I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 73

Chapter 73

 

While Kang Se-jun was buying time, the judges had already decided the order in which they would give their evaluations.

“This time, we’ll start with Judge Jack P.”

Jack P smiled and picked up the microphone.

“I felt it during the midterm evaluation too, but seeing it in person is even more impressive.”

He looked at Yoo Seong-woo.

“I heard you took the lead on most of the stage planning. And then you even changed teams. You must have been incredibly busy learning the choreography, formations, and song all over again, so how did you manage to make it this polished?”

The question felt all the more sincere because he had been enjoying the performance so much that he had been moving along to the beat throughout the entire stage.

Yoo Seong-woo looked around at his teammates standing beside him before answering with a smile.

“Our team atmosphere was really good.”

Kang I-yul, Han Sang-yoon, and Ji Dong-seok all burst out laughing at the same time.

“They’re the kind of people who tell you eleven things if you ask them ten times, so thanks to them, I was able to catch up quickly.”

The warm answer brought smiles to the audience as well.

Next was vocal trainer Park Jae-hoon.

“Weren’t you burdened by the main vocal position? The range was pretty high, more than I expected.”

“I was.”

Yoo Seong-woo smiled honestly.

“But I really wanted to do well on this stage, at least. And while practicing the parts you gave me feedback on, Trainer Jae-hoon, I thought about your advice a lot. Thank you.”

The moment he bowed, Park Jae-hoon’s face appeared in a large shot on the screen.

He had a smile that couldn’t hide his satisfaction.

“I really enjoyed watching this stage.”

He looked at the four of them one by one.

“It was impressive that you created such a polished stage despite the sudden team reorganization. You worked hard.”

“Waaaaah!!”

Kang Se-jun smoothly passed the flow along.

“Then, we have today’s final team.”

“Team Blackout, who chose Amnesia, please come up onto the stage.”

Cheers erupted from the audience.

“Waaaaah!!”

When Go Jae-seong appeared, the cheering was noticeably louder.

“Looks like a lot of Go fans came today.”

Ga-yoon muttered quietly.

After the controversy over spite votes during the previous competition, the fandom must have gathered with their teeth clenched.

She watched Go Jae-seong walk onto the stage.

“……I wonder what will happen this time.”

 

***

 

PD Seon quietly watched the Blackout team. Choi Un-jo was humming as he warmed up, while the other three had not made eye contact with one another even once until the very end.

“Blackout team, you’re going up!”

“Yes!”

But the moment they climbed the stairs toward the stage, the atmosphere changed in an instant.

The people who hadn’t exchanged a single word just moments ago naturally even put their arms around each other’s shoulders.

“……”

PD Seon gave a small laugh.

‘They really are different once the cameras are on.’

“Waaaaah!!”

“Jae-seong—!!”

“Go Jae-seong!”

The cheers shook the audience. It seemed like even more fans had come than during the previous on-site evaluation.

Amid those cheers, he pressed his fingers between his brows.

“This is becoming a headache……”

The main writer beside him cautiously asked,

“What are you planning to do?”

“For now.”

PD Seon looked at the stage.

“We’ll have to decide after seeing how they perform.”

After Yoo Seong-woo left the team, Blackout lost its center for a while.

The process had been captured by the cameras in its entirety.

But after Nam Jun-ho and Go Jae-seong divided the main vocal parts between them, they had clearly regained their stability.

“The Amnesia team also had a member adjustment, right?”

Kang Se-jun handed over the microphone.

“How was the preparation process?”

Go Jae-seong took a moment to catch his breath before speaking. His face on the screen still had redness around the eyes.

“It wasn’t easy in many ways, but… we worked hard together with the team members.”

He turned toward Nam Jun-ho.

“Especially since Jun-ho and I are taking on the main vocal position for the first time, I want to do our best and get through it without making any mistakes!”

“Go Jae-seong, fighting!!”

The louder the cheers became, the more complicated PD Seon’s feelings grew.

Relief that many of the audience members still didn’t know about the incident. And the burden of the aftermath that would come crashing down once the stage was over.

Before he could even steel himself, the intro began.

[Amnesia]

Thick smoke covered the stage, and four people walked through it.

Go Jae-seong, at the center, stared straight ahead with eyes that seemed ready to devour the camera.

“Kyahhhhh!!”

“Is Go Jae-seong fucking crazy!”

Perhaps because he had cried for so long in the meeting room.

The redness in his bloodshot eyes actually looked like stage makeup.

“……Seriously.”

The razor-sharp synchronized choreography followed.

At least in terms of the stage’s quality, it did not waver in the slightest.

 

♪ The moments

♪ When I remembered you

♪ With my eyes wide open, forgotten…

 

The problem, as expected, was the vocals.

“Jae-seong took a lot.”

The decision to redistribute Nam Jun-ho’s parts had been the right one.

Thanks to that, the mistakes had noticeably decreased.

That didn’t mean they could fill the vacancy left by the main vocalist.

And then came the part everyone had been waiting for.

The high-note part where Nam Jun-ho had collapsed during every midterm evaluation.

Go Jae-seong took a short breath.

He clenched his fist once.

 

♪ Erase you from my memo-ory!

 

“Waaaaah!!”

An ad-lib lowered by a half-step from the original song.

The explosive power had decreased slightly, but he had chosen stability instead.

It wasn’t a bad decision.

“Oh, he still manages to pull that off?”

“He doesn’t make a mistake.”

The writer beside him muttered.

“Nix must be regretting it.”

“Regretting what?”

“Throwing away someone like that.”

PD Seon glanced at the writer.

“You keep subtly taking his side.”

“No, I mean… he was always so polite and hardworking, right?”

Of course, even he couldn’t deny it. Besides, there was a sense of desperation coming from Go Jae-seong onstage.

A determination to survive no matter what. Every time that gaze turned toward the camera, the cheers from the audience grew louder as well.

‘Could it be……’

Had he really made a mistake because he desperately wanted to debut?

‘That could be it.’

He nodded.

“Blackout’s Amnesia stage was really intense, wasn’t it?”

“Yes!!”

The cheers continued.

Nam Jun-ho wavered several times, but Jang Hyeonjun did his part, while Choi Un-jo and Go Jae-seong held the stage firmly together.

“Trainees Jae-seong and Un-jo wouldn’t look out of place even if we put them on a music show right now.”

“Thank you!”

At Katin’s high praise, Go Jae-seong quietly clenched his fist.

“Trainee Jun-ho isn’t originally a vocalist either, but I could see that he gave it his all.”

Nam Jun-ho silently bowed at the waist.

This time, CEO Song In-hyuk picked up the microphone.

“Dividing the parts after the midterm evaluation was a good choice.”

He glanced down at the evaluation sheet for a moment before continuing.

“However, the vacancy left by the main vocalist was ultimately not filled.”

The audience fell silent.

“That was a little disappointing.”

“Yes!”

“Ah, Un-jo did well.”

“Thank youuu!”

Choi Un-jo answered energetically, easing the atmosphere.

“You all worked hard.”

“Thank you!”

Watching the trainees come down from the stage, PD Seon let out a long breath.

“Phew……”

The stage was over… But the real beginning was only now.

 

***

 

By the time all the voting had ended, it was already approaching nighttime.

Jian, a fan of Go Jae-seong who had barely managed to make it out of the venue, returned carrying a pizza box with a smile, but tilted her head at her timeline, which had been plastered with memes of the place going up in flames.

“What’s going on? Were they surprised because Jae-seong did so well?”

She casually posted a review of the live event. But less than ten seconds after she posted it, mentions came pouring in.

“What?”

The moment she opened her notifications, her hand stopped.

[Are you okay?]

“……”

A chill ran down her spine.

She had been a fan for 1n years. When someone suddenly asked a fangirl, ‘Are you okay?’ there was almost always one omitted sentence in front of it.

‘Your fave’s got a scandal.’

“Jae-seong? There’s no way, right?”

Of all the faves she had picked, each one had gotten into scandals of their own variety, earning her the nickname ‘scandal collector.’ He was the first clean fave she had ever picked.

“Are they asking if my heart is okay because the stage was so good?”

She tried to laugh it off, but the murmuring around her only increased her anxiety.

“Whoa, what’s up with Go Jae-seong?”

“What is this? When did this come out?”

“Holy shit?”

Jinan hurriedly checked her timeline… And she couldn’t close her mouth.

 

[GoGo @Gogojs 30 minutes ago]

> Plagiarizing choreography is obviously wrong, but seriously, this isn’t even a matter of showing how damn cheap the agency is. Couldn’t they have at least checked something this basic? The kid can make a mistake because he’s desperate, but shouldn’t the agency or production team have stopped him?

 

“Looks like we’re fucked.”

Her heart sank.

Looking around, she saw several people frozen with expressions similar to hers.

 

[What’s with the statement?]

> What is there to verify? There’s evidence of everything lol. They’re going to kick him off anyway, but they’re still letting him perform?;

↳ It happened right before filming;; What, do you think leaving a program happens instantly just because you say “You’re out”?;;

↳ You never know. Apparently that choreography also had controversy over similarities to an overseas choreography.

 ↳↳ What are you talking about? Stop creating controversies lol. Didn’t the Go fans hastily make that up?

 

[About letting him perform]

> I think they did the right thingㅇㅇ Otherwise it would’ve been such a waste lol. Go Jae-seong absolutely killed it onstage today KEKEKE. I know he had a scandal, but honestly, you have to give him credit for today’s stage.

↳ Wow, are you really going this hard to defend him?

 ↳↳ I’m not blindly defending him. I’m telling you, Go Jae-seong really tore the stage apart.

↳ ㅠㅠ It’s such a waste of his stage and talent.

↳ He’s this serious about performingㅠㅠ Maybe he just made a mistake because he wanted to debut so badly? If that’s the case, I’m willing to keep supporting himㅇㅇ

↳ Go fans are so hard to understand;;

 ↳↳ If you don’t get it, get out.

 

Jinan endlessly scrolled through the comments.

Her thoughts were already a mess.

‘No… Jae-seong isn’t the kind of person who would do that.’

Even on the subway, even after she arrived in front of her house, she couldn’t put her phone down for even a second.

And then, a new announcement was posted.

 

[Hello, this is the entire Boys Code production team.

We would like to provide an additional statement regarding the allegations of choreography plagiarism involving a Boys Code trainee that became an issue today.

The trainee in question has acknowledged his wrongdoing and admitted that he made a mistake that he should not have made due to the tight survival-show schedule and the pressure of debuting.

Plagiarizing choreography was clearly wrong, but we ask that you please understand, with generous hearts, that this mistake occurred because of his desire to help his team by making them rank first, as well as his strong desire to debut.

The trainee plans to personally apologize to the original creator, and we ask that you refrain from excessive slander and criticism that goes beyond legitimate reproach.

The entire Boys Code production team also deeply regrets that our existing program production methods had a negative impact on trainees who are still immature.

We would also like to apologize to choreographer Seori, who was hurt by this incident.

We will take care to ensure that the same mistake does not happen again.

Thank you.]

 

“Ah……”

The comments were sharply divided.

 

↳ Honestly, I don’t even know what to say, because they’re not professional choreographers, and isn’t it unreasonable to expect them to create something completely new in just a few days? How desperate and anxious must he have been to do thatㅠㅠ

↳ LOL, I guess this guy must be a predetermined debut member, judging by how much they’re defending him.

↳ Then why did they kick Hwang Geon-hee off immediately? This is ridiculous.

↳ Everyone’s talking like they’ve never made a mistake in their lives;; They said he’ll apologize.

↳ They didn’t say a word when they were media-playing about him creating the choreography himself, but now that shit happened, they’re making excuses first.

 

“Is that why his eyes were red?”

 

[I don’t know about all that]

> But Go Jae-seong really did make today’s stage legendaryㅇㅇ He came out with red around his eyes, so I thought it was makeup, but I guess it was because he came out after crying lol. Thanks to that, he looked even better on screenㅎㅎ…

↳ What is this?

↳ So he turned a crisis into an opportunity lol.

↳ Are the person above and the original poster seriously saying this? Not joking?

 ↳↳ This is why I don’t want to debut together with Go;; None of Go’s fans are in their right minds.

 ↳↳ Go fans aren’t crazy people. We’re sad people…

 ↳↳ It’ll probably just end with an apology anyway, so why are you making such a huge fuss lol Haven’t you ever encountered even a scandal this minor while stanning idols?ㅎㅎ

↳ Are you proud of stanning a scandal idol?

↳ They weren’t at first, but then oppas evolved into fucking assholes.

 

The more she read the comments, the more Jian’s heart began to sway.

“Right, if he wanted it that badly…”

Then one new post caught her eye.

 

[Getting kicked off is too much]

> Even if you look at it that way, he’s still a minor, and getting publicly destroyed over one mistake is too harsh; and it’s not like attacking Jae-seong alone will solve the problem anyway. The survival show is what made the kid like this in the first place;; Honestly, didn’t all the kids on that team blow up in popularity because of Jae-seong’s choreography? If someone’s going to get cursed at, they should all take it together. Dumping all the blame on one person is a bit much.

↳ Isn’t this all a consequence of survival shows?

↳ The survival show made the kid like this in the first place, agreed.

↳ God Jae-seong is just a legendary leader who sacrificed his own body to raise up his teammates.

 

“……Right.”

Jinan slowly nodded.

“Yeah, our Jae-seong is a victim too.”

From that moment on, she stopped looking for the truth.

She began searching only for the reasons she wanted to believe.

Until deep into the night, the screen of her phone never once went dark.