Blue Sea Slug
“We don’t know exactly how many teams will overlap. It might be none at all, or three or four teams could end up choosing the same song....”
If the audience had to watch the same song performed more than once, boredom was inevitable.
And this time, the comparisons would be far more direct than before. If three or four teams overlapped on the same song, the risk they carried would be far greater than the teams that didn’t.
“Is this really okay? What if, like, four or five teams overlap? Then wouldn’t that be unfair to the teams that don’t?”
Park Dahan frowned. The rest of the team looked just as flustered.
Baek Yuri said, “For now, I think we have to choose our song assuming it will overlap with another team’s song and concept no matter what.”
They still had to pick a song first, so they all put their heads together.
“Does anyone have a song they want to do? It’d be good if we could just talk it out comfortably and share our opinions.”
“Yuri hyung, how about choosing between Storm Sprint and Throw It?”
“I, I also like Storm Sprint.... It has such a strong impact, so it would look cool.”
“Does Gal-chae-nim have a song you want to do?”
Lee Gal-chae, who had been sitting quietly and taking in the mood, relaxed a little and answered.
“I’m... fine with anything.”
“If you haven’t picked one yet, you can think about it slowly and tell us later.”
Lee Gal-chae shook his head and pointed to the very end of the paper where the four song titles were written.
“No. The song title here is It’s Okay.... A song by the Millions seniors.”
“Ah...?”
* * *
The four songs they had been given were all as distinct as the four seasons. Among them, the important thing was to choose one that fit their range well, one they could pull off cleanly, and one that would maximize their own charm.
While the team members each named the songs they wanted and explained why they liked them, Baek Yuri asked Lee Gal-chae, “Gal-chae-nim, why do you want to do It’s Okay?”
“Because the lyrics feel exactly like they’re about people like us.”
“Hmm....”
“Trainees or aspiring singers.... It’s the story of a speaker who, to other people, seems to be chasing an unrealistic dream.”
[No progress, and the wounds keep piling up
I might look pathetic
But it’s nothing
The wind doesn’t hurt me
I’m fine]
This song was a reply to the people who watched someone pursue an uncertain dream with worried, doubtful eyes and kept asking, “Are you really okay?”, “Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”, “Is it actually going well?”
It was saying: I really am fine, so please believe me.
Lee Gal-chae lowered his gaze, his expression uncertain.
He seemed to think it was a song he desperately wanted to do, but one that wouldn’t be accepted. Compared with the other songs, which offered much stronger performances, it was the more ordinary choice.
But when the others heard him, Park Dahan quickly stepped back.
“Then let’s go with that one! Honestly, I’m fine with anything!”
“Me too....!”
Yeo Do-bin, who had no strong preference, agreed with everything, saying this was good and that was good too. Neoul hardly knew any of the songs, so he decided to follow the rest of the team’s lead.
Baek Yuri thought for a moment, then played two songs for the team and held a show-of-hands vote. Lee Gal-chae’s suggestion was chosen unanimously.
Neoul nodded in satisfaction.
“The other song is noisy and hurts the ears.”
Storm Sprint started with the roar of a motorcycle exhaust and was packed with so much noise that it was not to Neoul’s taste.
By contrast, It’s Okay paired a cheerful track with an upbeat, rhythmic melody.
The song selection ended smoothly. Baek Yuri and Lee Gal-chae reported their chosen song title to the production staff. They also tried to learn which songs the other teams had picked, but all they got in response was that everything would remain secret until rehearsal.
Next came a meeting about the arrangement direction and stage concept.
Baek Yuri said, “I think it would be good to build a stage with a lot of color. Something distinctive and lively.”
“Sounds good!”
But there was a major problem.
“Still... if another team chose this song too, they’ll probably have thought of something similar.”
There was no way to know how many teams had overlapped, and that uncertainty was frustrating. If the song overlapped and the concept overlapped too, it would be a complete disaster.
The faces of the team members gathered again turned dark. They looked as if they were already getting a headache trying to solve this impossible problem.
“W-what do we do...?”
Yeo Do-bin, whose nerves were as fragile as an abalone shell, leaned against the wall and fidgeted anxiously.
Baek Yuri tapped the floor absently with one finger as he thought.
“At first I thought we could wear saturated colors like red, mint, yellow, and orange. Something that gives off a unique, free-spirited image....”
Baek Yuri thought that would fit the song best.
“But it feels like the sort of common idea anyone might have, so I’m worried. Does anyone have another opinion?”
“...What about going completely achromatic? So we can stand in contrast to the other teams.”
“W-would it be weird if we wore suits, like job-seeker fashion...?”
Lee Gal-chae spoke quietly but clearly, while Yeo Do-bin offered his opinion in a timid voice.
“Let’s just go full-on shirtless!”
Park Dahan, already having given up on the next stage of life, started tossing out jokes with a mischievous grin. Yeo Do-bin and Lee Gal-chae both widened their eyes.
“Rejected.”
Baek Yuri smiled and dismissed it in two words, then tried to continue the meeting.
“Hmm.... Achromatic or suits.... Those are good ideas, but I’m a little worried they might lack impact for an upbeat song....”
“For impact, I guess we should go wit—”
“Yes. As expected, no. Rejected.”
“Hey, why!”
Baek Yuri, caught in a dilemma, pressed a hand to his forehead.
He wanted a colorful stage that matched the song. But if the other teams thought of the same concept, he didn’t want their concept to overlap. Yet if that was the case, then they’d have to give up on a concept that matched the song. But he still wanted a colorful stage that matched the song. The other teams too....
The loop went on forever.
They had no information, and the conversation was going nowhere, so there was no way to reach a conclusion.
Neoul looked around at the team members, all of them dazed in their own ways, and tilted his head.
“Why is that a concern?”
“Pardon?”
“Huh?”
“What matters if the song or concept overlaps?”
Neoul’s question made it clear he genuinely didn’t understand the problem, and Baek Yuri was just about to explain it step by step. But Neoul spoke first.
“Our team only needs to do better.”
“......!”
“R-right. That’s true!”
It was incredibly simple and clear.
We compete only through skill.
Who cared about the audience getting bored from hearing the same song? The point was to perform so well that people would want to hear it again and again, no matter how many times they’d already listened.
If their skills were only middling, people would start arguing over which team did it better, which one was stronger, and all of it would get noisy fast. But if they showed an overwhelming difference, there would be no reason to worry at all.
“Wouldn’t it be better to strip away as many other elements as possible, like colors and props, and shine a spotlight only on skill?” Neoul suggested.
“No matter how dazzling the outside may look, if there’s no substance underneath, it’s nothing more than a blue sea slug without venom.”
“Blue... what?”
“I, I’ve seen one before...! In New Zealand! It was tiny, kind of blue, sort of lizard-like, but really flashy and pretty.”
When Park Dahan asked in a dazed voice, Yeo Do-bin raised his hand eagerly and said this.
At the words flashy and pretty, Neoul nodded.
“The reason venomous creatures have such dazzling appearances is that it serves as a warning to predators: I carry poison, so don’t touch me. But the blue sea slug cannot produce poison on its own, so it must eat venomous bluebottle jellyfish in order to accumulate venom. If it has no stored venom and is attacked, it will be swallowed by a predator as it is.”
So the blue sea slug survives by diligently eating jellyfish and storing poison in its body.
“What matters for victory isn’t a flashy outside, isn’t it? What matters is whether you carry venom.”
Neoul went on, “So rather than focusing on appearances, we should practice more and build our skill.”
He was right.
Visuals? Important. Costumes and concept? Of course they mattered. No one could say they didn’t. But no matter how excellent the other elements were, what was the point if their basic skill was a mess?
If they focused only on the outward side of things, there was always the risk that people would judge them as lacking fundamentals and settle on a low opinion.
“You mean we should stick to the basics?” Baek Yuri asked.
Neoul nodded.
Lee Gal-chae cautiously raised a hand and asked, “Wouldn’t it look careless, or maybe even boring?”
“If the skill is lacking, it will be boring. If the skill supports it, then it will instead feel fresh. And....”
Neoul grinned slightly and added, “I have never once heard anyone say my singing was boring.”
Baek Yuri nodded.
“That’s a good kind of confidence. I’m in favor too. I tend to carry a bit of venom myself.”
Neoul flinched at Baek Yuri’s smiling remark.
Humans carry venom too...?
That was new information.
Then Park Dahan spoke up.
“I don’t know anything about some blue-whatchamacallit slug, but what you’re saying is.... Even if the outside looks crispy, a fish-shaped pastry without red bean paste tastes bad. Let’s be the fish-shaped pastry stuffed full of red bean paste. Something like that, right?”
Neoul was just about to ask what a fish-shaped pastry was when Lee Gal-chae agreed.
“...Then I think it’d be fine to go with an outfit that’s as basic as possible, like a white T-shirt or a white shirt with jeans. That would make it easier to present cleanly what we want to show.”
“I like that too....!”
Finally, with Yeo Do-bin’s agreement, the direction of the concept was set.
[Ooooh. Not bad at all, mermaid prince.]
Ah, what a shock.
Baek Namu suddenly popped his head down from the ceiling.
[Hi! Have you been well?]
His hair and earrings, hanging upside down, swayed noisily. It had been a while since Neoul had seen him, so he nodded, glad to see him.
[Going with basic items so you can focus on skill? That’s a very good choice. Especially the white T-shirt and jeans. That kid spoke well too. People don’t only go crazy over intensity, you know.]
Baek Namu shrugged lightly.
[Flashy clothes, flashy accessories, all that is fine. A lot of people love that sort of thing. But there are definitely plenty of people who get tired of all that glitter too. Anything gets boring if it’s only strong all the time. You have to alternate between strong and soft, sweet and salty, if you want to keep enjoying it.]
Comfort.
Baek Namu spoke with passion about the importance of “stripping things away,” of eyes feeling at ease and refreshed.
[You know the beauty of emptiness? The beauty of emptiness! Sometimes you need to set down all that intensity and appeal to the natural charm of youth.]
“......”
[And Baek Yuri’s greatest strength is how clean he is. The kind of face that, even if you saw him from a hundred meters away, would scream, “I’m a model student!” He’s spotless, wholesome, and impeccably neat! His parents gave birth to him looking that pretty, so why wouldn’t you use it?]
Clicking his tongue, Baek Namu poked at the back of Baek Yuri’s head.
[In that sense! At this point, a white T-shirt and jeans are truly the best choice, mermaid prince. White clothes or simple outfits suit Baek Yuri incredibly well.]
Yet the very Baek Namu saying this was wearing a whole stack of rings he’d apparently procured from somewhere after the last concert and tossed to the audience’s ghosts, along with flashy earrings and full stage makeup.
He looked exactly like Baek Yuri except for the single mole on his right cheek.
Of course, his clear skin and neat features also suited flashy styling surprisingly well.
Baek Namu folded his fingers one by one as he spoke.
[Besides, you’ve already done uniforms with the flight-attendant outfit, Baek Yuri wore that crow-like thing last time, you wore hanbok, and the others have been walking around in tracksuits forever. That means you still haven’t shown the basic look on camera even once, right?]
That was true. According to Won Hasin, who liked to nag Neoul for having no sense of fashion whatsoever, a white T-shirt and jeans were the absolute basics of fashion, yet Neoul had no memory of ever wearing them in front of a camera.
[Anyway, you’ve grown a lot, haven’t you? Being confident enough to fight with skill alone is admirable. You rascal.]
Baek Namu puffed up with quiet pride, like a teacher watching a pupil grow.
Neoul had stopped growing after coming to land and could no longer get any taller, but there were cameras around and too many eyes watching, so he kept his mouth shut rather than answering one by one.
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