That Damned Idol Episode 48
Album 5. First Broadcast
“Guys, what do you think you’re doing still practicing!”
While we were in the middle of stage practice, I headed for the showers at the fuss the youngest writer made as she came rushing in.
I had heard we’d be filming reaction shots for the first broadcast, but I’d forgotten.
It’s all because of the environment.
Pocheon, where access is controlled and people are scarce.
The dorm where stage practice and training repeat all day long.
Cameras mounted everywhere you look.
With these three elements forming a trinity, it feels like we’re filming 24/7.
We’re already filming, and they’re telling us we’re filming again?
That’s the kind of thought that made me forget.
Well, it was also because I’d been practicing with full concentration.
So I washed up as quickly as possible, got my dorm-friendly no-makeup makeup done (a term I’d learned from Choi Jaeseong), and arrived at the shared lobby, where the Take Scene members were already waiting.
“Sorry for being late!”
I shouted loudly and sat down.
I could see some of the Samdalbaegil members exchanging glances with the Take Scene members sitting next to them.
As for me, I’d never once interacted with Take Scene myself, but among the other members, there were quite a few who had gotten close.
Especially since I often spotted the good-natured Redi, Eye Level’s Lee Ion, and Choi Jaeseong chatting.
Aside from Fade, I don’t have any particular ill will toward Take Scene either.
But I also have no desire to get close.
It might be impossible given the show’s format, but regardless, my current goal is to beat Take Scene and debut.
“Is everyone here?”
It seemed there wouldn’t be a separate MC for the first broadcast reaction, as PD Gang Seok-u appeared wearing glasses.
“Time really flies, doesn’t it? The first broadcast is already upon us.”
“Yes!”
“I’m looking forward to it!”
“To celebrate your first broadcast, we have a gift for you all. You’ve all been working hard managing yourselves… so the trainers will let it slide just this once, right?”
When PD Gang Seok-u said that and looked toward the fitness trainers, the trainers sighed and nodded.
Soon, top-tier lunchboxes loaded with pork rib steak from some brand were placed in our hands.
Since there was still some time until the broadcast, this was basically them telling us to shoot some product placement.
Wow, oh my……
I only pretended to eat.
While in front of the cameras the trainers smiled kindly and nodded, behind them they warned us not to swallow.
Chew, smile, spit.
“…….”
“…….”
Even me, who doesn’t have much aversion to diet management, found this a bit of an ordeal.
My mouth was definitely full of delicious flavors, but I couldn’t swallow them.
But why do idols have to be stick-thin no matter what?
Like in America, even if they don’t bulk up to the max, if they increased their muscle mass they could afford a certain amount of good food.
If I ever debut, I’m definitely making the team concept gym rats.
“Sion hyung, in professional terms, this is called eat-and-spit.”
“There’s professional terminology for this kind of thing?”
“Of course. Eat-and-spit. It means people doing mukbang pretend to eat deliciously in front of the camera and then spit it out behind the scenes.”
“Then why do mukbang?”
“Because there are people who like watching others eat a lot?”
I knew what mukbang was, but it was the first time I’d learned there were people like that.
Thanks to Choi Jaeseong the neologism vending machine, I learned something new.
Around the time we were spending this time feeling sorry for our taste buds, the commercial break just before the show finally aired.
And finally, Episode 1 began.
There were two points I was most curious about in today’s broadcast.
First, how much screen time I’d get.
Second, what excuse they had used for the program’s reason to exist.
I’d thought about it countless times, but Coming Up Next has no justification for production.
Making Take Scene, who have been preparing to debut for a long time, compete with Team B that was suddenly picked?
Anyone with half a brain would know that Team B is just a sideshow.
Although the tension changed when I appeared, anyway.
Just what excuse could the production team have used?
No matter how much I thought about it, only Representative Choi Daeho playing the villain came to mind.
Something like Take Scene being frogs in a well with excessive arrogance, so they needed competition.
Of course, for this to work, Take Scene shouldn’t actually show arrogant behavior; they’d need to show tearful, desperate practicing.
Then Representative Choi Daeho’s evaluation calling them arrogant might draw criticism, but the program’s purpose itself wouldn’t get criticized.
But this is still a stopgap, not a masterstroke.
If the program starts like this, some viewers will complain about fatigue.
Hmm.
No matter how much I think about it, there’s really no answer.
Now, how did they spin it?
And.
Surprisingly, the production team brought an incredible masterstroke.
‘Wow, these crazy broadcasting bastards.’
The solution was tremendous.
Representative Choi Daeho, who leads the program’s opening, was extremely one-sided, decisive, and bold.
“…….”
He ignored it!
That’s right.
They excluded any mention of the production background entirely!
[From now on, you will compete with Team B.]
Choi Daeho declared the competition as if it were an absolute axiom—that the sun rises in the east, the sky is above your head, and the earth is beneath your feet.
There was no reason.
There wasn’t even a cut to insert a reason.
[To be honest, I felt a bit depressed. The competition so far hasn’t been easy, and to think we have to compete again for our debut…….]
[What happens if we lose here? That’s all I could think about.]
It cut straight to the Take Scene members’ interviews.
Even in the midst of this, Representative Choi Daeho praised Take Scene.
[As a producer, I feel pride when I unearth a rough gemstone and polish it into a jewel. But Take Scene was a jewel from the start.]
Then shouldn’t there be a reason why those jewels have to compete?
Naturally, there wasn’t any of that either.
Wow, this is really the worst.
I couldn’t help it and looked at PD Gang Seok-u.
“…….”
PD Gang Seok-u subtly avoided my eyes.
I don’t know if it’s his idea or if he only approved it, but he seems ashamed.
Ah, I see. I can guess what they intended.
Early in the program, viewers might chatter about Coming Up Next’s justification.
But as episodes progress and they start immersing themselves in the program, that talk will gradually disappear.
Especially if the program is fun.
So they chose to avoid it, but isn’t this too much?
While I was thinking that, the program started running on two tracks.
On one side, they showed Take Scene’s charms.
Even the fact that Action, who had originally been a Take Scene member, left due to a sudden family matter, and Fade joined, was shown.
The members crying when Action left transitioning into practice scenes filled with grit was documentary-level camera work.
At the same time, the Coming Up Next production team searched for Team B.
Audition clips and interview cuts dissolved continuously without pause, then came to a dead stop.
And Lee Ion appeared.
Hmm, as expected, he’s handsome.
Truly a man worthy of simultaneously topping Forbes’ lists for both the voice you least want to have and the face you most want to look like.
[It says here you’re from a mid-sized agency’s debut team. Why did you leave?]
[Because I wanted to do my best.]
[Your best? What does that mean?]
[At my previous agency, I always heard this. This level of singing is enough. This level of stage presence is enough. This feeling is enough…….]
I think I know what Lee Ion omitted.
—With a face like yours…….
Probably the previous agency wanted to make money quickly off Lee Ion’s looks.
They must have thought if they could just debut him, money would roll in on its own.
It’s not entirely wrong.
I don’t know if they could have landed major gigs, but if they had put him to work, they would have made enough for a first album production budget.
Maybe they had even planned to use his debut as an idol merely as a business card to get his face known.
Sure enough, the Lee Ion on screen was saying something similar to what I was thinking.
[But I didn’t want that. I wanted to do music. For real. Properly. Desperately.]
[Are you saying there were no opportunities?]
[No. I mean I was swayed by temptations amidst abundant opportunities. I wanted to throw everything away and do it right. That’s why I chose Coming Up Next.]
Did someone write a script for him?
The lines aren’t bad.
It seems Lee Ion didn’t leave his previous agency on good terms, and Ryan Entertainment seems to have tidied up the relationship a bit while planning the program.
Otherwise, no matter how much it’s M Show, they wouldn’t have aired wording that allows the situation to be inferred so easily, in full.
Huh, or maybe not.
Since they’re guys who outright ignored the production justification, they might have acted recklessly enough to do that too?
Anyway, the stage that followed was quite excellent.
[Tonight—! I still—!]
His tone color is the problem, not his skill, so his skills aren’t bad.
He dances well, too.
[Thank you.]
The Lee Ion on screen smiled, overwhelmed, and the scene switched.
After that, Take Scene appeared again, and this time Juyeon's singing was highlighted for quite a while.
She definitely sings well.
In fact, among the Korean singers I remember from the future, aside from those I’m fated to have a bad relationship with, they’ve all achieved tremendous success.
I remember them because I’d once crunched the numbers wondering, “Would an album sell in Korea if I collaborated with them?”
While Juyeon isn’t at the peak skill level I remember, she definitely has talent for singing.
While I was thinking that.
[Oh, this contestant has a rather unusual recommender?]
[Who is it?]
[You know PD Lee Hyeonseok? The one running a studio now.]
[Ah, the Toothbrush composer?]
B-roll footage of what hit songs Lee Hyeonseok had written was inserted…….
And I appeared.
They put this on broadcast?
I hadn’t expected the interview scene with Ryan Entertainment’s New Development Team to air.
* * *
An art college student who had followed her friend Choi Sehui to a Coming Up Next audience recording and become interested in the program was sitting in front of her computer.
Quite some time had already passed since Coming Up Next Episode 1 started airing.
Today was a 100-minute slot including mid-roll ads, and about 30 minutes had passed.
‘If I subtract the mid-roll ads generously and call it a 90-minute slot……. I’ve watched about a third.’
But she still hadn’t caught even a glimpse of Han Sion.
More than half the reason she was watching Coming Up Next was because of Han Sion.
She still couldn’t forget the stage she’d seen the day she went to the audience recording.
It was a stage with a different vibe from what you’d expect from an idol trainee, but its level was so high that she’d been impressed.
‘That was the first team competition mission, right? Then the broadcast won’t air until team selection is done?’
Judging by the broadcast atmosphere, it seemed like it wouldn’t appear at least this week.
Probably next week?
It was a bit disappointing, but it was fine.
She was curious about what song Han Sion had sung in other missions, too.
“Ah, when does he come out?”
It was then.
A contestant who had been recommended by a composer named Lee Hyeonseok appeared.
[Hello. I’m Han Sion.]
It was the Han Sion she’d been waiting for.