Team Swap Voucher

After Yeo Do-bin's survival interview ended, the MC delivered the closing remarks, and Episode 5 came to a close. Then a new notice about voting appeared.

What kind of shameless, scammy bastards are these?

They had been so busy polishing their image as a healing survival show, but now they were slowly showing their true colors.

As if it wasn't already outrageous enough that broadcasting stations had a long history of exploiting fans' desire to give their stars an award every time year-end award season came around, selling votes for money.

He never imagined he'd have to pay to vote in a survival audition program, too.

And I already subscribed!

Home Master trembled with indignation and checked the subscription change option. Fortunately, it said that up to one time, you could cancel and resubscribe to receive the ticket.

Fine! Premium it is!

If it hadn't been for Gal Neoul, she wouldn't have even looked at it. She went ahead and subscribed in one clean motion.

Right after the ranking announcement ended, she entered the reopened voting window and cast her votes, then uploaded the photos of Neoul she'd captured between broadcasts and scrolled through her feed.

Neoul's fans were moved, saying how beautiful his heart was, and Yeo Do-bin's fans were in tears, thanking Neoul.

Home Master was all for the Yeo Do-bin fans voting for Neoul, but the trend felt a little off.

This could get dangerous if it starts turning into a personality-marketing thing.

Sure enough.

A little later, a short video went up on MuteTube titled Idol Travel Contestant Who Repaid a Kindness. Videos with clickbait titles on the same material were being churned out just as quickly.

Hmm...

It was good that the first bad image, that he was rude and had no manners, had been diluted. But if the misunderstanding went beyond that and he got slapped with a frame like "kind" or "sweet and harmless," that would be a problem.

For fans, of course, their idol was cute enough just by breathing, so if he was kind and did nice things too, they would naturally be moved and go feral over him.

But this was the idol world, where false attacks ran rampant. One bad slip of the tongue and the ridicule and abuse came pouring in from everywhere, and even when someone had done nothing wrong, people would still drag them over the stupidest things.

If his image was emphasized as gentle and kind, then even a minor bad issue later on could trigger a backlash several times worse.

Ah.... That makes me a little uneasy...

That kind of fan chatter was common enough in idol spaces.

And since many fans fell in through short videos and then hunted down other clips until they stanned hard, it might help Neoul climb the rankings right away.

Still, whatever Neoul's personality is like, he's first and foremost a main vocal with visuals!

Neoul, genius tone, master singer whale!

Congratulations on third place! Good luck ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the second round, too! Let's climb higher!

(Gal Neoul photo from the intro stage for I'll Come Get You)

(Gal Neoul photo while ad-libbing)

Home Master captured and posted performance shots of Gal Neoul, highlighting both his outstanding skill and his visuals.

Look here, everyone! A whale is singing!

Then, after checking more posts, she saw that Yeo Do-bin's fans had captured a picture of Neoul's shark plushie and posted it side by side with a photo of Do-bin's face.

Baby shark Do-bin, please vote for him!

He's a crying shark T_T Please don't make him cry T_T

Home Master studied the plushie photo carefully, then searched the internet for "moving shark plushie" out of curiosity.

Does Neoul like plushies?

Lots of shark plushies came up, but none of them were the same as Neoul's.

And sure enough.

Where can I buy the Gal Neoul plushie?

Apparently other people were curious too, because a flood of similar questions had already been posted.

A little later, Gal Neoul shark plushie climbed to the very bottom of the realtime search rankings. Proof of his buzz.

* * *

Kim Ji-rok was in a very foul mood.

Especially whenever he heard Gal Neoul's name from somewhere, rage twisted through his guts as if his organs were being wrung out.

A few days earlier, after the ranking announcement recording, the contestants had immediately started preparing for the second round.

By luck, Kim Ji-rok had once again gotten the chance to choose his teammates. Only two people, though.

This team-building game involved listening to the intros of songs released from the 1990s through the 2000s and guessing the title.

The top eight contestants who answered the most song titles got first pick of teammates, and each of them could choose two contestants they wanted. Kim Ji-rok came in sixth.

The contestants chosen by the top eight then chose the next team member one by one, and the next person chosen would choose the person after that, in a relay-style chain until all teams were formed.

At the time of team formation, Kim Ji-rok was in a rather difficult position.

Shit. Because of that bastard Gal Neoul, now I'm lumped together with a druggie like this!

Because of Neoul's remark about smelling rot, people were suspecting that Kim Ji-rok belonged in the same category as Gye Tae-seok.

Among several contestants. Among viewers, too.

His rank had also dropped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quite a bit. He had been pushed all the way down to thirty-seventh place.

I shouldn't be falling this far. This is fucking bullshit.

Some contestants desperately avoided meeting his eyes, worried he might choose them as teammates.

A bunch of useless little nobodies who can't do shit and don't even know their place.

Still, a few who had received fair treatment from him while filming up to now encouraged him, saying they believed in him. But to Kim Ji-rok, their support was useless.

It was obvious they would never debut.

What use was the support of trainees with no popularity and no skill?

If he wanted to win back the hearts of the fans and viewers who had left, he needed support from someone else.

Gal Neoul.

The one who had caused this whole mess.

He didn't want to speak to him and he really, truly hated it, but if he wanted to repair his ruined image, he had to soothe Gal Neoul and bring him over to his side.

So Kim Ji-rok chose Gal Neoul first as his teammate.

He had watched closely, worried that someone else might snatch Neoul first, but fortunately the atmosphere was different from the first team round, when everyone had been scrambling to take Gal Neoul.

They're scared he'll steal all the attention.

Gal Neoul had, in a one-on-one team match, taken the parachute card by placing first in individual votes. His unfamiliar, powerful presence drew the eye.

Everyone had realized something after seeing that:

If I stand next to Gal Neoul, I might get completely buried.

For someone confident in themselves, that wasn't a problem. But most people couldn't see themselves matching Gal Neoul in looks or skill, so they naturally avoided him.

What a bunch of losers.

But at least when it came to dance and rap, Kim Ji-rok was confident he wouldn't lose to Gal Neoul.

"Hey, Neoul. Let's put on a good stage together."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

He had also quit smoking for a week before filming. Grinding his teeth, he chewed breath-freshening candy and gum every day and even changed his perfume. He doused himself in deodorant, too.

Now he can't say I stink anymore.

He'd come back as a walking air freshener, so he figured even Neoul wouldn't be able to use smell against him anymore.

Neoul stood up from his seat as if he truly hated the idea, then slowly walked forward.

The sight of him being forced to come over made Kim Ji-rok feel triumphant.

Kim Ji-rok held out his hand, saying they'd do well together.

He was dying to sneer, Yeah, maybe if you had actually guessed the song titles properly. How did you miss every single one? but he barely restrained himself to a twitch at the corner of his mouth.

But Gal Neoul merely looked down at the hand offered for a handshake with obvious displeasure, gave a single nod, and quietly went to stand in line behind him.

Hah! Let's see how long you can stay so cocky.

Kim Ji-rok gritted his teeth and smiled as he lowered his hand.

But after the teams were fully decided, Gal Neoul suddenly snapped his head around and asked MC Jeong On-do without warning,

"Can I use the team member exchange voucher now?"

That insane bastard.

Kim Ji-rok almost spat the curse out loud on the spot.

The team member exchange voucher.

It had been something Neoul found at Jeju Folk Village. Among the members of his own team, he could send out one teammate he didn't like and bring in one from another team, or he could move himself to a different team.

The scene where he found the team member exchange voucher had even appeared in Neoul's self-introduction video.

But Kim Ji-rok hadn't wanted to waste time boosting the views on that annoying Gal Neoul video, so he hadn't watched it.

He had heard that Neoul obtained something, but the gap between the first team match and this filming session had been long enough that he'd forgotten all about it.

Gal Neoul, who had slipped out of Kim Ji-rok's team with the team member exchange voucher, moved into Lee Gal-chae's team, where he had answered song titles correctly in seventh place. In exchange, one of the other contestants from Lee Gal-chae's team moved into Kim Ji-rok's team.

He didn't need to see it to know what kind of ridicule people would level at him after that.

Shit! I'm not a druggie! If I'd known that bastard Gye Tae-seok was the one on drugs, I never would've been anywhere near him in the first place!

Just imagining it made his temper shoot straight to the top of his head.

Argh! A bastard with dark circles down to his jawline should've just gone home and died from whatever drugs he was taking instead of coming on a survival show to ruin my life! At the very least, I've never taken drugs in my life!

He was so furious he felt like he might actually have to get tested just to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠prove his innocence. But right now, keeping his head down looked like the best option.

Once the controversy blew up, Kim Ji-rok had already run to the producers, crying and pleading his innocence. PD Seok O-yeong had said he understood and believed him for now.

So at the moment, the best thing was to stay as quiet as possible and focus only on recovering his image.

Endure it.... I have to endure it now.

If it were up to him, he'd overturn the whole debut and all of it, and drag both that shitty Gal Neoul and that smug Ha On-ha out by the collar himself.

"You avoid shit because it's scary, not because it's dirty."

"...? Ji-rok hyung, are you scared of shit?"

"No! I said it wrong!"

And because no contact with other teams was allowed while they prepared for the second round team battle, there was no way to do anything, even if he wanted to.

Kim Ji-rok ground his teeth and looked in the mirror. Just then, he saw one of his teammates stop practice and take a drink of water.

Water.... Come to think of it, Neoul kept drinking water nonstop like some kind of hippopotamus.

Kim Ji-rok stared at the water bottle. Whatever he was plotting, the corner of his mouth curled upward suspiciously.

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