Survival Audition: My Job is Idol 56

Chapter 56

After finishing practice early and gathering one by one in the penthouse, the production team came chasing with cameras, looking puzzled.

“Where are you going?”

“We’re going to sleep in Junho hyung’s room!”

“Hyung invited us to his room!”

Jang Chaemyeong and Seo Eunwon answered the production team’s question with sparkling eyes.

“You must have gotten close.”

“Yes. We were already stuck together all day and felt sad being apart when sleeping, so Junho hyung suggested we all sleep together.”

Juha, who was standing behind Jang Chaemyeong and Seo Eunwon, slipped in and said. Youngin, standing next to them, fluttered his pretty eyes. It was a look that said ‘Thank you for all gathering for wounded me.’ Of course it was fake, but Juha was rather grateful that Youngin played along well with the act.

“……”

The production team watching their camaraderie said nothing but seemed quite moved.

‘Perfect.’

Angel team confirmed. There wasn’t even material for devil editing.

The team members, knowing cameras were rolling inside the penthouse too, acted well on their own. Six guys in pajamas playing around was quite a sight to see.

Mainly Seo Eunwon and Jang Chaemyeong would act cute while the hyungs doted on them, and sometimes they playfully switched and tried each other’s choreography with the members.

Seo Eunwon tried the decadent prince he’d wanted to attempt (naturally clumsy), Jang Chaemyeong did the flower prince, and Juha and Youngin pretended they couldn’t resist and attempted the twin warriors. The moves needed to be precise and controlled to look cool, but since both Juha and Youngin were quite clumsy, the Myeong-Won twins rolled around holding their stomachs.

Jo Munseok and Na Junho following the Myeong-Won twins trying to act cute was close to comedy. Even Juha couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter at that scene, and Yoo Youngin laughed hysterically with a brighter face than usual.

“This was actually really difficult.”

Na Junho said while rubbing his neck.

The penthouse that had been filled with endless laughter became quiet as if nothing had happened once it passed 10 o’clock and the camera lights went out.

“Where should I sleep?”

Jo Munseok asked while looking around. Juha also stood in the middle of the spacious penthouse and surveyed the surroundings as if savoring it.

It was still the same. The room he’d shared with Taeri. Seeing the wide bed they’d lain on together made Juha’s heart flutter for no reason.

He suddenly missed the nights when they practiced together every day, laughed and chatted while reviewing the day, and secretly touched each other.

“Twins sleep here. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

Na Junho offered the bed to the youngest ones, Eunwon and Chaemyeong, first.

“It’s okay, hyung.”

“It’s your room.”

The Myeong-Won twins politely declined as if they’d rehearsed it. Though he felt sorry for already making the young ones learn business performance, at least the friendship between Eunwon and Chaemyeong seemed genuine.

“Then since the bed’s big, we three will sleep there, and tall Munseok will sleep on the sofa. Youngin and Juha sleep on the floor. That okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes.”

Following Na Junho’s words, they each scattered to their spots.

Fortunately there were plenty of blankets, so there was no disaster of Juha having to share a blanket with Yoo Youngin. After turning off the lights and lying down, memories of the time he spent here with Taeri kept coming back.

‘I miss you.’

As the surroundings filled with the sound of everyone’s sleeping breaths, Juha felt his longing for Taeri grow particularly strong.

‘I want to do it with you, debut.’

Taeri’s voice whispering sultrily echoed in his ears.

It felt like if he just turned his head, Taeri would be right beside him. If only he could have the fortune to use this place with Taeri again once this competition was over.

While immersed in various sentiments, Juha fell asleep.

* * *

The production team, who had received all sorts of criticism for making the 1st competition a death match, changed the judging for the 2nd competition to be a bit more complex.

The 2nd competition title was [Regression King: Become the King of Reverse Success!].

Through Episode 5, the public learned which songs each team would perform. Streaming scores would be tallied based on music performance until midnight the day after Episode 6 (which would air the stages) ended. Fans had already started diligently streaming, saying they’d boost ‘My Idol’s’ momentum.

Originally, the plan was to have only judges’ evaluations without an audience until the 2nd competition, but after going through Blue House petitions due to biased judging and master qualification controversies in the 1st round, the production team decided after meetings to invite about 300 audience members.

Thanks to this, fans jumped into blood-spilling ticket competition early on. Though Gnet firmly stated it would be lottery-only, when fan clubs with large numbers pushed with their mass, the winning probability was naturally higher.

The groups most serious about ticketing were Choi Taeri’s Eoltae fans, Yoo Youngin’s fans in the middle of war in hell, and Lee Juha’s fans who had silently spread by infiltrating daily life.

Youngin’s fans, who stepped up directly saying his company was shit, finally tracked down and exposed the person who posted the ‘pig loser’ article and terrorized them on SNS. However, it was soon revealed that the terror victim wasn’t the actual author, causing another uproar.

With fans split between ‘We shouldn’t bother civilians, we should fight within legal boundaries’ vs ‘We should chase to the afterlife to find and punish whoever caused our Youngin secondary harm,’ Youngin’s fans even had internal family fights.

Their world was truly chaotic, mixing fans who wiped tears saying our Youngin didn’t do bad things and grew up kind and pretty, with fans defending against other fans who archived Youngin’s past photos and mocked and bashed him like crazy.

While the neighboring house was being torn apart inside and out by a typhoon, ‘Ijuhada’ was a calm lake. Like worker ants, they diligently went out for ‘Lord’ promotion according to the ten commandments, gradually gathering fans. Since they approached so carefully and secretly, most people got hooked on Lee Juha without even knowing they’d been promoted to.

And finally, Park Hyeji, the deputy manager and founder of ‘Ijuhada,’ issued total attack orders to the immigrants for ticketing.

[Title: Immigrants! The day of glory approaches.]

You saw Gnet’s audience application requirements, right?

Now the time has come, everyone prepare.

If we win, we absolutely must bring other immigrants with us.

We cannot bring muggles to our first audience meeting with the Lord.

We must show our faith, hope, and love to the Lord who doesn’t yet know of our existence.

Until the day we can all go see the Lord, let the settlers step up and lead!!!]

* * *

The difference between hamster wheel-like trainee life and audition program camp life was having to compete with the neighboring squirrel on a viciously faster hamster wheel while cameras filmed the scene. Living in that stress-filled situation felt like being blocked on all sides by dark barriers. So naturally the 43 trainees couldn’t hear the battles outside the ring.

As Lee Juha prepared to join hands even with enemies to get in the ring, the day of final battle opened.

Before the stage, they drew lots for order. Team leader Yoo Youngin, who had shit luck except for his looks, inevitably drew number 1.

Considering he’d drawn the free pass in the lottery for his own lucky key, it was truly an amazing draw.

However, since the concept was deep brotherhood forged under the peach tree, Team 1 members comforted Youngin saying it was better to get hit quickly.

‘Did he change somewhat?’

Yoo Youngin was getting makeup done in the seat next to Juha who was getting styled. Next to him was Na Junho, and behind them Jo Munseok and the Myeong-Won twins were getting styled.

When would he have been conspiring with Jo Munseok like that – Youngin’s gaze often went to Na Junho. It wasn’t emotions like affection or longing. It was ‘comradeship’ that could never be found in Youngin before.

Precisely, it was the kind of feeling like ‘I definitely want to debut with this person’ that Juha and Taeri felt – something that couldn’t be felt in Youngin’s gaze toward Jo Munseok.

Juha glanced at the camera installed above between him and Youngin, then opened his mouth.

“Are you nervous?”

“Well, a little……”

Youngin also glanced at the camera and answered awkwardly.

“We haven’t performed yet, but I feel like I learned a lot during this team preparation period.”

“What?”

Since the camera was in front, Youngin had no choice but to listen quietly. Taking advantage of this, Juha decided to say something to Youngin.

“I realized it’s more valuable to put energy into joining hands with someone and climbing up together, rather than putting energy into envying and being jealous of someone. Haha.”

“……R-right.”

Quick-witted Youngin seemed to realize what Juha wanted to say.

Lee Juha thought he couldn’t reform others, and there was no need to do so anyway. He had 0.001% expectation that Yoo Youngin’s character would change overnight. He just thought it was enough that he was serious about becoming an idol.

It would be icing on the cake if he knew that continuing trashy character behavior like now would distance him from his dream.

“So, who do you want to climb up with?”

Youngin courageously asked. Then Juha answered with a bright smile.

“Of course it’s hyung.”

Hearing that answer, Youngin used every facial muscle to curse at Lee Juha. While interpreting all those expressions, Juha responded with a bright smile.

* * *

After styling finished and standing backstage, Team 1 members looked into each other’s eyes. Na Junho had become the glue for the team members who had been like broken pottery pieces. After spending two full nights huddled together sleeping in the penthouse, they had definitely become solid.

Everyone’s ultimate goal was a successful stage. They had spent time enduring and vaguely realized they all wanted the same thing.

In this moment, looking into each other’s eyes backstage, the time of being trapped in envy and hatred and unable to see the big picture had passed, and faith arose that even if they made small mistakes, the other team members would support them.

‘I just need to do well.’

Juha exhaled quietly.

He still hadn’t found the answer to ‘acting pretty.’

Since he’d received excessive praise for ‘control-freak trainer’ in the last stage, Juha’s burden had grown. The ‘flower prince’ Juha had practiced and worried about so far was just the bright and pretty character anyone would think of. But the ‘flower prince’ Juha really wanted to create was a character so ‘devastatingly pretty’ that as soon as he appeared on stage, the audience and viewers would cover their mouths and forget to breathe.

It seemed like it would be possible with just one booster, but Juha hadn’t gotten the answer to that yet.

“Team 1, standby please.”

When the staff’s guidance was heard, the six team members held hands tightly.

“Let’s just trust each other!”

At Na Junho’s single words, a special light appeared in the team members’ eyes. The camera was filming each team member’s expression.

Though Na Junho took over team leader Yoo Youngin’s role, given the special circumstances, neither the production team nor team members added any particular comments.

Soon, the door leading to the stage opened.

Thump thump thump. His heartbeat covered Juha’s ears. It was the feeling of something crawling all over his body with a tingling sensation, adrenaline slowly gathering.

‘Huh……’

The moment he stepped on stage, Juha’s breath stopped.

Throughout the audience seats, slogans with letters clear enough to read even in the darkness with lights off rippled like waves. The jumbled letters like confusing building signs suddenly penetrated Juha’s vision like focused glasses.

‘What is this?’

The letters visible to Juha were pointing at him like arrows flying toward a target.

[♡Migrate to Lee Juha♡]

The gazes of audience members holding the slogans were all directed toward Lee Juha alone.