Fifth place.
That's fine.
Totally fine.
How many points separated fourth from fifth?
Which criterion cost me the placement—interpretation, stage presence, camera awareness?
Did I lose points during the borrowed section, or was it cumulative across the entire performance?
The screen offered nothing. Just names and numbers.
No breakdown. No detailed scores. No data I could dissect and reconstruct into a solution.
That was the frustrating part.
If I could identify the precise problem, I could fix it. I'd proven that already.
Breath support, mixed voice, spatial awareness—give me a target and I'd hit it through sheer repetition until muscle memory replaced conscious thought.
But provisional rankings without context were just—
Seongwoo's voice cut through.
"These rankings are provisional. They do not carry over to the live semifinal. Your actual placement will be determined by judges' scores and audience voting on stage."
The words were meant to reassure.
They didn't.
