Along with the audience’s applause, a microphone appeared in front of the hologram singer character called the ‘May Groom.’
It was a standing microphone.
The marble microphone stand—something that could never exist in reality—was loosely intertwined with elaborate flower vines and white lace.
The ‘May Groom’ bowed politely.
Then he gripped the standing microphone with both white-gloved hands.
[What kind of voice will the ‘May Groom’ show us?!]
The high schooler, who had only just recovered from the shock of the elaborate bouquet object-head, slapped the sole of his foot a few times.
“What a concept try-hard.”
It looked like someone trying to seem cool to girls, which made him feel faintly hostile.
But there was something slightly eerie and bizarre breaking through the glamorous, pure image of a wedding, and that was fun.
‘Guys who try this hard to look cool usually sing like shit.’
The high schooler stubbornly denied his growing interest and looked at the screen.
The accompaniment began.
The sparkling sound of two pianos and bright, lively brass bloomed over the drumbeat.
-With the most beautiful heart
I offer you my confession
“Huh?”
It was a very famous proposal song.
In the first preliminary round, which originally featured ten contestants, the rule was to sing a song faithful to the character concept.
So the song choice was naturally predictable.
But there was one thing the viewers hadn’t predicted.
He was incredibly good at singing.
-In blooming May
Our youth bursts into flower
With a heart of perfect kindness
I give my love to you
The neat, pure voice produced low, rich notes.
It wasn’t a performance full of insanely thrilling high notes or technique.
But the voice suited the song perfectly.
It sounded almost as though this was simply how the song had always been meant to be sung.
-When you hear love
Please think of me
Today and tomorrow
I love you
There wasn’t a single creaking or disappointing moment.
It was a beautiful song that made you want to keep listening exactly as it was.
And because the preliminary round allowed only one minute and thirty seconds, the song ended at precisely the point where it left you wanting more.
[The sweet song of a proposal]
Beyond the applause and captions, the ‘May Groom’ politely bowed once again after finishing his song.
“Ooh.”
He’s pretty good.
The high schooler nodded.
He probably wasn’t an actor or model.
He seemed to be a singer.
‘A ballad singer?’
It wasn’t explosive vocal prowess, but he seemed more than capable of passing the first round without trouble.
[There’s so much resonance in his voice. You can really feel the experience behind it.]
[It was such a beautiful voice~]
[I’m fairly certain he’s a singer.]
No matter what the invited musician judges said, the ‘May Groom’ showed no particular reaction.
He simply stood neatly and tilted his head at the questions.
Meaning the bouquet bobbed.
“Ah, fuck, this concept freak.”
The high schooler was fed up, deciding he was probably some old singer who went on variety shows.
The movements and atmosphere were convincing enough that he kept getting immersed in it, which made him feel pathetic.
[Thank you for the performance~]
Before long, after hearing all the judges’ comments, the ‘May Groom’ slowly disappeared from the stage.
And the first-round stages that followed were all fairly similar aside from one or two standouts.
Which meant the list of contestants announced after the mid-show commercials was predictable.
[The third singer advancing to the main round is… the ‘May Groom’!]
‘Knew it.’
The high schooler admired his own eye after correctly predicting five of the six people who would advance.
‘I’m seriously amazing.’
At this point, he had no particular expectations for the ‘May Groom’s’ next performance.
He assumed the first round had already shown his limit.
‘I bet a thousand won he’s a guy coasting on vocal color.’
And a short while later,
his thousand won vanished without mercy.
[Aaaaaaaaagh!!!]
“…?!”
The high schooler’s mouth fell open.
…There were several reasons things turned out that way.
In the main round, where six contestants advanced, they had to perform designated songs.
The participants had therefore practiced one of three songs selected by the production staff ahead of time.
Normally, part of the fun came from seeing which character chose which song, and from comparing performers who chose the same one.
This time, however, an unusual situation arose.
No fewer than four people chose the same song.
It was a famous ballad from the nineties called ‘Winter Night.’
And the ‘May Groom’ failed to avoid those odds and chose the same song.
With four people performing it, overlap in arrangement was inevitable.
But the ‘May Groom’ used a slight trick.
-Drunk on this dawn
Even if I sing
The winter night remains unchanged
The snowstorm still rages
He transformed the sorrowful breakup ballad into a grand, dignified orchestral arrangement overflowing with the dramatic solemnity of a musical.
What did that mean?
It meant the climax’s high notes were absolutely ridiculous.
-When this night of tears has passed
When the morning stings my eyes
With the sunlight at the window
I will return again
Even the note that originally ended low was dragged upward and pulled into an ultra-high register.
In complete contrast to the gentle, soft-spoken first song, the relentlessly surging high notes and solid, unwavering vocal support hit like a shock.
And live performances featuring this kind of vocal acrobatics had always played well with audiences.
[Waaaaaaaaah!!]
The applause and cheers afterward couldn’t even be compared to those after his first stage.
High notes that would normally have been excessive enough to destroy the lingering emotion instead ended with nothing but a thrill because of the grand arrangement.
It was like watching someone win a one-against-three barehanded fight in the Colosseum.
“That’s fucking insane.”
The high schooler said it aloud in admiration.
His earlier guess that this was some washed-up singer reduced to variety-show appearances had somehow transformed into ‘a genuine singer who never got his due because the times left him behind.’
‘Even accounting for broadcast correction, isn’t he competing with top-tier singers?’
At that level, being a concept freak was acceptable.
The high schooler nodded.
He was refining his theory into either an indie singer with severe artistic pretensions or some older guy using this concept to look cool when something suddenly entered his vision.
His biologically older female sibling.
“……What are you doing?”
His older sister, the Kim Raebin fan, was staring at the TV with her mouth hanging open.
Apparently, she’d heard the ‘May Groom’ singing while passing by.
Or she’d heard how incredible it was and come running out.
The high schooler inexplicably felt proud and said,
“Ha, see that? This is a real singer!”
He felt delighted at finally finding something they could agree on, thinking his sister had finally recognized true talent instead of those skinny dancing male idols.
The Kim Raebin fan shouted,
“That’s Moondae…!”
“……?!”
For a moment, the high schooler doubted his ears.
Park Moondae was…
one of the male idols his sister liked!
“Quit talking bullshit, please. That wasn’t his voice~ You’re saying he can sing like that?”
“You idiot, you can tell it’s Moondae just by listening!”
“Ah, why are you acting like this? It’s fucking embarrassing!”
The siblings began pointing fingers and shouting at each other.
And the exact same conversation was happening online.
“Have a safe trip home, Mr. Moondae~”
“Thank you.”
I was on my way back after finishing this week’s counseling session.
Seon Ahyeon had already sent me a message and left for a solo cosmetics advertisement shoot.
[Moondae, I’m disappointed that I couldn’t monitor <The Singer I Made>, which you appeared on, because of yesterday’s schedule, but my schedule is packed today too, so I’ll probably only be able to watch it later, which is even more disappointing. I’ll somehow make time and definitely watch…… (See More)]
‘…Another long one.’
It was practically a letter.
I sent an appropriate reply telling him that it was genuinely fine and that he should rest when he had time to rest.
‘Come to think of it, this is a good time to check.’
My performance…
or rather, the performances of the ‘May Groom’ I’d created.
The clips would have been uploaded online as soon as the broadcast ended last night, so there should be more than enough reactions by now.
‘Let’s look now.’
I opened YouTube.
[Seeking a Bride. | ‘May Groom’ – <One Day in May> | <The Singer I Made> Preliminary Stage | 202X0611]
Fortunately, both stages had a pretty decent number of views.
‘I thought the first stage might be a little lower.’
After all, I’d sung a song without any particularly dramatic build.
But apparently, there were more people than I’d expected who were interested in the character design itself.
-Fuck, is that bouquet head insane, I love it so muchㅠㅠ
-Honestly the flower head is a little scary, but the second he started singing all of that disappeared and my brain automatically composited a handsome guy underneath
-Thank you for the proposal. Where is the wedding venue?
-Look how committed he is to the character, how the hell is a flower cute and handsome lolㅠㅠㅠ
-A white suit with a veil? A flower-covered standing mic? This combination is unacceptable unless he’s handsome, therefore he is handsome
“Oh…….”
Maybe because the song fit the character I’d created, there were more people fully immersed in it than I’d expected.
‘As long as they’re entertained.’
I shrugged and checked the next video.
The comments under the ‘Winter Night’ performance from the main round went more like this.
-He sings so fucking well, I feel cleansed
-I’ve had this playing all day, please release the audioㅠㅠ
-Calling it now, he’s winning next week~
-I’m sooo~ curious who he could possibly be^^ Just from the way he moves, he must be so handsome my heart flutters… I’m really looking forward to it…
-His head is bizarre, but his singing is peerless.
-A truly magnificent singer of a groom who would follow his bride all the way to the afterlife even if she died young
…Apparently, he’d hit the tastes of older viewers especially well.
‘Maybe because I arranged it in a slightly old-fashioned style.’
Anyway, overall, the comments were overflowing with praise and anticipation.
I straightened my back.
‘Guess the strategy worked.’
I’d taken into account that the first and second performances would air in the same episode.
‘If they’re both shown in one episode, then they’re both part of the first impression. In that case, a build-up makes sense.’
Even if the first performance was weaker, viewers would immediately see the next one too.
So I let the first stage be slightly weaker in exchange for emphasizing the character, then saved the powerful arrangement for the later performance.
‘I’m glad it seems to have worked.’
I grinned faintly.
However, when I sorted the reactions by newest, a small conflict became visible.
Condensed down, it looked like this.
-I think it’s Park Moondae…
-Park can sing well too, but I don’t think it’s him. Their vocal tones are different~
-Idiots, when idols come on shows like this they deliberately make ridiculous characters to hide their identities. The fact that he made such an obviously cool character means he’s NOT an idol, okay?
└Maybe he’s an idol who’s deliberately reversing that logic?
└There are plenty of idols who sing well, but… hmm, Park Moondae from Idol Inc. wasn’t at this level
└Try watching what he sang on that American program, he’s seriously good. I think it is Park Moondae (link)
└Oh, he is good, but the voice is different. Don’t think he’s the Groom
Read only on MUGEX
That was how things were going.
People suggesting the ‘May Groom’ might be Park Moondae were being pushed into the minority.
At least it was fairly well known that ‘Park Moondae’ could sing, so fortunately no one was openly mocking the idea.
“Hmm.”
I hadn’t intended this.
I honestly hadn’t expected speculation that the ‘May Groom’ was Park Moondae to have this little traction.
Of course, I had deliberately tried to make my voice a bit different because maintaining some mystery and tension would make the guessing more fun.
I’d even changed my vocal production somewhat from how I usually sang in the group.
‘…Still, I was aiming for enough ambiguity that people would go back and forth.’
I’d thought people who’d listened to Park Moondae sing a lot would notice.
Maybe the character was simply too strong, because public opinion was far more stubborn than I’d expected.
‘I should’ve just done a bipedal cat or something.’
I briefly regretted not choosing the phantom-thief cat that had remained a candidate until the end, but I quickly dismissed the thought.
‘I liked this one more.’
Actually, I had taken the advice I’d received during counseling into account.
-Instead of objectively choosing the best option every time, how about practicing choosing the option you like, Mr. Moondae? Even once or twice a week.
-For this week’s homework, I’d like you to make a list about ‘what I like.’
Well, if a professional said so, I’d tried it on a large scale.
‘It’s not a problem particularly related to this Status Abnormality anyway, so it should be fine.’
I found it easier to watch human arms and legs follow my movements than cat paws.
‘And people seem to like it.’
I shrugged, got out in front of the dorm, and started walking.
‘The character profile gets released next week.’
I skimmed through the profile I’d prepared in advance, checking whether there was anything I wanted to revise.
At the same time, I opened the dorm door and went inside.
Someone sitting in the living room acknowledged me immediately.
It was Ryu Chungwoo.
“You’re back?”
“Yes, hyung.”
“I bought some ice cream. It’s over there. Have some.”
Ryu Chungwoo casually gestured toward the refrigerator, then naturally rose from the sofa where he’d been sitting and turned away.
That was when I realized it.
‘Is he leaving because of me?’
He was getting up because he thought I’d be uncomfortable if he stayed in the living room.
So that I could use the living room comfortably.
‘…Good grief.’
For some reason, the tension left my shoulders.
The remaining discomfort subsided as though a raised knot had finally loosened.
I opened the refrigerator and called out to Ryu Chungwoo.
“Hyung, you should have some ice cream too. What flavor do you want?”
“…Oh, should I?”
“Yes.”
Ryu Chungwoo sat back down on the sofa and grinned.
“Then give me orange.”
At that moment, someone came running over excitedly from behind.
“I want ice cream too!”
‘Where the hell did you come from?’
After instinctively throwing an ice cream at Cha Eugene, whose Korean grammar had grown much more natural, I went over and sat on the sofa.
Then we watched a rerun of <The Singer I Made> together.
“Your head is flowers! Cool!”
“Thanks.”
“You really sing well, Moondae.”
“That’s too kind.”
It wasn’t particularly uncomfortable.
The moment all of my performances ended, Ryu Chungwoo asked,
“You just filmed next week’s episode, right?”
“Yes.”
“How was it?”
“…It was fun.”
I grinned.
Because I was really looking forward to next week’s broadcast.