Chapter 145
It's a dancing game, but....
Everyone was confused by the name they were hearing for the first time.
"Dance Mafia?"
"I know the Mafia game, but you play it while dancing?"
"I don't know how to do it."
"Let me explain the rules for confused Seleste!"
Yoon Chae-an, who suddenly became excited, explained the rules with clear pronunciation.
"You know the Mafia game, right, guys?"
"Yes!"
"There will be two mafias in Seleste. The mafias must perform missions given by the production team while dancing. The rest of the citizens must capture and arrest members who are acting strangely while dancing to win. If the mafia clears the mission before that without being caught by the mafia, the mafia wins."
"But it doesn't end here. If there were no restrictions, you would just keep looking around to find the mafia, right?"
Kim Tae-in, who went in and out among the staff, revealed something he had hidden behind his back.
"Chae-an and I will be watching you with eagle eyes. If you miss a beat or mess up the choreography, we will come to you in person and personally apply makeup to your face."
"We've been doing this for two years now. You can look forward to the makeup, everyone."
"I definitely can't get caught, right?"
"Seniors, you've suddenly become more energetic."
The members swallowed their saliva as they said they must not make any mistakes in the choreography.
But immediately, Heo Yu-bin raised his hand and mentioned one thing that worried him.
"But what if you just dance to avoid punishment and fail to catch the mafia? The citizens will just lose."
"Oh, right. What happens to the losing side?"
"The losing team will face a very harsh penalty. They will be forced to not eat the ice cream that was prepared as a snack later!"
"Ahhhh!"
"You shouldn't do that with food!"
It looks like it will be a fairly difficult mission.
To avoid the makeup penalty, you must follow the choreography correctly, but if you focus too much on the choreography and fail to find the mafia, you will not be able to eat the ice cream.
Conversely, if the mafia side tries to avoid being caught on a mission and misses the choreography, they may be suspected along with their makeup.
'It seems like both sides have a good balance.'
There was one last rule here.
If it seems like we're following the choreography well enough, the production team will change the speed of the music playback at will.
"So, does that mean it can suddenly go twice as fast or twice as slow?"
"Wow, this is really difficult."
"... But we had practiced, so we can do it."
"That's right, Yoon-chul, our bodies will literally remember."
"Let's do our best! Except the mafia, of course!"
It's time for the long-awaited faction selection.
Two mafias are selected through a lottery.
I carefully chose a lot and checked the role written on it.
[Citizen]
'I wanted to try the mafia once, but it turned out to be a bit disappointing.'
It's not a fun role, but it's a position that's perfect for me to exercise my keen observation skills.
After each of us showed our roles to the camera, we stood in formation for the introduction.
"Siyoon-hyung, the corners of your mouth are already going up?"
"It's funny because I imagine you putting on makeup; it's funny."
"Lie!"
"Hyung-bin, you're not good at controlling your facial expressions either?"
"Hey, Hyung, you're twiddling your fingers right now too?"
Everyone was busy looking at each other's expressions before even starting.
Yoo Minha, who was standing next to me, stared at me intently.
"Karis Hyung-nim, I don't know because your expression is always the same."
"It's too bad."
Yoo Minha had to return without any gains.
I heard the sound of a piano announcing the start.
We started the stage by reproducing the fantastic chemistry we had done during our debut show.
"Ohhh!"
"The juniors are cool!"
Yoon Chae-an and Kim Tae-in exclaimed in admiration as they watched us get back to work.
Perhaps because they had only seen the dizzying chaos until just now, the seniors responded even more enthusiastically.
'Ji Yoon-chul was right. Just move our body as we remember and turn our head.'
Because we've invested countless hours of practice, we can perform the moves without having to focus all our mind on the choreography.
I quickly looked at the other members and swapped positions with Song Hyung-bin.
I had a feeling that Song Hyung-bin was a beat late in entering his position.
"Hyung-nim, isn't the timing a little off?"
"I was looking at Eun-gyu Hyung's side when you saw that! "
"Hmm."
I moved my legs busily, checking Song Hyung-bin's name in my mind.
The timing when Chae Eun-gyu leads the formation from the front.
Since everyone is looking at his back, it is difficult to know what he is doing in front.
I focused my gaze on Chae Eun-gyu's arm as much as possible.
If Chae Eun-gyu is a mafia, he will definitely use this moment to carry out the mission.
If so, I will see movements that are different from the arm movements I have always seen.
'As expected.'
It was a fleeting moment, but I captured it for sure.
The arms, which were originally supposed to move up and down, were fixed in the middle.
I still don't know what the mission is, but I have confirmed that Cha Eun-gyu is a strong candidate for the mafia.
Now all that remains is to keep an eye on him and uncover the truth behind his mission.
Meanwhile, my left side started to feel noisy.
"Yubin was weird! Yubin was weird! "
"I, I didn't do anything! Why are you like that!"
"You just stood there without moving your feet! "
"That, that's because I'm watching you―"
The same-age line loudly suspected each other.
Heo Yu-bin was busy denying it, and Yoo Min-ha was too busy dancing or doubting Heo Yu-bin.
And right then.
"Beep!"
"Yubin's choreography is wrong! "
With the sound of a whistle, Kim Tae-in flew in like an eagle and grabbed Heo Yu-bin's back.
And with expert skill, he drew a big dot on his face and left.
"What is thisssssss!"
Heo Yu-bin, who was devastated in an instant, screamed, but there was no time to soothe him.
「The flashlight dazzled my eyes for a moment
Feel so high I feel like I'm going to explode」
The moment it entered the chorus, the music sped up to twice the speed.
I was startled as I stepped into the center but jumped high into the sky with sharp timing.
"Too fast!"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!"
"I couldn't jump!"
There was a burst of wailing from all directions.
Everyone was out of their minds due to the spicy taste that they were experiencing for the first time at double the speed.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"
"Oh, wait a minute, hyung! I twisted my ankle!"
"Beep!"
Song Hyung-bin got tangled up with Kang Si-yoon while trying to move the path.
Kim Tae-in, who did not miss this moment, flew in with great momentum and gave them both a stylish mustache as a gift.
"Ah, Kang Si-yoon troll."
"I'm so out of my mind, I don't even know where to go."
Once the pace was disrupted, it became chaos.
When the first verse ended, everyone had cute doodles on their faces except Ji Yoon-chul and me.
"Gasp, gasp."
"I can't come to my senses."
"I couldn't even see who the mafia was because I was so worried that I couldn't dance properly!"
Yoo Minha, who had been burning with more fervent determination than anyone else, sighed as he wiped his face.
The other guys also seemed to have no idea who the mafia was.
"There was something strange about Eun-gyu Hyung-nim's movements during his part earlier."
"Eun-gyu hyung? "
"Me?"
When I pointed out Cha Eun-gyu as a mafia suspect, Cha Eun-gyu made a face as if he didn't understand.
"Obviously, the arm should move like this, like this. Hyung-nim kept his arm fixed in the middle like this."
"Have you seen anything else, hyung-nim?"
"Unfortunately, Eun-gyu hyung-nim had his back on us, so I couldn't see him what he was doing at the front."
"I think my hand moved like that because I was a little confused by the choreography―"
"Wait a minute! Just a minute!"
Kang Si-yoon waved his hands while singing a meme song commonly used on the Internet.
Then he glared at him and held out his index finger.
"Eun-gyu Hyung, who always points out even the slightest mistake in our choreography, is confusing the choreography? Does this make sense, everyone?"
"Surely...."
"Eun-gyu Hyung has never made a mistake in his part."
"Right? It's definitely weird, isn't it?"
Kang Si-yoon swept back his bangs and gave off a cool expression.
And I looked straight at the camera director and even requested a specific BGM.
"Camera Director! The mystery I just did was great, so please add some detective BGM!"
I was the first to make the inference about Chae Eun-gyu, but Kang Si-yoon rudely intercepted it in the middle.
I let Kang Si-yoon enjoy his detective moment and guessed who the other one was.
"I don't think it's Yoon-chul. He worked hard enough to not make a single mistake in the choreography."
"Then it wouldn't be Karis?"
"Thank you for saying so."
"I suddenly feel anxious. What if Karis Hyung-nim didn't do the mission right now on purpose so as not to get caught?"
Heo Yu-bin looked at me with his hands trembling.
He was expressing his feelings of not wanting to be stabbed in the back by the axe he trusted.
"I'm definitely not a mafia, Yubin."
"Hyung-nim, your facial expression never changes, so I can't tell if it's true or a lie!"
"Stop suspecting me and go find another mafia."
But no one knew the identity of the second mafia, let alone what mission he had undertaken.
So we randomly tied the always suspicious Kang Si-yoon with Cha Eun-gyu and put him on trial.
"Congratulations! You've successfully busted the mafia!"
"Oh?"
"Yes?"
"Yes?"
"Eeeeek?"
Everyone was left dumbfounded when they saw the results.
Kang Si-yoon was so distressed that he was pulling out his own hair and pounding the studio floor.
"It's so unfair! I didn't even get caught on the mission, and I thought Eun-gyu Hyung was caught, so I quickly cut ties with him. How can you just pick on me just because my usual behavior is weird!"
"That's right, Si-yoon. If you had behaved well normally, this kind of unfortunate incident wouldn't have happened."
"I hate you the most!"
Despite Kang Si-yoon's quick decision to abandon his colleague, the mafia was defeated by the citizens' team's incredible shooting skills.
While we each ate a tub of delicious soft serve ice cream, Chae Eun-gyu and Kang Si-yoon could only stand far away and grumble.
"I'm sorry, Siyoon. I shouldn't have gotten caught."
"You didn't do anything wrong, hyung. It's just that Karis has a wild instinct."
"Siyoon was really good at pushing me."
"That's right. As soon as you started getting suspected, you started going crazy."
"You know you can't abandon your teammates like that later on, right?"
"Hey, you too, hyung!"
I watched Kang Si-yoon smile brightly and give a thumbs up.
"Of course I have to betray you!"
"Hey, come here for a second."
Seriously, he's a guy whose character doesn't change from beginning to end.
After ice cream time, the long-awaited final game arrived.
"Everyone. You know that we, as Koreans, should love Hangul, right?"
"Um, there is one person here who is from Europe."
"Oh, anyway! I brought this game to cherish the Korean alphabet that King Sejong created! It's called Hunminjeongeum Karaoke!"
[훈민정음 = Hunminjeongeum is a 15th-century manuscript that introduced the Korean script Hangul]
"It's a group mission where you have to change all the English lyrics in Seleste's song into Korean and sing it."
"Oh, just a moment."
"Yes?"
Yoon Chae-an and Kim Tae-in looked at Kang Si-yoon, who raised his hand with a serious expression.
Then he replied in a tone of grave sorrow.
"We're not doing this alone by any chance―"
"Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun! Yay!"
"I love King Sejong!"
"I love Korean."
"Mmph!"
We successfully shut Kang Si-yoon's mouth and uprooted the buds of selfishness.
-