Debuting by Riding the Returnee’s Bus – Chapter 60

Author: LyraDhani

“…….”

‘Am I a selfish person?’

I found myself asking that question. Not just for the sake of saying it… but because I truly found the current situation hard to grasp.

‘No, seriously… am I really the bad guy here?’

I thought I had said the right thing, but a sprout of anxiety began to grow, suggesting maybe I hadn’t. Maybe I’d been too uncompromising. I worried that I had summoned the Lee Unha from the other world—the one who lived as a slave—into this place.

‘Isn’t this the rational approach?’

True, if this were the Master’s laboratory, I wouldn’t have even agonized over this. I would have judged it to be the most rational choice for survival.

But the place I was in now wasn’t the Master’s—no, the mad dark mage’s—laboratory or playground. This wasn’t a place where my head would roll for making a mistake, nor was it a place where hellish torture awaited me for showing useless sympathy.

Maybe I should have gone along with the Elder Duo’s circumstances to some extent. I had just blurted it out because of frustration and impatience, but if this was the wrong move…

‘Have I completely… become a villain?’

The thought that I might suddenly end up being painted as the villain filled me with anxiety. As I sat there uneasily…

The voices of the Elder Duo reached my ears.

“Th-That’s exactly why we should be even more careful about distributing the parts. Everyone has parts they want and parts they’re confident in.”

“Exactly. Of course, Haejun is doing the arrangement… so his opinion is important, but there are also parts everyone has been practicing until now….”

‘How am I supposed to endure this? Why are you practicing on your own when nothing has even been decided yet? No one told you to practice. We agreed we’d only be learning the choreography.’

“We’ve already told Haejun which parts we’d like. So how about we first organize everything and see whose desired parts overlap?”

‘Seriously… We already sorted that out when the cameras weren’t here. Come on, guys. It was exactly the same back then.’

If the cameras hadn’t been there, if I didn’t need to manage my image, I would have flipped the table immediately. To be blunt, if these guys were slaves I had to live with in the dark mage’s lab, I would have wanted to eliminate them by any means necessary. Assuming I actually could.

Right now, though, I couldn’t even tell whether I’d done the right thing or the wrong thing, so I was in no position to say anything. I was finding it hard not to be conscious of the cameras, so I just ended up putting on a hollow, lingering smile….

But….

‘Wait… maybe I didn’t mess up that badly?’

I could quickly realize that I hadn’t committed a major blunder. Neither Kim Haejun nor the staff holding the cameras were looking at me like I was a freak. They just viewed it as a natural process of exchanging opinions.

I had been worried that my tone or the atmosphere might come across as coercive… but that wasn’t the case. Once I realized I was in the safety zone, I opened my mouth with a bit more confidence.

“No. In the end, we’ll probably all want similar parts anyway… and if we keep exchanging opinions like that, I don’t think we’ll ever finish… Personally…”

“Then what part do you want, Unha? Can we hear it?”

“To be honest, I’m not greedy for parts…. I don’t mind doing whatever is left over. What I want is for everyone to find the part that fits them perfectly so we can show a good side to the fans at the competition. I just said that because I feel like Haejun hyung… would know that method best in our group right now.”

It was the model answer.

“And if I happened to upset you hyungs, then I’m sorry….”

This was also the right thing to say.

Sure enough, seeing that the cameras were rolling, the expressions of the Elder Duo darkened slightly. They seemed to think that if they weren’t careful, they might be branded as greedy guys.

“No, no. Why would we feel upset? You were just giving your opinion, Unha…. We’re actually grateful that you spoke honestly. It’s only by piling up opinions like this that we can create a better result.”

“Yes. That’s true, but… still….”

“Let’s not think too hastily for now. We have plenty of time for this mission. You might be anxious because the arrangement isn’t done yet… but if even you act like that, Unha, Haejun will only become more pressured.”

‘The ones making Kim Haejun anxious are you guys. F*ck. Seriously.’

“Why? I think Unha’s right, honestly.”

‘You just stay still for a second, Taehee.’

As the tense back-and-forth continued, Jung Taehee finally looked like he couldn’t hold himself back anymore, so I hurriedly stopped him with a hand gesture.

‘This is not good.’

The problem wasn’t Jung Taehee; it was the fact that this issue was dragging on so long that it was annoying. At first, it was just a simple exchange of words, but now, the conversation had a sharp edge to it.

Everyone still wore smiles on their faces, but anyone could tell it had become a contest of wills. I shifted my eyes slightly and felt the cameras swarming in like a pack of sharks smelling blood.

‘This is really bad.’

Aside from the cameras, there was no way we could make progress if our opinions kept clashing like this. I wished Kim Haejun would voice his opinion more strongly, but for some reason, he felt reluctant to do so.

Judging by his expression, he would have probably lent a hand if the agenda was ‘Lee Unha granting full authority over part distribution’, but…. Since it was about him taking full authority, he seemed to find it difficult to step forward and assert himself.

Naturally, I realized that no matter how strongly I argued, this issue wasn’t going to be resolved anytime soon. Just when we were all stuck, unable to move forward or backward—

A bombshell… no,

“This is a sudden announcement. There will be a 1st Interim Evaluation starting tomorrow at 3:00 PM. I repeat, the 1st Interim Evaluation will be held tomorrow at 3:00 PM. Each team, please gather and wait in the practice room starting from 2:00 PM. We’ll notify you again if there are any additional announcements.”

Good news had arrived.

Silence instantly descended upon the practice room, followed by a sudden spike in decibels. Teams that weren’t prepared yet were clutching their heads, while those who wanted to get on camera were putting on broadcast-ready reactions.

Our team, which was presumed to be making the slowest progress among all groups, was no different. The Elder Duo, Kim Haejun, and Jung Taehee all looked at each other at the sudden news.

Normally, I would have grimaced along with the others showing negative reactions…. But right now, I couldn’t help but let the corners of my mouth turn up. At least from my perspective, the surprise midterm exam prepared by the broadcast people was a welcome sight.

‘Now that I think about it, they did say they’d start helping from this stage, right? Right, of course there would be an interim evaluation. Why didn’t I think of this?’

Had I overlooked it because the show’s format had spent so much time breaking away from traditional idol survival programs? Why did I overlook the fact that the system would inevitably use similar formats as it approached the latter half?

Yes. In this kind of format, seeing trainees crying and getting scolded during the interim evaluation, and being reprimanded or praised by the judges, was one of the essential attractions.

Almost 100% of the time, it followed a similar process. Showing the contestants’ stories first and then the stage performance afterward was the classic editing formula. Since they said this was the stage where voting began… expert confirmation became essential to increase the quality of the performance.

Regardless, we’d been given plenty of time to prepare, so the production staff naturally expected results that matched that amount of time. It was a waste of breath to say it twice, but….

‘Good. It’s an opportunity. An opportunity.’

It was an opportunity for me.

‘Benok will come, right? He’ll definitely come for the interim evaluation, right?’

Yes.

The judges weren’t blind, so I was certain they’d put a stop to the direction the Elder Duo was trying to steer things toward. I quickly opened my mouth.

“We’re out of time.”

“The arrangement isn’t even finished yet. What do we do?”

“It’s okay. Since this evaluation was announced so suddenly, let’s just use the original version for now. We’ve already learned most of the choreography, so let’s focus on our formations first… and as for the parts… whew…”

As soon as I paused for a moment, one of the Elder Duo continued.

“I have something I’ve thought of for now… why don’t we try it exactly like that? It wouldn’t be permanent, of course… just for tomorrow’s evaluation.”

‘Yes. That’s exactly what I was waiting for.’

I was worried they might play it safe… but apparently not. I judged it was a choice they could make because they were confident in their own skills. They thought that aside from Kim Haejun, they were better than some nobody from a vocal academy like Jung Taehee or a guy like Lee Unha who got out of breath just from dancing.

I nodded as if I had been waiting for it.

“Yeah. For now… I think it’d be best to go with what you hyungs suggested.”

“Right. Let’s try that. Since we don’t have time, I don’t think there’s any other way.”

“Taehee, you’re okay with that too, right?”

“Yeah, Unha.”

“What about you, Haejun hyung?”

“Since there’s no time… we have to do it that way. I’m sorry. If I had finished the arrangement a bit faster, we could have gone in more prepared.”

“Hey… what are you sorry for? How can that kind of work just pop out instantly? Compared to other teams that can’t even get the arrangement right… we’re lucky. Don’t feel too pressured. It’s not like we can’t perform without the arrangement.”

“Right. Unha is right. Don’t feel too pressured.”

“Exactly. In fact, you might struggle more because of the pressure. It’ll go better if you just relax. And… honestly, it’s natural to feel pressure…. It’s not just any song, but a [TOP9] song. Haejun, we here know better than anyone how good you are.”

“The hyungs are right, Haejun hyung.”

“Thanks, Unha. Thank you, Hhyungs.”

The atmosphere suddenly became warm and fuzzy.

The duo clearly knew exactly how to create a good show, painting a touching scene where they comforted Kim Haejun, who was understandably feeling pressured about arranging a song from the group he had almost debuted in.

Even though our team wasn’t actually united, it ended up looking like we were.

‘No matter how I think about it, this doesn’t really fit the direction Idol Classism is supposed to be aiming for…’

Still, since this might end up being broadcast, we all had to play along with the warm atmosphere. Even Taehee. When I gave No. 123 a look….

‘You say something, too.’

He nodded slightly and opened his mouth.

“Don’t feel pressured, Haejun hyung.”

“Ah. Thanks, Taehee….”

Since the broadcast people were capturing it on camera for now, the Elder Duo’s tactic had worked to some extent.

‘Enjoy the warmth… let’s see how long it lasts….’

Probably….

‘It’ll turn stone-cold tomorrow.’

It was a conviction I’d be willing to bet my spot next to Joo Wooyoung on.