I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 34

Chapter 34

 

Go Jae-seong’s outrageous behavior didn’t end there.

He raised his head one beat late.

Tap.

He stepped forward.

Up to this point, these were movements I already knew.

The problem came next.

Go Jae-seong’s body bent once more.

His fingertips grazed his chin, creating a sharp angle.

“…What?”

I muttered without realizing it.

It was a movement that hadn’t been in the midterm evaluation. He had taken I-yul’s movement, which had already received lavish praise, and upgraded it one step further.

What was absurd was that even this was copied from someone else. It was the exact movement that Joo-han had shown as his killing part during the fourth-round stage before my regression, solidifying his position in first place.

The two movements connected naturally. As if they had been a single piece of choreography from the beginning.

“Wow…”

An exclamation burst from the judges’ seats.

‘That–’

Did that make any sense?

I could no longer dismiss it as a coincidence. My suspicion that Go Jae-seong was a regressor once again turned into certainty.

To my frustration, Go Jae-seong was flying across the stage. Even if he had copied someone else’s work, the fact that he had combined the two movements and made them his own was deeply shocking to me as well.

So what about everyone else? The moment this aired on television, Go Jae-seong’s ranking would undoubtedly rise.

‘Ha…’

It seemed it was time to change my assessment of Go Jae-seong.

The Full Blooming team’s stage received favorable reviews. Choi Un-jo and Go Jae-seong held the center, while the other trainees followed their flow well.

“You were mainly involved in the arrangement, Trainee Jae-seong?”

“Yes!”

The answer shot out as if he had been waiting for that question.

“Your producing skills are improving more and more.”

“Thank you!!”

The more praise he received, the more my insides twisted.

“Your sweeping movement with the fan in the middle has improved a lot, too.”

“Right. That part was seriously amazing.”

Before my regression, Go Jae-seong had received absolutely no attention despite being assigned the killing part, which made it all the more frustrating.

“Overall, it was a harmonious stage. However, I think the other three trainees were overshadowed too much by the two of you, Trainee Choi Un-jo and Trainee Go Jae-seong.”

Song In-hyeok’s sharp evaluation made the atmosphere at the venue heavy once again.

“It’s even more unfortunate because those friends have potential.”

“…Yes.”

“Good work.”

“Next, the Stop! team, please come up onto the stage.”

Song Woo-joo was trembling, while his teammates were shaking even more than he was.

‘Oh, dear…’

“The stage by the Go! team, who prepared ‘Stop!’, will now begin. Code On–”

The stage, reinterpreted with an old-school sensibility, could be summed up in one sentence.

Song Woo-joo’s victory as a human being.

“Has Trainee Woo-joo completely changed direction and decided to focus on vocals?”

“There, there was a trainee who was better at rapping than me, so I focused on vocals.”

“That was a good choice.”

“Thank you!!”

I felt strangely proud.

“Next, the team that chose ‘Shadow Play,’ please come up onto the stage.”

Before the lingering impression of the previous stage had even faded, it was our turn.

“…Aren’t you going?”

“Y-Yeah.”

I suddenly came to my senses.

“We have to go.”

My heart pounded heavily. At last, the moment had arrived: my first stage with I-yul.

 

***

 

The special judge, Robin of Wind Boys, leaned forward.

The team that had captured the atmosphere of the original song’s guide track, something no one else had known about, came up onto the stage. That alone had raised his expectations.

“The styling is completely different, too?”

Perhaps it was specifically for this stage, but everyone had appeared with black hair. Their outfits also immediately caught his eye, with the colors divided evenly between black and white.

“You matched your hair colors, too?”

“Yes. We thought unifying our hair colors would go well with the stage concept, so we decided to try it.”

“This is a team I was particularly looking forward to, since their midterm evaluation was so impressive.”

At JackP’s words, the trainees’ expressions stiffened slightly. They all knew that praise could also be a burden.

“What’s your team name?”

“Our team name is Black and White.”

“Ah, so that’s why you’re wearing those outfits?”

They nodded vigorously.

“Please give us a brief introduction.”

Han Sang-yoon took the microphone.

“We reinterpreted Wind Boys’ ‘Shadow Play’ as a story of distorted obsession. We prepared it with an atmosphere completely different from the original song, so please look forward to it!”

Robin’s eyebrows rose slightly.

It was certainly a bold choice.

“Then, please prepare for the stage.”

The five members formed a circle and shouted a brief cheer.

“We’ll now begin Wind Boys’ ‘Shadow Play’ stage. Code On.”

At Kang Se-jun’s cue, the lights went dark.

 

♪ I just want to be your Shadow

 

A low, deep narration, followed by a violin.

Perhaps because the previous stages had consisted of one burst of electronic sounds after another, the classical string sounds immediately captured his ears.

“Oh…”

Robin’s eyes opened halfway. It was far better than he had expected.

When the lights came back on, only two people were visible.

‘What? Did the others disappear?’

No. The trainees wearing black had melted into the background like shadows.

“Ha.”

A short laugh escaped him. The direction itself was entertaining.

 

♪ 24/7 I just want to be with you

 

Yoo Seong-woo’s voice, taking charge of the opening, rang out.

 

♪ I follow right behind you

♪ Shadow Shadow…

 

The lyrics were the same as the original song. They were lyrics he had certainly sung hundreds of times, yet they sounded completely different.

This wasn’t the cute sulking of the original song. It was an inexplicable eeriness, an emotion that felt dangerous somehow.

The sentence was the same, but its interpretation had changed.

‘Not bad.’

The corners of Robin’s lips slowly rose. The image he had only heard described in words during the surprise evaluation was now vividly unfolding before his eyes.

Since his busy schedule had prevented him from attending the midterm evaluation, the reversal was even more shocking to him.

 

♪ If you’re not by my side

♪ Even for a moment

♪ I might get sulky

 

The previously sweet violin melody twisted as if it were being torn apart.

Crash

The judges all raised their heads at once.

There wasn’t a moment to get bored.

The music and the choreography kept throwing something new at them.

The choreography, which emphasized the lines, fit the beat exquisitely. The trainees in black danced behind the trainees in white, positioned diagonally and moving to the same rhythm.

As if the shadows were copying everything.

‘So this is how they’re interpreting it?’

Before he knew it, Robin’s fingers had begun tapping along to the beat.

 

♪ I want to be your Shadow

♪ I can’t let you go, nobody

♪ You shine like the sun

♪ If I’m your shadow, that’s enough

 

Then, the rhythm fell out of sync.

The trainee in black moved first.

“What?”

“The rhythm is starting to fall out of sync……”

“Could it be that the choreography still–”

The judges’ seats stirred. But their suspicions did not last long.

The very next moment, their positions were reversed.

 

♪ Sometimes I think

♪ Is it just my selfish desire

♪ For you to become my shadow, too?

 

“……!”

The relationship between the two had been reversed. The shadow had become the master.

Robin’s eyes widened.

‘This is……’

No explanation was necessary. Through the staging alone, he could recognize the blatant metaphor: the shadow now controlled its master.

 

♪ Ah, this is

♪ Nothing more than

♪ My imagine

 

And then there was a single white jacket standing at the center. His gaze naturally gravitated toward him.

‘Who is that?’

Without realizing it, Robin asked JackP, who was sitting beside him.

“What was that friend’s name again?”

“It’s I-yul. Kang I-yul.”

 

♪ Hold me tight…

 

“…Wow.”

The exclamation came out before anything else.

The choreography was so good that he could barely remember the midterm evaluation. No, it wasn’t the choreography that was better. It was the person.

There were people who drew your eyes even when they performed the same movements as everyone else. Kang I-yul was exactly that kind of person.

His eye acting made you exclaim in admiration at once, and his fluid dance lines flowed as smoothly as water. Robin couldn’t take his eyes off a single one of his movements.

“So this is the killing part?”

Robin muttered unconsciously. But when he looked at the positions listed on the evaluation sheet, he tilted his head in confusion.

‘It wasn’t?’

The trainee assigned the killing part was Jang Hyeon-jun. It was a different face.

Robin quietly asked the judge sitting beside him.

“Has the killing part already passed?”

“Yes, just earlier. It was the part performed by the trainee who stood at the center.”

Ironically, the killing part had not left an impression on him.

“That friend is really good.”

“I-yul is good. He was already good, but I think this concept suits him perfectly.”

Robin followed Kang I-yul with an interested gaze.

However, even while his eyes were drawn to Kang I-yul, his ears continued following someone else.

Yoo Seong-woo’s vocals, infused with an obsessive emotion.

That was why the lyrics felt different despite being exactly the same as those of the original song. Even though he had the most youthful-looking face, his voice alone felt dangerous enough to be unsettling.

That precariousness was completing the stage.

‘He has what it takes to be a main vocalist.’

There was no need to doubt it. Perhaps because he had arranged the song himself, his ability to digest the track was particularly outstanding.

If Kang I-yul had captured his eyes, Yoo Seong-woo had captured his ears.

But Robin’s eyes narrowed.

‘Is the dancing something that can’t be helped?’

He was definitely lacking. He had cleverly arranged the formations to conceal it, but he couldn’t escape Robin’s eyes.

The precise rhythm and movements, along with the stability of delivering high notes at the right moments.

That was enough for a main vocalist.

But the way he used his body was fundamentally different. His movements were not those of someone who had properly learned how to dance.

“Trainee Yoo Seong-woo is good at everything, but his dancing is a bit……”

“He’s a trainee who hasn’t been at it for very long, so he’s never properly learned how to dance.”

“Honestly, considering how much time he’s had, even that level is a miracle.”

If he had shown no potential at all, it wouldn’t have been this disappointing. But compared to the other trainees in the debut lineup……

‘He’s definitely lacking.’

Robin knew this more brutally than anyone else because he was an idol himself.

He knew that any member who interfered with a performance would be cursed at for the rest of their life, no matter how good a main vocalist they were. Perhaps because it was such an obvious and visible element, idols in particular tended to receive more criticism for their dancing than their singing.

People would capture their movements frame by frame and analyze them, then publicly ridicule them through comparison videos with other members who danced well. In severe cases, even their sincerity toward their idol activities would be questioned.

Even if their skills improved several years later, old videos would be dug up endlessly.

 

“Hyung, even so, stopping activities is…”

“I’m scared of dancing. I feel like I’m causing trouble for all of you.”

 

At the sudden recollection of the past, Robin shook his head.

‘What a waste. Such a waste.’

When the stage ended, Robin was the first to grab the microphone.

“First of all, I really enjoyed watching your stage.”

The five members’ shoulders straightened at the same time.

“You definitely nailed the concept.”

“Thank you!”

“Especially, I was impressed by Kang… Trainee I-yul?”

Kang I-yul, who was still catching his breath, raised his hand.

“…Yes!”

“You were the most impressive. Especially the choreography during ‘Hold me tight.’ You came up with that yourself, right?”

“Yes. But–”

“It suited you incredibly well.”

Kang I-yul smiled slightly.

“Thank you.”

After continuing with a few brief comments, he finally turned his gaze toward Yoo Seong-woo.

“Trainee Yoo Seong-woo.”

“Yes.”

“Your arranging skills are excellent, and you sing well, too, don’t you? You’re talented enough that I’d want to bring you onto our team.”

Yoo Seong-woo’s eyes widened at the praise, and he bowed politely.

“But there’s one thing.”

Gulp.

The sound of him swallowing traveled through the microphone and reached Robin’s ears.

“You need to practice dancing like your life depends on it.”

“Yes!”

“Really, like your life depends on it…”

The venue fell silent.

“That way, you won’t regret it later.”

“……Yes!”

“You can’t always be hidden away after debuting, can you?”

It was blunt advice that inevitably made someone lose heart, but Robin did not regret saying it.

Yoo Seong-woo was a talent who absolutely had to debut. That was why, all the more, he couldn’t overlook what he was lacking right now.

However, Robin soon realized that even his concern had been unfounded.

“That’s right.”

Eyes looking straight up at him.

“Being hidden will end this time.”

There were no excuses, no feelings of unfairness, and no unnecessary humility. His calm response held nothing but certainty.

‘What’s with this kid?’

He was clearly smiling, but for a very brief moment, a chill ran down Robin’s spine.

‘He’s not ordinary.’

Those were absolutely not the eyes of a nineteen-year-old.