Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Leader's Insight
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“Why? What’s wrong?”
Choi Yoo-jun asked Yi-na with a surprised look on his face.
“Don’t drink that coffee. Ever. They say it’s squirrel poop.”
“Ugh! Are you crazy?!”
“…Pfft!”
A dumbfounded expression crossed Choi Yoo-jun's flustered face, and I, along with the other managers, burst out laughing.
“?!”
Yi-na shot a disgruntled look at everyone.
“People eat cat poop coffee, so squirrel poop should be… fine, right…?”
“Hey! Shin Yi-na! Are you just gonna leave by yourself?!”
Seul-bi and the other members came rushing over.
“Hmph!”
Yi-na huffed and stormed out of the resort, and the rest of the Answer members followed her after bowing to us.
“…You’re kidding, right? Squirrel poop…”
Choi Yoo-jun broke the silence, looking serious.
“Have you ever heard of Kopi Luwak?”
“Of course I have.”
“Kopi Luwak is coffee extracted from the poop of civet cats after they’ve eaten coffee beans.”
“Eww! Why would anyone eat that!”
As awareness of animal cruelty grew in the future, the price of Kopi Luwak, once considered the finest, gradually dropped. However, it remained one of the coffees that many aficionados consistently sought for its uniquely harmonious flavor.
Of course, I hated it. There was the animal welfare issue, but also… it was poop.
The breakfast buffet boasted a spread and quality that could rival a first-class hotel, with various types of bread, fresh fruit juices, porridge, and seafood. And cup noodles.
“Whoa! Awesome, cup noodles!”
Spotting the cup noodles, Choi Yoo-jun dashed over, tore open a spicy one, and poured hot water in.
“They have Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and you’re eating cup noodles?”
“I can eat that after I finish this!”
We enjoyed a satisfying meal.
“Hyung, want some coffee?”
Choi Yoo-jun asked from in front of a barista who was grinding coffee beans, and Yi-na’s words about squirrel poop instantly came to mind.
“…No.”
“What, why? I heard this is high-end coffee!”
“You don’t have to like something just because it’s high-end.”
“Tsk. After you laughed at me.”
“…I like Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. And right now, I’m in the mood for something sweet.”
I added a generous amount of syrup to a latte from a regular coffee machine.
“Hey! Manager-seonbaenims! You guys don’t want any Kopi Luwak?”
When Choi Yoo-jun asked the other managers, they shook their heads with mischievous smiles.
“No one’s having any…”
Choi Yoo-jun grumbled.
* * *
Many of the contestants seemed to still be struggling with the choreography, using every spare moment to practice.
“Wow, Artist Seol-ah, your observation skills are insane!”
Choi Yoo-jun gave a thumbs-up as we explained the room assignments, the mission they received yesterday in our absence, and the ambiguous conclusion of the event.
Seeing how Seol-ah had handled the crisis without me, I felt a sense of reassurance, but also a strange twinge of disappointment.
“We will now begin the mission evaluation.”
At the assistant director’s call, Answer and the other waiting contestants began to move.
“I hope Artist Seol-ah’s opinion was right.”
“It’s not a bad thing even if she wasn’t.”
“…That’s true. They’re not our competition anyway.”
All the contestants and staff had already acknowledged that the real competition in this show was between Your Girl and our group, Answer.
-Did everyone sleep well?
“Yes!”
-The Sokcho night sea is this beautiful. You all had a delicious breakfast, I trust?
“Yes!”
-Then let’s begin the evaluation for yesterday’s mission.
“Booo.”
Some jeered playfully, while others let out genuinely frustrated sighs.
-Then we’ll start the evaluation. Please stand with your roommates from each room.
At the host’s words, every team except Your Girl, Answer, and N-Pink began to murmur in surprise.
“She was right.”
“No way… Seol-ah-nunim actually got it right.”
Choi Yoo-jun shook his head in admiration.
-This isn’t a society where you live alone. It’s our production team’s opinion that sometimes, the kind people—the ones who are called fools by others—deserve to do well.
“No, but still, in a competition show…”
“It was still a mission, you should have told us…”
“You should have told us there was a blind option from the start…”
Many contestants grumbled without minding their mics.
A strange sense of ecstasy could be seen in the eyes of the Your Girl members as they glanced at Answer, but the Answer members simply responded with relaxed, broadcast-ready smiles.
The main PD, Hwang Beom-seok, also shot a vile grin at me and Answer.
Sorry to disappoint you, but what are you going to do now that we didn't fall for a single one of your traps? At this point, aren't you moving past frustration and into self-loathing?
I offered a bright smile to those who wished us ill.
One member of the group Yuri Fox began to dance to the music, and the contestants started the choreography.
The other three members of Yuri Fox surrounded the contestants on three sides.
“Eliminated.”
“Haa…”
“Eliminated.”
“…”
“Eliminated.”
Just as Seol-ah had predicted, the teams were composed of skilled dancers and those who were not, and almost all of them were eliminated before even reaching the halfway point.
PD Hwang Beom-seok and Your Girl, standing in the back, couldn’t hide their twitching lips each time someone was eliminated. They seemed to be relishing the thought of Answer’s impending failure.
But as the choreography neared its end, not a single one of the teams made up of Answer and N-Pink had been eliminated, and a look of bewilderment appeared on their faces.
In fact, they were so focused on Answer that their main vocalist, Seyun, ended up making a mistake in the choreography. Yuri Fox tried to pretend they hadn't seen Seyun's mistake, and Seyun continued dancing as if nothing had happened.
“Hey! She messed up!”
A few of the previously eliminated contestants pointed at Seyun, whose face turned beet red in surprise.
“Hehehe. Did you see that, Hyung?”
“Yeah. This is interesting.”
“…Eliminated.”
Flustered by the commotion, Yuri Fox ended up eliminating Seyun and Mi-ji.
“Oh yeah! This is it.”
Seyun and Mi-ji stared at PD Hwang Beom-seok with bewildered faces, while he tilted his head back in disbelief and muttered.
“Goddammit. Can't they do anything right even when it's handed to them? Huh? What a bunch of morons. Ugh. Just go drop dead.”
The choreography ended, and the surviving contestants cheered.
“Waaaah!”
Answer and their roommates, N-Pink, jumped up and down, having all passed.
The mission, which we thought would be a draw at best, ended with Answer and N-Pink receiving the highest scores due to Your Girl’s absurd mistake.
[Chae Seol-ah has achieved the hidden achievement: Leader's Insight.]
Reward: Trait ‘Shining Leader’ (A)
Detailed Description: When you are absent, she inherits a portion of your abilities to support the team.
Seol-ah had gained an incredibly useful trait!
* * *
SJ Enter’s Manager Jang was in a resort room, speaking with PD Hwang Beom-seok.
“Manager Jang. I can’t do this anymore.”
“Director Hwang. Ah, Hyung! Why are you being like this now?”
“Seriously, what the hell. You hand it to them on a silver platter and they still can’t take it! What kind of kids are they? Huh? I’m taking all this heat to plan this stuff, and for what? Should we just scrap it and reshoot?”
“Calm down…”
“How can I be calm? There are too many eyes on us, how much more can I do? They can’t win the whole thing even if it’s a draw, so what more do you want from me?”
“That’s why I was thinking, what if we add viewer voting?”
“…Be serious. We haven’t mentioned it once, and now you want to suddenly add it? Don’t you think that’ll cause a stir?”
PD Hwang Beom-seok’s expression softened slightly as he pictured it in his head.
“The ratings are pretty good right now, so adding another week to the broadcast shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“…Broadcasting isn’t that simple. We have to coordinate with the advertising department… it’s too late to cast more people. It’s complicated, anyway.”
“Couldn’t we just fill all those ad slots from our side? And for the finale, we can do a live broadcast and pick the stage performance.”
“You think a live broadcast is that easy? It’s complete chaos! It might be a different story if we had a special stage from a group like Fire Emblem, though.”
“So, you’re saying you’ll do it if we can get a special stage from Fire Emblem?”
“Ah, I don’t know. Try to clear Fire Emblem’s schedule first.”
“Understood, Hyung-nim! You know our girls have what it takes to be the next Fire Emblem.”
“…You think so?”
* * *
Swoosh…
Filming was taking place on a windy beach.
-You are watching the first-ever comprehensive competition variety special, ‘Best Idol: Rookie Girl Group Edition.’ Isn’t it strange, everyone? We’re having dance battles and singing battles, but then we’re playing games of chance to decide our menu…
“Not at all! It’s fun!”
The host, seemingly feeling the incongruity of the program’s flow himself, delivered what was clearly an ad-lib.
-Alright! Let’s begin the lunch mission. Depending on your rank, you will have lunch on the beach, in a tent, or at a restaurant.
No matter how fun a variety show is, viewer fatigue is bound to set in. This seemed to be a scene designed to control the pacing and break things up.
-Everyone, seashells had a very special use a long, long time ago. In the history textbooks?
“Me!”
Before the host could even finish his sentence, Seul-bi raised her hand, earning curious looks from many of the other participants.
-Oh, Answer’s Seul-bi has confidently raised her hand! If you get it right, the mission will become a little more advantageous for you.
“Seashells were used as currency in ancient times.”
“Huh?”
Surprisingly, many of the participants looked at each other as if asking if that was true.
-Ooh… currency… so you’re saying seashells were used as money?
“Yes!”
-…That is correct!
“Waaah!”
“Wow!”
Seul-bi beamed as the participants applauded.
Although Seul-bi didn’t go to high school, I’d heard she was frequently first in her entire school through middle school.
-In the Shang Dynasty, recognized as China’s first dynasty, seashells were called ‘cowry money’ and used as currency. It’s said that commerce flourished in the country thanks to this currency. The ‘Shang’ (商) in the modern word for merchant, ‘shangren’ (商人), actually means ‘a person from the Shang (商) Dynasty.’
“Ooh.”
“I see.”
-Isn’t that fascinating?
“Yeees!”
-I already knew that.
“Booo!”
When the host got cheeky with an ad-lib, the contestants jeered, and genuine laughter erupted from the crew on set.
-Hahahaha! It was a half-joke. For this meal mission, you will have five minutes to acquire seashells. You just need to pick up intact seashells, and each one will be valued at 2,000 won. Your dining location will be determined by the total weight of your shells. Now then, begin…
“Excuse me, I answered the quiz. Don’t I get something?”
-Oh my! That’s right! I almost forgot. We will give Seul-bi one scallop.
“Thank you!”
Seul-bi was given a scallop shell that likely weighed as much as several regular shells.
“Wow… who knew I’d be this happy over a seashell, Hyung. Heh.”
“I know. It feels like we actually got money.”
-Alright, all the teams have chosen their four members to participate, correct? Then… rea… dy… start!
At the host’s signal, the participants, wearing oversized work gloves that didn’t fit their hands, began to pick up shells or frantically dig through the sand.
“Heave-ho! Heave-ho! You can do it!”
“Go, go, go!”
The team members who weren’t participating cheered for their groups, showing off their idol charm. Everyone was trying their best to get even a little more screen time.
“Answer, fighting!”
While Choi Yoo-jun was cheerfully cheering for Answer, my attention was suddenly drawn to a strange man.