Standing next to Choi Ga-on and two others to select his team, Ji Hwa-seong had to do his best to control his facial expressions, lest his true feelings be revealed.
'I feel like a dog…'
Because if they do, it'll be a big problem.
He was just happy to be one of the top 3 along with Son Jae-ha, but who would have thought that he'd get trolled like this?
'We're supposed to pick our teammates one at a time? Really?'
Of course, it was up to the PD.
Ji Hwa-seong's total score was 308, placing him in third place, meaning that the first and second places got to choose their teammates first.
"Trainee Son Jae-ha picked trainee Jang Si-woo, who came in fifth, and trainee Liu Wei picked trainee Ahn Jin-woo, who came in fourth! Now, only trainee Ji Hwa-seong's choice remains. Who do you think he will pick?!"
A vein appeared on Ji Hwa-seong's forehead as he laughed at Choi Ga-on's words.
'How frustrating... If this keeps up, everyone else will just pick on those guys.'
Ji Hwa-seong's eyes turned to his older brother, Son Jae-ha, whom he trusted and followed.
'If I had gotten 4th or 5th place, Jae-ha hyung would have picked me…'
Son Jae-ha, feeling his gaze, smiled brightly at Ji Hwa-seong and gestured for him to do the same.
Seeing that strong and affectionate face, Ji Hwa-seong came to his senses and straightened his shoulders.
Right, he came here to debut.
No matter what, I had to overcome this hurdle to be able to debut with my favorite hyung, Jae-ha.
Ji Hwa-seong regained his composure and began to think.
'I'll have to choose wisely to minimize losses.'
Now the only AG trainee left is AG's global trainee, Li Ming Shen.
However, he and Li Ming Shen had never interacted before. They didn't communicate well with each other to begin with.
Should he say that Li Ming Shen had almost no will to learn Korean?
Objectively, it wouldn't be beneficial.
'Then who should I choose...?'
After a bit, Ji Hwa-seong gritted his teeth subtly and spoke in a bright tone.
"Ah! I already decided who I would pick from the beginning."
"Oh, how about a hint before you tell us?"
"...he's the person who received the most unique evaluation out of the 18 of us."
Choi Ga-on's eyes sparkled at Ji Hwa-seong's sweet words.
Someone who has received a unique evaluation.
It's unfortunate there isn't one in this show, despite how notoriously tough it is. Because here, among these 18, there's definitely someone worthy of it.
"If it's okay with you, Trainee Ji Hwa-seong, would it be okay if I call his name?"
"Oh, yes. Of course! But what if you're wrong?"
"Haha, that would never happen. So-"
Choi Ga-on excitedly called out the person's name in a loud voice.
Min Si-young gave him 0 points.
"6th place-."
And the 100 points given by Jin Dasol.
"Trainee Kim Chunyong! Please come forward!"
Kim Chunyong.
* * *
While Ji Hwa-seong, the team leader, was away from the practice room for a moment to prepare something.
I felt a strange sense of deja vu as I looked at the faces of my team members.
"...While we wait for the leader, should we start with a brief self-introduction? My name is Kim Chunyong, and I'm 20 years old."
Why....
"Chunyong hyung. I'll do it next.'
"Oh, then after Gao Yan, it's my turn. I'm ready."
Am I familiar with it?
"Haha..."
I burst out laughing as I watched the British man introduce himself with both hands clasped together.
Be it coincidence or fate, I ended up teaming with my multinational roommates, Logan and Gao Yan.
Three out of four people are on the same team. Is this allowed?
This seems like a trick by the production team.
Of course, there were other aspects that refuted my opinion.
"I'm Seo Bin. My last name is Seo, and my first name is Bin. I'm 20 years old, too... I'll work hard. No matter what."
Here's Seo Bin with a serious face.
He was a trainee from a different agency. Although he was nervous in front of our famous mentors, he did pretty well on stage afterwards, and after being eliminated from
"Excuse me, Rex. I'm telling you this because I've been through a survival show with you... If you drink like that, you'll get really sick and die. You do realize it's five minutes before the live broadcast, right?"
I can trust him, who has never had a drink with a malicious member.
"Oh, then you're the same age as Chunyong hyung."
"Yes? That's right."
"Then it's you're my hyung. Nice to meet you, Bin hyung."
"Bi… Bin hyung...?"
"Your name is Bin. If you add 'hyung' to 'Bin', it becomes 'Bin hyung'."
"Ah, you don't have do that. You can just call me Seo Bin hyung. It just feels a little weird..."
"What? In Korea, they say it's rude to call someone by their first and last name. So I'll call you Bin-hyung."
"No, you don't have to do that!"
Besides, judging by the fact that he gets along well with these foreigners, he definitely seems like a nice guy.
After being tossed around between Gao Yan and Logan for a while, Seo Bin approached me with a slight blush on his cheeks and greeted me again.
"H-Hi. Chunyong-i... Chunyong-i. We're the same age, so can we talk?"
I patted Seo Bin on the shoulder and answered with a bright expression.
"Of course. Let's do our best together this time, Bin."
"Uh, uh. I'm really going to work hard. I was really shocked by my ranking this time. But..."
Seo Bin, glanced behind me with a slightly worried expression. I followed suit, and I couldn't help but let out a loud "Ah."
There.
"Ugh, it's annoying, really...."
He was already mentally exhausted because he was in 11th place, and on top of that, there was me, who wasn't on good terms with him. Kim Joo-an, who was on the same team as us, was hugging his knees and muttering.
I was surprised too.
It was Ji Hwa-seong who chose Kim Joo-an, not anyone else.
Well, if I had to find a reason...
Maybe it's because I, who was originally in 10th place, ended up in 6th place this time, and the rankings changed like this.
Kim Joo-an was pushed down from his original 7th place to 11th because he was compared to me, who is from the same agency, and fell into the hands of Ji Hwa-seong, who didn't have many choices.
"Really, ah... I don't like it at all...."
"Hmm, it won't be good if you keep doing that."
I nodded and rolled my eyes at Kim Joo-an's irritated voice and Seo Bin's embarrassed groan.
Before, I gave him some advice out of affection, having worked hard together at QuinCE Entertainment, but now that we're competitors…
There's no need for me to try to appease and soothe Kim Joo-an with such behavior.
"Bin-ah, just a moment."
"Oh, huh? Alright..."
I nodded to Seo Bin, then rushed over to Kim Joo-an, putting my arm around him and shouting loudly enough for the camera to pick up my voice.
"Hey, Kim Joo-an. What's wrong with you? Are you hungry? Should we go out and get some ramen?"
"...What are you saying?"
Kim Joo-an looked at me like I was a ghost and openly despised me for my carefree attitude.
I wonder if he's aware that the camera's still rolling.
I lowered my head slightly and whispered to Kim Joo-an.
"Let's just do our best without complaining and getting criticized on TV, okay?"
"!"
Kim Joo-an was startled and let go of my arm around him.
"You, you. What are you? Why are you...?"
Are you talking about Ji Hwa-seong?
Kim Joo-an pursed his lips.
I was honestly impressed by Kim Joo-an's quick wit. Honestly, I didn't expect him to notice this.
'Hyung. Instead of getting criticized for being drunk and sloppy on TV, why don't you just leave? Okay?'
I guess I did it because Ji Hwa-seong chose me this time. Of course, I wa s even more hopeless than Kim Joo-an.
Because I once threw up on stage during the dance break.
Anyway, since he didn't say it out loud and just mouthed it, I guess that means Kim Joo-an has come to his senses.
"I don't care if you ruin your own image, but don't be a burden to the team."
As I finished speaking roughly and patted the guy on the shoulder before getting up from my seat, the practice room door burst open.
"Your leader Hwa-seong is back!"
The tallest among the cast, with blond hair flowing freely over his pale face, and eyes that sparkle with passion.
I'm talking about Ji Hwa-seong, now suddenly wearing horn-rimmed glasses.
"Okay, okay. Each of you take a lyric sheet. Take a tablet so you can watch the choreography. Oh, and take the drinks I bought you, too."
Ji Hwa-seong made his presence felt noisily, handing various items to the members. Kim Joo-an looked quite flustered.
Was this his original personality?
Exactly this expression.
If there was one thing that Kim Joo-an overlooked, it was that unlike himself, Ji Hwa-seong was quite intelligent.
"I'll play the video right away! We don't have much time to prepare for the stage, so please watch it carefully, okay?"
A person who knows exactly when and how to reveal their personality, who uses their hellish mouth heatedly when there was no need to wear a mask.
That was Ji Hwa-seong.
In short, he is a person who is good at distinguishing between public and private matters.
I don't know about anything else, but if I were asked to pick the person who best suits the 'job' of being an idol, I would pick him right away.
Of course, there are times when he loses his temper, but I know that it comes from wanting to do well.
If there is no particular incident, there will be no reason to reveal that character.
"Okay, everyone's probably seen the choreography and lyrics. Now, shall we divide up our parts?"
While I was lost in thought, Ji Hwa-seong spoke confidently, drawing many lines on the rap part.
"As you all know, I want to rap. There aren't many people here who rap, after all... If you don't mind, I'd like to take it from here to here."
Then Gao Yan raised his hand with a solemn expression.
"I want to do the part where we exchange doubling and subbing."
"Oh, doubling? Hmm, I'll check it out."
Starting with Gao Yan's words, people raised their hands one by one and said the parts they wanted to do.
Seo Bin does the intro and the second verse bridge, Logan does the second verse.
I said I didn't care where I could go as long as I could take the dance break center, and most of the members who remembered my first stage agreed.
Key word, 'most'.
* * *
Lee Hyeon-jeong smiled widely as she tapped the questionnaire with the ballpoint pen she was holding tightly.
"Trainee Kim Joo-an."
If asked what was essential for a successful idol survival show, he now knew how to answer.
That's right....
"I heard there was a bit of a problem with the part distribution."
It's conflict.
"That, that's..."
Kim Joo-an, whose eyes were bulging as if he had already poured out his heart, lowered his head once more and carefully chose his words.
It was a very pitiful act for an ordinary 20-year-old man to do, but Kim Joo-an had a cute appearance that made him look much younger than he was, so it suited him quite well.
"…I just brought it up because I thought all trainees should have a fair chance."
Gao Yan answered with a dumbfounded expression.
"That guy was making a fuss."
"...making a fuss? Trainee Gao Yan. Who taught you to say things like that?"
Even after seeing Hyeon-jeong's eyes widen, Gao Yan continued speaking.
"Gao Yan taught himself Korean. I used a Korean translator to find the phrase 'ttesseuda.'* Kim Joo-an just said he wanted to be the dance break center."
[*떼쓴다* (tte.sseun.da) - The act of being stubborn and demanding to get one's way. Can be translated as 'throwing a tantrum'.]
Seo Bin looked slightly tired.
"This is our original song, isn't it? I understand if he wanted to take a lot of parts, but I just didn't say a word because I was a bit taken aback."
"Trainee Kim Joo-an said that the other team members didn't listen to him?"
"Huh? Us? Did we…?"
Ji Hwa-seong spoke in a low voice, ruffling his bright yellow hair with one hand.
"Yes, well. He said he wanted to do the dance break too, but... I can't just give it to him. Kim Chunyong said he would do a dance break if he could, but Kim Joo-an wasn't like that. He just didn't have any opinions at all."
"So it was a minor quarrel caused by a lack of communication. Could it be resolved by mutual compromise, then?"
"Oh, that's not it. The way this was solved was a little different... okay, I'll just tell you."
Logan made a popping gesture with his hand, looking quite excited.
"Wow, but Chunyong hyung was there. We didn't talk about it separately, we just talked about it."
"Trainee Logan. Sorry, can you speak Korean?"
"Opps. Oh, so what should I call this? Chunyong hyung just showed it to me."
PD Joo, whose eyes were shining next to Lee Hyeon-jeong, scribbled something on his sketchbook and urged the trainee who was being interviewed to hurry.
[Explain more specifically]
Kim Chunyong sighed deeply at his positivity, scratching the back of his head, and cautiously opened his mouth.
"I don't know how this will sound, but... I tend to pick up choreography rather quickly."
"And?"
"Joo-an wants to be the dance break center, but he hasn't learned the choreography yet...."
I'll be there for a bit.
"I told you..."
At Kim Chunyong's words, the main producer burst into applause. He was constantly mouthing the same words.
'100 points! 100 points!'