Chapter 141. Destiny or Dicety?
The purple stage lights spun around and around.
The Dicety team trainees stood with their heads bowed, hands clasped in front of them, in a ready position.
As soon as the sophisticated hip-hop beat began to play, the trainees nodded their heads in unison, moving to the rhythm.
*Zziiiiiing—!*
The intense sound of an electric guitar cut through, and at that moment, the tallest member, Wonho, quickly ducked down.
Eunchan, dressed in a rider jacket and torn black jeans, used Wonho’s back as a springboard to leap across the middle of the stage.
With a face already intense in appearance, Eunchan, who had emphasized his long, thick eyelashes and sharp eyes with eye makeup, bit his tongue lightly and flashed a mischievous smile.
*Deep, Crush, Dive.*
It was as if Eunchan was counting one, two, three, as he whispered.
The trainees began their powerful performance in sync with the rapidly dropping beat.
This pop song, more famous as a short-form challenge remix than its original version, was known for its rich instrumental sound layered over a hip-hop beat.
Since all the team members were more confident in their dancing than singing, Taehyun’s strategy was to highlight the performance over the vocals by showcasing a song familiar to the public.
“Eunchan’s rapping? Wasn’t that Yukki’s part originally?”
“Yeah, it was originally Yukki’s, but they changed it after the mid-evaluation.”
“Why?”
“Probably had a hard time memorizing the lyrics. I mean, it’s an English rap, after all.”
…In reality, it was because of his distinct Japanese accent that made it impossible, leading to a forced replacement.
But of course, we couldn’t be that honest in front of the camera.
Luckily, Junghyuk just nodded, whether he understood the situation or not, without asking any further questions.
Junghyuk and I silently continued to watch Dicety’s stage through the monitor. Meanwhile, Haru and Gong Seok, who had just returned from an interview shoot, walked back into the waiting room.
“Oh, hyungs’ stage has started?”
“Yeah, come quick.”
As Dan Haru and Gong Seok found their seats, Dicety’s performance continued smoothly.
The performance was impressive, to the point where it was hard to recall the original challenge choreography, with how well they expressed the details of each song.
The trainees, dressed in what is commonly called a rock chic look, freely expressed their charm by emphasizing their individual styles and dance lines rather than focusing on knife-like group choreography.
Eunchan’s vocal tone, which didn’t sound out of place even when singing a pop song, and Taehyun’s stable live singing that smoothly handled the chorus, both contributed to the quality of the stage.
“The choreography is really well put together. The structure is really interesting.”
This guy?
Junghyuk, who usually didn’t comment much on other people’s performances, seemed unusually talkative today.
And the fact that it was praise for the choreography, not the song, was even more surprising.
Junghyuk’s dancing skills weren’t terrible, but he wasn’t exactly a great dancer either. He was at a level where he could pull off his role on stage after repeated late-night practice.
Some might criticize those dancing skills, but not Junghyuk.
Even if he just walked the runway on stage, his visuals alone would greatly boost the team’s recognition. And with main vocalist-level singing skills, Junghyuk could still be regarded as a national treasure.
People wouldn’t even think of criticizing his dancing.
Anyway, Junghyuk, who had a good sense of self-awareness, knew well that dancing wasn’t his strong suit.
So it was rare for him to comment on choreography like this, but today, he was unusually talkative and showing interest, which was suspicious.
There must be a reason.
As I stared at Junghyuk with suspicion in my eyes, as expected, Junghyuk directed a very clear question at Haru and me.
“Who came up with this? Did they do it themselves?”
“Wonho hyung did it! He put it all together in about three hours with ideas from the other team members. Isn’t that amazing?”
“Wonho seems to have a knack for these things. Even in Team A, his spur-of-the-moment ideas were really unique.”
“Right. Wonho hyung teaches choreography so easily… He’s really good. It’s impressive.”
Not knowing what had happened with Kim Wonho earlier, Dan Haru smiled brightly and gave a thumbs up.
I just nodded enthusiastically at Dan Haru’s words.
I realized that Junghyuk had intentionally brought up the topic to create a highlight for Wonho in the broadcast.
Should I add to it?
So that Dan Haru could have a more comfortable conversation with Junghyuk, I leaned back against the chair and added my thoughts.
“I like Wonho’s voice too. If he gains more confidence, his singing could really improve.”
“Yeah, I was surprised by how soft his voice was during the Cinderella team performance. It’s like… he didn’t know the genre he liked and the genre he was good at were different.”
“This experience of performing on various stages seems to be helping everyone grow a lot. Our team too.”
“Yeah! It’s really good. We’re also finally going to… ah, uh…”
“Haru, stop with the spoilers.”
I pinched Haru’s lips tightly with two fingers as he was about to innocently spoil our team’s composition, again. Dan Haru, who looked at me with a confused expression, soon realized he was about to spoil something and gasped, his face filled with realization.
He then nodded eagerly and, as if to promise he wouldn’t say another word, pursed his lips tightly together, prompting me to release his lips.
After his previous big spoiler incident, it seemed like Haru had been properly educated by the production team, Ji Suho, and Seo Taehyun.
“…Huh?”
While I was playing around with Dan Haru, Gong Seok, who had been sitting quietly beside Junghyuk, watching the stage, suddenly made a startled sound.
Worried that something had gone wrong, everyone’s eyes turned to the monitor simultaneously.
The performance was nearing its end with Kim Wonho in the center, but nothing seemed off.
Still, I felt something must be wrong for Gong Seok to react that way, so I leaned forward again to make eye contact with Gong Seok and asked.
“Hyung, what’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s just that…”
Gong Seok, who had been glancing back and forth between the camera and us with a troubled expression, finally replied in a hesitant voice.
“It seems like Wonho isn’t singing…”
“Huh?”
“That’s Wonho’s part. He asked me to help him with the English pronunciation at the dorm, so I know. But… Jaeyoung and Taehyun are singing instead of Wonho.”
With that, I turned back to the monitor.
The group dance part ended, and Kim Wonho was back in the spotlight.
Wonho, with a slightly grim expression, opened his mouth to sing but failed to complete the line and shut his mouth.
Fortunately, the next part overlapped almost immediately, so the following member, Eunchan, naturally filled in, preventing a stage mishap…
But it was clear that something was wrong with Kim Wonho.
“……”
“……”
A strange tension and silence filled the waiting room that had been buzzing with conversation just moments before.
Before going on stage, Wonho had been joking around, saying how excited and nervous he was to perform in front of an audience. So if something had gone wrong, the cause must have been what happened earlier.
“Unbeatable Youth team, we’ll get ready now.”
“Oh, yeah. Guys, let’s get ready.”
Junghyuk finally snapped out of his thoughts at the assistant director’s call and gathered us together.
As we slowly got up and stylists fixed our wrinkled clothes and touched up our hair and makeup, our eyes remained glued to the monitor.
The Dicety team’s stage was now nearing its end, but Kim Wonho never managed to finish his part.
“You’ll be moving now. The path might be dark, so follow me closely.”
“Okay. Hajin, keep an eye on Haru. Seok, let’s go.”
“Alright.”
As we exited the waiting room tent in the parking lot and headed toward the stage, the thumping music and the excitement of the crowd grew louder, making my steps feel heavier.
My mind was filled with worry for Kim Wonho.
It was to the point where I even felt a slight sense of guilt, knowing that one of the many reasons for his situation was a fan of mine.
At that moment, someone approached me and tapped my shoulder.
“……”
“I know you’re worried, but let’s focus on our stage for now.”
“…Okay.”
“Wonho must already feel bad enough. If you show it, it might make him feel worse, so keep your expressions in check.”
“Okay.”
“Good. Watch your step, it’s dark and you don’t want to get hurt.”
Junghyuk, trying to keep his voice from being picked up by the microphone, fluttered the clothes with the mic attached slightly as he quietly gave me advice, then quickened his pace to walk ahead of me.
Since he had been in front of me from the moment we left the tent, he probably noticed that I was deep in thought and purposely came back to talk to me. Junghyuk didn’t know that the person who had said those things to Kim Wonho was a fan of mine, so he likely thought I was simply worried about a close friend.
But my concern
wasn’t just because Kim Wonho had messed up the stage.
I was afraid that Kim Wonho, ‘because of me,’ had become so mentally unstable that he could no longer perform properly on stage.
‘…Let’s talk to Wonho after today’s recording. But for now, focus on the stage.’
My mind was still a mess, but if I ruined our performance because of this, that would be unforgivable in its own way, so I forced myself to clear my thoughts.
By the time we reached the backstage tent near the stage, Dicety’s performance had just finished, and they were coming down.
The mood among the team members, who were returning their in-ear monitors and microphones, wasn’t great.
Despite putting on such a cool performance in front of a large audience, no one was smiling or excitedly saying, “We nailed it!” Not even the younger members, Park Jaeyoung and Yukki.
It didn’t seem like they felt they had ruined the stage, but more that everyone was worried and concerned about Wonho, making it hard to react.
“……”
The cause of this atmosphere, Kim Wonho, was sitting quietly in a corner of the tent, pulling out his in-ear pack with his head hung low as if he were a sinner.
Next to him, leader Seo Taehyun was trying to comfort him, subtly gesturing at the filming PD to not record them and shifting the camera’s angle so that Wonho’s face wouldn’t be caught on camera.
“Alright, Unbeatable Youth team. Let’s get your in-ears on.”
“Are these all handheld mics?”
“Yes, that’s right. Guys, let’s check our greeting before we go up.”
I wanted to approach Kim Wonho and say something, but I couldn’t.
There wasn’t enough time to prepare for our performance, and even if I had gone to Wonho, I wasn’t sure what to say… or if I even had the right to say anything.
“Hajin hyung. Your in-ear.”
“…Oh.”
I glanced back and saw the Dicety members crowding around Kim Wonho, who was now crying, unable to hold back his tears.
Seo Taehyun, who was hugging and comforting the much taller and bigger Kim Wonho, made eye contact with me.
He winked and mouthed, “Do well on stage,” as a way of sending encouragement.
I could only nod, unable to respond, and turned back, silently wishing Taehyun could comfort Wonho well.
“Alright, Unbeatable Youth team! Let’s head up!”
With heavy steps, I climbed onto the stage.
To the stage filled with the cheers and jeers of countless ‘someones’ we didn’t even know the names of,
to that stage.