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Chapter 33

We went up the stage to hear our ranks. The stage we had danced and sung not so long ago was cleanly cleared off now; since there were markings on the stage indicating where we should go, we could tell where we were supposed to go without any guidance. Our locations were slightly right from the center while Only One took the center. Bleshu took the left side, Luminin took the back right, and OnebyOne stood at the back left.

‘What? Are these the ranks?’ I thought to myself. I glanced at the groups and it appeared to be true. The center was first place, right from the center was second place, left was third place, back right was fourth place, and back left was fifth place. That seemed to mean we were in second place.

‘It’s possible.’ I didn’t think I was hoping for too much. But considering our stage quality today, even second place was disappointing. After all, we truthfully did the best among the five teams, but it couldn’t be helped that Only One was firmly maintaining their spot in the first place. Personally, I hoped that we could avoid second place if we didn’t place first.

‘Placing last has more impact.’ Of course, if that happened, we wouldn’t be getting last place because we truly did a lousy job. We would simply deserve our place if our performance were a mess, but if we placed last when we performed well, it could become a big issue and spread across the community.

‘But seeing the audience’s responses, that doesn’t seem to be the case.’ For some reason, I didn’t think we would be last place. It seemed my group members thought the same, and their eyes filled with hope. They must have felt this way even more after seeing the audience’s response.

The audience had cheered and clapped for us in a way that they wouldn’t have if our performance weren’t any good; and while sharing the space with them, we could sense the general mood of what they were feeling.

‘You would have to be a fool not to realize it,’ I thought. Compared to the past performances, anyone could tell that our performance was overwhelmingly the best. I raised my head slightly and glanced to my side. Only One was already on stage. Perhaps, it was because their group member, Park Young-Ho was injured, but only four people were on the stage.

Kang-Hyun-Sung and the other Only One members were making eye contact with the fans below the stage. A couple of fans were about to scream but pressed their lips when the producers gestured at them to restrain themselves.

‘Wow, Kang Hyun-Sung is doing fan service even at a time like this,’ I said in awe and saw Kang Hyun-Sung look pitifully at his fans. His expression seemed to comfort his saddened fans, and I wondered how a usually cold-stone-faced guy like Kang Hyun-Sung was able to convey so many emotions with just his expressions. It was surprising.

It was then, Kang Hyun-Sung\'s eyes turned and looked at me. I quickly turned my head, but I felt Kang Hyun-Sung’s gaze so palpably that I felt it on my skin. Maybe I shouldn’t have stared even if I was curious.

He could now think I was trying to provoke a fight with him; and in the end, I turned my head and just stared forward boldly. It wasn’t as if I could strike up a conversation with him at this time anyway, when the entire studio was quiet. Then, the other group members began to come up to the stage. After confirming that everyone was there, the hosts also joined us on the stage, and the cameras rolled again.

The spotlights swept the studio’s insides and a heavy sound effect boomed in the background.

“The Showcase 2 First Chance! The first round just came to a close! Ms. Nahyun, what did you think about this performance?”

“I think it was a performance that showed each of the group’s charms exceptionally well.”

The hosts exchanged their scripted lines to fill up the show’s content, and we made reactions to their lines like decorations on the wall.

“This is the special voting method of The Showcase 2 and the results of that voting have come out just now,” the host, Kim Young-Jin said, flipping over the script cards in his hands. “In my hand right now, there are the ranks of today’s performances.”

Then, the host pretended to show the results to the audience and played with their hearts. I thought his jokes weren’t funny or necessary, but in the end, this was what the broadcasting show signed him up to do. If they wanted someone who just said line after lines, they would’ve used an announcer instead of a comedian. I watched Kim Young-Jin without much thought, but my group members appeared quite excited.

“Hmph!”

“Haaa.”

“I should calm down.”

I wondered what they were expecting that they were this nervous. I glanced at them and whispered so quietly so that others couldn’t hear me. “What place do you think we would get?”

All our mikes were turned off now because the sound could get jumbled with the hosts’ commentaries. Dong-Jun responded to my question first. He was able to hear my quiet voice even while standing farthest from me and gestured to me with his hands. He placed his hand as far below his waist as possible so the cameras couldn’t catch it and raised one finger.

‘First place?’

Do-Seung, who stood next to him, also raised one finger. It was the same for Woon and Yeon-Hoon. Because I opened my eyes wide in shock, Dong-Jun spread out all five fingers and waved his hands. He was telling me that we were definitely not in last place.

I agreed that we wouldn’t place last as I first predicted but expecting first place seemed like we were going above ourselves now. It was true that I always made conservative guesses when making plans but first place...would we really place that high?

In this place, Only One’s popularity was too strong for us to aim to beat them. Though they made a mistake, Kang Hyun-Sung’s fans weren’t the type to lose their loyalty because of some mistakes. This was especially true for Kang Hyun-Sung’s fans. During Select Your Idol, Kang Hyun-Sung received all sorts of criticisms and evil editing because he came from a small company and had no strong backing.

Yet, despite all that, his fans continued to upload posts explaining the way he was edited on the show and amassed more fans; and at the end of all that, Kang Hyun-Sung was able to reach second place and join the group, ‘Yours’.

It was only natural that Kang Hyun-Sung’s fans would become firmer and more loyal to their celebrity after experiencing multiple adversities. Every time they posted writings explaining the way Kang Hyun-Sung was edited, they had to endure a great wave of criticisms from all sides. Thus, this wasn’t a group that would break down from one mistake.

‘So why would all four of them expect first place?’ I thought. In this case, my group members weren’t just aiming high but truly expected to be first. I looked forward again, wondering if their expectations could come true.

“Okay! Let’s reveal today’s ranks from now on, starting from fifth place,” Kim Young-Jin raised his voice and opened up the presentation screen. Though these were all scripted lines, it made me nervous. The spotlights flickered above the stage again.

“The group that placed fifth place is...” If my original predictions were right, he should call our name here. “OnebyOne!”

Yet, OnebyOne took last place. The shifting spotlight stopped at OnebyOne. OnebyOne’s expression didn’t appear good, and I saw that my original guesses had already gone off the mark.

‘But then, I have a feeling we won’t be third or fourth place either,’

“Fourth place is Luminin!”

“Third place is Bleshu! Congratulations!”

As I thought, we weren’t in third and fourth place. There were only two spots remaining: first and second place. And now that we got to this place, I strangely began to feel a bit greedier.

‘What if we really get first place?’ My heart thumped strangely. If I was feeling this way, I couldn’t imagine what my group members were feeling. I turned to the side and saw that my members’ faces looked like they were about to burst.

‘Oh wow.’ Yeon-Hoon’s eyes gleamed, Woon’s shoulders looked tense, Do-Seung was trembling like a tree branch, and Dong-Jun already had a smile on his face. I was shocked at almost how transparent their expressions were. Then, I turned my head and saw Only One. They were comparatively calmer. I thought this image of us and Only One could be saved as a contrasting shot and circulate around the internet because of how different we appeared.

“Okay! Now there’s only first and second place left. Let us reveal first place first.” Kim Young-Jin said and scanned the audience. The audience’s facial expressions changed bit by bit. Some people looked hopeful, while others looked visibly annoyed by how long the host was taking.

“The honorable first place goes to...” Kim Young-Jin raised his voice and the moment he was about to announce the results, a fast drum beat resounded from the background.

“It’s Only One!” He announced.

‘Ah, we got second place.’ It felt a bit bitter. I think a part of me had been expecting first place after reaching this point. But rather than me, I wanted to check up on my members and turned my head.

‘Oh my.’ Everyone’s faces darkened. No, if they showed their feelings so blatantly like this, I already had a sense of how they would come out on broadcast. I knew they were disappointed by the results, but they couldn’t make it this obvious.

‘This is bad,’ I thought. But then, Kim Young-Jin continued. “But it’s not over yet!”

‘What’s not over?’

“Here, I will show you all the average scores the 150 of you in the audience gave!”

—1st- Only One- 90

—1st- Siren- 90

—3rd- Bleshu- 85

...

Many numbers rolled up to the screen. Nothing else mattered but the individual group’s ranks and average scores.

“Huh?”

“W-What?”

“Am I seeing it right?”

“It’s not an error, right?”

I thought we were 2nd place but that wasn’t right. My group members were right.

“Today, we have no second place but two first places! Sirens, congratulations!”

We were first.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Uggggh!”

“That’s crazy!”

“Woooow!”

Perhaps, because they were surprised by the results after feeling disappointed, my group members responded so loudly that even the other group members glanced at us in surprise. Usually, it was expected for groups to remain calm when ranks were revealed, but perhaps, my group members couldn’t hold back their overwhelming joy.

“After placing fifth in the first-meeting performances, they rose to first place in the next round. Though this is only their second performance, the Sirens are creating quite the story.” Kim Young-Jin leaked information about the first-meeting ranks and there began to be a murmuring from the audience seats. They seemed to find it hard to believe that we could’ve placed last in the last round of performances.

‘Is he doing this on purpose to draw attention before the first episode gets released?’ I wondered. I couldn’t tell for sure now, but I thought there was another intention behind the host’s words. We quickly recollected our expressions. We couldn’t keep celebrating when there were other teams who didn’t get good ranks. And Only One, who placed first, especially, didn’t look pleased.

“Okay! With this, we will put a close to the first-round performance. Thank you to everyone who came and participated in this event!” The hosts said their closing lines and the show came to an end. The audience quickly left the studio, but our shooting wasn’t over. After all the audience left, the producers wandered around to tell us to remain in our spots.

“We still have to tell you about the next mission and decide the order of your performances! All groups, please wait on top of the stage!”

And while we waited on top of the stage and waited for the next shooting, my members and I murmured amongst ourselves.

“I still can’t believe it.”

“Yeah, to think we really got first place.”

“Haaa.”

“This is crazy. Super crazy.”

It was then, that Kang Hyun-Sung suddenly approached us. While looking specifically at me, he said, “I didn’t think you all would express blue in this way.”

“Huh?”

“Gasp!”

“Oh Mr. Kang Hyun-Sung!”

All my group members looked up in surprise at Kang Hyun-Sung. I also stared intently at him. A man with platinum hair and a sensual, pale face met my eyes.

‘What is this bastard doing?’ I thought. I could just tell by his eyes that he wasn’t coming our way to exchange a friendly greeting.

“It felt like someone had struck me hard from behind. I enjoyed your performance.” There was open hostility on Kang Hyun-Sung’s face.