Episode 117: Project Trinity (2)
A leisurely breakfast spread consisting solely of toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon.
“Project Trinity?”
The topic joining us at the table this morning was, naturally, Project Trinity.
Of course, Project Trinity was currently Music On Net’s secret project, with only the name having been publicly revealed so far.
The details were naturally classified information,
“Yeah. Yesterday the CEO asked if I’d be interested in giving it a try.”
I decided to share the topic with Zia while organizing my thoughts a bit.
Zia wasn’t the type to go around blabbing about something like this anyway,
‘He probably already knows she’d hear about it.’
Seo Yoonje must have anticipated to some degree that this kind of talk would reach Woo Zia’s ears.
“Trinity… so what are the three parts?”
“Idols, producing, and survival.”
I explained the three core elements that made up Project Trinity to Zia, who had looked it up after hearing the name.
“To put it simply… producers representing each agency—or producers that multiple agencies are sending love calls to—team up with trainees and compete through that process.”
“Hmm.”
Zia tilted her head slightly as she took a bite of bacon.
“Isn’t that a bit cliché? When debuts or comebacks overlap, you see that kind of setup pretty often.”
The picture Zia was probably imagining was one where Sunshine stuck with Sunshine people, Overwhelm with Overwhelm, JWY with JWY—each group clustering together.
And as she said, that would be an utterly clichéd arrangement.
‘Not just a little—extremely so.’
If it were structured that way, Project Trinity would never have drawn any real attention in the first place.
Naturally, a method to add freshness to that setup had already been decided.
“They’re going to mix the trainees.”
“Mix them?”
“Yeah. For example, a trainee from JWY or Overwhelm could end up on the Sunshine producer’s team.”
“Ahh.”
The so-called three major powerhouses each had a very distinct color and identity.
Naturally, their trainees were also shaped to fit that color.
But what if that premise were completely shattered?
“Year-end music festivals, holiday specials, award show invitation stages… you don’t get to see that kind of thing easily anywhere else. For fans who go crazy trying to find their bias, an event like that? How could they resist?”
“That does make sense.”
Project Trinity had precisely targeted that pinpoint, and it was more than enough to become a unique signature of the program.
“If they’re mixing trainees, how? If it’s just completely random, wouldn’t that cause a lot of backlash?”
The production team must have agonized quite a bit over that aspect too.
If it were purely random, complaints about fairness or manipulation would be inevitable.
To the producers, such noise might just look like extra aggro to boost ratings, but unlike previous survival programs, Project Trinity involved the three major agencies known as powerhouses.
(Even though Season 2 never happened) For the sake of any potential future seasons, the production team would have had no choice but to maintain amicable relations with those agencies—who would never look kindly on such controversy.
‘There were probably other reasons too.’
In any case, the solution they arrived at after all that deliberation was a method already fairly familiar in certain media circles.
“It’s a bit weird to say this since it involves people, but… it’ll probably feel closer to an auction.”
“An auction?”
“Yeah. Each producer is given a set number of points, and within those points, they bid to acquire members through an auction.”
“Wow. That’s smart. That actually sounds pretty good.”
“It’s not original. It’s already pretty well-known in the internet broadcasting scene.”
“Really?”
The tournament name was probably something along the lines of ‘Born of Capitalism’ or whatever.
Thanks to that event, the ‘point auction system’ had become so famous in the internet broadcasting world that it was practically a standard now.
If producers conducted auctions with limited points to decide their members, it would—at least to some degree—prevent situations where all the top-talented trainees flocked to one team, or the worst-case scenario where a producer and trainees were a complete mismatch.
‘And even if something like that did happen, there’d be a way to save face.’
Since it wasn’t a flaw in the program itself, but rather the success or failure of the producer’s auction strategy, it could be framed however they wanted.
Clearly, that system was one of the key elements that drove Project Trinity’s popularity.
And from here on, this is something I can’t tell Zia.
That very system was the biggest reason the output group ‘Trinity’ ended up crashing and burning.
‘In a system like this, there are really only two strategies anyone can think of.’
One is to pour a massive amount of points into one or two trainees with outstanding talent to firmly establish a center.
The other is to scoop up as many trainees as possible within a reasonable point range to plug every hole.
In the original game tournament that birthed the system, both approaches were perfectly viable and had solid chances of winning.
‘But Project Trinity isn’t a game tournament.’
In this industry, where victory isn’t determined by simply destroying bases but by attracting the most attention from the largest number of people, the presence or absence of a so-called “surefire center” literally becomes the dividing line between success and failure.
Producers—who couldn’t possibly be unaware of this fact—naturally avoided choosing the second strategy. It was practically a foregone conclusion.
‘Sure, the advantages are clear, but so are the disadvantages.’
Members brought in by dumping huge points.
And the rest of the members who were either won cheaply or left unselected and “passed over.”
Bridging the gap between them isn’t easy.
In the original short-term tournament where everything ends in a day or two, you could just laugh it off as a minor flaw.
But Project Trinity runs for ten weeks of broadcasting alone, followed by a full year of activities—a long-term project.
Even the flaws that editing managed to hide during the show would inevitably start to stand out over time. That was almost inevitable.
At first, everyone probably thought things would improve as they continued activities together.
Unfortunately, in my previous life, Trinity’s flaws only became more glaring.
The result?
‘The center consumed their image on their own, while the rest sank under the “filler” framing.’
The name Trinity ended up becoming a trauma for every agency involved.
If I were to participate in Project Trinity, I would have no choice but to adopt the strategy of securing one definitive center.
However, the difference from everyone else would be—
‘I have a way to turn lower picks into upper picks.’
More precisely, to turn them into “unscratched winning lottery tickets” capable of leaping to the top.
‘Chaekyung, and Soyoung.’
Because every agency knows exactly how the Project Trinity system works, agencies sending multiple trainees deliberately mix in kids whose skills are ambiguous to dilute the pool.
If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be too difficult to send someone like Chaekyung—who currently has almost nothing going for her except visuals—and Soyoung—who stands out only for her clean voice.
‘Bring Nari as the main member, then attach Chaekyung and Soyoung. One complete product, two with growth potential. I already know exactly how to polish Chaekyung, and I know Soyoung’s peak too—so it won’t be that hard.’
If I add those two to Seol Nari—the strongest card MyWay can play at this point—then honestly, it doesn’t matter who the remaining members are.
They might try to block MyWay trainees from clustering together, but given the current state of Chaekyung and Soyoung, they’re not exactly the kind of members agencies would go all out to snatch.
“So, are you going to do it? It sounds like it could be fun.”
Right as I finished thinking that far,
Zia—who had been quietly eating as if deliberately giving me space to think—asked the question.
My answer could only be,
“Hmm. Still thinking about it.”
A bit ambiguous, inevitably.
‘If I could use the attention focused on Project Trinity not in reverse, but directly to my advantage…’
If I could ride that wave and deliver the same kind of generational shift impact that Laira once did.
If that were possible, then this life’s Trinity—or rather, whatever new group I build—would go down in popular music history for a completely different reason than before.
Even if the fixed activity period means I can’t go quite that far,
A newly formed girl group centered on Seol Nari, with Chaekyung and Soyoung as the core, might just create an even bigger ripple than Laira ever did.
This was exactly the “possibility” that had flashed through my mind yesterday.
**Chapter 117. Project Trinity (2) – Final Part**
There’s the clear advantage of being able to start one—no, two or three steps ahead of everyone else.
But despite that, the reason I’m still hesitating ambiguously is simple.
‘The element of luck is way too big.’
The possibility I came up with is only valid if everything unfolds exactly as I envision it—that’s the biggest problem.
‘Worst case, if the auction itself goes sideways from the start…’
In the auction process, the absolute worst scenario—failing to secure Seol Nari while trying to pick up Chaekyung and Soyoung—is unlikely to happen.
The auction itself is clearly content.
Pushing out lower picks too early to make producers hold back would create an ugly picture, so they’ll probably front-load the upper picks that represent each agency at the beginning of the auction.
‘I think that’s how it went in my previous life too.’
Since who ends up with whom ultimately depends on the auction anyway, that level of adjustment probably wouldn’t stand out much.
Even so, the luck factor is still overwhelmingly large.
‘For example, if Nari comes out as number one.’
To prevent MyWay’s producer from pairing with MyWay’s top trainee, they could deliberately force all points to be spent on Seol Nari in the worst-case blocking scenario—and that’s entirely possible.
If that happens and Chaekyung and Soyoung end up going to another producer’s team?
That would be far worse than not participating at all—the absolute worst outcome for MyWay.
Knowing that such a result was possible made it feel even more inevitably disastrous.
“Yujin-ah.”
It was right then that Zia called my name.
And what she said next caught me completely off guard.
Because,
“If you’re okay with it… how about giving it a try?”
“Huh?”
I hadn’t expected Woo Zia to personally push me forward like this.
My mind—full of worry—and even the hand that had been mechanically moving food to my mouth froze.
Zia’s voice continued softly.
“I… I saw it, you know. Sora and the others smiling. When they were crying and laughing after coming in first, saying thank you to you… it felt strangely good.”
A reason I could never have imagined.
“The fact that the person who gave my friends smiles like that is my boyfriend. That the person I like is capable of doing something that amazing. I don’t know… it just made me feel so proud?”
“…”
“I love hearing you sing, but the fact that because of you, so many more people get to smile like that—that’s incredibly cool too. It was the same with the Orion kids.”
“I’m not saying I can succeed at everything…”
“The person saying that right now is the same one who kept pushing me to become an actress, right?”
“That’s not the sa—”
Maybe it was because the person saying it was someone I could show every single weak side of myself to.
The response to the vulnerability that slipped out unconsciously was,
“Let me see.”
Woo Zia’s warm hand gently cupping my cheek.
“Hmm. Honestly, I don’t think there’s really anything to worry about? A Grammy-winning singer is stepping up—would a mere survival show be a problem for you?”
“Yah.”
A chuckle escaped me at the oddly familiar tone in Zia’s voice.
I immediately realized it was almost an exact mirror of the encouragement I’d given her in bed just a few dozen minutes earlier.
“It’s someone else’s life on the line, so of course you can’t decide easily, Yujin… But for some reason, I just don’t get the feeling that you’ll fail. Maybe that’s why the CEO asked you to do it?”
When Zia puts it that strongly, I don’t really have a choice.
I have to give it a shot.
“For now… I’ll check the things that need checking first.”
Even with that resolve, strength didn’t easily return to my voice.
No matter what, the most crucial first button is successfully casting Chaekyung into MyWay.
If Chaekyung says she won’t come, then at that moment the entire possibility collapses into nothing.
“Okay!”
But even that much seemed enough to satisfy her—Zia answered with a bright, radiant smile.
There’s an old saying that a man is only as good as the woman beside him.
In that sense, Zia’s smile was more than enough to refill my confidence to the brim.
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TL Note:
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[This series is in the “Regressed Idol” collection]
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