"Only five members?" June went out of the dressing room as he heard Gun's, Ji-hyun's, and Jay's conversation.
They still had about 15 minutes before they needed to enter the set, so they?were busy gossiping about the changes in the show.
They turned to June, who was now all dressed up, and found themselves swooning at his appearance.
"Dang, all these trainees are going to experience their first love and heartbreak through him," Gun muttered.
Meanwhile, Jay raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You don't know about this?" he asked. "You've already filmed on the set for the commercial, right? You must have noticed that there were only five special seats at the very top of the pyramid."
June scratched the back of his head.
"Well, I guess I didn't notice it," he said.
"It's true, though," Ji-hyun said. "They're only going to debut five members this time. I don't know if it's because of budget constrictions or if they want the competition to be more intense. However, I believe it will be a hot topic once the episode comes out, so Azure really knows how to do their job."
"I think it's also because of the influx of girl groups with fewer members. It's a lesser hassle to maintain, and it seems like they're doing much better than larger groups, too," June added.
The others nodded in agreement.
Jay looked at his watch and hummed.
"Half of the trainees have probably entered by now, right?" he asked.
June nodded. "It's time for the independent trainees to arrive during this time."
Meanwhile, in the set, the independent trainees indeed started making their way inside the venue.
Last year, there were only four independent trainees. However, because of June's success in the past season, there had been an influx of applicants from independent trainees.
They seemed to be convinced that they could also take the center spot even as an independent trainee because June was able to do so.
They started coming in one by one through a line, and the trainees who were already in their seats gasped in surprise when they saw the long line of pretty women.
Most of them had different styles since they were going to perform different songs. It seemed like there was also some tension going on among them, which was understandable since they wanted to become the greatest independent trainee out of the entire group.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})At the very end of the line was a girl with heavy eyeliner and a punk-rock style.
The others' eyes immediately drew toward her way.
Jeemin, who was still in her room, raised her eyebrows in surprise when she recognized who it was.
"Isn't that—," she muttered.
However, before she could dwell too much on the thought, the camera panned away from the girl with a gothic aesthetic.
As they made their way to their seats, the others couldn't help but talk about them.
"Do you think there's a second June among them?"
"That would be terrifying."
"Truly. He came from the bottom and somehow managed to get the top spot."
"We need to look out for these independent trainees."
Their conversations came to a halt, however, when the next company logo was shown on screen—Top Star Entertainment.
The five girls backstage conversed quietly as they waited for their cue to enter.
"I thought we were going to enter last? I saw that there were still two trainees behind us," Juri muttered.
Mina, their oldest member, sighed. "I honestly don't know. This must mean that a bigger entertainment company than Top Star is joining this year."
However, the trainees outside weren't aware of that. There were currently seven vacant seats in the entire pyramid. The first to fifth spots had already been taken, so those at the bottom and the middle remained.
So, when they saw Top Star's logo, they believed they were the last company to join.
"Enter," the staff directed, so the five ladies entered the set with confident smiles.
The other trainees immediately gasped as soon as they saw them.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Their aura..."
"It's different, isn't it?"
"Is that Mina? Didn't she have a photoshoot with Zeth when they were trainees?"
"That must mean that she has trained for a long time, too."
"If Top Star's male trainees had Zeth, then their female trainees had Mina—don't you know that phrase?"
"She must be really talented then."
"But wait... there's only five of them?"
Meanwhile, the trainees from Top Star looked for their seats and decided to settle at the bottom row, where five empty seats were seen.
"Do you think Top Star can sit on the bottom?" Juri whispered.
Mina merely shook her head and led the other trainees to their seats.
As they settled, the others couldn't help but talk about the last two trainees.
"Who could it be?"
"A larger company than Top Star? Is there any aside from Phoenix?"
"But Phoenix said they aren't joining this year."
"Then, who else? Don't tell me—it's the other big three?"
"Eyy, no way!"
They started dismissing their speculations. However, when they saw the large 'S' logo on the screen, they quickly turned silent.
ESPER ENTERTAINMENT.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"ESPER? The ESPER?"
"The one that has OCTA?"
"They've never joined before! What changed?"
Their amazement increased a thousandfold when a beautiful pink-haired girl entered the venue, all of them immediately standing as they watched her dainty steps.
She had a humble yet confident smile playing on her lips, and she seemed very sophisticated by the way she carried herself.
"This is a cheat code."
"She has already debuted at this point."
"Doesn't she look skilled too?"
"Goodness, I should just go home."
Jeemin pursed her lips as she heard the whispers around her. However, she tried her best to act like she wasn't flattered at all. Then, her eyes scanned the room for an available seat.
Her smile fell a bit when she saw that there were only two seats on the middle row left, one at the side and one beside it.
She quickly brought back the smile to her face, not wanting to show any of her ugly sides, as she made her way up to the edge seat. At least, the camera would easily capture her in this seat.
As she sat, though, she realized that it was strange how the seat next to hers was still empty.
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
That just meant that she wasn't the last trainee to enter!
"What?" she muttered. How could that be when ESPER Entertainment was undoubtedly the pioneer of K-pop?
"I can't. There's way too many things happening."
"First, they pulled out Top Star, and now, they show a trainee from ESPER. Who could the last trainee be?"
"What other companies are out there?"
Just then, bright, bold letters flashed on the screen, rendering the trainees silent.
AZURE ENTERTAINMENT.
