Save a Failed Idol's Life

Chapter 188:

“I’ve seen your vocal skills. Can you also show me some dance moves? Do you have anything prepared?”

Then, a twenty-something idol next to me chimed in.

“Can you do freestyle?”

I couldn’t say no here.

It would be a problem if I was the only one who went back in time from the timeline. But this place is not reality, but a virtual setting space.

I quickly made up my mind and answered.

“Yes, I can. Please play the music.”

Even if I did well here, they would say I was just following a pre-made choreography. But it was better to have something to say than nothing.

The re-evaluation grade was determined by the judges, not by the participants.

“Let’s start right away.”

As if they were waiting, a beat that I had never heard before started. I just had to match the speed.

I drew the sketches that I had discarded while making the choreography for Boys Be Ambitious in my head and calmly followed the rhythm.

I was not Cheon Ise, the S-grade dancer, right now, so I couldn’t be the same as the state where I had raised my dance grade with the points I had collected.

‘I should pull my foot back here.’

But even though all the memories of working as Cheon Ise were confiscated, my body reacted as soon as I recalled the order in my head.

‘And then turn around like this…’

That’s how I filled the 30-second interlude with a hip-hop feel of crumping mixed with an improvised but not improvised choreography. And then a fact popped into my mind.

‘I don’t have a back injury right now, do I?’

Then I could also try the martial arts moves that the choreographer who collaborated with me at the planning stage suggested, but I couldn’t use them because of health problems.

Whether I could succeed in them without making a mistake was another matter.

But I thought I could at least do the sidekick move.

The song was already heading towards the highlight of the chorus. It was now or never.

‘They’ll edit it out if I fail.’

I was originally a non-existent being. The ones who were decided to be aired on the broadcast would go out anyway, and I would be edited out.

With that conclusion, I jumped neatly to the spot with both arms on the ground, matching the end of the song.

“Huh.”

I unconsciously made a face that said ‘I did it!’ without knowing it.

The applause and laughter poured out without regard to the judges’ seats, the waiting room, or the ranking chairs.

“Wow, he’s really good. For a freestyle, that’s impressive.”

“I saw him at the audition, he was picking up the choreography really fast.”

With a short buzz, the judges went back to their own discussion.

I couldn’t guess what grade I would get.

The grades were A, B, C, D, F, five in total. I expected to get C if I did well, or D to F if I did poorly.

But I did better than I thought, and there was a hitch.

‘No. It’s more like they’re too bad…’

The climax itself was very obscure compared to the skill that was hidden. And the other groups that I saw while filming Boys Be Ambitious, except for one group, were all skillful ones that were counted as representative K-pop groups.

My eyes were so high that I was not satisfied with the level of the trainees.

‘This is not… real anyway.’

I couldn’t believe that Kang Yu-geon, a trainee who got an F, and I, who got an A, were in the same reality show. It was ridiculous enough that I had to compete with a trainee, but the real Kang Yu-geon had already debuted and become a superstar, even running away from his agency.

Did I have to sacrifice my advantage in the first re-evaluation for the sake of the virtual Kang Yu-geon, who was hated by the production team?

The answer was…

‘Of course not.’

Besides, I wasn’t just a low-ranked trainee. I was an A, and unless I made a huge mistake that made me roll on the floor in the re-evaluation, I wouldn’t face a drastic drop to the elimination level.

I barely held onto my reason and bowed my head.

“Thank you.”

The only thing left was the ranking chair. If I wasted more time here, I would attract attention. I ignored the heart card marks that popped up in my mind and headed towards the chair.

Naturally, all the trainees sitting there also had message-shaped marks on them.

And at the same time, what surprised me was.

‘Huh?’

There was another heart card mark above Kang Yu-geon’s name tag.

[The heart card is updated in real time and can be regenerated even for people who have already checked the heart card when they get a new impression from Lim Hyun-seong.]

Then I realized why this was a point-giving item.

It would be better if I didn’t know or care.

It was stressful to have to check what others thought of me a limited number of times a day, and to have to do it in certain situations.

It wasn’t real anyway. But even in a virtual world, wouldn’t anyone feel pressured by the negative misunderstandings that piled up about me?

My goal was to find out what happened to the Floss members. How could I deal with my own problems and feel stressed?

‘Sigh.’

Anyway, I had to earn points and keep getting help from the skill, so the heart card was an unavoidable choice.

‘What kind of nonsense is this?’

I didn’t think for long. I went to the lower-ranked number that everyone desperately avoided and sat next to Yu-geon.

[Oh, Lim Hyun-seong, a trainee. You still have higher ranks left. Why did you choose the 83rd place?]

The MC asked me jokingly, as if he couldn’t miss this interesting situation. I made up a reason on the spot and answered.

“I pushed myself too hard in the freestyle earlier and my legs hurt, so it’s hard to walk.”

It was a stupid excuse, but it wasn’t unreasonable, since Yu-geon had really sat in the seat right in front of him when he walked off the stage.

And anyway, it looked like I was sitting next to a trainee who had received a surprisingly low grade, with a face, to comfort him.

“You two were sitting together in the waiting room earlier. Are you friends?”

“He’s loyal.”

Loyal, my ass. I just couldn’t accept it. He had to endure the treatment of an F-grade with his skills.

Yu-geon looked at me with a surprised expression, but I didn’t care and made a finger heart to the judge, or rather, the choreographer who gave me the super pass.

Laughter erupted again around me. I wasn’t in the mood to laugh at all.

But I had to smile. I pulled up the corners of my mouth and showed a business-like smile. Soon, everyone’s attention shifted to the next trainee.

‘Please end this quickly.’

Nothing else came to mind except that one sentence.

Among them, the ones who were somewhat decent were inevitably B, the ones who seemed to do better than ordinary people were C, the ones who were at the level of ordinary people were D, and the ones who made me wonder if they were really desperate to stand on stage were F.

Of course, Yu-geon was an exception. He had no idea why he went to F, but the truth was only known by the production staff.

‘Just tell me the grade and finish it.’

I don’t know what they had to discuss so much, but after a long time of talking back and forth, the choreographer in his thirties who finished the discussion raised his hand.

“Lim Hyun-seong, trainee.”

“Ah, yes!”

Why do you call my name? Just tell me the grade and the evaluation. I complained inwardly and smiled as brightly as possible on my face.

“Do you have the confidence to work hard?”

Why do you ask me that here? It’s obvious that I’ll answer that I have confidence to do well. I opened my mouth with a lot of questions, unable to figure out his intention.

“Yes, I’ll work hard.”

As if he believed my answer, the choreographer in his thirties burst into a chuckle and nodded his head.

“I really… I’m looking forward to how great an idol Hyun-seong will be. You have such a charm that catches people’s eyes even now, and I’m curious how much more cool you’ll be if you polish it.”

He suddenly tested my will and poured out compliments. I reflexively blushed.

It was partly because it wasn’t a compliment I earned with my real skills. I dropped out of high school after finishing middle school.

When I worked as an employee, I was treated like a replaceable incompetent worker, except when I worked under a boss who recognized my diligence and talent.

It was natural to be quick and quick. I lived in an environment where it was hard to hear a word of praise even if I did something extraordinary, and when I finally became a representative, there was no one left to praise me.

So I wasn’t used to a situation where I was bombarded with such praise in other areas than the taste of food.

‘If I cook so deliciously that I get rave reviews, I’ll accept it without any hesitation.’

I couldn’t answer anything because my face was red, and he laughed again.

“I’ll use this card for you, Hyun-seong. Congratulations.”

What he raised at the same time was a small card with a diamond drawn on it.

“Huh…?”

‘Why is that here?’

It was none other than the super pass card. It was a pass that could be used only once by each judge during the five grade evaluations that proceeded until the final debut.

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The grade was basically given based on the average of the grades submitted by the four judges.

However, if the super pass was used, only one judge’s opinion could be reflected to give the grade.

‘That means he used it on me now…’

[Congratulations, Lim Hyun-seong, trainee. Receive the A-grade badge and take a seat in the rank you want.]

The badge that was only given to A-grade was in my hand.

The number of people who could enter A-grade was nine, the number of debutants. The grade didn’t prove the rank, but it was unlikely to be in the lower ranks if it was A-grade.

But wait a minute. I was a little better than the previous ones, but. Can I really take A-grade? I was an A-grade who had been active for more than six months and used the skills and abilities I had gained to produce a good output, and Yu-geon, who was a real trainee and showed the skills of a dropout trainee, was F-grade. It felt unreasonable.

I don’t mean to lower myself to C, D, F. I was bothered by Yu-geon getting F.

I couldn’t help but worry more if I got an A like this.

I turned around with a stiff expression and looked at the flashing alphabet A.

‘…’

I reflexively raised my hand and said this was not right.

It was almost 3 p.m. when the six-hour-long evaluation finally ended.

The hundred or so participants started to follow the production staff to have lunch.

“I guess we have to eat separately by grade.”

I turned my head to look for the staff holding the A sign and said to Yu-geon.

“…”

Yu-geon was staring at the floor with a stiff expression, as if he couldn’t get over the shock of the grade evaluation.

He wasn’t the only one. The other participants also looked shaken by the last-minute change in the rankings. There was no one with a normal face.

‘They all seemed out of their minds.’

When the MC announced the final rankings after the last round of grade evaluation, everyone was confused and didn’t understand what was going on. It was a mess.

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