Chapter 3

Rita is currently standing in the middle of a garden.

No jokes, she really is standing in a garden. Rita just arrived at the place where the show is being held in her car, and entered through a large grey gate which led her here. And now she doesn't know where to go.

To be honest, she has no idea how these survival shows work. She watched some popular (and also controversial) past idol-survival show, and what she learnt is all trainees stay together in a dorm inside a building. Typically the buildings have practice rooms and performance rooms to perform in front of the instructors. That is all 'inside information' she gathered.

But now, she feels clueless. The garden is beautiful; she has to admit. Fresh green grasses spread out as far as she can see, trimmed and clean. Dewdrops glimmered there in sunlight. ginormous trees surrounded the walls, and chirping of birds can be heard.

There is only one path ahead, and that too covered with tree leaves and twigs. but a human can squish through it.

Rita hesitates. What if there is a camera? What if her every movement is being watched by millions of people all over the world?

She shakes her head to get rid of these thoughts. If a camera is really filming, she can't appear to be nervous. That'd be not-so-idol-like behavior.

Rita casually walks forward and reaches the bushes and tree covered path. She discovers that the obstacle isn't dense, in fact, it is pretty much arranged to go through easily, but appeared to be looking like heavy bushes. For, entertainment purposes, she guesses.

Rita wrung her hand around the bushes and pushes them away, stepping forward. Then a building comes in her view.

'Whoa.' she says. The building is colossal. From afar, it looks like its made of windows. as sunlight shone on the silver glassy surface. The building is situated at the middle of a meadow, and gives really luxurious vibes.

Rita walks forward until she is right before the building. She stops in front of what looks like the door, which is a chunk of black metal about eight feet tall. Still, nobody is around.

Rita looks around and sees a keypad place beside the door. She pursues her lips for a second and then decides to type her name. She types 'Choi Suzy' in the keypad.

A low rumble comes from behind the door.

Click.

The door swings open. Rita stumbles a little backwards. Inside, there is a narrow passage. The walls are absolutely black-and there are bright lights hanging from the celling. So it made a weird combination of white and black.

Rita walks in as the door closes slowly. She swallows'. Dang. This place looks more creepy than she expected.

She walks to where the passage leads her-which means many corridors, turnings and totally no sound. Rita starts growing uncomfortable. Then she finally stands in a dead end-another door, closed. Brighter light seeps through the bottom of it.

Maybe someone's there. She steps and pushes the door.

Loud cheer erupts..

After being away from any kinds of sounds, Rita's ears ring from the commotion and her eyes dazzle at the luminosity. When her eyes adjust to the light, she slowly starts to see the room.

Ok, it will be disrespectful to call it a room.

It looks like an amphitheater, except for the fact that there is a celling. It Is oval shaped with the central arena which looked like a stage. seats concentrically placed around it, spotlights danced all over. So many people were on the sits, some standing, some sitting. Most of them clapped and shouted encouragement-to her, probably.

Before Rita can digest what is going on, a voice booms through the hall and she jumps.

'Looks like our most famous contestant is here! Everyone, please welcome Choi Suzy, an idol under RFW ENTERTAINMENT and also known as the leading figure of 4th generation idols!'

And the people starts shouting again, this time much louder. Rita smiles, bit awkward and waves. It seems like trainees get a heart attack if she even only glances at their direction.

'So!' The voice booms again, 'We are very happy to see Suzy in our show! Suzy is currently number 1. contestant in popularity ranking and has a wide fanbase. Thank you for coming to our show, Suzy! Please, have a seat.'

Rita looks around to sneak on a seat, but it looks like fate has other plans. Everyone chants her name and screams, patting a seat closer or even patting their own seat, indicating her to come over. Soon enough, Rita gets dragged to sit in a place where floodlights flashed right above her, making her the center of the gallery. It feels suffocating, but she keeps on smiling.

'Now! What do we have here?' The voice which Rita suppressed is the MC's, questions with glee. Rita glances down to see the Japanese soloist, Ashuka. 'It looks like our last contestant Ashuka has finally arrived! Ashuka is ranked 3 in popularity ranking and her has a strong potential of a performer. Cheers for Ashuka!'

Once again, everybody breaks into cheers, Rita joining in. But she can't see Ashuka's face because if being under the spotlight beam. A minute later after Ashuka goes to her seat, the voice speaks again. 'Now!' It says, surprisingly suppressing the loud crowd, 'to our first mission!'

Everyone cheers. After noise dying down, the host clears his throat. 'You all know what is the first task-an evolution test. It's very simple. You have to go up to the stage in center, and perform the sing you prepared. The judges will watch and evaluate you according to performance, which will affect your second mission.'

Somehow (to Rita's sheer astonishment) , the entire gallery has quieted down. The younger ones, whom she assumes are trainees, look very nervous, curling their fists. The idols she know is apparently calm and composed.

'First up!' There host called, 'Ririka of Green Nations entertainment!'

And it's on. Rita focused sharply on the performances, weighing her opponents. The trainees are timid on stage. Some of their voice shake, and some's crack. Most of them can't hit the high notes properly. And forget about dancing, it's far from being professional.

In the contrary, idols did really well. Some of their performances are eye catching- and Rita admires their expressions. She is focused so much that she almost misses her name being called.

'Next up!' There host said in a cheery voice, ' Choi Suzy!' In a daze, Rita descends down the stairs as all other contestants cheered her, but she is too number room say something back. She stands in the stage.

The lights dim. A countdown in her head starts.

Three, two, one.

Go.

She steps up and immediately starts rapping in the same beat of the buzzing music.

A faint cheer can be heard, but she would care less. She isn't anyone else at stage. Not Suzy, nor Rita. Just a performer.

"Our world is in reality, everything unify virtually

10 million viewers focus on me, don't miss it, my movie time,"

The first verse is a strong rap. In the middle, she starts her well balanced dance, the kind you see in YouTube videos. Well executed.

"Keep runnin' and fighting, enjoy tomorrow like it was nothing

Feel like I'm in paradise, camera's on

Like a world inside the screen, yeah, I'm the boss"

She twirls, jumping to show her perfect moves. Then she starts singing.

"There's no way out, way out, just go through it

The struggles but I'm still having fun here"

Rita was just an ordinary girl, dreaming of something big.

"I wanting to live without any fear (Yeah, yeah)

My heart is racing

That world filled with sweats, thrill it up

I got you, oh-ooh"

She didn't want this life nor did she imagine it.

"I want to be

The main actor of a vicious action

I'm getting thirsty by just looking at that scene

A world where everyone in the audience"

Rita steps sideways and bobs her head, just as planned. So far, so good.

"No limit, go faster, step on more acceleration

200 ride and run, I can't even catch a villain

There's no fixed road, I just choose my crossroads."

She will fight till the end. Disguised or not, she doesn't care. It's her against the world.

"Now, now, now, suffocating

Now, now, now, ruthless

Now, now, now, thrillingly

Wanna live in a place like an action movie."

And here comes the high note!

Rita finally finishes her stage. Sweat glistens on her face, and she huffs, covering the mic with one of her hand.

'Brilliant!' MC shouts suddenly, snapping her out of the trance which makes her aware of the wild noises in the hall. 'Absolutely captivating! She once again shows what she is! Applause for Choi Suzy!'

Rita waves and grins at the crowd, which is going crazy. Then she goes back to her seat.

After that, everything just goes in a haze. Rita doesn't know if it's exhaustion, or the newfound surge of energy overwhelmed her so much. She even misses Terry's stage, which she can only remember a guitar and someone scrunching up their faces really hard.

'And now the rankings according to the judges!' after a long, long time, the host says. 'Listen!'

'Third place goes to-Kang Terry!' All cheers and Rita snorts, but claps nonetheless, because she very much knows everyone is watching her reaction and it's video will gain millions of views in YouTube before morning. 'Second place! Goes to-Ashuka!' Well that is expected. She did very good in singing up there.

'And now, the final one! The one who achieved first place is-

Choi Suzy!'