Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

- So it doesn't matter

We stuck together

The melody of an electric guitar played by snow-white hands,

And the harmonious blend of two voices, one low and one high, coming together powerfully.

- Within the time that melted away so thickly

Yuseong, gripping the microphone stand, gazed into the camera before shifting his eyes to the side.

Rubin, holding the guitar, continued the phrase with a husky breath mixed into its ending.

- You want me, and you call for me again

That voice, resembling the sound of the guitar, once again melted together with Yuseong's.

- That's the kind of relationship we have

Chicken Stock Soup

Their voices firmly supported each other's notes as the song entered its final fourteen seconds, accompanied by the low sound of a guitar playing alone.

- The one we once sat face-to-face and ate

I remember that scent

The rising white steam

- The warmth that spread between us

The warmth that slowly seeped in...

And with that, the fifty seconds were complete.

The screen faded to black, and the Play ON title logo appeared.

<​Chicken Stock Soup> featured the intro riff at a slower tempo, playing softly underneath,

Then moved directly into the third verse's chorus before combining a short guitar solo with the first verse.

By adding a rock-ballad sensibility that emphasized the guitar sound, they created a melody that slowly settled into the listener's ears.

In the behind-the-scenes footage, Rubin said the arrangement had been Yuseong's idea.

This approach, which naturally preserved all the most impressive highlights,

Also deserved applause for effectively showcasing each of their strengths and specialties.

Even Rubin, who had occasionally been criticized for making sounds like a goat, demonstrated unexpected vocal power here.

As for Yuseong, well, there was no need to say anything.

The variation in which he entered his part one key lower was a stroke of genius.

Now, approximately a day after the cover song video had been uploaded, it had 102,000 views and 40,000 likes.

Iseong and Hwanyeong, who had sung a pop song famous for its dance challenge, and Juan and Rikiya, who had sung an acoustic arrangement of a J-pop song, lined up behind them.

'Good job,...really good job. The comments are positive too. If you can just keep this up...'

The man stared at his phone screen, biting his nails incessantly.

He was crouched on top of a closed toilet lid.

His rough skin, the dark circles beneath his eyes, and even his nails, which had been bitten down severely and left with ragged hangnails-

The man presenting such a thoroughly miserable appearance was none other than Pyo Junseong, Play ON's assistant director and the person who had cast Yuseong.

Ever since the profile voting had ended, he had been hiding in emergency stairwells or bathroom stalls whenever he had a spare moment to check the comments.

Naturally, what he mainly looked at was the fans' reactions to Yuseong.

Even now, the comments beneath his thumb were filled with people specifically mentioning Yuseong.

@Who let a fox loose at a gathering of humans?

@How does he dance like that so effortlessly!!! He absolutely has to debut!!!

@Soyuseong is so handsome and sings and dances so well T_T He looks so amazing shining in the center!! You're the most perfect person in the world, so may only good things come your way from now on!! Fighting!!♥♥

@yuseong let's debuttttt!!!!!!!!!!

These were comments left on the signal song performance fancam uploaded before the cover song was released.

He had confirmed again and again that, contrary to his fears, the overwhelming majority of reactions were positive,

But he couldn't help his throat going dry with anxiety.

Because he had received an 'order' from the producer to cut him.

'How am I... even supposed to do that...!!'

He silently tore at his hair.

His already disheveled hair became even messier, but this was no time to care about such things.

He was being told to eliminate the person he had personally brought in.

And not just anyone, but someone who had left the idol industry to live as an ordinary person, whom he had persuaded to return despite knowing how rude it was to ask.

He took off his round-framed glasses and rubbed his face with one hand.

Looking back, the kindness he had received from Yuseong during Catch One hadn't amounted to much.

When he had been sitting alone on the emergency stairs, crying after the producer had casually struck him, all Yuseong had done was offer him a canned drink and ask if he was all right.

But even that had made him truly grateful.

At a time when no one had dared acknowledge him because others might be watching, he had been deeply moved by a few secretly offered words and a cold drink.

Of course, it was also true that he had tried to recruit Yuseong by any means necessary to prevent the program from falling apart, and repaying his gratitude had been more of an excuse. But his desire to see Yuseong succeed was genuine.

'I do feel some pity for him too... but he'd probably find that kind of thinking offensive if he knew.'

Junseong shoved his phone into his trouser pocket and adjusted his glasses.

At the same time, he faintly heard a door opening.

“I don't think this is something we can fix by just brushing it off here...”

It was Yuseong who entered, patting down his clothes.

“We don't have time to go all the way to the showers, hyung... Let's just clean up as much as we can before we leave~”

Juan was there too.

From what he could hear, they seemed to have been hit by flour bombs, the penalty for a quiz-style minigame.

I'd told them not to use such sadistic punishments, even for a variety show, but they went ahead with it anyway...

He had expected as much.

The reason he was here instead of at the filming location was that he had protested the punishment and been kicked out.

If that producer were the sort of person who would listen to even a single word, he would have long since...

The sounds of the two vigorously brushing and wiping themselves off filled the room.

“But seriously, hyung, have you lived your whole life without watching TV~? I've never seen anyone so bad at naming actors. But then how did you know the name of an actor who only played a minor role?!”

“...It's because I've got too much in my head. Wait until you get older. You'll end up like this too.”

“Anyone listening would think you were fifty years older than me~ You're totally part of the MZ generation too, hyung! Anyway, that last one was some pretty quick thinking, when you said Patrick Ryu.”

“What's the point of being quick-witted if I got us into this mess?”

Patrick Ryu was an American contestant whose father was a famous actor and who had himself appeared in a television drama once as a child.

Apparently, Yuseong had shouted his name during a game where they had to take turns naming five working actors.

It was certainly a decent decision from a variety-show perspective... but accepting it as a correct answer would have been a stretch.

“Come on, it was funny, so it's fine~ Ah, but this flour smells kind of musty...”

“It smells pretty bad, doesn't it?”

“A little?”

The two continued chatting until they left, never noticing the one stall whose door remained closed.

Junseong, who had been awkwardly trapped in the bathroom, first poked his head through the gap to look around before stepping outside.

“Phew...”

He took a deep breath.

They wanted him to cut someone who was working so hard that he was even willing to get bombarded with flour?

Out of habit, he brought his nails to his mouth again. A small bead of blood formed beneath his front teeth as he gnawed at them.

_______________

[1st Mission]

['Creative']

A short line, spoken in a voice that might have belonged to an AI or a voice actor, sounded over majestic music.

The same words swept across the screen.

Yuseong's eyes, which had been fixed on the text, briefly lowered before rising again.

So it's finally beginning.

He sat calmly in his seat and waited for the host who had come onstage to take hold of the microphone.

“Now, at long last! We're beginning the highly anticipated first mission!”

As always, everyone applauded and reacted enthusiastically.

It felt as though the warm-up had finally ended.

Starting with this competition, which would begin in earnest today, rankings would be determined by fan votes regardless of grades, and contestants would be eliminated accordingly.

I'll have to stay even more alert.

He straightened his back.

“These two blind boxes here... The one on the left contains slips of paper with song titles, and the one on the right contains concepts. Whatever song you draw, the goal of this mission is for your team to demonstrate its abilities while matching the concept you've selected.”

After finishing his explanation, the host turned toward the screen.

Song titles appeared on the left side of the screen, with theme names on the right.

Yuseong examined the song titles listed on the left.

<​ASMR>, <​You You>, <​Once, Twice>, <​Stop Music>.

The concepts listed on the right were simple.

'Hip,' 'Cute,' 'Sexy.'

Of those, the only song he knew for certain was <​You You>.

It was a song by the girl group that had been the biggest hit in the late 1990s, when he first set foot in human society to grant wishes, so there was no way he wouldn't know it.

After all, first memories tended to leave a lasting impression.

He couldn't remember where he had heard it, but he knew it had practically been essential cultural knowledge back then.

And he was fairly certain that no other song shared the same title.

'...Or am I wrong? Are there others? Otherwise, there's no way they'd use a song released so long ago in a competition like this...'

No sooner had the doubt crossed his mind than the music video began playing, drawing an involuntary “Ah-” from his lips.

It was a trendy remake by a male virtual group, updated to suit the times.

A virtual group... The world really has advanced a great deal.

“As long as you don't stray too far from the overall framework, you're free to add supplementary concepts or elements of your own fictional universe. Since the preparation period isn't very long, we've prepared arranged versions of each song in advance... However!”

The host swept his gaze across the assembled contestants as he continued his explanation.

“You might not like the versions we've prepared, right? No matter how many detailed concepts you add, the overall framework itself might not suit your team! That's why we've prepared a special opportunity... which we'll reveal now!”

At his gesture, the screen changed.

[Forge a path into the unknown!

'Pioneer Bonus Ticket']

The thick, three-dimensional bold letters floated across the screen.

“If you apply for this bonus ticket, or 'Pioneering,' you can change the concept in whatever direction you want. Not the song, though. Only the concept can be changed. You may use keywords other than the one you originally drew, but you must include additional creative elements of your own... It's a self-producing format.”

In other words, if you've got complaints, do it yourselves.

Up to this point, the idea didn't particularly interest him.

No matter how he looked at it, the risks were greater.

There was significance in presenting their first team performance through self-production, but unless they executed it perfectly, anything less would hardly be worth the effort.

If they failed spectacularly, they might at least attract attention, but if they made a mediocre mess of it, they wouldn't even get noticed.

This was a team competition. Rather than waste time on that, it would be better to improve the quality of their performance and secure a place near the top.

Just then, the host continued.

“And teams that successfully complete Pioneering will receive an opportunity to earn 'Likes' from the operators here! The team that receives the most 'Likes' will be awarded... an additional 30,000 individual benefit points and a team bonus score!”

But... now that was rather tempting.

If those points were added to the benefit for placing in the top three, that would be quite something...?

For now, I'll have to see how things develop.

“Then we'll start choosing teams now~ A-grade contestants, please come forward first!”

And so they went forward in turn to draw their slips.

There would be three teams per song, making twelve teams in total, and Yuseong was assigned to Team 2 for <​You You>.

He was pleased to have drawn the one song he knew.

'We're off to a good start... Now I just need to get a good team.'

Well, as long as I don't end up with Seong Iseong or Kim Hwanyeong, it should be fine... Though I suppose Seong Iseong wouldn't be too bad. It's not as though he's untalented.

To be honest, he simply disliked the boy. It wasn't as though he would faint if they met, so it should be fine.

That meant all he needed was to avoid Kim Hwanyeong.

Surely we won't end up on the same team. There are eighty-six other people besides me.

_________________

“...”

“...Ah...”

...Kim Hwanyeong had been picked.

Out of eighty-six other people.

The moment Yuseong moved to gather with his team, he found himself face-to-face with him.

What kind of cruel trick of fate was this?

Hwanyeong glanced Yuseong up and down, gave a small snort of laughter, and turned his head away.

His face was overflowing with satisfaction.

Well, well. Are you really that pleased?

Yuseong, on the other hand, was thoroughly displeased by the feeling that their stories were becoming increasingly entangled.

The others seemed to feel the same.

Some wore uncomfortable expressions the moment they saw Hwanyeong, while others instinctively looked toward Yuseong as soon as everyone had taken their seats.

Were they hoping he would mediate if things went wrong?

Apparently, rumors that Hwanyeong had started listening to Yuseong, and Yuseong alone, had spread quickly.

“Wow! Hello! I'm looking forward to working with you~!”

“Let's work hard together. I look forward to working with you.”

The remaining members included Rubin and B-grade Patrick Ryu.

“Yep... Fighting.”

“I think this is my first time meeting all of you! Ah, no, that's not right. Rubin's here. By the way, how would everyone prefer to be addressed...? You can just call me Dael~ without any honorifics!”

There were Lee Ijun, formerly of the group 'Click Crack,' which had disbanded several years earlier, and E-grade Noh Dael.

“...I... have a one-syllable given name, so you can call me by my surname too. Or just call me whatever you're comfortable with...”

“I'd like an affectionate nickname, please~”

And finally, Kang Chan, who belonged to the same agency as Iseong, and Seo Juan.

“How about we make Yuseong hyung our leader? You're the oldest, after all.”

“If everyone agrees, I'll...”

“Absolutely agree!”

“...I agree.”

“That's three votes in favor.”

Because of his unrivaled status as the oldest member, Yuseong also found himself saddled with the position of team leader.

Taking the leadership role meant he couldn't be the center, but Yuseong himself figured that if he didn't do it, who would? So he gladly accepted.

“Now all that's left is drawing our concept, right? I can't wait to see what we get~”

“Anything but cute. Anything but cute.”

Hwanyeong glared fiercely.

Soon, the leaders went forward as representatives of their teams to draw concepts.

Since the original <​You You> was a teen-pop dance song, Yuseong had been thinking that 'Hip' would suit it, and luckily, that was exactly what he drew on his first try.

He felt like slapping the paper right onto the forehead of Hwanyeong, who had glared at him while insisting that anything was fine as long as it wasn't cute.

Go on, thank me already.

But then, things began taking a strangely unexpected turn.

After checking the results, the staff suddenly held a discussion, then announced that there had been a mistake and exchanged the slips belonging to four people, including Yuseong.

When he glanced to the side, he saw the leader of Iseong's group unfolding his replacement slip as well.

His expression had become strangely brighter than when he had received the first one.

Something feels off.

Yuseong unnecessarily moistened his upper lip with his tongue and carefully checked the words.

[Cute]

Oh, dear.