Chapter 39
Chapter 39
“Are you having a hard time?”
I asked vaguely on purpose. I really hoped the guy listening would give a moderate answer.
However, Cha Yu-jin, with a chocolate bar still in his mouth, began to weep even more sorrowfully.
Give me a break...
I don’t know if it’s because everyone in the arts is hypersensitive or if the survival show is just that brutally exhausting, but I feel like I’ve been seeing people cry way too often lately.
“Everyone is fighting... It’s sc-scary to talk, hic.”
“...I see.”
Cha Yu-jin looked completely demoralized. The bright, random-word-bombing chatterbox from a few days ago was nowhere to be found.
It seemed like his team had truly turned into a mess in just one day.
‘They called it the Puppy Room, I guess they’re living up to the name.’
I could already see the future where these guys would be mocked and associated with their room name if this aired as is.
That said, it would be ridiculous for ‘Park Moon-dae’ to give Cha Yu-jin any advice.
No matter what I said, if I slipped up even slightly, I’d be hit with a barrage of posts like ‘Is it just me, or is Park Moon-dae acting cold?’ and my online reputation would plummet. We were on different teams, after all.
‘I should send him back once he calms down.’
I just said something else, sounding serious.
“Want another chocolate bar?”
“...”
Cha Yu-jin nodded. I pulled another handful of chocolate bars out of my bag and pressed them into his hand.
...Good thing I brought a lot.
Luckily, I still had one large bag left. If I looked like I was being stingy now, it would ruin the whole mood.
And so, I spent some time in silence with Cha Yu-jin as he munched on chocolate bars against the background noise of running water from the bathroom.
Before long, Cha Yu-jin stood up, clutching the chocolate bars in both hands, and gave a small bow.
“Thank you.”
He seemed to have calmed down enough to head back. I couldn’t be more grateful that he didn’t recite the details of his situation.
Even though I didn’t mean it, I decided to say something appropriate for the situation.
“Are you okay not seeing Rae-bin before you go?”
“Yes... I will be okay.”
“Alright.”
Cha Yu-jin had stopped crying and seemed to have regained his senses; he looked a bit more spirited than before.
‘Is that a sugar high?’
I suspected he might start wandering around crying again once his blood sugar dropped, but for now, getting rid of this ticking time bomb was the priority.
I watched Cha Yu-jin trudge down the hallway for a moment before closing the door.
Then, I let out a sigh of relief.
‘I’m busy enough as it is, and there are landmines everywhere.’
Now that we were in the latter half, I had to be even more careful not to give the broadcast anything to nitpick. If my rank tanked now, there might not be enough time for a rebound.
The problem was that I couldn’t control every situation just by being careful myself.
‘Just... let’s not stand out. If I keep going like this, I’ll make it to the finals.’
I reminded myself once more and sprawled out on the bed. I fell asleep instantly.
It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized I had fallen asleep without even washing up.
While the participants were suffering through the pain of planning and creating from scratch, pouring themselves into stage preparations...
Outside the filming set, Episode 8 of Re-listing! Idol Inc. was aired.
-WTF
-Why him?
-Crazy lol
-??
As the show approached the top ranks, unexpected rankings popped up everywhere, causing real-time viewer reactions to oscillate between shock and horror. However, the most intense reaction was toward the previous team battle’s victory reward.
[Minus Vote Nullification]
The fact that only a few could escape the cruel voting system—designed to reflect ‘how much someone is hated’—infuriated people.
-Lol the PDs really backstabbed us
-I’m the idiot for spending money on a show like this
-There’s 100% a contestant the production is pushing in the winning team lol. They’re letting only these guys dodge it?
The ironic part was that this anger was directed more at the participants than at the production crew who created the system and the reward.
As the biggest beneficiary of this reward, Choi Won-gil—who would have been at an elimination rank otherwise—was naturally being torn to shreds by public opinion.
But the viewers’ anger didn’t stop there.
The public sentiment toward the winning team members whose rankings rose significantly also temporarily soured.
-Whoa, Seon A-hyun pushed Cha Yu-jin to 2nd...
-Is he crying again? I’m sick of him turning on the waterworks.
-Must be nice not having your votes cut. My bias is smiling and saying thank you even after dropping, but seeing that stuttering freak looking miserable after his rank skyrocketed makes me sick ㅠㅠ
-Ugh. Seon A-hyun can’t even speak properly and he’s 2nd lol. All you face-stans giving sympathy votes to a cripple who’s gonna mumble through his debut speech need to wake up lol
└ Are you insane? Shouldn’t you at least draw the line somewhere?
└ Lol, here comes the stutterer’s fangirl.
└ You guys are really beyond imagination. Disgusting.
└ Can’t refute so you just start swearing lol. S-s-surely you don’t think he deserves 2nd place? lol
Crude insults that had previously stayed beneath the surface out of a minimum sense of morality began to appear in the comments.
Many were shocked or tried to stop it, but naturally, when the numbers are similar, aggressive opinions tend to gain momentary momentum.
However, as a reaction to that, a favorable opinion formed toward the participants who showed a dignified attitude even after their rankings dropped due to the minus votes and the winning team’s reward.
-You guys worked so hard ㅠㅠ
-Where there is light, there are shadows. Don’t pay too much attention to those weird losers cutting votes~ I’m rooting for you! ^^
-It must have been disappointing, but thank you for staying so cheerful.
Thanks to this, Park Moon-dae, whose rank was actually higher before the adjustment, luckily avoided the massive wave of criticism even though his rank rose.
Instead, there was a slight shift in his fanbase.
As the people who liked Moon-dae’s team from the first battle were intimidated by the negative public opinion, the fans who preferred Park Moon-dae’s appearance in the second team battle became the mainstream.
-Moon-dae, congrats on 4th place! You worked so hard ㅠㅠ (Video of him being congratulated by the 2nd team members)
-Moon-dae’s face after three consecutive ‘Hyung, what are you doing?’ lol. ‘Why is a cat doing this to a dog...?’ (Screenshot from a clip with Cha Yu-jin) (Humorous photo of a cat and a dog)
-It’s so funny how Moon-dae became a semi-forced social butterfly because he couldn’t handle the kids clinging to him this time lol
-If you look in the corner here, Moon-deng-deng is sharing snacks ㅠㅠㅠ Ahhh, an angel... an angel puppy... (Short video clip)
Fans of two other participants, who previously didn’t have a group with strong chemistry, excitedly joined the trend.
They were the fans of Cha Yu-jin and Kim Rae-bin.
-Moon-deng-deng, Kim Rabbit, and Cha Cat. A dog, a rabbit, and a cat—isn’t this a heart-fluttering combination? Just try it once, give it a taste (Photo)
-It’s so cute how my kids look like they’d ignore a loser like me if I talked to them on the street, but they’re actually soft and cute ㅠㅠ (Edited video of broadcast footage)
-Animal Heroes, move out! (Fan art)
Combinations that occasionally included Ryu Cheong-woo also flooded social media.
With the airing of the second team battle, the atmosphere became even more overheated as people newly obsessed with the show mixed with those pouring anger and jealousy toward the participants.
Because of this over-immersion that swung between a fiery hell and a warm room, the internet was a total mess.
It was even worse because the show was enjoying extreme success.
Beyond entertainment-related communities, posts about Aju-sa could now be seen in almost any online community.
And every post was swarming with people swooning and people fighting.
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[A contestant from that survival show that’s popular lately]
: (Photo) This is a contestant named Cha Yu-jin. Do women these days like guys who look like pretty-boy gigolos? Sigh... The world is ending.
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-The light in his eyes... like a wandering wildcat... he looks like he has no luck...
-Mister, you’re being pathetic lol.
-Why? He’s a handsome young man ^^ My daughter loves him.
-This show seems to be a trend among kids these days~ There’s a fellow who sings quite well. I’m thinking of giving him a vote when it gets to the finals~
└ You mean Park Moon-dae lol. He seems a bit rude... but a singer should be good at singing after all lol.
-Wake up. What are you going to do if you’re old and have no taste? Young man Cha Yu-jin is very bright. The young man who did archery is also very decent. I’m rooting for these two.
└ You wake up, lady. What’s with that tone just because you’re obsessed with some idol?
When the comments caught fire like this, someone would take a screenshot and post it on social media, leading to another fight—this happened dozens of times a day.
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[Aju-sa reactions from an older-generation community.jpg]
: (Screenshot) lol. A collaboration of a middle-aged man getting roasted and an old geezer yelling. What a mess lol.
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-Lol Cha Yu-jin is a superstar. Everyone my age has saved a photo of the 180cm giant baby cat Cha Yu-jin~
-It’s ridiculous that Seon A-hyun is 2nd when he’s not even mentioned here...
└ This post doesn’t represent all netizens, why would you think like that;;
└ Lol, if you even criticize Seon A-hyun, his fans treat you like the world’s biggest piece of trash, so it’s better just not to mention him at all.
└ What you guys are doing isn’t criticism, it’s an attack. What did Seon A-hyun do wrong?
└ Look at this, another overreaction lol.
And unfortunately, at this exact timing, the participants were able to access this turbulent online opinion in real-time.
To be honest, the first thought that came to mind was this:
‘I survived.’
I luckily avoided the massive backlash, and I wasn’t being actively hyped up enough to cause a counter-reaction, so it was a perfect state.
I was even subtly grouped with top-tier participants I had considered jumping ship to.
However, I didn’t feel a sense of accomplishment beyond that relief.
I rubbed the screen with my thumb. As the scroll bar moved on the side, all sorts of hateful comments swept upward.
‘Somehow... this leaves a bitter taste.’
To be blunt, among the participants getting cursed at right now, none of them have a trash personality except for Choi Won-gil.
Most of them are just kids working hard; do they really have to be beaten down like this?
It has nothing to do with me, and honestly, if the others tank, I’ll benefit from it, so it’s a plus for my survival—yet the aftertaste is foul.
‘And of all times, it had to be now...’
“We will now distribute devices for research purposes~!”
Since this team battle was self-produced, they temporarily returned smartphones so we could search for materials for specific concepts.
Normally, possession of smartphones was prohibited during filming.
Thanks to that, the participants could be isolated from outside opinions, but that rule was broken for this team battle.
Moreover, because the show was so successful, it was impossible to avoid related posts as long as you had internet access.
As a result, everyone, regardless of who they were, had looked up posts about themselves.
“...”
The dormitory bedroom was silent, with team members staring at their smartphones without a word.
The other rooms were probably the same.
And unfortunately, this team had a participant who was currently under concentrated fire on the internet.
Seon A-hyun.
‘Is he crying?’
I felt like I should check on Seon A-hyun, who would be in the bottom bunk, but I was breaking out in a cold sweat.
It was because of a bad premonition.
‘What if his mental state crumbles and his trait gets deactivated again...?’
If Seon A-hyun’s ‘Perseverance’ trait was deactivated, the ‘Lack of Self-Esteem’ status effect would come back to life.
Then, would Seon A-hyun, hit with a crazy penalty that drops all his stats by two levels, be able to handle the stage properly?
It wouldn’t be surprising if both the stage quality and the team battle editing were ruined.
I let out a silent sigh.
‘...I thought I was lucky with my teammates for once.’
There isn’t a single day where a team battle goes smoothly.
‘I should check his condition first.’
“Seon A-hyun.”
I leaned my head out from the bed and looked down. Seon A-hyun, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, turned his head.
“Y-yes!”
“...?”
Why is he perfectly fine?