[Ryu Hobum: Please, watch Jeodol and vote for Dohee]
Here we go again.
[Me: Cut it out]
[Ryu Hobum: Just vote for her, please]
Here was a friend old enough to know better, promoting Dohee every single day.
" *Sigh...* "
[Me: What'll you do for me if I vote?]
[Ryu Hobum: I'll buy you dinner. Just watch it first, for real]
[Me: Hmm... Okay]
'A free meal's a good deal. Besides, tomorrow's Saturday.'
11 PM.
After getting ready for bed, he lay down and turned on Netflix.
And started watching Jeodol 3.
'Come to think of it, I did watch a bit of Season 1.'
Back then, he had been quite into idols.
Not anymore, though.
While watching Jeodol 3 without much interest, Lee Dohee—the girl his friend was obsessed with—appeared.
"Uh..."
'She definitely... really is pretty.'
He had grown somewhat indifferent, but her looks were enough to draw out an exclamation.
'But is she really that great?'
Even so, he still couldn't understand.
Meanwhile, on screen, Lee Dohee was goofing around.
[Will I get a shot if I do this?]
.
.
.
[I’m still taller than the older girls, right?]
The corners of his mouth lifted before he knew it.
It was a cheerful cuteness that made the viewer smile.
"Heh, she is cute."
Never would he have imagined, even in his dreams, that he would someday trade Dohee's clips back and forth with his friend.
***
'So she was the one in the Ion Sweat ad.'
Since he hadn't watched TV in a long time, he didn't even know that ad existed.
[We'll begin the stage now.]
'Oh... it started. I wonder if she's any good at singing.'
The stage began.
On screen, the trainees sang while performing perfectly synchronized choreography.
[Wow...]
[These kids are good~]
[They're great?]
[The group itself is good.]
It was a stage enjoyable enough to watch, just as the judges said.
Especially Kim Seoyoon.
Among the trainees on stage, his eyes were drawn to a trainee named Kim Seoyoon.
Not only was she outstanding in looks, but her singing was exceptional too.
'On the other hand, Lee Dohee's singing skills... Hmm... I can't tell yet.'
[These two are definitely good, but...]
[But I want to hear this one sing.]
It seemed the judges were thinking the exact same thing as him.
[Trainee Lee Dohee, can you sing for us?]
[Yes!]
Finishing her reply, Lee Dohee began to sing.
[things that i ... ]
.
.
[...make it clearer]
It wasn't a tone so unpleasant that he couldn't listen, but whenever the notes went even slightly higher, the rough quality that came out wasn't what he'd call good.
No—if anything, had her pitch and rhythm not been so clean and precise, he definitely would have thought it an unpleasant tone to listen to.
'Hmm... She'll probably be Tier 2 on her own.'
But contrary to his prediction, Lee Dohee received Tier 1.
"This is Tier 1?"
So engrossed in the moment, the words slipped out of his mouth before he knew it.
[Trainee Lee Dohee, are you aware that your tone is lacking?]
Still, seeing the judges pinpoint and criticize Lee Dohee's tone meant his judgment hadn't been wrong.
'Yeah, this makes sense. Even so, I can't accept that she's Tier 1.'
Of course, the judges wouldn't have given a strange evaluation; he decided to accept that her other strengths must have been enough to outweigh that weakness.
Had it not been for Ryu Hobum's request, he probably wouldn't have voted for Lee Dohee.
'A singer should be good at music.'
True to his friendship with Ryu Hobum, he was someone who valued skill.
'It must be over now? I should vote and get to sleep.'
Just as he reached to tap the UI to vote.
A dull *thud* sound effect rang out, and bold red text flashed across the screen.
'What the.'
The judges, holding the papers, couldn't tear their eyes away, their bewildered expressions plain to see.
[What is it?]
[Huh?]
[What is this?]
[PD-nim, is this real?]
[Ha... speechless. Hey, you—(bleep—)]
[Wow... I'm dumbfounded, for real...]
On screen, Trainer Go Yoonjung grabbed the mic and spoke to Lee Dohee.
[Trainee Lee Dohee really... has quite a lot written in the special remarks section.]
[Ion Sweat ad model, the lead in the *Thinking of You* music video... and... good grief...]
'What is it really?'
But the broadcast didn't satisfy his curiosity right away.
On screen, the scene he had just watched replayed.
'Ah, of course. Who else but Mwave.'
Only after watching the same thirty seconds of footage again did a judge finally speak.
[And... good grief...]
[...Grand prize winner nine times at the Korean Student Music Association Piano Competition, and grand prize winner ten times at the Major Piano Competition? I'm going crazy. Haha.]
'Huh...? What does that mean?'
On screen, various competitions were introduced.
"What is this supposed to mean."
He was completely dumbfounded.
During the thirty seconds Mwave repeated the same scene, he had imagined all sorts of things.
'At most, I figured she might be some famous celebrity's daughter.'
He truly hadn't imagined this.
With his mouth left hanging open, he stared at the screen, which showed Lee Dohee smiling joyfully along with subtitles listing her award history.
On screen, Trainer Go Yoonjung spoke as if representing his own confused state of mind.
[Trainee Lee Dohee, why on earth are you becoming an idol?]
***
[Trainee Lee Dohee, why on earth are you becoming an idol?]
Trainer Yoonjung's voice flowing from the screen.
The moment my award history appeared on screen along with my face.
I couldn't sit still on the sofa any longer.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"What's wrong with her? She's gone crazy."
The hype was building up.
I couldn't contain this excitement.
I snatched the pillow Seoyoon unni was hugging and hit Seoyoon unni with it.
"Kyaah! She's crazy, she's insane!"
"Hey, Lee Dohee, have you actually gone crazy?"
Like she didn't start it.
"This is me! This is who I am!"
"Hey, Lee Dohee, stop it, okay?"
"Dohee-ya, let's stop now~"
"I want to join the pillow fight too!"
"Guys... dust is flying..."
Naeun unni, who had rhinitis, complained about the dust, but I didn't stop.
"Ugh, Lee Dohee, you're dead."
My rampage continued until Seoyoon unni snatched my pillow back and hit me again.
***
[Guys, what do you think about this?]
(Photo)
I liked Dohee, but the production team seems to be overreaching...
- I think so too, yeah
- Seems like opinions are divided because some of it feels exaggerated
└ Ah, so it's exaggerated?
└ I think there are some exaggerated parts
[It doesn't make sense logically.]
(Lee Dohee's profile)
She's 15, lolll
It's already weird that she participated nine times in a competition held once a year, but grand prize all nine times????
I have a friend who graduated from Hanlim Arts High, and they said it's obviously a lie, ㅠ lollll
She's really not talented, so she's going viral with obvious lies
It just makes me want to rebel against it for no reason
Not voting for Lee Dohee ever, lol
Seriously killing my vibe and I'm losing interest, lol...
- It's like she's telling these kinds of lies too;; I don't understand why they always do things that don't make sense
└ Same 222222
└ 3333
- Crazy, why lie...
- What's wrong with Dohee's skills????
└ Lol if she got assigned Tier 1 despite getting criticized for her tone, isn't that obviously favoritism????
└ Visual stans should come to their senses lolll
- I just don't want to watch. To be honest, I didn't like it because of the visual stans...
- Seriously kills the mood...
[To be honest, Lee Dohee gave off a bad vibe]
Guys will agree
Lee Dohee doing the fox act, lol
A fox act that seems kind of natural
Yeah, her eye smile is pretty and cute, but isn't it so obvious she's purposely squinting her eyes to laugh?
You can tell at a glance she's doing the fox act
Forcing an eye-smile
So obvious.
And pretending to be all quirky and playful out of nowhere, lollll
I felt it the moment she appeared in Episode 1.
She's purposely acting quirky and easygoing, lol
To be honest, I admit she's pretty.
But it's so obvious she knows it and exaggerates her behavior... not a fan
- Phew, I couldn't imagine trying to build a quirky image for myself like that, lolll
- Lolllll ah, but honestly, I kind of related a little... Is it just me? lolllllll
- So people actually do that.. o_O
- You guys are insane, fucking idiots, get a grip
- Lolll it's so obvious. They know it but are pretending not to while cursing inside, lol
.
.
.
[What did I just see?]
So our baby Dohee was hiding her power, is this right?
- I don't know. Isn't it just rigged? They can't rig the vote count, so they're rigging it like this instead
└ Why would they rig it for Dohee when she's got nothing lacking?
- Then it's rigged lol. You believe this?
- Uwaa, our baby Dohee wouldn't do this. Baby Dohee doesn't lie
[My brain just feels kind of overloaded]
So my conclusion is, honestly, it's just a lie, yeah
They mean she won first place continuously from age 6 to age 15. Does that make sense?
I looked it up, and to win the grand prize, you have to beat all the grades.
An eight-year-old first grader beat a thirteen-year-old sixth grader?
If you're going to rig it, at least be reasonable so we can let it slide, lolll
- Right, lol. If you're going to rig it, be reasonable, lol
- Lol, now they're pulling all sorts of rigging to get attention
- Jeodol hasn't lost its roots, lol
[To be honest, I've wanted to say this for a while. Upvote if Lee Dohee's visual stans annoyed you, lol]
Me first, lol
- Upvote
- Agreed
- Lol seriously, fans make antis. Putting down other trainees every single day, lol
└ Agree lol. It was so fucking annoying to see.
- So cathartic lolll
- It hasn't even been proven to be rigged, why are you already jumping to conclusions?
└ Big brain on you for believing that, lol
└ Average Dohee stan IQ
- Looks like everyone who stans untalented and ugly trainees has gathered here
└ Lol yes, next visual one-trick pony Lee Dohee
└ Didn't you see her piano awards? And her skill tier is 1 too?
└ Lol do you really believe that? Is your head just for decoration?
- Uwaa, I believe in baby Dohee...
Everyone was in a mood of not being able to believe Lee Dohee's award history.
And taking advantage of that gap, the fandoms supporting other trainees were spamming posts bashing Lee Dohee.
Since a majority of the current Jeodol 3 fandom had been flocking to Lee Dohee, the backlash was bound to be fierce.
***
[But doesn't this match the story that classmate posted before?]
(Link)
Go check this Twitter.