Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Psycho
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♪♬
A slow cello solo, filled with a sense of loneliness and frustration, began on the dark stage.
The spotlight shone, revealing Seyoun, the main vocalist of Your Girl, in a pink dress. It was a baroque-style dress, but the front was cut like a miniskirt, showing off her slender legs.
♪♬
Lascia
♪♬
As the song began, string instruments like violins, violas, and cellos joined in.
♪♬
la spina, cogli la rosa;
tu vai cercando il tuo dolor.
♪♬
“Wow.”
Gasps of awe erupted not only from the audience but also from the judges and participants.
It was Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga,” a piece by the baroque composer known as the “Mother of Music,” a song whose first few bars most Koreans would recognize.
A look of pity crossed Seol-ah’s face on the monitor. Having studied classical voice, could Seol-ah sing it better than Seyoun? If used correctly, this could be a way to get back at Your Girl.
♬♪
e che sospiri
la libertà.
♬♪
Although she sang two keys lower, her vocal production and resonance were good enough to shatter the prejudice against her being a rookie girl group member.
The quality was better than expected, making the string orchestra behind her seem worthwhile.
From the viewers' perspective, it might look less like favoritism and more like an effort to present a high-quality stage.
“Woooow!”
“Kyaaah!”
Many in the audience, and even a few judges, rose to their feet, applauding and cheering.
-Wow! That was a performance by Seyoun of Your Girl. A truly wonderful stage. Judges, could we get your thoughts?
-Ah… As someone who’s been in the musical theater business for a long time, I was truly surprised. There are so many idols who are great singers these days. But to see such a young rookie idol use the operatic bel canto technique so skillfully…
The judge showered Seyoun of Your Girl with praise, using every flattering word he could think of.
A bitter feeling washed over me as I watched him occasionally glance at a script while speaking.
He could at least use a teleprompter.
-What will the total score be! Please reveal it!
The combined score from the audience and the judges appeared on the screen.
-Yes! It’s 189 points! That’s 15 points higher than Bubble Rain, who was in first place until now, making her the overwhelming new leader.
“Woooow!”
A round of applause followed as she scored an impressive 189 out of 200.
Just then, Seol-ah, who was waiting for the next stage, appeared on the monitor. Her lips moved as if to say, “Amazing.”
It was hard to get a clear read on the Answer members’ reactions since their mics were muted, but I could tell they were doing fine.
-Now, we have only Answer left, the final group in the first round of the first competition. Will they be able to score higher than Seyoun of Your Girl? We look forward to a unique performance!
Performing right after an outstanding stage was always the most pressuring.
If the concept we had prepared was merely average, it would have been a huge humiliation from the start.
But Seol-ah and I had prepared for this stage with confidence.
-Here is Seol-ah of Answer!
Choi Yoo-jun’s face contorted at the sound of obligatory applause.
“The discrimination is insane.”
“That’s why we need to build our own fandom.”
There was no comparing Answer to Your Girl, the sister group of Fire Emblem, who were already looking at overseas expansion beyond just being a huge hit, and were already receiving a lot of attention and spotlight.
The lights came on, revealing Seol-ah sitting at a digital piano.
They brought in an orchestra for Your Girl, but for Seol-ah, not even a grand piano, just a digital keyboard.
They were taking it too far.
But despite that, her large eyes, elongated by her eyeliner, and her dark irises, indistinguishable from her pupils, contrasted with her purple hair, creating a strange elegance about her.
Suddenly, Seol-ah looked cool, set apart from the common, cheap kind of prettiness.
[Trait ‘Star Maker’ activated.]
[The stats of Seol-ah, who has a high synchronization rate with you, will be enhanced.]
A line of glowing aura extended from me to Seol-ah on the stage.
As the aura mingled with her, Seol-ah’s body seemed to flinch for a moment, and her emotional expression began to come alive.
♪♬
Immersed in a sad emotion, Seol-ah skillfully played a 1-3-6-4 chord progression on the keyboard, and a calm yet lyrical melody blossomed. Her pink-coral lips parted, and a glint of light sparkled—an unintentional but charming effect.
♪♬
Your eyes, your nose, your lips
Your hands that used to touch me
♪♬
Sadness burst from Seol-ah’s expression as if she had become the protagonist of the song.
A silence, without even the slightest murmur, fell over the audience and the judges' seats. I could feel everyone becoming immersed in Seol-ah’s heightened beauty and vocals.
“Wow… Seol-ah-nunim is insane. She’s so pretty it makes her look cool, you know? She’s a totally different person when she sings.”
I felt pleased at Choi Yoo-jun’s dazed praise.
After all, I had played a significant role in creating that image.
The digital keyboard, played by her beautiful white fingers while she was immersed in sad emotions, even created the illusion that she was singing while playing a classic grand piano.
That’s how overwhelming Seol-ah was at this moment.
♪♬
All those little things
Still remain in my heart, but
♪♬
The auras of the audience and judges flickered unsteadily, as if they were lost in the beautiful piano melody and Seol-ah’s vocals.
Now, while everyone is captivated by the poignancy, is our chance!
Seol-ah, maintaining her sad expression, sang a dance track by an active girl group that used the same chord progression.
Her deeply expressive face and whimpering-like singing gave the viewers no sense of incongruity. But as soon as they realized the lyrics were from an absurd dance track, the mood instantly flipped.
♪♬
Psycho, psycho
You’re a foolish
Psycho, psycho
♪♬
“Ahahahaha!”
“Kyahahaha!”
“Puhahaha!”
A judge who shot to his feet knocked over his chair, and a loud clatter was followed by roars of laughter.
Audience and judges alike were clutching their stomachs and crying with laughter, but Seol-ah continued to sing the dance track with a sad expression, and now she was even dancing to it.
Even the camera director and staff were on the verge of tears from trying to hold in their laughter.
“This is epic!”
“She killed it!”
The members of Your Girl were completely flustered by the explosive reaction.
* * *
-We’ll wrap up the recording for Part 1. After your meal, we’ll resume at 3:30 PM. Any teams short on lunch boxes, please speak to your designated staff member.
-Oh! And for those in the audience, you have kimbap and a drink in the shopping bag you received earlier, right? When you go out, the viewer plaza is immediately to your right, so please eat there. You absolutely cannot eat in here because of the smell.
-Ah, one more thing! You, over there! You came to be part of the audience, so you need to react. What are you doing dozing off? We can’t get a good angle of that area!
The pre-show MC, who had taken the microphone from the main host, controlled the audience.
Clap, clap, clap.
“Good work, everyone.”
“Good work.”
“You all worked hard.”
The rookie performers politely bowed to the people around them.
The cast, having finished recording one week’s worth of content, began to disperse to their waiting rooms.
As Seul-bi came down from the stage with an urgent expression, Seol-ah said to her,
“This is why I told you not to drink coffee!”
“I don’t know!”
“Unni, wait for me!”
Seul-bi sprinted past another team that also looked to be in a hurry, and Yi-na followed behind with quick, short steps.
How can she run so well even in high heels?
I imagined the disaster if Seul-bi were to sprain her ankle, but it was Seul-bi we were talking about; that would never happen. I bet if there were a celebrity high-heel running competition, Seul-bi would win.
Seol-ah and Ro-si approached us.
“Wow! Artist-nim! That was a seriously insane performance. Respect! Everyone went nuts.”
“…It’s all thanks to you, Timjang-nim. Thank you, Timjang-nim.”
I felt incredibly pleased as a flushed Seol-ah slightly bowed her head.
“It’s because you acted so well, Seol-ah. You did a great job!”
Tears welled up in Seol-ah’s eyes as I gave her a thumbs-up.
We had won the first vocal specialty round by a margin of two points. It was all the more meaningful because the venue was filled with an audience and judges partial to SJ Enter.
“I can’t wait to see the viewers’ reaction to this.”
Even though the audience members weren't Answer fans, their reaction was so positive that I was eager to see how TV viewers would respond.
“Let’s hurry, eat, and get some rest.”
Thanks to my enhanced physique, I didn’t feel much fatigue, but I couldn’t ignore the exhaustion of the Answer members, who had been recording continuously for over five hours.
“Wow… food. I didn’t even do anything, but I’m starving.”
Ro-si said, blinking her eyes tiredly.
The bright lights that made the performers look beautiful were also harsh on their eyes and skin.
The performers had to keep their eyes open with bright expressions despite the blinding glare that brought tears to their eyes. On top of that, there was an intense heat that felt like it would evaporate all moisture.
Those sensitive to heat were sweating buckets under the strong lights, and some even had to wipe off sweat and reapply their makeup during the recording.
“Seonbae-nim, hello! I’m Si-ah from N-Pink!”
A main vocalist, around the same age as Yi-na, greeted us with sparkling eyes.
“Oh? Oh. Right.”
“Seonbae-nim, you were absolutely amazing! It was funny, but you also sing so well.”
After that, other rookies who had seen Answer’s performance came up one by one to greet Seol-ah and Ro-si.
“Seonbae-nim, we saw your Consolation Train performance. It was so cool!”
“You’re much prettier in person.”
Seol-ah’s face was awkward but also visibly pleased by the greetings she wasn’t used to receiving.
Ro-si stood next to Seol-ah, sharing the greetings and smiling shyly.
“Right. Let’s work hard and become famous too. Fighting!”
I felt incredibly proud seeing Seol-ah offering bright words of encouragement instead of venting the frustration that had built up from being ignored by senior groups.
We were delayed for several minutes by greetings from girl groups that had debuted one or two quarters after us, and I suddenly wondered what Your Girl was doing.
When I turned around, the startled members of Your Girl quickly averted their gaze and muttered.
“Ah, damn it, why is he staring?”
It seemed the girls behind us had been adjusting their pace, waiting for us to go first.
This was the only nearby exit to the waiting rooms.
As my gaze lingered on them, the members of Your Girl walked past us with quick steps.
‘F*ck.’
They had cursed at Seol-ah and Ro-si, who were exchanging greetings with the junior idols, but the curse didn’t sound offensive.
If anything, I knew very well that Your Girl were the ones in a foul mood right now.
Scared after just the first round? We’ve still got a long way to go.
“I’ll go on ahead. Yoo-jun, you come with Seul-bi and Yi-na.”
“Yes, sir.”
Recording two weeks’ worth of content in a single day required an immense amount of stamina.
The recording started early in the morning and continued late into the night.
From the perspective of needing to create even a moment of rest, waiting for members who went to the restroom was a huge waste of time.
⋮
We were passing by another group’s waiting room.
“If we don’t eat now, we won’t get to eat until after 10 PM…”
“Hey! You think you deserve to eat after coming in last place? You want to get on camera with a bloated face?”
“Hmph… I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I feel like I’m going to collapse from hunger.”
“……”
Seol-ah also had a very uncomfortable expression after hearing the voices coming from the room on our way to our own.
“Wow! Seol-ah, you were the best!”
“Thank you.”
The stylist gave Seol-ah a huge welcome.
The atmosphere was quite different from the business-like morning, and it felt like a preview of the viewers’ positive reactions.
“I ate my lunchbox first. The food is especially good today.”
Stylists on set are extremely busy.
Besides handling the outfits, they also have to touch up the artists’ smudged makeup.
Top stars bring their own makeup artists on location, but we couldn’t afford that kind of expense.
“Who wants to go first? Ro-si, your outfit looks uncomfortable, should we start with you?”
“!”
Startled by the stylist’s words, Ro-si straightened her back.
No matter how slim and toned a body is, you can’t help it if you’re sitting unguarded. Ro-si had a figure that anyone would consider beautiful.
“Hmph. I’m just gonna go home.”
“This is driving me crazy. Tell me later, I have to take this call.”
“Ugh, there she goes again. So annoying, seriously.”
Seol-ah let out a small sigh at the words faintly heard from the next room.
“Hmph.”
The girl walking barefoot past our waiting room was Si-ah from N-Pink, the one who had first approached and greeted Seol-ah.
I wanted to stop her and talk some sense into her, but knowing how reckless it was to meddle in someone else’s life when I couldn’t take responsibility for it, I couldn’t bring myself to step forward.
“…Timjang-nim.”
“Yes?”
“Can I go bring her here for a moment?”
[Sudden Quest: ‘The Hungry Girl Group’]
Comfort the wandering child and set her back on the right path.
Reward: 1 Random Draw.
Failure: A disheartened Seol-ah will have a negative influence on the group.
Time Limit: None.
“…Alright.”
As soon as my permission was given, Seol-ah quickly went out.
It’s been a while since a quest popped up.
Will this girl’s life have a massive butterfly effect on us?