Chapter 52 |
I squeezed my eyes shut tight, trying to block out the images that flashed through my head. I had an obligation to respect their privacy and secret tastes.
This was Do Yuda’s fault.
I wanted to pretend not to see and tacitly condone even that kind of explicit fan devotion.
Fans had a habit of acting strangely. They were the kind of people who would demand, “Give it to us, give this to us“, but then they would say it burdensome and run away when it was actually handed to them. Apparently, they found it fun to insist on things that weren’t true just to prove their loyalty to the fandom
I didn’t know what their exact mindset was, but I could tell that they wished me to do what I wanted, not what they wanted.
‘Still, isn’t it okay to give them what they’re asking for sometimes?’
After organizing my thoughts, I calmly answered Jay’s question.
“…I will do my best to pull off whatever concept my fans wish for.”
“Ah, come on, don’t give such a textbook answer. Trainee Han Seungbeom, you must have at least one concept you think you’ll be assigned to, don’t you? Even if you’re assigned something different than expected, you can just work hard then. Just tell us for fun. Entertainment, entertainment! You know this is an entertainment show, right?”
That kid, rather than helping me, was smirking, clearly enjoying the thought of teasing me.
“…I am expecting that I will probably be assigned to the Charisma concept.”
I performed a strong concept even in the grade evaluation stage, and it was the same in the second mission where I received a good evaluation. In such an awkward situation where giving an answer was tricky, I decided to just go with the most obvious one.
“Ah, as expected, Trainee Han Seungbeom is so dull in this aspect. He doesn’t know at all how much his fans adore him.”
At my answer, which everyone probably expected, Jay chuckled and made fun of me to his heart’s content.
‘I know, you brat! I’m just just pretending not to know!’
“Do you have a concept in mind that you’re expecting, Trainer Jay-nim?”
My next technique to get rid of this clueless bastard was to ask the question in reverse. I faked a smile and turned the question around.
“Of course, it’s the cute concept! Won’t you do the meow Seungbeom again?”
Abort mission. It’s impossible to get rid of. That guy is pure evil.
That expression was one where he had figured it out but was deliberately teasing me.
‘No, he’s already busy with his own schedule, how did he manage to keep up with everything?’
In the end, the choice was in the hands of the fans. No matter how much I pondered what kind of concept song I liked or how badly I wanted it, it was nothing more than a waste of time.
No matter what song I was assigned to, I was confident that I could perform it perfectly. That was the only thing that mattered.
“I see … I’ll leave all the choices to the fans.”
“Okay, I understand!”
As I reluctantly answered, Jay smiled slyly once again. The moment I saw him blink and turn his head to continue questioning the next trainee, I felt something was off.
He was anxious about something. It wasn’t something you’d notice unless you knew him well.
‘…I thought things were going okay lately, but what’s the problem now all of a sudden?’
I tilted my head slightly. Well, it wasn’t the first time he suddenly seemed down, so I figured I’d let this one slide.
Jay, who smiled brightly again, asked Woo Kangwon a question, “Trainee Woo Kangwon, you caused a big stir with your ill-fitting concept ‘Physical Heart Destroyer‘ in the first mission. What do you think? Are you looking forward to the cute concept this time as well?”
“Ah … to be honest, back then, I think I gained more attention for my silly appearance rather than my skills. Now, I hope I’ll have the opportunity to be recognized by the public with a more polished side of myself. Of course, I’ll do my best no matter what task I’m given.”
In response to Jay’s question, Woo Kangwon smiled embarrassedly and answered politely.
Woo Kangwon garnered significant attention in the first round competition, topping real-time SNS keywords and attracting a large number of fans. However, despite the positive results, he seemed somewhat uneasy about his performance.
It wasn’t that he was complaining that he didn’t like the concept. He wasn’t that arrogant. My guess was that he was grateful for the attention, but also feeling insecure and skeptical about whether it was for the best.
‘If he gets stuck with a forced cute concept again in this third mission, he’ll be stuck all the way to the fourth or fifth mission.’
It was enough to make people laugh once by taking on something he couldn’t pull off, resulting in a sense of dissonance. But in the end, those attention stemmed from amusement rather than recognition of abilities.
The first mission wasn’t as impactful because he just happened to get that concept by bad luck, but the third mission was a different matter, as it was based on the public’s votes. If the same result happened again, Woo Kangwon was bound to feel disheartened by the fact that that’s all the public expected of him.
“Excellent. I’m also looking forward to seeing the many different sides Trainee Woo Kangwon will show us in the future. Now, shall we move on to the introduction of the first song? I’m really curious since I haven’t had the chance to listen to any of the songs yet.”
Noticing Woo Kangwon’s intentions, Jay responded with gentle words, and the song introductions began in earnest.
.
.
.
“The third concept is the Cute concept. I would like to introduce the composer who wrote the song for the cute concept, Kim Jisoo.”
[“Hello, I’m composer Kim Jisoo! I’m so honored to be invited to participate in the much-loved Survive IDOL Season 4. Now, let’s go and check out the song I created, First Love, and the choreography!”]
The screen switched to a video of several dancers standing in formation following Kim Jisoo’s greeting on the screen.
[“My shy heart, do you know?
Hi hi my love.“
“My heart goes thump-thump, Bounce!
Will you pass it on to me?”]
With a lively and surprising melody, the choreography unfolded, where both hands were placed in front of the mouth, and the hips were moved side to side with quick taps. To put it simply, it’s a choreography designed to focus more on its catchiness rather than the quality of the lyrics or the song itself.
‘The difficulty level of the song is too vague. There are no dance breaks, no high notes, so it’s not suitable for on-site evaluation.’
To be blunt, I didn’t like it.
“Wow. The song sounds totally addictive.”
“The choreography is fun.”
The trainees seemed to envy Woo Kangwon, who had suddenly risen to fame with the cute concept, and I could see them secretly coveting his success. However, knowing that the same trick wouldn’t work twice, I simply looked on with a disapproving eye.
‘The only thing that’s okay is the outfit.’
Since the outfit was school look, it seemed like the trainees who were currently students would look good in it. Like Do Yuda or Lee Danbi.
“I also like this one. School look!”
“You always say you like everything. It would be faster to say what you don’t like.”
As expected, Do Yuda’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the school look outfit.
“The fans said they wanted to see me in my school uniform. But since I can hardly go to school anymore because of the program, I can try to show them this instead.”
“…….”
So there was a reason for him being like that. I was left speechless.
I’m a piece of trash.
I pretended not to hear and buried my head, and we quickly moved on to the next song.
“The fourth concept is the Refreshing concept. I’d like to introduce the Tororo team, who worked on the song for the refreshing concept.”
[“Hello, we are Tororo! The song we composed, Marine Marine, is a refreshing song that will remind you of the ocean. Our trainees, please prepare while imagining the cool sea breeze!”]
After the third song, the composers of the fourth song appeared and introduced their songs
[“Get ready, let’s go!
3, 2, 1!”
“Marine Marine!
Refreshing sea sea
Raise the anchor, signals our departure.”]
The dancers were wearing pristine white marine looks with navy blue accents. Although this was just a simple dance video, I got a sense of what the higher-quality outfits would look like for the actual stage performance.
[Let’s give shorts and knee-high socks style for Captain haha.]
‘This is it, the thing they wanted to see.’
It seemed that the outfits roughly matched what my fans had been hoping for. The melody was sophisticated, and the key choreography was well-executed, so I thought this song wasn’t bad either.
‘If I were to wear that kind of outfit on my original body, I’d just look like a soccer player, nothing more, nothing less. But I think it would be interesting to try it this time.’
I had never done a concept like that before in my previous life, so I was quite interested.
But there was a chance that fans wouldn’t vote for this song because they didn’t get any clues other than the words ‘Refreshing Concept‘.
‘Everyone, I think this is it … this is it.’
As I sent a telepathic message to the fans with all my might, Do Yuda looked at my face strangely and asked, “Hyung, do you really want to do this that much?”
“…I think it sounds good.”
“I’ve never heard it before, so I can’t really imagine it, but if you like it, it must be a great song. In that case, I hope I can get the refreshing concept too.”
I felt like there was some big misunderstanding, but since it was better to have a main vocalist like Do Yuda, I didn’t bother to clarify.
“Let’s move on to the last concept.”
Taking the producers’ cue that they’d gotten enough reactions from the trainees, Jay looked down at his script.
And then, he stood quietly without saying a word.
‘Is the script weird?’
As the trainees watched Jay, who was hesitating unlike when introducing the other songs, I also tilted my head in confusion. Just before the production staff got up, about to ask what was wrong, Jay began reading the script again.
“The composer of the Charisma concept’s song is Cha Woon, the composer who has created many hit songs for PRISM, and also a member of PRISM.”
And the words that he uttered were more than enough to completely shatter my peace.
[“Hello, Survive IDOL trainees. I’m Cha Woon from PRISM.”]
The voice that flowed out of the speakers too.
I knew this voice.
“Yutae-hyung, I want to write songs too. Please teach me how to compose songs.”
Jay was staring at the man on the screen with the same anxious expression as before. It was then that I finally understood the reason for the faint sympathy that was hidden in Jay’s gaze.
[“I came here to present the song I wrote as a gift to you all.”]
That person on the screen was the only person I had been in contact with until the day before I died.
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Translator’s Corner:
Introducing to you guys … the second oldest member of PRISM
omg I fell alseep while doing this and the snack that I was going to eat was placed in my bed and when I wake up, IT’S GONE. IDK WHERE AND HOW DID I KICK IT WHILE I WAS ASLEEP BUT I LOOKED FOR IT EVERYWHERE IN MY ROOM AND COULDNT FIND IT???????????? I’M DEVASTATED WHERE DID IT GO T_T