I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 19

Chapter 19

 

After being pushed out of the debut lineup, the first thing I checked was the Danger Level.

[Danger Level: 83% (-)]

King of Hell must have taken pity on me.

It was a blessing in disguise.

“…I’m alive.”

I leaned my back against the hallway wall and let out a sigh.

Tap.

Someone lightly tapped my shoulder.

“You okay?”

I turned around in surprise and saw Han Sang-yoon.

“Ah, yes.”

Han Sang-yoon spoke to me reassuringly.

“You did really well this time…”

As expected, there was a reason his fans called him a “born-to-be leader.” Look at him, checking on even a nobody trainee like me.

“It was disappointing, but I’ll climb back up.”

“Yeah.”

Tap.

Our fists lightly bumped.

‘He always greeted me like this at fansigns, too.’

It was a strange feeling.

After Han Sang-yoon left, a familiar voice reached my ears.

“It was right for Jae-seong hyung to get in.”

“There’s a reason people say justice will prevail, right?”

It was the group that had celebrated Go Jae-seong with exaggerated reactions when he was called as Code 4.

“Luck doesn’t last long, you know?”

It was obviously said so I would hear it.

‘Good grief.’

It suddenly hit me how young these guys still were.

‘So childish. Seriously.’

“Don’t go too far.”

Go Jae-seong walked over with a smile.

“But you did well.”

It was exactly that irritating expression.

‘Stay calm.’

“I watched your stage today.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Honestly, I thought you’d be Code 5.”

Words pretending to be consolation. But his intentions were so painfully obvious that it was actually funny.

“I guess I just need to do better in the next mission.”

Go Jae-seong added meaningfully,

“If your dancing skills improve by then?”

It was an obvious provocation.

But I simply nodded.

Because it was true that my dancing skills needed to improve.

“Yeah, exactly!”

When I answered cheerfully, his expression instead stiffened.

‘Not the reaction you wanted, huh?’

“But if you want to debut…”

This time, I took one step closer to him.

“You’ll need to build up some strength.”

“…?”

“You seemed to have a hard time taking off that name tag.”

Go Jae-seong let out a hollow laugh.

This time, I turned my back first.

The fact that I managed not to throw a punch was already impressive restraint.

‘Good job, Yoo Seong-woo.’

I returned to a corner of the practice room, took out my notepad, and settled down.

It was time to come up with a strategy for the next mission.

 

***

 

It wasn’t even six in the morning yet.

 

♪ Keep on moving

♪ Never stop

♪ Break it

♪ Open this door

♪ The only code

♪ Boy’s code!

 

The trainees screamed as the wake-up song shook the entire dorm.

“U-Ugh…!”

“What the hell, what time is it…?”

I could even hear the sound of Ji Dong-seok falling out of the lower bunk.

Thud!

“Aaaah!”

“It’s six o’clock, so why……?”

Until now, wake-up time had been fixed at eight, so everyone was dumbfounded by this sudden wake-up attack.

Meanwhile, I had already washed my face and come out.

‘This is that.’

“What the… you’re already all ready?”

Instead of answering, I pulled my shoelaces tight and tied them.

Because now I had to sprint with everything I had.

Then I heard the familiar voice of Kang Se-jun.

 

[All trainees, please gather at the studio on the first floor of the building immediately. The trainee who arrives first will receive……]

 

Creeeak

“Holy shit.”

‘Prepare…….’

 

[A hidden prize!]

 

Bang!

I immediately ran toward the first floor.

And sure enough, it looked like a zombie movie set.

Doors opened all around me, trainees came rushing out, and they chased after me…

Most of the trainees were probably blinded by the hidden prize.

But that was a fake-out.

The key to this event wasn’t the prize.

‘Screen time.’

It needed to be raw, but I couldn’t actually show something completely raw.

At the same time, I couldn’t make myself look too obviously staged, either.

So right before coming out, I brought exactly one thing with me.

The colored lip balm Yoo Seong-ah had forcibly shoved into my hand.

 

“Hey, your lips have no color, so you look like a ghost. You’re already so damn pale.”

 

‘Noona, you’re the best!’

Before my regression, I had wondered how I had somehow been born as the younger brother of that tyrant.

It felt so unfair.

But now that I thought about it, she wasn’t a tyrant.

She was a benevolent ruler… A sage king.

The moment I opened the studio door, dozens of cameras greeted me.

“The first trainee to arrive is… trainee Yoo Seong-woo!”

Kang Se-jun appeared in an elaborate uniform even this early in the morning.

At this point, he was clearly enjoying himself too.

“The hidden prize is! A snack set~”

‘As expected.’

“Huh?”

“What? A snack set?”

“Ah, I ran for nothing…”

A hollow laugh erupted among the trainees.

But I smiled brightly as I accepted the snacks.

“I’ve been on a diet, so I really wanted to eat some… Thank you!”

‘This is all screen time.’

I returned to my seat with a big smile, only to find Choi Un-jo staring intently at my snack set.

…I quietly hugged the bag to my chest.

‘This is mine.’

“There was a little event, but there’s another reason you’ve all gathered here today.”

Kang Se-jun spoke again.

“And that is the reveal of the Round 2 mission.”

The screen lit up.

 

[CODE MISSION 2: What Is Your Color?]

-The boys who have reached the second gateway.

There is only one way to solve the code,

Express your own color boldly.

 

“Idols need to be able to pull off a variety of concepts.”

Fresh, sexy, sporty, dreamy.

Four keywords appeared one after another.

“So this mission is a concept team mission.”

Of course, Boys Code added a small twist.

“However, the songs for each concept will only be revealed to the five members of the debut lineup.”

“Whoa……”

“So even if you like the concept, you might not like the song?”

“Ah, I’m jealous…”

They were sticking firmly to a format centered around the debut lineup.

Cruel, but it was guaranteed to generate buzz.

“Team selection will begin with the lowest code.”

Of the four concepts, fresh was the least popular.

‘It felt relatively weak.’

Sexy and sporty were concepts that were easy to openly appeal with, while dreamy had also emerged as a rising contender.

“However, once all the spots are filled, trainees will be released from the team in order, starting with the lowest code.”

“Whaaaat……”

It was a push-out system.

For reference, that was how unpopular the fresh team was: Since there were nineteen trainees and each team needed to have an appropriate number of members, one team had to have four people.

That team was the fresh team.

“Released trainees will have to choose a new team after the first round of selections has completely ended.”

As a result, the fresh team ended up with lower-ranked trainees and received the lowest score.

‘Then…….’

“Code 6. Please choose your concept.”

Even after revealing everyone’s names, Boys Code continued to refer to the trainees by their codes.

It really was a program committed to its concept.

“Yes!”

I headed toward the maze-like area.

 

[Fresh]

 

And without hesitation, I opened the door.

Just as I expected.

“Huh……? Why are you here?”

There was only Ji Dong-seok inside.

“You’re alone?”

“Yeah.”

Ji Dong-seok smiled awkwardly.

‘It’s exactly the same as before my regression.’

The other three were probably lower-ranked trainees who had been pushed out of other teams.

“We’ve completed team selection up through the final Code 1. Now, we’ll have time for the second round of team selection.”

Five trainees had been pushed out. Three would have to go to fresh, while one each would go to sporty and wild.

“For the selection method, the trainee with the highest code in each team will be allowed to choose.”

I picked the trainees in the exact same composition as before my regression.

‘It wasn’t a team with problems in terms of skill or personality.’

More importantly, they were kids who would listen to me.

“Then, we’ll announce the final team compositions!”

Just like before my regression, the upper-ranked trainees were concentrated in the sexy concept.

I-yul also stayed with his original team.

Yes, I-yul’s legendary performance happened in Round 3, but he had received a pretty good response in Round 2 as well.

‘I should worry about myself.’

“All right, then. I’m looking forward to your Round 2 stages as well!”

After Kang Se-jun left, the trainees gathered in small groups and began discussing ideas.

And our team’s atmosphere was……

“Should we at least introduce ourselves?”

“……”

We were screwed.

 

***

 

Even after I suggested introducing ourselves, suffocating silence continued to hang in the air.

“……”

“……”

“……”

‘It must’ve been even more hopeless before my regression.’

In the end, I spoke first.

“I’ll go first.”

Everyone’s gazes naturally turned toward me.

“I’m Yoo Seong-woo, and my positions are producing and vocals.”

“Ah… I’m Seong Jun-woo.”

A voice like an ant crawling across the ground.

“My position is dance.”

He couldn’t even properly make eye contact.

Next.

“I’m Kwon Ki-hyun. My position is dance, and I do a little bit of vocals too…”

“Song Woo-joo. My position is rap.”

‘They’re all extreme introverts.’

Finally, Ji Dong-seok raised his hand with a bright smile.

“I’m Ji Dong-seok! My position is obviously dance–”

At least that was a relief.

‘That bastard can actually be useful sometimes.’

Yeah, Dong-seok.

You’re no longer just a filthy roommate. Become the comedian who will lift the spirits of this team’s morale, which has fallen into an abyss with no end in sight.

Even before my regression, this team’s biggest problem wasn’t skill. It was the atmosphere. Everyone kept their mouths shut, so the meeting itself couldn’t get anywhere.

There were plenty of dangerous factors like this, but there was a reason I chose the fresh concept.

First, the song couldn’t be too difficult to dance to.

That was exactly why the higher-ranked trainees hadn’t chosen it.

‘There’s a limit to how much I can catch up with the hourglass.’

If it had been another concept, I probably would have had to flip the hourglass tens of thousands of times.

The ceiling of a hospital room appeared in my mind automatically.

‘I can’t do that twice more.’

Second, there was a lot of room to play around with by arranging.

And finally, if I had joined one of the higher-ranked teams, I would obviously have ended up as a filler member.

If that happened, I would probably finish without even getting my face on camera once in my individual fancam.

And what if the team received a bad evaluation because of me?

I’d immediately be branded a nuisance trainee.

Hateful comments automatically played in my head.

 

[What’s with that hopelessly clumsy guy?]

The stage quality got fucking ruined because of that one guy;;

He’s so clumsy they can’t even hide him in the formation, which makes me even more pissed off

 

↳ Why the hell is that Gepeto grandpa creation showing up on an idol survival show?

↳ He’s so fucking clumsy it feels like even a thousand years of lust is being extinguished

↳ I’m never forgetting that Code 6 guy

 

It was horrifying just thinking about it.

“Hey, Yoo Seong-woo?”

Ji Dong-seok’s voice brought me back to reality.

“…Huh? Oh, right. Where were we?”

“We were going to divide the parts.”

I slowly looked around at my teammates.

They already had expressions that seemed resigned to their fate.

‘I’m Code 6, though….’

But these guys probably weren’t confident in me either.

Well, that was a problem I would solve little by little.

“Then, does anyone have a part they want?”

“……”

At that moment, a survival-show scene that had once been sped up two times flashed through my mind.

 

[A tense silence hangs over the fresh team as trainee Ji Dong-seok proposes dividing the parts.]

 

‘This is going to take a while, isn’t it?’

I just didn’t know it would take an entire hour!

I waited for someone to speak first, but it was a futile hope.

They hesitated, then shut their mouths again, driving me crazy.

I was planning to wait as long as possible too. If I stepped in here, I might come across as dictatorial. But if I waited any longer, we’d never get anywhere.

In the end, I drew my sword.

“Guys.”

They looked up at me with listless eyes.

I smiled.

“Try trusting me and leave the part distribution to me.”

“…Huh?”

“Yes?”

One guy looked stern, another looked horrified, and another stared at me with an expression that clearly said he had no idea what was going on.

Relax your faces, guys.

‘I’m going to make you the stage of your lives.’