Damned Idol Episode 58
* * *
Episode 1 of Coming Up Next had split its screen time fairly evenly between Take Scene and the Team B applicants.
But episode 2 did not.
Team B received more airtime, and Team B's story was the main track.
That was why some viewers got annoyed whenever Take Scene's story came on.
—Dude, it’s not even entertaining; why are they showing so much of them?
—Can’t they show Team B selection stories instead of Take Scene?
—F***ing boring.
In fact, when PD Gang Seoku had first finished editing episode 2, the screen-time ratio had been roughly fifty-five to forty-five.
Team B had more, but it wasn’t a massive gap.
But now it had ballooned to sixty-five to thirty-five, or even wider.
That meant episode 2 had been re-edited, and the reason was obviously *Under the Streetlight*.
Interestingly, CEO Choe Daeho had actively agreed with this editing direction.
‘Han Sion has become the protagonist.’
In the unaired episodes 3 and 4 as well, Han Sion was the main focus.
Then what did that make Take Scene?
They had to become the underdogs who evoked sympathy and support.
That was precisely why he had welcomed the reduction in Take Scene's screen time for episode 2.
And sure enough.
—Why does Take Scene get bashed every time they appear? What the hell did they do so wrong?
—Right? They’re trying f***ing hard.
—Isn’t it that bastard Choe Daeho’s fault for chewing them up as trainees for four years and making this kind of program?
—Exactly. And the Take Scene kids work hard without a single complaint. Who ran away from the dorm? Who slacked on practice?
—So what? Lol, they’re boring lol.
—Wow, I’m really getting PTSD. Why are standards so harsh only for idols?
Public opinion was slowly starting to coalesce.
Of course, Coming Up Next had originally planned to focus on Team B in its early stages.
But now it wasn’t showing Team B; it was showing Han Sion.
The reason Gu Taehwan got so many cuts wasn’t because of his own charm, but because Han Sion was deeply entangled in Gu Taehwan’s success narrative.
‘Make Han Sion the proper protagonist. In exchange, bury the other members of Sedalbaegil.’
This was CEO Choe Daeho’s plan.
However, when he had devised this plan and intervened in the editing direction for episode 2, he hadn’t expected a stage like *Seoul Town Punk* to appear.
“What a real waste.”
If only Take Scene had been a little less prepared, or if the members had been a bit more lacking……
He might have pushed for Han Sion’s debut.
But Lion Entertainment had already mapped out all of Take Scene’s debut plans.
The debut song was a given, but the music-video filming schedule after Coming Up Next was set, negotiations with broadcasting stations for music-show appearances were finished, and there were even festival schedules locked in by a major event agency with a long-standing partnership with Lion.
The table had grown too large to flip now.
Thus, Choe Daeho’s goal was for Sedalbaegil to become Take Scene’s successor group.
While some members might change, Yi Ion and Han Sion absolutely had to be kept.
And Choe Daeho was a man who knew better than anyone how to make that happen.
While Choe Daeho was thinking this, the screen of Coming Up Next switched again.
Take Scene’s sequence had ended, and the show returned to the Team B selection.
* * *
The Coming Up Next production crew was brutal.
Even though the sequence had returned to the Team B selection, they didn’t show Han Sion’s song choice right away.
They showed the stage preparation.
But if they dragged it out here, viewers would actually change the channel, so they tossed out clues in rapid cuts to keep things from getting boring.
[Your motion base is locking? You can’t do waacking or voguing?]
[I’m sorry.]
[Well, you don’t exactly have time for that.]
[I’ll do my best.]
[Why does he keep saying he’ll do his best?]
—Lol, he caught it from Gu Taehwan.
—Like the student patrol corrupted by the school bully?
—But what kind of bully catchphrase is “I’ll do my best”? Lol.
—Wait, why is the trainer talking about waacking and voguing? Is it a girl-group song?
—Lol, as if.
—Don’t act like you know. These days even boy-group dances emphasize lines and steps.
—But tier-one boy-group songs don’t have that? Didn’t they say it was a tier-one song earlier?
After that, a cut of Han Sion practicing flashed by quickly, followed by a scene of him talking with the sound engineer.
[You need an arrangement? Then you’re way too late.]
[No, the arrangement is fine. I just want to lower the key a bit.]
[Hm. How?]
[I made some notes.]
—Oh, I love this. It’s disgusting when idols screech thinking a high range means they can sing.
—Agreed. Knowing your own charming range is also a skill.
—Wait, this is weird, though? Han Sion’s range is f***ing high. In *Under the Streetlight* he hit the E in the third octave. And he did it comfortably.
—Isn’t it because he has to dance? His breathing changes.
—Ah, is that it?
—Didn’t someone spout nonsense earlier? Is this really not a girl-group song?
—That’s crazy talk lol.
Cuts continued to be dropped like clues in a detective film.
But the viewers’ patience wasn’t that long.
—F***, if it doesn’t show in one minute, I’m dropping a comment.
Around the time someone posted that comment,
Han Sion’s song choice suddenly appeared on screen.
Artist : Way From Flower
Title : Flowers Bloom
—?????????????????
—Way From Flower??
—What song is this? I don’t know it?
—It’s their debut song. It flopped so hard that switching to a follow-up ASAP was a divine move.
—Hey, f***, I said it sounded like a girl-group song!!!
—Was Han Sion a Way From Flower fan?
—Highly possible.
—To muggles’ ears, even a debut song that sounds mediocre is heavenly harmony.
Han Sion’s song choice was instantly shared across SNS timelines and reached the ears of Way From Flower’s fans.
Way From Flower was a tier-one girl group, so a survival contestant’s cover was nothing unusual.
But if that contestant was the protagonist of *Under the Streetlight*, which was currently number one on the music charts, the story changed.
Moreover, he was a boy-group aspirant.
Interest was inevitable.
[From a performance standpoint, it’s hard to have high expectations?]
[*Flowers Bloom* has a lot of point choreography depicting flowers blooming, as you can see from the meaning of flowering.]
[It’s choreography that’s hard to express alone. A single shaking petal is not a flower blooming.]
Brief archival footage of Way From Flower was inserted as reference material.
Choe Daeho’s words were accurate.
The briefly inserted interviews with Team B applicants were also negative.
But Han Sion didn’t care.
He simply stepped back and smiled.
Soon, the competition song’s instrumental track began to play.
However, Han Sion didn’t move at all during the intro.
He simply tilted his head to the beat, standing slanted along a diagonal.
—???? Original choreography??
—Is this really improv???
But at that moment, Han Sion began to move and sing.
[Put a period on the long night]
[Finally greet the world, Hi]
[Dudu - Deh, Deh]
People were slightly surprised by Han Sion’s dancing.
A solo performance at this level was excellent.
But what surprised them more was:
[A yesterday I never dreamed of]
[A today I longed for, Yes For Day]
[Stretch out both arms]
[Dudu - Deh, Deh]
The song was low.
But it was good.
At first, the low register, different from the well-known original, had felt awkward……
It was charming.
To the point where it couldn’t be compared to the original.
As if this were the original song.
—Flower fan exiting the gallery. Indie freak entering.
—Lol, kya, welcome, Hip-Sion.
—Yo, this is totally Britpop? F***ing good lolololol.
—Strictly speaking it’s not Britpop, but I get what you mean. Agreed, agreed.
—Wait, Way From Flower had a song like this?? I’m getting totally hooked???
The song, which had carried a melancholic feel, gradually climbed to extremes.
At the moment everyone was wondering how he would sing the highlight chorus:
[Bloom—!]
[Bloom---!]
The chorus was the original.
The lowered key snapped back to its original height and jumped out.
The auditory pleasure of Han Sion cleanly belting the female key in his real voice.
But this wasn’t the end.
A more shocking second hook was waiting.
[Always wait, Blossom]
[Always wait, flower]
A low voice like ice water being poured.
He had dropped two whole octaves, yet his thunderous volume filled the screen.
At the same time, the faces of the shocked judges and contestants filled the screen in close-up.
—This is insane. Shook.
—From now on, Hip-Sion is the number one vocal king of the idol scene. Not taking objections.
—Kya. The favor Han Sion showed Jo Gijeong by flashing money has been granted to Way From Flower.
—Bullshit. Way From Flower is huge.
—Ah, sorry. I forgot it was a failed debut song. Sorry for the trigger.
—Gilding the chick feed.
—Gilding the chick feed? Does it mean the grateful Han Sion who gilded the feed from his chick days?
—Lololololol he tore it apart.
Just as the expressions of the Way From Flower fans, who had been watching with interest, turned icy, the stage ended.
The first evaluation was from Blue.
[You took the choreography’s direction in reverse?]
Reference footage followed, comparing Han Sion’s movements with Way From Flower’s.
Core movements done in reverse.
Hand gestures that had pushed outward to bloom were now clenched tight and pulled inward; steps that had extended from inside to outside now closed from outside to in.
[You expressed falling petals? Why?]
[When I first heard this song, I felt a dual meaning in the lyrics. It fits from the perspective of flowering, but also from the perspective of falling petals.]
As Han Sion on screen conveyed his interpretation of the lyrics, viewer reactions exploded.
—Wow, shit. Falling petals. That’s insane.
—I see. Looking at the lyrics that way, it fits perfectly.
—“Put a period on the long night. Finally greet the world”…?
—Wow, if you think of this as words spoken by a wilting flower, it’s sad. Because the last night of life would feel long.
Now, Way From Flower’s fandom, the “Flower Pots,” were confused.
Listening to his explanation, they appreciated that Han Sion had delved deeply into the song and thought about it seriously.
Especially since it was a debut song that even the fandom rarely listened to.
But they didn’t like that he had changed it however he wanted and performed it.
In fact, public opinion on the real-time forum where the fandom resided was also fluctuating.
Respect VS Mockery.
[There was no arrangement. I only changed the key.]
[Indeed, it’s ambiguous to call it an arrangement. You’d get cursed out if you changed the octave scale and then asked for an arrangement fee.]
In the meantime, a conversation between composer Lee Changjun and Han Sion continued on screen.
Finally, “that remark” came out.
The remark that would decorate YouTube and every forum for the next week.
[*Flowers Bloom* was probably a song for a male vocal in its early composition stages.]
[So I didn’t change anything. I simply think I performed the early version.]
Actually, there was more broadcast content regarding this stage.
[I sang this version because I’m a man. If I were a woman, I would have sung the original. I really wanted to sing this song.]
[Because it’s a song I like. The lyrics speak to me.]
But it was all meaningless.
Issues spread by word of mouth only ever deliver the provocative parts.
[A survival contestant who disrespects a tier-one girl group’s debut song. Shook.]
That was the title of the video that shot up fastest on YouTube.
It was the beginning of chaos.