I felt confused.

I thought I would see AhHyun crying in the corner of his bed, but the expression on his face looked more normal than he thought.

I didn't know what to say to him at this point.

Unlike what I imagined, he seemed to have been well disciplined with Icorpo's rules because he didn't even have his phone in his hands.

I had called AhHyun, but since I stared at him silently, he got scared and asked me.

-W-why...?

-No, hmm...

I didn't want to bring up the controversy and hurt him, so I just took a chocolate bar out of my bag and offered it to him. It was something I learned after the YooJin incident.

-Want one?

-Y-yes! Thank you...

He carefully took the bar in his hands and put it in his backpack.

-...?

Isn't he going to eat it?

As if aware of my question, Seon AhHyun muttered.

-I-I have to control my body weight... W-When my body gets heavy, my da-dance gets weird. T-that's why I shouldn't eat la-late night snacks.

-What?

He must speak from experience because he has been a dance student for many years. I could understand it, but there was a small contradiction between what he said and what he did.

-Didn't you give me a candy bar past midnight when I was practicing the theme song for the show?

-I-it was fine because it was you, MoonDae! Yo-you were so skinny...

-...

I didn't think that would be the reason he treated me his chocolate bar.

To my surprise, I heard laughter from the bed next to me.

-That's right, MoonDae. You were very skinny back then, so I thought you needed more care because you overexerted yourself.

-But that's how your physical constitution is, isn't it? Every time I see you eat it's... wow. I can't believe you're not gaining weight when I see all you eat. I would already be a pig.

SeJin and Gold 1 agreed with AhHyun. Oh no.

"I ate a lot on purpose to have more stamina, but now I'm being misunderstood."

He was nervous, but thanks to this nonsense, the atmosphere in the room seemed to have relaxed a bit.

AhHyun laughed a bit in a low tone until I locked eyes with him, which surprised him and made him choke and cough.

-...

He is...a weird boy.

I silently brought a bottle of water to his bed. After a few more coughs, he drank it down and when he felt better, he murmured again.

-I-I want to do it very well. I wa-ant to improve more this time.

-Yes.

After hearing what he said, I think AhHyun also checked the criticism that falls on him on the internet. Since he wasn't close enough to see him properly at the time, he didn't know if he was pretending to be calm.

But in the midst of my dying thoughts, I was lucky to have good luck.

-What I am going to tell you now may seem annoying, but do not look for anything else on the internet, just investigate what we need for the presentation.

-Yes...

AhHyun looked at me with an expression of doubt and mystery, but then he responded enthusiastically.

-I-I already knew. It's-it's fine. I-I'm ready.

-Huh?

"What is he talking about?"

Seon AhHyun muttered with an embarrassed look.

-I-I had already read all those articles before filming. Al-although I'm not looking for them, the-they keep coming out more...

-...

Is that why he seemed dead when we met before the last rankings ceremony?

At that time, public opinion was not as bad as it is now, but isn't the internet the perfect place where people can post all kinds of articles? Maybe AhHyun is not very familiar with the internet, so he read everything without knowing the extent of the effects it could have on him.

"What the hell did you search for to read so many bad articles?"

I feel that he has entered to see the community where they only post malicious comments about us 24 hours a day.

AhHyun continued to speak as if he was making excuses.

-I-I knew this would happen one day. B-but it's fine, I was prepared. I-I'm already used to that.

-Is that so?

-Y-yes!

Seon AhHyun nodded his head quickly, but he looked a bit flustered.

"He must be used to being cursed for being a stutterer."

I had been thinking about it for a long time, but it was clear that he must have experienced a difficult situation when relating to his fellow students or other boys. These youngsters are scary these days.

I couldn't help but click my tongue in annoyance.

-Don't worry because it won't last long. If you do well in the presentation, those articles will disappear as if they never existed.

-R-really?

-Yes. It's normal in a survival program.

It does not matter if you are someone who deserves to be criticized on the networks or not. It sucks, yes, but anyone can find it amusing to curse at us as long as they remain anonymous on the internet. They are always looking for new targets, if a celebrity is found involved in a hot topic, those malicious people will rush to attack them.

I shrugged.

-I could be cursed immediately from tomorrow.

-Huh? O-oh, no! Y-you haven't done anything wrong...

-You didn't do anything wrong either.

-...

When Seon AhHyun was embarrassed and kept quiet, Keun SeJin responded in his place.

-So what you want to say to AhHyun is "Don't take insults for granted", right? Wow~ MoonDae, why are you so cool... If I was just another viewer, I would have already bought your shares.

-Uh, yeah.

-Wow. How come my jokes never work on you?

SeJin smiled and rolled around on his bed. Gold 1, who was using the lower bed of his bunk, was startled by the moves he made, but spared no words of encouragement for AhHyun and the others.

-Stop it, idiot, the bed is going to collapse!...Yes. We have to try very hard. You have to give a great presentation!

-Yes, it has to be done!

The constant effort to somehow sublimate the situation by motivating each other raised our mood. There was a friendly and lively atmosphere in our room.

And Kim RaeBin, who had been silent the entire time, muttered under her breath.

-Yes. On the other hand, I found and organized sample materials for our costumes and accessories. Is it okay if I share them with you in our group chat now?

-Ah.

-Oh.

Right. We had forgotten that this was the intention for which they had given us our phones.

I should have looked for it before, but I didn't because I was affected by the environment.

From RaeBin's perspective, the opinions about him these days were a fair thing because he had received a lot of hate in the past few weeks for the problem he had in his first team. That's why he had no problem looking for information for our presentation at this time.

-Co...cof, do it.

-Ok, then I'll share it.

Gold 1's coughs echoed along with the vibrations of our phones.

I reviewed what RaeBin had shared with us.

When I clicked on their lists, I noticed that they had been well organized according to different characteristics. This was not a normal thing, not even I could have done it in such a short time. The production team would not expect this level in a contestant either.

"He is very talented."

We all think the same way, so we are quick to praise him. Even SeJin whistled in amazement.

-Thank you.

RaeBin humbly thanked us and we continued discussing the costumes and props until 3 a.m. Our desire to give the best presentation was so strong that it seemed as if we all had the ability "Sleep will be after death" activated.

Unlike me, they can't see his status windows, but they're still awesome.

* * *

After spending another two days practicing from sunrise to sunrise (because we barely slept), it was time for the damn midterm.

This time, the stage manager, music director, and even the costume crew sat down and evaluated alongside the coaches.

If I were to assess myself, even as objectively as possible, the current direction of this team was fine. Still, I didn't expect to get a lot of good reviews because so far we haven't gotten any in the mid-term reviews.

But this time... the results were too good.

-I love it.

-You have to present yourselves in this way!

The feedback began with those phrases. Watching the smiling coaches and the admiring guest judges, my teammates gradually became aware of the situation.

The choreographer was the first to give us good feedback.

-Who did the choreography? Did you all do it together? No, there has to be someone who has led you in the structure of the choreography.... Wow, you guys did well, right? Did you really put it all together?... Yes, whoever led them will still be on the air. Anyway, you did a good job, so I have nothing more to say.

Then it was our singing coach, Mudi.

-First of all, I'm so proud that everyone is able to dance like this and not have their voices out of tune! I also really like that you changed your singing style to fit perfectly with your new performance concept. I wish you will sing with these same emotions when you perform to the public!

Even YoungRin openly praised us.

-I know that we are at a stage that requires you to use all your energies in the production and practice of your song, but best of all, what you have shown us does not seem to have been developed by rookie trainees or amateurs. Although this presentation that you showed us is just for us to evaluate and give suggestions, it is already perfect. I want to see it soon on stage.

By this point, my colleagues already seemed like robots that the only thing they could say was "Thank you".

We were in the midst of such a rave review that it wouldn't be strange if one of my peers started crying with emotion. The stage manager and costume crew did not skimp on their praise either.

-Looking at the report you have written, I immediately felt that you paid a lot of attention to detail. I think that everything you thought to prepare will look great on stage.

-You are the only team that has arranged the song very easily. I am very pleased that you are good friends who know very well what you want. I hope you had fun choosing the music track you wanted to show without having to consult us.

-You have produced everything very quickly. You have clearly shown your concept, without any ambiguity. I already want to see your presentation with the costumes that I will prepare with my team~

After all the whirlwind of praise, it was really worth it to see the faces of my team members. We thanked and nodded our heads with stupid expressions to what they told us because, even though we were so happy, we couldn't believe it.

Not even SeJin could speak properly.

-Thi-no, uh... thanks. We will try much harder!

-Just don't get hurt or sick from trying too hard!

Clap, clap, clap.

The judges applauded us as we said goodbye to them to return to our seats.

When we sat down, we were also well received by the other participants from the other teams. In reality, there was no other audience except for the show's contestants.

Like my companions, I was also stunned.

"How good is our presentation?"

We didn't sleep well these last few days because we were so immersed in getting our presentation right that we weren't quite sure how good it would look.

At best, we thought it would be a "just right" performance.

"...After all, I feel really good now."

He was a little excited that he had made it. Well, I enjoyed it briefly and then I concentrated on watching the presentations of the other teams.

It was close to midnight when the mid-term evaluation was completely over.

-I feel very good.

-Me also..

-Me too.

The guys on my team muttered as we went to bed. I didn't realize it until after it was all over, but my voice was filled with a happiness that I had never felt before.

-I think we can do really well

-T-that's true.

And we continued talking about what we felt for a good while longer.

"I can't believe we're going to sleep like this."

We will be able to sleep more than 4 hours after a long time. I quickly closed my eyes, but at that moment something else came up.

-Oh, I didn't choose the color of the sleeves for my suit.

-That's true.

These guys were so stubborn, they forced my eyes open. Dammit.

-I had checked some things, now I will show them to you, give me a few minutes.

I could hear the sound of SeJin touching something on the screen of his phone.

-I saw it here...

He couldn't finish speaking. Keun SeJin stiffened looking at his phone.

-What thing?

-Something wrong?

SeJin's face looked too pale.

His eyes never left the screen of his phone, which glowed in the middle of our dark room and was clearly visible to me despite the distance between our beds.

He "is looking at a gossip board."

It is a very popular gossip board because it is linked to many Internet portals, it usually touches on all kinds of controversial topics, rumors and controversies.

I didn't want to ask SeJin any more, so I opened the board from my phone and saw a post that had already entered the ranking even though it was posted 30 minutes ago.

------

-----

That was a big, beautiful bomb blast.

"Oh shit."'

No wonder this has been such a lucky day.