Second Ranking Announcement Ceremony (3)
“As I said before, the final rankings can still be completely overturned depending on each team’s vote results in the second round of the competition.”
“…”
“Even the contestants seated here who have made it into the top thirty could face elimination if their team’s ranking is low, and contestants currently at risk of falling outside the top thirty could survive depending on the team vote results.”
The contestants swallowed hard and watched the screen. Those already seated in the chairs onstage didn’t need to look back; they fixed their gaze on the display set up in front of them.
“All right! Then I’ll announce the final results for the team stage of the second round of the competition.”
The left side of the screen displayed the results from the previous live vote. On the right, the newly tallied online vote results were about to appear.
“The online vote results are…”
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
With a tense sound effect, the names of the eight teams appeared on the screen. Then a zero sprang up beside each team name and began climbing rapidly. As the numbers rose, red horizontal bars filled in behind them.
The team that had received the most votes would rise to first place, then be overtaken, then overtake again; the rankings kept changing in a frantic back-and-forth.
The contestants stared at the screen with taut expressions. Some clasped their hands and prayed, while others gripped the arm of the person beside them and shook one leg hard enough to rattle.
The members of the Artist team, who had performed with Neoul, were just as nervous.
Baek Yuri fidgeted anxiously with his nails, his eyelashes trembling every three seconds as if on a timer.
Lee Gal-chae had not blinked once; he stood frozen like a statue, staring at the screen so intensely it looked as if lasers might shoot from his eyes.
Park Da-han was the most visibly crushed of them all. Rather than sit in his own seat, he had hidden behind someone else’s chair and was peeking out from there, chewing on his lip.
Only Neoul waited calmly for the result.
The Artist team had been extremely volatile during the first forty seconds, surging into first, then dropping to second, then fourth, then third, then fourth again, then back up to second…
And then, in the final stretch, they began battling like mad with Ha On-ha’s Rocket team for first and second place.
Neoul lifted his head and met Ha On-ha’s eyes, all the way at the top of the ranking display.
Ha On-ha was usually overflowing with ease and charisma onstage, but now he was just as tense as everyone else. He looked like he had no idea what expression to make in a situation where first place was still up for grabs.
He looked at Neoul for a moment, then casually shut his eyes as though they had never made eye contact in the first place. Smiling would have been strange, and staring too long would have been strange too; better to pretend he hadn’t seen anything than get edited into a pointless little staring contest.
Woo Cheong had folded himself up like a frog. The instant the results were announced, it looked as though he might spring straight up into the air.
Yeo Do-bin fumbled around and put on the pink helmet Woo Cheong had left behind. Then, realizing a bicycle helmet would not hide his face, he made a despairing expression.
In the end, Yeo Do-bin set the helmet down and yanked the hem of his shirt up over his face instead. Only his hair stuck out on top like pineapple leaves.
Neoul watched him with concern. He looked as though he was under extreme stress.
If the Artist team won first place, they would receive bonus points, and Yeo Do-bin might even make it into the ranking.
Only the top thirty were being announced, so there was no way to know exactly where Yeo Do-bin stood yet… but Neoul judged it was too early to despair.
Still, Yeo Do-bin seemed to believe the Artist team would lose.
Maybe because Ha On-ha’s team is so formidable.
A cold, dark air seemed to drift around Yeo Do-bin.
With a flash, the constantly shifting rankings finally locked into place.
1st. Rocket Team
2nd. Artist Team
Gasps broke out all over the studio.
And exactly three seconds later, as if mocking the shocked contestants, the vote count began climbing rapidly once more.
1st. Artist Team
2nd. Rocket Team
At last the vote count was finalized, and the combined results of the live and online votes, split fifty-fifty, appeared on the screen.
1st. Artist Team
2nd. Rocket Team
3rd. High Up Team
.
.
When this aired on television later, it would probably be polished in editing and underscored with effects like “Dun-dun!” but the studio itself was so quiet you could hear breathing.
Everyone stared at the screen without daring to breathe.
No one could relax until MC Jeong Ondo hit the results home like a judge bringing down a gavel.
“First place goes to… the Artist Team!”
“!”
Yeo Do-bin yanked the shirt he had been hiding behind down from his face. His expression was one of utter disbelief.
Contestants who had been on the verge of hyperventilating let out long breaths as their chests unclenched.
Neoul exhaled slowly too, realizing something in the process: even he, who had thought himself calm, had been holding his breath the entire time.
“Whaaaaat! First place! That’s insane!”
Park Da-han shot to his feet, flung his arms wide, and charged at his teammates like a soccer player rushing in to celebrate a goal.
Yeo Do-bin, who had been the first target, went limp like a paper doll and nearly toppled backward. But as if refusing to have the team’s first-place win end in a concussion, he managed to catch the chair and steady himself.
He gave Park Da-han a tentative pat on the shoulder, then opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know what.
Lee Gal-chae’s eyes, already large, had gone even wider; clearly he had not expected this result at all. Tears welled up in them before he had even had a chance to smile, but then Park Da-han came bounding back from Yeo Do-bin, and the tears vanished as Lee Gal-chae thrust out one hand, palm open, clearly signaling: don’t come any closer and just high-five me.
Park Da-han slapped Lee Gal-chae’s hand, then threw himself bodily at Neoul in excitement, only to bounce back with an “Ugh!” all by himself.
Neoul, who had almost been pulled down by Park Da-han’s accidental physical comedy, grabbed the back of his collar and lifted him up as easily as if he were plucking a doll from a claw machine, then set him safely down.
Park Da-han choked a little from the tug at his shirt collar, but he didn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest. He quickly became excited again and dashed over to Baek Yuri.
Baek Yuri accepted Park Da-han’s enthusiastic first-place celebration without complaint, then kept looking back at the screen over and over, still wearing a stunned expression. He seemed to be doubting whether this was real or fake, dream or reality.
Then his eyes met Jeong Ondo’s, and only then did he finally break into a bright smile. Baek Gi-yeom looked up at him, smiling with obvious satisfaction, and clapped along with the others.
The team that had ranked first in the live vote, Baek Gi-yeom’s team, had dropped to third place.
The Artist team that Neoul belonged to had been fourth in the live vote, but their gap in votes from the other teams had not been especially large. In the online vote, however, they had taken first by a wide margin, which was enough to lift them to first place overall once the scores were combined.
“Congratulations to the Artist Team! The Artist Team, which took first place in the second round of the competition, will receive the benefit! Shall we hear from them? Contestant Gal-Neoul, how do you feel right now?”
Jeong Ondo looked over the team members, then singled out Neoul, who was standing there the most obediently, and asked him.
How did he feel?
The number one was the smallest of all numbers, and yet it could make someone this tense, this happy, this tossed back and forth between joy and anxiety. It was ironic.
Neoul placed a palm over the area of his chest, feeling the thick, damp heat in the air despite the air-conditioning.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
His heart pounded through his whole body just as it had during practice sessions that lasted until his breath was caught in his throat, just as it had onstage beneath hot lights and a flood of cheers.
It was beating so briskly he almost wondered whether it was all right to leave it alone like this, whether there might be something wrong with him.
But he did not want it to stop. It was far better than the days when, like the creatures dwelling in the deep, cold sea, his heart had beaten with a deadened slowness, quiet and still. He wanted this moment, when blood moved through his body and he could feel that he was alive, to go on forever.
His eyes met Yeo Do-bin’s among the contestants standing outside the top thirty. In Yeo Do-bin’s dejected gaze, hope kindled again that he might yet have another chance to stand onstage.
See? What had he said?
He had said they wouldn’t be eliminated.
Neoul straightened his shoulders and smiled brightly as he answered Jeong Ondo.
“It is a magnificent feeling.”
* * *
The teams that placed sixth, seventh, and eighth in the second round were eliminated in their entirety. Among the contestants in those bottom three teams, most had already been pushed beyond the top thirty because their individual rankings were low.
But there were a few contestants who had been inside the top thirty: the contestants ranked twenty-third, twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-ninth.
Those who had been sitting in the chairs rose as though they didn’t want to get up, then trudged toward the area where the eliminated contestants were gathered. Their faces were hollow with disbelief.
The empty seats were soon filled again in order. The rankings of the contestants who had survived through team voting but had been outside the top thirty were also pulled forward.
Yeo Do-bin, who had been outside the survival line, moved up to twenty-seventh after four people ahead of him dropped out. Before the adjustment, his original rank had been thirty-first. On top of that, all the members of the Artist team received bonus points, which shifted the rankings once again.
“Contestant Yeo Do-bin, who received the benefit points, rises to twenty-second place!”
Yeo Do-bin reacted a beat late, whether because he was startled or because he thought he had heard wrong.
“Y-yes…!”
Then he looked at Neoul. Twenty-second? Did they really call my name? Am I hearing things? It was written plainly across his black eyes and trembling expression, as obvious as an earthquake. Neoul tipped his chin toward the twenty-second seat.
“What are you dawdling for? Get up there already.”
“!”
Once he confirmed it was neither a dream nor a hallucination, Yeo Do-bin’s face brightened all at once.
“Thank you, mate…!”
He spoke in a strangled voice, then made his way to the twenty-second seat. With every step, tears welled in his eyes.
He had thought he was definitely out. The realization that he would be able to stand onstage one more time sent a pleasant shiver through him, and tears dampened the corners of his eyes with relief.
“Do-bin~ You worked hard~”
From the very top, Ha On-ha stretched out his hand dramatically and congratulated Yeo Do-bin on surviving.
The members of the Artist team also came closer to offer quick words of encouragement and congratulations, but Neoul remained seated high up in third place and did not bother to come down. Instead, he said to Yeo Do-bin,
“Yeo Do-bin. Next time, you must come up here.”
As he spoke, he tapped the armrest of the chair. Dreams should be large from the start. And since they had come this far, he meant Yeo Do-bin should aim for third place at the next ranking announcement. Yeo Do-bin, caught between tears and a smile, beamed brightly.
Woo Cheong shouted,
“Hyung, if you cry and then laugh, you’ll grow horns on your butt!”
After the small commotion died down, the remaining shifts in the rankings were announced as well. Park Da-han, who had started at thirtieth, leaped up to twenty-sixth after four people ahead of him were eliminated, then rose all the way to twenty-first thanks to the bonus points. In total, he had climbed nine places.
And then…
1st Baek Yuri
2nd Ha On-ha
3rd Gal-Neoul
4th Lee Gal-chae
Ha On-ha, who had been holding firm in first place, was pushed down to second as Baek Yuri claimed the top spot.