Chapter 74
Dadam Entertainment.
It wasn’t first-tier, but it was a decent place on the level of Serona. The problem was that it was just that level.
“First, I’m grateful for the offer, but this isn’t something I can decide easily, so I think I’ll need a bit more time.”
-You must be busy preparing for tomorrow’s filming, right? If you leave your email address at this number, I’ll send you the contract, so please take a look. It’ll probably be good conditions compared to other places.
“Yes. I understand.”
As soon as he hung up, Juha felt like he was possessed by something.
‘How did they know my number? Did it leak from Serona?’
Well, people working in entertainment companies are all connected, so if they put their mind to it, they could secretly obtain a trainee’s number. It could easily leak among the “My Idol” production staff too, so it wasn’t surprising.
Before he could even process the content of the call, the phone rang again.
-Hello, this is Inteam Entertainment…
-Hello, this is Leaf Entertainment…
The phone rang like crazy, and in an instant, casting offers came in from a whopping five companies.
‘What on earth is happening…’
Juha couldn’t believe it even after taking the calls.
The reason for the casting offers pouring in to an extent that even Juha found hard to believe was clearly because of yesterday’s broadcast. The flower boy had definitely left an impact. Juha’s presence on stage was particularly strong in the first and second competitions, so they saw his marketability. Juha was dazed throughout all the phone calls. They were all companies he’d heard of at least once, and their attitude on the phone was polite as if they were courting someone precious. It hadn’t even been a year since he was kicked out for lacking talent, but the situation had completely reversed.
For now, he received emails about preliminary contracts and future activity plans from each company and organized them all neatly. He needed to visit the companies and meet with managers and CEOs for interviews, but with filming tomorrow, time was too tight. And once he signed a contract, he’d have to work together for several years, so he couldn’t decide rashly.
Opening the documents they sent one by one, Juha felt overwhelmed for no reason. It was encouraging that so many places besides Serona wanted him.
‘It would have been nice if Fandom had contacted me too.’
Until just a while ago, he was worried that no one would want him, but after receiving all those calls, he became a bit more greedy. Of course, he was still displeased about making Taeri write an apology letter before, and the CEO directly pressuring for first place.
If he joined the same agency as Taeri, they’d have more time to work together professionally. But hoping for casting from Fandom, the top domestic agency, was still beyond his wildest dreams.
‘I’m not at that level yet.’
Juha thought about it and then gave up. No matter how well he’d performed, a major company wouldn’t easily extend their hand to someone ranked 15th who hadn’t even confirmed their debut yet.
‘I need to prepare well for tomorrow’s training camp first.’
Juha cleared his complicated thoughts while packing. His mother slipped into his room and watched Juha’s expression while pretending to bring him juice. She must have heard the entire conversation between Juha and Jung Changseon from the main room, so her eyes were full of worry.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry.”
Juha reassured his mother as if he understood her feelings.
“…You did well.”
His mother looked at Juha with touching eyes. Juha stopped closing his suitcase zipper and suddenly looked at his mother.
Since she had entrusted her son to Jung Changseon for six years, his mother knew him well too. Even though he’d become an adult, Juha was still only twenty. His mother worried that her endlessly young son might fall for Jung Changseon’s tricks again, but Juha refused more boldly and decisively than expected.
His mother’s feelings of being both proud and sad that he seemed all grown up showed clearly on her face.
“I’ll do well. Don’t worry.”
At Juha’s words, his mother nodded with a sad smile of unknown meaning.
After the war ended, Juha had dinner, watched TV while bickering with Lee Yunha, then had a long phone conversation with Taeri. Taeri complained that he was tired because he didn’t sleep much last night lying in the room chatting with Juha, and then got tormented at the company all day today. Eventually, after 11 PM, Taeri’s voice started getting hoarse, and Juha barely coaxed Taeri to sleep despite his insistence on staying up to hear more of his voice.
After organizing this and that, when Juha lay down on his bed, it was already close to midnight.
‘They said streaming scores are included until midnight today.’
Since Jung Changseon left, Juha hadn’t looked at the Watermelon Chart at all. He felt like if he looked at the rankings, the faces of the Metabolic members would keep coming to mind. But now, for tomorrow’s ranking announcement, it was time to check the chart.
Juha waited a few more minutes and entered the Watermelon Chart exactly at 00:00.
First place was Delpino’s “Peppermint Girl,” and second place was Metabolic’s “Butterfly Dream.”
‘Of course.’
As the fans said, “Peppermint Girl” had the support of Delpino fans who were the original singers, so it couldn’t be compared to just Metabolic. Metabolic briefly took first place, but there was no way Delpino fans would just sit and watch that happen.
‘Still, second place isn’t bad.’
Juha smiled bitterly and looked up and down the chart. There were one or two more songs from other teams in the top 10. The ripple effect of “My Idol” was definitely tremendous. True to the reverse mission name, it pulled songs that couldn’t even enter the top 50 into the top 10 in one go.
It was rather surprising that Metabolic had maintained second place until now. It was proof that the unity of Yoo Youngin, Na Junho, Seo Eunwon, and Lee Juha fans was excellent enough to chase right up to the heels of Delpino and Choi Taeri fans through hard carrying.
Now the music rankings temporarily rose for streaming scores, but maintaining the buzz was up to each original group. Juha felt strange wondering what kind of path Metabolic would take after the “My Idol” boost ended.
‘Everyone’s talented, so they’ll do well.’
Juha had good expectations for Metabolic, like blessing a past lover. They were members who had shared dreams together through thick and thin for at least several months to years, and they were closer than anyone. Now that he’d forgotten the past, Juha felt like he could finally cheer for them.
Just as he was about to sleep, thinking that his phone would be confiscated once the training camp started tomorrow, Juha sneaked into the bulletin board to see fan reactions.
The first post immediately caught Juha’s eye.
[Metabolic should bow to Lee Juha.]
‘They made a 52nd place nobody on Watermelon Chart breathe the air above
They should be overwhelmingly grateful.
Bow to Lee Juha. Bow twice.’
â””Bow twice lol
â””No lol Why are you killing Juha.
â””But Juha should also bow to Metabolic. Not joining them was a stroke of genius.
└└Juha is someone who will become bigger.
With a dry laugh, Juha read a few more posts and put down his phone. Most were about clean voting. Just one day after posting on “Juha’s Place,” most of the fan club declared “clean voting.” Even Choi Taeri’s fan club “Teri Us” eventually gave in to the pressure. It was a tremendous achievement for a 15th place fan club to have pushed this through. Regarding the ‘Y trainee,’ most seemed convinced it was Yoo Youngin, but “Young Inside of You” also suddenly joined the clean voting movement and pretended not to know. As Yunha said, the operator of “Juha’s Place” seemed extraordinary.
Pulling the blanket up to his neck and closing his eyes, various thoughts came flooding in. His head was jumbled with Jung Changseon he saw earlier, past memories, and the present.
‘I pray that you step only on pretty flowers with every step you take, and that beautiful fragrance remains on the path you’ve walked.’
Cutting through his complicated feelings, the phrase from the announcement posted on “Juha’s Place” was clearly etched in his mind. He really wanted to do well. He didn’t want to disappoint them. He wanted to become someone they could be proud of. For that, tomorrow’s announced ranking was important.
“Haah…”
Thinking about the ranking to be announced, Juha sighed again. During the last first competition ranking announcement, he had unnecessary expectations and only got 15th place. Last time it happened because of strategic voting, but there was no guarantee nothing would happen this time.
Since nearly 40 people were eliminated in the first round, at least ten or more would be eliminated in the second round. The moment he imagined his face there, Juha shuddered.
‘But why did they tell everyone who’s going to be eliminated to pack their bags too?’
Juha wondered as he tossed and turned in bed.
After tomorrow’s ranking announcement, they’d immediately enter the training camp, so trainees had to pack their bags. But surely the eliminated contestants wouldn’t do the training camp and would have to go straight home, so he couldn’t understand why they were told to pack bags.
* * *
By now he should be used to it, but the first day of training camp always felt strange. Today’s meeting place was the annex hall of Gnet where they held the second stage competition. The schedule was to have the ranking announcement and mission filming here, then move to the training camp in the afternoon.
After his mother’s car disappeared, Juha dragged his suitcase and entered the familiar hall entrance. Thanks to his diligent mother, he had hurried and arrived when only half the participants had arrived yet. One by one, tension was written on the faces of the entering trainees.
Looking at the trainees from afar like this, Juha always had the same thought.
No one here doesn’t want to debut.
The other trainees felt the same way Juha did so desperately. Thinking that the boy walking over there dragging a suitcase as big as himself must have cried from thirst for his dreams made his heart solemn.
That said, he had no intention of giving up his spot, so he could only be faithful to the given missions.
Entering inside, he saw production staff doing attendance registration.
“Team 1, Lee Juha.”
“Yes.”
“Your hair color is pretty.”
“Thank you.”
At a staff member’s compliment, Juha greeted awkwardly. Come to think of it, everyone was glancing at Juha’s changed hair and showing interest.
The production staff attached large name tags to suitcase handles and gathered the luggage in one area. There were over forty pieces, but the production staff neatly divided the luggage by team.
The place the trainees were guided to was on top of the stage where they held the second competition. On competition day, both the stage and audience seats seemed quite spacious, but the brightly lit stage was just an ordinary small space.
The sight of trainees greeting each other here and there was as heartwarming as classmates meeting after vacation, but still couldn’t relax the tension.
“Hyung, hyung, hyung! Wow, hyung’s hair is totally amazing!”
Eunwon and Chaemyeong ran over as soon as they saw Juha. Behind them, Yoo Youngin approached while looking at distant mountains.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah yeah! Hyung, your hair is really pretty! It goes so well with your eye color!”
“Wow, hyung looks like a completely different person! Your features really come alive, don’t they?”
The two scanned Juha’s hair repeatedly with sparkling eyes.
“Well, not to that extent.”
Juha scratched his neck awkwardly, embarrassed in front of the young kids. Even after conquering the flower boy concept, Juha was still shy about compliments on his appearance.
“Oh right, hyung, did you see we got first place?”
Eunwon asked Juha with sparkling eyes.
“We got pushed back though.”
Juha answered with a gentle smile. Eunwon had been focused on the Watermelon Chart since before the broadcast started, so he must have checked the chart by time period.
The stage, streaming results, and voting were all over, so now only the results remained. Since the second competition wasn’t over yet, everyone was gathered with their team members. When Taeri entered the stage, Andrew Son ran to him as if he’d been waiting.
‘See you later.’
Taeri made eye contact with Juha and spoke with lip movements along with an eye greeting, then quickly disappeared.
‘He’s gotten really close with Andrew.’
Taeri was jealous that Juha got close with Na Junho, but actually, Juha was overflowing with jealousy. On days off, he was invariably a lovely boyfriend with a good body, but when he saw Taeri surrounded by people like that, Juha still felt the distance between him and Taeri.
Na Junho tapped Juha’s shoulder as if he’d been waiting.
“Did you rest well?”
“Ah, mmm. When did you arrive?”
“Hyung hyung, did you see we got first place?”
While Juha answered awkwardly, Eunwon bounced over like a lively rabbit and acted cute toward Junho too.
“Yeah. I saw.”
“Hyung, did you practice?”
Juha casually asked Na Junho. It was because of anxiety that he felt like he might be the only one who didn’t practice.
“It gets frustrating if you just rest, so I just loosened up my body.”
Junho said while rotating his shoulders. Youngin was somehow timing an approach toward Na Junho, Jo Munseok was watching Youngin’s mood next to him, and just as Jang Chaemyeong was walking briskly toward them, the hall was organized.
The cameras turned on, and soon, the four masters entered their seats prepared in the middle of the audience.
The tension before the ranking announcement instantly dominated the stage.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
