Chapter 385: Idol Class Showdown (4)
“Assa, you!”
“Assa, you!”
“Assa, Hong Sam! Everybody, Hong Sam!!!!”
…We’re screwed.
“Hajin, six!”
“Strawberry, strawberry, strawberry, strawberry… strawberry, strawberry! Park Woong, three!”
“…Strawberry, strawberry, strawberry!”
I really didn’t mean for it to get this intense….
“Bunnybunnybunnybunny!”
“Carrot! Carrot!”
“Bunnybunnybunnybunny!”
“Carrot! Carrot!!!”
But it’s so much fun!
It felt like going back to those days when I’d stay up all night at church retreats, playing games until we dropped. Once I hit twenty-nine, my stamina had started to fade, and I couldn’t last past 2 a.m. without throwing in the towel and heading back to the dorm. Those memories flashed before me like scenes from an old film.
The difference was that this wasn’t a church, and the people I was with weren’t the same veterans I’d known since grade school, but new faces.
A sense of freshness in a familiar setting? It felt like playing a game I’d already beaten over a hundred times but with new DLC added.
“Ball!!!!”
“Ball!!!!!!!!”
“Seven!!!!!!!!!!!”
“…Bang!”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
…This is just ridiculously fun.
Currently, in the gymnasium where the Idol Clash filming was taking place, there were two game circles in action. One led by me and Jung Siwoo, forming the senior line circle, and the other helmed by Joo Eunchan, who’d been personally trained by Jung Siwoo in drinking games (?), since their debut days. He had endured countless hours of extreme waiting periods alongside us, diligently honing his skills.
– “Ah, come on. Then I’m bringing one of our members too!”
The final member was Wintertail’s Taeha, who quickly recruited a fellow member to avoid any rumors about possible conflicts between members if he were left out on his own.
– “So… shall we start with a simple 3-6-9 game?”
– “But just to make it more interesting, how about we tweak the numbers a bit?”
– “Let’s go with 1, 2, 4, 9. It was the hardest when I played it with my friends.”
Although we were split into two groups, there were still too many people to fit everyone into the game. In the end, those who found the game difficult or were low on energy stepped aside to watch or act as referees, leaving a streamlined group for a fun and snappy game.
The two separate circles, spaced out enough not to interfere with each other, engaged in an intense 30-minute race.
We played.
And played.
Endlessly.
Not just any old way either, but as professional idols.
For example—
“Ah, Isa, six!”
“Wins, wins, wis, wi, sno, ah…!”
“Huh, ‘Wis?’ Wis!?”
“Did you just mispronounce the precious fan’s name!?”
“How could you get the fan’s name wrong? I seriously can’t understand that.”
We’d substitute fan club names during the strawberry game,
“What’s the penalty? What should we do for the penalty?”
“Since you lost a game representing your group’s name, the fans must be very disappointed.
Therefore, we hereby sentence Wintertail’s Shin Ise to immediately go to the fan section and carry out the ‘Frozen Han River Challenge.’”
“No, wait….”
“Oh, oh? Not doing it? Not doing it!? Do you not care about the five million Winter Snow fans who almost had their name forcibly changed and are now lying sick with shock?”
“Uh, there aren’t even five thousand people here….”
“Ah, fine, I’m going!”
Penalties were replaced by having to perform silly acts in front of your fan section,
“Wait, Hajin junior. I feel a bit hurt!? Earlier, I let it slide when you pronounced ‘Sti’ as ‘Sstti’ because it was a pronunciation issue!”
“Objection! My issue was due to connected sounds, but Senior Ise completely mispronounced
‘Wins’ as ‘Snow,’ even though that’s a totally different name!”
“‘Winter Snow’ is the full name, what’s the problem!? Our Snows love whatever we call them!”
“My Destis also love everything unless I call them ‘Enderview!’”
“Then why don’t we just ask them directly?”
“Fine! Let’s ask our Wins!”
“No way! Let’s ask our Destis!”
“No, that’s too biased. Let’s ask our Enderviews since they’re neutral.”
“No, no. You’re all in the same group. That’s not fair. Wonho is an Enderview, let’s ask
Stormheader’s fans to judge.”
“Uh, to our Eye fans…?”
We’d often ask the fans to act as referees.
Whenever there was a dispute over judgment, we’d rush over to our respective fan sections and ask them to check their personal cams for VAR footage.
Once the game circle really picked up, the broadcast cameras immediately started rolling, with several handy cams focusing on us. Everything happening here today was being recorded, and since we’d signed a contract stating that all footage could be used by the network, it was likely these clips would end up on I-Tube.
“Assa, Hong Sam! Assa, you, you!”
“Assa, charisma! Assa, you!”
“Assa, Superman! Assa, you!”
Another 10 minutes went by like that.
In the end, it came down to stamina, and members began dropping out one by one. The game circle that had shrunk, and shrunk again, eventually merged into one, now reduced to a final elite squad of just seven members. These were the ones who, after several rounds, had proven their skills were top-notch.
For reference, three of them were from Kairos, which obviously included me, Jung Siwoo, and Joo Eunchan.
“Assa, you!”
“Assa, you!”
The others were Han Kyul from Phase, Park Taeha from Wintertail, Choi Yeonwoo from Enderway, and Dongjun (the leader, apparently) from Stormheader. It seemed like only the variety show masters from each team had survived.
“Assa, Hong Sam!”
“Everybody, Hong Sam!!!”
Currently, we were determining the final winner through the Hong Sam Double Motion game.
The rules of the double motion game were simple:
– Each person creates a nickname and a corresponding motion.
– The game begins with one person pointing at two others.
– The two who were pointed at must shout their nicknames and perform their motions, then pass the turn by pointing at someone else.
– If two people point at the same person simultaneously, everyone shouts “Assa, Hong Sam!” and does a group motion.
– If you fail to respond to being called out during the rally or perform the move correctly, you’re eliminated.
It’s like a double version of “I Am Ground.”
Anyway, it was quite a challenging game, but since everyone here was pretty seasoned, it wasn’t easy to reach a conclusion. As expected of singers, they perfectly timed their parts, and their focus was incredible. Their unnecessarily loud voices also added to the difficulty level.
“Assa, you! You!”
“…This is amazing. It’s been five minutes already.”
“So, we can go home after this, right? We’ve got enough footage?”
“No, we haven’t even started filming yet.”
I had no idea when this mysterious filming was supposed to begin, but anyway, the camera was still rolling on us. At some point, word must have spread, because idols who had been waiting in the backstage started trickling out, watching us from a distance. Even without looking, I could feel the audience’s attention focusing on us from the stands.
At this point, even if I ended up with bruises on my thighs from all this, there was no way I could drop out now.
‘I may not win, but I won’t come in last.’
At this moment, this was my personal Olympics and World Cup.
As I slapped my thigh with transcendent focus, fueled by the pride of a former recreation instructor—
Biiiiiiiiip—
– “Yes, we’ll start recording for the opening ceremony in 10 minutes. Idols, please head inside to wait. Thank you for your patience.”
…Finally, an announcement that the recording was about to begin.
Everyone stopped what they were doing at the same time, hands and voices freezing mid-action. The gym echoed with disappointed groans.
“Aaaah—.”
“…Ha, that was a good game.”
“Hyung, I’ve lost my voice…”
“Ugh, I feel like I need to go home now.”
“Too bad, too bad. That was fun though~!”
“Ah, maybe we can settle the score during lunch?”
“Sure, if we have time, let’s have another round~.”
The intense focus of the game group finally returned to reality.
Gone were the awkward introductions from earlier—now, everyone was patting each other’s shoulders and cracking jokes about having another match later.
It felt good to make new friends in this lonely world, but….
“Wow, I’m dead.”
I was so exhausted.
I was so tired.
I didn’t have the energy to move anymore.
And yet, the day was only just beginning. It felt like it should be the third day of a retreat, the kind where I’d collapse into bed after staying up until dawn.
Maybe it was because I had led the games from the start without resting once, but my throat hurt, and my thighs were stinging. Of course, my vocal cords were stronger than average, so I wasn’t too worried about losing my voice, but it was clear that today’s recording wasn’t going to be easy.
“You played like that without thinking, so of course you’re tired.”
Dan Haru, who had been chatting lightly with the youngest members of other groups, was now standing next to me, grumbling as if he pitied me. But he didn’t seem too upset—probably because he was quite proud of completing his “omelet” challenge by securing additional ingredients like green peppers (green team uniform – Wintertail) and carrots (orange team uniform – Enderway) alongside the egg whites and ketchup from earlier.
I draped my arm around the shoulders of the brave little bunny hero who was finally regaining his social skills in the human world after exorcising his inner demon. Then, I reached out and stretched his soft cheek.
“Ah! Ow! Are you crazy!?”
“Maknae, your hyung’s been playing hard with your friends. And that’s what you say to him?”
“Why are you saying you’re playing? Hyung was the one having the most fun…. Argh, let go!”
Even though he was denying it, his lack of real protest showed that at least the youngest members were bonding well.
Of course, it’ll take time to figure out their true personalities and whether they mesh with mine, but….
“Our maknae’s making lots of new friends today~.”
“……”
Still, it was something to celebrate that Dan Haru was forming connections with people other than our group in this timeline.
Talking about exchanging numbers seemed to remind Dan Haru of something, and his chatter suddenly quieted. I could guess what he might be thinking about, but I wasn’t entirely sure. So, I pressed his soft cheeks again, jokingly teasing him.
“Make sure you save your hyungs’ numbers first, alright? Then the managers’, and then your friends’, okay?”
I had recently discovered that Dan Haru didn’t save people’s phone numbers in his contacts. It was strange how he always hesitated when asked questions like, “What do you have your members saved as?” during interviews, so I finally asked him directly.
Dan Haru explained that, thanks to his ‘ability,’ he could remember everyone’s numbers without saving them, and that he didn’t bother saving contacts because it was a hassle, especially when things could change at any time….
It didn’t take long for me to figure out that this was Dan Haru’s defense mechanism—an attempt to avoid tying himself down to any connections so that he could escape this life at any moment.
“……”
After a long silence, Dan Haru finally grabbed my hand and pushed it away. Whether his strength was ‘set’ or just his default, my hand, which I thought I’d been holding on tightly, easily slipped out of his grasp.
As I prepared to tease him again, putting on a mock-hurt expression, Dan Haru rubbed his squished cheek and muttered quietly as he passed by.
“…I did.”
“What? I couldn’t hear you over the noise.”
“I said, I saved them.”
“……”
“I already saved the hyungs’ numbers.”
Then, Dan Haru knocked my arm aside and quickly walked ahead, slipping between Seo Taehyun and Joo Eunchan, his usual comfort zone. Even from a distance, I could see his ears turning bright red.
“…Pffft!”
That’s adorable.
I felt like someone had poured a recovery potion all over my tired body and soul, which had been drained by the intense game. Without hesitation, I rushed forward and grabbed our cute Seo Joodan by the shoulders, pulling them into a tight hug.
“Ah! What the—! You scared me!”
“Oh, geez. Hyung, seriously!”
“……”
“Guys, let’s slack off for the rest of today, okay? Now’s the time to execute our real mission—taking it easy.”
“Don’t forget it, hyung.”
“Oh, I’ve carved it into my bones. It’s just the situation that isn’t cooperating.”
With small talk and laughter, we lined up behind the production team, waiting for the opening ceremony to begin.
Amazingly, the day had only just begun.