Two Million Won on the Line
We took the subway and arrived at Hongdae. Maybe because it was Friday evening, the heat was already pouring off the street from the moment we stepped through the entrance. Amp speakers blared from every corner, and the cheers of crowds packed around outdoor busking stages slammed into our eardrums.
"Wow, this is insane! Oppa, there are so many people!"
"This is nothing..."
Truth be told, I was a little surprised myself. I'd come here now and then as a kid, or occasionally with friends. But after I'd started as a trainee, I hadn't set foot in Hongdae even once. There hadn't been time for it.
Maybe it was the roaring cheers, but the street itself felt like it was alive and breathing.
Hayoung's eyes went round as saucers. She kept glancing this way and that, taking everything in with a look of pure wonder, her fingertips clenched tight around the hem of my shirt like she was terrified of getting lost.
The sheer crush of people and the blistering energy of the crowd seemed to have sucked the air right out of her; she went quiet for a long stretch. She was already frozen stiff, and we hadn't even started yet.
This is going to be a problem...
"Hayoung."
"Yes?"
"Don't freeze up. There's nothing to be scared of."
"I-I'm... I'm not scared..."
Anyone with eyes could see she was terrified.
I gave her the same words the director had given me earlier today.
"Hayoung, want me to tell you a secret?"
"Huh? What kind of secret?"
"Most of the people here can't sing as well as you."
"Huh?"
Same reaction I'd had. She tilted her head slightly, like she didn't quite believe me.
"I'm serious. If the people here were that good at singing... they'd already be working as singers, wouldn't they?"
"Oh..."
"You... you're the girl group that represents Wooju Entertainment. As the main vocal, let's go out there today and show them who's boss."
"W-wait... I only signed my trainee contract today..."
"What's that got to do with anything? Becoming a trainee fast doesn't mean you debut fast, either..."
"Ah-ha!"
I'd walked right into a self-own without meaning to, but at least I'd gotten through to her.
"We came all this way. We're taking that one-million-won prize, no question."
"True..."
"You're the best singer here."
The gaslighting seemed to land. Her eyes went round, and she gave a tiny nod.
That was when a booming voice from the man standing onstage pulled every pair of eyes toward him.
"Hello, everyone! I'm MC Yeonghoon, and I'll be your host for Hongdae Street Coin Karaoke!"
He had to be fairly well-known. The crowd's cheers swelled even louder.
"Alright then — we'll start taking applications for Hongdae Street Coin Karaoke right now!"
Wooooah!
Hayoung had already soaked up the atmosphere. She was cheering at the top of her lungs, clapping her hands in enthusiastic little flaps like a seal.
I nudged her arm with my elbow.
"Hey, Hayoung..."
"Yes?"
"Don't yell. Save your voice."
"Ah... yes."
"Is that guy famous, though?"
"Huh? Oppa, you don't know MC Yeonghoon!? Huuuh..."
"Who is he... a celebrity?"
"No. He's a YouTuber with two million subscribers."
"Two million...?"
He was a lot more famous than I'd expected.
"These days, if you don't know Yeonghoon on YouTube, you're basically a spy... Oppa, wait... did you just get out of prison after a few years?"
I'd spent five years living a trainee life more brutal than prison. Five years cut off from the world — it would've been weirder if I did know some YouTuber. But that wasn't anything to brag about, so I couldn't even use it as an excuse.
"...Anyway. Focus."
"Yes. Oppa, give me a second..."
Hayoung scurried off toward the staff at the foot of the stage and put her name in.
"Whew... there are so many people."
"Hayoung, still nervous?"
"Nope. Adaptation: complete."
"Good. As long as you don't tense up, first place is yours."
"Yessir..."
Once applications closed, the host took the mic and climbed back onto the stage.
"Alright, we've had a huge number of people sign up again today."
He paused, then pulled a crisp white envelope from his pants pocket.
"The envelope in my hand right now is last week's prize money. Unfortunately, it rained so hard last week that we had to take the week off. I could've just let it go, but everyone — do you know who I am?"
He pulled a second white envelope from his pocket. Two envelopes, gripped tight in his hands.
Wooooah!
A storm of applause and cheers erupted. Hayoung and I both froze, eyes gone round, staring at each other.
"Hayoung..."
"Oppa..."
"The prize is two million won...?"
"I know..."
My expression turned deadly serious. Split two million won down the middle and that was a full million each.
"O-Oppa. I can't do this halfway. I'm locking in. I'm going all out."
"Uh... yeah, of course you should. It's two million..."
Two million won wasn't exactly pocket change.
Hayoung's face went grim. She started to lower the bag slung over her shoulder toward the ground, and I shot my hand out and caught it before it could hit the floor.
"Leave this with Oppa. You just focus on singing."
"Ah, thank you!"
She rolled her newly unburdened shoulders in slow circles and swayed her neck from side to side. It was a serious expression I'd never seen on her before, and it looked almost foreign on her face.
"Oppa..."
"Yeah?"
"If I take first and we get the prize money... samgyeopsal for dinner, deal?"
The line did not match the deadly serious face at all. Still, there was no point crushing her spirit before we'd even started, so I gave a small nod.
"Sounds good..."
"It's on me."
"No, Oppa's treating."
If we split two million and each walked away with a million, I could buy her all the samgyeopsal she wanted.
That was when the first contestant stepped up onto the stage. She looked like a woman of a certain age.
"Hello. Please give us a brief introduction — your age, where you live, and who you are."
"Hello! I currently live in Incheon, and I'm Lee Hyejin, a regular forty-five-year-old housewife."
"Let's hear it for Lee Hyejin, housewife from Incheon!"
The first contestant's performance began. The moment I heard the opening phrase, I was a little startled. Hayoung didn't even try to hide it.
"Holy— wow..."
She'd called herself an ordinary housewife, and she could sing.
"Oppa... that lady. She's actually good?"
She was good, no question... but not good enough to stand next to Hayoung. The standard of a Wooju Entertainment trainee sat on a completely different floor.
The song ended.
"Thank you!"
"Alright, you've just seen our first contestant's stage. For the next one minute, we'll be taking votes from our viewers at home! Armchair judges! Let's find out how our YouTube viewers heard that... Voting starts now!"
A timer lit up on the scoreboard at the back of the stage.
That was when the rules clicked into place.
"Ah. So that's how this works..."
Scores were tallied through the viewers' online votes. Whoever posted the highest score among the contestants took the prize money.
"It's boring to just sit and wait, so why don't we take a look at how our viewers at home are reacting?"
The timer vanished from the scoreboard at the back of the stage, and the screen switched over.
The viewers' reaction was far better than I'd expected. Personally, I wasn't sure it was quite that impressive — though after years as a trainee, maybe my ear had been upgraded past the point of being fair. She had good pipes for an amateur, that much was true.
"Alright, voting is closed! We'll reveal the results right now!"
The chat filling the scoreboard vanished, and the vote came up.
The chat had been glowing, but the actual score came in lower than I'd thought.
"Ah! Lee Hyejin, our first contestant, receives a score of 52.4 points! Our viewers at home have notoriously picky ears... but anyone who's watched the show knows 52 points is by no means a low score. Alright — let's move right along to our second contestant."
The second contestant climbed onto the stage.
"Huuuh, she sang that well and only got 52? Oppa... I'm suddenly getting nervous..."
I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"Don't worry. You're way better."
"Really?"
"Hayoung, you're the girl group that represents our company."
"I'm still just a trainee..."
"A trainee debuts and becomes a girl group. Like an egg becoming a chick, and a chick becoming a hen..."
"And a hen becoming fried chicken...?"
"......"
"Ah, now I suddenly want fried chicken."
"...Let's eat after we're done."
"Really? Yesss!"
Of course, that plan only worked if we actually took first and claimed the prize.
"Alright — we'll now reveal the voting results for our second contestant, Janghoon!"
The score came in far lower than the first contestant's.
"Ah~ unfortunately, Janghoon's score is 32 points. Let's bring out our third contestant!"
A third contestant, a woman, stepped up onto the stage. Her pitch wobbled a little in the low register, but when she belted the high notes in the song's climax, the crowd on-site burst into applause.
"We'll now reveal the voting results for our third contestant, Mijin!"
"Wow! 62 points, and just like that, the top score has changed! Congratulations on becoming the favorite to win!"
After watching through the third contestant's stage, I had a pretty decent read on it. I could see how you racked up a high score. Everyone's skill sat in roughly the same range. When someone sang a familiar, famous song with high notes in it, the viewers seemed to hand out the big numbers. I needed to watch a little more to be sure, but if I was right...
"Hayoung, does the song you're going to sing have high notes?"
The corner of her mouth twitched up.
"Heheh, of course it does. People only give high scores if there are high notes."
"...You're pretty quick on the uptake, huh?"
"Heheh, I've been analyzing this stuff a ton!"
She was actually pretty reliable at times like this.
"So when is your turn?"
"I dunno. I'm not really..."
"Isn't it written on the application slip?"
"Oh, is it?"
Hayoung unfolded the crumpled application paper.
"Oppa, it says my number is 30?"
"Wow... that's a long wait."
Even at the fastest, it was going to take at least two hours. As long as we could walk away with the prize money, that was fine.
"But... Oppa. What happens if I don't take first and we don't get the prize money?"
"...Then this is where you and I end."
"Ahh! So if I don't win, you're cutting me off?"
"...Obviously I'm kidding."
"Your face does not look like it's kidding..."