The group of girls just finished eating their food and were talking about their plans of training to improve themselves until episode two airs in the next three days.

Not to mention, the program has been keeping a low profile ever since the second round. Announcements on their phones were nonexistent and their two weeks days off were almost nearing their end.

It felt strange.

Yizhuo was the first to mention this odd phenomenon and advised everyone to be prepared for whatever the producers are planning. After all, they were still participants in this reality-survival show.

Somi chuckled, "Not that I'm making you guys overthink but..." she wiped with a napkin. "What if the program has been filming us already like how dispatch secretly takes photos of celebrities?"

"Okay." Yuna shuddered at the thought, "That sounds a bit creepy."

"No way, no way." Jimin waved her hand to disregard the idea, "Although that's possible, still, there's no way UNet is that dumb. We can sue them for privacy invasion if that's happening."

Somi snickered, "Then I'm all out of ideas."

A short silence descended upon their table when all of their phones dinged in unison. Because it all rang at the same time, it was no doubt from the program.

They all looked at each other confusedly before reluctantly picking up their phones to look at the message. Even though none of them hasn't opened it, a sense of discomfort rapidly filled their chests.

Idol Factory. It did come from the program and the contents of the message were far from what they all expected. Usually, it would be an announcement regarding their filming date and location but this time...

"They're asking us to arrive at this location or we'll immediately be eliminated...?!"

Yuna reacted before the others could and slammed on the table due to perplexity. She didn't hesitate to stand up and hurriedly pick up her things from the table. The others watched the girl dazedly for a moment before snapping and doing the same.

Why so sudden? Jimin clicked her tongue as she pondered about it for a while until Yeji gestured for everyone to come quickly as she saw a bus through the glass walls approaching a nearby stop.

「Hello, this is your factory admin, Kwon Boa! I apologize for whatever all of you are doing currently but if you don't arrive at "Juja-dong XXXX, St. XXXXX, Warehouse No.4" in the next 2 hours. Whatever the circumstances, come or you will be eliminated.」

「Good luck :3」

✩

| Kim Minjeong

"Wear this."

Boa said as she placed a white and pink bunny onesie that seemed to fit perfectly for my figure on the table in front of me. She had this sparkle in her eyes that urged me to stand up and run away at this instant.

But it was for punishment.

And I couldn't.

Just looking at the onesie before my eyes made me uneasy. The writers behind Boa appeared to be looking at me with hopeful eyes, especially one of their editors, Taeyeon. And she happened to be smiling at me teasingly, ugh. I couldn't help but grimace as this type of thing was never in my cards.

Maybe I should've really followed Ryujin back then...

I sighed.

A few minutes ago, when I arrived at this place somewhere in Juja-dong. I was greeted by staff and two cameras started filming me. At first, I was happy to see them since it meant that I'd most likely have more screen time in the next episode.

I thought it'd be some short footage to show the other contestants the process of this punishment but that wasn't the case.

The staff led me into this huge warehouse that looked ordinary on the outside yet otherworldly on the inside. Yeah, I was shocked and confused to the point I almost lost my composure and broke character.

Thankfully, I evaded once I heard Boa's voice from above. Her voice bounced throughout the warehouse and because the whole vicinity was silent, it was easy for me to locate her.

She was standing on a loft high up the warehouse's ceiling and behind her looked a black camouflaged door. In rare cases, my face finally faltered and the cameras must've caught it in 4K...

My brows raised, "Eonnie... What the heck is happening?" I questioned while scratching my cheek as I carefully analyze the surroundings.

When I said the warehouse looked otherworldly, I mean it. It wasn't your typical that was usually used as storage spaces. Instead, everything looked as if it was a factory that created steampunk engines or whatever-related props were scattered on the conveyor systems.

Although the place looked like it was from the 19th century, the vibe clashed perfectly with the strange futuristic details plastered around the walls, props, and roof— it's all over the scene.

It was a whole damn factory that appeared to be a huge producer of steampunk yet futuristic-like robots. And just by looking at the countless broken mics and speakers. It looked specifically, at those that specialize in entertainment.

What an odd concept.

So it's not some aristocracy thing that I have been constantly guessing? Rather, they took the whole "Idol Factory" thing seriously...?

That sounds quite eerie, to be honest. But cool and unique at the same.

I'm just curious how UNet and SM would play this competition out considering how it currently holds the highest ratings in Korea's survival show history.

For what seemed like