Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus Chapter 17

‘Does Joo Wooyoung not realize the situation we’re in right now?’

 

“Is it really okay to do that?”

 

‘Mr. Joo Wooyoung, you’re the one who messed up the auction and left our team with a screw loose… You must have felt something while practicing with us until dawn yesterday. You saw the kids tripping and rolling all over the place.’

 

“I know time is tight, but everyone must be exhausted. We started practicing the next song immediately after the class mission ended, and so much has happened…. Don’t you think they’re drained not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well? I think they need some time to themselves. A sort of reset.”

 

“But…”

 

“It’s not good to rush things either. Even if we’re only together as a team for a short while, we should match our teammates’ pace.”

 

Honestly, I wanted to tell him that now was not the time to be managing pace. I wanted to say that whether the team members were tired or not, our top priority should be driving them hard enough to produce a polished performance. I wanted to tell him that even if they collapsed on stage, he should mercilessly crack the whip and get results. The mad dark mage would have done exactly that.

 

But the words wouldn’t come out easily. Partly because Joo Wooyoung was the team leader, but also because I didn’t want to go against his decision. I felt that as long as he hadn’t handed the decision-making power to me, I should follow his opinion as much as possible.

 

Whether he knew my inner thoughts or not, Joo Wooyoung continued with a sun-like smile.

 

“If you’re anxious, shall just the two of us go out and practice? I’ll help you sync up, Unha.”

 

‘No, practicing with just the two of us is fine, but… we need to sync up as a group of five.’

 

“Yes… let’s do that at least, Wooyoung hyung.”

 

“Ah, come to think of it, everyone seemed to struggle with the choreography yesterday. You too, Unha. I think it might be a good idea to consider changing the choreography a bit. What do you think?”

 

“Hmm… personally, I don’t think we should compromise any further. If we’re not careful, it’ll end up looking like a nursery rhyme. Especially when you think about how we’ll be compared to the other teams.”

 

‘Is there any reason to sink together while trying to accommodate them?’

 

“Hmm…”

 

“Besides, we’ve already changed it three times… changing it again will only cause confusion. If anything, we should be adding to the performance. This is the best we can do right now.”

 

“Mmm…”

 

‘You’re not that foolish either. You know we’re already out of options. It’s not that we have four days left; we only have four days.’

 

“Honestly, we’re already short on time. If we keep changing the choreography, we’ll end up accomplishing nothing.”

 

“I see. So you’re saying the best thing to do for now is to increase our proficiency?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“That’s a bit of a shame. I wish we had more time.”

 

Why couldn’t he think that if we lacked time, we should simply make more time? He seemed to have absolutely no intention of dragging the Hopeless Trio out of the room. I was frustrated, unable to understand why Joo Wooyoung was being like this… Although it wasn’t as though I had absolutely no idea.

 

‘Is he really still not adjusted to this world?’

 

Was he still trapped in that other world? It wasn’t my place to say, considering I was still suffering from trauma myself, but no matter how I looked at it, that seemed to be the case. If I substituted this mission for a quest Joo Wooyoung faced in the other world and the slaves as his party, it actually made sense. On a battlefield or inside a dungeon, where one wrong move could cost someone their life, carefully managing everyone’s condition would’ve been absolutely essential.

 

If—just if—he had memories of losing a companion because he pushed his party too hard during his early days in the other world, this could have become an obsession. The idea that managing condition was a necessity and the party members’ state was more important than any other problem.

 

‘But this isn’t the other world. Condition management only matters there. Here, nobody’s going to die just because they collapse during practice.’

 

Whether this easygoing guy knew how much my insides were burning or not, he entered the practice room without a word and focused on dancing.

 

‘Though, he’s a really good dancer.’

 

“Huff. Huff.”

 

‘Which makes him even more annoying.’

 

Of course, he hadn’t fully adjusted yet, so he wasn’t capturing the vibe of the original song perfectly. But despite the high difficulty of the choreography, watching his limbs stretch out so cleanly made the original song feel irrelevant. Honestly, considering this was Joo Wooyoung, the choreo difficulty could have gone higher and he would still be fine.

 

It was not just about the lack of time; this wasn’t something you mastered in just a day or two.

 

“Alright. One, two.”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Here. One, two!”

 

“Huff. Huff… yes.”

 

“This way. One, two, three. Turn. Spin. Quick. Jump. You’re following better than yesterday.”

 

‘He doesn’t even seem out of breath.’

 

“Whew. Hah… whew. Huff.”

 

“Your stamina really is weak, isn’t it?”

 

“Yes. Honestly, singing while dancing is hard. I’m okay at the beginning… but after that….”

 

“Still, you’ll have to keep practicing. Lung capacity is something you can train. Singing while running helps a lot. Have you not done any other exercise usually?”

 

“When I was at home, I mostly stayed in my room… and even at my former agency, I just went back and forth to the practice room.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Still, back then, dancing was my job, so I think my stamina was better. But after I quit, I lived a half-confined life… and actually, even when I was at the agency, I’d gas out faster than the other trainees.”

 

“Hmm… you said it’s only been a few months since you left the agency, so your old form should return quickly.”

 

“I hope so. It would be great if I could finish a full song while dancing like you, hyung.”

 

“Hahaha. You’ll get used to it if you keep practicing. And besides, stamina isn’t the only essential virtue for an artist. You already have plenty of strengths, Unha.”

 

“Even so, I should at least be good enough not to get criticized. And honestly, I don’t even know what strengths I have. If I really had something special, wouldn’t I have debuted already instead of getting kicked out of my agency?”

 

“Maybe it just hasn’t manifested yet. There are plenty of people who are good at dancing and singing, Unha. There are professionally trained performers, and sometimes you even come across amateurs whose vocals are better than actual singers. And dancers are the same.”

 

“Yeah. There are hidden masters like that everywhere.”

 

“But not everyone becomes a singer. No matter how well you sing, no matter how well you dance, no matter how high your stats are—eventually, the ones who stand out are the ones with star quality. I think the ones who truly excel are those with a special aura that sets them apart from others.”

 

“An aura?”

 

“This is just my personal opinion, but in a situation like this, I think that’s more important. Someone with the power to draw the eye, someone who receives public attention, someone who triggers instinctive curiosity.”

 

‘Well, the Succubus Eyes are a big part of that.’

 

If he saw something in Lee Unha, I was actually grateful.

 

“And I don’t think you’re a bad singer, either…. You have a very nice voice, Unha.”

 

‘Is this really because of the Siren? Everyone keeps saying that.’

 

“Anyway, as I said before, I think there’s something special about you.”

 

‘Yeah. I’d be very grateful if you thought so.’

 

He was saying embarrassing things so casually… But honestly, other than my supernatural abilities, I had no idea what exactly he saw in me. Of course, I did think I was pretty good at drawing attention…

 

‘Star quality? The power to draw the eye?’

 

Looking at the practice video we just filmed, I couldn’t see any star quality or anything of the sort. As I played back the video, sure enough, I saw a guy like a tiny firefly spinning around the sun-like Joo Wooyoung.

 

‘Aura, my foot.’

 

It felt like I was completely swallowed up by Joo Wooyoung. I was flapping my wings hard, but my presence was faint. Perhaps because I wasn’t using the Succubus Eyes, the gaze didn’t linger on Lee Unha.

 

The quality of the dance wasn’t the issue. I could guarantee that even if I were a better dancer than Joo Wooyoung, I would have been swallowed up instantly. Of course… of course, Joo Wooyoung being at the center was part of it, but even so, the eye simply would not leave him. Even if you tried to look elsewhere, you couldn’t.

 

“What’s wrong, Unha?”

 

‘What do you mean, ‘what’s wrong’? It’s because of you.’

 

I genuinely couldn’t understand how one person could dominate everyone’s attention to this extent. In his sun-like presence, what little light I had had faded away. I stared blankly until a hollow laugh escaped me.

 

“Wait a second, hyung.”

 

“Eh, what is it?”

 

“Hyung, can you send me all the videos we recorded until dawn yesterday?”

 

“Why so suddenly?”

 

“Just send them for now.”

 

“Uh. Okay…”

 

I saw Joo Wooyoung start sending the videos one by one with a slightly puzzled expression. I immediately began checking every video. The very first recordings from when we’d only just begun practicing together weren’t even worth reviewing, so I skipped them and went straight to the later recordings where all five of us were dancing together.

 

And then…

 

‘This… is an absolute disaster, isn’t it?’

 

Leaving aside the fact that the performance was atrocious, even though five people were dancing together, you could see nothing but Joo Wooyoung. The 2nd video, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th—in every single one, only Joo Wooyoung was visible.

 

Of course, the situation might improve slightly once we jumped on the actual stage with individual camera parts rather than a static phone on a tripod, but even I was flabbergasted. This wasn’t about a difference in skill or talent.

 

Exactly as Joo Wooyoung said…

 

‘The aura is different.’

 

Joo Wooyoung was pulling the attention with absolute force. It was so bad that the other four looked like back-up dancers—what more needed to be said? Some mistakes weren’t even noticeable anymore. Even when No. 45 accidentally fell, you only saw Joo Wooyoung. It was because Joo Wooyoung had completely devoured the attention.

 

“Wooyoung Hyung, did you share all these videos with the other Hyungs?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“When?”

 

“They asked me to send them after practice ended yesterday. So I did. Is there a problem?”

 

“No. Not exactly a problem.”

 

‘These guys have definitely lost their nerve. They’ve lost their motivation.’

 

Yesterday, I was focusing on the choreography and mistakes, so I didn’t see the big picture while watching the videos. But looking from a step back, the problem became glaringly obvious. No matter how mentally tough they were, anyone who watched a massacre this one-sided would inevitably lose their motivation.

 

It was only natural for them to think that working hard was meaningless. They must feel that no matter how much they struggled, they’d never debut. That standing next to someone like this was impossible. That debuting was something reserved only for people who had been chosen from the start.

 

No, they actually felt that way, which was why they were holed up in their room. They probably thought that practicing itself was meaningless.

 

‘They’re thinking, ‘We’re going to be eliminated anyway, so let’s just kill time’. Isn’t that it?’

 

After all, this wasn’t the kind of gap where you could at least console yourself by leaving with dignity. If the gap were reasonable, it would be one thing, but the difference was so vast it couldn’t even be measured. To make matters worse, it was right after they had looked pathetic in the Slave class mission, been unsold, and utterly humiliated—so they felt even more hopeless.

 

Having one person who was overwhelmingly better than everyone else was also a problem. Now that I realized just how badly it had destroyed the team’s morale…

 

Though I didn’t like it, I had no choice but to speak up.

 

“Hyung…”

 

“Hm? What is it, Unha?”

 

“……”

 

“……”

 

“I think you shouldn’t dance, hyung.”

 

The expression on Joo Wooyoung’s face looked exactly like he wanted to ask me what kind of nonsense I was talking about. My own expression a moment ago must have looked exactly like that.