Chapter 380

Chapter 380

I immediately accepted the draw. Swallowing nervously, I checked my list, which showed the current status of the companions I had drawn so far.

[Companions List]

[Shin Jaehyeon: Going out to find companions (//-^L)]

[Cha Eugene: Having a calm conversation with the production team (ㅇ^ㅇ)]

This should have been the end of the list, but now there was an extra name belonging to the person I had just drawn.

[Lee Sejin: Reading through a scenario (ˋ^´9)]

A scenario? It was obvious he was supposed to be an actor. This was Bae Sejin. I sighed.

A pop-up appeared. Big Moon seemed to have written it out in a rush.

[Oh my god! Awaken him right now, Gunwoo!]

All right.

[Awaken the companion Lee Sejin?]

- Uses 1000 EXP

I was about to reach out to confirm this when I stopped short.

[Huh? Gunwoo?]

No. This isn’t what I want. My brain had finally kicked into gear again.

I am in the middle of filming right now. I had even turned in my phone. Even if I awakened him right now, I wouldn’t be able to contact him for the next four days. I couldn’t let him spend that whole time alone and confused as his memories returned to him.

[Oh… right.]

I would finish filming first and then get to it.

[Right! Good luck!]

I dismissed the pop-up, but I wasn’t as nervous as before. In fact, I felt a little bit more motivated.

I will awaken him right after I’m done and contact him. I’ll tell Cha Eugene, too. Persuading this guy would be anything but easy, but just knowing he would remember us was enough to make me feel better. My head seemed to clear up.

[Lee Sejin: Memorizing scenario (ˋ^//)]

I have no idea why shading was being used in the emoji for him, but for now, I would content myself with doing nothing. I grinned, closed the pop-up, and prepared to return to the practice room.

“Excuse me…”

“…!”

I knew that voice.

But why am I hearing it right now? I turned my head and immediately found the person I expected to see. It was Lee Sejin, who was wearing an awkward look on his face.

“Do you know where I can wash my hands?”

I stared for a moment, before realizing it was break time, so he could go wherever he pleased. I raised my hand and pointed.

“That way.”

“Oh!”

Go on, then. He didn’t leave right away, however.

“Thank you. You’re Gunwoo, right? Can I call you that?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you seem very straightforward!”

He grinned.

“Your performance today was amazing, and I had so much fun watching it. Thank you.”

“No, thank you.”

Give me a moment to get myself together, will you?

“I appreciate the compliment.”

“I meant it. I saw your first performance, too, and that was also great. Seriously. I think you’re going to debut!”

Does this bastard have his memories back? Is he testing me right now? That can’t be it. He probably just wanted to establish a connection since he thought I had potential. This much was obvious.

So that part of him hasn’t changed. I unfolded my arms.

I’m going to draw your name and awaken you when I’m done gathering reputation. You do as you please. I decided I should compliment him a little bit, too, though I wouldn’t be saying anything that wasn’t true.

“Thank you. I learned a lot from your performances, too. Your every move and expression seems to fit the music so well, and I took inspiration from that.”

“Oh.”

He suddenly seemed to draw into himself.

Maybe he wasn’t expecting it? But he soon spoke again glibly.

“Thanks. That’s encouraging! Why don’t we exchange numbers while we’re here?”

This was identical to what had happened during Idol Inc. An odd feeling of nostalgia filled me, rather than bitterness. I shrugged.

“I don’t have my phone right now… If you don’t mind, I can give you my phone number,” I said.

“Yes. Of course!”

I input my number into his phone. It felt strange.

“I’ll text you. Let’s keep in touch!” he said.

“Right. I’m going to go inside and prepare now. Thank you.”

“All right.”

I turned away as if I hadn’t noticed that he seemed to want to talk a little more.

I need to organize my thoughts. He had always been a talkative guy. I had the feeling that if I spoke to him now, I would slip up as soon as I began to relax. In any case, I had been polite to him, so it wasn’t likely he would feel offended or anything.

So things between us seem to be unfolding similarly here. We had begun our relationship for a purely practical purpose—gaining mutually beneficial connections. I grinned, turning the corner of the corridor and picking up speed. I caught myself just as I was about to collide with someone. It was Cheongryeo.

“There you are. You wandered pretty far, didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t really intentional, but yeah,” I said.

“It seems intentional… Ah. I see.” He glanced around the corner and saw Lee Sejin walking away. He muttered languidly, “I noticed you were gone. Let me warn you in advance. It’ll be hard to get him on board. He’s already debuted, and he’s in his third year.”

Yeah. I know that.

“We just exchanged numbers. Nothing more,” I said.

“Are you thinking of explaining the situation and perhaps persuading him?” he asked.

“You did that with him before.”

Just explain to him out of the blue? For a moment, I got the feeling that it might not be impossible, but I soon thought better of it.

“No. The performances come first,” I said.

Unreasonable things were not unreasonable because they couldn’t be done. They were unreasonable because nobody did them even though they weren’t impossible. I wouldn’t be telling him anything unnecessary until he awakened.

“Yes. Good decision.”

Way to be obvious. I returned to the practice room to continue working on our performance.

A few days later, filming for the first battle on this show before an audience began.

***

“It’s nice to be here!”

Xyrop’s Lee Sejin, who had returned once more as a special judge, greeted everyone cheerfully and sat down. The less busy of the idols who had come for the interim evaluation had been called back again. It didn’t feel great having a spot here himself. Even so, he was interested in the performances.

There was a lot to gain from watching people who were likely to become his competitors. In addition, he had just exchanged numbers with one of them—Ryu Gunwoo, the trainee who had performed the jazz song. Lee Sejin frowned slightly, pretending to crinkle his nose.

There was something odd about that conversation. He had found Gunwoo to be quite talented and eye-catching, which had led him to decide that he wanted to talk with the guy. But after they had started speaking, he had simply felt as though he wanted to become friends. It was like they had known each other in the past but had become estranged at some point.

Did I know him before? Maybe we lived in the same neighborhood or something when we were young? Oh, I don’t know. He always put aside questions that did not have immediate answers.

He didn’t reply yet, anyway. After this battle was over, he would start texting the guy and try to figure out what was going on. The guy looked a little aloof, but he was certainly very talented. Lee Sejin did not regret striking up a conversation. He sat up straight in his seat.

Filming would begin soon.

“The third battle for Wise begins… now!” the president said with much aplomb, and the set was rapidly made ready. The performances that followed were worthy of a debut team coming out of such a large agency.

Irritating… Lee Sejin was sure to hide his emotions. He felt the strong desire to outperform these rookies, while also feeling at risk. He began to rank the teams.

They’re worse than Xyrop, and this one is similar… Not that they’re guaranteed to become popular just because they are good at performing. LeTi’s female idol group, Marshmallow, had failed to truly take off despite being skilled. They had opted to go the cheesy route instead. But he had to take into account that half of these people would be filtered out again to create the final team.

Goddamn it. Lee Sejin decided that he needed to find a way to motivate his group to become better. He was confident when it came to dealing with people, though it tired him whenever he was reminded that he seemed to dwell on such thoughts more than his actual performances. His gaze became subdued, but the lights over the stage counteracted that somewhat.

“And now, the keyword for the next battle!”

Some time passed and the battle that he had been most looking forward to arrived. A keyword appeared on the screen.

[Sexy]

The audience groaned, cheered, and screamed—though it wasn’t clear if they were lamenting or just excited.

The moment I saw the concept, I knew they were going to go all in. Lee Sejin bit back a bitter smile and reacted cheerfully, as an idol of only three years might.

The first team’s performance began.

Get on your knees! Woo!

The choreography was carefully orchestrated, and the auto-tune and wavy movements screamed of lethal charm.

Hmm… Well, I suppose there’s an audience for this… Lee Sejin prepared something to say, just in case he was asked to speak. He jotted down some keywords, just because the cameras were on. He then tried to predict the reactions to the next and final stage.

This team… He’d had his eye on this team since the interim evaluation. It included many of the most promising contestants on the show, including Gunwoo, who he’d exchanged numbers with.

There must be a reason that they’re going last. He had looked them up online and found that spoilers were going around, and people were excited. Most of the audience would now be busily guessing the members of the upcoming team on social media and messaging apps, trying to remember who hadn’t appeared yet.

The moment the names appeared onscreen, there was massive cheering mixed with screaming and moaning that was hard to put into words.

[Shin Jaehyeon, Kim Raebin, Jung Woodan, Cha Eugene]

[+ Ryu Gunwoo (in jeopardy)]

The fans who were seeing for the first time that Gunwoo was marked as in-jeopardy were taken aback, but still excited about the team itself.

They are going to lose their sh*t at the end of this. He could already see them succeeding. Lee Sejin smiled bitterly, able to picture exactly how the agency would promote this episode. This team had selected a song belonging to a top-tier idol group that had been released two years ago. They were going for a wild and masculine sexy concept, similar to the previous team.

They’re going to win. If the concept was similar, the one with the better skills was bound to win. He’d come to this conclusion easily enough after seeing the interim evaluation.

They were good. Even though he’d only seen the first verse, it had been more than enough to tell him what he needed to know. He focused on the performance gravely. The contestants who had stepped up onto the stage had gathered into a flower bud-shaped formation. Colorless lights flickered on the stage.

Cut off

A low voice began to sing, and a graceful accompaniment played.

“…!”

The lights turned purple, and the members moved smoothly. Their upper bodies were swaying in large, waving motions. Lee Sejin noticed something right away.

They altered the arrangement a little. A few instruments had been left out—including the electric guitar. The bass and string instruments had been boosted in volume. Their movements were less energetic than the original. Instead they were more relaxed and easy-going. The velvet shirts and black pants they were wearing were well suited to their movements.

Cut it off and let it go

This is your way

(So sick)

Kim Raebin pushed his hair back as finished his intro. Shin Jaehyeon smoothly took up the baton with an elegant gesture of his hand. There were no group dance moves now, as they focused on their own individual movements and facial expressions. The audience was riveted all the same.

That’s a difficult thing to pull off, Lee Sejin thought. The performance seemed to have no set choreography, and featured unusual gaps in motion. And yet the performers did not seem to lack in any way. This was difficult to pull off, even for pros. But this was not all there was to it.

Don’t look back.

It’ll make you sad. It’s pointless

You lost your game

It’s time to move on

An instrumental break began, accompanied by a synchronized dance. The difficult series of moves fit together perfectly like cogwheels, creating perfect synergy. A single person stood in the center surrounded by the protruding arms and legs of his teammates. They moved in accordance with the center person, forming a flower bud with their limbs.

They interacted like stage props as they drew focus to the center member. As carefully choreographed parts were combined with more relaxed moments, alternating between the two smoothly, the audience was left satisfied on two fronts to maximum effect.

The story’s already over

By the time the second verse was in full swing, Lee Sejin had come to a conclusion.

They’re smart. This performance was at a quality level that was simply absurd. Though it was a style that only the very skilled could pull off, he would have embraced doing it himself if he had been on a team like this one.

Brushing these thoughts aside, he focused again on the performance, which had completely transformed since the interim evaluation. Then a question arose in his mind.

Is the arrangement the only reason?

“…!”

Then he realized why it was so different. Cha Eugene had been the main reason the performance had seemed so wild, similar to the original track, during the interim evaluation. The intense energy and explosive thrill had been what he brought to the table. But here, the intensity seemed to be muted.

It’s not that he doesn’t stand out. Take the final part of the chorus of the second verse, for instance.

Love is a kind of disease

I realized it too late

So—

Eugene was staring at the camera, his eyes relaxed as somebody grabbed his neck. By holding back on the impact of his intense stare, the mood had been enhanced. He now had a cold charm about him. It was like he had adapted perfectly, transforming into the perfect LeTi trainee.

It was surprising that it was even possible, and at the same time, extremely strategic. The viewers would find this to be yet another charming aspect to him. The LeTi president, the man who was calling all the shots, was obviously reconsidering his stance as well. And the performance was formed around a powerful backbone—Ryu Gunwoo.

So, oh, oh, oh—

He was nailing a set of extremely high-pitched notes with perfect timing.

I can sense the audience’s surprise. If that had been all, however, he might’ve just seemed like a stage prop. But he made himself stand out in other ways.

Here. The saintess segment was coming up. It was the point in a song wherein a holy mood was crafted, pulling all the focus toward the member that was singing. The notes were not extremely high—just moderately so. It was a very difficult part to sing stably, regardless of who was attempting it.

It’s done

It’s over

Cut it off

Gunwoo delivered his lines in a dreamy, breathy way, almost like he was whispering. The rhythm was so clean that it was hard to believe that he had been singing inhumanly high ad-libs only moments before. It would have been easier to just scream at the highest pitch possible.

How is he able to sing for such a long time without taking a single breath? And without any supporting track, either?

Cut it off and let it go

This is your way

(So sick)

Gunwoo did amazingly well performing the single most important part of the song. He had also used his vocal skills to boost the quality of the performance many times over. He was a textbook example of why a group needed a main vocalist. Lee Sejin suddenly felt a strange sense of deja vu.

Why? The performance moved past the bridge. Every member played their part perfectly, leaving the audience endlessly pleased.

Then came the ending.

Cut off

The screaming from the audience was deafening, accompanied by applause and the waving of lightsticks.

Lee Sejin’s eyes remained glued to the performance till the very end. He still felt the strong desire not to be outdone, but he no longer felt as if he was threatened. Instead, he felt something different brewing in his chest.

Oh… It was a sense of loss that he found difficult to articulate. He had the odd feeling that his position had just been taken away from him.

What is that even supposed to mean? What is wrong with me today? Lee Sejin bit into the soft flesh inside of his mouth and struggled to keep the smile on his face. He grinned when it was his turn to speak.

“That was amazing! Really!” he said.

The third episode of Wise went live that day. There was no time for the audience members to spread spoilers about the in-jeopardy members who had lost to members of the supplementary team.

Then, it was time for the viewer voting to begin.