19. Self-introduction Video Shooting (1)
The law student who was searching diligently on SNS and bulletin boards used by idol fans clenched her fist.
"I know...!"
The official website had not yet posted the participant information.
However, information about the other participants, such as where they were trainees and which countries they came from, was already being released little by little.
The Internet was already flooded with photos and videos of famous participants from the past and all sorts of rice cakes.
However, this classic humpback whale didn't even have a name.
On SNS, people were temporarily calling him 'Long-legged humpback whale', 'Handsome humpback whale', etc.
The law student who was on the verge of becoming a fan waited endlessly for the participants' profile photos or self-introduction videos to come out quickly.
'Or at least an online voting window....'
While starving, she just kept watching the previews and performance music videos...
— The Idol Travel voting window opened.
(link)
The voting window suddenly opened.
'Huh? The first episode hasn't even aired yet...?'
Of course, it was something she had desperately wanted, but the timing was embarrassing. But an even more embarrassing situation awaited her.
—Huh? But why aren't there any pictures or names of the kids?
—Oh my god, it's a blind vote.
That's right. The first vote was a blind vote. They were set up so that no one knew who was who and only their skills were evaluated.
The law student hurriedly clicked on the link. The only buttons that appeared on the screen were
"No, what is this…."
Once she clicked
When she clicked on the numbers, a signal song sung by one of the 81 participants flowed out.
'Which number is Humpback Whale?'
The law student listened carefully one by one, nervously.
But since it wasn't revealed who sang which part in the signal song, she didn't know which one was the humpback whale's voice.
In the end, she had no choice but to vote for the contestant who did well.
'Yeah. No matter how good the face is, a singer is a singer, so the song comes first.'
Even though she was determined to do so, the law student was anxious that the whale might fall from the beginning.
Vocal number 10 was not very impressive.
"The same song 81 times.... Oh my. When will I ever finish listening to all of this?"
Fortunately, she could stop listening to it if it didn't sound good and listen to the next one.
The moment she sighed and played number 11.
'Oh, this voice....'
The solid yet full vocal that was particularly clear despite being a chorus in the first verse, the boyish yet manly voice stretched out refreshingly. It felt like pouring cool water on your parched throat.
'11 is okay. This guy is like a pro.'
Since she could vote for 7 people, she decided to reserve it.
The next song, number 12, was a little disappointing. Maybe because number 11 was refreshing and stable, number 12 sounded bland.
And the moment she turned on number 13.
"Huh, huh?"
Bridge! That bridge part voice?!
Her heart started pounding. As it was a refreshing song, the sound spread out refreshingly, but the uniquely beautiful and dreamy tone melted her eardrums.
After voting for those who were worth listening to, it was time for
As soon as she played number 1, the sound started flowing out, and soon a contestant appeared with his face covered by a circle with the program logo on it.
Contestants who were quite good, numbers 2, 3, and 4 followed. And then number 5 appeared.
'You're really bad.'
The law student gave a sharp evaluation.
"Why are you dancing so wobbly and carelessly?"
***
At that moment.
Gal Neoul, who had become a wobbly and careless humpback whale, was preparing to film a self-introduction video.
The 181 contestants were divided into groups of 20 or 21 by lottery and filmed their self-introduction videos at a sheep ranch, Olle Trail, folk village, and green tea field.
The day before, the production team took the contestants to a sheep ranch and Olle Trail, and today, filming at the green tea field was finished.
And in the evening, they took the remaining 20 contestants to a folk village. Among them was Neoul.
The production team handed out selfies and even gave them tickets and pocket money.
"Jeju Folk Village is currently holding a summer special event. The tickets I gave you now are tickets that allow you to enter both the safety zone and the horror experience zone."
The PD's voice was quite excited as he explained.
"In the safe zone, you can watch the sights, see performances, and buy snacks at the night market. In the horror experience zone, you can train your courage. You can do whatever you want here and film your self-introduction video."
At that moment, someone raised their hand and asked.
"Can we go together~?"
Ha On-ha was smiling, but he looked a bit uneasy.
Baek Yu-ri and Baek Gi-yeom, who were in the same room as Neoul, had been to Olle Trail, and Woo Cheong and Kim Ji-rok, who had shaved eyebrows, had been to the sheep ranch, so Ha On-ha was the only participant who Neoul had a conversation with.
"Yes. You can go together. It doesn't matter if other people's voices or faces appear in the self-introduction video."
Ha On-ha visibly felt relieved and brushed his chest.
The participants dispersed in twos and threes. Some people filmed their self-introduction videos with hydrangeas in full bloom as the background, some under thatched houses, and some wore tangerine hats they bought at a prop shop and filmed them.
Gal Neoul stood there, blankly staring at a ten-thousand won bill, an admission ticket, and the lens of the self-camera that the staff had provided.
Where should I start and end my self-introduction?
Can I just say my name?
"Neoul~"
Haon-ha called out to Neoul, who was nodding.
"It's boring to film alone, so let's go together."
What about the other people who seemed friendly, and why me?
Neoul was puzzled, but nodded. Ha On-ha was the one who had taken the center of the signal song that Baek Yu-ri wanted to do. Even the way he was holding that self-cam looked somehow skilled.
In Neoul's eyes, Ha On-ha seemed like the person who would be the first to succeed in the various missions leading up to his debut.
Unlike Neoul, who still didn't really understand what an idol was, he seemed to know idols very well and was running towards that path.
It seemed like he could learn from how he introduced himself and do something similar.
A camera followed them as they entered the folk village. There are parts that the self-cam couldn't capture, so it was there to capture the overall picture.
Although the camera director followed them at a distance, Ha On-ha looked relieved when one more person joined the group.
Neoul was so absorbed in the amazing scenery of the folk village that he didn't even notice the camera.
"Oh~ There's a night market over there. Should I eat something?"
What to eat?
Neoul's eyes sparkled. To Neoul, who had only eaten shrimp, anchovies, plankton, and small fish as staples, human food was a new world. Some of it was bland, but overall, it was delicious, colorful, and surprising.
"Let's order this much money together~"
"Good, sir."
Neoul didn't know how much this amount was worth, but he understood that he could eat more anyway, so he followed along.
"Huh? Neoul~ Why are you speaking formally to me?"
"I'm a polite prince."
"...?"
Ha On-ha naturally didn't understand what Neoul meant and opened his eyes wide. He soon thought it was a concept and smiled and answered.
"Really? Which country's prince are you?"
"I'm the second prince from the Dragon Palace."
"I see. Then I'll be the king~ Dragon King! I'll have the power of the sea!"
"....!"
A human is after the position of Abamama...? Neoul was perplexed.
"That can't be."
"Why~?"
"A human can't become the Dragon King. When a sea serpent born from a dragon's egg trains for a thousand years and becomes a dragon, the position of the king must be vacant in order to become the Dragon King."
"This can't be~ It's firm and specific!"
Neoul only spoke the truth, but Ha On-ha didn't take it seriously at all. He just thought they were joking around according to the flow of consciousness.
"Then can I be a prince?"
"If you become an adopted son, you can."
"Then I want to be a prince too~ Since we're both princes, let's talk comfortably!"
".....?"
Neoul raised one eyebrow, not understanding the human mindset. It wouldn't be something that could just happen if you wanted to, right?
However, the point seemed to be that he wanted him to let go, so he decided to do as he wanted.
"Okay. Let go." (formal, highly addressee-lowering)
"Huh?"
Hmm? This time, Ha On-ha's eyes widened. Of course, he was thinking of the informal speech between friends of the same age.
However, Neoul had never had friends of the same age or age, so he didn't know how to treat them.
"Ha On-ha. Order some food. Don't eat anything spicy."
Neoul now knew that food that tortures his mouth was called 'spicy.'
Humans were really strange. They tortured their mouth with spicy food, tortured him again with spicy toothpaste, and then tormented his eyes with shampoo.
'Do they enjoy the pain?'
Anyway, thanks to Ha On-ha ordering some sweet and sour fried chicken and crispy green onion pancakes, this time he was able to enjoy a snack without torturing himself.
Ha On-ha was so absorbed in eating that Neoul was able to eat a satisfying amount.
'It would be nice if I could eat such delicious food with Abamama.'
Baek Yu-ri said he was going to ask his family at home to send him some liver, but he said that there was a problem and that he would have to wait a little longer.
'Is it because Sir Rabbit's family can't find Sir Rabbit's liver? Is it because they hid it so well?'
And when on earth will that damn thing debut?
As time went by, he became more and more anxious.
After finding out that Baek Yuri and Baek Gi-yeom were cousins, Neoul thought about taking Baek Gi-yeom's liver instead. If they were both rabbits, it wouldn't matter which liver he took.
So he asked Baek Gi-yeom if he was a rabbit too, and he told him that he was not a rabbit, but a lion.
— ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ᴀ ʟɪᴏɴ?
—ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴀ ᴢᴏᴏ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ?
When Neoul said, 'I was sick and just stayed home,' as the Sea Priestess told him, Baek Gi-yeom explained, 'Lions are very scary, brave, and strong animals.'
When I asked if it was scary like a killer whale or a giant squid, he said; I don't know because I've never seen a killer whale or a giant squid fight a lion, but they say a lion is the king of beasts.
Neoul said that Baek Giyeom wasn't scary at all and that he was easygoing and didn't seem to have the spirit of a king, so he didn't seem like a lion.
— ᴜɢʜ. ɴᴇᴏᴜʟ ʜɪᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ.
Baek Giyeom grabbed his forehead and pretended to get hit, but then he became much scarier and braver and said he'd come back and left.
—ʀᴀᴄᴄᴏᴏɴ ʜʏᴜɴɢ-ɴɪᴍ ʜɪᴛ ɢɪʏᴇᴏᴍ ʜʏᴜɴɢ-ɴɪᴍ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ!
Woo Cheong shouted, jumping up and down.
— ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ʜɪᴛ ʜɪᴍ...!
— ʏᴏᴜ ʜɪᴛ ʜɪᴍ!
But since Neoul had never physically hit Baek Gi-yeom, he felt wronged for a long time after that.
So, was Baek Gi-yeom a rabbit, a lion, or something?
In the end, he couldn't figure out what he was curious about.
Neoul tried to pick up the pajeon with his chopsticks and missed it three times before he finally put it in his mouth. He didn't know that pancakes are meant to be torn apart and eaten, so he had a hard time picking up the whole pancake.
[Pajeon is a variety of jeon with scallion as its prominent ingredient, as pa means scallion. It is a Korean dish made from a batter of eggs, wheat flour, rice flour, scallions, and often other ingredients depending on the variety. Beef, pork, kimchi, shellfish, and other seafood are mostly used.]
Ha On-ha put down the wooden skewer after picking at the chicken gangjeong, regardless of whether Neoul ate the pancake whole or not.
[Dakgangjeong is a dish made by adding seasonings such as garlic and pepper to fried chicken, adding soy sauce and syrup, and stewing or stir-frying it. Nuts are sometimes added as a topping. It is similar to seasoned chicken and soy sauce chicken, but it is a different dish. It contains more syrup and the chicken pieces are smaller than seasoned chicken and soy sauce chicken.]
"Okay, let's go see the ghost!"
—