Episode 43
Episode 9 of 'National Idol Season 2' aired. The 15 trainees who survived until the end were decided.
And the final episode, which is also the live broadcast, Episode 10.
At this point, with only a few days left until the final round, Seonwoorin's younger sister Seonwoomin sat in her room with a face full of worry.
"Haa... what do I do? This makes no sense. For this to happen... I can't believe it."
Seonwoomin, who got up from her seat and paced the room muttering to herself, suddenly let out a shriek.
"Aaaaaaaagh!"
"Why are you screaming and making a fuss?"
At Seonwoomin's shriek, her grandmother, Madam Kim Youngsook, snapped.
"Grandma..."
"What?"
"I have no clothes to wear..."
"What?"
"I said I don't have clothes to wear to the live broadcast...!"
However, the grandmother's response to Seonwoomin's desperate cry was cold.
"Then you just don't have to go."
"N-no, where's the logic in that!"
"Min, you live here! Grandma is leaving!"
Slam!
Hearing the sound of the master bedroom door closing, Seonwoomin pulled out her notebook, trembling.
As Seonwoomin, who had put an X over the word 'Grandmother', was hesitating while looking at the name 'Seonwoorin' written below it.
"Go check your brother's room!"
"Huh? Oppa's room?"
At Grandma's sudden suggestion to go check her brother's room, Seonwoomin tilted her head and headed to Seonwoorin's room.
"What's this? N-no way?"
Entering the room, Seonwoomin discovered a shopping bag placed on her brother's bed and frantically approached it.
And looking inside the shopping bag.
"A c-coat!!!"
Inside the shopping bag was a brown coat.
As Seonwoomin hastily took out the coat and was about to tear off the packaging, she saw a sticky note attached to the envelope.
(You came to watch the broadcast last time. You came to vote for me, right? If you voted for someone else, as a human being, refund the coat and send the money back to my account! -Seonwoorin)
"C-crazy. How did he know?"
They were definitely far from the stage.
Wait, then could it be... did he see that slogan too?
Seonwoomin's face turned red with shame, but she instinctively moved her hands and tore off the packaging.
"W-well, I did vote for you. No, actually, I went to vote for Oppa from the very beginning."
'So this coat is mine.' Muttering that, Seonwoomin quickly put on the coat and headed to the mirror.
"Heup... hehehe. Hehe..."
Looking at the coat that fit her perfectly, Seonwoomin made strange noises before soon coming to her senses and returning to her room.
"The outerwear is sorted, and I can cover the rest with my allowance... Alright. Preparation complete."
Only now feeling relieved, Seonwoomin sat at her desk.
"Since... I received something. I should vote, right?"
Going to the National Idol homepage, she saw the faces of the 15 trainees who survived the second ranking announcement ceremony.
"The voting format changed too, now I really don't know..."
Until the second ranking announcement ceremony, each person could vote for 3 trainees, but now it had been changed so that each person could only vote for 1 trainee.
After the voting changed to one vote per person, a near-cataclysmic change occurred among the fans.
-Aaagh! How can they make us pick only one. I have to pick Chae too ㅠㅠ It's too cruel ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Now the kids who were riding on their good images are all ruined. Representatively, Sim Sungha. Image isn't bad but doesn't seem to have a core fanbase? Won't they be pushed out by Wi Cheonwoo then?
-I know someone affiliated, and they said the rankings changed a lot after it changed to 1 vote per person?
Amidst the flood of rumors that made even the fans of trainees within the existing debut lineup nervous, each fandom became even more closed off.
"I voted. Now shall I look at clothes?"
Turning on her phone to look at the clothes she had saved, it was full of notifications from the open chatroom as usual.
"This place hasn't changed at least."
Since it was created very early on and even had a member limit, it had now become a space where only Seonwoorin's true fans gathered.
Wondering if there was any news today, Seonwoomin entered the open chatroom and lightly scrolled down, discovering that a new piece of gossip was circulating in the chatroom that had only been talking about voting for a while.
-Guys guys please look at this. (Video link)
-Huh? Isn't this Rin's FanTube? Was the channel name Rin's Armament...?
-The owner there is a bit unique, right? The comments are only from foreigners too.
-Ah, I know too. The FanTube operator is a foreigner. They said they run the channel while studying Korean!
-Anyway, the title is Language Genius Seonwoorin? I'll go watch it first...!
'Language Genius Seonwoorin Moment.'
Seeing the video title, Seonwoomin immediately guessed what the video was about.
'So this is only getting known now.'
Previously, there were a few instances where Seonwoorin was seen speaking Chinese and English during the broadcast, but they appeared so briefly and passed by without much impact, so they didn't receive much attention.
So the fact that Seonwoorin was good at English and Chinese was something only Seonwoorin's fans knew well.
'Actually, that's not the end of it.'
Seonwoomin recalled her brother's insane talent that she thought only she knew about now.
'I thought Oppa would naturally become an interpreter.'
From a long time ago, Seonwoorin had a good memory and was good at studying, but that wasn't to the extent of saying he was exceptionally outstanding compared to his peers.
Everyone around thought Seonwoorin had more aptitude for sports than studying, but only Seonwoomin, who lived with him at home, knew.
That Seonwoorin's talent for languages was genius.
'Because he learned almost one new language every year.'
When she was struggling because of English exams, seeing her older brother who had already mastered English as a basic and was mastering his third and fourth foreign languages, even her young mind thought of him as a monster rather than feeling jealous.
Because of that, she knew he would do well and live comfortably no matter what he did, but to think he would say he wanted to be an idol.
'Come to think of it, there aren't many jobs these days that travel overseas as much as idols... Should I call this foresight?'
As she was reminiscing about her childhood like that.
The chatting speed in the chatroom suddenly started to get faster.
-Wow! This is really amazing. Isn't Rin a genius?
-A real genius. Just from what was shown in that short video, it's already 8 languages. And it's not just greeting, but translating it to Korean and speaking it again, so it seems like they're way past the beginner stage...?
-That too, but the views are going up incredibly fast. When I saw it earlier it was 30,000 views, but now it's passed 50,000 ㄷㄷ
-There are a lot of comments left by foreigners there, and they're all only praising the pronunciation.
Seonwoomin watched the quickly rising chats, became curious about the video's content, and followed the link.
'When did he do this? It's a W-app live broadcast, right?'
Looking at the trainees present, it seemed to be after the second ranking announcement ceremony, but it was content that hadn't been broadcast yet.
Seonwoorin's face was seen on the screen where chats in all sorts of languages were going up in real-time.
[This time, it's a question written by a fan in Germany.]
After saying that while looking at the other trainees, she saw her brother naturally speaking in German.
"He does do it well."
As Seonwoomin was watching with inner admiration, the screen transitioned and subtitles appeared.
(Russia) (Indonesia) (Spain) (Arab) (China) (Japan)
Every time a subtitle appeared one by one, Seonwoorin speaking in that country's language was edited in.
Every time the screen changed, the faces of the trainees whose expressions were becoming increasingly bizarre were zoomed in on one by one.
[Um... Rin hyung?]
[Huh, what's wrong?]
[Hyung, exactly how many languages can you speak?]
[Well...]
When Yujin Kim finally asked Seonwoorin with a face that seemed to have fallen into an inferiority complex, Seonwoorin paused for a moment and answered hesitantly.
[I'm not sure.]
[You're not sure? What do you mean?]
[I just... haven't counted.]
The trainees looked shocked by Seonwoorin's answer, and the short video of about 3 minutes ended like that.
"No, when on earth did he study Arabic and Indonesian? Did he learn it in the military?"
Dumbfounded by her brother's updated language skills that even she didn't know about, Seonwoomin scrolled down the screen.
(Looking for capable people to add subtitles to what Rin said.)
She saw the text written in the video description box.
"Didn't they say the views were 50,000 just now?"
Only a little over 5 minutes had passed, but the views were already nearing 100,000.
And below the screen, comments were updating in real-time.
-The pronunciation of the man in the video is perfect!
-He seems to be a genius. To have that level of language skills at such a young age. What is his name?
-He is a participant in a Korean idol audition program, and his name is 'Seonwoorin'.
└An idol? Not an interpreter but an idol? Unbelievable!
-For someone like that to be an audition program participant, Korea is truly a strange country. wwwwwwwwwww
-In the video, that man spoke in a total of 8 languages including Korean. An amazing feat.
└It didn't appear in the video, but he also spoke in English, so it's a total of 9 languages. lollllllll
Comments with a slightly awkward feel, translated by the video site's translation function, could be seen.
"W-what is this? Has it been chosen by the algorithm..."
For some reason, Seonwoomin was flustered by the barrage of comments from foreigners who were chatting more excitedly than the Korean people, when...
-The rising rookie of K-pop, the eternal leader of National Idol Season 2. The special forces idol from the Naval Special Warfare Flotilla, please vote for our trainee Seonwoorin!
-Welcome to all overseas K-pop fans. Please enter this link and first watch our Rin's stage video...
Seeing the comments of Seonwoorin's fans who had successfully infiltrated in the meantime, Seonwoomin also started typing furiously.
'I don't know what's going on, but I'll row while the tide is coming in.'
***
The live broadcast where the debut evaluation and the final ranking announcement ceremony take place.
That stage will begin shortly here at Olympic Hall.
The concert hall, which can accommodate up to 4,000 seats, was already packed with fans who came to see the final stage.
Fans could be seen waving cheering tools printed with the faces of the trainees they supported.
Waaaaaaaah-
'Everygirl', who debuted with 'National Idol Season 1' along with the judges, greeted the fans in the concert hall and moved to find their seats.
And finally, the broadcast time starting exactly on the hour approached.
On the podium prepared next to the stage, the national judge representative, Ria, appeared.
"National judges here on site, and national judges watching via the live broadcast. Hello, I am the national judge representative, Ria."
Along with Ria's greeting, a sound close to a shriek erupted from the venue.
"Behind the stage right now, 15 trainees who have made it to the final round through your choices over 3 competitions and 2 ranking announcement ceremonies are waiting."
Aaaaaaagh!-
Seonwoooooorin!!!-
Yujin!!-
"The venue is already starting to heat up with cheers for the trainees. Unfortunately, after this final round is completely over, only 7 trainees will achieve their dream of debuting."
Along with Ria's words, a countdown began on the huge screens on both sides of the stage.
"60 seconds from now. The live broadcast text voting will begin. You can vote for only one trainee, and text votes are converted to 7 votes per text message."
At Ria's words, the fans filling the concert hall gripped their phones with nervous expressions.
The countdown on the screen was almost ending.
"The fate of the 15 trainees is in your hands! Then... now! Voting begins!"
Ria's voice filled the concert hall.
When the people's cheers erupted.
Suddenly, the lights in the concert hall went out, and the stage began to darken.
And, a song echoed through the concert hall where a brief silence had visited.
-Blow up JACKPOT
The main theme song of 'National Idol Season 2' rang out, the lights in the concert hall turned on, and the 15 trainees positioned on the protruding stage were revealed.
Along with the pouring cheers, the stage for the first song of the final round began.
Just like the first revealed stage, Park Hanhui was out in front as the center.
Worthy of trainees who survived to the final round, everyone was pulling off the stage with a more relaxed appearance than the first time.
And when the 1st verse ended and the 2nd verse began.
The eliminated trainees started to appear on the stage.
-Blow up JACKPOT
On this dazzling stage
Look at me
A JACKPOT for you
It's starting now
Let's be together forever!
A stage where all 77 trainees were mobilized, whom they hadn't seen since the 1st ranking announcement ceremony.
Even the already eliminated trainees burned up their last stage with shining appearances on the stage.
Waaaaaaaah-
Everyone is so cool!!!-
Like that, the performance of the first stage that delivered emotion to the audience ended.
The final episode of 'National Idol Season 2' opened its splendid curtain.