Class Evaluation (2)
At first, the judges had thrown themselves into the evaluations with real enthusiasm, but before long, they began to lose interest little by little.
There had been a jewel here and there, a good rough stone among the crowd, but after one plain participant after another showed up with nothing but flashy affectation and shaky skill, their excitement inevitably dimmed.
The next contestant to step forward was the one who had supposedly been added at the last minute, Gal Neoul.
"Hello. I'm Gal Neoul."
As he lifted his head, the first thing that caught the eye was his build, which was exceptionally good, and his tall, striking frame. A little higher, and there was his sculpted face.
"Oh...."
Everyone had been wondering just how charming he had to be for them to have cast him out of nowhere and stuffed him into the lineup like this.
They hadn't even seen him perform yet, but his face alone was already enough to make it make sense.
One of the judges, the main vocalist of the first-tier boy group Dunkies, which had just marked its tenth year earlier that spring, was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and idly tapping a pen against his hand as he thought,
If he looks that good, he could rank high just on votes even if his skills are a little lacking.
I hope his talent is as strong as his face.
If the only reason he'd been cast was his looks, that would be a little disappointing. In that case, wouldn't it be a pity for the other contestants, who might be more skilled but would end up drowned out by Gal Neoul's visuals?
In this business, visuals were talent too...
He could already see it: people would vote for him until their hearts' content just because he was handsome, and then once Gal Neoul debuted, they'd turn around and savage him with comments like, "What kind of singer can't even sing?" and tear him down without mercy. Better to fall early than suffer that sort of treatment.
So please, let him sing well.
"Then go ahead and sing the song you prepared."
"Yes."
U Yongdam waited for the accompaniment to begin, but then Neoul launched straight into his specialty, humming, without any backing track at all, and he straightened up in surprise.
Huh? What is this. It says original song?
On the evaluation sheet, though, there was no explanation of the song, no lyrics, only two words for a title: Wave.
Usually, that was not a choice someone could make lightly unless they were truly confident.
The other trainees had picked high-quality songs and practiced them thoroughly, so if he brought in some clumsy little number and performed it, he'd only be compared and sent back down.
The melody he was singing with pure humming wasn't bad. No, honestly, it sounded good.
But... the structure is simple.
And since the contestant in front of him was just an ordinary person with no trainee experience, it was hard not to feel wary.
Still uncertain, he listened more closely, and then Neoul opened his mouth.
[Someday—]
Ah...?
The vocalization rang clearly in his ear. The pure, beautiful voice stretched out far and wide.
Gooseflesh rose from his toes all the way to the crown of his head.
Game over from the first line?
A strange one had appeared. In an instant, he knew he was dealing with a precious vocalist, the sort who might disrupt the entire ecology of the music industry.
His body naturally leaned forward. U Yongdam closed his eyes and focused on Neoul's voice.
[I heard someone's gentle voice
And where I followed that sound
There was only an empty seashell left
Swaying quietly in the waves]
Beautiful.
U Yongdam held his breath and thought it to himself. A beautiful melody layered with a beautiful voice plunged him into the illusion that he could hear accompaniment even though there was none.
Gal Neoul's vocals also moved through the passages between chest voice and falsetto as smoothly as water flowing downstream.
[Somewhere—
I heard someone's uneasy voice
And where I followed that sound
There was only half a bite of seaweed left
Swaying quietly in the waves]
The rising high notes climbed without the slightest wavering, as naturally as breathing.
The soft, dreamlike tone was warm as if wrapped in clouds, yet cool as if carried on the wind, and hazy as if he were dreaming.
[One night—
I heard someone's happy voice
And where I followed that sound
There was nothing left at all
Quietly in the waves
Quietly in the waves]
The endings were smooth and delicate, and as the song went on, his signature mysterious timbre only grew denser and more vivid.
It's like the instrument turned into a person.
Before he knew it, he'd stopped evaluating altogether and was simply listening, dazed.
Only then did he notice the lyrics were repeating in a pattern not unlike a children's song. The structure was simple, but overall the words carried a curious emptiness.
[I let my body drift away
Far—]
He finished by dropping the last note in time with the slowed rhythm, ending as naturally as if he were speaking.
U Yongdam closed and opened his eyes once, collecting the thick aftertaste the song had left behind.
"Wow."
Applause burst out of him without thinking. The other judges on either side reacted much the same way. Everyone was excited enough to grab their microphones at once.
"No, really, Gal Neoul. Why did you only show up now?"
The first to speak was Hala, the judge in a straw hat and white dress, a leader and producer for a girl group in its seventh year.
"Pardon?"
"The way you hold a microphone is oddly awkward, but your vocals are no joke. I was thrown off and disappointed because you came in without accompaniment and I thought you'd brought an unfinished song, but you covered that disappointment in one stroke. You used the melody so well."
"Thank you."
"The composition itself still has room to grow, but I can see your raw material. What are you, some kind of human... no, where have you been, and what have you been doing until now?"
Hala was famous among fans for her blunt tongue, and she had almost blurted out, "What kind of human sings this well?" before quickly correcting herself.
Neoul raised the microphone to answer honestly, but Hala lifted a hand to stop him and kept going. She hadn't really asked because she wanted an answer.
"For one thing, your tone is incredibly appealing. When a singer has a distinctive tone, they usually lean heavily into one genre and can be polarizing, but your skill backs it up, so it's easy and pleasant to listen to. Did you write the lyrics yourself too?"
"I did not write them. I just make them up as they come to me and sing them."
"What does that mean? You make them up yourself but don't write them down, and just sing them?"
"Yes."
"Ha, this kid is seriously full of himself~"
Hala didn't believe Neoul at all. It was true that the lyrics were just a simple repetition, like a children's song, but there was no way he could have created one complete song with slight variations and memorized it entirely in his head from the beginning, then always sung it exactly the same without writing it down.
Neoul stood quietly without trying to correct her.
Hala continued.
"The melody is beautiful, but it also feels strangely empty and lonely. Every place the voice reaches is empty, with only the waves left behind. I'd like to ask what you were trying to express, but what's the song about?"
Neoul's answer was simple.
"It is a tale from experience."
"Pardon?"
"...?"
The judges exchanged looks, their eyes rolling from side to side as though Neoul's blank expression had transferred itself to them.
Looks like he has no intention of explaining in detail.
Hala, slightly awkward, wrapped things up.
"I-I see... well, in any case, I'm very much looking forward to what's next."
The choreographer in a rash guard chimed in to agree with Hala. It was all praise.
With an expression of amusement, the choreographer tapped his chin and asked,
"It says here you have no trainee experience. Where did you learn to sing?"
"At sea...."
"The sea?"
For a moment, Neoul paused in the middle of speaking, then went on.
"I learned a little when I was young from an auntie who lives by the shore."
"Oh, really? Was your auntie a singer?"
"No. She makes medicine and offers prayers."
"Medicine...? So she's a researcher and Christian?"
Neoul didn't know how to answer, so he hesitated, choosing his words, then reluctantly said, "Yes."
U Yongdam, who had yielded the order of evaluation, let the unnecessary chatter go in one ear and out the other, and at the end he took the microphone himself.
"Gal Neoul."
After a brief pause to gather his thoughts, U Yongdam remembered the long years he'd spent training, researching, and working to build the vocal style he had now.
How many times had he cried when things wouldn't go his way at that age? His eyes were suddenly growing moist.
A genius with insane vocal skill and a gifted talent for composing melodies. So this was what a true prodigy looked like. Heaven really did send people like that down, didn't it?
"I'm glad I was here today."
He was a monster.
"It feels like we've discovered a precious treasure today. I listened well."
"Thank you."
While watching Neoul, U Yongdam gave high marks to his nerve, since he hadn't seemed tense from start to finish.
Maybe he's built for the stage...
But the evaluation still wasn't over.
"But this is an idol survival show, isn't it?"
"...."
"If we're deciding your grade, I think we should see you dance to one song too."
"Yes."
Neoul nodded obediently.
Could he be good at dancing too? That would be way too unfair.
Admiring Neoul's fearless attitude, U Yongdam set down the microphone. And then...
"I prepared Baby Octopus."
Hup! Choking on a sip of his drink, the choreographer covered his mouth and broke into a fit of coughing while staring at Neoul.
What, what had he prepared?
♩♬♪♪~♩♪♬~
A beat far too cheerful, lively, and bright burst into the room.
Neoul started moving his long, stretched limbs in little adorable motions as he danced cutely. It was choreography he'd practiced all day yesterday and then reviewed again at night after cutting back on sleep.
[Hey yo! Yo! Hello, everyone!]
Where had the dreaminess gone? A much more cute and bubbly voice struck their eardrums. After the greeting, a sudden self-introduction burst forth, and from the opening, the chorus came in with energy to spare.
[Look at me! I'm a baby octopus! (Octopus!)
In the shallow sea mud
I'm a cute little baby octopus! (Octopus!)
Squirming, squirming, squirming
As I crawl along~
But really, I want to swim in the deep sea too!]
Neoul sang while dancing with all his heart. He even handled a girl group unit song in the original key.
[Stretch your legs out! Stretch them out! (Stretch!)
Now I want to head out to a wider sea!
Honestly, I'm a little scared
But once I get there, it might be more fun than I expected
So now, don't be afraid! (Don't!)
Once again! Let's Go!]
The judges were thoroughly thrown by the unexpected song choice, but it was funny, so they decided to laugh. A contestant with that handsome face singing a cute, absurd little song in the original key, wasting away all that talent while earnestly doing an octopus dance!
[Look at me! I'm a baby octopus! (Octopus!)]
The chorus started again. The judges who had been sprawled over the table in laughter had now begun to wheeze. They couldn't recover from the wildly unexpected charm of it all.
Neoul didn't understand the context behind their laughter, so he just kept dancing earnestly.
Was the Sea Witch right? Do I really look funny? he wondered seriously.
That earnest, wholehearted seriousness only made him more irresistible to watch.
When Neoul's dance ended, the choreographer, shoulders shaking in intermittent effort to hold back laughter, picked up the microphone.
"Khh-heh...."
He had meant to say something sharp, to tell him plainly that he'd tried hard but honestly hadn't danced very well, yet he couldn't get the words out for laughing.
What the hell is this guy? What kind of guy is he? the thought flashed through his mind, and at the same time, his head was in chaos because he wanted to see that octopus dance one more time.
It was absurd to watch such a huge guy doing those squirmy little octopus moves, but it was also cute...
Every time he tried to speak, laughter burst out, and evaluation was impossible.
This was even more so because Neoul, unlike when he'd been singing a moment ago, was now waiting seriously and a little nervously, looking somewhat flustered.
If the singing had been a mess too, he would have only gotten cursed out, but since he looked more like a main vocalist, he somehow seemed even cuter...
But still, I've got to say something.
Finally collecting himself, the choreographer brought the microphone to his mouth.
"Neoul, do you actually want to be an idol?"
The question was sharp.
The choreographer had assumed Neoul, being a last-minute addition, probably wasn't taking this very seriously anyway, but for the sake of the broadcast he deliberately made his tone cutting.
"It's cute, but Baby Octopus is a song whose choreography is easy enough for a kindergartner to follow. If you want to be a solo singer, I wouldn't care. But in an idol survival show, preparing this song makes it look like you didn't really put your heart into it, doesn't it?"
Neoul's shoulders drooped a little at the aggressive tone from someone he'd just met. Still, since the man had been laughing uproariously a moment ago, it felt more like teasing than malice, and his mood recovered quickly.
The choreographer asked,
"Why did you choose Baby Octopus specifically?"
Neoul thought for a moment.
Baek Gi-yeom had recommended the song, but Neoul could have observed the other contestants' practice and chosen some harder song instead.
But the reason he hadn't done that was...
"I wanted to honestly show my ability. It is true that I cannot dance."
Neoul plainly acknowledged what he couldn't do. Only then could he learn properly and improve.
And then...
"I can't dance well... but I still wanted to do it as well as I could. Without mistakes."
He believed it was important to admit one's shortcomings while still doing one's utmost within the scope of one's ability.
That was why, instead of attempting a dance above his level and making a fool of himself, he had chosen something he could at least execute properly with his current skills.
In the end, he completed the octopus dance perfectly, without a single wrong move.
"Hmm, that's fair enough. I like that you're honest! Good boy! Well done."
The choreographer accepted it without resistance.
"Still, next time, I want to see you take on a harder dance with more courage."
"Yes. I will work hard."
Neoul's eyes shone with determination as he vowed he would certainly do so.
"R-right."
The judges nodded and added a few words each before turning off their microphones and discussing the grades.
The gap between his vocals and his dancing was just too extreme, making it hard to decide what grade he should be sent to.
"The seat Gal Neoul will board is...."
U Yongdam took the microphone and announced the result.
"Business Class."
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