I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 25

Chapter 25

 

The filming for Round 2 began early in the morning. MC Kang Se-jun walked out to the center of the stage.

“Boys Code’s second round: What Is Your Color?”

Following Kang Se-jun’s gesture, the words on the electronic display changed.

“This round is a team mission where you’ll put together a stage according to the given concept.”

He slowly looked around at the trainees beneath the stage.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing how the trainees will express their individual colors.”

“Phew…”

“Which team is going first?”

Zing

Once again, accompanied by flashy sound effects, the first concept appeared.

 

[Concept: Sporty]

 

“The first stage is the Sporty Concept Team!”

Amid cheers, the trainees from the Sporty Team climbed onto the stage.

The song began, followed by a fast beat and powerful choreography. It was a stage where you could feel the energy just by watching it. Even from the judges’ seats, I could see them nodding.

‘They’re really good.’

I watched the stage from the trainees’ waiting area.

It was a team that had received a good response even before my regression. But if there was something different this time, it was undoubtedly I-yul.

Basketball uniforms and a headband. With I-yul’s mussel hairstyle, it was the styling that made him stand out even more.

The highlight part.

Kang I-yul, standing in the center, immediately seized everyone’s attention.

‘As expected!’

I-yul, having gotten rid of his cast, was practically flying across the stage. Precise movements and eye-catching facial expressions. It wasn’t just because he was my favorite. I genuinely couldn’t see anyone but I-yul on that stage. He suited it that well, and he pulled it off that well.

I let out a relieved breath.

‘Thank goodness.’

The stage ended with lively steps. Applause erupted from all around.

“Wow…”

Kang Se-jun came back onto the stage with an exclamation of admiration.

“You must have been nervous since you were the first team, but you really showed off the Sporty concept!”

The judges also reacted positively.

Maybe everyone really did have a similar eye for people, because most of their comments were about Kang I-yul.

And immediately after them…

“The second team is… the Refreshing Concept Team.”

It was our turn.

“Please come up onto the stage!”

I gathered the members close.

“Let’s just do exactly what we practiced.”

At those words, everyone took a breath.

Their expressions were different from the midpoint evaluation.

“Okay.”

“We can do it!”

They were nervous, but they didn’t look frightened.

“Let’s go.”

We walked onto the stage together.

The judges’ gazes locked onto us. Unlike the previous team, their expressions were filled with concern. It seemed their expectations had already disappeared after seeing our midpoint evaluation stage.

‘Good.’

An unexpected reversal was more thrilling, after all.

Kang Se-jun picked up the microphone.

“Okay, Refreshing Team! Please introduce yourselves.”

I glanced to the side.

Ji Dong-seok grinned and nodded.

“One, two, three!”

Right on cue, I shouted first.

“When Yoo Seong-woo does it!”

A booming voice immediately erupted from behind me.

“So do I!”

The first person to break was Kang Se-jun.

He lowered his head while still holding the microphone.

“Pfft–”

Laughter spread from the judges’ seats as well.

“No, what does that even mean?”

Kang Se-jun asked with a laugh.

Ji Dong-seok was already bent over laughing, while Kwon Ki-hyun’s ears had turned completely red.

“Uh…… well…”

In the end, I scratched my head and explained on their behalf.

“At first… I was really bad at dancing.”

Snickering could be heard from behind me.

‘Is it that funny?’

I continued as if I hadn’t heard them.

“But as I kept practicing, I gradually started keeping up–”

I paused to catch my breath.

“And one time, I was the one who matched the beat the best!”

The judges leaned forward with interest.

“So everyone was like, ‘If he can do it, then I should too,’ kind of…”

“Ah……”

Kang Se-jun nodded.

“So that’s where ‘When Yoo Seong-woo does it, so do I’ came from?”

“Yes…”

Embarrassment hit me belatedly.

When my voice trailed off, another round of laughter erupted.

“You’re really honest.”

“Sounds like the team atmosphere was good.”

“Yes. I think everyone became really close while teasing me.”

Thanks to that, the atmosphere completely relaxed. Before I knew it, the tension had melted away like snow.

“Good.”

The MC picked up the microphone again.

“Then what kind of stage have you prepared?”

This time, Song Woo-joo stepped forward.

“We prepared a cool and refreshing stage, like a carbonated drink!”

I immediately picked up the next line.

“Just watching it will make you feel refreshed.”

One of the judges nodded.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

A brief laugh.

The atmosphere was completely fired up.

Kang Se-jun raised his hand.

“Good!”

Following his gesture, everyone took their positions.

“Refreshing Concept Team, we’ll begin the stage. Code on!”

 

***

 

The lights went out.

The darkness covering the stage was silent, as if holding its breath.

Song In-hyeok watched the stage with his arms crossed.

A team made up of low-ranking trainees.

Honestly, he didn’t have high expectations.

“The composition was fine, but their skill was a little…”

The team’s fate had already been decided during the midpoint evaluation.

The choreography itself wasn’t bad. If anything, there were some fresh points.

The problem was that they lacked the skill to pull it off.

‘It’s a shame.’

The stage was cold.

Up there, nothing could be hidden. Everything was bound to be exposed.

The music began.

Tap

The moment the first beat dropped, the lights came on.

And then…

“Huh?”

His eyebrows moved ever so slightly.

The first movement.

It was precise.

Not merely accurate.

‘That was razor-sharp.’

It was a simple movement in which several people extended their arms simultaneously. But the angles and speed matched without a single error. It was almost strangely satisfying just to watch.

Without realizing it, he uncrossed his arms.

‘Were they like this during the midpoint evaluation too?’

He searched his memory.

No.

That team had definitely…

‘They were shaky.’

Their timing had lagged, and their movements had been all over the place.

A team that had prepared good choreography but failed to bring it to life properly. But now, they seemed like a completely different team.

The further the stage progressed, the more certain he became.

They hadn’t simply improved a little.

They had completely overhauled it.

Song In-hyeok’s gaze naturally moved toward the center.

“Was he dancing like that before?”

Yoo Seong-woo.

During the midpoint evaluation, he had been the member whose dancing was the most unstable.

His dance lines were stiff, and even among the group choreography, he stood out subtly. But now, every single movement was clean. The timing of when to put strength in and when to release it, the way he pushed against the beat, even his sense of rhythm.

‘He can dance.’

And what was even more surprising was that it wasn’t just one person doing well.

Once their movements became clean, the choreography itself finally came into view.

It began relatively simply before gradually increasing in difficulty. The point choreography was inserted in the middle, along with gestures that highlighted each member.

‘Well designed.’

He nodded unconsciously.

He was beginning to get interested. And above all, this team’s strength was obvious.

Perfect synchronization.

They were all moving as if they were one body.

Bang

The chorus exploded.

The music grew another level stronger, and the lights flashed. At that moment, all the members turned their bodies simultaneously.

“Oh.”

The admiration of the judge sitting beside him could be heard.

He had no choice but to acknowledge it as well.

This was the result of practice.

That level of synchronization couldn’t come from talent alone.

‘They really worked themselves to the bone to match each other.’

The angles of their fingertips, their eye movements, even the distance between each step.

They moved identically, yet they didn’t look mechanical.

Rather…

‘The energy is alive.’

The entire stage was alive and moving.

The highlight approached.

A section where the instrumental briefly quieted down, while the beat, in contrast, squeezed out the tension and built it higher.

He looked toward the center again.

 

♪ Oh! I’ll tell you with courage

♪ That you’re my first love

 

Yoo Seong-woo, who had been standing in the back, stepped forward.

The other members spread out around him in a semicircle.

‘Is this the high-note part?’

He naturally lowered his expectations.

Honestly, the performance had already been good enough based solely on what they had shown so far.

Expecting them to be perfect live on top of this was greedy.

The unstable performance they had shown during Round 1 also came to mind.

 

♪ I’ll give you my everything-!

 

But then the high note rang out.

“What?”

The word slipped out before he could stop himself.

It was a vocal performance that was that surprising.

Steady breathing, the strength to hit the high note precisely, and the strength to continue pushing all the way through.

The sound was pulled out with his entire body, to the point that the veins in his neck were visible.

The other members were performing intense choreography behind him, but their eyes couldn’t leave Yoo Seong-woo.

“Is that live?”

Park Jae-hoon muttered blankly from beside him.

He knew perfectly well that there was no way they would be lip-syncing during a competition, but it was so unbelievable that the question escaped him anyway.

He rubbed the corner of his mouth.

‘The positioning was perfectly calculated.’

The center was belting out the high note, surrounded by perfectly synchronized choreography.

The instrumental was drastically reduced to make the vocals stand out, while the beat was emphasized so that the choreography could be shown with a sense of speed.

‘Who planned this?’

The thought crossed his mind for a moment. But that wasn’t what mattered right now.

The beat exploded again, leading into the full group choreography.

Yoo Seong-woo, who had been belting out the high note just moments ago, blended perfectly into the group choreography.

The transition was incredibly smooth.

“Wow……”

This time, even Song In-hyeok couldn’t hide his admiration.

The stage moved toward its final stretch.

It was the kind of section where fatigue could set in, and mistakes could happen.

But even with their breathing becoming rough, their movements didn’t waver. Every time the movements of all five matched perfectly, it gave him a sense of exhilaration.

That taut tension remained until the very end.

And then, the finale.

 

♪ Even today

♪ The road to meet you

♪ Is always clear!

 

The moment the music stopped, the movements of all five stopped simultaneously as well.

Silence.

A brief but vivid afterglow.

A faint smile appeared at the corners of Song In-hyeok’s mouth.

‘This……’

It was completely unexpected.

Applause erupted from the trainees’ waiting area all the way to the judges’ seats.

He picked up the microphone.

“First of all–”

He paused for a moment and looked at the five people standing on the stage.

Even the way they stood was different. During the midpoint evaluation, they had been looking only at the ground. Now, they were meeting his gaze.

For some reason, he liked seeing that.

“You’re a completely different team from the midpoint evaluation.”

The trainees’ shoulders flinched slightly.

‘They’re still nervous, though.’

He immediately added,

“In a very good way.”

Only then did their stiff expressions relax slightly.

“The choreography was already good to begin with. But today–”

He pointed toward the stage with his hand.

“You actually pulled that choreography off.”

He especially emphasized the word pulled off.

“This was a stage where you could see exactly how much you had practiced.”

Then his gaze stopped on Yoo Seong-woo.

“Trainee Yoo Seong-woo.”

Yoo Seong-woo raised his head.

“Did you really arrange the song yourself as well?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Ha, seriously…”

He let out an incredulous laugh and shook his head.

“The highlight part was truly shocking.”

“…….”

“Both the song and the choreography really stood out thanks to the arrangement. It just felt like this team’s song.”

“Thank you!”

Even as Yoo Seong-woo bowed at the waist, Song In-hyeok’s stream of praise showed no signs of stopping.

“You really pulled the entire team along.”

At those words, all the members nodded.

Song In-hyeon smiled.

“But what I liked even more was… that you didn’t stand out by yourself.”

At those words, several judges nodded.

“This was a stage completed not by an individual, but as a team.”

Then he turned his gaze back to the group as a whole.

“On today’s stage, I didn’t get the feeling that you were a low-ranking team at all.”

Song In-hyeok said in a voice filled with certainty,

“At this level, you have more than enough to turn things around.”

It was a short but weighty statement.

The five people standing on the stage looked at one another.

This time, their eyes held not anxiety, but confidence.