I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 22

Chapter 22

 

Il Sam I Yul @123yul 2 minutes ago

Guys, there was a rumor going around that Yul-i had joined a new agency, and I guess it was trueㅠㅠㅠㅠ Please, let him debut this timeㅠㅠ

 

↳ OMG, I thought he had completely quit being an idol after making a personal Enstar account?

 ↳↳ I got so mentally ill over it that I deleted my account too, and then deleted it again

 

Oh Gyeong-jin was a fan who had watched Kang I-yul go through three different agencies and two failed debut groups.

After Kang I-yul’s Enstar account disappeared, sightings of him would occasionally be posted in communities where trainee fans gathered.

Then one day, a photo of him going to work at a new agency called ‘Nix Entertainment’ was uploaded. But because the company was so new, there was almost nothing to find even after searching for it.

And finally, today, news about Nix Entertainment’s in-house survival show, ‘Boys Code,’ came out.

 

[“We will change the landscape of boy group survival shows…” Nix Entertainment’s in-house survival show ‘Boys Code’ trainee profiles revealed for the first time]

[Survival show ‘Boys Code’ releases trainee profiles + signal song video simultaneously… shows an unprecedented move]

 

Gyeong-jin immediately accessed the Boys Code website. And then tears of joy burst from her eyes.

“Holy crap.”

Kang I-yul was there. 

And he was even sporting a completely new style she had never seen before.

“Who recommended such high-IQ styling?”

In the latest photo of Kang I-yul, his hair had been brown. But now he had black hair. And not just that… he was even wearing a mussel hairstyle, something that was notoriously difficult for most faces to pull off!

“That’s it. He’s definitely debuting this time. If he can’t debut with that face, that’s criminal.”

She quickly skimmed through the profiles of all twenty trainees.

The strange thing was that instead of names, everyone was listed under nicknames or keywords.

“Wow, Joo-han is here too? Han Sang-yoon too?”

For a company that was supposed to be new, its trainee pool was bizarrely good.

The trainee community was already in an uproar.

 

[Fuck, so they all came here and left their old agencies?]

I was wondering why he left his previous agency even though he’d trained there for quite a long time;; They probably brought him here on the condition that he’d debut right away, but they’re putting him in a survival show insteadㅇㅇ

 

↳ Sang-yoon-ah, let’s debut this timeㅠㅠ He’s been a trainee for almost seven years now

 

↳ Wasn’t Joo-han from a major agency too? He was still young, so if he’d just held out, he probably would’ve debuted eventually. Seeing him here is crazy

 

It had already been two years since the final season of the famous idol survival show ended.

The attention of K-pop nomads starved for dopamine was drawn toward it.

 

[I was bored anyway]

This is perfect kekek, but Part 1 is an internal agency evaluation, and public voting starts from Part 2, right? Please let my picks that I like survive

↳ Holy crap, really;; Should I just watch comfortably once Part 2 comes out?

↳ I need to secure the top-ranking kids before I can watch this without worrying

↳ This is bullshit. Do you think I choose minor picks because I want to? My heart only beats for flopped idols

 

On top of that, once it was revealed that the MC was Kang Se-jun, the show’s buzz rapidly grew.

 

[What do you guys think the survival show will be like?]

For starters, Joo-han and Sang-yoon were famous, and Kang I-yul? This kid seems pretty good, no? It’s not easy to pull off a mussel hairstyle, but it suits him perfectly kekek. And I like him because he has a slightly delinquent-looking face

 

↳ Please show lots of interest in I-yul. Every trainee showcase review said he was good at everything and also good at fan serviceㅇㅇ

↳ I thought Go Jae-castle was pretty good

 ↳↳ Agreed. That face will appeal to people whose type is delinquent-looking kids

↳ Aren’t Han and Joo basically guaranteed, and everyone else is fighting over the other three spots? kekek

 

“What do you mean, fighting over three spots?”

Gyeong-jin snorted.

“Our I-yul is going to take first place.”

As she mindlessly scrolled down, her finger suddenly stopped.

“…What?”

Among all the flashy traffic-light-colored hairstyles, a natural black-haired trainee caught her eye.

 

[Code: Braces]

 

Among the trainees glaring at the camera with fierce expressions, there was one trainee who alone was smiling as happily as if he were living in a completely different world.

And on top of that, he was wearing braces.

“Why do the braces…… actually suit him?”

There were exactly two black-haired trainees out of the twenty.

Kang I-yul and this trainee.

She became curious about this peculiar trainee.

She searched for quite a while, but there was no information about him anywhere.

“What am I supposed to search?”

 

[Braces]

[The guy with braces]

[That braces guy]

 

The search results brought up several people similar to her.

 

[What about the guy with braces?]

I tried to find information about him, but nothing comes up; it’s rare to see an idol these days come out wearing traditional wire braces, but his smile is so cute kekek. He has a puppy-like face

↳ I’ve gotten every one-pick from every idol survival show in history to debut, and I feel like this guy is going to debut somehow

↳ Exactly kekek. The other kids have insanely colorful hair and are frowning and glaring at the camera, but this guy alone looks so damn innocent kekek

↳ I think coming out with braces was a stroke of geniusㅇㅇ He really understands fans

↳ But he seems like a complete rookie;; Nobody in the trainee-fan community knows him either

↳ He looks young, right? Probably around first or second year of high school?

↳ He knows good foodㅇㅇ In my opinion, this guy is going to gather a ton of hardcore fans later

 

“…That’s strange.”

Gyeong-jin clicked on Braces’ profile again.

Once.

And then once more.

She didn’t know why, but she kept clicking it.

“……He’s cute.”

She then played the signal song video.

“Whoa, they really went all out filming this.”

The elaborate set was the first thing that caught her attention.

Boom, boom, boom

Like figures on display, twenty boys wearing identical clothes stood in their respective spaces.

After a moment, the lights in the outermost spaces went out.

“What?”

Then new lights came on only in the five spaces in the center.

Having watched countless idol survival shows, she immediately understood.

“Those must be the debut lineup.”

Gyeong-jin searched for only one person. And then she discovered that Kang I-yul occupied one of those five spots.

“Yes! Yes!”

After watching even his individual fancam, she was certain.

‘I-yul-ah, there will be no more canceled debuts in your life!’

On top of that, the expression he made during the ending part received an especially strong response.

 

[Who’s Code 3?]

What was that facial acting at the end? For a moment, I thought I was watching an apocalypse movieㅇㅇ He stands out the most to me, along with Joo-han

 

Gyeong-jin commented as though she had been waiting for this moment.

 

↳ It’s Kang I-yul, and he’s been a trainee for quite a long time. I’ve been a fan since his days as a trainee at his previous agency, so I know him kekek. He’s even more handsome in person, and he’s good at both dancing and singingㅠㅠㅠ He’s also really good to his fans. You won’t regret stanning him

 

“Hmm, am I promoting him too blatantly?”

She hesitated for a moment, but other fans were already promoting their own picks.

“Joo-han? I’m kind of curious about him too. I should watch the video again.”

While replaying the video, Gyeong-jin’s finger stopped.

“…Braces?”

He was in the debut lineup. And he was standing right next to Kang I-yul.

The news that the braces boy was in the debut lineup had already sent the community into chaos.

 

[What’s up with Braces?]

Didn’t they say he’d never been a trainee before? Did he not show up because this is literally the smallest of the small agencies?

 

↳ Nope. That place is where trainees from pretty much every hole-in-the-wall agency know each other;;

↳ Holy shit, is this his first agency and he immediately got into the debut lineup?

↳ Braces looks insanely clumsy, so maybe he’s hiding his power

 

[But Braces]

Once they put makeup on him, he doesn’t exactly have a purely cute face, does he?

 

↳ Really? To me, he just looks like a small dog growling;;

 ↳↳ You’re in trouble already. Haven’t you fallen for him yet?

↳ Yeahㅇㅇ Their individual items seem slightly different. Did they request them themselves? If so, they really know what they’re doing

 

Of course, there were also quite a lot of negative reactions.

 

[What’s up with Braces?]

Honestly, don’t the other trainees dance better? He’s kind of awkward;; What are the criteria?

↳ I’m glad someone else thinks the same wayㅠㅠ I thought I was dreaming when I saw the reactions on the board;; He’s obviously awkward

↳ Yeahㅇㅇ I feel like the guys above him are simply better dancers?

↳ He does dance hard. His movements and timing are accurate too. But he feels like someone who’s never properly learned how to dance?

↳ I don’t understand how he’s ranked higher than my baby kekek…

↳ Agreed. I can understand why the other four are in the debut lineup, but Braces feels kind of awkward

 

[I need to watch the broadcast]

I need to see with my own two eyes how that awkward dancer ended up in the debut lineup

↳ Same, kulkul. I’m curious what kind of incredible hidden ability he has

↳ Seeing how people are already openly trying to check Braces this hard, his star quality must be insane kekek

 ↳↳ No skills but star quality… Who even came up with that damn word?

 ↳↳ Why? He’s already creating both haters and fans at the same time haha

 

A trainee whose name and age had not been revealed.

Not a single piece of information had been made public.

But one thing was certain: the public’s interest in this boy was steadily growing.

Gyeong-jin’s instincts, which had successfully predicted the debut of every single one-pick she had ever supported on an idol survival show, were telling her.

“I think this kid is going to debut.”

At that moment.

Yoo Seong-woo was watching the public’s reactions from the dorm, and his smile stretched from ear to ear.

After the profiles and signal song were released, his SP was rising in real time like a broken roulette machine.

[SP 1,272]

It didn’t seem as though everyone’s interest was being counted as one point each, like the interest of someone directly facing him.

Even so, it was increasing at a speed that couldn’t even be compared to before.

Positive attention, as well as negative checking and insults that bordered on outright criticism, were all being counted.

“So I have to make both the haters and the fans go crazy at the same time.”

This too was remarkably similar to the world of idols.

 

***

 

The preparation period given to them was one week.

And today was the midpoint evaluation, with half of that time already gone. Tension had hung over the practice room since morning, and our team had also completed our final checks.

Creak

The door opened, and all the judges, led by Kang Se-jun, took their seats.

“Did everyone prepare a lot?”

“Yes!”

“…Yes.”

Everyone was overflowing with motivation except the Dreamy Team, whose atmosphere had remained cold throughout practice.

“Then, from now on, we’ll begin the midpoint evaluation for the Round 2 team mission.”

Kang Se-jun flipped through his cue cards.

“Is there a team that wants to be evaluated first?”

I immediately raised my hand.

“Code 6, trainee Yoo Seong-woo.”

Kang Se-jun smiled as though he was happy to see me.

“You raised your hand first again?”

Of course.

This was something I had already discussed with the team members last night.

“Whew…”

I turned to look at my extremely tense teammates.

“Do you know what’s good about going first?”

All four shook their heads simultaneously.

“You’re guaranteed to be first place at least once.”

“……Ah.”

Ji Dong-seok was the first to burst out laughing. The others’ lips curled upward as well.

“Yeah. Let’s go take first place.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s work hard…”

At that moment, Park Jae-hoon asked a question.

“Did trainee Yoo Seong-woo arrange the song this time too?”

“Yes.”

“The part distribution too?”

Just as I was about to answer–

“Trainee Yoo Seong-woo decided everything!”

Ji Dong-seok shouted energetically first.

“He arranged the song, decided the parts, and even became the leader!”

In an instant, the judges’ gazes turned toward me.

“You did all of that by yourself?”

I smiled awkwardly.

“The team members helped me a lot.”

“First of all.”

Jack P crossed his arms. There wasn’t a trace of expectation in his eyes.

“Let’s see the stage.”

“Yes!”

We gathered together and quietly shouted a small cheer.

Now, it was time to show them.