The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 46
After episodes 1 and 2’s original broadcast.
‘Since it was a survival show made by Joo Cheolyeong, I trusted it to some extent, but… to this degree?’
‘I was hesitant because it’s an agency that’s never had a successful group before, but if it turns out like this… I think it’d be okay to push them a bit more.’
‘Let’s take more ads now. Let’s put out a notice.’
Music Days, having realized that they were starting to get good reactions from the public, joined hands with AG and began marketing much more aggressively starting from the third round.
And the start of that was.
[3rd Round Benefit
-Me too, from the very same stage
-A chance on the Music Music Today stage!]
It began with putting a stage composed of the 3rd round winners on Music Days’ music program, ‘Music Music Today.’
This was also a fact I hadn’t known: that this was my second time appearing on
It also meant that the survival show’s contents were seriously beginning to diverge from what I knew.
No wonder it felt like we weren’t holding it in the idol canning factory’s main hall like before.
I wasn’t bewildered to that extent.
Since I was currently trying to change the debut members, there was no guarantee that other things wouldn’t change either.
Besides, it was already a situation roughly foreseen by my edit order being moved up in the first broadcast.
“Huh, huh? So you’re saying we’re going on a music show?”
“All of us? Hah. Of course, probably only the winning team or winners!”
“Wait. I’m so nervous….”
Apart from that, the trainees who checked the 3rd round benefit immediately upon arriving at the studio couldn’t close their mouths.
“Wow, trainees! It’s your first time looking at the benefit before the round’s content, right? It’s my first time too!”
For the first studio shoot in a while, MC Choi Gaon appeared dressed much more flashily than usual and added with a smile.
“Haha, singing and dancing on the same stage as debuted idols, isn’t it incredibly exciting? I always do my first comeback stage on MuMu too!”
“I’m so excited!”
“I really want to get up there….”
Answering dutifully to those words and securing camera time, the trainees were each dreaming different dreams.
‘Can I get up there? At my current rank?’
‘What method should I choose to get up there easily?’
‘No, tell us what kind of round it is first!’
Even while pretending otherwise, everything was revealed through their expressions.
In particular, Ji Hwasung’s eyes, already convinced that he would ascend that stage, were so fiery that lasers seemed about to shoot out.
“Phew….”
Of course, I was included among those dreaming different dreams as well. But there was a slight difference.
Unlike the other trainees, I was….
‘…I already have too much to think about right now, and now this?!’
I was worried about the increasing workload.
With Logan’s parents’ issue, Ryuwei, and preparing for the 3rd round that was already showing differences from before?
I felt like I wanted to tuck my family and Arrows members under my arms and run away to another country right this instant.
“Chunyong. Your expression is totally scary right now. Are you angry?”
“Ah, no. Hmm.”
At Yu Chan-hyung’s whisper from the seat next to me, I quickly fixed my expression and rubbed my chin.
To think I was shaken enough to be visible to others. That wouldn’t do.
Running away was out of the question if I was to atone, and hadn’t my return to this point itself been the start of a gamble?…
I had to focus no matter what happened.
I gave Yu Chan-hyung, whose face was glowing, a brief glance, then pricked my ears to Senior Choi Gaon’s words, who was proceeding with great excitement.
“Now, the 3rd round that boldly starts by revealing the benefit first! You need to learn its contents starting now too, right? Please focus!”
I needed to figure out how much it was differing from the facts I knew, and if so, how I should prepare.
Lately, it felt like all I was doing was preparing for the changes, getting stressed, and fighting with X.…
Probably just my mood, right?
While I was having useless thoughts, Senior Choi Gaon continued professionally, alternating his gaze between the trainees and his cue sheet.
“This 3rd round is a solo mission after a long time! It’s the first time since the ranking evaluation, right? Haha. Now, let’s look at the screen together again.”
– A team, but not a team!>
Organized pictograms and explanations appeared together on the massive screen standing in the middle of the studio.
To sum it up, it was like this.
They would form teams of six each for vocal, rap, and dance positions, then rank each team through their stage.
And the structure was that the top two from each team, six in total, would ascend the
This was the same as what I knew from having experienced it before.
“Huh? This, last time, could it be….”
And it was something one could know without having gone through survival shows twice.
“I’ve seen this when practicing.”
“It’s exactly what the Serenia seniors filmed, right?”
That’s right.
The 3rd round. The ‘Position Competition,’ in other words, was a method that had already been shown once in
“Now, now, everyone. Will you keep focusing on the screen? Here comes something even bigger!”
Choi Gaon’s voice rose.
Then, as if to further amplify the already sufficient murmuring of the trainees, two women appeared on the screen that had turned pitch black for a moment: one with long hair tied up high and one with a blunt bob.
Right.
- “Hello,
- “And I’m Kim Yein!”
Chu Siyeon and Kim Yein, who took 1st and 2nd place in
It was the production crew’s arrangement to have the previous survival show
“Whoa, daebak!”
“Suddenly? Why is Senior Chu Siyeon suddenly here? Ah, wait. I’m a huge fan!”
“No, I can’t follow the context…!”
As if seeing the trainees’ heated reactions firsthand, the two survival show seniors smiled brightly and continued in smooth pronunciation like flowing water.
- “We heard that you
- “That’s right. The Position Competition was such a fierce competition, it’s still vivid in my memory!”
- “The reason we appeared like this today is to tell you the songs you will be performing on stage!”
Chu Siyeon and Kim Yein, who clapped a few times between themselves, firmly held the flipped-over papers and shouted like a chorus.
- “The songs that you
As their final words rang out and the papers flipped, the competition songs filled the screen.
[Vocal: Serenia
– Musica (MUSICA)
Rap: Sladix
– Aniri
Dance: Gaon
– Crucial Boy]
With Serenia members appearing on screen, it was expected that one of their songs would be there.
But what caught my eye was the designated song for the dance position: ‘Crucial Boy,’ Choi Gaon’s debut song.
“Oh… this… I didn’t know either!”
Even in a situation where he could react sufficiently because his own song had come out, Choi Gaon alternated between his cue sheet, the screen, and the production crew several times, making a bewildered expression.
An obvious NG no matter who looked at it.
“—We’ll cut for a moment and resume!”
The slate came down, and the main writer ran to Choi Gaon.
With that, I realized what was going on in this situation.
Since it wasn’t my malicious member days when my head was pickled in alcohol, the deduction was easy.
Both when I appeared as ‘Rex’ and now.…
The song had suddenly changed.
Before, only the rap position, and this time both rap and dance.
The previous dance position song wasn’t ‘Crucial Boy,’ but another foreign pop song.
But for it to have changed by just that one thing, it was the same as before that Choi Gaon had NG’d at this timing.
Choi Gaon was famously such a professional that he absolutely never NG’d due to his own issues.
Having appeared on the same program, I couldn’t forget the rare NG he made.
“We’ll rest for 10 minutes and then continue! Trainees, please rehydrate too!”
During that short break, my gaze automatically turned to the other trainees.
To the two people I was currently most focused on: Logan and Ryuwei.
First among them, Ryuwei.
“…….”
Ryuwei with an unreadable expression was covering his mouth with his right hand.
Whether he was smiling or frowning. That wasn’t important.
What was important….
was that Ryuwei already knew how to perfectly perform Choi Gaon’s ‘Crucial Boy.’
After debuting with Arrows, Ryuwei had danced to ‘Crucial Boy’ for his self-introduction wherever he went, so there was no way he wouldn’t know it.
And behind that Ryuwei was AG’s China expert, Director Sin Giho.
“Hey. Chunyong. You want water too? Your face is pale.”
“…Ah, thank you. I’m a fan of the Serenia seniors. I guess I’m surprised.”
I naturally responded to Yu Chan-hyung’s kindness and secretly wiped the cold sweat running down the back of my neck.
Then I turned my gaze toward Logan.
“Logan, which position do you want to get into?”
“Of course, Vocal. I’ve heard Serenia’s songs too!”
Of course.
He can do well.
That smiling Logan was, I daresay, going to fall into the rap position rather than the vocal position he was confident in.
“Trainee Logan is… oh! He’s been assigned to the rap position, not vocal! This is a truly unexpected assignment…?”
“Huh? R-Rap?”
Because it was the same before.
The puzzle that had vaguely floated around until last night snapped into place in an instant.
To the point of adjusting positions to definitely steal the buzz from Logan, whose departure was scheduled.
To the point of changing the song right before filming to make it favorable for Ryuwei, whose rank was lower than expected.
…It meant that Director Sin was pulling strings much more openly than I had expected.
‘If that’s the case….’
My head grew complicated, then clear, and ultimately derived exactly one answer.
In a direction I hadn’t dared to consider, thinking it might be a wild guess.
The absurd prediction that perhaps Director Sin was the person from AG who induced Logan’s departure.
If that were the case, Logan wasn’t leaving.
He was being made to leave without even knowing it.
“…Haha.”
“Why are you laughing all of a sudden? Is it hard? Get a hold of yourself, Chunyong.”
At the laughter I suddenly burst out with, some trainees’ gazes briefly touched me then fell away.
But the person who didn’t remove that gaze, who held it long.
“…….”
Ryuwei’s impassive eyes, which had been covering his mouth and looking at the screen, were turned toward me.
Since returning, I had definitely never clashed directly with Ryuwei.
We had never performed in the same round until now, didn’t use the same room, and our missions hadn’t even overlapped.
“…….”
But if I wasn’t mistaken, the two of us were currently more conscious of each other than we had been during our Arrows days when we debuted together.
It was a bit odd that he was paying more attention to me than to Logan, the target being pushed to leave right now.
What did that matter now.
He’s staring at me like that right now, and I’m supposed to act like I don’t notice and just endure it?
I grinned and waved at Ryuwei like that.
Officially, this was our first exchange.
“…Ha.”
Ryuwei, seeing my greeting, briefly raised his eyebrows, then turned his head pretending not to know.
That attitude was no different from our Arrows days.
But how could I not greet him.
From now on, we would each do our best to ruin the other’s goals; I should at least exchange greetings.
If Logan was being made to leave because of Ryuwei and Director Sin.
If there was another AG figure who cared about Logan, who received protection, and there was even a slight chance of remaining here.
I had at least one card worth playing.
Something like a joker in poker.
“We’ll resume filming soon! Please check your makeup!”
“Excuse me, Writer-nim.”
“…Huh? Trainee Kim Chunyong? Is something wrong?”
“It’s not that something’s wrong right now. Could I perhaps… request a meeting?”
“A meeting? With me?”
“Ah, not with you, Writer-nim….”
Writer Lee Hyeonjeong, hearing my words, opened her eyes wide, but soon nodded as if understanding.
“…I don’t know if it can happen right away, but I’ll pass along the word.”
“Thank you!”
At Lee Hyeonjeong’s affirmation, I put on an innocent smile and nodded.
Since
I happened to have a good excuse to use externally as well.
“Tsk.”
Since our relationship hadn’t been very good before I returned, I had been trying to avoid bumping into them as much as possible this time….
But depending on the circumstances, finding the right shoulder to rub and rubbing it was also a valid approach.
Besides, with the contract with X, my family’s safety, and my atonement toward Arrows on the line.
It was no time to be squeamish.
I clenched my fist tight with the hand I had waved at Ryuwei earlier, and ran through the conversation I would share with my meeting target after this shoot, my eyes shifting about.
No matter what happened.
I didn’t intend to let things flow only the way Director Sin and Ryuwei wanted.