The short break came to an end. Everyone returned to the dormitory, waiting for the first mission to be assigned soon.
Complaints about roommates were already echoing down the hallway. It sounded like they were venting to their agency friends who came with them.
"They keep picking on me because of my ranking."
It seemed a hierarchy had already formed among the trainees.
They were deliberately sticking close to those who ranked high in the real-time votes revealed during the first broadcast, or only talking to trainees from major agencies. It was like palace intrigue.
Seha had no interest in such power struggles. He only needed to focus on securing his own place. He had no desire to provoke unnecessary conflict and risk being portrayed negatively in the editing.
"Ah, participants of the Reloading Project, please gather in the auditorium immediately."
The moment they'd been waiting for: the announcement of the first mission. As soon as the broadcast came on, Seha exchanged a look with Woo Jei.
"Hyung"
"Yeah?"
"Let's stick together. Don't get lost like last time."
Jei, who had overcome his shyness starting with the ‘My Name’ practice, reached out his hand. As soon as Seha took it, Jei sprinted down the hallway at full speed. Seha, still holding Jei's hand, was dragged along.
"Huff, huff..."
"Drink water, water."
Seha collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath the moment they reached the auditorium. For some reason, even short sprints always left him winded. Jei, unable to bear watching Seha pant so heavily, fetched a bottle of water from the staff.
"Trainee On Seha, were you dragged here by Trainee Woo Jei?" Dohyuk, who had been waiting in the auditorium, asked. His gaze fixed on Jei's hand patting Seha's back, and his expression darkened as he added, "You look exhausted."
"Please line up at the marked positions, maintaining distance between each other."
"......"
"Maintain distance," he repeated, emphasizing the point. Only after Jei had moved away from Seha and taken his place did Dohyuk finally withdraw his gaze with the pair.
All 44 participants had gathered. Cutting through the murmuring atmosphere, Do-hyuk's well-modulated voice echoed through the auditorium.
"We are about to begin the highly anticipated First Mission of Reloading Project Season 2."
As Dohyuk spoke, Seha scanned the auditorium. Strangely, there were no flags. In Season 1, participants had to draw flags to determine their competition songs.
"Similar to Season 1, the first mission will be a cover evaluation by agency. However, I would like to inform you in advance that there are differences in the agency compositions."
Though he held a script in his hand, Dohyuk didn't glance at it even once, focusing solely on the trainees as he continued his explanation. His memorization skills, honed through countless rehearsals, now proved invaluable.
"The management companies selected for the cover performances are as follows: Seid Entertainment, KG Media Label, Half Entertainment, and... ON Entertainment."
The subsequent explanation was concise. Two teams per agency, four agencies total. Two agencies had a capacity of twelve members, while the other two had a capacity of ten. Since the trainees would be divided into two teams per agency to compete, it would ultimately be a 6 vs. 6 or 5 vs. 5 battle.
"For the First Mission, team formation will be restricted. In the previous season, trainees formed teams independently, but to prevent anyone from being excluded this time, I will personally draw lots to determine the teams."
Sighs erupted from all corners. It was no different from the professor assigning group project members directly. Seha's plan to recruit Jay, who was skilled at running, into his team also went up in smoke.
"The teams will be formed based on the numbers drawn from the lottery machine. These numbers correspond to the admission order you received during the first filming session."
Assistants soon brought in the lottery machines. When the machine arrived in front of him, Dohyuk set down the microphone.
"Let's begin."
Everyone tensed, focusing intently on Dohyuk. Not even a breath could be heard. Before long, the lottery results from the three leading management companies were revealed.
TEAM SEID
Team A: 9 4 19 13 29 43 (6)
Team B: 5 11 33 16 10 28 (6)
TEAM KG
Team A: 35 21 27 1 8 39 (6)
Team B: 40 2 15 6 32 37 (6)
TEAM HALF
Team A: 7 36 42 20 14 (5)
Team B: 12 22 34 26 30 (5)
"Ah..."
Seha let out a soft sigh even before the additional lottery was finished. Seid, KG, Half—his entry number, '41', wasn't among them. Which meant...
Team ON
Team A: 24 18 41 3 38 (5)
Team B: 31 44 23 17 25 (5)
For his First Mission, Seha had to cover ON Entertainment, the only agency he had ever been affiliated with.
Though flustered, he couldn't show it. The camera lenses were trained on him. Seha forced himself to maintain a calm expression.
Assistants entered the filming set, holding signs to identify each team.
"All teams, please assemble immediately," Dohyuk announced.
With his words, a mass movement began. Jei, who had been observing Seha's strangely listless demeanor, tilted his head and asked, "Hyung, what number are you?"
"41."
"......Oh, dear."
After confirming Seha's assignment to ON Entertainment, Jei patted his shoulder with a sympathetic look.
"Oh, A-grade."
As Seha walked toward the TEAM ON's A-Team sign, his teammates eagerly approached him. Checking their name tag colors, he noted one B-grade, two C-grades, and one D-grade member.
"I heard you ranked 4th? I came in 37th."
"Wow, I'm so jealous..."
Everyone except Seha was in the bottom ranks. Even though the voting wasn't over yet, they already looked defeated. Every conversation revolved around rankings and elimination.
It was draining.
"For the First Mission, you'll independently choose a song by an artist from your assigned management company and prepare your performance," Dohyuk continued explaining. ON Entertainment, with its long history, had a vast roster of artists, from first-generation idols to recently debuted girl groups.
"Should we head to the practice room and discuss this?"
"Yeah, sure..."
"Let's do our best, guys. We need to survive."
Seha clenched his fist and tried to encourage his teammates, but there was no response.
─────────
After agreeing to meet at the practice room by 10 AM, Seha grabbed a Zero Cider from the vending machine and drank it. His throat felt so parched that he desperately needed the refreshment.
"Seha-ssi," Dohyuk called out as other participants passed by. Remarkably, he addressed Seha as "Seha-ssi" rather than "hyung" or "On Seha," seemingly aware of the surrounding eyes.
"...Yes, Assistant-nim," Seha replied.
"I'm the one who sent you to ON Entertainment," Dohyuk said.
"You did."
"How do you feel about it?"
"...There are cameras here," Seha whispered, avoiding the question.
After confirming that the other participants had dispersed, Dohyuk leaned in close to Seha's ear and replied, "I've lost all sense of fear."
"...No, what if they put it in the edit?!"
"I made it a special condition for my appearance. And hyung, you're not exactly in a position to worry about me..."
He placed a hand on Seha's shoulder.
"You're going to end up covering a song from the management company you crawled out of on your own? After getting out of that big agency and coming here?"
Crawled out on his own? Seha paused, glancing at Dohyuk. He didn't seem to be deliberately teasing him; he genuinely seemed unaware.
Ah, right, he's an actor.
He seemed completely unaware that Seha had been cut from the debut group and got kicked out. He probably assumed Seha had left on his own accord after failing to debut.
"I think you're mistaken about that," Seha said, tilting his head to whisper in Dohyuk's ear, mirroring Dohyuk's earlier gesture. "It wasn't a voluntary departure, Dohyuk-ah. I was kicked out."
"......"
"Now you want to torment me with this too?"
With those words, Seha turned his back on Dohyuk. He thought he caught a glimpse of confusion on Dohyuk's face as he walked away.
─────────
Yun Youngjae, the eldest member of the team and a C-grade participant, was two years older than Seha. About ten minutes after he initiated the discussion, Seha encountered a problem.
"So, we want to do a Nexus song."
Among the five team members, the four excluding On Seha had unanimously chosen Nexus, a group under ON Entertainment, as their cover target.
Nexus was a top-tier active male idol group under ON Entertainment. They captivated the public with ON Entertainment's signature vibrant and refreshing tracks, followed by intense concepts that solidified their core fandom.
"Don't you know majority rule? You can't just veto it because you don't like it. Huh?"
"Hyung, I..."
"Are you saying you can't handle a tough concept?"
That wasn't the reason at all. Seha believed he could make any concept his own. His reluctance towards Nexus stemmed from a different reason entirely.
"I... I was part of that debut group. So..."
The second debut group Seha was eliminated from was Nexus. He had made it to the very brink of debut, even having his profile photos taken, but Director Choi's objection that he didn't fit the group's image forced him to withdraw.
The center position Seha could have claimed was taken by Director Choi's nephew. The shock of that experience kept Seha from listening to Nexus's songs for a long time.
Feeling suffocated, Seha took a slow, deep breath. Yoon Youngjae, who had been staring blankly at him, asked again.
“So?”
A sullen voice. It wasn't a question meant to hear more from Seha.
"Seha, you're the only one here who's in a safe position."
"Ah..."
"We don't have the luxury of understanding the circumstances of someone who ranked fourth in A-grade."
It was pure malice.
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