Chapter 162. Final (6)
As Hajin and Yugeon finished their choreography and retreated backstage, Jaeyoung, Siwoo, and Haru struck slightly comical, yet photogenic poses at the center.
– Ah, no wonder it felt familiar; this is the Phoenix Team from the sports day.
– When will we finally succeed in capturing Jung Siwoo’s essence?
└ If you think about it, isn’t he the most normal one?
– Park Jaeyoung and Dan Haru’s job satisfaction level: 10,000%.
To the playful sound of electronic instruments, the three advanced toward the stage with locking movements.
The choreography that followed focused more on precise synchronization and timing rather than skill like Hajin and Yugeon. Afterward, as the drum beat quickly rose again, Hajin and Yugeon, who had been sitting in the back, joined the formation.
And then, in sync with the tightly woven accompaniment, all five of them suddenly started dancing wildly!
– LOLㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– Be honest, did you guys have a drink before the stage?
Park Jaeyoung was doing a squiggly squid dance,
While Dan Haru was off in one corner, happily dancing by himself.
Jung Siwoo and Lee Yugeon were shaking their heads in ecstasy, holding onto each other’s shoulders,
And Kang Hajin, who seemed to reveal his experience from his days as a variety show PD, was setting the mood like he did in old drinking parties.
– I feel like I’m going to throw up from laughing too much.
– But it’s so damn cute.
– When you’ve got the skills, it just comes off as funny rather than sloppy.
– As expected, to make a B-grade performance not look shoddy, the skill level must be S-grade or something.
└ Now you’re just leaving sentences unfinished.
└ Hold on, I’m busy voting right now.
We, Find, out! (out!)
Found it, Finish Line
It’s still too early, Farewell
The tomorrow you were waiting for
Is already here, already (hey!)
As the short and intense wild dance ended, confetti burst out as the song headed toward its climax.
Hajin, who had been showcasing a trendy rap earlier, had returned to being a vocalist, smoothly navigating between his distinctive clear voice, seamlessly transitioning from full voice to falsetto.
The ad-libs exchanged between Jung Siwoo and Dan Haru, combined with Jaeyoung’s cheer-like exclamations, enriched the song even further. Yugeon, who held the center stage with a powerful performance, made the team a perfect match that could stand against A-Team in every way.
– Seriously, they’re all so goodㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– The fact that three of them are going to be eliminated is just ridiculous.
– Let’s just debut as a 10-member group, Sewon, honestly, you’ve made enough money.
Finally, our shining Finale
With the last line, B-Team’s song finally came to an end.
The trainees’ shoulders heaved as they tried to catch their breath, their efforts highlighted on the big screen one by one.
When his face appeared, Haru closed his eyes tightly and then opened them, blowing a kiss with his hand. Afterward, the camera captured Hajin, who was standing behind, also catching his breath.
“Phew… Ah, geez.”
Hajin, annoyed by his sweat-soaked hair constantly poking into his eyes, blew air through his lips to lift his bangs. Then, realizing belatedly that he was on the big screen, he spread out his right hand to show it. Hajin’s particularly large, pale hand had some writing that had smudged slightly due to sweat, a message he had hastily asked a PD to write before going on stage.
**<Hyung, I did well, right?>**
Everyone present knew that this was a message to Hawon, who had appeared in the earlier VCR.
The proud smile that accompanied the displayed words on his palm was directed only at Hawon.
It was Hajin’s way of expressing gratitude to the younger brother who had always been his most precious and reliable friend throughout all the timelines he had lived through.
With that, the stage was enveloped in darkness.
* * *
Both of the prepared new song stages were now over.
However, since there was still time left for the voting results to be tallied, MC Seo Taeil returned to the stage after a brief delay. Following the script, Seo Taeil asked the judges for their quick assessments and gave a brief update on the voting.
“So now, all that’s left is the ranking announcement?”
“Probably? Ah, what do we do? I swear I can’t go through this twice.”
During this break, Gwajam used the time to swap out the memory card and battery in her camera, and chatted with MalangGgom about what might happen next. They speculated that there would be no sudden cover performance, so it was likely they would kill time with some talk, show a commercial, and then spend about an hour announcing the rankings.
“Miro Maze, we’ll be back in a minute!”
“See, I told you, it’s commercial time.”
“Yeah, it looks like the ranking tally is all that’s left now.”
As expected, shortly after Seo Taeil gave the cue for the commercial, a minute passed.
But contrary to their expectations, what greeted them after the commercial wasn’t the ranking announcement, but a new VCR.
The content of the VCR wasn’t anything special. It was the typical “emotional time” structure that’s almost a given in a survival finale.
The trainees shared interviews that resembled letters, reflecting on how much love they received through Miro Maze and how their lives had changed, making the atmosphere in the concert hall soften.
**<Trainee Dan Haru: So… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget these moments, maybe even forever.>**
**<Trainee Kang Hajin: I have to protect this. So that I can always stay by your side.>**
Out of the many people watching these interviews, no one knew the hidden difference between Haru’s ‘forever’ and Hajin’s ‘forever’.
But for some reason, the words each of them said about the future brought tears to their eyes.
Lalalala―,
A sentimental tune that felt like countless stars were falling began to play.
As the VCR ended, a spotlight suddenly burst onto the still-dark stage.
**Do you remember that moment we first met?**
**Do you remember?**
Under that spotlight stood Seo Taehyun, dressed in the school uniform that was the outfit of Boy’s World. His voice trembled as he began to sing. It seemed like he had been crying during the VCR because his eyes were filled with tears.
**On the night when a desperate dream touched the sky and became the sun**
**The day you became my light and reached me**
Eunchan, who had reverted to his usual appearance from the mafia’s crazy youngest son, wore the same jumpsuit from his first profile photo. The face painting he had back then was still intact.
When Jaiden, dressed in the black-red casual outfit that was B-Team’s costume back then, appeared next to Eunchan, the audience finally realized what the concept was.
**[Hey, they’re wearing the clothes from Tumi’s past.]**
**[It’s those outfits that got the best reaction from the fans so far.]**
* * *
– But seriously, isn’t Seo Taehyun in the Boy’s World uniform cheating?ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ?
– Please, Siwoo, Cinderella, Cinderella, Cindereallllllllaaa
– At this point, is Miro the pervert, or is the production team the pervert…
└ The perverts met and are creating paradise, just enjoy it.
Following that, Jaeyoung in the outfit from **<I’ll Spill It>**, and Haru in the marine look from his profile photo, slowly walked out onto the stage. The scene of the youngest two harmonizing while looking at each other would have made Hajin cover his mouth in disbelief at how much the youngest had grown.
**Be my daylight**
**Even if I wake from this warm dream**
Jung Siwoo entered wearing the 80s college student outfit from the 4th round guerrilla concert, complete with the gold-rimmed glasses hanging from a chain. As he sang the fan song with all his might, his neck veins bulging, exclamations close to gasps of admiration echoed around.
As the entire stage lit up, the remaining four trainees also revealed themselves.
‘Hajin, where’s Hajin?’
Gwajam hurriedly searched for Hajin.
She passed Wonho, who was wearing the 1st round A-Team outfit, Yugeon, who was in the tight blue flares from the 3rd round, and Doha, who was in the fitted black leather outfit from the 2nd round **<Turmoil>**….
There, under the blood-red lighting that resembled his hair, stood her favorite.
**Be your daylight**
The black leather shirt that revealed his collarbones, and the silver body chain peeking through the shirt.
Hajin, as expected, was dressed in the outfit that got the best reaction during the 3rd round blue flare.
The leather belt strapped to his thigh and the provocatively sheer back of the shirt created a stark contrast with the beautiful and warm melody he was singing….
**The radiant light of kindness will last forever**
…But the smile he gave while looking at the audience, rather than the camera, was warmer and kinder than any spring.
Gwajam suddenly felt like crying.
‘…What is it about K-pop that does this to me?’
He doesn’t
even know my name, my age….
No, he probably doesn’t even know that I like him and support him.
Even though he wasn’t serenading directly to me, all the frustration and hardships I endured while being a fan of Hajin seemed to melt away.
**We could be the light (light)**
**I am a star that shines because of you**
**A star that shines only because of you**
**An eternal sun that will shine only on you**
As the trainees sang together, another burst of confetti filled the concert hall. Standing still, Hajin raised his head to gaze at the sight.
As soon as Gwajam saw Hajin raising his hand as if to catch the falling confetti, she instinctively grabbed her camera.
Click,
As she pressed the shutter button, the aperture quickly closed and opened, capturing the moment.
Gwajam thought that if Hajin debuted today, and if she continued to like him even after his debut…
She would want to give this photo to him as a gift.
“……”
She wanted to let him know just how beautiful and radiant he was on that stage.
* * *
And then, the moment of decision arrived.
“The final voting is now closed.”
Voting was officially over.
Now, all that was left was to announce the final results, which included the real-time votes, accumulated votes, and judges’ scores.
After the special stage was over, the ten trainees, now dressed in neat formal wear, ascended to the podium. Seo Taeil, who was also dressed in the same suit from the first episode of Miro Maze, stood at the MC’s stand and continued his commentary following the cue.
“Before we announce the final ranking, we will reveal the group name that will be given to the seven boys who will make it.”
The mention of the group name caused a stir in the concert hall.
Hajin, who had been standing in perfect posture at his spot, quietly reminisced on his past lives as he sensed the shifting atmosphere.
‘What was the next-next group name again?’
Come to think of it, he could clearly remember Rene’s Ranion, who debuted around the same time, but for some reason, he couldn’t recall anything about Miro’s next-next group.
‘Huh? But why is Ranion so quiet? They were supposed to debut this month. No, that’s not what’s important.’
Hajin quickly shook his head, trying to shake off the stray thought, and returned to the original question.
What will the group name be?
Miro usually had an unofficial rule of creating group names and fandom names starting with a single alphabet letter.
‘U.pia, I.dea, N.the way, N.with you… they all followed that pattern….’
As Hajin mentally reviewed possible alphabet options,
A familiar and welcoming word suddenly appeared on the big screen with a bang.
“Icarus. A crucial keyword and identity in this season of Miro Maze. In Greek and Roman mythology, Icarus is the figure who tried to reach the sun with wings made of wax, but ultimately fell when the wax melted from the sun’s heat.”
As Seo Taeil finished speaking, the letters forming Icarus melted and rearranged themselves to form new letters and words.
“But if you slightly change the letters that make up Icarus, you can see a new meaning.”
“Kairos. Known as the ‘God of Time’ or the ‘God of Opportunity’ in Greek mythology. Derived from the Greek word for ‘engraving,’ it also means ‘the right time,’ ‘opportunity,’ and ‘a fleeting moment.’”
The letters interwove with each other.
Afterward, with a grand sound effect, a new word appeared on the big screen.
“Today, the new group that will be born will present unforgettable, special moments in the music industry under the name ‘Kairos,’ to all the Destiny fans.”
As the group name was finally revealed, Hajin quietly repeated the word ‘Kairos’ in his mouth.
Kairos.
It was a word he knew well, having been raised in a Christian household.
Kairos, in Greek, means ‘a creative time when something special happens.’
‘A special group born from an impossible event like regression… It makes sense.’
Finding a deeper meaning in the group name, Hajin let out a small chuckle.
“Now, we will announce the final ranking for the members who will bear this name.”
Finally, it was time for the finale.