—I thought No. 10 was good too, but after watching No. 1’s stage, I can’t even remember them anymore, lollllllll
—Tore it up, for real
—No. 1’s dance lines… feel so unrivaled… that’s not something that comes from just practice
—No way, crazy, how is No. 1 so insane at vocals and choreography??? Why hasn’t he debuted until now??????
—The kids who were hating on No. 1 are collectively bewildered, hh
—Hayeong? She dances well too, so she and No. 1 make a pretty picture together, lollll
Viewers going wild over Gang Rojun’s *brake* stage. The same was true for the members of LIME SOME inside the minivan moving to their dorm after finishing their schedule.
“Hayeong is totally in the spotlight!!”
“Didn’t I say that was going to be a huge hit even on the filming day! Because No. 1 turned the stage upside down!”
All members of LIME SOME, including Hayeong, were freaking out watching *Produce the 100* and the live open chat on their phones. It was only natural. As a rookie girl group, it was their first time receiving this much attention since their debut.
Hayeong’s dazed heart was racing without rest.
*This is crazy, really crazy. I didn’t know while filming, but to think it would be directed this spectacularly—*
Her favorable impression of Gang Rojun had increased several times over. Thanks to the story of No. 1 as a villain, the current explosive scene could be completed. Soon, the topic of LIME SOME members’ excitement changed.
“But Hayeong, this isn’t the end of your stage, right??”
“Yeah, that thing where you split parts!! It’ll air, right?”
“There’s no way the PD didn’t use that, right? The atmosphere on set during filming was no joke!”
Hayeong thought the same.
*It was a rather sudden stage, but if I were the PD, I definitely would have used that scene.*
If possible. No, Hayeong prayed that those cuts would definitely make it. She had already attracted more attention than expected, but the more screen time, the better.
At that moment, Gang Rojun and Hayeong, who had delivered the climax on the *Produce the 100* stage, stood at the center of the stage.
—[“Hurk— Hahk.”]
The fast-tempo song *brake* cut off abruptly.
The stage was over.
At the same time, the chat window packed with hundreds of thousands of viewers flooded with praise, and on screen, the flustered judges began clapping their hands together.
—[Clap clap clap clap clap clap!]
The judges’ sincere exclamations and cries of admiration.
Then, Gang Rojun, drenched in sweat, Hayeong, and No. 10 stood in a straight line on stage.
—Seriously insane!! It was a stage far better than most idols!!!
—No. 10’s expression is funny, haha. Guess he really didn’t know he’d get crushed
—LIME SOME’s Hayeong did great too!!!
—Agreed, agreed. Hayeong, or whatever her name is, she really handled the female part well
—Wow… No. 1 is devastatingly handsome even while showering in sweat, lollllllll
On screen, judges showing unceasing astonishment were visible, then choreographer Yi Hanna picked up a microphone.
—[“It was a truly wonderful stage.”]
She first praised Hayeong and No. 10 before turning her gaze to No. 1.
—[“No, I frequently see professionals, and I often share the stage with professionals.”]
Her smile deepened.
—[“Among the recent stages I’ve seen, No. 1 ranks at the top.”]
In the open chat, comments agreeing with the evaluation surged, and choreographer Yi Hanna continued to praise Gang Rojun. Not only her, but Yun Seungwon and the other judges also poured out praise.
—No. 1’s aura was insane too, and from his dance lines to that expression that said he was just playing around, it was no joke;;;
—It was crazy sexy, like the female judges said… No. 1 seems like someone born to be a celebrity…
The camera caught Gang Rojun bowing at the waist. Even Hayeong stealing glances at him.
—Hayeong looks like she’s fallen for No. 1, lollllll
—For real, that gaze is serious… Honestly, who wouldn’t fall for him??
Next, No. 10 was shown. He was biting his lower lip. Around then, judge Gong Jumi, who had picked up the microphone, spoke.
—[“Hmm, before making the final decision on whether it’s No. 1 or No. 10. May I make a sudden request?”]
Close-up on Gong Jumi’s face. The viewers were left baffled.
—[“It might be an opportunity for No. 1 or No. 10, but could the two of you perhaps switch the first and second verses and show us the stage?”]
Perhaps because it was so sudden, the red-haired No. 10’s face was filled with confusion.
—[“······Excuse me??”]
On the other hand, the viewers were in a festive mood.
—Daebak!!! Gong Jumi knows what’s up!!
—Yeah! They should try switching too, lolll. Praise for Gong Jumi, lolllll
—But that’s pretty sudden, lolol. Can No. 1 or No. 10 even do it? They probably only practiced their own parts
Gong Jumi, who had been looking at the flustered No. 10, now looked at Rojun.
—[“Why? Is it difficult? What about you, No. 1?”]
The screen switched from No. 10 to No. 1. Gang Rojun nodded without the slightest hesitation.
—[“I don’t mind.”]
—[“You don’t mind? You’re saying it’s okay to switch choreography parts right now?”]
—[“Yes.”]
In the end, after No. 10 also agreed, the broadcast showed a brief stage reorganization, the reactions of some contestants in the waiting room, and the busy production crew moving about.
Around this time, top actress Choe Rina had already fallen deeply into *Produce the 100* with sparkling eyes.
“Switching choreography parts is great! I totally love it!”
For some reason, her eyes were brimming with the heart of a fan.
At the same time.
—♬♪
On screen, *brake* began playing once more.
Hayeong standing at the center of the stage was the same, but.
—Swish.
The one appearing in the first verse was not No. 10, but No. 1 Rojun. Though quite a few viewers had worried, Gang Rojun pulled it off nonchalantly, as if *brake* were his own song.
He was even as skilled and enjoying himself as he had been during the second verse parts.
—Wow… for No. 1, nothing but admiration comes out……
—Even after switching parts, No. 1 just totally devoured it, right? hahaha
—?_? Why is No. 1 good at the first verse part too???
—Ah;; this is a done deal…
However, No. 10 made frequent mistakes.
Soon, all the judges chose Gang Rojun.
—[“Yes!! The winner of the first Dance Team is No. 1!”]
The viewers were also in a mood of enthusiastic approval.
Afterward.
After Gang Rojun’s stage ended, interview cuts of the judges aired. Everyone was simply left speechless. Some contestants were the same. Lastly, Hayeong, who came out, also sincerely praised No. 1.
—[“I really practiced like crazy, because No. 1 was so good…… It was a truly amazing experience, and I’ll look forward to the day I greet you at a music show after you’ve debuted, No. 1!”]
And so, the stage for *brake*, the first performance of the Dance Team, came to an end. *Produce the 100* immediately moved on to the next stage, but the hundreds of thousands of viewers in the open chat were busy continuing to talk about No. 1.
Things only settled down around the third stage.
Afterward, *Produce the 100* Episode 3 showed all 10 teams’ stages and displayed photos of the 20 contestants belonging to the Dance Team. A voice actor narrated the explanation.
—[“From now on, you will produce them! The contestants’ survival will be determined through viewer voting, and······”]
The voice actor carefully explained how to vote. The voting page was already open.
—[“In next week’s Episode 4, along with the stages of the Vocal Team and Rap Team, the survivors of the Dance Team will be announced!”]
After the briefing ended, cuts of the dozens of contestants who would take the next stage were shown on screen, and after showing various Dance Team contestants including Gang Rojun,
—‘Produce the 100!’
The closing title was displayed.
Episode 3 had ended.
Those who knew Gang Rojun accessed the *Produce the 100* voting page as soon as Episode 3 ended.
Choe Rina.
“Ah— so we vote for one person per team? Anyway, No. 1 is a definite.”
Hayeong and the LIME SOME members. And the *Rental Lover* Kisstape staff.
“Huh?? The voting page is down, though?”
“I think it’s because people suddenly flooded in??”
“Kuh— anyway, we’ll be seeing No. 1 in the entertainment industry soon.”
“Of course. There will be directors drooling over No. 1 after watching *Produce the 100*, right??”
PD Jeong Suryeong, and so on.
*When will the page be restored?? I was going to vote for the author right away. Anyway, the kid drops bombs every week, so starting tomorrow, dominating the press and public opinion is guaranteed.*
The late Friday night after the airing of *Produce the 100* Episode 3 was impossibly heated.
Like a blast furnace.
From Gang Rojun at the Paju campus.
*I didn’t get much screen time in Episode 3, but the stage directing turned out really well. The broadcast is over, but the open chat seems even crazier??*
The room 105 peers, dozens of contestants—everyone was rowdy and chaotic. The busiest ones at this moment were undoubtedly PD U Hanseok and the *Produce the 100* production crew.
“What happened??! Why did the voting page suddenly crash!”
“I—I think it’s because people suddenly flooded in!!”
Because the viewers’ interest had exploded.
To the point where the voting page crashed.
Through the night until dawn, talk of *Produce the 100* didn’t cease on SNS and various communities, and articles were thrown out like crazy, as if they had been waiting.
《*Produce the 100* Episode 3 Dance Team Stages: Viewers Say “No. 1 Really Tore It Up!”》
《*Produce the 100* Showcases Splendid Stages by 20 Dance Team Contestants. The Signature Star Was Indeed No. 1 / Photo》
《[Issue Talk] *Produce the 100* Whirlwind: Viewer Voting Page Crashes After Broadcast》
This situation grew even more severe Saturday morning, August 1st, as dawn passed.
Around that time.
《*Produce the 100!* Ratings Rise Again, Episode 3 Official Rating 17.4%》
The ratings for *Produce the 100* Episode 3 were revealed to the world.
《*Produce the 100* Surpasses 17% in Just Episode 3… Poised to Aim for Over 20% Next Week!》
Having crossed 10%, it was already approaching 20%. Such was the tremendous destructive power and buzz of *Produce the 100*. Online and offline, everyone mentioned *Produce the 100*.
It was already at natural disaster level, beyond a whirlwind.
Though the *Produce the 100* voting page repeatedly crashed and recovered,
《*Produce the 100* Side: “Voting Page Normalized After Crash, Apologies for the Inconvenience”》
somehow, voting proceeded. The *Produce the 100* production crew were all tied up with voting, frantically updating scores.
Saturday was over in a flash.
Of course, Sunday was no less hot and noisy than the day before for *Produce the 100*. Because of that, Gang Rojun at the campus was in a very excited mood, but.
*Calm down. Let’s finish the mission first.*
He forcibly suppressed his emotions and completed the daily mission. In the meantime, a bonus coin had also popped up for Rojun.
—[Hidden mission ‘Maintaining an Overwhelming Presence!’ has been achieved! 20 coins have been gifted as a reward.]
Thanks to that, including the mission acquisition, 30 coins had stacked up since morning.
—[Held Coins: 320]
Gang Rojun invested coins into rap among his stats as planned.
Right then.
—Vrrm, vrrrm.
A phone call came in. The caller was PD Jeong Suryeong.
“Wow—Author-nim. I watched your stage. You can dance too?? To the point my jaw dropped?”
Feeling embarrassed, Rojun scratched his chin unnecessarily and answered.
“Thank you.”
“I voted for you as soon as the broadcast ended. The page kept crashing, so I had a hard time. But I bet you’re definitely first place in voting. Survival isn’t decided until the viewer voting results come out, right?”
“Yes, we’ll probably film this week.”
PD Jeong Suryeong answered in a tone mixed with laughter.
“I’m looking forward to it. Ah, anyway, the reason I called isn’t anything else. During the *Rental Lover* production meeting, a decent idea came up among the Kisstape staff, so I wanted to ask you something.”
“Please go ahead.”
“It’s about the ‘No. 4 Lover’ you’ll be playing. So far, the outline is that ‘No. 4 Lover’ has an insanely handsome face but is beyond taciturn, to the point of not speaking at all, right?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a bit flat, so I was wondering if we could flesh it out a bit. Do you happen to know any foreign languages? English or whatever. Well, you can practice the lines anyway, but it’d be easier if you already know some.”
Foreign language? A faint smile spread across Rojun’s lips.
“I know a little Japanese.”
Monday morning, the 3rd. An officetel in Seoul.
PD U Hanseok with heavy dark circles was seen in a fairly spacious officetel room. In fact, this place also served as PD U Hanseok’s team office. As if he had fought a war yesterday, PD U Hanseok had been lying deep in the sofa when,
“Ugh—I’m dead.”
At the ringing doorbell, he let out a groan and raised his body. He opened the front door right away.
—Ssk.
In front was PD Jeong Suryeong, smiling with dull brown hair tied up.
“Hello, PD-nim.”
“Yes, yes. It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“The honor is mine.”
“Please come in.”
It was PD Jeong Suryeong who entered inside, and the two exchanged business cards. Then U Hanseok guided him to a table set up in the living room and offered a can of coffee taken from the refrigerator.
“This is the office. Most of the team members are at the broadcasting station right now. I just stepped out for a moment.”
“You must be swamped. I enjoyed *Produce the 100* Episode 3. The ratings were tremendous, weren’t they?”
“Haha. Thank you.”
PD U Hanseok, sitting opposite Jeong Suryeong, opened the canned coffee.
“Uh—where should I start? I should start with No. 1, right? I also only recently heard that No. 1 does writer activities.”
“I’ve organized the story a bit. Probably, during the early days of *Produce the 100*, the author-nim. No, I mean No. 1, seems to have sent us a script. The contest evaluation period overlapped with when *Produce the 100* began filming.”
PD Jeong Suryeong, who had been muttering, suddenly clapped both hands as if remembering something.
“Ah, right! When it comes to idols, there’s the Hallyu wave and all, and Japan is a given, overseas is essential, so I don’t know if he studied it, but I heard No. 1 knows a little Japanese. You heard, right? How good is he?”
At that moment, various scheduled matters related to a Japan launch for *Produce the 100* flashed through PD U Hanseok’s mind, and he furrowed his brows.
*Rojun-sshi… knows Japanese?*