Chapter 6 Chapter ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠6

12 hours had passed since filming began.

"Eyes wide open! The cameras are catching everything!"

One by one, participants who couldn't fight off sleep started dropping like flies.

I was perfectly fine, of course. I'd never been one to sleep much anyway, and my mind was completely occupied with the thought that I needed to scout out a trainee worth hooking, the sooner the better.

So did I find any decent trainees?

......Well.

"Hello, this is Deuz Planning!"

In the meantime, Deuz Planning's turn, who'd gone down to the waiting area earlier, began.

As expected from an agency with name recognition, the song was their senior labelmate's debut track. I'd already guessed as much from the school uniform outfits, so I felt nothing special.

However, the stage itself was quite impressive.

To be precise, should I say only Ahn Jiwon was visible?

I supposed people's eyes all worked the same way— even the dance mentor who'd been grumbling throughout the entire shoot couldn't hold back his lavish praise this time.

"Trainee Ahn Jiwon."

"Yes!"

"If I asked for a freestyle right here, could you do it?"

Ahn Jiwon, after a moment of thought, quickly smiled and answered.

"Yep! I'll give it a shot!"

"Then I'll put on track 13."

Ahn Jiwon's freestyle stage, which kicked off immediately, was....

Something I didn't get to see.

"Trainees from Sorasum, Glantanic, and Youth, please get ready."

Because ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my name was called at the perfect timing.

I had to move behind the set following the staff, so I couldn't watch Ahn Jiwon's freestyle, but she probably did well.

"That was wonderful. It's not an easy challenge for a trainee, but your confidence really stood out in how you didn't tremble at all...."

The mentor's voice saying that was excessively bright, after all.

Ahn Jiwon breezed right into the top tier, Tier 1.

While waiting for my turn at the standby area, my eyes met Ahn Jiwon's as she came down from the stage.

The cameras were probably on Youth by now, so I figured I didn't need to greet her separately. I just gave a small nod.

"......?"

Ahn Jiwon strode right up to me, grabbed my wrist— my arms were crossed— and tugged.

Caught off guard, my body tilted without any real resistance. Ahn Jiwon, slightly shorter than me, leaned in and whispered into my ear.

"I'm looking forward to it."

"......Thank you?"

She went through all that just to say this?

After delivering that encouragement that sounded more like an assassination notice, Ahn Jiwon returned to her group. As I was awkwardly rubbing my ear, a staff member approached and directed me.

"Once Youth is finished, you can enter for Sorasum right away."

"Okay, thank you."

'......I don't know her exact intentions.'

I checked the mic the staff had attached and loosened up my ankles.

Being evaluated by others was so familiar it was practically routine.

Even with a gap of over a year, I still had the confidence not to disappoint anyone.

And.

'If I'm going to be an idol, I should live up to expectations.'

* * *

The main vocal of the 14-year girl group Onfilm.

A spasm tugged at the corner of Joo Yeonhee's mouth, who sat there as the current vocal mentor.

'Ugh, I'm dying.'

The grueling shoot was just as rough for the judges.

From the evaluator's side, she didn't dare doze off. With a feeling close to wanting to prop her eyelids open with toothpicks, Joo Yeonhee pinched her own thigh.

'Honestly, if just one filthy untalented bastard came out, I'd probably wake right up from sheer anger.'

But for some reason this season, the decent trainees made up a significant portion.

Thanks to that, Joo Yeonhee's ordeal doubled as she used up every pre-prepared praise repertoire she'd brought.

'Oh for the love of— "The future of K-pop is bright," they told me to stop using that? They're going to edit it all out anyway, and they're being this picky!'

Around the time Joo Yeonhee, who'd gotten even more worn down after receiving a caution from the writer, was waging her private war over and over again.

"Trainee Baek Gyeonwoo, Tier 2."

"......I'll work hard."

Joo Yeonhee popped a candy into her mouth and clicked her tongue briefly.

That last participant's visuals were on the upper end, even among the current lineup. So much so that, considering he was still a trainee, she felt certain he'd later be counted among the generation's representative visuals.

So she had been inwardly feeling a little sorry for the next participant, who'd been unlucky enough to become the comparison point.

"Hello. This is Seo Cha-gyeom from Sorasum."

"Wow."

'If I were after him, I'd hit the dropout bell right this second.'

He had stood out clearly even in the group shots, but seeing his face zoomed in on the screen was an even more shocking visual.

Didn't people these days often use the term 'actor-like' for good-looking people?

But he was an idol, no matter who looked at him.

That aura which sparkled just by standing on stage, the kind you could only feel from an idol!

So it was like... like....

"Ah, he looks like someone but I can't remember."

"Who? The Lord?"

Kim Ik-hyeon, her colleague next to her famous for being Christian, threw out a heartfelt quip, but it was lightly ignored.

'Who is it? ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠There's no way I'd forget a face like that.'

While Joo Yeonhee was busy lost in other thoughts, the dance mentor Park Hyeong-tae picked up his mic.

"Trainee Seo Cha-gyeom, do you know you're handsome?"

"Haha...."

"Don't just laugh. Do you know you're handsome? Or not?"

"People do tend to see me favorably,"

"So you know? Then how about this. Are you the best-looking one here? Or not?"

Good grief. Joo Yeonhee clicked her tongue internally.

'Here we go. Old dude's pathetic ego trip beating a dead horse.'

The moment he answered 'Yes' to that question, wasn't ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that essentially throwing down the gauntlet to every participant here?

If he had been a merely so-so face, it could be accepted as a bravado-laced joke, but that participant... no.

Just like the same phrase 'A hundred million? That's chump change' feels completely different depending on whether the speaker is some ordinary person or a chaebol grandfather.

'On the flip side, if he tries to be humble and says no, the follow-up question of who is the best-looking is obviously coming.'

And the moment he names another trainee, a controversy-stirring post titled 'Is he being fake humble or genuine' would....

"I think mentor Park Hyeong-tae is the best-looking."

[Pfft.]

"Oh no, Yeonhee unnie just let out a genuine laugh."

"Wow, Hyeong-tae, aren't you lucky! If it were me, I'd go home and write about it in my diary."

"Look at Hyeong-tae hyung's face. Are you flustered?"

One of the mentors deliberately twisted Park Hyeong-tae's openly displeased expression into something else.

Thanks to that, Park Hyeong-tae had his back shoved, so to speak, and was forced to gloss over the situation as a joke.

"Flattery won't work. I'm going to evaluate the stage rigorously."

"Yes!"

"Oh no. He just admitted it was flattery."

"Admitting it that refreshingly......"

A warm atmosphere formed among the mentors for the first time in a while.

Except for one person.

A sulky Park Hyeong-tae cut off all the side chatter and raised his mic.

"Then let's see the stage."

Before the song was prepped, Joo Yeonhee emptied her mind.

With that face, that physique, from that kind of company, the skill level was obvious without even looking.

On top of that, the remarks section where the production team noted special items was also left cleanly blank. Which meant he wasn't a production team pick.

Joo Yeonhee gulped down plain water. She hoped the empathetic shame inside her would please go on strike at this moment.

♪─.

The sound of whistling spread throughout the studio.

A feeling cold and clean like winter air, overlaid with the sound of a kalimba like stars colliding.

It was a very short moment, but Joo Yeonhee identified the song.

And she thought.

Ah.......

Oh.......

'Why?'

This song was none other than a masterpiece that absolutely never got left out of K-pop connoisseur recommendation playlists.

But after the agency uploaded the song title as <Eohyu> without consulting the composer, the public dismissed it as some obvious joke song and turned away—

—4-year boy group 'Flyde's' .

Leaving aside the song's quality, the core point was this.

Just why would he pick such an obscure song?

Just looking at the participants' reactions, the atmosphere visibly deflated with the appearance of a song no one had heard before.

'Is he just totally clueless? A clueless small agency again.'

Plus, the hidden dreamlike quality within the refreshing vibe was the core of this song, so the effect layered over the entire vocal track was secretly pretty intense.

That's why singing it raw-live would be incredibly.......

Like a whale fallen into an orange sea,

Should feel boring though?

"His, his voice."

"Shh."

Swimming with shimmering fragments held in my mouth