Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Round Two: Dance
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Team Leader Park went to the waiting room of one of the judges, a stage director.
The moment the judge saw Team Leader Park, his expression soured.
“How could you give Answer such high scores?”
“Look, there’s a limit. The other judges are giving them at least a nine. You want me to be the only one to give them a five? It’d be too obvious.”
At the judge's curt reply, Team Leader Park sighed and said.
“That’s why you should have found something to criticize. You know how much effort we’ve put into this.”
“Give me a break. They would have had to do poorly enough for me to find fault. And the reaction to them was so good.”
“…”
Team Leader Park stared at the judge with a heavy expression.
“Alright, alright. I get it. But hey, if you’re that frustrated, why don’t you just talk to Director Hwang?”
Team Leader Park recalled the image of PD Hwang Beom-seok being warned by Director Lee Joo-won.
“Hoo… Director Hwang has his own issues right now.”
“Anyway, I get it. I’ll earn my keep, so don’t worry.”
“Please make sure you pay close attention.”
“Have I been in this business for only a day or two? If you’re determined, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
“I’ll be counting on you.”
Even as the waiting room door closed, the judge’s grumbling didn’t stop.
When Team Leader Park returned to Your Girl’s waiting room, the sight of the members comfortably lounging on the sofa annoyed him for no reason.
“…Hey. Instead of just sprawling out and staring at your phones, try to think for a change.”
“What’s going to change if we think? We worked hard too.”
The sudden outburst soured the Your Girl members’ moods as well.
* * *
[‘Starving Girl Group’ Mission Complete]
The roulette wheel began to spin.
Instant Application (B)
Limit Break (A)
Get Up (A)
Let’s Fight (C)
The roulette wheel spun with better items than usual.
Surely, I won’t get the C-rank item…
*Bam.*
Reward: Let’s Fight (C)
Provokes an opponent to engage in a 1:1 battle.
Does it provoke a desired opponent into a vocal or dance battle?
Or could it even provoke a physical fight?
A sigh escaped me at the C-rank item that appeared without any special effects, but if used at the right time and place, it could be as good as any A-rank item.
It was a one-time use item anyway.
There would surely be a good time to use it.
After all, it was thanks to a consumable item that I managed to win over Director Lee Joo-won and CP Kim Soo-yeon.
*I should think it over.*
*Clack.*
The waiting room door flew open without a knock.
The person who entered was Jin Yang-soo, a veteran singer who debuted thirty years ago and was notorious in the industry for abusing his power over junior artists and staff.
Like Gyeon Sang-jin, he was one of those villains whose misdeeds kept piling up—stealing junior artists’ songs for a pittance and passing them off as his own, or intentionally sending the youngest female writer on coffee runs.
“Hey, a senior walked in. Aren’t you going to greet me?”
The Answer members, who had been staring blankly in shock, shot up to their feet.
“Welcome, sir. Thank you for the high score earlier.”
“…Favors are meant to be repaid, aren’t they?”
“…Pardon?”
Seol-ah reluctantly answered and glanced at me.
“What can we do for you?”
“…You’ve got some nerve, kid.”
Jin Yang-soo scanned me up and down before turning his gaze to Seol-ah.
“You’re a good singer.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeah. Give me a cigarette.”
“What? But I don’t smoke!”
Seol-ah’s face instantly turned red.
“Hey. When a senior asks for something, you should at least borrow one from someone nearby.”
His sudden appearance left both me and Choi Yoo-jun at a loss for what to do.
In this industry, there are countless situations that are incredibly infuriating but difficult to act on. This was one of them.
“None of us are smokers.”
“Hey! If you don’t have any, you should at least pretend to go buy some.”
I spoke up for Seol-ah, but his response was still directed at her.
*Is he here to pick a fight?*
*Could he be one of the judges who favors SJ Enter?*
“Standby for Part Two.”
“Ah, damn. Already?”
I was almost grateful for the staff member who appeared just in time.
I was once again reminded of the many constraints that came with being a manager.
For the recording of the first round’s second part, the judges and participants returned to their seats.
The audience members, who had nowhere else to rest, had already taken their seats in the auditorium, where a warm-up MC was lifting their spirits with funny jokes, trying to ward off any post-lunch drowsiness.
-So there I was, kissing my girlfriend on her bed, when all of a sudden I heard the *beep-beep-beep* of the electronic door lock. We both jumped, and my girlfriend ran out of the room. Turns out, her father came home early from work. I crawled onto her balcony and pretended to be one with a pile of tissues…
“Hahaha!”
The warm-up MC’s excellent storytelling seemed quite effective at chasing away the audience’s sleepiness.
Once the assistant director confirmed all the performers were seated and gave the signal, the main MC came up on stage.
-Alright, we’re about to start recording Part Two. You, sir! Yes, you! Don’t doze off like before. I’ll come over and wake you up, you hear? The sooner we get this under control, the sooner we can all go home. OK?
The warm-up MC, having hyped up the crowd, handed the stage over to the main MC and stepped down.
“I’m watching you! Seriously, don’t fall asleep!”
Even as he left, his dedication to his job made the audience laugh one more time, and I felt a pang of sympathy for him.
It reminded me of the countless people struggling to survive in unseen places.
Some might say that famous warm-up MCs make a lot of money, so what’s there to worry about? But for every one of them, there are many more who shed tears over the numerous unfair practices just to make a living.
‘He’s like my past self.’
The past where I only shed tears of blood to become an idol. Things would be different now.
All the lights turned on, and the cue was given.
-Yes! Hello, viewers, did you have a good week? It feels like spring is just around the corner.
The MC and performers had changed into new outfits as if starting a fresh recording.
Watching them effortlessly deliver lines meant for a broadcast a month from now, I was reminded once again that all celebrities are actors.
-In the first part of Round One, Answer took a very narrow lead after an overwhelming performance from both them and Your Girl. We hope you’ll look forward to seeing what amazing stages will unfold in today’s second part.
-It seems we’re short on time. Let’s get right to the performances. The theme for today’s second part of the competition is dance, the other pillar alongside vocals. Our first stage is Donghwa Sonyeo!
The dance stage for the second part of the first round began.
Unlike the vocal performances, where most contestants were skilled, the gap in dance ability was starkly evident.
Groups that couldn’t dance chose to compete with cuteness.
-That was a sparkly and cute dance aimed at a specific fandom.
One group attempted ballet, albeit clumsily.
-I thought you had beautiful lines. Have you learned ballet?
Another group, during a cool locking dance, attempted a sincere kick-up (a move where you rise from a lying position using the recoil of both feet), only to fall flat on their backs, providing a huge laugh.
Thanks to that, they received a better score than expected.
-That was truly amazing… right up until the kick-up.
“Hahahaha!”
-I’ll just assume it was all part of a grand plan to give us a big laugh.
After their performances, the groups went through interviews in a separate backstage area, which were longer than their time on stage, just like in the first part.
It was bitter to see them being so cautious with their answers to even trivial questions, afraid of falling victim to the so-called “devil’s editing.”
While I could understand editing timelines slightly for entertainment, the kind of fabricated editing that made a person or a team look like trash was something that needed to be eradicated from the broadcasting industry.
*With Director Lee Joo-won’s power, wouldn’t it be possible to get rid of unfair, fabricated editing?*
Time passed, and it was finally Your Girl’s highly anticipated turn.
*Thump, thump.*
A massive beat echoed as two spotlights shone down, each on a member of Your Girl.
Dressed in loose pants and T-shirts instead of skirts, the two faced each other, cocking their heads with a defiant air.
♪♬
As a hip-hop beat dropped, Perry, the rapper with a Dance Lv.80, began to dance.
Clean moves and arm movements dripping with swag.
“Ooooh.”
Gasps of admiration erupted from the audience and the judges’ panel. He had some serious dance flair.
As Perry, the main rapper, returned to his spot with a “bang” sound effect, as if shooting a finger gun, the main dancer Ramy stepped forward.
Coincidentally, her dance skill was Lv.85, the same as Seul-bi’s.
“Wow.”
More gasps escaped the lips of the judges and audience as they watched Ramy create a cool hip-hop routine, skillfully mixing bounces and waves.
After showing off her swag for about thirty seconds, Ramy stepped back, and Perry came out again, this time performing a waacking dance. The movements of his arms and legs were good enough to put most choreographers to shame.
The stage, designed as a dance battle, clearly showed how much effort SJ Enter had put into it.
Even though it was the company of Gyeon Sang-jin, whom I had to take down, I had to acknowledge their planning ability.
Your Girl’s turn ended with Perry and Ramy performing a house dance routine together.
Many people gave them a standing ovation, and Answer and I also nodded and clapped.
Your Girl may have been total brats, but we couldn’t belittle their talent and hard work.
But just because Your Girl was outstanding didn’t mean our Answer would lose.
We hadn’t been slacking off either.
“Wow, those brats. They can actually dance, huh?”
Choi Yoo-jun remarked, his arms crossed as if determined not to clap.
-Yes! That was a truly incredible stage. Your Girl earned a high score with their amazing performance in the vocal competition, and now they’ve received a standing ovation in the dance competition as well. I think this stage has proven that even as rookies, they are truly prepared artists.
Backstage, Seul-bi and Ro-si, who had watched Your Girl’s performance, were visibly tense.
“What if my top slips down while I’m dancing?”
Ro-si said, pulling up the white off-the-shoulder top that exposed her shoulders.
“The stylist secured it well for you.”
“What if I make a mistake while dancing?”
“You’ve practiced so much.”
I comforted Ro-si, who was trembling for various reasons.
“I practiced a lot on my own, but for some reason, it never felt the same as when we practiced together.”
I understood her reaction.
Her dance talent was far below Seul-bi’s.
But that gap was filled by my ‘Star Maker’ trait and Seul-bi and Ro-si’s ‘Soulmates’ trait.
Without those two buffs, Ro-si’s own ability was just barely above the average for a typical girl group member.
“Answer, please head to Stage B.”
At the staff’s call, Seul-bi and Ro-si flinched.
Even Seul-bi, who was good at acting tough, was clearly nervous.
Her ‘Steadfast Mentality 2/4 Lv’ trait was already active, but it seemed that wasn’t enough.
*They need a stronger buff.*
[Activating Trait ‘Star Maker’]
[Activating Trait ‘Charisma Lv2’]
“Did you forget what happened at the pre-meeting and in the waiting room this morning?”
The aura emanating from me mixed with Seul-bi’s and Ro-si’s. For a moment, it was as if a large amount of adrenaline had been released; their pupils dilated, and they let out hot breaths.
“Suddenly, I’m pissed.”
“Rising brats need to be put in their place.”
Ro-si and Seul-bi muttered, their eyes glinting defiantly.
“Answer members.”
“Yes! We’re going up now!”
A smile unknowingly spread across my face as I watched the two of them clench their delicate fists at me.
My members are even cuter when they’re angry.