| Episode 118. First Competition: Rising as an Outstanding Department
Before proceeding, Yureu encouraged each of the performers who had worked so hard. The fact that it felt sincere rather than like a scripted line showed the breadth of his character.
The results announcement that followed was clean as well. There were no excessive flourishes or attempts to drag out the time.
I wasn’t sure whether they’d kept it light because it wasn’t a live broadcast, or whether the production team had kept his comments simple so they could work their editing magic.
Ah, there was one surprising issue in the middle.
Parte came in fifth. For such a grandiose stage, it was a low ranking, so many people were shocked.
Still, a stage has something called presence, after all.
There’s a reason people pay large sums to go to concerts or go out of their way to attend recordings, and focusing on visual effects while only considering how it would look on broadcast had been a complacent choice. In a way, it was an obvious result.
Maybe it was because they were still young, or maybe they simply hadn’t expected it, but I saw a few guys who couldn’t manage their expressions.
Unless they were prepared to get beaten down like we were, they’d be better off forcing a smile, at least. What a pity.
After that, the rankings continued to be announced one after another.
‘Logue is sixth, Parte is fifth, Berion is fourth, Allover is third…….’
With that, the only two left before first place were Spark and Sticky.
The result would be exactly as I expected.
Because no team had shown a stage so incredible it exceeded my imagination.
But these guys probably weren’t even considering that possibility.
To put it nicely, they were humble. To put it badly, they were guys who couldn’t properly assess their own abilities.
“First place is…… Congratulations, Spark!”
“Waaaah!”
So of course they were this happy.
With an unidentified shriek, Lee Cheonghyeon threw himself at the members.
After Choi Jeho and I caught the guys as they were about to topple over in a heap, their expressions belatedly came into view.
Beside Kang Giyeon, who looked bewildered, Jeong Seongbin and Park Juu were smiling from ear to ear.
Yureu said it was the prize for the top scorer and pinned an eosahwa badge onto each of our volleyball uniforms. The overall look became rather bizarre, but the guys even liked that.
I fiddled with the crudely colored badge and thought.
‘This is first place too, technically. Won’t it count toward achieving my KPI?’
While patting the members down, I glanced subtly into the air, but the system did not respond. Geez. Strict. Way too strict.
* * *
Getting a good result in the first competition was something to celebrate.
It was the first first-place finish we had earned under Spark’s name. From the guys’ perspective, wouldn’t that be something to be happy about?
However, the good mood did not last long.
It was because Spark received the blessing of editing in Episode 2 of Awangsil, which aired the very next day.
Amid the performers who were diligently reacting to one another’s stages, we, who had watched the performances seriously, acquired the cheeky role along with the caption, “A rather grave expression…….”
On top of that, they poured the stance of “Everyone but Berion is a mess!” over what had been a warm atmosphere, and the community boards went wild.
≫ (Data warning) Guys, evaluate this objectively
A. No stage decorations
Brought the exact same existing concept
All six outfits were the same
B. Made additional simple stage sets
Reworked all the camera movements in advance
Gave each outfit different points to match the members’ individuality
Which stage do you think did better?
└ Obviously B, no?
└ B
└ Who judges a stage just by looking at photos…… And if you write it like this, then of course the stage that spent more money looks like the best one
└ The important thing is that SPK did the exact same thing they always do, but said teams like B had stages worse than theirs
└ Spark changed their lyrics, choreography, and AR, what are you talking about lol The ridiculous thing is Parte also brought the exact same concept they always do, they just changed the clothes from uniforms to romance fantasy
└ fr, the only one that changed their concept in a big way was Berionㅇㅇ I get why SPK gave them the Up
≫ It’s not like idols can get by just by singing well
If there are teams whose main strength is singing, there are also teams whose main strength is performance
I’m upset because performance ability feels too undervalued
└ It’s so obvious whose fan you are, so obviousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ So did Spark dance badly or rap badly? lol
└ A team that danced while singing live vs. a team that laid down all the AR and only danced
└ Spark wasn’t completely MR either
└ No, can you seriously not tell the difference between backing vocals and AR;;;
└ So what I’m saying is, a group doesn’t have to be good at live singing to be good on stage
└ ???? Am I the only one who doesn’t understand this???
└ They’re saying some groups specialize in dance, so it’s wrong to put them down just because they don’t sing live
└ What are you saying; if you weren’t going to sing, you should’ve gone on Dancing Stars instead of Awangsil. You came to the wrong address
We had already agreed within the team beforehand that we would be honest, at least about our reactions to the stages, so it didn’t really matter.
In reality…….
≫ It’s not like Kim Pep said anything wrong
They were complimenting each other, but honestly, I was bored
At least I remember that Spark sang live well
I don’t remember even 1 thing about the other groups’ stages
└ What has to be acknowledged should be acknowledged: even the groups that brought backup dancers left absolutely nothing in my head…… It might be because the Awangsil set is bad, but compared to music shows, the impact was weaker and there was no differentiation
└ That’s not the issue, whether what they said was right or wrong. The controversy right now is because of their attitude
└ There are still kids who believe broadcast editing is realㅋㅋㅋ Who acts however the X they want on a broadcast these days? Please thinkㅠ
≫ I thought SPK would obviously get 1st place
Why is the reaction like this??
When I watched with my whole family, everyone reacted like they were overwhelmingly good
└ People are saying, “Youth again?” but considering it was a self-PR stage in the first place, of course it makes sense to do what they usually doㅋㅋㅋㅋ I don’t even understand why this is being talked about
└ Agreed, and it wasn’t completely identical either…… It looked like they were trying to promote themselves as rookie idols with a youth concept, so I’m surprised there are so many bad reactions
……There were also many reactions like that. It was thanks to the growing tendency to view broadcasts as broadcasts.
However, after Episode 1 aired, Spark had only been cursed at by Parte’s fans, but now we were being cursed at from all directions. Especially centered on me.
The people who had put their gears in neutral after watching Episode 1 immediately shifted into drive mode in Episode 2. So I got hit at full acceleration.
The soft-hearted Spark guys worried about me, but there was no need. If I thought of it as taking in advance the insults I would hear from Manager Nam in the future, this much was nothing.
If anything, I was worried about the fans. I felt ashamed that I’d made them concerned for no reason because of me. So every day, I’ve been begging on the fan café, telling them they really don’t need to worry too much about internet reactions.
And right now…….
“Hyung, should we open the snacks in advance?”
“Yeah. Otherwise, they won’t eat them because they’ll be worried the mic will pick up the sound.”
I was setting out refreshments with Kang Giyeon in preparation for filming the meeting room.
Because Awangsil had said they would come to film the preparation process starting from this episode.
I’d been wondering why they hadn’t been filming the stage preparation process anyway. How nice would it have been if they’d done this from the first competition?
I’m glad they’re filming it now, at least, but I can’t help feeling regretful. Our team should do a separate live broadcast later to reveal some behind-the-scenes stories.
Before that, we need to finish today’s meeting well.
“Seongbin is leading the meeting today, right? It’s his official MC debut.”
“He was checking the script over and over last night, too.”
“He does well even when he just goes for it, but he’s really meticulous.”
I said it like that, but I was extremely proud. Once again, I felt grateful for Jeong Seongbin’s existence.
“Cheonghyeon said he was bringing cushions, so why isn’t he here?”
“He went up to the roof with Jeho hyung to dust them off once.”
“Are they wearing masks while dusting them? You can shake the dust off the cushions, but you can’t shake the dust off your vocal cords. Is everyone’s discipline getting lax just because they aren’t in charge of the high notes?”
“I saw Juu hyung take care of it for them.”
“Good.”
Making guests sit on the floor was an unprecedented incident for a businessman. But since they said that was more comfortable, all we could do was try to create as pleasant an environment as possible.
Indoor temperature comfortable, device connections good, meeting room cleanliness passed.
And so, for the first time in UA history, the preparations to receive a large number of guests in the meeting room were complete.
* * *
Team 2’s final filming location was UA.
Because of the suddenly added filming schedule, everyone had been out of their minds.
Notifying each agency and making additional work schedules had left everyone steeped in fatigue.
Sometimes, it felt like there was no industry as conservative as broadcasting, and yet at times like this, it made one wonder how this could possibly go on air.
Perhaps everyone on Awangsil’s production team was thinking the same thing. And they were probably making plans to flee to a more well-structured program next time.
At least the soft cushions were a consolation. After sitting on cold office floors for the previous two time slots in a row, every single writer’s bones felt like they were aching.
Kim Iwol, a member of Spark who had been moving the remaining chairs and cushions outside the meeting room, looked toward the writers and asked,
“Are you short on drinks? Or is there anything else we should clear away?”
At the back of the meeting room, cold drinks, snacks, and hot drinks had already been neatly prepared in order.
The area around the outlets was clean as well. Thanks to that, connecting the lights had been unbelievably easy.
When they firmly declined, saying there was nothing more they needed, Kim Iwol smiled and said, “Then please tell us again whenever you need anything.”
Contrary to how they looked, the members were truly simple-hearted. That was what the writers thought.
Just a moment ago, while a certain team was filming their meeting scene, someone had suddenly blurted out profanity, so they had had to receive a request from the manager present to mark the edit point and contact them.
And what about the team before that?
Watching no one dare to take the lead throughout the entire meeting, the writers had inwardly beaten their chests.
It was only natural for rookie groups to be wary of their companies, but it was also true that they’d seemed like groups that were only good at doing what their companies told them to do.
In that sense, Spark had a self-directed side.
When they heard the production crew was coming, there was a member who came all the way down to the building entrance, and there was also a member like Iwol who took meticulous care of people.
Even the meeting room where they would be filming had already been cleaned up neatly.
This did not simply refer to cleanliness. It meant there was nothing that might expose a brand, nothing that would get caught in the camera angle, and so on.
The only things on the table were two laptops, six various planners, and a few ballpoint pens. There was nothing the production crew had to step in and clear away.
It was a good thing for the preparation time of an already exhausting final shoot to be reduced. Team 2 rubbed their stiff eyes and mustered their energy once again.
And as soon as filming began, they found themselves rubbing those same eyes while staring at the brightly shining screen.