"I never thought the day would come when we’d be filming here!"
The moment Gahyeon saw the place in front of her, it was hard to calm the excitement pounding in her chest, like a child who had just arrived at an amusement park.
Goyang Stadium.
People who didn’t live in Goyang might not know it well, but anyone with any interest in idols had no choice but to know this place.
That was only natural, since Goyang Stadium was where the Idol Athletic Championships were held every year.
"Remember how, back when we were trainees, we used to watch the Idol Athletic Championships broadcast together and go on and on about how we had to make it there too?"
"Of course. Back then, that was the goal."
"Now that we’re really here, I feel like I’m going to cry."
"Whenever I saw this place on TV, I always wondered if the day would ever come when I’d get to come here too···."
It wasn’t just Gahyeon who was excited.
Seo Ryujin, standing beside her, seemed deeply moved too, answering while looking all around at the sight of Goyang Stadium.
Staff were bustling around setting up the set, and fans were entering the stands one by one to take their seats and cheer for the groups appearing today.
As Lee Gahyeon stared blankly at it all, her eyes reddened slightly without her even realizing it.
'I’m really appearing on the Idol Athletic Championships···.'
For idols—or rather, to be precise, for idol trainees—the Idol Athletic Championships held a somewhat special meaning.
There were plenty of variety shows they wanted to appear on, but the Idol Athletic Championships was a program only idols could appear on, and even among idols, only groups with a certain level of recognition could compete.
Maybe that was why, among trainees, it was always the number one variety show they most wanted to go on.
"Ayeon, why are you so calm? Didn’t you want to come here?"
"It’s just not exactly a place that gives me good memories."
"Huh?"
"It reminds me of how, every holiday, I’d be practicing alone in the training room while the others gathered together to watch the Idol Athletic Championships."
"Ah···."
"I wanted to watch too, honestly, but it’s not like I could walk up to them and ask to watch with them, and it’s not like they would’ve said yes even if I had, so in the end I’d finish practice, go home, and watch the rerun alone···."
Gahyeon, all excited about appearing on the Idol Athletic Championships, had asked Ryu Ayeon—who had been standing there with a slightly sour expression—if she wasn’t excited too, only to get back a catastrophic answer.
It felt like teasing someone because the sled name Talula sounded like the name of a call girl, only to hear it had actually been named after that person’s mother.
Just as Gahyeon’s mind was reeling from Ryu Ayeon’s Talula punch—
Smack!
"Ack!"
"Ryu Ayeon, you’re lying again, aren’t you? What do you mean we left you out and watched the Idol Athletic Championships without you? Who was it that barged in while we were watching and raised hell, saying that instead of wasting time on that, we should be practicing?"
"What?"
"Esther, when did you get here? Gahyeon was just about to completely fall for it."
Esther, who had suddenly appeared, smacked Ryu Ayeon on the back and rescued Lee Gahyeon from danger.
"I almost believed you for a second!"
"It was a joke. You seemed too excited, so I was trying to calm you down a little."
"So what if I’m a little excited? You just don’t get it. The Idol Athletic Championships is supposed to be something you enjoy casually."
When Gahyeon glared at her, Ryu Ayeon made the ridiculous excuse that she had only been trying to calm her down.
But—
"There’s no way today can be something we enjoy casually."
"What?"
Slide.
At Gahyeon’s words about taking it easy today, Ayeon only shook her head and pointed with one finger toward a certain spot.
"Lee Sion···!"
And there, at the end of that finger, was a familiar silhouette.
Unlike Lee Gahyeon, who had been assigned to White Team today, Lee Sion, who had been assigned to Blue Team, had gathered the Blue Team members around and was yapping about something.
"···of the world··· awaken! What you have to gain is···! What you have to lose are your chains···!"
They were too far away to hear clearly, but anyone could tell Lee Sion was saying something dangerous while agitating the Blue Team members.
Just looking at that made Gahyeon feel, exactly as Ryu Ayeon had said, that with Lee Sion on the opposing side, there was no way today’s Athletic Championships would go smoothly.
"Gahyeon, what on earth did Lee Sion do?"
"Huh?"
"Jia went to that last Athletic Championships practice, and ever since then Jia’s gotten weird."
While everyone’s attention had briefly shifted toward Lee Sion, Esther asked Gahyeon that in a sharp voice.
"Whenever Jia sees me at the dorm, Jia mutters things like 'wicked bourgeoisie' and then avoids eye contact for days."
"Wait, Yunkyung kept glancing at me around the dorm too and mumbling something···."
"What? And you didn’t even ask what happened?"
"I just figured it was one of those things again···."
At Gahyeon’s answer, Esther made a dumbfounded face like, How does that make any sense?, but since it was the truth, Gahyeon felt wronged.
'That’s just how our girls are···.'
-The key is your step. A strong punch comes from a strong lower body.
-Like this?
-That’s right. Twist it sharply! And then imagine you’re sending your fist straight toward the opponent’s—uh, I mean Seo Ryujin’s—jaw, and shoot it out in a straight line.
After that Myeongdong street fan-signing event, there had once been total chaos when Lee Sion, clowning around about teaching Shinyu how to defend herself, ended up actually demonstrating the technique on a sleeping Seo Ryujin by putting Ryujin in a triangle choke.
And besides that, there were so many bizarre incidents that it would have been hard to list them all one by one.
After living through things like that, suspicious behavior from Im Yunkyung and Kurosawa Yuri lately could only feel like a routine annual event.
"We’ll be starting the shoot shortly! As we explained, the order will be Miss Lee Sion representing Blue Team and Miss Esther representing White Team each taking the oath, and then we’ll begin the first event, dodgeball. We need to line up for the oath formation, so please move right away!"
Lee Gahyeon, who had been briefly discussing with the White Team members what kind of trick Lee Sion and the Blue Team might have cooked up, snapped back to her senses at the staff member’s voice announcing the start of filming and began to move.
'Come on··· no matter how much it’s Lee Sion, there’s no way she could indoctrinate people she’s only met once, right?'
But even as she moved to the position the staff directed them to and took her place, Gahyeon’s head was full of a vague uneasiness.
One optimistic prediction that no matter how much it was Lee Sion, there was no way she could have cooked up anything in that short amount of time—and one anxious prediction that then again, if it was Lee Sion, maybe anything was possible.
"Oath! We, the athletes of White Team participating in the 2016 Idol Athletic Championships, will observe the rules, respect the referees’ decisions and our opponents···."
As if it had no idea of Gahyeon’s worries, Lee Sion’s voice rang out across Goyang Stadium.
Anyone who knew Lee Sion’s true nature would get chills, but on the surface, it was such a clear voice, like bright weather on a sunny day, booming out the beginning of the Athletic Championships.
***
-Your forearms are no joke.
That was what Hansem had first heard from Lee Sion.
Lee Sion had blurted it out without hesitation, the kind of thing that might have sounded rude at first glance to say to someone meeting for the first time.
Hansem had originally done artistic gymnastics, so the clearly defined muscles in those forearms had been a bit of a complex.
So at first, Hansem had no choice but to feel a little hostility toward Lee Sion for suddenly bringing up Hansem’s forearms.
But—
"Kyaaaah!"
Not now.
'She’s really blocking everything for us!'
Watching Lee Sion use her whole body to stop the fierce attacks of White Team’s ace, Ryu Ayeon, in the first event, dodgeball, Hansem and the rest of the Blue Team members could do nothing but admire it.
-I’ll be the shield, so Hansem, you finish it.
-···Okay.
-Right. We’ll work together and take White Team down.
Before the dodgeball match had started, Lee Sion had told Hansem that she would be the shield, so Hansem should not worry about defense at all and focus only on offense.
And seeing Lee Sion doing exactly what she had said, becoming a shield and blocking every one of White Team’s attacks, Hansem remembered the long speech Lee Sion had delivered when she had gathered the Blue Team members during the last practice.
-There may be some hesitation because you have to fight members of your own group. You may not even want to do it.
-But don’t forget that the viewers and the fans want to see us throwing ourselves into this match with everything we’ve got.
At first, the Blue Team members had responded halfheartedly to Lee Sion’s solemn voice, but their expressions gradually grew serious.
-Today, I heard some shocking news. The unbelievable and deeply tragic fact that the members of White Team, who were placed on the opposite side from us, are receiving special treatment different from ours!
Before anyone knew it, Lee Sion’s voice was steeped in heartfelt fury.
-Right now, we’re gathered in an athletic field with no heating or air conditioning, but I hear White Team’s practice location is an indoor gym equipped with the latest facilities!
There was no way to verify whether it was true, but Hansem and the rest of the Blue Team members started to stir at Lee Sion’s words.
-I have received intelligence that two certain girls from a certain group whose names I cannot reveal, Miss Seo and Miss E, are planning discrimination through their connections with the PD, from the practice location to today’s lunch boxes and even in the actual matches that will come later!
-No way!
-They’re really doing that kind of discrimination?
-Don’t tell me our leader betrayed us too?
The faces of the members who had clearly parted that morning with smiles and See you after practice had, before anyone knew it, changed in their minds into people sneering at them while they sweated buckets in a shabby, worn-out gymnasium (it was perfectly fine) and suffered through it (the weather had been cool).
-I want to defeat those loathsome White Team bourgeoisie and bring victory to our Blue Team members, who will share hardship and adversity together!
-Lee Sion!
Now the response rang through the gym almost before Lee Sion had even finished speaking.
At that moment, had it been a hallucination that Hansem thought she saw an upside-down crescent-shaped mustache on Lee Sion’s face?
Hansem didn’t know why, but Hansem too had been shouting Lee Sion’s name along with everyone else.
-All for one! Let’s dye Goyang Stadium red!!!
-Waaaaah!!!
Hansem didn’t remember much after that.
Something dangerous had definitely been said, but all that remained in memory was the image of the staff who had come to film Blue Team’s practice dragging Lee Sion away in a panic.
Anyway, ever since that day, every time Hansem saw the fellow group members assigned to White Team back at the dorm, Hansem felt an inexplicable anger.
"Hansem, it’s your turn!"
"Okay!"
And that wasn’t what mattered now.
Thud.
The dodgeball that had bounced off Lee Sion’s face landed in Hansem’s hands.
At Lee Sion’s fervent cry telling Hansem to show them what she was made of, Hansem’s grip on the ball tightened without realizing it.
Squeeze.
In Hansem’s sight was Iam member Ryu Ayeon.
Normally, Hansem might have hesitated to throw a ball at Ryu Ayeon, who was technically a senior even if only by a few months, and also a very popular member.
But—
"Ayeon, dodge!!!"
Not now.
Right now, all Hansem saw was a fattened-up slave of the broadcasting station.
"Dedicate your hearts!!!"
With that shout, Hansem’s hand hurled the ball she was holding faster and more accurately than ever before.
***
"Should I go print out the incident reports?"
"···Couldn’t we still salvage this somehow?"
"I don’t think even the god of editing could pull that off. There are fans in the audience too."
"···."
At the junior staffer’s perfectly logical words, Daehan could only shut his eyes tightly without offering any rebuttal.
"Kyaaaah! I just got pinched!!!"
"It was an accident. I’m sorry."
Screams were ringing out among the girl group members competing in ssireum, the fourth event of the Idol Athletic Championships.
The voice of a White Team member protesting in injustice that someone had pinched the waist, and the voice of a Blue Team member innocently apologizing and saying it had been an accident while watching that.
Just hearing it all made Daehan’s head start to pound.
'I underestimated her.'
Not long after deciding to change the rules of the Idol Athletic Championships, Daehan remembered getting a call from Oh Jaehak, a PD who had started the same year.
-Hey! I know because I’ve dealt with her—Lee Sion does insane shit even if you don’t hand her a stage for it. Just leave it the way it was!
Jaehak’s urgent warning.
At the time, Daehan had ignored it.
That was only natural, because Jaehak, who handled Paldo Man, had struck gold by featuring the Iam members, so Daehan had assumed it was just a vicious trick to keep other people from getting a taste of that honey.
But before long, Daehan learned that it had been sincere advice.
-Let’s crush White Team and turn this into a world for Blue Team!!!
-Waaaaah!!!!
The filming crew had been sent to shoot practice footage, only to come back with what looked like a propaganda film from the 1960s.
Because of that, Daehan had to suffer for days with the editing team, muting Lee Sion’s speech and overlaying all kinds of different shots to turn it into a normal video of someone encouraging teammates.
Of course, if that had been where it ended, Daehan’s mental state would not have been this destroyed.
-Push harder!
-What are those weird shoes?! Why did they come wearing something like that?!
When they were told to do tug-of-war, the Blue Team members showed up somehow having acquired heavy combat boots, and they had even dusted rosin onto their gloves.
-Isn’t this cheating?
-No. Isn’t it just that Blue Team’s preparedness beat White Team’s arrogance?
-I···is that so?
-How about you watch while having this drink for now?
-But Sion, why are you over with the staff?
-Is that what matters right now? Oh right! Why didn’t you invite me to the Rift last time?
-Ah··· back then I···.
And Lee Sion, the ringleader, was busy handing out colas among the staff and manipulating public opinion too.
Because of that,
"Pinch them back! We can’t lose!"
the White Team members, who had been toyed with by all the dirty tricks Blue Team had prepared, were starting to play dirtier and dirtier too.
'We’re fucked.'
Watching all of that, Daehan clearly realized that the broadcast had already slipped out of his hands.
In the first event, dodgeball, Blue Team had won by a landslide, even with Ryu Ayeon getting injured badly enough to have a nosebleed.
After that, in the second event, tug-of-war, the Blue Team, having prepared in advance, had claimed an easy victory as well.
Only in the third event, the relay race, had White Team barely managed to secure a win thanks to Ryu Ayeon’s performance running with tissues stuffed in the nose.
But looking at the situation in the fourth event, ssireum, it seemed that this too would end with a Blue Team victory.
"Uoooooh!!!"
"Lee Sion!!! Lee Sion!!!"
After all, in the final that had just taken place, Lee Sion had slammed Seo Ryujin straight onto the sand and was roaring.
"Jihoon."
"Yes, PD."
"It’s tradition for sports days to dump all the points into the final event at the end, right?"
"Excuse me?"
Daehan did not want to hand victory to Lee Sion and Blue Team, who had turned the Idol Athletic Championships into an idol communist revolution.
