Chapter 26: Unlucky Ties
“Third place, trainee Do Seohan… Congratulations!”
Even though they called his name, the trainee just sat there with a blank expression.
Only after a moment did he seem to hear his name, and he ran out looking startled.
Hesitantly.
Han Dawon turned to look at Do Seohan, who stood beside him with a very tense face.
His youthful face looked dazed, as if he didn’t expect to be called at this timing.
He thought he was good at managing his expressions in front of the camera, but age seemed to show.
That innocence was endearing, and Han Dawon let out a small chuckle.
“Trainee Do Seohan.”
“Yes…?”
Trembling.
The hand holding the microphone trembled slightly.
He wasn’t even nervous during the grade evaluations, yet here he was today, visibly shaking.
Han Dawon smiled and asked,
“Shall we hear how it feels to be in third place?”
Seohan nodded while trying to calm his flushed cheeks.
‘I need to say this properly.’
It was an unbelievably high ranking.
Compared to his previous performance, he had jumped twelve spots—a ranking that stood out even among the thirty-four trainees.
He couldn’t just breeze through such a grateful moment.
He had so much he wanted to say that his words started to tangle.
“First of all… I can’t really believe it….”
Seohan took a deep breath and blinked his eyes.
What should he say first?
He had always watched other top-ranking trainees give their speeches from within the top ten.
He never once thought that chair up there could be his.
He felt more dazed than anything at his first-ever achievement.
“While preparing for this stage, I had a lot of worries.”
He gave his best at every moment and poured out everything he knew to improve.
Still, he was afraid the results wouldn’t change.
“I was really worried that people watching my performance wouldn’t be satisfied. But once I was actually on stage… seeing the fans just made me feel really happy.”
It was such a blissful moment that even now, just closing his eyes made scenes from the stage flash by.
This stage had reaffirmed something for him.
Even in this brutal survival, while struggling to somehow stay afloat.
Even in the moments when he felt so physically drained he might collapse at any moment.
“It might sound odd, but… these days I think performing is just so much fun.”
He genuinely enjoyed it, so it didn’t feel all that difficult.
So—
“Even if I get another life, I want to do this again.”
Seohan smiled brightly and gripped the microphone tightly.
His heartfelt words echoed through the studio.
“This honorable ranking… I’ll take it as a sign to work even harder. Thank you!”
“21st place is… trainee Kang Siwoo. Congratulations.”
It was Lee Junhyeok who boarded the last train to elimination in 22nd place.
If I remembered correctly, Kang Siwoo was supposed to be eliminated in the first round.
But now he had safely passed on to the next evaluation.
The image I had of Lee Junhyeok was one of a top-ten trainee who made it through the first selection without trouble.
Maybe that’s why it felt a little strange.
Perhaps the future had changed because of my involvement.
Someone was eliminated, and someone else got one more chance thanks to that.
I swallowed the secret I knew with a bitter heart.
“Looks like everyone’s already starting to pack.”
“Almost half got cut, so it’s going to feel empty once they’re all gone.”
“Right.”
Thirteen trainees eliminated all at once.
There was no avoiding the uneasy atmosphere in the dorm.
The next day, Lee Junhyeok silently stuffed his things into his suitcase.
He was the only one from our room who got eliminated, so the rest of us stayed quiet and left the room.
We wanted to give him some time to pack in peace.
As I leaned against the hallway wall and sighed, Ha Junseo came up to me.
“It feels weird, doesn’t it?”
He’d seen almost everything about Lee Junhyeok while we were in the same team—even if not as much as I had.
Even though it was Lee Junhyeok who was eliminated, it still weighed on him.
I couldn’t imagine how someone this soft-hearted managed to survive all the member scandals.
I suddenly remembered Junseo-hyung’s face getting thinner every time Stardust’s group photo made the front page of the news.
“Hyung, make sure to eat properly.”
“Huh?”
Ha Junseo blinked at my random concern.
He had no way of knowing what kind of future I had seen.
I pretended it was just a normal worry and added,
“Just… in case you lose weight later.”
“Oh, because I’ve been pushing myself lately? It’s fine. I’ll just pour everything into this until the audition’s over. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
No, hyung. It’ll only get worse afterward.
Eat a lot now.
Don’t drink weird six-shot coffees, just eat some carbs.
But I couldn’t bring myself to say it, so I kept my mouth shut.
“…Never mind.”
He’d manage somehow, that hyung too.
Just as we were killing time with meaningless talk—
Creak—
Lee Junhyeok came out pulling his suitcase.
“…….”
I half-expected him to glare at us or something, but instead, he avoided eye contact and said nothing.
The guy who used to look like he’d grab someone by the collar and scream was now walking around deflated.
Even if the sun rose from the west tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Though I felt a bit worried, we weren’t the kind of group to cry and hug each other like in the other rooms.
Especially when the cameras were off, like now, there was no need for that.
No one could open their mouth easily in this situation.
Then, Ha Junseo, who had kept quiet, spoke in a calm voice.
“Take care.”
At those words, Lee Junhyeok turned his head.
Just a few days ago, they were nearly at each other’s throats, asking if the other was even human.
Well, depending on the situation, the words might’ve sounded different.
But unless Lee Junhyeok was an idiot, he’d know that wasn’t meant as sarcasm.
Still, the awkwardness couldn’t be helped.
I turned to Ha Junseo, who was fidgeting, unable to continue the conversation.
At that moment, Lee Junhyeok’s empty gaze turned toward me.
He had been talking to the other guy.
Or so I thought.
“Sorry.”
That felt like it was meant for me.
The old building where the Stardust Project filming was taking place.
From the first-floor bathroom, a low voice echoed.
The hallway, the rooms, even the practice rooms.
It was the one place where, amidst all the camera-covered areas, the trainees could catch their breath and speak comfortably.
Of course, there were always those who used such places a little differently.
“Kang Siwoo.”
The voice calling a roommate was chillingly cold.
Kang Siwoo was drying his hands when he slowly looked up.
A dark shadow appeared in the bathroom mirror.
With a spine-chilling voice, as if whispering directly into his ear, the figure spoke.
“Feel good about getting 21st?”
Of course he would.
He had barely made it, almost getting eliminated after the first evaluation.
There was no such thing as a “close call” in the harsh world of survival.
If you didn’t do just a little better, you were simply a forgotten dropout who never even showed up on screen.
That was the way of this world.
Splash—
Kang Siwoo turned off the faucet and wiped his wet hands with tissue.
“…Yeah. It feels good.”
“Congrats. I figured you’d make it.”
Kang Siwoo tried to say thanks but hesitated.
Though he smiled as if genuinely cheering him on, there was always something shady about this guy.
“But I didn’t think Lee Junhyeok would be the one to fall.”
The smile disappeared from the guy’s lips.
“Wasn’t he someone Doubles Entertainment was quietly pushing?”
“Was he?”
“I thought if I stuck close, I’d benefit from the crumbs, so I really tried buttering him up. A bit of a waste. Maybe I’m not good at reading people?”
“…….”
What the hell was he even saying?
Whatever it was, it sounded like something a 21st-place trainee shouldn’t know.
“Anyway, thanks to that, you made it. Congrats, huh?”
He said “congrats,” but it sounded more like mockery.
Kang Siwoo swallowed hard and fiddled with the phone in his pocket.
He hated energy-draining conversations like this.
That guy was exactly the type of person he didn’t want to be close to.
And probably felt the same way about him.
The guy who smiled warmly at high-ranking trainees was always cold toward him.
There was no reason for that, unless he had some kind of inferiority complex.
He always added unnecessary words too.
Before he said something he’d regret, it was better to get out of here.
Just as Kang Siwoo decided to leave the bathroom—
The guy’s next words stopped him in his tracks.
“But you’re not debut material.”
“What?”
“You know it too, don’t you? Don’t act like it’s a surprise.”
It was a show filled with top-tier trainees.
Kang Siwoo frowned as he stared into the mirror.
Dark black eyes. A cold face reminiscent of a husky.
It was a look some people would like, but among other trainees who radiated aura just by walking, he had lost confidence.
Vocal, performance, rap—
All of it just put him in a vague position as a B-rank trainee.
He himself had thought debut was a long shot, but hearing such blatant disdain was something else.
“Hey.”
Just as Kang Siwoo was about to raise his voice, the guy cut in first.
“You should’ve done what I told you. If you’re going to get cursed at anyway, you might as well bring up that name and boost your buzz.”
“…….”
“I gave you the method. Why can’t you use it?”
Kang Siwoo gritted his teeth hard.
Every trainee was desperate to debut, but there were lines you shouldn’t cross.
No matter how much this program meant, he didn’t want to sell out his family.
The guy sneered and said mockingly,
“If I were you, I’d milk that for all it’s worth and suck the marrow from the bones.”
“Cut it out.”
“Why should I?”
The guy who smiled so nicely at everyone else—
Why did he hate me so much?
As if reading Kang Siwoo’s thoughts, the guy kept jabbering.
“You’re not desperate. Someone like me with no backing would’ve clawed their way up no matter what. But you? You don’t care whether you drop or not.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Why? Once your name gets some buzz from this show, is your daddy going to debut you?”
“Hey!”
The last type of person he wanted to get involved with, yet somehow got hopelessly tangled with.
Kang Siwoo stared straight at the mirror and ruffled his hair.
“I really hate you.”
“I know, asshole.”
Individual trainee Lee Dokyung.
A contender for center alongside Do Seohan and currently within the debut ranking.
He was the team member Kang Siwoo absolutely despised.