AFTER half an hour, the staff instructed the 60 remaining contestants to file out of the warehouse. They were told to line up based on rank in six orderly rows according to rank, each containing ten contestants. To Haneul, it felt like herding sheep—chaotic and mechanical all at once.
Ranked 23rd, Haneul positioned himself in the third row on the left. The chatter of the other contestants buzzed around him, but none of it registered. His mind was too preoccupied, grappling with the startling realization that the three problematic members of the final debut group were nowhere to be seen.
Yes, that's right, those three were not in the top 60.