I Was Trying To Debut My Baby, But I Ended Up Debuting Instead

Chapter 20

“Ah, that’s really funny, unnie.”

“What is?”

Sitting next to Hyesung, Cha Joo Yeon, a middle-rank trainee, nudged Hyesung’s arm and burst into laughter.

Joo Yeon had been quite surprised to see Hyesung achieve the ace rank, just as Hyesung was a bit surprised to see Joo Yeon advance to middle rank.

“Unnie, why don’t you apply too? It’s all part of the experience.”

“I’m not interested. I don’t enjoy stepping forward.”

“Eh? Then why did you come on the audition show?”

“There are adult reasons you don’t understand.”

“You’re not even an adult.”

“No backtalk to your unnie!”

“Yes, yes~ No backtalk to unnie~”

Joo Yeon exaggeratedly stretched her lips, mocking Hyesung. It seemed she enjoyed teasing Hyesung quite a bit.

‘Ugh, I just want to… I can’t even hit her.’

“Then, we will now begin the center selection for the signal song. Applicants, please come forward.”

At Seol Hanna’s cue, most of the ace-ranked trainees stood up.

“Unnie, you should go. Some of us want to go but can’t because of our rank.”

Amidst the crowd of ace trainees moving forward, Joo Yeon almost forcefully pushed Hyesung towards the stage.

“Hey! I said I don’t want to!”

“Just go and try.”

“I said no. And why are you so strong!”

Seol Hanna noticed Hyesung, who was neither fully on stage nor off it, and asked.

“Yoon Hyesung trainee, are you applying or not? Please make it clear.”

“Uh, I, I’m not, but my daughter wants to.”

“Daughter?”

“No, no, not a daughter, Na Yeonwoo. She’s like a daughter to me.”

Hyesung grabbed Na Yeonwoo, who was sitting next to Han Youngwon, and dragged her onto the stage.

“Uh, unnie? I…!”

“Alright, then Yoon Hyesung trainee and Na Yeonwoo trainee, both are applying.”

Yeonwoo, clueless about what was happening, ended up applying along with Hyesung.

“Unnie, what is this?”

A bewildered Yeonwoo whispered in Hyesung’s ear. She seemed very surprised by the sudden turn of events.

“Sorry. It’s all because of Joo Yeon.”

“Joo Yeon?”

“Look over there.”

Following Hyesung’s head gesture, Yeonwoo turned around. Joo Yeon was waving her long arms like an orangutan, mouthing, “Yoon Hyesung, Na Yeonwoo, fighting!”

“Ha, I can’t believe this.”

Yeonwoo held her forehead and shook her head. Apparently, Joo Yeon’s antics were a common occurrence.

After some impressive performances by earlier applicants, it was Hyesung’s turn.

“Uh… I will show my special skill.”

“Good. What is your special skill?”

“Screaming… is my skill.”

“Screaming?”

Seol Hanna’s expression turned peculiar as she held the cue card. It was probably the first time she’d heard of an idol trainee’s special skill being screaming.

Lacking anything special to show, Hyesung had just come up with screaming as her skill.

She was famous for her siren-like loud voice that could be heard over any sound system during Lunestar’s music broadcasts, so she was quite confident in her screaming.

“Okay, let’s see it then.”

“Yes….”

Hyesung took a deep breath and screamed with all her might.

“SCOLDING SHOUT!!!!!!”

Shout!!!!!~ Shout!!!!!~ Shout!!!!!~ Shout!!!!!~

Hyesung’s voice echoed through the set like a train whistle.

“Is this… really a special skill?”

Seol Hanna asked while covering her ears.

‘Isn’t this unfair? She herself made weird animal sounds when she was a rookie, and now she’s giving me a hard time.’

“Yes! It’s a special skill.”

Hyesung confidently answered, with a straight face.

“…Alright. Everyone, please give a round of applause for Yoon Hyesung trainee!”

Clap clap clap.

The trainees, stunned by the sudden noise attack, clapped for Hyesung.

“But her volume is amazing.”

“Did she eat a pterosaur or something?”

“I’m curious about what kind of life she’s lived to end up here.”

Although some earlier contestants had shown proper skills, after Hyesung’s screaming performance, the center selection contest turned into a talent show.

Influenced by this, Na Yeonwoo decided to present walking on her hands as her special skill.

“Oh my gosh, how long is she going to keep walking?”

“Her core strength is no joke.”

“I thought Yeonwoo was a nice girl, but she could probably lift the earth.”

Luckily, the center position went to a trainee who had performed a cover dance earlier. It was Kang Haein, who had advanced from middle to ace rank after today’s re-evaluation.

‘Hmm… the center for the signal song remains the same.’

* * *

“Alright, everyone! Since it’s a song you’ve been practicing, it shouldn’t be too hard, right? I’ll give you an hour to learn the formations quickly. I’ll be back after checking on the other class.”

Jade, who seemed to be in a hurry, quickly explained the formations and left the ace trainees’ practice room.

The stage they were going to perform on was a reverse triangle structure, with the ace-ranked trainees at the front, the middle-ranked trainees behind them, and the rest at the sides, off the main stage.

The stage, which used lifts, changed levels during the performance, so even middle-ranked trainees had some chance of getting solo shots. However, trainees placed at the sides without elevation were essentially just background.

The F-rank trainees wouldn’t even be caught on camera. They had to dance without microphones, off the stage floor.

“There’s not much to the formations. If we get used to the lift stage during rehearsal, we should be fine.”

Lee Joo-ha, the ace class leader, said.

“But doesn’t this arrangement mean the ones at the back have to stay there the whole time?”

Kim Yoonji, who had moved up from middle to ace rank today, asked.

A vocal position trainee who sang ballads well, she had barely made it into the ace class due to her lack of dance skills.

It seemed she was dissatisfied with the arrangement made by the trainers.

“Yoonji, I understand what you’re saying, but we’re still at the front. And the camera doesn’t only film from the front.”

“With the stage levels changing, the front row of the middle rank might be more visible….”

The center and the two trainees next to her, who would get the front shots at the start, were selected based on their overall balance. The rest were prioritized for their dance positions.

The vocal trainees had their own moments during the chorus when the formation split, but it seemed Yoonji wasn’t satisfied with that.

‘Then she should have mentioned it to the trainers earlier. Complaining to Lee Joo-ha won’t change anything and only ruins the mood. There’s always someone like this.’

Moreover, with the cameras rolling, it was unclear how this would be edited. Watching Yoonji, who seemed to genuinely think she was protesting an injustice, Hyesung spoke up.

“We can’t change the formation now. We can’t change the placement either. No one wants to voluntarily stand in the back, right? Let’s just get this over with quickly.”

Hyesung’s designated spot was in the last row.

In fact, considering the song “Chance,” Hyesung was more skilled than Yoonji, but she was placed at the back for various reasons. And she had no complaints about it.

“I know, but… sigh.”

Yoonji muttered, “I should’ve stayed in the middle rank,” as she returned to her position. She stood diagonally in front of Hyesung.

“Unnie, don’t you want to stand at the front?”

“You should only stand at the front if you deserve it. There’s no one in the front row worse than me.”

Yoonji’s expression hardened at Hyesung’s words. She seemed upset.

“…Such arrogance. So annoying.”

Yoonji grumbled just loud enough for herself to hear, but Hyesung caught it too.

‘What’s with this brat? Don’t kids these days learn any manners? She needs to be sent to a discipline camp.’

Normally, Hyesung would have confronted her, but she decided to let it go to avoid escalating the situation.

She felt disliked, but it didn’t matter. Apart from Na Yeonwoo, she didn’t care how other trainees viewed her. She was just annoyed that a 17-year-old had spoken to her that way.

‘I can’t believe the things I hear here.’

* * *

The day dawned. Early in the morning, there was a stage rehearsal at M Space. All the trainees packed their suitcases and boarded the bus. Today’s shoot marked the end of the first round of training.

After an hour’s drive from the training center in Gyeonggi Province, they arrived back in Seoul. Hyesung’s jaw dropped at the sight of the neatly prepared stage set.

‘I never thought I’d see this in person.’

The stage was of a different scale from the usual M Space stages. It was comparable to year-end award shows. Of course, given that nearly 100 people had to perform on it.

Despite practicing with tape marks on the floor until late last night, it was the first time they were actually stepping onto the stage, and everyone looked visibly nervous. They seemed overwhelmed by the scale.

The current time was 7 a.m.

They conducted a dry run rehearsal in their practice outfits. Though they knew it moved, many were startled by the stage suddenly lifting, leading to several small mistakes.

Especially during the chorus, when the ace trainees’ stage lifted and the front stage split horizontally, elevating the positions of the vocal trainees at the back to a two-tier level, nobody got it right.

“Guys. By now, you should have memorized the lift movement points, right? It won’t collapse, so don’t be scared.”

“Yes!”

‘It’s like whack-a-mole with all this up and down. It’s so unsettling I can’t dance properly.’

Hyesung clutched her trembling legs.

Already having weak lower limbs, Hyesung had her knees and ankles taped up like a soccer player, but she’d soon have to remove them, making her anxious.

“Let’s have lunch, change into our outfits, and then do a run-through.”

Crammed into a narrow waiting room, they quickly ate a simple meal. Then, stylists from the broadcasting station began moving hangers full of identical uniforms.

There seemed to be no separate changing rooms, and they had to change and get their makeup done in makeshift partitioned areas.

‘This is just like a rookie waiting room.’

Though it was a poor environment, Hyesung felt more intrigued than uncomfortable seeing the partitioned waiting rooms she had only seen in behind-the-scenes videos of idol content.

But that feeling soon vanished.

The number of stylists and hair and makeup artists was barely a dozen, but they had to prep 100 people.

“Those who have changed and finished makeup, come forward and wait in line!”

A hair stylist shouted while straightening someone’s hair. They were professionals, but managing this many people seemed more chaotic for them than for the trainees.

“Unnie! Isn’t the uniform pretty?”

Yeonwoo held the outfit against her body, seeming pleased.

“Yeah. It’s much better than last season.”

The previous season’s uniform was a space flight attendant concept, with awkward hero suit-like designs that weren’t flattering.

Since the participants were younger, the dark olive and gray base colors didn’t suit them at all. Probably due to the heavy criticism, the uniform this season returned to a navy sailor suit concept.

“Yeonwoo, what are you going to wear underneath?”

They could choose between a shirt or a turtleneck to wear under the navy jacket with the white sailor collar.

And this time, there were both skirts and pants available. Clearly, criticism helps improve designs.

However, for the first public video, they had to wear the traditional skirts for uniformity.

Following Yeonwoo’s lead, Hyesung chose the turtleneck and stood in line for the makeshift changing room.

Rrrip.

The curtain opened, revealing a familiar face.