Chapter 85

It happened to be a little ironic that we were just talking about vocals.

Everyone, what do you think this is?“Karaoke machine~!”

Energetic answers came from all over the place.

Some trainees probably grew their dreams in front of this machine when they were young, right? Even people who never dreamed of becoming singers must have shared moments of expressing their joy and sadness through it.After the explanation, the MC paused for a moment before shouting loudly.

And so, the first mini game is: Can You Hit the High Notes?Can You Hit the High Notes?

It sounded like some comedy segment title had been flipped around.

Then seven song titles printed on a large panel appeared.

“Whoa!”

“Wow, th-that one...”

...Wow.

Even I was impressed internally by the list of legendary songs.

That NightLoverDreamingReason for love...

Anyone who had spent their younger days going to karaoke rooms would have screamed these songs until their throats were torn apart.

In other words, they were a list of beloved karaoke songs perfect for shouting at the top of your lungs.

So that’s why the game was called Can You Hit the High Notes...

Ballads, rock, R&B. They had gathered octave-destroying monsters without caring about genre.

The only evaluation criteria is the karaoke machine score. Of course, adjusting the pitch wouldn’t be acceptable with the pride of <Debut Chart! 100> trainees, right?If this was the first mini game, then I figured the second and third ones would probably be something like random play dance or freestyle rap battles.

I hope someone makes the right decision and goes out.

I had no particular desire to participate here.

Currently, <Debut Chart! 100> had aired three episodes. I had received an S grade from the judges’ evaluation, and I had been selected as the center for the signal song. My screen time was already overflowing.

Besides.

The fake Big Room, who still couldn’t let go of his obsession with me, had eventually made me try rapping during a lesson.

...... ...Hanje. ...Yeah, seventeen.... That’s the age [N O V E L I G H T] when rappers start looking cool. But don’t think about going down a different path and just keep singing.

That incident also became a surprisingly memorable scene, and clips of it were already floating around....

So I had no intention of taking away the mini game opportunity as well. They said there were four vocalists on the team, so the remaining three could decide among themselves who would go.

“Hanje, you go for this.”

“...Me?”

The one who suddenly gave me the order was our team leader.

“The first-place person has to go out to establish dominance. You’re good at singing.”

“Ah... me? What do the others think? Is there anyone who wants to go?”

Another vocalist behind the leader seemed conflicted.

“No, hey, no way. Imagine going into a vocal battle while holding first place and then cracking on a note. That’d be fucking humiliating.”

“......”

“This is rightfully something you should do.”

Oh?

I never thought the embarrassment of making a mistake would outweigh someone’s desperate desire for screen time.

“Do you not want to go?”

I asked Nam Jeongho, who likewise had a faint glimmer of ambition wavering in his eyes.

“...I... only listen to idol songs, so I don’t know about half of those songs...”

Should I praise him for this or tell him to reflect?

“Okay, Hanje. Get ready quickly. There isn’t some kind of problem, right?”

And those guys had already decided it was settled even though I had never said I would go.

So this is because I’m the youngest and easy to push around.

Damn it. My kind older brothers had raised the youngest member’s status to the top. These guys were really something else.

Putting everything else aside, I wasn’t kind enough to return an opportunity they had kicked away themselves.

If you asked whether I knew all seven songs—

If there was a karaoke favorite among these songs that I didn’t know, I should probably quit being a composer.

But if it was a favorite song list, at least half of it should have been filled with songs by our Okmi. The production team had no sense.

And now, the vocal aces from each team have gathered!True to being a mini game, there was no organized procedure. They simply used rock-paper-scissors to decide which songs they would sing.

For the trainees who would sing after me, I chose the oldest song.

It was a sorrowful ballad with an Eastern atmosphere.

-Don’t tell me to forget and live on

The only thing left to me is the memory of you

Because it incorporated traditional instruments, there were many sections where the notes bent, requiring delicate control of dynamics.

And then came the climax.

-Come back-!

I screamed out a high note for about ten seconds.

When the final instrumental section played, the trainees erupted into cheers.

“As expected of first place!”

“Center!”

“Baek Hanje! Baek Hanje!”

Among them, Gowon’s expression as he stared at me with wide eyes and an open mouth was definitely a good sign.

You have to be able to do this much too. I’ll make sure you can, you little punk.

And Yunjin—was that guy seriously here for a seventeen-year-old youngest member’s cute little performance? He sat there clapping like a seal without even trying to hide it.

I sang well.

Even I judged myself that way.

“Song” was—

“Uh.”

“Whoa, no way....”

And then the karaoke machine gave me a score of 93.

It was an expected result.

The karaoke machine’s microphone prioritized volume above all else, and I had used techniques that relied on dynamics.

When my voice got louder while hitting the high notes, I even pulled the microphone away as if it were part of a performance.

Even so, the scene of me singing would probably come out beautifully.

“I’m sorry. What should I do?”

When I returned while pretending to be apologetic, the team members couldn’t bring themselves to say anything.

“The machine’s weird.”

“Hey, you seriously did well. What a shame....”

Someone reacted that way.

“Ha, I should’ve just gone myself.”

On other teams, there were people who had come out just to leave even a single impression, even if they became a laughingstock.

Regretting it now wouldn’t change anything.

During the second and third mini games, I returned to the spectator position with Nam Jeongho.

In the end, our team finished somewhere in the middle-to-lower half of the overall mini game rankings. We were able to choose a boy group title track with a balanced mix of vocals and singing rap.

“Ah, if we had gotten those seven points from karaoke, we would’ve been able to perform ‘The First Time We Met Today.’”

After hearing the leader mutter that, Nam Jeongho flinched more than anyone and glanced at me.

I’m fine, so don’t worry, junior.

I just thought that guy wasn’t a good leader.

Of course, the leader of Young Ace was Kwon Taeyoung, so part of the reason was that my standards for leaders had become impossibly high.

Come to think of it, in the original world, I met Kwon Taeyoung every other day even if I didn’t see the other members.

But after falling into this world, I hadn’t seen him for several months.

This was the moment when I desperately missed my true leader.

“Hanje, could you come here for a moment?”

During the break after one filming segment ended, a staff member stopped me.

“And Gowon as well.”

Hm?

Around ten trainees, including me and Gowon, were called out. The staff led them outside the auditorium.

“Investors received the pre-edited footage and selected participants they were interested in. They’ve come to discuss individual sponsorships. You’ll have a brief interview in the conference room, and then it will be finalized.”

“Ah... okay.”

Were they looking for something beyond simple product placement, like a proper advertisement?

The trainees went upstairs and were split into groups of two or three before being guided into conference rooms.

Gowon and I were paired together with two trainees who had a similar impression, perhaps because of their music or something. Watching the group, I could roughly guess what kind of image each brand wanted.

“Hey.”

I quietly called Gowon.

Gowon had now reached the point where he would at least answer “what” when he looked at me.

“When adults come in, stand up and greet them.”

“......”

“That’s just how society works. Especially here, since they’re coming from investment companies. If they get offended and pressure the editing team, even if we do nothing wrong, the show can suddenly make our music look like it reflects our personalities and send us straight downhill.”

“...I’ll handle it myself, so worry about yourself. And who’s Eumyul?”

“See? That attitude. You don’t even remember the name of someone you competed with in the first round?”

“...? You mean Kim Eumyul?”

“Yeah, him.”

“...Who are you calling rude, ha....”

Around this point, I should have turned away and ignored him, but for some reason, he stared at me intently.

“...Your body... is okay?”

Ah, right. I collapsed in front of him.

I had completely forgotten that was our last meeting.

“You saw me singing. Did I look sick?”

“...No.”

“Exactly. I’m not sick anymore.”

“......”

“But you—did you practice the songs I told you about last time?”

“...Yeah. I did.”

Oh. For Gowon to answer so confidently, he must have practiced pretty seriously.

“Some of the songs for this competition were in there too. What’s going on?”

“I have good instincts. I know the entertainment industry well too.”

“You...”

Knock, knock.

The sound of someone knocking on the conference room door interrupted our conversation.

Before the door opened, we stood up. At the end of our bowed greeting, I saw long legs wrapped in suit pants. Compared to the person entering behind them, the hips seemed to be at least thirty centimeters higher.

...Wow, I don’t know who this person is, but their proportions are better than a model’s.

“Nice to meet you. Sorry for calling you out while you’re busy preparing for the competition. Please sit comfortably.”

Wait.

Uh.

Uh?!

No way.

I said I wanted to see him...! This isn’t what I meant, damn it!

“Wow, the kids are polite and energetic. CEO Kwon, you really have an eye for people.”

“That’s not the case.”

The person who appeared before me had shed the aura of a celebrity and gained the cold sexiness of an office worker....

“I’m Kwon Taeyoung, the CEO of startup company K-Dom Five.”

This is plagiarism, you damn world-building bastard!