I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 81

Chapter 81

 

The center video shoot began with Team ‘DECODE.’

‘At least that’s a relief…’

The fatigue from practicing until dawn had piled up all at once, making my eyelids feel heavy.

“Code 4, Han Sang-yoon. We’ll begin filming the center selection video!”

Although he had maintained his position in the debut lineup, it was time for him to make a decisive impact. Perhaps because of that, he was putting far more strength into his performance than usual.

“Ha….”

As soon as the shoot ended, he let out a short sigh. It seemed he knew it himself that the pressure to do well had manifested itself in his entire body.

Next was Go Jae-seong. But my attention naturally turned toward Kang I-yul.

‘He can’t afford to hold back his strength…’

Even while the other trainees were filming, Kang I-yul was dancing as though his body were going to fall apart. Losing too much energy before his own shoot would be a problem, but he could also be criticized for unnecessarily overdoing it.

But everyone would be dancing as though their lives depended on it on the day of the finale. If someone was overwhelmed by I-yul’s energy, then they simply weren’t cut out to be the center in the first place.

It was when Go Jae-seong was walking toward the camera.

“Wait a moment.”

The production staff stopped Go Jae-seong, saying they had an urgent announcement.

“There have been lengthy discussions regarding trainee Go Jae-seong’s penalty. We’re announcing the finalized penalty.”

“Now?”

The sudden news caused the set to buzz.

“Trainee Go Jae-seong’s penalty is the loss of his opportunity to compete for center.”

“What?”

“……Whoa.”

For the finale, live text-message voting would be conducted for the first time.

That was why everyone was staking their lives on becoming center. Even viewers who normally didn’t vote might watch only the finale stage and cast their votes.

‘There are people who only watch the finale out of curiosity, too.’

It was effectively the last opportunity to aim for a dramatic change in rankings.

Go Jae-seong couldn’t hide his bewilderment. He didn’t leave the front of the camera for a while.

He probably hated everything about this situation, which wasn’t going the way he wanted.

Still, at least this meant I-yul could film without having to hold back as much.

‘Now it’s I-yul’s turn.’

Fortunately, he wasn’t last.

I cheered for Kang I-yul as he walked out. I-yul smiled and nodded.

“Code 1, trainee Kang I-yul. We’ll begin filming the center selection video.”

Kang I-yul gave a short bow and stood on the center mark.

His expression was still no different from usual. But the moment the music started, the person changed.

“Wow…”

Exclamations escaped from everyone almost simultaneously.

All that practice throughout the night had paid off.

Kang I-yul’s characteristic smooth dance lines remained, but now they were accompanied by the strength and eye contact necessary for a center.

Every single movement drew the camera in.

‘I can’t take my eyes off him.’

Only then did I understand.

Being the center wasn’t about being the best dancer. It was about being the person who could hold people’s attention the longest.

The sticker I had hidden in my hand last night suddenly came to mind.

[You’re the only one I can see.]

I almost laughed.

‘I didn’t even need the item.’

“I-yul was originally in the dance position, right?”

Ji Dong-seok muttered blankly.

“He really came out with a vengeance.”

He hadn’t wasted his stamina during the earlier shoots.

‘So that’s what he was holding back for.’

Tap, tap!

The soles of his sneakers scraped hard against the practice-room floor. There was something satisfying about the friction sounds landing exactly on the beat.

‘At this rate, center is no problem.’

It was just when I was feeling relieved.

“Oh!”

I stood up without realizing it.

“What?”

The steps of two trainees who had been forming the formation behind him got tangled. Their paths overlapped, and the resulting disturbance reached Kang I-yul.

But even when he was slightly bumped, Kang I-yul didn’t stop.

“Crazy, that’s amazing.”

The movement that had almost made him fall naturally flowed into a wave. It looked as though it had been choreographed that way from the beginning.

“What’s with that core?”

A momentary accident had turned into a killing point.

Even the production staff couldn’t take their eyes off the monitor. It was clearly a scene worthy of being used in the preview.

[Change the entire flow]

Kang I-yul raised his body at exactly the right moment.

‘Thank goodness!’

“DECODE!”

A gaze that pierced straight through the camera.

Even after the final ending pose was over, no one could immediately call cut.

For a few seconds, it felt as though everyone had simply frozen in place.

“……Cut.”

The PD’s cut signal finally came. Only then did the breaths everyone had been holding in burst out here and there.

“Wow…”

“Center is definitely his.”

There was no need to worry about I-yul anymore.

‘Now I just have to do well.’

I gave I-yul a thumbs-up as he returned to his place. In response, I-yul rubbed his chest and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.

‘He even has enough room to joke around.’

I smiled without realizing it.

“Code 5, Choi Un-jo. Center selection… uh, center selection? starts now!”

Our team’s first up was Choi Un-jo.

‘When it comes to star quality, he doesn’t lose to Joo-han either.’

He didn’t overdo his facial expressions, nor were his movements particularly big. And yet, my eyes were drawn to him.

‘I’m jealous.’

……Jealous?

Even I was surprised by the emotion that briefly crossed my mind.

In the past, I would have simply thought it was fascinating. I would have admired them, thinking that idols were simply the kind of people who did things like that.

But now, it was different. I wanted to receive that kind of attention too.

I had always drawn a line and told myself that being an idol was merely a means to help Kang I-yul survive. And yet, somewhere along the way, I had begun to harbor desires of my own.

The realization left me feeling strange.

Next was Joo-han’s shoot.

“We’ll begin filming!”

As Joo-han’s performance continued, there was only one thought in my head.

‘Unless he makes a mistake, this is going to be difficult.’

But from the beginning, ‘Joo-han’ and ‘mistake’ simply couldn’t exist in the same sentence.

“Wow……”

His dancing, expressions, and eye contact.

On top of that, even his live singing was perfect. He was so stable that it was almost possible to mistake him for a machine performing on stage.

‘So this is the kind of person who becomes an idol.’

Before my regression, on the day I regressed, and even now.

That thought had never changed.

Watching a genius who put in the effort as well felt closer to fear than awe. Like coming face-to-face with cosmic horror.

The fact that I had managed to beat that guy even once felt like a miracle.

After Jang Hyeon-jun’s shoot ended, it was Ji Dong-seok’s turn.

 

♪ LAST COOOODE~

 

Thanks to him cracking his voice spectacularly from the very first line, the atmosphere on set changed in an instant.

“Ahh, I don’t know anymore!”

As if he had already ruined it anyway and intended to push through to the very end, he kept dancing, which was very Ji Dong-seok of him.

“Pfft.”

“Is he crazy?!”

“Ah, what the hell.”

The trainees who had been dying from the repeated shots one after another burst into laughter. They were already gasping for breath, and trying to hold back their laughter on top of that was killing them.

Ji Dong-seok came back panting and winked at everyone.

“So now there are four center candidates, right?”

Then he shamelessly added,

“Everyone, be grateful to me.”

“You still have enough energy left to joke around, huh?”

“Ahh… I’m totally upset.”

“Good work.”

“Oh!”

Ji Dong-seok grabbed my hand with a deeply moved expression.

“You finally understand my feelings!”

He was a chaotic guy, but he was impossible to hate.

And finally, my turn came.

My heart was pounding so hard that I genuinely felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.

‘Calm down.’

Practice had continued since dawn, followed by the four shoots before mine. My stamina was already at rock bottom.

And my opponent was Joo-han.

I could tell just from the performance I had watched moments ago. If I wavered even a little, it was over.

That was when it happened.

“Hyung!”

There was no need to turn around. I knew it was I-yul just from his voice.

“Fighting!”

And he even demonstrated the movements himself… the ones I had corrected several times while practicing together.

“Here.”

“This timing!”

A small laugh escaped me.

Right. I had even received encouragement from my favorite.

‘What could I possibly not do?’

I took a deep breath. I rolled my arms once and loosened my shoulders and neck.

“Code 3, Yoo Seong-woo. We’ll begin filming the center selection video for ‘LAST CODE’!”

I closed my eyes.

Suddenly, I remembered the first evaluation for the signal song. Back then, I had also been counting the beats in my head like this.

‘Five, six!’

The song began.

 

♪ Now, open the door

♪ LAST CODE!

♪ Toward the

♪ New era before me

 

I leaped up with all my strength. A movement that, in the past, would have left me swaying like a paper doll.

But now, it was different.

Thousands of hours of practice.

Tens of thousands of repetitions.

The time I had built up just to survive was holding my body together.

‘Ah.’

So this was why.

‘Why Seong-ah is so strong!’

No wonder her slaps to my back were so fierce.

 

♪ Follow my back

♪ Spread out before me

♪ LAST CODE!

 

My breath was already rising to the very edge of my throat.

This was already the fifth time dancing the choreography. My thighs burned as though they were on fire, and my breathing had long since escaped my control.

But…

‘I can’t stop.’

I gritted my teeth.

 

♪ Starting from zero

♪ My little movements

♪ Somehow, I’ve arrived here

♪ LAST CODE

 

The lyrics pierced into my ears.

‘Starting from zero.’

The accident.

Death.

Regression.

Code 20.

Braces.

The countless words that had made up who I was flashed past like a panorama.

And then…

‘All the way here.’

For a moment, my vision spun. I had reached my limit.

Just as my body was about to lose its balance…

“We’re almost there!”

“Let’s go!!”

“This is the last one!”

Voices erupted from behind me.

Beyond the mirror, the four trainees were shouting toward me with their teeth clenched.

They were all drenched in sweat. Everyone was suffering so much that they could barely breathe. And yet, they were still raising their voices for me.

“Seong-woo, let’s go!”

For a moment, my mind snapped fully awake. My blurred vision came back into focus.

‘Just a little more!’

If there really was such a thing as a moment when a human could surpass their limits, it was probably now.

My heart felt like it was going to explode, yet my body somehow felt even lighter. An exhilarating sensation coursed through my entire body.

Thump!

Tap-tap-tap!

The beat that began at my toes pierced through my entire body.

Every movement, every glance, every breath. Everything meshed perfectly with the music.

Tap!

The music stopped with that final footstep.

“…….”

The ending pose, followed by a brief silence.

“Cut!”

The moment those words fell.

Thud.

I collapsed onto the floor.

“Ugh…”

“Ughh… It’s overrr!”

“I think I can taste blood in my mouth……”

I didn’t have enough strength to move even a single finger.

I could barely blink.

If I opened my mouth, I felt like I would really throw up, so I focused solely on calming my ragged breathing.

How much time had passed like that?

A shadow fell over my face.

When I opened my eyes, several faces came into view at once.

“Oh, he opened his eyes.”

“Hyung, are you okay?”

“Seong-woo, are you okay?”

“Do you want some water?”

I grabbed the hand Kang I-yul held out and barely managed to pull myself upright.

My head felt like it was about to explode from how exhausted I was, but an exhilarating sensation I had never experienced before still lingered throughout my body.

“So, how was it?”

Kang I-yul gave me a hollow smile.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Were you really this serious about becoming center?”

That one sentence made me feel as though all the fatigue had been rewarded.

‘I did it…….’

And I had done it beyond anything I had imagined.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I thought we were going to have to call an ambulance again.”

“Don’t exaggerate. I’m perfectly fine.”

I confidently took a step forward.

“Yeah, not that way. You need to come over here, Yoo Seong-woo.”

Ji Dong-seok grabbed my arm and turned me around.

“What…….”

It was only after I took another step that I realized.

“Ah.”

Without realizing it, I had been walking toward Team DECODE.

Laughter erupted around me.

“Are you trying to go for that team’s center too?”

“Perfectly fine, my ass…”

My ears burned with embarrassment.

“All right, finally, all the center selection videos have been completed.”

Kang Se-jun held up his cue card.

“Now, we’ll begin the center voting.”

Everyone was probably thinking about whom to vote for.

At that moment, Kang Se-jun smiled and raised the cue card.

“First, we’ll reveal how the center will be selected.”

“Isn’t it an internal vote?”

As though that was exactly the reaction he had expected, the corners of Kang Se-jun’s mouth lifted.

“This time, the center will be…”

He paused for a moment.

“Selected through the opposing team’s votes.”

“Huh?”

“Wait, not our own team?”

That was right. The biggest twist in this center selection was that instead of choosing the center from their own team, the trainees would vote for the center of the opposing team.

“Then, let’s begin the voting!”

The voting was conducted through a completely secret ballot.

I didn’t even have to think.

Kang I-yul.

There was no doubt that Kang I-yul was the center of DECODE today.

The voting ended quickly.

“We’ll now reveal the center chosen by the trainees’ votes.”

The trainees flinched at even the small movement of the cue card being turned.

“First, for Team DECODE’s center, congratulations. Trainee Kang I-yul!”

“Oh!!”

Applause filled the room. I-yul repeatedly bowed, thanking everyone.

“He received three votes in total.”

“Thank you!”

Three out of five. An overwhelming result.

‘Just as expected!’

For some reason, I felt proud.

“Next, Team LAST CODE.”

This time, my heart was strangely calm.

I had done everything I could. Truly.

‘Even if they made me do it again, I couldn’t perform like that.’

So even if I wasn’t center, I had no regrets.

“Congratulations, trainee Yoo Seong-woo.”

For a moment, it felt as though time had stopped.

“……!”

“No way!!”

“That’s crazy!”

Ji Dong-seok shook my shoulders like a madman.

My vision shook wildly.

“Wait.”

I hadn’t even recovered my breathing properly yet, and now my heart had started pounding like crazy too.

“Me?”

I was the center?

“You are!”

I blankly raised my head, and everyone was smiling and applauding.

Only then did it truly sink in.

I, who had started at Code 20, had become the center of the final stage.

‘LAST CODE.’

The person who started from zero and made it all the way to the last code.

Today, at least, I was the protagonist of that story.

At that moment, the danger level decreased.

 

[Danger Level: 72% (▼3%)]

 

3%.

That tiny number felt more overwhelming than any congratulations.