Third Ranking Announcement Ceremony (2)
Neoul saw the tip of Lee Gal-chae’s fingers trembling.
Lee Gal-chae hid his shaking left hand beneath the other. Once he clenched and opened both hands, the trembling stopped.
With a faint smile that carried a trace of regret, Lee Gal-chae stood naturally and walked forward.
When MC Jeong Ondo asked for his thoughts, Lee Gal-chae answered in a calm manner and with a gentle voice.
“My ranking has fallen, but this isn’t the end. I’m truly grateful just for being given a chance to reach the finals. I’ll work harder, do my best, and show you the very best stage I can. I will definitely debut. Thank you.”
It was a clean, concise speech with nothing extra attached. For an eighteen-year-old, he was remarkably composed and mature.
When he finished speaking, Lee Gal-chae smiled and headed for the 8th-place Business Class seat.
“Ooooh. My heart’s shaking so bad I’m gonna die. No breath. No air.”
Logan, who had seemed relatively relaxed at first, grew more and more agitated as his name still had not been called.
So tense that the knuckles of his hands had gone white, he shook Neoul’s shoulders wildly, saying he could barely keep himself from passing out.
“I, I hope I’m called late, but I also kind of want to be called quickly…. No, I just want to be called…. I don’t even know what I want anymore….”
Yeo Do-bin had both hands over his eyes. He peeked through the gaps between his fingers, covered himself again, then peeked out once more before shrinking further and further as time went on.
“And the trainee in 7th place is!”
Even so, the announcements continued.
7th. Baek Gi-yeom
6th. Logan
5th. Baek Yuri
Baek Yuri, who had been 1st in the previous rankings, dropping all the way to 5th was truly an unexpected result.
Neoul looked at Baek Yuri. But Baek Yuri showed no surprise and no disappointment at all. If anything, he looked relieved, as though this was exactly what had been coming, or maybe as though the result was even better than he had expected.
Woo Cheong muttered, “Whoa. No way. I totally thought Yuri hyung would be in the top three.”
“There’s nothing that’s guaranteed, Cheong-ah.”
Baek Yuri exchanged a brief greeting with his team members, then stepped forward to thank the viewers.
“I want to work hard until the very end so that everyone who voted for me can think, ‘I was so right to pick Baek Yuri.’ I’ll do my best to shine. Thank you.”
The other participants watching all looked dumbfounded.
But Neoul thought he understood why Baek Yuri had been relieved. Baek Yuri had probably been imagining the worst possible outcome again.
Compared to whatever worst case Seonsaeng Baek Yuri had been picturing, falling to that ranking probably feels like nothing.
It wasn’t as if Baek Yuri had ruined the performance in the third round. It wasn’t as if the team atmosphere had been a disaster. It wasn’t as if Baek Yuri’s contribution during preparation had been small.
He had even taken first place once already, so in a situation where everything should have felt like it was going well, what on earth had he been anxious about?
After Baek Yuri took his seat in 5th place, the announcements continued.
“Next, we’ll announce 4th place! This trainee also went through an extraordinary number of twists and turns.”
Who was it?
Do-bin hyung.
Was it not Ji-seong?
Please let it be me.
At the hint that this trainee had been through many twists and turns, several names were brought up. But the one actually being considered by the others, Yeo Do-bin himself, had already given up hope.
“I, I’ve been lucky so far…. But I don’t know if I can survive this one….”
By then, the rankings had already been called down to 5th.
Yeo Do-bin didn’t think he could possibly receive a higher rank than that. It seemed he believed that even being called at 14th or 15th, after 1st place had been announced, would be fortunate.
“Do-bin, have you thought your survival so far was luck?”
“My fate? My people-luck? I’ve kind of been good at that…. I got lucky becoming friends with you, and I also met the artist team and the breakwater team, so… I was able to come this far….”
What was he even talking about? That smart fool. No, was he a fool like a genius?
He had come this far because he was skilled, not because of luck. How did it make sense for someone who claimed to have good people-luck to hide on a staircase from the very first round and bawl his eyes out?
Neoul had helped Yeo Do-bin with the parachute card because he was a kind person who, even after Neoul had stolen all his candy on the plane, still worried about Neoul’s illness.
“Saying you got here because of luck, because of other people…. I don’t think that would be very respectful to the people who voted for only you.”
“Eh, uh…?”
Neoul said firmly, “It may have been luck. But even that luck was something you created in the end.”
That was when MC Jeong Ondo shouted, “He survived thanks to the parachute pass. But!”
“You made it here with your own strength, Yeo Do-bin.”
“Despite the words ‘by luck,’ he’s a trainee who has worked harder than anyone else!”
...
Yeo Do-bin’s pupils trembled. Neoul’s words overlapped with Jeong Ondo’s. They kept locking together, one after another.
“Will you say that even this new song, which you composed entirely by yourself from start to finish, was only luck?”
“This is the 4th-place trainee who showed especially outstanding composing ability in this round and earned the support of so many passengers!”
“...!”
Watching the stunned Yeo Do-bin, Neoul let out a grin. MC Jeong Ondo also turned toward him and shouted, “It’s participant Yeo Do-bin!”
The moment his name was called, Yeo Do-bin froze with his eyes wide open. He couldn’t believe this was real.
“Do-bin! Congrats!”
As Ha On-ha sprang up and patted his back, Yeo Do-bin finally started in surprise and rose from his seat.
Even while being showered with congratulations from his teammates, Yeo Do-bin couldn’t say a word. He simply bowed his head deeply, his hands shaking badly, and cried once more.
Yeo Do-bin, who had also been seen crying during the first and second ranking announcements, had earned a reputation among fans for crying in a rather artistic way. Replay videos had even been made, and now a third crying compilation was about to be added.
“Sniffle, thank you. Thank you….”
It was an almost miraculous rise in rank.
And as for Neoul.
“The two participants who are candidates for 1st place, please come forward!”
“Let’s go, Neoul.”
He stood side by side with Ha On-ha as a 1st-place candidate.
...?
Neoul stood blankly and stared straight ahead. He had not expected this. He had only hoped to debut; he never imagined he would be standing here, suddenly vying for first place.
MC Jeong Ondo held a short interview.
“Ha On-ha, who do you think will take 1st place?”
“I want it to be me!”
“That’s a refreshing answer! And what about Gal-Neoul? Do you think you can take 1st place?”
Neoul answered in bewilderment, “I do not know, but… if I am given the seat, I will receive it with gratitude.”
“Oooh! Hyungs! Pui-pui-pui!”
Sitting in 3rd place, Woo Cheong made a racket.
“All right, good. Then, for the 3rd ranking announcement ceremony, we’ll now reveal the name of the trainee who took 1st place! 1st place is!”
Tense background music began to play.
This ranking announcement already reflected the bonus points from the winning team of the third round.
Ha On-ha and Neoul had performed on the same team, so they had each received the same 100,000 bonus points. That meant 1st and 2nd place this time were based purely on popularity, on who had received the most votes.
“How do you beat Ha On-ha?”
“Hyung Neoul might actually take 1st this time.”
“Seems like On-ha’s going to….”
“Maybe Gal-Neoul could turn it around?”
The participants’ reactions kept coming.
Red and blue pin lights poured down over Ha On-ha and Neoul’s heads respectively. The lights flashed back and forth, heightening the tension.
Then, when the blinking stopped.
“I’ll be back after the commercial!”
“Ah-ha.”
Ha On-ha, who had been tensed up, let out a short, flustered breath. He looked at Neoul and grinned in a mischievous little circle.
Ha On-ha, who had sneered and flared up earlier when he accused Neoul of acting like the queen’s food-taster, was clearly still not over it. Even so, while the cameras were rolling, he was acting as though he and Neoul were the best of friends.
Of course, Neoul held no grudge against Ha On-ha, so it was not difficult to play along.
Since this was a recorded broadcast rather than a live one, the results resumed without waiting a full minute.
“1st place is… Ha On-ha! Congratulations!”
Waaah~
Ha On-ha looked utterly shocked, as though he had never expected it at all.
“Wow! Thank you!”
Watching Ha On-ha bowing at a ninety-degree angle and greeting everyone in every direction, Neoul thought, He must have known perfectly well he’d take first place.
Even as he kept acting dazed and overwhelmed, his expression of genuine emotion was no ordinary thing.
“I’ll never forget this feeling of gratitude. I’ll keep improving, keep honing my skills, and become an even brighter Ha On-ha. Please keep cheering for me!”
Then it was Neoul’s turn to give his 2nd-place thoughts.
“Hmm….”
What should he say this time? The trouble did not last long. His mouth moved before his thoughts did.
“The stage is enjoyable.”
The speech that came out so abruptly was honest and plain.
“The preparation was hard, but it was so fun… so fun that I wondered whether it was all right to have that much fun. I’m grateful for the chance to stand on stage again, and for being given such a high rank.”
Thank you for making it possible for me to continue my journey in search of the rabbit. Thanks to this, I have also taken one more step toward the path that may save Aba-mama.
Neoul offered thanks once more in his heart.
“Neoul~”
“Congratulations, Ha On-ha.”
“Thank you~”
After he accepted Ha On-ha’s first-place celebration, Neoul received congratulations from the other participants and climbed up to the 2nd-place seat.
So I’ve climbed one step higher.
Seeing Baek Yuri’s ranking fall made it seem as though even maintaining the same position was no easy thing. Yet Neoul had actually moved up one place. It was an impressive thing.
With that, the Breakwater Team had all survived, and only the final announcement for the 14th and 15th survivors remained. The participants whose names had not yet been called joined both hands together in desperate prayer.
“Please, please, please….”
Jeong Ondo lifted the microphone.
“We’ll begin with 14th place! The participant surviving in 14th place is!”
Neoul looked at the middle-schooler Ko Un-gu, with whom he had been on the “If You Give Me a Rice Cake, I Won’t Eat You” team, and at Park Dahan, who had been on the “Artist” team. Neither of their names had been called yet.
“Participant Ko Un-gu!”
“Waaaahhh! Thank you!”
Ko Un-gu survived. Everyone applauded and congratulated him in a warm atmosphere for the youngest participant’s survival.
But with seventeen people still left and only one seat remaining, there were many who applauded almost mechanically, carrying disappointment and resignation in their hands rather than sincere celebration.
Everyone had probably known this would happen when they chose to challenge a survival program, but… when the danger of elimination actually arrived at their doorstep, the participants had a hard time of it.
As some collapsed in despair and others forced themselves to hold back tears, the camera kept rolling mercilessly.
“Next, we’ll immediately announce the final participant advancing to the final round. The last 15th place is…!”
Park Dahan squeezed his eyes shut. He had once said he wasn’t going to be an idol, and yet when he actually stood at the crossroads between survival and elimination, absurdly enough, he seemed to want it desperately.
“Participant Son Ji-seong!”
Another participant’s name was called. The trainee whose name had been called shed tears as he gave his thoughts, then walked to the 15th-place seat and sat down.
Park Dahan was eliminated.