“What’s this?
EX Rank?
As I was awestruck by the unfamiliar ranking, I overheard Kim Seonghyeon chatting with Jeong Dajun.
“But why didn’t Senior Joo Woosung appear on any dance variety shows? He’s the main dancer.”
“Well, from what I heard… He wanted to learn more about dancing and went to the U.S. He said it was for rest despite the company trying to stop him.”
– Me: Where are you?
– Joo Woosung: Cali
I slapped my forehead as I remembered the text I had exchanged with him. [1]
Joo Woosung…
He must’ve been bursting with pride about this.
So that’s why he was out of sight for months.
“There’s a famous dance studio in California. I heard he worked really hard there.”
Can you upgrade your dance stats to EX just by laying low for a few months??
Joo Woosung honestly made me jealous. I was working my bones to the ground, while he became an EX rank just by taking a trip to California. Life’s balance patch seemed off.
Did he save a country in his past life?
It went beyond talent, and I wondered if Joo Woosung was receiving some kind of item luck.
Moreover, he confidently told me to watch the stage. Indeed, there was a reason. As soon as we returned to the waiting room, Black Call’s stage started on the television for monitoring.
Even on the small, low-quality TV in the waiting room, Joo Woosung was incredibly… amazing.
“You can’t deny, cracks appear in the smallest crevices,
I’m going to change everything about you.”
Joo Woosung, as expected, was an excellent performer with a singing stat of A+ and a dance stat of EX-. He knew exactly when to be strong or gentle while catching the camera.
“Don’t run away, I’m here beside you,
If you reel, you know why…”
No, it wasn’t about controlling strength and softness.
He was simply born to be on the stage. Joo Woosung threw his hand up as if he was throwing a ball in the center of the stage, then raised one corner of his lip.
“It’s Black Call.”
“Wow…”
“…”
Hopelessness…
To think he has been carelessly practicing and dating with that talent until now…
I wanted to grab Joo Woosung by the collar and shake him, feeling regretful about the time he wasted.
He’s crazy, he’s so good…
Even those who knew nothing about dancing could tell he was insane. I wondered how he looked in the eyes of Jeong Dajun and Kim Seonghyeon. Even the usually noisy Jeong Dajun was absorbed into the screen with his mouth shut.
Even through the small screen, the song was explosive. I couldn’t even imagine the shock the fans must have felt on the spot…
The more I watched the performance, the more I lost my spirit.
Where did my adorable No.1 go…?
And wasn’t it just Joo Woosung?
As the stage progressed, I began to feel a deep sense of betrayal towards another person as well.
Is this really Lim Hyeonsu’s…?!?!
To him, Cheongbeom.
You pumped the beat full of money and made it this crazy?
“Kang Ichae is better? There’s no need to come to me now?”
This was nothing but deception, check, and exploitation.
“…Hoyun, why are you like that?”
“Phew, just pissed off for a moment…”
As I ground my teeth in anger, Seong Jiwon comforted me by patting my back.
Both Lim Hyeonsu and Joo Woosung… There was no need to worry or comfort them.
Right, who should I be worried about in this situation?
I pledged not to worry about others from now on.
I should be worried about myself. After all, I’m living alone in this harsh world.
This annoyed feeling continued until the award for the No.1 song came.
“Congratulations! The No.1 is Black Call!”
Boom, the fireworks exploded.
Considering how well the song and concept had been received, the Noeul members who had anticipated this tried hard to manage their expressions. Even though I couldn’t compete with Black Call, I (barely) smiled at the Noeul members and greeted the other singers around me.
“…”
As Joo Woosung was next to me, I bowed to him too… but it seemed odd.
In one hand, Joo Woosung held a large trophy, wearing an odd expression as he looked at his fans, who he must have seen so many times.
“Congratulations.”
“…Ah.”
Upon hearing my words, Joo Woosung seemed to come to his senses, blinking his eyes in surprise. Then he smiled.
As if it was his first time winning No.1, this Joo Woosung of Black Call acted unusually.
“…Thank you.”
Joo Woosung lightly patted my shoulder and shifted his gaze to other idols greeting him.
What’s this?
Normally, Joo Woosung was a bit of a pushover, but now, as a top idol, he took care of his image in front of the camera, so I couldn’t see his earlier expression again. I glanced at him and turned away.
It wasn’t my business.
“Good work everyone!”
The Dawn members, while cracking their necks, and the other groups quickly left for Black Call’s encore stage.
“You worked hard. We have a music show scheduled tomorrow too, so let’s rest a bit today.”
“No!”
Suddenly, Jeong Dajun, who had been lost in thought, raised his head.
“Let’s practice.”
“Huh?”
At Jeong Dajun’s bombshell, everyone stopped in surprise and turned to look at him.
“Dajun, no. You only slept three hours yesterday.”
“I don’t want to, but I still want to do a little more…”
Jeong Dajun uttered those words as he stubbornly bit his lower lip. Kim Seonghyeon, arms crossed, seemed to be debating whether he should be proud of Dajun or dissuade him from his stubbornness. Just then, Kang Ichae intervened.
“Really?”
“…!”
“Your stomach hurts, doesn’t it?”
“…What?”
Even Seong Jiwon, the practice machine, widened his eyes in surprise and looked back and forth at the two of them.
“Maybe it was the kimbap we ate today…”
“Hyung, isn’t that too much?”
“Ahaha, it’s fascinating because you two are like this. Kekeke.”
If Kim Seonghyeon and Seong Jiwon were people who had always only looked at idols, living as if their lives depended on them, then Jeong Dajun was the one trying to follow them, grumbling all the while, and only Kang Ichae seemed to be the odd one out in the group.
Because he always seemed to be taking the idol life as a joke.
Seeing everyone else’s somewhat shocked expressions, Kang Ichae gave a sheepish smile.
“…Why are you looking at me like that? I’m a human too~. It hurts when something is snatched away right in front of your nose.”
“So Kang Ichae is really shocked this time.”
“So Ichae can also feel jealousy…”
“Life is no fun if you’re perfect~…. Wait, why is everyone ignoring me?”
Kang Ichae shrugged his shoulders and put his arm around Jeong Dajun’s neck and led the way. Despite having musical talent, they hadn’t achieved first place, and their faces were all filled with the word “practice.”
Well, whatever they’re doing is fine.
Is it possible just by practicing?
Ding!
[Quest Arrives: Use your wits to make the impossible, possible!
During the activity period, claim the number 1 spot in the music broadcast.
Reward: 3,000 points
Failure: Massive drop in singing stats (A0 → C0)]
…I couldn’t help but curse.
After clicking my tongue in annoyance, although I really didn’t want to, I sent a message to PD Kim Heeyeon and stuffed the phone in my pocket.
“Let’s have an emergency meeting.”
“Huh?”
Jeong Dajun turned his head as if to ask what that meant. I was still grinding my teeth after remembering the shocking Black Call performance and the graceless Joo Woosung and Lim Hyeonsu.
“We have to come in first.”
“…Excuse me??”
***
A chilly evening. Everyone was serious except for Jeong Dajun, who was grumbling about some medicine he had received.
“I will start the first emergency meeting of The Dawn.”
I knocked on the blackboard. Kim Seonghyeon raised his hand as if he had something to say.
“Kim Seonghyeon will speak.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“What exactly is this emergency meeting about?”
“It’s an emergency meeting to plan how we can achieve first place during our mini album activities.”
“….”
Kim Seonghyeon squinted slightly. His expression said, ‘Even if we have a meeting, will things go our way?’
As if practicing would solve everything.
I too, would have preferred to solve this within my limitations, however, for The Dawn’s No. 1 spot, I couldn’t do it alone.
“What do you think was the reason we couldn’t achieve the first place this time?”
“It was because of the Cute-Pretty-Gorgeous Kang Ichae~!”
“I didn’t hear you right.”
“Just Ichae.”
Kang Ichae waved his half-raised hand.
“The timing of our comeback was awful~. We didn’t know Black Call-seniors would completely overlap with us.”
“Right. It was even difficult to delay the comeback. There were schedules booked in advance.”
Everyone groaned. In the end, it was agreed that we should try as much as possible not to overlap with Black Call.
“Hoyun, can we extend our activity period a bit more?”
“We can adjust it… but we have schedules after this.”
If we extend our activities by one week, there would be a period where we wouldn’t overlap with Black Call.
“Kim Seonghyeon—Even if we extend our activities by one week, can we take the first place? Black Call-seniors gets to be No. 1 even without appearing on music broadcasts.”
“…What’s the all-time highest record of Black Call-seniors?”
“I’m not sure about the all-time record, but during their last activity, they secured 13 wins. They swept all the top spots on the music shows, and even when they stopped appearing, they still remained No. 1…”
“13 wins??”
” Black Call did have a relatively long promotion period, so they swept everything….”
Sometimes… I forgot that Joo Woosung was such a remarkable guy because he acted so foolishly.
The mood quickly turned sour.
“Well, it’s worth a shot. When will the Black Call-seniors finish their music show promotions? Is it until next week?”
“Uh, that’s the last time.”
“Should we adjust it and do it for one more week?”
It’ll cost more, but it’s not a bad choice. Except for one thing.
“Yeonhwa is making a comeback after that.”
“…Ah!”
Yeonhwa was a group that was a candidate in the Shining Star Season 1, but they were quite high-ranking and eventually cancelled their appearance. They are now active in Japan, so they were absent. They didn’t gain as much recognition as expected.
Hmm, overseas….
“This is….”
Everyone was lost in thought. Kang Ichae, sitting on the sofa, was shaking his body from side to side and rolling his eyes when his gaze landed on Kim Seonghyeon.
“Seonghyeon-hyung, want to show off your abs?”
“Do you think it will change something if I do?”
“Uhmuhmuh, it would make a huge difference~.”
“You show yours too, then.”
Just then, my phone rang. It was PD Kim Heeyeon from Shining Star.
– Shining Star PD Kim Heeyeon: Oh right
– Shining Star PD Kim Heeyeon: How did you know? About the voting system changing?
“Living an honest life pays off.”
“What nonsense are you blabbering now?”
“Let’s do one more week.”
We should at least secure first place since we’ve made a comeback, right?
[1] From Episode 97
