With one day left before the stage, we discussed the team name.
All kinds of bizarre names came flying out, from “Smash the Universe” to “One Plus One Is Two” to “Real Men With No Brakes.” Their naming sense made it painfully obvious they had never made it as idols. They got all excited among themselves, and there was no end in sight.
Lee Sehan wore himself out trying to mediate from the middle. That bastard could just decide the team name himself, so why was he keeping his mouth shut at times like this?
It was already past ten at night.
At this rate, they were still going to be doing this bullshit after lights-out.
I was exhausted.
I watched that mess for a while, then tossed out a line like it was nothing.
“Love Survival. Why don’t we go with that?”
“What? Where did that come from?”
“It’s good. Perfect for a survival competition.”
“Good, my ass. Hey, isn’t that another Full Moon Angel OST or whatever?”
The old-looking bastard sneered.
I answered calmly.
“It is.”
“Why the fuck would we use some animation OST as our team name?”
“What is someone less famous than that animation OST talking about?”
I said it without bothering to hold back my laugh.
Seriously, what kind of bullshit was that?
What was some nobody less famous than a Full Moon Angel OST running his mouth for?
The more I thought about it, the funnier it was, so my face twisted as I choked on laughter.
A bastard less famous than an animation OST.
Fuck, that was hilarious.
I burst out laughing.
After I had been laughing my ass off for a while, the old-looking bastard spoke in a stunned voice.
“Just make it Love Survival…. Fuck, he’s so insane I can’t even get mad.”
“I’ve never seen Yuha laugh like that before.”
“Me neither, so why does it feel so fucking awful?”
“Well, uh…… hang in there, man.”
“Then we’re done, right? I’m leaving.”
I cut off my laughter and got up.
I should have pushed for Love Survival ages ago.
We had wasted time for nothing.
Still, thanks to my overflowing sense, it ended around here, so that was a relief.
As I walked away, proud of my own excellence, I faintly heard the old-looking bastard huffing and yelling behind me.
That psycho bastard, is he actually fucking insane?!
Looks like that bastard’s inferiority complex exploded again.
I walked on without pretending to hear him.
Behind me, the old-looking bastard was shrieking like a lunatic, and then “a bastard less famous than an animation OST” came to mind again, so I stopped mid-step and swallowed a laugh.
One thing was certain.
Even after this program ended, there would be more than enough bastards less famous than an animation OST.
*****
The dorm was empty when I came back after washing up.
Since the stage was tomorrow, it looked like everyone planned to practice all night.
Perfect.
I had been sick of beating Kang Yejun’s ass every dawn when he started his sleep-talking bullshit anyway, so at least I could sleep comfortably tonight.
I turned off the light and lay down on the bed.
Since I had not slept properly lately, exhaustion poured over me.
I was just about to fall asleep.
“Huh? What? You came back early for once?”
The door opened, and that fucking bastard Kang Yejun came in.
I got pissed off, sat up, and threw the alarm clock at him.
The bastard, quick only at times like this, dodged in a flash, then had the nerve to get mad at me for throwing it.
“You son of a bitch, don’t you know it’s basic manners to be quiet when someone’s sleeping?”
“I didn’t know. I thought you were…….”
“Are your eyes defective? I’m lying in bed with my eyes closed, so what didn’t you know?”
“I mean, people can make mistakes! I said I’m really fucking sorry…!”
“Why is a son of a bitch talking like he’s human? Are you asking me to put a muzzle on you?”
“No, no……! I’ll shut up, so please don’t say stuff like that. When you say it, Park Yuha, it’s scary because it sounds like you’d really do it…….”
I stopped listening halfway through and lay back down, turning toward the wall.
The second I thought, If that bastard barks again, I’ll shove a rag in his mouth, the son of a bitch spoke to me.
“But did you see the video…?”
“Hold on. Let me get a rag.”
“Why a rag? I have a towel. You want to use that?”
“Yeah. Shove it in your mouth for me.”
“Seriously, just listen to me…….”
“What? You want me to rip your mouth open?”
Maybe because he was a dog, communication was fucking impossible.
Why was he making such a fuss when I was trying to sleep?
Still, maybe he had a conscience, since he was asking me to rip his mouth open.
I sat up in bed and cracked my fingers.
Kang Yejun hurriedly shoved his phone at me.
What the hell was this?
The video showed me singing “Eternal Snowman.”
Kang Yejun, watching my reaction, sat down beside me and scrolled down on the phone screen.
There were quite a few comments under the video.
“Wait, what is this. Eternal Snowman?????”
“Has a male idol ever sung this before? Why is he so good;;;”
“Huh? Seven Days? There was an idol group like this?”
Under that comment was a reply.
“Yeah, I looked them up and they seem like hopeless flops.”
“Yeah, I looked them up and they seem like hopeless flops.”
Kang Yejun’s scrolling finger stopped, and he started running his mouth.
“You didn’t know, right? It kept going around on social media, and the reactions have been getting bigger. What do you call this? Can you call this climbing back up the charts too? Anyway, the reaction right now is no joke!”
“What reaction.”
“What do you mean, what reaction? This is fucking great! Thanks to this video, the stage the three of us did is getting a ton more views too. I never thought I’d live to benefit from you, Park Yuha…… Seriously, you really do live and learn.”
As he said that, Kang Yejun gloomily pretended to stroke the comment that said, “Yeah, I looked them up and they seem like hopeless flops.”
I snatched the phone out of his hand.
Kang Yejun started squawking about what the hell I was doing, so I grabbed his head and shoved him hard.
Kang Yejun sprawled onto the floor with a groan.
For all the fuss he made like the attention whore he was, there were not that many comments.
The view count was not that high either.
The producer bastard said he would only air what was absolutely necessary, but I guess he could not cut this out.
Well, as long as I behaved quietly from here on, nothing much would happen.
I scrolled through the comments on the stage video the members had put together, but there was nothing special.
They were all things I had heard before.
—LMAOOOOO you call that dancing? My Bixby could dance better than that lolololol
—He’s trying so hard LMAOOOOOO
—Yuha... can I lick your sweat.... haah....
└I’m the one licking it, actually
└Why the fuck would you lick it? Are you insane?
└Fuck you right back
—He sings well, so why is his dancing like that, seriously LMAOOOOOO I was drowning in feelings after Eternal Snowman and then this completely shattered the mood lololololol
—??? Kang Yejun? Isn’t he Kang Yeoil from Seohan Middle School?
└Kang Yeoil? Wait, that guy?
└Yeah, I think that’s him
Now, this was something I had not heard before.
As I checked the comments, I smiled crookedly.
Park Yuhyeon worked fucking fast.
He was already trying to blow this up.
Oblivious as ever, Kang Yejun squawked again for me to give him his phone back, so I threw it straight onto the floor.
There was a sharp crack, and the phone screen shattered.
That bastard Kang Yejun made a whole scene trying to turn the phone back on, but it would not start.
Kang Yejun looked up at me with tearful eyes, like I was human garbage.
I gave him a refreshing smile.
Burning with rage over his smashed phone, Kang Yejun stayed up the entire night.
Thanks to that, I did not have to hear his shitty sleep-talking and slept very comfortably.
It was a decent day for once.
*****
Stage day came.
Team A, the other team assigned Muscle Girls’ “I’m So Hot,” went on stage first.
We, Team B, stood waiting in the darkness below the stage.
I glanced around at my teammates.
Their heavily made-up faces were openly tense.
The old-looking bastard was even clasping both hands together and mumbling some kind of prayer.
That bastard really was empty-headed.
Who would listen to a prayer from a bastard wrapped head to toe in an inferiority complex like that?
Maybe if it were someone like me.
I stopped paying attention to him and turned toward the stage.
It definitely felt “cunty diva.”
Since they had half-assed the arrangement and kept the choreography close to the original, the smell of cunty diva was overpowering.
The team name was also fucking terrible.
What kind of name was Plot Twist Drama?
The concept had no twist whatsoever. It was just cunty diva.
With such an obvious concept, the audience reaction was lukewarm at best.
The red-haired guy gave a last desperate struggle, shouting, “Ayo! Put your hands up!” in a way that did not suit him at all, and even the tiny handful of people awkwardly cheering lowered the placards they had been waving.
The oil-slick bastard, who was serving as MC, carried out a brief interview with Team A.
Soon, it was our turn.
I looked back at Lee Sehan.
Even though this was his first stage, that bastard did not seem nervous at all.
If anything, he looked drowsy.
I watched him quietly for a moment, then waved a hand in front of Lee Sehan’s dazed face.
Only then did Lee Sehan snap back to his senses and ask blankly, “Huh? What is it?”
I pointed at the stage with my eyes.
At the same time, the oil-slick bastard called our team.
“Team B! This is Love Survival’s stage!”
On the darkened stage, the trainee bastards busily took their positions.
I stood in the center and gripped the stand microphone.
The drumbeat of the intro began to play.
I closed my eyes and drew in a breath.
In that hushed space, a low voice rang out deeply.
You’re so hot—
You’re so attractive—
The light at the very center snapped on with a sharp sound.
I tapped my foot, opened my eyes, and smiled.
After locking eyes with one dazed audience member, I slipped back into the rear formation.
The cheers exploded at once.
I did every desperate thing I could do with my body, gripping the stand microphone, leaning into it, and then retreated to the back of the stage.
As if taking the baton from me, the five members who had been hidden moved forward and danced.
The tempo sped up and struck the eardrums.
Beside me, the old-looking bastard’s gaze was pinned to the stage as he hummed along to the beat.
That was a face that really looked like an “idol.”
Even while catching his rough breath, he was smiling.
When Lee Sehan screamed the high note, a near-scream of cheers ripped through the room.
I watched the sight expressionlessly, then stepped forward at the right timing.
Less than a minute after the ten of us filled the cramped stage, the song ended.
We caught our breath and stood in a line.
The bursting cheers did not feel real.
I looked over the placards the audience was waving.
Lee Sehan had a lot of fans.
From “Genius Lee Sehan, walk only on flower paths” to “Sehan, debut,” the place was full of fans cheering him on.
Well, if he was going to pull all those dirty tricks and ruin a person just to debut, he should have at least this much popularity.
Here and there, I saw placards with my name on them too.
Huh?
What the hell was that?
Among the ordinary audience members, there was one lunatic.
I narrowed my eyes.
A man with a cloth tied around his forehead that said “Eternal Park Yuha” was waving a placard that read, “To me, joy is Yuha’s debut coming into focus.”
What the hell was that dumb bastard?
Eternal Snowman?
It had gotten some views, sure, but was it enough to hook a bastard like that?
The way he was even wearing a black mask made him look exactly like some bastard who had come determined to kidnap me.
But those eyes looked familiar.
Who was that?
As I searched my memory, the oil-slick bastard spoke to me.
“I heard Yuha named the team?”
Every single teammate bastard stiffened and looked at me.
Shin Giyoung was glaring at me through clenched teeth, apparently unhappy that I was getting attention.
That bastard really was consistent.
Two days ago, he had been throwing a fit, saying the old-looking bastard definitely liked me.
It was not even a difficult question, but everyone was making a fuss.
Even that bastard Lee Sehan looked at me restlessly.
When I smiled at Lee Sehan playfully, his face stiffened.
I looked away from him and answered that I had.
“Love Survival. Isn’t that a Full Moon Angel OST? Was there any special reason you chose an animation OST as the team name?”
“It’s more famous than me.”
“Pardon?”
“Yes.”
I said it as gently as possible, and the oil-slick bastard gestured for me to say more.
What more was there to say?
I looked at him with an innocent face that said, That’s the end of it.
The oil-slick bastard’s face, which had turned rotten for a second, answered uncomfortably.
“Ah, yes…. You must really like Full Moon Angel. You sang Eternal Snowman last time too.”
Strangely enough, the audience screamed at that part.
And through the noise, some man screamed, “Yuha!!! I love you!!!!”
It was a voice I could not fail to recognize.
Thinking, no way, I turned my head.
The kidnapper bastard who had pulled down his mask was…
Fuck.
It really was Cha Seokhyeon.
Why the hell was that bastard here?
I pretended not to know Cha Seokhyeon and handed the microphone to the old-looking bastard beside me.
The old-looking bastard, who had taken the microphone in confusion, added some random comment about the team name, but apparently it was time to leave, because the oil-slick bastard ended the interview.
I left the stage without even looking toward that dumb bastard Cha Seokhyeon, who was screaming my name like he was having a seizure.