7. Signal Song
"Mom always says that I look like a chestnut and cute and handsome because I cut my bangs as short as possible above my eyebrows. You're harmless! You're really too much! When I think about how hard I worked to keep my bangs...!"
"..."
"BigBee hyung-nims and noona-nims have long hair, shaved their heads, and scratched their eyebrows! They always say that I'm the only one who can't because I'm still a student. My school doesn't say anything and I can dye my hair freely! So I got some allowance from Dad and dyed my hair without telling Mom! Oh, Big Bee is our dance crew! Hyung-nims and noona-nims are all really good dancers, but these days, they say their joints hurt because they're getting older. But 10 years ago, they all said that their knees, shoulders, and joints all hurt. So I..."
He's crazy.
Neoul's face gradually turned pale due to the constant auditory attacks. Woo Cheong was a very talkative person.
'It's noisy.'
The babbling that followed the flow of consciousness was so loud that Neoul couldn't understand more than half of it.
The sentences that came out one after another struck his ears and passed by.
Woo Cheong was now talking about how his bones and joints were very healthy because he had been eating groundnuts in advance, which were good for joints. Then, as if he had forgotten, he raised his voice.
"Oops! Hyung-nim, speak comfortably!"
Neoul answered, clutching his throbbing head.
"Okay."
"..."
Com, comfortably..? Like a disrespectful treatment...?
[하대
At the natural disrespectful treatment of Neoul, Woo Cheong, Baek Yuri, and the other trainees sitting around them widened their eyes.
Woo-cheong thought Noul was joking and laughed.
"Hyung-nim, hyung-nim, your speech is so unique! It's like a historical drama!"
However, Neoul encountered another difficulty.
"What is a historical drama?"
It was a word that couldn't be translated. However, Woo Cheong didn't answer and just laughed out loud as if he found something so funny.
The person sitting next to Woo Cheong smiled friendly and spoke to Neoul.
"Neoul, you, you're so good at acting like a sly person. It's funny."
"....?"
I've never acted before.
"My name is Kim Ji-rok. I'm twenty-three. Can I speak comfortably since I'm older than you?"
I wondered what he meant by scratching his eyebrows, but is that what he meant?
[말 놔도 되지? = Can I speak comfortably?
눈썹에 Scratch(스크래치) = Scratch on eyebrow]
Kim Ji-rok's left eyebrow was partially empty, as if something had been scratched. In his hand was a model of a birdcage that came with Woo Cheong's blue bird.
"Me too, me too! Let's get to know each other! I'm Gye Tae-seok! I'm twenty-seven, but just treat me like a friend. I feel lonely because I feel like I'm the only one here who's old."
The person sitting behind Kim Ji-rok, who had empty eyebrows, chimed in, shaking a keychain with a glass ball model attached to it.
Gye Tae-seok had a slightly thin and sharp face line, and his appearance had a decadent air.
"..."
'Decadent' meant that morals, customs, and culture were corrupted and messy. It meant that it was messy. Neoul looked back and forth between Kim Ji-rok, who had empty eyebrows, and the messy Gye Tae-seok, and then quietly covered his nose.
The two people who had spoken to him in a friendly manner were greatly embarrassed by his subtle frown and nose-covering behavior.
"Why, why why? What, do I smell?"
"Huh? Do I have bad breath? I just brushed my teeth? Who farted?"
Kim Ji-rok, with his eyebrows blank, raised his arm and sniffed his clothes, looking flustered, while the messy Gye Tae-seok began to search for the culprit who farted inside the bus.
The other participants next to him said that they didn't smell anything, or that they didn't.
"Ji-rok hyung-nim, it smells like cigarettes!"
Woo Cheong shouted brightly, but was covered by Kim Ji-rok, who had his eyebrows blank.
"Hey, Woo Cheong, shush...! The camera's rolling...!"
"Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm! (Even my hands smell like cigarettes!)"
Baek Yu-ri, sir rabbit sitting next to him, fell into a swamp of delusion and started talking nonsense.
"Neoul ssi, does your nose hurt? Are you having trouble breathing? Instead of holding on like this, I think it would be better to go to the hospital and get checked out first...!"
"...."
Neoul glanced at the mess of humans and a rabbit and opened his mouth with a trembling expression.
"From the souls of those two...."
"Huh? Souls?"
"It smells bad."
"...?!"
"I'm sorry for meeting you for the first time, but I would appreciate it if you could keep your mouth shut."
"!"
The noisy bus suddenly became quiet.
Baek Yuri was so flustered that he was speechless, and even the talkative Woo Cheong kept his mouth shut while looking around. The other contestants were the same.
Kim Ji-rok with his eyebrows shaved and Gye Tae-seok, who were messy, couldn't show their displeasure in front of the camera, and they rolled their eyes in embarrassment at the crazy remark that their souls stank.
"Uh... okay, sorry."
The atmosphere became even colder after Gye Tae-seok apologized.
The main writer, who rode the bus with them to explain the schedule to the Signal Song Center candidates, broke out in a cold sweat, watching them.
While they were looking forward to the chemistry between the contestants who were just getting close, a completely unexpected scene came out.
What saved them from the suffocating silence was the bus driver's words that they had arrived at their accommodation.
"Get off!"
The main writer got off first and the participants followed.
After seeing Baek Yuri unbuckle his seatbelt, Neoul followed suit and got off the bus last while being supported.
***
The place they arrived was a huge pension with a large yard covered in green grass, a swimming pool, and an indoor practice space.
The writer guided the participants to a space set up in advance inside the pension.
Baek Yuri wanted to avoid Neoul who had been swearing and move with the other participants, but he couldn't bear to ignore Neoul who was walking like a calf that had just learned to walk.
'I hope we don't get involved as much as possible.'
Neoul's reckless words and actions were bound to be broadcast unless they went through the angel's editing with the favor of the production team.
Then there would be a controversy over his personality, and he would be cursed and bullied, so it would be difficult if they went together and ended up being involved in a set.
'But we ended up being partners during the mission.....'
In this case, there was a high possibility that they would become the first dorm roommates until the next mission.
As Baek Yuri supported him from the right side of Neoul, a person naturally stepped into Neoul's left side.
"Hello, I'm twenty too. Ha On-ha."
Neoul glanced at him. It was the blue-eyed human sitting next to the messy Gye Tae-seok.
Ha On-ha greeted Baek Yu Ri politely and glanced around. Then, worried that someone might hear him, he lowered his voice.
"Why did you do that earlier?"
Baek Yu Ri looked at the microphone on his clothes, and then at the microphone on Ha On-ha's clothes.
'Even if you speak softly, your voice will be heard...?'
In addition, there were no cameras following, but there were several cameras installed on the outside walls of the building. If you let your guard down, all your big and small mistakes could be broadcast, so you had to be careful with your words and actions at all times.
However, Ha On-ha opened his mouth again, either momentarily forgetting the existence of the cameras and microphones, or perhaps not caring at all.
"It seems like the hyungs want to get close to you~"
"...."
"Oh, is there any bad rumor about the hyungs? So you built a wall in advance?"
His large, long eyes were slanted like a fox's.
Ha On-ha was wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat as if trying to avoid the sunlight and a thin, long-sleeved gray jacket. The jacket had white polka-dot patterns on the back like stars.
Neoul thought that the pattern looked exactly like Stardust's back.
'Where do you get clothes like this?'
Anyway, Neoul, who didn't know anything about human rumors, shook his head blankly. The reason Neoul said they smelled bad was because their souls were a bit rotten. He didn't know why they were rotten.
It is said that animals and children are innocent and can see ghosts. Even the mermaid, Neoul, could see ghosts since he was young.
Most ghosts who got lost in the sea and came to the Dragon Palace had no smell at all, and sometimes they smelled faintly good.
However, there were ghosts like Kim Ji-rok and Gye Tae-seok who gave off a bad smell.
Ghosts who were so starved and rotten that they were covered in maggots.
If you locked them up in a prison, the grim reaper would come and tie them up with rope and take them away.
When Neoul shook his head again, Ha On-ha smiled, wondering what he was thinking.
"Hmm~ You're saying there's no bad rumors?"
Ha On-ha lifted his arm and sniffed, then asked.
"Do I smell something too? I sweated a little bit because I ran around and danced hard earlier."
Neoul shook his head again.
"Really? That's good~"
Ha On-ha didn't ask any more questions and supported Neoul while humming a song.
They arrived at a space like an auditorium with a large screen installed. As soon as the main writer told the participants to sit in the chairs prepared in advance, Ha On-ha tapped Neoul on the shoulder and walked away.
All ten participants sat down. Then, without any instructions, the beam projector installed on the ceiling turned on and the program logo appeared on the screen.
[
[I hope
[We support your challenge.]
[Then, we will reveal the signal song!]
The title of the signal song came to mind right away, and the choreography and song were revealed.
[
The bouncy beat caught the ears. It was a refreshing summer song based on tropical houses.
[Welcome—
I wanted to meet you
Someday—
I knew we would meet someday]
[I think I've been waiting for you
For a long time]
Neoul tilted his head in excitement and listened.
***
After the signal song was released, the participants' reactions were filmed and a short interview followed.
Neoul stared at the blank white screen that remained after the beam projector was turned off.
'How did someone get in there? Where did they disappear to?'
In the meantime, the interviews of other participants began.
[What did you think when you heard the signal song?]
Sir Rabbit Baek Yuri answered the question with the aforementioned face.
"When we were filming at the beach, I felt really depressed and didn't feel real, but after listening to the signal song, it felt like the survival show had really started. I'm really nervous."
Woo Cheong, who looked like a baby dolphin, flapped his arms and legs and raised his voice.
"I love the song so much! I want to stand on stage soon!"
Kim Ji-rok, who had empty eyebrows, clenched his fists and smiled softly.
"I'm even more greedy. I really want to be the center."
Gye Tae-seok, who was messy, pressed the dark circles under his eyes and smiled shyly.
"Um...…. It feels like a dream. I was always anxious because it seemed too late, but I'm really happy to have this opportunity to challenge myself. I'll work hard."
It was Neoul's turn.
When the interviewer called Neoul and gestured, he jumped on his two feet and sat down on the interview chair. Fortunately, he didn't fall over.
The interviewer, who was of average height for a woman, flinched in fear as the giant Neoul jumped at her like a zombie.
Neoul was not only tall, but his body was also very muscular, making him even more threatening.
'Was there someone like this among the contestants?'
The interviewer thought about the profiles of the existing contestants that she had looked through in advance and tilted her head.
'Oh. I guess they're additional contestants.'
She felt a strange sense of discomfort, but she didn't have time to think deeply.
'I didn't expect that there would be someone among the additional contestants who would be a candidate for the center.'
A little while ago, when she looked at the list of center candidates that she had received as a message from PD Seok Oh-young, there was an unfamiliar name among those who came in 5th place: 'Neoul.'
"Let's do the interview first. It's simple."
The interviewer asked Neoul the same question that she had asked the other contestants. Neoul shared his honest feelings after listening to the song.
"It was interesting."
"...Is that the end?"
The main writer asked in confusion at the short review.
What more should I say?
Neoul looked at the main writer with a puzzled look. He thought about what he had thought after listening to the song.
"It was fun?"
The sight of humans moving incessantly and splendidly in the video was fun. It was so interesting how they flexibly moved as if they were swimming on dry land without water.
It was my first time hearing the song, but it was interesting because there were so many variations.
The interviewer looked closely at Neoul's face and scratched her cheek, thinking that something special had come out.
"Hmm. It's okay. You worked hard."
Next, Ha On-ha, the contestant.
Ha On-ha smiled at the camera, melting people's hearts, and revealed his ambitions.
"I'll definitely become the center and show you the best stage! Please watch over me, everyone~"
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