

He calmly walked towards Chungwoo, who looked tired but not as dead as the Child Actor Lee Sejin beside him who was munching on the sad-looking kimbap that was their lunch. His cousin looked up when he stopped in front of them and gave him a friendly but confused smile.

“Hello…?” Chungwoo greeted him hesitantly.

Looking at his cousin closely like this, Gunwoo thought that their faces really did have a strong resemblance to each other, though their personalities made his cousin look bright and elegant while he looked gloomy and unassuming.

Gunwoo was never the best at socializing so he never imagined himself having a tearful reunion with his cousin, so he just nodded back at him in greeting and sat down amongst the tired kids like he always belonged there.

“Long time no see, Chungwoo-ya,” Gunwoo told his cousin with a small, tired smile. “Congratulations on getting 9th rank and the platinum grade. Sorry, I meant to congratulate you earlier but our schedules didn’t match.”

Somehow Ryu Chungwoo looked even more confused after hearing his compliment, though he recovered quickly.

“Um, thank you! Congratulations on your platinum grade as well,” Chungwoo said with a genial smile as he glanced at the iridescent badge on Gunwoo’s shirt.

Gunwoo nodded to acknowledge him as he unwrapped his own sad kimbap. He sighed when he saw there weren’t even any condiments to spice up their sad lunch. These Idol Inc. bastards were really too much, making them work all day and only giving them this for nourishment.

An uncomfortable silence followed after he took a bite of his meal. He saw the child actor’s eyes flitting between the two of them awkwardly. Was he hoping that Gunwoo would greet him too? Fine, he’d greet him after he finished chewing.

Chungwoo suddenly coughed to break the silence.

“Um, I’m really sorry, but I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet…?” His cousin asked again with an awkward smile. “May I have your name?”

Gunwoo stilled mid-chew.

“…?”

Gunwoo blinked at him, baffled at Chungwoo’s words.

He… didn’t remember Gunwoo?

Sure they might not have met each other for almost 7 years and he has an uninteresting face, but Gunwoo would like to think that he wasn’t that forgettable. Did the bus accident mess with Chungwoo’s head as well as his shoulder?

“I’m Gunwoo,” he said.

When he saw Chungwoo blinking at his deadpan introduction still lacking recognition, he sighed and ruffled his hair until his bangs covered his eyes then pulled out his glasses from its case in his pocket.

The moment he put on his glasses, Chungwoo frowned, tilting his head in confusion. He squinted and leaned forward to look closer at Gunwoo’s face. Several seconds passed before his jaw dropped and he jostled the sad kimbap that he was holding in his hands and almost dropped them on the dirty stage floor.

“Gunwoo-hyung?!” Chungwoo shouted in surprise, catching the eyes of a few people nearby.

Gunwoo stifled an amused laugh at his reaction. Even after all these years, it was still fun getting a rise out of his usually cool, calm, and collected cousin.

“Took you long enough, cousin.”