Damn Idol Episode 16
1. Han Sion, 40 points
2. On Saemiro, 35 points
3. Kim Haeun, 33 points
4. Nam Seongil, 32 points
5. Lee Ion, 32 points
6. Sim Juwan, 30 points
7. Kim Seongu, 28 points
8. Choi Jaeseong, 27 points
9. Gu Taehwan, 25 points
1
0. Park Seongju, 25 pointsAbsurd.
If they were going to show it like this anyway, was there really any need to call out each person’s score one by one?
“As previously announced, you may choose the order for the next performance according to your ranking in the preliminary mission.”
The order—what was so important about that, that they had to make such a fuss?
In the end, the results would go according to skill, or according to the logic of ratings, anyway.
Blue continued explaining the upcoming performances, but inside, I kept grumbling.
Then I realized.
“……
Ah.”
I am not in a normal mental state right now.
I still haven’t completely shaken off the emotional overload I was sunk in until just a moment ago.
It wouldn’t be good if this state continued.
I need to lighten my mood quickly…
But with what?
“Now then, our first-place contestant, Han Sion. Please choose your order for the main performance.”
“I’ll go first.”
“……
First?”
“Yes. At the very front. The very first.”
Groans leaked out here and there.
They were especially loud from the contestants who had botched their stages after mine during the preliminary mission.
But, well, what does that have to do with me?
“Are you sure you want to decide on the very first slot?”
“Of course.”
It seems I really am a bad guy.
Seeing the contestants looking like they were about to cry kind of put me in a better mood.* * *The first stage of the main competition was a solo song mission.
At a glance, aside from having to sing an entire song, it didn’t seem all that different from the preliminary mission.
“If this were some national singer audition, I wouldn’t have asked anything of you.”
In the main competition, however, the judges intervened in the song selection.
“I would’ve just let you sing whatever you wanted and clapped for you.”
Blue, who had been assigned as my mentor, continued.
“But Sion. This is an idol audition, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“So you need to show us dance.”
“You mean I should sing another idol’s song?”
“‘A song by your seniors’ would be the more broadcast-appropriate way to put it, don’t you think?”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Blue was right.
My mental state still wasn’t calibrated for being an idol.
When I quietly nodded, Blue smirked and then moved away the camera that was filming us.
“Off the record, you’re not very interested in idols, are you?”
“I wasn’t. But it’s true that I’m interested now. I want to become an idol, too.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to sell a lot of albums.”
That was one hundred percent sincere.
“Then may I ask you something off the record as well?”
“What is it?”
“The impression I got was that when Team B was selected, dance wasn’t really taken into consideration.”
Thinking about it, Ryan Entertainment’s rookie development team hadn’t asked me to dance.
I don’t know what they were relying on.
What were they going to do if I moved stiffly like a wooden puppet?
After hearing me, Blue made a strange expression, then shook his head.
“Ah, that was an accident.”
“An accident?”
“They said you sang in such an unusual way that they forgot to ask you to dance.”
“……?”
For that being the case, Team Leader Choi Suyeon seemed to find me rather unsatisfactory.
“But you’re also right. You know too, don’t you? That Team B has a high chance of ending up as nothing more than Team A’s supporting cast.”
He’s openly saying this here?
It was something everyone knew, but it was very different when a judge said it out loud.
“Team B is likely to be made up of kids who stand out in specific areas. Individually, they’re excellent.”
“But when it comes to team performances, it feels like they’ll be outclassed by Take Scene, right?”
“Correct.”
Blue glanced toward CEO Choi Daeho, then continued.
“But it’s no fun if it just ends that way. Personally, I’m someone who hopes Team B beats Take Scene.”
I didn’t know what Blue’s intention was in saying this.
It could be sincerity with no ulterior motive, or he could be trying to imprint on me that at least one of the judges was definitely on Team B’s side.
Good cop, bad cop was an old negotiation tactic, but it worked in most situations.
“Now then, shall we stand in front of the camera again?”
Blue called the VJ over, resumed filming, and spoke again.
“So, you need to show us dance.”
“You mean I should cover a song by my idol seniors, correct?”
“Correct. Right now, you look like some kind of genius solo artist. Like someone who has no particular need to be an idol.”
But why was that a bad thing?
When I was a rapper, I didn’t have a pure yearning for hip-hop.
In fact, around the time sales of hip-hop albums began to decline, I released an R&B album and hit it big.
At first, hip-hop fans called me fake, but only for a short while.
If the music is good, it will always be loved.
GOTM was the same.
I had never once shown any grand affection for band music.
I only said I wanted to satisfy the people who liked my music.
I wanted them to feel proud of the time they spent supporting me, and I wanted to make sure the money they spent on my music didn’t feel wasted.
That wasn’t pretense, but sincerity.
Because money, popularity, and fame couldn’t save me.
Because to me, nothing had any meaning except my fans.
So from my perspective, whether the genre of music I made was hip-hop, rock, or K-pop made no difference at all.
But was that not enough for an idol?
When I phrased the question in a somewhat roundabout way, Blue answered as if surprised.
“If that’s your sincerity, and you can show that sincerity, then it’s enough.”
“Is there a song choice that could show that?”
“Well……”
After thinking for a moment, Blue tossed out a suggestion.
“The song you like the most, exactly as it is without rearrangement. You’ll have plenty of chances to show your singing ability and arrangements in the future.”
I understood what he meant.
Since I didn’t really have any point of contact with Blue, this was the first time I’d spoken with him today, but it felt like I’d received some pretty decent advice.
I thought of a few songs in my head while exchanging some light conversation with Blue.
Blue seemed curious about where I had learned music, but there was nothing I could say except that I was self-taught.
“Ah, right. Who do you think is the best among the contestants?”
“At this point, wouldn’t it be On Saemiro? He was really good at singing.”
“Since you say ‘at this point,’ I guess that changes if you consider future potential?”
It wasn’t a question I particularly wanted to answer, but Blue was more persistent than I’d expected.
“Gu Taehwan.”
“Gu Taehwan……? Are you serious?”
I knew why Blue was reacting like this.
Gu Taehwan had been last place in the preliminary mission.
To be precise, since ninth and tenth place had both scored 25 points, they were tied for last.
A total of 25 points from four judges meant his average score was only 6.25.
But my assessment was different.
“Yes. His sense of rhythm was no joke.”
“Then what genre do you think he should sing?”
“I think singing rap would suit him. Something with a heavily emphasized bass rather than a traditional feel.”
“Hmm.”
I had intended to give only that much of my opinion, but Blue said something unexpected.
“I’m Taehwan’s mentor too, you see. You and Taehwan are both under my charge.”
If I thought of it as him being assigned the first-place contestant and the last-place contestant together, it made sense.
“I’ll set up a chance, so try giving him some advice naturally.”
“Me? Wouldn’t it be better if you did it, Mentor?”
“To be honest, I didn’t see much potential in Taehwan. He does work hard, but everyone does that.”
“That’s a bit burdensome.”
“We’re eating boxed lunches soon anyway. I’ll bring it up naturally then. I promise it won’t come out weirdly on broadcast.”
When a mentor went that far, it was awkward to refuse.
In the end, after getting his promise that I would only speak lightly, and that if Gu Taehwan didn’t seem very interested, I wouldn’t go into it too deeply, I nodded.
“Okay. Call me when you’re done choosing your song. And you’d better do it as quickly as possible, if you can. There aren’t enough trainers.”
There were ten contestants, but only five trainers in total: two vocal trainers and three choreography trainers.
It was structured so that whoever finished choosing their song first would receive help first.
Perhaps because there were only eight hours left until the main performance, I could sense the other contestants bustling about.
After Blue left, I began thinking about my song choice.
Blue had told me to cover a song I liked, but I didn’t necessarily agree.
If I had to choose between showing a greater desire to be an idol and showing a better stage, I would choose the latter.
Sometimes, fans seem to worship singers.
But there is no case where they sincerely worship a singer who puts out crappy music for years on end.
In the end, music is the most important thing.
As I organized my thoughts, I got a feel for what kind of song I should sing.
A song that could show a traditional K-pop performance while also letting me flaunt my skills.
A song that would make the public feel that Han Sion could sing anything and make it his own.
If I wanted to be a little greedier, it would be nice if the stage didn’t feel empty with me filling it alone, and if the song choice were unexpected…
At that moment, a song flashed through my mind.
After my appearance on Coming Up Next was confirmed, I had listened to K-pop consistently.
Among those songs, some were good enough to make me applaud, and some were so awful they gave me chills.
The song I would sing was somewhere in between.
It was a song that clearly could have become incredibly good, but made me wonder why the production had been done in such a ridiculous way.
Flowers Bloom.
What was the singer’s name again?
Ah, Way From Flower.
They were probably the girl group that had held the top spot for the past few years.
And Flowers Bloom was their failed debut song.* * *I was watching Way From Flower’s choreography video when Blue appeared with Gu Taehwan, carrying three boxed lunches.
“It’s too cramped here for three guys. Shall we go eat in the lounge?”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
And so, in the lounge, we began a meal that doubled as small talk.
“Taehwan, where do you live?”
“I live around Dangsan.”
“With your parents?”
“No. I live on my own.”
Just by his face, I had thought he was older than me, but as it turned out, Gu Taehwan was also twenty.
“There are especially a lot of twenty-year-olds among the contestants. By the way, Sion, did you think about your song choice?”
“I took what you told me earlier into account and finished choosing.”
“Already? What is it?”
When I told him it was Way From Flower’s debut song, Blue tilted his head.
“You’re going to sing the Flower Girls’ song?”
Was Flower Girls Way From Flower’s nickname?
Since he was a senior in the industry, it might also be something he called them because he knew them personally.
“Yes. I think it’ll be fun.”
“To be honest, I don’t recommend singing a girl group song.”
“Why not?”
“The dance lines are different, and the feel the song gives off is different too. Can you digest that as an advantage? And……”
Blue glanced around before speaking.
“That song flopped, didn’t it? It’s an old song, so my memory’s hazy, but I think their debut song was bad.”
“I checked the results too, and it didn’t flop. And I think it’s a good song.”
“Are you going to sing it without rearranging it?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
Blue stared at me and asked.
“You’re not trying to show off your high notes by proving you can sing a woman’s song in the original key, are you?”
“Of course not.”
No, what kind of question is that?