Chapter 62
Overly sentimental thoughts filled my head. I calmed my excitement as much as possible because I didn’t want to become overly emotional.
There was only one thought I needed to imprint in my mind—‘the stage can be a fun place.’ Today’s performance was a success by the sheer fact that I realized performing on stage could be enjoyable.
“Mr. Tae-Yoon~, how was today? Wasn’t our performance great?” Just in time, Dong-Jun rolled over to me. Since we were on a mat, he looked really comfortable, as if he was on a hotel bed and not on stage. Well, I thought it didn’t matter. Since we had the ending performance and the stage was still dark, no one would know if we rolled around on the mat. Moreover, the distance between the stage and the audience was quite far, so the sound of our words could not be transmitted to the audience.
“Today’s performance was great.”
“Wow, what’s up with you? I didn’t expect that from you.”
“What do you mean?”
“After every performance, you always just said good work today.”
“...Really, I did that?”
“Yeah, you did.”
I replied with silence. I guess that was how much I didn’t like performing on stage before. I hadn’t realized that I’d been talking like an office worker that finished a day’s assignment so far instead of saying typical aftershow lines like ‘It was great’ and ‘I liked today’s performance.’
“What are you guys talking about?” Then Yeon-Hoon rolled towards us. “Today’s performance was great, right?” Yeon-Hoon must have also really liked today’s performance, as his voice was already brimming with excitement.
“Yes, it was great.”
“If you’re saying it was great, that means it must have been really great.”
“Yeah, our Tae-Yoon has gone soft.”
“What, why are you guys going so far...”
“Hey, don’t leave us out of the loop.”
“What are you all talking about?”
Before I knew it, Woon and Do-Seung also rolled over to where we were. All five of us huddled together and talked as if we were at our dorm. Since we always slept in this formation every night, they must have confused the stage with the dorm. Otherwise, there was no way they would be lying down and talking for this long.
“When I first fell from the altar, I looked under my feet, and it was terrifying.”
“When I pushed you under the altar?”
“Yeah, I almost screamed for real.”
“It would have been funny if Do-Seung screamed for real.”
“What are you saying—that would have been a real accident then.”
While we were busily talking about when Do-Seung fell from the altar, the production crew, who thought we must have gone down the stage by now, turned on the lights. As a result, the sight of us huddled on the mat and talking was fully exposed to the audience. The audience couldn’t understand the situation and froze for about three seconds, and in contrast, we, who fully understood the situation, also froze for about three seconds.
“...Wow, this really is a broadcasting accident.” With Dong-Jun’s muttering—
“Kyahhh!”
“Hahaha!”
Cheers and laughter burst out from the audience at the same time. “Siren! Quickly come out!” From the side of the stage, the production crew beckoned us to come down quickly.
“I’m sorry.”
“Ahhh.”
We got up from the mat in a hurry, but we didn’t forget to greet the audience as we went down.
“Thank you!”
“Please give us A rank!”
“Thank you~”
The members and I bowed to the audience and went down the stage. Even after going down, we apologized to the production crew and quietly went into the waiting room.
* * *
The audience burst into laughter when they saw Siren lying down on the stage and talking. Then they lamented the fact that they couldn’t capture this moment with their cameras because the sight of all five of them lying down with their outfit was so cute. If they could take a picture, they would have wanted to take hundreds of photos.
‘Ahhhh! Why is using a camera banned here!’ Of course, she fully understood that since this was content that hadn’t been aired yet, cameras needed to be prohibited. However, she wanted to keep venting her anger out in frustration.
“They’re so cute.”
“They were so good on stage too.”
“Why do people say Bong Tae-Yoon has no stage presence? He’s hella good.”
There were many positive responses about them around her as well. The audience cheered in their hearts and stared at the stage, and Siren greeted the audience and quickly went down the stage. The girl moved the remote control in her hand and pressed the A-rank button.
Then she prayed in her heart, ‘Please let them win first place.’ She prayed fervently and quickly scanned Bong Tae-Yoon’s back with her eyes.
“So cute...” The girl now reached the point where just seeing Bong Tae-Yoon’s back automatically made her say the word cute.
* * *
After the performance was over, we got a one-hour break. During this break, the audience at the studio left, and the stage was reassembled for the ranking announcement ceremony. Was it because we finished an extremely tiring and difficult performance? The members were spread out and sprawled all over the sofa. I also sat in the corner of the sofa and looked at the wall in a daze. Then Woon stared at me and laughed.
I asked, “Why are you laughing?”
“Hmm? I just laughed because you were cute?”
“What?” I had never heard I was cute in my life, so my brain froze.
“Why is your face so expressive?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you liked today’s performance?” Woon asked with a sneaky smile on his face. He already knew the answer but wanted to hear my answer.
I deliberately avoided answering, and that made Woon laugh even harder. He was right. I kept replaying the performance in my mind while pretending to look at the wall. I was not reflecting on whether I made any mistakes on the stage.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ I was just replaying it in my mind to feel the heat of the moment again. My heart was thumping to the point where I wondered if there was something wrong with me. I thought I was hiding my expression well so it wouldn’t show, but it must have been obvious from Woon’s perspective.
“Tae-Yoon has become a real idol~” Dong-Jun must have overheard our conversation as he made fun of me in an old man’s voice.
I smiled softly as I heard my members teasing me. However, their teasing didn’t make me feel bad. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, ‘We did a performance of this level, but would we still not be able to get first place?’
I looked at the members excitedly talking about the performance.
“I almost missed the beat because I was so excited that our pair choreography with the dancers perfectly matched.”
“Dancers really are built differently.”
“Yeah, I agree. Even the same movements look different when they do it.”
Today’s performance was so great that we were brimming with excitement, and I was also completely assured of our performance.
However, if I thought about Only One’s performance again, I thought, ‘It’s hard.’
Honestly, I couldn’t just think optimistically that we would win first place. Based on today's performance level, both of our groups were on par, and Only One’s performance had a similar quality to ours. Thus, the audience’s judgment was based on personal preference in the end. However, the problem was that if the quality of our performance was similar to Only One and the results would be dependent on personal preference—
‘We’ll lose.’ We couldn’t beat Only One then. There was only one reason why we tied for first place with Only One in the last round. It was because Only One unexpectedly ruined their performance, and we performed better than expected; only then could we stand on equal grounds. However, if our performance level was similar, there was a high possibility that we would lose.
‘This can’t be.’ My heart ached, thinking this far. Of course, there was still a possibility that we could win. We had at least a small fandom now, and the public opinion looked favorably on us. Furthermore, the evaluation method required the audience to rank all the teams, and our performance was the ending performance. Many areas could influence the outcome.
Even then, I thought, ‘it probably won’t happen.’ It was difficult to think we would win first place. The most decisive reason was what I saw through Precognitive Vision. In the future that the system showed, Only One won first place.
Of course, I didn’t know whether the future vision that the Precognitive Vision showed me was a definite future, but I couldn’t deny that various indicators were pointing Only One as first place. I thought about what to do next if we didn’t get first place in the second round. I was so excited about the performance just now, but my mind quickly became muddled.
Sigh.
I sighed quietly so that the members couldn’t hear me. One positive part was that although I had panicked just before the stage about losing to Only One, my emotions were no longer as shaken as before. Frankly, there was no significant change in the situation, but I think the performance just now changed something about my inner self in some way.
‘Is there a difference between before and after the performance?’ Perhaps, after directly communicating with the audience who cheered us on, the burden on my mind had been eased. Before I could think more about this, the production crew called out.
—Siren, please be on standby~
It was now time for the ranking announcement.
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s do this~”
“We got this!”
We got up from the sofa and went up to the stage.
* * *
Five groups stood on the stage while maintaining a moderate distance between each group. Two hosts came up and began saying their script.
“All the performances of the second round of The Showcase 2 have been completed. Please give a round of applause to everyone who worked hard.” We listened to their comments spoken for formalities sake and did as we were told.
“All five groups performed homage to each other’s performances while showing their individual charm and talent, and I’ve just received news that the audience’s evaluation of these performances has just been completed.”
“Pweh.”
“I’m shaking.”
“Ughhh.”
The members looked nervous while listening to the host’s comments. I didn’t know if they were really nervous or if they were acting nervous for the cameras.
“We will be announcing the team with the lowest score today as well.” The hosts scanned us while holding up the card with rankings in their hands.
“Then, unfortunately, I will announce the group with the lowest score!”
I listened to what the host said with one ear and thought about something else. Honestly, I wasn’t very curious about who the lowest-ranking team was. No, rather than curious, I could easily guess who it was. It was probably—
“It’s Luminin.”
Yeah, I thought it would be Luminin. Excluding us and Only One, it was easy to see what rankings each group would get based on the performances today. I thought 4th place was probably OnebyOne, and 3rd would be Bleshu again. My prediction was right on the mark as the hosts announced the third and fourth ranks.
“Fourth is OnebyOne.”
“And third is Bleshu. Congratulations.”
“Then, now, we have the long-awaited first and second place. The team I will be calling out will be first place, and the team that’s not called will be in second place.”
This was the highlight of today’s ranking announcement. The other groups also looked at us and Only One with a look of keen interest. The fact that Only One and us were competing for the top spot was firmly embedded as one of the main story plots of The Showcase 2. I glanced at Only One. According to the Precognitive Vision I’ve seen, they were the ones who won first place.
However, if the future I saw was not absolute, we might win first place. If the future was this ambiguous, I wondered if it was even meaningful to see the future in the first place. Still, I was curious if the future shown by Precognitive Vision was absolute, or if it could be changed depending on our effort. I watched what name would come out of the hosts’ mouths. Soon after, a group popped out of the host’s mouth.
“Ah, this team won first place.”
And that name was—
“It’s Only One! Congratulations!”
It was Only One. Ah. Perhaps the Precognitive Vision showed an absolute future. The moment I settled my heart and was about to clap...
“What?” I was able to get conclusive evidence that proved Precognitive Vision was not absolute.
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