The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Chapter 96

Park Soo-Chul, the main producer of The Showcase 2, looked at the stage as it was being set up. Watching the process of a set completion was a normal routine for producers. A part of him felt that if the sets were completed well, the day's shooting would also go well. Although that wasn't necessarily the case, everyone would be able to shoot with confidence if the sets were well done; on the other hand, if the stage was not set up well, they had to stay on alert and check for various things all over again.

“Are all the cast members here?”

“Yes, they’ve all arrived, and we've put them in different waiting rooms by team.”

“I hope the shooting goes well today,” Park Soo-Chul said and turned his gaze back to the set again. Today’s shooting was especially critical as it was an episode that could determine the direction of the show. As a result, they were putting more care into the set production process than usual.

“If Only One wins today, it’s the final win, right?”

“The final stage will be like a farewell concert then.”

“The tension will suddenly be reduced at the end.”

“Well, it can’t be helped, since we can’t manipulate the results.” Whether Only One won first place or another group rose above—the main character of today’s competition could become the main character of the program itself.

As the producer in charge, Park Soo-Chul would edit in the direction that highlighted the main characters regardless of who they were, but…

‘If possible, I hope it’s a different team than Only One.’ Still, it would be good if a new group emerged to continue the show’s popularity until the final stage. As for now—

“Are the Siren guys doing well?” Siren was the most likely candidate to rise to the challenge.

“They do look good from the practice videos.”

“They do look good? You sound slightly unsure.”

“No, they’re good. For real.”

“What, then there’s nothing to worry about.”

“But Kang Hyun-Sung’s team is really good too.”

“…In that case, it is a bit worrisome.” As the producer in charge, he couldn’t cheer for Siren openly, but it couldn’t be helped considering the current situation.

“Should I just change the final competition to a farewell concert?”

“Sir, let’s wait and see for now.”

“Haa, yeah.”

“Sir, Bong Tae-Yoon is also in Kang Hyun’s team. If both teams do well, it could help Siren.”

“….Yeah, that’s possible. Let’s think positively.” Park Soo-Chul pulled out an e-cigarette from his pocket. “I’ll come back after a smoke break.” He was going to get some nicotine to get rid of his worries when—

“Producer!” From far away, a set production crew member rushed towards him. Park Soo-Chul, who was about to go outside with an e-cigarette in his mouth, stiffened and looked at his team member. Was there a problem with the set production? He couldn’t believe they were getting jinxed at a critical time like this. He wondered if today was the day he had to reassess the entire set production.

“Sir, the set…came out super well.”

“…What?”

“I think we could end an hour earlier than expected! The production process went very smoothly today.”

“Hey, you scared me!”

“…Sir, what?”

Sigh. “No, it’s nothing.”

“…Well, yes. Anyways, I think we can go into rehearsals an hour earlier than expected today.” After saying this with a laugh, the production crew member returned back to the set, and Park Soo-Chul was able to calm his surprised heart.

But above all, he decided to focus on the most important part.

‘The set came out well?’ It was uncommon for a staff member to run to him and say that the set had turned out really well.

‘Will something big happen today?’ Although he knew it was just superstition, he strangely had a good feeling about today’s stages.

“Let’s start getting ready for the rehearsal. I’ll come back after a quick smoke break,” Park Soo-Chul said and moved to the smoking area. Was it because he had a good feeling about this? His steps were very light.

* * *

After arriving at the studio, I moved to the waiting room with Kang Hyun-Sung. The current situation in the waiting room followed the strict confidentiality we kept in previous competition rounds. Visiting other team’s waiting rooms was not allowed and watching the rehearsal of other teams was also forbidden. Until the main shoot, the performances of other teams were kept in complete secrecy. Of course, we had briefly seen the other performances during the training camp's midterm checkup...

‘But that’s not everything.’ There was no team that would stop at that level, and above all, my members’ team changed everything from the song, choreography, and concept, so it was more accurate to say the rest of us had no information about their performance. However, the members of the team I was part of seemed to have no worries.

“Shall we warm up?”

“Let’s do one last check.”

Although they were preparing for the performance, they showed no signs of nervousness. Perhaps, after practicing and honing their performance so hard, they were confident that they were going to give it their all. Furthermore, since the reactions to the rehearsal this morning were good, there was nothing more to worry about.

‘Is Only One not too nervous because they already won first place twice?’ Furthermore, in Only One’s case, they might feel less burdened because they were leading the entire competition show. Besides them, OnebyOne and Bleshu might have been less nervous because they’ve already given up on winning first place. As for me—

[Probability of winning first place: 85%]

I kept running simulations in my mind while staring at this probability. Although all the indicators were positive, I kept thinking negative thoughts. If we didn’t win first place today, all my future plans would get awry and become extremely troublesome to adjust.

Of course, 85% was a high probability for us to win first place, but I thought, ‘It’s dangerous.’

85% was a dangerous number at such a critical time like this as with one mistake, the percentage could plummet. I needed to ideally raise it above 90%.

‘Hmm.’ But frankly, it was impossible to overcome the problem of ‘not knowing how to be loved’ with plain effort, so going over 90% seemed like a too high hurdle for me to jump over.

“Um, Mr. Tae-Yoon…Are you okay?”

Was it because I was staring intently at the percentage in the air for too long? Park Young-Ho worried about me.

I nodded and answered, “Ah, yes. I’m all right.”

“Don’t be too nervous,” Only One’s Kim Ju-Hyun said as he massaged my shoulders.

“Thank you.” I gently relaxed my expression because I didn’t want to ruin the good atmosphere.

Then Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me and said, “Are you hurt somewhere? What’s wrong with your expression?”

“…” He provoked me for no reason, and I returned to my usual expressionless face. Just in time—

—We’ll begin shooting! Please stand by for the first performance~

One production crew walked around and said this to all the teams.

“It’s already time to shoot?”

“Wow, that was fast.”

“I wonder what will happen today?”

Each team member voiced their hopeful thoughts like this. On the other hand, I was still nervous.

‘Let’s take a deep breath.’ Kang Hyun-Sung kept glancing at me. I pressed my palm hard. I felt like my blood circulation was poor because I was so nervous.

“I’ll turn on the TV~” One staff member turned on the TV to show the studio situation.

“There’s a lot of people here already.”

“It’s really starting now.”

The live video of the studio came up on the TV screen, and we saw that the studio was packed with people. This was the moment when we were able to visually realize again that this round’s competition was finally starting. Soon after—

—Hello viewers!

—I’m comedian Kim Young-Jin, the host of The Showcase 2.

—I’m singer Nahyun.

—Nice to meet everyone~

The two hosts walked to the center of the stage, and the shooting officially began. Then the hosts said their meaningless lines and the audience’s appropriate reactions followed.

—I’ve heard that today’s competition was set up differently from the previous competitions. How was it done, Ms. Nahyun?

—Today’s competition theme is <Our Showcase>, and as the name indicates, it’s a mission where you form a team and create your ‘own’ stage. Five groups were divided into three teams, and I’ll reveal the members of those three teams now.

The list of three teams appeared on the screen. Then I heard the audience murmuring amongst themselves. If I could hear their voices even coming through the host’s microphones, they must have created quite a commotion inside the studio.

‘Is it because the two members from OnebyOne left?’ However, everyone must have expected that already as OnebyOne's agency announced the suspension of the two members’ activities on their website and SNS.

‘Or is it because I’m the only odd one out?’ The audience might be making a lot of noise because I was the only one left out in a team centered around Siren and was stuck in the middle of Only One’s team. Well, honestly, this was not the important part.

‘I need to calm down.’ I was more focused on calming my anxious heart. Although I had failed to make the probability of winning first place above 90%, 85% was by no means a bad number. Worrying too much was poison instead.

–Then, let me now announce the first team that will perform.

Kim Young-Jin said. The order of today’s stage was randomly arranged by the production team. As a result, my team, Kang Hyun-Sung’s team, got to the last ending stage, and today’s opening performance was…

–Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team! Let’s start now!

It was the team that my group members were part of. I became even more nervous about my members’ performance. I pressed down my palms, half in excitement and half in worry about what kind of performance they’d prepared and how good it would be.

“Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon.” Then someone called me from the side.

“What?” I knew it was Kang Hyun-Sung without even turning around.

“Watch your members’ performance and relax.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Because even if you ruin the stage a bit, it might not be a big deal.”

“…?” I couldn’t understand him right away, but when my members’ performance began—

‘…!’ I understood what he was saying. I might not have been the one who raised the probability of winning first place to 85%.

‘Why are they so good…’ As soon as I saw their stage, I realized again that my members were insanely talented.

* * *

After winning an audience spot in The Showcase, one Siren fan was shocked by seeing the team’s composition members. Since she already knew that two members from OnebyOne were suspended, she wasn’t surprised about that, but—

‘Why is only Tae-Yoon on a different team?’ While all the members of Siren were gathered in one place, only Bong Tae-Yoon was in a completely different team. For now, she tried not to give it too much thought. However, not everyone around her reacted the same.

“Honestly, won’t Kang Hyun-Sung’s team be better without Bong Tae-Yoon? That guy has no stage presence whatsoever.”

“Hey! Speak quietly.”

“Ah, my bad.”

A few fans of other groups shit-talked on Bong Tae-Yoon.

“Our poor kids got stained by Bong Tae-Yoon.”

“You crazy bitch, stop that. Other people can hear.”

The Siren fan, who had a particularly good ear, didn’t feel good about hearing negative comments about her bias. Of course, there weren’t only bad comments about Bong Tae-Yoon.

“Isn’t Bong Tae-Yoon the idea maker? Will his team be all right?”

“Let’s watch their performance first.”

“Wow, everyone in team Kang Hyun-Sung is over 180cm!”

“They have great physicals.”

“Everyone in Kang Hyun-Sung’s team is a visual.”

There were also a lot of conversations that gave positive evaluations of Bong Tae-Yoon. But in this melting pot of mixed opinion, the Siren fan could be assured of one thing—

‘Tae-Yoon is the talk of the town.’ It felt like Bong Tae-Yoon was more at the center of this competition than she expected. She looked at the front, closing off her ears to the conversations around her. From now on, she planned to focus only on the stage, and she didn’t want to dampen her excitement from hearing negative remarks. Before long, Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team appeared with the host’s comments.

–Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team! Let’s start now!

Her heart started beating hard because she could finally see the idols she had watched every day on screen in person for the first time. Members of Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team came up one by one on stage. While the excitement and energy was rising—

Ding.

The first note rang out. A refreshing electronic sound and sentimental piano sound resonated on stage.

‘No way, they’re going for the innocent, refreshing concept?’ Her heart began to thump because the melody perfectly captured this exact concept. Then the stage light turned on, and the idols’ outfits were finally revealed.

‘Shirts and slacks?’ Her heart began to beat fiercely. She intently stared at the stage, wondering what the exact concept was when—

—I think I’ll miss you.

—Wherever we are, close your eyes

—And remember the moments

—That filled up our hearts—

With Woo Yeon-Hoon’s beautiful voice in the intro, he gave everyone a heart attack with his shocking visuals.

‘Crazy, he’s too handsome.’ Siren’s fan gasped and closed her mouth. This was the moment when she thought her ears and eyes might go blind and deaf from sheer bliss.

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