Giving Your Vote to Black Label? Why!
Park Yeon-su couldn't wrap her head around it.
She'd heard he was a big shot in the beat-making and hip-hop scene. But big was relative. Even folded up tight, how deep could those creases really go? Was "scene" even the right word for it? It was laughable to compare it to the scene she dominated. It was just so small.
What if Bitboy had thrown his vote to Rockwon instead of Black Label...? He wouldn't have made such a foolish choice without knowing the consequences, right?
But it wasn't impossible. Those punks were always popping pills, chasing cash and girls—what did they know?
Park Yeon-su approached Kim Min-hyuk.
"Is it true? Why Black Label? What'd they do for you? I heard you're tight with their composer?"
"We're acquaintances, sure, but that's not the only reason."
"See? There's more to it. What is it?"
Detective Yeon-su pounced, convinced there was some shady deal she couldn't stomach, but Kim Min-hyuk wasn't backing down. He stood tall, ready to lay out his reasoning.
"The reason I chose Black Label is..."
"Okay, that's enough!"
PD Jo Young-soo cut in, wedging himself between the tense standoff of Park Yeon-su and Kim Min-hyuk.
Jo turned around. His assistant director silently gave a thumbs-up. They'd been secretly filming the whole thing with hidden cameras, and while the contestants grumbled in shock, that was it.
"No need to worry. I have no intention of airing this ridiculous debate—even thinking about it is absurd. If we did, it'd just look like bad acting."
Jo smacked his lips dramatically.
"We won't include the audio."
The main PD swore they wouldn't broadcast the full clip. Contestants, what could you do about it?
Jo heaved a theatrical sigh he couldn't quite suppress.
"Heroes meant to slay the demon lord, divided not by skill but by the greed of Korea's music industry? How disappointed would the viewers be?"
No, he was pretending to lament. Hand on his chest, he kept up the act.
"But as the organizer of this tournament, I owe it to the audience waiting outside to explain why judging is taking so long."
"You 'owe' an explanation? What're you gonna do?"
Speak of the devil and feel the pinch—Kim Min-hyuk swallowed his words, but Park Yeon-su stepped up.
Jo waved his hands.
"No, no, sunbae-nim. What can I say? Let's just get Min-hyuk-ssi to explain his thoughts once. Why make him repeat himself inside and out? Might as well convince everyone at once."
Jo turned to Kim Min-hyuk.
"You get what I'm saying, right? Bitboy judge-nim."
They took the stage.
The judging, which she'd thought would drag on for half a day, wrapped up quicker than expected.
Won Ji-min had been chilling in the waiting room, casually digging into her lunchbox, but she snapped the lid shut at the assistant director's call. Hot-tempered Ray, refusing to leave food behind, shoved three heaping spoonfuls into her mouth.
Sausage veggie stir-fry. I picked up a piece of sausage, cut short like an octopus tentacle.
In that brief moment, a whirlwind of worries swarmed my head.
They say you regret what you don't eat—should I just cram it in like Ray? Nah. What if this one bite turns my mouth into a disaster zone? If food gets stuck between my teeth right when they close-up on me at the crucial moment?
Would a single piece of sausage even show? Who knows. But one thing was certain: once filming ended and we got back, this texture wouldn't be the same. The steaming food would all be cold.
The moment I raised the disposable fork to my mouth, Won Ji-min blocked me.
"Oppa, eat it tasty later."
"Water! Waaater!!!"
I dragged the choking hazard—who couldn't breathe—toward the stage.
The door to the opposite waiting room swung open. Rockwon headed out with 350.
Our eyes met, but we ignored each other.
The only ones who could speak now were the judges looming above us.
MC Joo Seong-hwan warmed up for the main judging.
"Thank you for waiting so long."
Main cam 1, main cam 2, main cam 3. Dozens of side cams captured him from every angle, but he wouldn't let up.
Joo repeated it for every lens, main or side.
"Thank you for waiting so long, truly. For Black Label and Rockwon, Rockwon and Black Label. Even the audience giving us your precious time. At last, the end of this grueling matchup is in sight!"
To speed things up, Joo dove right in.
"We'll start with feedback for Rockwon, who performed first."
Had they already hashed it out among themselves? The judges with clear votes went first, handing Rockwon their round-of-8 tickets: Park Yeon-su and Hong Su-young.
"Excellent."
Endless positivity, hyping Rockwon's stage sky-high. Park Yeon-su went full family-protection mode.
"A performance that vastly expanded the clear limits of trot. And without any obvious boundaries showing. Yes, Rockwon-ssi isn't just broadening trot's genre—he shattered its mold."
Park Yeon-su shot a glance at Black Label.
"It showed us the unbreakable wall of trot that no one should underestimate, and at the same time, that 'copycats can never catch the original.'"
She gestured at her empty hand gripping the mic.
"If we had a 10-point scale here, I'd have slammed a perfect 10."
"Yes, I agree with Park Yeon-su sunbae-nim..."
Trot queen and hitmaker united. Not critique—attack. And the attacks were vicious.
This wasn't about who performed better. It was our side versus theirs, a power struggle.
Hong Su-young straight-up appealed to the audience for Rockwon. A few frowned, but with most fans being Rockwon's base, it wasn't a bad play. As long as the ticket ended up in Rockwon's hand, by hook or crook.
Even with the biased judging, Joo Seong-hwan didn't rein them in. Like he'd planned it, he smoothly passed the mic to Jay-Q.
The lay of the land was clear. Park Yeon-su and Hong Su-young pushed Rockwon. Jay-Q and Park Cheol backed Black Label.
The delay? Probably because Bitboy Kim Min-hyuk, trembling with so many turns left, held things up.
"Who did better? Of course, that's a key judging criterion. Naturally—this is a competition."
Jay-Q, sunglasses on even in the dim venue, breezed through casually.
"But I don't want to overhype any one genre just because it's my wheelhouse. I don't know all music, and I'm not measuring whose stats are higher."
Jay-Q lowered his shades slightly, sniping.
Definitely aimed at Park Yeon-su.
"No objective numbers pop up like in a game."
I swallowed hard without thinking, stung.
"So I focused on growth and potential. Black Label are idols. But this stage didn't lean on that identity."
"If not idols, then what?"
Park Yeon-su grabbed her mic, but Joo Seong-hwan mediated, letting Jay-Q continue.
"Black Label challenged an unexpected field and delivered outstanding results. That's why I gave them the higher score."
Jay-Q set his mic down. Another rose in its place.
Joo Seong-hwan, face brimming with anticipation, highlighted the drama.
"It's 2:2—a tie. Black Label versus Rockwon. With neither an easy victor, the casting vote goes to Bitboy. Who will claim the round-of-8 ticket?"
Cams swiveled. Countless eyes locked on Kim Min-hyuk.
Min-hyuk hyung, give us strength.
"Uh... this is a huge pressure."
Kim Min-hyuk stuttered.
"Th-that said, Jay-Q sunbae-nim valued growth and potential highly... What I see is buzz."
At "buzz," the crowd turned to Rockwon. Even her manager eyed Bitboy. Ray hung her head.
I'd already braced for the end, but it was still far off.
"I'll cast my vote for Black Label."
The audience roared. 350 nodded, accepting the result.
"It overlaps with Jay-Q sunbae-nim a bit. Digesting another genre perfectly could be potential, but I'm not so sure."
Kim Min-hyuk raised his phone. The cam zoomed on the hard-to-see screen.
"It was amazing. One song uniting so many in pure enjoyment."
He swiped through his photos.
"I wanted to capture it. And I'm excited to see how far this ever-changing group can go."
"So you voted Black Label?"
Joo Seong-hwan summed up the judges: 3:2 for Black Label.
Then he revealed more.
"Next, on-site audience scores."
Two screens on the ceiling. Scores climbed over Black Label and Rockwon's images.
1,200 jurors, one vote each for the better player.
Scores rose. Neck and neck.
Ray's cheers grew louder at the board.
Dino alert. Boards raced to 500.
The cliché effect slowed the trailer's screen. Rockwon's lagged, hundreds digit stuck at 5, while Black Label hit 6.
602 votes. A mere 3-vote margin, but Black Label swept the audience too.
"Now, online votes."
Joo Seong-hwan revealed it without fanfare.
"Voting's closed. Who takes online?"
Black Label's 100k buzz? Or Rockwon's solid fandom?
Joo eyed Black Label.
"And the result is!"