Chapter 59

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The first stage performed by the participants was a new theme song. As the season became an endless hit, they had hurriedly added a second theme song just to fill the quota.

‘I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before.’

Park Moondae hoped it was because he had heard the song in the future. Otherwise, it would mean it was plagiarism. Anyway, despite being an unknown song, the reaction from the audience was immense. They were just happy to see the participants moving and breathing in person. Of course, the reactions of the viewers watching on screen were different.

– ? What song is this
– They should have just sung . Why did they take something strange instead of a masterpiece?
– Guys, let’s debut T_T
– No matter what the song is, Seon Ahyun is good. That’s an undeniable fact.
– Yujin-a, be the center for life.
– Ah, I’m so nervous I feel like my heart is going to pop out T_T
– Moondae-ya, let’s debut and become happier.

Comments calling out for the participants they supported flipped pages in an instant, renewing so quickly that they were almost unreadable.

“Haaa.”
“I’m sweating.”

The participants, who had finished their first stage in front of thousands of people for the first time, panted but were joyful.

‘I don’t even know what I did.’

Park Moondae, who had focused all his attention on not making mistakes since he had learned it hurriedly at the last minute, twitched his eyebrows. There seemed to be many people, but they were far from the stage, so they looked almost like holograms. It didn’t feel real.

And before the participants could come to their senses and let the tension settle in their bodies, they became busy running around changing clothes to keep up with the schedule. Meanwhile, on stage, the MC appeared and led the proceedings.

“Ah, that was a truly wonderful first stage!”

As it was a live broadcast that would last over three hours, different people took charge of each part, trying to minimize fatigue as much as possible.

“We still have many stages prepared! Everyone, please stay tuned!”

An MC who had hosted various audition programs multiple times skillfully improvised to buy time until the VCR started.

“The team stage prepared by the participants for this final, in what order was it decided?”

Soon, a lighthearted video was shown where the participants decided the order through mini-games.

‘We couldn’t sleep because we filmed that at midnight.’

Hearing the sound from below the stage, Park Moondae recalled the situation at that time. Everyone had happened to choose primitive methods like a chicken fight, and Ryu Chungwoo had won a complete victory.

‘Should I say it was an expected result.’

The surprising thing was that Seon Ahyun put up a good fight. Thanks to him remaining until just before Ryu Chungwoo, Park Moondae’s team secured second priority. Of course, they didn’t get to comfortably pick an empty spot in the order. The production staff made the last place pick an order first and allowed the higher-ranked ones to push them out. It was a method that appeared without fail in survivals that wanted to be a bit cruel.

Of course, the participants, who had already become veterans, skillfully avoided that trap. They reacted exaggeratedly and laughed while smoothing out the atmosphere.

[Park Chanju: Uh, uh-uh?!]
[Lee Sejin (Keun): Oh my~]

Park Moondae heard the sound of Keun Sejin smiling and pushing the order from above. He also heard the people of the opponent team, who were in an undesirable order due to being pushed just before, making sounds of wonder.

“Wow, that’s scary.”

Just then, Keun Sejin, who was moving his microphone to his costume next to Park Moondae, heard the sound and shook his head. Even though he was on an upward trend, he wasn’t at a level where debut was confirmed, so he was more nervous ahead of the team stage. Keun Sejin’s hands were shaking, which was rare. Park Moondae clicked his tongue.

“I heard Kim Raebin has Cheongsimhwan (calming medicine).”

“It’s fine~ I’ve never even tried it.”

Behind Keun Sejin, who waved his hand at Park Moondae, the other team members who had finished changing their clothes ran over.

“Group Park going up~”

A staff member shouted and ran past them. Because staff members were needed both on and under the stage, there was a shortage of personnel, leading to gaps here and there.

“We’re going too, right?”

The moment the participants were about to follow on their own, Seon Ahyun raised his hand.

“W-wait, can’t we go after a… fighting shout!”

“Shall we?”

Park Moondae held out his hand without a word. Then the team members also quickly put their hands on top of it. Lee Sejin also placed his hand reluctantly.

“Fighting!”

The shout, which wouldn’t be broadcast, ended briefly.

“I want to say a famous quote, but there’s no time, so let’s run quickly~”

Letting out a hollow laugh at Keun Sejin’s humorous remark, the team members ran down the hallway diligently. And at the same time, in the concert hall. After the VCR that ended without showing the final order, the MC finally led to the next part.

“I present the first performance team decided after a fierce battle for the order…….”

Instead of the VCR, the participants’ profiles appeared on the screen.

[Seon Ahyun (2), Kim Raebin (5), Park Moondae (6), Lee Sejin B (7), Lee Sejin A (11), Kwon Heeseung (18)]

“Team will be the first to go on stage!”

The profiles disappeared, and a staged scene of the participants high-fiving as they saw their team name listed as number one appeared on the screen.

– ???
– What, why are you guys coming out already
– Guys? Guys?
– You rascals, why the opening T_T

Fans, who were momentarily flustered thinking of general competition programs, soon realized the situation.

– You fools, it’s unconditionally advantageous to be broadcast first.

Since they weren’t voting after the stage but were already receiving votes, it was unconditionally advantageous to go first. Of course, provided that they were confident in doing well! The viewers’ reactions changed in an instant.

– You’re right. Going early is the answer.
– lol I knew that already, didn’t you guys know?
– Wow, they’re smart.
– The kids are smart. I guess I can just trust the kids and follow them ^^
– I already believed in them!

Furthermore, starting off was definitely a gutsy choice. People watched the stage preparation process with anticipation.

[Team members: Enjoy your meal~]

The scene of the participants sitting in a franchise cafe, which was PPL, drinking beverages and talking was broadcast first.

– Moondae’s eating a strawberry shake… I want to pinch and suck his cheeks. He’s so cute.
└ Reported. (Reason: Pervert)
└ That’s too much, Moondae is the one who did wrong T_T
└ Captured the PPT. Please make a presentation.
└ You crazy people lol

At the screen without tension, the tension of the comments also loosened briefly. The participants were having a quiet conversation in the video.

[Park Moondae: First, is there any concept you want to do?]
[Kwon Heeseung: Me, me! I want to do something I haven’t tried so far!]
[Lee Sejin (Keun): Me too!]
[Seon Ahyun: Me too!]
[Park Moondae: Mmm… okay.]

A caption saying passed by.

– lol
– All the kids are gentle, so viewing is comfortable.
└ What about Lee Sejin? lol What about Lee Sejin? lol What about Lee Sejin? lol
└ Don’t criticize the martyr. He sent Choi Wongil away.
└ You don’t criticize Wongil either, you hypocrite lol.
– The kids are gentle, but the problem is the viewers aren’t.

Of course, the reason they looked even more gentle on screen was because they were refilming for PPL after already deciding the concept.

[Kim Raebin: I hope it’s a concept that goes well with the working title .]
[Lee Sejin (Keun): Wow, that’s good too!]
[Lee Sejin (Actor): So what kind of concept do you think would fit?]

After those words, silence flowed for a moment. A caption appeared. It was Park Moondae who broke the silence.

[Park Moondae: Among the images of ‘final,’ how about bringing out the feeling of… the ‘last boss’ side?]
[Lee Sejin (Keun): Ah, only one left. That kind of feeling?]
[Park Moondae: Yeah, but not to the extent of being too heavy. It would be better if the viewer can enjoy it without being too serious.]

Then Seon Ahyun raised his hand. For the record, Seon Ahyun’s stuttering symptom was finally not implemented in the captions after the production staff was cursed at for several episodes.

[Seon Ahyun: Then… how about something like ‘■■’?]

Exclamation marks appeared above the heads of the participants all over the screen.

[Kim Raebin: I want to do it…!]
[Lee Sejin (Keun): Oh, me too! I think it’ll be fun.]
[Kwon Heeseung: It’s so good?]

Lee Sejin was also shown nodding on the broadcast.

[Park Moondae: Then our theme… will be decided as ‘■■’.]

“Whoa!” With exclamations, the screen transitioned to the smiling faces of the participants clapping. And the theme keyword was not mentioned again. Only a few cuts of the participants practicing and being praised during recording were shown in the video.

[Egler (Composer): Your voice is very good!]
[Seon Ahyun: Thank you…….]

Seon Ahyun’s ears turned red as he bowed his head repeatedly and returned to his seat. Subsequently, Park Moondae’s part was given an okay in one go. The composers looked at each other and chuckled, then requested Park Moondae.

[Egler (Composer): Could you perhaps try singing it again from beginning to end?]
[Park Moondae: Yes. I’ll try.]

Of course, they didn’t show him singing it again from the beginning, and an interview cut with the composers was inserted.

[Egler (Composer): I like everything. This team is really good. Even the arrangement of the song is like, ‘Oh~ it’s so good’?]
[Egler (Composer): There’s almost nothing to correct. If they just do it like this (they will do well).]

And a few cuts of other team members’ warm recording scenes were alternated. Since it was the final and they didn’t force in strange cuts, no malice was felt in the editing. However, because they had uncannily selected only the unremarkable parts of the lyrics for the recording segment, the theme couldn’t be guessed. Thanks to that, viewers were rolling around, curious about the ‘beep’ processed word.

– What is it
– Hey, tell me too
– Show me what you showed them…!
– Oh my, I’m so curious. I’ll have to watch the stage T_T
– Exactly what kind of novel opinion did they give that you edited it all?
– I’m mad because it seems like they cut the stage preparation part to hide it.
– It’ll be funny if it turns out to be nothing after this lol

While the viewers were chattering, Team , which had even decided on the main dancer without much conflict, was shown practicing choreography endlessly in fast-forward, and then the VCR ended abruptly. With the phrase .

– ?
– Is it over?
– Just the stage like this?
– The stage is coming out.

When viewers were slightly flustered by the screen that ended blandly, the screen behind the stage was captured on the viewer screen returned to the concert hall. The black screen crackled, then white letters appeared amidst blue and red glitches.

[Challenger]
: Challenger.
: A person who tries to defeat the previous winner in a match, fight, or sports game.

A moment later, the screen flickered off with a sharp mechanical sound. And the theme melody of the song began to fill the concert hall. Transformed into 8-bit. Beep- beep-beep- beep- trill! The blatant electronic sound started with one melody and gradually evolved while stacking harmonies. As if a classic game series evolved into a modern console game, the melody transformed into a three-dimensional one in an instant. And the moment that theme melody completed one round, the screen behind the stage opened.

Shuuuuuu—

Amid blue and red lasers, the participants walked out of the black stage. As they took their places and stood, the 8-bit melody varied and faded into a small accompaniment.

“…….”

The audience members also reflexively stopped cheering and shut their mouths. The figures on stage slowly took their formation.