Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

Shutter-shade sunglasses.

What Yuseong was wearing was a fashion accessory that had been popular more than ten years ago.

Strictly speaking, they were fashionable rather than strange, and they suited him exceptionally well.

It was simply unfamiliar because she hadn't seen anyone wearing them outside of parties in a long time.

Come to think of it, wasn't 24-pin an old cell phone connector?

The woman belatedly reflected on the team's name and greeting.

On the LED screen decorating the stage was an old-fashioned media player frame against a background as blue as the sea.

Inside the frame, a scene of falling snow played endlessly.

As each element gradually caught her eye, cheerful sounds layered over a repeating rhythm began to reach her ears.

The fast-paced melody brilliantly captured the feel of the hook songs that had dominated the music industry in the mid-2000s, blending with the original song's retro sound and immersing her in deep nostalgia.

- Hey!

You you

Come on!

Let's go!

The woman had never been particularly knowledgeable about music.

She couldn't analyze it using professional terminology, but she knew how to feel music instinctively.

Barely managing to suppress the urge to move her neck and shoulders to the beat, she focused on the stage once more.

- Wandering in front of your house

When I looked up at the sky

Snow was falling

Pure-white snowflakes

Rubin appeared, wearing adorable gloves that covered the backs of his hands.

She had noticed it in the cover song video too, but his voice conveyed tremendous skill and power.

Is he the main vocalist here too?

- Come to think of it, it's so strange

It's summer right now

Yet without realizing it

I remembered when we first met

This time, it was Kang Chan's turn, whose defining image was pure and innocent beauty.

His voice was as gentle as his face, which resembled the second male lead in a romantic fantasy.

- Whether it's cold or hot

My heart keeps beating

I can't stop it now

It's love, lovin' now

As Patrick and Dael, who had performed a paired choreography, moved to the sides, the formation shifted to center around one person,

And Juan jumped forward from the middle and shouted.

Everybody scream!

- Like the footprints in the snow

That connected you and me

Will you come closer and kiss me (come on girl)

Today again, You You (ah-ha)

Wearing sunglasses identical to Yuseong's except for their color, with a cap tilted crookedly on his head, he raised the energy.

His playful enthusiasm and sense of fun stood out, perfectly matching the exciting atmosphere.

Even though she hadn't been particularly interested in Juan, she couldn't help watching him.

He had the unmistakable look of a center.

He was someone who belonged in the middle.

But the 'real thing' was only beginning.

- You said what lies between us

Is cold snow rather than the sun

Yuseong appeared, removing his sunglasses as part of the choreography.

Her vision, which had been selectively switching between 1080p and 1440p, instantly became 2160p at 60fps.

The woman's hand moved to her mouth on its own.

Not because she was about to scream, but to hide her open mouth.

- What that means

I understand now

Say it louder!

Were those slogans and light sticks waving around her—or colorful balloons?

- You you you you are my

You you you you are my

You you you you are my

Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah

'I'm so screwed...'

Along with the group singalong, memories of the past that had ended in betrayal obscured her vision.

Back in the mid-2000s, when songs like this were popular, she had been a middle school student.

She vividly remembered the days when she carried internet novels around on her flip phone, which clicked open when she pressed the buttons on either side, and on her electronic dictionary.

She also remembered the day she changed her phone wallpaper to a split-screen picture of her former favorite idol's face.

Along with the time when the words 'Let's study, pretty girl' beneath that face had motivated her just enough to concentrate on studying.

As for that former favorite idol, he had become intoxicated with an entirely different kind of stimulation, repeatedly appeared in the crime section of the news, and eventually ended up in prison. That bastard.

And just like that, those memories had been shattered miserably, without leaving so much as a scrap of paper behind.

- My mind is already

Filled with you

The fingertip Yuseong extended toward the audience seemed to be pointing directly at her.

She felt like crying.

Because she felt she might no longer have to remember her past with them in anger.

- Even though the world is in the heat of summer

The snowman won't melt

The thing you made

No matter, our love is still okay

Love, freeze, so it won't stop

- Gently melting and falling

Then slowly collapsing again

That will never happen, no

Know, you already know

Beneath this summer sky

I'll become part of your winter

By the time she came to her senses, Ijun and Hwanyeong's rap parts were already passing.

Was that gray-haired one Lee Ijun, the former member of a failed idol group that had disbanded...? Even if his group had failed, his experience as a debuted idol definitely showed.

The two, who had been standing face-to-face, turned toward the cameras on either side during their respective parts,

And Yuseong stood at the very center of the fan-shaped formation.

It was the dance break.

She screamed frantically.

She couldn't tell whether the screams were coming from her own mouth, from beside her, or from someone in front.

The fact that Yuseong was an extraordinarily good dancer was so widely known that even people who hadn't chosen him as their favorite acknowledged it as an objective truth.

Even here, where he was clearly controlling his movements to blend in with the group, his extraordinary dance lines were impossible to hide and made watching him a delight.

But when the moment of his limits being released, which she had only ever seen in videos, suddenly arrived...

She couldn't help realizing once again that he was on an entirely different level.

The way he moved his body, as though his joints and muscular structure belonged to someone from another world, was not merely astonishing but almost admirable.

How could he perform choreography incorporating waacking movements as lightly as a feather? And how could his footwork be so effortless?

Every time his arms, exposed by his sleeveless shirt, stretched out at full length, goosebumps rose across her skin. Insane!

At that moment, the woman remembered an anime she had once loved.

It was an idol series adapted from a weekly serialized comic, in which every main character was an idol.

Her favorite character had been the main dancer, who possessed the attributes of a genius.

True to his position as the main dancer, every scene in which he danced had been animated with such extraordinary quality that it seemed as though aliens had been tortured to produce it.

An ideal combining only the advantages of reality and two-dimensional animation, with a beautifully designed character performing the most perfect dance imaginable.

She had never imagined she would encounter that ideal in person here.

'His face is 2D, but his body is 3D... If he'd debuted earlier, I could've just spent my life being a Soyuseong otaku...'

When she suddenly glanced at the seat beside her again, the woman holding Seong Iseong's slogan was completely entranced.

- You you you you are my

You you you you are my

You you you you are my

The song grew increasingly exhilarating as it raced toward its climax.

- Like the footprints in the snow

That connected you and me

Will you always whisper to me (I love you)

A variation entered the main melody, bringing the atmosphere to its peak.

The sight of them all moving forward together, beads of sweat rolling down their faces, resembled a scene from a youth comic.

Rubin gripped his handheld microphone tightly, the veins in his neck standing out as he belted out a long, high-pitched ad-lib.

Toward the end, he even raised the key another step.

It felt as though her chest had been completely cleared.

- Today again, You You (for my love)

The accompaniment gradually faded.

With Juan's part as the finale, everyone stood in a line and struck their ending poses toward the audience and cameras.

From beginning to end, they had encouraged such enthusiastic responses that the audience could have screamed themselves hoarse, delivering a performance distinguished by a level of skill and experience that was difficult to believe belonged to the first mission of a survival competition.

It was a perfect ending.

“Thank you!!”

“Waaaaaaaaah!!!”

The bright smile on Yuseong's face as he waved remained imprinted beneath the woman's eyelids.

Even as the next team came onstage, and the next, and the next... and the one after that.

To the point that it was troublesome how the image refused to disappear.

____________

“Good work, everyone.”

“You all worked hard~”

They wiped away their sweat as they descended backstage.

Perhaps because they had spent so long beneath the hot stage lights, they were out of breath, but not exhausted.

Was it because the performance had been that satisfying?

The answer was yes.

After all, he had successfully made a lasting Imprint.

Naturally, it was impossible to make eye contact with all seven hundred audience members and enchant them.

He couldn't even clearly see who was sitting in the very back row, so there was no way that would work.

That was why he had devised the small gesture of putting on his sunglasses and then taking them off again.

Even though the audience was already full of people who knew Yuseong's face, the anticipation that built during the brief moment his eyes were hidden burst all at once when he revealed them, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

In that instant, he had been able to make eye contact with as many people as possible, and as a result-

['Imprint' Activated

Time Remaining: 23 hours, 41 minutes, 3 seconds

- Imprints the user's existence.

The image of the entire unit, including the user, remains in the audience's memories. While the effect lasts, they will voluntarily replay and recall it.

During this time, the probability of their attention shifting due to external stimuli decreases by 70%.

For the user himself, the reduction is 90%.

This effect also works on targets who were not affected by 'Enchantment.']

He had successfully activated the skill.

He was confident that they would have left a sufficient impression even without such a mechanism,

But more importantly, the ones who would gain the upper hand in everyone's hearts would be none other than himself and his team.

Things are going smoothly.

Feeling considerably lighter, Yuseong exchanged words of appreciation with his teammates and accepted a water bottle from a staff member.

For some reason, the lukewarm bottle felt cool.

“...Good work.”

Just as he was about to wet his throat, Hwanyeong approached from behind, tapped him on the shoulder, and spoke.

“You worked hard too.”

“Hmm, wasn't I pretty good?”

Getting all smug...

That was what he thought inwardly, but he gave the affirmation Hwanyeong wanted.

“You did well.”

Watching Hwanyeong immediately look satisfied, apparently pleased by the compliment, Yuseong simply drank his water.

Since Hwanyeong had performed better than expected, it wasn't entirely an empty compliment.

The stat that had received an adjustment bonus from Hwanyeong's special skill was Rap.

Judging by how it felt, it seemed to have risen to around B-.

'Though that's still nothing compared to Lee Ijun, whose Rap stat alone is A+.'

When he glanced to the side, instead of Rubin, who had been looking for tissues while saying he felt like crying, it was Ijun, who had been silently wiping away his sweat, who was shedding streams of tears.

And with a completely expressionless face.

He used to be a member of a failed idol group...

Thinking that perhaps he was overwhelmed with happiness at performing onstage again after so long, Yuseong quietly patted his back.

If he ends up ranking high enough to debut, he'll probably bawl his eyes out.

“Ah, Rubin.”

Then he spotted Rubin, who had been enthusiastically sharing his impressions of their first performance with Dael.

He handed another water bottle to Rubin, who was smiling brightly with a flushed face.

“You really did well earlier.”

“Really?! Ah, what a relief~ It's been so long since I belted out a note like that, so honestly, I was really nervous~ I was worried my voice would crack.”

“It was amazing... I didn't expect you to raise the key even higher there. You didn't do that during rehearsals either.”

“Well~... It just sort of happened. I guess I got so excited that I did it without realizing~ It felt like I was back in high school, and I was having so much fun.”

That was precisely why he was complimenting him.

Although Yuseong hadn't kept his status window open and therefore hadn't observed the process,

He had seen a little sparkle pop out of Rubin when he belted out that high note.

When he checked afterward, Rubin's Vocal stat had soared all the way to S and was still maintaining that value.

Was it because the Afterglow hadn't faded yet?

“It's such a shame we can't watch the recording right away. I didn't make any mistakes anywhere else, did I?”

“You didn't, you didn't. I watched the whole thing.”

When Yuseong gave him a broad grin, Rubin responded with a radiant smile.

Encouragement and praise were among the important elements of teamwork.

Before returning to the waiting room, Yuseong stopped each member individually and sincerely shared his impressions.

Patrick requested a handshake of gratitude with a composed expression, while Dael, who had been another potential concern after Hwanyeong, gave him a big hug, saying that thanks to Yuseong, he had finished safely without making any mistakes.

Juan happened to witness this scene and strode over with his sunglasses in one hand, throwing an arm around Yuseong's shoulders.

“Hyung! We succeeded, right~?”

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

“Come on, this is all thanks to you, hyung~”

“There you go again. You're the one who told us the word.”

- That's it, you know... The thing that had another boom recently...

- 'Frutiger Aero.'

That had been the central concept of their performance.

Frutiger Aero was one of the most representative design aesthetics encompassing the technology and culture of the mid-to-late 2000s.

Green meadows and blue skies, tropical fish floating inside soap bubbles.

Although fewer people sought out that aesthetic as time passed, those who had lived through the era would certainly remember it,

And since old trends were frequently being rediscovered these days, with information about almost anything available through a quick internet search, choosing such a concept carried no particular disadvantage.

They had coordinated their costumes, props, and overall composition around the clearly defined concept, even adding lyrics that hadn't existed in either original version.

While gathering ideas, they had also captured several scenes filled with comedy.

Even Kang Chan, who rarely displayed strong emotions, had laughed out loud twice during that time.

...Come to think of it, Kang Chan hadn't been around for a while.

“Where did he go...?”

“Who?...Ah, there's one person missing. If you mean Channie hyung, he's over~ there.”

Channie was a nickname Juan had given Kang Chan without his consent.

Since Juan himself was Jjunie, the other was Channie... Anyway, that was the idea.

Kang Chan was standing beside the stairs leading to the stage.

Team 3 of <​You You> had just finished its turn and was coming down.

He nodded in greeting whenever he encountered them, but that didn't seem to be his purpose for standing there.

After the voting for <​You You> had ended, they returned to the waiting room.

On the monitoring television mounted on the wall, the host was introducing the team performing the next song, <​Once, Twice>.

Only after Yuseong sat down in his team's designated seating area was he able to tell Kang Chan that he had worked hard.

“Would you like some water?”

“...No, I'm fine.”

Even though he must have been thirsty, the bottle of water Kang Chan was holding was completely untouched.

He showed no sign of opening the cap, nor any intention of looking at Yuseong while speaking, so Yuseong had no choice but to turn his attention to the screen as well.

[...Team 3 of <​Stop Music>!]

Crackle-.

Amid the noise of the people in the room clapping and cheering wildly, there came the sound of the upper part of a plastic water bottle being crushed.

At the same time, the final team appeared on the screen.

[Hello! We're Team 3 of <​Stop Music>—...]

The members of Team 3 of <​Stop Music> continued introducing themselves, and eventually it was the final trainee's turn.

[I'm Seong Iseong.]

[I look forward to your support!]

[Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!]

The intense excitement seemed to penetrate the walls of the waiting room.

The cheers were no less tremendous than what Yuseong had experienced at the venue himself.

[Hmm...]

The song began to play.

On the screen, Seong Iseong opened his eyes.