Chapter 112
"I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my parents who raised me, my precious friends who have been a great help in helping me get to where I am today, the judges who have always taught me a lot despite my shortcomings, and the national managers who have never forgotten my name and have always believed in me."
Kang Si-yoon delivered his thoughts in a calm and orthodox manner with a bright smile.
"Actually, the moment I stood here, I felt like crying a lot. But when I saw my friends and my parents' faces, my emotions were mixed, and I couldn't cry. And Yubin cries a lot, haha!"
Kang Si-yoon made people laugh by throwing in jokes here and there.
Soon, he went up the stairs to the debut members and shared an emotional hug with Heo Yu-bin.
'I'm proud.'
As I looked at my two friends with a happy smile, Heo Yu-bin and Kang Si-yoon turned their faces toward me.
And then he said something with a grin and gestured.
I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying because we were far apart, but I think they probably only wanted to tell me one thing in the current situation.
'You must come too!'
At those words, I nodded briefly.
"Next is 4th place."
As soon as Kang Si-yoon's speech ended, the BGM, used exclusively for ranking announcement ceremonies in the gym, began to play again.
The smiles disappeared from the faces of the trainees left on stage, and the air gradually became heavier.
"In the final Top 7, the 4th place trainee is...."
Choi Sia, who had been announcing the names of the trainees at a fairly fast pace up until now, started to waste some time here.
It was a blood-curdling moment.
Everyone's legs were aching from the long film.
The tension in a situation where you don't know whether you will survive or be eliminated will increase, and your muscles will tense up even more.
'If it's taking this much time, does that mean the 4th place protagonist is an unexpected person? '
It is more likely for a trainee who was ranked higher than 4th to fall than for a trainee who was ranked lower than 4th to rise.
There aren't many people who can pull up the rankings and create comeback drama.
There are always twists and turns in the final vote, which has changed to a one-person vote.
I just hoped that I wasn't the main character in that twist.
"I have a feeling it will be me."
"Here we go again, Hyung-nim."
"Haha, I'm not joking; I think that's really true."
Chae Eun-gyu said that he thought he would be called again this time.
He told me at the last 3rd ranking announcement ceremony that he expected his ranking to drop.
Will his intuition prove correct once again?
After about 4 minutes, Choi Sia finally called out the name of a trainee into the microphone.
"The final Top 7 who will debut as Seleste, in 4th place, is trainee Ji Yoon-chul!"
So that's why it took so long.
Ji Yoon-chul, who had risen to 2nd place, confirmed his debut by placing 4th in the final round.
When the unexpected name was called, the cheers of the national managers waiting below the stage were mixed with cries of surprise and congratulations.
But for the trainees on stage, the only thing that mattered was that he had achieved his dream of debuting.
"Yoon-chul-ahhh!"
"Our youngest, you've been through so much! Congratulations! "
"Congratulations, Yoon-chul! "
"... Thank you. Thank you."
Ji Yoon-chul, the tallest among us, had his head shaking like a paper doll thanks to the trainees who were hitting his shoulders from all sides.
After waiting for the storm to pass, I patted Ji Yoon-chul on the arm and spoke to him in a calm tone.
"You've worked hard. Congratulations on your debut, Yoon-chul."
"...Ah."
"Hmm?"
Ji Yoon-chul twitched his lips as if trying to say something.
As I looked into his eyes with an unwavering gaze, his pupils, which had always been motionless, began to shake violently.
A feeling of all kinds of emotions rushing in.
All the things that had been suppressed for so long were rushing back at once, shaking Ji Yoon-chul's heart.
"...Karis Hyung."
"Yeah."
"I don't know how to say this.... I don't know how to say this."
Ji Yoon-chul continued to hesitate, then closed his eyes tightly and spoke quickly.
"Later, I definitely.... would like to talk more."
And with those words, he walked down the podium and started walking towards where Choi Sia was.
I fell into silence for a moment, repeating in my head the last words Ji Yoon-chul left behind.
'Is Ji Yoon-chul, who always seemed to hide and suppress his emotions, starting to open up little by little?'
It was a strange feeling.
Since the campsite content, I vaguely felt it.
Ji Yoon-chul, who never opened his heart to people and always kept a poker face, acted a little differently when he was with me.
And the moment when his goal of debut is achieved.
He told me that because he felt he could say it now.
'There are moments when I wonder what kind of past Ji Yoon-chul has and why he has that kind of personality.'
I thought as I looked at Ji Yoon-chul's face captured alone on the screen.
If we make our debut together, I want to have a more in-depth conversation with him.
"... I wasn't sure if I could make it this far. However, I am so grateful to the national managers who believed in me until the end. Also, I would like to give all this glory to my hyungs, who guided me despite my shortcomings."
Ji Yoon-chul remained calm and did not cry loudly like Heo Yu-bin, who had been previously announced.
But his eyes, shining brighter than ever and shaking without hiding his emotions, presented a new scene to many national managers.
'Ji Yoon-chul showing this kind of appearance for the first time is important, but the fact that he debuted in 4th place is likely to cause waves.'
The concrete floor, called the 'Unshakable TOP 3', has been around since the beginning of
Even in the 3rd ranking announcement ceremony, it seemed as if Ji Yoon-chul would prove his solidity and debut with a high ranking, but the reality was different.
To put it simply, it means that Ji Yoon-chul fell to 4th place.
'It leads to the words, 'I went up.'
It may be an act of drinking kimchi stew, but if I think about it logically, it becomes a natural conclusion.
The chances of me, who came in third place in the previous ranking announcement, falling out of the debut bracket are extremely low.
The gap had been narrowing since the second ranking announcement ceremony.
Like a beast choking its prey, I was catching up with the top three vote-getters at every ranking announcement.
A narrow difference of only ten thousand votes.
Anything can happen in the final round, where the one-person, one-vote format and the fever time mechanism have disappeared.
"The next trainee to debut as Seleste. I will announce the 3rd place winner out of the Top 7."
Among the trainees remaining on stage, attention was focused on those with a strong chance of debuting.
The camera team seemed to know this as well, and they sequentially captured the faces of me, Chae Eun-gyu, and Song Hyung-bin.
Even though everyone's legs were sore, they stood upright and waited for Choi Sia to announce the results.
Did the production team send a signal this time too?
It feels like more than 3 minutes have passed since she said she would announce 3rd place.
"The main character of this honor is... Congratulations, trainee Cha Eun-gyu!"
"Heol."
"Oh my god."
"If this happens―!"
While the trainees congratulated Cha Eun-gyu on his confirmed debut, they couldn't stop exclaiming in admiration as they thought about one fact that became even more certain because of this.
Unless some natural disaster happens and 3/4 of the people cheering for Karis von Walden lose their phones, the trainees competing for 1st and 2nd place will be me and Song Hyung-bin.
Did Cha Eun-gyu also realize this fact in his head?
"Let's do it to the end."
He gently tapped my shoulder and came down from the stage with confident steps.
As I was silently looking at his back.
"Oh, so this is what happened in the end."
"Nothing has been decided yet."
"Karis, you're too humble, that's the problem."
Song Hyung-bin moved next to me and spoke in a tone full of laughter.
As I stared into his eyes, the conversation we had at the second ranking announcement ceremony flashed before my eyes.
I think you would go higher.
Meanwhile, Chae Eun-gyu, who had walked out confidently, stood on the stage and was quietly shedding tears, overcome with emotion as he expressed his feelings.
"I wondered countless times if I could really stand in this position. I wondered if it was the right thing to do to challenge my dream of becoming an idol again. However... The moment I saw the national managers who came to the scene during the first competition, I felt like all my worries and doubts flew away. I felt like I could only become my true self when I was on stage, and there was nothing happier or more enjoyable than that. I think the reason I was able to keep trying without giving up was because of the fans who believed in me from the beginning to the end."
Among the trainees who participated in
But I cautiously predicted that among us, there was no one more desperate than Chae Eun-gyu.
As he told us, this is the last time.
If he gets eliminated here, it is safe to say that Cha Eun-gyu will lose the opportunity to challenge himself to become an idol.
"I could never have gotten here on my own. As everyone said, thanks to the precious connections I've made here, I was able to overcome the difficult situation and stand up properly. And.... The trainees who will have to put their dreams on hold for a moment here today are all shining stars and such outstanding friends, so please never forget and always cheer us on. We all promised to meet on stage, so let's practice our best until then."
"I think I'm starting to cry again."
"Eun-gyu hyung...."
He was the eldest brother who took care of even the trainees who were about to be eliminated.
Chae Eun-gyu put down the microphone and shouted loudly, "Thank you!"and then climbed up the stairs.
His younger siblings gathered around him like baby birds, hugging each other.
"There are three spots left for Seleste. Now it is time to announce the final winner of
The brilliant music that played when introducing the debut members died down again.
Following the BGM that builds tension, the cameras now openly appear and start circling around Song Hyung-bin.
After about a minute of this deadlock, Choi Sia spoke in a loud voice.
"The final round's final candidate is a first-place trainee. Please reveal it now!"
After that, silence came again.
This is a show that literally dries up the trainees' blood.
Song Hyung-bin, standing next to me, had his eyes tightly shut and didn't even look at the screen.
At that moment, all eyes were on the giant screen in the gym.
On the left screen is Song Hyung-bin's face.
And on the right screen, my face appeared.
"Wow!"
A tremendous cheer erupted from the national managers.
"Trainee Song Hyung-bin, who has never once stepped down from the throne of #1 since
-