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Join the ServerThe instructor opened his mouth with a look that said he was already sick of hearing the same few lines.
I’d tried my best, but the acting that came out was so much worse than expected that even I had been taken aback.
So I understood his reaction.
“Let’s start with the basic training first.”
Breathing, vocalization, diction, posture—going through all the fundamentals needed for acting took up four hours before I even realized it.
Despite spending a decent chunk of time in the lesson, the fact that I didn’t feel like I’d actually gained much compared to singing or dancing left me disappointed as I stepped out of the academy.
I worked my part-time job straight through until the end of my schedule for the day, then stopped by a convenience store to grab a quick dinner before heading, as always, to the karaoke room.
Since I had to prepare for the early-morning pre-recording of Music Up & Down, I ran through “Me and Myself” a few times like a final check, then went home earlier than usual.
I went straight into the bathroom, showered, roughly dried my hair, and lay down on my bed.
The moment I closed my eyes, sleep washed over me like a wave.
The broadcasting station in the early morning was even more hectic than before.
Unlike last time—when we filmed individually as separate contestants—this time all ninety-nine of us had to prepare to stand on stage as a single team.
There were more staff members, and the whole place felt even busier.
After weaving through the crowd of people rushing around like there was a war going on, I found the staff member in charge of the contestant list.
They checked my name, confirmed something over the walkie-talkie, and pointed me toward the waiting room at the very end.
Inside the waiting room, dozens of nearly identical outfits hung on clothing racks.
A staff member checked my name, then searched between the racks to find my set of clothes, handing it to me with the hanger still attached and gesturing toward the makeshift changing space covered off by fabric.
I lifted the curtain and stepped inside.
When I saw the navy school uniform—complete with vest and tie—I let out a sigh without meaning to.
I’d figured the main costume would be a school uniform since that’s how it was in previous seasons, but seeing it in person… what could I say?
It was embarrassing.
On the outside I might look fine, but inside?
I was going to be nearly thirty in a couple of days—wearing a school uniform.
“Are you done changing?”
“No, not yet—just a moment!”
Snapped back to attention by the urgency in the staff member’s voice, I quickly shrugged out of the shirt I had on and pushed my arms through the sleeves of the uniform shirt.
I pulled the beige knit vest over it and swapped my pants in a hurry.
I hung my own clothes on the hanger where the uniform had been and, slipping on the uniform jacket, stepped outside.
A staff member immediately swooped in, snatching the hanger from my hand and adjusting the outfit—pinning here and there, tidying it up with quick, practiced motions.
Once the wardrobe was settled, I was sent straight to the next waiting room.
I felt like a part on a conveyor belt being moved along to the next stage in the assembly line.
I sat in the empty seat as instructed, and staff members came over to fix my hair and touch up my face.
As soon as the hair and makeup were finished, I was practically shoved out into the hallway—only to be sent yet again, this time toward the studio.
When I reached the filming studio, participants who had already finished prep were gathered under signs indicating their grades.
I headed to the second spot from the left—the one marked B Rank.
Park Kang-hoon, whom I’d gotten somewhat close to, and the participants around him recognized me and greeted me warmly.
We chatted about how we’d been the past few days, how nervous we were for today’s shoot, all the usual things—when suddenly, down by the entrance, staff members started murmuring excitedly.
“K-Stars are here.
Guess they look good even to broadcast staff.
Everyone’s losing it.”
“I mean, I haven’t been to that many music shows, but I’ve never seen visuals like theirs.”
“Oh, right—you debuted too.
My apologies, sunbaenim.”
Jung Sol pressed his palms together in mock apology.
Park Kang-hoon put him in a headlock with an exaggerated laugh, but his face flickered with bitterness for a brief moment.
The mood was all jokes and laughter—too light for me to awkwardly offer comfort, and I wasn’t good at joking along either—so I simply pretended not to notice and turned my head away.
And in that exact moment, as I turned, my eyes met Yeo Hyun-tae’s as he was stepping into the studio.
The very next second—
“…Huh?”
Yeo Hyun-tae gave a small nod in greeting.
His gaze was aligned so precisely with mine that it couldn’t possibly have been meant for someone else.
Even after I instinctively bowed back, I was left blinking in confusion.
…What was that about?
Ever since the shower room incident, I hadn’t run into Yeo Hyun-tae even once—not in the cafeteria, not in the hallways, nowhere.
Sure, since we were on the same survival show, it wasn’t impossible for us to exchange greetings.
But we were standing a fair distance apart right now, and I wasn’t the only one looking in his direction.
Meaning several others must’ve met his eyes too.
So why—why me?
Why nod specifically at me like that, even lowering his head?
Still puzzled, I couldn’t look away.
And that was when the next thing happened—Seo Jun-jae, standing beside Yeo Hyun-tae, turned his head and our eyes met.
Avoiding him on purpose would’ve felt too obvious, so I stayed still.
Jun-jae stared straight at me, and then his eyes slowly curved.
Hello.
He mouthed the greeting silently.
If it had been anyone else, I would’ve assumed they were just being friendly.
But I’d already gotten the impression that Seo Jun-jae didn’t like me all that much, so I had no idea how to respond.
…What if the word ‘hello’ only looked friendly, but what he meant was something like, “What are you looking at?”?
I hesitated, unsure what to do.
Before I could react, someone called Seo Jun-jae’s name and he turned away first.
Maybe it was because he’d witnessed the ugly situation with Kwon, or maybe it was the faint chill in his eyes—but something about him kept making me uneasy.
He was someone I should be treating with the highest priority when it came to favorability…
I let out a long breath and turned my head.
The recording would start soon.
I needed to stop overthinking.
I shook my head lightly, trying to clear the jumble in my mind.
“Hello, everyone.”
Once all the trainees were ready, a short time passed before the cue for filming was given.
Soon after, Son Chae-i and the trainers stepped onto the stage, waving as they greeted us.
“We’ll be starting the rehearsal and then the main recording soon.
Aren’t you all nervous?”
Shouts of yes! erupted from all over the stage.
Son Chae-i nodded understandingly with a smile.
“But before we start rehearsal, there’s something very important we have to do first, right?”
Around me, I heard people sucking in sharp breaths, swallowing hard—every sort of nervous sound imaginable.
“We will now announce the centers for each grade.”
The stage we were performing on today was made up of four small triangular platforms arranged together.
Each grade would stand on one triangle, and the trainees placed at the tip of each triangle—the centers—would stand in the most attention-grabbing positions.
“After we announce the centers, please line up from the front in the order your names are called.
We’ll begin with Grade D.”
Reading from the cue sheet, Son Chae-i started calling out names one by one.
As each trainee was called, they found the position indicated by the staff.
Before long, Grades D and C were filled, and it was finally time for my group—Grade B.
“Next is Grade B.
The center for Grade B is… GH trainee Yoon Jae-hee!”
The trainee called as center let out a yell of excitement and ran up to the stage, followed by the next names in order.
“Next, individual trainee Shim Jae-seo.”
My name was called sixth.
Following the staff member’s gesture, I stood at the far right of the third row in Grade B.
I wasn’t the center, but it was a pretty—no, a very satisfying position.
I wasn’t far from the cameras, and no one was blocking my line of sight either.
All things considered, it looked like a spot where I’d get plenty of screen time.
I silently prayed—without any particular deity in mind—that the broadcast would please show plenty of shots of the B-grade side of the stage….
While I was offering that vague prayer, all the trainees finished taking their positions on stage.
Down below, Son Chae-i and the trainers carefully scanned the stage several times, nodding among themselves as they discussed something.
After a short exchange, Son Chae-i lifted her mic.
“Then shall we begin the rehearsal?”
***
#Bonus – https://sulqoon.com
[Looks like NDB Season 2 is actually happening]
[‘Please Take Care of My Idol’ Season 2 — the male version finally unveils itself]
(Logo image: Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2)
△Photo courtesy of KMBS
[WideK News – Reporter Kim Woo-seung]
The music-focused cable channel KMBS has announced that filming is currently und
erway for Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2.
A representative for Please Take Care of My Idol stated, “We are currently in production, and the broadcast is scheduled for late next month.”
They added, “The signal song performance will be revealed on the March 9 episode of KMBS’s Music Up & Down, and starting March 10, we will sequentially introduce the participating trainees.”
Please Take Care of My Idol is a program in which viewers directly vote to choose 9 members ou
t of 99 trainees to form a national idol group.
The nine trainees selected through Season 1 of Please Take Care of My Idol debuted as MYNINE, enjoyed considerable popularity, and concluded their activities after one
year before disbanding at the end of last year.
Season 2 of Please Take Care of My Idol has been drawing heavy attention from domestic and international K-pop fans ever since it was announced that Korea’s top dance singer
, Son Chae-i, would be active as the show’s MC.
Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 is scheduled to air late next month as the follow-up program to Lee Jimin’s Trust-Concert.
kimwins@wideknews.com
[End of article]
[Comments]
→ *222* Who’s gonna watch a boy-group version? It’s over before it starts
→ *33* Already looks boring lol
→ *444* Girl-group stans already each have “their baby” picked out—who’s gonna watch a boy-group version lmao
→ *5* Yeah, not watching ^^
→ *66* KMBS stop doing dumb stuff and make World Queen 2 instead
well, they immediately churn out a boy version. Predictable as hell
↳ Wait, Yoon Jiheon from Burst is coming on?? Wild ㄷㄷ
↳↳ YJH is from a flop group, what’s “wild” about that lol
↳↳↳ Ugh, A-East fans really never die and stay gone, do they
ㅇㄱ (no way)
*44* ↳ Fancy seeing such precious people in such a shabb
y place ㄷㄷ
↳↳ Isn’t it about time K-Stars put out a boy group? Their public trainees are famous
↳↳↳ They all left K-Stars though. Seems like their debut got scrapped?
[Today’s signal song stage for Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2, released on Music Up & Down]
http://tv.navum.com/176302748238
[(First Reveal) Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 – Me and Me (WE TOGETHER) | MUSIC UP&DOWN x00309]
[Center is K-Stars’ Seo Junjae]
[Comments]
— Center + double wings, is this real????
— The center and the two behind him look insanely good together.
↳ Fr, I’m watching outside on low quality and their visuals are still breaking through the pixels lol
— I wrote a comment befo
re saying My Idol Boy 2 would flop, but I think the thing flopping is my own life.
→ Same, I can hear my life grinding
away…
— So K-Stars’ Seo Junjae, Burst’s Yoon Jihun… who’s the last one? I’m being serious rn—
↳ (KStars_SeoJunjae_Who.jpg) I don’t know his name but they say he’s from K-Stars (presumably). A
photo of him with the center was released.
↳↳
No but what kind of good deeds did the K-Stars CEO accumulate in his past life to f
ind two guys like this??
— Who’s the fresh cutie at 2:17???? Please someone tell meㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
→ It’s Chae Hanul! His agency is DY!
— Jihun-ahㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
→ Yoon Jihun, you MUST debut!!
↳↳ Yes, debut? No—Jihun-but! (pun).
— 0:32—is that JUKE’s Park Kanghoon?
→ Yes, ○○ JUKE’s Park Kanghoon, Oh Jungmin, and Lee Kwon—all three ap
pear.
— Anyone know who that one guy is—the one shining
all by himself in the middle?
→ 1:09, this guy?
↳↳ Yeah yeah!
→ Idk either lol
— What the heck…
— Who’s the pale guy in the middle? He’s stupidly handsomeㅠㅠㅠㅠ
→ You mean at 1:09, right? He became my bias today but I don’t even know his nameㅠㅠlol
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Ahhhh the fan club! First inklings!!