'A participant that stood out.'

At any rate, since finishing filming with the participants of Chung-ryeo was skeptical about their long-term success. 

Although the program's current top-ranking participants were doing well with the power of an entertaining survival program, the competitiveness of the idol industry would be another story when they actually debut.

'Maybe it's just that the program's story seems to be doing well.'

After all, there were a lot of cases where people failed to get into the debut lineup inside of their own agency and went to participate in audition programs.

Chung-ryeo was going to continue talking about the lunch menu, but then he mentioned the name of a participant that came to his mind.

"Park Moon-dae?"

"Oh, chicken feet guy?"

Chung-ryeo didn't laugh although the younger member was laughing.

"All the answers of his questionnaire matched with mine."

"Wow! Really? That's interesting... Is his personality similar to hyung's?"

"...To some extent."

"Huh, really?"

Chung-ryeo ignored the surprised dongsaeng and felt a little disappointed.

//TN: Dongsaeng: a younger brother or sister, or just someone younger than you

'It would be nice to have someone with that type of personality in the team.'

It was clear that Park Moon-dae thought the survey was stupid. It was evident that he had paid attention to the broadcast and deliberately chose the neutral answers.

"Well, if he has a similar personality to hyung, he would be very... cold-hearted, right?"

"You mean realistic?"

"Th-that's right."

A type of person who does not immerse themselves into other people's circumstances and does not think unrealistically.

A person like this is more suited with working in general companies than becoming a celebrity. 

In general, aspiring idols, especially the talented young ones, possessed all the strengths and weaknesses unique to the arts and physical education field. In a good or bad sense, it means they are less cold-hearted. However, the reality these young ones have to face was an adult society dominated by the logic of capitalism.

"Well, it's nice to have someone like hyung as a leader."

"Is that so? Thanks."

Someone might think that he was full of himself but he also agreed with the younger member.

Just like VTIC in which he was the leader of. In that sense, Park Moon-dae was a pretty good candidate for the next debut group.

'If you do the job for a year, it'll be like dancing.'

//TN: I guess he means that the job will become easier.

And due to that nature, even if the other person was older, they had no choice but to give the authority to you, even if your years of experience are short. He was able to guarantee this because Chung-ryeo himself had experienced this.

'Then working together would be easier.'

This was good for both the team and the company.

However, just because VTIC re-signed with the company and received some shares, there was no need or room for them to pay more attention to the next male idol groups.

After all, there would be competition when they debut. It's enough for his conscience that he gave the offer once.

'He will call me if he's interested.'

After his short conclusion, Chung-ryeo cleared his thoughts and deemed it as a 'finished schedule'. It was a busy season for him.

 * * *

Inside the set of the ranking announcement ceremony began not long after. The format was still the same, but the number of people had drastically decreased. Only 20 people can compete in the next round and that alone created tension in the hall. And there was still one factor that would cause a change in the number of people.

"Two team leaders of the first place candidate, please stand up!"

It was the benefit of winning the team match. The right for one person to unconditionally advance to the next round, that was agreed in advance within the top teams.

Of course, our team has already reached an agreement with Gold 1 being the one to receive it. I already submitted our answer during the pre-interview before the shoot started.

"Our team... have chosen participant Ha Il-joon."

However, the leader of team remained silent for some time after Big Se-jin finished his words. There seemed to be a problem.

"Team , please announce the team member you selected."

Because I was conscious of the damage, the MC's urging sounded suspenseful.

Ryu Chung-woo slowly opened his mouth.

"Our team selected participant Choi Won-gil."

Wow, he's doing this till the end.

'He's a surprisingly rebellious jerk?'

To be honest, I didn't expect that he was going to get that. Then this means that Choi Won-gil boldly gave up the fifty percent chance of free pass and transferred to the agency. 

Anyway, thanks to him, things have gotten vague, because they have already informed who they have selected to the production team before the filming. It seems that the production team didn't check it after Choi Won-gil hastily left.

But now, the embarrassed production team quickly took action and sent a sign to the MC. 

The MC look at the production team's note and and slowly completed the lines.

"An unexpected situation has occurred, and in principle, if someone voluntarily drops out, that participant's benefits will of course be lost. However, in consideration of the special situation of the , we will give the team an additional 3 minutes to discuss!"

"...I understand."

Ryu Chung-woo bowed and went down to gather his team members.

I clicked my tongue.

'...It's over.'

Even if I don't look at it, their team ranked first.

The production team wouldn't have given them a chance to choose another member if they didn't win.

'The picture wouldn't look good, if they don't give out the benefit to the winning team after making a scene like that.'

The production team wasn't stupid, so there's no way they could have something like that happen.

In the end, it means that Gold 1 is going to have to survive on his own.

'The victory he could've received by default was now out of question.'

Looking at Gold 1 who was trying to pretend he wasn't nervous, seemed like he was also feeling subtly upset.

"Congratulations! The first place is... team !"

"Thank you."

But the laughable situation wasn't over.

"Under the agreement of the team members of , the participant to benefit from the uncondional survival is... participant Cha Yu-jin!"

Those crazy guys gave Cha Yu-jin the benefit.

'It's one of the two.'

Either their agreement broke down, or Cha Yu-jin is secretly a ridiculous guy.

//TN: I really don't know if this right, so my apologies.

Anyway, it's up to them to take care of it, and the team had the atmosphere of someone placing in second rank.

"It's a bit sad."

"Th-that's right."

"Hey hey, that's not it! We were ranked fairly!"

Gold 1 pretended to be cheerful, but it wouldn't be strange if he wanted to swear at the team.

'It's already done.'

That's how the announcement of the first place in the team match ended. 

And the real ranking announcement began.

"The 17th place is... Kwon Hee-seung!"

As if the atmosphere made was a lie, the air felt tight every time the rankings were announced.

"Tha-thank you."

Gold 2, the second one to be called after 18th place, went up to the podium with a relieved look.

'He gets to continue, too.'

I didn't expect him to make it to the end. Although he still managed to do it.

Thus, the rankings were announced up to the 10th rank without any significant changes. It seems like there were people who were able to stick to their ranks.

What is surprising is that Lee Se-jin's rank rose slightly.

"11th place is... participant Lee Se-jin A!"

It was a good result considering the fight that happened in the previous team battle. It's probably because he fought with Choi Won-gil, who was made to be a villain.

Next to him, Big Se-jin was applauding to Lee Se-jin who was relieved.

"Ah, I'm envious."

Big Se-jin vaguely muttered, as if worried about failing.

Isn't that just an act?

He was the kind of guy anyone would pay attention to.

It seems he must have been memorizing the chant 'Please call me late' by himself.

He has such a professional camera concsiousness.

"Congratulations~"

On the podium, the MC took some time to announce the ranking.

Most of the familiar participants went up on the podium when their names were called.

And Park Moon-dae's name was called no later than before.

"Thank you."

I sat in the sixth place. It was a slight decline from the last time.

'As expected, my ranking has fallen.'

The number of votes did not decrease. It's just that my vote hasn't increased as much as the negative votes.

The reason for this was simple. Since you can vote as much as you spend, the more fans are aware of the negative voting, the more they buy votes out of anxiety. And this tendency inevitably got stronger the more eager the participants looked.

'You're done if you get scared.'

In other words, the production crew adopted a great way to squeeze the people's wallets. 

However, compared to other high-ranked contestants who have had controversies in terms of volume, rank, or past, 'Park Moon-dae' did not have any particular circumstances.

'It can't be helped.'

It was crazy to create a controversy, though. It's not me who controls the level in editing, but the production team.

'It's also a bit of a waste to pass the .'

It was a bit of a shame, but the ship has already sailed. Since VTIC appeared, it wasn't possible to have the screentimes to be centered on 'Park Moon-dae'.

"Congratulations!"

"Uh. Thank you."

Big Se-jin, who rose slightly to seventh rank, smiled and asked for a high five. It was a very standard reaction from a fellow participant.

'I think this guy is going to debut as well.'

Except for the negative votes that were attached to the school violence controversy, Big Se-jin received more votes than Park Moon-dae.

As expected, the voters gathered together. I never thought good deeds would threaten the back of my head.

'Am I a pushover?'

We were on the same team back then, so it wasn't a big deal. Still, it was unavoidable to feel a little nauseous. I kicked my tongue inwardly and turned my gaze to the MC.

First place was Cha Yu-jin.

"Woah!"

Cha Yu-jin smiled excitedly as he received the No. 1 badge, then suddenly took a serious attitude and expressed his feelings of gratitude.

"Coming out here... I learn a lot and think a lot. I will work harder and stronger in the future. Thank you so much for the first place."

His grammar was still a bit strange, but he spoke in a serious tone which he had never shown before. It was his latest appearance that ensembled his personality as a whole.

//TN: The literal translation made no sense so I reconstructed it in a way that I understood it.

'This is why he got first place.'

The fact that he doesn't seem to be doing that just for the sake of it was the reason why he has the highest stats here.

"Participant Cha Yu-jin, the No. 1 stock chosen by the shareholders! Congratulations once again∼"

With some applauses, Cha Yu-jin climbed to the first place seat and sat down.

The remaining survivors are the two bottom ranks. And so far, Gold 1 still hasn't come up on the podium.

'First, let's hear the nominations.'

The situation was hopeful until four candidates for the 20th and 19th appeared on the electronic display and Gold 1's face was seen there. The odds were fifty percent.

And Gold 1's name...

"20th place! Relisting! The last participant to advance to the final stage of is... Seo Tae-moon!"

...wasn't called.

Half of the odds betrayed Gold 1 again, like in the team match's first place announcement.

It was a result of fifty percent probability and even the opponent lost.

"I will return home with pride for having to come this far. Thank you to the shareholders who voted for me!"

In the end, Gold 1 Ha Il-jun finished the audition with 21st place.

"Hyung!"

"Hey, remember to contact me!"

As soon as the MC's closing remarks were over, the eliminated contestants had less formal time than before to be seen off. Since we've been together for a few months, there must have been three or so close friends here.

I greeted Gold 1 after Gold 2 and Sun A-hyun, who were in tears did.

The camera was running, and it was quite burdensome to have a conversation after the two of them were so immersed in their emotions

Let's just shake hands for now.

"Moon-dae~"

However, like an emotional build-up, he also started with a hug.

'I can't shake him off.'

While feeling awkward, he calmly said these words trying to hold down any sign of regret.

"You're going to debut. Hang in there."

I don't know if I would have believed it a few months ago if I had told myself that right after entering Park Moon-dae's body. I felt complicated after hearing the words of encouragement from another aspiring idol.

'Great.'

Instead of sighing, I returned the words.

"Hyung, too."

"What?"

"I think hyung is also going to debut."

Gold 1, Ha Il-joon released the hug and grinned.

"Right? I'm ready to do well."

I don't know. Will it be possible to achieve results with an ambiguous final ranking of 21st?

I just nodded, however.

Surprisingly, my actions didn't come from the idea of doing things for the camera, even though they were still running.

"Thank you for all this time."

"Thank you, too!"

Twenty remaining participants with fifty-seven eliminated.

Now, the only thing to do was wait for the finals.

//TN: I'm going to try to translate as many chapters as I can before I get piled with school assignments, so the quality of chapters may drop a bit.