After all the eliminated contestants left the room, the remaining participants changed into training clothes and regrouped at the dormitory.

After they've seen off the leaving participants with tears and runny noses, everyone seemed to feel this strange sense of pride as the ones who were chosen.

'It can't be helped.'

Since we reached the final with the support of an unspecified number of people, our egos deserved to be inflated.

If the person wasn't someone with a strong mentality, they would easily get drunk with the current atmosphere. Also, if they are young too.

The MC wasn't seen, so Young-rin hosted the shoot.

" , the 20 participants who will complete the final stage. Congratulations. Shall we clap our hands?"

"Yes!"

Clap clap clap. There were sounds of clapping. However, the applause is not what is important now.

'Why isn't there anything?'

It was definitely time to form teams for the last round, but there was nothing on the set. I didn't see a single prop or item.

All there was was an electronic display. What are they trying to do?

"First, we will reveal the songs you will perform on the final stage."

"Gasp."

A team of composers greeted us on the display. They were a reputable team that worked on several famous idol song titles. The participants were excited as a few cuts of familiar music videos passed.

'It's a new song.'

It wasn't until the finals that they gave us a song that could be included in the debut team's album. I can guess the size of the budget before the season started.

Anyway, the song was good. It's catchy, and it could enter the music charts quickly. It wasn't a song that would be forgotten in an instant.

The problem was that I couldn't make sense of the lyrics the guide vocalist was singing.

'I think they're just singing whatever they want.'

Wait, don't tell me.

"The title of this song is . As for the lyrics... there is none!"

"What?"

"There are no lyrics?"

The participants reacted to Young-rin's words. Soon, one of the composing teams on the electric display awkardly read the script.

Young-rin spoke as she took over.

"That's right. is an unfinished song."

"Participants must write their own lyrics, complete the choreography, and attach a meaning that suits the song. Also, arrangements are possible."

I knew this would happen.

'Are they possessed by a ghost of self-production?'

No matter how well a self-produced idol performed, I didn't expect them to do this even in the final.

Did they not see any other production making processes except for the team's part in the 3rd team fight? The first rank Cha Yu-jin was in team , and even then their song wasn't so great.

'What are you going to do when the final performance is live?'

I skeptically listened to the song for the last stage playing on the display screen.

What's certain is that I have to be on the same team as Kim Rae-bin. Lyrics and arrangement? There's nothing more to see, so let's grab him first.

'So, how do you form a team?'

As if responding to my thought, Young-rin announced.

"And the team composition that will make the stage together... is completely free."

"...!!!"

"No matter with whom and what kind of team you form, the production team will not be involved at all. You can form a team with a maximum of 7 people and practice."

Oh god~

'It's a mess.'

If anyone behaves wrongly, they will become a controversial topic for the articles right at the final stage of the show. As far as I know, the live broadcast would be heavily mined on the day of the final performance.

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

//TN: roughly 10 000 Usd.

"Gasp."

There were strange noises everywhere. Everyone seemed bewildered by the sudden announcement of prize money.

"For fair competition, the production team decided to leave the participants' final debut entirely in the hands of the shareholders."

That's enough. Ten million won... I think I could get about 7.8 million won if I remove the tax.

//TN: around 7800 Usd

'I want to get that, no matter what.'

For your information, I still haven't received the kimchi refrigerator I won at the talent show.

Hopefully these guys don't keep their mouth shut by procrastinating even on the prize money.

While calculating the money, I listened to what Young-rin said.

"Then, let's form a team to make the final stage together. Now... get started!"

As soon as she finished those words, the participants rushed into action.

"Moon-daeya."

"Hyung."

The two people sitting on both of my sides spoke. Big Se-jin who was in 7th place and Kim Rae-bin who was in 5th place. There was no overlapping in team role positions within the three of us since we all had different roles.

"Should the three of us group up first?"

"I'd like that."

"Sure."

We quickly reached an agreement. In the meantime, Seon A-hyeon, who was ranked in second place, slowly approached me.

Well, it's Seon A-hyun... There's no damage even if we put him in, so it'll be okay.

"Should we do this together?"

"Y-y-yes!"

Seon A-hyun's face brightened. The other team members also nodded without much resistance.

There are four of us.

I furrowed my eyebrows.

Our ranks are 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th.

'Is that a little too much?'

I think a team of only top ranks would be scorned for being friends with each other.

It was time to include participants who were not familiar with each other, have good skills and have a relatively low ranking.

"Hyung, Cha Yu-jin is..."

"Hmm?"

Kim Rae-bin brought them up.

I checked out Cha Yu-jin and Ryu Chung-woo, who were already talking on the other side.

First place, fourth place.

Ah, this isn't good.

"Why don't we just close our group here?"

"What?"

'Anyway, asking for a lower ranking person that you are not close with to join and then rejecting those two wouldn't be a good look.'

I neatly gave up on recruiting additional members.

Big Se-jin came in as a support to my statement. He seems to have figured out the situation.

"We have to think about the amount of people in our performance~ This is the last time, so wouldn't it be better if each of us could show more of ourselves? Everyone's position is perfect right now!"

You can't deny it. If Cha Yu-jin appears, you don't know what distortions the editing would make.

Kim Rae-bin was silent for a moment with a troubled face, and soon softly nodded.

"You're right."

It was a wise decision.

'It's not just the prize money but the votes.'

I don't know about the method of voting yet, but it didn't matter if the votes were given to individual members instead of the whole team and it was unfavorable to the team's victory. Ultimately, the performace mattered more.

Four people is enough.

Big Se-jin enthusiastically organized the situation.

"Then let's look at it like this..."

"Hey, guys!"

At that time, someone appeared after cutting off Big Se-jin.

It was Gold 2.

"Ah, can we... can we do it together?"

Gold 2 surprisingly came to us along with 11th place Lee Se-jin with him.

'How did he seduce him?'

Gold 2 was trying not to show his nervousness, but to be honest it was obvious.

How do we refuse them without getting cursed at?

I glanced at Big Se-jin who had a sad smile. It was clear that he was trying to think about a way to reject them.

It must be troublesome since we already set together a good team with few people.

It was brave of Gold 2 to approach us although I do mean this in a sad way.

"I'm confident that I can do well! We will work hard! No matter which part I'm given, I will do it well without complaining!"

This picture is getting weird.

Rather, it would be okay to refuse if it was Cha Yu-jin who asked to join us. We could have refused him while adding some humorous jokes and made it into a friendly rivalry as we split into different teams.

But refusing a high school freshman who is ranked in 18th place, especially when the majority of us were even in the same team with him in the first team battle?

'That would give the producer some editing materials.'

I held back a sigh.

We should have quickly refused with words like 'Sorry, the four of us already decided to do this together' as soon as they came to talk to us. But none of us wanted to be the one to carry it out.

In this case, it would be better to just accept them. But since Big Se-jin and I already made excuses about refusing Cha Yu-jin with our big mouths, it would seem strange to agree to let them join with us.

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

Fortunately, the person with the softest personality decided to surrender first. Seon A-hyun opened his mouth while glancing around.

'Well done, Seon A-hyun.'

Now, the only key is to persuade Kim Rae-bin.

"I think it will be fine."

Oh?

'He just easily accepted?'

Kim Rae-bin unexpectedly nodded. I'm not sure if it was because he had been the target of evil editing before and is conscious of it, or if he had another reason.

"Uhm, what do you think Moon-dae?"

"It's fine."

"Oh! Thank you!"

Gold 2 raised both of his hands and celebratingly posed. In the back, Lee Se-jin had his head lowered with a firm expression. It's amazing how he can still be so stiff.

"No need to thank us. Let's do this well."

Big Se-jin quickly organized the situation and headed for Young-rin to announce our team. They exchanged a few words, and immediately after a text appeared on the big screen.

The team is confirmed now.

I was a bit uncomfortable because this came out looking more awkward than I thought. I didn't really want to put an unpredictable bomb like Lee Se-jin in the team. However, setting things up like this is better that being portrayed as a problematic person.

At that moment, Cha Yu-jin's voice that was filled with regret, echoed from behind.

"Ah! I missed him!"

Apparently, his team was talking about having 'Park Moon-dae' as a main vocalist. Our group 1 was formed so quickly that they missed the timing to ask me.

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

"That would be great."

I thought as I answered Cha Yu-jin, who was waving his hand at me among the other participants.

'This is the last stage. How can there be a next time?'

Cha Yu-jin was an airhead until the very end.

* * *

"Wow, we formed our team quickly, so the time to practice has increased for us!"

Big Se-jin smiled and continued with the conversation. As the fourth round slowly proceeded, I was glad that we didn't have to waste time with the process of 'getting to know each other', since we were already familiar with each other.

"First let's pick a leader, and then quickly proceed forward."

"Oh~"

People continued to look at Big Se-jin while exclaiming.

Since he has been the leader in all team matches so far, everyone seemed to think he should do it again this time.

Big Se-jin smiled and shook his head.

"Ah, I won't be running for the leader's position."

"Why, why?"

Big Se-jin intentionally blinked his eyes exaggeratingly acting as if he was embarrassed.

I want to poke my eyeballs.

"I want to be the main dancer!"

I don't know what nonsense he is spouting, since it isn't like he can't have those two positions at the same time.

'Didn't he have both positions in the second round?'

Don't tell me he made that remark to secure the main dancer position?

'I gave up the leader too!'

With the same stupid comment.

Surprisingly, Lee Se-jin, the one who was an actor, spoke up.

"You can do both, though."

"Ah, well, you're right. But this time, I want to do my best as the main dancer."

Big Se-jin smiled and put his hands together.

"Besides, we have a lot to do this time, and well, I've been thinking about this since the 3rd round. I would want to have someone with creative talent to become the leader."

At those words, everyone turned to look at Kim Rae-bin.

Kim Rae-bin looked at Big Se-jin, noticed my gaze, and opened his mouth with an 'Ah'.

"I would like to recommend Park Moon-dae hyung."

This isn't it.