Chapter 88

“Uh....”

The team members glanced my way with their eyes, but at least had enough loyalty not to outright point at me and report me.

“Ah... Hanje did so much during the first competition... so he decided to step up and take charge of the production this time too.”

Well. Except for one bastard.

The leader’s right-hand man.

Nam Jeongho, whose eyes had been darting around anxiously now that he was wide awake, raised his hand.

“I-I gave ideas for the arrangement too...! I stayed with Hanje the whole time while he worked last night!”

A few of the others who were similarly uncomfortable timidly confessed that some of their opinions had gone into it too.

The leader and his right-hand man stayed silent.

And so did I.

It was true that I had done the arrangement.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

The mentor, still wearing a stiff expression, rubbed both hands over his face.

“No... this. How does this make any sense?”

His palm tapped sharply against the monitor.

“It’s way better than what professionals do. I’m angry because I want to take the salaries away from the people at our company and give them to him instead. You’re seriously telling me this level of quality came out in one day?”

Relief spread across the faces of the team members who had been nervous, while dismay showed on the faces of the ones who had been pretending not to know anything.

“So everyone contributed ideas like that, and Hanje was the one who actually worked the program?”

“Yes!”

Nam Jeongho, former class president of the Squirrel Class, answered with a speed worthy of his title.

“Our Hanje... should be grateful he met me here. Otherwise, I’d have kidnapped him into my studio ages ago.”

How about you be grateful you met me in this strange world, junior?

Because this is probably the only place in K-Dom where anyone would even dare think about stealing Baek Hanje.

The mentor listened to the song again, nodding in satisfaction.

“But seriously. While the kids were arranging everything, what were the two older guys up there doing? That’s too much. If you don’t want people saying you got carried, you’d better treat the kids well from now on.”

“......”

“......”

There probably wasn’t a better way to get torn apart by the cameras than suddenly saying, Actually, I contributed to the arrangement too, at this point.

Mentoring time ended, and practice resumed.

“Guys, I seriously have to debut this time. If I don’t, I’m fucking screwed.”

The leader started whining.

“I’ve spent my whole life on one path at this age. If this doesn’t work out, what am I supposed to do with my life? That’s why every time we’re filming, I’m terrified they’ll give me an evil edit. Every word I say, every little thing I do, I’m on edge.”

“Ah, yes. That must be hard.”

A completely insincere voice pierced straight through the heavy atmosphere the leader had so carefully created.

I was annoyed that he was wasting everyone else’s practice time talking nonsense, so I cut him off.

He looked like he wanted to say something to me, but soon chose to keep his mouth shut.

He must at least have realized there was nothing to gain from antagonizing a production member with a strong chance of debuting.

“During the... interviews, let’s make sure our team looks close. Don’t go sticking your neck out and saying weird things that make other people misunderstand us.”

In the end, his displaced anger landed on his own right-hand man.

Apparently, it was that bastard’s comment that had started the whole conversation about contributions to the arrangement.

Judging by the guy’s expression after getting reprimanded, that request to “do well during the interviews” looked likely to fall apart very quickly.

I turned toward the center of the practice room.

“Shall we start practicing?”

“Yes, let’s practice.”

Even in the awkward atmosphere, the team members moved diligently.

After all, the fact that they were here meant they had survived the first competition.

Whether the driving force behind that was impatience, inferiority, sheer determination, or whatever else didn’t matter.

In a little over a week, we still had to go onstage.

It was only when everyone in the practice room was utterly exhausted and barely able to catch their breath that we were finally dismissed.

“Where are you going?”

“......!”

But you’re not going anywhere, junior Nam Jeongho.

“Your pitch was wobbling like a bug that got sprayed with pesticide during the last run.”

“It was near the end, so I was tired....”

“Are you planning not to get tired onstage?”

“......”

In the end, my junior stayed behind with me.

This guy.

His skills were decent, and he practiced a lot, but he had a bad habit of constantly reading the room.

Onstage, you had to do whatever it took to catch the audience’s eye, yet he kept worrying about blending in and adjusting himself to everyone else.

Save that coordination for when you go back to being Newton’s leader.

Right now, every single moment is a competition, so get your head in the game.

“Do it with the mindset that for all three minutes, everyone should be looking only at you.”

“Mm....”

“Whoa, it’s two in the morning! You guys are still practicing?”

Just then, the practice room door burst open.

Kim Eumyul came in with exaggeratedly cheerful movements.

Right.

To the camera hanging up there, this must look like an adorable former teammate bouncing in because he was so happy to see us.

Apparently still uncomfortable around me, he stuck close to Nam Jeongho and started pouring out random chatter.

His intentions were still painfully obvious, but the fact that he was still here practicing when most of the other rooms had already gone quiet was at least something worth giving him credit for.

Good choice.

Cut down on the useless thoughts and improve your skills.

And... why is that guy here again?

Outside the door Kim Eumyul had left open, Gowon stood there staring straight at us.

“...Are you coming in?”

“Yeah.”

Thanks to his long stride, Gowon reached us in no time.

Just like that, half of the first competition team had suddenly gathered together.

“Whoa, it’s Team Red Energy. Wow, that was seriously great back then. Right? We, like, didn’t even fight when we were dividing parts and practicing.”

Even that shameless bastard could apparently say things like this with genuine emotion now that the full-scale survival war against venomous trainees had begun.

Gowon silently occupied a spot before asking me,

“What were you doing?”

“Ah, vocal practice with Jeongho.”

“...Whoa. Like when Hanje made us practice... back then?”

Well, back then I had gone at it with the sense of duty that if I ruined the stage of kids who weren’t even old enough to have ID cards yet, I’d never be able to sleep comfortably again for the rest of my life.

And the team members had mostly followed along without complaints.

“Team Red... wasn’t even what I’d call Hanje making us practice....”

Nam Jeongho muttered blankly, then suddenly snapped back to himself.

“Ah, no. Of course I’m extremely grateful right now. I think my skills have improved a lot too. Repeating it endlessly until I get it right is really... exhausting, though....”

Gowon, who had been listening, frowned and let out a sigh.

“Right. Pressing the talkback button and saying, again, again....”

Then he stopped mid-sentence, his face turning confused.

“......? What did I just say...?”

“!”

I stared at him in shock too.

It was true that I had taken charge of practice for the Squirrel Class, but as a trainee, I hadn’t been allowed to touch recording equipment.

That’s from when I recorded with Gowon in the studio in the original world.

Gowon was still covering his mouth with a confused expression.

Meanwhile, Kim Eumyul and Nam Jeongho had moved on to another topic.

“Oh, right. When I watched the first competition broadcast, Garam was good at arranging too. Hanje, what do you think?”

Could Gowon possibly be getting his old memories back too....

It didn’t look like it.

Because he was staring at me again with that familiar rude look in his eyes as though nothing had happened.

And as a bonus, he was glaring at Nam Jeongho too, just because Jeongho had put a hand on my arm while asking me the question.

“Baek Hanje.”

“Hm?”

“There’s something I don’t know.”

Then, out of nowhere, he pulled out his phone and dropped it down in the middle of us.

“How am I supposed to sing this?”

A section of a song that had already been arranged started playing.

It was the mission song for Gowon’s team.

Gowon’s sudden behavior didn’t stop there.

While listening to the track, he started singing his own part.

The others stared at him in disbelief as he suddenly started performing live.

“Are you even allowed to let us hear this? We’re competing teams.”

“So you’re not going to tell me what I’m doing wrong?”

“No. What the hell? You sing it like that and you don’t even know what the problem is? Hey, play your part again.”

“......”

While Gowon was trapped, Nam Jeongho cautiously looked around and tried to sneak out of the practice room together with Kim Eumyul.

“Where do you think you’re going....”

“I seriously have no idea how I’m supposed to sing this.”

“?”

You were really going to go onstage sounding like this?

I could always deal with Nam Jeongho again during team practice tomorrow.

So I kept Gowon there and began another night of “making it work.”

Plausibility has increased.

Current Plausibility: 45% (▲2)

“Woooah— ah, khm, khmgh. Ha... I seriously can’t do this....”

Because the leader’s voice cracked and he froze in place, the rest of the group choreography stopped too.

Only the ending music continued pointlessly through the speakers for a moment before shutting off.

I stepped in, the most effective remedy for the leader’s bullshit.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, I can sing this standing still, but I seriously can’t do it while dancing. It’s physically impossible.”

This bastard. You were perfectly happy to snatch up the part, and now you’re saying you can’t do it....

“Then do you want to switch parts now?”

“Ah, no. Not that. We already told the mentors about it, so how can we change it? Ah! What if I just sing it standing in front?”

“What?”

So it wasn’t enough to carve up my part.

Now he wanted to stand at the front of the formation while doing the ad-lib and steal all the attention too.

By this point, even I stopped being amused and started getting angry.

It would be one thing if we had practice time overflowing out of our asses, but everyone had only just managed to cram the formations into their heads.

And now he wanted to change them?

“No, that’s a little....”

“I asked Hanje, didn’t I?”

So that was how he responded when Nam Jeongho, who ranked below him, spoke up.

“......”

Congratulations.

As of today, you’ve officially used up every last shred of sympathy your senior had left for you.

“Sure. Let’s do that.”

“Ah, see? Number one really is different. Look at him. This is the composure and generosity of the signal song center.”

“But since the formations are already set and the others will get confused, I’ll move into your position and do the choreography there.”

Originally, I was supposed to stop briefly at the very front of the formation and sing the chorus.

But if I moved inside the formation and sang while dancing, then in that moment, all the attention would naturally go to the person standing outside the formation doing the ad-lib.

“Hanje.”

Nam Jeongho grabbed my shoulder in alarm.

“Hey, Nam Jeongho. I told you to stay out of it. This is about our two parts, so why do you keep interfering?”

Then the leader looked at the stupid kid who had just handed over his entire share and couldn’t even hide his delight.

“Actually, you’re right. That would make the stage look more complete.”

I only twisted my lips slightly.

“Then let’s practice with the changes.”

“Yeah, yeah. Turn the music back on!”

When I get back to reality, I should start watching audition survival programs properly.

I had no idea they were this entertaining.