Chapter 31

Chapter 31

“No way. They came in third?”

“But they did such a great job!”

“And their team has the highest-ranking members, too...”

“Yeah, and the audience’s reactions were amazing.”

The other teams murmured amongst themselves when they heard our placement. I was grateful for their outrage, but the outcome had been obvious to me from the moment I’d heard that audience members could each vote twice.

Everyone must have tried to keep us in check. Viewers who attended recordings in person like this were usually serious about the show and had already decided on their favorite contestant—in other words, their bias. These people would vote for the team their favorite contestant belonged to, regardless of how good or bad their performance was. Then they would use their second vote on a team made of lower-ranking contestants who were still reasonably skilled.

They wouldn’t vote for any team that could prove to be a serious contender against their bias. In that sense, it wasn’t actually all that bad that we’d placed third. This meant that in addition to our team members’ fans, we’d also won votes from anyone who hadn’t picked a bias yet and had just come to enjoy the show.

The rest of the team, however, looked pretty shocked.

“Thank you…!” Ryu Chungwoo replied after a long, awkward pause, bowing deeply.

The others followed suit, but it was obvious they were trying to hide their disappointment.

“Thank you.”

I nodded politely to the crowd as well.

First and second places were going to be announced in a separate shoot, one of which was going to be Choi Wongil’s team, which was similar in composition to his previous one during the first team battle.

“Now then, shareholders! ‘ Idol Incorporated, Relisted!’ will return next episode with the conclusion of the ranking announcement, where you will finally learn who took first place!”

It felt as if Choi Wongil had glanced in my direction, wearing a triumphant look on his face, after the emcee had finished wrapping things up.

Is he an idiot? Why does he keep doing that? Hadn’t he realized yet just how merciless the editing gods could be?

In any case, my team didn’t have it in them at the moment to worry about the editing. They were clapping, their heads hanging low, as Ryu Chungwoo patted each of them on the shoulder.

“Good work. I’m sure people could see that we did our best. Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah...”

“That’s right! We did a fine job!” Cha Eugene cried.

He was right. Our performance was good. We might even get some pity votes from this, but we certainly weren’t totally screwed over.

Our team did not have any members who were likely to be disqualified at the next ranking announcement, either. In fact, this was the best possible outcome as far as I was concerned.

The editing was the wild card here. As long as they didn’t sacrifice everyone on the team to make Ryu Chungwoo look good again, we’d come out looking at least average. The performance was good. Each person had established their own fandom now and any malicious editing could be neutralized in the court of public opinion.

A prime example of this was Kim Raebin, who’d messed up in the first team battle but whose fans had promoted him fiercely enough to push him back into the upper ranks. Speak of the devil.

“Uh, Park Moondae?”

“Yeah?”

Raebin bowed. “Thank you for everything. Could we exchange numbers?”

“Sure,” I said, giving him my number without any fuss. It wouldn’t do any harm to be on good terms with him.

Besides, the arrangement had ended up being a breeze thanks to his special trait which gave him mind-boggling compositional abilities. And from what I’d seen of his personality, he would likely only keep to short phone calls if he needed something, unlike Big Sejin, who seemed to enjoy texting frequently at random hours of the day.

Kim Raebin bowed to me once more. “I’ll be in touch every now and then.”

“Sure, that sounds nice.”

He was a fellow idol trainee, but he was treating me like I was several years his senior.

Wait, come to think of it... Perhaps this was a good opportunity to influence what group the audience puts me into in the future. Since this team battle had been successful for us, if a few rumors spread about our budding friendship prior to the next episode airing, perhaps it would be enough to encourage our respective fandoms to rearrange themselves.

The initial group Park Moondae had been pigeonholed into included a future drug addict and the final winner—which was risky. And what’s more, wouldn’t it boost my chances of survival if I’m associated with contestants who will end up in the higher ranks?

Being grouped up with Kim Raebin might also reduce the amount of hostility Cha Eugene’s fans were fostering for me.

Huh. I was honestly a little disgusted that I had to consider all this, but how could I not when the alternative was possibly death?

“Good work, everyone!”

“Good work!”

Still contemplating my next steps as I packed up my things and got ready to go home, someone tapped me on the back.

“Uh, e-excuse me.”

“Huh?” I turned.

It was Seon Ahyeon, standing behind me wearing a resolute expression. I’d been busy over the past week and we’d only managed to exchange hellos in passing, so why was he approaching me now looking so serious? Are there malicious rumors going around about me?

Ahyeon glanced around, checking that no one was looking at us. Then his gaze suddenly turned angry as he whispered, “A-a-about Choi Wongil.”

“Huh? Yes. What about him?”

Why was he bringing up Choi Wongil all of a sudden? Are you here to badmouth him because he’s been coveting someone else’s part again?

Surprisingly, this somewhat random thought on my part actually turned out to be partially true.

“H-h-he’s such a terrible person!” Ahyeon was fuming.

What had the guy done, exactly, to make such a peaceful dude so upset?

“Did something happen?” I asked.

“Y-yeah!” The other man nodded firmly, then started to describe what had happened during the last team battle. “A-at first, he... he demanded a specific role...”

Oh. So I hit the nail on the head.

“Then he kept talking about you, always making sarcastic remarks...”

The ensuing explanation Ahyeon gave me about his behavior could be summarized by the following quotes from Wongil himself.

“I didn’t get enough screen time during the first team battle. That needs to change this time around. I’m the one who put together this team. I deserve some credit for that.”

“Moondae got all the good roles in the last round, but what about me? I’m a main vocalist, too. I feel like I’m being discriminated against. He’s everyone’s friend and I’m not apparently?”

This second quote was actually from an interview with the production team and he’d cried while delivering it.

I guess he learned during the previous team battle that the noisy wheel gets the grease. While his team members had been shocked by this unforeseen development regarding his attitude, Big Sejin had apparently soothed Choi Wongil as best he could and handled the situation.

That was wise of him, considering the repercussions this could have when it goes to air. But as a result, the other team members had been deprived of a chance to have their opinions heard and they were very upset about it.

Ahyeon’s usually very mild, cautious persona was gone by the end of his account, his face filled with rage. In fact, it almost seemed as though he was stammering purely from fury, and not because of his usual condition.

“Y-you need to be careful! I-I think he might say something weird about you... I wanted to give you a heads up.” Ahyeon, red in the cheeks, seemed to be worried for Park Moondae even now.

I guessed this was what he was really trying to tell me. It was a pretty funny situation honestly but...

I guess I feel kind of grateful, too. This audition program was a jungle where it was every man for himself, but Ahyeon was treating me like a real friend rather than a superficial companion he wanted to keep around as an ally.

I suddenly felt like a fool for being so desperate to get in with the right crowd. What are we, middle schoolers begging for validation?

With the meteoric rise of my team in the first team battle, my knowledge of the future had already started to grow outdated. Maybe I’d been taking all of this too seriously. I grinned at him in return.

“Oh, is that so? Thanks.”

“N-no, don’t mention it,” Ahyeon said, flinching. He quickly waved his arms about as if to bat away the thanks, back to his usual timid self.

Big Sejin suddenly appeared, throwing his arm around my shoulder. He had the strange ability to seamlessly inject himself into any ongoing conversation. “Hey, friends! What’s up?”

“I... I was telling him,” Ahyeon said.

“About what? Oh, him.” Big Sejin shrugged. Apparently, Choi Wongil had behaved like such a little troll that he’d become notorious for it. “We’ll just have to avoid him next time. We’ve got nothing to gain by letting him stress us out. Think of it this way, life’s too short to waste energy on the bad things.”

“H-huh?”

Big Sejin smoothly changed the subject, turning his smartphone to show us the screen. It was a social media post featuring several pictures of huge ads plastered on the wall of a subway station.

Oh, is it that time already? Putting up ads on and around public transport was one of the most common ways for idol fans to show their support. I knew this because a few of the pictures I’d taken had ended up as one of those enormous ads.

Though they were displayed using the name of the fan account who bought them, of course. In any case, I assumed that Big Sejin was about to show us an ad that had been put up for him, but that wasn’t all there was to it.

“Tada! Look, it’s the three of us.”

“Huh?”

I looked again and realized that the pictures showed three separate advertisements, each positioned close to one other. Underneath it was a caption that read as follows.

========================

This is Hongik University Station. It’s the same-age October31 members put up close to each other! So cute! T_T I left a post-it note on the ad!

========================

Big Sejin grinned. “Isn’t that amazing? How did they arrange the ads next to each other like that? I wonder if it was intentional.”

No... Our fans are just the ones who won out in the race for those spots. I honestly felt a little bad thinking about how much money and time the fans must have put into securing those large ad placements in such a busy subway station.

Hmm... I guess I’m grateful they chose to invest in Park Moondae’s chances of surviving. Now I had something more to think about. Even if I did manage to debut and avoid an untimely death, I would have to honor whatever contract I landed if I was going to avoid feeling cripplingly guilty toward my fans.

While I stood there puzzling through this sudden new load on my conscience, Big Sejin voiced the real question he’d come over to ask.

“Why don’t we go take a look at them together? The fans have been leaving us messages. I mean, it’s the least we can do.”

What do you mean, we? That’s something we can all do on our own time.

Ahyeon, however, agreed to it instantly, his eyes glowing with excitement. “Y-yes! That sounds like a great idea!”

“Good. You’re coming too, right, Moondae? When should we go?”

He was acting like I’d already agreed to come, just as he had the last time I’d been lured into watching the third episode in a big group with them. Even so, Big Sejin had a point. It was only right that we go visit the ads at least once and it would be easier to deal with anyone who recognized me if I wasn’t alone.

I stared at the two of them for a moment, then simply nodded. “If we’re going, we should go within the week,” I said.

“The sooner, the better!”

“O-okay!”

I finished packing as the two excitedly chattered, trying to set a date. If I was honest, I wasn’t mad about it.

***

Two days later, I slipped on the black facemask I’d bought at the convenience store on the day I’d been recognized for the first time. I was headed for Hongik University Station. This was my first outing in a while since I’d kept to my home when there wasn’t any filming scheduled.

It was a text from Ahyeon.

[Seon Ahyeon: How about we have lunch after we check out the ads? I looked up a few good places to eat, and if you guys want, we can go to one of them... (See more)]

Still sending long-winded messages, I see. I read Big Sejin’s emoji-filled response as I got on the bus. My apartment was cheap and there were no subway stations within a twenty-minute walking distance of it.

I should be able to reach Hongik University Station easily enough. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Whoa.”

“Isn’t that Park Moondae?”

“No way... Hey, look! Over there!”

The moment I got off the bus and crossed the street, this happened. A crowd was gathering, even though I hadn’t even arrived at my destination yet. Only a few people recognized me right away, but it was a busy place and the press of people was growing fast.

“Who is that?”

“A celebrity? An idol?”

This isn’t good. I thought for a moment, then quickly bowed politely to the crowd before breaking into a run. I’d have liked to stay and greet everyone, if possible, but there was something concerning about the general mood of the throng. The audition show I was on was the most popular one on TV right now and its reach was impressive.

I supposed this was hardly surprising since there were always a couple of articles to be found about ‘Idol Incorporated’ in the entertainment news section of the most popular web portals. The reality of my situation hadn’t really sunk in because I’d just stayed at home since the show began airing.

At this rate, I’ll just have to take a peek at the ads and make myself scarce.

My phone vibrated as I ran down the stairs to the subway station, but I ignored it, planning on checking my messages after I’d lost the crowd.

When I arrived at the ads’ location, I immediately realized what was going on. The other two guys had already arrived and they were surrounded by an army of phone cameras.

I guess they were trying to warn me by text. The idiots had come without even putting on a face mask.

Someone recognized me and shouted, “Moondae!”

“Moondae’s here, too!”

I was concerned but grateful as well.

Gosh.