Chapter 12
The trainees all moved to the practice room next door.
As if they were practically chased out.
Once they all left, a few key staff members and judges began an emergency meeting.
“What’s with her?”
The first to speak was Director Kim.
“Trainer Wonho, was she always that good?”
Director Kim asked Dance Trainer Cho Wonho with a slightly displeased face.
“She was seriously bad at dancing, really.”
“I was really surprised.”
Do Hee-young also had a quite surprised face.
“She danced better than me?”
“…Maybe she could even do better than the director….”
Vocal Trainer Kang Sunhwa also spoke in a flustered manner.
Everyone present was engulfed in shock.
“Hey, it’s not that much. She was so bad that she looks better now.”
If there are no expectations, it can look even better.
At Cho Wonho’s words, everyone nodded their heads.
But even considering that, it was an incredible improvement.
“Well…. she wasn’t originally in the debut group.”
“She was in the debut group. We were going to put her in as the last judge’s pick because we didn’t have our main vocal.”
“No, that’s our pick. Originally, we were going to put her in as a scapegoat to cover up the controversy of the other kids.”
Director Kim said something that would be shocking if Yoon Cheong heard it, without any hesitation.
“It looks like she can go as a safe debut pick.”
The public’s eyes are sharper than anyone else’s.
If she shows such overwhelming skill- naturally-
“…She might even be picked as number one?”
She has to debut.
Yoon Cheong’s stage performance just now was, in a word, a masterpiece.
It was only natural since they brought a top idol of 10 years among the trainees.
‘Baek Nokha’ was famous for her skills even among those 10-year idols.
But they couldn’t know that fact.
“I thought she took some kind of drug, I was completely relaxed.”
“…Did she drink a little soju?”
Do Hee-young muttered next to him.
It was a method he used occasionally at the beginning of his debut.
Director Kim glared at Do Hee-young. It meant not to say unnecessary things.
“This is a problem if it goes like this.”
Director Kim was very displeased.
He had no choice but to be.
Director Kim’s plan was this. Put Yoon Cheong, who is obviously the least popular, in the debut group.
What do the public bite the most?
Choosing someone they didn’t choose.
Sometimes it bites more than character controversy or other controversies.
Director Kim was sure that Kim Ryeo-yu would debut.
If you push the editing point well with the PD pick, and build up the narrative yourself, it’s obviously much more advantageous.
On top of that, Kim Ryeo-yu was not particularly bad, but rather quite outstanding among the trainees.
But Kim Ryeo-yu had just one drawback.
Past.
The fact that she was a perpetrator of school violence.
No matter how much she tried to bury it, Director Kim knew.
There are some things that can never be buried by ordinary means.
So Director Kim thought of burying Kim Ryeo-yu by putting another scapegoat in front of her.
And he chose Yoon Cheong as the target of that scapegoat.
A trainee who is weak-hearted, shakes as soon as she stands on stage, and falls out every time she enters the debut group.
Desperate and earnest, but a little lacking.
A trainee who was just right to use.
But then.
‘You’re admitting it right away?’
‘Yes, because it’s true.’
The way she boldly answered earlier.
The stage that was close to perfect.
There was nothing that wasn’t surprising.
She looked even more like an ace than Ace Seo Baek-young.
Why didn’t we know her, to the point where it was questionable.
“…What should we do?”
PD Oh asked casually.
“The debut group has to stay the same. Kim Ryeo-yu, Seo Baek-young, Kim Geum, Jo Hee-on, Yoon Cheong.”
Director Kim said decisively.
“First, let’s reduce Yoon Cheong’s part a bit. Please edit that stage.”
“Huh?”
PD Oh’s eyebrows started to rise a lot.
The stage just now was a legendary stage even for him, who had directed music broadcasts for only three years.
It was an unbelievable level for a mere trainee who had prepared for three days.
It was a stage that would definitely become a hot topic if it went on air.
What’s a hot topic, PD Oh was confident that he could make Yoon Cheong number one if he just set his mind to it.
With that level of talent, the ratings will also rise.
Originally, broadcasting is a way for one outstanding star to pull it up by the scruff of the neck.
Especially in such an audition program.
But to edit such a stage?
“That’s a bit too much. Even if we edit the mid-evaluation, we can’t edit the stage at the main evaluation. All the main stages will go up on OTube.”
All the stages go up on OTube as they are, without editing.
When the time comes, it can’t be hidden.
Rather, they would definitely get cursed at for editing such a stage, saying that the broadcasting station guys are definitely crazy.
In the worst case, there might even be suspicion of manipulation.
There were more than one or two guys who lost their hands trying to manipulate.
PD Oh had no intention of doing such a noticeable manipulation, let alone a little bit of manipulation.
Especially not with someone else’s will, let alone his own.
“Do we really need to upload the evaluation stage on OTube when it’s not even a live stage yet?”
But Director Kim was also quite stubborn.
“It’s already been passed at the planning meeting. These days, it’s not easy to get a hot topic without OTube.”
Who watches the main broadcast? These days, it’s a world where everyone watches OTT and OTube.
PD Oh clicked his tongue inside. The entertainment director was so out of touch.
PD Oh was actually very dissatisfied. He didn’t know what Director Kim had fed to the upper ranks, but it was clear that he had fed them well.
Didn’t the director tell him outright to listen to Director Kim as long as he could?
But that was within the line that didn’t cross the ‘line’.
This was clearly beyond the line. PD Oh had no intention of ruining his career because of an old man who didn’t know the ways of the world.
“Still-”
“Director Kim.”
PD Oh raised his hand to stop Director Kim’s words.
“If the ratings don’t come out or if there’s a manipulation controversy, will you take responsibility instead?”
“….”
“Are you going to say that Director Kim directed everything? No, right?”
PD Oh stood up as if there was nothing more to say.
“Do the evaluation however you want, that’s up to the judges’ discretion.”
“!”
“If Director Kim wants to press down on trainee Yoon Cheong, try pressing her down with an evaluation. It was mediocre, well, you can do that. You can even harshly criticize her. I will definitely put that in the broadcast.”
I’m the one who benefits.
The comments will be plastered with Director Kim’s curses.
Curses are also topical in this world.
PD Oh laughed slyly.
“But I’m going to put in the longest cut of trainee Yoon Cheong’s stage just now. I’ll also put it in the preview.”
If you have eyes, you can tell that she’s going to rise.
And PD Oh, while he might not have had character, he wasn’t blind.
***
The filming resumed, and the trainees returned to the practice room.
Not only the judges, but also among the trainees, there was a sense of tension.
Most were either quite tired or in a downcast mood.
Because there were few who received good evaluations.
And,
“….”
Because Yoon Cheong did too well.
In fact, from their point of view, it’s much better if everyone can’t do it.
It’s more comforting to the heart if everyone can’t do it, rather than just me.
Of course, it’s an impossible thing.
Then it’s better for the person who was originally good to do well.
Kim Ryeo-yu, Kim Geum, and Ryu Bo-ra were originally strong candidates for debut.
Kim Geum was the only rapper position, Kim Ryeo-yu was Kim’s relative, and Ryu Bo-ra was different from the start in terms of recognition.
But.
Yoon Cheong wasn’t.
Everyone looked a little bewildered.
Let’s say she managed to pull off the intro choreography earlier.
It was unexpected, but let’s say she was lucky because she was dead set on one thing.
But the stage just now wasn’t luck.
That was something the trainees who had directly collided with their bodies knew best.
Everyone was completely overwhelmed by Yoon Cheong.
In an instant, Yoon Cheong went from being the last candidate to the first candidate.
That had a lot of meaning.
“…We will start the evaluation of trainee Yoon Cheong.”
Firstly, people can’t easily accept that someone they thought was worse than them is better than them.
It’s okay for the people who were originally good to do well. Because there’s nothing they can do about it.
But if someone you thought was worse than you is better than you?
They can’t accept it. It’s frustrating.
“Trainee Yoon Cheong. Please come forward.”
“Yes.”
Secondly, this was another opportunity.
The trainees had a rough idea.
That the agency would make Yoon Cheong debut as a judge’s pick.
Let’s put her in as a judge’s pick because she doesn’t seem to be very popular anyway and make her debut as the main vocal.
“…You were excellent. Honestly, there was nothing to fault. You were good enough to debut right away.”
But what if Yoon Cheong does better than anyone else?
Then it means that the judge’s pick spot is vacant.
“Thank you. I will work harder.”
“I hope you can show this skill at the main evaluation as well.”
After a few more compliments, the mid-evaluation was all over.
As expected, Director Kim didn’t say a word.
The only ones who praised her were the trainers and Do Hee-young.
Then it was time to meet the mentor.
But then,
“We were originally going to meet the mentor today.”
Director Kim picked up the microphone again.
“But there’s a bit of a hitch in our schedule, so we’ll postpone it until next time. Thank you all for understanding.”
The trainees glanced at each other.
Everyone expected that the ‘hitch’ Director Kim was talking about was Yoon Cheong.
Even Yoon Cheong herself.
“We will only announce the mid-evaluation rankings.”
Do Hee-young announced the rankings of the trainees one by one.
“First, we will announce the 12th and 1st place at the end. 11th place is, Park Ha-eun.”
With the progress of Do Hee-young, the rankings of the trainees were added one by one on the screen.
The trainees stood up and came forward whenever their names were called.
11th place, Park Ha-eun
10th place, Lee Juseon
“And… 9th place, Yeon Juhong trainee.”