Chapter 39

"Are you having a hard time?"

I asked it vaguely on purpose. I hoped the listener would respond appropriately.

However, Cha Eugene, who put a chocolate bar in his mouth, began to shed tears more sorrowfully.

You're driving me crazy…

I don't know if everyone is sensitive because the field is arts and physical education, or if it's because survival is brutally hard, but I think I've seen too many people crying these days.

"Everyone is fighting… If I say nothing, it gets scary, sniff."

"…Hmm."

Cha Eugene looked completely dead. There was no trace of the bright loudmouth from a while ago.

No matter how you look at it, isn't this team ruined within a day?

'It really is just like the name <Puppy > room.'

(TL note: because dog could also mean a swear word, that's why Moondae said that.)

Those guys, if it aired like this, people would ridicule them by tying them up with the room name.

However, it was funny that 'Park Moondae' gave advice to Cha Eugene.

No matter what I said, if I made a single mistake, Internet public opinion would bombard me with posts such as 'Am I the only one who thinks that Park Moondae is wrong?'. Because he was from a different team.

'I'll send him back when he calms down.'

Instead, I just said something else seriously.

"Do you want more chocolate bars?"

"…"

Cha Eugene nodded. I took another handful of chocolate bars out of my bag and gave them to him.

'…I'm glad I brought a lot.'

It was fortunate that there was still one more large bag left. If I looked like I didn't want to waste the chocolates on him, I might get in trouble.

With the sound of running water coming from the bathroom in the background, I spent the moment in silence with Cha Eugene who was chewing on chocolate.

Soon after, Cha Eugene got up and bowed his head, holding a chocolate bar in both hands.

"Thank you."

He seemed to have calmed down a bit and was thinking of going back. I couldn't thank him enough for not giving me the details.

Let's just say something that fits the situation.

"Will it be okay to not see Raebin?"

"Yes. …I'll be fine."

"Okay."

Cha Eugene stopped crying and seemed a little more energetic than before.

'Isn't it because of the sugar high?'

I wondered if he would start crying again once he ran out of sugar, but the priority was to send this bomb away.

I watched Cha Eugene for a moment as he trudged down the hallway and then closed the door.

Then I breathed a sigh of relief.

'I'm so busy that I'm going to die, but there are mines everywhere.'

Now that we were in the second half, I had to be more careful not to get caught in the broadcast. Because once things plummeted, there might be no time to rebound.

The problem was that I couldn't control everything just by being careful.

'Just, let's not stand out… If I keep going like this, I'll make it to the end.'

I reflected on it and stretched out on the bed. And I fell asleep in an instant.

It was the next morning when I realized that I had slept without washing up.

* * *

While the participants were struggling with preparing for the stage and suffering from planning and creating everything from scratch.

Outside the set, episode 8 of <Re-listed! Idol Inc.> was aired.

– Heol

– Why him?

– Awesome

– ??

The higher the ranking, the more unexpected it was, and the real-time viewers were shocked, but what was even more unexpected was the reward for winning the last team match.

[Negative vote is invalid]

It infuriated people that some of them were able to avoid the brutal voting methods that would reflect on 'how much they are hated'.

– It's amazing

– I'm a fool for spending money on a program like this

– The winning team has a participant pushed by the production team 100% You're going to let them avoid it like this?

The irony was that this anger was directed at the participants rather than the production team that created the system and planned the prize.

As someone who benefited the most from this reward, Choi Wongil, who was originally eliminated, was criticized by public opinion.

But viewers' anger didn't end there.

Even the public opinion of the participants of the winning team, whose rankings had risen significantly, temporarily deteriorated significantly.

– Heol, Seon Ahyeon pushed Cha Eugene to second place…

– Is he crying again? I am tired of the tears

– It would be nice if his votes didn't get cut. My child laughed and said thank you even though he was pushed back while that guy stuttered and looked dead.

– Ugh. Seon Ahyeon who can't even speak properly is in second place. Fools who give sympathy votes to the disabled who will stutter his thoughts when he debuts, you guys need to wake up.

└This comment is crazy;; Aren't you crossing the lines?

└The stutterer's crazy fans are coming soon

└You guys are beyond imagination, disgusting.

└You're cursing at me because you can't refute it. D-d-don't tell me, you really think he deserves second place?

Even the main criticism that hadn't appeared on the surface, conscious of the minimum morality, had appeared in the comments.

There were many people who were astonished or tried to stop it, but if the number of headcounts was similar, the aggressive public opinion was bound to gain strength,

But with that reaction, favorable public opinion was formed on the participants who showed determination even though their rank was pushed back due to negative voting and the reward for the winning team.

– Guys, you've worked hard.

– Where there is light, there are shadows. Don't worry too much about the weird losers who use negative voting~ I'm rooting for you^^

– It must have been a bummer, but thank you for showing your courage

Thanks to this, Park Moondae, who had a higher rank before the correction, fortunately avoided huge criticism even after his ranking rose.

Instead, there had been a slight change in the fan base.

Fans who preferred Park Moondae's appearance in the second team match took the lead while people who liked Moondae's team in the first team match were discouraged by the criticism.

– Moondae, congratulations on winning 4th place, you've worked hardㅠㅠ (Video of getting congratulated by the 2nd team members)

– 'Hyung, what are you doing?' the triple shot of Moondae's expression. 'Why is the cat doing this to the dog…?' (Captured video with Cha Eugene) (Humorous photo of a cat and a dog)

– It's so funny that Moondae couldn't win against the other kids this time, so he was half-forced to be an insider.

– If you look at the corner, Moon Puppy is giving out snacks. Ahh an Angel… Angel Puppy… (short video)

Fans of the other two participants, who hadn't had a strong group of participants until now, were also excited and sneaked into the flow.

They were fans of Cha Eugene and Kim Raebin.

– Moon Puppy Kim Rabbit Cha Kitty, dog rabbit cat, Isn't it a heart-throbbing combination? Try it just once. Try try (photo)

– My kids are so cute even though they look like they'll ignore me when I talk to them on the street. (Video from the show)

– Animal Heroes, dispatch! (Fan art)

Even the combination that included Ryu Chungwoo was overflowing on SNS from time to time.

As people who fell in love with the program through the second team match were mixed with the people who poured out anger and kept the participants in check, the overheated atmosphere became worse.

Because of this over-immersion which crossed over between fire hell and ondol rooms, the Internet was literally in chaos.

(TL note: Ondol or gudeul in Korean traditional architecture, is underfloor heating that uses direct heat transfer from wood smoke to heat the underside of a thick masonry floor. Sumber: Wiki.)

It was even worse because the program was running on the road of extreme box office success.

Beyond the entertainment community, if you looked at any online community now, you could see articles about <Idol Inc.>.

And every article was filled with people fighting and stressed out.

=========================

[Survival pro participant who is popular these days]

: (Photo) It's a participant named Cha Eugene, but do women like this kind of feminine men these days? Tsk… The world is ending.

=========================

– The eyes… He looks like a wildcat… It's an unfortunate impression…

– Ugly old man.

– Why? He's a handsome young man^^ My daughter said she likes him.

– This program is popular among young kids these days~ There's a fellow who sings really well, I'll give him a vote if he goes to the final~

└You mean Park Moondae. He looks good-natured, but… Aren't singers supposed to be the best at singing.

└Wake up, are you too old to see? Cha Eugene is very clever. The young man who used to do archery is also very good. I support these two.

└Ahjumma, you're the one who needs to wake up

When the comments caught fire like this, someone captured it on SNS, and dozens of fights emerged in the articles every day.

=========================

[Idol Inc. Boomer community reaction.jpg]

: (Capture) The crazy collaboration between an old man who is being severely dealt with and an old man who scolds him.

=========================

– Cha Eugene is a superstar. All of my friends saved pictures of Cha Eugene, he's a 180-tall baby kitty

– It's ridiculous that Seon Ahyeon who is not mentioned here is in second place, really..

└This article doesn't represent every netizen's opinions, so why do your thoughts flow that way;;

└Just by mentioning Seon Ahyeon, I get labeled as a bastard by the fans rushing in, so I shouldn't mention him.

└What you're doing right now is slandering, not criticizing. What did Ahyeon do wrong?

└Look, it's starting again. hahaha

And at this time, participants were able to access this turbulent Internet public opinion in real time.

* * *

To be honest, this was my first thought.

'I survived.'

I was lucky enough to avoid public criticism and I was in a good state because I wasn't praised aggressively enough for the backlash to come.

I was even secretly grouped with top-ranked participants.

However, nothing was more rewarding than the relief.

I rubbed the screen with my thumb. A scroll appeared on the side and all kinds of abusive comments were swept up.

'Somehow…  I feel bitter.'

To be honest, none of the contestants who were being criticized right now had shown bad personalities except for Choi Wongil.

Most of them were just hard-working children, but did they have to be beaten up like this?

It had nothing to do with me, and to be blunt, I would benefit from other people falling, but even when this gave me benefit for survival, it left a bad aftertaste.

'Besides, this timing…'

– We will distribute equipment to search data~

Since this team match was self-produced, our smartphones were returned for a while to search for specific concept materials.

Originally, carrying a smartphone was prohibited during the filming.

This allowed the participants to be isolated from public opinion outside, but the rule was broken in this team match.

In addition, because the program was so popular, it was impossible to avoid posts related to it when accessing the Internet.

Thanks to that, I'd been looking through posts about the situation of these guys.

"…"

The dorm room was quiet with team members staring at their smartphones without saying a word.

Maybe the other rooms were in a similar atmosphere.

Moreover, apparently, this team had a participant who was currently facing heavy blows from the internet.

Seon Ahyeon.

'Isn't he going to cry?'

I broke out in cold sweats as I thought that I should check Seon Ahyeon's awful state in the bunk bed below.

Because I had an ominous hunch.

'Isn't this going to cause him a mental breakdown and deactivate his characteristic?'

If Seon Ahyeon's 'Grit' characteristic was deactivated again, the 'lack of self-esteem' status abnormality would be revived.

Then, would Seon Ahyeon, who received a crazy penalty that lowered his overall ability by two grades, be able to properly perform on the stage?

It wouldn't be surprising if both the stage completion and the team match editing were ruined.

I sighed silently.

'…I knew these team members are too good to be true.'

There was never a day when a team match went comfortably well.

'I'll have to check his status first.'

"Seon Ahyeon."

I dragged my face out of the bed and bent down. Seon Ahyeon, who was sitting on the bed, turned his head.

"Y-yes!"

"…?"

Why is he okay?