CH 7

The vocal trainer was the judge Mudi.

She had given me a generous score and also threw in a lot of good words for the other participants. So there were also lots of good words for the training as well.

But of course that didn’t mean there weren’t moments when she was angry.

“Wongil, that’s not it… Ha.”

“…”

The participant that had missed the same move for the 5th day in a row silently bowed his head.

From the looks of it he was trying to hide his irritation instead of guilt, but that didn’t matter.

The important thing was that even for a good teacher, if someone made so many mistakes it would be hard to hide the one they favor.

And here’s the main culprit.

“Moondae, would you like to sing this part?”

“Yes.”

As I walked to the area the trainer was pointing at, the accompaniment was played by an electric piano. I started singing the pre-chorus alongside the accompaniment.

“I draw the future like a shooting star~”

As the trainer nodded at the clear sound and precise beat, the scolded participant nervously rubbed his feet.

Yes, the flower bed was the reason that I sang this theme song so well from the beginning. (I am guessing flower bed refers to the fact that he already knew the song due to its popularity in the past.)

It was inevitable that the starting point would be different for people who already knew the song and for those that didn’t.

Even though instead of the demo the version I listened to was the finished version it would be okay to just go from what I remembered.

Besides, my voice fits perfectly into this song. The trainer liked the way I sang it because it didn’t feel dirty.

And there were some who were still gossiping as they watched the pleased Mudi.

“…He’s really good at it.”

“Yeah”

The other guys would suffer because of the expectation that was created by the ordinary participant even though they are already high in an standard advanced class.

Especially if they were a participant whose strong point was only vocals.

According to the first evaluation, there were two participants with A-level vocals this season. And both with dance below grade C. Everyone, including me, was in a difficult situation.

And that “Choi Wongil” contestant, who was currently being scolded, was one of the two A-levels.

The funny thing is, this is the guy who I thought was a middle school student that tried to identify me before shooting. But he was not a middle school student, instead he was a freshman in high school.

Anyway, he deserved to be angry because he had been hearing the same thing from his trainer for several days at an age when he is self-conscious.

As soon as he met him, he was compared to the person he had ignored.

“Right!”

As soon as my pre-chorus part was over, the trainer tapped the keyboard as if he was feeling refreshed. Choi Wongil did not raise his head despite the light hitting sound.

“Wongil, do you know what to call this place?”

“…”

I don’t think he would make this many mistakes based on his ability. After he cleared the whole song on the first day, he constantly quarreled, and eventually his mind had shattered.

Let’s see, on the first day, I think it went like this.

-Wow, I’m glad you got compliments for your singing. You have to come up quickly from the lower ranks of the dance class!

-You are a bit amateurish, so I think that pure image fits the song well.

He vaguely said words that touched people’s nerves. It was a subtle nuance in a way that the opponent would be treated as an asshole if he got angry.

Besides, it was all said after the microphone man.

But in the end, I could not bear being pissed of this much…

-You’re very lucky. I envy you. It is the most important factor in the entertainment industry. It would have been nice if you could dance by luck. But still, hwaiting!

-I think it’s right to have a lucky person on top of someone who works hard. Most of these people are desperate and put their lives on the line. But no matter how you participate you get such good reviews.

It had reached this level.

Now, it was becoming embarrassing to be ignored after openly arguing. However, it was inevitable since he can’t do what he knows on purpose.

You don’t know, but this side also had life and death at stake

“Calm down, don’t be too nervous and let’s try again.”

“…Yes.”

Choi Wongil started singing again with great effort and made yet another mistake. 

It’s unfortunate.

I was praised by the trainer until the vocal class ended that day which caused me to get sharp glares from some people, including Choi Won-gil.

It had been a long time since I had been judged at such a rank, so I was tired, but it wasn’t bad. If it was real, there would probably be no such checks.

As the last day of training came both classes stayed the same, and the achievements I had been gaining through training piled up.

On the morning of the last day, participants of the advanced vocal class recorded a song.

Either way, they would go in groups and their names wouldn’t be specified, so it wouldn’t mean much.

Let’s focus in the afternoon instead.

It was the long-awaited evaluation time.

* * *

The lights on the set turned on.

“How have you all been?”

“Oh, it was hard!”

“I was just… tired, so I slept soundly.”

“Because you teached too hard?”

“Yeah! Oh, today should be worthwhile.”

The judges sat around the chairs and gave each other appropriate greetings.

They had already finished greetings in the waiting room in the morning, but it was to show a conversation for the opening scene for the broadcast.

The set we entered and sat in was a room decorated in the style of many-to-one interview rooms.

It was a recycled set from last season, and special effects were prepared.

The judges that were asked to show off as much reaction as possible in advance pretended not to know and spoke naturally.

“It’s totally… It seems like it. I think we are going to have an important interview.”

“It’s an important interview~ A grade interview!”

“Is this an interview for joining the Idol Joint-Stock Company?”

As soon as the judges finished speaking, the lights on the desk they sat in front of turned on.

“Wow!”

In colorful cursive writing “SHINE YOUR STAR” flashed on the desk.

This season’s catch-price came to a head and judges began to applaud as they had done in other seasons.

But this time, to their surprise, the walls began to move.

“Huh?!”

“What’s this!”

The wall around the interview room set started going down to the floor alongside the skillful reactions given by the judges. Then the wall disappeared and the entire set that was open wide revealed.

Behind the judges the voices of the MC rang loudly, causing them to turn their heads.

“The new Idol Joint-stock Company re-listing! The first obstacle is… Full public evaluation!”

“Wow!”

The area that was behind the judges was audience seats arranged like an open-air tether and the front seats of the audience were filled with participants.

The participants who thought they were just sitting in temporary waiting seats looked surprised and the appearance of a professional MC was displayed.

“The 77 participants who practiced the same song will evaluate each other as the audience!”

In fact, even during the first evaluation the participants were allowed to see each other’s performances.

However, they weren’t aware that they would openly evaluate those who practiced the same song within the same period.

That was because until the last room people would enter the practice room by themselves and receive an individual evaluation.

“Ratings will go according to the ranking, but we’re going in the opposite order!”

“…!”

“77th place, Chu Seonggu-gun, please come forward!”

The participant who was named staggered onto the stage as if half-dead. Sympathetic gazes and whispers poured out but Park Moondae remained silent.

It was because he knew that sympathetic looks could be edited to look deceptive like with Seon Ahyun’s first evaluation.

It was a feeling that came from the experience of regularly searching for idol communities to set a price for filming data.

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

“…Thank you…”

Naturally, the 77th-ranked participant missed most of the first verse and completely ruined the evaluation.

“…”

In a chilly and uneasy atmosphere, participants coming next and the ones next in order would join the stage halfway.

After sending about five or six people like that, the judges couldn’t hide the discomfort in their faces.

It was a cruel and straightforward order arrangement.

However, the production team had nothing to lose.

‘If you can’t do it anyway, even if it’s for a provocative cut, they have to pay for the appearance fee.’

They were written as a throwaway.

And it was also to shed more light on it.

Among the lower ranks, he possessed the mental power to pull off the stage even in a situation where his mind was collapsing.

Or participants who showed significant growth in this short period of time.

Some calculated that those who were noticeably handsome or well-known prior among the terrible participants wouldn’t feel concerned because they didn’t attract attention with their skills.

Interestingly, there were participants who satisfied both the former and the latter.

“Participant Lee Sejin, you must have worked hard.”

“Great job!”

“H-huh, Hyuk… Thank you, sir.”

It was Lee Sejin, the former child actor. Even though he could barely breathe with his red face, he finished the song until the end without missing a beat.

It wasn’t enough and awkward to describe it as ‘digested’.

However, it looked much better compared to the participants of similar numbers that went on the stage.

Park Moondae had a brief doubt.

‘Is he the Lee Sejin that debuted?’

Of course, it was impossible to guarantee, so he immediately concluded the idea by putting the participant on a watch list.

‘I should stay away from drug dealers.’

Then the boring middle class evaluation followed.

The skills of the participants gradually improved, and there were some that stood out from time to time.

But listening to the same song more than 40 times made it hard not to get tired of it.

After the terrible atmosphere from the beginning subsided, everyone started to show off their skills, so the judges slowly regained their peace and began to feel bored.

“Well…”

“It’s fine.”

Around the time when that boredom peaked, it was Park Moondae’s turn.

Seon Ahyun raised his fist towards Park Moondae with a blank face. It was a grim expression.

He had just finished his evaluation right before and managed to digest the song well.

“H-Hwa… Hwaiting.”

“…? Huh, yes.”

Why was he suddenly friendly?

Park Moondae was puzzled, but politely returned the greetings with his mouth. It was a triumph of social consciousness.

I slowly walked up onto the stage. It was an unfamiliar feeling and my head felt slightly heated with a sense of elevation.

“No.22 Park Moondae-gun!”

“Yes.”

The judges as a whole were rude.

‘I can sing well, but I can’t dance.’

The choreographer, whose expectations for Park Moon-dae had disappeared after a few days of struggle, thought bluntly.

‘It’s getting annoying.’

“Start the evaluation.”

The boring prelude started playing.

Park Moondae began the first move. It was a big move by turning the body and pulling both arms

“…?”

The first person that felt the difference was the choreographer.

‘Is this line different?’

Until the last face-to-face class just two days ago, Park Moondae had no “dance line.”

The sense of being able to match the point of connection and disconnection, the point of giving and losing strength.

If that is the standard that divided dance and rhythm, Park Moondae’s movement was rhythm.

He was sure it was…

‘Why… are you so good at dancing?’