Chapter 17
“But aren’t you lacking too much motivation?” Eden, who had been sitting quietly, grabbed his microphone and asked.
“!”
“The other trainees are practically flying around right now, and their eyes are sparkling. But Trainee Jung Taeha doesn’t look desperate. If that’s the case, is there a reason you came here?”
At Eden’s cold question, Jung Taeha gripped the microphone tightly with both hands. So tightly that the blood seemed unable to circulate through his hands. “…It’s not that I’m not desperate.”
“Then shouldn’t you show a little more motivation? I’ll give up on casting you.”
He gave up his casting ticket before the MC even asked. They’re definitely going to cut out only this scene and put it in the preview.
Eden was a “player” who knew how to make a broadcast provocative.
It was true that someone like this made a program more entertaining, but naturally, it was not good for the trainees’ mental state.
“Ah, yes! Producer Eden has given up on casting him. Producer Seungha, what will you do? Will you cast Trainee Jung Taeha?” The MC showed no sign of panic and smoothly picked up the flow.
“Hmm…. I will use my casting ticket. As for motivation, well, I can make that for him. If he were truly a trainee with no motivation at all, I don’t think he would have come this far. I’ll just think of it as nerves.”
Perhaps because Seungha was an idol herself, she seemed to empathize with Taeha a little more.
“Thank you, Producer.” Jung Taeha also expressed his gratitude to Seungha. Of course, his reaction was still lukewarm.
“Yes, Producer Seungha has raised her casting ticket! Now the only one left is Producer Se-rang. What will you do?”
“Hmm.” Instead of answering right away, Se-rang stared straight at Taeha.
Se-rang knew. Even if she raised her casting ticket like this, Jung Taeha would not choose her.
So she needed to use some kind of move. A move that could move Jung Taeha’s heart.
And Se-rang had already prepared that move.
“Trainee Jung Taeha.”
When Taeha heard Se-rang call him, he lifted his head as if slightly surprised. “Yes, Producer.”
“What do you need most right now?”
“…!”
“From what I can see, Trainee Jung Taeha’s skills are already complete to a certain extent. Wherever you go, you’ll immediately make it into a debut team. If you go to Producer Seungha here, you’ll get a fairly stable chance to debut.” Se-rang decided to be blatantly direct.
“Th-thank you….”
“I’m not saying this to praise you. I’m stating a fact.”
“…….”
“I’ll be honest. I really want to cast Trainee Jung Taeha. That’s why I’m asking. What do you need? If it’s something I can give, I want to try appealing to you with that.”
“…!”
In truth, she knew.
She knew what he needed.
But she could not let it show that she knew.
So… if you’re desperate too, grab the bait I’m holding out right now, Jung Taeha.
“Looking at you, your eyes say there’s something you really need, but it seems like you can’t say it. Tell me. If it’s something I can help with, I’ll help.”
For the first time, something like life began to return to Jung Taeha’s eyes, which had been dead the entire time.
However, Taeha still could not speak right away. He hesitated and only looked down at the tips of his feet.
But Se-rang, who already knew the answer Taeha would give, simply waited calmly.
“I… actually have a friend I want to debut with.”
“!”
There it is.
Se-rang cheered inwardly. “A friend you want to debut with?”
“Yes. He’s a friend who has moved from agency to agency with me since my first company, someone I’ve shared hardships with. I want to debut with that friend… in the same group.”
Until now, Taeha had struggled to open his mouth, but once the words broke through, they kept coming.
“I know this is an unreasonable wish, so I couldn’t bring myself to tell the producers. No, I couldn’t tell anyone. But… I truly want to debut with that friend no matter what…. So I think that’s why I showed you an unmotivated side of myself. I’m sorry.”
After saying that, Taeha bowed his head.
Perhaps even he thought it was truly an unreasonable request after saying it aloud, because Se-rang could see him biting his lip.
“Is that friend here?”
“!”
But to Se-rang, it was not an unreasonable request at all.
She had asked because she had been aiming for this from the start.
Se-rang knew too. Why Taeha had withdrawn. Why he had given up on a smooth path and left in the middle.
It was because there was someone he wanted to debut with.
“Yes. He’s here. I think he will probably come out… right after me.”
Of course. I deliberately placed him right after you.
Se-rang felt a little guilty about using such a shallow trick, but she did not regret it at all.
“Good. Then I’ll raise my casting ticket for both of you.”
“!”
“!”
At Se-rang’s bombshell statement, not only the producers, but even the MC and the trainees were so shocked that they nearly rose from their seats.
“No, Producer Yeon Se-rang. Are you saying you’ll raise your casting ticket right away… without even seeing who the next trainee is?”
“Yes. I can do that, right?”
“Uh… it’s not against the rules, but… still….”
Perhaps even the MC was flustered by this unprecedented situation, because it was obvious he was asking the PD for help with his eyes.
However, Se-rang remained completely relaxed.
Because I already know. I know who the trainee Jung Taeha wants so badly to debut with is.
And fortunately, in my eyes, that trainee is talented enough to rise.
Even if she had not known who the next trainee was, it would not have mattered. After all, this already filled in the “narrative” most necessary for an idol survival program.
Se-rang could work hard to fill in the remaining blanks.
“Anyway, I’m probably the only person here who can cast both trainees at once. Producer Eden has already given up. Producer Seungha only has one slot left, so naturally, she can’t cast both of them. Right?”
When Se-rang asked the two producers, both of them let out hollow laughs and nodded.
To think Se-rang being rejected by every other trainee until now would work this way.
It was a reversal among reversals.
Only Se-rang had plenty of seats left.
“The only team Trainee Jung Taeha can happily come to here is my team. Along with Trainee Jung Taeha’s friend.”
“Are you… serious, Producer?” Jung Taeha’s pleasant voice was trembling.
“I’m not someone who says two different things with one mouth.” And Se-rang answered with complete certainty, without trembling at all. “So now we just need to ask whether that person will cast me too.”
(Translator’s Note: “One mouth, two words” (한입으로두말하다) — Korean idiom meaning to contradict oneself or go back on one’s word.)
“…Th-that’s right! That trainee also has to say he will cast Producer Se-rang for this casting to be established.” At Se-rang’s words, the MC finally seemed to regain his senses and agreed.
“That’s right. In our <Cast the Future>, the producer’s heart isn’t the only thing that matters. The trainee’s heart matters too. Isn’t that the charm only our program has, something other programs don’t?” Se-rang slipped in a quick promotional line.
It was a petty scheme to make an impression on Chairman Yeon.
“Then let’s bring him onto the stage right away. Trainee Jung Taeha, please call the name of the trainee you want to debut with, right now!”
The MC knows how to broadcast.
Yes, this is the flavor we need. Even if it’s a little old-fashioned, it creates dramatic impact.
Taeha looked dazed at the MC’s words, but nodded firmly.
“…Yuhyun.”
What are we supposed to do with a voice that quiet?
While feeling sorry for him, Se-rang repeated the name Yuhyun in her mind. In truth, that name had not particularly stood out in the future.
But in this life, she intended to make it stand out more than anyone else’s.
“Taeha!”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward the trainee coming up onto the stage. They were all curious about who this person was, the one Jung Taeha, who looked as if he would never let anyone close to him, wanted so badly to debut with.
Finally.
And when Se-rang confirmed that face, she was slightly flustered.
Because—
He’s completely the first-love type.