5 Selfish Prayers

"Drew! It's Drew!"

Shock, astonishment, and excitement. How else should trainees like them react upon seeing a big shot? The person who came was a household name in the country for being one of the best soloist idols of the current generation. Idolized by many and yearned by millions of female fans. It was Drew, the flagship bearer of K-star Entertainment, a subsidiary of Nova Corporation.

There were three reasons that BOI was called a flop but not a total flop in his previous life. First, because of the handsome trainees. Second, because of the popular signal song, which was even more popular than the actual program. Third, Drew brought in probably fifty percent of the domestic female viewers.

Jun watched his fellows for a while before he decided there were enough reactions from them. "Everyone."

With his two claps, the boys came to their senses and hurriedly formed a line before bending their waists.

"Hello, mentors!"

"You're all surprisingly well-mannered, boys." Drew smiled refreshingly and generously complimented their polite behavior. "Just like an army platoon when you line up instantly. I like it!"

One of Drew's assistants, hiding his face behind a mask, commented, "They indeed have exemplary discipline."

Jun inwardly laughed when some fanboys of Drew among the trainees blushed. He knew it was not out of attraction or anything weird but because they got complimented by their idols.

An introduction session followed. Each trainee briefly spoke about themselves and their strengths after saying their names.

After the last participant spoke, Drew nodded and glanced at the clipboard. "I have read the rules of this mission. So the number of people staying depends on how high the average of everyone here is."

Jun nodded, "Yes." 

"Then do your best. Let us start the mid-check." Drew raised his head and met the eyes of several participants.

The assistant played the music while the other person readied his camcorder.

"Show me the formation and movements first," Drew ordered.

The participants obediently went into position. But before taking his place, Jun kept his back towards Drew as he watched and examined the faces and poses of his fellow contestants.

He waved a hand once to signal somebody to move a bit to the left. After that, he raised a thumb above his head and took the center position between Sujin and Min.

As they waited for the song to start, Jun was nervous. The song was familiar, but the part he would be playing this time was not. Would he be able to do better than Sujin? Or even Neo?

Drew clapped thrice, and finally, the instrumental that served as the intro began.

The claps miraculously cleared the fog from Jun's mind. It was merely two days, but he had worked tirelessly in those two days. His greed over something was overwhelming. He wanted to be remembered as the best center for this song.

And so Jun decided. He would give everything he had to prove himself to the producers and the man standing before him. With that thought in mind, the surrounding air and the look in his eyes transformed.

The other kids did not feel it; they all nervously focused on their parts. However, their three audience members saw it.

Drew's mouth formed a small 'o'.

"What a surprise."

After that, the famous solo idol did not speak anymore. After the first performance, the man said nothing to the panting performers with expecting eyes.

"Formation, formation! Make haste!" Instead of giving pointers, Drew clapped, and the confused contestants reacted late as they headed to their starting positions. "This time, you sing and dance at the same time."

Alarmed expressions crossed the faces of some participants. Drew anticipated it. But surprisingly, those who looked especially flustered from being unprepared were only two, fewer than he expected. The rest stared at Jun's back and then minded their business again.

Then, when the second performance ended, Drew immediately clapped and had them return to their starting positions again.

"Sing and dance again!"

"Wait!" It was one of those two flustered participants who was badly trying to catch his breath.

However, Drew just cast a glance at him. The third performance began, and before it, the contestants threw a look at the center's back again. It intrigued the solo idol because he instinctively felt it was not simply to check their positioning.

'This kid not only looks like a complete idol but has the charm to make people curious about him.'

In that mid-check, Drew secretly whispered to one of his assistants to ask about the boy at the center, which piqued his interest.

Shortly, the answer came.

"Drew, the kid's name is Jun. Park Seo-jun."

The famous solo idol wordlessly nodded. Before the song reached the second chorus, Drew had committed the center's name in his mind.

...

The Greenhouse can and would only ever hold twelve Inhabitants simultaneously. However, incapability to stay did not mean a BOI participant was automatically eliminated from the show, at least not at this phase. They were instead sent to the Barren Lands located right outside the Greenhouse. While it had the name 'Land,' it was a stand-alone building with a moderately big hall. Attached to it were two bathrooms, a small dining area, and a wardroom full of gray shirts and pants.

Of course, compared to the Greenhouse, which was basically like a heaven for trainees, The Barren Land was more like a place meant to remind participants that they were the weaker ones. The 5 people who had been voted off especially felt like they were angels banished from the promised land.

This happened three days ago.

"The Greenhouse has lots of good food. There, each participant has a closet full of colorful clothes. Everything is provided for them."

Hyeon-ju openly expressed his longing for the Greenhouse to the seven other participants who were not allowed entry there.

"That sounds fantastic. Uhh. Here, we can only wear gray. Plus, everyone has to stay inside a single room."

Hyeon-ju could not believe it so he checked out the various rooms in the Barren Lands. Indeed, the place where they had to sleep was a little cramped, with bunk beds spread in all directions to fit into the room.

"... Whoa." An awkward smile hung on the lips of the five who arrived there late.

However, they were not given any more time to pity their sudden situation.

"Barren Landers! Please gather in the training hall." The voice of the MC echoed throughout the entire building.

Regardless of location within the Barren Lands, the twelve who had been banished here heard the announcement.

"Let's go." Resigned to their fate, Hyeon-ju led his companions to the hall.

There, the signal song of the show was played with the lyrics and choreo on separate screens.

Unlike the Greenhouse Inhabitants, whose teamwork would be tested, the Barren Landers were tasked with memorizing and performing everything. SOLO.The same deadline of seven days.

But they would have to sing and dance from beginning to end.

Upon hearing this, all trainees of the Barren Lands felt despair. After all, among the ones here were those who learned slowly.

Days passed. Unlike the Greenhouse, which held a midterm check, the Barren Lands only received another announcement from the staff through the main hall screen on the due date.

Everyone performed and recorded their performance, which was then compiled into files. Nobody knew who would judge these videos. However, stress and anxiety affected five trainees too much, and they admitted that they performed poorly.

Then things became crazier when the siren asking for attention reverberated. An announcement written in white on a pitch-black background was silently flashed on the screen.

Hyeon-ju read it all aloud. "Now that every Barren Lander has submitted their entries, the specially selected judges and producers would rank these performances."

"However..." He paused because, in the corner of his eyes, he found some trainees slowly shaking their heads in disbelief or stunned.

Hyeon-ju felt nervous as he continued."...Only if the average score of the Greenhouse Inhabitants is lower than ninety will there be a chance for Barren Landers to be promoted. Even then, the number of Barren Landers to be promoted depends on the average of the Greenhouse Inhabitants."

Almost immediately, the youth's eyes widened, and behind him, he faintly heard someone swear.

"Why? Why is everything up to the Greenhouse people?"

The already weird atmosphere in the place became even weirder. On the huge screen, the official performance of the Greenhouse Inhabitants played. Half of them watched with full concentration to gauge the skill difference between the two 'factions,' while half prayed for the average to be as low as possible.

Among them, Hyeon-ju watched blankly and had no thoughts in mind."They are so good."

Despite Hyeon-ju's praise, his voice carried worry and insecurity.

"Compared to them, I am quite behind," a trainee called JO heaved. "I wonder how they trained to become this synchronized while singing stably."

One of the youngest trainees on the show tried to cheer them up, "Guys, stop being so pessimistic. We also made it through the first audition. We beat over five hundred people there, so we should not be that bad."

The Barren Landers appreciated the words, but the majority still continued praying in their mind. They prayed for the Greenhouse Inhabitants to fail. They wanted them to at least, commit one mistake. Because only through that would they see real hope.

Not all Inhabitants intimidated the Landers, but some made them not dare to compare themselves to others. Sujin, Min, Kato, and especially, the center, Jun. They wondered, how could that guy make it look like he had already mastered every detail of the song and choreo as if he had performed it a thousand times before?

So they prayed, inwardly and almost desperately…Time passed.

Although the performance was only three and a half minutes long, it felt like days to them.

Then, finally, something really happened that lit up everyone's eyes.

"Dead air..." muttered JO, one of the few foreign Landers. At that time, everyone felt it.

That their selfish prayer was heard…