Chapter 114
“…Ah.”
After a minute of silence, all that Lumi could muster, her face red with anger and shame, was that single syllable.
Perhaps it had deeply hurt her pride that someone younger and her junior had repeatedly asked, ‘Who are you!?’
“You’re that girl, right? The one who barely made it in 6th place. And even that 6th place was just out of sympathy votes, wasn’t it?”
“…!”
This was dangerous.
I tried to step in between Yeon Juhong and Lumi.
But at that moment.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Yeon Juhong’s smile widened even more.
Juhong, you’re scary…
“…You’re really rude to your senior, huh? I’m your senior. Do you think winning first place in a music show instantly gives you ten years of experience? You’ve only debuted a few months ago, but we’ve already been here for two years—”
Lumi, trying to assert herself, began to raise her voice against Yeon Juhong.
“Oh! So you’re a senior!”
However, there was something Lumi didn’t know.
When it came to people openly trying to push her down, Yeon Juhong—
“Wow. I’m so sorry! I didn’t know. You’re already a senior in your second year~ Well, yes… Senior!”
—never backed down.
The only person who could push Yeon Juhong down was Yeon Juhong herself.
“Who’s been here for two years? Oh, you must be from HiHiHo! I didn’t recognize you because you look so much prettier in person. You are truly so beautiful! It’s such an honor to meet you!”
Yeon Juhong continued talking, unfazed by Lumi’s reddening face.
She wasn’t an ordinary smooth talker.
Seeing how she covered it all with compliments so no one around could misunderstand.
Of course, Lumi, the person in question, probably knew that it wasn’t genuine.
“I must have been too nervous to recognize you. I mean, you shine so brightly in person.”
Yeon Juhong appeared to be more cheerful and nonchalant than anyone.
But I could tell.
That the current Yeon Juhong was like a completely derailed runaway train.
“Well, Senior! We need to eat our sandwiches now! I haven’t eaten since yesterday evening! I’ll see you later!”
With that, Yeon Juhong ended the conversation on her own terms and dragged me out.
It was the most whirlwind conversation ever.
Of course, it was a one-sided storm blowing and smashing everything…
“Yeon Juhong.”
“Don’t scold me for being rude. I’m so pissed right now that I’m about to badmouth that Lumi or Lu-whatever in public.”
“…Mm…”
“You know I’m not normally a rude person.”
“I know.”
“If that senior had just been polite to me, I would’ve behaved courteously too.”
“I know, I know.”
“I know you can’t say anything bad about people… So just let me handle it. Don’t scold me.”
“I won’t.”
“…Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Since you did it with good intentions.
Even if I’m worried about the aftermath, that’s okay.
You’ve thought about the immediate situation, so I’ll handle the aftermath.
Still.
Our bird’s attack power is back.
It’s not a situation to laugh at, but I feel strangely proud.
***
In a meeting room at the broadcasting station.
After eating two sandwiches each, we were listening to the writer of <Top of Idol> explain the program.
“What we want is something just a bit stimulating. You know, fierce competition. That sort of thing. Right now, our Steel Blue is~ the perfect rookie group to create a competitive scenario. Especially with Ryeo-yu and HiHiHo.”
“…What?”
‘Brave’ my foot.
We were just the perfect rookies to be beaten up.
“Oh, I’m not asking for much~ We won’t make Steel Blue look bad, trust us. We’ll edit it nicely.”
The greed in your eyes contradicts your words…
“Just read the script carefully and have a little debate with the others as we tell you. Okay? Okay~ Let’s go.”
We were pushed into the studio without a chance to refuse.
Honestly, it was a moment when I desperately missed Writer Kang.
I understand they want something provocative for the ratings.
But please, don’t do this with such young kids.
As soon as I was sure there was no one around, I quietly spoke to the members.
“Don’t say exactly what’s in the script. There’s no need to do as they say.”
“Huh? Is that okay?”
“Yes.”
“Won’t we get scolded? I feel like we will…”
The members looked increasingly anxious at my words.
They wore expressions that said, “How can a rookie dare to defy the mighty broadcasting station?”
“We probably will.”
“Then—”
“Getting scolded is the worst that’ll happen. It’s okay to get scolded. It’s much better to be thought of as a timid and uninteresting idol than to ruin our image.”
“!”
A boring image is not a bad thing.
In fact, being excessively good at variety shows could later hinder our idol activities.
That’s why, despite Kim Geum’s high variety show skills, we’ve restricted her appearances on all shows.
The reason for an idol to appear on variety shows is to gain recognition.
But thanks to “Make a New Color,” we already have relatively high recognition for a rookie idol.
There’s no need to risk our image by appearing on variety shows.
Though Kim Geum seems a bit dissatisfied with this.
“Just say you couldn’t do it because you couldn’t multitask. Say you didn’t know. Insist that as a rookie, you didn’t understand these things. They can’t do anything about it. After all, they’re the ones making unreasonable demands on rookies.”
I was familiar with it.
The gaze that mistakenly believed they could control people as they pleased just because they were rookies.
The malice that thought it was acceptable to manipulate rookies.
However, there was no need to fear rejecting malice.
Accepting malice doesn’t bring any benefits; it only comes back as another form of malice.
“At worst, they won’t call us back for another show. But this is a broadcast that Colors has invested in, so they can’t openly criticize us.”
If we couldn’t avoid appearing on the show because it was an investment by Colors,
Then we had to leverage the fact that it was Colors’ investment.
If they pushed me into a survival show I hated to death, Kim Mokyung had to be prepared for this much.
“Wouldn’t that be bad?! What if they don’t call us back because we’re boring…?”
“Juhong.”
For the first time in a while, I could smile with certainty.
“Once we become popular,”
“Yes…?”
“They’ll call us even if they don’t want to.”
“!”
“Even if they absolutely hate it and don’t want to, they’ll persistently call us.”
It’s the worst aspect of the entertainment industry.
“This place doesn’t judge by character or skill,”
In a way, that’s the fair part.
“But only by popularity. Never forget that.”
And in another way, it was what made me most disillusioned.
***
“If you’re an idol, you should aim for the top. <Top of Idol>. I’m the MC, ZetaA’s Shin Yuhwa.”
The recording officially started.
The production team positioned us between Kim Ryeo-yu and HiHiHo.
It was clear they were waiting for a fight to break out.
I lifted my head to only look at the MC.
Even if I made eye contact with HiHiHo or Kim Ryeo-yu, they would surely use that scene in the trailer.
Especially since both Kim Ryeo-yu and HiHiHo had a bad history with ‘Yoon Cheong.’
The ones who needed to be most careful now weren’t the members but me.
I couldn’t give them any excuse.
Nevertheless, seeing Shin Yuhwa’s face didn’t feel good either.
Even during Baek Nokha’s days, Shin Yuhwa was famous.
Initially, he was a dominant first-tier idol, but he caused all sorts of incidents before finally disappearing from the entertainment industry due to a drug scandal.
To me, Shin Yuhwa was just that.
So insignificant that it made me even angrier.
That someone so insignificant had ruined many people’s lives.
“…So, the competition will be held three times in total. Two preliminary rounds and a final round.”
The rules of <Top of Idol> were as follows:
1. There would be three competitions in total.
2. Each team would prepare a stage according to the competition theme.
3. Voting would be conducted for each preliminary competition. (50% pre-public vote, 50% rival vote)
4. Teams would be eliminated in each preliminary competition.
5. The final competition would be broadcast live. (100% text voting)
“You must be curious about the rival voting method.”
Shin Yuhwa continued with his usual soft smile.
“The public vote is a ‘pre-vote,’ so it’s based purely on the public’s anticipation of the team without seeing the stage.”
In other words, it’s a popularity contest, unrelated to the quality of the stage.
Of course, things could change in the second competition.
If the stage in the first competition was disappointing or satisfying, the voting results might vary.
But the pre-vote for the first competition was determined solely by popularity.
It was a cruel and controversy-inducing system.
I didn’t like it at all.
“But the rival vote is different. It’s a vote by your rivals, based on the stage they see! Each team can vote for one team, excluding their own, that they think performed the best. Each team has one vote. So, if a team receives the most votes, they can get up to five votes.”
And this…
Was very disadvantageous for us.
For us, who already had enemies like Kim Ryeo-yu and HiHiHo, it was an unfavorable system.
A system where teams vote directly.
It gave me a lot to think about.
“The scores will be tallied, and the rankings from 1st to 6th place will be announced. The team with the lowest ranking will be eliminated in each competition.”
This meant that only four teams would advance to the final competition.
…This wouldn’t be easy.
Honestly, I felt an overwhelming desire to be gloriously eliminated in the first competition.
But if I did that…
“Sister, let’s definitely win first place!”
“First place, first place, first place, first place…”
“Everyone, let’s do our best.”
“…Doing our best is a given; we need to excel.”
I would disappoint these four people, whose eyes were burning with determination.
…Right.
We survived that grueling survival show that determined our debut.
“Let’s do it.”
The comforting thing was that now I could say this out loud.
“Now, let’s announce the theme for the first competition.”
Because now there were people who would listen.
“‘Steal the rival team’s representative song’”
Let’s do it.
Together.