Chapter 8

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Strictly speaking, Park Moondae’s dancing was not at a level to be marveled at. It was just to the extent that one would think he wouldn’t stand out if he entered a group dance.

But to put it another way, it possessed enough viewing pleasure to be able to join a group dance.

‘Even if that were considered a debut song right now….’

It seemed he wouldn’t fall behind other members roughly. It was an incredible development!

The choreographer was a bit excited at the unexpected situation, but soon became cool-headed.

‘Talent that wasn’t there couldn’t suddenly appear in two days.’

So if he used his head a bit, he would have tried to match somehow only the very beginning for the impact of the first intro.

‘If he waits a little, he will go back to rhythmic movements….’

“…….”

But he didn’t go back.

Park Moondae carried that initial level as it was and entered the chorus.

No, rather, the adjustment of tempo and strength became better in the chorus.

He didn’t flail the ends of his limbs like the majority of low-class participants. Instead of roughly smudging the movements around the joints, he definitely caught the angles.

-The one shining on the stage today… is me!

Furthermore, he was singing everything honestly without missing or omitting a single part.

Although technique was lacking, it was a clean and good-sounding voice without a single voice crack or flat note.

Beside the choreographer, the judge Mudie tapped her pen rhythmically.

It seemed to be an action coming out unconsciously, which meant it hit her fancy that much.

Even to his ears, which didn’t have a great appreciation for vocals, Park Moondae was the best among the participants so far.

-Look closely, this moment… I’m the one who shines the most!

No, it was an excellent level.

The clean vocal color pierced into the ears.

‘How much effort did a layman put in to sing stably while following that dance?’

The choreographer inadvertently thought compassionately.

He clearly distinguished and treated people who were ‘good, promising, full of possibility’ and those who were not.

And right now, within the choreographer, the grade of Park Moondae, who had fallen because he seemed to have no particular talent in dance, was readjusted.

‘Since his strength is singing, was it that he seemed to be in a hurry just to learn the choreography because he was busy paying attention to singing stably during the choreography?’

But even so, the sense of incongruity didn’t disappear.

‘…It’s difficult for dance to work in two days without any trigger.’

In the meantime, Park Moondae finally finished the song without losing tempo and power until the end of the second verse.

The judging panel was silent.

Apart from the doubt, he suddenly felt a positive emotion striking up his head.

It was pride.

“Huu, hu, thank you,”

Immediately after the song ended, Park Moondae was breathing heavily, having turned bright red as if he had squeezed out all his stamina.

Instead of the boldness at the time of the first evaluation, where he boldly threw the song selection and had no change in expression, it was a face full of heat.

A face that made one feel that… he really worked hard.

Such a gap had the effect of making the viewer feel inadvertently emotional.

Even so, beside the choreographer, Mudie was in the middle of having eyes that looked like she would pour out a bucketful of praise at any moment.

The choreographer guessed that the other judges would be the same, although probably to a lesser degree.

But there was no one who could bring this impact to life for the broadcast as much as himself. Because he was the one who ground them down in the dance class for fifteen days.

So the choreographer intentionally pretended not to see the implicit glance of the production staff telling Youngrin to give the first evaluation.

And he was the first to open his mouth into the microphone.

“Moondae-ya.”

“Huu…, yes.”

“You did well.”

“…….”

It was a simple and thus more definite praise.

Park Moondae smiled broadly instead of answering.

It was a definite smile, enough to look mischievous, unlike that participant who had been indifferent for the entire fifteen days.

* * *

As expected, a good reversal wins.

There was no way this formula wouldn’t work in an idol audition program.

Even while I was out of breath as if my heart would jump out of my neck, my mind became comfortable with relief.

Good reactions were coming out from the judges.

“My goodness, he’s so commendable.”

“Moondae-ssi, there’s nothing to pick a flaw in today~”

“You did very well.”

It was a feeling of moving one step further away from sudden death.

‘As expected. It was the right choice to invest all 3 points I gathered throughout the filming into dance.’

So right now, Dance was C.

Honestly, the realization of leveling up was greater than when I raised Vocal.

It was a feeling that what I knew with my head but the body didn’t follow was being acquired in an instant.

The sensation of suddenly being able to use muscles I couldn’t use was also vivid throughout my body.

To the extent that I felt pleasure.

Probably, with this much, I wouldn’t be able to go to the upper class, but I would be similar to the intermediate class participants.

Furthermore, since I didn’t even sleep for the first week and only memorized the choreography, I became so proficient in the choreography that it would pop out if I were poked.

It meant that if limited to this song, I might be better than most dance intermediate classes.

‘I burst it all at once without an intermediate process.’

As long as it’s not totally edited out, I will pass the first elimination with this for now.

It seems I’m moving forward well toward survival step by step.

And the expected question also came out.

“But Moondae-ya, just what did you do for two days?”

At the choreographer’s question, I could see judge Mudie asking back with her mouth shape, ‘Why?’.

As if answering that, the choreographer added an explanation.

“The dance suddenly works? Suddenly in the two days we didn’t see you.”

“That is….”

I caught my breath and intentionally shook my head slightly awkwardly. I probably looked like I was embarrassed.

“I asked a friend who is good at it.”

“A friend who is good at it?”

“Seon Ahyun.”

To speak of it, it’s a smokescreen.

Since I couldn’t say I leveled up with the status window, I intend to pass it over slightly emotionally instead.

Fortunately, in the roommate group, there was Seon Ahyun, who was in the dance upper class.

Since it wasn’t a non-existent case that one improved significantly upon receiving advice full of practicality directly from a peer, I tried it once for the picture.

-By any chance, do you have time?
-Me, speaking to me…?
-Yeah. Sorry, but if the situation allows, this movement for a bit…….
-Y-yes! I do!
-…Umm, right.

Furthermore, when I roughly broached the subject, Seon Ahyun welcomed it and taught me so hard. It was to the extent that I would have felt sorry if I didn’t improve.

He taught me passionately while splitting every movement for almost two hours, so I was a bit flustered.

I was only trying to roughly keep appearances…….

Anyway, if it’s an image of having helped an ordinary participant who couldn’t get a grasp, it will definitely not be a loss for Seon Ahyun either. It’s not bad.

Shall I strengthen the situation a bit more? Let’s add more useless words.

“…Ahyun-i is very kind.”

“Hey, then does that mean I’m not kind?”

The choreographer immediately poked in.

But his face was grinning, full of a playful air.

It’s a feeling that it passed well more or less. A heartwarming atmosphere flowed between the judges.

“Do you remember the content I said in the first evaluation?”

Youngrin of ‘SaintU’ asked softly. It seemed not to be a real question but a sentence to open up the conversation.

“Because there was no proficiency in dance at all, I said the future missions would be burdensome.”

Youngrin smiled faintly.

“It seems I spoke wrongly. I think Park Moondae-ssi will overcome it well even if it’s burdensome.”

“Thank you.”

“Today, I watched very well. Next time, I hope there will be more leisure in your movement.”

“I will work hard so that I can be so.”

It was impossible to suddenly have leisure with just that word, but answering definitely was what an audition program was. It’s a bit fun.

In any case, it was successful. While receiving the following praises from the judges, I roughly expected.

The grade would be Gold.

* * *

Like other various idol audition programs, the theme song in was the content exposed to the public first.

And the amount of screen time for the theme song naturally goes around centering on people who are good. What divided the standard for these ‘people who are good’ was this grade.

You probably guessed roughly from the badges dividing the classes, but the high, middle, and low grades were divided in the order of Gold-Silver-Bronze.

“However, participants who do not satisfy even the conditions for Bronze… are discharged!”

That sound was made every season, but it had never been realized once, so there was no need to care.

And above these three categories, there was one more grade.

“Who will be the participant to receive the Platinum grade representing this Relisting season of , which returned with a newer appearance!”

It was precisely the Platinum grade.

On the internet, people meme’d this grade by bringing in all sorts of metaphors from multi-level marketing to games that ask after one’s parents’ health.

I am honestly a bit relieved that the production staff’s naming sense didn’t go as far as Diamond.

Regardless of my inner thoughts, the other participants were all stiff while waiting for the MC’s announcement.

A flashy metal box was placed in front of each participant, and a badge symbolizing the grade was inside it.

Since I already guessed the grade, I didn’t have much thought.

Silver was from the 26th place, and just by looking at the status window values, I was already within the top 25. And the values were insufficient to enter the 10 people in the Platinum grade.

Then it’s Gold.

“Participants, please open the grade boxes!”

While catching my expression so as not to show a dull air, I popped the box open.

And I froze.

Inside the box, a platinum-colored badge with hologram reflection treatment was flashing.

It was a Platinum grade badge.

“…….”

When I was frozen, Seon Ahyun, who was lifting his own gold badge from the side, tilted his head. And he himself was startled.?

“W-w-wow, wo-ow!”

“What? …Heol, jackpot!! Wow, it’s a jackpot!!”

Similarly, (former) 20th place Lee Sejin, who was holding a gold badge, looked inside my box and shouted.

And, thumping my back, he cried out.

“You’re really a jackpot! Platinum!!”

I don’t know since when we were close enough to do this.

Didn’t we only exchange greetings while coming and going? Even that, I did reluctantly because that side did it first.

I picked up the badge from the box after a deep breath.

The other participants seemed to think I was like that because I was moved, but in fact, my head was complicated.

‘Why is it Platinum?’

I knew that every season they gave the Platinum grade to two or three people while looking at the growth rate instead of the absolute value of skill.

But I didn’t think I was to that extent.

And I realized.

‘…That evaluation order!’

Because of that, the number of people who would soar up from the low-middle ranks decreased. So it seemed that I stood out relatively.

Since the dance was in a state of being definitely familiarized through preview due to regression and staying up all night practicing, it seemed to have played a part that it was better than the same-level status windows.

“……Hmm.”

I rolled the badge in my hand.

It seemed certain that I made an impression, but somehow the aftertaste was unpleasant.

‘If this goes wrong, it could be big trouble.’

I didn’t know what kind of editing would go in if I did even one thing wrong in the next evaluation. Even in the first season, a participant suffered harshly through a similar route like this.

No, thinking about it, there was no need to go as far as the next evaluation. Receiving the Platinum grade now would result in being cursed at as much as possible if the editing point was even slightly off.

If Choi Wongil, who was glaring at me over there right now, did even an interview like ‘Honestly, I didn’t fully understand it’, it would become very good prey.

That said, showing that I didn’t like it here would be a crazy thing.

‘It can’t be helped.’

I slowly lifted the badge and attached it to my body. When I turned my head, I could see other participants wearing Platinum badges.

As expected, the 1st and 2nd places of the first evaluation were both Platinum. Other than that, most of the people who sat on the sofa received Platinum again.

It seemed that the participants in the top 10 rankings dug in through the gaps of several participants who fell to Gold.

I was the only one in the 20s. Damn it.

‘A focused fire will pour down.’

…No, let’s think of it positively. Because it’s actually a good thing.

‘At least my screen time will be a lot.’

In any case, until the stage fancams were released, it was a battle for screen time.

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

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

I made a firm resolution. Let’s further reduce things that could be used as a pretext.

Let’s level up like crazy and pour everything into dance and song.

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

……And for now, let’s unconditionally avoid the vicinity of participants whose dance stat is A on the theme song stage.

Because if compared, there is no answer.