Chapter 105
It was a question that struck right at the core.
A question asking whether everything she had explained so far was truly for the purpose of the survival audition—namely, to win the competition—or if it was merely about fulfilling Ayung’s personal wishes.
At those words, Ayung wiped the smile from her face and answered with a solemn expression.
“Yes. It’s something I’ve always longed for. I’ve always imagined it, and since I never knew when the chance would come, I even tried preparing for it.”
Among idols, there was no one who didn’t admire Ahn Jihyun, but Ayung respected and followed Jihyun more than anyone else.
She firmly believed that one day, she too would shine on stage just like her.
“I promise. I chose you in order to win the competition. Not just to project my own desires.”
“That’s enough for me, unnie. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded even if it had been the latter.”
Seunghye patted her own chest twice, then slung an arm around Jihyun’s shoulders.
“It’s a rare chance to stand on such a big stage. I just hope you can do everything you want without holding back, unnie.”
“Seunghye…”
“Instead of this, should we try fleshing out our plan a bit more? Our team’s biggest weakness is that our image and concept aren’t unified, right?”
“Ah, that’s true. You’re not wrong.”
“So while listening, I thought about it a bit—”
“Oh, me too!”
Following Seunghye, Rin finally joined the conversation.
That night, the lights in the A-grade dormitory stayed on for a long time.
The next day.
“Ah, did I sleep too lightly?”
Ayung rubbed her sleepy eyes and got up from bed, hair a mess.
After talking all night about concepts and formations until her mouth hurt, the fatigue was no joke.
Still, she felt satisfied, and her mood was good. It felt like she had gotten a little closer to her two friends.
“It reminds me of my trainee days.”
It was a fairly long time ago, so the memories were a bit hazy, but the nostalgia was welcome.
They’re such good friends. Ayung gently took the hands of Seunghye and Rin, who were sleeping softly.
And at the moment the morning sunlight, just beginning to rise, shone down on them, she realized—
The two of them shouldn’t still be here.
“Oh my gosh, you guys!”
Ayung shook Seunghye and Rin awake.
Rin, still half-asleep, rubbed her eyes without understanding the situation, while Seunghye—perhaps quicker on the uptake—gasped sharply the moment she opened her eyes. The contrast was striking.
“No way!”
Seunghye sprang to her feet, scooped Rin up in a princess carry, and rushed toward the door in big strides.
If the staff came to the dorm in the morning to deliver announcements and saw that the two of them were missing, it would be a huge problem.
“Unnie, we’ll go first!”
“Uh—yeah! Okay!”
Watching Seunghye and Rin disappear into the distance, Ayung finally relaxed and let out a stifled laugh at how ridiculous the situation was.
If we debut in the same group, thanks to those two, there won’t be a dull day.
“Debut, huh…”
Will I really make it into the debut lineup, the way Jihyun unnie expects me to?
No—I have to believe that I will. That’s why all this time has been necessary.
As Ayung shook her head briskly to clear her thoughts, just like the saying that even tigers appear when spoken of, a staff member carefully knocked and opened the door.
“We’ll be making a general announcement broadcast soon, but for today, there’s a short schedule, so please prepare.”
“Schedule…?”
Did an ad come in or something, maybe they’d buy them a meal?
But what reached Ayung’s ears—something she had dismissed as trivial—was far more surprising than she expected.
“Today, we’ll divide you by grade and allow you to use the computer room. Usage time is limited to one hour, and you are not allowed to access any sites other than the permitted ones.”
The purpose of using the computer room was as follows.
“The official website for the audition MAKE YOUR : REVIVAL has been launched. In the ‘Support’ tab, you can check messages of support sent to you. Each group will be given about 15 minutes. We’ll explain again upon arrival, but please note that accessing any external sites other than the designated ones will result in immediate dismissal.”
So the official site is up.
Now that she thought about it, since the first episode had aired, it was about time for an official site to be launched.
Perhaps because Ayung had already debuted once before, she didn’t think much of it—but it seemed others felt differently.
Already, the hallway outside was buzzing with noise. Amid it, she felt like there were hurried footsteps mixed in—
“Unnie!”
Sure enough, Seunghye and Rin, who had just left earlier, reappeared—this time bringing Eunseo with them.
Every time she saw them, the number of companions seemed to increase. At this rate, in a few more rounds, she’d have as many friends as there were members in the debut lineup.
Looking at the three of them, who were obviously brimming with excitement, Ayung chuckled softly and spoke calmly.
“You’re back again? You’ll get scolded if you run in the hallway.”
“We already got scolded, but they said they’d let it slide since today’s probably going to be a good day.”
“Did you hear the announcement?!”
Seunghye and Rin spoke one after the other. Then Eunseo—usually calm and quiet—continued with a flushed face.
“They said the official site is up! There’s even a ‘Support’ section!”
“I heard. I know.”
“Oh my gosh… do you think I’ll have fans too?”
“Of course. All of you are charming people. You definitely will.”
Ayung patted each of their shoulders in turn.
She wasn’t just saying that. Seunghye, with her natural ability to draw people in, of course would have fans.
Rin, with her small stature and cute appearance—the quintessential fandom-magnet—there was no way she wouldn’t.
And Eunseo, with her calm, graceful exterior paired with unexpectedly outstanding vocal skills, was no different.
All three had distinct charms, so surely many fans would have chosen them as their pick.
The one she worried about instead was Ayung herself.
She had always lived a life far removed from popularity, so she felt like this time would be no different. Like she would once again fail to repay Jihyun, who believed in her.
“Starting with Group A, we’ll move four people at a time.”
She was excited, but she turned her eyes away from it. It was a fairly large-scale broadcast—surely she’d gain at least a handful of fans.
But as she headed to the computer room, the anxiety only grew.
Even if she did have some, it would probably be just a few people—three or four at most. Thinking that, she let go of her expectations.
The bigger the expectation, the greater the disappointment.
“It was always like that every comeback.”
When you think about it, there was a reason Ayung thought this way.
Even during the one promotion where Mate—a failed idol group—had some degree of success, mentions of Ayung were as rare as beans in a drought.
And even those were mostly written by one person, Sehee, using multiple accounts.
“I pretended not to know, but…”
It took her a long time to admit it. But eventually, she became detached—and because of that, she stopped expecting anything.
She was sure of it.
And yet—
“Did I… see it wrong?”
The first digit was a five. But it wasn’t a single digit—there were more numbers after it.
Not five posts, but over five hundred messages were right there before her eyes.
On a board where each person could leave only a single line of support for just one contestant they chose, the number of comments under Ayung’s category was over five hundred—five hundred and thirty, to be exact.
And that was just a little over two days since the site had launched.
“Is this a dream?”
Her hands were shaking so badly that it was hard to even click properly.
But realizing she only had 15 minutes, Ayung forced her trembling hands to move and opened the comments section.
Ayung, I love you!
Ayung, fighting!
Don’t lose confidence, Ayung!
From light comments like those—
I was worried seeing how nervous you looked, but watching you gradually improve made me a fan. I’ll be cheering for you!
It worries me how you always seem to doubt whether you’re doing well. You are doing well, so please stay strong.
—to long messages of support that filled the entire character limit.
As Ayung scrolled down one page, then another, her eyes began to sting.
An amount of support close to everything she had received during her time promoting as Mate was pouring out toward her all at once.
In fact, judging by comment count alone, Ayung was ranked near the top among the contestants.
“This really… doesn’t feel real.”
Still wearing a dazed expression as she scrolled, one particular comment caught Ayung’s eye.
