Chapter 47

Chapter 47

To start with, the person to lose the most stock was... well, exactly who I’d expected it to be.

[1st Place: Choi Wongil]

Looks like that’s the end of him. Based on how episode nine had been edited, we wouldn’t be seeing him again after the next ranking announcement ceremony, unless something big happened. The problems began when the person who came in second was revealed.

[2nd Place: Seon Ahyeon]

If I was being honest, I could have also predicted this was going to happen. The start of the previous voting period matched up timing-wise with when the public’s opinion of Ahyeon had begun to sour a little.

This was a good thing. Unlike Wongil, because Ahyeon had experienced being attacked excessively all of a sudden, people were going to pity him. It was likely the public would completely flip their assessment of him as indignant comments flooded in about how Ahyeon didn’t deserve to be second in what were essentially downvotes. He’d also performed well during the recent team battle and his position was solid.

Things will start going well for him as we’re coming up on the end. But at this moment, I knew explaining my reasoning wouldn’t make him feel better at this point. The only sound in the living room was coming from the TV and it had been that way for some time now.

Wow. I’m ghosting the next person who suggests watching an episode as a group. The vibe was terrible. What was more, coming in fourth, just a little below Ahyeon, was Lee Sejin B—that is, Big Sejin. This was probably because people had felt betrayed by him after the school bullying accusation and had sold a bunch of his stock immediately.

But that was handled quickly and people will start giving him extra votes before long—his fans will be worried about his rank. In the end, it was Big Sejin who was the one to break the silence. He had a big grin on his face.

“Well, I know all of this will change when our team performance airs. Don’t you agree?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think it’s likely the results will change all that easily,” Kim Raebin piped up, sounding grave.

Are you out of your mind? Big Sejin seemed to be asking him with his eyes.

Raebin continued without any hesitation, however. “We did well on this team battle, and I don’t think we’re likely to experience any noticeable drops in how many votes we’re getting.”

“Hey, um... Raebin? You do realize these are the negative votes they’re talking about, right?” Goldie #1 asked.

“Yes... Ah!” Raebin exclaimed, his eyes gleaming intelligently. He then seemed to realize something. “Negative votes—that is, sold stocks—tend to increase as we get more normal votes.”

This was statistically true, except in special cases like Wongil. The size of your loyal fanbase and how much they were voting was what actually mattered in the end.

“Wait... Huh?”

“I guess you’re right.”

Everyone seemed to relax at the same time. They were all no doubt thinking back to the last ranking announcement and realizing that what Raebin was saying made sense.

It’s pretty useful to keep that in mind, I thought. Though Raebin wasn’t always the best at communicating, he really was sensible. Ahyeon had also relaxed a little and was reacting to Goldie #1’s chatter.

“Wait, doesn’t that mean I’m out? I’m 21st on that list!”

“Hey! It’s because you don’t have any anti-fans!”

“Th-that’s right.”

The TV had started playing another ad, so I went to the internet to look over the rankings again.

[8th Place: Park Moondae▼3]

Eugene was above me and Ryu Chungwoo was below. Compared to how many negative votes I’d received at the last ranking announcement, I’d fallen by about three ranks.

Should I be happy about this? It was hard to tell. Unlike Eugene or Chungwoo, who’d never been caught in a scandal, there were a few unpleasant rumors circulating about Park Moondae. That made my situation more vague. Was this proof that the public’s negativity toward Park Moondae was dying down, or were people just voting for him less?

I hope I’m not on a decline. In my opinion, I’d performed well so far. More and more people were also watching my fancams and talking about me. The problem was, all of the guys currently seated around me had received a lot of praise as well, for the most part.

I’d be safe if they were going to let thirteen or so people debut. I already knew how many they would choose, so I couldn’t afford to be complacent just yet. Licking my lips again, I began browsing for reactions to the most recent episode. There was nothing of particular interest since Park Moondae hadn’t appeared much.

The few comments I could find went something like this.

- Moondae... can sing trot, too? What isn’t he good at?

- (Screaming because he’s so cute)

- Puppy’s eyes go wide after winning kimchi fridge [short video]

- Guys, we should be grateful Moon Puppy didn’t enter a trot audition show. They almost took him away from us!

An incredulous laugh escaped my lips. It was such a silly notion that I found it a little cute.

Seriously trot? I’ll be dead if I don’t make it as an idol. As I grinned and moved on to the next trending post, however, I felt a chill go down my spine.

- I wonder if life has a New Game Plus mode and Park Moondae’s on his second playthrough right now? It’s a reasonable theory, I think.

Wow. How the hell did you guess? Putting that aside, the other posts were mostly just discussions about how much they liked Team Rabbit. When I looked through the less popular posts, I discovered that quite a few people were relieved I hadn’t ended up on the puppy team.

- Twenty minutes ago, I posted wishing Moon Puppy would join the puppy team. I deleted that real fast.

- Frankly, I didn’t love this big data rubbish. I’m just glad that Moondae is okay...

- LOL I had a look at the write-up they did about what big data was used on their website. They put a hell of a lot of thought into these teams. I wonder if the production team has a personal vendetta against someone on one particular team?

Most of the posts by Park Moondae fans sounded like this, relieved that the upcoming stage was shaping up to be as good as the others, and confident he would likely debut without much hassle.

I liked that they seemed so happy for me, but I actually felt less confident than I had during the first team battle. Probably because the finals were just around the corner.

I doubt I’ll get much time on screen in this team battle. The performance itself seemed to have gone well, but no matter how much I thought about it, there were too many people on the Moon Rabbit team that the producers could use to weave a more interesting storyline.

I suppose I should be happy that I managed to maintain the status quo. Besides, past the midpoint of the show, hogging the cameras too much would only get you bad press. Being the main focus of a team could net you more fans, but it could also get you in trouble with viewers.

The episodes were only so long and people wanted to see their own favorite contestants on the show. Besides, though Park Moondae had never failed to nab some screen time in every episode, he had never hogged the camera before, either.

I’ll just have to be content that I didn’t leave myself open for criticism. Feeling slightly disappointed, I closed the browser.

A week later, I would come to find out that my assumptions had been premature.

I’m actually getting some screen time?

***

Park Moondae’s biggest anonymous fan community was bustling with excitement in the lead-up to episode ten airing. They had caught a glimpse of Park Moondae in the short preview of Team Rabbit’s performance. Ten days had passed before the HD teaser dropped, and everyone was beside themselves with excitement.

- Did you see his face in the trailer? It’s nuts

- LOL a glimpse at his face tells me everything I need to know. I’m going to stream a fancam of him right after today’s episode. Let’s go for ten million views!

- Korean traditional clothes? A rabbit mask? They are crazy! How is their concept so amazing every time? I think it must have been Moon Puppy’s idea again.

└ Probably. His creativity is scarily consistent. He seems to always know how to excite the fans. LOL

└ Yep, he was born to be an idol.

└ This.

Their excited chatter continued to pour in even after episode ten began. For an entire forty minutes, the other teams’ performances unfolded on screen, earning terse comments every now and then from Moondae’s fans.

Then it was finally the Moon Rabbit team’s turn.

- Those production team assholes, they really dragged this one out to the very end.

- Someone who was in the audience said that this team performed first! FIRST! So why is it being shown almost last?

- They’re making fools out of us every time a new performance is about to start. Goddamn that is annoying.

- We’ll finally get to see Moon Puppy T_T

People turned their focus to the show, as the song selection process for the team was shown without much editing. The hopeful, almost idealistic mood was depicted as it had been.

- Moon Puppy: Haha! I like your idea and yours as well. Let’s use them all!

- He’s so wise! LOL!

- Did you see his face when Big Sejin made the others sing a sexy song with him? LOL I get why Big Sejin compared him to a Tibetan fox. So cute!

- None of them are arguing needlessly and they’re all civil to each other. This is such a rare, peaceful discussion.

In truth, there was no possibility that this team’s segment would come across as anything but peaceful since there was nothing the editors could have used to depict a conflict.

This was because the contestants had no bad blood between them and knew to keep their heads down and not cause trouble, each for their own reason. Things might have been very different if they’d managed to catch the night someone had uploaded the accusatory post about Big Sejin on camera, but as luck would have it, the cameras had all been taken down that night because of a problem with the equipment.

This meant the production team had been forced to depict the Moon Rabbit team’s smooth road to success without any added editorial spice. Our harmonious team only served to make the Huskiez team look even more like a hot mess, adding to the fun for viewers.

Fans of the Moon Rabbit team had nothing to fear as they watched this part of the episode unfold—we were the only team that had pieced together a performance without fuss.

This wasn’t all good news for me, however. Because the team’s general vibe was so pleasant, none of our desperation to do well came through on screen. Instead, there was just a vague sense of warmth conveyed to the audience.

- I’ve never seen Moon Puppy look so relaxed before

- I guess he feels comfortable because he knows all of them well

- What a heartwarming sight

Shots of the tired team members stretched out on their beds were made to look as though they were simply good friends chilling, completely laid-back around one another.

Our sleepless nights and practice sessions, which had basically transformed us into zombies as we tried to meet the deadline, were nowhere to be seen. It didn’t fit in with the narrative the producers were trying to push.

Thankfully, the performance itself was shown in all its splendor.

- That. Was. Rad.

- Sexy rabbits in traditional costumes was a banger concept! I don’t understand how they made it work. Moon Puppy is a genius...

- I was listening with my earphones. Moon Puppy was harmonizing in the background for all the chorus segments, from beginning to end

└ Seriously? That’s nuts

└ How is that even possible?

└ The humming toward the end was an entire octave higher LOL If anyone says he is a bad singer now, they’ll just be proving they’re idiots

Because they’d shown our preparation process rather than team drama, the viewers were able to intuitively understand various aspects of the performance. It was a pleasantly surprising side effect of the editing.

- Hey, I got chills when Moon Puppy turned around and Earth appeared

- I loved the flow from hanbok to suits to hanbok again. It’s like a moon rabbit fell in love with a modern human or something, and it was imagining things in its head...

- I liked how there was only the stump of the cinnamon tree, and how the performance ended at the stump. It had this lonely, timeless feel to it that made me imagine an entire backstory

└ As a comics fan, I’m all for this performance

└ The fact that I’m not cussing at such a cringe comment says something about how impressive this was

- Thanks Moon Puppy. Every performance you give is legendary. You make your fans happy

As might be expected of a performance that had gotten such a huge reaction from the live audience, the fans watching at home didn’t need any further encouragement to unleash a tidal wave of comments.

It was a slight letdown, however, that no one member had received the spotlight in what had essentially been a perfect showing. The way everyone but Park Moondae had burst into tears immediately after the performance ended up on the cutting room floor, too.

I’d been right to assume I wouldn’t get much screen time. But my prediction that my team members would take the spotlight was also incorrect. As a result, once the final team appeared—the Huskiez—the stream of comments from Park Moondae’s fans quickly died down.

- Hey, that was nice.

- Debut let’s gooo

- I want to see more of Moondae’s face T_T Is that it for today?

- They should have shown us more casual scenes. That was like a documentary, and frankly a little boring. What’s the production team thinking? Tut-tut

It was at this time that Park Moondae suddenly appeared on the screen again.