The S-Rank Paparazzi Reincarnates as an Idol Chapter 113

Chapter 113

 

“Everyone!”

My unamplified voice, with neither speakers nor a microphone, split across the athletic field.

As my voice reached all the way to the far end of the stadium, the students who had been murmuring all turned their attention toward me.

“If the music won’t play, then we can be the accompaniment! And if there’s no sing-along, then we’ll just lead the singing ourselves, right?!”

Gasps of admiration erupted throughout the audience.

“Oooooh!!!”

“So the music cut out… does that mean our festival has to stop?! We’ll sing the song, so you all keep the beat for us!”

‘I can’t let the excitement die.’

At a festival, energy and atmosphere were critically important.

That was why simply standing around waiting for sound equipment that might not be fixed anytime soon was the mark of an amateur.

I began stomping forcefully against the stage floor.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The steel stage resonated like a giant drum.

Realizing my intention immediately, Seo Hayul began layering flashy beatboxing into the rhythm.

The other members started stomping along to the beat as well.

“One, two, three! Hello!”

We didn’t need any instrumental track.

The members’ harmonies and my raw voice tore through the night air.

The previously stunned students gradually began clapping along to the beat.

Standing with one foot on the edge of the stage, I encouraged a crowd chant.

“Hello! Hello! L! S! B!”

Before we knew it, the accident had transformed into ‘LSB’s solo live show’.

Our voices, shouted at full volume, filled the entire stadium.

Without music, the scraping of our sneakers against the stage and the members’ rough breathing were conveyed to the audience even more vividly, sending chills through them.

Tens of thousands of smartphone flashlights became the lights illuminating us.

Thump. Thump.

My heart felt like it might burst.

‘So this is the true flavor of a university festival.’

When the performance ended, the audience burst into cheers with bright smiles.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“LSB is the best!”

“His vocal power is insane!”

“Thank you! Looks like we got a proper initiation ceremony!”

The members also sighed in relief and smiled brightly.

At that moment, a signal came up from beneath the stage indicating that the sound system had been restored.

“Alright, everyone! We just got word that the audio has been fixed!”

“WOOOOOOOH!”

“Then shall we keep this energy going and move straight into the second stage?”

The cheers and applause that followed were several times louder than before.

The second song was ‘Cheer Me On’, the theme song of ‘Star Picking 5’.

Since every member knew the choreography and lyrics by heart, the performance flowed smoothly.

Because the survival show had been such a nationwide hit, a massive sing-along erupted across the stadium the moment the intro started.

Drawing on my experience as the center during that time, I practically flew across the stage, and the exploding cheers thrilled my ears.

At last, we finished every song on the prepared setlist.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“L! S! B! L! S! B!”

Even after completely exhausting the encore song we had prepared.

The members’ faces, panting for breath, were filled with the exhilaration of successfully completing their first university festival debut.

As leader, Kim Sunyoo delivered our final greeting to the audience.

“This has been Lucy Star Boys! Thank you!”

Just as the members bowed ninety degrees and were about to leave the stage…

A staff member below the stage frantically waved their arms and formed an X sign.

It was a very clear signal not to come down.

‘…Huh?’

At the same time, a hurried voice came through our in-ear monitors.

[LSB! The next singer is late and isn’t ready yet. The setup is delayed! Please somehow hold things together for seven minutes… no, ten minutes!]

‘…Ten minutes?’

A chill ran down my spine.

We had already used up our encore.

There was no MR track left and no prepared remarks.

As we hesitated on stage, unable to leave, the students filling the stadium began to murmur.

It wasn’t booing yet, but the atmosphere was becoming awkward.

At a festival, losing momentum was even scarier than having a bad performance.

“Siwoo hyung, what do we do?”

This time, Yoo Hoseung whispered nervously beside me.

I scanned the audience.

I met tens of thousands of eyes that still held expectations for us.

‘Ten minutes, huh… If I use this time well, I could probably make half the people here become fans.’

This wasn’t a crisis.

It was an opportunity.

I gripped the microphone I had been about to put down.

“Everyone.”

The murmuring died down instantly.

“I’ll be honest with you. The senior artists performing next want to show you an even more perfect stage, so apparently they need a little more time to get themselves all dressed up.”

‘Since singers being late to university festivals is so common, they’ll probably figure out the next team is late no matter what I say.’

Rather than making excuses, I chose to tell the truth.

I added a smile specifically designed for social situations.

“But everyone, isn’t this actually a huge win for us? It means we get to hang out together a little longer!”

“WAAAAAAA!”

Laughter and cheers exploded from the audience.

The potentially awkward downtime was instantly transformed from boring waiting into a special fan-service event.

“Before coming on stage, I heard Minguk University’s midterms ended yesterday. Alright then, let’s hear from the department that thinks they did the best on their exams!”

Someone immediately shouted at the top of their lungs.

“BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION!”

“Okay, Business Administration! Your voices are pretty loud. If you shout even louder, you might get an A+!”

At my provocative comment, the Business Administration section erupted with screams.

Pretending to cover my ears, I signaled toward the members.

Kim Sunyoo, quick to catch on, immediately grabbed the microphone.

“Alright, let’s make this a department competition! The department that cheers the loudest will get a special support video from us in their department jacket, uploaded to social media!”

As expected from a veteran, Kim Sunyoo’s response was fast.

“OOOOOOOH!!!”

The stadium exploded.

“Next up, Mechanical Engineering!”

“WOOOOOOO!”

Deep, powerful voices echoed across the stadium.

“Next, Nursing!”

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

A piercing scream powerful enough to rupture eardrums shook the venue.

It was by far the loudest reaction of the day.

“Wow…”

“Honestly, I don’t think any department can beat Nursing.”

The audience seemed to agree wholeheartedly.

“Then the Minguk University Department Competition goes to Nursing! We’ll upload the support video to our official social media within a week!”

“WAAAAAAA!”

The atmosphere became so heated that it was hard to believe only ten minutes had passed.

Then my in-ear monitor buzzed again.

[You’re doing amazing! Sorry, but five more minutes… just five more!]

‘Do these seniors keep their concept of time in the Andromeda Galaxy or something?’

Taking a sip of water, I casually pulled out another card.

“There’s actually something I’ve been curious about for a while. Is there anyone here who secretly listened to our songs while they were supposed to be studying for exams?”

Hands shot up all over the stadium.

“Alright, let’s have a moment of honesty. The reason your midterms went badly was because of us, right?”

Laughter erupted everywhere.

“Then shall we hold an event today to pray for everyone’s grade recovery?”

Without accompaniment, I softly began singing the chorus of the nation’s most popular university festival song.

“♪—”

My bare voice drifted through the night air.

‘This song is so addictive that practically nobody around my age doesn’t know the chorus.’

The audience held their breath.

Then, as if they had rehearsed it beforehand, an explosive sing-along erupted during the chorus.

Thousands of voices singing together created chills far more powerful than any speaker system.

The ground itself seemed to tremble.

Speakers were unnecessary.

Since it was a chorus everyone had heard at least once, the members naturally joined in with harmonies.

This wasn’t a performance anymore.

It was practically a choir.

The moment the song ended, my in-ear monitor buzzed once more.

[Just three more minutes, seriously this time. For real!]

Apparently, these so-called seniors had a unique sense of time.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

I played my final card.

“Alright, then before we go, let’s take one group photo together!”

Taking the phone handed to me by a staff member, I posed with the members.

“Can everyone fit in the frame?”

“YEEEEES!”

“Then… before the next team comes out, give us the loudest shout of our name you can manage today.”

“One, two, three!”

“LUCY STAR BOYS!!!”

Click—! Click—!

As the flashes exploded, I became certain.

Today’s protagonist at Minguk University wasn’t the late senior group.

It wasn’t even Raiden.

It was us.

The moment the photo session ended, a staff member waiting beside the stage gave us a thumbs-up, signaling that the next team had finally finished preparing.

At last, it was time for our forced solo concert to come to an end.

‘We killed enough time.’

I picked up the microphone again.

“Thank you all for staying with us and having fun, even though we suddenly ended up with extra time.”

Good-natured laughter spread through the audience once more.

“In the end, festivals are all about who has the most fun, right? It was even more enjoyable because we were together! Please give an even hotter welcome to the senior artists coming next!”

The applause continued even as we stepped off the stage.

The entire stadium was still burning with excitement.

The moment we entered the waiting room, the members collapsed onto the floor and gasped for breath.

“Wow… I seriously thought there was going to be a disaster at that festival.”

“Siwoo, you’re incredible. How did you keep that going?”

Kim Sunyoo tapped my shoulder in admiration.

“It just worked out better than expected.”

It was probably thanks to my unusually high ‘star quality’ stat.

“Seriously, if Siwoo hyung hadn’t been there, today could have been a disaster. Looking at it now, hyung is really amazing at improvising.”

Seo Ha-yul sounded genuinely impressed.

“See? This is the greatness of your hyung. Got it?”

‘Looks like this kid is finally starting to understand my greatness.’

Feeling pleased, I aggressively ruffled Seo Hayul’s hair.

“Ah… Hyung!”

“The festival stage is over anyway.”

“One day I’m seriously going to attack your hair properly, Siwoo hyung!”

“Sure. I’ll look forward to it.”

Fortunately, our university festival performance ended successfully.

The next group that had been late turned out to be a second-tier girl group, and they gave a fairly average performance.

‘As expected, people who show up late usually aren’t all that impressive.’

They seemed somewhat incapable of carrying on the explosive momentum that had been created during our stage.

Eventually, the somewhat underwhelming girl group performance came to an end.

Finally, the true star and grand finale of the festival took the stage: Raiden.

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

“WOOOOOOOAH!”

As expected of a top-tier idol group, even the intensity of the cheers was on another level.

‘…They’re ridiculously good.’

Watching Raiden’s performance through the monitor below the stage, I had to admit:

They were simply on a different level.

Being called a first-tier group wasn’t just about fandom size.

Even while performing intense choreography, their live vocals remained completely stable, and they possessed overwhelming stage control, as though the audience’s reactions were resting in the palm of their hands.

On stage, they looked perfectly free.

‘Do you really need to be this skilled to stand at the very top?’