Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Individual Evaluations
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In the quiet atmosphere, as he suddenly stood up alone, the trainees' gazes gathered on him.
“Everyone, may the class leader say one last word?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you. The thing is, I've been through a lot these past few days. You all probably know why.”
It was a somewhat cheeky statement, but it wasn't meant to brag about himself.
The trainees seemed to sense that, listening quietly without any displeasure.
Right. If you voted me class leader, you have to hear me out.
“I didn't do it expecting any big reward, but just promise me one thing.”
He truly wasn't seeking repayment.
Would he have gone through all that hell for such a tiny compensation?
It didn't even make sense cost-wise.
What he really wanted was...
“Don't give up midway. At least until the music ends, don't stop or quit.”
These were the words of someone who had once given up on a dream.
“We've practiced so hard. If we just do that, we can all get on stage together.”
Repeating the key part in simple English made the foreign trainees, who hadn't understood at first, catch on and smile.
It wasn't that the sudden quest had completed early or anything.
Up until bedtime last night, it had shown a clear numerical value, but now, until the results came out, it teasingly displayed [??/32].
Still, with this much effort, even if they didn't get a solo spotlight, they could at least make it on stage, right? That hopeful thought.
Reality wasn't something you could bulldoze just with effort, but this was a game world, and since the player character had been dropped here, maybe it would unfold in an optimistic direction. That expectation.
...Am I getting too immersed?
As that thought crossed his mind, someone burst out laughing.
“On Raon, why are you killing the vibe!”
“Weighty stuff doesn't suit you at all!”
“Hear, hear!”
Damn, these NPC bastards!
“I put thought into it, and this is how you react?! That's why they say you shouldn't adopt a black-haired beast.”
“Mine's brown.”
“I'm blonde.”
“Ugh.”
The older guys chuckled and patted his shoulders and back.
They were smiling.
A message popped up saying the trainees' favorability had increased, but he didn't feel like looking and dismissed it right away.
“Let's do a fighting chant before we start.”
At someone's suggestion, the more than thirty trainees surged to their feet and gathered their hands.
“Hye-seong team, fighting!”
“Fighting!”
The mood lightened considerably.
Kim Jun-woo, who always said he was bad at these kinds of things if done later, stood up first.
Cheers and encouraging applause poured down on his back.
“I'm Kim Jun-woo from Wes Music. Nice to meet you.”
One by one... With trembling expressions, they turned on the camera, stated their agency and name, greeted, and showed the dance and song they'd practiced.
A trainee returning to their seat with a satisfied faint smile.
A trainee who hung their head low, saddened by a major mistake midway.
A trainee staring at the back of the next one stepping forward, their expression unreadable.
The reactions of the trainees after finishing their recordings varied wildly.
Someone held the hand of a friend quietly shedding hot tears and said,
“It's okay. You did great.”
In this solitary battle where there was no winning or losing, those were the only words to offer a returning comrade.
A spacious conference room with a white screen in front.
Lee Chang-yeon from the 7-year boy group Jupiter, who had just entered, gave a quick bow to Jena, the 20-year veteran solo singer from a girl group, who was already seated up front.
“Oh, Jena noona. Hi. You're here early.”
“Hi, Chang-yeon. I woke up excited this morning wondering how the kids did.”
“Uh... You didn't see them practice, right noona?”
“Yeah, today's my first look.”
“Your expectations... Hmm, how to put it.”
“Better to keep them low?”
At Jena's words, Lee Chang-yeon awkwardly smiled as if to say see for yourself.
Moments later, Han Ji-hee from the 9-year girl group Rosetta and Muk Hye-seong from the 20-year boy group Chronicle entered one after another.
As they exchanged greetings, Seok Su-young from the 5-year girl group Serendipity and Joo An from the 4-year boy group Pluto came in together and took their seats.
What the assembled Pick Heart mentors had in common was that they were all-round idols skilled in both dance and vocals.
In Joo An's case, who handled the rap-position trainees, he could even rap.
As active idols, they understood and could teach the trainees better.
Except for Jena, who hadn't seen the trainees' progress, the mentors who had watched it all playfully grumbled with wry smiles.
Those smiles weren't really smiles.
“I'm worried today. Really worried.”
“There are so many worrying kids...”
“You guys too?”
“Yeah. Our side has a lot of rappers. They struggled so much with singing. Some even gave up on vocals entirely. I told them they can't do that, but...”
Joo An trailed off. At the word 'give up,' Muk Hye-seong and Jena, with their veteran status allowing endless 'back in my day' stories, looked displeased.
Han Ji-hee chuckled dryly and glanced at Muk Hye-seong.
“But I heard Hye-seong sunbae's team had a good vibe? They say those kids are all praising you nonstop. What did you do?”
“Not that much.”
Jena chuckled softly at Muk Hye-seong's words.
“Not denying it, huh.”
“Personally, I'm most looking forward to Hye-seong sunbae's team. There was that one kid who livened up the mood, right? If they kept that energy, it'd be fine.”
“Not bad. See for yourselves.”
As the production staff signaled to start, the mentors wrapped up their chat and dove into the judging.
“Ok Do-yoon, doing well. His dancing is relaxed, comfortable.”
“Aigoo, Tae-won, what do you do stopping midway?”
“Who's that? Sora? He kinda feels like a Korean trainee now.”
“Yun-jae. Sings cleanly, but the dance is lacking.”
“Xiao... His dance is honestly hard to watch, but he keeps smiling and going till the end. It's cute. Makes me want to pick him.”
Dozens of evaluation videos flashed by quickly.
When a teammate from their own class, whom they knew had practiced hard, messed up, a sigh of regret escaped the mentors' lips.
When a trainee panicked from missing a move and did something silly, laughter leaked through tightly pressed lips.
The Hye-seong team trainees stood out.
Despite gathering underachievers with the infamous nickname of 'inferior class,' their overall momentum wasn't bad.
And moreover.
“Come to think of it, Hye-seong sunbae's team kids never stop midway. Good or bad, they finish till the song ends.”
“They've got the basics down.”
“They know it themselves. They got sent to Hye-seong sunbae because they're the worst. But they don't give up. It's so heartwarming.”
“Impressive, really impressive.”
Even as they grew fatigued, the mentors massaged their stiff necks and evaluated the trainees meticulously.
Having been through past seasons, they knew full well how much this single evaluation could change things.
- Hello. I'm independent trainee On Raon. Nice to meet you!
On Raon's video played 71st.
Like the other Hye-seong team trainees, seeing On Raon in bright yellow practice clothes made the mentors blink rapidly, as if struck by realization.
“Ah, that kid. The unusual one from before.”
“Yeah, him.”
“Looking forward to this.”
The mentors watched On Raon's evaluation video with pleased smiles.
There were clear shortcomings from low overall stamina, strength, agility stats, and lack of experience.
Yet On Raon's personal sense covered for it so well that it didn't bother them.
The dance felt thoroughly practiced, with no hesitation midway.
The song, breathless from low stamina with rough panting mixed in, still captured the essence of Heart Attack, subtly drawing the ear.
Except for the highlight where high notes barely climbed due to stat deficiencies, it was simply pleasant to listen to.
One mentor thought it wasn't a big issue anyway.
Heart Attack had a notoriously high vocal range that most male trainees couldn't even approach.
Many flaws, all overshadowed spectacularly by innate talent.
Finally, the music stopped.
On Raon, looking three times more exhausted than the others, flashed a bright smile, bowed with “Thank you!”, and the video ended.
“He did great. Can't explain it well, but he just looks like an idol.”
Joo An spoke first.
Having seen so many low-skill trainees before, the bar for 'great' was somewhat lowered, but it wasn't wrong.
Jena, deep in thought, spoke up.
“With Raon, when he's in front of you, your eyes go to him, but if he's gone, you can't really picture him.”
“Can't picture him?”
“Yeah. Weirdly, while watching, you think 'this kid's got a good vibe,' but moments later, you can't recall his face, expression, nothing sticks in your head.”
Han Ji-hee picked up.
“I get what you mean. But in that moment, he's so charismatic. He naturally infuses everything with his own color. Makes me want to hear him do other songs and dances.”
“Exactly.”
“But? Compared to that, he fades way too fast. Why is that?”
Seok Su-young nodded vigorously in agreement with Jena and Han Ji-hee.
“Yeah, me too. There was that song from the mentor eval last time, Hello, World! His tone captivated my ears. I thought he'd make it big then.”
“Yeah.”
“I'd completely forgotten until seeing this today and remembering that thought. Right, that's how he was. There was a kid like that.”
“Exactly. The kid himself is like... a one-night dream or something.”
“Spot on. Dreams feel so vivid in the moment, but after waking, only the feeling lingers and slowly fades.”
“We idols need to stick in people's memories as long as possible. This isn't good.”
“What's the issue...”
Unaware of the system's heavy intervention, the mentors puzzled over On Raon's problem.
Meanwhile, Muk Hye-seong stared at the frozen image of On Raon approaching the camera to stop it.
...He resembles him.
He'd thought they didn't look alike at all when seeing him smile often in the practice room.
But seeing this relatively expressionless paused face, he realized it strongly resembled someone from his memories.
As the unusually pensive Muk Hye-seong stayed silent—a familiar occurrence—the mentors continued discussing among themselves.
Muk Hye-seong's heavy silence was par for the course.
“So, it's decided?”
“Yes. On Raon trainee's grade is...”