Chapter 12
Chapter 12
“Whoa~ Our team is looking great! We’ve got so many talented people, and so many handsome ones too!”
The Gold-ranked Lee Se-jin spoke with a beaming smile. Everyone else nodded, looking a bit bashful but clearly agreeing with the sentiment.
It was the perfect time for everyone to pretend to be as harmonious as possible, so it was only natural. I was just glad everyone seemed to have at least a basic level of social awareness.
“But, uh, Actor Se-jin. Since we have the same name… how should we differentiate ourselves?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea!”
“Right? Since you’re an actor, how about ‘Bae Se-jin’?”
The first Gold-ranked participant who had joined the team added with a smirk.
“Hey, then since you’re just big, you can be ‘Keun Se-jin.’”
“Keun Se-jin? Hey, I like it! It’s a deal! What do you think, Se-jin hyung?”
“……”
The child actor Lee Se-jin bit his lip as if holding something back, then spoke curtly.
“I just like my own name.”
“……”
“Ah… I see.”
The atmosphere cooled instantly. The Gold-ranked Lee Se-jin—Keun Se-jin—hurriedly spoke up.
“That’s fine! Then everyone, please just call me Keun Se-jin from now on~”
“Sounds good~”
“Nice nickname!”
The atmosphere settled as everyone clapped. Just as they were about to start individual introductions, the MC picked up the microphone again.
“Participants, have you all finished greeting each other?”
“Please, just let us pick the song ourselves.”
One of the teammates muttered desperately. But there was no chance of that.
“Now then… we will begin the song selection draw!”
“Wow…”
“Even the songs are random…”
Everyone muttered with exhausted expressions.
The MC waved his hand dismissively and spoke playfully.
“Oh, come on, everyone! You’ll be drawing from the hit songs of the representative idols from the agencies you chose! Don’t be disappointed!”
The atmosphere improved slightly, as if they thought that sounded fair enough.
“Now, the representative songs are spinning on the sign in front of you. Just press the switch when you want it to stop! Will the participant who joined the team first please come forward!”
The teammates immediately shifted their attitudes.
“Hyung, we believe in you!”
“A legendary track is our only way out!”
“Phew, I guess I have to show off my skills again.”
The first participant stepped up to the sign with a swagger, fueled by their cheers.
“Now, get ready… and shoot!”
“Waaaah!”
The teammate let out a strange shout and immediately slammed the switch. Beside me, Keun Se-jin (since he asked for it, I’ll refer to him as such from now on) muttered under his breath.
“Man, he should’ve at least looked before pressing it…”
The sign spun slowly, clicking as it revealed several song titles.
[San-gun / VTIC]
[LIFE / VTIC]
[A Song That Will Last Forever / VTIC]
VTIC. Currently the boy group with the highest album sales.
“Anything is fine… just please.”
I heard Choi Won-gil muttering desperately from the end of the line. I silently waited for the screen to stop.
The screen slowed to a halt.
[Into the New World / Malang Dalkom]
“…?”
“……??”
“……!?”
A heavy silence fell.
Every teammate except me stared at the sign with blank, beady eyes.
“Is… is it an error?”
The teammate who touched the sign muttered in a dazed voice. However, there was no signal from the production crew.
It meant this was for real.
“Are girl group songs included too?”
“There are girl group songs?”
Similar comments were popping up from all over, not just our team.
Of course, their reactions weren't as intense as ours.
My teammates muttered as if they had lost their minds.
“Uh… so, was it ‘Flower Fairies’?”
“That… uh, the debut song, yeah.”
And for good reason—Into the New World was a pure, dreamy song that championed a ‘flower fairy’ concept.
Furthermore, it was their debut song. A track released before Malang Dalkom hit it big with their quirky-cute concept, and one that had never even reached number one on a major broadcast station.
“Ah! Thank you!”
“This is insane!!”
Cheers erupted from the surrounding teams as they landed good songs. It was expected, given the pool was likely full of masterpieces. The climax happened right then.
“Aaaaah!!”
“Hyung! Hyung!!”
The team next to ours had drawn VTIC’s San-gun.
For the record, that song was the title track of the album that won the Grand Prize at the country’s largest music site awards ceremony just two months ago.
It was arguably the hottest song available in the draw.
Perhaps that was why they were all hugging and making a scene. Maybe they had been worried because their team members were lower-ranked, but the atmosphere was already as if they had won.
“……”
On our side, we fell into a sharp silence. It seemed no one had recovered from the shock.
As for me?
‘I dodged a bullet.’
I was breathing a sigh of relief. I realized I had been too naive when choosing the agency sign.
VTIC’s San-gun?
It would have been better not to do it at all.
I was truly lucky to have avoided it.
In that sense, our current match-up luck was as good as it gets.
‘Though it seems no one else has realized it yet.’
Looking at my teammates gathering gloomily, I thought it might actually be for the better.
If they feel a sense of crisis, they might be more cooperative.
“The key doesn’t fit.”
Did I think they would be cooperative? I’d like to correct that; it was an overestimation.
Someone was already acting like they had given up.
“Won-gil, let’s try it one more time…”
“I’ve tried it several times, and I don’t think something that doesn’t work is suddenly going to start working…”
Choi Won-gil lowered his head gloomily and then spoke up tentatively.
“Well, it’s originally a girl group song, so I don’t think it fits well even after changing it to a male key. I think I could handle the higher parts, though…”
As he said that, he glanced toward me.
‘He wants my part.’
I had already been assigned the Main Vocalist badge early on, thanks to the enthusiastic support of the three Gold-ranked members.
Perhaps because of his lower rank, Choi Won-gil hadn't said a word and just watched me take the badge.
But now that he saw an opening, he was making his move.
I let out a small chuckle.
“Should we?”
“……!”
Keun Se-jin nudged my thigh. This guy, seriously…
“Hey, don’t tease the kid. In times like this, we should help him handle his own part! What are you doing?”
He naturally brushed off the comment as a joke. He was clearly experienced at this.
‘As expected, he’s not just some easygoing guy.’
Hiding my suspicion, I continued firmly.
“No, I really don’t mind switching. If we’re going to do it, we should do it now before we learn the choreography.”
“Re-really?”
“Yeah.”
I finished nonchalantly. Choi Won-gil looked extremely suspicious, but he nodded quickly before I could change my mind.
“Then, I want to do the first verse chorus…”
“Fine. Then I’ll take the bridge.”
“What?”
“You said we should switch parts. That’s the part you said you couldn't do.”
Choi Won-gil nodded reluctantly. Even though I was taking the part he said he couldn't handle, he still seemed to find it a waste.
He had made a fuss because he wanted the chorus, but deep down, he probably didn't want to give up his own part either.
I didn't think he was usually this bad at managing his image, but maybe dropping to Silver was the trigger. He seemed a bit off.
Keun Se-jin looked back and forth between me and Choi Won-gil, then let out a sigh so faint it was barely audible.
‘I guess in the picture he drew, I was supposed to do the first verse chorus.’
Then, pretending nothing was wrong, he continued energetically.
“Alright, then the parts are set.”
There was one main position left. I could feel the Gold-ranked participants getting tense, though they tried to hide it.
“Now we just need to decide on the Main Dancer.”
Before Keun Se-jin could say more, I raised my hand.
“Oh, I have a suggestion.”
“Huh?”
“If everyone’s okay with it, I’d like to decide on the direction of the arrangement before we pick the Main Dancer.”
“…What?”
Arrangement.
Even though it was the most important topic, it was the one everyone had been unconsciously avoiding.
Into the New World was a pure girl group song.
And ‘pure’… was an incredibly difficult concept to pull off.
People often mistakenly think it’s easy as long as you’re pretty, but that is truly a delusion.
It’s because it’s a concept that struggles to be impactful.
To leave an impression on the audience with such a song in a survival show, you either had to be insanely talented or have extraordinary star quality.
Perhaps everyone had thought that far, as the suggestions for the arrangement started like this:
“How about… we change the lyrics and go for something powerful?”
“By adding a heavy beat?”
“Yeah. We take the line ‘Into the new world~’ and make it feel really ambitious! Like that.”
The first Gold… calling them that is a hassle. Should I just call him Gold 1?
Anyway, this was Gold 1’s opinion. It was the kind of idea any thinking survival participant would come up with.
Making it powerful.
The problem was that it would be extremely difficult to make this song feel ‘ambitious’ as he suggested.
The lyrics of Into the New World went like this:
- At some point, I realized
Me, wandering through incomplete time
This unstoppable maze of time
Save me, trapped inside
I’m slowly withering away
This small space inside (little Flower~)
Because I’m waiting for the day to bloom again
Please, come find me quickly
That was the first verse.
If you wanted to make it ambitious, you’d have to rewrite the lyrics to be more protagonist-centered, but then the story of the song would fall apart starting from the pre-chorus.
This was because the chorus was about asking the other person to come to them quickly.
- One step, two steps
The sound of you coming
Echoes in my ears
Don’t hesitate, reach out your hand
Now I’m going into the new world~
Come to me
Come to me
Dazzling, the Paradise by your side
Come to me
Come to me
The Melody of love for you (continues)
“Then do we have to change the ‘Come to me’ after ‘Into the new world’ too?”
“Uh… if we change it to ‘come to you’…”
Gold 1 trailed off, scratching his head. He seemed to realize that wasn't the only problem.
“Then wouldn't we have to change everything starting from ‘Save me’?”
“Hmm.”
Exactly. Because the chorus focused so much on the listener’s actions, if I changed it to say I would go to them quickly, the nuance of the following lyrics would be crushed.
“We’d have to rewrite the whole thing to go that way.”
“Yeah… but if we change it too much, it might be considered unfair.”
Whether the opposing team or the production crew would even allow such a complete overhaul was another issue.
“……”
The gravity of the situation was finally starting to sink in, and the teammates fell silent.
Keun Se-jin quickly stepped in to change the subject.
“Why don’t we talk to the mentors before deciding on the arrangement? I think it’s better to learn the choreography quickly so we can get feedback! Is that okay, Moon-dae?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Let’s do that.”
I readily agreed. My intention in bringing up the arrangement at this point was to give them a reality check anyway.
The more desperate the atmosphere, the less likely they would be to argue when I eventually offered my own ideas for the arrangement.
Of course, I figured everyone would grasp the situation once they saw the choreography video anyway.
“Okay, then I’m starting the choreography!”
Under Keun Se-jin’s lead, the choreography video began to play, and everyone leaned in toward the tablet screen.
They might have heard the chorus somewhere, but it seemed no one remembered the choreography in detail.
However, as expected, less than fifteen seconds after the video started, everyone let out a groan.
“Ah…”