Chapter 83
I feel this every time, but as each episode goes by, the air on the set of
"I'm so nervous...."
"Let's be calm, calm."
"Hoooo...."
Just a few months ago, this place was filled with a whopping 96 trainees.
And at the first ranking announcement ceremony, we also had time to choose partners and enter in a sensible manner.
Now that the crossroads between survival and elimination have become so narrow, it is absolutely impossible to create such a positive atmosphere.
"Why am I feeling more nervous today?"
"Hey, Eun-gyu hyung! There's no way you'd be nervous."
"No, really. Do you want to check my pulse?"
The team all entered the ranking announcement filming location together.
Even Chae Eun-gyu, the most experienced among us, couldn't hide his nervousness in the chilly air.
Even in the midst of all this, Yoo Min-ha showed off his high tension and checked Cha Eun-gyu's pulse.
"Oh, it's running so fast!"
"I told you I wouldn't lie."
Chae Eun-gyu burst into laughter and glanced at me.
"In my opinion, Karis seems the least nervous."
"Then I'll check Karis hyung-nim's pulse too! "
"What is this sudden―"
Before I could say anything, Yoo Min-ha grabbed my wrist.
The Crown Prince's natural self-defense instinct kicked in, and I almost slapped Yoo Min-ha's hand away, but I barely managed to regain my senses.
After taking my pulse for a moment like that,.
"Karis hyung-nim, is your heart really beating like this?"
"Because my heart is beating well, my blood is circulating, and I am able to live and breathe normally like this."
"I'm so nervous right now that my heart is pounding so hard. I'm jealous."
Yoo Minha took deep breaths, repeatedly complaining that his heart rate was very low.
It's not like I can say it's thanks to my passive skill, so let's just stay still.
Meanwhile, Chae Eun-gyu tried to ease the tension by talking to the rest of the team members.
He also had a short conversation with Baek Si-hwa, who had been silent since entering the filming set.
"Sihwa, are you feeling okay? "
"Yes."
"Did you get enough sleep? You must be tired because you didn't get much sleep while practicing."
"... I think I slept a fair amount."
It ended roughly like this.
I clicked my tongue as I looked at Baek Si-hwa's eyes, which looked even more worn-out than usual.
'It seems like he realized something after watching the main broadcast of episode 10. He brought a lot of trouble by being greedy.'
As I said over and over again, Baek Si-hwa is receiving karma for his mistakes.
If Yoo Minha really got hurt because of his assault....
It would never have ended at this level.
While the rest of the trainees entered their designated areas, I turned on the system window.
There was a small notification floating at the bottom.
[You have successfully completed the hidden link quest, 'Achieving 1 million stage views.']
[One Lucky Draw Coin will be awarded as a reward.]
The lucky draw ended in failure in the last 2nd competition.
Just when I was wondering how I could survive until the finals with just one lucky draw coin, a golden linked quest dropped on me.
A linked quest opened by successfully completing the hidden prerequisite quest, 'Get 410 or more team votes in the 3rd round.'
Our stage views quickly surpassed 1 million to great acclaim.
A relatively easy quest for a mission involving lucky draw coins.
I thought for a moment as I saw the text saying that the total number of lucky draw coins had increased to two.
'If you look at it this way, it seems like the system is trying to help me in some way. But if you look at the penalty given when a hidden quest fails, it's not like that.'
The physical pain that comes with a drop in stats.
It's really strange that the system I receive as a reward from the god of
If it's a beneficial system, it should be beneficial from beginning to end.
You're not making fun of anyone, but you're inserting bad conditions here and there.
It's frustrating because I can't even go back into the game and ask God.
At a time when my head was spinning with thoughts about the system.
Someone squeezed my shoulder tightly.
"Hey, did you rest well?"
"I had a very comfortable rest."
"Thank goodness. I was worried you wouldn't be able to sleep?"
"Siyoon, you always worry about nothing."
Groups were moving around on the set.
Kang Si-yoon gave me a brief greeting before sitting down in his seat.
We lightly bumped our fists.
"See you up there today."
"Please come up. I'm waiting."
"You and I, don't fall and stay right where we are."
Immediately after exchanging pleasantries, Choi Sia, dressed in a suit, walked up to the stage with her shoes clicking briskly.
Several trainees took a sharp breath as they sensed that the official ranking announcement ceremony was about to begin.
"
There are 28 trainees who have survived so far.
Everyone's faces were drooping at the news that exactly half of them would make it to the finals.
"Only 14 people can go? Really? "
"Haha...."
"There are too few seats."
Sighs came out from everywhere.
I felt eyes moving busily from all directions.
They're probably trying to figure out the number of top trainees who received benefits in the third round, as well as the number of existing top-tier trainees.
'If there are about 10 trainees with stable rankings, then even if you roughly calculate it, the number of trainees in the lower ranks who can survive is very small.'
In particular, the face of Park Jae-hoon, who barely survived the last ranking announcement ceremony by coming in 28th place, darkened.
It was heartbreaking to see him hang his head, as he was a guy who had been through thick and thin with me.
But this is
Before I could even fully express my regret, Choi Sia immediately began her presentation.
"The fever time that will have the biggest impact on this ranking announcement. In the 3rd global vote, a total of 7 trainees achieved fever time. In the 2nd ranking announcement, only 5 people achieved it, but this time, there are two more."
"This seems like the most important thing, right? "
"I guess the number of votes has doubled."
"7 people... Then, all the trainees who made it to the debut lineup this time received fever time."
Chae Eun-gyu, sitting next to me, whispered softly.
I thought he would be even more anxious because his ranking had dropped from 2nd to 3rd place, but instead, Chae Eun-gyu had a much more calm expression than before.
'The gap between me, who was in 4th place, and the Top 3, who were called concrete, was barely there. If only we had gathered a little more firepower this time....'
I can't drink kimchi stew yet, but based on the facts that have come out so far, it seems like a very possible story.
Chae Eun-gyu must have had the same thoughts as me because he patted my arm and laughed.
"I think Karis will beat me this time?"
"No, I was thinking if hyung-nim would go up further."
"Haha, of course I would like that too. But since there were so many variables this time, I don't know what will happen."
And at that perfect moment, my eyes briefly met with Song Hyung-bin on the other side.
Judging from the fact that he gave me a thumbs up, it seems that Song Hyung-bin also had the same thoughts as Chae Eun-gyu.
'Song Hyung-bin must also feel a lot of pressure. Once he gets to the top spot, he'll want to see it through to the end.'
Compared to other rankings falling, falling from 1st place is bound to attract considerable attention. It's even more so because there have been no changes in the meantime, and it's an unshakable 1st place.
There is no way Song Hyung-bin wouldn't know this fact.
"Then, I will announce the trainee ranked 13th."
The number announced from the beginning is 13.
My eyes naturally turned to Heo Yu-bin.
As expected, Heo Yu-bin, who received 13th place in the second ranking announcement ceremony, had no color on his face, as if he might faint at any moment.
'Here, Heo Yu-bin should not be called.'
Heo Yu-bin has recently received a lot of attention thanks to his title as the only main vocalist with unrivaled skills in the survival show and his growing confidence.
If you want to dream of debuting, you have to climb higher in this announcement ceremony.
"Congratulations. The 13th place trainee is... Ken Hashimoto!"
A very friendly name was called.
As Ken Hashimoto walked out onto the set with tears streaming down his face, his name could be heard being called from all directions.
"Ken! Ken!"
"Don't cry, you little punk!"
"Good job, Ken!"
In particular, his friend of the same age, Heo Yu-bin, congratulated Ken Hashimoto on his survival more enthusiastically than anyone else.
Ken Hashimoto, who saw the sight, cried even more and expressed his feelings with difficulty.
"Thank you to all the team members who have been on stage with me so far! Heok, heok! I will work harder and become a better Ken. Thank you, National Managers!"
After a brief greeting in Japanese following his Korean, Ken Hashimoto took his seat in the 13th chair.
Next, the results came out, so it could be said that this ranking announcement ceremony was a hot topic.
"He's in 11th place. This is a very unexpected result. This trainee has dropped in rank since the second ranking announcement. And.... This trainee is."
After some time, Choi Sia announced some rather shocking results.
"The 11th place is... trainee Baek Si-hwa!"
"Omg."
"Really?"
"Isn't that person's ranking dropping too much?"
I looked at the change in the ranking graph on the front screen while applauding.
Baek Si-hwa dropped from 4th place in the first ranking announcement to 6th place. And now he has dropped from 6th place to 11th place.
"I would like to express my gratitude to all the national managers who voted for me despite my shortcomings. And...."
Baek Si-hwa conveyed his thoughts while controlling his facial expressions as much as possible.
But just after he sat down in 11th place, his hands began to tremble slightly.
This clearly showed how he was feeling at the moment.
It was the first time he had been pushed out of the single-digit rankings.
That too, outside of the debut zone, in one go.
It was obvious to everyone how much the content of episode 10 had affected Baek Si-hwa.
Eventually, one team member was confirmed to have survived.
"9th place. Congratulations, trainee Kwon Dae-hyun!"
Although he only went up one place from the second ranking announcement, Kwon Dae-hyun was still very happy to have reached a single-digit ranking.
"I hope they all survive."
"Jun-oh, you have to go with us no matter what."
"Haha, I've already made up my mind."
"No. We don't know who will be in 14th place."
Heo Jun-oh, who had the lowest ranking in our group, gave a short, hearty laugh.
Meanwhile, a huge cheer was heard from the group that Heo Yu-bin belonged to.
"How high is Yubin going!"
"This is really awesome! "
"Let's go to the Top 7 like this! "
Heo Yu-bin, whose name has not been called yet,.
By obtaining personal benefits in the third round, the possibility of rising in the rankings was continuously kept open.
I don't think he even thought he would get this far.
"Who will be the trainee who makes it into the Top 7 for the debut? Let's meet them on the screen now."
This is where the production team came up with a split-screen strategy.
The large LED screen was divided into three sections.
The faces of Kang Si-yoon, Kang Dong-hwi, and Heo Yu-bin were shown in turn.
"Wow!"
"This is getting really fun! "
When Kang Si-yoon and Heo Yu-bin, who had never entered the Top 7 before, appeared at the same time, the trainees went crazy.
As I looked at my Cell 31 roommates, I felt the corners of my mouth naturally go up.
'I didn't know it would become a family feud like this.'
-