Inside the monitor, Han Sion looked almost no different from how he had appeared on stage during the audience recording.
'So it wasn't just the makeup.'
The stage makeup hadn't looked all that heavy to begin with, so it might have been expected, but you never know.
There were definitely male idols with an enormous gap between their made-up and bare faces.
["I didn't really prepare an instrumental or an original song. I'm sorry."]
With that, Han Sion began with the assigned song.
The assigned song for Lion Entertainment was *The Language of Flowers*.
It was a song released when the original singer was just a kid, but because it had been steadily reproduced on variety programs, it was a known song.
Han Sion's singing was clean.
When you stan for a long time, you end up becoming half a critic, and anyone could see that he sang in a truly clean manner.
'Besides, it's not like he doesn't know how to be flashy.'
If you think back to the remix of *Under the Streetlight*, you know.
That song had truly been flashy.
Sure enough, the online reactions were favorable.
-Oh, he's pretty good?
-Clean. No bad habits either. Feels like a main vocalist?
-He seemed a bit rude during the interview, but the impression totally changes when he sings, yeah
-His face is totally my type.
-Doesn't he have a kind of gloomy feel to him?
-Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah he does. He looks like he'd be fun to bully lololololol
But these were the reactions on the surface. The reactions below the surface were slightly different.
-So this is that 'Slay-Sion'? He's mediocre though?
-Like, isn't he just a really talented normie?
-90% of the guys saying they went to the recording are just basement-dwelling imaginary audience members.
-Hey, did you guys know? Lee Hyeonseok is the CEO of the outsourced studio for *Coming Up Next*.
-Guess he got in through Lee Hyeonseok's connections.
-Wow, a connection idol. He's got what it takes to succeed.
There were two reasons for reactions like these.
First, people felt repulsion due to the overhype from those who had attended the recording.
Second, because he performed well in a safe, unremarkable way.
Survival program viewers easily become appraisers of potential, and their defining trait was giving high marks to exceptional parts.
They rated higher a person with one part at 120 and the rest at 60 over someone with 90 in every part.
It was playing the game of 'my eye for talent is better than everyone else's.'
In that sense, Han Sion's style was at a disadvantage.
Because he gave off the feeling of clearing every section with a stable, solid foundation.
He even reached the high notes so effortlessly that they hardly felt like high notes.
'And there's no shield right now.'
With no one to run defense, it felt like a festival of people pouring out negative opinions.
The art student, thinking that, suddenly felt confused.
'Was I listening with a filter on?'
Because she had seen the *Under the Streetlight* performance? Or because she liked Han Sion?
The thought suddenly flashed through her mind that she might have lost her objectivity and was overestimating him.
The moment she thought that.
["It's a song called *Tony Bright*, performed with melisma. It was released in the 1940s."]
["Is it R&B?"]
["The original is Delta blues, but I arranged it with a Chicago blues feel."]
-Wow, pretending to be professional lolololol
-'I arranged it with a Chicago blues feel,' my ass lololol
-Blues my ass. Go back to Hongdae, why'd you even come to an audition?
The free song began amid the biting comments.
Funky drums and an electronic guitar flooded in.
-???
While people were thrown off by the unexpectedly electronic-pop feel, Han Sion—who'd been bobbing his head—grabbed the microphone.
["The gypsy woman told my mother"]
["Before I was born—!"]
An auditory rush: the vocals sliced through the electronic guitar, descending by half-steps.
["I got a boy child's comin'"]
["He's gonna be a son of a gun"]
The stability of hitting the beat dead-on with the drums.
His voice rose and fell like a roller coaster, firing out a crisp melody.
In an instant, a note that had reached a high point suddenly cut out into a low vibrato.
["He gonna make pretty women's"]
But the volume grew even louder.
["Jump and shout!"]
The surprised faces of Lion Entertainment's rookie development team were shown in close-up.
And then.
["Dry skin during the changing seasons! If you're troubled by skin problems!"]
A mid-roll advertisement began.
The art student, who'd been holding her breath without realizing it, let out a rough exhale.
"Hah!"
A conclusion had been reached.
She hadn't lost her objectivity and overestimated him after all.
Han Sion was simply on a higher level from the start.
The college student pouted and clacked away at her keyboard.
-I was so dumbfounded I could only watch, and now everyone's gone quiet. Guess their eyesight isn't all that, lol
It seemed she wasn't the only one who'd thought this, as comments from the shields began sliding up.
-I was just reading the comments quietly, was I the only one dumbfounded? Blues is the prototype of the R&B you all like, lol
-R&B is short for Rhythm and Blues, lol
-Ignorant people are always the kings of forced hate, lol
As expected, one 'lol' is the only proper way.
* * *
After Han Sion's song.
Take Scene hung his head at Choi Daeho's cold evaluation, but then came the sequence of him gritting his teeth and challenging himself again.
At the same time, on the other side, the B-team selection began, picking 5 out of 10.
The broadcast progressed much faster than the usual survival format.
There were no sob stories, and no special screen time was piled onto any one member.
Even at moments when a close-up on Lee Ion's face would have been warranted, they simply left it on a wide shot.
The balance of screen time was so obsessively fair that it almost felt compulsive.
Still, there were some fairly pleasant scenes.
["Why Lion?"]
["……Yes?"]
["If it's Daeho, shouldn't it be Tiger?"]
-lololololololololol
-Wtf. Is he nuts?
Thanks to that, a previously unknown anecdote of CEO Choi Daeho's was also revealed.
["Actually, when I was registering the business, I had been awake for nearly 40 hours."]
["I was so sleepy I got confused. ……I thought it was Lion."]
To ordinary viewers, it was something to chuckle at and move on, but not for fans of the idol world.
-A guy whose name means great tiger, but acts like a weasel.
No, like a cat.
Cats are at least cute. This guy only causes harm to people.
So that's why it's Lion Entertainment.
-The meme that always comes up whenever Choi Daeho is mentioned.
Because it was the moment the truth behind that meme was revealed, everyone burst into laughter and relished it.
Next, the rule of the pre-mission—singing only the first verse—was revealed, and the contestants' song selections were mentioned one by one.
Among them was Han Sion.
["It might be a bit awkward if we overlap... Could I ask what song you chose?"]
["*Under the Streetlight.*"]
["Huh? We could sing the chorus?"]
["I'm singing the first verse, not the chorus."]
["Ah……. It is a good song though."]
-Wow, absolute trash song.
-Fucking hate it. The worst.
-If a guy picks this at karaoke, you'd be found not guilty for punching him lololol
-No, I like this song, but the first verse really isn't it.
-Typical hipster.
JPG
Granted, reactions on the internet tend to be exaggerated, but everyone seemed to genuinely hate it.
But Han Sion's stage created yet another twist.
A song transformed entirely by vocals alone while the original beat remained untouched.
That song left the viewers' mouths hanging open.
Moreover, right before the chorus that triggered inward chanting.
["Thank you."]
The greeting he let out with a slight smirk, and the belated reactions of the contestants who realized what had just happened, were the highlight.
-Wow, shit. Props to you. You seem like an indie snob, but I want to see you sing something properly boy-group-like.
-So... when is our Sion... debuting...?
-What? I normally hate the character who pretends to be a genius on survival shows, but this one feels different?
-He's not pretending lolol
-Like Han Sion really made it, tch. A producer made it for him
-No but how. Can a song get this good with just vocals?
The production team slightly rearranged the evaluation order, showing Lee Changjun's technical review first.
-What did he mean?
-No idea.
-It just means it was awesome.
Then they showed Choi Daeho's evaluation.
["*Coming Up Next*. Literally, it means something like 'the next order is,' right?"]
["I'll have to watch a bit longer, but……"]
["For now, the next order I'm looking forward to the most seems to be Han Sion."]
And they inserted the Q&A from before Han Sion's performance to after it.
["Why do you want to become an idol?"]
["I've actually been worrying about it since writing my application motive... I'm not sure."]
["You're not sure?"]
["Yes. I feel desperate, but I don't know why I feel this way, or since when."]
["Real dreams are like that. Without reason. I heard you loud and clear."]
By now, anyone could tell.
The protagonist of *Coming Up Next* Episode 1 was Han Sion.
* * *
My face stings.
Probably because I was clearly the protagonist of Episode 1, I can feel people stealing glances at me.
But everyone saw this coming, didn't they?
Making a fuss for no reason.
Thinking that, I deliberately stared at the screen with a solemn expression.
The reaction cams are still rolling, so looking too pleased would be awkward.
My stage formed the highlight, but the broadcast isn't over yet.
Other contestants' pre-mission stages were aired, and after that, the order for the first mission was decided.
["Contestant Han Sion. Please choose your performance order."]
["I'll go first."]
["……First?"]
["Yes. Very first. The very beginning."]
Why did I do that, again?
Was I feeling down and trying to blow off steam?
The other contestants' reactions to my choice were inserted as interviews, and the Take Scene sequence appeared once more.
Thus Episode 1 ended.
But the preview for the next episode was quite shocking.
["Is this correct? Contestant Han Sion chose this?"]
["Really? Why this?"]
A cut of the judges surprised by my song choice?
That's something you'd expect.
["I couldn't believe my ears."]
["Han Sion is singing *beep*—?"]
The contestants' reactions were naturally necessary too.
Moreover, the production team cleverly inserted Blue's mentoring.
["Sion. This is an idol audition, right?"]
["So you need to show dancing."]
["You mean we should cover songs by senior idols?"]
To prevent my image from becoming fixed as indie, and to spark curiosity.
This was also plausible content.
What I hadn't predicted was the content that followed.
["Isn't it a bit much that only Han Sion gets to release a song?"]
["It was a pre-mission anyway, and it's not like anyone said we couldn't."]
["I don't even know if he's serious about being an idol……. (Edit) It seems unfair."]
What was his name again.
Kim Seongu? Kim Useong?
Anyway, the production team used Kim Useong as a pawn.
Without directly advertising that an audio track for *Under the Streetlight* was coming out, they had still managed to announce the song's release.
Actually, given the program's flow, it would have been somewhat awkward to heavily promote the release of the *Under the Streetlight* track.
But to resolve it like this.
PD Kang Seoku really knows his stuff.
["If I release a track, wouldn't the other contestants feel it's unfair?"]
["I…… would rather you didn't."]
The next inserted content was to my liking too.
But I feel a bit bad for Kim Useong.
The production team subtly prodded him to draw out that interview; he might regress at least once because of it.
With that, the preview screen faded out, and Episode 1 came to a complete end.
I was satisfied.
PD Kang Seoku kept his promise to me, and I've consistently lived up to PD Kang Seoku's expectations as well.
Our tacit agreement has been extended.
"Cut, we'll take a short break."
"Good work, everyone."
"Good work!"
But I'm a bit curious.
I wonder how the track will perform?