Chapter 10

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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They didn’t even mention the previous season during the entire first filming, but I never dreamed they would burst it here.

The comment section is also being covered with ‘??!?’. Youngrin naturally continued speaking without a change in expression.

[To prevent the same disaster, all of the production staff will give all decision-making power to the shareholders from now on!]

The lights of the stage were turned on one by one intensely according to Youngrin’s words.

[Composition? Shareholders, please choose!]
[Number of people? Shareholders, please decide!]
[Do you want a team like this? Shareholders, please tie them up!]
[Or…….]

The lights began to flicker like stage effects.

[Do you hate that team member? Then just expel them!]

-Is the production staff crazy.

An appropriate comment caught my eye.

Meanwhile, Youngrin was delivering the closing lines seriously under the flashing lights.

[The life or death of our company is in the hands of the shareholders!]
[ is now officially relisted!]

The camera turns upward.

Over the stage that resembled a huge star, lights flickering like the Milky Way surged.

And in the middle of the stage, the backs of ten people standing under the lights could be seen. They were the Platinum grade participants.

The camera zoomed in on the participants while turning around once. As the stage was so huge, it was only to the extent that the full bodies of the ten people were seen filling the screen.

As soon as the camera stopped, the prelude flowed out.

The camera caught the movements as the participants turned around one by one.

It was an individual part, which was a privilege of the Platinum grade, but honestly, the composition where each person couldn’t even get one second was subtle.

‘I should have picked a center like the original.’

I felt a strange emotion as I watched my cut pass by like a flash.

It was a movement I did, but it was unfamiliar since it was Park Moondae’s face.

‘Hmm, that rather seems to make the hands and feet less cringey.’

When the song flowed out after the prelude, Gold grade appeared around the Platinum grade. It looked natural with the power of editing.

Around the time it entered the pre-chorus, the lights changed and Silver grade appeared on both sides, and Bronze grade appeared from behind at the start of the chorus.

And the group chorus.

“Oh.”

It was plausible. Thanks to cutting the moments where the choreography didn’t match like a ghost, the movements looked orderly.

The comment section also saw occasional favorable reactions. Although the majority were reactions being flustered by the fact that they were favorable.

-Why is the song good.
-It’s Mangjusa but the theme song is always a god-song.
-The song is a waste. Give it to another idol groupㅠㅠ

Of course, they didn’t forget to appraise the participants every time a close-up went in.

-The skin is… a bit uncomfortable to seeㅠㅠ
-The one who hit his own neck just now was so funny, did anyone see it?ㅋㅋ
-Indeed, if you’re ugly, your skill is also uglyㅎ
└Please stop generalizing, it’s sad for a squid who is listeningㅠㅠ
└Sorry, he looks like he’s bad because he’s ugly even though his skill is goodㅎ
└This son of a bitch really
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Of course, there were moments of admiration.

-Wow, he was handsome just now.
-Wow, why did he come out here.
-How did they recruit him.
-If I looked like that, I wouldn’t come out to such a place.

Roughly… these were the reactions when participants with appearance stats of B or higher were close-up.

Oh, a close-up of Seon Ahyun also passed by just now. Indeed, the camera catches the one whose face is handsome.

…Wait.

I compared the participants being close-up and the reactions in the comment section.

“……Did I make a mistake?”

It’ll be troublesome if there’s too much difference in the initial buzz.

‘Should I have made my appearance A first, regardless of singing or dancing?’

If the appearance were high-level, it would have been a topic even if a single close-up was caught on the theme song stage.

Just with a few hommas who were watching, photos would have been taken at places like the production presentation, and they would have been uploaded a lot on SNS and such.

If I had solidified a fan base here, there was a high probability that I would have avoided early elimination.

Then, since I have the status window, couldn’t I have shown the skill as a growth type?

I had folded this strategy thinking that this season initially receives mockery but rises rapidly after airing… but I overlooked that mockery is also interest.

I felt my heart getting cold and watched the stage screen again.

Before I knew it, it was the ending.

A few close-up shots also passed by in the ending.

The most noticeable one was the child actor Lee Sejin. Capturing him for several seconds showed the will of the production staff to somehow increase the buzz before the airing.

Come to think of it, more than half of the debut members I knew were B- or higher when matching their faces at the filming set.

If the editing also turns around only for participants with high appearance stats, I would be in trouble.

Park Moondae also had a decent appearance, but he wasn’t a remarkably handsome man.

Just as I was about to lose confidence and re-examine the strategy, the screen changed suddenly. It was a middle advertisement.

But I heard a familiar voice.

[, relisted!]

The first advertisement comes out here?

Considering more than a week had passed since the filming ended, it seemed there would have been enough time to edit that much.

I focused on the advertisement to see if there was any hint about the editing direction.

[I hope many friends who are good come out.]
[Expectations are high.]
[Even (Bleep) comes out? This time participants should be very nervous.]

It was a cut of judges talking and smiling. They seem to be saying all the things that must appear in the trailer.

And stages of participants being praised appeared shortly.

[A great, truly a great stage I can only say…….]
[This is innate.]
[Wow!]
[Where exactly have you been until now?]

Oh, my rank evaluation also passed by. With this, my concern about complete editing-out was reduced. Only then did my shoulders go down.

I think I reacted excessively because it was the first mass media exposure.

Even though it’s an initial preoccupation battle, usually the field is formed by Episode 4, so let’s not be impatient and supplement the strategy calmly.

Unlike me, who regained peace in my mind, the judges in the next screen threw sharp words without warning with stiff faces.

[This is… can’t even be called a stage.]
[You know that’s an excuse, right?]
[I think the preparation was just insufficient.]
[Aren’t you ashamed?]

And the stiff faces of participants and the expressions of biting lips passed by overlapping.

…Looking at the background, it seems they even used expressions made because they were tired while practicing.

Finally, a cut edited like a sudden situation also came out.

[(Bleep)? (Bleep), wait a minute, wait…!]
[(A participant who suddenly leaves the place.)]

The face of the child actor Lee Sejin, who was crying, appeared as a close-up.

[(The full story?)]

And as the screen darkened, the logo of Idol Inc. appeared grandly.

As the logo turned off at the peak of the modified theme song, the MC’s voice was heard.

[The relisting of the newly updated Idol Inc.! The first gateway is… the (Bleep) evaluation!!]
[Huff!]

The trailer ended with the appearance of participants covering their mouths and being shocked.

“…….”

When I lowered my head, the comment section was coming up without rest.

It was understandable.

That evening, the entertainment news comment section on the internet was turned upside down.

* * *

I finished my workout and connected to the portal site while heating up dinner.

First, the titles of the articles exposed on the main page were like this.

[‘Shareholders’ to whom bowed in apology, what is the new stock? ‘Male Idol’]
[ unveiled, ‘Shining Star’ first released!]
[‘Please invest, shareholders!’ The stage of 77 participants of the new season of ]

The titles were appropriately neutral, but you could tell the public sentiment by clicking the article and looking at the reactions.

It’s been a while since entertainment news comments were blocked, and looking at the emotional expression emoticons that were at least exposed…….

‘It’s absurd’ exceeded 12,000. Since they surely pressed this instead because there was no ‘I’m angry’, it meant the public sentiment was going wild.

Columns also poured out.

[Idol Inc., the lowliness that claims to be freedom.]
[‘Please buy me!’, children who became stocks.]

Let’s click one.

[It’s not even ‘please pick me’ anymore. In the program where they shout to buy your idol stock, participants can no longer receive human treatment. The sadistic nature of giving the life or death power to the public…….]

Well, I don’t need to see more.

Posts criticizing the program were the majority in internet communities and SNS as well.

-These bastards really have no reflection.
-From the first season, X발 they inserted all sorts of things and sold voting rights as stocks, and they are back again without dying. Is the taste of money made by selling kids that good?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

But the production staff would be cheering. Because the participants are not the ones being cursed at.

The failure of Season 2 was that the popular participants, who were the contents, were ruined.

But this season, the image is being suppressed because of the sadism of the program for which the production staff drew buzz.

Anyway, whether the program composition is blatantly cruel or slightly pretentious, a survival program is equally hard.

It might be better for the participants to catch the buzz.

Because posts like this are also coming up thanks to the increased buzz of the program.

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[Summary of the Platinum grade of this Ajusa 3.]

: I tried capturing the MusicBOMB stage. I’m doing this because it’s pitiful that friends who are good at it happen to come out to such a place, so please refrain from cursing comments.

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Comments were mostly about participants who were handsome or had good expressions, but I felt strange as I saw Park Moondae being mentioned several times.

It was mainly about him being cute or being a type that is popular these days.

-Park Moondae, he was cute so I tried watching the stage once, but he wasn’t caught much on cameraㅠㅠ Still, seeing the trailer, it seems he did well on the rank evaluation stage, so I’m considering whether to watch it.

“…….”

The feeling was strange. It was the first time in my life to see a post expressing blatant interest in me.

I felt it while selling data in college too, but it was mysterious how someone could invest time and money just because they liked someone they didn’t know well.

It might be because I lived a life without time or money.

But as I became the person involved, it felt even weirder.

But it wasn’t a bad feeling.

‘…What else should I do next?’

I suddenly wanted to move.

After summarizing the reactions to the participants comprehensively, I organized the priority of the future stat distribution.

It was then.

[The beginning of fame!]
1,000 people remembered your existence!
: Draw normal trait ☜ Click!

Such a thing also comes as an alarm.

I read the popup content afresh. The ‘Draw’ at the bottom was a similar feeling to the one in the popup related to the previous stage.

Let’s click it immediately, and a slot machine appears.

This time too, bronze-colored spaces were occasionally mixed among the gray spaces.

I hoped a trait that could quickly grow appearance or charm would come out this time. I waited for the slot to stop with more expectation than last time.

And the moment the slot was about to stop, a popup appeared again.

[Slot machine great success!]
: Drawing a Hero trait!