CENTER

The Complete CENTER Guide

In auto-play, only a little over half of all runs debut. Knowing the systems below will raise your odds a lot.

1. 10 personalities

Your personality changes growth speed and which choices unlock. Only a Savage can throw shade at a rival group on a talk show, and only a Quirky idol can answer in alien language.

2. 20 natural traits

Every character gets two. Lucky and Unlucky, or Glass mental and Thick skin, never appear together.

3. Potential and breaking limits

Each of the six skills (Vocal, Dance, Rap, Visual, Variety, Acting) has a natural potential, shown as the tick on each bar of your Trainee ID. Growth slows way down near it, which is why every run turns out as a different kind of idol.

Dance slowly declines from age 27 and Visual from 31, while actors gain a little Acting with age. When you hit your limit, a legendary trainer may show up; survive a year of hell training and that one skill can go past 100, up to 120.

4. Trainee days

• There's a monthly evaluation every three months. Land near the bottom twice in a row and you may get cut.
• If you start at an audition academy with no agency, you pay tuition yourself and must pass an audition to become a trainee.
• When rumors say the agency is preparing a new group, the final debut team evaluation comes within months. Your recent evaluation results matter most.
• After 22, the "age wall" comes every year: try another agency, enter a solo audition show, or give up.
• On the survival show 〈One and Only〉 you need to make the final nine after four rounds of voting. Even if you're cut, people will know your name.
• High Acting brings casting offers from actor management agencies.

5. Comebacks

Concepts: Fresh summer, Dark charisma, Retro, Emotional ballad, Easy listening, High teen, Experimental hyperpop, Addictive meme song, Mature, Hip-hop swag. The better a concept fits your skills, and the closer it matches that year's trend, the better it performs. Repeating last time's concept feels stale.

• Prep intensity: all-nighters raise results but risk injury.
• Promotion: music shows for wins, variety for new fans, short-form challenges for chart-comeback odds, overseas promotion for international fans, fan content for loyalty.
• At the year-end awards you can win a Rookie Award, a Bonsang or the Daesang. The Daesang basically needs a #1 song that year and 500K+ fans.

6. Money, payouts and contracts

• Trainee lesson and dorm costs pile up as debt to the agency. Debut adds more on top, and you only get your first payout once it's all repaid. Groups at small agencies sometimes never clear it in seven years.
• As you get popular, you get a chance to renegotiate your payout share. When the 7-year contract ends, negotiate renewal terms (share, signing bonus, freedom) or go free agent and compare offers from three agencies.
• With ₩200M+ in the bank, you can start your own one-person agency and keep an 85% share.

Things to buy in the wallet

A wallet cue card appears the first time money piles up (first payout; ₩100M, ₩500M, ₩3B and ₩10B in the bank; signing bonuses). It shows what you can buy now alongside goals you could reach by saving, so you can choose to spend or save. The number on the wallet button counts newly affordable items, and tapping your money at the top also opens the wallet.

The first time you turn on auto mode, it asks what to do with wallet cue cards: choose yourself, auto-save or auto-spend. You can change it anytime in the wallet.

7. The actor route

If your Acting is high enough, you can switch to acting when cast as a trainee, after being cut, at contract renewal, as a free agent or after retiring. As an actor you pick from offers (Bit-part audition, Web drama lead, Weekend drama supporting role, Indie film lead, OTT series villain, Blockbuster supporting role, Miniseries lead, Blockbuster lead), get results in ratings and box office, and can win acting awards at year's end. Leading a 10-million-viewer film and the Grand Prize for Acting are very rare.

8. Life after the stage

After disbanding or retiring, you choose a second career. Which paths open depends on your skills and record.

9. Grades, top % and the collection

Your career score combines debut, music show wins, peak chart position, awards, peak fans, acting results and how life after went. Grades go from S to D, and top % is based on the score distribution of 3,000 auto-play runs.

There are 101 achievements across Trainee, Survival, Stage, Awards, Fandom, Contract, Money, Growth, Life, Actor, After Retirement, Grade, Collection. The rim color shows difficulty (Bronze · Silver · Gold · Rainbow). Easy ones show their conditions up front; hard ones only show a hint. Some award a guaranteed SSR or LEGEND charm.

There are 56 iconic scenes. The same event leaves a different scene depending on your choice, which is a good reason to try something different every time.

Finishing a run gives hearts by grade (S 8 · A 5 · B 3 · C 2 · D 1), plus one per new achievement and new ending. The Daily Trainee gives +2 more on your first finish of the day. Replaying the same start (retrying the Daily Trainee the same day, or replaying a character from a duel link) records your score but gives no rewards.

10. All 50 charms

Pull once for 3 hearts or ten times for 27. Only one charm is equipped at the start of your next run, and charms don't apply to the Daily Trainee or friend duels.

• All charms of the same rarity have equal odds.
• Every 50 pulls, the next one is guaranteed SR or better (odds in the table above).
• Getting the same charm again raises its ★: ★2 at the 2nd copy, ★3 at the 4th, ★4 at the 7th, ★5 at the 11th. Each ★ adds 25% to the effect, doubling it at ★5.
• Charms from achievements count as two copies. If you already had one from a pull, its ★ rises the moment you unlock the achievement.
• Copies past ★5 turn into stardust (N 1 · R 2 · SR 5 · SSR 15 · LEGEND 40), which you can exchange for any N, R or SR charm.