Chapter 75

“Haa... You’ve got all those kids following you around. Go be friends with them.”

“I’m a humanitarian. I want to get along with everyone.”

“I’m only making it this far anyway. I’ll be eliminated after this mission. There’s nothing to gain from getting close to me.”

“Then why are you still in the practice room at this hour?”

“The dorm’s noisy.”

“Aha.”

“Don’t make noise either. Just leave.”

For someone so certain he would be eliminated, Gowon was working surprisingly hard.

As requested, I did not make any noise. Instead, I stuck close behind him, observed his movements, subtly corrected the angle of his hand, and nudged his foot inward when it extended too far.

“...Haa....”

He tried to take the hint with a sigh.

I pointed at my tightly sealed lips.

See? I was being very quiet.

His hip placement was wrong in the next movement.

You need to push it farther to the side.

The moment I wrapped both hands around his waist, he sprang upward as though he had a coil attached to him.

“W-What are you doing?!”

I gestured that he needed to engage his core, shift his lower body sideways first, then let the rest of him follow.

“Just talk!”

“You told me not to make noise. Make up your mind. Are you going through puberty?”

Anyway, the advice was one thing, but there was something else I had been determined to say.

“You used the song I recommended for the judges’ evaluation.”

“...I was going to do whatever song came to mind anyway.”

“Mm-hmm. How did it feel?”

Gowon seemed to have given up on driving me away. He kept moving as he answered halfheartedly.

“I don’t know. I barely remember.”

“But it was fun, wasn’t it? Performing a song that suited you perfectly.”

“I couldn’t even show half of what I practiced.”

The fact that he was frustrated about that already showed the makings of an excellent idol.

“Where did you learn to dance?”

I already knew the answer, of course.

“I never did.”

Plausibility has decreased.

Current Plausibility: 2% (▼1)

Right. The future winner being a complete beginner at dance did destroy plausibility.

“So you prepared for the preliminary round alone in only a few days?”

“...Music videos played a lot on the screen at the store where I worked part-time. I watched them so often that I had a rough idea of the choreography in my head. That’s all.”

What did he mean, that’s all?

Every promotional cycle, I had a trainer assigned to me one-on-one, and even after the older members stayed behind to put me through the wringer, I still moved like a malfunctioning machine.

People called what Gowon possessed an unscratched lottery ticket, talent before it bloomed, things like that.

Gowon stopped moving and stared at me for a moment before speaking.

“Being a celebrity is probably something for people like you.”

“Where did that come from? What do you mean, people like me?”

“...You sing well. And you look like the kind of person people would like.”

“......?”

I was not going to claim I looked bad.

I looked ill-tempered enough to be an acquired taste, but not ugly enough for anyone to say it to my face.

Still, there was absolutely no reason for someone who saw Gowon every time he looked in a mirror to say that as though he envied me.

Was his vision distorted because his bangs covered his eyes?

“Thank... you? You’re handsome too, Gowon.”

In reality, both you and I debut and become celebrities.

“You’re definitely younger than me, but you keep....”

“What? I can’t hear you.”

“...Never mind.”

I already knew what he wanted to say.

But I had no confidence whatsoever that I could call him my older brother.

So I’ll keep pretending not to notice.

“Gowon. Since you already expect to be eliminated, shouldn’t you at least work as hard as you can until the end?”

“......”

“Show me the signal song from the beginning. Instead of practicing only in front of a mirror, it’s important to check how you look to someone else.”

“No. How am I supposed to dance with you watching from that close?”

Two years from now, some senior artist is going to drag you into a practice room without warning and make you dance.

“Then should I do it with you?”

“...What?”

“Let’s face each other and do it together.”

“...Are you going to sing too?”

“Sure. We have to show the singing during the evaluation anyway.”

“......”

Gowon did not answer.

But after a moment, he took his position facing me.

Hmm. Standing together like this reminded me of when we had been special hosts.

“Genesis, from this moment on, I begin within the Legend.”

And it also made me keenly feel the sorrow of a rookie who had no say in the lyrics, composition, or arrangement....

When I sang more loudly, Gowon raised his volume as well.

From the look of it, he had memorized all the lyrics, had the choreography entirely in his head, and his performance was gradually improving.

But his confidence was somewhat—no, severely—lacking.

I could not help comparing him to the Gowon in my memory, the one who seized control of a solo stage as though he meant to tear it apart.

Even so, Gowon gave off a faint light.

It came from the desperation of someone captivated by the first stage he had ever stood on, reaching for it before he even realized what he was doing.

“Oh, you’re good.”

“...You too.”

“But you need to change where you breathe. You don’t seem short of breath, but there are moments when you inhale unnecessarily. Bring me your lyric sheet.”

“......?”

“Oh, there it is.”

“Hey...!”

I picked up the crumpled lyric sheet lying near Gowon.

“......”

Look at this, you bastard.

So much for giving up.

The sheet was densely covered in crooked handwriting, even including things the mentor had casually mentioned during the lesson.

You really love performing.

Hurry up and realize it.

“Breathe here, here, and here before the high note. Those are the best places.”

Plausibility has increased.

Current Plausibility: 3% (▲1)

“Tell me what else you’re struggling with.”

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, your pronunciation gets muddled here. I’ll mark it, so practice each syllable one by one in front of the mirror. This is what you should actually use the mirror for.”

“Hey.”

Plausibility has increased.

Current Plausibility: 4% (▲1)

He was listening carefully.

I ignored every one of his laughable attempts at defiance, said everything I wanted to say, then stood up.

“Next is the dance.”

“...There wasn’t anything bad enough for me to get criticized by you.”

After receiving so many enthusiastic corrections, he had become curt in a different way.

Well, from his perspective, he probably thought he was much better than someone like me, who had only half-memorized the choreography.

That doesn’t mean I have nothing to say.

“Would you be embarrassed if you made a mistake while dancing onstage?”

“...Isn’t that obvious?”

“But you saw me make more than ten mistakes and keep going, right? I even forgot parts in the middle and covered them with freestyle.”

“......”

“People who don’t know the original choreography probably won’t even notice what went wrong.”

Gowon, on the other hand, had only made two or three mistakes, but each time, he had visibly frozen.

“Wanting to do well and not embarrass yourself—that matters. But honestly, what matters more onstage is...”

“......”

“Looking impressive.”

“......?”

“It might be different after debuting in a group, but this mission isn’t about performing synchronized choreography as though you were stamped out beside everyone else.”

This was an audition program, after all.

It was a stage where even screaming, I’m the best one here, at the top of your lungs would not be enough.

You had to execute the singing and dancing perfectly, of course, but then you had to go one step—no, several steps—beyond that.

This would’ve been much more convincing if I were better at the choreography, but that was the best I could do after practicing for one day....

I did not know whether my intention had been communicated properly, but Gowon fell into thought for a moment before speaking.

“...When you sang your own song in front of the judges, were you thinking that too? That you wanted to... look impressive?”

“You think that was all? I was grinding my teeth, determined to show them exactly what I could do and make them regret it.”

“Who?”

“The one among those five who told me to sing instead of rap.”

He had appeared in front of me for the first time in years and acted like that, so I had been openly determined to steal his own song from him.

Meanwhile, Yunjin had merely clapped excitedly while the youngest member sang his solo song through gritted teeth.

“...I see.”

Plausibility has increased.

Current Plausibility: 8% (▲5)

What was that?

It suddenly rose by a lot.

Gowon picked up the lyric sheet I had scribbled on.

He scanned the paper, then frowned in displeasure.

Even so, he carefully folded it and slipped it into his pocket.

Then he pulled on the jacket that had been lying in the corner.

“You leaving?”

“The noisy ones should be falling asleep by now.”

“Ah, yes.”

Your whole body is drenched in sweat.

Whether it is noisy tonight or not, Mr. Gowon, you look like you will fall asleep the instant your head touches the pillow. Understood perfectly.

“Work hard and move up to S grade. It’s comfortable there.”

“......”

The trainees had been assigned dormitories according to grade.

A-grade contestants shared rooms in groups of four, B-grade contestants in groups of six, and C- and D-grade contestants in groups of eight, I think.

And true to a program designed to force children into provocative situations and extract as much dopamine as possible, S-grade contestants received comfortable private rooms.

Gowon spun around.

Then he headed toward the door without even saying goodbye.

“Hey, eat properly, rest properly, and your hair... avoid touching it if possible. Keep your neck and back straight when you walk.”

He was ignoring that.

I glanced up toward the corner of the practice room.

By now, the cameras should have captured Gowon clearly from the front, practicing diligently until late at night.

That meant I had done everything I needed to do.

“Gowon.”

“......!”

The boy who had seemed ready to ignore anything I said stopped walking and turned around.

“...What?”

“Turn off the lights. I’m leaving too.”