Having the winner of the previous season appear on an audition program was practically an unwritten rule.
Especially since TeSTAR was living proof of Idol Inc.’s success by anyone’s standards. If I were on the production team, I would’ve absolutely asked us to appear too.
And now that our agency was also a T1 affiliate, refusing was obviously impossible.
“Guys, think about it. Wouldn’t it be cool? It’s the champions making an appearance!”
“Oh~”
Big Sejin grinned at the manager’s words.
Looks like he was holding himself back from telling him to stop talking nonsense.
“So it’s already been decided that we’ll appear?”
“Mm, I think it more or less has. They probably assume you’ll show some loyalty since you’re with the same company.”
What a load of crap about loyalty.
Half the guys here have already been torn apart by evil editing at least once.
A few members looked similarly dumbfounded or gave bitter smiles, so apparently everyone was thinking roughly the same thing.
But Cha Eugene looked deep in thought for a moment before raising his hand.
“Hyungnim! Are they women this time??”
“Huh? Oh, you mean the contestants?”
“Yes!”
“Right. Girls!”
“Oh.”
Cha Eugene spoke with a serious expression.
“I have fans who think I am their boyfriend. They don’t like it!”
“Pfft!”
Seon Ahyeon choked.
“Hey, you just have to be careful about that~ It’s not like you’re going to date any of them!”
“If I meet a good person, dating is natural! I don’t know what my heart will do!”
“You can just go there and say something cool on camera! You won’t even get much of a chance to interact with them, Eugene!”
That was true.
They probably won’t deliberately edit us together with anyone.
T1 wouldn’t want to cut open the belly of TeSTAR, its goose that laid golden eggs.
They wouldn’t damage TeSTAR’s brand image for no reason.
Still, there was room for the contestants themselves to be misunderstood because of the editing.
A contestant neglecting practice because she’s distracted by the appearance of popular idols….
A very familiar setup.
It was almost nostalgic.
Just getting tangled up in something like that would be exhausting.
And that wasn’t the only potential risk.
These bastards look like they’re going to pull something stupid.
Season 3—the one we appeared in—had been far too successful.
So all sorts of factions had probably latched onto Season 4, desperately trying to sway it however they wanted.
Judging by the gap between seasons, it wouldn’t have been strange for them to have started it last year already. The fact that it had been delayed an entire year was ominous.
There’s a one-hundred-percent chance some controversy blows up.
I had no desire to get even slightly tangled in that mess.
Keep our heads down as much as possible.
Rather than focusing on looking impressive, it would probably be better to focus on protecting ourselves.
I should brief everyone on that in a bit.
While I was inwardly sighing, Kim Raebin, who was sitting beside me, slowly raised his hand.
“Then, would it be possible for me to provide a mission song I wrote to suit the female vocal range this time—”
“No.”
“No, Raebin.”
“…? Understood.”
Before the manager could even answer, objections poured in from all directions, and Kim Raebin slowly lowered his hand again.
Thank God he wasn’t stubborn.
Use that production enthusiasm somewhere else.
Our policy was to stay as uninvolved as possible.
“When is filming?”
“Uh, next week, I think? They said it won’t take long, so they squeezed it into a short gap in your schedule.”
“Oh~”
I leaned back against my seat while listening to the manager and Big Sejin talk.
“Ah, it’s Thursday. The day Moondae has his variety-show schedule!”
Ah.
Now I knew exactly when it was.
“On The Singer I Made, the very best singer character is……”
“Park Moondae’s ‘Groom of May’!”
Pop-pop-pop!
Cheers erupted together with the sound of confetti bursting.
I could already vividly imagine captions like Three Consecutive Wins! appearing over the panelists applauding.
“Congratulations!”
After the show had been off the air for four weeks because of some special programming, it had been a while since I’d performed as the “Groom of May.”
And this was also my final win.
To keep things fresh, the program had limited the number of episodes a single character could dominate to three.
It’s over.
The timing was exactly right.
For my second appearance, I’d sung a rhythmic tango.
And this time, for the last one, I sang a wistful nocturne about looking back on memories.
Of course, I arranged the climax to run long.
Thanks to that, I could comfortably leave after three clean wins.
I exchanged the final remarks I’d prepared with the panelists.
All right, say something about being grateful to the viewers and the members….
“Moondae-ssi, don’t you want to come back as a new character??”
“That’s right! It feels like such a shame to let you go~”
They were saying that now, but I knew perfectly well people would call it overdoing the bit if I actually did.
“If I get the opportunity, I hope I’ll be able to visit again someday. I had a genuinely fun and happy time as the Groom of May.”
That part was true.
It helped me recover faster.
Having a schedule I had to prepare for alone had occasionally been useful when meeting Ryu Chungwoo felt awkward.
Being even busier also made things easier, because I had no room to think about anything else.
…The counseling sessions in between helped too.
It was embarrassing to admit, but even skimming the surface of things with a professional and talking them out had definitely had an effect.
Thanks to that, I didn’t have any particular thoughts about it now.
I’d reduced the frequency of the counseling sessions too.
And it feels like I’ll soon be able to settle things with the Status Window without too much trouble.
While I silently reviewed my current state, the MC diligently continued hosting.
I should focus on filming too.
“With three consecutive victories, the ‘Groom of May’ has entered our Hall of Fame, and character merchandise will be produced with support from the Arts Council Korea.”
For reference, this was a kind of public-interest project, so neither I nor the station received the profits.
Everything would be donated.
“Please show lots of interest in these products as well, which will help children suffering from food insecurity, viewers!”
Except the donation would be made under the program’s name instead of mine.
Robbing bastards.
They were even stealing the tax benefits.
Of course, in exchange, I got to take only the clean boost in recognition.
Even if some problem came up with the merchandise, it would all be the station’s fault.
“Thank you for everything.”
“We loved having you too~”
“See you again!”
A staff member appeared from somewhere and placed a doll in my arms.
It was a “Groom of May” doll with a flower attached to its face.
Good grief.
They were really squeezing every last drop of promotion out of it too.
I let out a small laugh, waved the doll once, then bowed repeatedly to the judges and audience before stepping down from the stage.
I could hear the MC shouting the ending remarks from above.
“Great work~”
“Good job, Moondae-ssi!”
“Thank you, thank you.”
The sense of accomplishment was surprisingly satisfying.
I fiddled with the plush doll in my hand.
…Should I put it in the bedroom?
We were about to change roommates soon anyway.
When I moved rooms and organized things later, I could place it somewhere as a keepsake.
All right, that takes care of this.
The variety show I’d started on my own was now over.
It was time to head off and finish filming TeSTAR’s visit back to our hometown variety show.
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“Moondae, welcome~”
“How was it?”
The questions started the instant I got into the van.
I waved the doll.
“I won.”
“Ooooh~”
Applause filled the van.
It wasn’t even their own business, but their reactions were excellent.
At this rate, they could go to the Idol Inc. set and perform wonderfully as reaction bots.
“I-Is this the merchandise?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow……”
“This is better than I expected. Maybe we could suggest making something like this and including it with an album~”
After being subjected to a business analysis, the flower-headed doll settled in front of the window behind the seats.
The car kept moving and eventually stopped in front of a familiar gigantic building on the outskirts.
“Wow… It hasn’t changed at all.”
“It’s really been a long time.”
I’d bet the flower-head that the unspoken ending to that sentence was, Not that I ever wanted to see it again.
Even Ryu Chungwoo murmured with slight discomfort.
“Hmm… Right. Let’s do a good job and come back.”
“Yep.”
Going back over the script we had already memorized, TeSTAR entered the set where Relisted! Idol Incorporated 2 was being filmed.
And then we saw the situation we’d been told about.
“Whoa! Guys!”
“Oh~ Hello!”
Inside the studio was Goldie #1’s group…
Golden Age.
Of course, they weren’t the only group there.
Goldie #2 was already over there, glancing repeatedly in our direction.
“Oh~ Heeseung, it’s really been a long time. I heard you’re modeling now. Doing well?”
“Hehe, of course! Have you been well too, Sejin hyungnim?”
The production team had gathered up every Season 3 contestant who had appeared and was now active to some degree.
Isn’t this a bit much?
It looked like they intended to launch the new season after squeezing every possible drop of nostalgia out of Idol Inc., but since the contestants were a different gender this time, the viewer demographics would probably split quite a bit.
I wondered if it might backfire.
Well, it has nothing to do with me.
For us, it would actually be better if Season 4 flopped.
If it became as successful as Season 3, even with a different gender, some portion of the audience that liked survival-show groups would inevitably migrate over.
So the best possible outcome would be for it to flop because it was boring rather than because of some fairness controversy.
Hmm. No idea how it’ll go.
Let’s just finish filming safely.
“Ah, TeSTAR’s here~ Welcome! Thanks for coming.”
TeSTAR shook hands with the PD, who had become remarkably friendlier, and greeted the writers.
Among them was that same Writer Ryu Seorin.
“Hello.”
The writer who had given me her business card at a karaoke room and later ended up at the center of those rumors about being related to Ryu Chungwoo.
And, with fairly high probability, originally related to me too….
Forget it.
Anyway, Writer Ryu Seorin didn’t act as though she recognized anyone in particular and simply let the moment pass.
A fairly wise judgment.
Before filming started, the PD gave us a brief rundown.
“Everyone, you’ve all gone over the direction for this, right?”
“Yes!”
“Please make it cool~ Really cool!”
The entrance setup we’d been briefed on went like this.
First, they would show the current contestants a video of “Season 3’s achievements.”
Then, suddenly, the people responsible for those achievements would appear in person, say a few encouraging words, take questions, and leave….
That sort of thing.
My hands and feet are curling from the cringe.
Actually doing it was fine.
What embarrassed me was how transparently obvious the intended effect was from the planning stage.
“W-Want some chocolate?”
“…Yeah. Give me one.”
“Please give me one too!”
Might as well recharge my blood sugar.
Not long after we crunched through the chocolate Seon Ahyeon offered us, filming time arrived.
“You’re going in five seconds~”
The Season 3 contestants, who had been waiting at the device in front of the ranking-announcement set, all rode the lift up together and appeared before the Season 4 contestants.
I could already hear screaming.
“Aaaaaaah!!”
“Is this real? Is this really happening??”
I couldn’t believe this direction either, but yes, it was real.
Surely they won’t edit me even more dramatically just because I ranked first.
I was already worried about monitoring the broadcast.
“Whew.”
“Ah, that was more nerve-racking than I expected.”
The cameras continued following us even after filming ended, probably because they planned to release it as behind-the-scenes footage.
We roughly smiled, waved, and threw out more words of encouragement.
“Fighting!”
“I hope Season 4 becomes a huge success.”
It wasn’t as though me saying I hoped it would succeed would magically make it succeed, so words were free.
Still…
The filming had been a little embarrassing, so my palms were sweaty.
Maybe I should go wash them.
“Ah, I’m going to the restroom for a minute.”
In place of the manager, who had disappeared somewhere, Big Sejin looked up from his smartphone.
“You’re not going to ask the contestants for their numbers, right, Moondae? I trust you~”
“Yeah, sure.”
I’d happened to see another Season 3 contestant nearby grinning about having gotten someone’s number, so I didn’t even feel like asking if he was insane.
Guess he’s confident he won’t get caught.
I shrugged and walked down the hallway.
As I moved farther away from the noisy set, I suddenly heard footsteps following behind me.
No way?
I turned my head.
It was someone other than I’d expected.
Choi Wongil.
“…?”
Did this guy have any reason to follow me?
“Um, hyung.”
Choi Wongil spoke with a conflicted expression.
“What.”
“…I don’t know how I’m supposed to say this, but… be careful.”
“Careful about what?”
“Our… agency.”
“…!”
He was bringing this up himself?
First, to prevent another disaster like last time, I made absolutely certain no one was nearby.
“There’s nobody here. I checked too.”
Well, well.
Has he learned a thing or two?
I gave a faint laugh and turned fully toward Choi Wongil.
“Fine. What about your agency?”
“…Do you know our main vocalist? Not me, the other hyung.”
“Ah, him.”
He seemed to mean that guy from Golden Age who had been the whole fried chicken with a ribbon when I appeared as the “Groom of May” on My Singer.
“Yeah. I know him. Why?”
Choi Wongil hesitantly continued.
“I think they’re… comparing him to you, hyung.”
“To me? In what way?”
Why would they do something that reckless when he’d already been K.O.’d on My Singer?
And against someone who had ranked first in a survival show, at that.
Choi Wongil lowered his head deeply.
“His… educational background.”
“……!”
“That hyung goes to Hanguk University.”
Good grief.
So they had this.
Right.
This “Park Moondae” hadn’t even graduated high school.
After living as a college graduate and then immediately becoming an idol, I had almost completely forgotten how short “Park Moondae’s” academic résumé was.
It only came up occasionally as something people tried to use against me, and even that had mostly stopped lately.
Which means it’s weak material.
It wasn’t like I was the only idol who had dropped out of school before finishing.
It had simply been emphasized too heavily during Idol Inc. when my family circumstances were dug up.
And it also served to deepen the background of the “Park Moondae” character, so it wasn’t purely a disadvantage either.
What that meant was that if they handled it badly, the backlash could turn on Golden Age for picking on someone over something irrelevant.
This sounds strange to say about myself, but it wasn’t as though I were unpopular.
Their agency is skilled enough that they’ve probably already figured that out.
I deliberately tested Choi Wongil.
“Wouldn’t trying something like that be going too far? I want to know whether you’re certain.”
“…I don’t know. It’s not like they tell me directly, I just happened to hear it at the company… They were talking about pushing that hyung with this, like, young-master image, and… they said they’d use you as material too, Park Moondae hyung……”
“……”
So they weren’t planning to pit him directly against me one-on-one.
They intended to push him with an image like an exceptionally well-educated elite from a good family, a silver-spoon young master.
And apparently I was going to be slipped in as one of the many counterexamples who weren’t like that.
They really try everything.
Of course, I didn’t know whether they would actually use it.
But for an agency that was good at media play, it was certainly the sort of attempt they might make.
“I-I’m sorry I don’t know more. It’s just… I caused you a lot of trouble before… so I wanted to apologize, and I thought I should tell you. I’m sorry.”
“…Right.”
I suppressed a sigh.
“For now… thanks.”
“…!”
Choi Wongil looked startled, but then his expression relaxed somewhat and he nodded.
“Thank you. Um, I-I’ll go now……”
“Yeah. Take care.”
I watched Choi Wongil run off for a moment, then clicked my tongue inwardly.
That’s awkward.
This wasn’t something I could really do anything about just because I knew beforehand.
I certainly had no intention of doing something as useless as retaking the CSAT right now just to go to college.
Let’s just consider knowing in advance worthwhile.
Even in the worst case, I doubted it would become a major problem.
It would just be annoying.
I shrugged and continued down the hallway.
Looks like I don’t have time to stop by the restroom.
I had already walked far enough that the exit on the opposite side was closer.
So I decided I’d leave the set that way.
And at the opposite entrance, I witnessed an unexpected meeting.
“…I really hope you’ll think about it! That sunbae is genuinely a good person.”
“……”
Some staff member was finishing a conversation with Bae Sejin.
A PD?
More precisely, Bae Sejin, wearing a stiff expression, had received something from one of Idol Inc.’s PDs.
The PD soon left.
I walked over to Bae Sejin.
“Hyung.”
“……Uh, yeah.”
Bae Sejin looked somewhat dazed.
“Did something happen?”
“Well……”
Bae Sejin looked conflicted for a moment.
Then he swallowed and spoke.
“They asked me… if I’d be interested in doing a drama.”
“…!”