Chapter 24

Cable TV crews have many different skillsets.

They're editing wizards, they're cutters, and they've got tons of different skills, but one of the things that was inserted into my segment was a commercial break.

The moment when the viewer's expectations were raised by the appearance of the A-grade trainees starting with Kang Sun-woo.

They only showed my face and name, and then cut off the one-minute commercial.

The comment section went crazy.

'I'm sure some people are already wearing tinted glasses, but first impressions are everything...'

When you're in the middle of having fun, you're bound to get annoyed when Ryu Si-hwan and an advertisement pop up at the same time.

Of course, people who complain know that it's the production team's skill, but there's no dodging the arrow since the commercial is in my segment.

Still, on the bright side, the edit itself is expected to be favorable.

If the producers of Asri 2 thought it was just a way to dump me, they wouldn't have cut me off with an ad in the first place.

"Hey, if you want, you can be an indirect advertising model."

"You call this consolation, Haru?"

"I think it's better to say this than to stay still."

A glimmer of light appeared in Haru's lifeless eyes as he listened to the broadcast.

Or... He'd learned something bad from someone around him.

"I gave it to Kang Sun-woo, you."

"Sun-woo has quite a funny way of talking."

"We've all only been here for an hour and it's already rubbed off?"

Is that guy's sticky good nature contagious?

My life is going to be a little harder now that he's picked up onto these bad habits.

Meanwhile, the last commercial, a soda commercial, just finished.

[I was wondering].

The broadcast started again with Min Si-hyun's question.

All the judges' eyes turned to her, as if she was saying something really important.

The close-ups of each face naturally increased the immersion level.

[Si-hwan, are you coming out unrepresented right now?]

[Yes, I'm an individual trainee].

[You practiced on your own without using or getting professional training, and yet you'd checked all the boxes for "most confident in"?]

The last line was emphasized again.

My smirk blurred a bit, and we cut to the pre-interview.

[Production crew ) You said you were a private practitioner.]

[Yu Si-hwan ) Yes, I have yet to have joined an agency].

[Crew ) Your profile is quite unconventional for someone like you. Are you confident that you can do everything well?]

[Yu Si-hwan] I should try to make you feel that way].

They even went so far as to put on a camera behind the seats of the judges and show my introduction.

As if to prove that I'd really put my stamp of approval on every single box.

There's even a nice edit of the judges whispering amongst themselves as they look at each other's bios.

The viewer's interest was piqued by the fact that the judges, who'd usually wouldn't show that much emotion, were so engaged.

--

- What is it?

─ But don't those who already know know? This guy had a lot of singing parts in 'HIT', and the platform was in the center.

- Looking at it now, you can tell if it's just a pocket or not.

- Are all the people who were watching Yu Si-hwan earlier watching?

--

The comments were speeding through.

People seeing me for the first time, commented out of sheer curiosity.

Those who knew I'd been heavily involved in 'HIT' and recent audience spoilers were heavily filled with excitement.

For those who don't like me, I wish them well.

[Let's see the stage.]

On screen, I fondled with my ear microphone once, and gave on a quick nod to the staff right next to me.

Then the familiar accompaniment of 'Spotlights' played.

The nostalgic tune had a few K-pop diehards instantly recognizing the song and singer.

--

— can't believe this is coming out here.

— Grandma's heart is beating out of her chest.

— Flame I haven't heard this song in a long time and it was a staple in my college mp3 playlist.

— 'Spotlights' is a really good song, I never thought I'd hear it on 'Asri'.

└ What's with the flame and what's with the spotlights?

└ When is it an 'FL4ME' song? Why can't I recognize the singer and song name?

└ I don't know why I don't know the singer and the song name.

--

The battle between the generation that knew of 'FL4ME' and the generation that didn't were in a full swing.

Yu Si-hwan opened his mouth lightly and began to sing.

"I could tell from the first time we met, oh the moment our eyes met, yeah your gestures hidden in the lights, your whole body language drives me crazy."

Everyone was stunned by the choreographed and steady performance that fell exactly on the beat.

The judges, who hadn't expected to see such a performance from a individual trainee, were all wide-eyed.

The contestants, who were watching the stage from their seats, were also extreme shocked, covering their mouths while basically gaping.

All these different expressions passed by in a flash, and my voice was repeated five or six times.

"Wow, you were good from the start."

"Didn't you realize that Si-hwan didn't recognize you the other day? I was totally clapping along with all the other kids!"

Speaking of which, Yoo Ha-woon's reaction was a great sight to watch.

Yoo Ha-woon exclaimed, "Wow, that's crazy!" when I showed off my nimble footwork with a pivot, and he became a scene-stealer.

It definitely came out on camera the way I intended.

A performance that made me feel like I had the basics down pat.

Unwavering pitch, angular dancing, and effortless facial expression management, all of which are essential for an idol trainee.

This specific clip quickly turned the tide of public opinion.

--

— He's really good.

— hahahahaha, so what about all the people who said he couldn't do it, right?

─ After all, I was believing in the spoilers of 5252

─ Voice is good

--

The judges facial expressions mixed in the middle, and I felt like I was being lifted up.

I even saw the most authoritative binary nodding his head in rhythm.

This was something I didn't see because I was too busy dancing.

The viewers were very moved by the rarely seen neck movements of the judges.

--

— It's over, Jin hak shaked his head.

— Are you the one who's been sitting on your ass all day?

— I'm confused, but is that the same guy who sheds the famous tear drops?

L That's also from Asri hahaha

It turned out to be a reaction that was beneficiary.

--

[...thank you.]

Well done. You put on a very competitive show for someone who is not a trainee.

However, I didn't get that explosive feeling that you did the most extraordinary job as directed.

There were a lot of shots of the judges applauding with moderate smiles on their faces.

I'd say to myself once or twice.

"Oh, that was better than I thought it would be, and good fundamentals."

This edit made me realize one thing.

I realized one thing: The crew completely understood my intentions.

For the past two weeks, the crew of 'Asri 2' has been closely observing my behavior.

There were only a few cameras covering my every move.

Based on the data they collected, they probably thought it was best to make Yu Si-hwan a character who would 'naturally emerge as the top trainee'.

So we didn't use that cathartic edit in the early level test scenes.

'From episode 2, I'm going to show you what I can do on the mebo side.'

In that short period of time, you can see what I was thinking when I took the level test.

They don't call them editing geniuses for nothing.

I smiled slightly inwardly.

If this works out, I'm sure I'll have some guaranteed minutes in a couple shows in the future.

There would also be a relatively small chance that the devil's editing would work against a contestant who gave me such an image-making buildup.

That way, my relationship with Sung-hwi, which I was worried about, would be as smooth as much as possible.

[Usually, contestants are so focused on their dancing that they can't avoid their voice being off, or they're so out of breath that they can't vocalize properly, but Yu Si-hean had shown none of it].

[Haha, thank you very much for the kind words].

An excited Lee Jin-hak was the first to give his review.

I probably have to include his review to convince the viewers of my final ranking of 9th in the level test.

Dance trainer Shin Jae-hoon's review followed shortly after.

[My personal desire to see you perform for a little longer since we've seen that your basics are solid? I mean, considering 'FL4ME's songs are a little old, I'm curious to see how you can still do choreography that's relevant to the current trends, and if you can show some of the sneakiness that comes through in your moves].

I was just saying that it seemed like it was over pretty quickly because I was so engrossed in it, and you know, you can't really take that old feeling and make it feel unreasonable for the next stage.

On the surface, I think my performance was pretty good, I didn't make any mistakes, and I proved that I was good enough.

So the comments at the time were once again divided.

--

— Ummm... I feel like it makes sense, but I also feel like it's a bit of a stretch.

— If it weren't for my brothers, there wouldn't be any of your favorite 2-3 generation idols.

— hahaha but it's true that 'FL4ME' is an old group.

└ But just because the songs are old doesn't mean Si-hwan is bad at it. Is there anyone more stable live than her?

└ I was also watching this and I felt like something was wrong with him;

This Kang Sub-woo honestly didn't sing well, he just rapped and arranged the song brilliantly.

└ Nowadays, it's more valuable than ever Si-hwan moms

└ No I'm the first person you've seen today, what kind of mom are you talking about?

— Can't we just stop fighting, please?

--]

This led to a heated discussion that lasted until I took my seat in fourth place.

The comments did, but I sat down with a sense of satisfaction.

I hadn't expected to be pushed this far by the team.

'As long as we keep this pace, we're good.'

I decided to be more thorough and detailed in my planning.

And just like that, the first episode of 100 people watching together ended.

"Guys, we have to record again tomorrow, right?"

"Yes!"

"The next shoot is the fastest way to reach the national managers. It's about your PR video."

MC Ko Hyun-joo smiled at us as if something funny was going to happen.

"Please gather here in the large auditorium by 11 a.m. tomorrow morning."

I'm always nervous when someone says something like that out loud.

The next morning, we walked down to the auditorium together.

--

I scratched my forehead, checking out the colorful balls and big coats.

This is going to be a blast.