CH 9

For the theme song stage, the participants were put in a fan shape centered with the platinum group in the center. The higher the rating you had the closer you came to the center.

Other than that, there were parts that only the platinum group could perform.

However, everyone seemed to be paying attention to their grades because getting one cut on camera could change their initial ranking.

In addition, the staff and trainers spoke and moved as if grades had a lot of meaning, so it was perfect for young participants to be swept away.

In other words the number of participants who came to talk to me as soon as I put on the platinum badge has increased by fivefold.

I felt a little skeptical about the blatant social hierarchy that I had never experienced in high school.

What will the production crew with such a great personality do in the future…

Fortunately, the vicious production crew also had a directing idea. Participants with more than A dance were placed further ahead of the starting timing and the dance break, even among the Platinum classes.

And the participant with relatively weak dance skillfully pulled back. Well, of course this included me too.

My movements for the dance break were slightly behind the gold. I saw Seon Ahyun and Lee Sejin (Gold) right next to me.

Come to think of it, the child actor Lee Sejin got silver. Based on the flow, I doubt that they would really debut.

“Isn’t it a little sad?”

I skipped over the point of being friendly with Lee Sejin (Gold). The hurdle went down involuntarily since it was slightly out of the point of disgust.

“Not really.”

I answered bluntly. I was guessing he was referring to the fact that the stage location wasn’t that great for a platinum grade.

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“Wow, I would have been very sad.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Huh? Why do you think so?”

“Because you are good at dancing.”

Lee Sejin’s dance was A- and vocals C+, and if his voice hadn’t cracked while he was doing high notes then he might have gotten the platinum grade instead of me.

“Um, thank you!”

Anyway, Lee Sejin smiled broadly as if he felt a little better.

Then, suddenly, another voice came in.

“Can’t you dance?”

It was a platinum-grade participant who stood at the center of the front row. There wasn’t any ill-intent in his blank expression.

The problem is he took the first place in the evaluation since the first ranking. And, as far as I know, he was the final number 1.

His name is Cha Yujin. He was quite famous to the point I often saw his face on the TV at the Baekban restaurant I went to in Gosichon.

(Baekban = A meal with rice, soup and side dishes sold in a restaurant.

Gosichon = A Korean term used to refer to residences of civil service examinees)

However, he was more bizarre than I expected.

The microphone was still on and the camera was going around, yet he still asked that?

With a reckless personality like this, he still won first place.

Of course both the details in the status window and evaluation remarks were good.

Still, there was a high probability that the editing of the broadcast was also friendly. Let’s not get involved in this kind of material for no reason.

So I laughed on purpose.

“Did you not see my evaluation?”

Then his expression turned cold. Surprisingly, he seemed to be a conscience-stricken person.

“Everyone has to prepare for their own stage. So I didn’t get to see it.”

“Then you can look at it the next time and see how it is.”

“All right.”

Cha Yujin nodded and turned towards the front. Lee Sejin laughed with a hint of bewilderment.

“I guess it’s because you’re from abroad, you have a unique way of speaking.”

“I know.”

Since Lee Sejin was also conscious of the camera the conversation did not go any further.

Instead, I looked towards the staff offstage. It seems they were getting things sorted out.

“Let’s go to rehearsal!”

The staff screamed. Looks like they were done setting things up.

I held my breath.

It was hard to wait on the road as they picked up the equipment but I didn’t know I’d do this myself.

It was currently 6 in the morning.

And the actual performance will be recorded at 4 pm.

It seemed this would be a painful march.

***

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And now it was 8 p.m.

The main shooting had ended.

“Thank you for your hard work!””

As expected from the beginning… It was full of harship.

“Haaa…”

“Ah… I’m dying.”

The participants fell to the floor one by one, making a sound of pain alongside it. Everyone was drenched in sweat.

My condition wasn’t much different, but there was no room to sit since the floor was full of collapsed participants.

It was a funny sight.

‘I’m out of energy.’

First of all, we had a rehearsal all morning. Only after that did we finally get a short break and lunch break.

The meal was just a sheet of foiled kimbap, probably because we had not yet received the relevant PPL.

After eating a bit, a bunch of stylists came into the set.

– Oh, there really is no place left to put our stuff~

– Put your head this way!

– I’ll do it quickly.

While they were annoyed by the harsh environment of the vacant lot used as a waiting room, they mechanically prepared the participants and brushed their hair.

To be honest, there weren’t much dramatic changes, but it was enough for it to be seen during the broadcast.

After that, I changed into the broadcast uniform.

By this time, the camera had reached me.

-Do you like your clothes?

-…Yes.

Is there anyone here who would say no?

-What do you like about it?

-Well, since it is a design that encompasses uniforms and school uniforms, I think you can create a variety of concepts.

It’s a pity that there were 77 people wearing the same clothes, so it’s a shame that I couldn’t express my true feelings of how it felt a bit creepy since it felt like I was back in school.

As soon as I was done speaking, various participants around me joined in.

-I like being able to match various accessories~

-Oh! It also goes well with the badge!

There would be around one or two camera cuts from this scene, but everyone seemed really enthuastic.

And the actual shooting.

To be honest, here… I didn’t know how the editing would go.

– I’m going back~

– Oh…

I had to dance in a crowd in a hot place 30 times and it felt like I would get a heat stroke, so I couldn’t care less about that.

I think I heard some compliments, criticisms, and motivational comments that were intended to impress me, but my head was still all over the place.

To be honest, my memory was hazy. I didn’t know which cut the producers would use out of the 30 attempts.

I listened to the PD, and tried to come back to my senses.

“Everyone, you worked really hard…”

The main PD, who appeared only at the end of the main stage, seemed to be giving empty compliments, but fortunately after a few words he also gave some useful information.

“…and this performance will be on next Friday’s Music Night. You will start shooting again the next day. Please have a good rest until then. Don’t forget that this is a great opportunity for you. You must seize this opportunity.”

Anyone who hears it would think that if the participants put in effort, they could seize the opportunity.

The participants responded enthusiastically to the words of the PD who can tailor the opportunity to their liking.

” Let’s work hard until the end, diligently.”

“Yes!!”

“Then see you next week. Good job~”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

Everyone squeezed out their remaining energy to cheer and clap. I also applauded. My hands shook.

“…”

Until next week’s music night monitoring, I had to build up my stamina.

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***

The week went by in a flash.

My plans to build up my stamina was only half successful. This is because after the first shooting, I suddenly had a fever and had to stay under the blanket and take medicine for 3 days.

It seemed Park Moondae’s body couldn’t endure weeks of hard work.

Anyway, after waking up in three days, I increased the amount of food I ate. I also practiced dancing and exercising my strength at the same time.

Currently I was holding dumbbells as I watched the music night, so I can say that I worked pretty hard.

So let’s just say it was half successful.

[Siwon, did you enjoy SoulWe’s comeback performance in the exciting EDM stage?]

[Of course, Siwon was so excited and my heart feels so excited~ what about you?]

[Are you kidding me? Woo~]

[Woo~]

On the screen, a pair of idol hosts cheered.

It seemed they were speaking through a prompter,, but they still read the cringey script very cleverly.

Despite the busy schedule, they were trying to split the time.

[Siwon-ssi! Now instead of joking shall we introduce the next stage?]

[Yes, did you hear the news, Yoonji-ssi?]

[What kind of news?]

[The news that shareholders have been eagerly waiting for! Right away~ <Idol Joint-Stock Company> has been re-listed!!]

[Wow!]

It’ll start soon. I put down the dumbbells and lifted my smartphone to turn on the page I had logged into in advance.

It was the best page to look at to see the general Internet reaction as a viewer’s fireboard made on a giant portal site.

Since there was no comeback for a big singer this week, the news page was mostly filled with idol company news.

[‘MusicBOMB’ talk talk!]

-Relisting ㅋㅋㅋ is this true?

(ㅋㅋㅋ = Ha ha a=ha/ laughing noise)

-That’s a lot of brain failure

-Wow, pretend to be luxurious season 3!

-ㅋ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ it’s not a re-listing, it’s a delisting.

– What? What happened here all of a sudden?

∟ IJC is making a new season.

∟Ah…

-ㅎ Am I the only one who came to see the comments instead of the boring stage?

Well. The reactions were as expected.

Every time I refreshed the page a different kind of insult would appear. More and more people came in compared to the previous music nights.

And to summarize the reactions, it was said that season 3 was definitely going to be an overkill and ruined. Because season 2 was too grandiose and flashy, the perception of the series itself seemed to have been ruined.

Not surprisingly, mockery aimed towards season 2 could also be seen.

– This time it’s between guys? Are you going to a bigger Korea? ㅋ

∟ Same-sex marriage is not allowed in Korea, but you can’t surpass the stronghold of season 2 ^^ ㅋ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

∟Fuck, ㅋ ㅋㅋㅋ

This was the main reason season 2 had collapsed. It was a mixed idol audition that consisted of both male and female participants.

Looking back on it, it was a bizarre idea.

I wonder what kind of scenario the Producer team was hoping for.

If season 2 had just been male-only like it was supposed to, this season would be female again and not receive attention like this.

If you do something like that…

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-I don’t know~ Who else might get pregnant before marriage and remain a legend in the idol audition world?

∟ A billion ㅋㅋㅋ Two seasons in a row!

∟Now we can laugh about it but fuck, at that time I was traumatised. These crazy guys, why would they come to a audition only to upset the audience

∟Haa a sudden acceleration;

∟I’m too immersed in the entertainment industry~

∟Yeah, it’s not just entertainment, it’s an audition that wastes money~

∟In the meantime, I still shiver when I think of the fact that IJC tried getting involved in the romance of the century.

That’s right. A premarital pregnancy had happened.

Even if they were in a relationship, a premarital pregnancy in the show was still fatal.

It also exploded among the participants.

The bigger problem is that the two participants who had a premarital pregnancy were the popular participants leading Season 2.

Since the production team is a mixed group anyway, it seems that they thought that it would be better to use the topic for attraction instead of getting rid of it.

So, they worked hard to edit the remaining episodes in a way that seemed like a realistic romance show.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

– To say you were pregnant while standing with two legs, she must have been a madman that will never be seen again.

– A real IJC legend… no, not just IJC, it’s MJC ㅎ (Sort of a word play, i guess it would make more sense in Korean)

Among the participants involved in the premarital pregnancy scandal, the male was actually dating another female participant.

It is said that the female participant was going to put up with it for the sake of her career, but after watching the pink episode she was blinded and exposed the details on social media.

After that… It was miserable.

Portal real-time search terms, entertainment news pages, and even social media were all destroyed.

Just… It’s worth remembering that IJCa Season 2 didn’t make it to the final episode and ended early.

And as long as this mega-scale scandal was still engraved in the minds of the viewers, no matter what we did in the beginning it would be impossible to avoid the ridicule.

I finished my recollection of the events and focused on the screen again.

In contrast to the mess in the comment section, the MCs of Music Night were still smiling.

[Idol stocks waiting for shareholders to invest!!]

[Shine your star!]

And here comes the famous catchphrase.

[Now, invest in idols who want to fly!]

At that moment, the number of comments regen suddenly tripled.

– Fly high, stocks… Fantastic skyrocketing… Fly… Climb 

This was an internet meme that was once popular. I believe it was often used when a participant people thought would do well would fail because of a bad move.

Several lamentations passed through the comments, which are almost all over the place.

– And I’m using this again.

-Whoever decided on the phrase is really low-key.

-20 The old man who left the house tried to act hip but failed.

-Crazy broadcasting station bastards, don’t make Siwon say these lines ㅠㅠ

I laughed bitterly.

“I still see it.”

I mean, they were still trying to insult us.

It was hundreds of times better than indifference. This early audience would definitely contribute to early word of mouth. I had already experienced that season 3 would be a big success.

This means that the majority of them (to put it in a very private way) would try to grab anyone’s stock and cry when they reach the final.

But It wouldn’t be like that from the beginning.

I was very excited about what kind of reactions would come out.

After the MC was done speaking, the TV screen lit up the stage a few seconds later.

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Young-rin was standing on the stage. The pin-pointed lighting created dramatic shadows on the clearly outlined face.

Well, “Idol Joint-stock Company” was originally a humorous position with black comedy and meme-filled B-style, but since it had become so meme-ridden they seemed to have wanted to change the image a little.

They were trying to cover it up solemnly

[To all shareholders! Do you remember the last delisting?]

“…?”

As soon as Young-rin opened her mouth my prediction shattered into peaces.

[For turning your stock into pieces of paper. I’m really sorry!!]

A large caption came in front of Young-rin, who shouted with a loud voice.

[※This is an apology from the production team. Young-rin is innocent.※]

[※We are still accepting claims for damages on our website.※]

“…”

Are these people out of their minds?

As requested by someone, here are images of the characters that appeared so far;

Park Moondae;

Seon Ahyun;

Lee Sejin (Gold, the one Moondae thinks will debut)

Lee Sejin (Silver, the child actor, his name will change later on)

Ryu Cheongwoo (the former archer);

Cha Yujin (appeared for the first time this chapter)