Chapter 29

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The atmosphere among the judges was as if they were about to say, ‘So, are you saying it’s all Raebin’s fault?’

So I had to choose my words carefully.

‘It should sound like a simple listing of facts, not an attempt to fix the situation.’

“Yes. Since Raebin… is capable of arranging, he consulted with the arranger, and the direction of the arrangement was decided by all of us sharing our opinions.”

“…!”

Kim Raebin flinched.

‘You shouldn’t open your mouth.’

Fortunately, Ryu Chungwoo immediately stepped in.

“That is correct. We will also discuss the problems you mentioned together once again and solve them. So we will make sure to show you the best stage on the day of the team battle.”

“…….”

I saved him.

Ryu Chungwoo and I didn’t say anything more, being quick-witted.

The judges looked like they were thinking many things, but soon they nodded.

‘It seems they thought the timing to reprimand had already passed.’

It was a relief.

“Then you have to start over from the arrangement now, so you’ll be significantly behind other teams in terms of time. Can you do it?”

“We will do it. We can do it, right?!”

“Yes!”

“We can do it!”

Unless one was a guy who threw their sense into the trash can, they wouldn’t hesitate to answer after being brought this far.

Fortunately, this time the troller also regained his senses and answered vigorously.

Judge Youngrin nodded.

“I understand. But you must know that it could be a reckless challenge under this time constraint, and you must take responsibility for the results.”

“That’s right. There is no guarantee that changing it will necessarily make it better than it is now.”

Even so, if the stage was poor because we didn’t change it, reactions like ‘Why didn’t they change it even after receiving feedback?’ would come out.

And since screen time about a ‘lack of challenge spirit’ would be included, they were actually meaningless words.

In the end, no matter what we did, the process would be edited and evaluated according to the results.

Since all the participants knew this implicitly, a sense of discipline and tension settled over the team.

“Yes. We will keep that in mind and take on the challenge.”

Just as Ryu Chungwoo’s answer seemed to end the situation, a voice cut in.

“May I say a word?”

It was the original songwriter holding a microphone.

“Ah, yes…. Please speak.”

The judges answered a bit uncomfortably to the original songwriter who suddenly cut in, and the original songwriter held the microphone with deep eyes.

“In your stage… the power that the song has was not felt.”

“……?”

What was this sudden, out-of-the-blue nonsense after the whole discussion was over?

Leaving the people who were subtly flustered behind, the original songwriter continued to talk.

“This song is supposed to instill courage and passion in people’s hearts, right? But you guys, it’s not conveyed just because you’re handsome and good at dancing.”

“…….”

Ah, yes…….

“When we were active, we really tried to give that feeling. You guys shouldn’t forget the etiquette for such a song just because you’ve become a bit famous now.”

Wasn’t he embarrassed to say such things to audition program participants who hadn’t even debuted yet?

It seemed he mistook old-man remarks that put kids down for advice. He also seemed to have a bit of a bloated ego.

But the headache-inducing point was that his reaction would also be included in the editing, so we had to pay attention.

We already had to squeeze out an arrangement alternative, and yet we had to endure that nonsense too?

It was annoying, but if anyone refuted, it would only result in a picture of them taking the song away from the ‘poor unknown idol original songwriter,’ so everyone answered obediently.

“Yes!”

“We will keep it in mind.”

Well… that was just how social life was.

* * *

After the interim evaluation feedback for all other teams was finished, it was finally just before the re-discussion of the arrangement began.

The troller hesitantly spoke to Kim Raebin.

“Hey, I’m sorry… .”

“…….”

Was it okay to let him apologize in front of the camera?

Well, since we had already covered for him as a team, fixing his own mistake was something he had to handle on his own.

Kim Raebin was silent for a moment but soon nodded.

“No, it’s okay. It’s true that I took charge of the arrangement.”

In fact, it was a situation where it wouldn’t be strange to answer, ‘No, fu…ck, you’re the one who said to do it like that.’

Anyway, Ryu Chungwoo finished the talk by patting both of their backs.

“Good job. Guys, let’s talk about the arrangement again as soon as we’re ready.”

For reference, ‘ready’ here meant the production crew’s camera settings.

“Yes!”

During the brief spare time, the participants scattered for a moment in a high-spirited state.

Their expressions were not very good because the interim evaluation had been precarious, but hope seemed to be still alive, perhaps because it was handled at the end.

‘But that hope is only useful if an alternative comes out.’

Looking at it, no one had thought of an arrangement direction that made them go ‘this is it,’ and they just seemed to hope that something would come out if they talked.

It meant they were running their happy circuits without having anything.

‘The future isn’t very bright.’

“Um, Moondae-hyung.”

“Oh, yes.”

While I was sitting in a corner rolling my brain alone, Kim Raebin approached and spoke to me.

‘That’s unexpected.’

He was a guy I had rarely talked to during the past three days.

…No, come to think of it, I had rarely talked to anyone for the past three days in the first place.

I was dying from the hard practice, so where would I have the leisure to engage in small talk?

Anyway, Kim Raebin knelt down beside me awkwardly and said solemnly.

“…Thank you.”

“No. For what.”

He must be thanking me for cutting off the troller’s words earlier.

“It’s the first time someone else helped me in such a situation…….”

As expected. I roughly understood the situation.

Kim Raebin had also been worried from his perspective.

If screen time of him fighting because he couldn’t adapt to the team again was included, an irreparable verdict would appear in public opinion.

‘No wonder he was so submissive.’

Sure enough, a long story flowed out.

“I worried a lot that I would receive evaluations of lacking teamwork again following the last first round, but thanks to Moondae-hyung, I passed the crisis. As expected, it was a wise choice to recruit someone with good teamwork first as a team member.”

“……?”

Could it be that the reason he picked Park Moondae first was because of ‘team-work’?

When I asked, he nodded.

“Yes. I saw you treating team members in a rational way. Of course, your Vocal ability was also excellent.”

“……Uh, okay. Thanks.”

He was a very unique guy in that he believed in the broadcast content even after being destroyed by editing in a broadcast.

And to believe in the teamwork ability of Park Moondae, who was edited to be extremely lacking in social skills in the beginning…

It was truly amazing. If he had picked Big Sejin instead, I would have understood.

‘Ah, did he not pick him because the leader role overlapped with Ryu Chungwoo’s?’

I suppose he had his own criteria.

While I was feeling absurd, Kim Raebin spoke again.

“Ah, hyung. It’s fine for you to speak comfortably to me.”

“…Um, okay.”

Well, there was nothing bad about opening up with a guy with a high ranking.

I was answering obediently when I realized there was a question I had to ask in the current situation.

“Speaking of which, about the arrangement, do you have anything in mind?”

“…Actually, it’s a bit of a difficult situation.”

Kim Raebin’s impression, which was like a successful delinquent, softened a bit and turned into a gloomy expression.

“Even if we go back into arrangement, the problem is where to start and how much to fix.”

He meant he didn’t know how much to touch to meet the deadline since they had already practiced everything to match.

“I don’t think we should fix too much… but the current revisions are so disorganized that there is no unity, so I don’t know what to touch.”

“That’s true.”

So he meant he didn’t particularly have an idea and couldn’t decide what to fix either. He was the same as me.

Once Kim Raebin started venting, he muttered his worries one after another as if he couldn’t stop.

“I should also reflect the original songwriter’s advice, but honestly, I don’t really know specifically what it means to ‘instill courage and passion.’”

“……I know.”

That was… truly true.

It was hard to even see it as advice.

‘How can an idol instill courage and passion when they’re not some superhero from an 80s American cartoon?’

“……?”

Wait. Just now something… I think I realized something.

I retraced my thoughts from just before and realized I had caught a strange idea.

But the more I thought about it, that idea… fit perfectly with this situation.

A concept idea that allowed for an arrangement where the original key could still be used.

I wouldn’t have to fix the cheer squad concept choreography they had already practiced much, and I could even catch that damn ‘courage’ and ‘passion.’

It seemed like it might be an amazing solution. But the problem was…

‘…It’s too much.’

That was it. It wasn’t just too much; the problem was that it could become childishly tacky.

Then it was worse than not fixing it. If even one person made a mistake and a gap appeared on stage, it was clear that it would immediately become solemn and awkward.

Wait?

“…No.”

“Uh, hyung?”

“Wait a moment.”

I ignored Kim Raebin’s question for now.

Instead, looking at the team members who were slowly returning as the spare time ended, I shouted inwardly.

‘Status Window!’

And I quickly scanned the statuses of the team members.

“……!”

Other stats aside, the ‘Talent’ stats were all B- or higher.

For reference, reaching B-grade meant it was an ability level that could be used for a main position.

As expected of a team where only guys with high rankings were gathered.

‘This… could work.’

No wonder the judges didn’t criticize the outdated cheer squad concept much.

“Raebin. About the arrangement.”

“Yes, yes?”

I spat out the idea that came to mind to the flustered Kim Raebin for now.

“Yes……?”

Kim Raebin seemed even more flustered at first. But as my additional explanation was added, he gradually became calm, and soon his three-white eyes began to sparkle brilliantly.

The reaction was better than expected.

“Wa-Wait a moment.”

Kim Raebin ran to the keyboard installed on one side of the practice room and began to pound out something.

And I recalled Kim Raebin’s status window I saw earlier.

[Trait: Maestro (A)]

: All it takes is a small trigger.

Creative speed +120% when inspired.

“…….”

Including Seon Ahyun, as expected, status window silver-spooners were in a class of their own.

‘Is there no function… to copy another guy’s trait? It often appears in web novels.’

I wanted to lament, but I had to do what I had to do first. I quickly called up the status window.

And I invested my remaining points into the ‘Talent stat.’

With this, I also entered B-.

‘Good. I’ve matched the numbers.’

“Moondae, why did Raebin suddenly go to the keyboard?”

Ryu Chungwoo, who had approached, asked Park Moondae, unable to speak to Kim Raebin who was pounding the keyboard.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I gave him a concept idea, and he seems to have liked it.”

“What idea?”

“A transformation superhero concept.”

“…!?”

Behind the confused Ryu Chungwoo, Cha Yujin whispered to the person next to him.

“What’s a transformation superhero concept?”

It was five days before the competition date.

* * *

And on the day of the competition five days later.

In front of the stage set building where the second team battle of was to be held, there was a sea of people.

The number of spectators hadn’t increased much. It was just that the number of people hovering in front and trying to at least hear the sound had increased thanks to the soaring viewership ratings and topicality index.

It wasn’t even the final episode, but people giving out slogans or photo cards were already noticeably seen.

‘Wow, it’s no joke.’

A woman avoided the crowd with clumsy gestures and stood in the entry line.

She had applied for the audience with a friend’s request, but only she had won, so she was a person who had barely come after considering ‘Should I just not go?’ and self-canceling her classes.

‘Since it’s so famous these days.’

Of course, in this choice, the request of her friend who appealed with tears and food, saying ‘Please just tell me how our Moondae does,’ played a big part.

At the same time, a thought like this also crossed one corner of her mind.

‘Is he really that good…?’

She had also seen a photo of Park Moondae with golden-brown hair on SNS.

He was quite attractive, but she didn’t think he was handsome enough to like to that extent.

Still, since she had been treated to a meal, she entered the building, thinking she should keep an eye on him.

She had no idea that she would be begging her friend for a photo of Park Moondae after the viewing was over.