Chapter 60

Chapter 60

The audience members could make out the silhouettes of modern combat uniforms on the contestants standing on stage. They were wearing a variety of harnesses, bulletproof vests, and similar paraphernalia.

As the audience members gasped and restrained themselves from screaming, a synthetic note met their ears again. It was a modulated, androgynous voice.

[Searching for a match...]

[Search successful.]

[Location confirmed.]

[Entering the thirteenth round...]

All sorts of arcade sound effects played, accompanying the voice.

Beep! Beep! Ding-dong! Beep-beep-beep

Blee-blee-bleep!

The contestants moved in tandem with the sounds, using rigid and fixed movements, reminding those watching of dolls or robots. Then they froze. The light above them came on with a snap.

It’s in your hands, the victory

But I’m the one making it happen

A clean, human voice rang out amid the synthesized accompaniment. Seon Ahyeon posed with finger guns under the spotlight and grinned as he finished singing the lyrics.

A roar filled the hall instantly in response, and on cue, the contestants began to dance.

The stage is always electrifying

It’s like my heart’s about to explode

Big Sejin appeared, sliding across the stage, and Kwon Heeseung sang the verse after him.

It’s in my hands, this weapon

I’m not letting go, and you know it

As each person took their turn in the center in order to sing their part, increasingly complicated moves were incorporated into their choreography. The rigid robotic movements were a thing of the past.

This, coupled with their costumes, created the impression that they were in a modern video game and were the playable characters that the audience had just selected.

The adrenaline rush

The powerful surge

Then the final shot!

Kim Raebin was actually singing a vocal part this time around and picked up where the previous person had left off.

Breathe in the excitement

The shudder in your nerves

The final round!

The contestants moved as a team, pulling back their arms like guns and pretending to shoot into the air, creating a unique, catchy move—it was obviously designed to be easy to dance along to. Then came the chorus.

As the melody climbed, Park Moondae flawlessly hit the high notes.

Shoot it, hit it, the final match!

I’ll be the one smiling at the end of the round

The victory in your hands

It came from me, I had it all planned

The beat, which had sped up rapidly during the chorus, suddenly stalled.

Thud!

With a heavy bass note, the theme’s melody began to play again.

The contestants formed a triangle formation as they stomped on the stage floor.

It’s in your hands, the victory

But I’m the one making it happen

The challenger you’re looking for

It’s me, and I’m here, right now

Their powerful movements perfectly matched the heavy beat. The pulsing music seemed to have taken control of their limbs, and the resulting dance had an almost intimidating feeling.

The audience watched with slack jaws as they shook their heads and flew through the routine with machine-like precision. The viewers watching their TVs at home weren’t much different. The comments section was filled with short commentary like “holy crap,” “Oh god,” and “wow” as soon as the performance began.

Despite the terrible camera work, they were still able to see just how good the performance was. As the team entered the second verse, a new formation unfolded on stage.

Your expectant gaze makes me ecstatic

My heart skips a beat every time

The figures each took turns taking the lead in the formation, as though they were controlling the others for the duration of their part. It was an excruciatingly difficult technique to execute on a live stage, but their movements were flawless and impressive to behold.

During the bridge, Kim Raebin followed Lee Sejin’s vocals with a short but elaborate rap, before the chorus started up again.

Bang!

The now iconic shooting movement was executed again, the repetition a familiar balm that caught the viewers’ attention once more. Then came the lines that fully utilized the melody and feel of the demo music the viewers would have heard on the previous episode.

It’s in your hands, the victory

But I’m the one making it happen

The challenger you’re looking for

It’s me, right here, right now

This time it was Seon Ahyeon who moved to the front and took control. Their feet moved in effortless, intricate tandem with the heavy beat. The performance was meticulously planned out and the audience was riveted by both the visual and auditory appeal that were irresistibly drawing them in.

The viewers were understandably confused when it all came to an end since it felt so sudden to them.

Take this crown.

You’re welcome!

At the performance’s conclusion, the synthetic narrator spoke once more, and the contestants stretched and tilted their necks robotically. Then they waved as they simply marched off stage.

The 8-bit melody played its abrupt, repetitive notes.

Beep! Beep! Bibibibibeep!

Beep! Beep!

The lights exploded behind the stage and soon even their silhouettes had vanished.

Most performances finished on an ending pose. They had chosen a very adventurous way to end things. However, this peculiar conclusion rounded out and completed the picture they’d painted—that they were characters from a video game, now disappearing after a satisfying match.

“Yeaaaaah!”

The viewers were exhilarated. Short, unintelligible strings of words and keyboard smashes filled the comments for a while and it was only as an interim ad came to an end on screen that the comments finally began making more sense.

- LMAO

- Gosh, these guys are relentless. So this is why they chose to go first

- Did they seriously just pull that off in the first performance?

- This reminds me of the rabbit performance. The editors saved that one until later in the episode, at least LOL

- No kidding. That isn’t going to be easy to beat

- Holy sh*t people. My jaw aches from gaping the whole time

- My gums are dry from smiling too much

- So their theme was a video game, huh? Seon Ahyeon’s smart

- This was frankly the best performance on the show by far. Agreed?

- I’m crying. Seon Ahyeon’s already an idol, I’m not accepting anyone who says anything to the contrary. Everyone, buy his stock before it’s too late

└ Lost your way, little lamb? Go back to your own community

└ Go easy on them, this is the last performance. I think Seon Ahyeon’s going to debut anyway LOL

- At least four people on this team are definitely going to debut... I pity the next team

As the viewers expected, the next performance was unremarkable. This team, composed of contestants with relatively low rankings, was shown to have a friendly rivalry among themselves as they competed with one another for the main position, and they generally managed to pull off great teamwork.

Similar to the previous team, they also tried to make use of the keyword, final. The lyrics and choreography—which were based around the themes of hard work, passion, and desperation—lacked finesse and came across as almost too arrogant.

Because the previous team had melded humor and fantasy perfectly in their performance, the difference in quality was all the more noticeable.

- They’re trying hard, that’s for sure

- I like that one, I’ll buy his stock

- Boring

- They all seem pretty cute and nice!

The performance was met with a lukewarm response. By the time the final team came on stage, they were greeted with a general mood of apathy. The video showing their planning process wasn’t anything special, but there was a particular focus on the way Ryu Chungwoo had presumably overcome his slump.

It wasn’t clear if he’d actually managed to do so, though. In the video, at least, he was shown accepting the position of leader midway through rehearsals, despite his refusal to do so prior, and having played his part very well.

- Okay, so you want me to vote for Ryu Chungwoo?

- Yeah, I suppose he won’t have to serve in the military if he’s selected (since gold medal Olympians are exempt from compulsory enlistment)

- He’s okay, but not perfect

- He’ll sweep up all the votes from the muggles, I guess!

The dedicated fans of the show weren’t all that excited, since Ryu Chungwoo had been portrayed favorably by the production team from essentially day one. If he hadn’t been a former national athlete, there was a chance the viewers might have turned against him for it. However, fortunately for him, nothing like that had happened.

Then came the performance.

- Cha Eugene is on a roll.

- Unstoppable!

- Dominating! Godlike!

- LOL look at all these MOBA references, man

- He’s so good, though

- Maybe he’ll end up getting first place

Cha Eugene had really outdone himself, yet again. Because he wasn’t the sort to get hung up on who he was performing with, he didn’t really do much to lift his teammates up. The audience was left with the impression that the performance was good because Cha Eugene was in it. In a word, he was the perfect fit for a career as a solo artist or competing on audition programs.

The viewers excitedly chatted among themselves.

- Man, that was good.

- Both the first and last teams were good. Makes for a fun time

- What do we have left now?

Youngrin took to the mic again, and it was time for her to make an important announcement.

“How did you like the final team battle put together by the contestants? It seems like everyone enjoyed it. Now, we have an important announcement.” She pointed at the screen. “Let’s find out how many people will debut!”

***

The contestants, all having finished giving their respective performances, were below stage waiting for the final segment. I got a rare pop-up message saying something about a successful stage, but I was in no position to look at it now.

I had no way of knowing when my face was going to be broadcast live for everyone to see. Cameras were trailing each team, eager to catch our reactions if anything interesting happened up on stage. How many members would debut was about to be revealed.

“How many do you think there’ll be?” Big Sejin asked.

“What about you?”

“Uh... ten?” he said with a shrug. He seemed to be hoping for a large number. Raebin, who’d just had his makeup touched up beside us, said,

“I think it’ll be an odd number. Considering the dance formations required on stage, most groups have an odd number of members.”

“That makes sense.”

Well, that’s not exactly how it’s going to be… I thought, quietly biting my lip. I turned away from the two of them.

Ahyeon, who’d just finished a silent prayer, met my gaze.

“How many do you think there will be?” I asked.

“I-I don’t know... M-maybe seven?”

“Seven?”

“Isn’t that too few?”

Other contestants began joining in on the conversation. Though they were all pretending otherwise, they were probably quite nervous. Ahyeon shrank back but didn’t renege on his opinion.

He really has changed quite a lot.

I shrugged. “I think most people would have voted for seven, though it’d be nice if they voted for more.”

“Y-yeah!” Ahyeon said, nodding eagerly.

Cha Eugene was muttering something along the lines of “I like even numbers” when the audience’s screams reached us below the stage floor.

“Huh?”

The noise was so loud the stage seemed to vibrate from it. As everyone stood confused, Youngrin’s voice rang out through the speakers, finally reaching them.

“The shareholders of ‘Relisted! Idol Incorporated’ voted for an average debut member count of... 6.47!”

The contestants froze.

“We rounded down that number... to six!”

Screams and curses were heard from above once more.

“What did she just say?”

“6.4... what?”

I sighed as the contestants started babbling amongst themselves with confusion.

This is the shock tactic they chose for the final episode. They’d simply taken an average of the number of members that should debut which everyone had voted for previously. Each person could partake in this vote only once and they couldn’t change their vote once cast.

People had voted for this number early on without much thought. These votes, based on whatever number they had thought made the ideal idol team at the time, were reflected in the results. The greatest number of people had selected five, by a small margin.

The show, however, had been a hit sensation and the production team had jumped through whatever hoops necessary, trying to push this number upwards. However, an aggressive community website with a considerable membership had all voted that there should be one member as a joke. This had hindered their efforts and the most the production team had been able to manage had been to push the number up to six.

- You bastards, you should have given us fair warning if you were going to use a stupid method like this LMFAO

- Six because... 6.47? Six? Are they out of their minds?

I could already predict what the majority of the internet’s reactions would be. I shook my head.

I just need to focus on bracing myself for what’s coming. The final ranking announcements were next, after one final performance.