If you don’t debut, you’ll die (3)
After I was dragged by the writer to the broadcasting studio, nothing particularly of note happened. We had a casual interview in front of the camera. They didn’t request for me to demonstrate my dancing skills. They didn’t advise me to take dance lessons either.
It was proof that the role they had in mind for me was set in stone.
Well, that didn’t matter. The important thing was that I was on the participant list.
However there was an unexpected point.
The date of the first recording was much closer than I had thought.
“… There are ten days left?”
“That’s right. Park Moondae-gun1 was the last one. It’s usually difficult to get a spot, but you were very lucky~ You were already qualified for the position, it’s no wonder you got it.”
They were good at packaging their words.
Even though I was a bit perplexed, I thought about it deeply.
It didn’t cost them anything to mince their words, so it was worth the effort. Of course, if they discovered I was useless, their attitudes would change. There were few industries that had as many losers as this one.
Besides, telling an ordinary person to independently prepare a song for filming and evaluation without giving any additional advice, this wasn’t a proper request. We had talked as if it was nothing, but if the participant had an agency, they would have protested.
Regardless of if I did a proper arrangement or merely spoke nonsense, I was meant to play a side role that would be criticized. Or my part would be edited to make the viewers curse at me.
But this was expected.
“… Yes, thank you.”
I nodded as if I hadn’t noticed anything, while still showing some nervousness for the filming date that was right around the corner.
The writer gave a look of satisfaction.
“We’re very grateful~ Then I’ll contact you for more details.”
This was a blessing. I left the studio without hesitation and made plans for the next ten days.
Since the time I had left was short, it seemed that I would need a more extreme method.
***
After 10 days of preparation, the first day of filming began.
Following the usual structure of a survival entertainment program, the show started off by screening the participants through individual evaluations.
The first round of screening.
As anyone who has seen an idol survival show before could guess, it was not uncommon for participants who left a deep impression to last until the end. So, if you were a participant who didn’t stand out in any particular way, the worst thing you could do was act vaguely. You might as well completely ruin your performance and be treated as a joke, at least in the future you could showcase your growth.
There was no coming back if you were edited to be boring.
But that doesn’t mean I was aiming to be criticized.
“Do you remember your numbers? We’ll be calling them shortly. Please enter this hallway when instructed~”
The filming began with photos of the participants walking one by one through the hallways of the set. It must have been for the teaser, but these 40 seconds of video had already taken 2 hours to film.
Probably because there were 77 participants.
‘There are only pure children here.’
As I observed the faces scattered around the empty part of the set, which was too embarrassing to even be called a waiting room, I lost some of my motivation. Even though I had become younger and I was doing this because of the status window, I began to realize how embarrassing it was to aim for an idol debut along with these kids.
“Hey, hello.”
One of the kids who was introducing himself left and right also came to speak with me.
I didn’t know if this guy was just excited or if he wanted to show his face around.
More importantly, he looked like a middle schooler.
At this age, trying to spread your name and form connections with middle schoolers…
“Did you apply as an individual?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, me too. Oh, how old are you…?”
“… Twenty.”
My mouth was a bit itchy after leaving off the 9, but it felt surprisingly good.
“Do you have an agency?”
“No.”
“Oh, right! There are many reasons for people to leave their agency. What I meant was, which agency did you belong to…?”
“I’ve never had one.”
“Ah… I see.”
The middle school boy immediately lost his sincerity. He roughly ended our conversation, then went back to speak to the others.
He was a guy who already understood society well and wanted to be successful.
Of course, he would have to hide this calculating attitude from the cameras, but that was his own responsibility.
Anyway, to be like that while only in middle school, it was truly brutal.
I wondered if I had let the unrealistic situation cloud my judgement this time. But the water has already been spilled.
“We’re moving sets!”
The filming for the main broadcast was finally beginning. I followed the middle and high schoolers who moved in sync like meerkats, and I waited for my turn next to the main stage where the first judging segment would take place.
It was roughly in the early-mid range when I was called.
***
“Contestant Lee Sejin B… 15th place! Please take your seat.”
“Thank you!”
At the MC’s words, one of the participants being evaluated nodded his head.
He was one of four contestants being judged simultaneously because they were from the same agency.
Although the results were good, the production crew was not at ease.
‘It’s too extreme.’
Ryu Seorin frowned while twirling her pen.
There was less investment for season 3 than season 2. It was only natural. Season 2 had flopped, and they barely managed to start again. Along with the funny slogan of ‘Relisting,’ the production crew had clenched their teeth and prepared for the broadcast in order to escape the shadow of season 2.
But there were still some things that could not be covered up with connections and effort.
One of them was the talent pool.
A number of properly trained candidates had gone to other auditions instead. To fill up the 77 spots, many unqualified people had been recruited, and the proportion of useless participants increased. If there were too many of these participants, there was a limit to how much editing could do.
It was almost impossible to have a worthless person debut on a Korean show. Even if they were packaged prettily, one slip up would reveal all the falsehoods. It wouldn’t stop with general hate, but would toss around words such as “stale” and “deceptive.”
Although there were a number of top-tier participants who could debut, it would be difficult to continue the program without a dark horse.
‘This person is also the same.’
The current contestant was a complete beginner who had joined 10 days before the first shoot. He was brought in as a last minute replacement for a contestant caught for driving under influence, so no one had any expectations for him.
‘His name… What was it again? I suppose I’ll ask him when he comes out.’
That person had a moderately good singing voice and a decent appearance, as well as a tragic backstory that could be used if necessary. Thanks to him, she had managed to overcome that urgent situation.
However, even adding up all of his advantages, he was only better than average.
‘Well… He can be used for comparison.’
The judges also chatted with unimpressed faces while flipping through the documents that mentioned nothing special except his family history.
So she had a secret thought.
‘Yes, it’d be better if he did poorly. I’ll aggravate him.’
Seeing too many mediocre candidates was boring, but if there were a few who failed, they would serve to highlight the main characters. It was said that being mocked was just another form of interest.
An ordinary person who only had 10 days to prepare, and additionally was not given any guidance, the chances of a funny performance was quite high.
The writer glanced at the stage with a faint sense of anticipation.
“Next contestant, please enter the stage!”
At this time, the ordinary participant walked onto the stage.
Perhaps he had a fortunate visit to a hair salon, because his face looked fresher than before.
The problem was he carried a subtly gloomy and bored atmosphere.
Last time she thought it was because of his family affairs, but he managed to keep that attitude in front of so many cameras?
In reality, it was because he had gotten used to the bustling of cameras when he was taking pictures, but the puzzled writer had no way of knowing that.
‘… Are you the type that doesn’t appear to get nervous?’
It didn’t matter. They could just portray him as an arrogant but incompetent person. The writer planned diligently.
Meanwhile, Park Moondae had come up to the stage and was listening to the MC.
“Yes, contestant. Introduce yourself.”
“… My name is Park Moondae. Please take care of me.”
He bowed his head. A small laugh and a snort could be heard from the judges’ seats.
“No, is that all?”
A male judge holding a microphone laughed while asking.
The question had a passive aggressive tone, implying he had spoken incorrectly. But Park Moondae nodded his head seriously.
“Yes. I have no experiences to introduce.”
The judges burst into laughter.
“Ehh, so unique!”
“Fun~”
A few of them whispered quietly. Of course, the microphones faithfully captured their voices.
“Ah, there really is nothing on this application form.”
“Yeah.”
It was likely that someone would make a comment such as ‘Then why are you here?’ But perhaps they thought the impact of the line would be even greater after his performance, because the judges kept their laughter to a moderate amount.
And, the writer thought, he might be able to do something useful.
“Let’s take a look at what you have for us today.”
“Yes.”
Receiving their devious interest, the contestant accepted the microphone that was handed to him.
Soon, the music began to play.
And everyone was dumbfounded.
This song showed up here?
Note: This series has been dropped, please go to the other translator’s site to continue reading: https://readhive.org/series/107/4/
- an honorific for young men ⤴
Molidae Translations 