Chapter 30

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The woman who came for the viewing at her friend’s request was able to sit in a middle seat with a fairly good view.

‘It’s a bit awkward.’

When the woman, for whom it was her first time viewing such a performance alone, was feeling embarrassed, the person in the next seat spoke to her.

“Who did you come to see?”

“Huh? Uh… Park Moondae?”

“Ah… I see.”

The person in the next seat, who was holding a slogan in one hand, scanned her from head to toe once, then quickly turned their head back while looking at their smartphone.

“…….”

She felt strangely bad.

With the feeling that she had come for nothing and was just wasting her mood and time, the woman began to view the first stage in a sulky state.

“The first stage is… ‘Fingerprint’ by ‘Rolling Couple’!”

With the MC’s loud introduction, the stage of ‘Rolling Couple,’ a mixed-gender idol group that failed after two promotions, was shown on the screen for a moment.

The composition was based on the pretext of ‘consideration for audience members who don’t know the hidden masterpiece well’ and ‘etiquette for the original songwriter.’

But in reality, the intention was to contrast the tacky stage of old idols who failed to rise with the stages of current participants.

“And the participants who reinterpreted this stage are… Ha Iljun, Ji Taewoo, Lee Sejin, Seon Ahyun, Choi Nahun, Seok Heegang, and Choi Wongil! ‘Gigantic’ team! Please enter!”

The original stage screen cut off, and the participants’ profile photos filled the screen one by one according to the MC’s calling.

And as the screen slowly went out, the lights on the stage came on.

-The Feel I get when our palms meet~

Big Sejin’s brightly smiling face filled the screen.

Ta-dan-ta—

And with a fast-beat electro house accompaniment, a colorful group dance unfolded on the stage.

‘Wow…….’

Unlike when watching on a screen, it felt more powerful because the sense of space of the choreography was alive on-site.

It was even a bit shocking for the woman, who was viewing an idol stage directly for the first time.

‘Should I have gone to more dance singer concerts instead of just ballad singers?’

She inadvertently regretted it while watching the stage in front of her with pleasant immersion.

“Thank you!”

So, by the time she sent applause to the participants exiting after the stage ended, she was in a completely excited state.

‘This is quite fun?’

Waiting during the preparation time between stages was boring, but seeing the celebrities’ stages while the broadcasting equipment was running had a different charm.

The regrettable point was that the team’s skills were uneven depending on the participants.

‘This team is a bit… like that.’

The second team was a pity, and the third and fourth teams were quite fun.

Since she had never done what is so-called ‘fangirling,’ rather than a detailed appreciation of each stage, only a lumped-together feeling remained, and she forgot them one by one.

For now, the impression that remained in her head was that the first team did the best so far.

‘They said to vote for the two teams I liked the most on the way out, right?’

With the first team put in one slot for now, she continued to view the stages.

The next teams also had their own concepts and were fun, but there wasn’t as much inspiration as the first team.

‘Um, I’m a bit tired.’

In fact, the skills of the latter teams were not inferior to the former.

It was just that after watching unknown songs in a row, the initial freshness disappeared and she began to feel bored.

Furthermore, the participant her friend had asked for hadn’t appeared yet.

‘Isn’t this the last team?’

She resisted the urge to turn on her smartphone and barely listened to the introduction of the next team with focus.

“This stage is… by the band ‘Sun Island’!”

And on the screen, a video that looked like a music broadcast from about 10 years ago appeared.

‘Ah, this song.’

It was a cheering song she had heard at a baseball stadium she went to with a friend who liked baseball.

‘So this is how it was originally sung…….’

Somehow, it wasn’t as exciting as at the baseball stadium. She just thought it had a lot of high notes and was a difficult song.

She watched the vocalist on the screen singing passionately with no particular inspiration, then was startled by the MC’s loud voice.

“And these are the participants who reinterpreted this stage! Ryu Chungwoo, Lee Sejin, Kim Yujun, Park Moondae, Min Jeonghun, Kim Raebin, and Cha Yujin!”

‘Did he just say Park Moondae?’

She hurriedly stared at the screen again. On the screen, the profile photos of the participants this time were up.

‘Ah, I know all of them.’

There were many famous participants, so that was why they were the last team.

She sat back up with rising expectations. From all around, cheers several times louder than before pierced her ears.

‘My goodness, they’re really popular.’

“Now, ‘Heroic’ team! Entering now~”

Before she could think that the name was tacky, the stage went dark.

It was a black stage where even the screen light had disappeared.

The moment a single blue spotlight hit upon it.

The figure of a participant pointing his index finger to the sky like a gun barrel was revealed.

The tall black jumpsuit with a pattern like racing clothes absorbed the intense blue lighting.

In his hand, a red finger suit gleamed under the lights.

And a low voice was heard.

-Yah, yah… Hero Time

[HERO TIME!]

In an instant, the same letters filled the screen.

Screeeech!

Intense bass began to tear the speakers with blatant glitch sounds.

All the lights on the stage came back as if exploding. And seven people began to move in an orderly fashion.

“……!”

Stretching arms and legs hit the floor and bent the bodies as a precise choreography like a knife unfolded.

They were all dressed in black jumpsuits with different patterns.

Cha Yujin, located in the center, started the song.

-My heart is burning
Brilliantly like the sun

The participant who held his body up from behind took over and sang.

-Reach high up to that sky far away
So that I can fly further and catch it

In the place of the accompaniment where a typical band sound should flow, a heavy and intense dubstep sound was laid, leaving only a rocking feel.

WOB- WOB- WOB- WEEEB–!

BRMMMM–!

And again, the group dance.

The participants stretching out one hand moved as if they were doing martial arts.

She looked at the stage with her mouth open. The more intense movements in his own part caught her eye.

The choreography consisted only of large and clear movements without minor ones.

The composition, which could have looked monotonous and excessive, just became powerful thanks to the movement lines that changed in the blink of an eye.

-Saving the world is one thing
Burning ecstatic passion

Ryu Chungwoo, wearing a navy headband, sang the pre-chorus.

The moment she thought there was a strange and cool choreography that looked like shooting something, the chorus burst out.

-Fly away! I’ll go until the end~
Until that day I’ll shine like that sun!

The hair color of the participant who kicked his legs forward and stretched out the high notes refreshingly was a sparkling blonde.

A bright yellow glossy choker suited him as if it were made for his own hair.

While hitting those high notes, the participant was grinning.

‘Crazy.’

Is he Moondae? The woman reflexively covered her mouth.

‘Th-The photos were taken too poorly……!’

In the photo her friend showed her, saying they took it themselves, he wasn’t like that!

Shouldn’t such a talented and cute kid be photographed like that!!

Pounding the already formed low expectations had enormous destructive power.

Furthermore, there was no business that could beat original taste.

‘My tastes were similar to hers after all…!’

While she was gaining a new realization, the stage entered a new phase.

Kim Raebin entered the spot Park Moondae vacated while sitting down.

Goggles with purple lenses dangled near his collarbone.

-Rising like a star
Shining like the sun

‘Huh?’

In the part where the high notes of the chorus should have continued from the original song, rap was included instead.

However, the remaining chorus melody didn’t disappear.

Instead, it was processed with a synthesizer like a sampler and added as a bright sound on top of the hip dubstep accompaniment.

With rap placed over it, the momentum of the preceding high notes did not die down. On the contrary, it felt easier to listen to.

Furthermore, because the lyrics of that part were old, the rap lyrics directly translated into English rather made the song more modern.

-Flying away! This moment~
Here is the time, burning like the sun!

-Take your wings
and fly up
Let’s catch up
to the moon!

‘Wow…….’

The woman, who didn’t know the original song well, only felt an impression like ‘This side is better,’ but she certainly heard that the arrangement was much better than other teams.

And above all, the stage was just cool.

By the time the last chorus came out, she was leaning forward from her backrest toward the stage, almost as if possessed.

-Fly away! To that end~

This time, Park Moondae and Kim Raebin each sang the chorus as if giving and receiving at the ends of the formation.

The choreography moving as if integrated looked like a wave.

Under the blue-purple laser light, the black jumpsuits doubled the feeling of SF comics characters.

And the last chorus bar of the ultra-high note.

-I will save your world!

“Heok.”

She swallowed the groan that was about to come out as a voice.

Park Moondae, who raised his head under the white pinpoint light, looked like he would save the world right now.

No, he was definitely saving her for now…!

On the stage, with the last dance break, 차유진 popped out while doing a back tumbling.

The body that cut through the air landed on the stage floor like a sequence in an action movie.

Thud.

It was a very symbolic superhero landing.

Over the remaining top-line accompaniment, a narration like an announcement mixed with glitches flowed out.

-Thank you for flying Hero Air today…….

The boys on the stage slowly turned around.

And with their thumbs up simultaneously, the song ended.

At that moment, she realized for the first time that the surroundings were filled with enormous noise.

“Aaaaak!!”

“Uwaaaak!!!”

All kinds of cheers and screams, which she had unconsciously ignored while focusing on the stage, rang in her ears.

What was more surprising was that she was also screaming.

“It’s crazy!! It’s crazy!!”

The person in the next seat who had spoken to her earlier was also screaming as if they were about to pop out of their seat.

The slogan held in their hand was already crumpled and shaking randomly, so it was not fulfilling its original role at all.

In her head, Park Moondae grinning, Park Moondae pushing the ultra-high notes, and Park Moondae turning back were playing endlessly.

At the same time, in order not to miss a single cut of Park Moondae exiting in front of her eyes, she thought with wide eyes.

‘Vote!! I have to vote!’

And above all, she was certain of one thing.

‘Unconditionally 1st place!! Unconditionally 1st place!’

This team was the winner!

* * *

After all the stages were finished, the ranking announcement began immediately in front of the empty audience seats where the spectators had left.

With the participants standing in a line for each team in front, the MC announced the next rank.

“3rd place is… ‘Heroic’ team who reinterpreted !”

“What?”

“Hey, no way.”

As soon as the MC’s announcement ended, the surroundings were filled with the sound of buzzing from all over.

I stared at the screen with cold eyes.

‘I knew this would happen.’