Final (1)
Gal Neoul’s biggest fan entered the Jamsil Indoor Gymnasium, where the final performance was being held, with a heart that would not settle. The seat assigned at random on the ticket she had received at the booth was on the second floor, Section 9.
[Web Dispatch] FLuIdol Travel Audience Guide
When the text message announcing her lottery win had arrived, she had been so happy and so shaken she could hardly breathe. She had even brought throat lozenges said to be good for the voice, so she could cheer until she went hoarse. She had also packed camera lenses of every kind.
Wow.
It feels like an airport.
She heard a murmur ahead of her. Once she stepped inside, she found a passageway decorated like the boarding bridge to an airplane.
The walls were printed with windows and the airport scenery beyond them, and the gate in front of the passage even looked like the mouth of a plane.
Could the seats be like that too?
For a moment she hoped so, but they were not. They were ordinary, stiff concert chairs.
What stood out was the large, round protruding stage. Cameras for the live broadcast had been installed all over the place.
The sight lines are insane...
Fans clutching slogans filled the standing and seated sections to the brim. Off to one side, the judges’ seats had been prepared, and the contestants who had already been eliminated were gathered there too, apparently having come to support the others.
After the announcement of the performance cautions and emergency exits, the lights went out. Only the Idol Travel logo embedded in the screen glowed brilliantly.
Before long, the stage lights came up, and fifteen contestants were standing at even intervals across the main stage and the protruding stage.
They were all wearing the white flight attendant uniforms that had appeared in the signal song performance music video.
The fan account holder found Gal Neoul at once. In the music video, his hair had hung loose and flowing, but now it had been tied back into a single tail. His name tag glittered whenever it caught the light. His face shone even more brightly than that.
Screeeee!
Waaah!
The audience, thrilled with anticipation, burst into cheers. Just from the costumes alone, it was easy to guess what kind of stage the contestants were about to show.
The signal song, Welcome.
“Hello, passengers. Thank you for flying with the Idol Travel route, where we set out to find the greatest idols who will light up the world. Our flight attendants will ensure that you have a pleasant and...”
The airplane announcement from the Welcome music video, which they had all watched dozens of times, began to play. From now on, just hearing that line made her heart slam wildly like Pavlov’s dog trained by a bell.
Dong— Dong— Dong— Dong—
“Passengers, we will be taking off shortly.”
Ha On-ha, who had taken first place in the third round with undeniable confidence, began to sing.
“Left behind on a lonely sea A silent island where no one comes I'm so lonely I've always been alone”
The fan account holder, who had been filming a few contestants intensely, including Gal Neoul, bit her lip at Ha On-ha’s voice and lowered her camera.
Wow. He’s terrifyingly good.
No wonder he’s the center. The instinct to watch with her own eyes and listen with total focus, not through a lens, battled evenly with the desire to get the best possible shot.
The contestants showed off how much they had improved, dancing and singing with delight. In the chorus, all fifteen voices came together as one.
“Welcome, I wanted to meet you I thought that someday— I would get to meet you”
“I think maybe I’ve been Waiting for you for a long time”
Though autumn had already begun, it felt as if time had been turned back and she had been dropped into summer again. The summer when the survival show had first begun.
It felt as though fresh green leaves were growing to encircle her heart, while cool waves sounded in the distance.
When they sang as a group, Baek Yuri’s voice was the clearest by far, firm in its tone and rich in volume.
“This might be a dream of a summer night If it is a dream, I hope I never wake Stay here with me”
Hoooooh— hoo— hooooh hoo— hoo—
Gal Neoul’s high ad-libs. The first time she heard them, she had never imagined they could be made by a human voice alone, without a trace of processing.
But after experiencing Gal Neoul’s live performance once, the fan account holder had become so firmly convinced that she might even have been willing to convert to the Neoul cult.
Heaven...
Why go to heaven? This is heaven.
After the contestants who had opened the final round with the signal song left the stage, MC Jeong Ondo walked out.
“Hello, passengers! I’m your guide, Jeong Ondo, and I’ll be hosting today’s event! Thank you to all the passengers here on-site, and to those joining us online and through the live broadcast.”
Each time Jeong Ondo moved while greeting the audience, the guide flag attached to his back fluttered above his head.
“The contestants have gone through so much to reach the final round, and at last...! Only the final gate remains.”
Cheering rose and fell with disappointed cries. Jeong Ondo looked around, waiting for the audience to quiet down, then turned his gaze toward the camera.
“Who will the final seven be? Will the contestant in your heart achieve a good result at the end of this journey? Please enjoy the final stage safely and happily today, and stay with us until the very end.”
After the opening remarks came the judges’ introductions.
“Then first, let us welcome the three pilots who have guided the contestants as mentors until now, and our judges!”
Woo Yongdam, dressed in the airplane pilot uniform he had worn in Episode 1, was the first to rise on the lift.
His hairstyle, with his bangs swept back to reveal his forehead, suited the sharply tailored uniform perfectly. Woo Yongdam strode forward, greeted everyone, and headed to the judges’ seats.
Next, Hala appeared in the same outfit, but with a different fit, walking out with the poise and confidence of a model on a runway.
She wore long boots with nine-centimeter platform soles, and the hems of her trousers had been tucked into them to sharpen her chic image. Her final pose, as always, was a crisp salute.
Miles Kim appeared with a free-and-easy air, his chest left open.
Hands in his pockets, he sauntered forward with a loose but rhythmic step, then spun once to show off a light little dance. Afterward he winked at the camera and headed for the judges’ seats.
“Right! The three judges must be feeling especially moved ahead of the final round, so could I ask you each to say a few words of encouragement for the contestants waiting backstage?”
“Okay. I’ll go first.”
Miles Kim seized the microphone and shouted.
“Don’t chicken out!”
“Ah, whoa. That startled me.”
“Hahaha.”
Woo Yongdam flinched and covered his ears. Seeing that, Hala burst out laughing.
Miles Kim pointed at the camera with his index finger, smiled with obvious satisfaction, and lowered the microphone. Next, Woo Yongdam rubbed at his ear and took the microphone in his other hand.
“Well... first, I’d like to tell them to keep doing exactly as they practiced, without making mistakes. And if they don’t make the final seven today, I want them to know that it isn’t failure, only part of the process of setting out on an even more wonderful journey.”
Woo Yongdam paused for a beat, then continued.
“So even if the result isn’t what you hoped for, I hope you won’t be too discouraged. I hope you’ll take what you’ve learned from this experience and put it to good use, and that you won’t give up on your precious dreams, but keep going.”
Hala, who had been nodding beside him, lifted the microphone at once.
“You’ve all worked so hard. Show us everything you wanted to show on stage, and bring it home beautifully without any regrets! Fighting!”
After the judges’ encouragement, a video was played on the screen. It showed the process of deciding the final round teams.
The scene of Woo Cheong lamenting being separated from the older members had been edited rather comically.
— No wayyy, why did our merfolk line get split up T_T That makes no sense
— Was I the only one who had Gal Neoul, Yeo Do-bin, and Ha On-ha grouped as the twenty-somethings? Wasn’t that the official twenty-something line?
— Baek family cousins finally got together T_T I have no regrets left
— Cat-keeper Gal Neoul, I trusted you~
The viewers rejoiced when the combinations they wanted had come together, and sighed when the combinations they had hoped for had not.
After that, the videos of Team A’s members appeared one by one.
“Baek Yuri: Hello. I’m Baek Yuri.”
Screeeee!
It was shot so closely that his face filled the screen. At the sight of Baek Yuri’s beauty as he looked straight ahead with bright light-brown eyes, cheers erupted from the audience.
As the Baek Yuri on screen smiled softly and stepped back, a piano came into view. Then the image changed to show him seated naturally before it, singing as he played the keys.
The screen shifted again.
“Baek Gi-yeom: Hello, I’m Baek Gi-yeom.”
Light-brown eyes exactly the same shade as Baek Yuri’s looked straight into the camera. But with his clear-cut features and healthy, sun-kissed skin, even though his eyes were the same color, his entire atmosphere was completely different from Yuri’s.
Baek Gi-yeom flashed a broad grin and performed a short rap in a deep, weighty voice like a bass guitar. Then he reached out and swung the camera sharply to the side, revealing Yeo Do-bin.
“Yeo Do-bin: Ah, hello...! I’m Do-bin!”
Because his manner of speaking was so gentle and his personality so soft, even his long, slanted eyes no longer looked frightening. Everyone knew he was the most tearful and tender-hearted of the contestants.
When he got nervous, his expression tightened and he looked even colder, but now people had learned to read Yeo Do-bin’s face and had begun finding him adorable instead.
Yeo Do-bin sang a pop song, making use of his husky tone.
“Yeo Do-bin: It’s a song I like.”
Past Yeo Do-bin’s shy smile, Gal Neoul appeared. Someone had tied his hair into two spiky pigtails, like pigtails on a doll.
The audience, which had been bursting into cheers every time a new face appeared in the VCR, now erupted with laughter.
“Gal Neoul: Hello. I’m Gal Neoul. Hey yo! Yo! Hello, everyone!”
For the first time in a while, Neoul sang Baby Octopus. His octopus dance was much more relaxed than before, and his sweet tone drew both the eye and the ear at once.
Could Baby Octopus have been this good a song all along?
Gal Neoul’s fan account holder could only stare, unable to close her mouth, as she watched the rare sight of Gal Neoul in pigtails covering Baby Octopus.
After that, Lee Gal-chae leaned his face neatly into the screen.
“Lee Gal-chae: ...Hello. I’m Lee Gal-chae.”
Big eyes with catlike upturned corners. A high, pretty nose and plump lips. Even the beauty mark under his left eye, the kind people called a tear mole.
It was a face with an oddly mysterious impression, as if he were insisting that this was what true handsomeness looked like.
Lee Gal-chae did not have the most distinctive vocal color, but he had a voice everyone could like, along with precise diction. His lower register had a mournful, wistful quality that tugged at people’s hearts.
First Stage / Team A
The video then moved into the rehearsal process.
“Baek Gi-yeom: Aren’t we a little... far from cheerful and lively?”
Along with Baek Gi-yeom’s line, delivered in utter bewilderment at having been assigned a completely unexpected song, the faces of the team members were lit up one after another.
— Do-bin + cheerful and bright = what kind of hybrid combo is this lol
— Yuri and Gal-chae actually fit pretty well
— Nope... Baek Yuri and Lee Gal-chae suit something wistful, delicate, or elegant
— Personality-wise, Baek Gi-yeom is probably the liveliest if you ignore the looks.
— I’m the one who voted for this song.. sorry, guys. I wanted to see Neoul doing something cute. Put a giant ribbon on him..
— Gal-chae is basically a fairy!! He can do it!!
Comments raced up the live chat on the online stream.
Team A was a little flustered, but they presented the hopeful side of a group project. Their division of roles fell into place smoothly.
Since Lee Gal-chae, the youngest, took the leader role, the whole team naturally ended up looking after him and participating even more actively.
With the older members’ cooperation, Lee Gal-chae handled his tasks meticulously and cleanly.
“Gal Neoul: What do you think of an amusement park concept?”
“Baek Yuri: An amusement park parade.”
“Yeo Do-bin: Wow...! Parade...!”
The team’s individual moments were distributed with good balance, and the whole thing was edited to feel warm, steady, and pleasantly harmonious.
Then came the intermediate evaluation footage.
“Hala: Why did you choose Gal-chae for the killing part?”
“Baek Gi-yeom: We discussed it together, and decided that Gal-chae suited it best.”
“Hala: Very good. It suits you. Gal-chae gives the song exactly the right atmosphere.”
“Lee Gal-chae: ...Th-thank you.”
“Team A, all together: Thank you!”
— Gal-chae gets all shy and awkward when he’s praised, that’s cute
— Shy hedgehog...
After that came Team A’s practice scenes, where they sweated hard and concentrated with complete focus.
And the finished stage is...?
The video ended with a caption meant to pique curiosity. Then the song title was revealed.
[Team A — ]