Episode 5
Before I knew it, the first filming day of the program was approaching.
Over the month, I prepared for the evaluation stage while training with Do Yuda. Except for sleeping, Do Yuda, who had barely left the practice room, let out a scream of satisfaction as we completed a performance stage.
“Hyung, you’re really a scary person… How can you be so good? Even with such a short training period! Are you a prodigy?”
How could I be compared to rookies with only a few years of experience? Seeing him talk about prodigies, it seemed like he was just a kid himself.
‘If anyone’s a prodigy, it’s probably him.’
I didn’t have high expectations, but Do Yuda was actually better than I thought. Especially when it came to singing.
His strengths were his incredible vocal range and resonance. He succeeded on the evaluation stage with a high C, and while fooling around, he reached a high E. Having such a vocal range at that age was truly a blessing of talent.
‘He’s confident enough to show off at SU Entertainment.’
While trainees may be disappointed with a company that doesn’t debut them, from the company’s perspective, training them is just a cost. It means they won’t cling to someone who’s not worth it for years.
“Let’s really do well tomorrow! I’ve been stuck here all my life and finally I’m going out into the world.”
“…Yeah. Let’s do our best.”
Of course, it’ll go well.
Even before showcasing on the program, our performance had passed with flying colors in the evaluation conducted by the company. Objectively speaking, our performance was already better than those of debuting artists.
Today was the last day we could have a proper rehearsal. We had just finished the interview after being the last in line for the preliminary interviews conducted by each agency.
Click! Click!
“What are you doing?”
“I also had my makeup done, so don’t I look okay? We should take some pictures.”
“….”
Before going for the interview, we had been dragged into a makeup shop by Yuri, and we came out looking extraordinarily glamorous. There are makeup styles these days that seem like they’ve never been seen before.
‘This is terrifying… Those cunning SU bastards.’
Trainees from other agencies would have been caught on camera without much preparation. We had completed everything from a skincare tour to make our skin flawless for a month.
“Okay, let’s take one of you too, Hyung. Oh, you look so handsome!”
As I was lost in thought, Do Yuda took several selfies and cheerfully grabbed his bag to leave the practice room.
“Well, let’s go back to the dorm now, tomorrow’s an important day.”
“……”
As I stared at him with a grin without saying a word, his black, round eyes rolled around. Unable to bear the silence that lasted for a while, Do Yuda awkwardly shuffled his feet and left the room.
“Hyung, taking breaks is important too. I’ll declare a strike. This is Crazy! I’ll die if I keep practicing!”
“It’s a joke. We can’t go to the shoot tomorrow with dark circles under our eyes.”
“Oh, Hyung. You’re so humorous! Haha!”
With an artificial laugh, Do Yuda hastily picked up my bag and hugged it to his chest.
“Let’s go. Get out! Hurry up!”
“…..”
It’s fun teasing him.
* * *
The next day, we were fully prepared with costumes, hair, and makeup provided by the agency, and we headed to the studio in the van they arranged. Similar to the preliminary interview, it seemed like we were given the last slot.
‘It’s understandable. SU Entertainment has never sent trainees to such programs before, so expectations are high.’
Upon arrival at the filming studio, the production team greeted us and fitted us with microphones. Name tags were prepared in the corridor before entering the main studio.
[SU Entertainment / Han Seung Beom]
[SU Entertainment / Do Yuda]
“If I were my parents, I wouldn’t have named my child like this.”
Do Yuda, upon seeing his name printed on the name tag, pouted.
“I would’ve preferred ‘Do yosae’ or ‘Do rlani,’ it would’ve been more fun. What’s this? Do you know how many times I’ve been teased with ‘Didn’t ask, Yuda, Yi-yai-o’ when I was young?”
“Be thankful it’s not ‘Re-mi.'”
Do Re-mi.
One of the production crew members who had been listening to our conversation spit out the water he was drinking.
“I’ve heard that phrase so many times too. Ugh, it’s so cliché.”
Boom!
Sound effects reverberated inside the studio, followed by the buzzing of dozens of boys.
“It’s SU Entertainment, right?”
“Wow, they’re also here?”
“Didn’t that college entrance exam guy say he’s in SU entertainment?”
“How many of them will come out?”
“I auditioned here and got rejected.”
The reactions of the other trainees seemed to have been captured sufficiently, as the production crew gestured.
“Alright, SU Entertainment will go in soon. Countdown begins.”
‘3, 2, 1.’
As the production team’s fingers decreased one by one, we, who had received the signal to enter, slowly walked into the studio.
As soon as we entered, we noticed chairs arranged in a pyramid according to rankings, and since we were last, most of the seats were occupied by other trainees.
“Wow, look at their faces.”
“He’s amazing. I saw him on the news.”
“They have really long legs. The camera keeps going up endlessly. Both of them seem to be about 180cm tall.”
“They’re really handsome. I saw them on the news, but they seem even more handsome now.”
“The guy standing next to him is also handsome, right?”
“That’s him. The guy who ranked first in the SU Entertainment vocal audition.”
“Big agencies are different indeed. Why do they shine so much on camera?”
It felt like the huge screen above the studio was shining our faces. I turned my head to look at Do Yuda.
“Where do you want to sit?”
The production team told us, the last to enter, that we could sit anywhere without a problem. In other words, it meant we could either sit in any available seat or push other trainees aside and sit.
‘Of course, they probably want the latter.’
In Episode 1, the nerve-wracking battle over these ranking seats is usually depicted. However, by the latter half of the program, I don’t even remember who sat where.
Sitting in the top rankings attracts everyone’s attention and allows you to have more screen time, while sitting in the lower rankings means just passing by without much attention.
Regardless of where we sit, being from a large agency means we’ll get plenty of screen time. At this point, I thought it would be okay for Do Yuda to sit wherever he wanted.
“Wow! Can I sit where I want?”
“Sure.”
“Chicken. Stir. Fried. Rice. Tastes. Good. Tastes. Good. If. It. Is. Delicious. I. will. Eat. It. Again.”
He seems like a really weird guy. He started singing, poking his fingers at the ranks from 1st to 7th, and then abruptly began singing. The trainees sitting in higher ranks desperately avoided our gaze.
“Chook. Chook. Pak. Sa. Nim. Ar. A. Mat. Hyeo. Bo. Se. Yo. Ding. Dong. Dang. Dong.”
Do Yuda’s finger stopped at 2nd place.
“Go to the 2nd and 3rd place seats.”
“…Alright.”
The trainees sitting in the 2nd and 3rd place seats looked dismayed. Do Yuda then skipped over to them and suddenly struck up a conversation with them.
“Hello. What do you want to bet on?”
“What?”
“We need to decide who will vacate the seat first, right? What do you like? Rock-paper-scissors? Cham-cham-cham¹? Dibidibi dip²? I like Dibidibi dip.”
(T/N : ¹ “참참참” (cham-cham-cham): A game where two people rapidly alternate saying “cham.” The first person to hesitate or make a mistake loses.
² “디비디비딥” (Dibidibi dip.) In this game, one person is chosen as the “it” or “tagger,” and the rest of the people stand facing each other. They all chant “Dibidibi dip” together.
When they say “dip,” everyone, including the tagger, must perform a specific action. There are three possible actions, similar to rock-paper-scissors gestures. The first action is to place one elbow upright on the back of the other hand. The second action is to place one hand around the other fist. The third action is to extend both arms outward like wings.
If a person performs the same action as the tagger, that person becomes the next tagger for the next round. For example, if the tagger performs the first action, anyone else who also performs the first action becomes the next tagger.)
Do Yuda dragged me over, standing there awkwardly, while asking a nonsensical question.
Hey, you bastard. Do you really expect me to do that?
“I don’t want to. I won’t do it.”
Seeing me flustered and resisting, Do Yuda grinned and said, “Ah, okay, okay,” then raised his thumb. What’s okay? Do you really understand?
“Both of you are from the same agency, right? Let’s flip a coin. Our hyung here is shy. Hyung, trust me. I’m a genius at Dibidibi dip.”
The guy posing with the scissors of Dibidibi dip said cunningly. He looked oddly like an ostrich and seemed foolish.
‘Don’t do that.’
To cut to the chase, Do Yuda won. In the end, we ended up sitting in the 2nd and 3rd place seats, pushed out by this ridiculous bet.
“Ah, I showed you, right? I’ll look cool on the broadcast, right, hyung?”
No. You’ve completely tarnished the image of SU Entertainment, you idiot. If a call comes from the producer after the broadcast, I’ll pretend to be asleep.
While Dibidibi dip was fiercely unfolding, I stood there like a placed broomstick. I didn’t want to interfere. The two trainees who were pushed out of their seats by such a silly game looked pathetic.
Boom!
The sound effects reverberated loudly again, and all the lights in the studio went out. Someone jumped onto the stage and raised one arm horizontally.
“Survive IDOL Project! Survive IDOL Season 4!”
The stage lights came on, and the slot machine displayed on the screen spun, landing on 777.
“Out of 77 boys, only 7 will survive! The dreams of these boys are in your hands! Please bet on your idol!”
‘What nonsense…’
They went crazy, turning the lights off and on dramatically for just a moment.
“Hello. I am the host of Survive IDOL, actor Yang Hajun.”
“Wow!”
“He’s handsome!”
The trainees, who probably haven’t seen many celebrities and couldn’t take their eyes off them, cheered and clapped. Since I wasn’t particularly interested in dramas or movies, I didn’t know many actors.
‘He’s someone I don’t know.’
“First up, let me introduce you to our trainers, who will be sharpening up 00 trainees before we get down to business.”
Boom. Boom boom. Boom!
With dramatic music, the trainers appeared in a row.
‘They’re all familiar faces.’
There seemed to be more professional dancers or vocalists in previous seasons, but this season, the proportion of idols was extremely high. Perhaps the accident involving a dance trainer during the previous season’s filming had an influence.
‘Idols who have been active for a long time are more controlled by their agencies and more cautious about the broadcasting station, so there’s less risk of accidents.’
I recited the years of experience of the trainers one by one.
‘Junior, junior, senior, junior, junior, senior… And.’
There were only two seniors, who were not idols but singers and rappers. With so many juniors, it was really amusing to see myself as a trainee standing here.
‘Huh?’
Someone felt familiar. The guy coming in last.
“The head trainer is Jay from the legendary boy group ‘Prism!'”
He used to be the youngest member of my idol group in my previous life.
That guy, that guy. He used to scold me for not being able to dance, and I was thrilled that he was now able to teach others. After I left the group and started my solo career, I didn’t look up what he was doing, but if he came out as a trainer, he must be good enough.
Jay, draped in a coat, scanned the trainees. When Jay’s eyes met mine, I clenched my fist tightly. He seemed to mistakenly think that I admired him.
But from the time he was a rookie, I watched him like a hawk. I received a direct hit.
‘Rip off that coat. Take off the beanie and wipe the floor. Sew it back on your injured thigh. So you won’t be able to take it off again.’
Don’t pretend. Seriously, I’m pissed.
