Chapter 378

Chapter 378

Right after the first episode aired, posts about Ryu Gunwoo began to appear on the university community site.

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[A student from this university just appeared on TV]

I didn’t realize someone this handsome attended our university

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- ? There has to be a law that requires posts like this to include the name

└ LMAO

- What is this about? Let me see their face

- He’s almost a celebrity, so I can upload this, right? (screen capture)

└ Oh my god

└ Whoa…

Commenters who had been critical at first changed their minds the moment they saw the screen capture. Such was the power of his enhanced physical attractiveness stat and photo editing.

- His name is RG? He looks so amazing…

└ His name is right there on the captions. Why are you using initials?

└ LMAO

- He doesn’t have a FaceSpace or other social media account. I guess he lived a quiet life T_T

- Does nobody know him, really?

Just as it had been about to vanish, dropping off the recent posts page, someone appeared that claimed to know him causing the comment section to explode.

- I was in a team assignment with him

└ Tell us more please

└ What was he like?

└ He was just quiet and hard-working. Damn smart, too. Wore glasses

└ So he has it all. F*ck I’m jealous

└ What major?

└ Economics or Business Management, I think

Thankfully, this Gunwoo seemed to have lived in much the same way as I had when I was in my first year of college. Most of the comments revealed nothing out of the ordinary.

Looks like nobody is claiming that I didn’t pull my own weight during one of the group assignments. That wasn’t surprising, since I wasn’t famous enough yet for people to make up fake stuff about me. I shook my head as I saw someone in the comments trying to expose my personal details, while others rushed to stop him. Naturally, Chungwoo seemed more famous than I was around campus and people began to mention him, too.

- I thought they were twins

Chungwoo’s nonsense nearly began to go around as fact, but thankfully it was corrected.

-?? Nah. They’re just cousins. They hang out often

- What is this, a comic? It sure would have to be if a gold medalist and an idol were brothers attending a prestigious university

└ LOL that’s the setting for a nice light novel

Such posts were captured in screenshots, shared on other communities, and then even on social media. It was the power of viral marketing at work.

It’s spread quite a bit. Though it was impossible to tell if they were really genuine, the posts had at least been uploaded to a verified university community. And that was reason enough for the internet to trust the source of the screenshots.

They’re having fun with it because there’s so little information available about me. This was actually a double-edged sword, but it was coming in handy at the moment because I had nothing to lose from it.

- No wonder he was wearing glasses. So he’s a quiet, hard-working, handsome nerd T_T

- So he and Chungwoo are related?

- Looking at them like this, they really do look alike (comparison image)

That Chungwoo was being mentioned so often bothered me a little, however. He was just an ordinary college student now, having quit being an athlete, but people were treating him like a celebrity. I chose to ask him about it directly.

“Rumors have spread that you and I are related. Are you okay with that?”

“It’s not like you’re doing anything strange. What makes you think I would worry? Of course, I’m okay,” Chungwoo replied easily. He reminded me that it wasn’t the first time he’d been talked about on the internet.

Hmm. All right. I continued my exploration of the internet.

First of all, the consumers. Though basically no information was available about Ryu Gunwoo yet, it seemed that he had already joined the ranks of those considered to have the LeTi look and had secured himself a spot among them in the eyes of the fans.

That meant I had succeeded in securing an early fan base.

- Anyone who likes Gunwoo, Jaehyeon, and Taejun? #WiseFriends

- Geniuses. I love them T_T

As for details gleaned from outside my actual performances, there were some of those as well.

- He didn’t seem to lose his composure at all during the evaluation (video)

- Look at the way Gunwoo’s bed is so neatly made. It’s obvious that he was educated very well at home… T_T (screen capture)

Reading similar comments, I began to get a feel for how things were going, and why people liked me in this world.

So I’m a genius, calm, smart, pure, an elite student, and born into a rich family. I was an excellent student who’d had no troubles growing up. While this combination would definitely attract people, it was certain to repel a certain crowd as well.

Some people are just going to hate me… I searched around some more. It seemed that the internet hadn’t coined any aliases to prevent people from finding their posts about me yet. This show was slightly different from Idol Inc., since everyone had been a competitor then, so this wasn’t too surprising. Past the midway point, however, people would start to criticize me with enthusiasm.

I bet they’ll come up with some sarcastic nickname that has to do with jazz because I sang jazz in my first performance. In any case, for now, it was easy enough to locate what people were saying about me. For example, I could simply click a post titled What the trainees so far are like and scroll down to the segment describing Ryu Gunwoo.

- RG: Don’t like him at all. He seems to be from a rich background, but he’s not been a trainee for very long. I get the feeling that once he debuts, and the schedule grows more packed, his attitude is going to change and spark controversy.

Right. So this is what they’re saying.

“Hmm.”

I grinned to myself. I had already prepared something to respond to posts like this, and they didn’t really bother me anyway. I just wanted to see how things were going at the moment.

When is it coming? I stretched my shoulders.

A few days later, the official teaser for the third episode was revealed.

[High-Tier Team vs Supplementary Team?]

[Everyone is shocked]

[??: Damn it!]

[President Kim Taein: It doesn’t matter if you belong to this agency. The evaluations will be objective.]

The teaser alternated between close-ups and full-stage views, while avoiding giving big spoilers.

[The skilled members of the supplementary team]

[Trainer: At this rate—beep—is going to win no matter what. Do you realize that?]

Kim Raebin briefly showed up, and Cha Eugene was actually given quite a bit of screen time, since a few seconds of his stage-time with Cheongryeo were included.

They just wanted to reveal in advance who he was going up against. An elaborate dance move was shown on screen, then cut off.

[An unexpected challenge]

[Shin Jaehyeon: That doesn’t mean I can lose.]

Cheongryeo was shown smiling bitterly for a moment. A series of tense expressions that made it impossible to tell which trainees had been selected were shown next. Then the camera slowly zoomed in on someone who was standing stiffly and breathing hard. It was me.

[President Kim Taein: Why don’t I sense any desperation here?]

[Ryu Gunwoo: (silence)]

I inhaled deeply on the screen, then the title logo appeared. The teaser was over. There was an additional bit of information included toward the end, namely the following.

[■■■ (Supplementary Team) - Victory!]

[The shocking results will be revealed this week.]

They had revealed that someone from the supplementary team had won. I nodded with satisfaction.

Good. I had appeared last in the video, but only for a second. I didn’t think there would be any controversy about the agency favoring me or anything like that.

The editing is obviously anything but favorable. They were trying to make it look as if my performance had been a failure. Seeing someone skilled fail was sure to draw eyes. Nobody seemed to have thought that I would actually be at risk, and social media exploded with reactions.

- Did you guys see Gunwoo’s outfit? T_T It was amazing

- That president bastard has lost his mind

These two posts were left by the same person, made with only two seconds in between them. People weren’t only talking about Gunwoo, of course. There were a lot of viewers who were shocked by the teaser revealing that someone from the supplementary team had passed. Nobody was stupid enough to think that the supplementary team was anything more than a nominal obstacle by the end of the second episode.

- The president will never be able to give up any of the trainees who have the LeTi look. This is just to shake things up a little for the show LOL

But the teaser had loudly proclaimed that someone from the supplementary team had won. This confused even the longtime fans of the agency.

- This has to be some kind of trick, right?

- F*ck the supplementary team. I hate this rule

- Guys, doesn’t he look amazing? (screen capture)

With all the fuss people were making about this, posts began to appear in celebrity fan community sites.

[Viewers are in an uproar about the teaser for LeTi’s survival show (contestant replaced)]

Incredible. The reaction online was getting so heated that the show could now be regarded as a straight up sensation, not just provocative for an agency’s survival show. With all the attention that the show was getting, steam was steadily building. I decided I was done monitoring reaction for the day and headed back to the set.

***

“Phew.”

A contestant of Wise sighed deeply. He knew that cameras were watching him, but he couldn’t help it. He was just so frustrated, and the show was exceedingly cruel. Such was the treatment he was getting on this day of filming.

“You are now considered to be in jeopardy.”

Members of the supplementary team were disqualified on the spot if they failed to win their first one-on-one death match. But existing contestants were moved to the in-jeopardy group, and promptly excluded from all the main events in the show. They were forced to leave the dorm, contending with the fear that they might be disqualified.

They would then have to watch the member from the supplementary team who replaced them take their spot and unpack their things. The contestant in question had experienced this very thing after losing to Kim Raebin from the supplementary team.

“Sorry about this. I’ll make sure to keep everything clean! Sorry!” Raebin had said.

“No, it’s all right.”

It upset him that he needed to repress the annoyance he felt toward this member of the supplementary team who was apologizing to him so sincerely. The cameras were rolling, after all.

Is this really necessary? This was the world of show business, but he hadn’t been a trainee for very long and was young. This experience was coming as a shock to him. He trudged off according to the instructions given by the production team. He failed to remember that only a few days ago, he’d made a handful of disdainful comments about the trainees who hadn’t been selected for the survival show. He was forced to face reality again.

“Ugh.”

The in-jeopardy group did not even have beds. The location that he had thought of as just a storage warehouse until now was where his group was being forced to stay. They were practically being treated like animals or something. It almost made him want to cry.

God f*cking damn it! But he wasn’t alone, at least. Ryu Gunwoo, an older guy who had produced amazingly good results even though he had only been a trainee for a short time, was right there next to him. He was rather happy about this, and relieved as well. Gunwoo’s first performance had been amazing, and yet here he was, at risk of being disqualified. That was proof that luck played a part in this.

“Hey…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll see you later,” Ryu Gunwoo had said to the member of the supplementary team who was taking his place.

This suggested he wasn’t too worried yet.

“We’ll see each other again real soon, Gunwoo.”

“Thanks.”

He had even shaken hands with his roommate, Shin Jaehyeon, but surely the guy was starting to despair a little.

Let’s see. The contestant glanced over, checking Gunwoo’s expression.

“…?”

He was shockingly composed.

The contestant found himself saying, “Uh… Hey. Are you all right?”

“Not exactly… But nothing we can do about it right now,” Gunwoo replied indifferently. “There is nothing to be upset about. It’s my fault that I lost.”

The contestant was annoyed for some reason.

Why are you so relaxed in this situation? You must be sure you have a place to go back to, huh? This guy was from a prestigious university, after all. The contestant only barely restrained himself from glaring at Gunwoo. He wasn’t done talking, however.

“But I’m not going to be disqualified.”

“…!”

“I am going to climb back up there no matter what it takes.”

The contestant realized something. Even though the guy looked calm, it was only because he was resolute, determined to bet back up.

“Me too…” he said.

“Yes. Let’s both do our best,” Gunwoo said.

The contestant bumped fists with Gunwoo. Pressing his lips together, he thought that Gunwoo seemed to be stamping down on a storm of different thoughts internally, like he had reached some kind of realization.

Ah. This was not surprising, since Gunwoo had every intention of coming off this way.

All right. That is definitely going to be on the show. After staging an intriguing conversation with the contestant, Gunwoo was very satisfied as he picked up his blanket.

We just showed the cameras the resolve of two trainees who are at risk of being disqualified. There are only two of us, so this will certainly make it to the show. This meant a small chunk of assured screen time.

***

By the time we had finished organizing our things in the warehouse that served as our dorm now, filming began anew. The in-jeopardy group did not actually get to film, of course.

“Please organize the dorm while the main event is underway,” a staff member said.

“What…?”

“All right,” I replied.

This is actually a good thing. The event that they were talking about involved singing a song for a public campaign, and I wasn’t at all upset about not being able to participate. There was nothing about it that would work to my benefit. Even if the event was shown in an episode, it would take up twenty minutes tops, and the rest would be more provocative content, like team battles.

Fourteen people singing a single campaign song? I prefer this. It was obvious that people would be more amused by us doing housework, since it was more unexpected. I worked hard, cleaning the dorm and making food. It was important to seem serious about the work, and not like I was fooling around. At the same time, it was important not to seem too miserable as to displease viewers.

“It’s much nicer in here now that it’s all clean,” I said.

“Yes…”

The other contestant who was with me wasn’t all that cooperative, but I was able to coax him into working together.

The more I do, the more of an advantage I’ll have. I would use this opportunity to erase the idea that I’d had an easy upbringing. I put on some rubber gloves.

“I am going to clean the bathroom.”

I spent the whole day proving that I wasn’t a spoiled child. The event then ended, and the real filming began. The trainees would be getting ready for the third set of performances.

“Before the next theme is announced, the in-jeopardy group will be moved elsewhere.”

The in-jeopardy group would not be included with the rest of the contestants here, either. They would be forced to wait in a separate practice room for a couple of hours until a trainer showed up and explained what was happening.

“You do not get to choose a team,” we were told.

We were not provided with any other information—we were told to wait until someone selected us for their team. And if that didn’t happen, we would be disqualified immediately. But if somebody did, we would be included as a last-minute tack-on.

Considering that some people might not get the parts they want if they include us, the skilled teams are probably not going to choose one of us. No one with the necessary talent would ever choose us. This was a survival show. I kept all expression from my face and stood still as a rock with a serious expression on my face.

As expected, ten minutes passed after the announcement before the practice room door swung open gently.

“Excuse us.”

It was Cheongryeo—Shin Jaehyeon. He walked into the practice room and stood beside the trainer, making sure the cameras were pointed at him. I said nothing.

“Has your team decided to take one of the members of the in-jeopardy group?” the trainer asked.

“Yes,” he said, looking at me openly as if he didn’t see the need to hide it. “The contestant that we want is Ryu Gunwoo—”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and it swung open again, only this time with a little more urgency.

“Uh…”

“…!”

Chaeyul walked in. Chaeyul was the member of the supplementary team who had defeated me, and a member of VTIC in the real world.

“Is your team also going to take a member from here?” the trainer asked.

“Yes.”

He seemed a little taken aback to see that Cheongryeo was already here, but he responded immediately.

“Ryu Gunwoo,” he said.

Of course. I knew you would come if you managed to persuade your teammates. I wondered what the trainer would decide.

“If two teams select the same in-jeopardy contestant, the contestant gets to choose,” the trainer said.

Well, that’s a surprise. I expected it to be first come first serve, or hinge on a game of rock paper scissors or something. I didn’t really love this situation, however. I didn’t want to seem as though I was in an advantaged position. I had to look like an underdog working my way up.

Hmm. I blinked a few times, as if confused, and quickly ran my eyes over them. I had no idea what their teams were, or even if Cha Eugene and Kim Raebin were on either team.

Hmm. I stared at the floor for a moment, finishing my calculations. Then I decided.

“The team that I want to join is…”

This one.