Chapter 81

The light illuminating the dark corner of the building fell across his eyes.

They were the eyes of someone who had learned to give up on things in life, yet still wanted to seize an opportunity whenever one appeared.

Yeah. Just one more step. Take exactly one more step forward like that....

At the end of it, there would be many more days like this in your life, you idiot.

“Ugh.”

A sharp, cold wind passed through once.

The deeper the night became, the colder it got.

Seeing me hunch my shoulders, Gowon quietly shifted his position. At some point, the wind touching my body weakened.

It was because he had stood in the direction the wind was coming from and blocked it for me.

As expected, I really was a pushover when it came to younger guys. A firstborn son trait, maybe....

‘...Wait a second. But this guy has a younger sister too.’

It was one thing if he acted like that toward guys, but if he acted like a kind older brother toward female celebrities too, he’d be putting himself in the perfect position to get tangled up in something.

When we returned to reality, I definitely needed to keep him in check.

That personality of yours where you put up an iron wall? Bring it back when you’re working. Definitely.

‘He’s wearing even thinner clothes himself, yet he’s blocking the wind with his whole body and looking at someone from outside like this....’

Uh....

Maybe it was because he was looking down at me from a noticeably different height now, but somehow the feeling was strange.

The fact that his nose and the tips of his ears were red from the cold probably contributed as well.

“Ah.”

Wait.

Cold... winter!

“When was our broadcast date again?”

Actually, I didn’t even need to hear his answer.

My thoughts had already started spinning.

The early master audition portion was probably being edited enthusiastically right now.

Even the signal song stage on the pyramid.

And if I combined that with my memory of when <Debut Chart> had become popular....

‘The buzz started around the time people were finishing the CSAT. Then it would be around mid to late November.’

This first competition would probably air around episode 4.

Episodes 1 and 2 would likely be bundled together to attract early viewers.

‘Then it works!’

“Gowon!”

“......?”

“I’ll make you a song so unbelievably perfect that you’ll go crazy and want to keep standing on stages forever.”

Inside Gowon’s eyes appeared the image of me, smiling brightly with excitement.

“Hanje, your shoes don’t fit, do they?”

***

“No. They’re very big.”

I showed him the miserable situation where I could fit about two fingers behind my heel.

“They said that size only came in ten-unit increments, so I deliberately exaggerated when I told them your size, but it looks like they still came out too big. Everyone else is like that too.”

“Ah....”

“But yours is definitely the worst.”

The waiting room before the competition resembled a food truck zone during a fireworks festival.

A hundred trainees moved around without enough space to even put their feet down, and the chaos was made worse because every single one of them was wearing a flashy outfit of some kind.

The staff member who had left briefly after checking my shoes returned and handed me... insoles and tissues.

“Use these to fill the empty space. Make sure they don’t come off while you’re dancing.”

‘Hahaha....’

Young Ace’s Hanzel was left speechless by the treatment.

So this was why people said survival-show idols were tough.

‘Because they were raised through hardships....’

Still, after filling the empty space inside the shoes completely, it seemed like I wouldn’t fall.

‘I guess I’ll have to trust the reflexes of a seventeen-year-old and these healthy joints.’

After finishing the preparations, I moved toward a corner to escape the suffocating crowd density and ran into Gowon.

Looking at the former ordinary person participant who had completely devoured his stage styling, I found his previous pessimism about not being able to become a celebrity even more ridiculous.

But then Gowon suddenly frowned at me.

“...You got a little taller in the meantime?”

Hm?

“Ah....”

The insoles in my shoes had raised the top of my head slightly.

Before, I reached around Gowon’s nose bridge, but now I came up to around his brow line.

I was about to explain the reason, but Gowon was already heading somewhere else.

From behind, his slightly hunched shoulders and neck had straightened completely.

A bad habit had disappeared in an instant.

Plausibility has increased.

Current Plausibility: 27% (▲2)

Huh?

What was that?

Red Team, please get ready.We received the seventh performance order among the nine teams.

When Nam Jeongho went to negotiate rankings with the other team leaders, I had recommended a middle position that people usually didn’t prefer.

And the squirrel class’s leader had impressively secured the best spot among those options.

Right now, the squirrel class confidently headed onto the stage.

***

“Ah, everyone is good, but I’m getting a little tired.”

Just as the audience members were beginning to feel exhausted from flashy hip-hop stages and loud beats that assaulted their ears.

A slightly different stage set rose.

“Oh.”

“Wow, it’s refreshing. I like it.”

The members who appeared next.

Soft knits, scarves, fur hats, boucle sleeveless tops, and arm warmers.

Eight boys overflowing with youthful charm stood on stage.

With anticipation rising in the new atmosphere, their performance began.

Before the AR even started playing, the tall beauty standing in the center narrowed his eyes into a smile and sent a hand kiss toward the front.

-Merry Christmas.

The lighting changed, and clear synthesizer bell sounds rang out like sparkling snowflakes.

Then piano melodies mixed in, creating a transparent atmosphere like winter air.

“C-crazy, who is that guy?!”

One audience member belatedly reconsidered the team lineup.

The tall members of that team were trainees named Gowon and Baek Hanje.

Among them, Baek Hanje was memorable because even with only the released profile photo and one-minute PR video, he had already gathered an intense core fanbase.

Well, handsome men were rare in this world, and stylish bad-boy-looking handsome men were even rarer....

Then the Merry Christmas guy was Gowon.

His profile photo had looked like he was just a filler participant, and even his PR video seemed like it only benefited from the power of video editing.

But his real-life appearance was....

It was practically an eye-opening experience.

‘Every camera at Rnet had been wrong....’

It was only a short intro, but he captured everyone’s attention completely until he stepped back into formation.

“Huh?”

“Wow!”

Then a Christmas carol melody familiar to everyone’s ears began to play.

Along with it, the group choreography started.

Baek Hanje, moving along the formations to the music he had arranged himself, stole a glance at Gowon’s back.

Gowon, who had shown off all his charm in front of the camera, had ears that were completely red, probably because he had done something he had never done before in his life.

He had shown how much he hated it with his entire body, so I had barely managed to inject some idol attitude into him with the threat:

“If you can’t capture everyone’s attention within three seconds of the intro, we’re all dead.”

Of course, there were a few people who had been greedy for that role.

Kim Eumyul, for example.

But after Gowon was dragged away by the staff member who had filmed his PR video and given another round of styling, the complaints disappeared.

‘No matter how much they wanted individual screen time, they couldn’t ignore the possibility of winning as a team.’

The intro AR ended, and finally the problematic lyrics began.

I’ve been waiting for this moment. Today is the day.A night where my heart feels like it’s about to burst.

The magic that made even these daring lyrics sound refreshing.

The one single day people all over the world waited for.

The day when, even if someone said something ridiculous like asking to meet at night because they had finally chosen the day, you could smile and nod.

It was Christmas.

The atmosphere of the song, transformed by the mixed Christmas carol sampling, completely changed.

The original sexual appeal became the excitement and innocence of a boy preparing to confess.

Since the broadcast date was scheduled for December, the seasonal synergy would also greatly help with the mood transformation.

The song, which had been reborn fresh after consuming the arranger’s blood, sweat, and tears, blended perfectly with the squirrel class friends.

You already know.What I’m going to say.

Along with the following choreography, two vocalists smoothly built harmonies.

Tonight-The humming section, which had originally expanded the imagination, was replaced with exciting brass sounds.

Mm, mmm.The boys smiled on stage as they sang the humming lyrics.

They looked like boys who had prepared a surprise confession but were too embarrassed to say anything.

The Red Team’s stage perfectly portrayed the fantasy unique to Christmas.

As various impressions flashed through the audience members’ minds, the performance moved toward its climax.

A difficult synchronized dance continued with a faster beat.

However, one audience member could not take their eyes off Baek Hanje, who had moved to the side of the formation.

‘That guy... there wasn’t a single section where he didn’t sing.’

Even now, while performing intense choreography, his lips were still moving!

Besides his own parts, Baek Hanje continued filling the song with doubles and ad-libs.

During the process, his chest voice and falsetto flowed back and forth like waves.

At that level, it could easily have been called a solo vocal stunt show.

Yet aside from the moments when he was the center, he simply blended naturally into the song and only raised the overall quality.

Tonight-For the final chorus, Gowon, who had handled the opening, stood at the center of the choreography.

‘That guy really knows how to use his body.’

The reason this flashy, sparkling stage occasionally gave off a hint of sexiness was entirely because of him.

Despite being the tallest member of the team, his extended limbs didn’t look awkward at all.

Instead, his movements were the most refreshing and powerful.

He didn’t have as much natural flair as trainees who came from entertainment companies, but his unpolished movements actually highlighted his own atmosphere perfectly.

Ba-bam, bam!

Finally, the stage ended with a cheerful outro.

Bright cheers and applause erupted from the audience members who had been watching in a daze.

“Look over there. He’s putting on a Santa hat all awkwardly.”

“Ah, cute. Was the Red Team’s red supposed to be Santa’s red?”

The reactions were generally positive.

Meanwhile, audience members holding slogans for other teams muttered unhappily.

“Honestly, I think they just rode on the atmosphere. Their dance was only intense during the dance break and highlight parts. The rest was basically just movements.”

Of course, opinions like this could exist.

However, the Red Team members were sixteen to eighteen years old.

They were a lineup where even their immaturity could become charm.

In reality, the fresh arrangement and stage composition were flawless.

“O-our reaction was really good, right?”

The atmosphere from the audience was transmitted directly to the performers.

Even Nam Jeongho, who always maintained his composure within the team, immediately asked with excitement as soon as he came backstage.

“Right! Everyone was smiling, and the applause was really loud...!”

“Everyone screamed that we were cute!”

Yeah.

I’m glad you guys liked it.

‘Though the twenty-six-year-old mixed into this sixteen-to-eighteen-year-old squirrel class is having a bit of an existential crisis....’

I hypnotized myself once again.

I was their homeroom teacher and guide....

Amid everyone’s excitement, there was one person standing alone without saying anything.

Gowon slowly massaged his hand from the fingertips upward while catching his breath.

His gaze repeatedly drifted toward the stage where light and shadows fell across the backstage area.

Then, when he turned his head, his eyes met mine.

‘Fun, right?’

I asked with my lips.

He immediately turned away and walked off.

The squirrel class’s excitement continued all the way into the waiting room.

“Hey, Hanje....”

At that moment, one person carefully called me out into a blind spot away from the cameras.