Chapter 4

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Huh?”

Several judges began to whisper.

“T-Holic?”

A few years ago, the mega-popular male idol group ‘T-Holic,’ which had won the grand prize for three consecutive years, entered a hiatus. It was due to an unavoidable lack of members caused by military enlistment.

So instead, the agency pushed the solo activities of the youngest main vocalist, whose draft notice hadn’t come yet. It was a mini-album featuring a title track with a strong chorus.

However, time revealed that the true value of this album was not the title track but the coupling song.

Surprisingly, it had climbed back up the music charts to 3rd place through a chart reversal.

The wave that started from a social media recommendation post by a popular female solo singer became a small surge after passing through several variety shows.

That coupling song was .

This easy-listening song, which harmonized a rich band sound with sophisticated synths, was sung at various university festivals that year and eventually settled within the annual top 100.

And what was flowing in the filming set then was clearly its prelude.

An iconic intro where an accompaniment with a characteristic accordion-style chorus melody was laid out.

Of course, it was a masterpiece. It was also a song that would be impressive if sung well.

That was why it was even more strange.

‘Can one… select this song without knowing anything?’

Because that was a song with a very ambiguous position.

It wasn’t a representative song from a famous idol’s prime, nor was it a famous song by an established singer.

Therefore, whether in an idol survival show or a singer survival show, it wasn’t a song that could be immediately thought of and selected for the first evaluation.

Because it subtly missed the categories of both.

Furthermore, at that point, several years after the song had been popular.

Because I hadn’t specified a selection separately, thinking a predictable song would come out, such a variable occurred.

Of course, the production team could check the sound source submitted by the participant in advance. However, there were already 77 participants.

The root of the trouble was that they roughly skipped it, thinking it wasn’t worth spending time even on a filler.

‘It’s difficult to do comparative editing with such an ambiguous song…….’

The writer tapped her pen dissatisfactorily.

The judges, who had been surprised by the song selection, were also waiting for the prelude to end with a somewhat relaxed attitude.

And Park Moondae opened his mouth.

—I remember the me I used to know

Beyond the shining and dazzling season

To the weary and weak times

Even at the end of the days that had no end

The thing that holds the broken me, Oh—

Only me

Yes, It’s me

“…!”

It was good.

From the first verse, which started with an off-beat and continued as if chanting, it was clean.

Many people didn’t know because it was comfortable to the ear, but normally, when singing that song, it was easy to miss all those subtle beats.

It meant it somehow became amateurish.

However, this participant was accurately putting the small melodies into each complex beat.

‘Dan, ttadan—, ttan, dan, daan—, ttadan.’

“…!”

One of the judges, who was unconsciously tapping the table, was startled. It fit perfectly.

In that way, even ordinary viewers who didn’t know the details like split beats got the impression that he ‘sang well.’ Because he sang in perfect harmony with the accompaniment.

Furthermore…….

‘His vocalization… is good?’

His vocalization was noticeably good. It wasn’t just loud; a good tone was heard with a sense of three-dimensionality.

‘Was it like this at the karaoke bar too?’

The writer tried to recall the song she heard when they first met, but it didn’t seem to be to this extent. If he had sung like this, she would have taken more interviews when recruiting him. And looked into his song selection a bit.

‘Then he improved this much in ten days?’

Regardless of the flustered writer, the song moved past the verse and entered the pre-chorus.

—So I

I must celebrate myself

I must never forget again

Now remember

Until now

Even while the notes were rising in an escalator fashion, there was never once a case where the note went flat. There was no part where the breathing was unnatural either.

By this point, other things came into the writer’s view. For instance, the surprised expressions of the judges.

—The amazing miracle

That lived through every today

Don’t forget, don’t erase it

So congratulate

Celebrate now

That’s the party in me

As if every day is a PARTY, Ooh—

Let’s PARTY

High notes stretched out smoothly. It didn’t even look burdensome. It was easy and clean, as if a limit of about one octave remained.

It was a method that perfectly fit a song that should be heard beautifully and softly as if speaking, instead of being shouted out.

Now the writer felt like laughing hollowly instead.

‘Right, that’s good… he’s total main vocal material……. We were short of vocal positions anyway, wow, isn’t this great? My eye for talent is truly amazing. To think something like this would roll in even if I just recruit someone from the street.’

The second verse came out again.

Park Moondae naturally handled the complexity where the melody was the same as the first verse but the beat changed.

Passing through the bridge to the part where it transposed once in the last chorus, his voice rose effortlessly as if it were natural.

A high note that made the back of the neck tingle struck pleasantly and passed. It was a wonderful climax that wasn’t excessive but didn’t just slide by either.

And returning to the first line of the verse as if striking up a conversation again, the song ended.

—…I, I remember the me I used to know

The participant produced a good sound until the very last note.

As soon as the accompaniment ended, Park Moondae bowed in greeting. And added words somewhat blankly.

“…Thank you for listening.”

A silence flowed briefly. The writer gripped her pen.

‘Right. Let’s not send him away and keep him.’

When she was readjusting Park Moondae’s position, the judges excitedly picked up their microphones.

“Wow, Moondae-ssi!!”

“Yes.”

“You know you did well, right!?”

“……I practiced hard to sing well.”

Then another judge quickly snatched the words.

“No, this kind of thing is just innate. You have talent.”

It was a choreographer famous for being blunt.

He was smiling while narrowing his eyes as if he liked it.

There might be some part of him speaking a bit excessively on purpose because it was a broadcast, but he wasn’t the type to say things he didn’t mean.

Park Moondae bowed his head while rejoicing internally.

Acclaim from the judges continued to pour in.

In particular, Mudie, a female solo singer who appeared as a vocal coach, praised him excessively with sparkling eyes.

“First, the tone is very refreshing. And because the vocalization is good, it’s heard even better.”

“Right? Really, as if speaking right next to the ear…”

“Right, right.”

Voices of agreement poured out. Then Mudie nodded and continued in a fast voice.

“Also, it seems like your voice would suit any genre regardless of the type, and this is a very important part for an idol. You don’t even have any bad habits that seem unnecessarily stained, so I’m really looking forward to the future. Really.”

“Thank you.”

“Moondae-ssi, you’ve never been in an agency yet, right? You said you had no career earlier, and looking here, there’s really no particular history.”

“Yes. Not yet….”

Then a young male judge cut in. He was a member of a famous male idol group that had had two members leak out during the contract renewal season not long before.

“Then you’ve never even received special lessons?”

“No.”

“Not at all? I mean, even at an academy?”

Park Moondae silently shook his head.

The judge who asked marveled with an expression mixed with a bit of suspicion. Then Mudie smiled brightly and opened her mouth again.

“Right, right, rather than just doing it with any agency, it might be better to wait for a genuine big shot. I think offers will definitely come from good places!”

“Thank you for the well-wishes.”

The writer suddenly recalled that Mudie’s agency was preparing for a male idol launch.

‘Come to think of it, she had a stake in her agency.’

And she looked at the participant who was still bowing his head politely but not appearing particularly impressed.

Then looking again at the judges’ seats, which were all in unanimous praise, she was swept by a strange feeling.

Should she say… a feeling like they were subtly being swayed.

Surely discovering a skilled participant would be a benefit to the broadcast, but it was uncomfortable.

The writer rested her chin on her hand, and then it flashed upon her as she saw the hand microphone Park Moondae was holding.

‘He didn’t properly dance in the end!’

Of course, Park Moondae also performed movements like choreography.

But since this song itself wasn’t produced for promotional use, those movements were only at the level of rhythmic motions.

It had been structured so that when dancers performed proper choreography around him, he would stretch out his hands and move his legs a few times in time with the beat.

However, the original stage including the dancers remained as an afterimage in people’s minds.

Especially if it was a case where he had sung the song wonderfully well!

Furthermore, since it was true that he had performed a conceptual song of a top-tier idol, he could even avoid questions like ‘Moondae-ssi, do you really want to be an idol?’ even after having rubbed along almost with vocal ability alone.

In the end, it was the best option he could have chosen in Park Moondae’s situation.

‘This goes beyond sense, I can even feel a sense of veteran-like skill…….’

The writer scanned Park Moondae with a disapproving eye, somehow feeling deceived.

And as if reading such a mind of the writer, a judge who was quietly watching the acclaim of the other judges picked up the microphone.

It was Youngrin of the girl group ‘SaintU,’ who had succeeded in a chart reversal with a fan cam of her smiling and doing acrobatics in the pouring rain during her unknown days.

“It was a stage where the choreography difficulty was almost non-existent just now, so could I see your dance properly and separately?”

The writer wanted to applaud.

* * *

‘It worked.’

It was worth the effort of focusing on leveling up while singing only this song until I was sick of it for the past few days.

As a result of pouring every single point I had into Vocal, the ‘Vocal’ item in my status window was then A-.

It was a natural choice. For a singer in Korea to be unable to sing was an out, regardless of being an idol or whatever.

Being unable to dance could at least be covered by the amount of practice, but being unable to sing showed even if one turned on a pre-recording.

Moreover, in the pool of idol aspirants, aspirants for main vocal were conventionally fewer than aspirants for main dancer.

Therefore, if I imprinted the main vocal position once in the beginning, the probability of occupying a spot in the debut group would increase.

Next was the method of selecting the evaluation song.

Judging from the fact that negative feedback was significantly low, it seemed my approach was correct.

The filtration method where I anticipated criticisms the judges might make based on my weaknesses and then excluded all songs that might elicit those reactions.

‘What’s wrong with the dance?’

—Delete all songs with full-scale choreography.

‘You’re not dancing at all?’

—Delete ballads.

‘You sing well. But you don’t feel like an idol?’

—Delete everything except idol songs.

‘Wasn’t it too much for you to handle this song alone?’

—Delete all songs sung by three or more people, instead of taking unnecessary risks when I can’t even do an arrangement.

‘After all, you’re compared to the original artist!’

—Delete all songs released within the last three years.

And among the remaining songs, I chose the song with the best record on the music charts.

Hmm, thinking about it again, it was a good strategy.

I thought I could just slide by like this, but as expected, there was at least one person who wasn’t swept by the atmosphere.

I made eye contact with the judge holding the microphone.

It was a familiar face.

She was the first idol who had let me know that taking photos of idols became money. Thanks to her, I had covered the tuition for the second semester of my freshman year.

‘Since that side also gained an image of a hard worker through that fan cam of acrobatics in the water disaster and it seemed to have become quite a hot topic, it was a win-win.’

But that time, it didn’t seem to be a very mutually beneficial meeting.

“I understand that you haven’t received training. But since this is a place for the first evaluation, shouldn’t we check at least the basic state? Since you participated in an audition program, I thought you might have prepared at least one song.”

Saying something like ‘I hadn’t prepared anything’ there was an act of madness. It could be said to have been an act that was worse than just keeping one’s mouth shut.

“Yes. Then would this song be possible.”

A staff member quickly approached near the bottom of the stage and beckoned to me. I approached and said the song I had thought of.

Then the camera followed and even captured the staff member flinching.

Seeing that, it seemed I would avoid being completely edited out if at all possible. It was worth the effort.

And immediately, a cheerful accompaniment filled the filming set.

“…!?”