“Uuh… Player Ian on the second lane, he is fast! So fast!”
“He went overwhelmingly and… He won first place!”
Ian ran without anyone on either side, crossed the finish line, and scanned the singer’s seat leisurely. Burly men in purple were screaming while jumping around.
The final is not held immediately after the preliminary round. The women’s preliminaries are held first and then continued with the finals. Ian waved to the fan seat then went to the singer’s seat and sat down.
“Bro.”
“As expected, you tore up iLympics.”
MyKit was already sitting near Awy at one point and sticking out his fist at Ian. Ian put his fist on Kim Cheol Min’s fist.
“Hey, the color of your and our clothes seriously doesn’t match.”
Said Ian. MyKit was dressed in a bright green color close to light green. It looked even more contrasting when men in complementary colors sat next to each other.
“What the?”
When a small cheer came out from where the instant replay was being played, all the singers looked over there. Soon the iILympics host picked up the mic.
“A new record from Player Ian of Awy! It is 7.31 seconds!”
The record appeared on the electronic display, and ‘kyaaak’ screaming sound came from the fan seat of Awydom. Ian smirked at the camera pointing at him.
“Wow, awesome.”
“Isn’t that enough for a gold medal?”
Awy and MyKit made a fuss. Ian sat down and picked up the water bottle.
The singers of men’s qualifying group 4 were positioning themselves on the track.
When the members of Pluto from a big agency and P.I’s beneficiary I-One came out, the cheers from the fan seat were on different levels.
“I-One? They’re here too?”
“Eng, really?”
Said Park Jin Hyuk and Kim Hyun.
They cared so much about I-One before debuting, but now they even belatedly realize that they are on the same scene.
‘Kim Young Jun must be here too then.’
[Uh. He’s been looking at you guys since before, you know?]
‘Really? Where is he?’
[Your left diagonally behind.]
There were so many eyes that he didn’t notice. Ian pretended to look back and glanced sideways at the place Jin said.
Kim Young Jun bowed his head in surprise.
‘What’s wrong with him?’
Ian swallowed the water and looked forward again.
There was a time when he resented and hated Kim Young Jun for nothing, perhaps due to the influence when he was Kim Yong Min. But now he didn’t really care whatever Kim Young Jun did.
***
Kim Young Jun joined BHL Entertainment after going around many agencies.
He was also close to the trainees who would debut in the final debut group.
He had a gullible temperament from a long time ago, and rumors circulated that ‘Project Idol’ would be launched when the debut was just around the corner.
Kim Young Jun thought that the male version would also be successful since the female version of the previous P.I achieved good results.
‘CEO Lee, what do you think about us going out on an audition program?’
‘Project Idol? How did you know the news and come to me.’
CEO Lee Byung Hun was skeptical.
‘We’re not going out there.’
‘Why is it, sir?’
‘The plan has already been decided, but it’s a loss if you go out there. The fandom also will be divided.’
Does it matter if the fandom is divided as long as the popularity gets better? There won’t be any problem if we debut in P.I and join an existing group later, isn’t it?
Kim Young Jun hold his doubts and blew winds at the other trainees.
‘Project Idol?’
However, the trainees’ reactions were also not good.
‘Well, didn’t CEO Lee say we’re not going out?’
‘I don’t think it’s good either.’
It was the answer of Lee Joo Hyuk and Kim Hyun. Kim Young Jun began to be hostile towards the trainees from then on.
Are you not going to do it since CEO Lee said no? Don’t have the spirit of challenge?
‘This is MJ Ent. Am I speaking with Kim Young Jun ssi?’
And just in time, another agency contacted Kim Young Jun. With an expression of wanting to be with him.
A large agency! Since then, Kim Young Jun did not participate in the practice properly because of false hope.
‘I got an offer from that MJ Ent.’
He couldn’t be guaranteed a debut even if he moved there. However, Kim Young Jun was full of confidence.
Eventually, he hid behind his mother, left BHL Ent, and joined MJ Ent.
However, when he entered MJ Ent, there were many talented trainees as expected of a large agency.
After receiving a low score in the first evaluation after joining the company, Kim Young Jun threw a bid because he thought this would not work.
‘Project Idol? Do you really need to go out there?’
MJ Ent’s staff also stopped him from participating in P.I, but he challenged P.I in the end.
When P.I threw the first pitch at Gocheok Dome, the reaction was not good saying that he had no skills.
But almost everyone he met started to talk about P.I as the ratings of the program gradually rise.
‘Lastly! The trainee who will debut is…! MJ Ent Kim Young Jun!’
And he made his debut with I-One in 11th place.
Family members and acquaintances constantly contacted to congratulate him.
The agency employee who dissuaded him changed his attitude and said that it was good that he went out to P.I.
People recognize him even after walking a short distance.
There are so many overlapping advertisements that he had to choose a good place to enter, and the album sales were high enough to be mentioned as the top three male idols.
Kim Young Jun thought.
That his choice was not wrong.
‘Kim Ju Young is not calling. Must be jealous, right?’
‘Just B Square? We were in Gocheok.’
Those who taste success too quickly are divided into two categories. Become humbler or eaten by conceit and become arrogant. Kim Young Jun was the latter.
I-One was unable to attend in Station K where Kim Hee Sang and all other cast members met due to overseas schedules, and Awy went to Imjingak in Station M.
Idol Olympics was the first place to finally meet Awy.
‘Look carefully. How famous I’ve become.’
When entering the stadium, the first thing Kim Young Jun looked for was Awy.
He wanted to show the losers, ‘So why didn’t you listen to me. I succeeded like this’.
However, Awy did not notice at all that I-One had come and that Kim Young Jun was in the same space.
Kim Young Jun stared blankly at Awy laughing and playing with another group.
‘It looks fun.’
I-One is a group with a set deadline. So, the members also tended to get together with the same agency.
Kim Young Jun was alone. It is unclear whether he will join the next group of MJ Ent after I-One is over.
‘I think I wanted something like that…’
Awy members taking care of Park Seo Dam who will be going out for an interview. Their expressions were full of smiles without any worries.
Kim Young Jun suddenly felt that his appearance was shabby.
***
In the women’s preliminary round, Park Seo Dam will come out as an on-site MC.
“Our Seo Dam, don’t be scared in front of celebrities.”
“Hyung, we are celebrities too.”
Jo Tae Woong patted Park Seo Dam on the shoulder.
“Yeah, Seo Dam. We also have pride.”
“Hyung, please go back to MyKit.”
“Ah why. Let’s combine and do AwyKit.”
Kim Cheol Min tagged along. Even saying so, Park Seo Dam who answered straight seemed not to be very nervous since the seven members of Awy were always full of smiles when they were nervous.
Rather, members other than Park Seo Dam were smiling and laughing as if they were more nervous.
“Hello.”
When Park Seo Dam was interviewing female idols, people who had played mafia together gathered nearby.
Even new faces also gathered, perhaps hearing the rumor of a game hotspot from somewhere.
They greeted each other and even asked what game they were going to play today.
“I think the bottleneck phenomenon only happened here.”
“Oh~ Advanced vocabulary.”
Returning from the interview, Park Seo Dam sat next to Ian. As he stares hard at Ian after that, he also must have received a special order from Park Dong Soo.
“Next, there will be the men’s 60m final!”
“Do well.”
“At least a gold medal for us.”
“If you come back empty-handed, there’ll be no place for you.”
[Eigh, that damned competitive spirit.]
Ian put down the water he was drinking and said.
“I’ll be back before this water cools down.”
As Ian nodded solemnly, the other members also nodded.
One of the idols who gathered asked “Are these guys a bit… loony1 도른자 do.reun.ja. A slang to call someone out of their mind. ?” to a member of the same group.
Standing at the starting line, Ian gently turned his ankles. There was an interview before starting out, and it was an acquaintance of Ian.
“Alright! Men’s 60m final! In charge of the interview is Luna Girls Jooyeon!”
Kim Joo Yeon, who received a blanket at Imjingak, smiled shyly when she came to Ian after finishing interviews with other idols one after another.
“Awy’s Choi Ian ssi, please tell us your resolution.”
“Firstly, our members said they’ll get rid of my place if I do not win a gold medal at least. So, I will run hard to keep my place.”
“So, it is a gold medal at least.”
Kim Joo Yeon giggled.
‘It’s also like that at fan signings. Why smile so hard when I didn’t say much?’
[It’s the law that handsome people are comedians just by looking at them.]
Besides, it was even more so because Ian has a habit of looking into the other person’s eyes when talking.
After a short interview, Ian bent his knees at the starting line. With the shout of ‘Ready!’, the one next to him tried to rush off but then took a stance again.
As the sound of the starting gun was heard, Ian ran.
“Excuse me…”
On the other hand in the singer’s seat, only Awy’s side was crowded with people.
I-One also approached there out of curiosity, and of course, Kim Young Jun was there too. It was when he tried to talk to Lee Joo Hyuk.
“Wow, look at Choi Ian running alone.”
Jo Tae Woong blocked in between and cheered for Ian.
The results were no different from the preliminary round. Ian crossed the finish line and crashed himself against the cushion wall since he couldn’t win over his speed.
Men in purple-green complementary colors screamed ‘Woaaah!’ and jumped around.
“Crazy, 6 seconds?”
“Choi-sain Bolt! Choi-sain Bolt!”
Then everyone opened their mouths to the record on the electronic display. It was a new record of 6.89 seconds.
“Wait, won’t he be able to reduce the record even more if the board was set properly?”
“Eii~ That’s too far.”
Awy members booed at the words of MyKit Park Se On, but they had the thought of ‘maybe?’ in their hearts.
Even after winning the first prize, Ian prayed to an unknown being whether it was a god or reborn luck.
‘Absolutely not just sports variety shows please.’
[Sports variety shows have high ratings, don’t like them? Then how about military variety shows?]
‘No!’
Jin giggled as if he had become the magical sorting hat.
***
After the women’s final was also over, medals were awarded right away.
All the hosts came out and conducted a short interview.
Ian stood with his hands behind his back with a gold medal around his neck.
“Next, the men’s 60m gold medal, Choi Ian ssi!”
“Yes.”
“How do you feel about the gold medal?”
“I said in the interview earlier that I will be working hard to keep my place, so I am happy to keep my place.”
The camera happened to shoot the singer’s seat where Awy was sitting.
The members stood in groups of three on two sides, pointing to an empty seat. At the appearance of waving their wrist while full of smiles, Ian laughed haha.
“iLympics new record! It’s 6.89 seconds. How do you feel about this record?”
“It’s going to be hard to break for a while, right? My heart swells at the thought of coming out as data footage even at the next iLympics.”
“Your heart swells?”
The host laughed haha.
[There’s no that meme2가슴이 웅장해진다. ‘My heart became magnificent’. This is one of the memes derived from one big source, a very poorly written Naruto anime review post circulated in DC Inside. This one is used when you’re so impressed, especially when something impossible happens. This meme is pretty catchy since the word 웅장 ‘magnificent’ is rarely used and not quite right in this kind of context. yet currently, you know?]
‘Is that so? Well, I’ll own and use it then.’
“What a realistic answer!”
The host tapped Ian on the shoulder as if he liked it.