"…"
I confirmed adding a companion right away. Then, after swallowing, I checked the list.
The current status of the colleagues selected so far was indicated.
[Companion List]
[Shin Jaehyun: Going out to find a colleague (//-^├)]
[Cha Eugene: Calmly talking with the production crew (ㅇㅅㅇ)]
It should have ended here, but one more line was added.
The guy I just picked.
[Lee Sejin: Reading a script (｀ㅅ ´9)]
A script.
Anyone could see that this description was of an actor. Therefore… It really was Bae Sejin.
"Hoo."
A pop-up quickly appeared as if Keundal hurriedly typed it out.
[Heeeeokkk, awaken him, hyung!]
Okay.
[Companion: Would you like to awaken Lee Sejin?]
-Use Exp 1000
I reached over and was about to hit the accept button…
I stopped.
[?? Hyung?]
No, not now.
Only then did I use my head.
'I'm currently in the middle of filming.'
I also had to turn my smartphone in. Anyway, even if I tried to awaken this guy, I wouldn't be able to contact him for at least four days.
Then, I couldn't just let this guy who regained his memories alone remain in confusion.
[Ah… Yes.]
First, I just needed to finish the stage and proceed with the awakening.
[Yes! Go for it!]
I closed the companion list. But I wasn't as anxious as before.
On the contrary, a little… It motivated me.
'I'll have to awaken and contact him as soon as it's over. I'll have to tell Cha Eugene too.'
Of course, persuading this guy didn't seem like an easy thing… But that alone made me feel really good.
My head became clearer.
[Lee Sejin: Reflecting on the script (｀ㅅ//)]
… I don't know why the emoticon suddenly changed again, but anyway, this was it for now.
I chuckled, closed the status window, and prepared to return to the practice room.
It was then.
"Excuse me…"
"… !"
It was a voice I knew. But…
'Why is he here?'
When I immediately turned my head, I saw the same guy as I expected.
It was Lee Sejin with a shy expression.
"Where is the sink here?"
"…"
Yes. Since it was break time, this guy could wander around here as he wanted.
I pointed with my hand.
"It's over there."
"Oh~"
Go quickly.
But instead of going, the guy started wandering.
"Thank you. Ah, Gunwoo-ssi, is it okay if I call you this?"
"Yes."
"Oh~ That's refreshing!"
And he grinned.
"Thanks to you performing so well today, I had a lot of fun too. Thank you~"
"I…"
Let's choose our words.
"Thank you for your kind words."
"Hey, it's not an empty remark. I also saw Gunwoo's first performance, and it was really good. It looks like you're going to debut, really!"
Did this guy remember anything?
'That can't be possible.'
I guess he just wanted to create a connection for networking purposes. Wasn't it obvious?
'That hasn't changed.'
I relaxed my arms.
Yes, I was going to find him and awaken him after the famous work was over anyway, so he could do whatever he wanted.
I had to lighten the mood as well.
Well, it wasn't like I was going to make things up.
"Thank you. I also learned a lot from watching sunbaenim perform. I learned a lot from seeing how each of your movements and expressions were perfectly suited to the song."
"Ah."
The guy suddenly closed his mouth.
'He didn't expect it?'
But soon he opened his mouth like nothing had happened.
"Thank you. I feel energized too~ Well, then, since this must be fate, shall we exchange contact information?"
This happened in
It was more of a strange nostalgia than bitterness. I shrugged.
"I don't have my phone right now… If it's okay with you, I'll give you my contact information."
"Yeah, that's good!"
I put my number into his smartphone. I felt strange.
"I'll text you and say hello later~"
"Yes. Then I'll go in and get ready. Thank you."
"Mhm, yes."
I just turned away, as if I didn't notice that he wanted to talk more.
'I have to put my brain in order.'
He was a guy who did a lot of different things on a daily basis. It felt like I would make a mistake the moment I relaxed while talking to him.
Anyway, it was a polite response, so he wouldn't have been offended…
'Things ended up unfolding similarly here as well.'
For personal connections, that was. Interpersonal relationships based on mutual benefits.
After smiling, I hurried my steps around the corner of the hallway.
And just before colliding with the guy on the other side of the corner, I stopped a short distance away. It was Cheongryeo.
"So you were here. You've come a long way."
"It just happened somehow."
"I don't think it happened 'somehow'… Ah, as expected."
He glanced around the corner and looked at Lee Sejin's back. And he muttered with a sad face.
"I'll tell you in advance, it'll be hard to recruit that one. He's been a member of an established group for 3 years."
Didn't I already know that?
"I just opened up some contact information for networking purposes."
"Hmm, are you thinking of trying to persuade him by explaining what the situation is?"
"…"
"You've done that to him before."
Why was he saying this out of the blue?
For a moment, the thought crossed my mind that there was nothing I could do, but…
"No, the stage comes first."
I had no intention of talking nonsense to that guy until he awakened.
"Is that so? It's well thought out."
He was saying something obvious.
I returned to the practice room. For the completion of the stage.
And a few days later…
Finally, for the first time in this program, stage filming with an audience had begun.
• * *
"Please take care of me~"
GY-ROP's Lee Sejin, who came again as a special judge, greeted the audience warmly and sat down.
Among the idols who came to the mid-term evaluation, those who were less busy were invited back, and it wasn't a very pleasant feeling to have won a spot.
Nevertheless, there was interest in the stage.
Monitoring those who were likely to become competitors was bound to be beneficial. Plus, there were people he had become friends with.
Ryu Gunwoo.
The trainee who performed on that jazz stage.
Lee Sejin frowned slightly, pretending to wrinkle his nose.
'It was a little strange.'
Originally, he thought he was the type that was particularly good and attracted attention. So he thought there was nothing to lose by gaining connections to him.
But when they actually started talking…
'I guess I should say that I just felt like I wanted to become friends with him.'
Why? It was like he wanted to become closer to a friend he had become estranged from because they didn't see each other much.
'Have we known each other before?'
Well, like a friend he used to play with in the neighborhood when he was young.
No, would he know him because he was older than him? Like a neighborhood hyung?
'Oh, I don't know.'
Lee Sejin just erased the questions that couldn't be answered.
'There's no reply yet anyway.'
After this stage was over, he could try to find out a little by keeping in touch.
Even though the person seemed a bit blunt, he seemed similar to Lee Sejin, so he didn't regret talking to him for no reason. Lee Sejin straightened his posture more.
Because filming would start soon.
"〈Wise〉 3rd stage begins."
The set was prepared according to the president's wonderful words.
And what unfolded were stages worthy of a debut group from a major agency.
'… It's annoying.'
Lee Sejin suppressed his boiling emotions.
A sense of victory and a sense of crisis.
And then he ranked them.
Groups that were worse than GY-ROP, and groups that were similar to GY-ROP…
'Well, just because they're good at performing doesn't mean they'll be popular.'
Wasn't that like what happened to the agency's previous female idol group, FluffySweet, who couldn't get popular even with decent skills?
But when he thought about the half of the contestants who would make their debut…
'Ah… Damn it.'
Lee Sejin decided that he had to think of a way to whip the group into shape somehow.
Dealing with people was the area he was most confident in. It made him feel helpless that idols seemed to worry about things like that more often than the stage.
His eyes darkened, but this was offset by the light.
"We are revealing the concepts for the next match."
And as time passed, the most awaited topic came.
The concept appeared on the electronic display board.
[Sexy]
Wow!
There were groans and cheers among the visitors, unsure of whether they were sighs or anticipation.
'Ah~ I knew it.'
Lee Sejin suppressed a bitter smile and gave an appropriate, pleasant reaction for an idol with less seniority. And then the first team stage unfolded.
-Get on your knees, ooh!
It was a stage with tight angles that seemed to scream that the auto-tune and waves were lethal.
'Hmm.'
Well, there was demand… he supposed.
Lee Sejin prepared a review in preparation for when he had to speak to the trainees and took notes in a way that showed the refined keywords appropriately.
And he roughly predicted the reaction of the next and final stage.
'… That team.'
He had already been familiar with it since the mid-term evaluation. A team that included many of the people with the best output in this survival program.
The team that Ryu Gunwoo belonged to, with whom he exchanged numbers with.
'There's a reason why they're going last.'
He looked it up and found that spoilers were circulating on the internet and everyone was looking forward to it.
Most of the audience members sitting there right now would be busy using KakaoTalk or social media and guessing the members of this team by thinking about the contestants who 'hadn't appeared yet'.
And the moment it appeared on the electronic display board…
[Shin Jaehyun, Kim Raebin, Jung Woodan, Cha Eugene]
[+Ryu Gunwoo (excluding)]
Argh! Yeaaaah!
There was a mix of indescribable screams and moans along with tremendous cheers.
This was a phenomenon in which fans who saw for the first time that Ryu Gunwoo was classified as 'out of the league' were surprised, but had expectations for the team itself.
'Everyone will end up going crazy.'
The formula for success was already visible. Because the program's propaganda seemed to be visible, Lee Sejin suppressed a bitter laugh. Their song selection was a song by a top male idol group that came out last year.
Wild, masculine, and sexy.
It was a similar goal to the previous team.
'They will win.'
If the feeling was similar, wouldn't the one who was better at it win? It was a matter that had already been concluded the moment he saw the mid-term evaluation.
'… Because they did well.'
He could already tell from just the first verse, but he seriously focused his eyes on the stage.
The participants gathered in a large formation and stood in the shape of a bud. Colorless lights flickered on the stage.
-Cut off.
And the moment when an elegant accompaniment was played with a low voice.
"… !"
The lighting changed to purple, and the members moved their bodies gently.
There was a large formation that connected with a wave that used the upper body in a big way.
Lee Sejin realized it right away.
'They changed the arrangement a little bit.'
Some instrumental elements were missing. The electric sound was removed and the sound of the bass and string instruments was increased.
And the movements…
Instead of being powerful, they were slow and leisurely. They wore velvet shirts and black pants
It followed the action.
-Cut it and leave.
This is your way
(So sick)
When Kim Raebin, who swept his hair, finished the intro, Shin Jaehyun, who received it smoothly, performed his part with gestures.
Without any group dance. Just with facial expressions and movements.
Yet the audience was watching it intently.
'It's difficult.'
A blank stage with no set choreography. Doing something like that and making the stage look full was difficult even on a professional stage.
Moreover, it was not just filled with that.
-Do not look back
Because it's only painful, it's meaningless
You lost your game, stop it
Just leave
The interlude began, and the group dance unfolded. The difficult choreography presented interlocked like gears, creating synergy.
Heek.
The surrounding arms and legs moved as if in sync with the person standing in the center and became a pole or pedestal.
In this way, the members interacted like props and brought the center to life.
The goal was to flexibly move between tight choreography parts and loose parts to maximize the satisfaction of each.
-Story that has already ended
By the time the second verse was over, Lee Sejin came to a conclusion.
'It's clever.'
It was a choice that could only be made if one was talented with ridiculous quality, but considering the conditions of this team, he would have accepted the quality.
"…"
The stage was lively.
He shook off his thoughts and focused again on the performance, which was completely different from the mid-term evaluation.
Then another question came up this time.
Was the arrangement really the only reason?
"… !"
And then he realized it.
Cha Eugene.
Until the mid-term evaluation, it was the main factor that made that stage look more wild like the original song. He always had rushing energy and explosive excitement.
However, here, it felt like the brilliant saturation and brightness no longer existed.
'But that doesn't mean he isn't standing out.'
For example, the last refrain of the second verse.
-Love is a kind of disease
A late realization comes
So-
Cha Eugene's gaze was half-open as he looked at the camera while holding his neck.
He was able to keep the mood alive.
A shadowy charm.
It was so good that it would be believable if someone told him Cha Eugene was actually an original trainee from this agency.
It was amazing to be able to control that, and at the same time, it was a very strategic choice.
It would certainly have seemed different and attractive to viewers. It was clear that the president of LeTi, who was the immediate decision-maker, was also re-evaluating.
Moreover, the structure of this stage had strong support.
-So, oh, oh, oh
It was Ryu Gunwoo.
He was adding difficult, high-pitched parts live at the right time.
'I can feel that the audience is surprised.'
However, if it had ended there, it might have been thought to be of no practical use as it would end up being used as a part on stage.
However, he was able to push it even further.
'Right there.'
It was also known as the "Saint" part.
That part that was sung standing up suddenly created a static atmosphere and drew attention.
It wasn't super high-pitched. It had a moderately high vocal range.
In other words, that section was extremely difficult for anyone to sing reliably.
-It's done
It's over
Cut it off
Ryu Gunwoo dreamily performed it in a breathy tone as if he were reciting it.
His breathing was unbelievable and clean, as he was someone who had been adding crazy high-pitched ad-libs and chords.
It would have been easier to just scream out a high note.
He was able to take that long breath smoothly without swallowing a single breath in between? Without editing?
-Cut it and leave.
This is your way
(So sick)
Ryu Gunwoo made the most of that one killing point very well.
He was able to raise the quality of the stage several levels higher using his vocals.
A presence that seemed to be shouting that the group didn't need a main vocalist other than him.
"…"
He felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
'Why?'
However, the stage just rushed towards the end after the bridge.
All members performed their roles perfectly and appealed to the audience as much as possible.
And the ending…
-Cut off.
Ahhhhh!!
There was so much loud cheering and applause that it felt like his ears were going to bleed. The waving of shining light sticks filled the area as well.
Lee Sejin watched the stage with sincerity without taking his eyes off until the end.
He still felt a desire to win against them, but there was no longer a sense of crisis.
What took its place was…
'… Ah.'
It was a feeling of loss that he did not even notice.
That strange feeling of being helplessly replaced by what used to be his position…
'What am I saying right now?'
Did he eat something wrong today? Lee Sejin chewed the inside of his mouth and controlled his expression.
And when it was time for the judges to comment, he opened his mouth with a smile.
"It was really good, really!"
That very day, episode 3 of
And finally, the viewer voting was held.