WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

[ Translation - Aren ]

I'm a Reporter, Please let me get off the Stage

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Chapter 36

“Urgh……”

“Here, use this.”

Still dazed, I took the tissue that Lee Kyubin handed me.

I dabbed my cheeks with it, having no idea when I had started crying.

When I looked back, I saw everyone staring at me, their faces frozen in shock.

“Ah…… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get so emotional.”

“No need to apologize. That was a flawless performance.”

“Thank you.”

“Truly impressive. Even while you were overwhelmed with emotion, you perfectly replicated that slight pitch deviation in the second verse.”

“Ah……”

“Is that what one meant by copy-paste? Honestly, even as a joke, no one could say you’ve changed or that you’re someone else, haha.”

Lee Kyubin looked at me and made a lighthearted comment, perhaps to ease the tension.

“Yes, well…… While watching the audition video earlier, I think those memories came rushing back, and I got too caught up in emotions. I would appreciate everyone’s understanding.”

“There’s no need for such a formal apology. I’m sure everyone here was deeply moved by your performance, Yuyoung-nim. Your evaluation, like everyone else’s, will be revealed after all the audition reenactments are completed. Now, please return to your seat, Yuyoung-nim.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I bowed my head and returned to my seat, still feeling out of sorts.

“Hyung…… Are you okay?”

Haram, sitting next to me, asked with a concerned expression on his face.

“I’m fine. It’s just that some old memories hit me all at once.”

“That happens sometimes. Still, that performance was incredible. How did you perfectly replicate everything, even the pitch slip and the trembling at the end? It was like the you in the video jumped out to perform. Did you know they’d show that clip and practiced ahead of time or something?”

“Not at all.”

I tried to force a smile as I answered Haram.

Seeing my strained expression, Haram furrowed his brows with worry, looking at me for a while longer, before shifting back in his seat.

The reenactments that followed all went smoothly for the most part.

When Baek Gyeom, who had applied as a vocalist, revealed that he auditioned with an original song he had composed himself, there were gasps of admiration filling the studio.

However, this was already a well-known fact among fans.

I also knew, so I wasn’t particularly surprised either.

I hoped to get some more screen time in the show though, so I tried to react appropriately to perhaps be added in.

Even so, one part of my head was still spinning.

No, actually my entire head was in a tangled mess.

What on earth was that experience just now?

I had dealt with physical effects from using items before.

Like the sensation when wearing the glasses that raised my network levels or the sudden drop in stamina when my notoriety shot up.

But this felt more like……

‘I stole a memory……’

It was as if I had stolen a fragment of Ahn Yuyoung’s memory and had been swept up in the emotions he had felt at the time.

It felt strange.

Though this sadness was someone else’s, I had been so deeply immersed in that emotion that I felt drained.

Even my physical condition felt slightly off.

‘And one more thing.’

There was something else that was bothering me.

‘Nice to meet you, Yuyoung-ssi.’

Why did Lee Kyubin address me with ‘ssi’ instead of the more formal ‘nim’?

It might have been a simple slip of the tongue, but……

What was that faint, fleeting expression that passed over his face?

‘……It probably was nothing. Maybe I’m just being overly sensitive.’

I told myself that I was simply overreacting because of the tension of having to perform an unknown show on stage.

In the end, what did it matter whether he addressed me with ‘ssi’ or ‘nim’?

Maybe Lee Kyubin and Ahn Yuyoung knew each other in the past.

Well, it wasn’t any of my business. Not right now anyway.

* * *

Before I knew it, the audition reenactment mission had come to an end.

Between the participants’ interviews and them showing off their singing, dancing, or rapping skills, it felt like it was almost midnight.

Looking around, I noticed that most of them were already sleeping just with their eyes open.

At the start of the shoot, everyone had been sitting up straight……

Now they looked like a bunch of lifeless fish flopped over in their chairs.

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard. It seems like this long session has really worn you out.”

Lee Kyubin’s voice was as gentle and filld with energy as at the start.

So this was why they say that stamina was crucial for idols.

Being an actor didn’t seem to be an easy job either.

“Please rest well in the dorms, and in the morning, each group will have their respective stage recordings.”

“Yeees.”

“And could all group leaders stay behind for a moment? Everyone else, great work today!”

Shuffle.

With that, about fifty-something participants began to move to the dormitory.

Meanwhile, I stayed seated breaking into a nervous sweat at the ominous directive for the leaders to stay behind.

In an instant, all the participants were gone.

The only ones left behind in the studio were just me, Lee Kyubin, and the other group leaders of Chenstin, Loop7, IONER, and VOV.

“Hello. Are you Chenstin’s leader, Yuho-nim, IONER’s leader Yeeun-nim, VOV’s leader Yeojun-nim, WEEKANIZ’ leader Yuyoung-nim, and Loop7’s leader Heerae-nim?”

“““Yees.”””

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you all. The reason we’ve gathered you leaders here is to explain the ‘Emergency Bell’ system.”

I quickly glanced around.

Bingo, there was a camera recording over there.

I shall activate my ‘Reaction Mode’.

“During the program, if there’s something you’d like to address, whether it's to clarify a misunderstanding or highlighting an important moment that didn’t make the edit, you leaders can request it through the ‘Emergency Bell’ system.”

“Ah~.”

The other leaders all nodded nonchalantly.

Although they all looked notably drained from the 5+ hour recording session.

……Actually, all of them didn’t just look tired but utterly unmotivated.

Were they all dragged here unwillingly by their agencies?

“Excuse me, I have a question.”

“Yes, Hee-rae-nim.”

“By clarifying…… Does that mean we can only use the Emergency Bell after the episode airs?”

The Loop7 leader asked a rather sharp question.

At that, the rest of the group leaders finally perked up again, curiously looking at Lee Kyubin.

“Hmm…… Yes, that’s one way to put it. But you’ll naturally learn more about how it works as we proceed with the main recording. The premise of this program is about honesty and authenticity, so we deliberately don’t share too much information with the participants.”

Lee Kyubin simply smiled faintly and dismissed us with a ‘You’ll figure it out’.

The five of us, all exhausted, shuffled back to the dormitory with heavy steps.

“……Yuyoung-hyung, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Suddenly someone popped up beside me, walking side by side with me.

It was Loop7’s leader, Heerae, the only one who asked a question earlier.

He looked genuinely happy to see me, as if we were already familiar.

“……Ah, yes. It has been a while.”

“What’s wrong? Why do you sound so awkward?”

“Well, you know, I tend to reset socially if I don’t see someone for a while.”

“Wahaha, what’s that?”

Heerae chuckled warmly, brushing off my lame excuse.

“So…… I heard a little about what happened. Chanyoung told me a bit. So, erm…… things are good with Tae Oh now, right?”

It seemed like the leader had heard about me asking Chanyoung about the church Tae Oh went to.

Of course, he had. Gossip, especially about someone else’s business, was always the most interesting in the world.

I guess I should just keep it vague.

“Ah…… Yeah, well. It’s all good.”

“Good to hear. Did you and Tae Oh get into a fight?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

“Then what?”

“……Never mind, yeah, we did fight. Yeah.”

“Wow, really? About what?”

This persistent guy.

I kept walking straight ahead for a bit before eventually stopping and turning towards Heerae.

He was quite a bit taller than me, so I had to tilt my head to meet his gaze.

In a calm and steady voice I asked him something in return.

“Haven’t you ever fought with Chanyoung at least once?”

“Well, yeah, of course.”

“Then that’s what it was like. Pretty bland, right?”

“……Ah! Haha. Yeah, I get it. Nothing major, right?”

“Exactly, one of those things you’re embarrassed to even talk about, you know?”

“I know, I know.”

Heerae laughed like a carefree child.

Phew, looks like I dodged that one.

When I returned to the dorm, Haram was already sound asleep on the top bunk, completely motionless.

It seemed like he had intentionally taken the top bunk to be considerate to me.

He definitely was really kind…apart from the whole orange underwear anxiety disorder thing.

The next morning.

The contestants rushed to film their stage.

With it being the first stage recording, I figured everyone would be bustling around energetically……

……Or so I thought.

“Where’s Eungi-nim from IONER?”

“Ah, wait a moment. He’s not here yet…… I’ll call the manager.”

“Hyung, there’s no manager here.”

“Ah, right…… Ugh, what’s that guy doing to be so late? So annoying…… Hey, where’s Kim Jinseop?”

Yeeun, the leader of IONER, grumbled, his face scrunched up.

It seemed like a couple of their members hadn’t shown up.

The mood was pretty tense.

“……Where’s Baek Gyeom?”

“I’m sitting right here. Wait, isn’t it kind of offensive that I’m the first one you’d think to ask about?”

“That’s……”

“But fair enough. Waking up this early in the morning was hell for me.”

“Yeah, that’s what it is.”

Looking around, it wasn’t just IONER, several other groups seemed to be missing members as well.

With a 7 am meet up time, waking up at dawn was basically a given.

But it wasn’t like we had to do this every single day……

Still, how could so many people oversleep on such an important day?

I was so nervous that I set eight alarms, five minutes apart each, before I went to sleep.

“Are all the WEEKANIZ members here?”

“Yes, we’re all here.”

Meanwhile chaos continued to reign in the other groups trying to locate their missing members.

They weren’t even picking up their phones. It was that bad.

Normally, the manager would have gone to the dorms or stayed with the members to keep them on track.

Since the manager, stylists, and other staff were banned from entering the dormitories, this kind of mess was bound to happen.

‘In the end, giving prime airtime to groups of failed idols was……’

Could it be that the production team had anticipated this exact scenario?

At first glance, it looked like a situation where staff were struggling to keep the schedule because of the late arrivals, but……

What if they intentionally created this situation?

‘It’s like they’re openly looking for a scapegoat.’

I was starting to feel really anxious about the first broadcast.

With the latecomers trickling in one by one, filming was delayed by about an hour.

The groups were called to perform in reverse order of arrival.

Since four out of seven members of Chenstin had arrived late, they were up first.

Still, it was their most popular song they would be performing, and since it was their own song, none of them seemed tense in the least.

“Chenstin, we’ll adjust the stage positions now. Starting with two rounds of rehearsal.”

“Yes~.”

Hearing the camera director’s words, I couldn’t help but smirk.

These staff seriously were something else.

Earlier, they were all like ‘One take onely! No scripts, no retakes!’, but now that they were tasked with capturing clean shots, suddenly, they were making absolutely sure that they would get it right.

Still, I guess this was good news for WEEKANIZ.

Recording the first performance of <Totter> in just one take would’ve been more than regretful. It would have been utterly nerve-wracking.

Yesterday, we practiced a few times as a group in the new practice room, but……

The only members who truly had the choreography down were Haedun, Ire, and Haram.

Once choreography was fully ingrained in one’s body, they say your movements almost became reflexive, making things easier from then on.

But as someone who couldn’t do it unless I memorized each move separately, every single day felt like a battle of pure memorization.

It felt like trying to commit a 2000 page law book to memory.

Anyway, since I had been cramming all this stuff in my head instead of dancing, I felt like my head was pounding.

As Chenstin prepared to take the stage, the rest of us idols were seated in the studio audience.

From this point forward, it was all about reaction shots.

Time to maintain a mildly pleasant expression and clap on cue.

Not too enthusiastic though.

“They’re really good.”

Haram, who was sitting next to me, muttered as Chenstin started performing their song <www.>.

Naturally, my gaze followed his.

Chenstin had a similar dynamic to WEEKANIZ, with a heavy focus on their main dancer.

His name was ‘Iho’.

He had a solid, masculine face, broad shoulders, and a towering height.

Iho could also rap a bit.

It was rare to find someone in Korea who bragged about being able to rap a bit and ended up being pretty okay.

But Iho was the exception.

Although his rapping wasn’t fast, his deep, resonant voice had a magnetic quality.

Because of that, Chenstin’s songs usually revolve around him, monopolizing most of the verses until the main vocalist took over for the chorus.

……Even when I researched him a little, I found out that Iho already had a pretty solid level of recognition.

Why would someone like him appear on a ‘fallen idol rehabilitation show’ (Though this felt more like a demolition show).

It didn’t seem to me that they would gain or lose anything from participating.

One by one, the performances continued.

Although WEEKANIZ didn’t have any latecomers, we ended up being pushed to the second-to-last performance because other teams had arrived earlier.

About 30 minutes were left now.

“……Everything should turn out fine, right?”

I made a solemn pledge to myself.

Now was the time to conduct the final check.

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