Survival Audition: My Job is Idol 68

Chapter 68

[Lee Juha honestly isn’t he a PD pick?]

‘Per-episode Lee Juha screentime graph.jpg

Other top 10 trainees’ screentime graph.jpg

Look. There are many trainees similar to Lee Juha who get less than 2 minutes of screentime,

but Lee Juha gets over 5 minutes every episode, and it’s focused on Lee Juha too.

They’re pushing him so obviously that I’m getting really annoyed’

└Honestly, the fact that they put “Butterfly Dream” there is proof that the PD favors Lee Juha.

└Son of Gnet’s president….

└I acknowledge that Lee Juha gets a lot of screentime, but isn’t it because he’s good?

└Huh? What PD pick? An individual trainee without even an agency? You’re really letting your imagination run wild lol

└What are you saying, are you sane? Where are you getting this delusion?

└Hey hey stop it, if he’s a PD pick why did he rank 15th? The PD who picked him must be crying lololol

└What the hell, why are you suddenly grabbing the hair of a kid who’s doing fine and working hard?

└This kind of stirring up trouble is from Yoo Youngin fans. Because his screentime decreased this episode^^

└Yeah if you have nothing to do, go look at Youngdae’s photos^^

‘I’m a PD pick?’

Among the frequently mentioned trainees, Lee Juha was the only one outside the top 10. Even Seo Eunwon was 9th place.

As a participant, he had seen the PD, but Juha was definitely not a PD pick. Moreover, there was no reason for anyone to take responsibility and push him when he didn’t even have an agency.

‘If I really were a PD pick, at least it wouldn’t be unfair.’

It felt bitter that all his efforts so far seemed to be dismissed as just PD pick rumors.

To get rid of bad thoughts, Juha read the next post. However, the next one wasn’t exactly a pleasant read either.

[But honestly this competition is too unfair.]

‘Streaming is done by numbers, so teams with insufficient fan numbers will naturally drop out, right?

Streaming is done by numbers, voting is done by numbers too.

Then no matter how well you perform on stage, if your teammates don’t have enough fans, you can’t get good rankings.’

└The team leader chose them, so who’s to blame? Blame your favorite who can’t even gather fans.

└What do you want them to do? How else would you do an audition program if not by numbers?

└But isn’t that right? The judges are just decorations

└Choi Taeri’s team that sang Delpino’s song rides on Delpino fans’ streaming. Is this fair?

└The whole point is to pick idols through voting, and what kind of debut is it if you don’t even have fans to vote for you?

└First time seeing someone trying to bring down trainees with many fans lololol

When Juha read posts like this, his heart would skip a beat for no reason. Even though he now had a proper fan club, he still couldn’t escape the mentality of an unknown trainee with no backing.

“My Idol” was definitely a hot topic. As the episodes progressed and fan reactions heated up, fights between fans also intensified. On top of that, the fact that the trainee you abandoned your daily life to support might drop out added to the fans’ anxiety.

He was scrolling down trying to hide his heavy heart when at some point, posts about Yoo Youngin were plastered everywhere.

[Wow lol Yoo Youngpig acting all fatal and cool]

[Isn’t Yoo Youngin really a born idol?]

[Youngdae’s mental strength is amazing. If it were me, I’d quit from embarrassment]

[Youngdae, let’s go home]

[Yoo Youngin is admirable… a model of human triumph]

[Honestly isn’t Yoo Youngin’s childhood photo kind of cute?]

[Youngdae fans are conscienceless…]

Whenever posts criticizing Yoo Youngin appeared, fans would swarm in and flood it with praise posts. Yoo Youngin fans still seemed to be treated as annoying by other fans.

Yoo Youngin had become a love-hate figure for Juha too. After he had half-threatened and stopped Youngin who was trying to pull a shallow trick at the emergency exit that day, and after even his past photos were exposed, Yoo Youngin had changed a lot.

He had thought fans would always protect him, but after facing the mockery that poured out when his past photos were spread, he seemed to realize that if he didn’t work hard, these fans would eventually leave too.

At first, Juha was also uncomfortable with Youngin obviously checking other trainees, but now he felt pity for him. It wasn’t as a competitor, but pity for Yoo Youngin’s human weakness. He didn’t particularly like that his excessive checking was to hide his wounded past, but Yoo Youngin struggling not to collapse when his past was revealed and he was mocked left a deep impression on Juha too. Youngin deliberately ignoring the pouring attention and focusing only on the stage was for his future as an idol rather than dwelling on past wounds. Perhaps in that figure, Juha saw himself struggling to escape from Metabolic’s wounds.

As he kept reading, there were quite a few posts about Na Junho too. Most were praise posts saying he was handsome, skilled, loyal, and had good leadership. Although he had slipped up once during the last death match, Na Junho was also a trainee who could definitely make it to the upper ranks.

Juha was skimming through the forum titles on his tablet screen when he remembered something he’d forgotten and called Taeri. As the ringtone went on for a long time, Juha glanced at his watch.

‘It’s twelve-thirty.’

Checking the time, Juha started to worry.

He had said he was going to dinner with his family, but not being able to connect by phone past midnight was definitely strange. The assumption that the family gathering hadn’t ended until this late at night was also questionable.

Since today was the broadcast day and there had been no contact until now, it seemed like Taeri hadn’t even watched the broadcast yet.

‘Is something wrong with his family?’

The image of Taeri’s expression darkening whenever family matters came up floated in Juha’s mind again. Juha tried calling Taeri several times until he answered.

The phone signal that had been connecting for a tediously long time suddenly stopped.

“Huh?”

Juha jumped up and answered the phone.

“Taeri! Where are you? Did you watch the broadcast?”

-……No. The dinner ran late so I couldn’t watch it.

Taeri’s voice was lower than usual.

“Are you okay?”

Juha asked carefully. Not only was he concerned that there had been no contact all along, but with his voice sounding so dark, he was seriously worried about Taeri.

-Can I see you for a moment? I want to see you.

Taeri spoke first.

“I… me too……”

When the relief that Taeri wanted to see him and the worry he’d felt while unable to contact him hit all at once, Juha sighed.

Just hearing his voice made him want to see Taeri to the point of tears. There definitely seemed to have been something wrong, but Taeri’s attitude of not opening up was both upsetting and still worrying. He had never made Juha anxious before, but when it came to family problems, Taeri changed.

-Can you come to my house?

Taeri asked in a careful tone.

“Ah, um……”

Normally he would have answered that he’d come right away and gotten up immediately, but Juha hesitated for a moment. No matter how strong Lee Yunha was, he was reluctant to leave his 17-year-old sister alone.

-Can’t… you come?

Taeri’s voice sounded pitiful.

Juha thought for a short time. Setting aside the fact that the world was dangerous these days and this oppa should protect his sister, he was concerned about what she might say to their parents if he left her alone and went out. But it felt like he absolutely had to see Taeri today.

After making up his mind, Juha spoke.

“Do you want to come to my house?”

-Huh?

Taeri asked back, seemingly flustered by the sudden suggestion.

“Well, my parents went to a funeral home so it’s just me and my sister. I’m a bit reluctant to leave my sister alone at home at night and go out.”

Juha stammered and mumbled his words. It was an embarrassing time to invite someone to a house with family. Taeri’s low laughter could be heard through the phone.

-I’ll come. I’m in a taxi now so I’ll arrive in 10 to 15 minutes.

“Okay. I’ll come out to meet you.”

-See you later.

Taeri hung up with laughter in his voice.

”I’ll come’……’

“Huh!”

Only then did Juha realize what he had done.

Taeri was coming to his house.

He had always only gone to Taeri’s house, but today Choi Taeri was coming to the house where he lived.

Juha looked in the mirror and fixed his hair. It seemed like his hair had been pressed down from lying down, so he tousled the back of his hair with his hands to add volume. He still wasn’t used to the ash blonde hair color, but looking at it, he liked it.

‘Contact lenses!’

Juha looked around searching for his contact lenses. He wanted to show Taeri his complete transformation with a “ta-da” the moment he got out of the taxi.

After poking his eyeballs several times with his fingertips and finally putting in his contact lenses, Juha suddenly remembered his sister lying defenseless in the living room.

“Hey, hey, Lee Yunha!”

Juha rushed out of his room frantically and shouted.

Yunha was in the living room with the TV on, fiddling with her phone. The malatang she had barely touched had long since gone into the refrigerator.

“Why are you suddenly making such a fuss?”

Yunha looked at Juha with a puzzled expression. Feeling like he had made too much of a commotion, Juha suddenly felt embarrassed.

“Ah, well, um…… a friend is coming over.”

“Now? A friend? Who? Where do you have a friend to invite at this hour?”

“Taeri……”

Juha muttered like he was talking to himself.

“What? Choi Taeri?”

Yunha suddenly jumped up from the sofa. At such a passionate reaction, Juha felt unnecessarily embarrassed.

“I’m going to go meet him, so clean up the house or something.”

Juha awkwardly threw out the words and went outside.

* * *

“Driver, please go to XX district OO apartment.”

After telling the taxi driver to change the destination, Taeri looked at his disconnected phone and chuckled.

‘He’s really a surprisingly caring oppa.’

Just when he was feeling disappointed wondering if there was some important reason he couldn’t come out, the reason that came from Lee Juha’s mouth was that he couldn’t leave his sister alone at home. It was an emotion that Taeri, an only child, had never experienced.

After being abandoned by his father in front of his grandfather’s house and being mocked by relatives, Taeri had walked down the drizzling Bukhansan road for a long time. Setting aside the fear of walking on a dark, rainy mountain slope road at night, his heart was too disturbed. He couldn’t even remember the broadcast he was supposed to watch with Juha.

He thought about Lee Juha a lot, but he didn’t want to let him know about this miserable feeling. He wanted to always be an okay person in front of Juha. Just like Juha was that kind of person to him.

After walking for a long time and finally catching a taxi, when Taeri’s heart had settled somewhat, a call came from Lee Juha.

After hanging up, he checked and saw there were quite a few missed calls from Juha. He had forgotten that he had his phone on vibrate since leaving his grandfather’s house, and had been walking while soothing his troubled heart, so he didn’t know the calls had come.

‘Lee Juha’s house……’

He had only ever gone to the entrance of the apartment or playground where Juha lived. Thinking about going inside the house where Juha lived, Taeri felt excited for no reason.

Taeri’s gaze suddenly turned toward the window. The rain that had been drizzling while he walked the mountain path had stopped. The feeling was really strange. Until just now he felt like he was hanging alone on the edge of a cliff, but thinking about going to see Lee Juha made everything okay.

If he could be with someone like this whenever things got tough, competitions and debuts wouldn’t be scary.

Breaking the silence, Taeri’s phone rang.

“Yes.”

It was Taeri’s mother, Ji Inhui.

-Did you go home?

“I’m going now.”

‘She’s asking pretty quickly.’ Taeri answered calmly while smiling bitterly inside.

-Did you get rained on?

“Just a little. You don’t need to worry.”

-Mom will talk to Dad properly. Don’t be hurt.

“You don’t need to do that.”

Taeri spoke mechanically. He really was okay. He just wished his story wouldn’t come up between the two of them.