I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 46

Chapter 46

 

This damn status window really wasn’t on my side for even a single moment.

I blankly stared up into empty space. A bright-red warning message filled my entire field of vision.

[S: Conflict with a person closely connected to your wish will cause the danger level to increase explosively!]

[S: Please exercise caution.]

[S: The current target’s condition is unstable.]

“……”

Cold sweat trickled down my body.

Since my regression, the danger level had changed countless times.

85%, 83%, 87%…… It had even exceeded 90% when I first regressed.

But the warning message had never appeared before.

Not even once.

And yet, things had reached the point where the system itself was issuing a warning?

My heart sank ominously.

‘Increase explosively……?’

That sentence kept circling around in my head.

It meant this was different from before. It meant things could truly become dangerous.

“Hyung.”

Only then did I hear I-yul’s voice.

“Are you playing around with me right now?”

I-yul briefly bit his lip. For a moment, his face seemed strangely unfamiliar.

The eyes that had been looking at Joo-han throughout the interim evaluation. I-yul was looking at me with those exact same eyes.

‘Ah.’

Only then did I realize it. I had hurt I-yul’s pride.

“You wouldn’t know, since you were praised, hyung.”

With those words, I-yul left the practice room.

“By the way, I’m telling you, the menu’s getting more pathetic by the day.”

“What the fuck are you talking about after stuffing your face?”

“Hey, the camera might still be rolling!”

“Holy shit.”

“Just kidding.”

“Do you want to die?”

The other trainees returned, and the practice room quickly became noisy.

“By the way, Hwang Geon-hee, why were you called away earlier?”

“Ah, apparently some weird fucker uploaded a fabricated post.”

“Holy shit. Are you already famous?”

“I don’t know. They said I bullied them or something–”

But strangely, amid all that noise, I sank deeper and deeper.

 

***

 

The day of Boys Code’s first on-site evaluation.

The area in front of the broadcasting station was already packed with fans from early in the morning.

Ga-yoon, Yoo Seong-woo’s fan club head, had also arrived at the crack of dawn, received her first-come, first-served number ticket, and was handing out the slogans she had prepared in advance.

“They’re already all gone…”

They had gone much faster than she expected. She knew the online reactions had been unusual, but she hadn’t imagined they would be this intense.

“Seong-woo’s really popular~”

On the back of the slogan was a photo of Braces Guy taken on the day of the signal song guerrilla performance. Perhaps because it had been taken in natural light, it captured his boyish atmosphere particularly well.

“No matter how many times I look at it, it came out so well.”

Just as she proudly brushed her hand over the photo one more time, she heard a staff member shout.

“Please line up according to your ticket numbers!”

Ga-yoon hurriedly gathered her belongings and went inside.

It was a studio she had already visited several times.

“What? This is more elaborate than I expected.”

Perhaps because she hadn’t expected much from an in-house survival show, her eyes widened at the more lavish-than-expected set.

At that moment…

“Waaaaah!”

Along with a roar that shook the ceiling, MC Kang Se-jun appeared.

As always, his visuals were insane. Appearing in a racing suit, he openly showed off his long legs and solid physique.

“Holy shit.”

“No, aren’t the trainees going to be completely overshadowed by Kang Se-jun?”

Exclamations erupted from all around. Kang Se-jun smiled leisurely, as though he was accustomed to it.

Thanks to him, the atmosphere at the venue heated up quickly, even before the actual performances began.

“Welcome, everyone, to Boys Code’s first on-site evaluation! I’m your MC, Kang Se-jun.”

When he gave a quick greeting and winked, the audience went wild again.

“Today’s mission is–”

The electronic display flashed.

 

[CODE MISSION 4: What is your FANTASY?]

 

“Fantasy?”

“I’m sure every idol fan has a fantasy they hold for their favorite idol.”

The keywords were revealed next.

[Suit / School Uniform / Baseball Uniform / Street]

Cheers erupted each time one of the outfits appeared.

“Today, we have prepared stages that will fulfill all of those fantasies.”

Ga-yoon naturally began imagining things as well.

“If it’s school uniforms, that would be fucking insane…”

In the meantime, the first team appeared.

“The team that chose street fashion, ‘Ground,’ please come up!”

Since many of the trainees had low recognition, the audience was relatively quiet. But the moment Han Sang-yoon appeared, the atmosphere changed completely.

“Sang-yoon!!”

He was clearly a popular member.

Ga-yoon clicked her tongue softly.

“Looks like you only need to watch Han Sang-yoon on this team.”

As expected, the stage was close to a one-man show by Han Sang-yoon.

The song selection suited the street fashion, but only Han Sang-yoon and Nam Jun-ho were able to properly pull off the hip-hop choreography.

“Ha, Sang-yoon… How did it come to this…”

A lament came from nearby.

Ga-yoon also became nervous for no particular reason.

‘Please let Seong-woo perform with good teammates.’

The stage ended, and the judging began.

“The outfits and song went well together. However, the choreography was too difficult for the team to handle.”

“Trainee Han Sang-yoon took on the roles of leader, choreographer, and even vocalist?”

“Wow, how did he manage to do all of that?”

“The other trainees should seriously consider whether they were simply carried through this.”

The sharp judging comments caused the atmosphere to sink instantly.

‘The next team must be feeling a ton of pressure’

Just as even she began to feel tense…

“Next up is ‘Hunter,’ the team that chose suits!”

The members appeared onstage.

This time, the audience’s reaction was different from the start.

“Jae-seong!!”

“Choi Un-jo!!!”

“Geon-hee, over here!”

A team packed with popular trainees. And when Yoo Seong-woo appeared last, Ga-yoon doubted her own eyes.

“Uh……?”

It was a familiar face, but somehow, it looked unfamiliar.

‘That can’t be.’

She hadn’t missed a single piece of content related to Yoo Seong-woo. And that wasn’t all. She had watched the guerrilla performance video she had uploaded several times a day.

Her days began and ended with Yoo Seong-woo, so how could he seem unfamiliar?

Then she soon realized the reason.

“Holy shit–”

The braces were gone.

Even as Yoo Seong-woo spoke with a bright smile, there was no sparkle.

“What? Why does Yoo Seong-woo look even more handsome?”

“Exactly. Did he always look like that?”

“Holy shit, he got his braces removed?”

“Whoa. I was wondering what had changed–”

A stir spread throughout the audience.

Even though the team consisted of popular trainees, everyone was talking only about Yoo Seong-woo. And it was understandable. Perhaps he had lost some of his baby fat in the meantime, because the lines of his face had become much more defined.

She had originally thought his face had a strong cute image, but today, the overall impression was completely different.

“He’s grown in the meantime…”

A neat black suit and naturally styled hair. His jawline was revealed beneath the faint lighting. And his eyes, staring at the audience with an expressionless face.

‘Wow, wait a second…’

Ga-yoon momentarily lost her words. He had been fine when he was smiling, but this was something she truly hadn’t expected.

“Yoo Seong-woo’s face is insane.”

“He’s not just at the level of a visual center. He’s just fucking handsome…”

“He really doesn’t photograph well on camera, either.”

Admiration poured out from all around.

‘That’s my boy! I’m so proud of you!’

She desperately suppressed her cheeks, which kept twitching upward.

“YOO!! SEONG!! WOO!!”

“Whoa, that startled me…”

A woman shouted Yoo Seong-woo’s name with an extraordinary volume, casually waving her slogan.

Ga-yoon carefully took out the camera she had hidden.

As she looked around like a meerkat and pressed the shutter, the loud-voiced woman subtly raised her slogan to block the camera.

It was perfect cover that would have been impossible to achieve alone.

“Thank you…”

“Not at all. You need to take pretty pictures.”

The world was still worth living in. Deeply moved, Ga-yoon cautiously asked,

“Whose performance are you supporting, by any chance?”

“I-yul and Seong-woo…”

“I’ll make sure to take pretty pictures for you when I-yul comes out.”

“Really? Thank you so much!”

And just like that, the two of them quickly followed each other’s SNS accounts.

“Then, the stage by the ‘Hunter’ team begins now! Code–on.”

With Kang Se-jun’s line, the venue went dark.

“Maybe because their suits themselves are ordinary, I can’t even guess what concept they’re going to perform, right?”

“Exactly!”

Anticipation-filled murmurs spread throughout the venue.

“If it’s a pop song, are they going to sing in English?”

“If it’s suits, isn’t it just a sexy concept?”

Ga-yoon had been thinking along similar lines.

“Ah, sexy might be a little too early…”

Cutting through the murmuring, teal-colored lights illuminated the stage. Then the trainees revealed themselves.

“Ah, fucking hell!”

It was someone’s shout, but it was also an exclamation that represented everyone’s feelings.

Crisply ironed white shirts, sharply arranged black suits, and perfectly neat ties. Each time the trainees’ faces appeared one after another on the electronic display, cheers erupted.

And the moment Yoo Seong-woo’s face appeared, Ga-yoon launched a scream that rose from the depths of her stomach.

“Waaaaah!!”

She had wondered what exactly had changed, and it was the glasses. Black, thick-rimmed glasses, at that.

“Holy shit, when did he put those on?”

Adding just one pair of glasses completely changed his atmosphere.

A face that was cold, sensitive, and seemed somewhat exhausted, yet impossible to look away from.

Ga-yoon stared only at Yoo Seong-woo, unable even to breathe.

‘Today is seriously legendary.’

But the atmosphere onstage itself was strange.

At the center of the stage, Yoo Seong-woo and Choi Un-jo were playing janggi. Meanwhile, Go Jae-seong, Hwang Geon-hee, and Song Woo-joo watched from either side, as though they were offering unsolicited advice.

“They’re suddenly playing janggi?”

“What is that supposed to be?”

At that moment…

Doom–tak!

The sound of a janggu rang out.

“……Huh?”

[Ah, that rascal refuses to go where he belongs in the afterlife and instead wanders the Nine Heavens?]

A rustic voice.

All five of them simultaneously swept their hair back with irritated expressions.

The audience began to stir.

“What is this, pansori?”

“I thought it was a musical…”

Everyone tilted their heads at the progression, unable to figure out either the concept or the subject. Even amid all this, Ga-yoon muttered as though she were possessed.

“I want to get caught between Yoo Seong-woo’s brows…”

Choi Un-jo spread his fingers toward the air, as if pleading with someone. As though asking whether they couldn’t just finish this one game.

His drooping eyebrows evoked a sense of pitifulness.

[But are you leisurely playing janggi–]

Rumble!

The lights flashed across the stage.

Crash-bang!

The janggi board flipped over, and the stage instantly transformed into chaos.

And then, they disappeared.

“Where did everyone go?”

Ga-yoon looked around, searching for the five people who had vanished like the wind.

“Huh?”

“What?”

Doom, doom–tak!

The sound of the janggu rang out once more.

Blink. Amid the flashing lights, silhouettes appeared behind a tent.

Exclamations burst from all around the audience.

“The staging is insane!”

“What the hell?”

“When did they appear?”

Swish

The moment the tent was pulled aside…

“…A gat?”

Black traditional Korean hats sat atop the heads of all five members. Only then did the pieces fall into place.

The Eastern game of janggi, which didn’t match their Western-style suits; the sudden sound of a janggu; and the mysterious voice saying that someone was wandering the Nine Heavens instead of going to the afterlife.

“They’re grim reapers!”

That single shout completely overturned the audience.

Yoo Seong-woo roughly pulled at his tie and walked forward.

Tap. He tilted his head at an angle.

The tails of the black dopo draped over his suit fluttered with each step.

Ga-yoon caught her breath.

“Wow…”

She had thought he simply had a face as gentle as a puppy.

But she had been wrong.

He had an aura that seemed capable of dragging someone away to the afterlife at any moment. Looking up at him from below the stage, he genuinely resembled a grim reaper.

Without thinking, she muttered that if a grim reaper like that came for her, she would consider it a blessed death.

 

♪ Chase you~

♪ Even in the dark night

♪ I can find

♪ Your shadow

 

“…Wait a second.”

Ga-yoon let out a hollow laugh. The original song was so famous that she had never imagined Korean lyrics for it.

But hearing it like this, the song’s lyrics genuinely seemed to tell the story of a grim reaper.

Teal and red lights crossed over one another. Traditional Korean music sounds pierced sharply through the hip-hop beat. It was strangely Eastern while still feeling modern.

 

♪ Chasing and being chased

♪ This race

♪ be or Not to be

 

And at the center of it all, the moment Yoo Seong-woo stepped forward…

“Huh?”

Ga-yoon froze in place.

Yoo Seong-woo danced intensely. And he wasn’t merely dancing.

He was good.

Ga-yoon clenched her fists without realizing it.

“Holy shit!”

She was certain.

Once this stage aired, Yoo Seong-woo reclaiming a spot in the debut lineup would be a foregone conclusion.