Chapter 125. Challenge
The coffee vending machine was located right in front of Believer’s waiting room.
Ji Suho, who had just bought two 500-won cups of mixed coffee, handed one to Believer’s manager and spoke.
“It’s nothing much, but did you request a challenge from our kids earlier…?”
“Oh, that… Yes, I did.”
Believer’s manager trailed off with a slightly awkward tone.
Earlier, he had mentioned it thinking he might as well take advantage of Taehyun’s buzz. But now, seeing how things were unfolding, he wasn’t so sure if it was a good idea.
Team Leader Ji Suho, as if fully understanding the manager’s concerns, subtly turned his body and whispered.
“Well, we’d like to do the challenge with Believer, but… As you know, we’re working hard to remove the ‘Boy’s World’ image from Taehyun. But if we go ahead with the challenge with Believer right now, I’m worried there might be some talk and concerns here and there.”
“Ah… Yes, yes, I understand.”
“But it would be strange if we met with Believer and had someone else besides Taehyun do the challenge…”
Believer’s manager, who was in need of Miro Maze’s buzz but found it challenging to fully embrace Seo Taehyun, pricked up his ears.
Ji Suho started speaking with a rather serious expression, as if consulting on a difficult problem.
“So, I was wondering if it would be okay if we included just Taehyun and one other trainee? We’re really grateful for the suggestion, and from our perspective, we don’t want to miss the opportunity to do the challenge with Believer either… I think it would be better for both of us to approach it as if they’re just juniors rather than focusing too much on the ‘Boy’s World’ image.”
“Oh, sure. We’re just doing it for publicity anyway. So, which trainee would that be…?”
The manager’s eyes sparkled at the not-so-bad suggestion.
However, if Suho proposed that particular problematic trainee from earlier, the manager was prepared to decline.
For some reason, his gut as a manager told him that trainee wasn’t the right fit.
“It’s that friend over there. See the one not wearing a school uniform? That friend’s position happens to be dance.”
Suho pointed towards someone through the open waiting room door.
Fortunately, it was a different trainee than the one the manager had been worried about.
The boy with blue hair stood at the back, with no particular presence, his arm slung casually over another trainee’s shoulder.
“Oh… Yes, that should work. We also don’t want the conversation to stray too much towards ‘Boy’s World.'”
Believer’s manager nodded.
Even though Believer members might lack singing skills—no, they definitely lacked them—they were good enough at dancing to hold their own.
Given that they wouldn’t have practiced Miro Maze’s challenge in advance, as long as the spotlight on Taehyun was adequately diffused, they could manage.
‘They could have managed, normally.’
Kang Hajin genuinely thought so.
If Seo Taehyun and Lee Yugeon were ordinary K-trainees, this wouldn’t even be a competition.
No, if Yugeon had even been in his usual ‘Yugeon Minus Mode,’ weighed down with all his debuffs, Hajin would have volunteered to do it himself.
Hajin recalled the updated stats screen for Lee Yugeon after the third performance evaluation.
[Lee Yugeon (Affiliation: Miro)]
-Debuff: Due to his unique trait, all stats are lowered.
Singing: C (C+)
Rap: Measuring in progress
Dance: A+ (S)
Expression: B+ (A-)
Charm: B (B+)
Special: Copy & Paste (A+)
-There’s a certain probability of making an immersed target fully his own.
Appeal Points:
‘Still, 12 ships remain’
-Responsibility, perseverance, strong focus
Yugeon was now in what they called ‘Yugeon Zero Mode,’ with nearly all of his lowered stats restored!
‘It was worth wrapping him up. I’m glad I brought him today.’
Hajin had decided not to rely too much on the system, but it was undeniably convenient in moments like this.
‘I should make the most of it while I can use the skill and train my eyes to see what’s real.’
Just as he was thinking that, Ji Suho entered the waiting room and wrapped up the conversation.
When the challenge was brought up, the Believer members, while slightly annoyed, glanced at Taehyun.
I lightly patted Taehyun’s shoulder, who seemed to instinctively shrink back. Then, as everyone moved outside the waiting room for the challenge shoot, I whispered to Taehyun.
“Hey. Don’t be scared. You’re going to win anyway.”
“……”
“As long as you do well.”
At those words, Taehyun gave me a look that said, ‘What’s with this guy?’
But I was confident.
There was no way we could lose this challenge.
I didn’t need to calculate stats to know this.
“You haven’t just been goofing off for the past three years. Just do what you’ve always done, exactly as you’ve always done.”
“…You sure have a unique way of encouraging people.”
Taehyun shook his head and, together with Yugeon, stepped forward for the challenge shoot.
While I was watching, the messenger notification sounded briefly on my phone.
When I quickly checked the messenger, a welcome reply had arrived from someone I had contacted before coming to the waiting room.
<Miro_Utopia_Seo Taeil sunbaenim ‖ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ>
<Miro_Utopia_Seo Taeil sunbaenim ‖ Okay~ I’ll send it soon>
<Miro_Utopia_Seo Taeil sunbaenim ‖ Do well on stage today! Fighting~>
<Miro_Utopia_Seo Taeil sunbaenim ‖ (A vigorously cheering emoticon)>
‘…So that’s taken care of.’
What should I do next?
After a moment of thinking, I gestured to the other trainees who were watching Taehyun and Yugeon’s challenge.
“Double J, Sparkling. Come on.”
“……?”
“Let’s go get rid of some swelling.”
“…Swelling?”
“You’ve got to look good on TV.”
“But the recording’s already over…?”
Hmm, no. We’ll be on TV again.
As I looked at the confused faces of the kids gazing up at me, I gave them a big smile.
* * *
At the same time.
The online world was as tumultuous as ever today.
After the “Shintae-pal Triple Crime Scandal” swept through earlier in the morning, new stories were once again emerging, just as always.
The first to fire the opening shot this time was, once again, an IDEA.
[Huh, Utopia is a candidate for 1st place today]
A notification just popped up on the official account;;;
– ? We’re a candidate for 1st place?
– ????We are????
– Passing IDEA member, completely baffled
[It seems Utopia didn’t even know they were candidates for 1st place kekekeke]
Just now, Nam Daun’s Pop-Pop (a paid message service) came kekekeke. The kids just found out too kekekeke.
– Let’s go for a Utopia encore stage without Utopia
– So, IDEA didn’t know, and Utopia didn’t know about Utopia’s 1st place candidacy…
– Who’s the other team competing for 1st place?
└ Believer made a comeback today
[Hey, but Miro Maze kids are coming out on Eca today too]
Today is Miro festival on Eca kekekeke. If Choi Yeonwoo had stayed as the Eca MC, Miro would’ve owned NTB today, what a shame kekekeke.
– Miro’s performance is insane
– Did Han Sewon save a country in his past life???
– Oh right, Tumi kids are also coming out today
└ But I’m ㅃ, why is Miro Maze called Tumi?
└ When they were first naming it, Tumi=bad vibe, Mime=bad vibe, so they just went with Tumi since it’s Miro Maze (=Miro)
└ So they just called it whatever they wanted lol, got it thanks
As the news of Utopia’s sudden 1st place candidacy spread, people started chiming in with their thoughts.
Among them were sigh-inducing trolls like this.
[Am I the only one who thinks Jupiter* is overdoing it… (*Utopia’s fandom)]
Honestly, they’ve done well enough already, so do they really have to go this far?
Shouldn’t they start giving opportunities to the juniors?
They’re getting older, yet they’re still begging fans through Pop-Pop about how much they want to be 1st place. It’s so unbecoming and pitifulㅠ
The atmosphere makes it seem like they’d be sinners if they won 1st place, even though the other team is making a comeback today and really needs the win. Couldn’t Utopia just yield this time…?
Of course, it didn’t go unnoticed.
– Even trolls think Utopia really might win this time… huh…
– IDEA’s ‘A’ actually stands for ‘Adu-duck-duck’*
(*Wordplay on “adukaduk” which is the Korean equivalent of the English “by the skin of one’s teeth”)
– Yeah, we’re in a tough spot too… It’s rough that the kids have to keep pushing through as first-tier after 13 years ㅠ Sigh… Well, whatever, we’ll keep being dirty and cheap, thanks for the support
– Meanwhile, the actual juniors of
Miro are out there killing it on today’s Eca special stage
IDEA, the 13-year veteran fandom skilled in handling all sorts of criticisms and mudslinging, was already more than satisfied with the sudden news of their group’s candidacy for 1st place.
But they weren’t ones to back down from a fight.
They knew all too well, thanks to years of accumulated data, that if Utopia didn’t win 1st place on today’s “A-Countdown,” they would become prime targets for the trolls.
[Let’s definitely get our kids to 1st place]
Honestly, I wasn’t that motivated.
But seeing the trolls riled up, we have to get them 1st place out of sheer spite kekekeke.
I’m going to spend my entire paycheck to make sure our kids get 1st place today.
Awakened IDEA members began urging others to participate in paid voting.
Of course, since 1st place was also crucial for Believer, their fandom wasn’t sitting idly by either.
Believer had released their album last week, but due to a member’s health issue, they only started promoting on music shows this week.
This meant that, practically speaking, this week’s activities were their second-week promotions, so they had to secure 1st place during this week’s high-energy promotions.
‘Who will end up winning 1st place?’
The situation had become a battle of pride between the two fandoms.
At that tense moment, both Believer and Miro Maze’s official iTube channels simultaneously uploaded new content.
[Believer and Seo Taehyun challenge released]
A freshly filmed challenge video was uploaded.
– Wow, it reminds me of ‘Boy’s World’ ㅜㅠ These kids are from Cocktailz*ㅠㅠㅠ
(*An old group featuring members now in Boy’s World)
– ? What’s Lee Yugeon doing there? Isn’t he in the “To You” team?
└ Tumi filmed something else too. There’s a group photo of them on the official account.
– The Boy’s World output is insane ㄷㄷ
The Believer members, dressed to the nines in their stage outfits, and Taehyun and Yugeon, in casual short-sleeved shirts, were visually starkly different.
Believer’s choreography, with its decadent and sexy vampire concept, was rather sultry. Because of this, those who initially saw the challenge video were momentarily startled by the youthful appearance of the 19-year-old trainees.
However, that initial impression didn’t last even three seconds.
[Wow, Seo Taehyun and Lee Yugeon destroyed the Run or Mine challenge]
TaeriDay @tae_day
#MiroMaze #SeoTaehyun #LeeYugeon
Believer – Run or Mine Challenge
(Video of Taehyun and Yugeon’s Believer challenge)
Debut them right now, insane
– These kids haven’t debuted yet, right??
└ Yep, still in survival…
– How did Han Sewon really save a country in his past life…
– Wow, look at that core strength kekekeke, they nailed the movements
– I need to see these kids debut and crush every challenge out there right now
– Kang Hajin, Joo Eunchan, Kim Wonho, you’re next… Bring on the challenge now
The moment ‘Miro Maze’ was attached to Seo Taehyun instead of ‘Boy’s World,’ this battle was ours to win.
Kang Hajin’s confidence had reason behind it.
Believer, though a rookie group, had long since lost their rookie spirit after going through Villaight.
Seo Taehyun, still young and fresh as he ran towards debut, and Lee Yugeon, with a physique and presence that outmatched even the adult Believer members, utterly dominated.
Watching the stark contrast between the two groups, it was obvious who the crowd would cheer for more.
People naturally respond to something new.
Fans of idols love dopamine, and they get excited about catharsis.
There’s a reason why there’s a distinct fanbase for survival shows and rookie idols.
‘…And that includes Believer’s fans as well.’
The A-Countdown live broadcast began.
Hajin, who was strapping on his in-ear pack, looked out into the audience as he awaited their turn.
The venue was filled with Believer’s fandom holding Believer’s light sticks, along with fans of many other idols appearing on today’s A-Countdown.
“Hajin-ah, let’s get ready.”
“Yes.”
At Suho’s call, Hajin grabbed the handheld mic and turned his steps.
For now, custom mics were still a dream beyond reach, so the mic Hajin held was a standard one provided by A-Countdown.
Among the audience who would soon watch their live performance, there were no Destis to cheer and support them.
In a moment, they would hold the mic as 1st place candidates during the closing, but all the glory belonged to Utopia and IDEA.
But Hajin didn’t care.
“Sad Ending team, focus.”
“……”
“What’s our goal today?”
“To make Destis!”
“Don’t think about slacking off just because it won’t be on air. Do it with even more sincerity than in the pre-recording. Got it?”
“Yes!”
“Sad Ending team, on stage! We’re going up!”
Rookie spirit?
No.
We’ll show them the tenacity of trainees who haven’t even debuted yet.