Chapter 18 |
Have you ever heard of a thing called ‘Ijime‘1?
I had heard that it was becoming a serious social problem in Japan.
As a native Korean who was born and raised in Korea, I was recently indirectly experiencing Ijime, something that wasn’t supposed to be part of my fate.
‘It’s gone. Not again, my snack.’
The series of nightmares began after the drink incident.
Every day, after the production team took away all the cameras and microphones, something bad kept happening to me. Things like my favorite coat disappearing and being replaced by a ridiculous outfit, the password changing every time so I couldn’t use my tablet, or my share of snacks from the PPL mysteriously vanishing.
“Eh, hyung! You didn’t get a walnut pie? Should I talk to the staff and get you some more?”
Lee Danbi asked as I just stood there, drawing the sign of patience in my mind.
“No. I’m allergic to nuts anyway. I can’t eat them.”
“Okay, you go ahead and eat plenty.”
‘This is getting ridiculously frustrating.’
I didn’t really enjoy snacks anyway, but I felt annoyed every time this happened.
If he had hit me, I would have been able to take definitive action, such as hitting him back or kicking him out or having him removed of the program. But he didn’t seem that stupid.
I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to start trouble over this, but it was getting worse day by day, and it became concerning.
‘At this rate, am I going to be pushed off a cliff?’
When I asked the other trainees who had been around to identify the culprit, they all said the same thing; Nagi Zen was there.
It was obvious that Nagi Zen was responsible for all of this. But it was a bit difficult to suspect him outright.
‘He really acts so respectfully and politely in front of other people.’
He also worked diligently in practice. He even came to me separately to ask for corrections on his shortcomings and bowed respectfully. It seemed like the only time he acted in a shady manner was when no one was watching.
‘Well, if he performs well on stage, I can tolerate this much.’
The situation was different now compared to when Japanese trainee A left. With the trainer’s mid-evaluation approaching, we had already finished practicing the movements, so it was essential to maintain the current members no matter what.
“Ah, Zen-hyung! Did you get your snack?”
“Yeah. Leada, are you feeling unwell?”2
“..…You actually speak Korean well. The whole thing about being not good is just a deceit.”
“What is a deceit?”
No matter how much this jerk irritates me, I can endure it. No, I must endure it.
***
“Don’t you think you’d be pretty offended if you were the original singer?”
“Even if it’s a girl group dance, you shouldn’t prepare so half-heartedly like this. I’m truly disappointed. This is like throwing away your opportunity.”
“You need guys to pull yourself together. The rehearsal is the day after tomorrow, and this is what you’re going to do?”
“This team seems beyond improvement. Even if you start now, how much better can kids who’ve only managed to prepare this much so far actually get?”
After another hellish day with Nagi Zen, the day of the mid-term trainer evaluation arrived.
Forest Girl Group A, who had just been evaluated, was already crushed by the harsh criticism from the trainers. In the chilled atmosphere created by the series of scathing remarks, Jay called out to us.
“Alright, shall we take a look at Forest Girl Group B next?”
“Yes.”
One might think it’s better to be evaluated in a positive atmosphere, but I felt differently. If the atmosphere was harmonious, it likely meant the previous teams had prepared well enough to satisfy the trainers.
“It’s okay. Get up. You can do it. Don’t be scared.”
I reassured the kids, who were visibly tense after hearing Group A’s evaluation, and helped them stand up. Nagi Zen, however, didn’t need to be comforted and he jumped to his feet on his own.
The kids nodded solemnly as I urged them forward and stood up. We walked to the corner and began putting on the outfits we had prepared.
“What are they doing?”
“What are you wearing?”
The trainers asked, wide-eyed, as we got ready in the corner.
“We’re doing a reinterpretation of the song for our performance, but we don’t have the costumes yet, so we’re preparing something that looks similar.”
The actual costumes were scheduled to arrive just before the show. Even so, if we had performed in just our regular practice clothes, we would have to explain the concept to the trainers in detail.
So, although the quality might be a bit lower, we prepared a substitute to showcase our concept.
‘Pow.’
It was an animal pajama that reached my knees, and had animal ears and a tail.
“What are you wearing? Animal pajamas? How cute!”
“Ahaha! That’s so unique. Totally different concept from Group A.”
Whether the trainers laughed or not, I tried to give the production team an okay sign with my fingers.
“…….”
But the glove part of the pajamas was so puffy that the shape of my fingers was completely indistinguishable.
‘Ugh, this is driving me crazy.’
“….Let’s get started. Please play the song.”
I’ve never done a cute concept in my entire life. But sometimes, bending your beliefs is the way of a man.
As the accompaniment played, I caught a glimpse of Jay’s face desperately trying to hold back laughter, and I tightly closed my eyes.
“We are animals! Yeah!”
The cat ears on the top of my head fluttered as I leapt forward, holding my teammates’ hands tightly.
“Mmph! Hmph! Cough! Khhm!”
Jay, who covered his mouth with his hand, coughed violently when he ended up choking in his effort to stiffle a laugh.
“Ahahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
And as soon as the coughing stopped, he grabbed his stomach and laughed uncontrollably. I didn’t understand why he held it back and even choked if he was just going to act like that.
‘I’ll kill you when I finish this.’
It seemed like he was having a lot of fun watching his eldest brother acting cute.
“Ahhh! What is this? Is this the concept? Ah, did you change the fairies into animals?”
“Ahahahaha! These kids are going crazy, seriously. Oh, this is so funny.”
The female trainers, their faces covered with evaluation sheets, screamed.
‘Okay, the atmosphere has improved. They’re looking at this in a positive light.’
“Let me tell you
My precious treasures“
“The fresh scent of grass
The cool breeze And the warm sunshine
“They’re all treasures that protect me
The sky, fluttering sky“
“If I run endlessly, will I be able to reach that sky? If I swim endlessly, will I be able to reach that sun?
Contrary to popular belief, it’s actually more difficult to synchronize delicate, groovy movements than choreography with large and powerful movements. However, since Forest Girl’s concept was a fairy, there were many dreamlike and elegant dance moves.
I swear, these guys will never be able to pull it off perfectly.
So, inevitably, I had to change the concept a little bit.
‘Thank goodness the song was about the forest.’
Indeed. We’re not going to be dreamy forest fairies, but animals running energetically in the woods.
“The sky, fluttering sky“
“Swimming along the wind
Running along the trees
Free to wander this forest”
“The sky, fluttering sky.”
Our point was this.
‘Keep the original choreo intact, but make it bright and energetic with movements like stretching arms and legs, like a rhythmic dance.’
I transformed the whole choreography, maintaining the sharp angles of 90s dance moves, while adding a cute touch to make bouncy feeling. To create a more dynamic performance, I designed the choreography with frequent formation changes, making it as flashy as an amusement park parade.
‘Anyone can do the movements if they practice hard enough.’
The advantage was that it could drastically improve the stage quality just by completing the synchronized choreography in a short amount of time. However, on the downside, it was incredibly taxing on the performers and if the competing team, performing the same song, matched the choreography quality to the level of the original artist, the trick would be ruined.
‘But Group A sucks.’
I could tell from the moment they started joking about performing a girl group song. Foolish idiots. They got terrible reviews from the trainers, and they’re definitely going to get bashed by the original singer’s fans when the show airs.
Knock knock! Tak! Knock!
The sound of feet stomping, the friction of sneakers against the practice room floor, all matched perfectly. Of course, it had to be that way. The ones who messed up the rhythm had spent some quality 1:1 time with me.
“Ooo!”
“You’ve been practicing hard.”
The perfectly synchronized choreography made the trainers exclaim in admiration.
“Let me tell you
Why I love this place“
“The gentle streams
The sweet fruits
The peaceful moments”
“They’re all my dearest treasures”
“La la lala lalala! La la lala lalala!”
“One more time!“
“La la lala lalala!”
Holding hands with the members, I stomped my feet and moved forward cheerfully like the final bow of a circus performance.
‘Because there wasn’t enough time to prepare for the intense choreography for the climax.’
In order to include a dance break, we had to perform tight choreography. However, among the members, only Lee Danbi and I were capable of that. Still, I couldn’t give up on the splendor of dance break.
The kids lacked the dance skills to perform the intricate footwork and hand movements together. So, I only included the flashy footwork from the original choreography, and to make it look like we were intentionally only highlighting the dynamic footwork, we imitated a circus finale pose.
“Happy happy forest!“
“I’m happy
I was born in this beautiful forest“
“Because We are animals! Yeah!“
“Thank you!”
After the performance, I grabbed the kids’ shoulders, bowed deeply, and we did the greeting together.
“Woow! You did great!”
“So cuteeee!”
Then, the trainers and trainees gave thunderous cheers. Soon after, the trainers hurriedly grabbed the microphones and began giving their official reviews.
“Look at the kids sweating. Well done, well done. You made the stage really intense. There’s no time to rest.”
“Actually, this team is the one I was most worried about because they’re a little unbalanced. But after seeing them today, their performance is really well done.”
“Seungbeom-ah, you worked hard. You worked hard.”
“Seungbeom was known for his charismatic image. Are you sure it’s okay if this is shown on TV?” The trainer, who had been laughing for a while and fanning his reddened face, asked me.
“It’s fine.”
It’s not fine.
“Of course, the choreography details are a bit lacking compared to the original, but that’s the case with not just this team, but all the trainees here … you’ve covered it well with the concept, so it doesn’t show. You’ve done a good job of hiding it.”
“This team should be able to achieve good results if they continue practicing like this and have a good rehearsal. Great job, everyone.”
After receiving praise from the trainers, Lee Danbi, with his cheeks flushed, pulled me into a hug
And then, I smiled heartily like Buddha, accepting the chicks that came running towards me one after another.
‘Extremely crappy stage. Trash quality. Horrible details. A cheap imitation that compromises with reality.’
Needless to say, I wasn’t satisfied.
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Translator’s Corner:
- Ijime (이지메 / いじめ) means bullying. Same definition with bullying in every other nation, just that this was what they called it in Japan.
Since MC thinks Nagi Zen is bullying him, he said it was something that shouldn’t have been happening for him … A korean who lives in Korea but experiencing Japanese bullying. ↩︎
- Zen is calling Seungbeom with 리다 (lida), he means “Leader” but Leader in Korean is 리더 (lideo). I used “Leada” to make it obvious that he mispronunced “Leader”. ↩︎
Our MC moving like Alexander Hamilton