I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 21

Chapter 21

 

Thirty minutes after they started creating the choreography, the atmosphere in the practice room became heavy again. The music kept playing, but no one said a word.

‘Wow. This is so frustrating, seriously.’

Everyone was thinking about something. The problem was that no one was willing to make the first move.

They were afraid of being told they had come up with something bad. Afraid that if they stepped forward for no reason, they would make the atmosphere awkward.

“Let’s just do the original choreography as it is.”

Someone plopped down on the floor and spoke.

“Since we’re-”

His voice trailed off. He didn’t need to finish. Everyone knew what he meant.

They were a bottom-tier team anyway. The weakest of the weak.

I quietly watched them.

So the broadcast really had done them a favor by editing them kindly. I finally understood exactly why such a disastrous stage had come out.

“Everyone, come over here.”

There was no point waiting any longer.

“I’ll show you what I came up with first. It’s totally amazing, you know?”

They gave me suspicious looks. Still, everyone gathered around for the time being.

“You… made it, hyung?”

“Yeah. I worked really hard on it.”

I casually played the music and started moving my body.

“……?”

The very first movement was already suspicious. Off-beat timing, ambiguous hand gestures, joints bending at completely unexpected moments.

A solemn expression that had absolutely nothing to do with the refreshing concept. And on top of that, a completely inexplicable jump.

The fact that I was dancing with all my sincerity only made it worse.

“Wow……”

“What even is that…?”

And I was doing it with an utterly serious expression.

“How is it?”

I finished with the final pose, making it as terrible as possible.

An astonishingly long silence passed. No one could bring themselves to say anything.

“Isn’t it good?”

At that shameless remark, Kwon Ki-hyun finally burst out.

“Hyung, are you crazy?”

“No matter what, this is a bit-”

I nodded innocently.

“Yeah, it’s surprising even to you guys, right? Come on, let’s practice with this.”

“No, that’s not what I-”

I could feel the air freeze.

“You don’t have any other opinions, do you? Why?”

I smiled and played the music again.

‘Now it’s their choice. Are they going to eat the meal made by a person with X-rated hands, or are they going to gather their own ingredients and cook for themselves?’

“Okay, I’ll teach you the first move.”

“Hyung, wait!”

Song Woo-joo suddenly jumped to his feet.

“W-were you serious?”

“Of course! Do you know how hard I worked on it?”

Well, there was no other way he could think about it. Anyone with eyes would be horrified by the movements I had deliberately made as atrocious as possible!

“Here, you’re not supposed to stretch out like that. You have to bend it like this!”

After saying it, he seemed surprised himself and covered his mouth.

Everyone’s eyes immediately turned toward Song Woo-joo.

“Huh?”

I tilted my head with an expression that said I had no idea what was going on.

“You said to bend it? Bend what?”

“No, I-”

I deliberately bent various parts of my body even more strangely. I looked just like… an inflatable tube man being hit by a strong gust of wind.

Song Woo-joo’s hand wandered helplessly through the air. He looked like he was about to go insane from frustration.

I calmly asked,

“Then, Woo-joo, why don’t you try it?”

Song Woo-joo let out a sigh, but slowly got to his feet.

‘Of course you wouldn’t just let this go.’

My target had fallen perfectly into the trap.

“…….”

I discreetly moved out of the way, and Song Woo-joo slowly stepped forward.

“Don’t laugh even if it looks weird.”

“Oh, come on. Surely it’s better than that-”

I turned toward Ji Dong-seok.

“What did you say?”

“Ah, never mind. Woo-joo, just hurry up and do it.”

He was obviously talking about my choreography, but I pretended not to notice.

It seemed to give Song Woo-joo some confidence, so that worked out nicely.

“I’ll play the song.”

Song Woo-joo moved along with the music.

His movements were distinctly different from mine. The beats matched perfectly, the movements flowed into one another, and there was an overall sense of continuity.

It was completely different from the original choreography, but it fit the refreshing atmosphere of the song perfectly.

“Oh-”

“Hey, that’s good.”

Even the guys who had kept their mouths shut immediately reacted.

Song Woo-joo hesitated. He looked like he hadn’t expected to be praised.

‘As I thought, he had something in mind.’

In fact, after being eliminated from the survival show, Song Woo-joo had switched careers and become a choreographer. Even fans who had expected him to become a rapper had been puzzled by his change in career path.

He had quit being a trainee and had struggled terribly afterward, but he eventually became such a famous choreographer that I had even seen an interview where he talked about overcoming those difficulties through dancing.

That was Song Woo-joo.

‘Why would I need to make choreography when I have someone like him around?’

“Wow, Woo-joo. This is really good.”

“When did you think of this?”

“What would we have done if we hadn’t asked you?”

Praise poured out, making the silence from earlier seem like it had never happened.

“It’s good. Let’s go with this.”

So I immediately made the decision final. This time, everyone nodded.

‘It’s definitely better than that thing from earlier.’

Naturally, that was the result.

Song Woo-joo didn’t exactly look unhappy about it either. If anything, he let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s a relief…”

‘I’m the one who’s really relieved, Woo-joo. I was worried you guys might actually agree to follow my crazy dance.’

“Then, what comes after this?”

“That part-”

This time, Kwon Ki-hyun jumped in.

“Wouldn’t it work if we continued like this?”

As expected, starting was the difficult part. One by one, they began offering their opinions.

“Or how about this?”

“Oh, then the beat might stand out more-”

The practice room, which had been filled with nothing but silence, suddenly became noisy as if it had been a lie.

Ji Dong-seok’s enthusiastic praise and over-the-top reactions were doing a great job of filling the guys with confidence.

“Then I’ll try doing the latter part of the second verse.”

“Good. Then who wants to make the chorus?”

“I’m not confident…”

“No, just try it. It’ll be better than what we had earlier-”

Kwon Ki-hyun hurriedly covered Song Woo-joo’s mouth.

“Shh!”

A brief silence.

And then…

“Pfft.”

Everyone eventually burst out laughing.

No one needed to finish the sentence. They all knew what he meant.

At least it would be better than my bizarre choreography.

I leaned against the wall and watched them.

‘That’ll do.’

Now I didn’t need to get involved anymore.

If I even moved a little…

“No!”

“Don’t come over!”

“Hyung, you have to work on the arrangement!”

Thinking I was trying to participate in creating the choreography, they became terrified in advance. Eventually, they even dragged chairs and cushions from various parts of the practice room.

“Hyung, sit here.”

“Work comfortably.”

“Absolutely do not even think about getting up.”

The practice room had become noisy. The dead atmosphere had regained its vitality.

“Hey.”

Ji Dong-seok called out to me.

“Aren’t you going to do it?”

“Ah, hyung…! Seong-woo hyung is busy working on the arrangement!”

I shrugged.

“Why? You liked my choreography, after all-”

“…Never mind.”

“You heard the guys, right? I’d better hurry up and work on the song.”

“Yeah. That would be better.”

Laughter erupted.

Of course, I too let out a sigh of relief at my successful plan.

 

***

 

Two hours later, I called the team members together again.

“I’ve decided on the direction for the arrangement.”

Music flowed from the laptop speakers.

“I don’t have any equipment right now, so I just made a rough version. Give it a listen.”

The melody was familiar, but the atmosphere was different from the very beginning.

Instead of the light synth sounds of the original, a refreshing guitar riff scratched at the ears first. The drum beat also hit much harder and more refreshingly.

The expressions on the team members’ faces changed by the second.

At first, everyone looked unfamiliar with it. Then, little by little, their bodies began to react. Kwon Ki-hyun tapped his fingertips against the floor in time with the beat, while Ji Dong-seok was already nodding his head. As one would expect from guys in dance positions, they cautiously moved their bodies.

“Wow-”

A short exclamation escaped Song Woo-joo’s mouth.

Then came the chorus.

When a variation different from the original came in, all four of their eyes widened.

“Hyung, what was that just now?”

“It sounds like a completely different song!”

It had a flow that maintained the refreshing feeling while bringing out the flavor of a live performance.

“What do you think? Do you like it?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Ji Dong-seok jumped to his feet.

“Hey, how did you make this in just two hours?”

“I really love it.”

“I-I do too.”

“Hyung, play that guitar part again, the part right before the chorus!”

The atmosphere had completely changed. Now they were even asking me to play the music again first.

“The choreography would fit perfectly right here.”

“Wait a second, I just thought of something amazing.”

Song Woo-joo immediately came up with an idea.

“If we move like this, I think it’ll fit the guitar riff perfectly.”

“Good. Let’s try it.”

Now no one was watching what the others were doing.

They simply moved their bodies.

The moment the guitar riff began, they moved forward, and just before the chorus, their formations naturally spread out.

“Oh-”

This time, I was the one impressed.

It was choreography completely different from the original. But it fit the arrangement remarkably well.

‘This is where you could already see the makings of a choreographer.’

“Wow, Woo-joo.”

“Uh, h-how is it?”

“You’re really good at making choreography.”

Song Woo-joo scratched his head awkwardly.

“It’s all thanks to you, Seong-woo hyung.”

Then he added one more thing.

“I’m sorry for saying we should just do it the way we’ve always done it.”

“What’s there to apologize for? As long as you do well.”

‘At least it’s a relief that they’re the kind who can realize things on their own.’

If they hadn’t been, I would have possessed Yoo Seong-ah again and acted like a tyrant.

And so, in that energetic atmosphere, choreography practice began.

…And as expected, the problem was me.

“Hyung, try dancing this part like this.”

“Like this?”

“No!”

Song Woo-joo had clearly done a smooth wave, but my body seemed to move each joint separately.

“Hyung.”

Song Woo-joo sighed.

“If you weren’t on this team, we’d really be in trouble.”

‘Woo-joo, I know that better than anyone. That’s exactly why I came here.’

If I had joined a sexy team that did acrobatics like Sportina and got possessed by a character who danced like a worm, with these dancing skills, I probably would have woken up in a hospital.

“Still, we have to do perfectly synchronized choreography.”

There was a spark in Song Woo-joo’s eyes.

‘That’s some incredible growth.’

“Of course.”

After practicing for nearly two hours, my legs were trembling even when I stood still.

“W-wait, let’s take a break……”

I was the first to lie down on the floor, and the others collapsed one after another.

“Water, water……”

I stumbled out of the practice room like a zombie. I filled a paper cup with water from the water dispenser and gulped it down in one go.

‘If you discovered an oasis in the middle of the desert, this must be what it feels like.’

Just then, a cautious voice came from behind me.

“Hyung.”

“Hm?”

It was Kwon Ki-hyun. I tilted my head while holding the paper cup in my mouth.

‘Does he want me to move?’

I shifted slightly to the side, but he didn’t drink any water and instead hesitated.

“Why?”

“Did you do that on purpose?”

“Do what?”

Kwon Ki-hyun gave me an incredulous look.

“The choreography from earlier.”

“Ah-”

I calmly took another sip of water.

“On purpose? Are you doubting my ability to create choreography right now?”

“What?”

So he pressed the matter even more desperately.

“You didn’t, though.”

“What didn’t I?”

“You did it to set us up, didn’t you?”

Persistent. This guy was seriously persistent.

I continued to play dumb until the very end.

“Who knows~”

“You did.”

Kwon Ki-hyun shook his head.

“Hyung, you’re seriously kind of crazy.”

He said that, but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.

“So from now on, if you think of something, say it right away.”

I chuckled and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

“Before I make choreography again.”

Kwon Ki-hyun laughed with a horrified expression.

When I returned to the practice room, Ji Dong-seok and Seong Jun-woo were already sprawled out in a corner.

“Hyung, are you going in now?”

I picked up my laptop.

“Ah, I’m going to the studio first.”

“R-right now?”

“Yeah.”

When I looked at him as if asking what the problem was, he let out an incredulous laugh.

“No, you’re going to sleep at the studio?”

“Of course not.”

Actually, if I had my way, I’d put a bed in the studio.

“I just have to make things right away whenever an idea comes to me.”

Song Woo-joo laughed as if he found it ridiculous.

“Wow, you really are like a producer.”

I casually waved my hand.

‘Not yet.’

It was still too early to be surprised.

The real thing was only just beginning.