I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 63

Chapter 63

 

‘That’s what I think. Someone like this should be an idol.’

Those words wouldn’t leave my head.

Of course, the debut lineup comment that came afterward had caused an even bigger uproar at the venue.

‘What I wanted from trainee Kang I-yul was exactly this.’

But rankings no longer mattered to me.

I could tell just by looking at him from the side.

Right now, I-yul had a happier expression than anyone else.

“You really received a lot of praise.”

Kang Se-jun handed the microphone back to me.

“Trainee Yoo Seong-woo, the leader. Is there anything you’d like to say at the end?”

I didn’t have to think very hard. I already knew what I wanted to say.

“This was a performance we prepared incredibly hard for. So I think this is a stage where there’s neither first place nor last place for us.”

I continued after briefly looking toward the audience.

“I hope this feeling… reaches the audience members as well.”

As I finished speaking, I looked at the other four one by one.

“Waaaaah!!”

“Then, from now on, we’ll begin voting for the No. 1 and lowest-ranking trainees within each team!”

Even after coming down from the stage, the team members still looked like they couldn’t quite believe what had happened.

“The cheers were really loud…”

“I feel like more people were calling my name. Did I hear that wrong?”

Just then, someone lightly tapped my shoulder.

I turned around and saw Kang I-yul.

“I surprised you when I suddenly talked to you earlier, right…”

“It’s okay! I was barely holding myself back from jumping around, too.”

Honestly, I had been pretty surprised.

He had walked right up to me and shaken my shoulders, so I thought I must have done something wrong.

But what he actually said was…

“I believed in you, 100%!”

It was so childish that I laughed before anything else.

I wasn’t sure whether the camera had caught it. They had been filming the ending one-shot at the time.

This guy knew better than anyone how precious a single one-shot was in a survival show, yet he had given it up and rushed over.

‘I really can’t control the corners of my mouth.’

After the final voting was over, the trainees gathered at the venue again.

“The voting was incredibly close.”

Kang Se-jun looked down at his cue cards.

“Especially because of the lowest-ranking trainee vote, the rankings changed several times.”

Nervous breaths escaped from here and there. I-yul was also desperately trying to swallow his nerves, pressing the tips of his fingers with his fingernails.

“First, I’ll announce the No. 1 trainee from each team.”

 

[Rap Position]

 

Dudududu

“It’s obviously Un-jo.”

The background music meant to build tension was practically pointless.

 

[Rap Position: Choi Unjo]

 

It was an overwhelmingly obvious result.

“Trainee Choi Un-jo has taken first place with a total of 3,500 points.”

“Wow…”

“Isn’t that basically a unanimous vote?”

Choi Un-jo leisurely enjoyed the congratulations from the other trainees.

“Next is the No. 1 trainee in the dance position.”

Everyone thought it would be either Joo-han or Go Jae-seong. The size of their fanbases at the venue was surprisingly similar, after all.

“I heard the dance position was particularly fierce.”

Everyone’s eyes turned toward Kang Se-jun’s hand as he flipped through the cue cards.

“Oh.”

At the brief exclamation, the trainees began to stir as well.

“What?”

“Looks like it’s unexpected?”

“Could it be Jae-seong?”

The screen showed the faces of the five members of the dance team one by one.

Before my regression, Joo-han had won by a landslide.

Now that quite a lot had changed, I once again waited for the result through the eyes of a viewer.

“Congratulations.”

At that moment, the two split screens merged into one.

“Huh??”

“What??”

And on the screen was a stunned-looking Han Sang-yoon.

‘Wow, the strategic votes were insane.’

“Trainee Han Sang-yoon has taken first place with a total of 2,700 points.”

“No way…!”

“Congratulations, Sang-yoon hyung!”

Even Han Sang-yoon himself looked like he couldn’t believe it.

He looked around before pointing at himself.

“…Me?”

“Were you not expecting it?”

“Ah…… yes. Yes, I really… wasn’t expecting it.”

He had always remained composed, even after debuting. The fact that he was stammering meant he must have been truly shocked.

I quickly pictured what would happen next.

Once this result aired, Go Jae-seong’s fandom would become even more united. But Joo-han’s fandom would also be grinding their teeth. It was obvious that he had lost first place within the team because of strategic votes from Go Jae-seong’s fandom.

In the end, Han Sang-yoon benefited the most from the two fandoms trying to check each other.

Go Jae-seong’s back looked particularly small.

Well, he had worked himself to the bone and still lost first place within the team.

But knowing that guy, he might actually welcome this result.

‘He was a master at making his fans hold a grudge.’

There was nothing scarier than a fandom holding a grudge.

Whatever happened, it didn’t matter.

This morning, I had found a comment on Yoo Seong-ah’s SNS.

 

[@Seoleee]

 

There were no words, only a tag, but I could recognize it immediately.

‘Seori.’

After uploading our performance video to her story, Yoo Seong-ah had uploaded the same video to her feed as well. She had even added that she was allowing it because, at least, it wasn’t embarrassing.

Seori was probably thinking about it right now.

How she would tell the world that her choreography had been plagiarized.

I could tell just by looking at interviews from before my regression.

Seori was someone who took more pride in her work than anyone.

If someone like that found out that her choreography had been plagiarized?

She would definitely act.

Just very carefully.

‘The question is how long it’ll take.’

It could take a week, or even longer.

But it didn’t matter.

If it blew up right before the Round 6 stage, the impact would be even greater.

I was starting to look forward to this week’s broadcast.

“Finally, we have the No. 1 trainee in the vocal position.”

The screen displayed the faces of me, I-yul, and Song Woo-joo.

My heartbeat was pounding so hard that I could practically hear it in my ears.

“Congratulations. Trainee Kang I-yul.”

“……!”

My legs suddenly gave out.

But I immediately stood up and congratulated I-yul. I didn’t want to create any room for unnecessary misunderstandings.

“Congratulations, I-yul!”

“Thank you, hyung.”

“Trainee Kang I-yul. You took first place in the vocal position despite it not being your main position. I imagine this must feel particularly meaningful.”

I-yul took several breaths before speaking.

“Onstage… today was the first time I felt what it was like to show 100%.”

Then he looked at me.

“It was all thanks to you, Seong-woo hyung.”

Good lord, could there be another eighteen-year-old this precious?

“Trainee Yoo Seong-woo, you narrowly missed first place, but it must feel special to hear something like that from your teammate?”

“We all learned a lot from one another. I was also able to find my 100% thanks to I-yul.”

The heartwarming atmosphere didn’t end there.

“There was one interesting point in Team ‘Adolescence’s’ voting results.”

“Something interesting?”

Amid the curious questions, Kang Se-jun smiled faintly.

“The participation rate for the lowest-ranking trainee vote was the lowest.”

“Ah…!”

“The ‘Boys Code’ production team was also very surprised that the on-site evaluators voluntarily chose not to vote for a lowest-ranking trainee.”

It was a good thing I had said what I wanted to say at the end.

A vote meant to make someone fall.

In the past, I had thought even that variable was part of what made survival shows entertaining.

But now, I felt completely differently.

Because now I knew that everyone had poured their 100% into their performance.

I silently gestured to my teammates.

“I-yul.”

Unlike the other three, the guy who had been hesitating looked at me.

“What are you doing? Come over here.”

One by one, the others chimed in from either side.

“Come on!”

“Shouldn’t first place stand in the middle?”

I grabbed the wrist that was hesitantly approaching and pulled him over.

Naturally, the five of us put our arms around one another’s shoulders.

“Then, finally, we’ll announce the No. 1 position team.”

It was us.

We were the only team still standing with our arms around each other’s shoulders, even with the result announcement approaching.

Honestly, this was more important than an individual first-place finish.

‘I loudly promised I’d make sure we got first place. It’d be embarrassing if we lost here.’

“The first-place team is……”

Kang Se-jun paused for a moment before smiling.

“Congratulations, Team ‘Adolescence’!”

“Huh??”

“No way?”

“Wow, really?”

We screamed so loudly our ears rang.

“Waaaaaaaah!!”

“Us!! We’re first!!”

I-yul grabbed both of my shoulders and shook me.

Kwon Gi-hyun and Song Woo-joo jumped up and down in place.

After calming down a little, I-yul panted and said,

“It’s such a relief, hyung. I was worried I’d be the only one getting it……”

“What did I tell you?”

The guy stared blankly for a moment before his eyes widened.

“……Ah!”

I gave him a thumbs-up.

“Shall we hear everyone’s thoughts one by one? First, trainee Yoo Seong-woo.”

“I’m really happy that I was able to become a leader who isn’t ashamed in front of the teammates who trusted me and came along with me!”

The moment I said that, the other three began waving their hands beside my face playfully.

As though they were adding a sparkling effect.

When I-yul quietly joined them too, I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“With this, all trainees in the vocal position will receive an additional 1,000-point benefit. Trainee Kang I-yul, as the No. 1 trainee within his team, will receive a total benefit of 1,500 points.”

“Wow……”

“1,500 points……”

The one-pick voting system would remain in place through this round.

With a single score like that, it wouldn’t be strange for the rankings to be overturned.

‘Wait.’

This time, I would make sure to raise Kang I-yul all the way to the highest position in the debut lineup.

 

***

 

Go Jae-seong was in a foul mood.

He had trouble hiding his expression, so even in the car returning to the dorms, he pretended to be asleep with his eyes closed.

There were two reasons.

First: He had worked himself to the point of getting nosebleeds while taking over even Hwang Geon-hee’s parts, yet first place within the team had gone to Han Sang-yoon.

‘Not Joo-han, but Han Sang-yoon?’

His brows furrowed for a moment.

But soon, he convinced himself.

‘No. That means I was targeted with that many strategic votes.’

It was both his strength and his weakness.

When he didn’t like a result, he chose the interpretation that was most advantageous to himself.

Once this broadcast aired, the fans would know, too.

They would know who had worked the hardest to fill Hwang Geon-hee’s absence.

And they would know that despite all that, he had still lost first place.

‘The fandom will only become more vicious.’

The corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly.

Second: Kang I-yul had taken both first place within the team and individual first place.

At that moment, the voice that had been scratching at his ears came back to him.

“I don’t think these lyrics are quite… right.”

“Was this the kind of hip-hop you thought of, hyung?”

“Hyung, if you had any sense, you shouldn’t have released work like that.”

Go Jae-seong unconsciously gritted his teeth.

Kang I-yul.

That bastard who always picked fights with him over every little thing.

‘If it weren’t for that bastard.’

He still believed Impactor would have become the team he had dreamed of long ago.

‘At this rate, he’ll get back into the debut lineup.’

At first, he had considered filling the entire team with trainees who suited his own tastes, but if he did that, the team would obviously fail.

So Choi Unjo, Joo-han, and Han Sang-yoon.

Those three were absolutely necessary. Their skills and characters were irreplaceable.

Kang I-yul, on the other hand, was different.

He was the furthest thing from the hip-hop image, and he wouldn’t move in the direction Jae-seong wanted, either.

He wasn’t even particularly impressive, yet he kept pretending to be nice.

He was exactly the kind of person Jae-seong hated most.

So he changed it… Only Kang I-yul.

He believed that was the most perfect picture.

But somehow, Kang I-yul kept crawling his way into that perfect debut lineup.

Go Jae-seong’s face slowly hardened.

‘He’s getting in the way again.’

That bastard, like some foreign object.