Chapter 373

Chapter 373

The group we would form had to be a short-term project that would focus on efficiency so that we could get out of here. In order for Cheongryeo to agree to this plan, he needed to be able to accept that a separate reality existed and that we could return to it.

I doubt he’ll be able to do that, I thought. However, I kept my mouth shut.

Cheongryeo said slowly, “All right.”

It had worked.

There we go. Balling my fists, I repressed a sigh. There was no need to show that I was relieved.

“Then the survival show—” I began, about to tell him that we should cancel it.

He said, “Huh? Ah, that’s already been put into motion.”

Son of a b*tch, didn’t you just hear me?

“Cancel it,” I said.

“Hmm? It’s not like I own the broadcast station… That’s not possible now. Haha.”

I dearly wished I could punch him in the face. Perhaps he noticed this. since he finally gave me a good reason for going ahead with it.

“There is nothing like a survival show to help with early buzz, is there?” he said.

I rubbed my chin. “I guess you’re right.”

I was living proof of that, after all. If we were able to appeal to our audience through it, there was nothing like a survival show to gather popularity in a very short time frame. The problem was that this guy was the one at the wheel.

“As long as you don’t do anything stupid,” I said.

“Stupid?” he asked.

For instance, try to destroy Cha Eugene on the show just because you’re pissed. I didn’t say it out loud, but he seemed to understand what I meant just based on my tone. He shrugged.

“Hmm. I think there is a misunderstanding here.” He laughed again. His expression suggested I was nothing more than a pathetic rookie, leaving me feeling like sh*t. “Don’t tell me that you think your group members will be able to debut as long as there is no unfair interference?”

“Yes,” I replied.

What are you even saying? You saw all the absurdity that went down on Idol Inc. How could anybody who had managed to debut through that show not survive a survival show from the 2010s?

As long as they have proper coaching, pushing through the rabble shouldn’t be an issue. I made no move to walk back what I’d said.

“Hmm…” He put his chin in his hand. “Why don’t we make a bet, then?”

“What?”

“Let’s bet on whether more VTIC members or TeSTAR members end up debuting from the show.”

What nonsense.

“Is this really something we should be betting on? Also, I’ve only been able to gather two of them so far.”

“The same is true of me at the moment,” he said.

VTIC had half as many people as TeSTAR in the first place.

“Hmm. Feeling less confident all of a sudden?”

Goddamn it. I gestured with my chin.

“Let’s go with proportions instead, so it’s fair.”

“All right. You seem sure of yourself,” he said with a chuckle.

“All right, then. Let’s… come up with a plan.”

He held out his hand for a handshake, so I took it. We had formed a temporary alliance. His grip was very firm.

“But if we reach the end and there is nothing there for us…” he said, all expression vanishing from his face.

“If your deduction is wrong…”

He narrowed his eyes and laughed. “From that point on, you follow my lead.”

So you’re laying the groundwork for that, are you? That’s not going to happen. I nodded without saying anything, gripping his hand just as hard.

“Haha, what a mess it would’ve been if this was reality,” he said.

“A nightmare,” I agreed.

Were we in the real world, this sort of mix and match survival show would have left everyone in complete shock.

After a few days of the agency getting all their ducks in a row, articles began to appear starting at the end of February. A trailer was also uploaded on WeTube.

***

The teaser followed the usual format employed by big-agency survival shows. They first started off with some amazing camera work to show off the new LeTi Entertainment headquarters like it was some kind of palace.

[The cradle of Korea’s greatest global idols—LeTi]

[Producer: You’ve never seen anything like it before.]

[Artist Team Head: It’s unprecedented. We still can’t believe we managed to gather these people together.]

[Sohyeon (Marshmallow): I think the point is to see whether they can win over the public.]

[Sohyeon (Marshmallow): Because that’s a completely different matter.]

A variety of characters appeared on the screen, saying things that were designed to get the audience excited. This was followed by a huge title logo.

[Who is Superior?]

The words contracted into initials through some neat 3D animation.

[WiS]

[The survival show that will choose LeTi’s next generation]

[Wise]

Apparently, they had combined the word “wise” with contractions of “who is” and “why” in order to encompass the questions “why must they debut?” and “who is that person?”

“It’ll eventually just be referred to as the LeTi survival show, anyway,” Cheongryeo had said.

Just as I thought. I stretched. Cameras filled the dressing room underneath the stage already.

“We need makeup over here!” someone said.

“Right.”

Perhaps because none of these people had even debuted yet, the makeup artists did not come off as very friendly. They were less robotic than they had been on Idol Inc., however.

Maybe it’s because there are fewer people involved. I looked around. There were fourteen people in total sitting on the floor—seven from the debut team and seven other trainees.

A lot of these faces I have already seen. I realized that many of the people that the department head had gathered together on my first day here had been selected. Had he been instructed to figure out who should be on the show?

I see Sino and Judan, too. I wasn’t sure about the real world VTIC members. Perhaps they had always been in the running, or maybe Cheongryeo had arranged for them to be here. Regardless, they were in. I folded my arms over my chest.

Eugene and Raebin will appear when the time is right. The problem was the others—the other TeSTAR members, that is. I had tried to locate the others using the internet before the survival show started, hoping to figure out where they had scattered. In the end, only the two youngest members were currently available. I would have to make do with them for now.

I will have another chance later. I mentally went over the structure of the show, as Cheongryeo had described it to me.

“Any outside observer will think that the final group is selected entirely by the president of the company.”

The main cameras began recording, and the idol trainees climbed up on stage to stand under the lights. The fourteen of us entered together. There was a snide-looking man sitting in a judge’s seat right in front of the stage, who was apparently the president. He had been the most prominent member of a popular singer-songwriter group in the nineties.

“I am going to speak to you formally as fellow singers, instead of trainees,” he began. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now, I will explain the rules of the show to you, the young rising stars of LeTi.” He paused dramatically. “This is a survival show.”

“…!”

“Pardon?”

Everyone had heard the rumors that were circulating within the agency, but they were all acting like this was the first they were hearing of it. There were fourteen of us here. It was only natural to assume that some of us would not make it. I simply stood there with a rigid look on my face.

“Nobody knows what the end result will be… Who and will be disqualified, how many, who will debut, how many will debut… and so on.”

You realize you are repeating yourself, right? Regardless, everyone swallowed nervously.

“You are running toward your dreams, but in order to achieve them, you will have to compete. So from now on, only those who come out on top will survive.”

“They will start by splitting us into high-tier and low-tier groups,” Cheongryeo had said.

This seemed to be what was about to happen. Everyone had been informed in advance what our first task would be.

[Do a solo performance.]

This would form the main content for the first episode.

“You must do well, but what matters just as much as being good at what you do is how much star potential you have. I am going to be using criteria to judge you on even those things that can’t really be put into words or numbers.”

He was telling us that even if his judgment calls seemed completely sh*t, we had to accept it because we just weren’t charming enough.

“Yes!”

After loudly responding in unison, each person stepped forward to show off their dancing, singing, or some kind of personal talent.

Their interpretation of what constitutes a performance is rather broad. It was unlikely to happen, but I didn’t want any unnecessary controversy, so I kept my expression neutral as I watched. They were all quite good for trainees.

But they’re not as good as the debut team. I had to stifle a laugh.

They told us to prepare something at the last minute on purpose. The additional seven that had been put on the show were intended solely to make the seven members of the debut team look better. In these early stages, a week of practice and a month of practice were as different as night and day. It was likely that no one had been openly forewarned. I assumed that the debut team had just been alerted to some vague rumors, like the following.

“Did you hear about the solo performances? Oh, that hasn’t been revealed yet, right? Never mind, guys. Go on and practice!”

I’ve only been a trainee for three months, so there was no way I would have been able to hear anything in advance. In any case, this was why the participants were split neatly into two teams for the most part. The debut team was the superior one, while the rest of the contestants made up the inferior one. I watched as Judan and Sino went to the second team. Cheongryeo did not visibly react.

Hmm. Is he planning to have them move up into the other team dramatically?

“And next… is Ryu Gunwoo.”

“Yes.”

It was my turn. I got up and started to move. I was the ninth contestant to perform. The position was neither good nor bad, and this was only my first performance on the show.

I doubt this will be that important. On extremely large-scale survival shows like Idol Inc. where half of the contestants could be disqualified in the blink of an eye, it was very important to make a powerful impression from the start. But with this show, I needed to consider the long-term. For starters, every performance would be featured on the show.

For now, I will just aim to establish a stable reputation. I took the head microphone and put it on, before waiting for my cue.

The music soon began.

***

The LeTi president who was sitting in front of the stage in the midst of filming the survival show wasn’t actually very interested in the individual trainees. What he cared about was the growth of the agency and furthering its success—as well as the fame and wealth that would come from those things.

That is just business. The former singer and current businessman, who hadn’t produced an album of his own for more than ten years now, intertwined his fingers. Even so, he had a good eye for these things. He had been the one who had selected these trainees as the ones with the highest potential. He had quickly skimmed through the rehearsal and practice footage, glancing over those he had been able to figure out based on the documents he had received.

[Candidates list]

Documents refined through the eyes of multiple professionals wouldn’t let him down, and he had no time to waste on individuals. This trained who was now standing in front of him in particular was exactly as the documents had described him.

- Ryu Gunwoo (21)

When he moved past the young man’s personal details, the first line that described him was,

- Has the ideal looks for the project.

He sure is a good-looking guy. He stood out from the rest, even though the others had all been selected carefully. He was graceful and there was a certain intellectual elegance to him. If the president reacted with a hint of displeasure, he had the feeling that the public would froth at the mouth and indignantly demand the guy be selected.

Okay. He had planned out how he was going to approach this. For starters, he would be a little cruel to make things more fun. He crossed his arms.

“You may begin.”

The lights along the edge of the stage, meant for the cameras, disappeared. A spotlight shone on Ryu Gunwoo. A graceful, weighty song began to play.

“Hmm.”

It was a jazz pop track. The pale trainee moved close to the microphone, illuminated by the slightly dim lights.

For a sweet life

You need a few things

Music, dance, wine, and perhaps roses, too

The pop song was of a style that idol trainees tended to choose as of late. Many of the songs focused on the tone rather than hitting high notes, and were great for showing off lead vocalist material. While that would normally have been the best strategy for showing off moderate skills in their best light, this wasn’t true in this case.

Life in the clouds

Stars a twinkling

This trainee did not seem nervous, nor did he produce any vocals that sounded awkward or clumsy. What came through the speakers was a perfect voice that sounded just as good as the original.

“…!”

There wasn’t anything remotely amateur about the sound he was producing—the song flowed like finely aged wine.

When the piano plays

It rises from the smoke

The jazz…

The president found himself looking at the document’s evaluation of Ryu Gunwoo.

- Good singing skills

Isn’t it doing him an injustice to say that he is merely good?

- Third place in the end-of-month evaluations.

Even his dancing is good?

And as for his drawbacks…

- Drawbacks:

This section was left empty. He felt a thrill course through him.

Hmm umm, lalala-la…

He was like a perfect diamond in the rough, a superior product that had yet to be tarnished in any way. And his voice still filled the air. He utilized a gentle yet weighty technique to finish the first verse.

The twinkling stars

As his high note came to a graceful end, unaccompanied by music, the music that had filled everyone’s ears disappeared. All that remained was the handsome face that was slowly moving away from the microphone as the trainee took a step back.

The brief silence following his performance felt terribly hollow.

The president was silent, actually at a loss for words.

How… How had they found someone like him at only twenty years of age?

Then a low voice said, “Thank you.”

“…!”

“Oh.”

At this, belated clapping exploded from all directions. It was like everyone had been stunned frozen.

Now is the moment! The president took up his microphone. He could provide a more detailed evaluation later in an interview, if necessary. Right now, there was something he needed to say. His sensibilities as a TV personality and a businessman were telling him as much.

“Gunwoo… You have been a trainee for three months now, correct? You used to be just an ordinary college student.”

“Yes.”

“Which college are you attending?”

The young man replied calmly, “Yonhui University.”

This was the point at which a cut scene would be inserted. The president stifled a smile.

You should be grateful. I am giving you extra screen time.

“So why do you want to become a singer?”

He avoided using the word “idol” on purpose, in order to prevent dance from being included in the picture he was painting.

He is so good at singing already. The audio enhancements will only make him sound even better. Anyone who heard him sing would want him to become a singer.

“You could have just graduated from college and successfully tried to do something else with your life,” he said.

This would set the stage for an explosive statement.

Come on! This is your chance!

Gunwoo looked at the president without much change in his expression. He didn’t seem conscious of the cameras at all.

He said naturally, “I’ve never had this much fun before.” A faint smile appeared on his lips. “That’s what tells me that this is the right path for me. And since I’ve found that path, I can’t just turn away and do something else. This is the only way forward for me.”

The words were simple and unadorned, spoken from the perspective of a person who had no experience appearing on TV. He was a true gift as far as the trainee survival show scene went.

That’s perfect! The president picked up his microphone, excited.

“Did you hear that, everyone? The number of months you practice is not what matters. What matters is your mindset.” He put his hand in the air and pointed to the trainee. “That determination to debut! That’s what is most important.” Then he said grandly, “Congratulations, Ryu Gunwoo. No more words are necessary. You belong on the first team.”

This was set to be the highlight of the episode.

“Thank you…” Gunwoo said a moment later, his response a little late as if he were reigning in his emotions. Then he bowed.

He will be very useful to us, the president thought triumphantly. Little did he know, Gunwoo was thinking along the same lines.

The higher-ups are always so predictable. Hard work and the right mindset, huh? They always say that. Gunwoo was secretly nodding to himself, having said exactly the right things to pave the way for the president’s grand speech.

***

[Hey, congrats, Gunwoo! The first shoot was amazing!]

“Yeah.”

After filming was over, the agency sent us home instead of to the survival dorm, saying we weren’t at that point yet.

It gives me some time to think. As it happened, Ryu Chungwoo was away on a retreat. He was sending me mountain pictures, which told me that his hobby hadn’t changed. In the meantime, I sat in my room, lost in thought.

But what Big Moon said next made me want to groan.

[At this rate, I think you’re going to debut just fine!]

I cupped my chin in my hand.

“That needs to happen no matter what.”

[I’m sorry…?]

I needed to do a good job. Otherwise, I would die of embarrassment. I recalled my previous conversation with Cheongryeo.

“It looks like you’ll have to debut no matter who is in the group,” he had said.

“That’s true.”

I was the one who had to gather experience points, what with the ghostly system haunting me again. He’d put his chin in his hand and said in a mock serious tone,

“I can guarantee that you will debut, if you want.”

“What?”

“Well, actually, that came out wrong. That isn’t a choice, is it? It needs to happen no matter what. Haha. Don’t tell me you are too proud to even listen?”

I’d realized that if I stopped him from talking, I would be nothing more than an idiot who put my pride before my own survival.

“Of course not.”

And so things had come to this.

[Y-you’re going to manipulate the result?]

“In the worst-case scenario… yes.”

If it seemed like I was going to be disqualified, he would open a backdoor for me to join the group. I tried to keep the frown off my face.

That won’t do. I had a reputation to protect. How could I embarrass myself by failing to debut after winning a daesang?

“I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen. I’ll come up with a good plan. So don’t worry,” I said.

[O-of course! I trust you!]

Yeah. I needed to come up with a proper plan that accounted for every moment going forward, just like I had during Idol Inc. Mentally working my way through and predicting what people would think of me, I tried to picture every step along the way.

They will probably focus on the fact that I attended a prestigious college, putting me in a special position. The president’s questions suggested this.

In that case, I will have to focus on coming off as more mature most of the time. I would silently cooperate with the various team tasks. Perhaps looking a little naive would also help. I had to appeal to the president, since he had a big say in everything.

“Hmm.”

[I-it’ll go well!]

“Of course,” I even cooked up a few alternate plans before I fell asleep.

That very week more information about the show was released online. Unlike Idol Inc., Wise was being put together by an agency that was already familiar with the personality, attitude, and character of the contestants. The agency had handed over all the data they had to the production team.

This meant they didn’t need to take time to observe the contestants and come up with an appropriate storyline for the show. The footage was quickly edited, and a second teaser released. And when the profiles of the fourteen contestants were shared, the public immediately reacted.

- OH MY GOD! It’s the guy with the glasses!

- T_T He’s so cute!

“…?”

Reality sank in. I had been a paparazzo, and experienced Idol Inc. as well, and there was something I’d forgotten. The first impression any idol made on their audience depended entirely on their looks, and their looks only.