Chapter 35: Midterm Evaluation-Part 1

“…….”

Park Min-kwon, sprawled out on the floor, was silent for a long time.

“Park Min-kwon.”

Even after calling his name again, he didn’t respond.

In the end…

“In the end… did he die…?”

You were a good… no, a bad… teammate, Park Min-kwon.

“Hope you’re happy over there…”

“What are you doing?”

The corpse, which had been quietly staring at the ceiling, suddenly opened its mouth.

“Too bad. Still alive.”

“I feel like I’m dying.”

You sure talk big for someone like that.

“I’ll pay for the condolence money.”

“…You’re really the worst.”

Park Min-kwon turned his body away from me, lying flat and now facing the other way.

The traces of practice remained on the floor where his back had just been.

“Ugh. Look at all this sweat.”

“Because of who, do you think?”

“You should’ve practiced more on your own, you know.”

Park Min-kwon lay on his back again, turning his head toward me, eyes wide open.

“But why are you suddenly speaking informally?”

“It’s not like we’re the type to keep up formalities and honorifics all the time, right?”

“…Is that so.”

With his usual blank expression, Park Min-kwon looked back up at the ceiling.

His hair, soaked with sweat, stuck to his cheeks, overcoming gravity.

Honestly, I didn’t expect him to work this hard.

‘I said I won’t practice! There’s no need to!!’

When I first dragged him along, that’s what he was like.

‘No way! You’re the worst on our team.’

The moment he heard that, he froze, his face filled with shock.

‘…I’m the worst?’

‘Yeah. Who else is there besides you here?’

Even worse than those two who always glare at me?’

When I pretended to hesitate, Park Min-kwon’s nervous expression was truly a sight to behold.

Honestly, that was just for show—the answer was obvious.

‘Well, that’s how it is, right?’

To be honest, I almost felt bad comparing you to those guys.

‘But you call them the “Glare Twins” too?’

“…Let’s go.”

“Hm?”

“Let’s go. To the practice room.”

Before I knew it, we’d arrived at the practice room a while ago.

Ignoring the advice to take breaks now and then, Park Min-kwon kept practicing for a long time, until just now.

“Ugh…”

He let out a strange noise, not like him, and collapsed onto the floor.

“You’re working harder than I expected?”

Park Min-kwon replied, still lying down.

“I’ve always worked hard.”

“Liar.”

Would someone who worked hard think about buying their debut with money? Ridiculous.

“…It’s true.”

“And how am I supposed to believe that?”

If you say something like, ‘I tried hard, but I just didn’t have the talent,’ then this time, I’m out. I have no intention of coddling you.

“Let me be clear—I’m hoping you get eliminated no matter what.”

Park Min-kwon’s movement stopped for a moment, his breath caught.

“But if you get eliminated, you should be the only one to go. Don’t drag others down with you.”

His gaze slowly met mine, sitting a bit away on a chair.

“That’s why I’m putting in all this effort to teach you.”

“Why all of a sudden…?”

“If you’re thinking that maybe I’ve forgiven you now or something, forget it.”

I could see a hint of tension in Park Min-kwon’s slumped body.

“Still, do your best. If you don’t want me to hate you any more than I already do.”

“…That’s harsh.”

Telling him to work hard if he doesn’t want to be hated more.

“You already know why I spread those stupid rumors and did pointless stuff.”

“What’s harsh is your sense of morality. And you seem a bit confused about something.”

Hng—A faint scoff escaped from my nose.

“More than the rumors you spread about me, what I can’t stand is how you trampled on someone else’s dreams like they were nothing.”

There was supposed to be one more person in the finals, in Park Min-kwon’s place. I tried to picture the face of that nameless person. I couldn’t; those who never made it are faceless.

“So do your best. Don’t be a burden to the teammates you ended up with by chance.”

Park Min-kwon rubbed his face with both hands, wiping away the sweat that had barely dried.

“You’re really the worst.”

After catching his breath for a moment, he sat up straight.

“Since we’re being honest, let me say a few things too.”

That much was fine by me.

“Go ahead.”

“I don’t dislike you.”

Well, that’s something I already knew.

“In fact, aren’t you more on the side of liking me too much?”

A wry smile spread across Park Min-kwon’s face.

“Yeah. That’s why this whole mess happened.”

This time, he stood up completely and walked over to me.

“You really have no idea how amazing your talent looks to others.”

This kind of conversation—I was getting tired of it.

“So, it’s my fault again…”

“Just once!!!”

As I started to retort, Park Min-kwon suddenly shouted.

“Just once.”

He put his hand on my shoulder.

Then he leaned in, lining up his face with mine.

“Was it really that hard to remember my name even once?”

His gaze was cold, but his eyes burned hot. Park Min-kwon wore an expression like that.

But no matter how much he complained to me, nothing would change.

“Your way of doing things is just too wrong.”

“I know.”

“And knowing that, you still…”

He took his hand off my shoulder and stepped back again.

Step, step. Park Min-kwon moved over to the mirror where he’d been standing before.

“But this is the only way I know. I can’t help it.”

With a big sigh, Park Min-kwon looked at me again.

“Let’s practice. You said not to be a burden, right?”

Scheming alone, failing alone, getting angry alone… and now he wants to practice?

“Because I don’t want you to hate me even more.”

And that reason was honestly so trivial.

“Oh, and.”

He added one more thing.

“I’ve never not tried my best. Not even once.”

Stubborn and self-centered to the end, that was him.

*****

Time flew by, and the day before the midterm evaluation arrived.

All the team members had gathered in the practice room.

“Hmm….”

I stood at the very end of the room, watching the team members intently.

“Hmmmm….”

Is this enough…? Not much time left…

As I was worrying, I could feel the team members glancing at me nervously.

Ah, oops. I didn’t mean to make them feel watched.

“Yu?”

At that moment, I accidentally made eye contact with Son Hyun-seok, who was practicing right in front of me.

……!”

As soon as our eyes met, Son Hyun-seok put even more energy into his dance.

Eh hey, that’s not it. If you keep dancing like that, your shoulder’s going to pop out.

Sweat instantly beaded on Son Hyun-seok’s forehead.

Oh… this might be kind of fun?

On purpose, I kept a serious expression and stared right at Son Hyun-seok.

“Huff… huff… huu…!”

His breath caught up to his chin in an instant.

Maybe I was taking the joke too far… but since it had come this far, I couldn’t stop. It was about time.

“Hmm… paaaah!!! Ah, what is it!!”

“That’s it!”

……???”

When I cheered, Son Hyun-seok had question marks floating above his head.

“I figured it was about time you’d shout.”

That’s how closely I’ve been observing you guys. Ahem.

“Anyway, I think we can change up our practice method now.”

“Change the practice method? How?”

As Son Hyun-seok chattered away, Kim Sang-gyun calmed him down and asked.

“We should match our practice to our level now.”

I raised my voice and called all the team members to gather around me.

“From now on, we’re going to start changing the way we practice, bit by bit.”

Just like Kim Sang-gyun earlier, suspicious looks appeared on the faces of the team members.

“‘Why change things again? We’re already dying from how hard it is.'”

Glare Twin 1 and 2 spoke up in voices full of complaint.

Was it those two? Or Park Min-kwon? The very ones who increased the number of mirrors to eleven.

“It’s fine. I’m trying to make things easier.”

“Easier?”

Even the Glare Twins had a flash of relief in their eyes.

Before I knew it, a smile crept onto my face. Seeing motivated faces was always nice.

“No one’s confused about the order anymore, right?”

The team members glanced at each other, then nodded one by one. Of course—no one’s slept, just danced.

“Now, it’s time to focus on the details…”

It’s not just about dancing in order—we needed clear points of appeal.

“Everyone, what do you think is the core charm of our song?”

Melody? Vocals? Story? Every song has its own appeal, but in the case of …

“Dance.”

From the far end, Yoo Tae-woo, who’d been quietly listening, raised his hand.

“Just a bit more specific.”

A little deeper.

The answer came quickly.

“Perfect synchronization!”

It was the F-rank member who had been quietly following along with practice. You’ve grown well. I have no regrets now.

“Exactly.”

Thinking back to how  broke into the North American market, it was simple.

Of course, the members’ vocals, visuals, stage setup—nothing was lacking.

“But from now on, we’re going to practice so all ten of us can move as one.”

The most important thing was the dance we’d been practicing with all our might.

“Heck. But won’t that make it even harder?”

At Son Hyun-seok’s question, Kim Sang-gyun nodded.

“Yeah. It’s hard enough just dancing on our own, how…”

So, what, do you want to just go up there and dance by yourselves? And who said we have to match the seniors from Mesense exactly?

“Thirty seconds.”

I held up three fingers.

“Let’s just try to match for thirty seconds together.”

The strategy was simple.

No matter if it’s a survival program, this is only the first round. No one’s expecting us to be amazing yet.

‘If anything, they’ll be happy that we’re “worth training.”‘

Let’s show them we’re the kind of guys they want to train.

With that, the already tough practice got even more intense.

“I… I can’t move my legs…”

“Don’t overdo it…”

“No, seriously… I can’t walk anymore, for real…”

Every song has its highs and lows, but repeating the thirty-second highlight choreography over and over left us with no stamina.

But,

“Seems like you still have energy to talk?”

“Eek!”

At my sudden appearance, Son Hyun-seok and Kim Sang-gyun let out high-pitched screams.

“If you have energy, get up. Let’s do it one more time. Seriously.”

“Th…that’s a lie!”

Son Hyun-seok flinched, pushing his legs away from me while still sitting on the floor.

“You’ve never once done it just one more time after saying that…!!”

Behind Son Hyun-seok, I could see the other team members sprawled out, their eyes shining.

‘Just a little more…!’

Oh ho, look at this?

They’re uniting against me as a common enemy. Not bad.

But,

“Whoever gets up first gets out of night practice.”

As soon as I finished speaking,

“Haram! I want to practice!”

Jo Se-ha sprang to his feet and took his place in formation.

The determination to skip night practice was clear in his trembling legs.

“……!! Traitor…!!”

Son Hyun-seok’s fists trembled as if refusing to lose to Jo Se-ha’s legs.

Good. Let’s get one more up.

“If the second person gets up—”

“Uaaaah—!”

Before I could even finish, as if he’d anticipated a second chance, Kim Sang-gyun stood up.

He moved over to stand next to Jo Se-ha.

“What are you all waiting for? Get up.”

At this point, the mood had shifted. No one could stay sitting.

Despair filled Son Hyun-seok’s face.

“You… you…!!”

Barely getting up, Son Hyun-seok’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“Sang-gyun… Is our friendship only worth this much…?”

Seriously, you two have been weird from the start.

“…….”

Kim Sang-gyun bit his lip and turned his head away from Son Hyun-seok.

“…How could you…!”

Really now? Are you actually crying?

I walked over and patted Son Hyun-seok on the shoulder.

“Don’t be so upset.”

“……?”

Son Hyun-seok furrowed his brows as if to ask what I meant.

It won’t take long for your friendship to recover.

And that night—

“Huff… huff… liar… liar…”

Jo Se-ha and Kim Sang-gyun glared at me as if they were about to bite.

“You said… huff… we’d get out of practice… huff…!!”

“Of course I was lying.”

As if I have time for that. Every second counts.

Next to the gasping Kim Sang-gyun, Son Hyun-seok, equally drenched in sweat, walked by.

“Hyun-seok…!”

As he brought the water bottle to his mouth, Son Hyun-seok shot a quick glance at Kim Sang-gyun.

“…….”

But just like before, Kim Sang-gyun bit his lip and turned away.

!……! Hyun-seok…!”

Seriously, you guys… Never mind.

‘As long as you practice well, that’s all that matters.’

At that moment,

Beep-beep! Beep-beep!

The alarm set for midnight rang out from the clock in the corner of the practice room.

‘Time really flies…’

The midterm evaluation was just one day away.