Sorry I was unable to post for a couple weeks. I had forgotten to post due to exams 😢

After the eliminated people left the room, the remaining participants changed into training clothes at the dormitory and regrouped. After seeing them off off with tears and a runny nose, everyone seems to be filled with the strange consciousness of the atmosphere now.

'It can't be helped.'

We came to the final with a numerous number of support, our ego deserved to be bloated.

Unless he was mentally strong, he deserved to get drunk on the atmosphere. They're young too.

The MC didn't show up as if he already left his work. Instead, Youngrin continue the filming.

", the 20 participants who made it to the final stage. Congratulations. Shall we give a round of applause for ourselves?"

"Yes!"

Clap clap. There was a big round of applause. However, what's important now is not this kind of greeting.

'Why there isn't anything?'

It was definitely time to split the last team. But there was nothing on the set. I don't see any props waiting.

All that was there was an electronic display. What are you going to do?

"First of all, I'll reveal the songs that you'll perform on the final stage."

Hyuk."

The composer team came out and greeted us on the electronic display. It was a reputable team that worked on several famous idol titles. After a few cuts of familiar music videos passed, the participants got excited.

'It's a new song.'

It wasn't until the final stage of the show was approaching that we were given a song that could be included in the album of the debuting group of contestants. I can imagine that maybe they didn't have that much of a budget at the start of the show.

Anyway, the song was good. Since it is sticky to the ears, I remember that it entered the music charts thanks to the program. It was not a song that would be forgotten in an instant.

The problem is that I don't know what the vocalist sings.

Wait, maybe...?

"The song is called "Final". And as you can see, it has no lyrics!"

"What?"

"It doesn't have lyrics?"

The participants' reactions overflowed at YoungRin's words. Soon, a message appeared on the screen clumsily explaining what we were asked for for the presentation.

YoungRin went on to make us understand the goals.

"That's right. "Final" is a song that has not been completed yet."

"...!"

"Contestants must write the lyrics, complete the choreography and attach a suitable subtitle to this song. In addition, it is possible to make your own arrangements."

I knew this would happen.

'We are haunted by the ghost of the theme 'Self-production'.'

No matter how good idols are at self-producing their songs, I didn't know we'd be asked for this again in the final stage.

Don't you remember that practically all the self-produced songs fell apart except for the one made by the "Moon Rabbit" team in the third team battle?

Although Cha YooJin managed to lead the "Husky" team to victory, I didn't like his song.

'I don't know what we're going to do, the final is broadcasted live.'

I trembled as I listened to the song that was still playing on the screen.

I'm certain that I must be in the same team as Kim RaeBin. Do we have to write the lyrics and make the arrangement? Without a doubt, I must catch him.

'How will we form the teams?'

As if she had read my thoughts, Youngrin replied.

"As for the formation of the teams ... We will leave it to your decision!"

"...!!"

"It doesn't matter who makes up the teams or how many teams are made. The production team will not be involved at all. Simply form your teams with a maximum of seven people and go practice."

Oh, no.

'It's a disaster.'

If someone misbehaves, it will be controversial at the last minute.

'As far as I remember, the final live broadcast was full of landmines, but I didn't know it would be a minefield from the start of the preparation for the final stage.'

"And the benefit of winning the final stage is ... 10 million won!"

"Aaah!"

Shocked gasps were heard from all sides. Everyone seemed taken aback by the sudden prize money.

"In order to make it a fair competition, the production team decided to leave the final choice of the contestants that will make their debut in the hands of the shareholders."

I can't even hear the next sentence, well, if they offer us 10 million won ... I think I'll get about 7.8 million won if I subtract taxes.

'No matter what happens, I want to win.'

By the way, I still haven't received the refrigerator I won at the talent show. I hope these guys don't dare put off the prize money.

While I was thinking, I heard Youngrin's latest announcement.

"So... Now you can start choosing the members you will form your team with for the final presentation!"

As soon as he finished saying that, the participants sprang into action.

"Moondae-ya."

"Hyung."

The two people who were next to me spoke to me. Keun SeJin in seventh place and Kim RaeBin in fifth place. When he saw RaeBin, SeJin smiled.

It looks like he was okay with teaming up with him as well.

"Would you like us to form a team between the three of us?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay."

We agreed in an instant. Meanwhile, Seon AhHyun, who was ranked second, approached us.

Well, if it's AhHyun ... I don't see anything wrong with him joining us.

"Do you want to be with us?"

"Y-yes!"

AhHyun's face lit up and the other boys nodded unopposed. Our team already has four people.

At that moment, I frowned.

Second, fifth, sixth and seventh place.

'This is too much...'

Although we say that we formed our team because of our friendship, we may be criticized and cursed because we are a group of high-ranked participants.

I started to think that I should include contestants that were good, relatively low ranked, and that we don't know much about.

"Hyung, how about we invite YooJin..."

"Hmm."

RaeBin spoke to me, so I looked at YooJin as he was talking to CheongWoo.

First and fourth place.

Oh, that wouldn't be good.

"I think we are enough."

"Eh?"

Even if we try to include low ranked participants, it won't work if we also join them.

I made it clear that we did not need to recruit more people to our team. SeJin backed me up, it seems like he understood the situation.

"You have to think about the proportions of our presentation~ Since it's the last time, wouldn't it be better if we each showed more? We already have enough positions!"

I couldn't deny that. In case YooJin joins us, we don't know what distortion will appear in the editing or the footage since he is the most popular.

Kim RaeBin was silent for a moment with a troubled face, but she soon nodded.

"You're right."

He made a wise decision.

'Everything for the prize money.'

I don't know how the voting will be, I have no idea if it will be according to individual or group votes, so I don't know the disadvantages that we will have. In the end, the most important thing will be the quality of our presentation.

A group of four people is enough.

SeJin continued with the organization of our team.

"Since we ended up like this..."

"Hyung!"

At that instant, someone cut off SeJin's words. It was Gold 2.

"Oh, can we ... can we teamed up together?"

Surprisingly, Gold 2 had come alongside 11th-place finisher Lee Sejin.

'How did he convince him?'

Gold 2 was trying not to show his anxiety and nervousness, but it was obvious.

...

How can I reject them without being criticized?

I glanced at Keun SeJin and saw that he was smiling sadly. It became clear to me that he was trying to come up with some good way to ward them off.

He had considered that having a small team would be best, but the public would probably be upset about it.

On the other hand, Gold 2 was brave. Although he was feeling nervous, he was direct.

"Really! I will try very hard! You can give me any part of the song and I'll do it right without causing a fuss!"

This is already getting weird.

If Cha YooJin came to ask me to let him into our team, it would have been fine to turn him down, because I can humor the situation and tell him that he's my rival or something.

But an 18th-ranked high school freshman is asking us. It's funny that they approached us because, if they joined us, the majority of this team would be the same participants who were together in the first team battle.

'Looks like this will come out in the edit.'

I held in a sigh.

I would rather have quickly said "Sorry, but we already decided that just the four of us will form our team", but I don't want to be edited as an evil villain later.

In this case, it would be better to just accept them, but I already refused to let YooJin join us with SeJin's excuse about splitting ratios, so it would be weird for either of us to welcome them into the team.

"C-can't we do it together...?"

Fortunately, the weakest person here gave up first.

Seon AhHyun looked at us sadly.

'Well done.'

Now, we just needed to persuade RaeBin...

"I think it will be fine."

Eh?

'He accepted them easily?'

Unexpectedly, RaeBin nodded. I don't know if he reacted this way afterwards to prevent the editors from damaging our image, or if he had some other reason.

"Hmm, what do you think, MoonDae?"

"It's okay."

"Great, so would you like to join?"

"Yes! Thank you very much!"

Gold 2 raised his arms and made a pose as if he had won. Behind him, Lee Sejin tilted his head, looked at us steadily, and took a brief moment to assess us. I am very surprised that he still take time to think about it.

"Thank you, let's do our best."

Keun SeJin quickly organized the situation and addressed Youngrin. I thought he was exchanging words with her, but it didn't take long for letters to appear on the screen.

Confirmed team.

I was a little nervous because I think we might have a disaster. I didn't want to put a bombshell like Lee Sejin on our team.

But it was better to accept it or else we would be portrayed as his enemies and earn the hatred of the audience.

Suddenly, I heard Cha YooJin's voice, filled with regret.

"Oh I missed it!"

Apparently, his team wanted to join me to be their main vocal, but the first team consolidated so quickly that they couldn't invite me.

"Hyung! Let's do it together next time!"

"That would be fine."

While replying to YooJin who was waving his hands at me among the other contestants, I thought.

'What 'next time'? This will be the last performance.'

Cha YooJin still has a brilliant brain.

* * *

"Wow, we made our team so fast that we have more time to practice!"

Keun SeJin smiled and continued the conversation. It was good that he didn't waste time in the process of "getting to know each other" because we were already in the fourth team battle, the final round.

"Once we select a leader, I think we should proceed immediately!"

"Yes~"

The boys continued to look at Keun SeJin. Since he has been the leader in all his previous teams, we thought he would do it again this time too, but he smiled and shook his head.

"Oh, this time I won't run for the leader position!"

"...!?"

"W-why?"

To the team members who were in shock, SeJin deliberately blinked in an exaggerated manner, as if he was embarrassed.

"I... I want to be the main dancer!"

"..."

I don't know why he says that nonsense because it is not impossible to occupy both positions at the same time.

'Didn't you do both before?'

Are you thinking of using that to aim for the main dancer position? I mean an excuse like "I gave up being a leader so I could run for this job!"

But Lee Sejin, the former child actor, looked at him and answered.

"You can do both."

"Ah~ That's right. But this time, I will do my best to challenge myself a little more."

SeJin smiled and clasped his hands together.

"Also, this time there are many things to do. I've been thinking about this since the third battle ... I'd like someone with creative talent to be the leader!"

When he said that, he turned to Kim RaeBin.

RaeBin stared at SeJin in a daze until he felt that I looked at him too. He exclaimed an "Ah" and then said:

"I would like to recommend Park MoonDae hyung."

I don't want to.