Chapter 16
Chapter 16
The opposing team wasn't half bad. For starters, Ryu Cheong-woo suited the song perfectly, and objectively speaking, their performance was above the average of the other teams.
However, in the audience's minds, the point of comparison wouldn't be the other teams.
It would be VTIC.
This is the inherent problem with covering the latest hit from the most popular boy group. The original performance is currently etched into the brains of the masses.
Even if they happened to do something better than VTIC, they wouldn't be easily acknowledged for it. The internet was crawling with VTIC fans.
Under normal circumstances, any praise would be buried under comments like, "You can't even compare them to VTIC."
Of course, putting all that aside... our side simply did better.
The team members seemed to know it too, as their faces were bright when we stepped back onto the stage for the pre-voting greetings.
The MC introduced the teams in order of performance.
"Ah, our 'October 31' team! It was a spooky and fun stage, just like Halloween! Is that what the team name intended?"
"Yes! It means we're the Halloween cuties! And there's one more meaning to it."
"What would that be?"
"Just like thirty-one flavors of ice cream, it means our members each possess their own colorful charms!"
Keun Se-jin cupped his face in his hands and looked around at the team. Following the scripted introduction, the other members quickly struck their poses.
As for me... I settled for a finger pressed against my cheek.
In reality, the only time someone my age would do something like this is when they're drunk and trying to mock someone in a disgusting way, but where's the room for dignity when survival is on the line?
"Aaaaah!!"
"So cute!"
Fortunately, the reaction wasn't one of awkward silence. It was a huge relief that I had invested in Park Moon-dae's appearance stat.
A B- grade was just enough to cross the line from 'decent-looking' to 'handsome.'
The opposing team's introduction followed.
"Hello, I am..."
It wasn't quite embarrassing, but I could feel the opposing team's tension due to the noticeable difference in the volume of the cheers.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ryu Cheong-woo!"
"Kyaaaaah!!"
Their only saving grace was that the cheers for Ryu Cheong-woo were loud, but unfortunately, that wouldn't be enough for the team to win.
"Shareholders, please express your will! First, please vote for the team you think performed better! 'October 31' is Number 1! 'Mountain Tiger' is Number 2!"
People everywhere held up fingers to indicate their team's number.
As the audience pressed the buttons on their remotes, the voting soon ended, and a new voting method was announced.
"Now, next, please select one participant from each team who captured your heart the most!"
The MC emphasized once more.
"I'll say it again: this is not one person out of both teams! You must pick one person per team, for a total of two people!"
This was a blatant attempt to sow discord.
The production crew must have been desperate for a provocative narrative, as the reward for this intra-team individual vote was better than the team victory reward.
They hadn't even announced this in advance; they dropped the bombshell right before the dress rehearsal.
—Everyone! The reward for the 'individual match' within this team battle is... an Elimination Exemption Ticket!
—...What?!
Because of that, rumors were rampant that other teams had completely fallen apart.
Fortunately, this team didn't provide any such drama. Seon A-hyun was a pushover, and Gold 1 and 2 weren't the type to have the guts to speak up even if they had complaints.
Lee Se-jin was likely too overwhelmed just handling his own parts, and Choi Won-gil stopped talking nonsense once I broke his spirit.
As for Keun Se-jin, he ended up taking the Main Dancer position, so he probably had no complaints.
Does it sound like we didn't have conflict because we were too busy dealing with our own problems rather than having good teamwork?
That's exactly right. But since it'll look like good teamwork on camera, it doesn't matter.
Anyway, the individual voting ended in a more ambiguous atmosphere than the first vote.
"Thank you!"
With a short bow, the participants left the stage. Myself included.
Strangely, I felt a lingering sense of regret about leaving the stage.
Filming didn't wrap up until the middle of the night.
"Good work, everyone~"
"I think we did pretty well!"
Upon hearing that the results of the individual matches would be announced during the ranking ceremony, everyone felt a bit disappointed but quickly moved on.
Since it had been the same way last season, they probably half-expected it, and the fact that we won the team battle put their minds at ease.
That's right. We won the team battle.
—The winner of the team battle is... October 31! The score is a staggering 82 to 401!
—Whoa!!
And with a crazy score of 82 to 401 at that.
For five seconds after the announcement, the room was a chaotic mix of shock and cheers.
Except for Keun Se-jin, the rest were on the verge of tears, so there was nothing more to be said.
However, these guys were forced to calm down and compose themselves quickly.
—Ugh... sob...
—Dong-gyun.
—You worked hard. You did well.
Because a participant on the opposing team actually started crying.
It's never easy for someone who's less miserable to cry harder than the person who started crying first. It's even harder when those are tears of joy.
Thanks to that, the team members, who had been maintaining a state of restrained joy out of consideration for the cameras and the opposing team, became extremely hyped the moment filming ended.
"Should we start a group chat? I mean, we worked so hard and lived together like this~ shouldn't we at least have a group chat!"
"Oh, I love that!"
"I second the motion, Leader-nim."
Under Keun Se-jin's lead, a group chat was created.
Surprisingly, perhaps caught up in the mood, even Lee Se-jin gave out his number without a word of complaint.
"Whoa!"
"Whoa! Hyung-nim!"
"Wow~ Now all our team members can talk together!"
"..."
In the end, I naturally exchanged numbers and was added to the group chat as well.
...I'm muting the notifications.
"Moon-dae~ You worked so hard!"
"Yeah, you worked hard as the leader too."
Keun Se-jin spoke to me as I was packing my things. Since the situation had ended well, I accepted his polite gesture and returned it.
"Haha, I was a pretty good leader, wasn't I!"
"..."
Does this guy not know the meaning of modesty...?
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"
Keun Se-jin grinned. It didn't feel like a joke, so I wished he'd stop.
"Let's see each other often. Keep in touch!"
"Um, sure."
It seemed Keun Se-jin was intent on bringing me into his circle.
He probably plans to cut ties with the participants from his own agency since they're so lackluster.
However, I hadn't forgotten that this guy was a potential drug user candidate. I had no intention of taking any risks until the suspicion was completely cleared.
I'll just brush it off and say my phone was broken later.
Just as I was thinking that, another voice cut in from the side.
"M-me too! L-l-let's... keep in touch..."
"You want to keep in touch?"
Seon A-hyun nodded vigorously. He was probably safer than Keun Se-jin.
I nodded, and Seon A-hyun's face brightened instantly. Keun Se-jin said with a smile, "Should the three of us make a separate chat? It'd be nice to have a same-age line chat too."
He really knows how to wedge himself in.
But thanks to Seon A-hyun's quick agreement, another group chat was created in an instant.
A bad premonition flashed through my mind.
It was a concern I had pushed aside while rushing to finish the stage, but it bothered me that in the previous season, many people were voted for as a set based on their first team battle.
Am I going to be bundled together with these guys?
"..."
I don't know. Anyway, since we did well in the team battle, I'll probably pass the first round.
"Get home safe, everyone~"
"See you again!"
The participants finished their greetings and left the filming site. I walked out and caught a bus.
As soon as I get back to my temporary studio apartment, I'll have to look up the team battle reviews.
Audience members usually signed a pledge not to leak the contents of the stage before it aired.
However, it was rare for a spoiler ban to be strictly followed anywhere.
As a result, reviews were pouring out on anonymous sites where identities weren't revealed.
They were mostly like this:
=========================
[Idol Inc. Audience Review]
: Malang Dalkom was freaking legendary. That is all.
=========================
- What's with these guys? They keep popping up.
└ Is this bait?
└ No, I heard it was actually insane?
└ No, how do you make Malang Dalkom insane? Did they do poppin' with popcorn or something?
It was unexpected.
I thought the team with Cha Yu-jin, who was in 1st place, would get more mentions, but for some reason, this team seemed to be mentioned more.
Of course, about half of them seemed to be trolls jumping on the trend of mocking Idol Inc. rather than actual audience members.
But still, doesn't it mean we left a deep impression on quite a few people?
I picked out a review that seemed more legitimate and read it.
=========================
[Writing down what I remember from the 1st Team Battle for now]
...And the guys who did the Malang Dalkom debut song were really good. They could debut just like that. Their physical chemistry was good, and the only one who was a bit stiff was Lee Se-jin, but they basically tucked him away into the atmosphere... I'm curious who came up with the idea.
Oh, right, the high notes were also insane. He could be the main vocal here.
+ Since people keep calling it fake, I'm attaching a proof shot. Here. (A blurry photo of the stage set)
=========================
└ So who else was there besides Lee Se-jin?
└ The magic of saying they were great but not remembering who the members were ㅋㅋㅋ Yeah, next fake post please.
└ Yeah, it's not fake. Go look at the proof shot ㅋㅋㅋ
- I'm matching the names with the profiles now, and Seon A-hyun was definitely there. He was f*cking good. If there was a center system, he would've been the center 100%.
└ But how exactly was it good? I'm so curious ㅠㅠ The Malang Dalkom debut song is so cringy.
└ They turned it into something occult, it gave me goosebumps.
└ ??
└ No, it was a robot concept.
└ ㅋㅋㅋ Ignore the trolls. They stuck with the fairy concept.
└ No, it was a werewolf concept.
└ No, it's vampires.
└ Which one is it, you crazy bastards ㅠㅠ
└ It's fairies, lol.
"This thread is a mess."
Checking other posts, it was the same; trolls had jumped in halfway through and turned it into a game.
Rumors would likely remain rampant until it actually aired, which was actually for the best. Isn't it more intriguing when you don't know the details?
And since the production crew would definitely be monitoring internet sentiment, this high volume of mentions was likely to have a positive effect on the team's screen time.
That's enough checking the reactions...
Now, let's look at the next priority.
I pulled up the pop-up that had appeared as soon as the stage ended.
[Successful Stage!]
You have impressed the majority!
- Audience: 582 people (New Record!)
- Percentage Impressed: 81% (New Record!)
: Rare Trait Gacha ☜ Click!
The description had become longer than before. It seemed that every time the audience count and the percentage of people impressed set a new record, it gave a better trait.
Since both traits I'd used so far had been effective, a trait gacha for one stage was a decent reward.
Then again, they say I'll die if I don't debut within a year, so the balance is only fair if they give me this much.
...Hmm, thinking about it that way suddenly makes me annoyed.
Other than that, I had leveled up once through the achievement of practicing dance 500 times while preparing for the first team battle.
However, I had postponed distributing the stats. This was because I intended to invest them most efficiently depending on the content of the next filming.
So I'll keep holding onto that and just spin the trait gacha.
When I clicked the gacha, a slot machine appeared as expected. I was starting to get used to this sight.
The slot machine spun as usual and stopped on bronze-colored letters.
"Ah..."
The silver ones, which only had a few slots, seemed to be of a higher grade, so it was a bit disappointing to get bronze.
I can't always be lucky.
Besides, the content was more important than the grade.
I quickly composed myself and checked the effect of the trait I had won.
[Trait: 'Look at Me! (D)' Acquired!]
People pay slightly more attention to your actions.
"..."
I was at a loss for words.