Chapter 16

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The opponent team wasn’t bad either. First of all, Ryu Chungwoo suited the song well, and objectively, their stage was above average compared to other teams’ stages.

However, in the audience’s minds, the subject of comparison with that team wouldn’t be other teams.

It would be VTIC.

This is the problem with covering the latest hit song of the most popular idol group of the same gender. The point that the original song’s stage is engraved in the minds of the majority in a currently-progressing form.

Even if there were parts where they were better than VTIC, they wouldn’t be easily recognized. VTIC fans were scattered all over the internet.

Unless they were extraordinary, they would be buried in opinions like ‘They can’t be compared to VTIC’.

Of course, even setting all that aside…… our side was better.

The team members also seemed to know that, as their faces were bright when they went back on stage for the greeting before the voting.

The MC introduced the teams in the order of the stages.

“Ah, our ‘October 31’ team! It was a creepy and fun stage like Halloween! That’s what the team name intended, right?”

“Yes! It means the cuties of Halloween! And there’s another meaning.”

“What is it?”

“Like thirty-one flavors of ice cream, it means our team members each have colorful charms!”

Big Sejin looked back at the team members while making a flower-cup pose with his hands. The other team members quickly took poses for the introduction they had planned.

I…… appropriately placed my finger on my cheek.

In reality, people of my age would never do such a thing except when they were drunk and trying to tease someone disgustingly, but where is there such a thing as dignity in survival?

“Aaaaah!!”

“So cute!”

Fortunately, a solemn reaction didn’t come out. It was a great relief that I had raised Park Moondae’s Appearance stat.

If it were B-, it was a level of appearance that narrowly crossed ‘heartwarming’ and reached ‘handsome’.

And the opponent team’s introduction followed.

“Hello! I am…….”

It wasn’t to an embarrassing extent, but due to the difference in the volume of cheers, I could feel the opponent team tensing up.

“Nice to meet you. I am Ryu Chungwoo!”

“Kyaaaaah!!”

The only corner they could trust was that the cheers for Ryu Chungwoo were loud, but unfortunately, that wouldn’t be enough for the team to win.

“Shareholders, please indicate your intentions! First, please vote for the team you think did better! ‘October 31’ is number 1! ‘Hero in the Mountains’ team is number 2!”

People indicated their team’s number with their fingers here and there.

When the audience pressed the remote control buttons, the voting ended shortly and a new voting method was announced.

“Now, next, please pick one participant from each team who most caught the shareholder’s heart!”

The MC emphasized once more.

“I’ll tell you once again, it’s not from both teams! One person per team, please pick a total of two people!”

This was openly a seed of discord.

Perhaps the production staff wanted to get quite a stimulating development, as the reward for the individual vote within the team battle was better than the team battle reward.

Furthermore, they didn’t announce this in advance and popped it right before the stage rehearsal.

– Everyone! The reward for the ‘individual battle’ within this team battle is… an exemption from elimination!

– …What!?

So rumors were rife that other teams went crazy.

Fortunately, this team didn’t give such a subject for conflict. Seon Ahyun is a pushover, and Gold 1 and 2 were not the types of guys who had the courage to speak up even if they had complaints.

Lee Sejin must have been busy just handling his own part, and Choi Wongil didn’t say unnecessary things once his spirit was broken.

Big Sejin probably had no complaints since he ended up taking the main dancer position.

Does it look like it was because they were too busy solving their own problems to afford causing conflict, rather than because of teamwork?

That’s right. But it doesn’t matter since what goes into the camera will look like it was thanks to teamwork.

Anyway, the individual voting also ended in a vague atmosphere compared to the first vote.

“Thank you!”

With a short greeting, the participants went off stage. Including me, of course.

Strangely, I felt like I was reluctant to come down.

* * *

The filming ended only in the middle of the night.

“Good job everyone~”

“I think we did pretty well!”

At the words that the results of the individual battle would be announced at the ranking announcement ceremony, everyone felt regretful but quickly organized their hearts.

They might have half-expected it because it was like that in the previous season too, and anyway, they probably felt at ease because they thought they had won the team battle.

That’s right. They won the team battle.

– The team battle is… a victory for October 31! The score is, incredibly, 82 to 401!

– Heoooook!!

And that too, with a crazy score of ‘82 to 401’.

When it was announced, it was a pot of boiling madness and cheers for 5 seconds.

Except for Big Sejin, the rest were almost on the verge of crying, so there was no need to say more.

However, these guys had no choice but to calm down quickly.

– Sobbing…….

– …Dongkyun-ah.

– You worked hard. You did well.

Because a participant who was really crying appeared in the opponent team.

Originally, it is not easy for someone who is less sorrowful to cry than the one who cries first. It’s even more so if those are tears of joy.

Thanks to that, the team members, who had been maintaining a state of vague joy while being conscious of the camera and the opponent team, became extremely excited as soon as the filming ended.

“Shall we create a group chat? No, we lived and worked together so hard like this~ shouldn’t there be at least a group chat!”

“Heol, totally love it!”

“I am in favor, Leader-nim.”

A group chat was even created under Big Sejin’s lead.

Surprisingly, perhaps catching the atmosphere, even Lee Sejin gave his number without a word.

“Huck!”

“Wow! Hyung-nim!”

“Wow~ all our team members can talk harmoniously together!”

“…….”

In the end, I also naturally exchanged numbers and entered the group messenger room.

…I should turn off the notification.

“Moondae~ You worked so hard!”

“Yeah, you also worked hard being the leader.”

Big Sejin talked to me as I was packing my things. Since I appropriately showed politeness on a well-finished board, he snatched it up.

“Haha, I was a pretty good leader!”

“…….”

Does this guy not know humility…….

“It was a joke, a joke!”

Big Sejin smiled brightly. It didn’t seem like one, so I wished he would stop.

“Let’s see each other often. Keep in touch steadily!”

“Um, sure.”

Big Sejin seemed to be planning to include me in his line.

‘It seems he plans to cut off the participants from the same agency because they are quite unsatisfactory.’

However, I didn’t forget the point that this guy is a drug suspect candidate. I had no intention of taking any possible risks until the suspicion was completely cleared.

‘I can just brush it off and say my phone was broken later.’

Around the time I was thinking that, another voice cut in from the side.

“Me, me too! Ke, ke, keep in touch…….”

“Keep in touch?”

Seon Ahyun nodded his head violently. He should be better than Big Sejin.

I nodded, and Seon Ahyun’s face brightened up instantly. Big Sejin said with a smile.

“Shall the three of us create a separate group chat? It’s good to have a group chat for the same-age line too.”

You’re attaching it like this?

But thanks to Seon Ahyun’s quick agreement, another group messenger room was opened in an instant.

An ominous feeling brushed past.

It was a worry I had postponed because I was busy completing the stage, but it weighs on my mind that there were quite a few cases in the previous season where votes came in according to how they were grouped in the first team battle.

Are we going to be grouped together with these guys as a set like this?

“…….”

I don’t know. Anyway, since it seems we did well in the team battle, I’ll probably pass the 1st round somehow.

“Everyone, get home safely~”

“I’ll see you again!”

The participants left the filming set after finishing their greetings. I also walked out and took the bus.

Once I return to my temporary studio apartment, I should immediately look up reviews of the team battle.

* * *

The audience usually signed a pledge not to leak the contents of the stage before the broadcast.

However, cases where the spoiler ban was properly kept were rare anywhere.

So reviews poured out on anonymous sites where identities were not revealed.

It was roughly like this.

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[Ajusa-at-its-Worst Audience Review]
: SoftSweet was crazy, see ya
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– Who are these guys, they keep popping up
└ Is it bait?
└ No, I heard it was really crazy?
└ No, how can they make SoftSweet crazy, did they do popping with Pop-corn?

It was unexpected.

No matter what, I thought the mention amount of the team with Cha Yujin, who was 1st place, would be more, but somehow it seemed there were more mentions of this team.

Of course, half of them seemed to be people who wanted to bait by jumping on the trend of ridiculing , not actual audience members.

But, anyway, doesn’t it mean it left a deep impression on quite a few people?

I picked a review that seemed a bit more proper and read it.

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[Trying to write 1st team battle as I remember it for now]
…And the ones who did SoftSweet’s debut song really did well, they can debut as they are. The physical match is good and only Lee Se1jin was stiff but they almost stored him away with the atmosphere… I’m curious who came up with the idea.
Oh right, the high note was also crazy, he could take the main vocal here.
+ Attached a certification shot since there’s so much talk about it being fake. Here. (A blurry photo of the stage installation)
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└ So who else was there besides Lee Sejin?
└ The magic of not remembering who the members were even while saying they were crazy good ㅋㅋㅋ Next fake, please
└ No, it’s not fake. Go look at the certification shot ㅋㅋㅋ
Checking the names with the profile now, first there was Seon Ahyun. He was so damn good. If there were a center system, he would have been 100% center.
└ But how exactly did they do it well, I’m really curious ㅠㅠ SoftSweet’s debut song is so cringy
└ They made it into an occult film, it was goosebump-inducing.
└ ??
└ No, it’s a robot concept
└ ㅋㅋㅋ ignore the bait. They pushed it with the fairy concept as it is
└ No, it was a werewolf concept
└ No, it’s a vampire
└ Which one is correct, you crazy people ㅠㅠ
└ Fairy is correct ㅎ

“The post is ruined.”

Checking other posts, it became a game with baiters jumping in the middle in the same way.

Perhaps only rumors would be rife until it was broadcast like this, but it was rather a good thing. Wouldn’t people be more curious if they didn’t know the details?

And since the production staff would definitely monitor the internet public opinion, this overflowing mention amount was highly likely to act favorably on the team’s screen time.

‘Checking reactions is enough with this…….’

Now let’s look at the next priority to process.

I called back the popup that had appeared as soon as the stage ended.

[Successful Stage!]
You impressed the majority!
– Number of audience: 582 (Record!)
– Percentage impressed: 81% (Record!)
: Rare Trait Draw ☜ Click!

The explanation became longer than before. It seemed that whenever the number of audience and the percentage impressed set a record, a better trait was given.

Since both traits used so far were effective, drawing a trait after one stage was a decent reward.

Indeed, it said I would die if I didn’t debut within a year, so it had to do this much to balance it out.

‘…Hmm, thinking like this makes me suddenly annoyed.’

Besides that, I had leveled up once through the 500 times dance practice achievement accomplished while preparing for the 1st team battle.

But I had postponed the stat distribution. Because I planned to invest most efficiently according to the content of the next filming.

‘So I’ll keep this, and let’s roll the trait draw.’

When I clicked the draw, as expected, a slot machine appeared. It seems I am gradually getting used to this shape.

The slot machine stopped at bronze-colored letters as the slots rotated as always.

“Ah……”

It was a bit regrettable since the silver ones, which were few, seemed to be of a high grade, but it stopped at bronze.

‘I can’t always be lucky.’

Furthermore, the content was more important than the grade.

I quickly organized my heart and checked the effect of the trait won.

[Trait: ‘Look at Me! (D)’ acquired!]
People pay slightly more attention to your actions.

“…….”

I was speechless.