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Chapter 35

It was a mission to blatantly compare each of the groups’ skills and performance. I made a straight face and stared at the producers. At most, the people gathered here were on average, in their early 20s. People at that age would usually be in the military, attending university, or taking their first steps in entering the workforce. And for such people, this mission of stealing each other’s performances was quite a cruel mission.

‘It’s going to be so obvious if you make mistakes.’ People would naturally be able to compare the copying group and the other group’s performances side by side. We wouldn’t be able to use explanations such as one’s conceptual theme, song choice, or compositional direction to explain any possible fallbacks. At first glance, one could think it was a fair one-to-one battle between the original and copying group.

‘But the latter is always at a disadvantage.’ The copying group would be showcasing a show that had already been seen and no matter how good they do, they would have a hard time shocking the viewers.

‘At most, they will only be able to do as well as the original.’ This mission was set up in a way that it was almost impossible for the copying group to do better than the original. In my past life, there was never a mission like this. The Showcase 2 was already a cruel competition show before but in this life, its cruelty seemed to have gone up a level. My head felt like it was in a mess.

‘No, this isn’t the time for me to be like this.’ I knew we didn’t have more time to waste on lamenting about our situation. I looked towards my group members. Their faces all looked blank, unable to free themselves from the shock of the new mission. Thus, in their stead, I began to come up with my own plans.

First of all, there weren’t that many options to choose from. We had only performed an introductory performance and first round so far and each team only performed a total of two performances. In other words, we had only a total of eight performances to choose from: Only One’s, Bleshu’s, OnebyOne’s, and Luminin’s introductory and first-round performances.

‘But honestly, I should take out Luminin and OnebyOne.’ There was no performance that they did that was worth copying. If we had to take a performance based on the show quality, we needed to take Only One’s.

‘But can we do better than them?’ It could backfire on us if we took a show just because it looked good. It seemed all possibilities could lead to a bad situation.

‘Even though it’s good for us to continue our rivalry between Only One and us, I’m sure we will get insulted if we push it too much.’ There was too much of a difference between them and our popularity and fame. If we brashly chose Only One’s songs, we could be criticized for trying to outdo Kang Hyun-Sung.

‘Of course, we already received our share of insults. But I think we will really not be able to turn things back around if we go further than this,’ I thought. We were still barely in the safe zone. Thus, Only One needed to provoke us first from now on.

“Haaaa.” I sighed and tried to clear my head. I still didn’t know which song to choose. If I had to choose one that I wanted to do...

‘Honestly, it’s Only One’s.’

That was my very personal thought. But if I had to choose a group that I could easily and safely beat...

‘It’s Luminin and OnebyOne.’ Truthfully, these two teams had the least skills among the groups gathered here. Even in my past life, these two could never get out of their no-name statuses. If we took their shows and took it up a whole another notch, we could gain some extra points in our reputation.

‘But it won’t be fun.’ What fun would that give to the viewers? What was more important in a survival program than performing well was whether something was entertaining or not. And if I was considering the fun of the show, I couldn’t take Luminin’s or OnebyOne’s performances. Knowing that there was no clear choice to make, I looked to my group members.

“Haha, hahaha.” Yeon-Hoon laughed like a broken machine. “It’s not easy to choose one.”

“Yes, depending on our choice, things could go really wrong...”

Do-Seung and Woon whispered to each other. But Dong-Jun turned to me and asked, “Bong Tae-Yoon~ Do you have any ideas?” He asked and wrapped his arms around my neck. I glanced around my surroundings with Dong-Jun hanging around me. Other groups looked like they had a lot on their minds after hearing the mission and began to discuss it amongst themselves.

‘What?’ It was then that I met eyes with Kang Hyun-Sung, who also glanced at me while talking to his group members. Though it wasn’t on purpose, it didn’t feel good to meet his eyes. Dong-Jun whispered in my ear then.

“You want to do Only One’s show, right?”

“What?”

“You’ve been staring at Only One since the mission was announced.”

“I was only staring at them.”

“Yeah, but you were making it obvious.”

It seemed I had been showing my intentions too clearly, and I became a bit embarrassed of my behavior.

‘But how did Dong-Jun know that?’ I was surprised that Dong-Jun realized that I wanted to do Only One’s performance just by seeing me look at them. It wouldn’t be easy to lie to him in the future.

“Could you share what you are thinking, Tae-Yoon?” Yeon-Hoon asked me. Woon and Do-Seung also looked towards me.

“What about you guys? Does any show appeal to you?”

“Hm, honestly, it won’t be easy to do any group...”

“Not only in terms of the performance, but there are also other factors to consider...”

It seemed my group members thought like me. If we wanted to go easy, it was Luminin and OnebyOne. If we wanted to spice things up and make the show fun, it was Only One. After exchanging a couple of looks, we sensed that all of us shared the same thought.

“Then, should we see what the other groups do first then?” I suggested. I thought that was the best course of action we could currently take.

“Yeah, let’s decide after seeing what the other groups do.”

“Okay.”

“It really is difficult. Really difficult.”

“Okay! I’m going to trust that you guys all made your decisions, so let\'s make our announcements now,” Kim Young-Jin said and scanned the studio. All the groups stared at Kim Young-Jin in shock, clearly not having made their decisions.

‘Did they purposefully give us little time?’ I wondered. Perhaps, this was better. A more entertaining result could form if they forced us to make a decision rashly.

“Okay then, the choices will be made according to the ranks of your performances!” Kim Young-Jin announced.

‘That must mean either Only One or we will have to go first,’ I thought. I wanted us to avoid going first so that we could make our decision after seeing what the other groups would do. My members and I met each other’s eyes and scanned the surroundings.

“Can we go first?” It was then that Only One’s Kang Hyun-Sung raised his hand and spoke while looking toward us.

“Of course! Is there a show on your mind?”

“Yes, there is,” Kang Hyun-Sung replied.

It appeared Only One had come to their decision fast.

‘What?’ The atmosphere was strangely chilly. It felt as if something had quickly struck our chests.

“We want to do Siren’s Walya.”

“Really?”

“Our show?”

My group members showed their honest reactions in genuine. They had expected Only One to choose our performance but they didn’t think Only One would pinpoint us out without a moment of hesitation and so forwardly like this. I was also surprised by this rather than the fact that Only One chose our performance.

In the first place, I knew Only One would never do a boring stage even if they did a terrible one. It was because they had Kang Hyun-Sung, famous for attracting the press and creating things for people to talk about. Thus, it was only natural he would choose us.

‘He’s so fast as if he had been thinking of our performance from the beginning,’ I thought, ‘Perhaps, he is trying to really set us up as rivals in this show.’

Since Kang Hyun-Sung blatantly took the first action, we could also rise against Only One without worrying about people’s reactions. I looked at my group members. Their surprised faces were now replaced by a look of satisfaction. In a way, this also meant that our performances had been recognized, and it made them feel good. I mouthed to my group members, asking if it was all right for me to choose Only One’s introductory performance. My group members nodded as if they all had the same thoughts. Then, the host pointed at us.

“Did you all make your decision, Sirens?” The host asked. It was our turn now, and the mike was handed over to me. I wondered why they were giving me the mike instead of the others, but I accepted it.

“Yes, we decided.”

“Which team will you choose?”

After meeting my group members\' eyes, I said, “We will do Only One’s introductory performance.”

“Wow! So, the two teams chose each other,” the host realized the storyline we were trying to make and quickly responded. This was a good moment for the direction of the show. I then turned to Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin and saw the dejected looks on their faces. It seemed they didn’t like how the show was centering around Only One and us. Regardless, Kim Young-Jin continued to center his comments around us.

“Only Ones, why did you choose Siren’s Walya?” It was only natural for this comment to come next.

Kang Hyun-Sung pretended to ponder this question a bit and continued, “Their show really made an impression on us, and the fact that their song was self-produced made us really want to choose their song.” Kang Hyun-Sung began by complimenting our performance and further explained. “And because we thought it was such a good show, we wanted to challenge ourselves by trying to perform it. I’m not sure if we would do as good of a job as Siren, but we will do our best.”

It was the standard answer. Rather than saying outrightly that he wanted to continue the rivalry storyline between the two groups, this was more fitting for the show. Furthermore, it highlighted their artistic spirit that made them want to challenge themselves, and even if they showed a disappointing performance in the future, they could still be lauded for taking the hard and challenging path by their own will.

“Then, why did the Sirens choose Only One’s introductory performance?” Kim Young-Jin asked. It was our turn to answer now. I raised the mike and looked at my group members. My group members nodded like they were telling me to answer.

“We liked how Only One used cyberpunk concepts in their first-meeting performance. Since that’s a realm we never stepped into before, we also thought it could be a good challenge for us,” I said. My reply was similar to what Kang Hyun-Sung said and highlighted how we were taking on an artistic challenge.

“I look forward to seeing your next performances! Now, let’s see what the Bleshus have to say!” The mike was handed to the next team. Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin took each other’s shows, and the funny thing was that nobody took OnebyOne’s mafia concept performance to the very end. Nobody wanted to touch that.

“With this, the second-round performances are decided. I hope everyone will work in their preparations and bring good results,” Na-Hyun said her closing lines and ended the official shooting. With this, the shooting equipment for The Showcase 2 First Chance began to be taken away.

“Good work, everyone!”

“Good work~”

“Thank you~~”

Everyone greeted and thanked the producers and staff politely as expected of rookies. After Bleshu, OnebyOne, and Luminin left the studio, the producer called, “Only Ones and Sirens, please remain at the studio!” and stopped us from leaving.

“Hm?”

“What?” We looked around. Only One stood still as if they had expected this.

“From here on out, both teams will decide the order of the next performances as benefits for placing first.”

“Ahh!”

“Oh, that’s right.”

This was the time for us to use our benefits for getting first place. We approached Only One. There were a couple of stage props and a board to decide the groups’ orders.

“Okay, then, you guys can decide the orders freely,” one of the producers said and pulled back the camera a bit further back. “Since we will only leave the minimum of equipment for shooting, please don’t hold yourself back!”

“Huh?”

The producers and staff began to leave the studio.

‘What, do they want us to have a fight?’ It was as if they were setting up a stage for Only One and us to go at it against each other, and they wanted us to do this without considering them. Still, what was the point of giving us this privacy when they were going to leave a couple of cameras to film us in the end? They were truly bad guys. I raised my head and looked at Only One. Only One members also stared intently at us. Well, in the end, this was an opportunity to get even one more cut in a broadcasting show, so I didn’t mind it.

‘But this is seriously awkward.’ Besides us being rivals and all, we weren’t close with these guys at all.