The S-Rank Paparazzi Reincarnates as an Idol Chapter 58

Chapter 58

 

The practice room speakers vibrated softly amid the thudding footsteps and the smell of sweat.

Standing in a line in front of the mirrors, everyone’s eyes were fixed on Kang Chan.

“On one, two, three, turn immediately. Got it?”

Having created the choreography almost instantly to match the rearranged song, Kang Chan was practically the dance trainer of our team.

Just the sound of his feet brushing against the floor was enough to energize the atmosphere in the practice room.

“Yes!”

Maybe because we had chosen a song that matched the concept, the rearrangement had been completed smoothly.

Thanks to selecting team members with clear position assignments in mind, even distributing the song parts had gone well.

But the problem was the dance.

‘It’s much harder and more complicated than I thought.’

Understanding it with my head and actually moving my body were two completely different things.

“We’ll go through it again with the music.”

“Yes.”

At Kang Chan’s voice, we took our positions once more in front of the mirror that covered an entire wall of the room.

As a majestic organ-like intro flowed from the speakers, the members began moving around Yoo Hoseung, who stood at the center.

“That’s the wrong move.”

Less than thirty seconds after the music started, Kang Chan’s low voice echoed through the practice room.

“Sorry.”

“We’ll start again.”

A strange tension began to form between the apologetic team member and Kang Chan.

‘The choreography difficulty is just too high.’

In a way, it was only natural.

‘Trying to keep up with someone whose dance stat is A+, with an overwhelming skill gap, was bound to be difficult.’

At first, the team members had cheered while watching Kang Chan’s impressive dancing.

But once they tried doing it themselves, they realized just how hard it was to follow him.

The problem was that the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense due to the grueling practice sessions that lasted for hours.

The beat poured from the speakers once again.

“Five, six, seven, eight!”

Everyone moved simultaneously to the count, but a mistimed beat stuck out in the mirror.

“You were late.”

Kang Chan said as he stopped moving.

His bangs, soaked with sweat, clung to his forehead.

“Ha… No, you’re the one who’s too fast.”

The oldest trainee replied while bracing himself against the mirror.

His voice was low, laced with fatigue and irritation.

At that moment, the atmosphere in the practice room subtly shifted.

“Hyung. This is a Royal Concept stage that has to be perfect. Precision is everything.”

Determination was mixed into Kang Chan’s tone.

“Power comes before precision. And you guys were fast. I wasn’t late.”

As soon as the oldest trainee finished speaking, their eyes met head-on.

‘At this rate, those two are really going to fight.’

Watching the increasingly hostile standoff, I carefully managed my expression.

I could bet both my eyebrows that those production staff bastards would use this scene for dramatic editing.

‘I’ll watch a little longer. If it gets serious, I’ll step in.’

Stopping a fight immediately isn’t always the right answer.

Sometimes people need to vent their frustrations and clash before things can be resolved.

‘But how do kids these days even fight?’

Just as I was enjoying the front-row view…

“You should admit what’s true.”

“You…! You’re younger than me, yet you’re so disrespectful!”

‘Ah. It’s already over.’

This fight belonged to Kang Chan.

For the record, when an older person starts trying to win an argument by bringing up age, it’s usually because they have nothing else left to stand on.

The moment age gets dragged into it, the fight is basically over.

“Now, now, hyungs.”

Leader Yoo Hoseung stepped between them, slicing his palm through the air.

“I think everyone’s gotten sensitive because we’ve been practicing for so long. Let’s take a short break and continue after that.”

‘You’re the most mature one here.’

Despite being the youngest, he had it rough handling the role of leader.

“That’s right. Let’s drink some water and rest. We’ll resume practice in ten minutes.”

I immediately backed him up, and the two reluctantly stepped apart.

“Fine.”

Kang Chan nodded indifferently and left the practice room for a moment.

“No, seriously, isn’t Kang Chan a bit much?”

As if he had been waiting for this moment, the oldest trainee immediately started complaining.

“Huh?”

“Just because he’s good at dancing, does that mean he gets to act superior? There’s a limit to how much you can look down on people.”

The irritation in the older trainee’s voice echoed loudly through the room.

‘When did Kang Chan ever look down on anyone?’

No matter how I thought about it, he never had.

He had simply pointed out mistakes in the choreography.

That wasn’t the same thing as looking down on someone.

“That’s true. His personality is kind of like that.”

When another trainee agreed, the older trainee grew excited and started criticizing Kang Chan in earnest.

“Does he think being good at dancing is all an idol needs? You have to be good at lots of things. Am I the only one bothered by him?”

“I heard from the other teams that a lot of people think he’s rude too.”

“Right? His personality is weird.”

“Honestly, it is. The whole situation of one trainee trying to teach other trainees is kind of ridiculous.”

“And honestly, I’ve been thinking this since the beginning. I didn’t like how he chose the concept without consulting anyone.”

As the criticism continued, Yoo Hoseung’s expression visibly hardened.

‘What a pathetic thing to do, talking behind someone’s back.’

I couldn’t listen to this anymore.

“But honestly, Kang Chan wasn’t looking down on us.”

“…What?”

“The fact that we’re worse at dancing than Kang Chan is true, isn’t it?”

The oldest trainee’s smile stiffened awkwardly.

“If someone’s spending their own time giving us feedback on our weak points, shouldn’t we be grateful and learn from them as teammates instead of thinking they’re looking down on us?”

‘Seriously, have some shame. You should be thanking him, not complaining.’

“Our goal is to survive and debut, right? We should focus on preparing hard and making our debut.”

‘We’re already busy practicing. Is this really the time for childish politics?’

“That’s true, but there’s still such a thing as tact.”

“If we’re talking about tact, hyung, you’re worse.”

“…What did you say?”

The oldest trainee’s expression hardened noticeably.

‘Got him?’

“If you have a complaint, say it directly instead of gossiping behind someone’s back. There could even be misunderstandings.”

“…”

“Anyway, we have to live together as one team until the performance and prepare successfully. If this keeps up, the team atmosphere is going to become weird.”

The oldest trainee stared blankly without answering.

Then…

BANG!

The door swung open boldly, revealing the silhouette of a broad-shouldered, large-framed figure.

‘Now that’s some timing.’

In the frozen atmosphere where no one could even breathe comfortably, the expressions reflected in the mirror were quite a sight.

Kang Chan’s gaze slowly swept across us.

‘Did he hear everything outside?’

Considering how poor the soundproofing of the practice room was, that was entirely possible.

“Ah… Has it already been ten minutes?”

The first to speak was the very trainee who had just been badmouthing Kang Chan.

His voice sounded unnaturally light, making the tremble even more obvious.

‘If you can’t say a word in front of him, why start talking behind his back?’

The older trainee’s eyes wavered slightly.

“Yes.”

With just that one short reply from Kang Chan, it felt as though the room temperature had dropped several degrees.

‘He heard it. He definitely heard it.’

As a heavy silence lingered in the room, I was once again the one forced to smooth things over.

“Ten minutes are up, so should we start practicing again?”

Amid the awkward atmosphere, Kang Chan pressed play on the beat with a completely expressionless face.

“Yes. Let’s begin.”

As the familiar instrumental started playing, someone finally let out a deep breath.

As the choreography grew even more intense, our rather unstable group project truly began.

 

☆☆☆

 

As we practiced like maniacs day and night, before we knew it, the day of the interim evaluation had arrived.

At this point, seeing the judges seated in a row felt oddly familiar because we’d met them so often.

For reference, this interim evaluation was held in a large practice room with all the trainees gathered together.

The trainees sat on both sides of the room while each team was called forward one by one for a simplified evaluation.

“How have you all been doing?”

“Yes!”

“I’m curious how much you’ve managed to practice in just one week.”

‘Enough to make me throw up, honestly.’

Looking at the accumulated fatigue on my status window made my mouth feel bitter.

“Did practice go well?”

“…Yes!”

The reply echoed through the room a beat later than before, carrying noticeably less confidence.

Perhaps the pressure had increased now that only the top-ranked trainees remained in this increasingly intense survival show.

“Haha, your voices are quieter than before.”

“Really. Maybe they’re not confident?”

“Then I guess we’ll have to watch very carefully.”

The judges continued teasing the trainees playfully.

The faces of the trainees, already darkened by heavy eye bags, became even gloomier.

‘Take it easy. At this rate you’re going to stress these kids to death.’

“We’ll conduct the interim evaluations in the order the concepts were chosen.”

Before the atmosphere could become any more overwhelming, Park Chaeyoung quickly grabbed the microphone and smoothly redirected the mood.

“The first team to receive their interim evaluation is the team that chose the Royal Concept!”

Exchanging glances with my teammates, I prepared to stand.

“A unique concept. I’m looking forward to it. Royal Team, are you ready?”

Park Chaeyoung’s voice echoed through the practice room.

“Yes!”

“Royal Team, please come to the center now!”

The judges’ eyes widened with anticipation as they all focused on us.

“Wow!”

“Isn’t this the ace team filled with top-ranked trainees?”

With Yoo Hoseung standing in the center, we lined up in formation.

One of the composer judges picked up a microphone.

“Yoo Hoseung.”

Hoseung slowly lifted his head, clearly nervous.

“Yes?”

“The youngest member ended up becoming the team leader. Was there anything difficult about being the leader?”

The judge’s eyes sparkled as if he had spotted prey.

‘This kid really has been through a lot.’

Being a team leader truly wasn’t easy.

As someone who had already served as a team leader twice in survival-show competitions, I knew that better than anyone.

Being a leader was not a job worth envying.

‘If I debut in the end, I’ll avoid being a leader no matter what.’

In fact, I already had someone in mind as the future leader of our debut team.

“Hmm…”

Hearing the thoughtful sound beside me, I glanced over.

Yoo Hoseung simply wore a relaxed and peaceful smile.

“I should have led the team better, but honestly, I think there were areas where I fell short.”

‘You? Not at all.’

Yoo Hoseung had been more mature than anyone else.

“But the hyungs helped me a lot, so there weren’t really any difficult parts.”

‘A textbook answer.’

It was another reminder of why Yoo Hoseung, with ten million followers, had maintained a spotless reputation all this time.

“Your team atmosphere seems really great. Then let’s see how hard you’ve prepared.”

“Yes!”

The familiar instrumental of KING, a song I had heard so many times my ears were practically calloused, flowed from the speakers.

Wearing training clothes, with no stage lighting whatsoever, we began our interim evaluation performance under everyone’s watchful eyes.

As the organ-like intro resonated grandly, Yoo Hoseung slowly raised his head from the center.

 

— 

A road where my heart races as if it’ll burst

A hand clutching light within the darkness

— 

 

As power filled the group’s movements centered around Yoo Hoseung, the judges’ gazes shifted ever so slightly.

Every angle of the shoulders, every movement of the eyes, every timing of an expression was being evaluated with sharp precision.

 

— 

KING, set my heart ablaze

Cutting through endless wars

Surpassing every king

I alone will claim the throne

— 

 

When even the highlight performance ended, only rough breathing remained in the room.

“How should I put this…”

‘The judges’ expressions look really bad.’

One judge, who had been tapping a finger against his tablet, spoke first.

“How about changing the center of this team?”

‘…What did he just say?’