I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 23

Chapter 23

 

Jack P looked over the team composition.

Except for Yoo Seong-woo, Code 6, everyone else was a low-ranking trainee. And every single one of them had an unremarkable face that lacked presence.

‘And Yoo Seong-woo still isn’t very good at dancing.’

He had proven himself when it came to singing, but his dancing was still an unknown.

‘Oh boy, looks like he’s going to have to carry the singing all by himself.’

And yet Yoo Seong-woo had raised his hand first.

‘What’s he so confident about this time?’

Honestly, Jack P was more curious about the arrangement than the stage itself. Creating a new song and rearranging an existing song into something new were completely different fields.

“We’ll begin!”

Ji Dong-seok shouted loudly.

Click

Yoo Seong-woo and Song Woo-joo, standing in the center, simultaneously pretended to open cans. Then came the sound effect of gulping.

That brief bit of staging alone completely changed the atmosphere.

“Oh…”

It was much more playful and refreshing than the original song.

Even the members in the back naturally picked up the movements. It was like a scene from a commercial.

Tap, tap

Band sounds were layered over the rhythm of their stomping feet.

It had a completely different feel from the original.

‘This is good.’

Jack P’s eyes widened slightly.

 

♪ Hey you!

♪ What a strange coincidence

♪ On my way to meet you

♪ There’s always a blue breeze blowing

 

As the opening began, the judges simultaneously checked the profiles again.

Kwon Ki-hyun, position: dance.

‘This vocal tone?’

It was unexpected. His voice caught the ear from the very first line.

Then came Seong Jun-woo’s rap.

“Wait, did Jun-woo originally rap?”

“I wonder? I’m seeing him do it for the first time too…”

Whispers passed between the judges.

Song Woo-joo, the rapper, was singing, while Seong Jun-woo, the vocalist, was rapping. And yet, strangely enough, it suited them better.

More surprising than anything was that Yoo Seong-woo had planned all of it.

‘He has an eye for this.’

The synchronization of the choreography was better than expected as well. Yoo Seong-woo’s characteristic awkwardness was still there, but it wasn’t enough to be distracting.

 

♪ Oh, you–

♪ Take a chance!

♪ I won’t let you go…

 

Most importantly, Yoo Seong-woo’s high note came through clearly.

He had few parts, but whenever he needed to come in, his presence was unmistakable.

‘He didn’t get greedy.’

The judges’ initial concerns about the fact that Yoo Seong-woo had also divided up the parts became meaningless.

However, once they entered the second verse, cracks gradually began to show.

‘Hmm……?’

The beat was starting to drag.

At first, it was extremely subtle. But once their breathing fell out of sync, the gap gradually became more noticeable.

‘What a shame.’

The arrangement was good, the part distribution was appropriate, and even the choreography had come out well.

The problem was their absolute level of skill.

When the stage ended, the disappointment was plainly visible on the trainees’ faces. The judges also exchanged glances.

Eventually, Jack P picked up the microphone first.

“Unexpected, isn’t it?”

“To be honest, when I first saw the part distribution sheet, I wondered what you were thinking. That was my first thought.”

The trainees’ shoulders flinched.

“But it suited you very well. Trainee Jun-woo’s rap and trainee Woo-joo’s vocals were also better than I expected.”

“Thank you!!”

Seong Jun-woo and Song Woo-joo smiled slightly.

“But.”

Jack P’s expression became a little more serious.

“I think you were short on practice time.”

The judges sitting beside him nodded as well.

“You were really good up until the first verse, but as it went on, everyone started moving separately.”

No one could argue against such an accurate criticism.

“With synchronization at this level… it could be a little dangerous, couldn’t it?”

It was a deliberate provocation, at least partly.

In truth, he was curious. He wanted to see how Yoo Seong-woo would react when given this kind of stimulus.

Katin’s following evaluation was similar to JackP’s. He repeated the same assessment: it was a new discovery, but the dancing was too disconnected from one another.

“Good work.”

“…Thank you!”

Their steps were heavy as they returned to their seats.

“The next team to perform… Oh, the Sexy Concept Team has raised their hands.”

As luck would have it, the Sexy Team was next.

Joo-han, Go Jae-seong, and Choi Un-jo were all there. It was an Avengers team with three members of the debut lineup.

“Wow, there are three members of the debut lineup on this team?”

The members of the Refreshing Team grew increasingly stiff-faced.

Seeing them, Yoo Seong-woo lightly tapped them on the back.

“……?”

All four turned around at the same time.

Yoo Seong-woo said nothing. He simply pointed toward the stage with his chin. Even so, all four straightened their backs at the same time. 

It was an expression they had seen countless times throughout practice.

 

[Focus.]

 

Under that silent pressure, the team members quickly changed their expressions.

 

***

 

As luck would have it, Go Jae-seong’s team was the next stage.

Exactly the sequence they had wanted to avoid the most.

‘Damn, the kids are going to lose confidence.’

And what pissed him off even more was that the stage was genuinely good.

With Juhan anchoring the center, the overall quality rose sharply. Choi Un-jo also surprisingly pulled off the sexy concept well.

And Go Jae-seong…

‘Why did he improve even more?’

As expected, his skills had somehow improved compared to what Yoo Seong-woo remembered from before his regression.

The arrangement itself was an overwhelming victory for him, but if he looked at the entire stage?

He had no choice but to acknowledge it.

‘It’s only the midpoint evaluation.’

The stage began with lavish praise and ended with lavish praise.

‘An incredibly rare case where an Avengers team didn’t fall apart.’

“This concludes the midpoint evaluation. We’ll see you again on the main stage!”

The door closed, and silence descended over the practice room.

“……Ha.”

Someone let out a long sigh.

“The choreography is good, but we’re all moving separately.”

“Then, what does that mean?”

“…Our skill level is the problem.”

There was no need to say anything more.

They already knew.

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“We don’t have much time left either.”

Even Ji Dong-seok began making pessimistic remarks.

“Honestly, can we do it with the time we have left?”

No.

If the atmosphere collapsed here, it was over.

What they needed right now wasn’t cold analysis, but the momentum to push forward.

That was when…

“……We can just do it.”

An unexpected voice suddenly rang out.

“I think we can if we practice.”

Everyone turned toward Song Woo-joo at the same time.

It was the first time he had ever been like this.

“Holy crap. You’re not Song Woo-joo.”

“Don’t tease me.”

Even as he grumbled, his eyes were serious.

“I agree with Woo-joo. We can just keep trying until we can do it, right?”

“That’s easier said than done. With our skills right now–”

That was far enough.

There was no need for any more whining.

“So what exactly is the problem right now?”

I spread out my fingers.

“The choreography? No.”

I folded my thumb.

“The arrangement? Not that either.”

I folded my index finger.

“The composition? That’s not it either.”

The members nodded as if hypnotized.

‘Feels like I should throw in two more things somehow.’

I casually folded two fingers and raised my index finger again.

“Just one thing. Our synchronization.”

“…….”

“We didn’t fail because we weren’t capable. We simply didn’t practice enough.”

We had spent our time boosting the guys’ confidence, creating new choreography, and completely reworking the arrangement.

Naturally, there hadn’t been enough time left to practice.

Song Woo-joo nodded as well.

“Then we just need to practice and synchronize.”

“Easier said than done…”

“I never said we were going to take the easy way.”

The playfulness disappeared from Ji Dong-seok’s face.

“From now on, we’re changing how we practice.”

“Uh, how?”

I lightly clapped my hands.

“Break it down into eight counts.”

“What?”

“If even one person gets it wrong–”

I grinned.

“We don’t move on to the next part.”

“All five of us?”

“Yeah.”

Ji Dong-seok’s face turned pale.

“You mean if even you get it wrong, we all have to do it again?”

‘You little punk.’

“Yeah.”

“Crazy.”

“So we’ll have to synchronize, as our lives depend on it.”

Of course, I was confident.

Because it was time to use a new item.

“I’m going to the bathroom for a second…”

As soon as I reached the bathroom, I immediately brought up the status window.

[SP 1,410]

In the meantime, my SP had risen even further.

‘Good.’

After slowly catching my breath, I muttered inwardly.

 

[Item Creation.]

▶ Item Name: _______

▶ Effect: _______

 

“Motion Editing Program. Please, just work properly…”

At that moment, accompanied by a brief flash of light, a translucent screen appeared in midair.

“……Holy shit.”

A timeline, frames, a play button.

Anyone could tell it was a video editing program.

It was practically like Adobe Premiere Pro.

 

[※Item Creation Successful]

▶ Item Name: Motion Editing Program

▶ Effect: Allows movement editing on a frame-by-frame basis. However, only simple cutting and splicing are possible.

 

“So this is how I do it?”

I immediately clicked on a video.

A recording of me practicing a little earlier appeared on the screen.

I cut out the section where the beat had lagged.

For frames where the movements looked awkward, I replaced them with movements from another video where I had performed them correctly.

Then I saved it.

When I pressed the play button, my body followed the modified movements exactly as they had been edited.

“Huh?”

The beats lined up perfectly. Even the awkward wave connected much more naturally.

“Wow, this thing is seriously cheating.”

It wasn’t simply making me better at dancing.

My body reproduced the movements I had edited exactly as I had edited them.

Just like playing a video. It didn’t even feel tiring. It was like copying and pasting movements that were already being performed correctly.

I had used only half of my SP for the main stage.

So this item’s duration was exactly thirty minutes per day. Within that time, I had to edit the optimal movements and timing.

If it worked similarly to an actual editing program, the longer the movement, the longer the time would be as well.

I had to move while taking even that time into account.

I checked the remaining time.

 

[Usage Time ▶ 00:25:13]

 

“Plenty.”

I immediately returned to the practice room.

“What? You came back already.”

“Yeah. I was sleepy, so I just washed my face.”

I naturally took my place.

“Let’s try synchronizing again.”

The music began playing.

“One, two, three, four–”

I immediately started moving.

After we danced about five times in a row, Song Woo-joo spoke to me.

“Hyung, your movements have definitely gotten a lot better. Your beat and timing are still a little… lacking, though.”

‘It’s about time I tried using it.’

Fortunately, I had ten minutes remaining.

That would be enough time to edit.

“Let me go drink some water.”

There were now more videos I could use than before.

I connected only the movements I had performed best among them.

Even so, having already done it once made me faster at editing.

‘Should I check it…?’

The improvement in my sense of rhythm was obvious.

I let out an incredulous laugh.

It was quite a convincing video.

“Guys, let’s try synchronizing again. I think I’ve got a feeling about something.”

“You’ve got a feeling?”

I pressed the save button and played the video according to the timing.

The effect was beyond what I had imagined.

“What?”

It was obvious from the very first movement.

It was different from before.

The angles were exact, and the beats matched.

Most importantly, the flow didn’t break.

My body moved freely.

‘Wow, this effect is insane……’

I marveled inwardly for a brief moment.

The third eight-count.

The section where the group choreography had begun to fall apart during the midpoint evaluation.

During the midpoint evaluation, I had been the only one who stood out because I was noticeably getting it wrong.

This time, I stood out because I was the only one getting it exactly right.

“Hey, wait a second.”

Finally, the music ended, and Ji Dong-seok came running toward me.

“What are you? What did you just do?”

“What?”

“Why does your timing match perfectly? How the hell did you do that?”

I lightly shrugged my shoulders.

“I practiced, I guess.”

“Hey, say something that actually makes sense.”

“That’s right. You weren’t matching it earlier either, hyung.”

Song Woo-joo also looked bewildered.

I answered calmly.

“I guess my body wasn’t warmed up enough.”

Song Woo-joo crossed his arms.

“Then, hyung, dance it by yourself again.”

“Sure, sure. Maybe you’re all so tired that you’re seeing things…”

“Wow, that’s harsh.”

But I smiled and moved my body again.

This time, with my confidence in the item added to the mix, I performed the choreography even more easily.

A different kind of silence descended.

“…Wow.”

Song Woo-joo let out a sigh, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“How is this even possible?”

“Who said it wasn’t?”

Kwon Ki-hyun and Seong Jun-woo quickly changed their attitudes.

“I never said that.”

“I-I didn’t either.”

I pressed down the corners of my mouth.

“Guys.”

Ji Dong-seok’s expression became solemn.

“If Yoo Seong-woo can do it, what’s stopping us?”

“…….”

“This won’t do. My pride’s hurt. I’m going to practice.”

“Hyung, me too.”

Laughter broke out at Ji Dong-seok and Kwon Ki-hyun’s banter-like exchange.

But everyone’s eyes had changed.

“Let’s do it again.”

“What’s eight counts? Let’s break it down into four counts.”

“Wow, hyung. That’s a little much.”

“Let’s show them what perfect synchronization looks like.”

Good.

The atmosphere had completely turned around.

Then it happened.

Ji Dong-seok suddenly called the guys together.

“Hey, we came up with a chant.”

“A chant?”

His eyes were full of mischief.

Something about it felt ominous, but for the moment, I just watched what they were doing.

The four of them placed their hands together.

“When Yoo Seong-woo does it!”

And then they shouted loudly.

“SO DO I!”

I quietly turned my head away.

‘Sorry, guys.’

They say life is all about having the right gear.