Chapter 57: The Technique of an Idol Who Never Fails

People leaving the venue, regardless of age, had a similar thought.

"I want to spoil it!"

[How was it?]

[If you spoil it, there will be legal action...]

[Just tell me here.]

[The kids did really well~]

[But the question is whether... the KQS camera can capture it well.]

All three stages were good. The high-pitched vocals of the two teams in front, which seemed to pierce through the performance venue, were refreshing.

There was no disagreement that any team had put on an outstanding performance, regardless of personal preferences for vocals.

And the third stage.

The audience's hands holding their phones were trembling.

Whether they voted for number 3 or not.

What remained in their minds at the end was that.

* * *

We went up on stage for the ranking announcement and the final shooting.

Before the filming started, the Bad One members, who had prepared for debut with Park Sunjae and Hwang Saebi, came over to our side.

Bad One's leader, Choi Jeongho, said,

"I still can't imagine Saebi as the leader. She's still a kid to us."

"She sleeps as much as a newborn."

When I answered, both the Bad One members and our members chuckled.

Hwang Saebi was one of the trainees who was definitely going to debut. When her debut was canceled, I'm sure she was devastated, even if she didn't say anything.

The time when most trainees give up is, of course, when a group is about to debut. There's no guarantee of when a group will debut in this agency.

The strange atmosphere around Kwon Seonah at the beginning was probably due to this.

Everyone has a story, whether they debuted or not.

While talking about this, we were about to go to our seats when Woo Hajeong said,

"Hae Won, let's say hello."

"We need to reconcile, not just say hello."

So, whether they debuted or not, everyone who went through the trainee life has a story.

I felt the same way, and so did Woo Hajeong, which is why we treated every opportunity that might come as our last lifeline.

Anyway, understanding and forgiving are different things. Especially when the person doesn't even apologize.

"Then, let's reconcile."

Woo Hajeong said brazenly.

"No, this... new friend."

"...New friend?"

"I said reconcile with a broad heart, this... new friend. You were the one who did wrong, so why reconcile?"

Woo Hajeong looked at me with a strange expression. Even though I didn't know what it was, I could sense that it was unpleasant.

Every time I mentioned the new friend, the First Light members couldn't stop laughing.

Then, the first week's ranking announcement followed. Third place was MII and New Days.

"Second place is... Aino and First Light."

Automatically, first place was IMX and Bad One's stage.

MC Lee Heese and Kang Yunseok received cue cards with people's reactions to each team's performance. It seems that after voting at the kiosks, people could write a comment about the performance.

The two alternated reading the comments. Then, Lee Heese read the audience's reaction to our team, which was in second place.

"The stage was visually shocking, and the music was narrative."

As soon as those words were spoken, all the members of Aino and First Light came over and patted my back. It felt like my spine was straightening after being hit seventeen times.

We shared the same points with Aino. Aino, who had a schedule, left first, and we shook hands and hugged each other. I ran over to Oliver.

"Bro, you really worked hard."

"Yeah, I worked hard. Working with a genius was really frustrating..."

"No, it's my self-esteem..."

"I have high self-esteem. Hae Won, you can't work with me if you don't have a decent level of self-esteem. Your mental state would break."

Oliver said this, shook my hand, suggested we eat together, and then left.

As soon as we returned to the waiting room, we received the second mission.

On the TV in the waiting room, the two MCs were visible.

I had been guessing the next mission while working with Yang Euihyung and Aino's producer Kim Seongmin, and had prepared to some extent. The first mission was a team battle, and the song was not predetermined.

The common opinion among the three of us was that the second mission would be the opposite, with the songs already chosen.

Only the first week had a ten-day grace period; from the next week, we had to complete the mission within a week without any breaks. VMC usually gave hints about the mission to maintain the overall quality of the show, but KQS only informed us that the final week's theme would be completely autonomous.

This is why our ancestors said that a shaman can kill people.

Lee Heese said,

-In my hand is the result of a vote that took place online a few months ago.

And Kang Yunseok said,

-The second mission is decided based on this vote.

-That's right. What was the vote about, Yunseok?

-It's about the cover songs that each group would find the most difficult to perform, with contrasting images.

That makes sense...

The screen, which had shown the MCs, changed to a six-part screen with each team's logo, but the order was different from before.

Bad One and IMX, followed by us and Aino, were arranged according to the stage rankings.

Wow, indeed a shaman...

-The order within the same ranking is determined by seniority.

Usually, it's alphabetical order, isn't it? This has a bit of an old-fashioned feel.

I swallowed my words and looked at the logos. Lee Heese said,

-Bad One, Tango Tango Tango.

Bad One has been active with the image of "eternal troublemakers." But now they've been given a song with mature lyrics. I can imagine the expressions on the Bad One members' faces.

It's a song so dark and intense that it's hard to believe an idol group could perform it. IMX, which mainly performs dark and intense concepts, was given a tropical, refreshing song, Hawaiian Love. And the team with the most members, Aino, was given a duet song with acoustic guitars, Two Cups of Coffee.

And us.

An Juwon said,

"We can handle most songs. Because we have Hae Won."

"Right! We can do it all!"

After Min Jihoo shouted, Lee Heese said,

-First Light, Dance of the Butterfly.

But after the theme was announced, everyone froze and didn't say a word.

'Dance of the Butterfly'

This is a song about compromise, reconciliation, and ultimately friendship, performed by Lee Heese's team. Conversely, it suggests that our team doesn't seem to be a group that exudes friendship to other K-pop fans.

The group formed as a result of the survival show, from the beginning, had shown various conflicts, which, in other groups, would have been easily resolved but led to rumors of discord.

Meanwhile, the songs for the other teams were also announced.

MII was given Little Pretty, a debut song by the girl group Camellia, which is hopeful and lovely. Most teams probably wanted a cute girl group song like this. It's easy to maintain the concept and get attention. The stage setup for Little Pretty would probably be the easiest.

Finally, New Days, the youngest team with all members being minors and the youngest being a third-year middle school student, was given the opposite, IMX's chart entry song, Moonlight.

As I watched New Days come out of the waiting room, they were walking out with deep sighs. And when the youngest member, Kwak Junwoo, saw his senior from the same agency, Han Hyoseok, he ran over.

"Hyoseok-ssi!"

"Yeah, Junwoo."

"What do we do..."

Kwak Junwoo sighed deeply. For New Days, who had been singing about dreams, fantasies, and cute, adorable songs, Moonlight, which is about taking drugs in a back alley, was completely out of place.

"We're going to get a lot of hate..."

Kwak Junwoo sighed deeply.

Han Hyoseok said,

"Junwoo, you shouldn't have that attitude from the start. You need to think about how to pull it off. If you try hard, it won't be..."

Fortunately, before Han Hyoseok could continue his old-fashioned advice, Min Jihoo and Park Sunjae shut him up. I always feel lucky that these three are friends.

Of course, effort is important, but talent is also important. Among the arts, ballet is probably one of the few where innate talent is crucial.

Anyway, if New Days' stage fails, IMX will benefit.

That's not right.

I asked the New Days members,

"Who's the composer here?"

Since every team had at least one composer, Chae Yuhwan, the oldest member, raised his hand.

"It's me."

He's nineteen, the same age as Shin Jiun and An Juwon, but Chae Yuhwan looks much younger. Of course, the reason is our members...

When I held out my phone, Chae Yuhwan quickly ran over and asked,

"Really?"

"It's good for the composers to exchange contact information."

"Yes, please..."

Sigh, how can these young kids perform a song about taking drugs in a back alley... Of course, IMX doesn't have a history of taking drugs in back alleys, but the New Days kids don't have a "back alley" look on their faces.

* * *

It seems that the mismatched songs are indeed a problem.

We stayed up all night discussing, but we couldn't easily come up with an answer. Just bringing the stage as is? Not difficult. Min Jihoo had already memorized most of the choreography after one viewing, and within an hour, he had taught all the details to the other members.

Park Sunjae performed Dance of the Butterfly from start to finish at a woman's height, and the members were able to practice the choreography and movements for two days until they could do it even when half-asleep. They could prepare for the famously complex 'Dance of the Butterfly' in a short time.

But just moving the stage as is probably isn't enough for this mission.

We added a dance break in the middle and Min Jihoo and Han Hyoseok created a fantastic pair choreography that symbolized butterflies, but even when we cheered and clapped, neither of them looked particularly satisfied.

On the evening of the third day, when I thought we needed something more.

The first episode of 'The Rising' aired.

The reaction was not good.

The show was too boring.

[There's a separate survival show for that]

[Why TYT works and KQS doesn't?]

I watched the show with the members, and contrary to my worries, the editing was very mild.

There were many former idol fan club members among the production staff, so they edited in a way that wouldn't hurt the fans' feelings. This was probably interesting for idol fans but boring for other viewers.

The first episode showed the preparation process and a taste of the stage to be broadcast next week, to pique curiosity.

The production staff filming our practice room looked quite gloomy. Even though they tried not to show it, the atmosphere affected the members. If we, who have experienced survival shows, feel this way, the other teams will feel even worse.

I decided I needed to assess the situation, so I took several deep breaths and took out my phone.

When I checked, the VMC's publicity was in chaos.

From accusations of copying KQS's survival show format, to the great public broadcaster taking away the survival show-derived idols from the small and weak VMC, and now the ratings and popularity of the show are plummeting.

[Of course, survival shows belong to TYT lol]

[The public broadcaster is really failing now, nothing is fun]

Reading the comments, I felt a strange, unpleasant feeling. VMC, which wanted to create the image of 'survival shows' and was preparing another one, must be thrilled.

Thinking about this, my mood sank.

"...They're really getting cocky."

Only now did I realize how much hatred I had for VMC.

When the stage is broadcast next week, the show might gain more attention, but I wanted to take action immediately, at least to stop VMC from being so cocky.

Without hesitation, I went to PD Hwang Jiseok, who was in charge of filming for TRV.

"PD, sir."

"Yeah? What is it, Hae Won?"

"The ratings."

If the ratings are good, it's fine, but when they're bad, people tend not to mention them. This is a vicious cycle. You need to talk about it to take action.

PD Hwang Jiseok looked a bit flustered and asked,

"Why?"

"Can you give me a completely opposite character from when I was with Kwon Seonah? An extremely opposite character."