Damn Idol Episode 39
After the opening, the main topic began.
“All right, so what are we doing today!”
We’re probably deciding positions.
According to Kang Seokwoo, the first mission was a battle between the same positions on each team.
“We’ll be playing a room assignment game.”
……
Guess not.
“There’s one single room and two double rooms in the dorm. In other words, only one person can use the single room.”
I want the single room.
Not because I want to live comfortably, but because of the nightmares.
I often wake up screaming after having a nightmare.
And that’s a pretty big nuisance to whoever’s sleeping in the same room.
Especially when the schedule is packed, since every minute and second of sleep is precious.
“The game is very, very, very simple.”
Blue gave a strange smile and revealed the game.
“Guess the birthdays! The person who guesses the most correctly gets first pick of the rooms.”
“Birthdays? We already know each other’s……”
“Take Scene’s Ready?”
“Yes!”
“Do you know contestant Han Sion’s birthday?”
“……
No?”
“It’s a game where you guess the birthdays of the opposing team, not your own team. But Ready, when’s my birthday?”
“August 9th, right?”
“Nope. Up.”
“……September 8th?”
“Down.”
“……”
“Why don’t you know my birthday? We’re from the same agency, and I’ve even bought you meals especially often.”
“I-I’m sorry!”
After teasing Ready for a while as he bowed his head, Blue revealed his birthday.
Apparently, it was August 19th.
He was pretty close, but Blue really grilled him.
Well, it was all a joke for the broadcast anyway.
“Now then, Take Scene first. Please stand in a line.”
Take Scene lined up in the order of Juyeon, Fade, Ready, See You, and Eye Level, and the game began.
“You can ask two questions each. Sedalbaegil, start in the order you’re standing!”
Wow, seriously. I have no idea why we’re playing a game like this.
Is this fun if it airs?
It seems like it’ll take up way more time than you’d think, too.
“Contestant Han Sion? Try guessing contestant Juyeon’s birthday first.”
“Hmm. November 11th?”
“Up.”
But……
This is a total freebie.
“December 25th?”
“……
Correct.”
“……!”
I know Juyeon’s birthday.
Every Christmas, he held a concert that doubled as his birthday party, and I remembered being a guest there.
Was that when I was doing solo activities after For The Youth disbanded? Or was it before For The Youth?
Anyway.
“I-I got it right?”
I pretended to be dumbfounded and gave Juyeon a thumbs-up.
“You were born on a good day.”
Blue covered his mouth with the cue card and laughed as if he found it absurd.
“Okay. Next is Fade! Since it’s a new person, we’ll start again with contestant Han Sion.”
When I glanced to the side, I saw On Saemiro and Lee Ion staring wide-eyed.
Looks like they really want the single room.
But……
“March 4th.”
“……!”
“What? No way?”
“C-Correct.”
Jo Yongseong, no, Fade.
His birthday is one day apart from mine.
When we were in For The Youth, we had our parties together.
Amazingly, I even managed to guess the next person, Ready’s, birthday.
This time, I didn’t get it in one go, but when it came back around to my turn.
“C-Correct! You didn’t get your hands on Take Scene’s profiles or something, did you?”
“I did not.”
Hmm. Then the single room is guaranteed.
I won’t have to be self-conscious because of my nightmares.
After that, we played another pointless game.
It was a game with tonight’s dinner menu on the line, one side being a clean healthy meal and the other being chicken.
Once we moved into the dorm, strict diet management would begin, so it was under the pretext of being our last supper.
Personally, I wanted to eat the clean healthy meal, but we ended up winning the game.
Sweet, salty, greasy food isn’t good for maintaining physical condition.
Well, since I’m still young and lively, eating it once in a while won’t cause any problems.
What was funny was that once the cameras turned off, we were sternly told to eat only a little.
Since it was PPL, they’d serve it so it looked nice, but we were only allowed to eat one chicken.
But watching quietly, I think I understand the structure of Coming Up Next a bit.
This program already has the tension of competition laid as its foundation.
After all, in the building next door, visible the moment you lift your head, there’s a rival team fighting for debut.
On top of that, the missions from now on will also continue to be team competitions.
So it seems like the other small games are deliberately being kept trivial and light.
After the two games ended, I was unpacking in my assigned room when Gu Taehwan quietly came in.
“Are you done?”
“It’ll take a bit longer. Why?”
“No, I was just curious what the single room looked like.”
He doesn’t look the type, but he’s surprisingly sociable.
While Gu Taehwan was looking around the room and making idle comments, I felt him flinch.
“What is it?”
“The humidifier. It’s a different one?”
“Ah. This one’s better.”
The one Gu Taehwan gave me as a birthday present was small, easy to carry around, and a model suited for a small space.
But its humidifying power was a bit weak.
I don’t know if we’ll be given a practice room, but if we are, I should set it up there.
It was a pretty decent gift.
It might seem excessive, but for a singer, taking care of your throat is essential.
And I’m someone who has that kind of care ingrained into my body.
Not just throat care, but I also pay quite a lot of attention to beauty care, like skincare.
In this day and age, you can’t sell two hundred million records as an audio star.
Ah, come to think of it, I won’t need to bulk up in Korea.
Since I don’t have a big frame, I got attacked a lot for being an Asian gay.
America is a place where the level of education varies wildly, so the bottom-of-the-barrel types don’t hesitate to be racist.
But why is Gu Taehwan standing there like that?
“What are you doing?”
“Huh? Nothing. But what should we do about our positions? Especially the rapper.”
“We should talk about that in front of the cameras. It’s a broadcast.”
“That’s true, but…… I wondered if you wanted me to be the rapper.”
“Me? If I did, I would’ve pushed the other two who got three picks.”
Kim Haeun and Nam, what was it again?
Anyway, Kim Haeun and some guy named Nam, who competed against Gu Taehwan in the final round, were rappers, but I pushed Gu Taehwan.
That should be game over, so I don’t know why he’s worrying about it.
“You sing the intro.”
“The intro?”
“The intro has to grab people right away. Your sense of rhythm is more than enough for that.”
Gu Taehwan nodded as if he’d been given some grand mission.
“Want me to help you organize?”
“It’s easier to do it alone.”
After organizing the rest of my luggage and coming out, everyone except me was waiting.
When I apologized for being late, Lee Ion grinned and lightly tapped my shoulder.
“What’s a few minutes? Let’s go. They told us to come to the gym.”
The indoor gym at the community facility across the road from the pension was the next filming location.
When we arrived at the gym, CEO Choi Daeho was there.
“Today, I’m here not as a judge, but as a boy group producer.”
And then he decided the positions for the
Han Sion: Leader / Sub-vocalist
Hm? I’m not the main vocalist?
Not even the lead vocalist, but sub-vocalist?
* * *
“PD, is it okay to put Han Sion and Juyeon against each other already? I don’t think that’s quite right.”
“Why?”
“If you look at the rough cut, episodes one and two are divided almost like two tracks right now. The protagonists of each track are Han Sion and Juyeon.”
According to the original plan, Team B was supposed to be selected in episode one of Coming Up Next, and they were supposed to encounter Take Scene at the end of episode one.
From episode two onward, the real competition between the two teams would begin.
But Kang Seokwoo decided to put more weight on Han Sion and Sedalbaegil, received additional programming time, and changed the structure of the program.
They began the show itself with a two-track structure of Take Scene / Sedalbaegil.
On one side, it showed the process by which a problem occurred for Take Scene, who had been preparing for debut, leading to the start of “Coming Up Next.”
On the other side, it showed the process of Sedalbaegil being born through the selection round.
The two groups revealed their skills while showing similar yet different charms.
And through that, it guided the viewers into thinking this:
‘Both teams seem good, but who would win if they faced off?’
In a way, it was a structure faithful to a storytelling technique that had been loved for a very long time.
Because it showed the lives of the protagonist and the antagonist separately, and then had them collide.
Kang Seokwoo planned to open the first clash with the main vocalists, Han Sion and Juyeon.
But the head writer shook her head.
“Where do you see final bosses fighting each other at the beginning? You beat up some small fry, take down a transforming mid-boss, and then they face off.”
“Hmm…… Writer Jang, you’re saying that even though it’s a team-versus-team match, the confrontation between those two is important?”
“Of course. We’ll only know once the broadcast airs, but viewers might end up immersing themselves in the individuals more than the teams.”
“Why?”
“Because one side is a team that’s going to disappear anyway.”
After thinking for a moment, Kang Seokwoo decided to respect the head writer’s opinion.
Directing was the PD’s domain, but when it came to setting up dynamics, writers were often better.
Because one could fall into the trap of trying to direct a good scene and miss the bigger picture.
“Okay. I’m convinced. Then what should we do?”
“Let’s give On Saemiro a bit of a trial instead. Right now, On Saemiro is a little ambiguous. Outside, he’s overshadowed by Juyeon, and inside, he’s overshadowed by Han Sion.”
“Isn’t Lee Ion ambiguous too?”
“He is, but Lee Ion is someone who can keep generating buzz with just his looks. We can spotlight him a little later.”
“What if we push On Saemiro and he falls flat?”
“You know how it is. The public seems to cheer for success, but they also like laughing at failure.”
“Hmm.”
Kang Seokwoo rubbed his chin.
During the preliminary meetings and testing stage, he had considered On Saemiro the protagonist of Team B, but with Han Sion’s appearance, that had faded somewhat.
“Okay. Then let’s push On Saemiro.”
“Yes. In that case, I’ll take out the rule that people with the same position go against each other and pretend it’s random. So that On Saemiro and Juyeon face each other.”
At the words that she would manipulate the matchups, PD Kang Seokwoo shook his head.
“No. Since we’re at it, let’s press Han Sion a bit too.”
“Pardon?”
“Go to CEO Choi Daeho quickly and ask him to come up with a reason to drop Han Sion from main vocalist.”
“Why?”
“I’m curious. He probably thinks he’s been perfect so far, so I want to see what happens if he’s cut from main vocalist.”
“Hmm……”
After thinking briefly, the head writer nodded.
A scene of Han Sion being shocked didn’t seem bad either.
If he revealed too much of the bottom of his personality, they’d have to edit it out, but an appropriate vulnerability would leave room for sympathy and support.
On top of that, the current Han Sion had no sense of desperation.
It felt like the protagonist’s seat was naturally his?
Or like all of this was too easy?
“Okay! I’m going!”
A little while later, Choi Daeho nodded at the head writer’s suggestion.
“That’s not bad. I heard he recently had an argument with Fade, too?”
“Yes. He did.”
“I’ll make the reason for the broadcast, so Writer, please relay the off-camera reason.”
“Ah, that it’s a reprimand for causing controversy?”
“That will make it easier for him to accept. However, we’ll give him the leader position as planned.”
“Okay. Understood.”
The writer nodded as well.
But a little while later, the two of them had to face a situation completely different from what they had expected.
Because Han Sion accepted the position very willingly, without even asking the reason.
‘This is actually better.’
While thinking something they could not possibly know.