"Who are you going to choose?" Plotter asked.
Rayen's gaze shifted between the two teams. Looking at both teams, he couldn't help but grimace inwardly.
On the one hand, there's Adrian, whom Rayen doesn't want to be teammates with, but who seems capable. Rayen had already had firsthand experience with the capability of his roommate when he got scammed by him.
And on the other hand, there was Liam... who was chosen by a seemingly unreliable leader.
"....."
Sigh.
After a few moments of thinking, Rayen made up his mind. He went down to the stage and approached one of the team.
"Participant Rayen had chosen Team Haru!" Plotter announced. "Team Ara, please select another participant."
"Aww, I thought we'd become closer," Adrian exclaimed with a visibly glum face.
'... That's just you thinking, okay?'
Avoiding Adrian's intense gaze, Rayen turned to look at his own leader. Haru smiled at him despite the hesitant look he had earlier.
"Welcome, Bro."
Rayen nodded as a greeting as well.
'He probably wouldn't be the top 2 if he's useless, right?'
The rest of the member selection carried on as usual. Haru picked three more participants. Rayen recognized one of them as someone he had auditioned with during the first day.
What was her name again? Was it Kate?
She was also the only female member in the group, maybe that's why when Rayen looked at her, she stepped away for a bit.
[Team Haru's members
Leader: Haru
Members: Liam
Rayen
Binh
Minho
Renjiro
Kate]
"Now that we have your groups formed, we will proceed to the song selection," Plotter said. "But before that, please choose a representative for each of your teams. Let's play a game, shall we?"
Each team formed a circle among themselves.
In Rayen's team, Haru immediately took the reins.
"I'll go, okay? The topic must be about K-pop, and I was born in that country, so I basically grew up with idols."
What kind of logic is that?
Everyone glanced at each other. No one still knew the mechanics of the game, so no one dared speak up against Haru's decision despite the skewed logic. Rayen also wasn't fond of stepping up.
He was a band vocalist, what did he know about idols?
Well, for sure, this leader of theirs just wanted to show off before the cameras again.
Rayen was right. The moment Haru stepped up to join the other teams' representative, he struck another weird pose.
"....."
The longer Rayen looked at him, the more unreliable he seemed to be.
"The game will be called Concentration Challenge," Plotter started giving the mechanics.
Each round, a topic would be flashed on the screen. Each of the representatives must say something that's related to the topic as long as the mic is on them. While doing so, they have to snap and clap their hands.
"Anyone who speaks out of their turn is out. Anyone who messes up the action is out. Anyone who repeats a word is out. Anyone who says an unrelated word is out. Anyone who speaks one second late is out. Got it?"
The representatives nodded.
It seemed pretty easy, except that the host was Plotter, and he already had a wide smile across his lips as though plotting something sinister.
"Are you ready?" Plotter asked.
"... Ready," the participants responded.
"Game start!"
Snap. Snap. Clap. Clap.
The first topic was displayed on the screen.
[Idol Groups]
Rayen and his teammates let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that they were right in choosing Yeo Haru for the job, after all.
***
Snap, snap, clap, clap.
The whole set was filled with these sounds as the game commenced. Haru set his mind to the game.
'I have to win. This is my time to shine!'
Plotter's smile widened as he glanced at the representatives, including him, pondering who to choose first.
Just then, he pointed the mic toward Team Jiji's representative, who was a big guy with a small head.
The big guy answered. "BTZ."
Snap, snap, clap, clap.
Team Ara, "Card."
Team Haru, "Once."
Team Yeon, "2NA1."
Team Iris, "Wonderboys."
Plotter was still acting normal.
Suddenly, the display on the screen changed. At the same time, the beat went faster.
Snap, snap. Clap, clap.
[Music Genre]
Team Ara, "Pop."
Team Yeon, "Ballad."
Team Haru, "Hip-hop."
Team Jiji, "Rock."
Team Iris, "Jazz."
The game continued, but most of the other representatives were so competitive that no one made any mistakes with the next three topics. Plotter was also acting strangely normal.
Haru frowned. The host acting normal seemed kinda sus.
Suddenly, the topic changed.
[Famous Idols]
Just then, Haru's ominous feeling turned out to be true. Plotter started his attack.
Just as he pointed the mic toward the big guy, it vanished.
"Jim—" Unable to react in time, the big guy opened his mouth.
Beep. Beep.
The entire studio blinked red.
The big guy was stunned as he glanced at the mic that was now in front of Yeon, floating by itself.
"Team Jiji spoke out of turn, out~" Plotter announced happily.
The big guy's defeat was expected, but apparently, Plotter was still not done.
"Team Yeon failed to answer within a second, out~"
"Eh?!" Team Yeon's teammates uttered in surprise.
Two teams were out in a single instance.
So that's what this was about.
"That's unfair!" a girl in Yeon's team complained.
Plotter glanced at her, head tilted to one side. "I said anyone who speaks one second late is out, though."
The girl bit her lip in frustration.
"It's fine," suddenly, Yeon's voice echoed in the studio. "I lost."
Everyone turned toward him as he walked back to his team.
"Are you gonna let it slide?!"
"What? You want me to go head-to-head with that?" Yeon lifelessly asked, glancing at Plotter whose head was still leaning on one side with a wide smile.
'That meant the creepy host, it seemed.'
The girl immediately shut up.
"Let's resume the game," Plotter said.
With one gesture, the mic that was floating in front of Yeon's former position returned to his hand.
Snap, snap. Clap, clap.
The three remaining representatives eyed the mic intently, refusing to let it leave their vision.
But Plotter acted normally again.
"Hehe, are you getting tired?" Plotter asked, trying to confuse the participants. "Let's do this!"
Finally, Plotter's trick showed up again. When he pressed the mic toward Ara, the mic disappeared and reappeared in front of Haru. Yet, the two players were quick to react.
Team Haru, "xxxx"
Team Ara, "xxxx"
Team Iris, "xxxx"
The three sets of eyes had already turned red as they watched out for Plotter's magic trick.
The three players refused to relent.
Especially Haru.
No. He refused to lose. If he loses, there would be less screen time for him!
But amidst this intense concentration game, Team Iris's representative made a mistake.
Only two players are left.
Yeo Haru stared at the screen. The words displayed on it were continuously changing as he and Ara exchanged various words. He glared at Ara, who was calmly snapping her fingers.
'C'mon, lose already!' Yeo Haru thought.
Ara, who was really confident in herself, seemed to notice his gaze. She turned her head to him and smirked before turning back to the screen.
Yeo Haru's hands were already turning sweaty. Glaring at his opponent again, he saw the confident smile on her lips.
'Why won't this damn woman give up?'
"Wow, our participants are too competitive! How do I up this, hmm?" Plotter commented.
It seemed like his usual party hat tricks were turning useless.
To further make the game harder, Plotter played even more tricks. Instead of appearing below their vision, the mic would appear on top of their heads.
Despite this, the two team leaders stayed strong.
Snap, snap. Clap, clap.
"This is getting harder~" Plotter exclaimed.
But then, he used another trick.
This time, he disappeared along with the mic.
"!!!" The two team leaders' eyes widened in surprise.
One second later, he reappeared behind them. And then, he poked the two from their backs.
"I'm here~"
Simultaneously, they turned around.
But they found two mics instead of one.
Immediately, Yeo Haru's mind rapidly worked. At the same time, Ara also snapped out of his senses.
'It's my time to shine.'
"Xxxx!"
"Xxxx!"
The snap-clap sound died.