The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut Chapter 14

Okada, hugging me, spoke in a voice full of emotion.

 

“全部ヒョンのおかげです。本当にありがとうございます。 (It’s all thanks to you, Hyung, thank you so much.)”

 

“私がした事なんてたいしたものじゃないよ。全部あなたがよくやったことだよ。 (What did I even do? It’s all because you did well.)”

 

“いいえ、ヒョンがいなかったら…。 (No, if it weren’t for you, Hyung….)” 

 

“そうだね、そうだね。あなたの気持ちはよくわかったから、とりあえず席に戻ろう。 (Right, right. I know how you feel, so let’s go back to our seats for now.)”

 

When I patted his back and spoke, Okada, finally coming to his senses, looked around.

 

The MC and 98 trainees were looking at me and Okada.

 

“I-I’m sorry…”

 

Okada returned to his seat with a heavily flushed face.

 

“Hahaha, it’s alright! You have the right to be happy! Then, I will announce the results.”

 

As the MC spoke, the screen above the podium changed.

 

[1st Wave Eliminations: Total 62 people]

[All stats drop by 1 tier]

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

[2nd Wave, 3rd Wave Eliminations: Total 23 people]

[Stats maintained]

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

[Main Quest Success: Total 15 people]

[All stats rise by 1 tier]

 

I focused and watched the rapidly changing screen. 

 

The trainees who survived until the 3rd wave totaled 15.

 

Among them, three were me, Okada, and Yoo Sung.

 

Among the trainees outside the top 50, Okada was the only one who survived until the 3rd wave.

 

Did everyone confirm? Before announcing the changed rankings, we will hear the evaluations from our judges!” 

 

The auditorium doors opened, and the judges stood in a line on the podium, wearing business smiles.

 

The first to take the microphone was Kim Junwoo.

 

“Trainees, you all worked hard. I believe you must have been very surprised upon hearing today’s evaluation method. However, once you debut as idols, there will be many instances of embarrassing and difficult things just like today.” 

 

A single warm word from a judge after a harsh evaluation.

 

It was Jang Hyuksoo’s strategy, who was an expert at playing with the emotions of trainees and viewers alike. 

 

“Even if you didn’t obtain a good result today, the experience remains. I hope you will use today’s experience as a foundation to devote yourselves even further.” 

 

Sniff.

 

I heard the sound of someone wiping away tears.

 

‘Mhm, yeah. Crying at this timing makes for a great picture.’

 

However, crying after making a mistake is not a very good choice. 

 

Because you could get malicious comments like, ‘You performed like that and tears are still coming out?’

 

“Then we will begin the evaluation. Who wants to go first…”

 

“Me! I’ll go first!”

 

The dance trainer raised her hand high and said.

 

The trainer grabbed the microphone with an excited expression.

 

“Trainee Okada!”

 

“Uh, yes!”

 

Suddenly called, Okada jerked his head up.

 

“It’s truly amazing! You did so well today!”

 

“T-thank you…”

 

“Actually, I thought Trainee Okada was good at Korean.”

 

“Uh…”

 

It seemed she had heard from the other judges that Okada couldn’t speak Korean.

 

Okada, who unintentionally deceived the dance trainer, smiled awkwardly.

 

“You have no idea how surprised I was when the other judges said Trainee Okada isn’t good at Korean… So actually, I was half in doubt today too. I know Trainee Okada is a good dancer, but dancing while singing is another matter.”

 

At the vocal trainer’s words, I nodded inwardly.

 

“But you did so well today, I was surprised! How did you do it? Did you take Korean tutoring in that short time?”

 

“Tutoring…?”

 

“Ah, studying, studying. Did you study Korean separately? It couldn’t have been easy to study while preparing for the performance…”

 

“I, I did!”

 

Okada cut off the dance trainer’s words.

 

“I studied Korean. I studied pronunciation a lot too. Hyung helped me a lot.”

 

“Hyung?”

 

“Ch-Chowol Hyung…”

 

Okada said, glancing at me.

 

The judges’ gazes turned toward me.

 

Without saying anything, I just scratched my cheek and smiled. 

 

“Right! Trainee Kim Chowol also survived until the third wave! I really didn’t think Trainee Kim Chowol would survive until the end… Oops!”

 

“Hahaha.”

 

“Ah, I didn’t mean to look down on Trainee Kim Chowol…”

 

“I know.”

 

I knew the dance trainer had no malice.

 

Even if it wasn’t the dance trainer, there probably wasn’t a single judge who thought I would survive until the end.

 

Because even I thought it would be impossible until I got the trait.

 

Kim Junwoo took the microphone from the flustered dance trainer.

 

“I enjoyed your performance today, Trainee Kim Chowol. I heard you practiced a lot. It seems those results were shown on stage today.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Since Kim Junwoo grasped the trainees’ skills coldly and accurately, he didn’t spare bitter criticism.

 

In the early regressions, I heard enough harsh criticism from Kim Junwoo to last a lifetime.

 

Because I knew he said those things wanting me to do well, I had no hard feelings.

 

I glanced in the direction where Okada was and continued.

 

“Hiro… I mean, Trainee Okada helped me a lot. Because he’s good at dancing.”

 

I could feel Okada looking at me with bright eyes, like a puppy receiving praise.

 

“Trainee Yoo Sung, who shares the same room with me, also cheered for me. Thanks to that, I think I was able to find strength.”

 

Yoo Sung, who had been staring straight ahead apathetically, whipped his head toward me.

 

I could see his expression saying, ‘Are you crazy?’ but I didn’t care.

 

So what?

 

We both need this to survive.

 

Kim Junwoo quietly listened to my words, then smiled slightly and said,

 

“I don’t think so, though?”

 

Quick-witted bastard…

 

Did he catch on that Yoo Sung and I aren’t very close?

 

This is all because Yoo Sung couldn’t manage his expression.

 

“If vocal and dance skills could be improved with cheers, there wouldn’t be an idol in the world who can’t sing or dance.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“It means don’t give credit to things like other people’s help or cheers. You did well on today’s stage, Trainee Kim Chowol.”

 

“Uh…”

 

I momentarily lost my words.

 

What is this?

 

Kim Junwoo is praising me this much?

 

Of course, Kim Junwoo praised me on the stat evaluation stage as well.

 

But that was because my strategy of maximizing my strengths and hiding my weaknesses worked well.

 

I really didn’t know I would hear such high praise today.

 

“You did well, truly.”

 

“Thank you…”

 

An emotion I had forgotten while trapped in countless repeating regressions was squirming up from deep inside my chest.

 

This, how should I express this?

 

This emotion felt when the fruits of effort are borne…

 

‘It’s a sense of accomplishment.’

 

Ha, haha.

 

Laughter burst out without me realizing.

 

I felt like I was going to enjoy this survival game where life and death were on the line.

 

*    *    *

 

“Depending on today’s rankings, the spots where you will stand on the music broadcast stage will be decided!” 

 

The 1st place stands at the very front as the center.

 

From 2nd to 60th, the stage is filled from the front in order of highest rank.

 

From 61st to 100th, they will act as backup dancers at the bottom of the stage.

 

Hearing the subsequent explanation, the expressions of the bottom-tier trainees weren’t good.

 

“Alright, then we will announce the rankings from now on!”

 

The screen above the podium changed.

 

All the stats received from the 1st stat evaluation stage rose by one tier.

 

[Basic Stats

Vocal: C- 〉 C

Dance: D 〉 D+

Appearance: A 〉 A+

Charm: A+ 〉 S-]

 

Honestly, I don’t know why my appearance stat went up, though.

 

Thanks to that, I now have two stats that are A+ or higher.

 

[Current Ranking]

 

[Kim Chowol 20th 〉 13th (▲7)]

[Okada Hiro 65th 〉 32nd (▲33)]

[Yoo Sung 22nd 〉 17th (▲5)]

 

13th place means the fourth row from the front.

 

‘Not bad.’

 

Satisfied with the ranking, I nodded inwardly.

 

“Lastly, we will announce the center of the theme song performance, who will become the face of EX-Class K-POP Idol!”

 

At the MC’s words, the trainees’ gazes turned to one place.

 

Everyone knows without saying.

 

Who the center of the theme song performance is.

 

The screen above the podium changed, and the 1st place trainee’s stat window appeared.

 

[Name: Han Theo

Age: 20]

 

[Basic Stats

Vocal: A 〉 A+

Dance: S- 〉 S

Appearance: S 〉 S+

Charm: A+ 〉 S-]

 

[Current Ranking]

[Han Theo 1st 〉 1st (―)]

 

Checking the stat window, I unknowingly spat out a curse inwardly.

 

‘F*ck. How am I supposed to beat that?’ 

 

Han Theo.

 

Real name: Theodore Han.

 

A 3rd-generation Korean-American who was eating well and living well in the American middle class when he suddenly came over to Korea and took on the challenge of becoming an idol.

 

His trainee period was only 6 months.

 

While preparing to debut at his agency, he decided to appear on EX-Class K-POP Idol saying he wanted to debut quickly.

 

‘The b*stard who gets in the way of my goal the most.’

 

Han Theo was always the center of EX-Class K-POP Idol, except for one time.

 

That one time was the regression right before this, when my stats were at their highest.

 

But what’s even scarier is that across all regressions, there wasn’t a single one where he failed to debut.

 

Debut probability 100%.

 

And all of them were top 3 debuts.

 

‘How do I beat that b*stard? Ah, I feel like throwing up already.’

 

In a way, he was a guy more troublesome than Yoo Sung. 

 

Yoo Sung has clear weaknesses.

 

If I target those weaknesses, I can easily manipulate Yoo Sung.

 

But Han Theo is different.

 

‘I can’t tell what he’s thinking.’

 

I’ve seen Han Theo in countless regressions, but he never revealed his inner thoughts.

 

“Congratulations, Trainee Han Theo! Let’s hear a short speech on becoming the center!”

 

Han Theo went up to the podium at the MC’s request.

 

He’s in the low 180cms in height, but because his face is small, he looked 190cm.

 

As a quarter-Caucasian, he had an Asian appearance with a 2% Caucasian addition, exactly the face Koreans love.

 

“Thank you. It is all thanks to the trainer teachers who helped with practice and the trainee friends next to me who became a source of strength.” 

 

Lying through his teeth without a second thought.

 

I thought, barely suppressing a snort.

 

Han Theo didn’t have a single trainee he was close with.

 

If Yoo Sung is the type to openly bare his fangs, Han Theo is the type to smile while building a wall.

 

“From now on, with my fellow trainees even more…”

 

Trailing off, Han Theo scanned the trainees.

 

While looking at Han Theo with a questioning gaze, my eyes momentarily met Han Theo’s.

 

“…I want to get closer.”

 

Is he talking to me right now?

 

Swallowing a hollow laugh, I thought. 

 

‘As for me, I welcome it.’

 

If you and I become close, I will thoroughly shake out your weaknesses and take 1st place.