Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Anyone special? Though Cheongryeo had smiled affably at every Idol Inc. contestant he’d met during filming, he had his doubts about how likely they were to be successful in the long term. The guys sitting high in the rankings were currently very popular because of the exposure they were getting through the show. How they would fare once they actually entered the industry, however, was a different matter entirely.

The show might be making them look more talented than they actually are. Most of the contestants had failed to make it in their respective agencies, which was how they’d ended up on the show in the first place.

Cheongryeo was about to continue with their discussion about what they should eat for lunch when one of the contestants came to mind. “Park Moondae, maybe?”

“Oh, the chicken feet guy?”

The younger member of his group laughed, but Cheongryeo didn’t join him.

“He answered the quiz questions exactly the same way I did.”

“Whoa! Really? That’s interesting. Does he have a similar personality to you, maybe?”

“To some extent.”

“No way!”

Cheongryeo ignored his bandmate’s shock, a little disappointed.

It would have been nice to have someone like him in our company’s next group. It was obvious to him that Park Moondae had considered the questions to be dumb and had done his best to choose the most neutral answers for the camera’s sake.

“Hmm. If he’s like you, he must be really cold.”

“Practical, you mean?”

“R-right.”

People like Cheonryeo and Moondae didn’t engage with other people’s emotions, nor did they indulge in unrealistic flights of fancy. They were more suited to business than celebrity. Idol trainees in general, especially the talented younger kids, tended to possess both the good and bad traits typically found in the entertainment industry but for better or for worse, they tended less toward cold reasoning. The reality they would face as they grew older, however, was that they were living in a cold society dominated by capitalism.

“Well, I’m happy we have a person like you as our leader.”

“Is that so? Thanks.”

Though some might consider this opinion to be arrogant, Cheongryeo agreed with his younger member’s assessment.

It’s better to have someone with a cool head in charge. This was the case for VTIC—the group he led with confidence. And in that sense, Park Moondae was a very promising candidate to make a later debut.

His dancing should improve as well, after a couple of years of practice. And given his personality, his influence within whichever team he ended up in would grow if he was the oldest member, even if he didn’t have much experience. Cheongryeo was sure this would be the case since this had been his experience exactly.

It’ll also make it easier to work with him. If things were to unfold in this way it would be beneficial to both the group and the agency. But just because VTIC had acquired more shares in the company during their contract renewal didn’t mean it was his responsibility to recruit nor did he have the time to nurture future male idols.

Once Moondae debuted, he would become the competition, nothing more. He’d been considerate enough to offer Moondae a recommendation, so that was good enough.

If he’s smart, he’ll get in touch. With that, Cheongryeo put the matter from his mind. His schedule was very busy.

***

On the set of Idol Incorporated, the ranking announcement had just begun. The format hadn’t changed all that much from the last time they’d done this, but far fewer people—only twenty—would get to stay. This minute change caused a lot of tension on set. And there was one important detail remaining that could affect the diminishing ranks greatly—the reward for winning the last team battle.

“Can the leaders of the top two teams please stand up!”

The prize would allow one member from the winning team, decided by the members of that team, to survive till the next round regardless of the rankings. We’d already agreed to let Goldie #1 have it if we won, and had even mentioned it in front of the cameras during the pre-filming interviews we’d been asked to record.

“The Moon Rabbit team has selected... Ha Iljoon.”

Ryu Chungwoo, the leader of the Huskiez team, remained silent for a good while, however, even after Big Sejin had finished delivering our decision. It seemed like there was a problem.

“Huskiez team, please tell us who you selected,” the emcee encouraged. I wondered if it was just my imagination that he sounded so gleeful to my ears.

Ryu Chungwoo finally began to speak slowly. “We’d selected Choi Wongil.”

Would you look at that?! Making waves till the very end. Maybe he’s a luckier guy than I knew. Frankly, I hadn’t expected that he would manage to secure the reward for himself. This meant Choi Wongil had given up on a 50 percent chance of guaranteed survival and chosen to sign with an agency.

And in doing so, he’d made the situation complicated for his team since they had already told the production team before filming began who they’d selected. By the look of things, the production team hadn’t allowed the team to roll back their decision after Choi Wongil had decided to leave.

The production team made a show of being surprised by this development, however, and huddled up for a moment. Then they gestured to the emcee, who slowly read the lines a member of the production team was holding up on a sketchbook for him to read.

“This is an unexpected situation. As a rule, if a member decides to leave the show, any benefits they are awarded go with them. However, taking into consideration that this situation is rather special, and a direct result of the casting call, we’ll give the Huskiez team three minutes to choose another member!”

“Understood.” Ryu Chungwoo bowed and returned to his seat, gathering his teammates around him.

I worried my lip.

It’s over. It was obvious the other team had gotten first place. The production team will look bad if they don’t give them the reward after going through all this. They weren’t idiots and I was sure they already had everything planned out. This meant Goldie #1 was on his own.

I guess he’ll have to make do without the immunity. Goldie #1 was trying his best not to look nervous, which meant he’d also guessed what was about to happen.

As expected, Moon Rabbit wasn’t the winning team.

“Congratulations! First place goes to... the Huskiez team!”

“Thank you.”

But the ridiculous situation wasn’t over quite yet.

“The team has come to a consensus and the contestant who will receive the reward is... Cha Eugene!”

Those jackasses had actually given it to Cha Eugene.

Either they couldn’t agree on a single person, or they were all trying to make Eugene look greedy. In any case, it was none of my business. There was some disappointment within my own team.

“That’s too bad.”

“Y-yeah, I know, right?”

“Hey guys, don’t think of it that way! We’re gonna earn our way to the top!” Goldie #1 shouted, trying to be cheerful.

I had a feeling he was probably silently cursing the Huskiez team out. I would be.

And that was that for revealing the winning team. Now the real ranking announcement ceremony would begin.

“In 18th place... we have Kwon Heeseung!”

The tension returned in full force, as though the easy mood that had settled over everyone after the Casting Call event had been nothing but a dream.

“Th-thank you...” Goldie #2 didn’t bother to hide his relief as he walked up to the podium.

I didn’t think he would last this long. Though he was only holding on by the skin of his teeth. Up until tenth place, the names called were mostly as expected, consisting of the contestants who deserved to stay on the show. The only mildly surprising development was that Lee Sejin’s rank had risen slightly.

“In 11th place... We have Lee Sejin A!” He’d done fairly well considering he’d been fighting with his teammates front and center during the most recent team battle. Maybe he’d come out of it looking good because it was Choi Wongil, who was by now considered a bit of a troublemaker, he’d quarreled with.

Big Sejin looked deeply relieved as he clapped for Lee Sejin.

“I envy him,” he muttered wistfully, as though actually worried he might be disqualified.

I shot him a look heavy with disbelief. Surely he doesn’t think he’s going to be eliminated, does he?

If Big Sejin didn’t manage to qualify, I didn’t know who would. I had no doubt he was hoping to hear his name called as late as possible. Credit where credit’s due—he was, as ever, very aware of the cameras.

“Congratulations!”

The emcee continued to call names from the podium, stalling just enough to build tension. Most of the contestants I was friends with were safe.

Park Moondae’s name came out sooner than the previous ranking.

“Thank you.”

I was in sixth place, slightly lower than my previous ranking.

So I did drop. It wasn’t that I’d gotten fewer votes—the number of votes I’d received simply hadn’t grown to keep pace with the other contestants. This inflation had occurred for a simple reason: because people could use money to vote as much as they wanted, fans were purchasing more votes as they grew more nervous about how negative votes were going to affect their bias. This phenomenon was more applicable the more earnest a contestant seemed.

They want to make people more nervous so they spend more money. The production team were pros when it came to parting people from their money. But in contrast to the other high-ranking members, who had all been touched by some element of controversy, be it regarding screen time, their past, or their rank—Park Moondae had stirred no drama.

I guess it can’t be helped. I would have to be out of my mind to try and create controversy at this stage since it was the production team who was in charge of the final edits, not me.

I can’t shake the feeling I should have made better use of the Casting Call event. It was disappointing, but there was nothing I could do about it now. The moment VTIC showed up, getting the cameras to focus on Park Moondae had been a lost cause.

“Congratulations!”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Big Sejin, who’d risen in the ranks a little and moved to seventh place, grinned at me and held his hand out for a high five. He perfectly played the part of the friendly, fellow contestant.

I have a feeling this guy will debut, too. If you disregarded the negative votes he’d gotten because of the school bullying scandal, he had more votes than I did. As expected, his fans had rallied around him.

Who knew helping him out would lead to my rank being threatened? No good deed goes unpunished. There wasn’t really anything I could have done differently at the time, since we were on the same team, but I was still a little upset about the whole thing. With a quiet click of my tongue, I turned my attention back to the emcee.

Cha Eugene took first place.

“Wow!” He grinned excitedly as he accepted his first-place badge, then sobered some, adopting a more serious expression as he gave a short victory speech. “I’ve learned and reflected a lot, after coming on this show. I’ll continue to improve and work hard. Thank you for giving me first place.”

There was still something a little strange about the way he spoke, but there was more gravitas in his voice than he’d ever shown in the past. This shift in him matched well with how he’d been portrayed recently on the show.

I guess that’s why he got first place. It probably wasn’t even premeditated on his part which reminded me that he was the contestant with the highest charm stat.

“Cha Eugene is the top stock as selected by our shareholders! Once again, congratulations on first place!”

There was another round of applause as Eugene took his seat in the first-place chair. Only the bottom two ranks were yet to be revealed.

Goldie #1 still hadn’t been called.

He’s still got a chance. The four candidates for 20th and 19th place were shown on the massive screen, and things were looking hopeful as Goldie #1’s picture appeared among them. It was a fifty-fifty chance.

I waited for the emcee to say his name.

“In 20th place! The final person to move on to the final stage of Relisted! Idol Incorporated is... Seo Taemun!”

It wasn’t him. Just like earlier when they’d announced which team had won, the fifty-percent odds had betrayed him. I wondered why he was having such a streak of bad luck.

“I’m proud that I managed to advance this far at all. I’d like to thank all the shareholders who voted for me!” Ha Iljoon—Goldie #1—would not be going on to the finals.

“Hey!”

“Stay in touch, all right?”

As soon as the emcee wrapped up the ceremony, those who were disqualified were met with a less perfunctory farewell than in previous rounds. Both of them had made at least three or four friends after months on the same set.

Goldie #2 and Ahyeon were crying, and I approached to say my goodbyes after they were done. The cameras were still rolling and I felt very uncomfortable being filmed after their emotional farewells. I decided to settle for a handshake.

“Moondae!” Goldie #1 was feeling pretty emotional, though, and he opened his arms wide for a hug.

I can’t push him away, can I? I wish I could. I stood there awkwardly in his embrace as Goldie #1 spoke calmly, obviously trying to hide his disappointment.

“I think you’ll debut. Hang in there.”

Had anyone told me when I entered Park Moondae’s body that I’d end up feeling some kind of way receiving these well-wishes from an idol trainee, I probably wouldn’t have believed them.

Huh. Instead of sighing, I returned the sentiment.

“You too.”

“What?”

“I think you’ll debut soon, too.”

Ha Iljoon released me from the hug and grinned. “I know, right? I’m ready to succeed.”

It was unclear, really, whether he’d make it out there after placing only 21st on the show. I nodded, however. Surprisingly, I wasn’t doing it for the sake of the cameras this time.

“Thanks for everything,” I said.

“No, thank you!”

Only twenty contestants remained, now that fifty-seven in total had been disqualified. The only thing ahead of us now was the finals.