Genius Idol’s Strategy to Conquer the Entertainment Industry

Chapter 84

Given that there were no competition rehearsals until the next training camp, it was only natural for me to devote myself to restoration, needing something to immerse myself in.

It was a basic necessity to memorize dozens of program shortcuts to enhance work efficiency.

I frequently watched program tutorial videos on WeTube at 1.75x speed, and if I still didn’t understand something, I would SOS Seo Moon-gyeol for help.

Fortunately, Seo Moon-gyeol used the same program as me. Moreover, he knew far more than I did.

Seo Moon-gyeol even willingly shared his IDs and passwords for several composing communities he was a part of.

He did so without me even asking.

If Seo Moon-gyeol were a tree that could speak, he might have offered his branches to hang swings, allowed his fruits to be picked, even let his trunk be cut down, and perhaps asked if I needed his roots and stumps as well.

Thanks to him, I quickly became familiar with the composing program.

Although there were so many features that I barely mastered a fraction of them.

Whenever I needed something for my work, I either looked it up or winged it, getting the sense that I was gradually creating something with my own hands.

If being an idol wasn’t my path, I thought I could get a job making karaoke tracks in the future.

At least that would involve working while listening to the original songs, so it should be easier than this, right?

There were countless challenges.

When I looked it up online, they called what I was doing a form of composition practice called “MIDI copying,” advising not to obsess over replicating the exact sound while copying.

But my goal wasn’t composition practice; it was strictly song restoration.

So, I couldn’t help but become obsessed with finding similar instruments and sound effects.

Even though the sounds resonated clearly in my head, I didn’t know the names of the instruments, so I had to listen to various virtual instruments in the program one by one.

When I couldn’t find a similar one, I searched for songs with similar sounds and posted in composing communities with messages like, “I’m a newbie. Does anyone know what this sound effect is?ㅠㅠ.”

There was always at least one kind and knowledgeable expert in every community.

Through this process, I started to vaguely understand how sounds harmonize, the principles of layering and intertwining sounds to construct a song, and tips for adjusting tones.

Of course, I didn’t delude myself into thinking this was my composition skill.

Despite calling it restoration and reproduction, what I was doing was no different from exact replication of someone else’s work.

Moreover, these were works that didn’t exist in this world.

Therefore, I couldn’t show my results to anyone.

It was purely self-satisfaction.

But since doing what I wanted to do was always the most enjoyable, it didn’t really matter.

“Why isn’t this working….”

Of course, while it was enjoyable, it was also tough.

It was when I opened a new browser window to find solutions to my everyday problems.

I noticed something strange in the real-time search rankings.

1st: Pick Heart Oh Hyun-jin Pro-Japanese

2nd: Pro-Japanese Descendant Celebrity

3rd: Alt Pro-Japanese Controversy

Was it the Oh Hyun-jin I knew?

Curious, I clicked on the top-ranked “Pick Heart Oh Hyun-jin Pro-Japanese.”

Several sensational articles popped up.

I clicked on the top article.

[‘Pick Heart 3’ Oh Hyun-jin’s Past SNS Post Found “Thanks to My Ancestors”… The Truth About His Ancestors Revealed]

OurNews = Reporter Park Joo-min

Music Box’s ‘Pick Your Heart Season 3’ contestant Oh Hyun-jin (18) is embroiled in controversy due to a past SNS post.

On the 2nd, an online community ‘Arista’ posted a thread titled “Pick Heart Oh Hyun-jin Living Off His Pro-Japanese Ancestors.”

(…)

Netizens who saw the post commented, “Wasn’t he in sixth grade when he learned about history at school?”, “You can’t choose your ancestors, but saying it like that is another matter,” expressing their disappointment over his past remarks.

Meanwhile, Oh Hyun-jin’s fans responded, “Though the statement deserves criticism, it seems excessive to attack him for something he said as a child,” and “It’s malicious to dig up SNS posts from elementary school now, right before his debut.”

(…)

Meanwhile, ‘Pick Heart 3’ has proven its popularity by dominating the real-time music charts as soon as the original producing evaluation competition songs were released on Pitch and other music sites, ranking 1st (Rewind), 2nd (Melt Me), and 4th (Day and Night).

“Wow…”

I didn’t particularly feel sorry for Oh Hyun-jin since I already had a negative impression of him.

‘He’s just facing his karma.’

After briefly checking, it seemed most of Oh Hyun-jin’s fans criticized his past actions but were willing to forgive, considering he was a child at the time.

If he had posted it in middle school, the criticism and backlash would have been much harsher, but since it was during elementary school, the reaction was relatively mild.

Regardless, as his public image was tarnished, this incident would significantly impact Oh Hyun-jin, who had consistently ranked high enough to almost guarantee his debut.

Would he apologize during the ranking announcement tomorrow?

* * *

And indeed, that happened.

Oh Hyun-jin, who ranked first, apologized for his controversial remarks during his speech.

“I sincerely apologize for disappointing you with my immature comments from my childhood. I reflected a lot back then, and I will continue to reflect and strive to have a correct understanding of history.”

Since the controversy arose just before the third voting round closed, it didn’t significantly affect his ranking.

In fact, this time, expert evaluations were reflected in the rankings for the first time, and Oh Hyun-jin’s ranking, who participated in producing ‘Day and Night,’ was exceptionally high.

Honestly, he probably didn’t want to win first place this time.

Knowing this, PD Jo In-soo, who still put Oh Hyun-jin in that position, had quite the character.

Oh Hyun-jin, who placed fourth in the last ranking announcement, jumped to first solely due to expert evaluations and his incredible editing skills, surpassing Seo Chan-bin, who had an unrivaled fandom.

Seo Chan-bin, who also participated in creating the choreography for ‘Melt Me,’ and Seo Moon-gyeol, who joined in composing ‘Rewind,’ dropped to eighth, making the atmosphere even more delicate.

Despite the higher performance of ‘Rewind’ and ‘Melt Me’ in both the music and competition results.

The trainees who secured debut spots from first to tenth were Oh Hyun-jin, Seo Chan-bin, Na Yoon-jae, me, Jing Xiao, Ha Seo-joon, Ok Do-yoon, Seo Moon-gyeol, Kashima Sora, and Kim Sejong.

Those who received bonus points from expert evaluations were Oh Hyun-jin, Seo Chan-bin, Ha Seo-joon, Ok Do-yoon, Seo Moon-gyeol, and Kim Sejong.

Kim Jun-woo ranked 11th, Ban Yo-han 17th, so all members of the ‘Rewind’ team survived.

While Seo Moon-gyeol’s sudden rise in the last ranking announcement could be attributed to the influx from the ‘Eolssu Eolssu’ stage.

Given the tendency of fans to support both Seo Moon-gyeol and Ban Yo-han, and the current allowance for three simultaneous votes, it was surprising to see nearly a ten-rank difference between them.

Was the vote gap reduced?

Or was it the expert evaluations?

Or perhaps…

**Chapter 84: Genius Idol’s Strategy to Conquer**

Anyhow, Nagase Ritsu miraculously settled at 21st place, marking the end of the 3rd ranking announcement.

The trainees, having spent almost three months together, didn’t even have time for their tears to dry as they bid farewell to their friends, younger siblings, and older brothers, before entering the final training camp.

Before filming resumed, Jena called me over.

“Raon, have you been sleeping well lately?”

“Huh, sleep? Yes. I’m sleeping well.”

“Really? I’m very proud of how hard you’re always working, but I feel like you’ve been overdoing it lately. You seem to be lacking rest.”

When I blinked silently, lowering my gaze a bit, Jena let out a shallow sigh and continued.

“I know this is a very important time for all of you, but if you overexert yourself during the preparation process, you might not be able to showcase everything you’ve prepared when it truly matters. If that happens, you’ll be more upset and sad than anyone else.”

Jena’s voice was gentle, not as if she was scolding me.

Mentors had been offering encouragement and advice to the trainees whenever they had the chance.

Especially Jena and Muk Hye-sung, who took special care of the trainees.

In my mind, I upgraded King Jena back to God Jena.

“Yes. I understand what you mean. Thank you for your concern.”

Although I still couldn’t look her directly in the eyes, I replied obediently, and Jena smiled, hiding her worried expression.

“Lately, it’s clear to everyone how much effort you’re putting in, whether the camera is on or not. You shine brightly, and as a senior, it makes me happy to see that. You’re really lovely to watch. Truly. Let’s balance things well without overdoing it, okay?”

Perhaps it was because I had somewhat restored my charm.

Although the increase in my charm had noticeably slowed recently, it was already close to 3,000.

I had no idea how high it was going to go.

It was an impossible number to reach without some burning effect or something.

Dimension Management Bureau, who reset this to 10 initially, should wake up.

Anyway, being called out separately like this when the camera wasn’t rolling meant these weren’t just empty words.

I politely thanked her and returned to where the trainees were.

‘I feel weird.’

Soon, the filming began.

The only task left was the debut producing evaluation, which would be broadcast live in about ten days.

“You will be producing a track that will be included in the debut album of the debut group. If you debut, you’ll be promoting with this song.”

Jena, standing neatly before us, explained that the songs were created in a similar manner to the 3rd competition.

However, it seemed like they had raised the standards, as they only accepted songs with a completed topline, meaning at least the melody was finished.

“The final evaluation will be conducted with teams of seven. The teams are determined based on the experts’ consideration of each trainee’s position and chemistry.”

I still didn’t know who these experts were.

‘Produce Team Vivi?’

A moment later, the songs and teams were revealed.

The song I was assigned to was ‘Party Night,’ and my teammates were the composer Oh Hyun-jin, Ha Seo-joon, Choi Tae-woo, Lee Seung-hyuk, Kim Sejong, and Kashima Sora.

…This was a combination I had seen a lot before.