The Song That Wasn't Well-Reviewed
The song Won Ji-an had chosen was one that had received poor reviews even in the original novel.
It was a hyperpop track titled "". Musically, it wasn't terrible, but compared to the others, it felt... average. The concept and lyrics were also a bit cryptic, which was why the original story had so many comments calling it nothing like a typical idol song.
It had struck me that way too. The first time I heard it, it had felt completely unfamiliar. That was probably why the lower-ranked trainees had avoided it so fiercely, desperate to stay in the competition.
Then why this song?
Confused, I turned to look at him, but Won Ji-an simply turned his head away with a blank expression.
Was he really giving up? Maybe it was just that. From the moment he had chosen to be unhappy, he might have abandoned any will to survive in this survival show.
Why did it make me so angry?
I was irritated. When he had said he wanted to debut with me, and now this look of giving up on himself.
Feeling resentful, I turned around, but Won Ji-an didn't even glance at me, staring straight ahead instead.
"Trainee Won Ji-an, come out and choose the song you hope for."
Won Ji-an, whose name had been called first, walked into the curtain without hesitation.
"What song should I pick?"
Lee Hae-won whispered the question, and I shook my head as if I didn't know. But I did know.
One by one, the trainees disappeared behind the curtain until it was finally my turn.
When I stepped inside, I saw several doors. According to plan, I would have chosen the song I had prepared, but...
"Eh? You're going that way?"
The producer looked surprised, but I ignored it and walked straight over.
The moment I opened the door, I found the trainees staring at me with shocked expressions.
They all stood up as if struck by lightning when they saw me, and among them I spotted Won Ji-an with a bewildered look on his face.
"Why here...?"
I answered one trainee's muttered question with an awkward smile and took my seat.
Won Ji-an was staring at me with clear disbelief.
'Well, I don't understand it either.'
Why had I deliberately chosen the harder path when the easy one had been right there?
But I still believed there was hope. I thought that if I simply made up my mind, I could change any predetermined fate. And above all, I wanted to be with Won Ji-an.
'If I choose this song, I'll end up getting a certain amount of attention anyway.'
Won Ji-an looked at me, and the moment our eyes met, he turned his head away.
The cold atmosphere between us made the surrounding trainees tense up. They were probably assuming we had fought.
"Whoa, it's Ji-an and Won-woo. I thought you'd pick something else."
"Yeah. I didn't expect it at all. Surprising, right? But having Ji-an and Won-woo here actually makes me feel a bit more reassured."
"Yeah, you picked well!"
They had avoided the upper ranks' picks and chosen a song that seemed unlikely to be selected, yet with two upper-rank trainees on the team, everyone seemed strangely pleased.
After all, the broadcast structure meant that the team you ended up on would determine how much attention you received. The amount of exposure and interest couldn't help but be affected.
'So that's why I came here.'
It might have been a little ridiculous, but I wanted to help Won Ji-an even a little.
If I indirectly showed that I wanted him to debut, it might still make a difference.
'I wouldn't normally do something like this, but I decided I wouldn't let him disappear in this world.'
I was confident. I had vowed to change any fate with my own hands.
***
The team members gathered in the practice room to memorize the song.
Right now, our team was missing four members. That meant someone would be released from another team and join us.
"While we wait for our new teammate, let's practice hard."
The trainees were pumped up and ready to dive in, but Won Ji-an stood out with his unusually distant expression, his mind clearly elsewhere.
"Ji-an-ah."
I called his name, but he was staring blankly, not even hearing me.
"Ji-an. Won Ji-an."
Won Ji-an finally turned around.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Huh?"
"You've been staring into space the whole time."
"Ah... sorry."
I wanted to say something harsher, like "What are you doing when we don't even have enough people to die for?" but...
I couldn't. Not after learning that Won Ji-an had already abandoned himself in his past life. It had made it difficult to scold him.
Maybe giving up once made a second surrender seem less difficult. No, it was still difficult, but perhaps less so than for someone who had never given up before.
"Ji-an-ah. You can do it."
My words didn't change Won Ji-an's blank expression. He neither agreed nor disagreed.
For a while now, I hadn't been able to read his mind at all. I had thought I could figure him out to some extent before, but...
It might have been a misunderstanding. After all, had I ever really known anything about Won Ji-an?
"Yeah, we can do it."
Amid the trainees' cheers, Won Ji-an managed a faint smile.
***
Today was the day for the producer and masters' evaluations.
After the producer's assessment, the trainees would vote among themselves to decide the final elimination.
'For trainees with ambiguous ranks, this evaluation could be a crucial opportunity.'
Although the final decision was made by the trainees' votes, if they received great praise from the producer, the chance of avoiding elimination would be much higher.
Because if they were shown to have been eliminated without reason despite the producer's endorsement, it could damage their image.
So, it was important to receive as good an evaluation as possible from the producer to influence the trainees' votes.
'Jeong Hui-min is really working hard.'
Among the trainees, Jeong Hui-min stood out clearly. He had been practicing in the corner before filming even started.
Because his rank had been stagnant, there seemed to be heavy pressure to show something proper this time.
'I hope he does well.'
"Team , come out please."
As soon as the producer called, the waiting members walked forward.
The mid-evaluation was conducted in the same way as before, with all trainees watching from the sidelines.
' has a lot of upper-rank trainees, as expected.'
The team was packed with top 9 trainees, including Lee Hae-won.
As predicted, many trainees had chosen .
'There will probably be a lot of eliminations from that side.'
Meanwhile, Jeong Hui-min was bowing his head and biting his nails.
It looked like he was consumed by anxiety that if he didn't show properly this time, there would be no second chance.
"Then, show us what you've prepared."
The evaluation began, with dance and vocal performances in sequence.
For vocals, the members stood in a line and performed their assigned parts. For dance, the focus was on point choreography and expression acting.
"Oh, Hae-won is really killing it."
The producer's praise made Lee Hae-won smile brightly.
'Lee Hae-won is a sure thing. He won't be eliminated.'
"His sexy concept is also done really well."
"Haha, thank you!"
Lee Hae-won laughed with his characteristic friendly smile.
But the other trainees couldn't smile like that. Some had received evaluations for not being able to handle their parts properly or for not matching the concept.
'... If no worse trainees come out here, the outline of who will be eliminated is roughly set.'
While I was thinking that, the next trainee stepped forward.
It was Jeong Hui-min. His expression was unusually stiff.
Jeong Hui-min seemed to be trying hard, but in the latter half, his strength seemed to give out, and his expression remained rigid.
'If it's like this...'
After the evaluation, the master and producer both wore ambiguous expressions.
In the vocal test, his pitch had wavered and his expression had been stiff, so it wouldn't look good. Jeong Hui-min had clearly expected this, as he was just biting his nails.
"Trainee Jeong Hui-min."
Finally, Rayz picked up the microphone.
"Trainee Jeong Hui-min. Do you think you can debut like this?"
Jeong Hui-min didn't answer. No, he couldn't.
"Are you nervous? Just letting it go?"
"That is..."
"If so, dropping the stage quality because of nervousness is no longer acceptable. If the latter, it's not something you can do to the people who cheered for you."
Rayz's sharp words made Jeong Hui-min wipe his face and lower his head.
Trainees would know how much Jeong Hui-min had practiced. Until just a moment ago, he had been doing everything he could not to get eliminated.
But suddenly the evaluation started, and he showed this?
'Why is he acting like this?'
I didn't understand, but it felt like I knew why.
In an uncertain situation, chasing possibilities and running madly, facing reality.
'Because the previous upper-rank trainees received too much praise.'
Perhaps when he saw the wall of reality that no matter how hard he tried, he would still be eliminated, he gave up.
From the moment he started thinking that effort was meaningless, lethargy crept in, and this time he couldn't escape the conviction that it wouldn't work.
"Trainee Jeong Hui-min."
Seeing Jeong Hui-min who had given up on everything, Shin Su-yeol spoke.
"It's tough, isn't it? You want to quit and give up, and anyway, even if you die, it won't work this time. What's the point of trying hard? Are you thinking that?"
Jeong Hui-min, listening to the words, closed his eyes quietly as if his thoughts were many.
'Even if you try hard, your efforts won't be shown, no one will know, and you'll become a person who is neither here nor there, so it's scary. Right?'
"..."
"But from the audience's perspective, they don't need to know that. They just see you as someone who can't do it."
Shin Su-yeol said with a frown.
"When you have a performance later, the people who pay to watch Trainee Jeong Hui-min's stage earlier might want to see it."
Throughout the words, Jeong Hui-min's expression grew darker.
"You know it's a tough situation. But do you think the people who come to watch with money will understand that?"
Continuing with the sharp words, the atmosphere in the practice room grew cold.
"I had to have a bad expression because of things like this, and I had to make mistakes, and no matter how I tried to explain it, the audience wouldn't know. Who would want to pay money and time to watch a boring performance."
And with a period, Shin Su-yeol added the last words.
"Trainee Jeong Hui-min seems not to be ready to perform this song."
This made it clear.
That the elimination was Jeong Hui-min.
'Jeong Hui-min was supposed to receive bad reviews.'
Jeong Hui-min, who had always been one person, received the first evaluation of being inadequate.
As the pressure on the ranking began to increase, it was clear that his real ability wasn't showing.
'... No way.'
It was a situation where one might cry. But Jeong Hui-min didn't cry. His face was pale, sweating, but his gaze was directed straight ahead.
"... Sorry."
After lowering his head, Jeong Hui-min returned to his place and our eyes met.
Intuitively, I knew that Jeong Hui-min would soon join our team.