Chapter 12

===================

Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

“Yahha~ This is so great, isn’t it? There are many talented people, and many handsome people too!”

Gold-grade Lee Sejin said while grinning. Everyone nodded as if it were really so, even while feeling shy.

It was a time when everyone had to pretend to be as harmonious as possible, so it was only natural. It was a relief that everyone seemed to have at least a minimum level of tact.

“By the way, ah, Actor Sejin-nim. Since our names are the same… how about we differentiate ourselves somehow?”

“Yes?”

“Oh, that’s good!”

“Right? Then since you are an actor, how about Bae Sejin?”

The participant who joined first as a Gold-grade added with a smirk.

“Hey, then since you’re just big, you be Big Sejin.”

“Big Sejin? Hey, that’s great, I’m in! What do you think, Sejin-hyung?”

“…….”

Child actor Lee Sejin bit his lips as if he were enduring something, then spoke curtly.

“I just like my name.”

“…….”

“Ah… I see.”

The atmosphere cooled down in an instant. Gold-grade Lee Sejin hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Aht, that’s fine. Then hyungs and dongsengs, please call me Big Sejin from now on~”

“I love it~”

“It’s a good nickname!”

Clap, clap, clap. The atmosphere was settled with applause. Around the time they were introducing themselves one by one, the MC picked up the microphone again.

“Participants, have you all greeted each other?”

“Please, let us choose the songs ourselves.”

One of the team members muttered earnestly. But there was no chance of that.

“Now then……. We will begin the song selection draw!”

“Wow…….”

“Even the song selection is random…….”

Everyone muttered with exhausted expressions.

The MC waved his hand and spoke jokingly.

“Ayy, everyone! You’ll be drawing from the hit songs of the representative idols of the agencies you chose! Don’t be disappointed!”

The atmosphere improved slightly, perhaps because they thought it was worth a try at that level.

“Now, the representative songs are rotating on the sign in front of you. You can press the switch when you want to stop it! Then, the participant who joined the sign first, please come forward!”

The team members immediately changed their stance.

“Hyung-nim, I believe in you!”

“Only a god-tier song is the way to live!”

“Phew, do I have to show my ability again?”

The first participant stepped in front of the sign with an air of self-importance amidst the cheers.

“Now, get ready… and shoot!”

“Waah!”

The team member made a strange noise and immediately pressed the switch. Beside me, Big Sejin (I planned to refer to him this way from now on since he brought it on himself) muttered.

“No, he should have at least looked before pressing……”

The sign slowly rotated, showing several song titles.

[Mountain Lord / VTIC]

[LIFE / VTIC]

[Song That Will Last Forever / VTIC]

VTIC. They were the male idols who sold the most albums currently.

“They’re all fine… please.”

From the end, I could hear Choi Wongil muttering earnestly. I silently waited for the screen to stop.

The screen stopped slowly.

[To a New World / SoftSweet]

“…?”

“……??”

“……!?”

A heavy silence fell.

Every team member except me looked at the sign with blank, dot-like eyes.

“I-Is it an error?”

The team member who touched the sign muttered with a dazed voice. However, there was no sign from the production staff.

It meant it was real.

“Are girl idols included too?”

“Are there girl group songs as well?”

Similar words were coming from here and there, not just from us.

Of course, their reactions weren’t as strong as ours.

The team members muttered as if they had lost their minds.

“Uh… so, was it Flower Fairy?”

“That… uh, the debut song, yeah.”

That was because ‘To a New World’ was an innocent and dreamlike song that advocated for the ‘Flower Fairy’ concept.

Moreover, it was a debut song. It was a song released before SoftSweet adopted their hit ‘bizarre-cute’ concept, and it had never even won first place on a public broadcast.

“Ah! Thank you!”

“It’s a hit!!”

The surroundings were filled with the sound of cheering as if they had gotten good songs. It was natural since there would have been many masterpieces.

The climax came here.

“Aaaaah!!”

“Hyung! Hyung!!”

The team next to our sign had drawn VTIC’s ‘Mountain Lord’.

For reference, that song was the title track of the album that won the Grand Prize at the country’s largest music site awards ceremony two months ago.

One could say it was the hottest song among those that could be drawn now.

Perhaps that was why everyone was hugging each other in a frenzy. Since their team members’ grades were low, it seemed they had suffered mentally for a while, and the atmosphere improved as if they had already won.

“…….”

And our side became rapidly silent. It seemed everyone hadn’t recovered from the shock yet.

How about me?

‘We avoided it.’

I was brushing my chest in relief. This was because I realized that I had chosen the agency sign carelessly.

VTIC’s ‘Mountain Lord’?

It was worse than not doing it at all.

It was a relief that we were lucky enough to avoid it.

In that sense, the current match luck was better than anyone could have asked for.

‘Though it seems no one has realized it yet.’

Looking at the team members gathering gloomily, I thought it was rather for the best.

If they felt a sense of crisis, they would at least act somewhat cooperatively.

* * *

“The key doesn’t fit.”

Had I thought they would act cooperatively? I wanted to correct that it was an excessive expectation.

Someone who acted as if they had given up everything already started to appear.

“Wongil-ah, but if you try one more time……”

“I’ve tried it several times, but I don’t think what didn’t work before will work now……”

Choi Wongil lowered his head gloomily, then spoke slightly like this.

“That, it was originally a female song, so I don’t think it fits well because it was changed to a male key. I think I can do the high parts……”

He looked toward me as he said that.

‘He’s asking for my part.’

I had been wearing the main vocal badge early on with the enthusiastic support of the three Gold-grade members.

Perhaps because his grade was low, Choi Wongil hadn’t been able to say a word and just watched me put on the badge.

Then, he stretched his legs when he saw a place to lie down.

I chuckled.

“Should we do that?”

“……!”

Big Sejin hit my thigh. This guy, really…….

“Hey, don’t just tease the kid for no reason. In times like this, you should help him handle his own part! What are you doing?”

He naturally dissolved the person’s words into a joke. It wasn’t the skill of someone who had done it once or twice.

‘As expected, he doesn’t seem to be just a guy with a good personality.’

I hid my suspicion and continued firmly.

“No, I really don’t mind changing. If we’re going to do it, we should do it early before we learn the choreography.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah.”

I finished casually. Choi Wongil had an extremely suspicious expression, but he nodded quickly for fear that I might change my words.

“Then, then I want to do the first verse chorus……”

“Fine. Then I’ll take the bridge part.”

“Yes?”

“You said we should change parts. That’s the part you said you couldn’t do.”

Choi Wongil nodded reluctantly. It seemed he felt it was a waste even though I was taking the part he said he couldn’t do.

It seemed he talked because he wanted to take the chorus somehow, but inwardly he didn’t want to let go of his part.

I didn’t think he was normally this unable to manage himself, but perhaps dropping to Silver was the trigger. He was a bit out of it.

Big Sejin looked back and forth between Choi Wongil and me, then let out a sigh so small it could barely be heard.

‘In the picture he drew, I must have done the first verse chorus.’

Then he continued energetically, pretending otherwise.

“Now, then the parts will go like this.”

There was one main position left. I could feel the Gold-grade participants tensing up while pretending not to.

“Now we just need to decide on the main dancer.”

Before Big Sejin could say more, I raised my hand.

“Ah, I have an opinion.”

“Huh?”

“If everyone is okay with it, I’d like to decide on the direction of the arrangement before deciding on the main dancer.”

“…Huh?”

Arrangement.

It was a topic that everyone had been unconsciously avoiding, even though it was the most important issue.

‘To a New World’ was a pure girl idol song.

And ‘purity’ was…… a concept that was very difficult to pull off.

People often mistakenly thought it was easily possible if one was just pretty, but that was indeed a mistake.

It was because it was a concept that was difficult to make intense.

To be engraved in the audience’s minds with such a song on a survival stage, one had to be unbelievably talented or have exceptional charm.

Perhaps everyone had thought that far, as the opinions on the arrangement started like this.

“How about changing the lyrics a bit and going for something intense?”

“With a strong beat?”

“Yeah. Doing the ‘To a new world~’ part like this, full of ambition! Like that.”

The first Gold…, it’s a hassle to call them like this. Should I just call them Gold 1?

So, this was an opinion from Gold 1. It was content that any survival participant with a brain would think of.

Changing it intensely.

The problem was that it would be difficult for this song to give a ‘full of ambition’ feeling as he said.

The lyrics of ‘To a New World’ were like this.

– At some point, I realized
Me, wandering in an incomplete time
The maze of this time that cannot be stopped
Save me, trapped inside it
I’m slowly withering
The small space inside here (Little Flower~)
Because I’m waiting for the day to bloom again
Please come find me quickly

Up to here was the first verse.

If one wanted to make it full of ambition, the lyrics had to be overhauled to be more speaker-centered, but then the story of the song would become a mess from the pre-chorus.

It was because the chorus of this song was about requesting the other person to come quickly.

– One step, two steps
The sound of you coming
Echoes in my ears
Don’t hesitate, reach out your hand
Now I’m to a new world~
Come to me
Come to me
It’s dazzling, the Paradise by your side
Come to me
Come to me
The Melody of love for you (continues)

“Then should we also change the lyrics after ‘To a New World’, which is ‘Come to me’?”

“Uh…, if we change it to ‘come to you’……”

Gold 1’s voice trailed off as he scratched his head. He seemed to have realized that wasn’t the only problem.

“Then wouldn’t we have to change everything starting from ‘Save me’?”

“Ummm.”

That’s right. Because the chorus focused so much on the listener’s actions, if it was changed to me approaching quickly, the nuance of the next lyrics would be crushed again.

“To go this way, we’d have to change the whole thing.”

“Yes, …but changing it too much might violate fairness.”

Whether the opposing team or the production staff would allow such an overhaul was also an issue.

“…….”

The team members became silent as the seriousness began to be felt through their skin.

Big Sejin quickly cut in and changed the subject.

“How about we talk to the instructors and then decide on the arrangement? I think it’s better to pick up the choreography quickly so it’s easier to get feedback! Moondae-ya, is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Let’s do that.”

I accepted it readily.

Anyway, the intention of bringing up the arrangement at this point was to give them a shock.

The more I created a desperate atmosphere, the less likely they would be to talk back when I offered my opinion on the arrangement.

Of course, I thought everyone would grasp the situation once they saw the choreography video even if I didn’t go this far.

“Okay, then I’m playing the choreography!”

When the choreography video was played under Big Sejin’s lead, everyone first put their heads close to the tablet screen.

It seemed that even if they had heard the chorus somewhere, no team member remembered the choreography in detail.

But as expected, not even 15 seconds after the choreography video started, everyone let out a groan.

“Ah……”