Chapter 19

Chapter 19.

[Beyond Earth... This time, it's space!]

Boom, boom! Dun, dun!

A grand explanation of the show's universe played over majestic background music,

And the scene transitioned to the trainees entering the studio.

The set had been decorated to resemble a space station, in keeping with the show's universe.

Had the producer recently been deeply impressed by a science-fiction movie?

[I can do it!]

[One, two, three, Play ON! Fighting~!]

[Let's go, let's go, yeah!!!!]

Numerous trainees appeared one after another.

Some belonged to familiar agencies, but many came from companies so small that one wondered whether such places even existed.

Their ages were just as varied.

When the youngest contestant appeared, a thirteen-year-old child who looked as though he'd only recently lost all his baby teeth, she couldn't help exclaiming, “Goodness.”

Eventually, the words 'Independent Trainee' were shown in close-up on the set's screen, accompanied by overlapping gasps and cheers.

It was Yuseong's entrance.

“Hey, seriously... Hey, this is—wow~~ Holy shit, he's so fucking handsome! But you know what? That doesn't even capture thirty percent of how he looks in person, seriously. If you see him in real life, it's just—insane, insane...”

Overwhelmed with excitement, Nurungji crouched on her chair and bounced up and down.

[When he appeared over there like this, seriously, wow~]

[His face was practically radiating light—]

A few clips from the trainees' interviews played, and the camera captured Yuseong's face in close-ups from various angles.

The scene soon changed to Yuseong entering the studio for the first time.

Amid cherry blossom petals fluttering gently in profusion, a tall, long-limbed figure approached with measured footsteps...

Looking again, the cherry blossoms were a CG effect.

[I'll work hard. Fighting!]

At that moment, Nurungji became certain.

At least he won't be completely edited out!

Otherwise, why would they show everything, even him looking for somewhere to sit?!

Yuseong glanced once at the first-place seat at the very top, then sat in the ninth-place seat, safely within the top ten.

“Ah, but it's so fucking funny how they add sparkly effects every time Soyuseong's face appears.”

- Let me see too. Share your screen.

“Sure~”

She even turned on screen sharing for her acquaintance. When she briefly checked her social media timeline, it was buzzing with talk of Yuseong's upcoming grade evaluation performance.

Every time she refreshed, new variations of screaming appeared, and some of the people posting had attended the first competition just like Nurungji.

Nurungji added her own comment to the conversation.

「You can look forward to it.」

However.

[Trainee Soyuseong is...]

[A.]

“What?”

- What?

The same reactions appeared on her timeline.

What's this?

What the hell lol

What is going on, holy shit...

“Did they cut out his entire performance? Wow, you've got to be kidding me.”

Yuseong had appeared onstage and gotten into position, but the scene immediately changed to the announcement of his A grade.

The entire process in between had been omitted.

Then what the hell was the point of all that buildup?

It wasn't as though none of the other trainees who'd appeared earlier had been edited down to brief glimpses of their faces.

There were probably several whose faces hadn't appeared at all.

But this was...

“Do they think just telling us he got an A is enough...? Now he looks like someone who just showed off his face, got an A, and walked away!”

- That's ridiculous...

“They have to show us why he got an A so people who don't know him can go, 'Wow, I thought that guy was just ridiculously handsome, but he's ridiculously talented too,' and vote for him, and then, you know, he can debut...!! Who the hell edits a show this shamelessly...!!”

- Calm down.

“...No, it's fine. They'll upload his performance video after this ends, so it'll be okay...”

Nurungji's legs trembled uncontrollably.

Yuseong didn't appear even once afterward, but despite that, he remained the most frequently mentioned person on social media.

「I feel like I'm about to lose my fucking mind. Isn't he supposed to be your center?」

「Jinmyeong, are you insane?」

「I've never seen editing this fucking clueless;; Why bother showing off his face if you're going to do this?」

「They pulled this shit on Catch One too and still haven't learned anything. As if that'll stop Soyuseong」

Although most posts expressed this kind of anger,

「If they were going to edit him out, they should've removed all his screen time, but I guess they couldn't bring themselves to because he's the center. Center + Chicken Stock Soup going viral + first competition already finished <​ Given all that, there probably won't be any damage... The producer's insane」

「Even after being edited out, he'll still completely crush all the nobodies」

「Only the live audience knows the truth. Vote like today is your last day」

Others marveled at the stupidity of the producer who had directed the show this way and sharpened their resolve.

Nurungji joined the people on her timeline in solidarity and posted a message.

「Let's vote for Soyuseong」

_______________

He'd been edited out.

'The producer... is getting desperate.'

That was truly the only thought that came to mind.

He's trying so hard to reduce Soyuseong's vote count by any means possible...

It was the moment Yuseong truly felt he was being kept in check.

At the time Episode 1 was airing, all the trainees, including Yuseong, were gathered in the auditorium watching the broadcast together.

It was to film their real-time viewing reactions.

Yuseong sat in a row between Juan, Rubin, and Ijun, with Kang Chan and Seong Iseong directly in front of him.

When Yuseong first appeared, the room erupted in loud cheers, but the moment it became clear that his entire performance had been edited out, the atmosphere fell silent as though someone had poured cold water over it.

Meanwhile, the predetermined debut candidates received generous screen time.

Iseong received the most of all.

Hwanyeong received a similar amount, but there was one strange thing.

'His performance was definitely messy and unstable at the venue... His voice cracked while singing, and his breathing was unsteady. So why does it sound so smooth, as though he didn't make a single mistake?'

Yuseong wondered whether they'd applied post-production corrections.

By comparison, Iseong and Juan demonstrated unquestionably excellent skills.

Juan was one thing, but Iseong...

Yes, Iseong was good.

[Seong Iseong (20) / A

Vocals A

Rap -

Dance A

Appearance A+

Reputation D]

His Dance stat had even risen by one grade after the evaluation performance and the first competition.

That meant there was simply no way to disparage him in terms of ability.

However, Yuseong had also been diligent about practicing and working hard.

[Soyuseong (28)

Vocals A

Rap C

Dance A+

Appearance A+

Charm 91

Reputation A+]

His base values for Vocals, Reputation, and Charm had increased.

He would have liked to raise his Dance and Appearance stats to S as well, but perhaps because they were already so high, they hadn't budged at all.

If the original 'Soyuseong' had persevered without giving up, wouldn't he have achieved at least that much by now?

What would he say if he met the person Yuseong had become?

Lost in that pointless speculation, he blinked slowly.

[TOP 10 Rankings Revealed!]

As soon as Episode 1 ended, the results of the real-time voting that had begun when the broadcast started were revealed.

Several familiar names stood out.

10th place, Patrick Ryu.

8th place, Lee Ijun.

7th place, Lee Sia.

6th place, Ma Rubin.

When the announcement reached this point, Rubin abruptly covered his mouth.

Apparently, he couldn't believe he'd achieved such a high ranking, especially after claiming he wasn't expecting anything.

Ijun, on the other hand, looked astonishingly calm...

...Or so Yuseong thought, until he saw him place a hand over his chest and close his eyes as though saluting the national flag.

[3, 2, 1...]

[TOP 5 Revealed!]

After the countdown, the faces of the final five contestants appeared one after another.

5th place, Kang Chan.

3rd place, Seo Juan.

2nd place, Seong Iseong.

...

1st place, Soyuseong.

First place. First place.

He struggled to stop only one corner of his mouth from rising, then lifted the other as well to create an expression of delighted happiness.

This didn't mean his debut was confirmed or that anyone would be eliminated,

But he'd gained a clear indication of how firmly he'd established his position, so wasn't it only natural to feel pleased?

'Even after being edited out, no less. At this rate, perhaps...'

He probably wouldn't have to suspect vote manipulation until the final ranking announcement.

Defeating the unwavering first-place contestant at the very last moment and proudly debuting—

Just as they had on Catch One, the producer would probably want to give the predetermined candidates that kind of narrative.

Assuming he knew how to plan for the bigger picture.

In that case, Yuseong would have to stand out so much that it would seem strange if Soyuseong lost first place at the end.

He would have to make that happen, even if he had to stake his pride on it.

He could generously tolerate Iseong and Juan climbing the rankings, but he absolutely could not accept falling below Kim Hwanyeong, who hadn't even made it into the top ten.

For reference, Hwanyeong was in fourteenth place.

“Hyung~ I knew you'd take first place! Please keep taking good care of us~”

“Hyung, you're the best! You're amazing~!”

Still sitting with his arms loosely crossed, Yuseong was suddenly hugged by Juan and Rubin and rocked from side to side.

Ijun couldn't reach him with his arms, so he attached himself to Rubin beside him instead.

Haha, you little rascals... You're making me dizzy.

“Yeah, it's thanks to you guys. Thank you.”

“Hyung, you're so modest~”

Soon, the other trainees gathered around noisily as well.

Meanwhile, Yuseong glanced toward where Kang Chan and Iseong were sitting.

The two were absorbed in talking to each other.

If it hadn't been for the surrounding noise, he probably would have heard them, but it was so loud that he could only roughly guess the mood from their occasionally visible profiles, lip movements, and expressions.

As always, Iseong wore a smile as he lightly patted Kang Chan's hand resting on the armrest.

Kang Chan turned his head away, then looked back at him with a faint smile.

Congratulations.

Yeah.

The same exchange Yuseong had witnessed once before passed between them.

Kang Chan briefly pressed his lips together before looking straight ahead.

Amid the commotion, Yuseong heard a single sentence.

I don't know if it's okay for things to be like this.

________________

The filming that took place over the two consecutive days following Episode 1 felt more than twice as hectic as the first filming session.

Apart from the mission itself, they had to film more than five additional pieces of variety-show content, and the intensity was greater than before.

Today was a day for location filming.

They divided into several groups and boarded buses.

Everyone looked visibly exhausted.

It would hardly have been an exaggeration to say that being run ragged by their schedules was a physical reality rather than a figure of speech,

Especially since the content required them to throw their bodies around so much.

'I wonder if Ma Rubin will be all right. He's been groaning since this morning...'

The previous night, Rubin had been playing a quiz game where contestants were sprayed with water guns whenever they answered incorrectly. He slipped on water that had pooled across the floor and twisted his ankle.

Perhaps that was why the smell of pain-relief patches was strong even when Yuseong wasn't standing near him.

There were several others besides Rubin who had suffered injuries from being pushed too hard.

Much of it was because they were so tired they could barely control their bodies.

No matter how much Yuseong considered whether filming this much supplementary content was necessary, the answer was always 'no.'

Besides, every activity seemed hastily thrown together.

The newly issued schedule was crammed with simple physical activities that had suddenly been added despite not appearing in the original announcements.

It was as though the production team was desperate to squeeze entertaining footage out of them.

He'd vaguely heard that 'All Time Idol,' which had begun airing before Play ON, was enjoying popularity beyond expectations. Could that be the reason?

“...Aren't you tired?”

“No, I'm fine.”

For once, Seong Iseong had spoken to him without a confrontational tone.

Iseong was sitting beside him.

Lowering his voice because so many people were sleeping, he continued.

“I heard you've worked quite a few part-time jobs.”

“...Me?”

“Chan hyung told me.”

...Had Kang Chan not only watched Catch One but also gone around investigating what Soyuseong had been doing recently?

“I'll be counting on your help this time, hyung—. I don't have any experience with that sort of thing. Hmm... Although this is somewhat different from those jobs, it's still a kind of service work... isn't it? Right?”

Iseong smiled brightly.

After driving for quite some time, they arrived at their destination.

They got off the bus and headed toward a place where two trucks decorated in pastel colors were parked.

A staff member happened to be taking down and setting up a banner attached to a stand.

'Turn your energy ON with a cup of coffee!

Join Play ON~'

A banner bearing those words was also hanging beside the trucks.

...That's right.

This was why Iseong had asked that question.

Today, they would become coffee truck workers for a day.