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Chapter 25: Survival Show - Cover Song (10)

"Huh?"

We had no choice but to be bewildered upon seeing the set on the stage.

"Standing mics?"

"Really?"

Our upper bodies automatically leaned forward toward the screen.

"Oh, the arrangement..."

Joo-Han was the next one to express his confusion as the intro played. The camera captured our genuine reactions. A standing mic setup for “Goblin,” a track known for its dance focus? It was unexpected.

Moreover, they had transformed the song into a soft jazz style, a stark contrast to its original intense choreography and fierce beat. It felt like they had altered the very identity of the song.

However, at the same time, a slight sense of anticipation started to rise inside of us.

"Wow, this is actually good!"

"Who made this arrangement? I don\'t know who it is, but this is no joke."

As soon as the first verse started, Joo-Han expressed his admiration. All the trainees, including me and the other group, were impressed by Air Senior\'s vocal abilities. Honestly, putting competitiveness and annoyance aside, this version of “Goblin” was impressive.

Of course, the backing track of the song had completely changed except for the bass, but the lyrics and melody were the same. They managed to preserve the feel of the original song even after changing it to jazz.

"Wow, this is so good."

Air Senior, known more for their vocal prowess than their performance skills, truly shone at this moment. Their vocal abilities were top-notch, arguably the best among all the groups that had performed. However, a thought crossed my mind.

‘Going on Pick We Up with this strategy?’

Shows like 100-Year Masterpieces

or The Voice, which prioritized skill, differed significantly from Pick We Up. No matter how impressive the vocal performance was, it was probably not enough to garner a strong fan base.

This competition was about attracting fans and becoming an influential group. While Air Senior’s rendition of “Goblin” and their skills were undeniably impressive, it lacked the entertainment value that appealed to a younger demographic.

As the evidence...

[39,487]

The streaming numbers dropped. Following the director\'s instructions, Reina commented, "What\'s happening with Air Senior? The number of streaming viewers has dropped by about four thousand."

This was how people started to lose interest in their performance, which was not entertaining to watch, and began to leave.

Air Senior was a group with outstanding vocal skills from True Entertainment. What True Entertainment misjudged, however, was what the viewers of this program desired.

While the studio appeared calm and appreciative of Air Senior\'s performance from the camera’s perspective, the broadcasting staff outside the studio grew noticeably restless.

The streaming numbers weren\'t the only thing dropping. The audience\'s engagement with the live performance was waning as well. It slowly became clear that Air Senior was at a greater disadvantage than us, even though they performed last, and we had opened the show.

Despite overtaking other groups and taking the last slot, they were relatively bland and boring. Hence, the viewers who had seen the performances of the groups they wanted to see were gradually leaving, waiting for the voting on the official website to open. Even some Allure fans were outraged, claiming that “Goblin” had been misrepresented.

As a result, Air Senior found themselves even more neglected. Fortunately, this was the first competition, so there were no eliminations. Nevertheless, regardless of personal grievances, it was disheartening to witness any performance receive such indifference, especially as a fellow artist. Amidst a mix of tumult and tranquility, Air Senior concluded their performance.

All the groups gathered again in the studio. Following that, Reina resumed her position as the main host, and the cameras started rolling once again.

“Thank you all for your hard work. I hope you get satisfactory results after practicing so much over the week.” While Reina calmly continued with the hosting, a VJ who rushed into the studio gave the OK sign. Reina then slightly nodded and flipped one cue card.

“The streaming viewer vote and audience vote have just ended. Shall we check the results?”

The group names were listed on the screen, and the numbers beside the names were rapidly changing. Watching this, I felt a choking sense of tension. If the voting had been conducted right after the performance, it wouldn’t have been this nerve-wracking.

‘At least we performed well on stage.’

I was confident that we would get a good score in terms of performance points. However, this was the viewers’ impartial voting. Moreover, all the groups that performed after Chronos undeniably showcased great talent.

Street Center delivered a performance as grand as a musical, while High Tension, with a concept similar to ours, demonstrated significant power and impact. Amidst a few other formidable groups, our impact could have been slightly diminished.

“The fifth place goes to Ash Black, and fourth place is claimed by True By-.”

Reina left only the last and first place to be decided. Until now, our group’s name had not been called yet, so my hands got clammy, and I tightly grabbed my chair.

“The third place is awarded to... High Tension.”

A murmur of surprise spread through the studio upon the announcement of High Tension securing the third place.

‘What? High Tension in third? With their massive fan base, they were expected to be first, or at least second!’

“Second place goes to-.”

I bit my lip. Second place would have been an acceptable result. I would have been content with that.

“Street Center.”

‘...Wait a minute.’

“Shall we reveal the highly anticipated first and sixth places? The first place is!”

The room fell silent, and my breathing became shallow. We had put in the effort, and I believed our performance had been strong. Now, only the first and sixth places remained. The idea of us landing in sixth place felt unbearable. A shiver ran up my spine as I tightened my grip on the chair.

“If they\'re going to reveal it after a commercial break, I am going to storm out.”

So, the first place was...

“Chronos, congratulations!” Along with Reina’s energetic voice, the ending jingle of Pick We Up played. My hands, which had been tightly clenched around the chair, finally relaxed.

“...Huh? What! Us? Us! Wow!” Suddenly, my group members erupted into joyous chaos, standing up and forming a celebratory dance circle.

“Wow, us! We actually got first place!”

“Wow... Wow...!”

We had been sitting powerlessly before this, but we soon got up and embraced each other, celebrating together. Park Yoon-Chan was crying, but the audience didn\'t seem to have noticed as we were dancing in a circle, hugging each other.

“Air Senior also did well, but maybe the impact on the audience was just slightly lacking this time. Hmm, but it was really good. Who did the arrangement? Every one of us was amazed,” said Reina as she consoled Air Senior. Following the director\'s gesture to calm down and sit down, we slowly returned to our seats, and Reina smiled brightly.

“Congratulations, Chronos. I didn’t know you had this kind of reversal charm[1]. I am just saying this now, but the streaming numbers were no joke during Chronos’s turn.”

“Th...thank you.”

Reina briefly said her impressions and then returned to her seat.

“The released video clips on the official website will soon be tallied for views and votes. The scores will be included in the next competition, so please keep that in mind. Everyone has worked hard today. It’s time to see future K-POP stars all in one place! Pick We Up will continue next week!”

“...Cut! Great work everyone!”

“Good job, everyone! Great work, kids!” said Reina.

After the director\'s cut sign, Reina quickly left due to her tight schedule. Likewise, surrounded by their respective staff, each group prepared to leave while receiving either words of congratulations or consolation.

The atmosphere among the groups was a mix of emotions. Some groups were moderately content with their rankings, while others were disheartened for scoring lower than they had hoped. Air Senior, on the other hand, stood in quiet contemplation, seemingly at a loss for words.

"My Chronos! I\'m so proud of you! First place... You guys are truly talented! Fantastic! Tonight, we feast on beef! Let’s go!"

Observing the scene, I quickly exited the studio. If Air Senior’s intention was to ruthlessly outperform others without playing fair, they should have put in more effort and researched more. They reminded me of my former self, harboring thoughts like “Everything will be alright as long as I stick to what I excel at.”

However, without understanding the show they were participating in and without any strategy, they couldn’t expect anyone to empathize with their disappointing results.

***

Thanks to the CEO for authorizing the use of the company card, we joyfully celebrated our first-place victory at the dinner party, indulging in a hearty feast of beef before returning to the dormitory.

Once we had all freshened up and gathered in the living room, we found that the performances of each group had been uploaded to the UNET’s official website. Each video clip included a view counter and a section for comments and voting.

The manager, my group members, and I all registered to vote. Lee Jin-Sung and leader Joo-Han obsessively refreshed the page every minute, while the other members chatted with their families or took the time to unwind and recover from the accumulated fatigue.

Yoo-Joon and I simply lay motionless on our bed, and Park Yoon-Chan, who seemed somewhat out of sorts since the dinner party, had retreated to his room.

We had done everything we could. From here on out, it was up to luck and the fans, so we decided not to expect anything at all, especially since there were very few fans at the performance.

"Ah! Why are we still in third place? We are not going to end up in third place, are we?" I heard Lee Jin-Sung\'s frustrated voice from Joo-Han\'s room across the hall. If I had to guess, High Tension probably received a flood of votes from the beginning, and Street Center might be in second place. For me, being in third place was still pretty good.

"Ha, seriously. No matter how many times I look at it, our opening was amazing," said Yoo-Joon.

"Are you watching it again? I can\'t bear to watch it more than once because my facial expressions are so cringy."

Regardless of what I said, Yoo-Joon rewound the video and watched it again. Compared to Allure, we looked so much like rookies that I ended up just staring at the monitor and lost interest entirely.

"But the stage performance was fun. We will be performing for the next competition too, right?" I asked.

Yoo-Joon grimaced at my question. "As soon as I stepped on stage, my heart was pounding so much that I thought I was going to die, ugh..."

Hearing this, I slightly shivered. After a while, I closed my eyes as I saw Yoo-Joon putting his earphones back in. We had been practicing without proper sleep for the whole week. Did we even get a proper two hours of sleep a day?

We had pushed ourselves to the limit, losing weight as a group. Hence, as soon as we let our guard down, fatigue overwhelmed us.

Then, after getting some much-needed rest, the next morning arrived.

"Wow! Hyung! We are in second place!"

I realized something unexpected had happened in the voting when I heard Lee Jin-Sung\'s loud voice.

1. Reverse cutie and reverse charm is a direct translation of ?? ??? and ?? ??. ?? (banjeon) means reverse, but it is more commonly used to describe something unexpected.

For example, a plot twist in Korean is called ??. ?