After returning home earlier than usual, we decided to go to bed early to adjust our condition.
A week is long if long and short if short.
Creating a perfect stage in it was still not a story at our level, so I had a plan in a way that would get the company’s support as much as possible.
In the beginning, this contest itself was a mission to evaluate not only cooperation among members but also whether appropriate cooperation from the company could be obtained for completeness. At least for that part, I sat in front of the camera today thinking that my team might not get a passing grade.
“Hello everyone. Did you have a good day today? Oh, some of you will see me in the morning, so should I say have a good day too? I always say hello because I always come to my dorm and take pictures before I go to sleep.”
Now, the ability to keep talking like a conversation without any awkward parts has become a bit strange.
“Tomorrow is the first day of the contest. If you ask me if I’m nervous… I don’t really know. What should I say? If you look at something so huge and big, it doesn’t have a sense of reality. I am now I worked really hard and prepared, but I can’t feel it because I think tomorrow is the day. Will it be different when we debut later? Haha, I haven’t even passed the contest yet, but I drink kimchi soup first.”
I got a little shy and scratched my cheek, ah, quietly lowered my hand again. It seemed like it would take a little more time to change from an ordinary person Gong Ji-hwan to a trainee Gong Ji-hwan.
“Still, I try to think and speak positively. I can do it myself. I thought that if I said a lot of these things and believed that it happened and moved, the possibility would increase even a little bit. You said this is the Pygmalion effect?”
It was something he had never seen before.
I was just living what was given to me.
I went because I was told to go to college, and since I am a Korean man, I thought that I had to go to the military anyway. There were a lot of things I was interested in for a little while, but nothing I enjoyed for a long time, it was such a dull life.
So, it was only now that I thought that the program “Idol Creation” might have come as a bigger shock.
The children on the screen were smiling even though each day seemed very difficult. After losing the competition, not only the person concerned but also the other children cried out loudly, and the appearance was even strange.
It didn’t take long for such a figure to turn from curiosity to admiration and to become a vital force of life.
And now, as I set my own goals and started living this life, the members at that time started to understand a little bit.
Sometimes I was confused whether this was the heart of ‘Gong Ji-hwan’ before or the one I made up for, but now it seems that either way doesn’t matter.
“I will do my best not to leave a single regret. There will be people who believe in me and support me, but I don’t want to leave any pain to them. And I also want to stand on stage with our members.”
I didn’t say anything, but the clock that was already reaching five minutes made me feel ferocious today.
“Okay, I’ll come. we’ll see you again See you for a long time.”
With the most earnest heart, I gave my last greetings to those who will watch me and our members from beyond this camera.
* * *
‘Poing, will you stay with me today?’
‘You said there would be. How many times do you ask me!’
‘Should we be together? If today’s contest fails, it’s really over… .’
Last night in front of the camera, I felt like I really wanted to slap my snout.
Fortunately, I slept well, and maybe my body got used to it within a week, so I woke up early and made kimchi fried rice that the kids sang last night because they wanted to eat it.
Wouldn’t my heart be pounding like this if I had a can of tuna or at least a fried egg? As I was doing it, I started to have all sorts of thoughts.
I did my best, and very sadly, I thought so until I fell asleep. But as soon as I opened my eyes, ate breakfast with the members and smiled, and arrived at the office, my heart felt like it was beating in the soles of my feet.
What he was saying was that he had a strange feeling, as if something was pounding in his feet, and the ground rumbled.
“Ah… Did you just eat breakfast? I think I’m going to pretend.”
“If I hadn’t eaten that, I wouldn’t have been stronger.”
“Guys, are you all here?”
We all gathered in the big practice room and chatted with the person next to us, but as soon as team leader Sohyun appeared, it became quiet as if we had promised in advance.
“Why are you so nervous? Didn’t you guys practice a lot?”
“no!”
“You practiced a lot. Practice doesn’t betray you. Just do that.”
Throughout the contest season, neither the manager hyung nor the team leader touched us. We just had to give a minimal look and do everything else thoroughly by ourselves.
“The manager will give a detailed explanation of the contest. let’s go.”
It was the moment when the first contest finally started.
All of a sudden, I thought about how the camera would capture us, and when I glanced around, all of our children withdrew, perhaps because of tension.
why? How long have we been dying?
At that moment, I was filled with feelings of injustice and anger that I couldn’t figure out why.
I didn’t do anything wrong, but I didn’t want to show a disappointing figure.
So, when I straightened my shoulders, raised my back, and applied strength to my stomach, the feeling of the floor rumbling disappeared at that moment.
I’m like this too, but my cubs looked at each other, and their eyes met Ha-jun. At that moment, Ha-jun’s long, deep eyes softly closed and smiled.
It was the smile that Hajun made while looking at his unravel members, which I had seen countless times in the video. I thought I could do well.
* * *
“As you know, after the first contest today, and the second contest where the remaining members compete with each other, the total debut members will be selected. In the second contest, the preference, which is confirmed not only by the company but also by the fans’ votes, will be included in the score.”
In the conference room, there was Director Jeong-yeon across from us sitting next to each other.
Director Jeongyeon, who has a neat short haircut and clear eyes, said that he was famous for being very determined even within the company.
“For now, let’s talk about the first contest. Team A and Team B will perform in order, and the evaluation will be conducted by the CEO, me, A&R Team Manager Kim Gun-wook, and Ha Yeon-soo. I want you to show how desperate you are.”
Ha Yeon-soo was a ballad singer who was no different from ON Enter’s signature singer.
He was a senior in the music industry, famous for writing lyrics that left a lasting impression on his husky and appealing voice.
He was originally someone who didn’t participate in the contest, but there is already one variable.
“Now let’s see your stage.”
I was worried about how much my actions in a short period of one week would affect the future because I had to produce different results from the original idol creation, but I had no choice but to believe in myself.
There was a stage like a small theater in the basement of the company. On this stage, actors and singers of ON Entertainment used to audition or take tests like now.
And now we were waiting to be tested on the stage.
“Do not forget what you practiced. Can you do it?”
“I think my brother was nervous. A person who can’t speak so unfamiliar to us.”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t it be nice if you spoke kindly like this on a regular basis?”
“How did you… . Ugh, I shouldn’t talk.”
There’s nothing like driving a leader to relieve tension.
Fortunately, all of Team A laughed, and the members of Team B, who were relaxing next to us, were also fed up with our conversation.
Team A wore jeans and a white shirt, and Team B wore a black shirt with slacks.
Even in the midst of this, our members, who are tall and tall, have already worn out their clothes and it was a pity that they did not have a camera in their hands.
“Good job.”
In the meantime, Youngbin patted Hajun on the shoulder to see if the two of them had a good conversation. She thought for a moment that she wished this warm and beautiful scenery could be maintained.
“Team A, if you are ready, go up.”
“let’s go.”
And, having activated the newly acquired skill and poison skill that I had not used before, I felt my mind calming down, and I was able to stand in my pre-set position without any mistakes.
Before the lights turned on, I glanced under the stage and saw Poing sitting right in front of the stage and watching me.
‘Good job, contractor bastard.’
He had a sullen expression on his face, but seeing that the tips of his ears kept twitching and his tail could not stand still, I was standing on the stage, but the tension seemed to have increased.
‘I’ll do my best.’
And the lights turned on and the intro sounding.
We, who were standing in a line, pondered the lyrics several times and changed to a formation where two people looked at each other like the choreography we revised.
It was a song with a promise to make me come back as a better person than to catch my loved one who left me.
The sweet result of debut doesn’t come to our side, but instead of begging, let’s make them want us there.
I never received such a bright light, and thanks to this, I couldn’t even see the face of the member standing next to me, but thanks to my self-defense skill, I was able to move on to the next choreography without twisting the movement.
When Kyunghwan’s rap part started, the three of us surrounded him and approached him one step at a time, as if tightening, and at the bridge going to the next verse, Kyunghwan grabbed Himchan’s arm and pushed him away as if tossing him.
In reality, he was just pretending to push, but Himchan twisted his body to the side as if being pushed too hard and swung half a turn in the air to land safely.
This part was not a choreography in the original song, and there was concern that it might get hurt, but it was added in the end because I thought it would be able to give an impact.
As he moved to his seat, Himchan glanced over at him, and luckily he didn’t seem to have been hurt.
When all the members performed the given part without any problem, a smile naturally appeared on their face. Even the people sitting in the front panel of the judges felt that they were all concentrating on the stage.
Eventually, Ha-jun’s rap continued like a conversation with the song of the part I was going to sing.
Lyrics that were thrown at me one word at a time felt like an answer to the song in my part.
The stage that we had prepared for about 4 minutes and 30 seconds was over, and there was no cheers or applause from the fans, but I was convinced that we did better than we practiced.
“It is noticeable that Team A prepared a lot. Good to see you.”
Among the judges, it was the representative of ON Entertainment who came out and greeted me as the representative.
“Uh-huh, I see things like this when young friends perform on stage with poison. haha. I saw it.”
“Now then, let’s see Team B’s stage.”
As soon as I was about to be relieved by Ha Yeon-soo’s words of encouragement, Director Jeong Yoon finished it appropriately.
With this, all we can do for this contest is over, and the only thing left is to wait.