9. Sea Priestess (1)
Before checking the names of the participants one by one, the main writer caught the ghost hiding among the participants.
They were all gathered in the large auditorium where the signal song was released earlier.
Before handing out the kimbap, the other participants returned the props they used for today's filming, but there was one person who stood out alone. It was Neoul.
He already stood out because he was dressed strangely and was tall, but he stood out even more because he acted differently from the others.
Neoul had a handsome face and stared blankly at the other participants or looked around with a curious expression.
In particular, he narrowed his eyes when he saw participant Baek Yuri return his rabbit ear headband. He was also watching the participants who returned the tiger headband, cat headband, and wolf mask carefully.
When she checked Neoul's name, it wasn't on the list, and there was no application or profile. The reason she couldn't memorize all the profiles was because there were so many participants.
'No, even among the participants, he was outstandingly handsome and had a unique character, but I was so captivated by his face that I didn't notice anything strange until now. It's my fault.'
[I caught a ghost. PD-nim.]
The main writer who sent the text to PD Seok Oh-young called Neoul aside and took him to a makeshift conference room.
The woman who was guiding him asked in confusion when Neoul started toddling like a baby who had just started walking.
"Do you have any problems with your legs?"
"No."
Anyway, Neoul entered the conference room safely and sat across the table from the writer.
"Neoul ssi. The beach was closed off since morning because of filming. How did you get in?"
Neoul didn't really know what filming was, but he was able to answer the question of how he got in.
"I swam in the ocean for a long time and came up by stepping on a rock."
"Yes...? You swam...?"
"Yes."
The main writer's mind became even more lost in the maze.
'Is he a Jeju resident? A haenyeo, no, haenam? We couldn't check because he was diving in the ocean?'
[Haenyeo are female divers in the South Korean province of Jeju, whose livelihood consists of harvesting a variety of mollusks, seaweed, and other sea life from the ocean. Known for their independent spirit and determination, haenyeo are representative of the semi-matriarchal family structure of Jeju.
Nyeo = woman
Nam = man]
The writer tapped the table with her fingertips.
"Uh... um... why did you sing when you're not even a participant in our program?"
"I sang because I had to do a mission."
"Do you know what program we're filming?"
"....?"
Neoul shook his head.
"Yes. You got involved without knowing what it was?"
The main writer left Neoul alone in the conference room for a moment and talked to the other writers in the hallway.
"We can't re-film the busking scene, and what should we do? He was one of the top 10 candidates for the signal song, so if we ruin that..."
"He's handsome and I saw earlier that he's pretty good at singing, so how about casting him? Should we ask him if he's thinking about debuting as an idol?"
"Even if he says he's not thinking about it, shouldn't we try to convince him to think about it again?"
"First, when the PD comes, we should talk about it and then decide."
"Yes. He's here right now, over there."
PD Seok Oh-young and the production team hurriedly arrived and all gathered for an emergency meeting. They were thinking about it while looking over the footage and came to the conclusion that re-filming was impossible.
It was too much of a waste to just cut out the scenes where Neoul appears.
"First, let's try our best to convince Neoul-ssi to join. There was an interesting picture today, and I think it'll be quite a hot topic."
"On the other hand, unfortunately, Baek Yu-ri found the wrong partner, so we have to exclude him from the signal song candidates. He failed the mission. Let's just settle it so that the sixth successful contestants will be the candidates."
"But judging from the video, he really did come up from the sea. It's not like he's a water ghost, is it?"
"Hey. What ghost? He must have gone in and freedived before the camera was turned on, or caught an abalone or something."
"I guess so?"
PD Seok, who was surprised to see Baek Gi-yeom and thought he was a ghost, shook his head with a pale face. After finishing the story, they went into a makeshift conference room to persuade Neoul.
***
At that moment.
The beach where the production crew had all withdrawn and the people who had been playing on the beach had all gone home after completing the sticker-sticking mission.
Only a few people remained on the deserted beach. A college student dipping his feet in the seawater found a reddish-brown octopus. The moment he was about to reach out his hand because he was surprised that the octopus had floated all the way to the beach.
"Hey, stop."
A charismatic, stern voice stopped the college student. No, the voice was soft and beautiful, but the tone was stern. The college student who was crouching down immediately stopped his hand and raised his head.
He didn't even feel the approaching person, but a woman wearing an elegant white one-piece dress was standing right in front of him. A charming woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat stood awkwardly and gestured at the octopus with her chin.
"That's poisonous. If you get bitten, you'll be in big trouble."
It was so natural for her to speak informally at first sight.
Are you old? The age difference doesn't seem that big.
The college student was puzzled, but quickly pulled his hand away and moved away from the octopus. His life was more important than his curiosity.
"Oh, thank you. I almost touched it without thinking."
At that moment, the woman grabbed the octopus. The red octopus instantly turned yellow, and a disgusting blue ring-shaped pattern appeared. The college student screamed and stepped back.
However, the woman calmly stroked the octopus and spoke to it.
"Hello, little one. Did you follow the prince?"
Naturally, the octopus did not answer. It wiggled wildly as if it was excited, bit the woman's hand, and tried to run away. The woman laughed as if it didn't tickle even if she bit it, and put the octopus in a bag.
"Are you okay? Should I call 119...?"
The college student frantically took out his smartphone and asked, thinking that it was going crazy. The woman replied calmly.
"No. I'm better than you, so I'm fine."
She paused for a moment as she was leaving the beach with the octopus, looking back. Because of her alluring and beautiful appearance, he didn't notice it, but her pupils looked like they were slit horizontally.
"You. You have to be careful driving today."
The college student looked at the woman, feeling a chill for a moment. The woman who had left the warning leisurely left the beach and disappeared into the parking lot.
***
The blue-ringed octopus, which had been swimming hard along with Neoul, could no longer chase from the shore.
Exhausted beyond belief, it was lying down with only its eight arms dangling, and to make matters worse, Neoul got on a bus and disappeared.
While it was sobbing in a daze, it was caught by the sea priestess' net and put in the backseat of her car.
It had to send fresh water to its gills, but it couldn't breathe because it was out of the water. The blue-ringed octopus was very cautious, but it was struggling and squirming wildly.
The sea priestess poured a potion on the rebellious blue-ringed octopus. The cold and fiery potion poured over the blue-ringed octopus's body. Then, it felt as if its entire body was being disassembled and reassembled, and its body grew larger and its vision suddenly became higher. The blocked airway also suddenly opened up.
"Ugh...?"
The blue-ringed octopus blinked stupidly!
The sea creatures working in the Dragon Palace could take on human form within the Dragon Palace by the grace of the Dragon King. However, it was not a real transformation into a human body. The body was the same, but it only appeared that way on the outside, like an illusion.
But now, the transformed body felt exactly the same. Originally, there was a head under the torso and eight arms attached to the head, but the positions of the head and torso were suddenly reversed.
It felt dizzy and foreign, and it was hard to adapt. Unlike the eight arms that were free, the human limbs were very heavy and stiff, and did not move well. The blue-ringed octopus was scared, thinking that the sea priestess had put a curse.
However, the sea priestess calmly put a yellow one-piece on her head and put on her seatbelt. Then she went to the front seat and took the wheel.
As the car started to move smoothly, the blue-ringed octopus shivered and curled up. It's scary! I have to run away!
The sea priestess glanced at the rearview mirror and teased the blue-ringed octopus with a smirk.
"Kid. Aren't you a military officer? Why are you so timid and weak?"
The blue-ringed octopus glared at the sea priestess with a look full of caution. Her eyesight must have improved, because she could see very clearly and stare at her more intently.
The reason she became a military officer was not because she was brave, but because she had a special ability to possess venom. Of course, it wasn't because she was physically strong or strong.
In fact, the soldiers of the Dragon Palace didn't need to be strong. Who would dare invade the dragon's territory? Unless they put their livers out of their stomachs.
The soldiers simply roamed around the Dragon Palace, helping other sea creatures in need. It was also their job to stop fights big and small, or to send those who broke the Dragon Palace's rules to prison.
They learned spearmanship here and there, but there was no need to risk their lives or do anything dangerous. So there was no need to become strong.
'Until the Dragon King fell... That was... '
The blue-ringed octopus regretted not trying to become strong. Even if she tried, she was still a small blue-ringed octopus with only a poisonous body.
"Sea Priestess. Where are you taking me...?"
"I'm going to eat octopus sashimi."
"Aak!"
The blue-ringed octopus struggled and tried to escape. However, the seat belt was tightly fastened to her upper body, and the doors of the moving car were firmly locked. The blue-ringed octopus obviously didn't know how to unbuckle the seat belt or unlock the car.
"Just kidding. Just kidding. I'm going to see our prince now."
The sea priestess smiled languidly and raised the corners of her mouth.
"It's not your time yet. Wait in the car."
At that moment, the blue-ringed octopus fell into a deep sleep.
***
PD Seok and the main writer briefly explained the concept of
It's an idol survival audition program produced by FLu, a cable channel that is competing with Unet and is on a roll.
Since it's a travel concept, viewers will call them 'passengers' on the idol travel plane, and the contestants will wear cool flight attendant uniforms and film a signal song video.
The two of them spouted out words that were hard for Neoul to understand and persuaded him to please appear.
"It's a healing survival show, so there won't be much difficulty and it'll be fun."
"Don't you have any experience as a trainee? You must have gotten a lot of business cards in front of the school."
"You're 20 years old, that's perfect. Why don't you try it out for experience?"
"Don't you want to try being an idol? If you debut here, you'll gain recognition and fans all at once. It's a different starting point."
It was then that Neoul, who had been listening blankly, reacted.
"Debut?"
That's definitely what Sir Rabbit said. He said he'd give me a liver if I debuted. I still don't fully understand what they just explained about 'idol', but... I now understand that it's a job where you dance and sing.
"Yes. You might get eliminated in the middle, but if you survive until the end, you can debut right away."
"How long does it take to debut?"
"The filming schedule is a little over 3 months. After the final members are decided, it's not our job to prepare a debut album, so I can't tell you exactly, but you'll debut before the program loses all of its attention, so that'll take about 3 months? Then it'll be about half a year."
"Half a year..."
Then there is still time. Neoul nodded.
"I will."
"Wow! Really? Really?"
"Yes. I will."
The faces of the main writer and PD Seok, who had been persuading, brightened.
"I thought about it well. Our program is fair and clean, without any manipulation. First, fill out the application form, and then read the related instructions slowly. If you write down your smartphone number, I'll send you a text message. Please be sure to follow the confidentiality clause until the broadcast."
Neoul looked at the application form on the tablet PC held out in front of him.
Name, age, nationality, date of birth, education, career, special skills, etc. It was a list of items that were easy to fill out, but Neoul couldn't fill in a single blank. He couldn't read, and he didn't know how to use the tablet PC.
In the Dragon Palace, they made slabs by breaking stones and scratched the surface to leave records. However, this machine looked like it would break if scratched with a sharp stone.
When Neoul glanced at the humans, embarrassed, they smiled softly, saying that it was okay to write slowly.
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