Yeon Miwol explained the game for everyone.
"Our game will be called Concentration Challenge. In this game, the groups will choose a representative to play."
"The rules are simple," she continued. "The representatives in order from one to five will take turns. Then..."
To clearly explain it, Yeon Miwol demonstrated it instead of purely using words. She raised both of her hands and snapped twice before clapping two times.
"The players will do this action while staying on sync with the beat."
Everyone thought that was too easy, but Yeon Miwol wasn't done yet.
"We will give you a topic. And while doing that action, you will take turns on naming something related to that topic. For example, fruits. Each of the representative will have to name a fruit."
The participants still thought it was still easy.
"Of course, there's a twist," Yeon Miwol continued. "The timing of the beat will change as the topic changes. It could get faster, and it could suddenly slow down."
"Each turns will last with one set of action I just showed you. If you fail to name a thing, you're out. If you repeat an answer, you're out. If you fail to keep the rhythm, you're out. Is that understood?"
Everyone nodded.
"Now, decide who will represent your group," Yeon Miwol said.
The five groups immediately gathered, forming their own circles.
"So who will play in our group?" Yeo Haru opened the conversation.
"It would be good if it's someone who's smart," one of the members said.
That member had a point, but no one wanted to volunteer to say that they're smarter than everyone on their group.
"But since it's an idol show, would it be possible that they will choose a topic about K-pop?"
Everyone turned even more silent. Most of them here had no extensive knowledge of that topic. They were all people picked from who knows where, doing their own things while they were alive until suddenly dying.
Unexpectedly, someone interjected the silence.
"If that's the case, I guess I am the person perfect for the job."
It was Yeo Haru.
They all looked at him, eyebrows raised.
"I was born and raised in South Korea. Technically, it could be said that I grew up with idols," he joked with a happy smile.
They all laughed at the joke, making Yeo Haru look prouder.
Actually, Rayen also knew some K-pop songs. When he was alive, K-pop was a genre that was quite popular in their country. Most teenagers listened to them, and the truly popular groups' songs would always be played nonstop.
Sometimes, he even felt nauseous having to hear the same song a hundred of times in a row at different events. Even in TokTok, most of the songs used for the reels were K-pop songs.
But Rayen had little knowledge about it. Even though he's a member of a band, their music genre was different from these groups. Additionally, because he hated dancing, he didn't take a great interest in it.
He definitely didn't even expect that once he died, he'll have to become an idol one day.
'No one can really predict the future...'
Even though the other members of the group was worried about not getting any screen time, they still agreed that Yeo Haru was the best person for the task. His words made sense too.
"Then, it's me."
After a few more moments, Yeon Miwol called for the groups to halt their discussions.
"Representatives, step forward and line up."
From order of one to five, the representatives were Mr. Big News, Ms. Hardworker from Iris's group, Ara, Mr. Ryeon's roommate and Yeo Haru.
When everyone had lined up, the game immediately started. The first topic was also displayed on the screen.
[Idol Groups]
Rayen and his teammates let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that they were right on choosing Yeo Haru for the job—if he wasn't lying about his origin.
Snap, snap, clap, clap.
The whole set was filled with these sounds as the game commenced.
The first to answer was the representative of group 1—Mr. Big News.
When he first saw the topic, this big guy turned jittery on his place. But quickly remembering his young cousin who was a fan of a Kpop group, he was able to answer.
"BTZ."
Snap, snap, clap, clap.
"Card."
"Once."
"2NA1."
"Wonderboys."
The display on the screen changed with the beat also going faster. Mr. Big News exhaled in relief since it was quite easy this time.
[Music Genre]
"Pop."
"Ballad."
"Hip-hop."
"Rock."
"Jazz."
The game continued, but most of the representatives were so competitive that no one made any mistakes with the next three topics.
A few more moments later, the timing became faster to the point that the players only had less than a second to think of the answer. When the topic had changed to famous idols' names, Mr. Big News wasn't able to answer on time and had to withdraw from the game.
The second one to lose was group 4 when Ryeon's roommate said a wrong title of a K-pop song.
The game turned even more intense when the timing of the beat suddenly reached its peak. Ms. Hardworker was also knowledgeable of these topic and was confident that she wouldn't lose.
The players' eyes were already turning red including Yeo Haru. In his mind, all he could think was he had to win.
If he did, all the cameras would turn to him!
Suddenly, the fast as hell timing of the beats became slow, disorienting Ms. Hardworker and making her stray out of the beat. She stepped out from the game with her lips pouting in disappointment.
Only two players left.
Yeo Haru stared at the screen. The words displayed on it were continuously changing as he and Ara exchanged various words. He glared at Ara, who was calmly snapping her fingers.
'C'mon, lose already!' Yeo Haru thought.
Ara, who was really confident of herself, seemed to notice his gaze. She turned her head to him and smirked before turning back to the screen.
In her previous life, the only entertainment she had was stanning K-pop idols. It's impossible for her to lose!
To further make the game harder, the staff member backstage played around with the timing of the beat. Yeo Haru nearly stuttered when the slow beat suddenly turned fast, but he persevered.
'Who's the bastard controlling the speakers?!'
His hands were already turning sweaty. Glaring at his opponent again, Ara still had a casual smile on her lips.
'Why won't this damn woman give up?'
...
Meanwhile, as the game continued, at the backstage.
Director sighed.
'Why aren't these people giving up?'
It's already been fifteen minutes since the game had started.
Having already ran out of K-pop and music-related topics to present, the staff member controlling the screen and the pace of the beat beside the director looked at her in inquiry.
"Food," Director responded. "Play around with the timing more."
The staff member immediately typed the words to display on the screen. It seemed as though they were also playing along with the players because they also had to think of topics to display on the screen.
Director thought once again, 'That damn Plotter. Writing such a useless game!'
...
Three more minutes passed when Director just wanted to give up. Even the staff member, the participants and Yeon Miwol was already getting bored watching the two fight it out.
Director had had enough and took control of the situation. Instead of typing out the topic, she took the microphone and spoke.
"Words that end with the letter Z."
When no topic was shown on the screen, Ara, the K-pop expert, was slow to think of a word.
'Finally!' everyone thought.
"Yey!" The participants genuinely cheered.
"I won, I won!" Yeo Haru rejoiced with red eyes before glaring at Ara once again.
"Tsk." Ara scowled with her loss. In her mind, she was cussing out the person who blurted out a different topic.
Yeon Miwol lifted the microphone in her hands and smiled despite feeling exhausted.
"Congratulations to group five," she said.
"Now, the groups will choose their songs in the following order: five, three, two, four, and finally, one."