Chapter 185:

Chapter 185:

I had no answer to how I could follow him so quickly... except that I had practiced countless times beforehand.

But if I said that, I would cause a commotion around me. I glanced at Yu-geon’s face to gauge his intentions.

He was twenty-three in reality... so he must be twenty-one now. He hadn’t eaten any broadcast material yet, so he still had a less flashy and mature impression.

If Kang Yu-geon, who was in his second year of debut, was a top-notch visual among celebrities, then he looked like a handsome person among ordinary people now.

I wondered if there was someone as handsome as him among my classmates, he still had a plainness that made me understand why Kang Yu-geon was called a first love scam.

‘Of course, with a face like this, he would debut at a young age and become a celebrity. There wouldn’t be any among ordinary people.’

As I stared at him silently, he scratched his neck awkwardly and added.

“Ah... I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable by acting friendly all of a sudden.”

He seemed embarrassed and awkward, even though he knew it. When I met him after his debut, he acted as if he had five iron plates on his face.

Was he not much different from a normal twenty-one-year-old at this time? I quickly shook my head and answered.

“No, it’s okay. I was lucky to catch the familiar movements.”

If I could use my fate skill freely, I could pretend to be a hidden talent, with a lot of confidence in my shoulders.

But I had no points, I was only a little better than ordinary people in terms of face and dance, and the rest was nothing but a mouthful of talent.

Besides, I was the type who gained favor with a diligent and hardworking attitude, not the ability to captivate people with a great sense of humor in entertainment.

In other words, I had nothing to boast about at this level.

“I’m so jealous. They say you only practice the opening song for the first week after entering. You can have fun, right?”

That’s not true. I guess I would have an advantage over other participants, but the routes would be different.

“Not really. I didn’t learn the whole...”

As I was about to make an excuse that I hadn’t memorized it, the bus door opened and the driver came out and started to guide the participants.

“Hurry up and get on! We’re leaving in five minutes!”

“Ah.”

Then Yu-geon moved along the line first and naturally found an empty seat and tapped the seat next to him and called me.

“Here, here.”

What the... why are you acting friendly? I felt awkward and couldn’t sit down easily. But it wasn’t like sitting next to someone else was comfortable either...

‘I want to go quietly.’

I shouldn’t have a useless conversation and say something like you’ll debut later, which would be a future prophetic nonsense.

I didn’t want to be seen as a person with no social skills, but I decided to just answer what I was told and pretend to sleep.

I sat down next to Yu-geon with a slight hesitation.

“By the way, how old are you?”

As the passengers settled down and the driver prepared to leave, Yu-geon showed interest in me again.

“Me?”

I pretended not to hear him, even though I understood him. Yu-geon nodded his head and answered.

“Yes. You look like a student.”

You look like a student too, dude. I swallowed the words I couldn’t say and answered awkwardly.

“Nineteen.”

“Ah, you’re the younger one. You can talk casually to me, okay?”

Yu-geon said without any hesitation, and I nodded slowly, feeling awkward to refuse.

“You too, talk casually to me.”

I didn’t really want to get close to him here. All I had to do was avoid the first round of elimination. I didn’t want to build a thick friendship with him and create a variable later.

“Yeah, well...”

I was about to say that I had to go, when I saw the face that I had seen at the audition hall walking towards the dressing room behind me.

Damn. I didn’t want to be bothered by those extroverted people who acted friendly for no reason.

I wondered if I should lower my head quickly, but he recognized me faster.

“Hey! It’s number 100 hyung that I saw at the audition hall.”

As soon as he shouted, the other participants around me turned to look at me.

“What’s number 100?”

“Didn’t you see him because you left early? He learned the opening song on the spot and performed it in front of the judges.”

“Oh, that was number 100? He looks pretty plain for someone who did that.”

The words that the participants threw at me as they passed by scratched my nerves.

Plain? Maybe by today’s standards, but I was pretty good-looking when I was your age.

It was a random latte remark, but it was not wrong.

When I worked part-time at a meat restaurant, there were quite a few college students who asked for my contact number, thinking I was one of them.

They were shocked and scared when they found out I was a minor and a dropout.

Of course, it was obvious that I couldn’t compare to the likes of Seon-woo, Kang Yu-geon, Cheon Ise, or Son Seong-won, who boasted S-class looks.

They were originally... face-eating bastards, so they were not comparable.

I was distracted for a moment, but Park Junki quickly apologized, feeling conscious of the attention he drew to me.

“Ah, sorry. Everyone is looking at us.”

I just wanted to go back to the waiting room as soon as possible.

“No, it’s okay. Thanks for saying hello. I’ll go to the waiting room first, so good luck.”

Yu-geon, who was a few steps ahead of me, winked at me as if he was waiting for me. I was grateful and not so grateful at the same time.

“Oh, you have a friend. Yeah! Good luck!”

As we headed to the waiting room with two people who acted like they knew us, the front seats that were well captured by the camera were already taken.

“The front seats are all taken. Then, how about here?”

We sat side by side in the next best seats and waited for the start. Soon, a staff member came and handed us a small pouch, a name pen, and a name tag.

“As we have informed you in advance, you have to submit your phone during the filming. In case of an emergency, I will give it back to you right away, so don’t worry.”

I thought using the phone was not allowed because we couldn’t use external SNS, but I didn’t expect them to physically take it away.

I was surprised by the unexpected situation for a moment. Yu-geon checked the lock on his phone first and turned it off and submitted it.

What if something bad happens? It was a human rights violation, but no one dared to protest.

It was inevitable. The production team was the absolute authority for those who had gathered with the dream of debuting, and the participants had no choice but to follow their orders.

As I looked around the waiting room where everyone had handed in their phones and wore the same clothes, I felt a chill.

“...”

I wondered if this was okay, watching from the viewers’ perspective. Were they all fine with this, or were they just enduring it because they had to? Or were they putting up with something that wasn’t okay?

I was there, in the midst of the scene filled with questions.

“The shooting will start soon! Anyone who needs to go to the bathroom, please hurry up!”

The long waiting time was over. The stage lights came on, and the mentors I had seen on the audition day took their seats one by one on the judges’ panel across from the waiting room.

“Wow... They’re still amazing, even seeing them again.”

As everyone was buzzing, the choreographer in his thirties recognized me sitting in the waiting room and waved his hand to greet me.

“Who is that guy? Why is the mentor acting like he knows him?”

His eyes sparkled as if he expected me to do well again. Ugh, I’m screwed. That short sentence popped into my head.