Chapter 92
Translator 8uhl
Chapter 92
Chapter Title Intermediate Evaluation
The dawn of the day scheduled for the intermediate evaluation.
Once again sharing a cell with Chae Eungyu, I had a brief chat with him before bed.
Do you think our practice progress is okay?
Weve put in a ton of time, so yeah, weve improved a lot. But.
Chae Eungyu trailed off.
Drops of water fell from his damp bangs.
The biggest thing making me anxious is that our overall synchronization still isnt perfect.
Its not something we can fix in just three days.
True, but I feel like the intermediate evaluation is different. We have to perform in front of the judges. And this isnt the first or second roundits already the final round, right? So the bar for us has to be skyhigh.
Ah.
I understood what Chae Eungyu was worried about.
The stage we were preparing for was the one to cap off the final chapter of Idol Training Simulation.
With it determining the fate of trainees right before debut, the judges were sure to be extra strict.
If we got harsh criticism due to sloppy synchronization, the blame would naturally fall on the leader.
Chae Eungyu would feel like hed failed to prove himself as leader.
Sigh. I dont know why this feels so different this time.
Is it because the choreography is a completely different style from what weve done before?
Thats part of it, but I think the pressure is weighing on me even more.
Chae Eungyu sighed as he roughly toweled his hair.
The team knows it too. This is truly the last stretch, and Idol Training Simulation ends after this stage. So theyre pushing to make it perfect, but the choreography turns out harder than expected, and they start panicking. Plus, the vocal parts arent what they wanted from the start, so confidence drops. Its all snowballing.
Butterfly effect, in other words.
I know their feelings better than anyone I know how hard theyre working, so I cant push them harder. There are definitely guys still in the practice room instead of the cell right now. Telling them to work harder would just sound ridiculous.
They want to do better, but time is running out.
Time is running out, and the intermediate evaluation is closing in.
That impatience seems to be causing slight sync issues among the team.
If Id done better as leader, I wouldnt be worrying like this.
No. I dont think theres anything more Brother could do in this situation.
All I can do is tell them what the choreography is, how the positioning moves, and how to sing each part. I should be motivating them beyond that.
Chae Eungyu hung his head and clenched his fist slightly.
At that moment, a redtext status window popped up in my vision.
A status ailment activated in Chae Eungyus status window?
I quickly scanned it.
Name Chae Eungyu
Age 26
Vocal B
Dance A
Stamina B
Looks A
Charisma A
Trait Unbreakable Conviction
Status Ailment Impatience
The status ailment Impatience blinked in red light.
I wondered if itd have extra details like Kang Siyoons, but sure enough.
Status Ailment, Impatience When faced with mentally oppressive situations, trauma triggers, causing impatience. Rational thinking and mental strength are greatly shaken.
Fortunately, a detailed explanation appeared.
After seeing the word trauma, I closed my eyes briefly and opened them.
Chae Eungyus trauma is obvious. Debut canceled right at his fingertips.
The current situation was similar.
Chae Eungyus current ranking 4th.
Nail the final round, and his chances of debuting were extremely high.
But this song had thrown an unexpected wrench in.
His desire to debut clashing with the need to overcome the current mess had made him impatient.
Itll work out.
.
Brother knows it too, right? Practice doesnt lie.
True, but.
Its fine. Even if we get some regrets in the intermediate evaluation, we still have time until the live broadcast. We can use that to polish it to perfection.
Chae Eungyu listened silently, but his gaze stayed fixed on the cell floor.
Everyone prepare hard?
Aigoo, pulled an allnighter? You all look wiped.
11 a.m.
We gathered in the practice room, bowing our heads to the entering judges as we greeted them.
HHiiik. Isnt it usually just two of you?
Heo Yubin let out a tiny scream to my left.
Then Yu Minha whispered brightly from beside him.
Its the final round intermediate evaluation, so theyre all curious and came!
Aaah.
Normally, itd be one vocal judge and one dance judge for intermediate evals.
But with the final rounds drastically reduced numbers, every judge from Idol Training Simulation had shown up en masse.
This is different from last time.
I swallowed hard.
In the previous round, it had been just three.
Seeing Bae Kangwoo, Baek Chaehyun, Ha Sangpil, and Choi Sia all together brought back the tension from the level test.
Lets see, lets see. Center Karis, leader Eungyu?
Yes.
How was practicing the song? Its different from the ones and choreography youve done so far, right?
There were some unfamiliar parts, so it took a lot of time to memorize the choreography.
Yeah, the groove itself has some tricky moves.
Bae Kangwoo nodded at Chae Eungyus words.
But with Eungyu there, I figured youd practiced pretty well?
Ah, haha. We did our best.
Alright, lets see it then.
We took our intro positions.
Glancing around, everyone was taking deep breaths or closing their eyes.
Everyones tense.
Lots of eyes on us.
From the judges whod been with us since the survival start.
Feeling that, the team was visibly stiff with tension.
Well start.
And so we performed our prepared stage.
Standing center, I nailed the choreography without major mistakes.
No matter the judges presence spiking my nerves, my passive skill kept my composure steady.
But the others couldnt overcome the pressure and tension.
Hoo, hoo.
Thats it.
Thank you!
Thank you!
We bowed, panting heavily.
Couldnt see their expressions well with heads down, but.
Ha.
That wasnt it.
I overheard a teammate muttering quietly.
A brief silence fell after the music ended.
Then Bae Kangwoo broke it soon after.
First off, good work everyone. Looks like you practiced a lot.
Thank you!
But, um. Kids, its just the final left now, right? Final live broadcast. Not prerecorded anymoreyour stage goes live worldwide.
.
One wrong move, and its broadcast as is.
Heo Yubin flinched beside me.
Eversmiling Yu Minhas face hardened.
Ji Yooncheol, always expressionless, looked soulless in the eyes.
Theres a lot to fix. First off, overall picture? Its just not pretty. Know what I mean?
The overall balance feels off.
Eungyus right. Choreos mostly memorized. But the feels dead, formations look stiff and uncool. Why? Movements are all sloppy. Especially Yubin and Donghwi.
Straightup confirmation kill.
Heo Yubin started trembling like a leaf.
Waves there, but steps tangle. Parts needing sharp arm power and turns lack angle. Might seem like minor details up close, but from afar? Obvious. Without that, no matter how wellmemorized, you cant get pretty group dance.
Yes.
Sorry.
On the flip, Yooncheol and Karis nail the feel. Groove itself looks super vibey. Makes the imbalance worse. One side lacks detail, the other oozes vibetotal mismatch. Cant tell the good ones to tone it down.
Bae Kangwoo clucked his tongue regretfully, and Chae Eungyu immediately replied in a low voice.
I take responsibilityI shouldve nailed the details perfectly. Sorry.
Anyway, fix this. Might be beyond Eungyus solo capacity. If its tough, tell me. I know how to detail it. Got it?
Thank you.
Even if the critique ended here, wed been assigned tons of tasks.
But Baek Chaehyuns eval was still coming.
Dance aside, vocals are way too unstable. This song cant ride on one main vocal. Roles are clearly defined. Especially presabi. Precborus is shaky. You know what I mean, Yooncheol?
Yes.
Keeping pitch steady while dancing? Hard. But muff the pitch and go tiny voice to hide it? No. Live broadcast, stage sound and crowd noise bury you morecant sing like this.
Ji Yooncheol, praised on dance, got hit hard on vocals.
He kept his poker face, but inside? Different story.
Sihwa too. Cant understand a word. Cant hit it? Fine, but volume up. Then I can tell you how to fix.
Sorry.
And finally, Ha Sangpil drove the nail.
Why choke now, before finals, when youre fine usually? Eungyu, you got this?
Ill do my best.
Days left are few. To really nail this stage? Hundred times harder than now. We all know you skimped sleep practicing. But for live broadcast nomistake? Even harder. Get it?
Yes!
Like Kangwoo said, choreography trouble? Ill help. Discuss among yourselves first where to fix, then tell us.
The judges gave sincere advice.
Our performance was disappointing ahead of the massive final live stagethis was expected.
Sorry. Well fix it hard and make a great stage.
But for leader Chae Eungyu, that advice wasnt nailsit was shells embedding deep.
Leaving the practice room, I kept eyeing his slumped shoulders.
Hes feeling the responsibility way too intensely.
The other teammates shot worried looks too.
Then Yu Minha, determined to break the gloom, forced cheer.
Its okay! Still time till main broadcast, like judges saidpractice sparing more time. Eungyu hyung, cheer up! Do better next time, no biggie.
Next time?
Chae Eungyu turned slowly.
His eyes were icecold.
Just when the hell is that next time.