I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 64

Chapter 64

 

Early in the morning, a loud theme song woke the trainees from their peaceful sleep.

“Ugh…”

[Trainees, please finish getting ready and gather in the studio by 9 o’clock!]

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“The competition only ended yesterday…”

The trainees who gathered in the studio simultaneously stopped when they saw the screen.

 

[New Song Mission Team Selection]

 

“New Song Mission team selection…?”

“Why are we doing that now?”

For the first time, it truly sank in that they were already at Round 6.

This team selection was unusual enough that they had to rush it like this.

“Until now, we’ve formed teams after the ranking announcement ceremony, right? But this round is a little… different.”

Kang Se-jun, dressed as a detective, raised a magnifying glass.

“This sixth round is the New Song Mission.”

“You’ll be putting on performances with new songs created exclusively for Boys Code.”

“No way……”

“Then, let’s reveal them right away!”

 

1. My girl

(Pop Dance / Prod. Tiger)*

—A love song about promising to become the best man for your lover.

 

2. Amnesia

(Hiphop / Prod. Goya)

—A song with an intense addictiveness that keeps coming back to mind after hearing it just once, as if you’ve developed amnesia.

 

3. Turn over

(Synth-pop / Prod. Pop J)

—A song with a variety of sounds harmonizing together, as if watching a musical.

 

“Wow…”

“I’m definitely doing Goya’s song.”

“All three songs are so good, though.”

“Euphoria is doing the choreography again this time?”

All three songs had distinct colors.

Once again, I was reminded that Euphoria was a highly skilled team that wasn’t limited by genre.

‘My girl’ had choreography and a song that could properly showcase a ‘boyfriend vibe,’ while ‘Amnesia’ overflowed with energy in every movement. ‘Turn over’ had interesting choreography with a story.

The reactions were similar to before my regression as well.

Most people were aiming for ‘Amnesia’.

After all, powerful performances tended to do well in competitions.

“However, if you are eliminated at the ranking announcement ceremony, you will not be able to perform on that stage.”

“Ah……”

Until now, there had never been a round where trainees prepared for a stage only to be unable to perform it. But the trainees’ reactions were surprisingly calm.

‘They think two people will be eliminated this time, too.’

Until now, the number of eliminated trainees had always been fixed at two per round.

On top of that, since Hwang Geon-hee had withdrawn, there was only one remaining elimination.

Everyone believed that.

“Still, the teams won’t change, right?”

“Yeah. One team can just do it with four people.”

Unfortunately, that was wishful thinking.

There wouldn’t be one eliminated trainee.

There would be three.

This round had been designed from the beginning to make the teams collapse.

In the crisis of having to hurriedly move teams, would they carve out a new path, or would they fall apart?

The result didn’t matter.

What mattered more was that ‘someone.’

To make that happen, a large number of people had to be eliminated in this round.

So, including Hwang Geon-hee, they would probably drop four people all at once.

Besides, the survival show was being run on a tight schedule.

For the New Song Mission, which required a relatively long preparation period, it was an unavoidable choice.

“I’ll explain the voting method. Please open the envelopes in front of you.”

Inside the envelope was a single sheet of paper.

[Write down the teammates you want to be on a team with.]

“What?”

“We get to decide?”

They had to choose one of the mission songs and write down a combination of five people, including themselves.

‘A song that suits both me and I-yul…’

I didn’t have to think for long.

The team Kang I-yul had chosen before my regression.

‘My girl.’

Under ‘My girl’, I wrote my own name and Kang I-yul’s first.

For the other members, I chose Choi Un-jo, Han Sang-yoon, and Seong Jun-woo.

Han Sang-yoon had also chosen ‘My girl’ himself before my regression.

In fact, it was the concept that suited him best, considering he was the ultimate boyfriend pick for Impactor.

By principle, discussing it was forbidden. But small alliances were already forming here and there.

“Who did you write?”

“Didn’t you put me down, too?”

On the other hand, I-yul was quietly staring at his paper.

As expected, he was by-the-book. He was the kind of guy who considered even something like this cheating.

After about ten minutes, the production staff collected the ballots.

“We’ll check the results for a moment before continuing the recording.”

As soon as filming stopped, people everywhere started comparing answers.

“Where did you write?”

“Did you put me down for your team?”

Then Go Jae-seong approached me.

“Wait a second.”

“Oh. Yeah, Jae-seong. Go ahead.”

‘Don’t come over, don’t come over…….’

“When did this guy ever do what I wanted him to?”

“Which team did you vote for?”

“I don’t know. Isn’t this normally a secret ballot?”

“I wrote down the same team as you.”

“I’ve already done that with you. Again?”

“We’ll have to keep being on teams together anyway, so what does it matter?”

Go Jae-seong said it as though it were obvious.

‘Wow, talk about counting your chickens before they hatch.’

“We’ll start filming in three minutes…”

“I should go.”

“See you later.”

Seeing his confident attitude, I could roughly figure it out.

Apparently, I was going to end up on the same team as Go Jae-seong.

“The final trainee assigned to Team Amnesia is…”

And that ominous premonition turned out to be correct.

“Code 3. Trainee Yoo Seong-woo.”

Go Jae-seong was smiling as if he had expected it.

Knowing the meaning behind that smile made me feel even more uncomfortable.

More importantly, Kang I-yul wasn’t on this team.

I-yul had been assigned to Team ‘My Girl’.

Looking at the team composition… Codes 15, 14, and 11.

All three except Han Sangyoon were in the elimination zone.

‘That means there will definitely be an empty spot.’

“With trainee Yoo Seong-woo joining Team Amnesia, three trainees from the debut lineup have ended up on the same team, haven’t they?”

Me, Go Jae-seong, and Choi Un-jo.

And Code 8 Jang Hyeon-jun, Code 9 Nam Jun-ho.

“We can’t reveal who wrote whom.”

Kang Se-jun smiled meaningfully.

“But apparently, as many as three people on this team wrote down this exact five-person combination.”

The people around us began to murmur.

“Three?”

“No way.”

But I was thinking about something else entirely.

‘They rigged it.’

Writing down the exact same five people was beyond the realm of coincidence.

But three people had written down the same members?

And the two people among them were the two who were very unlikely to be eliminated at this ranking announcement?

There was only one answer.

None of the five would be eliminated in this round, so they were planning to kick one person out later.

I thought Jang Hyeon-jun, unlike Nam Jun-ho, had graduated from being Go Jae-seong’s lackey. But thinking about it another way, it must have been an offer where he had nothing to lose.

His own rank wasn’t low, and with three members of the debut lineup on the team, he must have judged that they would take first place unless they completely screwed things up.

If one of the two were eliminated, that would actually be even better for Go Jae-seong.

The four-person team would be fixed, eliminating any risk of me moving to another team.

If that was the case……

I had to hope for the exact opposite.

‘No one should be eliminated.’

Only then would this whole setup fall apart.

 

***

 

After the Round 5 on-site evaluation ended, all kinds of spoilers and on-site photos flooded social media.

 

[Honestly, this on-site evaluation]

> The Debtors did everything ㅇㅇ. Get ready to cry when it airs on TV lolol

↳ The Debtors absolutely have to debut together. They match each other so well.

↳ Just seeing the preparation process has me fucking excited.

↳ Kangㅇ1yul is smart lolol. He knows hanging around Yoo Seong-woo will make things go well for him haha.

 ↳↳ Didn’t you watch last week’s broadcast? Yoo Seong-woo recruited ㅇ1yul, what are you talking about?

   ↳↳ Never mind then lol

↳ But Kangㅇ1yul really doesn’t have many relationships, though ㅇㅇ. Aside from the Debtors, I can’t think of any.

 ↳↳ Yeah, our ㅇ1yul doesn’t need to do relationship-selling anyway.

  ↳↳↳ Ah, so that’s why he’s Code 6!

 

Secretly taken photos and videos continued to be uploaded endlessly.

Because they had been taken while avoiding the security staff’s eyes, most of them had angles that looked as though someone were peeking through a crack in a door.

But even in a desert, flowers can bloom.

 

[FocusOn @FocusOn_KY — 3 minutes ago]

[So that your youth won’t become a passing encounter.

#KangIYul #Yoo Seong-woo #BoysCode]

 

“Is this a new home master?”

It was an account she had never seen before, but the unusually emotional wording caught Oh Gyeong-jin’s attention.

The video showed Kang I-yul running toward Yoo Seong-woo immediately after the performance ended.

Only Kang I-yul’s back was visible, but Yoo Seong-woo’s expression was crystal clear.

A face smiling so brightly that the corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears.

Perhaps because of the stage lighting, the entire screen glowed warmly even though there hadn’t been any special editing.

 

↳ Were these two the Debtors?

↳ ‘Debtors’ doesn’t really sound good. Is there another ship name?

↳ How about ‘Woolmung’? I-yul has a wolf-like face, and Seong-woo totally has a puppy face.

 ↳↳ I-yul is a baby cat though;;

  ↳↳↳ Baby cat (185 cm)

↳ What the hell did he want to say that made him run over so urgently? lolol

↳ I seriously thought he was going to run over and hug him.

↳ Thank you, thank you… I wasn’t expecting anything because they said security was going to be fucking strict this time, but this cultural heritage…

↳ I’ve only known them for one minute, but I love you, Mom.

 

[But the Debtors’ new home master]

> Isn’t this D1sappea2 Boy? The editing style is practically a fingerprint.

↳ Ah fucking lololol. Didn’t Hwang leave less than a week ago?

↳ The entire Debtors fandom welcomes a skilled home master.

↳ It is lolol. Even the emotional-account-style captions are exactly the same lolol.

 

“The more home masters, the better.”

Just then, a notification popped up.

 

[Boys Code Round 6 New Song Mission Songs Revealed]

 

“They’re already doing the new song battle?”

Gyeong-jin carefully listened to the songs.

“It’s kind of disappointing that there’s no public vote.”

But she soon changed her mind.

“No, wait. Considering how much of a mess it would become with relationship-selling and alliances, maybe it’s better that there isn’t one?”

It was a sentiment born from experience.

“Amnesia has impact as a competition song, but personally…”

She came across a post that seemed to have transferred her exact thoughts into words.

 

[Hot take]

> I want ㅇ1yul to do M2i girl lolololololol. Doesn’t it seem like it would surprisingly suit him? ㅇ1yul totally has that legendary handsome senior-on-campus vibe ㅇㅇ The song was also blatantly made overflowing with boyfriend vibes.

 

“Holy shit. Did I write this?”

But Gyeong-jin soon realized that her taste was brutally niche.

 

↳ 1yul is a minorㅠㅠㅠ

 ↳↳ Ah lolololololol Is calling a minor a handsome campus guy a compliment or a backhanded insult?

↳ What are you talking about? Everyone, just pray that you get Amneㅅ1a;;

 ↳↳ ㅇㅇ M2i girl-type songs are the worst for a competition. They don’t even stick in your memory.

  ↳↳↳ Seriously, do all of you think this is your first survival show? The on-site reaction absolutely has to be an exciting and powerful song.

↳ Isn’t Turn over okay too?

 ↳↳ A member of the Dark Turn over faction here.

 

“It’s a good thing there’s no public vote.”

Aside from the vocal performance, all the stages Kang I-yul had shown so far had been powerful, energetic songs.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with eating only kimchi stew at a famous kimchi stew restaurant.

But if the chef was a master of everything, wouldn’t it be natural to want to try a little of this and a little of that?

“Should I check Seongwoo’s reactions too…”

Yoo Seong-woo’s fandom was no better, and no worse.

 

[M2i girl akgae perspective]

> Honestly, didn’t you think it was a shame that Seongwoo obviously has a puppy face but has only done strong concepts until now? This time he absolutely needs to go with something warm, wholesome, and full of positive energy.

 

[You clueless people, this is obviously Nesia]

> Are the people saying we should do M2i girl spies? It’s obvious that it’ll become a team full of trainees who are going to be eliminated. If you’re a woman, you should choose Amneㅅ1a.

 

[From the perspective of a K-pop veteran]**

> I think they should do Turn over. It has exactly that 3rd-generation feel, a clear beginning-middle-end, and a high note in the highlight lol. The producers who know what they’re doing have already grabbed Turn over.

 

“It’s chaos here, too.”

 

[I trust you, Seongwoo]

[Let’s all go listen to the frequency of Jae-seong choosing Amneㅅ1a]

[I, for one, am just believing that Un-jo did M2i girl]

.

.

.

 

Gyeong-jin’s finger stopped as she browsed the chaotic message board.

 

[Scheduled to be deleted in 1 minute (spoiler)]