Chapter 25
“Interim report.”
Along with the assistant director’s words, the production team picked up the trainee mission results status chart placed in front of them. It was arranged in order from the person who got the most missions to those who got the least.
“Trainee Lee Jungwoo got a total of 7 minutes?”
PD Choi let out an exclamation as he looked at Jungwoo’s profile photo.
“Yes.”
“He stood out and even took quite a bit of screen time, so if this gets broadcast, there’ll be immediate reactions, right?”
The writers who were listening nodded vigorously, saying it seemed likely. Then the assistant director scratched his head with a troubled look and said.
“That’s true, but surprisingly there’s not much to take from it.”
“Why?”
“There are a lot of two-shots.”
“Ah…”
They didn’t mind group shots with more than 20 people, but two-shots could make the other trainee stand out a lot too. And they had already said they would fairly allocate exposure time through missions. Since they decided to thoroughly calculate the screen time trainees got, they planned to include even what got caught incidentally like extras in the calculation.
“Trainee Seo Jaekyung?”
“Yes.”
Since he often saw them going around together, PD Choi immediately mentioned one person.
“How much mission time did trainee Seo Jaekyung get?”
“1 minute.”
“That means he only has the basics.”
When the assistant director nodded as if that was correct, PD Choi looked around at others with a puzzled tone.
“Didn’t we structure the missions so they could rotate appropriately? Why are we being so harsh only to trainee Seo Jaekyung? Were we that selfish?”
From when they first created this program, there was one thing they considered most important. Don’t treat participants as disposable. No matter how harsh this industry was and how the world only focused on kids who seemed likely to make it big, they still wanted to shine a little sunlight on everyone. That’s why they gathered trainees, not ordinary people. They wanted to give even a little comfort to the children who would practice and practice again in the most shadowy places.
Everyone who joined PD Choi’s vision followed his intentions. But could one person’s screen time come out so little like this?
“That’s true, but maybe because of his passive personality, he didn’t come out well. He does well when told to, but he can’t step forward first.”
Several production staff who remembered Jaekyung nodded. Among them was PD Choi, who had been at the 1-minute PR shoot where Jaekyung’s trot song was mercilessly cut off.
“Right now, trainee Seo Jaekyung is more of a problem than trainee Lee Jungwoo?”
When the assistant director seemed not to understand what he meant, a woman stepped forward.
“We got a lot of interesting cuts of trainee Seo Jaekyung. But now we have to cut almost all of it out.”
“Ah…”
Writer Kim, who knew better than anyone, buried her face in both hands and acted as if it was regrettable.
“How much he stood out from when he entered the hotel. But he couldn’t get missions…”
What a waste of all that. Writer Kim couldn’t let go of Jaekyung’s profile photo, saying he was like a complete treasure trove. The assistant director came up with the most reasonable solution.
“Wouldn’t a scattering-type mission work?”
“We already did that a lot.”
“It affects both people, right?”
Lee Jungwoo had to select 7 minutes mainly from cuts not filmed with Seo Jaekyung, and Seo Jaekyung had to have everything cut out. PD Choi tapped the table with his index finger.
He hoped all 99 trainees would do well, but this was strictly an audition. Though he didn’t know who viewers would like or how things would change as the audition progressed, being human, there were trainees who caught his eye.
Jaekyung was one of them. He didn’t talk much and didn’t smile often, but strangely, his eyes were drawn to him. His expressionless face that seemed to have a story cast over it made the desire to dig into him wriggle.
However, the rules set from the beginning couldn’t be broken. Filming and uploading mainly focusing on favored trainees would be unfair to other trainees. Since they had established the framework for everyone to fairly earn their share, he had absolutely no intention of breaking it.
After much deliberation, PD Choi finally thought of one method.
“We just don’t have to schedule it for broadcast.”
“Then?”
“What if we upload individual trainee videos on the homepage and link them to YouTube too?”
TV broadcasts were exposed to the entire nation, but homepages and YouTube could be activated for specific users.
“Not just trainee Seo Jaekyung, but edit other trainees we’ve filmed so far up to 5 minutes maximum and upload them.”
If it hit well, they could gather individual fans for trainees and increase participation in text voting. It wasn’t an existing plan, but it came about while finding a way to expose Jaekyung.
“That’s a good idea.”
Writer Kim quickly wrote down several scenes that would be good to include on the paper with Jaekyung’s profile.
“Even 30 minutes wouldn’t be enough to show all this.”
The kid was cute from one to ten, so there was a lot to show, but she organized it thinking 5 minutes was nowhere near enough.
“Edit trainee Lee Jungwoo focusing on preliminaries and being on stage.”
Since that was at least what was caught on camera by himself, the assistant director immediately sent an okay sign.
“Let’s work a little harder until next week’s live broadcast filming.”
Today already marked the start of the third week.
“Did you finish editing all the judges’ comments?”
PD Choi immediately moved on to the next item. From now on, it was time to invest a lot of time in editing.
* * *
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Right.”
“I also ran out whenever I heard a song I knew.”
“Got it.”
“I didn’t get it wrong on purpose.”
“Yeah, right.”
Other people listening to Jungwoo and Jaekyung’s conversation bit their lips. Seeing the unfamiliar side of the usually quiet Jaekyung was fascinating, and then seeing him get sulky was so cute that laughter came out regardless of coming in last place. Watching Jaekyung’s white skin turn reddish was also quite entertaining. Of course, no one mentioned it.
“Jaekyung? I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“I said I got it, didn’t I?”
Jaekyung cut off Jungwoo’s words sharply. Then suddenly he had a reality check wondering why he was having this argument with him. He had tried to react friendly to 19-year-old Jungwoo, telling himself not to take his anger out on him. Fortunately, it worked out well, but why does Lee Jungwoo seem hateful now separately?
Why indeed.
“I was pushed from behind to dance in first place, and you say it doesn’t matter that you came out later. You know that you were pushed back because other team members had already taken spots when you ran out, and it was an opportunity you finally caught, but you didn’t blow it because you didn’t know the dance, so can we stop now? You passed anyway.”
“…Are you sulking?”
“Even though our whole team didn’t pass so I was left alone on screen for a long time, I’m saying it’s okay.”
“That’s not really okay though?”
Hajun, who was listening from the side, summarized for them.
Not only Jungwoo but other team members who couldn’t exert their strength were busy suppressing their twitching lips while watching Jaekyung’s mood. Group A had overall good skills with Hajun and Jungwoo, but they came in last this time.
It couldn’t be helped. The mission itself was for everyone to pass. It wasn’t Jungwoo or Hajun’s problem, but other team members who didn’t pass.
“You said you were a trainee for a long time.”
At Jaekyung’s grudge-filled remark, Jungwoo hung his head deeply. In the meantime, representatives went out and came back to decide positions in the order they passed the mission. Since each team member had to consult sufficiently and decide their individual positions within that, the break time was quite long.
Group A was busy appeasing the sulking Jaekyung though.
“Now let’s look at positions. It’s a bit disappointing, but the only spot left for us is over there.”
Yoon Hajun, who would go out as representative, clicked his tongue regretfully. The previous groups had taken all the good center positions, leaving them with the wings. Hajun sighed while looking at the position chart drawn on A3 paper.
“It’s disappointing that we got this corner spot, and now we have to fight for individual positions here too…”
Hajun let out a lament. Sowoon next to him had a similar expression.
“Since it’s already a corner, it seems like it would be the same wherever we stand.”
Since cameras would mainly film the center parts, those at the ends of the wings seemed unlikely to stand out. Unlike his depressed team members, Jaekyung looked at the wings with satisfaction. Jaekyung was satisfied with the corner spot that wouldn’t be caught on camera.
“First, I’ll give the choice to Jaekyung, who passed first.”
At Hajun’s words, all team members turned to look at Jaekyung. They seemed envious of the choice to pick a relatively better spot on this wing. However, their faces brightened as they saw where Jaekyung pointed.
“The back.”
“This place is…”
It was a spot that wouldn’t be visible even if cameras came because it would be blocked by other trainees. When even a relatively better spot wouldn’t be enough, this kind of place? Hajun looked at Jaekyung as if asking if he was really okay with it.
“It’s fine, so I’ll go there.”
Hajun looked around at other team members, then reluctantly nodded. Then he looked at Jungwoo.
“You?”
“Next to him.”
“I figured.”
At Jungwoo’s attitude of acting like he just needed to stand next to Jaekyung, Hajun raised his hands in surrender. While other team members decided their positions one by one, Jaekyung stepped back from them.
‘Not much left.’
Practicing for a month for just one stage was a process that wouldn’t be difficult for Jaekyung. When he was an idol, he practiced existing songs, new songs, and individually assigned songs non-stop a month before concerts, so this was as easy as just sitting down at a well-prepared meal table.
Even the position was good, so Jaekyung’s mood kept rising, while other trainees’ expressions gradually sank.
“Phew.”
Sowoon couldn’t hide his complicated emotions and sighed. He needed to manage his expression because of the cameras, but since that wasn’t easy, he eventually covered his face. Other trainees were similar. Faced with the reality of getting the edges, the trainees’ expressions grew darker and darker.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
Why it hasn’t been update?