"Thank you!"
"Please pick lots of us!"
"We love you~~~"
Group 1's stage ended, and the Group 1 members gave their stage greetings, meeting the eyes of the audience.
But Ryu Hobeom stared into empty space as if his soul had left him.
All he could think of right now was Lee Dohee, who would be waiting below the stage.
'Have I seriously lost my mind?'
The MC, having wrapped up the stage, shouted.
"Now then, let's meet Group 2's performance! Group 2, please come up!"
At last, Group 2, who would decorate the final stage, came up.
Six trainees dressed in outfits that gave off a pure, spotless feeling.
Ryu Hobeom didn't know much about women's clothes, but he could tell that what they were wearing consisted of white sneakers, pink tennis skirts, and simple short-sleeved T-shirts.
They weren't special clothes, but perhaps because of that, they seemed to highlight the fresh, innocent charm the trainees possessed even more.
Ryu Hobeom, who had been staring at the stage while deliberately thinking about other things to get a hold of himself, suddenly felt his breath catch.
Because for a split second, his eyes had met Dohee's.
'Did she just make eye contact with me...? I think she smiled while looking at me.'
Ryu Hobeom himself knew it too, that it had only brushed past in an instant.
He just wished Dohee would stop smiling so much.
Because for some reason, his heart was pounding too hard.
Like it was going to burst.
"Now, before the stage, please introduce yourselves!"
At the MC's words, Dohee took the mic.
"One, two, three!"
"""Hello~ We are"""
"Even if you look!"
"Even if you look!"
The members of Group 2 paired up two by two in order, striking cute poses as they shouted.
"Even if you look"
And when Dohee, the last one, made a heart with Park Yeeun...
'Ah, fuck, seriously, why am I like this? I'm going crazy.'
"""You'll want to look again! We're Lookies!~"""
"Chaerin, fighting!!"
"Yeeun, look over here~"
"Dohee, I love you!!!"
The audience shouted, calling out the trainees they were supporting.
Ryu Hobeom thought, I shouldn't be like that... but he could understand those audience members' feelings a little.
Following the MC's lead, the "LOOKIES" trainees talked about their self-introductions, ambitions, and the things that had been difficult while practicing.
But Ryu Hobeom's chest was churning and his head was spinning, so he couldn't even understand what they were saying.
It just felt like a buzzing hum.
Ryu Hobeom squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head hard.
'Get a grip. What am I doing at this age?'
'Yeah, it's just because I'm worn out from working at the company.'
'She's just a bit pretty, so I blanked out for a second, that's all.'
'In the end, what's important for a singer is the stage.'
By the time Ryu Hobeom came to his senses, the stage had already started.
Ryu Hobeom found his own dazed state ridiculous.
So, needlessly putting on a cynical expression, he tried to watch the stage coldly again.
- Please don't be curious about me -
- I want to hide my heart so badly -
'She's pretty.'
A pure and refreshing, but otherwise ordinary stage that wasn't particularly different from the previous trainees' performances.
The audience members beside him who liked idols seemed to be enjoying themselves excitedly, but for him, who still didn't feel any charm in idols themselves, that was about the extent of his impression.
Of course, his eyes kept drifting to Dohee, who was dancing on the side, but...
He forced himself to look at the other trainees and evaluate them.
- Like I'm playing around, I follow after you -
- I can't hide that my heart is racing -
A stable voice even while dancing.
By now, Ryu Hobeom had also realized that if they were at this level, they were more than good enough.
Though the first two stages had truly been the worst.
In truth, Ryu Hobeom didn't know, but not only he, every other audience member's standards had also risen.
The reason was simple. The songs the trainees were covering this time were all hit songs that had captivated the year.
In other words, they were songs the audience was familiar with, and on top of that, what the audience had heard were corrected, polished audio tracks.
Unless they were fairly skilled singers, live singing couldn't be better than a corrected audio track.
Even so, if the trainees' stages felt good, that truly meant those trainees had skill.
After Meilin and Gong Chaerin's parts ended like that, Dohee came to the center while singing.
Now there was no way he could force himself not to look.
He lifted his head and gazed at Dohee in front of him.
- You know, I might like you -
'Wow...'
Only after thirty-two years did he realize it.
That he, too, had a distinct ideal type.
It felt like the vague image of his ideal type was being established clearly.
- It keeps spilling out of my mouth -
So even a voice could be an ideal type.
- My heart wants you now -
A clean tone and volume that reached the ears steadily.
Even taking into account that a quarter of the trainees had such poor volume that their voices couldn't be heard properly, she was still more than enough to rank among the top contestants so far.
- Will you accept my heart? -
Ryu Hobeom decided to just admit it now.
That he had become Dohee's fan.
***
After I finished my ending pose while looking at the camera, a loud cheer rose from below the stage.
Someone was waving a panel with my name and face photo on it.
Even amid the huge cheers, the voices chanting my name reached my ears clearly.
This is fun.
It had only been a three-minute stage, but my breath was coming fast, my chest rising and falling repeatedly, and my heart was pounding so hard that I could feel it beating.
A stage filled with lively energy, not stillness.
Right.
This was why I had said I wanted to try being an idol.
Even the cheers of 500 people made me feel like I was going crazy.
Even this made my heart race.
What would a bigger stage be like?
As I stayed in my ending pose and looked down below the stage, savoring the lingering feeling, Chaerin unnie grabbed my hand and led me.
"Thank you!"
"Please vote lots and lots for us~"
Ah.
I was the only one not greeting them.
.
.
.
After finishing our stage greetings, we came down from the stage.
You'd think I'd be tired, but far from feeling a crash back to reality, I didn't even feel drained.
What I felt now was pleasant excitement, or maybe elation.
Even if I combined all the dopamine I'd released over the past few months, I didn't think it could match the amount that had poured out onstage at this moment today.
"Dohee-yaaa..."
While everyone was smiling, Yeeun unnie came sniffling and threw herself into my arms.
What the.
Why are you crying on a good day?
Yeeun unnie buried her face in my chest and eventually poured out her tears.
Thanks to that, my chest got soaked.
"Ah, come on, get off."
Even while squeezing out tears, Yeeun unnie spoke in a tiny, crawling voice.
"Scold me a lot from now on too..."
In the end, Yeeun unnie had shown vocals worthy of a main vocalist onstage.
It seemed she was moved as she recalled her past as a Tier 5.
But I hadn't really scolded her...
To think she doesn't understand my heart...
You still have a long way to go.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah..."
"You said it yourself, unnie?"
I'm all for it.
Hell yeah.
At my lively voice, unnie lifted her head and looked at me.
Her tears and snot were a total mess.
"..."
"What."
Yeeun unnie stopped crying.
"I want to take it back..."
As if that's happening.
Anyway, it was a satisfying stage for everyone in Group 2.
For two weeks, all of our teammates had cut down on sleep and practiced with everything they had.
And everyone was happy that they had made no mistakes and had shown the best they could show onstage.
Considering that there were apparently trainees in other groups who practiced insincerely and got in the way, they were definitely good teammates.
As we were all hugging each other and filming some melodrama like that, a staff member broke the melodrama and spoke.
"Group 2 contestants, we'll be moving to the vote monitoring room now."
When we moved to the monitoring room, Group 1, who had finished their stage before us, was already there.
With Group 1's subdued atmosphere, it felt awkward to be openly happy.
Silence flowed through the results announcement room.
But it wasn't like we could just sit still either.
We had to get screen time.
Through the monitor, we could see the MC onstage.
The MC pointed behind him.
It seemed that the trainees' numbers, faces, and names were displayed on the screen behind the MC.
"Now! All the stages have ended, and only the final vote remains! Chuseo, everyone! Please vote now for the trainee you think did the best across both groups!"
We paid attention to the camera by making small actions, like needlessly holding hands tightly, encouraging or complimenting each other, or patting each other.
The production staff beside us had told us to do that too.
It seemed the vote counting had ended, as a countdown appeared on the monitor in the results announcement room.
"Ah...!"
"I think it's done."
After the countdown ended, the vote counts came out one by one by position for each group.
The last one to appear was my part, Sub Vocal 2.
My vote count was 129, and in the combined team vote, we had received 384 votes out of 500, winning the team battle.
And additionally, the first place in votes among the winning group who would receive an individual reward.
That was me too.
I was first place with 129 votes.
Next, Yeeun unnie received 93 votes, and Chaerin unnie received 78 votes.
Honestly, I don't think the gap in votes was because I was especially good.
I was the center for the title song, so I must have had the boost of popularity.
It wouldn't make sense for Yeeun unnie, who perfectly showed the main vocalist part packed with high notes, to get fewer votes than me otherwise.
Even so, Yeeun unnie was grinning as if she was happy.
The atmosphere of our team itself was warm and friendly too.
But we couldn't just be openly happy about it.
Because a few people from Group 1 burst into tears.
***
2 a.m.
After all the filming ended, the PD began his obligatory praise once again.
"Now, everyone, you've worked so hard, and the sweat you've shed over these two weeks..."
.
.
"The first broadcast is on July 8th, as you know, right? There will be a production presentation on July 4th, so all contestants must attend."
"The detailed schedule will be sent through your agencies..."
.
.
"Everyone, you truly worked hard. Rest well and practice hard for a while, and let's meet on the day of the production presentation."
Thunderous applause.
It seemed this set had been as hard on the production staff as it had been on the contestants.
Phew... It's finally overrr~
I should go home~
***
On the way home in the van Manager Yeongho had come to pick us up in.
Manager Yeongho asked us.
"Did you all do well?"
Did we do well?
"Ah~ This is a spoiler. Can I tell you~? Hmm."
Watching me act exaggeratedly, Seoyun unnie glared.
"Ah, Lee Dohee is so damn annoying."
You're just jealous again, aren't you?
"Okay, next loser."
In truth, Seoyun unnie had definitely done well.
She'd put on a good stage together with Harang unnie.
However, the result was defeat.
It was Sera unnie's hard carry.
Seoyun unnie trembled with rage.
Looking at Seoyun unnie like that, Naeun unnie spoke with a smile she couldn't hide.
"Stop fighting, you two."
In truth, the biggest beneficiary of this match was Naeun unnie.
Both groups that covered T-Party's "One Sip" had completely bombed, while Naeun unnie had performed cleanly, so it was only natural that the votes flocked to her.
"If it's the words of Naeun unnie, who got a whopping 200 votes, I have to listen."
Seoyun unnie kept getting angry beside me.
"Wow, seriously, Lee Dohee, you wanna die?"
"Naeun unnie told us not to fight, so I'll stop fighting!"
Since I'm kind, I should hold back.
More importantly, my phone had been going off since earlier.
I took out my phone and checked it.
[KakaoTalk 999+]
What is this?
[It was so fun, guys lololol ♡] 300+
[ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ] 43
When I opened KakaoTalk, a group chat for the "Lookies" members had been made.
But what is this?
There were a bunch of private messages from Yeeun unnie.
I wondered what it was and tapped them.
[Park Yeeun: Dohee, thank you so much. Thanks to you, I improved a lot]
[Park Yeeun: Let's stay close from now on!!!]
[Park Yeeun: If it weren't for Dohee, I don't think I could've done it]
[Park Yeeun: I was so happy today hehe...]
[Park Yeeun: But... you know what I said today...]
[Park Yeeun: Please cancel it...]
[Park Yeeun: I'll try hard on my own... I'm sorry...]
.
.
.
[Park Yeeun: Pleaseㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[Park Yeeun: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
Seeing Yeeun unnie whine even on KakaoTalk made me burst out laughing.
Seoyun unnie, who was getting angry beside me, got even angrier when she saw me laughing, but whatever.
[Me: ok let's stay close]
[Me: no canceling lol]
[Park Yeeun: Pleaaaseㅠㅠㅠㅠ(begging duck emoticon)]
[Park Yeeun: (begging duck emoticon)]
[Park Yeeun: (begging duck emoticon)]
[Park Yeeun: (begging duck emoticon)]
[Park Yeeun: (begging duck emoticon)]
[Me: nope lol]