“Hyung, your eyes are spinning!”
I sneered at Lee Danbi’s exclamation.
I guess our little chick doesn’t know yet, but in survival shows, as long as they don’t repeatedly show cuts of you messing up the lyrics or making mistakes five times, you’re doing decently.
And if that ever happened, I would roast the main PD alive.
“Haha.”
Imagining the main PD being grilled in my head, I forced a laugh by lifting the corners of my mouth.
‘F**k … will it be a problem? We have the on-site evaluation audience.’
To be honest, I was completely uninterested in rapping.
During the Prism days, I even went as far as to say to the rapper position member, “
Figure it out yourself
” and left the entire rap part to him. Given my perfectionist personality, you could imagine how extreme my decision must have been.
At that time, I was confident that no matter how badly the rapper of Prism messed up, he could still write better than me.
“Hyung, do you want to try rapping?”
Everyone’s eyes were focused on me. I guess it’s because my on-screen image was always that of an all-rounder problem solver.
I opened my mouth to live up to that expectation.
“Check.It.Out.Yo.”
“Ah…….”
As I spat out the rap that I had been mentally rehearsing, a sigh full of regret flew toward me.
“I don’t think this is going to work.”
“Terrible.”
Lee Danbi’s painful rejection and Lee Hwayoung’s merciless evaluation followed.
I felt myself getting torn apart as I took those attacks head-on.
That’s right. Seo Yutae, who excelled in dancing, always sang above average, and even had producing skills, had a weakness: rapping
“Then, how about everyone, except Seungbeom-hyung, give it a try?”
“Sure.”
Suddenly, the battle to determine the main rapper began without me.
….I’m lonely.
***
They spent about half an hour in a heated competition, leaving each other deeply wounded by their mutual contempt. I couldn’t help but think that if this video were to air, it would become a laughingstock in the rap community.
“Nicholas-hyung is fine with the English parts, but speaking Korean quickly is still a bit difficult for him, so it’s not going to work. And to be honest, I think he doesn’t know this song very well, so I can’t say anything for sure.”
“Kiryang-hyung, you lack confidence, you should be a little more confident.”
“I’m sorry…….”
“Then, all that’s left is…..”
As the candidates were eliminated one by one, only one trainee remained.
All the members’ gazes were directed at Lee Danbi. Feeling that, Lee Danbi nervously fidgeted with his lips. When I nodded, completely drained, he began to rap step by step.
“Oh.”
“Wow.”
The members gasped in admiration as they listened. It was the first rap worth listening to.
‘The beat is a bit slow, but it’s not like it’s offbeat or inconsistent. It’s just the overall speed that’s slowed down. It’s just because he’s not used to it yet, so there’s plenty of room for improvement through practice.’
He’d been practicing with a metronome every day, and it seemed to be paying off. For someone who’s doing this for the first time, his skills were unbelievable. The members started praising Lee Danbi with bright faces, finally seeing a solution.
“Danbi is really good? It sounds like you’ve rapped before!”
“Maybe you have a talent.”
“You’re the best! I think it would be better for you to do it.”
“Hehe, thank you. I’ve never rapped before, but when I tried, it just suddenly worked.”
“You’re talented. Danbi should be our main rapper.”
“Fighting, Danbi!”
Lee Danbi smiled shyly in response to the pouring praise and bowed his head. The members, finding him adorable, tried even harder to boost his spirits.
However, it didn’t take long for the warm atmosphere to be shattered.
“No. It would be better to just remove the rap part.”
That’s because Lee Hwayoung intervened.
When Lee Hwayoung poured cold water on him, Lee Danbi immediately stiffened and asked, “Why are you so sure it won’t work when I haven’t even had a chance to do it properly? I can do better if I practice more.”
“Because this is the only chance we have to make adjustments. If you fail, it’ll be too late. Besides, the whole concept of this mission is for trainees to show off their arrangement skills, so even if the song changes drastically, the public will understand. Han Seungbeom is skilled in arrangements, so there’s no need to take on the risk.”
His idea was roughly about changing the rap into singable part through arrangement.
“Can you do it?”
“…I suppose I can.” I nodded to Lee Hwayoung’s question.
Well, I can’t lie and say I can’t do something when I actually can, can I
?
And it was something I had also considered as a last resort.
When I didn’t deny Lee Hwayoung’s words, Lee Danbi opened his mouth, slightly discouraged, “….But the rap in this song is very important. It’s such a famous part that people are probably expecting how we’ll handle it. If we change it with an arrangement, won’t they feel like something is lacking?”
“Showing parts that weren’t in the original song in a new way is also one of the ways to satisfy the public’s expectations while disgesting the song. I don’t think anyone will doubt Han Seungbeom’s arrangement skills.”
“That’s not wrong, but in the end, we’re avoiding it, aren’t we? Under the excuse that there’s no one who can properly perform the rap. I don’t want to be a coward and back down. And I think the public will know that we avoided it.”
“We have to avoid it. In other teams, people with experience will be taking on the rap position, so there’s no way a complete beginner like you can handle that. Do you think you can survive being compared to them? Don’t drag us into your ill-conceived gamble.”
“I’m sure other teams are facing challenges with their positions as well. That’s how this competition is designed. In the end, the focus of the broadcast will be on how each team solves the problems they face, but I don’t want to just end it with
‘there was no choice
‘. I want to show that we tried our best and put in the effort.”
“Does removing the rap part through rearrangement mean we’re putting in less effort? Don’t waste my time with pointless arguments when you can’t even sing properly yet.”
I felt my brain shutting down as I watched the two of them argue. And then I immediately rubbed the back of my neck due to the headache that followed.
‘What the, I don’t even know where to begin with this.’
The debut members I had in mind were already quite narrowed down.
First, Lee Hwayoung. Although there were some things that irritated me about him, I had to admit his debut was almost guaranteed. His fandom was on a level that even I couldn’t underestimate. He was talented, but it seemed that his popularity was also partly due to his God-complex personality.
There had never been anyone like him in the history of idols.
‘And that guy won’t be shaken by any scandals, so he’ll be a big help in the future.’
Lee Hwayoung’s words and actions had been so rude, unprecedented in Korea, that his fandom had already been filtered down to the most loyal fans. A typical dating rumor or personality scandal wouldn’t even become a controversy.
‘In the first place, he’s a foreigner, so the public tends to view him with a more lenient attitude.’
And then there’s Do Yuda. He was someone I really wanted to debut with. His singing skills were more than enough, and he was the most popular member after me and Lee Hwayoung. His face was also quite handsome, so he would be able to debut smoothly.
Next was Woo Kangwon. His determination had wavered a bit, and he was a bit down right now because of the expose, but he would eventually rise again. Since he had been ruthlessly criticized for something he was innocent of, I expected him to receive sympathy votes from the public to alleviate their guilt. I wouldn’t touch on that part, as it left a bad taste in my mouth.
‘Even without that incident, he would have risen to the top on his own.’
The last one was Zen. He had the talent, and I had a special attachment to him since I personally fixed him up when he was a complete mess. Besides, the fact that he’d come this far all on his own was impressive.
Lee Hwayoung, Do Yuda, Woo Kangwon, Zen. These were the debut members I had chosen.
With me included, five spots were filled, so there were only two left. And I was thinking it would be fine if Baek Kiryang and Lee Danbi took those two spots.
Baek Kiryang had solid basics, and his gentle personality made him easy to mold and use wherever I needed. As for Lee Danbi, his basic mindset was unrivaled. It was rare to find someone his age with such strong determination and an unshakeable mental fortitude.
‘Since everyone except Lee Hwayoung and me is soft-hearted … we need at least one more strong-willed person to help the group survive.’
I had my reasons for selecting the members like this. Aside from the ones I had already chosen, I needed to see how the others would act in the team I had formed and how well they would get along with the other members.
But I didn’t need to observe anymore, I could tell just by looking at the current situation.
Lee Hwayoung and Lee Danbi were completely incompatible. In the worst possible way.
“It seems like you’re getting arrogant and forgetting your place because the members are praising you. Do you really think you’re that good, that’s why you’re being so stubborn?”
“It would be a good thing if I could do it, and the opportunity to do it was given to me. I can’t just give it up based on one person’s opinion. I heard you had a lot of conflicts with your teammates in the previous mission. Have you reflected on that?”
It only took a few moments of neglect for their argument to begin to teeter on the edge of a line that shouldn’t be crossed. They were fighting over something with no clear answer, so no conclusion was reached, and since there was no conclusion, the argument began to drift into strange territory.
I immediately glanced at the main PD as the words became increasingly harsh.
Then, the main PD, who had somehow understood, licked his lips in regret and instructed the production team to temporarily stop filming under the pretext of changing the battery and taking a break.
Until the camera stopped rolling and the production team left the practice room, the two of them just glared at each other. As soon as the last member of the production team exited, Lee Hwayoung spoke.
“It seems like you’re forcing yourself to create something special because your singing skills are lacking and you don’t have anything to show. It’s pointless. If you want a new adventure, do it on your own after the program ends.”
“Hey, stop…..”
Even though the break was meant to calm things down, Lee Hwayoung insisted on throwing one last jab at Lee Danbi. It was a scathing remark, sharp enough to break Lee Danbi’s patience.
“In any case, after the program ends, all that will be left is time.”
Lee Danbi’s pupils widened at the words that basically said he could practice as much as he wanted after being eliminated.
“Ha.”
A brief silence passed, and something began with Lee Danbi’s hollow laugh as the first sign.
“Stop showing off how sheltered you are. Now I even have to get looked down on by someone I couldn’t care less about? Because I’ve been quietly putting up with it, now anyone and everyone think they can just walk all over me.”
‘…Huh?’
“This is why I hate dealing with people who have been spoiled rotten. They can do anything and still walk around with their heads held high, without a single ounce of guilt. Do you think others don’t do it because they don’t know how to speak recklessly? Others just endure it, but it’s always the ignorant ones, drunk on their own self-importance, who go around running their mouths.”
I turned to look at Lee Danbi with the dumbest expression I’d ever made since the start of the program.
…..Danbi-ya?
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Translator’s Corner:
Guess whose arc is this : D
sleeping is too much is really not good idea now I’m just sleepy 24/7 so idk if theres many typo. I vibes to Born Hater for this chapter lol Danbi is 17 years old (Korean age, so he’s like 16 years old in international standard) and he’s one of the youngest (if not the youngest) in the program so you can understand how shocked MC is