Debut or Die

Chapter 16

The other team wasn’t bad either. First of all, Ryu Chungwoo was a good match for the song, and objectively speaking, their stage was better than average compared to the stages of the other teams.

However, in the audience’s head, the target of comparison with that team will not be another team.

But it was VTIC.

This is the problem with covering the latest hit song by the most popular same gender idols. The fact that the original stage is imprinted on many brains as it is currently in progress.

Even if there is someone better than VTIC, it will not be easily recognized. It was because VTIC fans were all over the Internet.

It is somewhat buried in opinions such as ‘It can’t be compared to VTIC’.

Of course, aside from all of this— our side did better.

Whether or not the team members knew this, their faces were bright when they went back to the stage to greet them before the vote.

The MC introduced the teams in the order of their performance.

“Ah, our ‘Oktober 31’ team! It was a thrilling and fun performance like Halloween! That’s what the team name means, right?”

“Yes! It means Halloween’s cuties! And there is another meaning.”

“What is it?”

“Like 31 flavors of ice cream, it means that each of our team members has a variety of charm!”

Big Sejin looked back at the team members with a flower cup pose. Other team members quickly made poses for the introduction.

I— moderately put my finger on the cheek.

In reality, there is no such thing as a person my age doing this except when they’re drunk and try to make fun of someone disgustingly, but is there a place for a face in a survival show?

“Whaaaa!”

“Cute!!!”

Fortunately, there was no solemn response. Nevertheless, I’m glad that I was able to raise Park Moondae’s appearance stats.

Because B- was barely a ‘warmth’ and a ‘beautiful’ level of appearance.

And the opposing team’s introduction continued.

“Hello! I’m—”

It wasn’t to the point of being embarrassing, but I could tell that the other team was nervous because the cheers were different.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ryu Chungwoo!”

“Kyaaaa!”

The only thing to believe is that there was a loud shout for Ryu Chungwoo, but it will not be enough for the team to win.

The only thing to believe is that the cheers toward Ryu Chungwoo were loud, but unfortunately, that wouldn’t be enough for the team to win.

“Shareholders, please express what’s on your mind! First of all, please vote for the team you think did better! ‘October 31’ is number one! ‘Mountain Hero’ team is number two!”

He showed the team’s number with his fingers.

As soon as the audience pressed the button on the remote control, the voting ended, and they announced a new voting method.

“All right, now you just have to pick one participant from each team who you liked the most!”

The MC emphasized this once more.

“I’m telling you once again, but it’s not putting 2 groups together!! Pick one person per team and two people in total!”

This was a bone of contention in one’s face.

Perhaps the production team wanted to show a very provocative development, so the reward for voting as an individual was better than the reward for voting as a team.

They even blew it up without notice right before the stage rehearsal.

– Everyone! The reward for the ‘individual match’ in this team match is— you’re exempt from being eliminated!

– …Yes!?

So, there were many complaints from other teams.

Fortunately, the team didn’t have this kind of conflict. Seon Ahyun was a pushover, and Gold 1 and 2 were not the ones who had the courage to speak up even if they had complaints.

Lee Sejin would have been too busy to digest his part right away, and Choi Wongil had already broken their spirits once, so he didn’t say anything unnecessary.

Big Sejin wouldn’t have anything to complain about because he eventually got the position as the main dancer.

From what I can see, it doesn’t seem to be because of teamwork, but because each person has too many problems to solve on their own, so they don’t have the energy to cause conflict.

That’s right. But it doesn’t matter because it looks like it happened because of teamwork on the camera.

Anyway, the individual voting ended in a more ambiguous atmosphere than the first vote.

“Thank you!”

After a short greeting, the participants went down from the stage. Of course, that includes me.

Strangely, I felt disappointed to come down.

******

It was in the middle of the night when filming ended.

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard~.”

“I think we did a good job!”

When they heard that the results of the individual match would be announced at the ranking ceremony, everyone was disappointed, but they quickly got over it.

Because it happened the same way last season, they must have half expected it, and they must have felt relaxed about it because they thought they had won the team match anyway.

Yeah, we won the team match.

– For the team match— October 31 wins! The score is 82 to 401!

– Whoa!!!

That too, with a crazy score of ’82 to 401?.

When they heard the announcement, they were stunned for 5 seconds, then cheered.

There was nothing else to say because, except for Big Sejin, the rest of them were on the verge of crying.

But these guys soon had no choice but to calm down.

– Uh…

– Donggyun-ah.

– You’ve worked hard. Well done.

There was someone on the other team who really cried.

Originally, it was hard for someone who wasn’t as sad as the first person to cry. Even more, if it is tears of joy.

As a result, the team members who were aware of the camera and the opposing team remained in an ambiguous state of joy and became extremely happy after the filming was over.

“Shall we create a group chat room? I mean, we live and work hard together so far~ shouldn’t we have a group chat?”

“Heol, that’s great!”

“I’m totally agree, leader.”

A group chat room was created under the leadership of Big Sejin.

Surprisingly, the atmosphere was good, and Lee Sejin even gave his phone number without saying anything.

“Huh!”

“Hey! Hyung-nim!”

“Wow~ All of our team members can talk affectionately like this!”

“….”

In the end, I naturally exchanged numbers and entered the group messenger room.

—I’ll probably turn off the notification later.

“Moondae~ You did a great job.”

“Yeah, you worked hard as a leader too.”

Big Sejin talked to me as I was packing my luggage. I ended the situation reasonably and politely, so it was easy for him to take it.

“Haha, I was a good leader!”

“….”

This guy must be doesn’t know about humbleness—.

“It was a joke, a joke!”

Big Sejin smiled brightly.

It didn’t look like that, so stop doing that.

“Let’s see each other often. Keep in touch!”

“Hmm, yeah.”

Big Sejin seemed to be thinking of putting me in his line.

‘It looks like he’s planning to cut off the participants who are from the same agency because they aren’t good at all.’

But I didn’t forget that this guy is a drug addict. I had no intention of taking any risks until the accusations were all cleared up.

‘I’ll skip it and tell him later that the phone is broken.’

As I was thinking about it, another voice came from the other side.

“M, me too! K, keep in tou—”

“Keep in touch?”

Seon Ahyun nodded vigorously. He should be better than Big Sejin, right?

I nodded, and Seon Ahyun’s face brightened. Big Sejin smiled and said.

“Should the three of us create the group separately? It would be nice to have a group chat with people of the same age.”

Did he have to bring it up like this?

However, thanks to Seon Ahyun’s quick approval, they instantly opened another group messenger room.

An ominous feeling passes by.

I put this worry aside because I wanted to finish the stage as soon as possible, but it bothers me that a lot of votes came in after the first team fight was tied last season.

No way will I be stuck with these guys like this?

“….”

I don’t know. Anyway, I think I did well in the team match, so I’ll probably make it through the first round.

“Everyone, go home safely~.”

“See you again!”

The participants left the filming set after greeting. I also walked out and took the bus.

I’ll have to look for the team match reviews when I go back to my temporary studio.

* * *

The audience would usually sign a formal agreement not to reveal anything about the stage until the show aired.

However, the spoiler ban was rarely properly followed anywhere.

So, reviews began to appear one after the other on anonymous sites that didn’t reveal the writers’ identities.

It was roughly like this.

[Review of RII audience]

: MallangDalkom is awesome. I’m amazed.

– Who the hell are these guys to keep showing up?

? Is it Aggro? (t/n : ??? is slang meaning a behavior in which they are being disrespectful in order to bring attention to themselves.)

? ?? I think they’re really good?

? No, I mean, how do they manage to make MallangDalkom so awesome? Did you even poppin in ?POP?CON??

It was unexpected.

Even so, I thought that the team with Cha Eugene, who was ranked number one, would have more mentions, but it seems that this team has more mentions.

Of course, about half of them didn’t seem to be real audiences but rather people who wanted to jump on the bandwagon and make a mockery of ?Idol Inc.?.

But doesn’t that still mean that we made an impression on a lot of people?

I picked out some good reviews and read them.

[First team match, I will write what I remember]

…And the boys who perform with MallangDalkom’s debut song are really good, and they seem to be able to debut as they are. They have a good physical combination, and the only thing that bothers me is Lee SeJin1, but he almost put it away with the atmosphere…I wonder who came up with the idea.

Oh that’s right, the high-pitched sound was so good I think we could get the main vocal here

+I will put a picture as proof because I don’t make things up. (Blurred stage installation photo)

? So who else was there besides Lee Sejin?

?You said they’re really good but you can’t remember their name ??? Yeah, it’s fake, next.

?Yeah, it’s not fake, just look at the proof shot ??

– I looked at the profile now, and when I matched the name, there was Seon Ahyun. He was so fucking good. If there’s a center, he’d be a 100% center

? But I’m really curious how they did well ?? MallangDalkom’s debut song is so cringy.

? They did it with an occult story, and I got goosebumps.

? ??

? No, it’s a robot concept

?? Ignore the Aggro, just push the fairy concept.

???No, it was a werewolf concept

? No, it’s a vampire.

? Which one is right, you crazy bastards ??

? The fairy is right?

“The post is ruined.”

When I looked at other posts, I saw the same people’s jokes in the middle, which turned into a game.

Until the broadcast aired, there were probably only rumors, but that was a good thing. Wouldn’t it be more interesting if they didn’t know the details?

And since the production team will definitely look at the public opinion on the Internet, there is a high probability that this overflowing amount of mention will be a good thing for the team.

‘It was enough to just look at the reaction—’

Now let’s look at the priorities to deal with next.

I called back the pop-up that came to mind as soon as the stage was over.

[Successful stage!]

You impressed the majority!

– Number of audiences: 582 (Updated!)

– Impressed rate: 81% (updated!)

: Draw Rare Characteristics ? Click!

The explanation is longer than before. Perhaps the number of audiences and the impressed ratio gave better characteristics every time I set a record.

So far, both of the characteristics that have been used have worked, so getting to choose a characteristic at one stage was a good reward.

Well, If I don’t make my debut within a year, I will die, so this is a good balance.

‘…Hmm, thinking like this suddenly makes me mad.’

Aside from that, I had leveled up after accomplishing 500 dance practices while preparing for the first team match.

However, I delayed stat distribution. This is because I wanted to invest effectively based on what the next shoot would be about.

‘So let’s keep this one and just draw the characteristics.’

As expected, when I clicked “draw,” a slot machine appeared. I think I’m getting used to this appearance.

The slot machine spins as usual, stopping when it gets to the letters in brass color.

“Ah…”

It was a shame that I got the brass box and didn’t get the silver box, which was the high grade, and there were only a few of them in that space.

‘I can’t always be lucky.’

Moreover, the content was more important than the grade.

I quickly cleared my mind and looked at the effect of the chosen characteristics.

[Characteristics: ‘Look at me! (D)’ Acquired!]

People pay a little more attention to your actions.

“….”

I was at a loss for words.