Chapter 7: If Mangdol Returns Three Times (7)

『Who Will Be the New Boy Group to Debut from Saesom?

Make My Idol! Two M.I., First Broadcast on Channel CTBC October 18th!』

(Who is your PERFECTION?)

It’s really so… tacky, but as someone who needs to navigate social life,
I clapped with an excited and nervous expression as soon as the camera for the first episode’s recording started rolling.

No matter how I looked at it, even the advertising slogans seemed to have ripped off major elements from the program two years ago and recycled them in parts.

I couldn’t decide whether to call this eco-friendly or insincere.

Jaegon, a member of Saesom’s 2nd generation boy group Pod.T and a frequent MC on recent general programming variety shows,
seemed to have been selected as the MC for this MMI.

It was the first time this life, but in my previous life,
I had run into him at the salon two or three times,
and unlike his affable public image, that person also had a nasty temper.

It wasn’t easy for anyone who had rolled around in this industry for a long time to maintain a consistent personality.

It was a neighborhood where you were considered to have done well just by not ending up with dead fish eyes.

I heard he was particularly notorious for power-tripping over staff,
but he managed to receive the greetings from the trainees, who might become his future junior group, quite well.

It was only natural since the cameras were rolling.

Several cameras, flashing red lights, panned across the trainees lined up in a row, filming each one.

Presumably, the profile concept photos taken beforehand would be used as introductory material in the first episode of MMI.

The concept photos, taken in a headshot style, looked reasonably sophisticated with the help of makeup and editing.

In aspects like this, the phrase ‘as expected of a large corporation’ naturally came out.

‘It felt a little strange to be standing in front of a camera again at eighteen,
after having decided at twenty-six that I would never stand in front of a camera again and would switch to being a dance trainer before I died.’

‘Even though I hadn’t officially debuted and stood on stage yet, my heart was strangely pounding.’

‘The sensation of sweaty palms and an excessive secretion of adrenaline and endorphins.’

“Designing your idol, Make My Idol! This is a monumental beginning.”

Jaegon, holding cue cards, naturally set the mood.

“Out of ten participants, only six will survive to debut as Saesom’s new group.
Who will be the frontrunner to lead K-Pop’s next-generation boy group, Perfection?”

As the cliché lines continued, an intensely strong spotlight, almost blinding, poured down onto the trainees.

“They are Saesom’s treasures. Introducing the 10 participating trainees!”

A few months from escaping an unknown small agency to joining Saesom and enduring.

Finally, after regressing, the real war was about to begin.

Those Saesom b*stards really did just change the program name and use the same format.

As soon as I saw ‘Individual Position Evaluation’ written on the screen for the first mission reveal, the tension immediately dissipated.

‘Is debuting a joke to you guys?’

Those words welled up in my throat, but I barely managed not to spit them out.

“Do you all remember your month-end evaluation rankings?”

In the makeshift studio – if you could even call it a set – created by pushing all the sound equipment from the usual dance training room into a corner and cramming in filming equipment, Jaegon, like a pro, looked at the camera without his expression changing once and held up a styrofoam panel with a song title written on it.

“According to your month-end evaluation rankings! From 1st to 10th place, you can come up here and select a song for the 1st round evaluation.
Now, the 1st place in the August month-end evaluation was… Son Minyoung! Trainee Son Minyoung can select first.”

Son Minyoung stood up from his seat and picked up a styrofoam panel from the disorderly pile on the table.

His selection speed was lightning fast.

‘He must have had something specific he wanted to do, huh?’

I peeked at the artist and song title written on the styrofoam panel.

About 7 out of the 10 songs were by idol groups or solo artists under Saesom.

Well, Saesom probably had no choice if they wanted to resolve copyright issues.

Among the 10 trainees right now, there were four, including me, who could be considered dance positions, and Liu,
a Chinese trainee who was one of them, was ranked 10th, so he was unlikely to suffer any damage due to song selection issues.

Son Minyoung was, in any case, a powerful street dance style completely different from mine…

“The song trainee Son Minyoung has selected is ‘That Night, Our Night’ by Angelis sunbaenims!”

‘Powerful… it’s not.’

I stared blankly for a moment at Son Minyoung’s back as he selected a vocal-focused ballad by Saesom’s first-generation girl group, Angelis.

Jaegon, who had been MCing in a businesslike manner, also let out a series of broadcast-appropriate exclamations, apparently surprised by Son Minyoung’s choice.

“By the way, Minyoung-ssi, if I remember correctly, you’re not a vocalist, are you?
As far as I know, you joined Saesom for your dancing, but you suddenly chose a ballad?
The gazes from the 2nd and 3rd place vocal trainees are quite intense.”

“Since it’s a new beginning, and though the burden is great, I felt I shouldn’t just keep showing the same side of myself.
I wanted to show that I can do this kind of field too…”

‘This b*stard Son Minyoung, was his saying he wanted to debut with me the second biggest lie after Ji Cheonseong’s?’

‘He said he wanted to debut with me, and then he screws me over like this right at the start.’

‘The saying that there’s no one in the world to trust was indeed true, but seeing that guy acting so thoughtlessly made my blood pressure rise.’

‘Stop talking! Don’t say any more!’

‘No matter how much I shouted inwardly, it was a cry that wouldn’t reach Son Minyoung,
the personification of passion and diligence in front of the camera.’

“I’ve already shown a lot of powerful dance, and I wanted to show my softer dance lines and vocal parts too,
so I chose Angelis sunbaenims’ song. I’m also a fan personally.”

If Son Minyoung also took over the contemporary dance line, where I had a relative advantage, I would be no different from Kim Seokje, who was devoured by Ji Cheonseong vocally.

Moreover, since the 1st place in the month-end evaluation said that, it was obvious that if other people now chose what they were good at,
no matter what kind of stage they performed, an evaluation like,
‘You’re good, but don’t you lack a challenging spirit… that kind of passion?’ would follow.

Looking around, sure enough, most of the trainees’ faces were dead.

‘I’ve been tricked.’

‘Son Minyoung, whom I thought was a Buddha, was a passion-man with no ill intent.’

Until my turn came, I constantly thought about what I should choose from the remaining selectable songs to make a good showing.

I had to pick an option that was different from the style I usually showed,
something that would allow me to appeal that I could do other things besides dance.

‘What if I just chose a powerful boy group dance song here….’

“The song selected by trainee Kwon Hyunjin, ranked 7th in the month-end evaluation, is…
this is also unexpected? He chose Pod.T’s ‘Rollercoaster.’ Hyunjin-ssi, aren’t you a vocalist? Are you confident in dancing too?”

“Actually, there are many friends who dance much better than me, but like those who selected before me, I thought I should try hard too.”

“Wow, it’s our group’s song, I’m already looking forward to it. I’ll be watching when you perform.
As Pod.T’s main dancer, I can’t not watch a junior’s stage, right?”

“It would be an honor if sunbaenim watched. I’ll practice a lot and be sure to show a great performance.”

‘No, you crazy b*stard, why did you pick that? That’s what I was going to do.’

I stared blankly as Kwon Hyunjin, that easily instigated idiot,
got caught up in the ‘let’s try something new’ atmosphere set by the higher-ranked trainees and, despite being a vocalist, chose a dance song.

At this point, I could even believe that Son Minyoung was intelligently trampling those below his rank.

‘Are highly developed passion-type humans more meticulous than intelligent types?’

Kwon Hyunjin, unaware that he had stepped on a landmine himself, was saying things like, ‘It would be an honor if sunbaenim evaluated me.’

He didn’t seem to realize yet what a self-destructive move it was to perform a judge’s song.

Looking at Son Minyoung’s handsome face, who was getting emotionally moved,
saying it would be a really cool stage after setting someone else’s house on fire, made the back of my neck throb a little.

‘How about a man who’s definitely good material as a leader but the worst as a competitor? Yeah… this is serious.’

‘The future leader of Perfection… I quite want to assassinate him.’

“8th place in the month-end evaluation, trainee Yoon Hyunoh!”

At Jaegon’s voice calling my name, my mind, which had almost wandered off, barely returned.

I scanned the three remaining styrofoam panels… all three were bad.

I couldn’t let my sour expression be caught on camera, so I kept smiling, but inwardly, I was throwing countless invisible punches at Son Minyoung and Kwon Hyunjin.

If I hesitated too long, that too would be edited as ‘Trainee Yoon Hyunoh in conflict!
He seems unconfident about the remaining songs…’ so, with the mindset of just not getting eliminated with a 1 in 10 chance,
I pulled out the closest panel like Excalibur.

‘It felt like if I left it to gambling rather than judgment, whatever the outcome, I wouldn’t blame myself but could blame this world and luck.’

“The song selected by 8th place trainee Yoon Hyunoh is… Ah, it’s a recently released song, right? Romance Kiss’s ‘Come See Me’.”

Plan A, to showcase my signature graceful dance, was ruined by Son Minyoung, who, despite saying countless times that we should debut together, had no thought but plenty of passion.

Since it had come to this, my Plan B, to add a refreshing touch to a powerful boy group dance song, was also shattered by the hands of Kwon Hyunjin, a vocalist, no less, not even another dance position trainee.

‘My luck with picking things is killer, though.’

‘This was practically a revelation telling me never to gamble.’

‘Of all things, I had to pick one of the one or two songs by a girl group from another agency.’

Romance Kiss was not an idol group under Saesom.

They were a mid-tier girl group from a moderately sized small to medium entertainment company, MMR C&C.

They were a group with a solid core fanbase for a group from a smaller agency, known for their daring outfits,
jazz arrangements, and sexy concept songs sung half with nasal tones and half with regular vocals.

I remembered them being consistently strong even while Overflash and Perfection both imploded.

Though not now, in a few years, MMR C&C was scheduled to be acquired by Saesom and become a label,
so it wasn’t particularly strange for Romance Kiss’s new sexy concept song to be on the selection list.

“They’re a hot sexy girl group these days, aren’t they? Can you handle Romance Kiss?
It won’t be easy to pull off a girl group song. Trainee Yoon Hyunoh, who boldly picked a sexy concept, are you confident in your sexiness? Is it confidence?”

The sexy concept itself was a slight problem,
but Romance Kiss’s new song didn’t really have anything that could be called a point choreography, so it wasn’t a suitable song for a competition or evaluation.

If I wanted to add something, re-arranging it was essential,
but since it was a recent release and the original artists were a girl group with a strong core fandom,
if I danced it as is, I’d be compared, and if I changed it, I’d be criticized for a trainee having too much confidence.

It was a perfect setup for criticism.

Jaegon, a former main dancer of Pod.T who knew these facts well, didn’t miss the opportunity and threw such a question.

‘Thinking of comparing myself to Romance Kiss as a mere trainee wasn’t a good choice,
so I was planning to keep the song as is and just add original choreography,
essentially upselling myself with, “Actually, I also have a talent for choreography!”’