LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 99
Chapter 99
The next day.
We were practicing the group song for the monthly evaluation when Director Joo Yeol-eum opened the practice room door and walked in.
“Hey, can I have a moment of your time?”
Until now, Director Joo Yeol-eum had occasionally watched us practice from outside the room. This was the first time she directly approached us to speak.
Since Director Joo Yeol-eum was much shorter than us, it inevitably created a situation where we looked down at her, making me feel tense as if I should kneel down.
“I’ve been watching you guys for a few days, and I can see you five are close…”
It wasn’t hard to guess that what would follow wouldn’t be anything good.
“You look more like five friends having fun together rather than a single team.”
It didn’t seem like she was complimenting us for getting along well without hierarchy.
“I know how the CEO is, so I can roughly guess how you’ve been doing so far. He probably didn’t push you too hard or put much pressure on you. He likely told you to do your best as much as you could… something like that.”
Judging by the flinching of the original Seed trainees, it seemed Director Joo Yeol-eum’s assessment was accurate.
“I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Given how lenient he’s been, you all seem to be in good shape.”
“Thank you.”
Kang Ji-woo spoke on our behalf.
“Still, I’d like you all to be a bit more tense. There’s a unique bond that forms when you overcome hardships together over a long period. I’m concerned that you haven’t been together long enough to build that.”
Why was she making such a long-winded preamble?
“Wouldn’t that bond develop as we continue to work together?”
Ban Yo-han’s question was met with a shake of the head from Director Joo Yeol-eum.
“No. You need to build it before you debut.”
Her tone was quite firm.
“You might not be perfect from the start, but you need to show the best possible image to the public from the very first moment. To shed the perception that you’re just a secondary team formed from eliminated trainees.”
A secondary team.
To put it more harshly, we could be seen as a team of rejects.
It was a valid point, but it also subtly pricked my pride, making me listen more attentively.
“Don’t worry, though.”
“……”
“Let’s create bonds, camaraderie, solidarity, trust, and faith in each other, and memories of our youthful days together that will make us say, ‘Back in my day…’ even when we’re older… Let’s do this within six months.”
[Sub Quest
[▶ Quest Description: You can guess from the quest name, right? Endure until the end.
▶ Guaranteed Reward: Skill《???》, Willpower +50]
[This quest cannot be refused.]
[It will proceed automatically.]
Thus, with a quest whose name alone was ominous, Director Joo Yeol-eum proposed—no, declared.
“Devil…!”
She was the incarnation of insane Sparta.
It was literally hell training.
While Pick Heart had pushed trainees to the limit without any specific method, Director Joo Yeol-eum drilled us systematically and efficiently in all directions.
Director Joo Yeol-eum willingly played the role of the villain.
‘Have you done this much? Oh, pretty good. Then how about trying this now? Can’t do it? Oh, you can? Okay, then do it.’
……She seemed to enjoy it.
Thanks to her, my stats increased daily, and we reflected on each day, sweating together and building a strong sense of unity by overcoming hardships as a group of five.
Gyun Seong-ha didn’t have time to act strangely towards me.
Conversely, I didn’t have the leisure to scrutinize him.
The only thing I learned was that he had no intention of openly showing discomfort or dislike towards me.
In the meantime, I started receiving direct composition lessons from Representative Ban Ga-eul.
Though I was working on restoring songs in the company studio in between the exhausting training, I felt the limits of my lack of basic skills.
“The CEO teaches much better than I do. She’s kind, so don’t worry.”
Seo Moon-gyeol, who had been learning composition from Representative Ban Ga-eul since high school and still received occasional lessons, advised me.
“You’ve taught me well so far too, kindly.”
Seo Moon-gyeol quietly rejoiced at my words.
As Seo Moon-gyeol had said, Representative Ban Ga-eul taught me kindly and well.
“Wow, this song is hard to copy, but you did well. Your copying skills are almost at a level where you don’t need to do much more. You have a good sense of rhythm and natural listening skills.”
Of course, the song I played for Representative Ban Ga-eul was one copied from the other world, not this one.
“Do you have any original compositions? Even if they’re incomplete, it’s fine.”
“Not yet.”
“None at all?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Usually, when someone reaches your level, they’re eager to create their own songs, so I thought you might have at least one.”
Since my original goal for learning composition wasn’t creation, I could only laugh awkwardly.
I was too anxious to divert my attention elsewhere, fearing that even a bit of memory might be lost.
If even a part of it differed from the original, it meant nothing to me.
There was a composition-related quest with a horrible penalty of random stat reset, but I still had over two years left on it, so I didn’t feel too rushed yet.
‘Larry called me a genius. Surely I’ll be able to write at least one satisfying song within three years.’
Back then, I thought it was crazy to have a three-year quest limit, but now I was grateful for those three years.
“It’s actually strange.”
“Pardon?”
It startled me to hear “strange” when I was just thinking about it.
Maybe thinking I was tense, Ban Ga-eul gave a small reassuring smile.
“As I said earlier, your copying skills are excellent. You captured the structure and musicality well, showing you considered the original creator’s perspective. But to my ears, it feels very strange.”
“What do you mean by strange…?”
It didn’t seem like a bad thing.
“The tone and mood are subtly different from the original, without damaging it. It’s unfamiliar yet new.”
Representative Ban Ga-eul continued in a gentle tone.
“So, Raon, I was curious about what kind of song you would write. I thought I could understand better if it was a song you composed rather than a copy.”
Ah, I had a feeling I knew the reason why.
* * *
It had almost been a month since Pick Heart ended.
While Orca was diligently preparing for their debut, Breaker, which could be considered their peer group, was experiencing some difficulties.
Even after the broadcast ended, noise among fans persisted due to factors like blatantly biased airtime and editing, and the unidentified expert evaluations.
An article exposing the unfairness of the expert evaluations, which viewers had suspected the most, was posted online with clear evidence.
It claimed that certain trainees were unfairly favored with high scores, while others were given the minimum scores.
The article stated that if the debut group had been decided by the representatives’ votes alone, like in seasons 1 and 2, or if the expert evaluations had been fair, the members of the debut group would have been significantly different.
Music Box denied these claims, calling them groundless. However, the situation escalated irreversibly when a recording, presumably of PD Jo In-soo, was leaked, where he blatantly instructed to reduce the airtime of certain trainees (with their names bleeped out).
– Well, it’s all for money anyway, so I understand not being able to give equal airtime to 100 people, but what kind of ethics is it to just cut them off? Save our kids, please.ㅠㅠ
– Fans of eliminated trainees have suffered a lot from Jo In-soo, so we’re not asking you to put them back in now. Just compensate the ones who were unfairly eliminated properly.
– For those like Boss who are better off now, what about the trainees left abandoned by their agencies? Many trainees have lost their fans after the show ended. I don’t even know how Da-hoon is living now. Da-hoon, are you even alive?ㅠㅠ
– Just reveal who was unfairly eliminated and disband Breaker. It was doomed to fail with such a terrible name anyway. Let’s live up to its name.
– It was suspicious from the start. Some got extra points from experts, some didn’t. It was a clear signal of rigging, but the representatives were too dumb to catch on.
– During the third purity ceremony, they gave points to all the candidates to ensure certain ones failed, but in the final, they only applied it to the three sub-leaders. Legendary.
– So, does that mean there’s a manipulated member among Seo Chan-bin, Oh Hyun-jin, and Ha Seo-joon, who were picked as sub-leaders with expert evaluation points?
┗ Since Seo Chan-bin is in a different league, it must be Hyun or Seo, or maybe both.
– But didn’t Boss deliberately drop out to debut with his company? He seems to be the biggest beneficiary of Pick Heart.
┗ What is this?
– Everyone, don’t respond to posts like @ //wdojka @ //okiudhqqa. Just collect evidence and report them.
The fallout spread widely, with reports on various major news outlets and politicians discussing the issue, making it only a matter of time before the police started investigating.
In fact, a raid was conducted on ALT’s headquarters.
Music Box was in an uproar, wondering who had the audacity to do such a thing, but even after thoroughly investigating the involved parties, they couldn’t identify the whistleblower.
“We must make sure our client walks the path of flowers.”
Whistleblower Manager 14227, or rather Larry, hummed a peculiar tune.
If he, she, or it had not acted, Music Box and ALT would have likely weathered the suspicions and concealed the manipulation until the debut group disbanded.
Seed, considered a primary victim, also took action.
“The company is investigating and responding on various fronts. Are you guys okay?”
“Yes… well…”
All the trainees had hoped to make it to the end, but Seo Moon-gyeol and Ban Yo-han, who didn’t have high expectations for debuting at the company level, and even On Raon had anticipated this outcome early due to various factors.
“The company’s stance is to respond firmly as the situation develops. Since we were already at odds with them, there’s no need to worry about appearances now. The public is on our side for now.”
The thought that they truly underestimated us left a bitter taste, but no one in Seed considered taking further action related to Pick Heart.
The issue was the constant external provocation.