Chapter 44

Chapter 44

The Moon Rabbit team, after successfully delivering their performance, returned to the waiting room to film reaction cuts. A huge screen had been mounted on the wall so they could watch the others perform. Everyone on his team had burst into tears as soon as they got off stage, and their eyes were all puffy and red.

Frankly, I didn’t think it was a strange reaction given the circumstances. We had worked day and night for over ten days for this, and we were finally finished. If I were actually twenty years old, I probably would have cried, too.

“Moondae, how is it that you haven’t shed a single tear? Don’t tell me you really are actually a secret service agent...”

“No,” I said, cutting off Goldie #1’s lame attempt at humor before he could really get going.

Our team members snickered. Everyone seemed relaxed.

They know they did a great job. Though nobody said as much, since the other teams were also gathered in the waiting room, thanks to the interim evaluation and the rehearsal we already knew—unless one of the other teams suddenly performed like they were on creative steroids, we had this round locked down.

Thanks to this, we were able to give better, more generous reactions than usual as we watched the other teams perform. We were completely at ease and capable of just enjoying what the other teams were doing.

This is fun. I was able to enjoy just being a member of the audience for once as I watched the rest of the team battles unfold. I made sure to give the camera an interesting reaction every now and then, of course, keeping a watchful eye on my surroundings.

The second and third teams are out, that much I know for certain. The second team’s arrangement was random and they hadn’t been able to complete their choreography on time. Half of the members made mistakes during the dance break in the second half of the song.

The third team had tried to pull off a sexy theme, just like Big Sejin had wanted, but they went too far with it to the point of being distasteful.

Female viewers will be pretty turned off by that performance. It remained to be seen what the editors would make of it, however.

The fourth team did a decent enough job, at the very least. Goldie #2 was on this team and they had selected a song with a cute, exciting beat. They hadn’t strayed far from the original tune, but what they did change went well with their overall performance.

“Nice, Heeseung!”

Goldie #1 shouted excitedly when Goldie #2 appeared center stage. I applauded as well. Now there was only one team left—the calamity that was Ryu Chungwoo’s group.

Poor guy. If anyone failed to feel sorry for him at this point, it was probably because they’d never had to do a group project before. Even I could tell that Lee Sejin and Choi Wongil were refusing to even speak to one another anymore. Yet they’d somehow managed to put together a complete performance with Cha Eugene and the troll that was their fifth member.

If that wasn’t a feat worth celebrating, I didn’t know what was. Throughout the last few days of practice, Cha Eugene had still been pretty out of it and had continued to come by every two or three days to make more of a dent in my stash of snacks.

I didn’t know if all the chocolate I’d fed him had been actually helpful, but it didn’t matter to me in the end, even if he screwed up. He wasn’t on my team.

“You can do this!” Big Sejin encouraged Chungwoo’s team—he’d been cheering for each group as they left the waiting room to go on stage.

After a short wait, they appeared on screen.

“Here we go!”

Despite the terrible team politics, the members still ranked pretty highly, and there was an unmistakable feeling of expectation in the air. Of course, this expectation could just as easily be fulfilled by a disaster as a success. As it turned out, though, Chungwoo’s team didn’t crash and burn at all.

Whoa... how is he doing so well? Eugene carried the entire team. Every time he came to the center of the stage during the chorus, he single-handedly painted a picture of a quality performance.

So this is how he landed first place in my original timeline. I’d thought he’d for sure been on the verge of a breakdown, but he was a completely different person onstage.

Is it because of his special trait? I recalled his trait, which I’d seen during the last team battle.

[Trait: Black Hole (A)]

Draw everyone in with your irresistible power!

+150% in audience immersion

With an incredible trait like that, of course, his debut had been assured from day one.

“Wow!”

As soon as it was over, the contestants in the waiting room all marveled and clapped.

“Ch-Cha Eugene is so good.”

“Yeah.”

I could hear my team whispering to one another beside me, but they still didn’t sound at all nervous. Probably because they were secure in the fact that despite Cha Eugene’s incredible showing, our stage had been better overall.

The problem is that we were first. Time would dilute the strong impression we’d left on the audience. I wished we hadn’t lost the mini-game that had decided what order we would perform.

Who knew Goldie #1 would lose so badly? As he’d stepped forward to play the mini-game for our team, Goldie #1 had proudly declared,

“Put your trust in me, guys!”

If any of us had actually trusted him, then that trust had been misplaced. Goldie #1 had poured his heart and soul into winning rock paper scissors, then had gone on to lose every single round of the minigame.

If our going first made enough of a difference that we didn’t take first place, only Goldie #1 really stood to lose anything from it. All our other team members would make it to the finals, even if their rankings dropped a little.

Goldie #1, however, could not afford to fall any lower, and for him, winning this team battle was of utmost importance. Based on what we’d seen from the show so far, the production team was sure to offer a prize of some sort that would help the winning team to survive.

I guess we’ll find out soon. The final team had finished their performance, and we only had to wait about an hour until the results would be revealed. They were likely to pull their usual shenanigans, keeping the first and second place secret until the next ranking announcement, but at least we’d get a rough sense of how things stood.

An hour and a half later, we got the results exactly as I’d predicted them to be.

“The remaining candidates for first place are team Moon Rabbit and team Huskiez! Who will take the first place prize?”

Huskiez was Ryu Chungwoo’s team. This was all unsurprising to me.

“The results will be revealed... at the next ranking announcement! Stay tuned!”

Yep, I saw that one coming, too.

“But it would be no fun if we did it all the same once again, right? So we’ll reveal the winning prize right now!”

“Huh?”

I hadn’t foreseen this.

“The prize for winning this round... will allow the recipient to survive the next ranking announcement no matter what happens!”

This was too good to be true. There were only thirty people left. Why were they offering a reward like this?

And... the emcee isn’t done. Of course.

“However, only one person will receive the prize! The two teams will discuss who on their team will receive the prize, should the team win at the next ranking announcement!”

The production team’s ideas seemed to be growing more savage as the show entered its second half.

Wait... doesn’t that mean winning will be no different from losing for all but one? Even the one who did end up receiving the prize would end up as the internet’s punching bag. But then again, I still remember the sort of attention-grabbing stunts these people used till the very last episode in my timeline, and I was consumed with studying for my exam back then.

They were truly something else. In any case, our team would not have much trouble coming to a decision. There was only one person who actually needed it.

Giving it to Goldie #1 is the most logical thing to do. The others weren’t likely to be eliminated after this round, and they’d probably prefer to give up on taking the reward for themselves to protect their reputation, rather than catching flak for claiming it.

One potential problem I could foresee was if Ahyeon asked to have it instead, afraid of the harsh criticism he’d gotten online, but that wasn’t likely considering his personality.

Big Sejin was in the public’s favor right now because of the fake school bullying incident and probably had a clear idea of his own rank. I glanced around at my teammates’ expressions. They were all throwing glances at Goldie #1, which had to mean they were probably thinking the same thing.

Goldie #1 looked embarrassed, but ready to accept. He would politely refuse a couple of times before giving in.

So we’ve got no problems over here. That wasn’t true of the other team, however. I could picture the production team salivating over the strife the prize was about to cause in the Huskiez team.

“Now then, that concludes the third team battle of Relisted! Idol Incorporated! Shareholders, we’ll see you at the ranking announcement ceremony!”

The filming came to an end as the contestants bowed to the camera and applauded.

“Good work, guys!”

“See you at the next shoot!”

As some of the more courteous contestants said their goodbyes, our team gathered up again after we’d changed into our own clothes. It took only a few seconds for us to decide on giving Goldie #1 the prize.

“We’ve all worked hard for this. Why don’t we just let the oldest take it?”

“Sure.”

“Sounds good.”

“O-okay!”

“Hey, I’m really grateful, for sure, but shouldn’t we discuss this a little more—”

Big Sejin chuckled humorously, “Don’t you see? The more time we spend discussing this, the less sleep we’ll get...”

“Oh.”

Now that the recording was over, the tension had drained from our bodies and the lack of sleep from the last ten days was starting to catch up to us. Everyone’s eyes were half closed already.

“R-right. Thanks, guys. I’ll buy you guys a meal next time.”

“Haha! Thanks! We’ll be conscientious and not ask for something as expensive as beef.”

I had a feeling that was a stab directed at me, but I was too tired to care.

In any case, our team parted ways in a genial mood. Trying to hold back a yawn, I used my navigation app to find the best route to the nearest bus stop.

“M-Moondae?”

“Yeah?”

I turned around and found Ahyeon standing in front of me with clenched fists. He isn’t going to try and hit me, is he?

“What’s up?” I asked.

“W-want a lift? M-my parents came to pick me up...”

“Oh... Yeah. Thanks.”

Because of how popular the show had become, it would probably have been difficult to take a bus home. I’d been resigned to calling a taxi, anyway.

I guess I can save some money on the taxi fare. I didn’t feel entirely comfortable meeting another contestant’s parents, but just letting them give me a ride wouldn’t end in any terrible consequences.

“N-no, there’s no n-need to thank me!” Ahyeon led me outside excitedly and stopped next to a black sedan parked on the side of the street. The car was of foreign make.

I knew it. His family is rich. I’d already guessed as much after seeing Ahyeon’s housing arrangement. I followed him into the backseat of the car and greeted his parents as politely as I could.

“Hello!”

“You must be Moondae. Nice to meet you.”

“Welcome! Did Ahyeon do a good job again?”

“D-dad!”

His family was more amicable than I’d imagined they would be. Ahyeon flushed with embarrassment, but I could tell his parents were proud of him.

“Yes. He did very well. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see him perform on the show.”

“Attaboy!”

Ahyeon thumped his head against the back of the driver’s seat, looking like he might pass out from embarrassment. He seemed much more expressive now that he was with family.

As I guessed, it must have been the other kids that caused him trouble growing up. I gave them the address to my studio apartment politely and relaxed into the car seat, enjoying the ride. It was nice since all I needed to do in return was answer the occasional question.

I’d already gotten over feeling strange seeing my friend’s warm families, in contrast to my own situation, so I could just enjoy a comfortable ride home.

***

“Take care!” Ahyeon’s parents called.

“I will! Thank you,” I said.

“I-I’ll be in touch!” Ahyeon cried through the open window.

“Okay.”

Only after several rounds of goodbyes with Ahyeon’s family was I able to get out of the car at my address.

I learned a little too much in that car… I considered it wholly unnecessary to know that Ahyeon had studied in Europe and even learned ballet, but I chose to think of it as the price I had to pay for a free car ride. I dragged myself up the shabby stairs and down the corridor, approaching the studio apartment I’d rented out.

The first thing I’m going to do is catch up on sleep—wait a second. What the f*ck...

My door was ajar.