The Villainous Member Has Returned! Episode 27* * *“…
Huu.”
I let out a long sigh as I stepped out of the private interview room.
Pretending not to be nervous, pretending to be relaxed, pretending to have every solution figured out—I was used to all that by now, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t actually true.
Moreover, the main writer, I Hyeonjeong, had an excessively sharp edge to her.
“I think the judges offering harsh criticism this time means they’re pointing out that our team has room for more growth. We want to surprise the audience at the next main competition stage. Thank you!”
Just as usual, after finishing the best possible defense to avoid evil editing, I was catching my stride leaving when that single sentence stopped me.
“Trainee Gim Chunyong. Just a moment.”
“Uh, yes? If it’s an additional question, I’ll sit back down.”
“Ah, this is just a personal conversation, so there’s no need to sit. Just some advice.”
Could it be that the eyes of someone who had worked in broadcasting for a long time were impossible to avoid?
“…This time, it’d be better to resolve things visibly, inside the camera.”
A remark that seemed to keep in mind the way I had resolved friction with team members while preparing for the ‘Aiming’ stage back then.
Because back then, I had dragged Ji Hwaseong outside the camera to resolve it, missing out on a lot of screen time. So ‘this time,’ she was probably taking a preemptive jab telling me not to do that.
“Uh, um… I don’t really understand what you mean.”
“Come on. Really?”
“Haha, I didn’t study hard when I was in school. I am good at dancing though. Should I show you a bit right now?”
“…….”
Despite reading the room from I Hyeonjeong, I simply maintained my bright smile and bolted right out.
Resolve it visibly, inside the camera.
Me.
“Heh….”
You’ve got to say things that make sense, seriously.
Suppressing the hollow laugh that burst out, I rolled my eyes toward the tall man standing behind the vending machine blocked from the camera’s view.
Even if I did that, the voice would be picked up by the audio, but given the situation, it should be fine.
“Siu. I don’t know exactly what you’re going through but… let’s talk a bit, you and me.”
With his bangs swept back refreshingly and finally wearing makeup that suited him, radiating mature charm, yet looking utterly exhausted—Bang Yuchan.
And before him, standing with a pale expression, the culprit who ruined our stage today.
“…….”
Jang Siu.
“I’m already twenty-two years old, and compared to other trainees, I don’t have any strengths other than singing. I’m an individual trainee, and this kind of environment is my first time.”
“…….”
“That’s why this survival show is… my last chance to challenge the dream I’ve kept only in my heart. So I really want to do my best at every moment without regrets. But you, spacing out on stage….”
The always-composed Bang Yuchan’s face was rarely desperate.
Furrowed brow, trembling voice.
Knowing what Bang Yuchan had gone through to get here, I didn’t dare think of interrupting their conversation and just hovered around.
…And right now, Siu was definitely in the wrong. It can’t be helped.
Bang Yuchan, who had been quietly rubbing the back of his neck, stabbed at Jang Siu with his voice once more.
“…The reason you can’t focus on stage. Won’t you tell me what it’s because of?”
“I….”
Jang Siu parted his lips a few times, but seeing Bang Yuchan’s worried yet angry gaze, he immediately clamped his mouth shut again.
If Jaechan hyung had coaxed the members with a warmth vast as the sea, Bang Yuchan tended to dig fiercely into the problems.
And such an approach from Bang Yuchan would feel to Jang Siu like ‘being scolded.’
“Next, trainee Bang Yuchan, please come in.”
“…Let’s talk more later.”
Bang Yuchan, who had been waiting patiently for an answer, shook his head a few times at the junior writer’s voice calling for him and went into the private interview room.
“…….”
Seeing Siu left all alone, fidgeting with his fingers, left a bad taste in my mouth.
Of course, I was angry too. How could I not be?
Just recalling the judges’ reactions after seeing our stage made my back drenched in cold sweat even now.
“…Please make sure my song isn’t a waste.”
Along with those ice-cold words from the original singer, Min Siyeong sunbae-nim.
“I had high expectations. But trainee Jang Siu was a bit….”
And Jin Dasol’s comment, brimming with disappointment.
“The formations are a mess. How on earth did you practice? Ah. Seriously, I’m going crazy… edit this out, please.”
Even Mun Yunha’s swearing at a level that couldn’t be broadcast.
The peak of it all was Na Jihyeok’s evaluation, who had consistently provided carrots to the trainees until now.
“…Everyone.”
It was a voice so cold, one would wonder if this was really the Na Jihyeok who had been covering for the other mentors’ trolling with a troubled expression.
The saying that a kind person is scarier when angry applied to Na Jihyeok too.
“You coming up with your own choreography is good. Choosing a famous anime opening as a song, designing the stage composition from scratch, creating the choreography. It must have been hard. Individual performances are all fine, right? But overall. The stage you all showed just now really—”
Is less coordinated than a kindergarteners’ talent show.
When I heard those words, even I, who had been trying to maintain composure, felt my face flush bright red.
“The audience came all the way to Sangam with difficulty to see you all. I don’t think they should see a below-standard stage. I hope the main stage won’t be like this.”
Especially, trainee Jang Siu.
I let out a bitter smile recalling Na Jihyeok’s bone-striking advice.
‘I wish that too. Really!’
Tak—
“…!”
At the sound of my footsteps slipping in the hallway, Jang Siu, who had still been standing before the vending machine trembling, snapped his head up and looked at me.
“…….”
“…….”
Our eyes met without conversation.
What should I say to Jang Siu, who was in a negative state?
Your stage today was the worst? At this rate, we might not debut together?
Or.
If you remain so trapped in the past, you’ll never be able to move forward again?
Keeping the words in my chest buried, I spoke to Jang Siu in a small voice.
“…See you in the practice room tomorrow.”
For now, roughly pulling himself together. Huh?
At my words, Jang Siu rolled his eyes around anxiously, then gave me an awkward nod before dashing off toward his dorm room.
“Tch.”
I quietly clicked my tongue watching his back.
Anyway, no matter whether I comfort, threaten, or get angry at the current Siu, nothing will get through.
Because the other person is me.
Because we haven’t known each other long, and I’m a stranger who doesn’t know what walls have accumulated in his heart.
A cat doesn’t easily offer its paw to someone it just met.
Even if you somehow succeed in approaching, becoming close with that person is another story.
Though inside, it’s a hyung I’ve spent more than eight years face-to-face with, what would the current him know.
“…Rex hyung. When you drink, do you feel like an adult?”
“Then… can’t I have just one glass too? Hyung, you’re drinking too much….”
Though it’s a bit of a shame, well.
“Chunyong aniki… what are we going to do now?”
Ryota, who had almost tumbled toward me from the end of the hallway, whined in dying tones.
“I, I! On the way here, Hwaseong scolded me really hard. Hwaseong said, ‘Why didn’t you beat him up right then?’ and told me to prostrate myself in the hallway right now—”
“Okay, stop talking there.”
I urgently threw my arm around Ryota’s neck, defending Ji Hwaseong’s idol rights.
“You’re a kid, how can you go around talking about other trainees like that? Cameras are everywhere. Get a grip, trainee Ishikawa Ryota.”
“Hing….”
“Hing is what I should be saying, man.”
Yeah, literally hing.
A pathetic sound reflexively burst out before a situation I couldn’t resolve with my own strength.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t resolve it.
This time.
I need someone else’s strength.
The strength of someone closer to Jang Siu than I am now, someone he can rely on, someone who shares the same boat.
* * *The next afternoon.
The
“Where’s Leopold? What time is he coming?”
“The Apgujeong area is jammed with traffic right now, so it’ll take about another hour.”
“Then just tell him he can come later. Anyway, we need him to enter while the trainees are practicing for the shot to work.”
“Lady Swan has arrived!”
“Oh, get the mic ready!”
If you planned a cover mission on an idol survival program, having the original singers appear was the whole point, wasn’t it?
The production team’s scheme was to bring out the original singers, create a heartwarming scene between seniors and juniors, and draw those original singers’ fans’ attention toward the
Moreover, thanks to the trainees’ god-like luck in drawing lots, the lineup was formidable.
Leopold, holding an unshakable position in the current male idol fandom tier 1; 2OCD, rising steadily after winning Rookie of the Year last year; Lady Swan, Do Jaechan’s sore thumb.
And….
“May I go down first?”
“Y-yes? Siyeong-ssi. The trainees on that team aren’t ready yet—”
“If I sit in the practice room and the trainees enter later, I think that’s a better shot. Just like at yesterday’s mid-evaluation, that team wasn’t prepared enough and the evaluation wasn’t good. I want to give them a stern talking-to.”
The powerhouse of AG, the current reigning solo female singer, the vocal mentor for the idol survival program
“If their mentor who watched their entire stage says so, what can the trainees do about it, right?”
Min Siyeong.
“Th-that’s….”
‘Ha, she’s saying that because I’m the easiest target to say such things to…’
The youngest writer, I Hajun, who had volunteered for the overseas music camp team but got assigned to the survival team, looked at the main writer with anxious eyes at Min Siyeong’s words.
But right now, she was in no state of mind to pay attention to each and every cast member, busy giving orders regarding the guests who had just arrived.
Of course, there was a manual prepared for situations where she couldn’t attend to individual cast members.
Regarding Min Siyeong—
“Just listen to what she says, generally. She has career experience so she won’t be overly unreasonable. If you try to stop her, it won’t be contained. Just go along with it.”
“…Really?”
“We’re busy. Ah, I want to film quickly. I’m good at creating screen time.”
Then was what this woman was saying persuasion, not force?
I Hajun felt like crying.
“Th-then for now….”
Stammering as he responded to Min Siyeong, I Hajun gestured to the youngest camera operator who had entered with him.
‘No way, you crazy bastard!’
The youngest camera operator desperately shook his head, but was ultimately dragged by I Hajun’s hand to stand beside him.
“…Let’s go.”
The youngest writer, the youngest cameraman. And Min Siyeong. Thus the three began climbing the stairs to meet the ‘Us Beyond the Wave’ team.
“…….”
Min Siyeong maintained a stern face throughout the way to the practice room.
No. Since seeing the ‘Us Beyond the Wave’ team’s stage yesterday, Min Siyeong hadn’t smiled for a single moment.
‘You can’t do a stage like that.’
What kind of song was that?
To Min Siyeong, her uncle-like Do Jaechan had secured that precious opportunity for her before debut.
The song that served as the stepping stone for the youngest ever solo female singer to debut simultaneously in Korea and Japan was exactly ‘Us Beyond the Wave’.
At the time, Do Jaechan couldn’t wield power in the domestic entertainment industry yet, so the official debut was pushed back considerably, but the memory of that first recording was not an exaggeration to say it made Min Siyeong who she was today.
“Our Siyeong, you’re the best!”
The young Min Siyeong’s refreshing voice ringing beyond the mic, Do Jaechan smiling beyond the glass, the director repeatedly giving thumbs up. ‘…If it weren’t for that song, I wouldn’t have become who I am today.’
That’s why Min Siyeong didn’t like it when she heard that Gim Chunyong’s team had chosen that precious song.
But she couldn’t pay attention to such things.
“Siu! Did you practice hard today?”
“Siyeong noona….”
Because Jang Siu, whom she had cherished and adored like her younger self since he was little, was on the same team as Gim Chunyong.
But to think the culprit who ruined the stage was Jang Siu.
And that the person who did best on that stage was Gim Chunyong!
“Trainee Jang Siu, if you continue like this, debut will surely be difficult. Get a grip.”
Though she unleashed fierce scolding from the judges’ seat, her heart couldn’t be in a good state.
That’s why she was now, despite being the most senior among the appearing original singers, going to meet the trainees faster than anyone else.
‘Siu is diligent, so he’ll probably be the first out practicing. I’ll comfort him watching that, and if words don’t work, I’ll get angry too.’
I believe in Siu.
I believe in the diligence of our August trainees!
Seeing a figure moving inside the practice room, Min Siyeong urgently flung the door open, shouting with a nightingale-like voice.
‘Siu, noona’s here!’
“Oh my, the trainees are already out practicing….”
…Huh?
However, what greeted Min Siyeong as she burst into the practice room wasn’t our black cat Jang Siu sweating and practicing, but rather:
「(Wel) The World’s Best Sol o Sing er Min Si Yeong (come)」
A crude welcome message scrawled on A4 paper.
And.
“W-what is this….”
“Hello, Min Siyeong sunbae-nim! It feels a bit strange calling you sunbae-nim instead of Mentor-nim, haha!”
Bang Yuchan greeting refreshingly with an earnest smile.
“W-well, I and Yuchan hyung came early to prepare a bit… hope you like it.”
Smiling sheepishly, but looking like a delinquent no matter how you saw him—Gim Chunyong.
Despite doing her best to manage her expression that threatened to twist, Min Siyeong couldn’t hold back the scream inside her.
‘Why isn’t Siu here!?’
Why were the two hyungs of the ‘Us Beyond the Wave’ team waiting for her?
That was purely because.
“Yuchan hyung. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“…Huh? What is it?”
“It’s about Siu.”
“Wow, damn. If it’s about that, just tell me straight away!”
It was due to Gim Chunyong’s plan to get Jang Siu to come to his senses.