The Villain Member Has Returned! Episode 14: All of This.
It goes back exactly 5 hours.
* * *
Ji Hwa-seong, who had been diligently assigning parts in his own way, pushed up his glasses with a snap and spoke confidently.
“I think this should be fine. Shall we all take a look together?”
There were two reasons why Ji Hwa-seong had voluntarily taken on the leader role.
First.
He didn't want to hand the leadership position over to random nobodies he didn't even know.
Ji Hwa-seong took immense pride in being a pureblood trainee of August, an agency known for its powerhouse roster.
Well, having passed a public audition at the young age of twelve and made it all the way here, it wasn't exactly an unreasonable pride.
And second.
He believed there was no one else on this team who could carry it besides himself.
Ji Hwa-seong's gleaming eyes swept sharply over the members checking their parts.
“Gao Yan, this is fine. Because I am better at rap than singing. Gao Yan is rap.”
“Good. I like it too. Can I practice first? Ah, ah, ahem.”
Two kind but strange foreigners. But foreigners were out of the question from the start.
“Huh, you gave me more than I thought? Thanks, Hwa-seong.”
“…Tch.”
Thirteenth place and eleventh place.
Seo Bin, who was in 13th place, had plenty of experience from his long trainee life at another agency, but… the fact that his individual stats were too skewed toward vocals and his lack of confidence were slight problems.
There was no need to even mention the opportunist, Kim Ju-an.
Ji Hwa-seong pouted his lips, scanned Kim Ju-an—who was keeping his mouth tightly shut—and secretly clicked his tongue at the camera.
He had no intention of working hard and wasn't even conscious of the camera.
*‘Thinking only of latching onto Jae-ha hyung to suck up the ratings, seriously fucking worst.’*
And then….
There, checking the choreography video while shrugging his shoulders, was 6th place, Kim Chun-yong.
Truthfully, when Ji Hwa-seong first saw Kim Chun-yong's score, his eyes nearly popped out.
Not as an exaggeration, but for real.
[Kim Chun-yong
Min Si-young: 0 points
Na Ji-hyeok: 95 points
Mun Yun-ha: 90 points
Jin Da-sol: 100 points
Total: 285 points (6th place)]
Scores where 0 and 100 coexisted; points that would be hard to get even if one aimed for them intentionally on stage.
Be that as it may, Kim Chun-yong himself was someone with many appealing qualities.
Such as a handsome face despite giving off a strong street vibe, or his outstanding dance skills that were good enough to earn a love call from Jin Da-sol.
“Ah, is it too old-fashioned after all? My grandmother gave it to me.”
Things like his boldness in not getting nervous in front of the mentors.
But from Ji Hwa-seong's perspective—no, from the perspective of most trainees—Kim Chun-yong was nothing less than a ticking time bomb.
Everyone present remembered it.
Min Si-young's sharp critique, his disapproving gaze toward Kim Chun-yong. The situation where he had glared at Jin Da-sol for declaring she would give Kim Chun-yong a high score.
There's someone else who should be targeted. A trainee targeted by Min Si-young, his agency's big senior?
*‘He's damaged goods, damaged goods. That's why Jae-ha hyung and Liu Wei didn't pick him either.’*
Ji Hwa-seong stared at him for a moment, then shook his head.
So the conclusion was that there was no decent figure on this team besides Ji Hwa-seong.
*‘I have to do it. Whether I stand out alone or lead these idiots to a jackpot. I have to be the center.’*
Reaching that thought, Ji Hwa-seong sprang up from his seat and shouted loudly.
“Alright, then shall we at least practice some choreography before we go to the recording studio? I can learn the choreo—”
“Wait. I have something to say.”
A voice that Ji Hwa-seong didn't particularly want to hear gripped his ankle. Ji Hwa-seong suppressed the vein threatening to bulge on his forehead and replied in a bright voice.
“…Haha, Ju-an hyung. What is it?”
“Why did you just give the dance break center to someone without even trying a competition, um… Kim Chun—no, I mean…?”
Perhaps finally realizing the need to manage his image in front of the camera, Kim Ju-an hurriedly corrected his words and smiled broadly.
But Kim Ju-an's eyes, boiling with jealousy and rage, were saying this:
*‘If Kim Chun-yong can do that, so can I!’*
“The dance break center is a position with high visibility, you know. Aren't you guys greedy for it? This is a survival program.”
*‘But you didn't say a single word while we were assigning parts earlier, and now that everything's decided, you're going to nitpick? Is this guy kidding me right now?’*
Ji Hwa-seong felt a slight headache at Kim Ju-an—who was using his brain for once—and tried to steer the conversation away.
“Well, we all saw how well Chun-yong hyung dances. And he already said in advance that he wouldn't take many parts because of that….”
He had taken parts he was already good at; all he had to do was stand out there. Why be greedy for the dance break, which could be a hit or miss?
He just wanted to ruin the current harmonious atmosphere.
Ji Hwa-seong felt something wriggling inside him.
*‘No, no way. I won't let that happen in a team where I'm the leader, you crazy bastard!’*
“Ju-an hyung. That's a bit… We already finished assigning all the parts.”
“The dance break has nothing to do with parts, so can't we just give it?”
“Hmm, Ju-an. Your vocal part isn't small, and if Chun-yong takes the dance break too….”
When Seo Bin backed him up, matching Ji Hwa-seong's opinion, Kim Ju-an glanced at the camera and put his hand to his head with a wronged expression.
“…So you're saying I'm being unreasonable right now?”
“No, that's not what I mean, Ju-an hyung.”
“Of course it is. That's exactly what you're saying right now.”
You guys are really too much. Having delivered the final blow, Kim Ju-an made a slight sniffing sound and dabbed at his eyes with his sleeve.
“Oh, God. Is he crying right now?”
“Seems like it. Looks like he's crying because he wants more parts.”
Logan and Gao Yan, the foreigners unaccustomed to this kind of atmosphere, finally uttered ‘that’ sentence.
Then Kim Ju-an raised his voice as if he had been waiting for exactly that.
“I just… I said that because I think we all need to stand out fairly….”
*‘That bastard, seriously!’*
Ji Hwa-seong resolved to drag Kim Ju-an to the camera's blind spot if necessary and opened his mouth.
“Hyung, if you keep doing this…”
“If you want to do it, then be the center.”
“…Huh?”
Ji Hwa-seong widened his eyes and looked at Kim Chun-yong, who had spoken from behind him.
Before he knew it, Kim Chun-yong had put down the tablet he was holding on the floor and was stretching his long limbs out wide.
*‘Did I hear that correctly?’*
“Chu-Chun-yong. What did you say?”
Perhaps not expecting him to give it up so easily, Kim Ju-an even stuttered. But Kim Chun-yong, who had actually made the bombshell statement, had an unexpectedly thoughtless expression.
“You said you wanted to be the center. I was watching the choreography video just now, but I think I'd be fine as a supporting member on the side here. It's not like my part is completely small.”
Kim Chun-yong smiled refreshingly, baring his teeth.
“If you want to do it, you should, right?”
The moment Ji Hwa-seong saw that smile.
An ominous thought occurred to him that this team might not go his way.
* * *
“Oh, good! Keep the formation as is, da-da-da dahn, turn here!”
Thanks to Ji Hwa-seong's desperate efforts to keep the atmosphere under control, the first choreography practice seemed to proceed smoothly.
Truthfully, their dance was a mess if you looked closely, since they were matching up with each other for the first time without a choreographer.
But what mattered was that the members were taking the lead and practicing on their own.
*‘Good. The best dancers here are me and Kim Chun-yong hyung, so the broadcast shots will come out nicely too. That's enough.’*
Truthfully, Kim Ju-an was dancing quite well, befitting his declaration to take the center, but Ji Hwa-seong deliberately tried not to even think of him.
Because thinking about it only made him angry.
But there were bound to be moments when he couldn't help it.
“Hmm, from here is the dance break….”
Ji Hwa-seong's face, which had been confident until now, slightly stiffened.
His original plan had been to go to the recording studio before the dance break, which was full of high-difficulty moves, and do their first demo recording.
“We'll continue with a bit more individual practice over here!”
“Huh? Huh? Uhh?”
But the previous team's demo recording had been delayed for some reason, naturally pushing back their recording as well.
*‘Ah, shit. I can't dance the dance break part yet either. What do I do about this?’*
Ji Hwa-seong's energetic orders cut off, and a brief awkward silence fell over the practice room.
Individual trainees Gao Yan and Logan, and vocal member Seo Bin, were already huffing and puffing from just trying to follow the choreography.
*‘At this rate, they'll just film us resting!’*
But then.
“Ju-an. For the dance break part, try leading the center once.”
Kim Chun-yong, his face unbothered though he had sweated a bit, shattered Ji Hwa-seong's worry.
“Wh-What?”
Kim Ju-an, who had been equally exhausted, shot back at Kim Chun-yong with an incredulous face.
“Huh? You're the center. If you set the angle from the front, it'd be easier for the members to match from the back.”
“No, I haven't learned the dance break choreography yet…”
“Huh? You said you'd be the center. Didn't you say that after learning the dance break part in advance?”
“…….”
“Ah, no. I was short-sighted. You might not have learned it yet! Hyung will teach you. Come here.”
Grinning cheerfully like a mischievous child and baring his canines, Kim Chun-yong dragged Kim Ju-an to the mirror in the practice room and sat him down.
Kim Ju-an flailed his arms and resisted slightly, but it was no use because of the considerable height difference with Kim Chun-yong.
“Look, so. After the ‘Aimed at your Heart’ part….”
Digging his toes into the ground, he turned his upper body wide from there.
Fast steps. Left foot first, then right. Repeated twice.
Brushing his shoulder once lightly with his hand, head and isolation.
Extending his upper body in the opposite direction of his lower body, and acrobatically flipping back once.
Not letting go of the fingertip details even while bending his body, catching his center and turning once.
Sweeping the floor long with his knee, and naturally rising with the momentum—
“…Eyes to the front.”
Someone standing at the practice room door clapped twice and spoke in a low voice.
Ten pairs of eyes, which had been fixed on Kim Chun-yong dancing as if possessed, turned there.
There stood a judge and dance mentor.
Wearing comfortable training clothes unlike during the evaluations, stylishly draped in a rider jacket, and adorned with dangling silver piercings.
“J-Jin Da-sol Mentor!?”
…was standing there.
“Yes.”
Jin Da-sol, who had replied dryly to someone's sharp exclamation, walked toward them without hesitation and said:
“The team ahead… said their recording is taking long… asked if I could watch you dance first… so I came.”
Jin Da-sol placed a hand on the shoulder of Kim Chun-yong, who was standing still catching his breath after dancing hard just now, and tilted his head.
“What… I should be watching.”
Ji Hwa-seong tried to close his gaping mouth and rolled his eyes around wildly. Right, now wasn't the time to be surprised by Jin Da-sol's sudden appearance.
Kim Chun-yong's dance came first.
*‘…To that extent, and it's his first time?’*
The dance moves, not missing a single detail of that difficult dance break part. The facial acting.
It wasn't the level of someone who had just briefly watched a choreography video and learned it. Kim Chun-yong's dance was practically flawless, ready to be put on stage right this instant.
While Ji Hwa-seong was astonished by this fact, Kim Chun-yong greeted Jin Da-sol with a bright smile.
“Hello, Mentor Da-sol.”
“You can… call me hyung, though.”
“Haha, how could I call you that? You're quite the jokester.”
“Anyway, once you're in my crew… you'll have to call me hyung.”
“Haha! That's really so, so funny! Ah, my stomach hurts. W-wait a moment. Haha!”
The conversation was briefly delayed because Kim Chun-yong suddenly burst out laughing.
Soon, the six members stood politely before their dance mentor, Jin Da-sol.
“So, Kim Chun-yong, the trainee is the dance break center… right.”
At Jin Da-sol's question, the other members glanced at Kim Ju-an.
Kim Ju-an had been keeping his mouth tightly shut with a pale expression from the moment Kim Chun-yong demonstrated the dance break choreography earlier.
The trainees knew exactly what kind of moment produced that expression.
…When one was overwhelmed by superior skill.
Ji Hwa-seong looked at Kim Ju-an exactly once, then smiled brightly and replied to Jin Da-sol.
“No, we decided Ju-an hyung is the dance break center—”
“No!”
Kim Ju-an hurriedly cut off Ji Hwa-seong's words. Ji Hwa-seong looked at Kim Ju-an with a strange look and said.
“Huh? Hyung. You clearly said earlier that you wanted to be the dance break center….”
Even though Kim Ju-an knew Ji Hwa-seong's attitude was laying a trap.
“Ah, no. I think I was mistaken. Chun-yong… doing it seems better.”
He couldn't offer a single rebuttal.
Because it was obvious he would lose if he tried.
“Then… let me see it once.”
Jin Da-sol, unaware of the situation, nodded once and asked them to stand in formation, and they soon began moving their bodies to the beat he counted in a low voice.
[Skill activating:
Kim Chun-yong's phone, flashing in the corner of the practice room, was placed face-down.