Chapter 41
After the 2nd ranking announcement ceremony ended. The second time of parting had come.
"You all worked so hard!"
"Take care, guys. You'll all do amazingly well on the final stage too."
"You have to debut!"
A parting faced in front of the rolling cameras.
Once we part ways here, many of the people here might be hard to see again.
"What are you thinking about?"
Eugene Kim, who had come down from the 1st place seat, approached me and said.
"Well, I was just thinking about how fast time has flown by?"
It had already been 4 months in months, and over 100 days in days since the audition started.
While running forward so frantically, some got one step closer to debuting, while others had to swallow their tears and return to their daily lives.
"It's good to be immersed in sentiment, but for now, we need to do what needs to be done first."
"Why are you talking like some life senior?"
"Well, I am the senior when it comes to auditions."
"That's true."
Watching Eugene Kim go down first, I also stood up from my seat.
Among the passers up to 15th place, there were still people who hadn't come to their senses and were sitting blankly in their seats.
I approached one of them first.
"Let's go down, Jiseok."
"Yeah..."
Taking Bu Jiseok, who let out a deep sigh and slowly stood up from his seat, I walked toward where the eliminated trainees were gathered.
"Why are you so slouched down? Did you commit a crime?"
Bu Jihun jokingly said as he looked at the faces of me and Bu Jiseok.
"When did you tell me to watch it fun at home, and why do I look pathetic now that I've actually fallen out? Are you feeling so sorry for me that you can't tease me anymore?"
"Can't tease you, my foot...! What is 16th place, 16th place. From today, you are the disgrace of the Bu family. From now on, don't go around as Bu Jihun, but as 16-hun."
"14th place or 16th place, it's all the same though?"
"No, it's completely different. Ebebebebebeb."
The two quickly returned to their usual selves, but it was unavoidable that they still looked a little awkward.
While I was just watching the two of them. Bu Jihun looked at me and spoke.
"Rin, congratulations on 2nd place. Even more congratulations on 2nd place two times in a row."
"Yeah, thanks..."
"I wanted to tear my shirt too if I made it to the final stage, so it's a bit disappointing."
"Tell Jiseok to do it instead."
"The two of us are similar in everything else, but my body is much better. Didn't you know?"
Ignoring Bu Jiseok who was jumping up and down next to us saying that's not true, Bu Jihun approached me.
"From the first time I saw you, I knew you'd do well. Make sure to get 1st place. I'll be cheering for you."
As if it were a final goodbye, Bu Jihun spoke seriously and offered me a hug.
"Thanks, Jihun. And..."
"Yeah?"
"Who told you to act cool?"
"Aaaaaaaagh!!"
As expected, a cool Bu Jihun didn't suit him at all.
"Ugh... my ribs! Sunwoo Rin, you heartless bastard! Do you have to do this until the very end?"
"What do you mean 'the very end'? We'll see each other on stage again soon."
At my words, Bu Jihun let out a hollow laugh and said.
"When he's the one who acts cool the most..."
Like that, the short greeting with Bu Jihun ended.
When I was about to finish exchanging greetings with the other eliminated trainees.
"Anyway, where's our puppy?"
"Right, we need to take a group shot of our individual trainees one last time."
At the words of the Bu brothers looking for Kang Ajin, I looked around.
Trainees shedding tears of regret, trainees sharing their final goodbyes and organizing their feelings.
And among those trainees, there stood Yoo Won with a stiff expression.
'It's an expected result, but it must be a shock to him personally.'
In the rankings revealed after the 1st episode ended, he received a debut-ranking position, and at the 1st ranking announcement ceremony, his ranking dropped significantly, but he still received a ranking within 15th place.
Perhaps because of the expectations he held, he couldn't properly manage his facial expressions even while the cameras were rolling.
And Kang Ajin was slowly walking toward Yoo Won.
"Won-hyung."
"Uh... huh?"
"You've worked hard all this time. Let's definitely meet with a smile next time!"
He didn't say much. Kang Ajin offered words that felt more like his own resolution than a final farewell, then slipped out of his spot.
"Ajin!"
"Our puppy, come here!"
Hearing the Bu brothers calling him, Kang Ajin came over with a smile.
"Our puppy is all grown up now!"
"Ah, you're messing up my hair, hyung!"
"Jihun, did you hear Ajin getting annoyed just now?"
"He changed! Kang Ajin, you've changed... sob sob..."
"No, what did I even do...?"
No matter how much of an "awakened" Kang Ajin he was, it seemed he was helpless against the Bu brothers.
It was truly a perfect compatibility.
"Rin-hyung...! Please help me. Uwaaaah!"
"Ajin, we're playing happily. What do you mean help you?"
"I'm disappointed that you'd take your hyung's final greeting so impurely..."
"No, Jihun-hyung... that's not it...!"
I slightly averted my eyes from Kang Ajin's desperate gaze as he looked at me, his body bound by the Bu brothers.
"Rin-hyung! Why are you avoiding my eyes?"
"Jihun, I'll contact you later."
"Yeah, do well on the final stage!"
"No, hyung!! Where are you going?!! Rin-hyung!!"
It was truly a peaceful sight.
I watched the three from a little distance away, then soon left my spot.
Being immersed in sentiment up to here is enough.
***
The 15 trainees who survived until the final round gathered with nervous faces.
And Lia, standing in front of them, spoke.
"There are about two weeks left until the final round. And right here, right now, your final round songs will be decided."
Behind Lia stood a panel covered with cloth.
"From now on, you will be divided into two teams to prepare for the final stage."
When Lia removed the cloth covering the panel, two song titles caught the eye first.
___
And below the song titles, the positions for main vocal and sub-vocals 1 through 6 and 7 were respectively written.
"___ is a team of 8 trainees, and is a team of 7 trainees. Then I should tell you about the song selection method from now on, right?"
Lia pointed with her hand at the 15 magnets with the trainees' faces attached to the panel.
"The way to select the song is... a push-out system. Starting from the lowest-ranked trainee, they will choose the song and position first, and trainees who choose later can push out the trainees who chose earlier. At this time, it is of course possible to change the song of the pushed-out trainee."
"Aagh!"
"That's too cruel!!"
At the words "push-out," sighs flowed among the trainees.
"Please note that as the numbers go down from sub-vocal 1, your parts in the song will gradually decrease."
"Excuse me, I have a question!"
"Yes, trainee Shim Sungha. Please ask your question."
"There is no center position listed among the positions, so how is the center decided?"
Shim Sungha's current ranking was 7th place.
It was a ranking where the result of debut or elimination could easily change depending on how the live broadcast stage went.
Because of that, unlike his usual self, Shim Sungha looked noticeably nervous.
"Yes, good question. For this final round stage, the center position will be decided through discussion within each team after the team selection."
"Are the opinions of the higher-ranked trainees the top priority again this time?"
12th place Kim Taeha followed up with a question.
"No. Anyone can freely apply for the center position of this final stage. Seize the center position with your own will. Rank is not an issue."
At Lia's words, the lower-ranked trainees' eyes began to sparkle and shine with hope.
On the other hand, for me, who thought I could naturally take the center as long as I avoided Eugene Kim, it was quite bad news.
'This makes things complicated.'
Since everyone was desperate, the competition for the center position seemed like it would be fierce. My head throbbed at suddenly encountering an unexpected variable.
'For now, I can definitely secure the sub-vocal 1 position, so I'll think about the center later.'
Since Eugene Kim, who is ranked higher than me, would take the main vocal position anyway, there was no possibility of losing the sub-vocal 1 position.
Position selection wasn't a problem, so all that remained was choosing one of the two songs.
As for choosing a song, that was something I could judge after listening to it...
"We will now begin the position selection starting from the 15th place trainee."
What? We're starting right away without even listening to the songs?
Perhaps everyone had the same question as me, most of the trainees raised their hands and looked at Lia.
"Ah, there was a part I didn't mention."
At Lia's words, everyone lowered their raised hands.
However.
"You can listen to the two songs after all of your position selections are finished."
"Excuse me...?"
"Then do we have to choose just by looking at the titles?"
"Yes, that's correct."
'Of course, it wouldn't be this easy.'
While the other trainees were confused, I looked over the two song titles again.
___
Both songs had fairly generic titles, making it hard to grasp exactly what they were.
Going by the vibe of the title, ___ was probably a song with a powerful EDM or hip-hop sound, and seemed like it would be a medium-tempo, gentle dance song.
Since I was choosing second to last, I would consider who the members were, but for now, drew me a little more.
'It's better if the concept doesn't overlap with the song I did last time.'
I showed a drastic appearance during the 3rd evaluation, so I thought it might be good to win with a different image this time.
While I was contemplating, the position selection started from 15th place.
Of course, the trainees in the earlier order didn't matter much. Because anyway...
"Aagh, no!"
Wi Cheonwoo pushed out Bu Jiseok, who was in the sub-vocal 2 position, and took the position.
"I'm sorry, Jiseok-hyung."
They'd just get pushed out by the later orders anyway.
Starting with the first push-out scene that appeared like that.
"I'm really sorry...!"
Shim Sungha pushed out another trainee and took the sub-vocal 1 position of .
Kang Ajin chose ___, unlike what I had thought.
Baek Sihyun chose .
Like that, the song selection up to 5th place ended.
The two main vocal positions that were still empty.
The first person to put their face on the main vocal position was 4th place Park Hanhwi, not 3rd place Woo Jungwoo.
"I will choose the main vocal position of ."
'Hmm, in a situation where we don't know how the center will turn out, it's worth aiming for.'
It was a strategic choice.
If Woo Jungwoo chose the main vocal position of the other song rather than the one Park Hanhwi chose, Park Hanhwi could secure the main vocal position depending on Eugene Kim's choice. However.
"Ah, I wanted to do this!"
"Hey, Jungwoo, give me a break... You said you wanted to do ___! Aah..."
Grumbling as he came out of his seat, Woo Jungwoo pushed out Park Hanhwi, who was in the main vocal position of , and took the main vocal position of .
Instead of taking a risk, Woo Jungwoo chose the safe path.
"Then, 2nd place trainee Sunwoo Rin. Please choose your position."
At Lia's words, I went out, picked up the magnet with my face photo on it, stepped back a little, and slowly looked at the faces of the other trainees.
The current situation was.
The ___ team had trainees like Park Hanhwi, Kang Ajin, and Wi Cheonwoo, and the team had Woo Jungwoo, Baek Sihyun, and Shim Sungha.
It was a fairly well-balanced situation.
Just looking at the trainees, it wasn't bad no matter where I went, but...
After much deliberation, I peeled off Shim Sungha's face and attached my face in that spot.
"Trainee Sunwoo Rin has taken the sub-vocal 1 position of ."
After moving Shim Sungha's position to an empty spot, I returned to my seat.
'The back of my head is burning too much...'
It was too obvious whose gaze it was, so I couldn't bear to look back and only stared forward when.
"Lastly, trainee Eugene Kim. Please choose your position."
The only empty position right now was the one main vocal position of ___.
It was an unchosen position left exactly for Eugene Kim.
But Eugene Kim's choice was.
"I will choose the main vocal position of ."
Eugene Kim pushed Woo Jungwoo out to the ___ team, took the main vocal position, and walked back toward me.
It was the first moment I became teammates with Eugene Kim.
***
The team selection was completely over. The team gathered in one place.
As soon as we arrived at the practice room, we were first handed the lyric sheets of the song.
"Have you all seen the lyrics?"
"Umm... yes, for now."
'It's too different from what I thought?'
I wasn't sure yet since I hadn't heard the song, but it was quite different from the feeling I got just from the title.
'What in the world is this?'
I wasn't the only one who thought so; the other trainees also had confused faces.
"Looking at the lyric sheet, there's a separate part for the center to handle."
"Oh, really?"
Just as Eugene Kim said, it seemed a killing part was separately given to the center of the song.
While I was looking at the lyric sheet diligently, Eugene Kim looked at me and said.
"Rin-hyung, are you going to be the leader this time too by any chance?"
"Huh? Why, do you want to be the leader, Eugene?"
"No, it's not that..."
Eugene Kim looked at the faces of the trainees sitting in a circle and said.
"I think it would be good if hyung is the leader and I am the center. What does everyone think?"
It was Eugene Kim dropping a nuclear bomb right from the start.