The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 8
* * *
Lead writer Lee Hyeonjeong surveyed the filming set with a grave expression.
‘The mood is terrible.’
“H-hic… Ah, I need to s-stop…”
As for the trainees sitting and crying beside the stage after the evaluation—well, she hadn’t expected much from them to begin with. The kids over there holding their shattered composure together and not crying were the impressive ones.
After all, for trainees, tears, laughter, and anger all became footage.
So, the problem lay elsewhere.…
The mentors.
“Yes, Trainee Kim Chunyong. I’ll take a look at your singing and dancing together.”
First, Min Siyeong.
Her judging standards were strict—too strict, even.
It was only natural. Min Siyeong was a living legend of AG.
Before AG had grown to this size, she had appeared like a comet as a genius solo singer, sweeping the charts and dominating the music awards. To her, an ordinary trainee wouldn’t be worth noticing at all.
Unless they were truly exceptionally talented.
‘Even so, she shouldn’t act like that. What kind of broadcast comes out when you’re only firing off righteous criticism?’
Lee Hyeonjeong shook her head and looked at the other mentors. The others weren’t doing particularly well either.
“…….”
Jin Dasol, the handsome and skilled dancer they had brought in as a valuable asset, was just sitting still without any reaction whatsoever.
“Y-yes, Trainee Kim Chunyong… I look forward, forward to it.”
Na Jihyeok, who was at least trying to loosen the atmosphere, was also being crushed by Min Siyeong’s aura and couldn’t properly express his opinions.
And Mun Yunha, who was currently considered the biggest bomb….
“Before I see the stage, just a moment.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Trainee Kim Chunyong, is this your real name?”
“Ah, yes! It’s my real name.”
“You were planning to appear on a program like this, but you didn’t prepare a stage name? Your name is a bit rustic. It doesn’t match your image either.”
She was doing that!
Without realizing it, Hyeonjeong smacked her forehead with her palm.
From the sounds around her, she wasn’t the only one making such a gesture.
Whether she had come to watch the trainees’ skills or to pick fights.
Hyeonjeong turned her head back, let out a deep sigh, and looked at the main PD.
“…….”
The main PD’s expression was unreadable. He simply watched the trainee appearing beyond the camera in silence.
‘Come to think of it, wasn’t the trainee who just came up the one the PD said he’d been keeping an eye on?’
Handsome but rough around the edges.
Unlike his sharp, sophisticated face—to put it nicely—there was the trainee with the rustic name, Kim Chunyong.
No matter how much the main PD said he had seen something different in him, Hyeonjeong remained skeptical of that opinion.
Even if he was somehow a different trainee, what more could he do in this thin-ice situation?
Especially in front of a mentor who was criticizing not his stage but his name out of nowhere.
“Aah, my name.”
It was a sight she saw all the time, but in moments like these, Hyeonjeong struggled too. She kept feeling like she was doing something terrible to children.
‘Even so, going after his name is too much. I should tell the PD to cut for a moment…’
And the moment Hyeonjeong finally resolved to take a step toward the main PD.
The main PD’s eyes flashed, gleaming.
“Oh, my grandmother gave me this name. Is it rustic?”
…
Along with Kim Chunyong’s impudent remark!
The others at the filming set couldn’t help but drop their jaws at this shocking sight.
‘Wh-what did he just say?’
* * *
I swallowed hard in the center of the filming set swirling with bewilderment.
I was momentarily worried that the sound might have been picked up by the microphone.
“…A name given by my grandmother, he says.”
Of course, it was a needless worry.
Mun Yunha looked back and forth between the paper with my personal information and me, scrunching up her face as if displeased.
Back when I had used the stage name Rex, Mun Yunha had never said such things.
‘What, Trainee Rex? Figure it out yourself. Music please.’
Answering the absurd nitpick about his name being rustic by saying his grandmother had given it to him was purely an improvised response.
It was only possible because he knew that acting bold worked better than cowering in front of Mun Yunha.
He hadn’t forgotten the look in Mun Yunha’s eyes as she had regarded me and the Arrows members with boredom when we debuted, acting like obedient, well-behaved children.
“Are you going to keep taking concept photos with those dead faces? It’s really annoying. Do you know how many times this is? And it’s not like the retakes are any better. What are you trying to do?”
When they first worked together, she had pressed her forehead and shown an expression of hopelessness as she watched us faithfully following only her demands.
She had even given such an interview after stepping away from producing our team.
“I really don’t know if friends who are just pretty and handsome like dolls suit being real idols. They don’t seem human. It’s a bit creepy because they’re like corpses…”
A producer who wanted to grant them narrative and story, yet wanted them to live and breathe freely.
An aesthetics fanatic, Mun Yunha.
The ‘beauty’ she loved included confidence as well.
“Yes. Should I come up with a stage name after all? Ah, I didn’t think it was rustic…”
So I put on a shameless expression as if I knew nothing and asked her back.
Whether this gamble of mine would work or not was up to luck.
It was far better than simply waiting for the writer to call cut or answering that I would make a stage name.
Mun Yunha stared at me with a languid gaze, then slowly opened her mouth.
“…Which yong character is it, in the chun of spring?”
“The yong character for dragon. It means the dragon of spring.”
At my unhesitating answer, Mun Yunha’s mouth fell slightly open, then she soon nodded once and replied.
“The meaning is pretty. I take back what I said about it being rustic. I’ll look forward to your stage.”
As the unpredictable bomb-like woman answered thus, the atmosphere on set gently loosened.
“W-wow. I wanted to ask because my name is unique too, but I didn’t know Mentor Mun Yunha would speak so directly.”
“Chunyong! It rolls right off the tongue. I think I understand why you wouldn’t want to use a stage name?”
MC Choi Gaon also wore a faint smile, and Na Jihyeok, who had been stiffly watching me and Mun Yunha from the side, even changed his rigid posture in relief.
“…….”
Senior Min Siyeong and Jin Dasol showed no particular reaction, but this much was a success.
In these unexpected circumstances, if he could draw even decent reactions from Mun Yunha and Na Jihyeok, this had more than enough chance of winning.…
Because he had something prepared.
“Y-yes! Trainee Kim Chunyong’s confident stage—I’m really looking forward to it. Now, please come this way.”
I slowly moved to the center of the stage following the MC’s guidance, recalling the message X had sent yesterday.
- X: Are you seriously going to practice like that and go on stage?;;
- X: Looking at your stats, what do you mean greatest K-pop idol in history… you won’t even debut, yeah
- X: You know if you go back, it’ll be to when you were arrested, right? Can you handle it? I don’t think soㄴ
As X had said, no matter how much I practiced all day and desperately tried, I couldn’t restore all my dropped stats to their original state.
Those stats were the abilities of me as a 7th-year idol in the first place; catching up to 7 years of time in just one week was impossible.
“Why! Can’t! You! Do! This! Right!”
To make matters worse, perhaps due to some disconnect between mind and body, his skills weren’t coming out as they should at this point in time.
He had no choice but to choose to devise his own strategy, but whether it would work couldn’t be known until the stage ended.
…An attempt he had never made, nor could have made, 7 years ago.
In the end, this was all or nothing.
“Please look forward to it!”
As I bowed with my Adam’s apple bobbing, the instrumental of the song I had grown sick of hearing these past few days began to flow.
* * *
A whistling sound echoed throughout the entire filming set.
‘…Oh.’
Na Jihyeok, who recognized what song it was at once, began nodding his head and keeping the beat.
From three years ago, one of the double title tracks from the 2nd album of the five-member boy idol group Exolity, *Whistle*.
It was a song that had gained more popularity than the other title track due to the diverse vocal colors of Exolity’s members and their musical stage composition.
‘I watched it a few times thinking I’d reference it when planning festival stages later, but to see it in a survival program…’
Kim Chunyong, bouncing on the balls of his feet to match the beat, began singing on the downbeat.
- Sometimes I
Felt like I was alone in the darkness
Because I didn’t know you were behind me
Kim Chunyong’s vocal tone was unique.
His husky voice, which seemed slightly cracked, lodged pleasantly in the ear without being grating.
He couldn’t be said to sing as well as a main vocalist, but he possessed a voice that showed greater strengths when mixed with others.
With his heavy low tones and high notes mixed with falsetto, he was the kind of vocalist who was only completed when together with members.
- A hand that caresses me
My halted footsteps begin to run again
Cuz You’re the sunshine behind me
Besides, just as he had felt when answering Mun Yunha impudently earlier, his diction was truly good.
The ability to deliver lyrics was one of the important qualities for a singer.
Moreover, Kim Chunyong’s tone suited not just singing but rapping as well.
‘Not bad. It’s a song that lets him show his range without overdoing it. Did he practice it for a long time?’
But Na Jihyeok, who had been watching Kim Chunyong sing with satisfaction, soon had to return to a serious expression.
It seemed he had chosen a song where his vocal tone stood out because he wasn’t a trainee with strong vocals, but there was a fatal problem with Kim Chunyong’s stage.
‘…This song doesn’t have dancing.’
Right.
This song contained none of the recent idol member trends like synchronized group choreography or dance breaks.
That was why Exolity had shown off their bright, popping vocal colors and facial expression acting as the main focus in *Whistle*, complementing it with intense high notes and fierce choreography in their other title track.
But unlike Exolity, Kim Chunyong couldn’t showcase two songs.
“The trainees can only show one stage each.”
Each trainee could only submit one song, and even that was limited to the two-minute arrangement edited by the production team.
‘Ah, then Min Siyeong over there is going to say something again. It’s hard for me to keep covering for everything…’
Nevertheless, having grasped the situation, Na Jihyeok quickly began writing next to Kim Chunyong’s personal details what he could say to cover for him.
It was tough, but he was getting paid for all of it, so he couldn’t do a sloppy job.
That was when.
“…Huh? What’s wrong with the sound?”
J-j-jjik.
-J-j-jjik?
About one minute after Kim Chunyong had begun his stage.
The MR that had been playing well began cutting out with crackling sounds. Then, the beat of a different song mixed in from behind.
At this bizarre phenomenon, not only the mentors but even the production crew outside the camera were flustered.
“The sound team checked, and there’s no equipment malfunction.”
“No, then why is the song coming out like that?”
“Should we cut that now and go for another take? Ah, this is driving me crazy.”
As everyone was running around in confusion, worried only about the filming.
Someone who had been staring intently at the center of the stage spoke in a languid, small voice.
“…It seems intentional.”
It was Jin Dasol.
As he, who had maintained silence while evaluating the trainees until now, spoke, everyone opened their eyes wide and looked at Jin Dasol, then startled, turned their heads back to the stage.
“…Goodness.”
It was just as Jin Dasol had said.
In that brief moment when the song kept cutting out, as if it were a broadcast accident.
Kim Chunyong, naturally popping his joints to the beat and plugging his microphone into the mic stand, had before anyone knew it pulled a pitch-black beanie from his pocket and put it on, stepping to the beat.
In that time, the song had completely changed to a different song.
The whistling sound of *Whistle* remained, but it was now a pop song with a sophisticated synth beat as the main.
It was the song Kim Chunyong had practiced to death in the practice room.
- I love your black shirt
Oh, A black shirt
Matching the song lyrics, Kim Chunyong stretched out both his arms and legs.
And when the whistling sound of *Whistle* came out, he didn’t forget to do a clean turn to refresh the potentially stifling movements.
- When you smile
I feel something, you know
That’s what you think, baby
This song, and this choreography, were special to Kim Chunyong.
First year after debut, before his family had gotten into an accident.
Because this was the dance he had performed on the special stage at the music awards where he received the Rookie Award.
‘This was my first and last million-view fan-cam that brought people in.’
Kim Chunyong had to choose and focus as he looked at his stats that hadn’t grown enough to breeze through his first survival show.
What to show and what to give up, and how to land safely until debut.
This was what he had chosen through that process.
If an idol reenacted their legendary stage at an idol survival competition?
Well, of course….
“H-holy cow….”
Na Jihyeok, who had blurted out an exclamation aloud, opened his mouth wide and scrubbed away the cover phrases he had written down.
The dance Kim Chunyong was performing now?
Even five-year-old children would see him and say he danced well, clapping to ask him to play together. No, there was no need to go to five-year-old children.
“…….”
The expressions of the other trainees who had finished their stages earlier and were sitting down said it all. They were all saying the same thing with their faces.
What the hell is he to dance like that?
- Don’t say anything, baby
We can Stay, Sleep, Dream
Together
‘Debut? I’ll do it. The greatest K-pop idol in history? I’ll do it, I said I’ll do it.’
So….
‘I’m never going back to that time again.’
Kim Chunyong, biting down hard, flung off the beanie he was wearing with a swish.
- Together.
The stage ended at the perfect moment.