Chapter 34

Chapter 34

On the screen, Raebin quietly explained his reasoning.

[※Kim Raebin: Park Moondae sings really well regardless of what song it is, so we won’t have to worry about our song selection as much.※]

[※Kim Raebin: Also, I’ve seen that he has a really good attitude toward working with teammates. He’s my number-one pick.※]

The footage fast-forwarded to Raebin winning his first mini-game and immediately picking Moondae. Then a shot from an interview with the main singer was shown.

[※Park Moondae: ...?※]

[※Park Moondae: I’m grateful, but... (why?)※]

Accompanied by cute background music and captions on screen, Park Moondae looked extremely surprised as he joined Kim Raebin and nodded. They then cut to interview footage of Raebin clenching his fists in victory. The whole thing felt like a skit for WeTube.

This wasn’t the first time the production team had taken liberties with the footage, but never before had they so accurately portrayed a contestant’s real feelings.

[※Kim Raebin: Next, I’ll pick Cha Eugene.※]

[※Kim Raebin: And Ryu Chungwoo.※]

Kim Raebin selected a few more teammates for reasons only he knew and more footage was shown of everyone’s puzzled expressions as they were picked. It made him look pretty cute, overall.

I guess they’re letting him live, then. The editing was obviously intended to counteract the rather vicious depiction of Raebin that had gone to air during the first team battle. This feeling did not last long, however.

A red “However” popped up on the screen followed by terrifying audio of nothing but white noise.

[※Interim evaluation, a few days later※]

[※Youngrin: Who arranged this?※]

Kim Raebin dropped his gaze to the floor, and a few of our teammates glanced at him.

Huge letters appeared.

[※What in the world happened?※]

And... the show cut to an ad.

“Hmm...” I tipped the remaining beer into my mouth. I was grudgingly impressed by the lengths the production team was going in order to rack up as many views as humanly possible.

A quick check in on the Internet’s reactions showed that people were trying to guess what was about to happen. The overwhelming opinion was that Kim Raebin had messed up another team battle.

- I knew he was a terrible judge of skill as soon as he explained why he chose Park Moondae LOL

“What...”

Why was Park Moondae the first person they were taking a swing at? Perhaps it was thanks to the beer I’d drunk, but I felt a little more nettled than usual.

I quit out of the window and clicked back into Tnet. The ads were just coming to an end. As expected, the first thing they showed was the discussion that took place after the song had been decided.

[※Ryu Cheongwoo: Why don’t you tell us your thoughts first, Sejin?※]

The edit highlighted the way Ryu Chungwoo’s inclusive behavior extended toward even the less sociable teammates. His calm reaction to Lee Sejin’s irritable retort was shown in full.

So Lee Sejin’s done for as well. Was Ryu Chungwoo going to get all the credit again?

There were a few scenes illustrating Cha Eugene’s genius as he formulated the choreography and a few of Raebin working on the arrangement as well, but as of yet, Ryu Chungwoo was certainly winning when it came to the edit.

The situation changed, however, following the interim evaluation.

[※The song’s been tweaked in a lot of places, but your rendition feels inferior to the original.※]

The judge’s comment had been edited to seem far more serious than their original half-hearted delivery suggested. Added in the middle of the judge’s feedback was a clip taken from the original artist’s rambling, completely out of context.

[※Your performance did not have the power “Blazing Like the Sun” should have.※]

Who could have guessed some of the rubbish he’d talked would end up airing on the show, reworked into a scathing remark? In any case, a serious mood fell over the team as one of the members singled out Raebin, naming him as responsible for the arrangement.

[※(No hesitation) Raebin did the arranging.※]

On-screen, the team all turned to stare at the arranger. The way it was edited together sent a chill down my spine.

Sh*t... After all the effort we’d put into covering up that little hiccup, too. It seemed like we might all be dead in the water. At that moment the camera suddenly zoomed in on Moondae.

“Huh?”

Wait, don’t tell me... He seemed to be thinking about something deeply, and the footage cut to a flashback.

[※I think we should arrange the song first, to lower the key, before we continue※]

[※Why don’t we add a bit of rap, too?※]

[※The arrangement should suit our cheer squad theme.※]

[※Right...※]

The scene showed a few of the members suggesting that various clashing elements all be added to the arrangement. Through the eyes of the viewers, it looked as though Park Moondae had been watching this all go down very closely.

Then the screen cut back to the interim evaluation and Moondae spoke up casually.

[※Yes. Raebin... he’s quite capable when it comes to arranging, so he spoke with a composer. As for the general theme, we decided on that as a group.※]

The camera zoomed in on Raebin’s surprised expression and then cut to an interview with Park Moondae.

[※Q: Why did you cover for Kim Raebin?※]

[※Park Moondae: (Puzzled) I just stated facts.※]

That sound bite was from an interview I’d given about our arrangement during the first team battle.

“Huh...”

I was being nonchalant on purpose so I could change the subject. Through the magic of editing, Park Moondae was made to look like an honest, straightforward guy who didn’t care what others thought of him. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.

Regardless of how I felt about it, the show went on.

[※They have a heart-to-heart※]

[※Kim Yoojoon: I’m sorry...※]

After the team all apologized, the mood became suddenly hopeful and upbeat and the climax of the segment was a touching interview with Raebin himself.

[※Kim Raebin: I think I chose the right people for my team.※]

He smiled faintly as he said this, and surprisingly, it made him seem like a pretty sweet guy. And as for the new arrangement... Shockingly, the production team attributed it to an excited Kim Raebin and Park Moondae, the two of them coming up with the idea while making small talk.

[※Ryu Cheongwoo: I saw them talking during our break.※]

[※Ryu Cheongwoo: When I got back... Raebin was already at the keyboard, and Moondae was all excited, saying we’d be doing— Beep.※]

The discussion regarding the arrangement was fast-forwarded, with Ryu Chungwoo’s interview playing over the top. The fact that our actual conversation had been edited out seemed legit in this context, which made the producer’s ability to manipulate the edit all the more astonishing to me.

[※Ryu Cheongwoo: Is that just how geniuses work? Haha.※]

The segment about our preparation for the performance soon came to an end, finishing with a few short scenes that made it seem as though Ryu Chungwoo had indulged the two unsociable geniuses, helping the team to come together beautifully in the end.

I had no idea they would choose to portray it like this. At least it wasn’t a malicious edit, so I supposed I should be happy with this result. And as for the performance, I was of the opinion that ours had been the best. It was clear the production team had put a lot of work into editing it together nicely too, which was very satisfying. The ending wasn’t bad, either.

[※Third place?※]

[※Everyone is shocked※]

The team ranking third place was depicted to be a very puzzling and startling result, and they’d even thrown an ad in the middle of it all unfolding. In terms of the editing, it wasn’t ever going to get much better than this. The episode was an undisputed win for me.

“Not bad,” I murmured, before quickly preparing myself for bed. The anxiety I’d felt leading up to and watching the episode had tired me out.

I guess I’ll check out the Internet’s reactions tomorrow. Because I put off checking the comments until the next day, I only realized at around lunchtime that my part in the episode had created more waves than I’d expected.

***

- I’ve decided to support Park Moondae. He is an angel compared to the idiots from the first team battle

- Moondae is actually pretty handsome, too. He gets along well with Raebin. They should continue being teammates

- Rabbits and puppies are the perfect combination. What we have here is a cute puppy and an old-fashioned rabbit—*chef’s kiss*

- Hey now! I knew they’d both end up in the spotlight one day! (Proud emoji)

- I’m honestly surprised. I didn’t think they would get along like that...

“Whoa...”

Surprisingly, as soon as Episode Seven had aired, Kim Raebin’s fans had taken a sudden and immediate liking to Park Moondae.

Though most of them were just ordinary fans that didn’t bother to criticize other contestants, some of them had left insulting comments about Moondae as recently as the day before.

The abrupt about-face was astonishing. Moondae’s fans seemed mostly relieved that they had a little less to worry about when it came to down-voting, but some of them were angry about this turn of events.

- They were so hostile before. Look at them now. I’m speechless. I hate myself a little for feeling relieved about this T_T

- It’s a terrible prospect, both of them debuting with people like this in their fanbase... I’ll just have to focus on Moondae...

- Moondae did something amazing, came up with a great idea, and even performed well. Why should I bother with all this other drama?

I hope they don’t get too stressed out by all this. I felt a bit bad for them. Spending money on your hobbies was supposed to be fun. Perhaps it was inevitable, since all the contestants were basically competitors at this point, even if they were on the same team.

Still, for the most part, people seemed happy about the performance. Right after its initial airing, reruns of the episode had been replayed every other hour or so ever since midnight until lunchtime today. The continuous broadcasts were drawing more viewers in.

A video of my team’s performance had also immediately shot to the trending page on WeTube.

- They are out of this world! It’s incredible they managed to pull off such a bizarre concept...

- My grades are going to suffer, but I love these guys

- It’s incredible they changed a baseball cheer song into a superhero theme song. Not only was their performance good, but they also have no match when it comes to good ideas and arrangements.

- Look, I think they even have their own colors! They all have an accessory of some sort in a different color. It’s making my stan heart race, guys T_T

- This performance got third place? The haters should be ashamed of themselves LOL

- Timestamps everybody. 0:06 Cha Eugene (Red), 0:16 Min Junghoon (Green), 0:24 Ryu Chungwoo (Blue) … [Show more]

The fancams that had been uploaded early that morning were proving immensely popular as well. Things seemed more heated than in the first team battle, but even taking that into account, Park Moondae’s fancam was racking up views far more quickly than was usual for a main vocalist.

The comments were friendlier than they had been during the last team battle and the ratio of dislikes to likes was fairly low.

- Can’t deny it, he’s a genius

- Moondae, thank you so much for dyeing your hair blond. You gave me the strength not to quit my job. I’m going to buy plenty of your stock T_T Please debut no matter what! I want to see you with silver and pink hair, too T_T

- This guy is amazing! He came up with this hero theme after suggesting the horror idea last time! I’m all for him. Hope he debuts! Haha.

- Why does he get more handsome and better at performing every time I see him? He’ll be a god by the time he debuts T_T

It was embarrassing, but I had to admit, I felt proud of myself. I wasn’t doing any of this of my own free will, but I couldn’t deny I was getting a huge sense of accomplishment from it.

As I thought this to myself, I noticed the final popular comment.

- He’s a main vocalist who is young, cute, and even good at dancing. That makes him a pretty rare example of the whole package. I would have done anything to ensure he ended up on stage, so I’m grateful you walked onto it of your own free will, Moondae. We won’t ever let you quit :)

Frankly, this comment was a bit scary. I hope I don’t get a status abnormality that prevents me from retiring once I debut or something.

It was an ominous thought and it would do me no good to dwell on it, so I pushed it away. In any case, as things currently stood, I probably had nothing to worry about until after the next ranking announcement.

That means there are two more performances to go. The show would come to an end after two more team battles. It felt odd knowing that the show was already more than halfway done.

I thought I’d be happy that the day I could be rid of this goddamned status abnormality was drawing closer, but that wasn’t entirely the case—probably because I was doing far better than I’d expected to.

Because I hadn’t felt any sense of accomplishment in all the years I’d spent studying for the civil service exam, the taste of success was proving to be addictive. I am a little exhausted from being on my guard all the time, though.

Once I managed to escape death, maybe looking back on this after a few years had passed would leave me feeling like this was a meaningful experience. That was assuming I didn’t die, of course, so for now—it was best that I focus on staying alive.

A new message appeared on my phone screen as this resolution solidified in my heart.

[Big Sejin: Moondae, Moondae! How are you doing? Want to go to the set together on shooting day? Ahyeon is coming too haha]

***

When the next filming day arrived and I met up with the two of them, they both looked pretty dejected even though Choi Wongil the troll had been dealt with. So why the long faces? Has someone been bothering you guys?