Chapter 84
I doubted my ears and tried to interpret what Kang Hyun-Sung had just said. However, there was nothing for me to interpret as he meant exactly what he said. I was about to let out a hollow laugh because of how ridiculous it was, but—
“Wow, that confidence!”
“How cool!”
“Damn!”
The team’s response was good, as I supposed Kang Hyun-Sung’s line sounded cool to them. On second thought, I guess it would have sounded ridiculous if an inexperienced noob said that, but Kang Hyun-Sung was skilled. Thus, the team members reacted positively.
Honestly, Kang Hyun-Sung’s skill was more than enough to be a first-tier idol, but of course, being a first-tier idol was not all about great skill. I just smiled lightly and nodded. Since he told me to learn from him, all I needed to do was just sit back and watch how well he did.
“Chul-Woon, you be the main dancer for now, and Mr. Tae-Yoon, you take Chul-Woon’s position.”
“Yes, I got it.”
Like that, Kang Hyun-Sung took the center position, Lee Chul-Woon the main dancer position, and I became in charge of the lead dancer position. Although it was a major change in positions, we’d already completely mastered our choreography, so with just one run, we were able to adjust to our position.
Of course, the details were definitely worse than before, but I thought, ‘This should be enough.’
This was not a performance to showcase all of our skills. It was a midterm checkup that allowed us to think strategically and aim to cause a disturbance among the other team members. It might be more advantageous for us to drop the details in a plausible way but hide our true skills.
“Let’s go through it one or two more times and move to the central yard.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I got it~”
Under Kang Hyun-Sung’s instructions, we continued to practice for the midterm checkup.
* * *
Producer Park Soo-Chul was setting up the stage in the central yard and taking a sip of coffee. Frankly, it was too exorbitant to call it a stage. All they did was put a wooden board on the floor to cover rocks on the ground to prevent injuries since slamming one’s knee on a wooden board would cause fewer injuries than on the stone floor.
“Have you finished setting it up?”
“Well, yes, sir. All we have to do is fix it on the floor without having to install it.”
“Did you fix it on the ground well so it won’t shake?”
“Yes, of course.”
Park Soo-Chul went up on the board himself and shook his body back and forth to test out the wooden boards; they were firmly fixed. He said, “You can rest well after finishing this today~”
“Sir, you’re the only one taking a break while we have to take out the memory cards from the observation cameras inside the dorms. Then, during the night, we have to go around each dorm to turn off the camera. Besides that, we have a lot of things to do.”
“But they’re all menial tasks anyways.”
“Then, sir, why don’t you do those menial tasks yourself then?”
“Am I mistaken to think your word choices are getting stronger?”
“…Haha.”
“Take your time to slowly take out those memory cards, and just make sure to turn off the cameras at night. Otherwise, the agencies will complain.”
“They sent out complaints?”
“Well, yeah. They say they don’t agree with filming the boys while they sleep. They told us to at least let them rest peacefully at night.”
“…Hmm. Well, they do have a point.”
“They’re just playing hardball. I just went easy on them and accepted it to keep their pride.” Park Soo-Chul said and put an e-cigarette in his mouth. He took a big puff and swiped his hand. “Finish it well and call me when it’s time for the midterm checkup.”
“Yes, sir.”
Park Soo-Chul moved to his lodging after ordering his subordinates. Frankly, the midterm checkup hadn’t been part of the original plan, and they had planned to do something simple like a dinner menu bet. However, he changed his mind and decided to switch the program. And the reason for that was—
‘There’s definitely trouble with Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.’ He wanted to check the temperaments of those two members. Park Soo-Chul had checked what the production crew brought from the practice room observation camera, as it was a good idea to check these large files in advance and save useful cuts.
However, the more he watched the footage, the more he felt bad vibes from Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. First of all, they were too uncooperative in team activities. They diluted this impression by acting friendly, but for Park Soo-Chul, who was used to watching videos all day long, he saw the situation differently. They were purposely picking a fight and causing trouble.
And secondly, they were too opinionated. Even while the meeting was heading in a good direction, they would suddenly intervene and say things like, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. Don’t you think this is better?’.
Team leader Woo Yeon-Hoon listened to every one of their complaints and opinions and eventually lost his authority and fell into their pace. But above all, their ideas weren’t good either and ruined the stage. Thus, this was the reason why he added this midterm checkup.
‘I need to catch at least either Kim Joon-Hyuk or Lee Young-Joon red-handed through this.’ The team members of Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon were suffering too much. Someone needed to end their pain, and this was not because he especially favored Siren but for the entire program. Now that Only One won first place in the second round and was currently monopolizing the competition, Siren, their rival, could not collapse here. If Siren collapsed now, the tension and excitement of the show would not continue till the final and fall through.
Thus, for the long-term success of the program, someone should stop those two trolls. First, the person he set his hopes on was Bong Tae-Yoon. Since he must have been listening to his member’s suffering directly, he must have been looking forward to this moment. Whatever happened, if someone came forward and disciplined Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon with pure facts, Park Soo-Chul also planned to support them every step of the way.
* * *
When we went to the central yard, there were three teams lined up, including us: Team Luminin, Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon, and Team Kang Hyun-Sung.
It seemed as if everyone had come out after practice as they didn’t look as polished in the morning, and there was one team that had especially the worst expressions.
‘This is driving me crazy.’ It was Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon that the rest of my members were part of. I had definitely thought I properly warned Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, but I guess that wasn’t the end.
‘It wasn’t solved?’ Judging by the members’ faces, it seemed like they had gone through another rough battle with Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. Seeing their faces, a new thought went through my mind.
‘Hold on. I didn’t get a notification that I successfully completed the mission?’ I didn’t get a success notification for my surprise mission. I had hidden in the bathroom and got their weakness by recording their conversation, but that wasn’t the end of the mission.
‘That wasn’t it?’ Just to be sure, I requested the system to recite the surprise mission again. If the mission was over, the system would have been silent, but….
[A surprise mission]
[Go hide in a bathroom stall before anyone else during break time.]
[Upon success, you will acquire Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s weaknesses.]
[Upon failure, Siren members’ stress level increases.]
The mission clearly rang in my ears once again.
‘..Damn it.’ It was now crystal clear that I hadn’t successfully completed the mission. Just hiding in a toilet compartment wasn’t all there was to this mission. This had happened before. In the mission to find Kang Hyun-Sung, it didn’t just end with finding where he was. I also had to raise Kang Hyun-Sung's morale and get him outside. I thought I had to do something similar this time as well. This mission didn’t end with me just hiding in the bathroom.
‘Perhaps, that was only the start of it.’ I might still have a long way to go until I complete the mission. I pressed my temples because of how stressed I was.
Kang Hyun-Sung must have thought it was because my head hurt as he said, “Endure it.”
“…?” Normally, people would have asked, ‘Are you all right?’, but this crazy bastard immediately told me to just endure it. Well, he did have a point, as that was the only thing I could do when my head hurt before a performance; but I couldn’t help but feel baffled.
‘What the hell’s up with this bastard?’
Then Park Soo-Chul took the mike and sent his lines, “Did everyone practice hard today?”
“Yes, sir~”
People appropriately responded to his question.
“I’m sure everyone must have been surprised because we suddenly announced that we’re doing an intermittent check, but please don’t worry too much and show us what you’ve prepared!” Park Soo-Chul said while smiling gently.
But I thought, ‘He’s basically telling us to have fun in a colosseum.’ It was ridiculous for him to say that when he told us to give constructive criticism after watching each others’ performances.
“Then the first team to perform on the stage is, hmm…” Park Soo-Chul paused for a while and then finally shouted, “It’s Kang Hyun-Sung’s team! Please come out and prepare for the performance now!”
No matter how much I thought about it, I could clearly see that he was making the order on the spot. I almost exclaimed at his detailed planning.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, let’s go.”
“Let’s just do as we practiced.”
We went up the center stage. Usually, we danced in the direction of the production team, but today, we danced in the direction of the cast. Of course, since there were cameras all over the place, there would be no problem with the editing no matter which direction we danced. However, it felt strange to have the cast members, not the production crew, as our audience.
“Let’s do well.”
“Yes, as we practiced.”
“Yes.”
We exchanged comments to encourage each other and stood in formation with me as the lead dancer and Kang Hyun-Sung as the center. Soon…
Ding—
The intro came out.
“Uh?”
“Isn’t it <Never mind>?”
Those who knew the song stared at us with surprised faces as they had never imagined we would be doing “Never Mind.” This song was cheery and light, so it must have been unexpected that Kang Hyun-Sung would choose such a bright song.
—In this current moment~
—Maybe I was waiting for you~
—Hoping to meet you one day,
—The meeting between you and me!
The first verse of “Never Mind” rang out with its signature refreshing feel, and Kang Hyun-Sung, who stood at the center, danced with facial expressions he had never shown before.
“Wow!”
“Woooow!”
“Crazy!”
“What’s that!”
[Probability of winning: 66%]
‘What?’ That was extremely unexpected. Kang Hyun-Sung was doing the choreography while making lively and cute expressions. Was it because I was so taken aback by Kang Hyun-Sung’s unexpected expressions? I almost forgot my choreography while watching him. Furthermore, as soon as he danced, the probability of winning, which had stalled for a long time, went up by 1 percent.
“Wooow!”
“What the heck! It’s cute!”
Needless to say, the atmosphere completely flipped. Everyone, including the production crew, stared at Kang Hyun-Sung in the center with their mouths open. A person who was quiet with minimal facial expression had completely changed as soon as the performance began. Then the performance gradually progressed to the chorus. Since we had practiced all possible angles and formations numerous times, our formations were perfect despite having changed our positions.
—NEVER MIND~ That blue sky
—I’ll run to hold them all!
—Swoosh! I’ll hold the
—rising cloud in my arms and—
Since it was a choreography composed of large and dynamic movements, people exclaimed for the second time.
“Woooow!”
“They’re so good at dancing!”
This performance was definitely less detailed than the performance we originally planned. Since this was a pre-arranged version, it also wasn’t strong enough for a competition, but I suddenly began to worry.
‘Could I do better than this performance…?’ I finally realized what difference a good center made, and what Kang Hyun-Sung meant by learning from him to be a center. His words hit me to the core after watching him perform.
‘That bastard is insanely good as the center…’ He hadn’t been saying an arrogant remark.
‘I’m doomed.’ Furthermore, I began to worry about how I could be a better center than him. I finally realized that a center was not just about being a good dancer or being good-looking. It was done by someone who was deeply immersed in the performance and knew how to draw people in.
This immersion was not just done through dancing and facial expression. It was actualized by the small details that he added as naturally as breathing such as controlling his air intake as if he was slightly out of breath while not being out of breath, and fine-tuning his dance and singing to the second details to match the lyrics.
‘It’s all the skills a center needs.’ I couldn’t miss a single detail out.
After the performance was over, people cheered instead of spouting out criticisms.
“Wow!’
“Can’t you do more songs?”
“So cool!”
{Probability of winning: 70%}
The probability of winning first place shot upwards. I supposed the odds were remaining low because I hadn’t been doing my job properly as the center. Although this left a bitter aftertaste, I thought positively.
‘I learned a good lesson from him…’
When it was time for the others to give their criticisms, everyone gave great responses.
“I liked everything!”
“I couldn’t find any faults in the performance.”
“If I really had to say something, I think the angles didn’t perfectly match except for the chorus. But it wasn’t a weakness that particularly stuck out to me.”
Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon seemed to be thinking for a long time whether they should take the mike or not, but they didn’t say anything until the very end. They probably wanted to criticize us out of hatred for me, but they were holding it in because it would be a reach for them to criticize a stage like this. After we came back to our seats like this, the second team was announced.
“Then the second team to perform will be Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon! Please come to the stage!”
Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon came forward.
‘It’s finally here.’
I prepared my heart and–my mouth.
‘I’ll give them hell.’
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