Chapter 85
I stared intently at Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. Perhaps, it was because they had just witnessed a good performance; their shoulders looked tense. No matter what the other groups said, it felt like the editing would make everything right. Of course, we wouldn’t be able to say things that crossed the line just because we were swept by this atmosphere, but it was a good thing that my teammates seemed to have gained confidence.
It was then I met Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s eyes. When Kim Joon-Hyuk met my eyes, he flinched and shuddered. Lee Young-Joon also appeared to be slightly intimidated and purposefully tried to look distracted and averted my gaze. I felt annoyed by the sheer fact that our eyes met once, but the probability began to fall again.
[Probability of winning first place: 69%]
‘Haa. This is driving me crazy.’ My group members’ faces seemed to falter again. Woon’s face looked especially red like he was embarrassed to even be standing on top of this stage. In contrast, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon appeared confident, as if they couldn’t wait to show what they had prepared. Yet, the brighter Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s faces appeared, the probability of us winning dwindled further.
Ding.
The song started then with a deep brass sound. The song caught the listeners’ attention right away because it started with a heavy sound, and a daegeum[1] melody climbed over it. It was as if a single thread created by a light flute sound was floating over a thick line drawn by a heavy brass instrument and intertwining together. It sounded mystical and imposing.
‘This is Do-Seung’s work.’ In other words, victory 0505’s song. This was one of the samples that he showed me at the studio. It seemed he had developed it further since then.
“Wow.”
“Hear the melody.”
“It’s so good.”
People also responded positively to the music. As I thought, there was hardly anyone in Do-Seung’s age range who could compete against him in composing.
‘What’s going to happen then?’ I couldn’t judge yet because things were better than I expected so far. I didn’t understand why the probability kept dropping.
—Hear ye! Is anyone there?
“…” A second after I thought I couldn’t understand what the problem was, I saw what was wrong. Lee Young-Joon suddenly appeared at the front and spoke in an awkward historical period tone. It appeared that they were planning to act at the beginning of the performance like a musical.
‘But isn’t this too much?’ Yet, his sudden acting broke the mood of the song and pulled the audience away from the immersive experience instead.
—Who dares to oppose me?
‘What…this is crazy?’ Kim Joon-Hyuk approached Lee Young-Joon like some noble medieval knight. I didn’t know where those two had gotten the props, but they were holding tree branches in their hands. Perhaps, these branches were supposed to be swords, and I briefly recalled my members telling me that Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon wanted to perform a one-on-one battle between a medieval knight and a cyber-punk Joseon martial artist.
‘But to think their acting would look this cheap?’ I thought. They didn’t even mix this concept well into the performance but just had a full-on acting as the intro. In the first place, I wondered if anyone would’ve been able to live up to this over-reaching concept.
‘Who’s going to enjoy this if you just mix and match different things together?Furthermore, it’s not even well executed.’ It was too absurd. I didn’t know how their directing senses could be this bad. But perhaps, this wasn’t a problem with their senses.
‘It’s a problem with their intelligence.’ This was something people wouldn’t choose to do if they just had common sense and logic.
‘Haaa…’ I only saw the intro and I could already clearly feel the suffering my Siren members had gone through. The stage continued to progress centering around Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. It looked as if these two were just using their other team members as backup dancers, and they hadn’t even come up with the lyrics for the song yet and only the melody played behind them. It was understandable that they still didn’t have the lyrics done since there was still some time before the third-round performance, but the whole thing was a mess.
They weren’t a team. This was just Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s low-quality play. I understood why Woon had looked so bright red at the start of the performance. If I were in the same position as him—having to perform this performance in front of all these people and the cameras, I would’ve wanted to die on the spot. I didn’t even want to imagine it.
The performance ended at a strange point too; right at the time when the mood of the performance seemed to change and they were about to go to the second act, the melody got cut off.
“We didn’t finish after this point so this is the end,” Kim Joon-Hyuk said proudly and scanned his audience. People didn’t say anything for a while and then responded.
“…Haha.”
“…Good work.”
Like a robot, they moved stiffly and clapped slowly. I didn’t know whether or not they really didn’t finish completing their performance or were purposefully hiding it for a strategic purpose, but most people were glad that they didn’t have to watch anymore.
‘But why the heck are those guys looking so confident?’ The two looked certain that compliments would pour over them and looked our way while breathing roughly.
‘They don’t even seem really out of breath.’ They were purposefully acting like they worked hard when the performance was not even that strenuous.
“Um, uh, did you all purposefully make a fake performance to lower all the other groups’ expectations…?” It was then that someone asked. Though he asked in a bright and innocent voice, his question crushed their delusions mercilessly.
“But shouldn’t you at least make it similar to the performance you are going to do for the fairness of the competition…?” Only One’s Park Young-Ho spoke like a church youth group leader as he landed a great blow against those two.
Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s faces immediately darkened. My Siren members, on the other hand, couldn’t raise their heads from the beginning. They seemed to feel great lament for their current situation.
‘But Dong-Jun seems to be holding back his laughter?’ I just noticed then that the edges of Dong-Jun’s lips were slightly curved. And seeing Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s faces fall, it seemed this wasn’t a fake performance but a real one.
“Could you give us more specifics on why you felt that way? It’s hard for us to accept your assessment if you only criticize us.” Lee Young-Joon retorted as soon as he was handed the mike. He clenched his teeth, and it looked as if his face was going to blow up any moment.
“Ah! So, it wasn’t a fake performance? I’m sorry. Rather than some points, the whole performance was…” Young-Ho trailed off mid-sentence and averted his eyes. It seemed he was signaling to another person.
‘Why is he meeting my eye?’ It was as if he was signaling to me for help. Thus, I raised my hand and accepted the mike.
“Yes, overall, it felt rather disorganized,” I summarized what Young-Ho had been meaning to say and Young-Ho nodded in agreement. People’s attention naturally all gathered to me and I wondered if it was right for me to really say all my true thoughts right now. There was a chance that I could be shown as the villain of this show.
‘What?’ It was then I met the producer Park Soo-Chul’s eyes. ‘Why is he looking at me like that?’ With his gaze, he seemed to be egging me to continue without worries. It seemed he had already realized what I wanted to do. Yet, I knew I could fall to doom if I fell for this temptation.
‘It’s okay whatever I do?’ I read his sign. Park Soo-Chul pointed at his mouth and then, made an okay sign. Then, he pretended to use the mouse and keyboard and drew an X sign. He was basically telling me to beat down these guys as much as I wished and he won’t evil edit me. At this point, it seemed more efficient for him to come near my ears and whisper what I should do.
But after Park Soo-Chul’s reassuring signals, I continued, “Truthfully, the acting at the beginning was too shabby. The lines lack originality and a hook, and it just sounds like you just took the most cliché lines someone would think of when thinking of a Korean historical period or a medieval knight.”
Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s faces reddened. I worried if I had gone too strong but the probability increased again.
[Probability of winning first place: 70%]
The percentages went up again.
‘What?’ The probability of us winning increased the more I criticized these guys. Thus, I opened my mouth again. “Furthermore, this is a team alliance mission but I don’t see the whole team. Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon are the only ones who alternate from the center. Are the other teammates not allowed to stand in the center too?” I was really provoking them this time with this last line.
I waited to see how the system would respond to my words this time.
[Probability of winning first place: 71%]
It went up again. This was it. The more I criticized these guys, the percentages went up.
“The melody was good. It felt mysterious and deep, and there was something about it that grasped the audience’s attention. Yet, the acting breaks the immersion the song gives and kills the uniqueness of the melody. Furthermore, since you two keep insisting on only being at the center, it limits the variety of dance formations the team can create and makes the performance less interesting to watch.”
I continued to batter them. No, I wasn’t just putting them down but saying my honest feedback with no filtering. The only thing I wasn’t doing was cursing, and as I continued, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon’s faces became redder. Lee Young-Joon especially clenched his fist tightly and seemed to shudder. He looked as if he was nearing his breaking point. Usually, I would’ve stopped here, but my probability kept increasing.
[Probability of winning first place: 74%]
“This performance was…how should I say? It was lacking in so many ways that I wonder if it all came from one- or two people’s selfish decisions with no consideration for others.” In the end, I landed my final blow.
“…Haa, seriously?” Lee Young-Joon said. He had been listening with his lips parsed until now but he now raised his head while swiping his hair. Then, he glared piercingly at me. His eyes looked like he wanted to rush towards me this instant and punch me. I stared at him with my usual expression, and Lee Young-Joon spoke after repressing his feelings.
“That’s enough, Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon.”
With just those words, my possibility of winning rose again.
[Probability of winning first place: 75%]
I cheered inside my mind but the atmosphere was dreary.
“Oh…”
“Ah…”
Even my Siren members looked at me worriedly. The only one who smiled at me was Dong-Jun. In normal situations, I would have also been afraid to make all these proclamations for fear that I would be shown as the bad guy on the show. Yet, the system supported me by showing the increasing probability of winning, and the producing director, Park Soo-Chul assured me to go on. Park Soo-Chul was now looking at me with full adoration and affection, and I knew he was certainly not a normal person by any means.
“Well, with this, the performance of Tae-Yoon’s team without Tae-Yoon is over,” Park Soo-Chul said and quickly ended the performance perhaps, thinking he had already gained everything he wanted. The team returned to their original position, and I felt Lee Young-Joon’s rage from every step he took. Kim Joon-Hyuk stared at the space in front of him blankly like his head had gone blank.
Woon and Yeon-Hoon tapped my shoulder once before also returning to their sports. Though I wasn’t worried, it seemed everyone was worried for me. Even Kang Hyun-Sung looked at me in surprise and frowned a little. I stared at them expressionlessly like I usually did.
‘It really is strange.’ I didn’t know why my probability of winning increased the more I battered Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon. Did it increase because it was guaranteed that Park Soo-Chul wouldn’t edit me badly? But that didn’t seem enough. I met Lee Young-Joon’s eyes again then.
‘He looks like he wants to really fight me.’ I thought and then realized. All the pieces of the puzzles seemed to fit together then. I couldn’t be sure that my guess was correct but it explained everything.
‘That will explain why my probability rose the more I criticized them…’ I thought the system had given me a surprise mission to find out these two’s weaknesses and force them to cooperate better with their team and improve their relationships with their teammates. But I was wrong.
‘It’s like how some trash can be recycled but others have to go into the incinerator,’ I thought. The system was telling me I was thinking in the wrong direction. I had been moving until now to try to recycle these trash piles, but the system was telling me to just burn them both. It was telling me not to worry about the little details and just push these guys to their dooms.
1. Korean bamboo flute ?
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