Chapter 52
Unlike the first competition where a whopping 40 teams took the stage, only 8 teams would perform in the second competition.
Thanks to this, the 4 permanent masters each took charge of 2 teams and provided overall stage guidance.
The master in charge of Juha’s team was Lee Cheong.
Since the choreography and individual member characters were already set, there shouldn’t have been any problems receiving the midterm evaluation. However, Lee Cheong’s expression turned cold after watching the midterm evaluation stage.
“You guys aren’t close, are you?”
“……”
At Lee Cheong’s first words, the 6 members naturally hung their heads. Though they had practiced for days mixing in sweat, they couldn’t get close because that stupid Yoo Youngin had formed the member combination however he pleased.
Jo Munseok and Yoo Youngin had grown even more distant, and Na Junho and Lee Juha only exchanged necessary words. Only Jang Chaemyeong and Seo Eunwon, who had become close like rice cakes, fidgeted with their hands while reading their hyungs’ moods.
“Why does it feel like you’re treating this like a company and trying to have a training camp?”
“……”
Lee Cheong looked at each member waiting for an answer, but Team 1 members couldn’t bring themselves to say anything.
Though the same team members were assigned rooms together, they couldn’t particularly get close. They were thoroughly distancing themselves from the task of becoming ‘one body.’
“The point is to roll around together, fight, and still understand and embrace each other to create teamwork. But looking at you guys, you don’t seem like one team but like elementary kids who came out to show off their individual talents. You only do your own thing and don’t think about the team.”
The team members glanced at each other. It wasn’t a situation to blame anyone. If someone had truly thought about the team here, they would have stepped up to handle this situation, but everyone was just busy with their own roles.
While Lee Cheong was nagging, Juha carefully raised his head to look at her. She didn’t seem conscious of the camera rolling in front, but she was perfectly controlling the camera.
Lee Cheong was definitely pretty.
It wasn’t just because of her outfit or basic beauty. Today wasn’t an official filming day, so she was in simple training clothes with a cap on her bare face, but Lee Cheong had the power to make the public’s gaze linger.
Lee Cheong’s group T.Na was a legendary idol group that became the first Korean girl group to tour not only Europe and America but also South America.
Lee Cheong was T.Na’s core member with both skills and beauty, but she wasn’t popular from the beginning.
Lee Cheong’s nickname was Paper Flower. The reason was that she was pretty but had no charm. In short, she was in a similar situation to Juha currently.
‘How did she become a popular member?’
Lee Cheong’s sudden rise in popularity came through a hidden camera on a reality show. The production team deceived her by saying there would be a guerrilla concert, gathered only about 10 grandparents in the audience, and put Lee Cheong alone on stage.
Though she was a little surprised at first, Lee Cheong did her absolute best on that stage, and after one song ended, the curtain opened to reveal real fans filling the venue. Needless to say, Lee Cheong burst into tears.
In the interview at that time, Lee Cheong said:
‘Actually, since I’m not a popular member of T.Na, I’ve never received stage camera time for long. Though it was a small audience, they were an audience just for me, so I wanted to show them the best stage.’
Love for the stage, sincerity. Her real skills hidden and then revealed.
Since it contained all the stories Koreans love, Lee Cheong’s popularity skyrocketed afterward.
“This mission is ‘one body,’ but Team 1 is currently fragmented. Until your official stage, don’t practice individually and definitely practice as a group. Individual actions are absolutely forbidden from now on!”
“……Yes.”
Lee Cheong made her threat and disappeared. After Lee Cheong left, the practice room was quiet. The two youngest members were still only reading their hyungs’ moods.
‘What do we do about this……’
Lee Cheong’s words were right. Individual capabilities were something to handle on their own, and this team’s teamwork was currently at the level of skeleton soldiers about to crumble.
If they couldn’t properly soothe this team that would collapse at the slightest wrong touch, everyone except Yoo Youngin could really be eliminated.
“Jo Munseok.”
When Na Junho suddenly called Munseok, tension immediately rose. Na Junho and Jo Munseok’s relationship was as noticeably awkward as Yoo Youngin and Lee Juha’s, yet these two had to coordinate acrobatics together.
“Why?”
Jo Munseok answered curtly. Since his expression itself was fierce, the anxiety was further amplified. Thanks to this, the two kids Eunwon and Chaemyeong held hands tightly and trembled.
“Teach me.”
Unexpected words came from Na Junho’s mouth.
“What?”
“Your movements are more accurate. So teach me.”
“What do you have to learn from me?”
Munseok’s lips twitched as he grumbled back.
‘Whoa……’
Juha’s mouth fell open in bewilderment.
He never imagined that Na Junho, the most taciturn in the team, would step up and handle Jo Munseok. Juha had forgotten that since they had been rivals for so long, they knew each other well.
Jo Munseok, with his simple and straightforward personality, always held hostility because Na Junho had a higher win rate during their athlete days. But when Na Junho asked him to teach and acknowledged him, he suddenly became proud. This was only possible because Na Junho already knew that Jo Munseok was extremely simple.
It was a different reaction from Yoo Youngin, who when asked to teach ‘acting pretty’ said ‘stick flowers on yourself like a crazy person.’ Jo Munseok pretended he couldn’t resist and followed Na Junho. The trembling young twins finally relaxed.
Only Yoo Youngin and Lee Juha were left.
Youngin stood occupying one mirror with his back to Juha.
“Hyung.”
Just as Juha was about to speak to him, Youngin naturally ignored him and approached the twins.
“Myeong-i, Won-i, let’s try matching with hyung.”
“I’ll match along too.”
Juha followed Youngin and approached them.
“Yeah, let’s practice together, Juha. We have to show perfectly on our stage!”
Since the camera was rolling, Youngin smiled without awkwardness. Then Juha couldn’t lose either.
“Hyung, would I be pretty if I do this?”
Juha made a flower cup with both hands, placed it under his chin, and looked at Youngin. Since he was doing it anyway, he even blinked his eyes.
“……Wow. J-Juha really looks like a flower prince when you make the flower cup.”
Youngin cursed with his eyes while agreeing with Juha.
Regardless, Juha smiled brightly and exchanged conversation with Youngin. The twins Myeong-i and Won-i looked confused about whether those two were sincere or fake.
Wearing a mask in front of cameras wasn’t difficult. There were many idols who maintained business relationships and only had to be perfect when cameras rolled, so it wasn’t special.
But Juha didn’t want to learn business relationships even before debuting.
‘I absolutely have to resolve this.’
Juha made a resolution while looking at Youngin, who was mercilessly cursing at him with his eyes.
At first, Yoo Youngin and Lee Juha didn’t get along with Choi Taeri between them. Then Youngin’s fans got involved, and Youngin drew anger by making the bad move of pulling Juha into the same team. Finally, when Juha learned of Youngin’s weakness, their bad relationship reached its peak.
Though it was a team that would only do the second competition and then disband, Juha wanted to make all the difficulties he faced during each competition his own.
In the midst of this unstable situation, Episode 5 aired.
* * *
This episode also aired during the training camp, so the trainees gathered in the main hall to watch together. Since there were 80 people last time and nearly half had been eliminated, the hall was sparse. Though there were no cameras since it was non-filming time, thanks to the ‘one body’ mission, everyone sat clustered with their respective team members. Juha sat next to Na Junho and sneakily looked for Taeri’s team.
‘Ah……’
Taeri was already looking at Juha. When their eyes met, Taeri winked playfully and mouthed ‘I love you.’
Juha smiled and mouthed back ‘me too.’
“It’s starting.”
Na Junho tapped him, so Juha withdrew his gaze from Taeri. Since they were apart like this when his heart was burning hottest, now just seeing Taeri’s face in passing made even nonexistent longing surge up. Taeri was the same, busy looking for Juha’s team wherever he went.
In briefly brushing touches and lingering gazes, Juha could only gain some confidence in his heart.
Episode 5 started with the ranking announcement from the previous episode.
The highlight was, of course, 15th place Lee Juha, 3rd place Choi Taeri, and 1st place Yoo Youngin. Even though they already knew, the trainees let out ‘ah’ sighs whenever rankings were announced.
After that came the ‘Regression King’ mission introduction, obstacle racing for song selection, team member selection by groups, and the stage discussion process.
Occasionally when Taeri’s face appeared on the big screen, Juha unconsciously looked at Taeri sitting far away.
Whether on screen or in reality, Taeri’s team seemed to have good teamwork. Taeri conversed with Andrew Son using his skilled English, and when Andrew tried to speak Korean, he didn’t laugh but waited patiently and calmly. Thanks to this, Andrew followed only Taeri around.
‘Are those team members better……’
To the point where it was spiteful how well they got along, Taeri was surrounded by his team members and laughing. No matter how much his heart belonged to Juha, useless worries even arose about whether he might match better with other trainees.
Suddenly Juha appeared in close-up on screen. Juha was startled without realizing it.
It was Juha’s interview footage. Creating a story would at least make people pay attention, so it would seem like a benefit to other trainees.
-How does it feel to do Metabolic’s song?
‘Um……’
The Juha on screen hesitated to speak.
-Is that incident still a wound?
If they had seen Juha’s expression they should have stopped, but the production team persistently dug at the wound.
‘It’s not… okay, but I want to do well.’
After hesitation, Juha answered with an awkward smile. The scene transitioned with wistful background music that evoked sympathy.
‘……’
Though it upset him to think of his family who would see that scene, Juha decided to think positively about it.
The production team, who had been beaten with Blue House petitions by Choi Taeri fans due to last episode’s devil editing, repaid Choi Taeri with angel editing. His appearance flying around like a bird during the obstacle race, his spirited ambition to do well despite losing Juha regrettably, his enthusiastic leadership of team members.
Choi Taeri was edited to appear almost like Forbes’ selected next-generation young leader. Compared to that, Team 1 where Juha belonged was full of questions.
‘The editing is precarious.’
Juha frowned lightly while watching the screen.
Youngin’s expression when looking down on Juha while talking about ‘Metabolic’ or ‘Decadent King’ was cleverly hidden. If they openly showed scenes that would become Youngin’s character controversies, his fierce fans would definitely go into a frenzy and rise up, so the production team also protected themselves. However, since it was too valuable a scene to throw away, they just slipped the bait by only letting the voice be heard.
It was clear as day that it would cause controversy among fans.
Episode 5 ended with Lee Cheong’s “You guys aren’t close, are you?” during Team 1’s midterm evaluation. It was truly the production team’s amazing cutting skill that could be called divine scissor work.
When the program completely ended and commercials started, the gathered trainees got up from their seats chattering with their respective team members.
Today Juha didn’t have the energy to check fan reactions.
Because he had to practice again as soon as it ended. Na Junho and Jo Munseok had gotten as close as a fingernail, but the 6 people still creaked. Despite Youngin’s efforts making his relationship with Chaemyeong good, his twin Eunwon still guarded against Youngin.
Youngin, who was supposedly the team leader, did his best to get along with team members when cameras rolled, but let go when cameras left. His principle was that he just needed to advance anyway.
So Lee Juha, who was at the center of all this, could only struggle alone.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
