Chapter 145. Invincible Youth (4)
“Yes, we’ve just watched Invincible Youth Team’s performance. It truly was a stage that seemed to tug at everyone’s heartstrings.”
Choi Yeonwoo skillfully wrapped up the atmosphere and surroundings with his closing remarks. Gong Seok and Jung Siwoo, who had been crying for quite some time, barely managed to compose themselves.
“Personally, I’ve gone through a period of such concerns myself… The lyrics really resonated with me. Even now, down below, our Woongie is sobbing.”
The camera naturally panned to Park Woong, who was seated among the audience.
With both his cap and hoodie pulled up, Park Woong’s nose was bright red as he pressed a wad of tissues, handed to him by a nearby fan, against his eyes.
Choi Yeonwoo continued the after-talk, asking Invincible Youth Team about behind-the-scenes stories while preparing for the stage, as well as the burden felt by Seok and Siwoo as the oldest members. Meanwhile, the stage was being cleared of instruments in preparation for the next performance.
Hajin, not wanting to let go of this feeling, simply looked silently at the audience before him. The countless eyes of people, each filled with their own emotions, were focused on them on stage.
“Lastly, Hajin, could you say a few words?”
While Hajin was taking in this beautiful scene, it seemed everyone else had shared their final thoughts. Hajin briefly locked eyes with Haru, who was passing the microphone to him. Haru’s eyes were slightly red, perhaps from getting choked up, but he simply smiled as he handed over the microphone.
“……”
Hajin thought for a moment.
Countless moments passed before Hajin’s eyes.
Countless, countless moments.
Finally, Hajin slowly raised the microphone and began to speak.
“I am truly… happy to be able to sing in front of all of you. There was a time I thought this moment would never come.”
There had been long, endless days of emptiness.
“I think it was really hard for me to accept the process of realizing that the star I thought I was might just be a stone.”
There had been such times for Hajin too.
“But, I believe that without those times, I wouldn’t be standing here today, singing this song with such feelings.”
There are things you only understand after they pass.
Hajin could now see his life a little more clearly.
“Through participating in this Miro Maze, I’ve learned that everything is just part of the process until you place the final period. I will continue to learn, one step at a time, and strive to become someone who can share even more stories with you, Destis.”
Hajin spoke his thoughts calmly, without the usual cheerfulness and mischief in his tone.
There was one more thing he wanted to say, but Hajin hesitated for a moment. He wondered whether he should say it, and if he did, what kind of repercussions it might bring. Many thoughts crossed his mind.
Soon, Hajin opened his mouth.
“I will become a Kang Hajin who you can support and love without embarrassment.”
Cheers erupted among the Destis.
But Hajin wasn’t finished yet.
“So I ask that you too become people I can be proud of. Thank you.”
Hajin bowed deeply towards the audience after cautiously uttering his last words. The direction he looked at as he finished speaking was where the group that had earlier said nasty things to Wonho was seated.
In a situation where his core fandom was already considered weak, a remark like this, which seemed to target his own fans, could potentially have a significant negative impact.
However, Hajin had no regrets.
Even if this single remark caused his ranking to plummet.
“Yes, that was Invincible Youth Team’s performance. Thank you for your hard work.”
Sensing the peculiar atmosphere surrounding Hajin, Yeonwoo hurriedly delivered the ending comments. Invincible Youth Team bowed 90 degrees towards the audience and slowly descended from the stage. It was now fully evening.
While Hajin removed his in-ear monitors and returned them, Seok, who was beside him, asked.
“Hajin-ah.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“Do you really… just see it as part of the process?”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, you know, the thing you said in your speech earlier.”
“Ah… Yes. I think so.”
And I hope you think that way too, hyung.
Hajin didn’t say the last words that were rising to the tip of his tongue. He knew that Seok also had his own process that he needed to fully experience.
Seok fell into silent thought. Hajin simply walked beside him without saying a word.
And so, Invincible Youth Team’s stage came to an end.
* * *
The final team for Miro Maze’s guerrilla concert was ‘Laving You Team,’ which included Lee Doha and Lee Yugeon.
I thought ‘Laving You’ was just a rough combination of “Loving You” and “Rap,” but surprisingly, it had a Chinese character meaning.
“Come (來), lean on (憑), stay (留).”
“It means, please come to us, lean on us, and stay with us.”
…I wondered why a hip-hop team would come up with such a sentimental name, but since the Destis seemed to like it, I decided to let it slide.
The Laving You Team consisted of leader Lee Doha, Lee Yugeon, Shin Kyungho, and Jaiden.
Aside from Lee Yugeon, who had tried rapping for the first time in the previous Blue Flare Team, all the members were trainees who wanted to pursue rap positions. So, from the moment the team was formed, everyone expected them to prepare a full-on rap stage.
“We will wager the DJ desk and stage LED for our team mission.”
Laving You Team, having no choreography, decided to fill the empty stage by having Jaiden bring in a DJ he knew to play live beats and emphasize their rap performance.
However, an unexpected disaster occurred.
“Oh… What’s going on?”
“Laving You Team, you have failed the team mission! You will not be able to use the DJ desk and stage LED.”
Laving You Team had failed the team mission that had two items at stake.
But it wasn’t that Laving You Team had performed the mission incorrectly.
“Well, I thought it was a pass, but it seems Destis’ standards are quite high.”
Laving You Team’s mission was ‘Random Play Dance.’
It seemed like a mission chosen because of the combination of Lee Yugeon, who dances well, and Lee Doha, who doesn’t.
The songs were all tracks that had been performed in Miro Maze or songs by Miro’s senior groups, Utopia and Enderway.
They had three chances.
The first chance was lost because Shin Kyungho forgot the choreography for Miro Maze’s title track, ‘Daylight.’
When Yeonwoo asked Destis for the verdict, they shouted ‘Fail’ as if they had been waiting for it.
That was the beginning of the end.
– Yes, second attempt! Destis, what’s your verdict?
– Fail!!!
– Oh, come on! This is really just unfair, seriously.
Destis mercilessly shouted ‘Fail’ for Laving You Team’s second attempt as well. Though Jaiden was a bit late to find his spot at one point, it was a mistake small enough to overlook, yet they still failed.
Yugeon protested, half pulling down his sukajan jacket from his shoulders, but the Destis just laughed among themselves, as if to say, “We won’t let your team succeed.”
There were several reasons why the atmosphere turned out this way.
First, there weren’t many individual fans of Laving You Team’s members present at the event.
The core fans of Doha and Yugeon, who were relatively strong, were mostly adults, so it was difficult for them to attend this guerrilla concert, which took place near Seoul on a weekday afternoon.
Jaiden had primarily risen to this point thanks to his international fans, and Kyungho was losing fans steadily as rumors about his dating life began to spread.
On top of that, most of the fans present didn’t particularly like Laving You Team.
Kyungho, who had already sparked dating rumors despite being just a trainee, was a given.
Jaiden also had a bad reputation among some fans, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, mainly because his international fans often caused trouble by claiming, “Why do they discriminate against Jaiden?”
Doha, who was good at rapping but bad at dancing, gave off a vibe of “He’s not exactly my favorite, but he’ll probably debut.”
Among the members, Yugeon, who had the most elements for fans to latch onto, received rather mixed reactions.
As a result, when the first ‘team mission failure’ was announced, many Destis found it entertaining.
I mean, it’s like this. When my favorite is in a team, I want to help them get all the items, but I don’t particularly feel that way about this team.
And from an entertainment perspective, how funny is it that they’re about to lose two items because of a team mission failure? Plus, watching the trainees, who are either frustrated or pleading with the Destis to pass them, was pretty cute and fun.
Lastly, some long-time fans, who considered themselves veterans in the fandom, had this thought nagging at them, “They wouldn’t really fail, would they?”
These fans, almost convinced that survival shows were rigged, had a baseless belief that even if they shouted ‘Fail,’ the production team would somehow make it right.
And because of all these reasons combined…
– Fail!
– Wait, we haven’t even danced properly yet, how can you say fail
?
– Faaaail~~~
Even their third and final attempt ended in failure.
Yeonwoo asked for the verdict several times, and some Destis, feeling a bit awkward, did shout ‘Pass,’ but the louder voices of a few people quickly took control and swayed the crowd.
In the end, Laving You Team lost both the ‘stage LED’ and the ‘DJ desk’ in an instant.
When Yeonwoo gave the final verdict, there was a murmur among the Destis, as if they couldn’t believe it had actually ended this way. Of course, it was already far too late to realize.
“Still, the standards of Destis were quite high this time. So, as the MC, I’ll make a deal: if you pass all your individual missions, I’ll allow you to earn back the two items. Is that okay, Destis?”
““Yes!!””
““No way!””
“Ah, come on! You can’t just let them have it!”
Yeonwoo tried to make a compromise using his authority as the MC, but some still shouted at the top of their lungs, reveling in their power to control the situation.
The production team, unable to stand it any longer, paused the recording to warn the audience about their behavior.
But with evening approaching…
Hundreds more people than when it started…
Controlling the crowd’s behavior in such an open space…
“Even if you have those, your performance is boring anyway~”
…Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.