Genius Idol’s Strategy to Conquer the Entertainment Industry

Chapter 52

“1 minute left! Everyone, wrap it up and get ready!”

No one seemed to speak up, probably because they were too flustered, so I had no choice but to open my mouth first.

“Guys, if we keep doing this, we’re in big trouble. Let’s quickly come up with something.”

“Yeah. This is a big problem…”

“…”

Silence again.

Guys, say something.

Honestly, I’m the type who would usually stay quiet and follow someone trustworthy, but this game keeps testing my extroversion.

By the time we clear this game, won’t I become a completely extroverted person who can’t stay alone in a room?

Meanwhile, a staff member, noticing our indecisiveness, gave us a look to quickly get up.

Reluctantly, I stood up and spoke again.

“Should we just avoid anything that includes rap?”

“Then there’s only vocal and performance together.”

“That’s right.”

“What if we miss that?”

“Then we have to work even harder.”

“!”

[Your teammates are impressed by your refusal to give up. Team’s overall favorability +5]

It was a very obvious and responsible statement that if you lack skill, you should at least work hard, but somehow, my teammates were impressed and our favorability went up.

“Raon usually seems a bit off, but sometimes you look really cool!”

“No, Daeya, it’s the opposite.”

“Oh! Raon sometimes looks cool, but usually seems a bit off!”

“…Just stay quiet.”

My teammates giggled as we headed towards the line where the trainees were grouped by teams.

“You guys go next to them.”

A staff member redirected us from where we were trying to stand at the end to an empty space in the middle.

Once all the teams were lined up near the wall with the signs, Seo Chan-bin, who was standing slightly ahead, shouted loudly.

“We’ll start the slate!”

Clap! The loud, ear-piercing clap he made with his large hands explained why he was in charge of the slate.

Jena, who was standing upright in front of us, spoke.

“Did everyone discuss and decide well?”

“Yes!”

No, I answered inwardly.

Now that I looked around, there were a few other teams with a subtly gloomy atmosphere like ours.

Standing in front of the camera with its red light on, they tried to hide it as much as possible, but their faces showed a gloomy and hopeless expression even before choosing the song.

The only saving grace was that our team, despite having been properly warned by the PD, had a somewhat positive atmosphere.

Regardless of the outcome, we decided to do our best, something along those lines.

I hope nobody has completely given up on the results.

I don’t think so.

“So, we will now choose the competition song. The team with the lowest combined rank of the highest and lowest-ranked trainees will come forward and choose first.”

It turned out that the trainees were lined up in the order they would choose the song.

It seemed the production team had prepared the list and calculated it during the team discussion time.

As the team composed of top-ranked trainees at the far left stepped forward, it became clear that our turn was near the back.

I hadn’t expected them to decide the order like this.

I had anticipated that they would use rankings when determining the order to create a sense of pressure about elimination.

With top-tier trainees like Jing Xiao and Seo Moon-gyeol, and myself, who was in the upper-middle tier, I had been somewhat relieved, but because Kyle was ranked 58th, we were pushed back further than expected.

I didn’t know the exact intention behind this method, but it felt like it was designed to stimulate both the superiority of the high ranks and the inferiority of the low ranks.

Sure enough, Kyle, who turned red upon confirming the order, muttered an apology from the back.

“No. It’s okay.”

“Right. Don’t worry about it.”

Jing Xiao and I reassured him in low voices so as not to disrupt the filming. There was no reason for Kyle to feel guilty.

‘Even if we had been at the front, we would still have had to choose a mixed position.’

No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed PD Jo In-soo had given up on our team early on.

Although we had to do what we were told, we accepted it with smiles, but we hadn’t completely given up on the stage and the broadcast.

How could we survive?

As I watched the signs disappear one by one, I kept thinking and thinking again.

If someone put their ear to my head right now, they could probably hear the spinning sound.

“The next team, please come forward and choose your position and song.”

Before I knew it, it was our turn.

As we had discussed in advance, Seo Moon-gyeol stepped forward, the one with the most knowledge.

Standing in front of the high wall, Seo Moon-gyeol couldn’t make an easy decision.

We, waiting behind, stared at the signs as if a sharp idea might pop up.

With most of the popular vocal and performance songs gone, our options were limited.

Given that the PD had said so, we couldn’t do a single position song, so we had to choose one of the mixed positions.

‘Whatever it is, we have to do rap.’

It was a shame that the team right before us had taken the position.

Among the mixed positions, that was the one we could manage the best.

“What should we do?”

“Wouldn’t the performance rap be the easiest?”

“Please choose the competition song.”

Prompted by Jena, who was urging us, Seo Moon-gyeol, who had been silently conflicted, reached out his hand.

The moment I recognized the direction of Seo Moon-gyeol’s hand, I made my decision and shouted.

“Not that one, hyung! That one!”

Fearing that something irreversible might happen, I urgently shouted, and several dozen gazes followed my outstretched fingertips as if under a spell.

Reflected back from the imposing sign that resembled a final boss were eyes that seemed to ask if I was serious.

Even my teammates, including Seo Moon-gyeol, seemed to doubt my sincerity.

I spoke in the most earnest tone I could muster.

“Hyung, everyone, trust me just this once.”

A subtle light flickered across Ban Yo-han’s face, probably remembering a similar statement from me before, but I ignored it.

This time, it wasn’t just bravado.

Actually, it was partly true, but mostly not, so it wasn’t just bravado.

“For some reason, Raon seems to encounter a lot of unexpected situations when doing things like this,” Jena said amusingly, observing the situation with her microphone lowered.

Come to think of it, last time during the joint practice, Ban Yo-han suddenly raised his hand, leading to an impromptu decision.

“Alright, then, Seo Moon-gyeol trainee, do you trust On Raon trainee?”

Jena added an impromptu comment that wasn’t on her cue card, further highlighting the unexpected situation.

“…”

Why was I so nervous about this?

Seo Moon-gyeol’s gaze, which had been directed at Jena, turned to me.

Thud.

Seo Moon-gyeol detached the mixed set sign I had pointed to.

“I trust you.”

Done. I unconsciously released the tension in my clenched fist and exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

As the trainees, who had been watching with keen interest, started making excited noises, someone expressed admiration.

“Is saying ‘I trust you’ really that cool?”

Seo Chan-bin, who was standing next to the trainee who had spoken first, lightly tapped him, calling his attention, and then said in a low, serious voice while looking at him intently.

“I trust you.”

Pfft. I puffed out my cheeks, holding back laughter, and air escaped through my closed lips.

“Ah, stop it!”

The first trainee who had spoken grimaced in disgust.

In the meantime, Seo Moon-gyeol returned to his place with the sign.

Standing at the front, Jing Xiao, who took the sign from him, murmured.

“I wondered who would pick this, and it’s us.”

“Xiao, you don’t regret our choice, right?”

“Hey. Not at all.”

Jing Xiao joked, insisting he wouldn’t do such a thing, but I saw it.

The momentary wavering in his honest pupils.

Haha, you rascal.

* * *

After much difficulty, the positions and song selections were finally completed, and each team was given free practice time.

Before starting serious discussions, I was called to a separate space for an interview.

“Please make sure it doesn’t show that the PD talked to you separately.”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Don’t overthink it just because it’s being broadcasted. Instead of looking directly at the camera, look slightly to the side, over this person’s shoulder, and answer comfortably. Active reactions are good too.”

It seemed that the trainees’ interviews had become more reserved after the broadcast, as the reminders were lengthy.

I nodded slightly to show I understood, and the writer asked.

“Why did you choose that position? Everyone seemed to want to avoid it.”

How could they ask this while telling me not to mention the PD?

Feeling a bit wronged, I looked at the writer who had asked me the question. She, feeling awkward, quickly averted her gaze.

Oh well.

I steeled myself and began to speak.

“I have a picture in my mind.”

Today’s concept was an artist.

An artist painting a very, very big picture.

“A picture?”

The writer mouthed for me to elaborate a bit more.

“Yes. How should I put it? It’s hard to explain, but it’s like Kim Hong-do’s wrestling painting.”

The writer and the cameraman looked puzzled.

Since I hadn’t had a proper discussion with my teammates yet, I couldn’t think of much else to say, so I deliberately looked directly at the camera as if speaking to someone beyond it.

“Look forward to it.”

Although it was a message to the viewers, it was actually more directed at PD Jo In-soo.

Just watch us.

I would produce content so compelling that it would be a waste to cut us out from the broadcast.

It was a kind of desperate measure. Having made such a statement, I had no choice but to succeed.

If I failed, I’d be edited to look like a fool who didn’t know his place.

If our stage failed and my grandiose talk was aired, that would be the end for me.

If I made even a single mistake, they would replay it three times and sandwich it between my interview clips.

If I succeeded, I’d at least be seen as someone who keeps his word.

The important thing was,

‘If you do nothing while being cautious, you disappear.’

Especially when so many trainees were going to be eliminated this round.

After receiving an okay sign from the writer, I returned to where my teammates were gathered, all of them talking seriously.

“I’m back.”

“You’re back?”

“Now tell us. What were you thinking when you chose that?”

Jing Xiao pointed at the sign we had stuck on the wall near us.

The other teammates also looked at me with expressions that agreed with Jing Xiao.

“First of all… I’m sorry for suddenly deciding without discussing it with you guys.”

“No. The person who should apologize is someone else.”

Daeya, speaking in his usual cheerful tone but with a hint of bitterness, slightly furrowed his thick eyebrows. He was obviously thinking about the PD, who he would probably enjoy chewing out.

However, for some reason, Kyle’s expression darkened after hearing Daeya’s words.

Did he misunderstand, thinking Daeya was blaming him for his low rank?

Before I could dwell on it, Jing Xiao and Nagase Ritsu spoke one after the other.

“Yeah. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been much different even if we chose something else. That’s all that was left.”

“If you chose this because you had an idea, then it’s better than reluctantly choosing something else.”

Good. At least I wouldn’t be labeled a traitor by my teammates.

“Thanks for understanding, everyone.”

In the relatively warm atmosphere, I continued.

“Since you’re all understanding, let me say this. Actually, the person I believed in was Gyeol hyung.”

Seo Moon-gyeol, who had been listening quietly, asked.

“What do you mean?”

With a meaningful expression and a subtle gesture, I beckoned my teammates to gather closer.

“Listen.”

It was time to add a bit of flair.