Falling for the Omega Idol

THAT night, the fourth episode of Boys Odyssey aired. The episode focused mainly on the vocal mission performances. The first two teams to take the stage were those who had chosen the song [Scenic Love]. This meant the opening performance came from Seojun's team. Before showing their stage, the episode cut back to scenes from their practice sessions. These clips highlighted their struggles and how they worked together to overcome their challenges.

That was the basic format of the episode. Before each group performed, the show would cut to scenes from their practice sessions, including any difficulties they faced. Then, after both teams performing the same song had finished, the episode would reveal the points they received from the live audience and announce which team had won.

When all teams had finished performing, the scene shifted to Lily making the announcement of the overall vocal mission winner. The atmosphere grew tense as she paused dramatically, drawing out the moment. Contestants stood stiffly, some biting their lips or clasping their hands tightly while waiting. The camera swept across their anxious faces, capturing every nervous glance and held breath before the final results were revealed.

After the winning group was announced, Lily delivered her closing remarks. The episode concluded there, but just before the credits rolled, a final message appeared on the screen.

[The next episode of Boys Odyssey will feature the second elimination round, which will be decided entirely by viewer votes. Voting ends this coming Tuesday at midnight. Be sure to vote for your favorite contestant before then.]

***

Online reactions to the episode exploded instantly. This was likely because it was the first time viewers saw the contestants performing on a proper stage, wearing full costumes with professional hair and makeup. That was why nearly everyone who watched immediately went online to share their thoughts.

Haeun, as the self-proclaimed number one fan of her brother, was naturally one of those people. She quickly clipped a short segment of her brother singing and posted it on her X account.

Haneul's Little Sister @mainvocalhaneul: [Look how amazing my Oppa sounds!]

Comments and likes immediately followed her post.

- IKR? Like, I almost thought an angel came down from heaven to sing for us mortals.

└ This! Every time he sang, I felt like I'm ascending. His voice is that pretty.

└ His vocal tone is so clear and emotional. I could listen to him all day.

- He's definitely main vocal material. The others are good, but he's on another level.

└ Right? The way he hits those high notes without straining... incredible.

- I've replayed this short vid 12 times already. Send help.

└ Only 12? Those are rookie numbers. I'm at 25 and still not tired.

└└ You guys are noobs. This short vid is actually 24 hours long. Haven't you already noticed?

- That last note literally gave me chills. Actual goosebumps.

└ Same here! I had to pause and just breathe for a moment.

└ My family thinks I'm crazy because I gasped so loud when he sang.

- You people are glazing this guy way too much.

└ It's not glazing when it's the truth.

└└ LOL what truth? He has a nice tone, but that's it. If that's amazing, then every other contestant with good tone is amazing too?

└└└ If you think Haneul's voice is just average, you might need your ears checked.

└ Exactly! I'm glad someone finally said it!

- If you want to hear a better vocalist, then, listen to Mirae-yah. *attached a clip of Park Mirae singing*

└ Get out of here. This is an appreciation post for Haneul. Why are you bringing another contestant?

└└ I swear the fans of that guy are so annoying. Always inserting their fave into anything.

└└└ We're not claiming him. Any so-called fan of Mirae that brings bad rep is not his real fan.

There were many more comments, but Haeun didn't read them all. She decided to check them later because she knew the number of responses would keep growing. It made more sense to read everything at once rather than checking back every few minutes.

Since creating her account just one week ago, she had already gained over five thousand followers. This was mostly thanks to the compilation video she made of all Haneul's scenes from episodes one and two, which went semi-viral. When she noticed how much attention it was getting, she shared it across various community forums too. She then decided to create YouTube and TikTok channels focused mainly on short form content. Both platforms were already gaining steady traction.

But since she was still a student and also an active athlete, she couldn't devote all her time to this. Her strategy was simple. Make a video, post it across all platforms, then let it gain attention naturally. She decided to focus her posting schedule mainly on weekends when she had more free time. With that plan in mind, she began writing a step-by-step guide explaining how to vote for Haneul using the Vnet app.

Once Haeun finished that, she went back to check for other posts about the episode. She mainly focused on those that had a lot of likes and comments.

[Wow. There are so many good vocalists on this show. Vnet really struck gold with these contestants.]

- I think the entertainment company that partnered with Vnet is the real winner here.

└ That's so true. Which company was it again? Did they ever announce it?

└└ I don't think so? Hold on, let me check Vnet's website.

[Kang Haneul was definitely a standout. Actually, that whole group he was in was so amazing, I can't believe they didn't win.]

- Exactly! How did that happen? They were clearly better than the group that won.

└ There's no need to put down another group just to praise the one you like. The winning team deserved their victory too.

- I think having only five members really put them at a disadvantage.

└ Wait, you might be right. Why did they only have five members? That wasn't explained in the episode, was it?

└└ It wasn't shown. I think there must have been another member who left the show.

└└└ Left or got removed?

└└└└ Let's not guess about it. This kind of talk could hurt someone's future. If the show didn't say anything, we should drop it.

[There were a lot of good leaders among the constestants. Taeyang, Eunwoo, Seojun, just to mention a few.]

- So true! And each have such different leadership styles too. Taeyang was the typical leader, Eunwoo was the supportive type, and Seojun just has that natural charisma that makes people want to follow him.

└ Taeyang was like that strict professor who expects excellence but genuinely wants you to succeed.

└└ Eunwoo is the encouraging professor who believes in your potential even when you doubt yourself.

└└└ And Seojun is the cool professor everyone likes because he makes hard things feel fun and possible.

└└└└ This whole reply thread was so funny. LOL

- Honestly though, Taeyang's team had the best teamwork dynamic. You could tell they actually listened to each other.

Haeun scrolled past all the posts praising that contestant named Park Mirae, since many of them contained negative comments about her brother. She decided she would deal with them tomorrow by reporting the worst ones, and kept scrolling for now.