Chapter 33
At the signal that his turn had come, Jaekyung squeezed his eyes shut.
‘I hope they just sing two verses and immediately move on to the next trainee.’
Please just show a little. Just a little. Anyway, he talked less than Jungwoo and there was nothing special, all he did was sing. His face wasn’t clearly visible either, and it wasn’t like he did anything unusual, so it would be fine to just pass by.
Even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t avoid hearing his own song coming through his ears.
Me falling into endless despair
Who will save me
I’m still waiting for you
If I could be with you
Even in the cold wind
I could endure
Come to me and hold me
Hold me in your arms as I cry lonely
Stay by my side
Why did I sing that? Ah, I chose it because I was worried the booth next to me might hear. But singing without accompaniment, the lyrics he muttered came through clearly.
Even after the song ended, Jaekyung couldn’t open his eyes. Usually reactions came out at this time, so he didn’t want to react. But as conversation disappeared and a strange silence began, Jaekyung eventually slightly opened one eye and then opened the other.
Everyone was looking at Jaekyung without saying anything.
“…Hyung.”
Sowoon’s low voice made the hair on Jaekyung’s neck stand up.
No way… it’s nothing special, right?
Ah, please.
Jaekyung looked for God he didn’t believe in and stared intently at Sowoon’s mouth.
Soon Sowoon thrust his phone in front of Jaekyung’s eyes.
“The reaction is stronger than when it was Jungwoo hyung’s turn?”
“…”
What is this…
As Jaekyung just gaped with his mouth open, unable to say anything, other people thrust their phones toward his face.
“They say your voice is attractive. Well, everyone acknowledges that.”
“They say you’d look handsome if you took off your hat.”
“They say your face is too small so they can’t see it well.”
“Jackpot. I should have gone with a hat too.”
“That’s not the point. When you wear a hat and hold a microphone, your whole face should be covered.”
“Tch.”
Geonhu clicked his tongue at Taeyeon’s harsh truth.
What’s the big deal about wearing a hat? Jaekyung looked around at them as if it was ridiculous. Taeyeon was even looking at Sowoon’s phone together, and Jungwoo was also looking at his own phone. Maybe it was because their own preliminaries had already passed, but it was strange that even Jungwoo was checking reactions.
Hajun, who had been looking at Geonhu’s phone, summarized it neatly.
“I guess the mysterious concept worked.”
Jaekyung’s forehead wrinkled.
…What mysterious concept?
CHOOSE NINE Official Website
TALK
Gyeong [What is this now129. From when they said they were gathering trainees for an audition, I had a strange flutter and the kids’ visuals are insane.]
daskf [Praise myself for turning this on just in casebb]
Back then bragging [Suddenly what idol are they making, broadcasting this kind of thing. It’s probably rigged]
Back then bragging [The idol was already decided anyway]
Back then bragging [They should just show the reality of the kids who will come out instead]
Woissi [I thought it was rigged so I thought the idol would be Jungwoo anyway lol]
Rannanji [If it was like that, they would have only shown decent kids from the start, they’re telling us to look at each one]
Daengpowoo [???????]
Ah really delicious [What?]
Face what [ㅡㅇ.ㅡ Ugh aaaah I need to pick a pickㅠㅠㅠㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ[
qwer [Huh? I saw a generous face?]
Gangnam [Can’t see the face well. Someone remove the hat]
new [Hat removing… ahem. I want to gently take it off^^]
Justice society [The face is too small.]
SKIP [What’s with the song? Why is it so sad? Is it just me?]
AKLDJF [I want to comfortㅏㅏㅏㅏㅏ I want to hug him sob]
tt [Wow. That voice.]
What? [Huff huff I’m excited about stanning]
lee [That hat really… I want to get rid of it.]
With Mine [I think he’d be handsome? His jawline is well-defined]
Dobi [Please take off the hat pleaseㅅㅅㅅㅅ]
I am pasta [Eomhwo?]
Episode 28 [Ugh the magic of the face disappearing when he holds the microphone…]
Why though [I’m sighing along too]
[Anonymous] What is this?
They said it was just an audition program, they said trainees would appear, they said to pick your favorite from unpolished kids
But what is this lololololololol
Why did they bring an idol? The aura is no joke
Why did they bring a singer? What’s with that voice??
Why did they bring an actor???????? lol The visual isn’t that of a trainee, this needs investigation lolololol No, just thank youlolololol I’ll sleep here today
└Holy shit I watched by chance and wow………
└You can’t speak, right? I couldn’t pass by each one, I should just go find the PD and bow deeply once
└Jackpot I was shocked hearing the voice, thought it was an idol competition
└There were so many good singers, among them the ㅅㅈㄱ trainee was really…
└That’s exactly the person I was surprised by
└└We connectedㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└Anyone ㅇㅈㅇ licking?
└└That person too… I want to love
└ㅅㅈㄱ looks like he’d have a thin voice but wow amazing
└└If he takes off the hat there’d probably be a handsome face
└└Real real real real ㄹㅇㄹㅇㄹㅇㄹㅇ
└What are those two??? You guys already debuted…
└Handsome guy next to pretty handsome guy and another handsome guy.. my heart got bombed so I’m going for surgery..^^ I’ll come back stronger ୧(๑•̀⌄•́๑)૭
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[Anonymous] Do you know sugar candy? That’s right, it’s food, super sweetie (✯◡✯)
└If you see the sea it’s ocean view, if you see buildings it’s city view, if I see you it’s I love you
└Do you need the raw meat joke again?
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***
When a brief commercial break came on, groaning sounds came from here and there.
“Wow… let’s rest for a moment.”
“Just the preliminaries are breathtaking.”
Sowoon collapsed on the table and Taeyeon leaned on Geonhu. The 180 minutes felt short during filming, but sitting and watching felt long.
“But they showed the preliminaries really briefly, right? About 30 seconds per person?”
“I don’t think it was even that much.”
“They really packed it tight.”
Everyone poured out the words they had been holding back. In the meantime, Jaekyung silently watched the commercials. Beverage ads, phone ads, sneakers, etc. – ads considering the age range of viewers watching the program continued.
“Now there’s the individual stages we did, PR, and service time left, right?”
Taeyeon muttered while putting his hands up to the ceiling. Taeyeon, who was calculating how much time was left, tilted his head.
Hajun, who had brought plenty of drinks for everyone, pushed Sowoon aside and put up a tray. Though he seemed annoyed to take care of everyone individually, he still continuously put something in their mouths without rest.
“Try this.”
Hajun held something out to Jaekyung’s mouth. Instead of just giving it to him to eat, he put it directly in his mouth. Jaekyung, who received it without having time to refuse, unconsciously chewed.
‘Beef jerky?’
As he chewed the chewy texture, a subtle meat aroma rose. Chewing it and looking around at others, everyone was eating beef jerky like Jaekyung. Thanks to that, as it became quiet, Hajun leaned back halfway on the sofa with a much more comfortable expression.
“Finally it’s getting a bit quiet.”
As Jaekyung swallowed everything in his mouth, another piece of beef jerky touched his lower lip. It was Jungwoo. He was also holding out beef jerky like Hajun, so Jaekyung wondered what it was about but ate it first.
‘It’s delicious.’
It wasn’t tough or salty. It was subtly good for chewing so it wasn’t burdensome.
“The judging will be shown in episode 2, right?”
“Then what will they show today?”
“PR or service time, or both.”
Hajun shrugged his shoulders.
“At least it’s not just featuring a few people, so however they broadcast it, it doesn’t matter to us.”
“Right… Jungwoo hyung got 7 minutes, I got… ugh.”
“Even 1 minute is good.”
Hearing how much Taeyeon got, Jaekyung answered inwardly. Still, it’s twice as long as mine. Meanwhile, Sowoon stuck out his tongue.
“I never thought about the preliminaries at all.”
‘Me neither.’
Jaekyung chewed the beef jerky as if frustrated. They clearly said no. They said it was a camera test!
He had been deceived by the production team many times during activities, and got deceived again this time.
Jaekyung suppressed his frustrated feelings and watched TV. As if determined to watch whatever came out this time.
“Pfft.”
‘Hmm?’
Who laughed?
When Jaekyung looked to the side, everyone was watching TV. Not knowing who laughed among them, he wondered briefly before Jaekyung also focused on the screen.
Soon it moved to a scene showing each person’s PR along with notice that photos of 99 trainees had been uploaded to the website. It was as Hajun said. They postponed singing in the main competition to episode 2 and included it as the PD said.
Certainly, this person called PD Choi was a bit sly but kept promises well. (Except for including the preliminaries!) He calculated exactly according to each person’s PR and time earned and broadcast it. Jaekyung thought it was quite watchable since it was different from what he saw in the dorm.
‘They’re not showing it in number order.’
The number Jaekyung received then was 30, but the trainee appearing now was number 58.
“What did you do then?”
Not knowing when he’d appear, Jungwoo asked as he just watched.
“Me? I just trot… huh?”
– Hello. I’ll begin.
Jaekyung appeared at perfect timing. Jaekyung was slightly bothered that he had sung trot half-impulsively then, but expected it would be fine compared to other trainees who were being flashy.
“I guess we can watch.”
When Jaekyung pointed at the TV, Jungwoo nodded and was just turning his head when the Jaekyung on screen stopped after just introducing himself.
“Huh?”
Jaekyung also found it strange and wondered what? Then the stopped screen seemed to ripple and subtitles appeared over Jaekyung’s face.
[Wait a moment. It was too disappointing to just show PR, so we prepared this!]
…Hmm?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
