Episode 25
"For now, let's watch."
Nnet Studio, where filming was in full swing.
Yeon Jimin swallowed dryly and calmed those around her.
"Understood. Hopefully, it's a student who's actually good this time."
The staff, who had been insisting on a break, also nodded at Yeon Jimin's words and looked to the front.
Even before his name was called, Park Jahun stood there, having confidently walked down to the hall.
—!
The beat that started playing following Park Jahun's sign.
It was the song titled "sandle." among the three beats prepared by the filming crew.
'He chose the beat well.'
Listening to his choice, Yeon Jimin nodded.
The tone and rhythm Park Jahun had shown previously.
It was a song that would showcase them well.
But what worried her lay elsewhere.
'The problem is that everyone is too tired.'
She quickly assessed Beikodeu.
Lil Jason had been looking forward to Park Jahun's performance from the start, so she was less worried, but the same couldn't be said for Beikodeu.
In that very moment she was harboring such worries.
—The morning the sun rises, my introduction begins—.
Park Jahun's rap burst forth.
The first to react was the student waiting area.
"Uh…!"
Students who had been sitting blank-faced after finishing their turns opened their eyes wide.
"What the?! He's insane?"
"Wow, he spits rap like a pro."
Students who had been distracted just moments ago were staring at Park Jahun's stage, completely captivated.
Yeon Jimin, who normally would have delighted at that sight, calling it a reaction editing point, was no different.
'...He's still good.'
Before she knew it, other thoughts had vanished, and she was wholly tuning her ears to Park Jahun's stage.
—A boy of merely sixteen years of age, on the beat he's a monster—.
—Become it, the music is an offering of sixteen bars—.
Lyrics followed, saying that despite his young age, he was more mature than anyone in music.
Yeon Jimin, who had worried about what to do if profanity were mixed in, felt relieved.
Because the content was rather perfect for showing the ambition of a School Rapper.
"...Wow, holy shit."
The profanity popped out from an unexpected person.
It was an exclamation spat by Lil Jason from the judges' panel, covering his head with his hand.
At the point where the song was ending.
Yeon Jimin quickly turned back to Beikodeu.
'Could he have been making that expression the whole time?'
Seeing him frozen stiff made her a little anxious.
She was worrying that he might be the only one to hurl bitter remarks at this situation.
"Huh...."
A gasp flowed from Beikodeu's mouth.
"...He's a monster."
Thrown out curtly, Beikodeu's comment.
The corners of his drooping lips instantly turned upward.
"This is the end."
As Park Jahun's rap ended, cheers erupted throughout the studio.
Lil Jason couldn't contain his excitement and even threw his shoe into the air.
"Wow... That was the best among today's rappers. Really."
Before MC Haetsal's prompt for the evaluation to continue, he grabbed the mic.
"This is exactly a boom bap beat, and bringing out its flavor to that extent is really difficult. But he really nailed it, tight and clean."
Not to be outdone, Beikodeu also hurriedly gave his comment.
"It's true that he's good at rapping, but first of all, while listening, I didn't think of other rappers. The fact that he brought out his own identity well. He was a rapper who made me want to work with him."
It was the moment the most words had been spoken during the filming.
Though the judges themselves didn't have the mental bandwidth to care about such things right now.
"Hehe... I'll give you a separate time for that kind of pitching, judges! Please announce the scores first!"
"Ah... look at me losing my mind."
Lil Jason and Beikodeu awkwardly operated their remotes and pressed the scores.
"Now then, rapper Park Jahun, who got everyone stirred up! What will his score be...."
Names beginning to reset on the electronic display.
Leaving all existing names behind...
Park Jahun's name rose to the very top.
[Seoun City Rapper Scores]
1st place: Bak Jahun – 190 points.
"Wow, amazing... How are you supposed to beat this?"
"...It's the appearance of Lucifer at the school of demons."
The studio grew noisy once again with the students' reactions.
It was a score close to a perfect score, and the impact was even greater compared to the previous scores.
"Thank you."
The person in question himself simply smiled briefly and returned to his seat coolly.
"Wow... I just realized something."
"What?"
The sub-writer who was monitoring whispered to Yeon Jimin.
"That your choice wasn't wrong, sunbae."
"...No."
Yeon Jimin shook her head.
To be honest, it was true that she had regretted it during filming.
The continuous boring stages and the accumulating harsh evaluations from the judges.
She had been thinking that skipping the preliminaries had perhaps been greed after all.
"He did well."
However, with Park Jahun's appearance alone, everything changed.
The scenes before this had all become appropriate build-ups.
Yeon Jimin burst into a chuckle and thought.
'...He's a crazy student.'
With that, the studio found its center.
The subsequent filming all became much smoother than before.
All the staff, in terms of how to take today's footage.
Because they were all drawing the same picture.
* * *
'I'm in first place.'
I returned to my seat and looked at the scoreboard.
My name was at the very top with an overwhelming gap in the score.
Anyway, I was glad it was a good score. Of course, what resonated with me even more than this was—Smirk.
—but it was Beikodeu's reaction, gently raising the corners of his mouth as he looked at me.
"We'll continue! Next participant, please come out!"
The student who was called and came up next.
I set my mind at ease and began watching the following turns.
'I don't think they're among the Seoun City representatives.'
After looking around briefly, in the end, I didn't see any figures who would make this program a dark history either.
They probably were cast from other regions.
'Then who's even going to advance from here now.'
With me here, it was a situation where the advancing participants were almost certainly decided, unlike before.
I kept my eyes on which participants would make it up with me.
"I came out because I love rap so much! Drop the beat!"
"I'm confident I can beat them all, from first to tenth place... bring it on, DJ drop the beat!"
The filming afterward proceeded smoothly.
Because thanks to the atmosphere heating up once, everyone had relaxed.
Now it finally felt less like a test hall and more like a place for rapping, if you will.
"Do your best!"
"Great rap!"
Even the waiting students were now sending cheers and reactions without hesitation.
The ranking board kept changing with each successive stage.
4th place: Jeon Hyeokgyu – 101 points.
5th place: Im Gyuseong – 92 points.
6th place: Jeong Hanseong – 89 points.
Of course, most were hovering around the lower-tier fights.
I was in a position watching from above them.
"So far, scores that can shake up the top ranks haven't come out...!"
As that situation repeated, MC Haetsal commented.
"Will there be anyone who can overturn this structure!"
With his characteristic mischievous gaze added in, it became quite an annoying provocation.
He seemed to be planning to use it as a scene to stimulate the next participants.
"Let me take a shot at this."
As if responding to that, a student named Choe Hyeok grabbed the mic.
"Oh, I like the confidence. Do you perhaps have any kind of resolution?"
"I don't have anything like that. I'll just show you with my rap."
'His character is clear.'
Choe Hyeok, smiling lightly and showing composure.
[A participant showing off his swag to the fullest.]
It was somehow a scene that looked like it would get such a subtitle.
Ah, of course, it had actually been added.
Because that guy had appeared with the exact same character even in School Rapper that I had seen in my previous life.
"Drop the beat."
Following that confident remark, the guy spat out his rap.
"The confidence wasn't baseless."
"Skill-wise, there was nothing to nitpick."
The judges' comments weren't bad either.
Overall, it was the result of digesting flashy rapping appropriately to his own level.
"Good evaluations are continuing! Given the atmosphere, what scores will be given...!"
I watched that scene with a strange expression.
[2nd place: Choe Hyeok – 158 points.]
Because I already knew that the upcoming stages wouldn't threaten my score.
Wasn't it almost close to a perfect score?
Even putting together all the seasons to come...
'My score right now is the highest.'
"Wow, that's harsh."
Choe Hyeok returned to his seat after receiving the score and sat down smiling emptily.
Since his seat wasn't far, I overheard him talking to his friends.
"Hey, you totally killed it. You think you'll advance as second?"
"I'm first place in the human realm, that's all."
Choe Hyeok's relaxed expression began to crumble shortly after.
It was when Bak Yunseok took second place with 178 points, and when that very participant came out.
"I, I'm... Hong... Hyeonsik."
A student who went down to the hall shyly grabbed the mic.
The students murmured at his obviously naive appearance.
"...Why is he so lacking confidence?"
"Isn't he going to rap while stuttering too?"
I heard the students' jeering as they looked at him.
'It's not good when the mood gets too relaxed like this.'
I quietly kept my mouth shut and watched the situation in real time.
Partly because I didn't want to be used as an editing element, and more than anything...
Because I was the only one who had already heard that student's rap.
"You seem too nervous. Take a deep breath and go in."
Lil Jason coaxed Hong Hyeonsik with his characteristic smile.
"Y-yes. Hoo... D-drop the b-beat, please."
Hong Hyeonsik, who really took a breath and then called for the beat.
Receiving all attention to himself, his rap began.
—When I rap, I transform—.
Saliva pooled in the mouth that bit the mic—
"Uh...!?"
The student's rapping, piercing roughness unlike his image.
The students who witnessed that twist had their eyes widen.
"Th-this is it for me."
Hong Hyeonsik returned to his original self after finishing the stage.
I let out a chuckle and sent applause.
Even listening again, his tone is a cheat.
"Waaah!"
Starting with my applause, cheers echoed throughout the filming set.
"That was amazing? That was a rap he had no need to lack confidence for."
"But I think the style might be polarizing."
Unlike Lil Jason's positive reaction, Beikodeu opened with a negative evaluation.
"But if he meets a producer who shares his vision, wouldn't a piece of work that satisfies everyone come about? I've listened well."
Of course, it was a scheme designed to appeal to himself.
"Now then! Everyone's rap has ended! The main round where only three can advance!"
After Hong Hyeonsik's turn, MC Haetsal raised the tension another notch.
It seemed he was the last participant.
"Final result with participant Hong Hyeonsik's score added... show it!"
[Seoun City Rapper Scores]
1st place: Bak Jahun – 190 points.
2nd place: Bak Yunseok – 178 points.
3rd place: Hong Hyeonsik – 162 points.
4th place: Choe Hyeok – 158 points.
"Wow!"
People clapped continuously at Hong Hyeonsik's advancement confirmation, the biggest twist of the day.
"Ha...."
On the contrary, Choe Hyeok's expression completely stiffened.
"The three representatives of Seoun City have been decided! Everyone has worked hard!"
He must have been unable to accept that he had missed by a hair's breadth.
'They're all so cruel.'
Watching Choe Hyeok's pained appearance, I felt anew how cunning the production crew was.
"Rapper Park Jahun, who took first place with an overwhelming score gap! And student Hong Hyeonsik too, please all come down to the hall!"
On the way down after being called by MC Haetsal.
I quietly approached Choe Hyeok, who was in the path.
"You did well. Make sure to prepare your verse well from now on."
"Uh...?"
I was about to tell him but held back when I saw the camera rolling.
The fact that actually, four people advance to the main round.
"Congratulations! How do you feel about advancing in first place!"
"Ah, well, I'm glad to have received good evaluations. I'll show you better raps in the future."
What followed was the representatives' impression interviews.
I realized it was a mistake even though I had said it trying to maintain humility.
"Rapper Bak Yunseok, do you have anything to say?"
"I'm glad there are opportunities remaining to release the music in my head."
"...Rapper Hong Hyeonsik?"
"...Ah, I still don't know."
'This is ruined.'
I had momentarily forgotten that our team members weren't exactly sharp with their remarks either.
...The editors will probably do their best.
When the interview ended, staff walked over and handed out school uniform-style uniforms.
They were props symbolizing School Rapper, characterized by having different colors for each region.
Our uniform was sky blue.
"Huh, but there's one left?"
Holding one uniform in his hand, MC Haetsal looked at the judges.
It was so awkward that everyone here could tell it was scripted.
"Oh, what to do."
...Looking at Hong Hyeonsik quietly muttering to himself, it seemed somewhat effective.
"There are too many talents to let only three enter school. We will select one more through the judges' deliberation."
Beikodeu continued the line, receiving his cue.
"A total of four will advance to the main round. The last qualifier we picked is... Rapper Choe Hyeok!"
At that news, Choe Hyeok's expression, which had been gloomy the whole time, finally eased.
Though his rank had been pushed down with me and Bak Yunseok participating, he had still advanced to the next round.
'A character needed for the filming.'
I briefly recalled the title he had before the regression.
—Season 2's biggest beneficiary.
The controversies that would arise from now on.
The one who had been the only upper-tier participant to avoid them was precisely Choe Hyeok.
'And he's needed by me too.'
Because above all, in the next beat to follow, he was a participant who could take on quite an important role.
Looking at the team members lining up in a row with Choe Hyeok joining as well, the corners of my mouth rose on their own.
In my head, ideas on how to prepare the beats with these members' voices were pouring out on their own.
The Regressor on the Beat