Save a Failed Idol's Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 12 An Unpleasant Welcome

“What is this?”

Seon-woo was shocked as he checked the scoreboard.

“Wow… Is this some kind of ranking system? Do we have to compete based on views or something?”

Everyone seemed to have a similar guess. It even reflected the trend index. Was it an internal evaluation or an external one? They would have to find out later.

It might have been better if they had a simple voting system like other programs.

If views were a factor, the groups with overseas fandoms would have a huge advantage.

Especially Vesper, who had three foreign members and a massive international fanbase.

They were not far behind in Korea, but they also had a lot of fans in Thailand, China, and even Latin America, where the members came from.

“Isn’t YouTube the best for views?”

As they looked around the set and arrived at their spot, there were small name tags on each chair for the members to find their seats.

“Oh, there are names on the chairs.”

Kyunghwa, who had a keen eye, was the first to notice and checked his own seat. My seat was…

‘Why does it have to be there?’

It made sense, since I was the leader. It was on a separate platform that stuck out at the front.

Looking at the empty seats of the other groups, it seemed like they had given the leaders more prominent positions.

“Do we just wait here?”

As the five of us sat down in our seats, there was a loud background noise and the screen in the center of the stage lit up.

At the same time, the MC walked out from one side of the stage and started the show.

[The bloody battle of the boy groups representing K-POP begins!]

[Boys Be Ambitious!]

We didn’t really want to fight and spill blood. The more urgent matter was how to complete the main quest that had less than three months left.

“Ooh, something’s starting.”

With Yi-jun’s light reaction, the screen showed a street in broad daylight. It was a video they had filmed a few days before the shooting, and the scenery was full of autumn vibes.

The camera scanned the street and then stopped some passers-by for an interview.

[Climax? I don’t know. I heard them a few times on the charts, but they’re not my type…]

[Ah, I know who they are. The group that was the runner-up on Star Discovery, right?]

[Are they good? I never paid attention to them, so I don’t know.]

[Wow, that’s the group that made salad for Na Seon-young. I didn’t know their name was Climax.]

[They seem… like they’re all following one guy?]

[Um… I’ve never heard of them. Who are they? Rookies?]

It was a video that compiled the interviews of about ten people. They all agreed that they didn’t know much about them, which made me feel bad.

“Hmm…”

The intention of showing this was obvious. To make us feel bad. To crush our pride and make us do something rash. That must have been their plan.

Fortunately, there was no one in our team who would fall for such a cheap provocation.

Or was there?

I quickly fixed my gaze on the screen and grabbed Seong-won’s hand, who was sitting on my right.

And then I carefully wrote on his palm with my finger.

‘Keep your face straight.’

The screen soon switched to show us at the filming site.

Seong-won, with a stiff expression, looked quite pitiful as he tried hard to lift the corners of his mouth.

“Well, that was the public interview for the participating group Climax! Cheon Ise, what do you think of the interview results?”

What do I think? I think it’s X-like that they set up the board like this.

I had a lot to say, but there was something else I had to say.

I clenched the microphone with a face full of emotion that said, ‘My heart hurts, but I’ll humbly accept it.’

“We’re just at the stage where we’re being discovered by our fans, so I think we need to work harder on our recognition.”

Then, Yi-jun behind me whined cutely and threw a tantrum.

“That’s too much~.”

He looked more cute than annoying or irritating, as his light playfulness mixed with Yi-jun’s unique charm.

“Ahaha…”

Kyunghwa shook his head as if he couldn’t live because of Yi-jun, and the atmosphere that had been depressed for a moment relaxed.

“Yes, I heard the answer that shows Climax’s will! Now, let’s reveal the pre-interview rankings right away.”

What are the pre-interview rankings? Everyone narrowed their eyes and watched the screen, and soon the interview video continued.

[We’re preparing a boy group competition program this time. Can you please put a yellow sticker on the group you think will win, and a blue sticker on the group you want to support?]

As soon as the lineup was announced, they installed voting boards in several places with a high floating population in Seoul.

The fast-forward video of the citizens walking around the voting board continued, and soon the screen went black and the narration followed.

[4,532 participants! The choice of citizens of different ages and genders?]

And right away, the chart with the rankings and group names hidden from first to sixth place filled the screen.

[The team you want to support]

1st [?]

2nd [?]

3rd [?]

4th [?]

5th [?]

6th [?]

[The team you think will win]

1st [?]

2nd [?]

3rd [?]

4th [?]

5th [?]

6th [?]

The MC who checked the screen asked me another question.

“Climax leader, Cheon Ise! What do you expect Climax’s ranking to be!”

To be honest, I was sure we would be playing around 5th or 6th place. We would be competing fiercely with Playground for 6th place.

I wasn’t expecting anything higher than that.

The MC who asked the question would be the same. The Rises who were watching the program to support us, and the other viewers, too.

Instead of mentioning the rankings explicitly, it was better to give a vague answer.

“I will do my best no matter what rank I get.”

“Wow~.”

Yi-jun, who had a good reaction, patted my shoulder and whistled in agreement.

“As expected, Climax. It’s nice to see the members so close to each other. Now, let’s reveal the rankings!”

[Team you want to cheer for]

3rd [Climax]

[Team you think will win]

5th [Climax]

Oh. My eyes widened at the higher-than-expected cheering team ranking.

“Huh?”

The camera captured the surprised look of Seon-woo, whose eyes grew wide.

“The cheering rank is higher than I thought.”

Kyunghwa exclaimed briefly, and the other members nodded in agreement.

“How do you feel! Are you satisfied with the result?”

The MC passed the microphone to Kyunghwa this time. Kyunghwa paused for a moment, as if organizing his thoughts, and answered cautiously.

“Thank you for your support, and we will try to show you a good stage.”

It was a plain and non-provocative answer. It was either a full edit or a bad edit. If I had to choose one…. I guess it was a full edit.

It wasn’t a situation where our debut was at stake, and it wasn’t a program that would take that much risk.

“Well, that’s it for the ranking reveal of Climax! Now, you’ll meet the next participating group!”

Finally, it was time to move on to the next team. Phew, I was about to unload the burden in my mind when the MC pointed at me again.

“Cheon Ise sir! Which team do you want to see next?”

Why are you asking me that? I didn’t have any group in mind, but I answered casually.

“I hope to meet and greet any group soon.”

Then, as if he didn’t like my answer, the MC quickly moved on.

“Yes! Then, let’s bring in the next participating group, Floss, right away!”

My answer was definitely going to be edited out. I hid my displeasure and waited for Floss to enter.

Soon, the iron door that we came in opened horizontally, and nine people walked out in the middle of the stage.

“Hello, Three, two, one, Floss!”

With nine members, their slogan sounded like a military unit. Floss, who I finally faced in full, exuded an overwhelming presence with their mere existence.

I knew Hwijin, Yu-geon, and Naru, since I had met them before.

The other six were new to me.

Thanks to binge-watching the early episodes of My Idol, I had no trouble matching their names and faces.

The first ones to catch my eye were 3rd place Oh Chanhyung, 7th place Park Sunghyun, and Shim Naru, who received the spotlight from episode one.

Park Sunghyun, who debuted in 7th place, was also the center of the opening stage in episode one.

‘Is it because of the two-year gap? Their impressions seem to have changed a bit.’

Jun, the only foreign member, had a strong southern vibe when My Idol aired, but now he looked like a flawless Korean, thanks to the camera massage.

Even to me, who didn’t know much about the survival show, there were five members who I felt were pushed by the editing.

Among the remaining four, Yu-geon had such a bad or full edit in the early episodes that I wondered if he had fought with the PD. Hwijin also had no bad edit, but he was only exposed as an old man who was pushed around by the young ones.

Lee Jinhen, who was ranked first, was highlighted in the grade evaluation, but his dorm life was edited out so that not a single hair could be found.

Kim Youngchan, who was ranked eighth, had no presence in the first and second episodes, so I couldn’t even remember him.

‘I should have watched up to episode six since it’s a 12-part series.’

I felt sorry that I couldn’t remember each person’s impression clearly.

“Okay, please take your seats, and I’ll announce the results of the pre-interview vote right away!”

Huh? Aren’t they showing the interview summary? The order was different from ours, and there was a slight confusion on the faces of the other members.

“What’s a pre-interview?”

“Didn’t we never do that?”

The Floss members also looked at the electronic board and the screen above their heads, tilting their heads in confusion at the sudden ranking announcement.

While Hwijin was looking around in wonder, only Yu-geon was casually looking at the screen with his arms crossed.

“We asked about 5,000 Seoul citizens! Which team do you want to cheer for? And which team do you expect to win? Hwijin, what do you think Floss’s rank is!”

Just like us, Hwijin received the microphone right away and answered skillfully with a smile in his eyes.

“I hope it’s high. I’ll humbly accept any result and work hard!”

This was also a perfect answer that didn’t give any room for editing in the survival show.

“Okay, then let’s reveal Floss’s rank right away!”

[The team that seems to win]

1st [Floss]

It was an obvious result. But there was one thing that puzzled me.

“Why don’t they show the citizen interview and the cheering rank?”

Unlike us, who showed both the cheering rank and the winning prediction rank at the same time, Floss’s rank was only revealed for the winning prediction rank.

“Are you curious about Floss’s cheering rank?”

The MC handed the microphone to Floss’s seat, as if he was teasing someone.

Then, the member with blue hair and a rebellious look, Lee Jinhen, took the microphone instead of the leader and answered.

“I’m grateful and excited to see how many people have cheered for us.”

But if Floss had won the cheering rank as he expected, they wouldn’t have revealed it with a time difference. Am I being too sensitive? Or…

As everyone looked at the question mark on the screen, the MC opened his mouth with a smirk.

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