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Chapter 25

“Gugak?” Do-Seung tilted his head. It seemed it wasn’t something he had ever thought about. Yet, through my Insight ability just now, I was certain that we wouldn’t be able to come up with a better idea than that. Truthfully, it was bothersome for me to change the direction of our performance like this too since I already had an idea in mind centered around the ‘melancholy blue’ concept. Originally, I was planning to reference a movie, and I had already chosen a sentimental and artistic European movie for it.

‘But this idea is better.’ A song using gugak could create a better story.

“Hm, gugak?” Do-Seung stared piercingly at the music composition software and pondered. I waited for his response for a bit and he asked, “Which instrument?”

I liked that he was giving me a positive response from the beginning, but the problem was that I wasn’t knowledgeable about instruments.

“You don’t have an instrument in mind?”

“Ah well, I just thought of gugak.” Since the Insight ability sporadically increased my senses, problems like this arose. Thus, I asked, “Is there a site with gugak samples or something?” Yet, I didn’t back down because I was confident that if we stuck to the idea I had in mind, we would succeed.

“I do remember that there are instrument samples on the National Gugak Center’s site ...” Do-Seung said and searched the internet. Then, he began to find each of the gugak instrument’s samples.

“This is the gayageum that everyone is familiar with,” Do-Seung explained. Then, I listened to each of the samples that Do-Seung turned on.

There were gayageum, geomungo, ajaeng, haegum[1], and some more. We continued listening to find a sound we liked, and the process didn’t take long because I had a good intuitive feeling about which sounds we needed to use or avoid.

“No, this isn’t it.”

“This is good,” I remarked and then said, “I think we are done deciding which string instruments to use. Let’s try to find instruments to use for our bass sound.”

After I picked a couple of sounds, Do-Seung seemed to get the general picture of what I was trying to make. “Ah, then, this sound will also go well with this,” he said and started to find instruments on his own and played it for me before I said anything.

Do-Seung seemed to really have a talent for composing if he was able to form an idea that I barely managed to envision with my Insight ability with just a couple of clues. And after Do-Seung got a general idea of what I was trying to do, he worked faster. Like that, Do-Seung and I sat right in front of the monitor and created a song together.

The song we were creating wasn’t an authentic gugak, and naturally, its basic structure was based on modern pop and had an idol-feeling to it. Yet, we would create a song that was infused deeply with the gugak genre. Like that, the first sample of our song was completed.

“This is crazy...” Do-Seung said in a low voice.

“I think it came out well.” I was also satisfied with the result since it was very similar to what I envisioned. We were about to finally present our song when I realized that the rest of our group members were sitting at the back with hollow eyes.

“...Are you guys done?”

“Urrrrgh.”

“Ah, my back is so stiff.”

It was then Do-Seung and I checked the time. About two hours passed since we began. I thought we took quite a bit of time to create this first sample and I expected it to be 30 minutes at most, not a couple of hours. Yeon-Hoon, Dong-Jun, and Woon had basically waited for us at the back without saying anything for approximately two hours.

“We didn’t even move because we didn’t want to break your concentration,” Yeon-Hoon said and yawned widely.

“I need to stretch my legs...” Dong-Jun staggered out of his position and stretched in strange yoga poses. It seemed their bodies felt stiff after sitting in a small space for a long time.

“Ahhhh!” Dong-Jun yelled like he was making a big roar and spread out his arms and legs.

“...I think I got a cramp in my legs.” Woon painfully rose from the mini sofa. He supported himself by clutching on the wall and rolling his ankles while arching his back.

“Ugggh...” The studio was filled with painted groans. I was planning to make them listen to the song right away but it seemed there needed to be some break time first. Thus, after the group members all stretched and loosened up their bodies, they officially got in the mode to listen. This song’s quality was one they wouldn’t be able to find after days of searching in SoundClown and fitted the concept of a ‘melancholy blue’ perfectly.

‘Moreover, it’s completely different from Sailing.’ We were going to do a drastically different concept from before.

“It’s good.”

“I like it.”

“It’s perfect.”

Yeon-Hoon, Woon, and Dong-Jun all agreed to the song choice.

“Let’s do our first official performance with this song,” I said and our song choice became fixed.

“By the way, what is the title of this song?” Yeon-Hoon asked.

“I didn’t really think of a title...” Do-Seung said and tilted his head while looking at me. It seemed he was passing over the responsibility of creating the song title to me. I replayed the melody we created again in my head and replied.

“What about Walya?” I pulled out the words that I had learned while trying to increase my vocabulary as a web novelist in my past life. The word meant a night with an especially bright moonlight. It was the word that sometimes came up when the daybreak felt especially bluish.

“Walya?”

“Oh.”

“It sounds cool.”

“It fits the song well too.”

My group members seemed to like the title of the song.

“Okay then, it’s decided. Our first-round performance’s song is ‘Walya’.”

Our preparation for the first-round performance and the second shooting progressed bit by bit like this.

***

While the casts of The Showcase 2 prepared for their first-round performance, the show’s preview was finally released to the public and drew in viewers. The Showcase 2’s preview wasn’t much different from other idol survival programs. It started it with a sob story and replayed memorable and emotional moments from The Showcase 1 in short clips. And while these videos played, cast members’ lines filled up the audio in the background.

—We were so, so desperate.

—We knew this was the last chance for us.

—Please, please

There was a scene of girl group members from the last season talking with tears in their eyes. Then, there were more scenes of them standing and sobbing on top of the big stage. For those who watched the last season, they would probably feel a stir in their hearts seeing these clips again. And at the end of all these clips, the screen turned black and the title, ‘The Showcase 2’ popped up with a heavy ‘dudun’ sound effect.

After the title, ‘First Chance’ also rolled down, the screen filled with girl group members became replaced by boy group members. Unlike the previous season, these people were much less known to the public.

—This is really our last opportunity.

—If this doesn’t work out for us, it will be all over.

—We will prove to everyone that we also deserve love and have the skills.

It was very similar to what the girl group members from season 1 said. And with this, viewers could easily get the sense that they would be able to expect the same tear-jerking moments in season 2. Then on, the video played cuts of various boy group members practicing. The camera zoomed into rough movements and did a slow motion for an idol collecting his breath in a corner at break time.

—Again! Again!

—Your feet don’t match!

—How are you going to stand on the stage like this!

There were scenes that showed conflict.

—It’s good.

—You can do it!

—Okay! Let’s do it one more time!

Then, there were scenes of members collaborating to fit their choreography.

—Get up!

—Hahaha!

—You are so sensitive~ Are you angry~

And there were also scenes of idols laughing and joking with one another. It was as if this video was trying to contain all the ups and downs of life. All scenes from the first-meeting performances were edited out to prevent spoilers and then finally came the catchphrase.

—2022.

—These groups are yet to see the lights. Come find the group for you.

As the screen turned black again, the show’s title passed.

—The Showcase 2 First Chance

And with a clicking sound, the preview came to an end. Though the preview was dramatic overall, it was very normal compared to other idol survival programs. The comments below the video also seemed to not receive the video so positively either.

—I feel seriously bad for the people in Wnet survival programs.

—I want programs like this to stop coming out...I’m not going to watch this and will stop anyone who tries to.

—I can already see that they are going to do so much evil editing looooool it’s so clear what they are going to do.

There were many negative comments about the preview, but there were also some contrasting opinions.

—I bet they are going to cause quite a stir and bring something new.

—Who is the guy crying in the video? Please, it’s urgent. I think I found my future husband.

—The more drama there is in a show, the more fun it is.

There were also some people who claimed that they had immunity to these sorts of self-harming shows after the recent swarm of idol survival programs. These people wrote that an idol show wasn’t truly one without having these kinds of dramas. Yet, among these responses, there was one topic that took up most of the comments.

—What? Isn’t that Select Your Idol, Kang Hyun-Sung?

—Hyun-Sung, nooooo

—#KangHyun-Sung_DropOutofOnlyOne Why won’t Hyun-Sung just go to a big company? He has all the qualifications: visuals and skills. What is he lacking that he is standing among these no-name idols?

—Gotta work hard in life—just like Kang Hyun-Sung who is coming out in another survival show after placing second place on Select Your Idol.

Most of the comments were asking why Kang Hyun-Sung was even in a show like this. They must have known that he was coming out in The Showcase 2 already because his application video was circulating around the internet and there were articles about it. But people were surprised yet again after seeing him in the official preview video. In this preview that was about 2 minutes long, Kang Hyun-Sung appeared for only about ten seconds but 90% of the comments were talking about him. The rest of the 10% was a variety of mockeries at the show and rarely, comments about the other four groups. But fortunately, among these rare comments, the group that was most talked about was Siren.

—Are these the guys who uploaded the same application video as Kang Hyun-Sung’s group?

—Siren? Didn’t they have some scandal?

Reply: They don’t have a scandal and just uploaded the same video as Only One at the same time. Please don’t misunderstand :(

—Aren’t they the copycat group?

Reply: They uploaded their video at the same time, you idiot. The fandom for Kang Hyun-Sung is as toxic as its idol.

Siren was still riding on the coattails of Kang Hyun-Sung’s fame. And thankfully, there were also comments talking about other things like Siren’s Woo Yeon-Hoon’s face.

—But who is that guy in the corner? I think he will become my bias.

Reply: His name is Woo Yeon-Hoon, the leader of Siren. Also, Siren didn’t copy Only One’s video :((((

—Who is that guy sitting in the corner again? I am going to choose him as my bias.

—He’s going to shake up the idol industry for sure with his visuals...

—Kang Hyun-Sung’s fans should stop going on about how their oppa is the visual of the new generation lol It’s clearly this guy

Reply: Woo Yeon-Hoon and Kang Hyun-Sung are the same age

Reply: Doesn’t that make it more of a problem?? One looks so much better than the other

Comments comparing Hyun-Sung and Woo Yeon-Hoon came up on social media sites and the community from time to time. But compared to the majority of the comments, it was still a small minority. Thus, the general response of the preview could be shortened briefly like this:

—#KangHyun-Sung_DropOutofOnlyOne

—Nooooo Kang Hyun-Sung

They were cries of pity that Kang Hyun-Sung was coming out in a program for no-name or doomed idols. Though many people said this and that, The Showcase 2 drew in more attention than the previous season. Simultaneously, the show began to recruit audiences to assess the first-round performances.

—Look, they are recruiting The Showcase 2’s audiences

—Oh, I’m going to see that oppa in the video

—? What’s with the evaluation method?

And the peculiar thing about it was that the evaluation method was different from previous idol programs.

—They are going to have a grading system—A, B, and C to rank the groups this time!

Reply: For each group? That’s so cruel

Reply: As expected of Wnet

Reply: Even Satan is going to think this is too much

In this first-round performance, the show’s cast members would have to suffer the two evils of idol survival programs at once: the ‘ranking system’ and the ‘voting system’.

1. All types of traditional Korean string instruments. ?