First Ranking Announcement Ceremony (1)
If Episode 3 had drawn attention for Baek Yuri’s bus-driver experience and Neoul’s team stage, then Episode 4 was unquestionably Ha On-ha’s moment to shine.
Ha On-ha’s team had wanted the fierce, high-impact performance of “Villain & Dance,” but instead drew “Atru.”
Atru was a lyrical, refreshing song that likened love to riding the waves. Its mood overlapped somewhat with the signal song, which meant it was a little disappointing if they wanted to stand out against the other teams and show off a wide range of charms.
Ha On-ha chose to tackle that head-on.
And so he created a stage so cool it felt like someone had doused the room in carbonated water, while somehow making everyone watching feel happy, too.
— That guy was born to be an idol, for real.
The regrettable part was that Ha On-ha’s presence was so large, so dazzling, that the other members of the team felt almost completely eclipsed. Still, they did win their one-on-one team match.
By contrast, Yeo Do-bin’s team failed to get much of a response. The problem was that, when Yeo Do-bin suggested stretching the song a little, the rest of the team couldn’t accept it.
"No. Then the song’s just going to drag."
"The audience is going to sit through twelve stages, aren’t they? If the song’s too long, they’ll get bored stiff. It’d be better to fill in the gaps here and there in between the song sections."
Yeo Do-bin couldn’t bring himself to repeat an opinion that had already been shut down once.
In the end, the song went up on stage with every bar packed so tightly there was no room to breathe. It wasn’t boring, but it was messy. And even after they’d squeezed it full to complete it, Yeo Do-bin’s part was still only a single line in the bridge.
With a large group, there was an advantage in using tightly synchronized choreography to create a powerful effect. But Yeo Do-bin’s team had already been hurt by arguments over line distribution, and they were so fixated on the disadvantages of a big team that they had no time to think about anything else.
"You’ve got so many people! Then why did you block out the stage like this? You could make it so much flashier! And why is nothing here aligned properly? The bigger the group, the more satisfying it is when everything snaps together cleanly—otherwise it just looks like a market crowd."
They’d received that advice during the interim evaluation, but the team thought there simply wasn’t enough time left to revise the movement blocking for fourteen people.
"What if we get confused on stage and bump into each other? That’d be the absolute worst."
Besides, by the time they’d practiced their own parts and dances, there was no energy left for synchronized choreography. There was no one on the team who could step back and see the whole picture, then guide them through it.
Yeo Do-bin couldn’t raise his voice, and he kept getting pushed this way and that by the others’ opinions until he was practically staggering.
In the end, they went on stage without changing a thing.
"No improvement at all?"
"Then why did I even bother with the interim evaluation? What a waste of time."
As expected, the comments were ruthless.
* * *
After Episode 3 aired, the number of people openly anti-Neoul dropped noticeably; after Episode 4, they fell even quieter. The malicious netizens had found a new target to feed on.
I’m sick of seeing this mouthy little landmine bastard, but the algorithm is seriously pissing me off. Why does his video keep popping up? It’s disgusting—can’t he just disappear already?
Of course, that didn’t mean there were no more posts insulting Gal-Neoul. But...
So you’re a fan of a junkie, huh? lol
People who don’t want to see him and don’t watch = normal. People who keep barging in anyway and leaving hate comments everywhere while whining that they don’t want to see him = freaks.
That’s what the block function is for, idiot.
The algorithm analyzes videos based on what I’ve watched and shows me related content, so what exactly are you mad about when it keeps popping up? Do you love-hate him or something?
There are still people acting like that?
Malicious comments couldn’t gain any traction and were quickly beaten down or shoved out of the way.
Up until now, most of Gal-Neoul’s antis hadn’t really been anyone’s fans so much as people who simply enjoyed insulting and dragging someone down for the sheer pleasure of it.
By the time Episode 2 had aired, core fan bases still hadn’t fully formed, so there were very few rabid fans willing to tear into other contestants, and most viewers were still light fans whose minds could change at any moment.
At the time, Gye Tae-seok’s fans had barely been in the fandom long before a massive scandal blew up in their faces, and they’d fled in horror just as fast. Kim Ji-rok’s fans had partly jumped ship in advance, while the rest were nervously watching the situation unfold with care.
And then, after Episode 3 aired...
A large number of them became Gal-Neoul fans instead.
ComePickYouUp views for the Deorireo Galge stage kept climbing, and his individual fancam was already past 500,000 views.
The thing that finally pushed them over the line after all that denial and resistance was partly the stage’s insane quality—but it was also because of the strange, uneasy trust Neoul had inspired in them after the Gye Tae-seok incident.
Maybe it was a coincidence, but if Gal-Neoul really did have a talent for detecting drugs and absolutely hated the smell of them, then he probably wouldn’t be the kind of person to trigger a drug scandal. That was the pitifully funny kind of faith they’d come to place in him.
Even among the people who had spent ages trashing Neoul, there were sudden waves of them switching sides as casually as if they’d never said a word in the first place.
And just like that, a tectonic shift on the scale of continental drift took place between viewers and fans. Neoul’s core fandom slowly gathered itself together, swelling in size.
#GalNeoul #AtruBLe #GALNEOUL #IDOLTRAVEL #GAMERHUMPBACKWHALE #GodNeoul #WrinklyHeart
And here, one fan who had defected from Kim Ji-rok’s camp uploaded the part of the production press conference video where Neoul appeared to social media, waiting for Episode 5 to air.
The woman who had gone to the production press conference to see Kim Ji-rok, only to fall head over heels for Gal-Neoul and end up writing a real-life fan account, had somehow become Neoul’s fan photographer in the end.
I thought I’d missed everything, but I actually captured all of that? Nice one, me!
She had managed to catch the part where Neoul made teddy bear hearts and wrinkly cat hearts, even the bit where he mouthed, “Please say pretty things.”
She quickly added a bit of editing, then uploaded Neoul’s video through her promotional account. After that, she replayed Neoul’s individual fancam from “Changwi Neoul” over and over while waiting for Episode 5.
According to the preview, Episode 5 would feature the first ranking announcement ceremony.
There’s no way Neoul is going to fall out! Still, I’m nervous!
If Gal-Neoul somehow got eliminated here, then it would mean the whole world had gone blind and deaf.
How else could you not vote for that genius-face, genius-vocal, drug-sniffing, sharp-witted master whale? Unless this was the Truman Show or something!
The idiot who’d once been Kim Ji-rok or Ji-rok or whatever his name was had long since vanished from the depths of her heart.
There was only one humpback whale now, one who had somehow drifted into her life and swam there gracefully, singing beautiful songs.
She believed Neoul would never be eliminated. She simply longed for the day he would debut as fast as possible and release his first album.
Fan sign events, too! Concerts, too!
By the time she finished daydreaming in front of her computer, the live broadcast was about to begin.
After the soju commercial featuring judge Hala as a model, the Idol Travel logo appeared on screen. And then—
Whoosh—!
A huge studio came into view.
The contestants were seated on steps arranged in alternating white and blue, and in the center of the studio stood what looked suspiciously like a full set of airplane seats.
“Holy crap, they really went and ripped out airplane seats and brought them in.”
Where on earth did they get those?
The lowest section held cramped economy seats, and higher up were the wider, more comfortable-looking business class and first class seats.
At the very top, for first place, they’d even brought out an actual bed. A VVIP placard stood beside it.
MC Jeong Ondo, standing on the stage, opened his mouth.
Waaah!
The contestants clapped and responded with enthusiasm.
Several contestants flashed across the screen in quick, brief cuts. Neoul’s face—still handsome as ever, or rather, now so beloved after the first team stage that fans were practically seeing a halo around him—was among them for just a moment.
“Wow, that face is legendary...”
When Jeong Ondo appeared on screen again, suspenseful background music began to play.
Only 50 will survive.
Some contestants could be seen glancing around nervously or swallowing hard. The original total had been 81, but now it had dropped to 78. It seemed all three people involved in the drug incident, including Gye Tae-seok, had ultimately been removed.
"Unfortunately, from 51st place through 78th place, you will no longer be able to continue on Idol Travel."
Jeong Ondo deliberately spoke slowly, enunciating each word to heighten the tension, and wore a face full of regret. Then he shifted the mood completely and raised his voice.
"But!"
"Even if you fall out of the plane, you can survive if you have a parachute!"
Whoosh—! A sentence appeared on the screen in thick, bold font.
☆ Reward for First Place in Individual Voting During the Team Match ☆
Parachute
[murmuring]
“Parachute...?”
The contestants all looked equally bewildered. An explanation appeared right away.
Parachute: You may save one eliminated contestant.
For reference, this parachute card can be used on someone else or on yourself, and if you want, you can save it for the next ranking announcement ceremony instead of using it this time.
“Whoa. That’s huge.”
It was the best possible reward.
If you didn’t use it right away and saved it instead, it meant you could survive even if you faced elimination next time.
Jeong Ondo continued.
"Individual voting was conducted by having each contestant vote for only one person from the two teams that faced off against each other one-on-one. Therefore, out of the twelve teams, the number of contestants eligible to receive a parachute card is..."
"Just six."
"Then I’ll announce the individual voting results for the first team match."
Thunk-thunk-thunk—
With a tense sound effect, the faces of the contestants from the two teams that had taken part in the first team match were shown one by one.
The vote totals appeared above them. The contestant with the most votes wore a delighted expression, while the one with the fewest had trembling eyes. They were clearly trying to hide how close they were to tears. They looked as though they had already lost confidence, as if they thought they’d be eliminated once the rankings were revealed.
The team match order was based on the order in which the episodes had aired on TV.
Neoul’s team, originally the fourth team match, was announced as the third team match in broadcast order.
"The third team match individual voting results are!"
Bang!
Gal-Neoul: 105
Baek Yuri: 97
Baek Gi-yeom: 89
Woo Cheong: 78
.
.
Park Da-han: 8
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