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Chapter 98

The Siren fan, who came to the studio as an audience member today, was in a complete daze. She had been in this state since she watched Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team’s performance. Even when the hosts came out and started saying their lines, her mind was replaying the previous stage over and over.

‘That was crazy! Yeon-Hoon is insane! No, everyone is insane!’ She now understood why people said regardless of whether they had a bias or not, there was always another member that caught their eyes on stage.

‘How can he be human? That’s just crazy.’

If someone surpassed an ordinary level of singing and reached an incredible high degree of mastery in their singing technique, just listening to them bewitched all listeners. Furthermore, Woo Yeon-Hoon had a face that oozed out charm even if he stood still like a poster board as there was no one handsome as him among the fourth generation male idols. It was shocking that someone as handsome as him could even sing at that level.

‘I’m amazed.’ She was amazed at Woo Yeon-Hoon’s skill as a fellow human. Then just in time—

“Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team members, please come out for a moment and make a final appeal before the voting!”

Siren’s fan now began to fall into deep thought. Although it was great to be part of the audience, the only drawback was that she now had to rank everyone. As the host said, Woo Yeon-Hoon team members stood in line on the stage and passed the microphones around to give their final pitch to the audience before the voting process. But rather than urging them to give them a high ranking, it felt like they were just saying their thoughts about the performance. This entire scene felt like it came straight out of Select Your Idols in made ways, so it triggered PTSD for many idol fans but—

‘It’s nice to see their faces while they’re standing still.’ There were clear positives as well.

“It was so nice to be able to accomplish a new challenge with my new team members on today’s stage. And please...give me a good ranking...haha...This is Han Do-Young of Bleshu!”

“It was fun to make a great performance with Bleshu members today! Please vote favorably for me! Thank you!”

“Please give me a high ranking!”

“Thank you for cheering us today!”

“If you give me an A-rank...I would give you my infinite gratitude. Haha.”

The team members of Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team each gave their thoughts on stage and encouraged the voters to give them high rankings. However, no one was used to making appeals like this, so they all seemed a bit embarrassed. However, in the eyes of Siren’s fans, even this looked cute. Since they showed a great performance, anything they did looked good. However, the Siren fan had one dilemma.

‘I just want to give them all As.’ Since everyone worked hard on stage, she didn’t want to rank them as A or B. Unless someone got a free ride on a group project, everyone normally got the same grade. After thinking about it, she reached a consensus between her fan sentiment and objectivity and decided to give only Siren members As. While an onlooker could question her objectivity for giving only Siren members A, even outsiders would be somewhat convinced by her decision.

‘Honestly, my idols really did a great job.’ Not only Woo Yeon-Hoon but the other Siren members did more than their share. Lee Woon’s dancing was so sharp that she thought her eyes might pop out from watching him. Kang Do-Seung’s rap was clean without overdoing it, so it was pleasant to listen to. When the song became a bit flat or the middle part became shaky, Park Dong-Jun appeared without fail and made the song more enjoyable with his memorable vocals. They all gave performances good enough to earn an A. After ranking everyone like this, the Siren fan began to suddenly worry about Bong Tae-Yoon, who went to Kang Hyun-Sung’s team.

‘I’m worried about...Tae-Yoon.’ She was worried that he might be feeling too much pressure after his members gave such a great performance. Whenever she watched him on the show, he seemed to feel a lot of pressure on every stage.

‘Hmm...’ Furthermore, everyone was criticizing him for lacking charisma and stage presence. Since he went to another team to perform, she was worried whether he would be able to overcome this pressure well.

‘Let’s wait.’ However, there was nothing she could do except trust that Tae-Yoon prepared well and waited for his performance. The Siren fan quietly stared at the stage. Just in time, Luminin’s Choi Soo-Hyuk’s team started their stage.

“Next is a team built around Luminin! I’ll be back after their performance!”

The Siren fan focused on Luminin’s stage.

* * *

At the back of the stage, there was a secret space set up for the panel of experts that Park Soo-Chul recruited. They were experts who were invited to select the MVPs for each performance on this third competition. Before Luminin’s stage began, the experts, who consisted of vocal trainers, choreographers, and well-known producers, began commenting on Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team’s performance.

“Wow, Woo Yeon-Hoon’s vocals. He’s already better at singing than me. Haha, this is awkward.” This was the vocal trainer’s evaluation.

“Lee Woon’s choreography was extraordinary too. They said that Lee Woon planned this choreography right? There are parts that are better than even most professional dancers...” This was the professional choreographer’s evaluation.

“This song was written by a member named Kang Do-Seung? I thought it was definitely arranged by a professional song producer and thought they must have used quite a lot of money...” This was the song producer’s assessment.

Although Woo Yeon-Hoon was the clear MVP among the audience, the debate over the MVP was not easily decided among professionals from different fields.

“But by the way, wasn’t Mr. Park Dong-Jun also really cute?” One male choreographer remarked. He was a different choreographer from the person who complimented Lee Woon’s dance. He added, “Ah, I’m just saying he’s cute. Haha. But can’t you get MVP for cuteness too?” It was more of a fan’s opinion than an expert opinion. People laughed at his remarks, but the choreographer kept insisting that ‘cuteness was also an ability.’

Like this, the MVP position was heading toward a four-way race, but in the end, they couldn’t reach a consensus. A total of five experts of the advisory group decided to vote fairly to determine the MVP and focused on Luminin’s performance.

However, before Luminin’s performance started, one vocal trainer said, “I heard that everyone in Siren is good, and it really was true.”

“There’s still one person who hasn’t performed yet.”

“Oh, really?”

“It’s a member named Bong Tae-Yoon, and he’s the maknae.”

This was the first time Bong Tae-Yoon was mentioned among the panel of experts. However, these experts were also in the idol industry, so even if not as much as agencies, they also monitored the responses of the show as well.

“Ah, they have the maknae left.”

“Haha.”

They have all read feedback like ‘Bong Tae-Yoon has no rizz, Bong Tae-Yoon sucks on stage’ and various comments like that. Furthermore, in the Siren performances they searched for, Bong Tae-Yoon gave a slightly tense performance compared to the other members. Of course, there were many instances where he showed great facial expressions or movements, so it was difficult to say he was unskilled. Furthermore, it was just that the older members were too great, and in terms of ability, Bong Tae-Yoon was far superior to other members from different groups. However, one thing was clear.

‘I guess he’s a member who’s not good at performing on stage compared to the other members.’

‘He’s the maknae, so he still has a lot of room for growth.’

‘Let’s not hastily judge and keep on watching.’

The experts were not expecting much from Bong Tae-Yoon.

* * *

After my members’ performance was completely over and their commentaries to ask the audience to vote highly of them was over, Luminin’s performance began. Since we had to perform right after Luminin, we had no leisure to watch their performance.

“There’s no problem with the outfits, right?”

“Yep!”

“Yes, sir~”

We checked our outfits again.

“Don’t forget this detail when doing the choreography.”

We checked important points in the choreography.

“Let’s do well!”

“Fighting!”

We raised our fighting spirit. Just in time, we got an order to be on standby.

“Kang Hyun-Sung’s team, please be on standby.”

“Let’s do well!”

“Yess!”

“Let’s show everything we’ve prepared!”

Each person went out of the waiting room while cheering. I also made a firm resolve.

‘Let’s do well.’ And while thinking this, I once again glanced at the probability of winning first place in the corner of my eyes.

[Probability of winning first place: 86%]

Frankly, it was not the percentage I wanted. But there was no point in worrying about it. I made a firm resolve, and I planned not to check the percentage anymore as it was most important to do what I could do currently to the best of my ability.

‘Just for about five minutes, I need to perform like the members. Be natural on stage.’ I planned to emulate a little bit of my members that I saw on stage.

‘I’m a younger guy. I’m experiencing my first love. I am cu...te.’ However, while listing out the series of concepts I had to do today, I felt a strong sense of rejection from my whole body.

‘No, I’m a professional. I can do it.’ I needed to fully accept today’s concept, since I was the center of today’s performance. I knew that people would curse at me for having no charm and being incompetent and bad on stage, but I could ignore it.

‘There’s no need for me to listen to them.’

“Tae-Yoon!” At that moment, I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Yeon-Hoon?” It was Yeon-Hoon, but it was not just him.

‘They’re all here?’ All the members were standing in the hallway. Originally, different teams never met each other before their performance, but today, it seemed as if our direction overlapped. The production crew also seemed a bit taken away for a while, but since we were about to go on stage anyway, it seemed they decided to gloss over it.

“Your performance will start soon, right?”

“Are you all right?”

“How’s your condition?”

“Are you less nervous today?”

My members were worried about me as soon as they saw me. They bombarded me with all kinds of questions and asked about my situation. It felt strange that they looked so professional on stage but they were so friendly outside of the stage.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do well,” I said to the members with a small smile. Usually, when I smiled, the members asked me what was up with my expression, but they didn’t do it this one time.

“I believe in you.”

“Good luck.”

“You can do it, Bong Tae-Yoon!”

They all encouraged me instead.

“Everyone good luck!”

“I’ll pray for all of you to do well on stage!”

The members also gave encouragement to others on Kang Hyun-Sung’s team, and they nodded and accepted the encouragement. Then my members tapped me on the shoulder and looked at me with concern. I said goodbye to them by nodding without saying anything. My members didn’t take their eyes off me until the very moment they left. In particular, Yeon-Hoon looked at me with concern until the very end. I made a more resolute face to inspire their trust. Then Yeon-Hoon looked at me for a long time and after barely managing to turn around, he returned to the waiting room with the others.

“Please wait behind the stage now!” Our team also moved to the back of the stage just in time.

‘Hmm.’ While moving to the back of the stage, I recalled the way my members looked at me. I hadn’t realized it when they were with me, but after being apart from them for a while, I really missed them. The topic of ‘not knowing how to be loved’ greatly bothered me the whole day, but perhaps that wasn’t the case.

‘Maybe not.’ I might be someone who was already getting loved a lot and also knew how to reciprocate it. I might be making a white lie to myself to do better on stage, but my confidence rose a little.

‘I can do it.’ At the same time—

[Probability of winning first place: 87%]

‘...!’ The probability suddenly rose. It seemed as if the white lie I just recited to myself seemed to have helped. I thought this was a good sign just before our performance.

“Please prepare for the performance!”

I pulled myself together and moved to the stage.

* * *

The Siren fan was glancing in the direction of the backstage after watching Luminin’s stage. She felt sorry for Luminin, but she couldn’t help looking in that direction while knowing that her bias was back there. Just in time, Luminin’s team asked the audience for high rankings, and the stage she had been looking forward to was about to begin.

“Let’s now watch the performance from Kang Hyun-Sung’s team!”

The studio went dark, and someone came up on the dark stage. Her eyes hadn’t adapted to the dark yet, so she could only see a blurry figure and couldn’t make out who it was. However, after her eyes got used to it, and the moment she could see the silhouette—

Flash-!

The lights came on and the stage was revealed. She quickly looked for her bias on stage, and instinctively, she looked for him at the very end of the formation. However, he wasn’t over there.

‘Where is he?’ Instead, he was...

‘The center?’ Bong Tae-Yoon was standing in the center of the formation. The Siren fan was so shocked that she was about to yelp, but she stared harder at the stage instead. She was so surprised that Bong Tae-Yoon was the center that there was one thing she missed.

‘The outfit is...?’ The outfit was also unusual. ‘It’s a school uniform?’

Bong Tae-Yoon was wearing a high school uniform. He was wearing a loose white uniform shirt, navy pants, and sneakers. His bangs were naturally styled.

‘Crazy!’ It was a fact that she often forgot, but Bong Tae-Yoon was 19 years old, and he was at the age where he looked the best in school uniforms. The Siren fan got two consecutive shock punches by the fact that Bong Tae-Yoon was the center and he was also wearing a school uniform.

Ding—

Then, a refreshing and bright melody came out.

‘Isn’t this <Never Mind>?’ And within the first second, she already began to immerse completely in the performance.