Chapter 58
Chapter 58
The expression on Baek Gyeonwoo's face when I pushed the part on him one more time still came back to me.
—Ha.
He started with a sigh.
—Why do you keep.......
I waited, thinking there would be more, but that was the end of it.
I hoped the words Baek Gyeonwoo swallowed weren't swear words, and I stubbornly kept persuading him.
—I did it, and I got criticized for it.
—So what.
—Then we have to switch.
I had to remember to thank Joo Yeonhee later. It was thanks to her that such a perfect pretext was created.
Maybe it looked like I was running away because I couldn't handle the feedback.
But that wasn't it. The method was just different. It still matched the purpose of the feedback—to make a better stage.
And, no matter how many times I thought about it, this part was rightfully Baek Gyeonwoo's.
—I'm not doing it.
—Why? I told you it suits you well.
—It's cringey.
—No, it's.......
If this kind of thing was cringey, what was he planning to do as an idol?
That was what I wanted to say, but to be honest, I understood.
D' wasn't a normal part.
The accompaniment cut out entirely. Everyone stopped dancing, and you had to walk out alone to the center of the stage and.......
A part where you literally recited the words 'I like you.'
As just listening to the description told you, it was a 100% pure acting part.
Opinions were probably going to be divided. Baek Gyeonwoo's immediate reaction alone proved that.
—Then don't do the 'I like you.' Say you were nervous and forgot.
—What bullshit......
—You have to do it. You need to do this. Just do it.
After I roughly whined a bit, Baek Gyeonwoo reluctantly took it.
At the time, I threw out the joke reflexively, but of course I properly consulted with the composer. The next day was the recording day, after all.
Refusing just because it felt cringey would be disrespectful to the composer. Not respectful at all.
So I did my best to persuade him.
'It might be fine for a performance, but this is a song that competes with digital streaming. Wouldn't it be better to take out elements that will divide opinions?'
To summarize, when I said something along those lines, the composer of all give spring this to want you, Im Cheon-seon, whom I met for the first time then, said:
—Do it like that.
—......Instead, what about filling the empty space with breathing sounds to keep the tension going, I also thought about that.
—Yeah.
—And right now the D' part is structured for one person to sing entirely, but if we do it like this, like this... add a rap and split it into a pair, I think it'd be even better. Right now it feels a bit... clumped together? That's the feeling I get, and it seems to lack impact.
—Okey.
It was a song he treasured, so I had brought it up really carefully, but he agreed so instantly that I was a bit flustered.
My first meeting with Im Cheon-seon was... hm.......
I'll go into detail later when I have time. The stage was still in progress, after all.
As the melody resumed, paper flowers showered down and fluttered across my vision.
It was amazing that a special effect as simple as this was enough to make the stage I was standing on feel like a spring day.
A song that I hadn't connected with for the entire week of singing and even during the recording session, the sensation of it being accepted as my own story.......
I would never have known this just from practicing in the practice room.
Around the time Jo Woo-jin's outro rap was ending, I walked out to the center one step ahead of the others.
The petals
fall
Right at the final verse, the accompaniment that had filled my eardrums cut off abruptly, and as if on cue, cheers burst out from the audience.
So this was the feeling when I ended the stage with my own voice.
I pulled myself out of the spring sunlight and the dirt path with falling cherry blossom petals and stared at the red light of the camera.
I steadied my breathing and thought.
'This time... it was a little disappointing.'
* * *
"The results of the 3rd competition will be announced on the day of the ranking announcement ceremony."
'Of course they will.'
Since rigging things takes time as well.
As I clapped half-heartedly, the filming came to an end before I knew it.
Once again, the waiting time for interviews arrived. It seemed like my team was never going to snag the first slot.
As soon as I got my phone back, I went straight to my messages. Kim Sanho always left a message for me around this time.
And sure enough, it was there.
[Hyung, I miss you]
'.......'
Did something happen.
Unless he needed an errand boy or a bug catcher, there was no reason for Kim Sanho to miss me.
I considered calling him for a moment but decided against it. The message was from three days ago, so whatever the reason, I figured he had resolved it by now.
"Hey."
It was Baek Gyeonwoo's voice from beside me, looking into his phone.
I turned my head. Baek Gyeonwoo, having called me over, displayed magnificent manners by staring only at his phone.
"What?"
"Aren't you worried about the editing?"
"Editing?"
"They'll make it look like you switched parts because you couldn't do it."
Well, that was probably what would happen.
That was exactly what I wanted.
Soon, when the Pre-selected Member controversy erupted, the viewers would start hunting for suspects among themselves. If the production crew tried to screw me over even in this competition, I would be completely eliminated from that candidate list.
If it seemed like I yielded my part a lot in this particular competition, that was the reason.
'This is the right move for Baek Gyeonwoo too.'
If his buzz grew, it was an unconditional gain for Baek Gyeonwoo. Because that many more people would be watching Youth's moves.
"I don't care."
I answered.
Baek Gyeonwoo showed no reaction to my answer. Only his finger scrolling down the phone screen moved again.
Then he opened his mouth again.
"Hey."
"What now......."
"Did you really think it suited me well?"
I felt like I had said this fourteen times over the course of this training camp.
Too lazy to answer any further, I just nodded, and Baek Gyeonwoo silently went back to scrolling through his phone again.
"......."
I watched him for a moment, then boldly leaned my upper body over. I was curious about the content on the phone that Baek Gyeonwoo was reading so intently.
"Are you looking at the reactions?"
"Yeah."
For a moment, we wordlessly looked at the single phone together.
"See. The reactions are good."
"......Yeah. Looks like it."
Maybe I should take a look too.
I usually waited a bit to look up the reactions right after a competition ended since many of them were unfiltered, but.
I was too bored. No one was playing with me.
—Seo Cha-gyeom..well I guess no one was worried anyway
You did well..well..sure you always do well..sigh..
Looking at the profile picture, it was a person whose Ultimate Bias was another trainee.
The tone seemed somewhat sarcastic, but the content was a compliment, making it a confusing post.
Still, I pressed like for now. If the content was good, that was enough.
Let's look at another post.
—The trainees who stood out the most in Lee Bom-da's team were Seo Cha-gyeom and Baek Gyeonwoo
Seo Cha-gyeom just flew around like usual
Baek Gyeonwoo was... watch the broadcast
Personally, I think Baek Gyeonwoo suited the song best
—No you guys, Seo Cha-gyeom did well
You always just hear that Seo Cha-gyeom was overwhelming, that he dominated, so I guess you got flustered at hearing a comparison for the first time
Seo Cha-gyeom did better, no room for argument
It's just that Baek Gyeonwoo took the k-k-k-killing part so that's why
└Agreed. Also Baek Gyeonwoo has only done strong concept songs up until now and finally did the refreshing song his fans had been longing for, so that's why the reaction is bigger, yeah
—I think I know the reason
Seo Cha-gyeom kinda looked like a guy who's never been confessed to, not even once
Of course, the classmate stories + trainee stories make his image like that anyway
For real, he looks like he's had zero connection to confessions his whole life...
└You saying he looks like he'd confess to a hundred?
└Noㅠ I just mean he acted well
└So you're saying Cha-gyeom is bad at acting? lol
└Fuck, stop trying to sow discord
This was the post that likely caused Baek Gyeonwoo to bring the topic up to me.
'The acting... was good.'
That was also the reason I recommended Baek Gyeonwoo for the D' part.
Of course, aside from the fact that Baek Gyeonwoo had actor-like visuals, I had no real opportunity to judge his acting skills.
Just that, a few days ago, the expression Baek Gyeonwoo had when he told me to take his business card.......
He would probably curse if I said it was like the protagonist of this song.
So I replaced it by just repeating fourteen times that it suited him well. Because being annoyed was better than getting cursed at.
'As expected, criticism exists regarding the immersion part.'
Still, I had been fully immersed at the end. But Baek Gyeonwoo right before had been so intense that I felt I got buried in comparison.
Buried, huh.......
Well, I'll use this time as a stepping stone to make a better stage next time.
"Lee Bom-da team, time for your interview."
At the staff's call, I got up and headed to the interview room.
This interview was different. It was very ordinary and safe, unlike the previous ones.
But I had no intention of underestimating the production crew. I had been experiencing all year that they were masters of creating something out of nothing.
I finished the interview and came outside.
I was moving towards where my carrier was when I saw Mun Jeong-jin standing in the middle of the hallway.
"Hyung? What are you doing?"
"Huh? Ah! Your interview's already over? That was fast!"
Mun Jeong-jin turned around and greeted me.
The past week I spent with Mun Jeong-jin. I had talked with him solely for the stage, and spent time together only for practice.
An anecdote I remembered... was when I suggested that we split the D' part, which I had originally taken solo, among six of us.
—Then you do the D that comes before it.
—Ah, no, it's fine. That part is yours, hyung.
—No! You take it! You should do it!
As I felt a strange sense of putting myself in someone else's shoes, Mun Jeong-jin added.
—I really don't care.
So I ended up doing D.
'Even this is a story about the stage.'
With the competition over, the things to talk about had also run out together.
Words of thanks and hard work had been exchanged almost like a round song from the moment we came down from the stage to the moment the MC announced the results.
I rummaged around for other topics unrelated to the stage, then just bowed my back.
"I'll be going first. Thanks for your hard work over the week."
"Yeah~"
Mun Jeong-jin answered brightly.
And it was the moment when I had gotten about five steps away from him... no, further than that.
"Cha-gyeom!"
"Yes?"
"I was sorry!"
"Yes?"
......For what?
Before I could even ask, Mun Jeong-jin had already left. In the opposite direction from me.
* * *
[It's not Seo Cha-gyeom's Bon-sse after all, I'm never trusting a real spoiler again]
What can I do, I'm already addicted to itㅠㅠㅠ
Comments
—The title itself was 'whether you believe it or not' so why did you believe it
—But they got two right besides Seo Cha-gyeom and Choi Jun-bin
└I guessed them too so getting 50 points is totally possible lol;
[lolol A Lee Jae-young fan stabbed Seo Cha-gyeom's Homma and got kicked out]
But the funny thing is, they only stabbed them right after Lee Jae-young's stage ended
That's why only the Incomplete team previews are popping up right now
After that they were all snitching and stabbing each other and it was a shitshow so all the fan photographers got kicked out, thanks to that there's tons of fun content at the end, thank youㅎㅎ
Comments
—If you get caught you should leave, is secretly filming something to brag about
—Jae-young's fans are something fierce, looking forward to how it'll be if they debut together lol
—To the Incomplete team Hommas thoughtlessly posting previews right now.. please, just stay still, I'm begging youㅠㅠ
└It's 1-pick anyway, so who cares, that's the mindset I guess
└But for real, it is 1-pick anyway so who cares
—Weren't Jae-young and Cha-gyeom on good terms lololol shit's over I guess
[So what is Baek Gyeonwoo's 'that part' thenㅠ ㅠ]
Everyone's saying they can't express it in words and to check the broadcast?
Did no one seriously take a photo...?
Comments
—Baek Gyeonwoo was handsome
└So I know he was handsome but what the hell did he do
└He was just handsomely there...
[Amidst all this a Han Neuti preview got uploaded]
(Photo)
(Photo)
(Photo)
Oh...
He's great...
Comments
—Just looking at this I can tell he did well
—My main dancer pick...ㅠ
—This guy's entire aura changes the moment he gets on stage, off stage he looks a bit gloomy and dark
—Wow how did they take photos in the middle of all that chaos
—What's his ranking? I don't watch the show but I'm interested now
└12th
└Ah... I'll be on my way
└Don't go, you can make him debut if you vote
[Han Neuti's Homma uploaded a Chabaek preview too]
(Photo)
(Photo)
Comments
—Whoa