Chapter 14
At first, I thought I saw wrong.
I figured it was just someone who looked similar, but could there really be someone who resembled my older brother that much? I kept thinking, no way, no way.
"Crazy, why is my brother here?"
The one-shot I just saw confirmed it.
A sports cut trimmed completely clean because it hadn't grown much since his discharge.
A conspicuously tall height even among the trainees, and a broad, muscular build.
Maybe it was because of the makeup, or because it was captured on camera. For some reason, his looks seemed to have received a +3 enhancement compared to usual.
But it wasn't to the point where I couldn't recognize the flesh and blood I'd lived with for 18 years.
Bzzt-
-Mina, isn't the trainee on National Idol right now your brother?
Looking at my phone, the group chat where I was talking with my friends had somehow already caught on and was starting to burn up with talk about my brother.
I set my phone to silent due to the constantly popping notifications and focused back on the screen.
Within the white-glowing stage against a black background.
Trainees dressed identically in uniform-like stage outfits turned around one by one, getting one-shots to the intro.
On the circular stage slowly rotating 360 degrees, the trainees moved again to find their respective positions.
Once I recognized him as my brother, from then on, his figure stood out clearly even in group shots.
I didn't know what exactly was going on with this situation. But for now, I needed to finish watching the video and think about it again.
'The song is quite listenable, better than I thought?'
By my standards, having once hung out in the forums, the first impression didn't lose to the main theme song of National Idol Season 1, which was called the CSAT banned song.
The kind of music that's hard to forget once you hear it?
When the chorus ended and the 2nd verse started. The camera started catching the full screen from the ceiling.
A stage descended from above to the right of the central stage, merging the two stages.
Soon, another stage appeared from below to the left of the central stage, and the moment the three stages became one in a line.
Along with flashy lights, sparkling geometric shapes started sweeping beneath the stage.
And before the 2nd chorus ended and entering the pre-chorus. The stage faded out with a blackout,
the moment it faded in again. Firecrackers burst, lights flashed dazzlingly, and the dance break began.
Whether it was the power of editing, the large-scale group synchronized dancing hit the beat perfectly, creating a cooler scene than expected.
'Yeah, male idol groups really need this kind of synchronized dancing.'
Even while I was bewitched by the synchronized dancing part and blankly admiring it, my brother's face occasionally brushed across the screen.
'But why are they giving my brother so much screen time?'
Every time the scene changed, my brother was caught on camera exactly once.
It felt like he was getting as much camera time as the participant standing in the center.
The song had somehow neared its ending.
In the ending scene, starting with the center trainee, several trainees were given close-ups.
Starting with the pretty-boy trainee, the hot topic figure who became famous for appearing on a documentary. And I saw my brother's face caught in a solo cut this time as well.
'They even gave him the ending cut? Was he already picked as a PD's pick?'
In an audition like National Idol, anyone who knows anything already knows how important it is whether you're picked as a PD's pick early on or not.
Originally, in a broadcast where how much camera time you get directly affects your ranking, failing to be picked as a PD's pick made debuting an almost impossible task for a participant with no public recognition.
The first stage was a gauge of who the future broadcast would center around.
But allocating this much screen time to my brother... was impossible unless he had done something big right from the first rank evaluation.
'What on earth did he do at the audition.'
Then again, my brother was the type of person who absolutely had to see things through to the end once he started something.
Thinking about the absurd things my brother had done so far, I even thought, why was I surprised by this level of thing?
After my brother, a few more trainees passed by, and finally, one person's face was caught on screen.
It was a Korean-American singer who became a hot topic in Korea after taking runner-up in an American audition last year.
'Was the name Eugene Kim?'
The video ended with Eugene Kim.
Having finished the video, I carefully picked up my phone again.
'Oh boy...'
Seeing the group chat that had exceeded the notification limit, I felt the back of my head throb again.
-I didn't know either. Later.
To put out the immediate fire, I left a rough reply and opened the comment section of the video I just watched.
Looking through the comments, I could occasionally find reactions about my brother.
-Who is that buzzcut and why are they giving him so much screen time?
└Right, I want to see the other handsome kidsㅜ
'These crazy f*ckers...'
I was about to hit the report button, but barely held back and just pressed the dislike button before moving on.
Other than that first weird comment, the other reactions weren't that bad.
'Then again, even I had to admit my brother didn't look bad with makeup on.'
The appearance of my brother on screen was completely mismatched from his usual look at home wearing just a tank top over sweatpants, truly an appearance believable enough to call him an idol.
'But almost all the comments are about Eugene Kim.'
-Why is Eugene Kim at the bottom? Are Music Net crazies really crazy?
-No, a singer recognized even in America, and National Idol makes him dance on the bare floor.
└Real, and then giving him a solo cut at the very end, it's nauseating how they seem to be just sweetly exploiting his name value.
'Come to think of it, Eugene Kim was at the bottom, right? Wasn't that where the lowest rank kids stood?'
I was so focused on my brother that I hadn't realized it while watching the video.
It seemed the comment section had exploded because Eugene Kim received the lowest rank.
Then again, it wasn't like Eugene Kim was some nameless trainee; he was already a publicly recognized singer.
It was strange enough that he appeared on National Idol, but his first rank being the lowest was truly hard to understand.
So it was understandable why the fans were burning up like that.
-Guys, the pre-release just dropped!
At the new news I found while refreshing the comments, I immediately followed the link in the comments.
The pre-release video for National Idol Episode 1 was visible, so I played the video right away.
The video began by first showing the massive set.
A set shaped like a pyramid, just like last season.
Starting with an unnamed trainee entering the empty set, the trainees began to fill the empty seats of the set.
'I can see my brother here too.'
I could also see my brother appearing with three other trainees who looked like his teammates.
The seats were almost all filled.
When Eugene Kim appeared last, a scene came out showing all the trainees tensing up and sending looks of wariness at his entrance.
Eugene Kim slowly climbing up toward the top seat.
And the moment Eugene Kim faced the trainee already sitting at the top, the scene changed.
The trainees' first evaluation stages began to appear, briefly edited one by one.
It captured the trainees from each agency along with their agency names.
Dancing to the songs of senior idols.
-It says 4 years of trainee life, what did you practice during that time?
-XX trainee seems to lack the basics entirely.
Trainees making mistakes out of nervousness, followed by the judges' harsh criticism.
And
-Why haven't you debuted until now? You're so good.
-Totally main vocalist material. Sings really well.
The stages of trainees who received top ranks passed by along with the judges' praise.
-Shall we meet today...? Ptooey!
'Wait, what did I just see?'
Even rewinding the video, I couldn't understand the scene I had just seen.
Feeling an ominous premonition, I looked at my phone screen.
Letters like "kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk" were going up like crazy.
When I entered the group chat.
The scene I had just seen was already made into a GIF and playing.
-Stop laughing, you punks...
-kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
I sent a text in a hurry, but.
The text I sent was quickly buried by my friends' continuous laughter.
"Aish!!! Has Sunwoo Rin really gone crazy!!!!!"
***
"How's the reaction so far?"
"It's obviously not good. Over half the comments are only about Eugene Kim. Well, there seem to be quite a few positive reactions about the stage and the song, but they're buried by the comments about Eugene Kim so they're not very visible. Still, buzz is at its highest right now. It's just that you only see curses."
"That's a given. Didn't you even expect this much reaction?"
"I didn't not expect it, but will it be okay?"
"About what?"
At his junior's words, PD Lee asked back as if wondering what the problem was.
"No, there's still a long way to go before Eugene Kim's rank re-evaluation video airs on the main broadcast, but won't it affect the program if only negative reactions keep coming out until then?"
"Affect it? Of course it will. The public watches even while cursing it. Buzz equals ratings."
"How are you so sure it will work out well, sunbaenim?"
PD Lee, who was skimming through the trainees' interview scenes, answered with a smile.
"Isn't it fun? A situation came out that feels like we couldn't have made it even if we tried. If I can't even pull this off properly, I should leave this industry."
"Haa, only people like you find it fun. My heart is tightening up so much I can't do this job anymore. Anyway, is the editing going well? How many days have you even spent here? Go home. You'll drop dead later at this rate."
"Stop nagging, you're not my wife."
The screen on the monitor froze with Sunwoo Rin's interview as the last thing.
PD Lee took his eyes off the screen and stretched widely as he spoke.
"I guess my aptitude fits being a writer more than a PD, I should produce a drama next time. Hmm... A coming-of-age genre would be good. Yes, a fun coming-of-age drama."
***
"Ugh... Hyung, please. Let's rest for a bit. Please..."
"Now, it's too much. Really too much."
"Ahem, everyone get up quickly. You haven't even done half of half properly yet."
The practice room where preparations were in full swing ahead of National Idol's 1st Team Battle.
There, a strange scene, a bit different from the other practice rooms, was unfolding.
[Cheonwoo, you should have told me beforehand that he was that kind of person! Why were you just staying quiet then!]
[I didn't know it would turn out like this either. Sorry...]
Sunwoo Rin strode over to the two Chinese trainees who were chatting in the corner.
[Guys, I understand everything even if you speak Chinese, so let's get up now. Seeing you make small talk, you must still have energy left over?]
[Hiiik!]
Under Sunwoo Rin's stinging gaze, the two Chinese trainees quickly got up from their seats.
Sunwoo Rin muttered toward Wi Cheonwoo, who was walking back out to the center of the practice room.
"Cheonwoo. But what are you sorry about? For dropping me into this abyss of evil? Or for sitting around for 3 minutes and 43 seconds without practicing until just now?"
"Rin-hyung... Today, especially, you're too, scary."
"Get out there quickly!"
Sunwoo Rin slowly walked out in front of the shivering trainees as Wi Cheonwoo came walking out lifelessly.
"This assistant instructor can become an angel or a devil depending on how you act. Now, repeat what I say loudly. We!"
"We!"
"Can do it!"
"Can do it!"
"Your voices are too small!"
Sunwoo Rin's voice resonated loudly and deeply within the practice room.
"What we can't!"
"What we can't!"
"Does not exist!"
"Does not exist!"
"Alright, then let's start again from the beginning."
Looking at the trainees already so exhausted they were flopping around, Sunwoo Rin turned his back and sighed.
'How on earth did it come to this?'