Chapter 97
The audience looked at the stage with eager eyes. Woo Yeon-Hoon’s face was shining on the big screen, and even saying he was handsome a thousand times wouldn’t be enough to describe his visuals. The Siren fan's bias was Bong Tae-Yoon, but she had to admit how good-looking Woo Yeon-Hoon was. Woo Yeon-Hoon was more like her second bias, but she couldn’t close her mouth in awe of his sublime beauty.
—I think I’ll miss you.
—Wherever we are, close your eyes
—And remember the moments
—That filled up our hearts—
His sweet voice didn’t seem to belong to the earthly realm. He sounded so clear and bright that she wondered if Woo Yeon-Hoon had turned on a tune just by himself. But eventually, Woo Yeon-Hoon backed away while Park Dong-Jun came out to the center.
—From that time and that day
—When every moment felt like a miracle
—Since my youth, you...
There was something about Park Dong-Jun’s voice that enchanted listeners. It sounded normal at first but there was a firmness to his voice that allowed it to fit perfectly at any point of a song. Afterwards, the center changed and Lee Woon appeared at the front.
—As much as I waited
—And my heart yearned
—There was so much I wanted to give you
The official choreography came into the picture. Lee Woon extended out his hand toward the audience sentimentally. Then, his team members came out from behind as if the wind blew and made a V-formation. Because the formation changed in an instant and they stomped forward, it looked as if they had made a big jump. Simultaneously, the drum beat intensified, and Do-Seung’s fast rap followed.
—I lingered around you the whole time—
—I always lacked the courage—
—But I couldn’t forget your bright face—
As the rap continued with the rising beat, the song reached the bridge part. With the quickening beat, the audience became more immersed in the performance.
—From that day,
—If only I could reach you
Han Do-Young and Yoo Ji-Hyuk from the team alliance came out at the center and performed a pair choreography.
—I will gather these feelings
—And all these memories
—Into one place and pass it to you
The melody became more varied and fuller as if they were reaching the climax of the song, and a burst of sounds echoed throughout the studio. Then, came the voice.
—I love you—
Yeon-Hoon came out to the center and sang a high note with all he had. Though everyone was aware that Yeon-Hoon was good at singing, they didn’t know his exact skill level. Thus, there had been people who wanted to gauge the depths of his singing skills when Yeon-Hoon continued.
—I love you—
—In this moment—
—If I could’ve said everything—
‘This is insane.’
‘Crazy.’
‘What did I just hear?’
‘...This is crazy.’
Yeon-Hoon sang a series of high notes that made not just fans but everyone else in the audience gape in shock.
—I put all my heart
—And my true feelings
—In one place
—And I will surely tell you...
In the middle of the chorus, Lee Woon and Park Dong-Jun came out and said a line each and continued the song. And while people were left senseless by the whirling combination of voices and beats, the stage instantly went still again, and Yeon-Hoon quietly walked to the center and said with a sorrowful face.
—I love you.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Whaaat!”
“Yeon-Hoooon!”
“Ahhhh!”
The audience burst into a cheer and applause at once. The Siren fans in the audience became certain after seeing all this.
‘Today, our guys will win first place! For sure, first place!”
There was nothing that could beat this performance. She thought the concept would end with innocence but they added the sorrowfulness of first love on top of that, making it a hit that a K-pop fan couldn’t dislike.
‘My heart hurts!’ A part of her heart genuinely ached with the performance. But she ignored the pain so that she could see even a bit more of the performance and engrave it in her mind. She felt as if she could give up her heart for this moment right now.
***
Producer Park Soo-Chul looked at the scene before him with his mouth gaping. It was because the audience’s response to Yeon-Hoon’s team’s performance had been the greatest he had seen so far in this show. Though he saw many cool stage sets that made people’s eyes pop out in shock or perfectly in-sync choreography that made people exclaim, it was the first time he saw someone giving his audience the chills with just his high notes.
‘This is a first.’ There were many people who were good at singing and gave their audience goosebumps with their vocals. But Yeon-Hoon had come out at just the perfect timing and atmosphere to burst out his high notes as if he was interacting with the audience. With all these factors combined, the audience felt a thrill they had never experienced before and their response was dramatic. And it wasn’t like Yeon-Hoon stopped his high note after just one time.
—I love you—
—In this moment—
—If I could’ve said everything—
He poured out high notes that were even a bit higher than the one he first shot out.
“Was Yeon-Hoon always this good at singing?”
“...We are also shocked”
“Unbelievable...”
They couldn’t help but exclaim in shock. Reaching this pitch seemed to even strain Yeon-Hoon as veins popped out of his neck and his face turned red. But that made him look all the more sincere as if he was pouring out all the feelings he had been hiding until now. Yet, things didn’t even end at the high notes; the true highlight was when Yeon-Hoon walked more towards the front, made a mournful expression, and softly recited the words at the end.
—I love you.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Ahhhh!”
“Urgggggh!”
Seeing the audience burst into screams instead of cheers, Park Soo-Chul celebrated. “That’s it!” Though he couldn’t be certain whether Siren would get first in the third-round performance or not, he thought they had at least retrieved the greatest moment of the show.
***
I watched my members’ performance in a daze. Not just me but everyone in the waiting room was in the same state. It was like we were all enchanted. When my members first told me their concept, I honestly was a bit worried. I thought it would be hard to make an impact with an innocent concept. But after seeing them, I instantly realized that I had been a fool.
There had been nothing for me to worry about, and I was the stupid one. There was no way Do-Seung didn’t know what I knew. He was someone who had a good mind and eye for music and performance. And there was no way Woon would’ve given a pass to a song that wouldn’t have been worth creating a choreography for; he was someone who always thought about the entire performance.
In the first place, my members were people who did more than their own keep without me. They basically did the work of a hundred people each, and I realized how foolish I was to have worried about people like them.
‘This is embarrassing.’ I was truly ashamed of myself. Combining concepts such as innocent and sorrowfulness was the natural and obvious mix. ‘But creating a performance with such a set formula really highlights their natural talents.’ I was impressed by how perfectly they managed to showcase this redone formula. The most memorable part was, of course, Yeon-Hoon’s relay of high notes.
“That was mad!”
“My gosh! How many octaves did he go?”
“Mr. Yeon-Hoon is crazy...”
All my team members in the waiting room expressed their shock, and I weakly collapsed onto a sofa nearby. There were only points to admire about this performance.
‘And isn’t this my first time?’ I thought. It was my first time seeing my members’ performance from an outsider’s point of view. Because I had always stood on the same stage as them, I forgot how talented these guys were. I looked at my group’s performance with warm feelings and felt proud of them.
“How is it?” Kang Hyun-Sung asked. I answered without pulling my eyes away from the monitor.
“It’s really good.” In front of something like this, there were no proper words to describe it. I wanted to focus on the performance a bit more again when Kang Hyun-Sung kept talking to me.
“Is that all?” he asked.
I was beginning to feel a surge of annoyance, but he continued like he had something to teach me. “Look at them more closely. Observe their expressions and dance lines and the audience’s cheer.” Kang Hyun-Sung whispered in my ear so that the other team members couldn’t hear him.
‘...It’s different.’ Following what he said, I began to see different points. Before, I thought my group members just did a good job, like a fan admiring their favorite group’s performance.
‘But they changed according to the audience’s cheer.’ There was a flow that I noticed from their performance. The more the audience cheered them on, their song, dance, and expressions livened up.
“Isn’t it different?” Kang Hyun-Sung asked me again.
“...It is.” I slowly nodded.
“Why do you think that is?”
“...?”
“Ponder about it deeply.” Kang Hyun-Sung said and moved away from me. I looked up at the monitor with a slightly calmer heart. After Kang Hyun-Sung talked to me, I looked at the monitor with a more analytical mind instead of just enjoying the show. The members’ general condition changed depending on the audience’s response; it was as if they were breathing as one entity with the audience. And to answer Kang Hyun-Sung’s question of why that was...
‘I need to know how it’s possible for them to breathe with the audience.’ Another question popped into my mind. Though they were making sorrowful expressions for the performance, my members looked bright. Rather than their expressions being bright, it was their faces that seemed to shine, as if light was coming out of them.
‘Maybe it’s because they know how to respond to the love the audience is giving them.’ This was my current problem. I didn’t know how to accept love, and in contrast, my members were responding to the audience’s cheer with their performance and sucking in their love and attention like a sponge.
‘If I recall how I acted, I basically blocked them out.’ I didn’t recognize or focus on the attention I was getting because I was too focused on just doing my dance moves. This was tied to the advice Do-Seung gave to me in the last performance.
‘I still don’t know how to enjoy performing.’ I wasn’t happy on stage and I thought that was because I didn’t trust myself yet.
‘But perhaps, it was because I wasn’t used to this kind of cheer and attention.’ This could be an internal problem that had to do with me as an individual. Thus, I tried to do some mind control. I didn’t have to be a person who was used to getting loved since that was unreachable. But for strategic purposes and to protect my members, I had to become someone who could accept the cheer and attention coming from my audience, at least on the stage.
‘Let’s try this.’ It would be hard to cast aside my past self completely. But in this stage that I was going up soon—and in just these five minutes of my life...
‘I can do it.’ Just like my members who hyped up the audience, I might be able to do the same as them. Thanks to my members, I might have reached the perfect answer I needed to find from an abstract problem of ‘being loved’, and our group’s probability of winning rose again after staying stagnant for a while.
[Probability of Winning first place: 86%]
—Kyaaaaah
—Wooooow
It was then, my members’ performance ended with cheers.
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