Chapter 7

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The trainer for Vocal Advanced was the judge, Mudie.

She had given me a generous score in my first evaluation, and she had thrown good words at other participants in all directions as well. Perhaps because of that, her training tended to be about encouraging them with good words.

Of course, that didn’t mean there were no situations where she got angry at all.

The participant who had made the same rhythmic mistake for five days bowed his head deeply.

It seemed he was trying to hide an annoyed expression rather than a sense of self-reproach, but it didn’t matter.

The important thing was that even that good-natured coach was finding it hard to hide her weariness because the mistakes were so frequent.

And there was the culprit.

“Moondae. Would you like to try singing this part?”

“Yes.”

When I stepped forward at the trainer’s designation, an accompaniment was played on the electronic piano. I skillfully performed the pre-chorus part according to the accompaniment.

“Drawing the future like a falling star~”

When the trainer nodded at the clean sound and accurate rhythm, the participant who was being scolded nervously rubbed his feet.

That was right. It was a problem that I had sung this theme song too well from the beginning.

It was inevitable that the starting points for someone who already knew this song and someone who didn’t would be different.

Moreover, I was in a state where I had heard the completed song, not the demo. I was fine even if I just sang based on what I remembered.

Furthermore, my voice happened to fit this song perfectly. The trainer said she was pleased because the way I sang felt untainted.

And even then, there were those who were whispering while looking at Mudie, who was pleased.

“…He’s really good.”

“I know.”

In the Advanced class, where the baseline was already high, the fact that the participant who was like a sample of expectations was from an ordinary background must have made the others feel like they were dying.

Especially if it were a participant whose only advantage was vocals.

As far as I confirmed in the first evaluation, there were two participants with Grade A vocals this season. And both of them were Grade C or lower in dance. Including me, everyone was in similar conditions.

And that ‘Choi Wongil’ over there, who was then being scolded, was one of those two Grade A’s.

What was interesting was that the middle schooler who had tried to distinguish connections with me before filming was that guy. It had turned out he wasn’t a middle schooler but a high school freshman.

Anyway, at an age where self-consciousness was inflated, it was understandable for him to be angry after hearing such things from the trainer for several days.

That too, while being compared with someone he had ignored as soon as they met.

“That’s it!”

As soon as the pre-chorus part I was singing ended, the trainer flicked the keys as if her frustration had been relieved. Even at the cheerful percussive sound, Choi Wongil did not raise his head.

“Wongil, do you know how to sing here now?”

“…….”

Based on his ability, it didn’t seem like his mistakes would be this frequent. After he continuously picked fights since the day I cleared the song on the first day, it had seemed his mental state had finally shattered.

Let’s see, on the first day, it seemed to have started roughly like this.

-Wow, brother, it’s a relief that you were praised for your singing again. You should come up from Dance Beginner soon too!

-I think it fits this song well because it feels a bit amateurish and pure.

He would toss words that subtly bothered a person. It was a clever nuance where if the opponent got angry prematurely, they would conversely be treated like an idiot.

Moreover, they were all words he said after taking off the microphone.

But eventually, as if he couldn’t stand being angry at this level….

-You’re really lucky. I’m jealous. It’s the most important factor in the entertainment industry. It’s a pity that you couldn’t do dance with luck as well. But still, fighting!

-I think it’s right that a lucky person is above a hard-working person. Most people here are desperately putting their lives on the line. But even though you participated by chance, you received such good evaluations.

He reached this level of intensity.

Now he was openly picking fights, so it was starting to feel awkward to just roughly ignore him. But I couldn’t help it since I couldn’t purposely fail at what I knew.

He might not have known, but my life was also on the line there…….

“Stay calm, don’t be too nervous and let’s try again.”

“……Yes.”

Choi Wongil tried to start the song again with effort. And he made a mistake again.

Unfortunate for him.

That day too, I received praise from the trainer and sharp gazes from several participants, including Choi Wongil, until the vocal class ended.

It was tiring because this atmosphere of gauging ranks was a long time ago, but it wasn’t bad. Because if I were a real nobody, there wouldn’t have been such checks.

And with both classes in this state, training achievements steadily accumulated, and the last day of training arrived.

On the morning of the last day, participants of the Vocal Advanced class recorded the audio.

Anyway, it was for a group song and names wouldn’t be specified, so it wouldn’t mean much.

Instead, I would focus on the afternoon.

It was time for the long-awaited grade evaluation.

* * *

The lights turned on at the set.

“Did everyone get along well?”

“Ah~ it was hard!”

“I just… slept soundly because I was so tired.”

“Because you were teaching hard?”

“That’s right! Ah, there should be a reward today.”

The judges sat around in chairs and exchanged appropriate greetings with each other.

They had already finished their greetings in the waiting room in the morning, but it was a conversation for show for the broadcast opening scene.

The set they entered and sat in was a room decorated like a multi-to-one interview room.

By recycling the set from the season before last, a special effect was prepared.

The judges, who were asked to show as much reaction as possible in advance, threw words innocently as if they didn’t know.

“This place is totally… like that. It seems like we’re going to have a very important interview.”

“It is an important interview~ A grade interview!”

“Is it an interview to join Idol Inc.?”

As soon as the judges’ words ended, the lights on the desks in front of their chairs turned on.

“Wow!”

‘SHINE YOUR STAR’ flickered in fancy cursive on the desks.

When the catchphrase for this season revealed its grand appearance, the judges began to applaud as they usually did in other seasons.

But surprisingly, the wall began to move that time.

“Uh, uh?!”

“What is this!”

Along with the judges’ skillful reactions, the wall of the interview room set went down to the floor. Then, as the wall disappeared, the wide-open entire set was revealed.

Behind the judges, who were turning their heads here and there, the MC’s voice rang out loudly.

“The relisting of Idol Inc., which has returned with a newer look! The first gateway is… a full disclosure evaluation!”

“Wow!”

What was filling the back of the judges was an audience seat like an outdoor theater. And the participants were densely filling the front seats of that audience seat.

The participants, who thought they were just in a place for temporary waiting, looked shocked, contrasting with the professional MC.

“The 77 participants who practiced the same song will undergo the evaluation with each other as the audience!”

In fact, participants could see each other’s stages during the first evaluation too.

However, everyone’s faces stiffened, perhaps because they didn’t know they would be evaluated with people who practiced the same song within the same period as the audience.

It was because they had received individual evaluations after entering the practice room alone until last season.

“The order of the grade evaluation is according to the rank, but~ it goes in reverse!”

“…!”

“Participant Chu Seonggu, ranked 77th, please come forward!”

The called participant headed to the stage, staggering as if he were half-dead. Sympathetic gazes and whispers poured out, but Park Moondae kept his mouth shut.

Like Seon Ahyun’s first rank evaluation, he had seen enough that sympathy could look deceptive depending on the editing.

It was a sense that came from his experience of periodically searching idol communities to price the filming data.

“Yes. Good work.”

“…Thank you…….”

As expected, the 77th place participant missed most of the first verse and completely messed up the evaluation.

“…….”

In the chilly and anxious atmosphere, the next and the next participants also half-ruined their stages.

After sending about five or six people like that, the judges also couldn’t hide their discomfort on their faces.

It was a cruel and vivid arrangement of the order.

But there was nothing for the production team to lose.

‘Anyway, if you can’t do it, you have to extract even provocative cuts to be worth the appearance fee.’

They were used as discard cards.

And it was also to illuminate more clearly.

The possessors of mental strength who could bite their teeth and digest the stage even in a situation where their mental state would collapse among the lower ranks.

Or participants who showed meaningful growth even during this short period.

The calculation also included that among the participants with disastrous skills, those who were noticeably handsome or had prior recognition wouldn’t matter since they didn’t attract attention with their skills.

Interestingly, there was also a participant who satisfied both the former and the latter.

“Participant Lee Sejin, you must have worked hard.”

“You did well!”

“Hu, hu, huff, huff…. Thank, you.”

It was Lee Sejin, the former child actor. While barely catching his breath with a bright red face, he at least followed the song to the end without letting go.

It was far from enough and awkward to be described as ‘digested’.

However, as participants of similar ranks who messed up their stages were placed before and after him, he looked much better relatively.

Park Moondae briefly doubted.

‘Could that one be the Lee Sejin who debuts?’

Of course, since it was something he couldn’t guarantee, he immediately finished his thought by including that participant in his alert list.

‘I should stay away from drug users.’

And a boring evaluation section for the middle tier followed.

The participants’ skills gradually got better, and occasionally there were participants who caught the eye.

However, listening to the same song more than forty times was harder not to get tired of.

After the initial terrible atmosphere calmed down, everyone roughly took care of their own skills, so the judges also regained their peace and began to feel boredom.

“Mmm….”

“It’s okay.”

When that boredom reached its peak, it was Park Moondae’s turn.

Seon Ahyun showed his fist to Park Moondae with a pale face. It was a solemn expression.

Having finished his evaluation just before, he had digested the song reasonably well.

“Fi, fi… Fighting.”

“…? Oh, yeah.”

While Park Moondae was puzzled, he faithfully returned the greeting with his mouth. It was a victory for social observation.

He walked toward the stage, step by step. The feeling of his head slightly heating up with a sense of exaltation was unfamiliar.

“Participant Park Moondae, ranked 22nd!”

“Yes.”

The judges had a generally disinterested attitude.

‘He’ll be good at singing and bad at dancing.’

The choreographer, whose expectations for Park Moondae had disappeared after the repetition for several days, thought even slightly bluntly.

‘I’m starting to get annoyed.’

“Grade evaluation begins.”

The tiresome prelude flowed out.

Park Moondae started the first movement. It was a big movement of pulling both arms and turning the body.

“……?”

The first one to feel the sense of incongruity was the choreographer.

‘The lines are different?’

Until only two days ago, during the last face-to-face class, Park Moondae didn’t have what you’d call ‘dance lines’.

The sense of being able to match the points of starting and ending, and the points of giving and taking away strength.

If that was the criterion for distinguishing rhythmic movement from dance, Park Moondae’s movement had been rhythmic movement.

It was definitely like that…….

‘Why… is he dancing well?’

No, thinking about it again, it was a good thing.

‘The screen time will be a lot.’

Anyway, until the stage fancams were released, it was a battle of screen time.

Since I would definitely avoid elimination in the beginning, I was steadily approaching my goal of ‘debuting within 1 year’.

‘I just need to not become a crazy unlikable character here.’

I made a firm resolution. Let’s further reduce the things that could be nitpicked.

Let’s level up like crazy and pour everything into dancing and singing.

“Participants who received the Platinum grade, please come up onto the stage first!”

……And for now, let’s definitely avoid the area around the participants whose dance stat is A in the theme song stage.

Because if I’m compared, there is no answer.