NOVEL NEXT Chapter 50
First audition.
The participants went from 1500 down to just 300.
And among us, the first person to be eliminated was Chiyo Unni.
Chiyo Unni had the shortest practice period among us, less than a year.
So her skills were also the most lacking, and being Japanese, her Korean wasn’t the best either.
Of course, if you had to pick the member who developed the most in a year, it would be Chiyo Unni, but due to the nature of survival programs, it was unavoidable.
Chiyo Unni acknowledged her lack of skills and promised to join me in debuting next year, deciding to stay with the company.
Then came the second audition.
In the second audition, where we met the main PD of “Jeodol Season 3” for the first time, participants had to showcase the same stage as the first audition, and only those who impressed the main PD could move on to the third round.
Only 200 would be selected here.
Finally, the third audition.
It was the final hurdle to pick 99 participants for “Jeodol Season 3.”
In the third audition, participants just had to showcase their star quality.
“Do-hee Lee, what have you prepared?”
The main PD, Hyun-woong Lim, asked.
I looked at the piano placed in the audition room and replied, “I prepared a piano piece.”
As I sat in front of the piano, the production staff looked at me with eager expressions.
The piece I was going to play today was Chopin’s Scherzo No. 1.
Actually, it wasn’t so much prepared as I had already participated with this piece in an elementary competition.
The reason I chose it was that Scherzo No. 1 has a bizarre atmosphere.
It’s a melody that twists people’s hearts, hard to accept.
Tension mounts to extremes, making it difficult for the brain and ears to interpret.
And when it reaches its peak, it explodes with chaos, sweeping the listener into the music.
That’s how it shakes a person’s emotions.
Isn’t that what star quality is all about?
“Okay, please begin.”
I sat at the piano.
Come to think of it, this was my first time showing a complete performance to many people.
In piano competitions, I always had to cut off in the middle.
My heart raced wildly.
Not from fear, but from excitement.
I pressed the keys and began to play.
At first, a sharp, staccato start like a knife.
I tapped the pedal to let the next chord fall, expressing a sense of chaotic despair.
Then, instead of playing the passing notes straightforwardly, I played them gently to capture the feeling of the piece.
Of course, I added dynamics here and there to elevate the atmosphere and give it a sharp feeling.
And gradually it sharpened, mixing in notes that seemed ready to cut.
With my left hand, soft passing notes.
With my right hand, sharp staccato notes.
While playing strongly, the imagery of descending with a decrescendo was fully expressed.
Important notes with passing sounds and accents alive.
As I immersed myself in the performance, before I knew it, the piece had come to an end.
My heart was pounding even louder than at the beginning.
I must have been swept away by emotions while playing.
Showing the stage in front of many eyes means…
I stood up from the piano and bowed to the production staff.
The production staff clapped for me.
“Wow…”
The main PD said, with his mouth agape, looking around at the other staff.
“Isn’t this supposed to drop?”
“Yeah, right?” the main PD chuckled as he spoke to me.
“Wow, I truly enjoyed it. Coming from a PD of an idol survival show, it seems a pity to pursue a career as an idol…”
A proud smile escaped me.
“Thank you!”
The PD seemed lost in thought and muttered to himself.
“Wow… really well played…”
*
Three days after the third audition.
I was already sure, but the acceptance text arrived.
However, one of us couldn’t smile with joy.
It was Woo-ah Unni.
The 17-year-old who had been a trainee for four years, Woo-ah Unni, currently the longest trainee at Topist Entertainment.
Of course, considering the many who have trained for ten years or more, her long stay as a trainee isn’t extraordinary.
But the feeling of loss for Woo-ah Unni, who made it to the debut group only to have it fall through, was immense.
It seemed she felt guilty towards us, trying to hold back tears, but once Woo-ah Unni’s dam broke, her tears flowed endlessly.
We didn’t dare to comfort her, feeling sorry.
After a long while of crying, Woo-ah Unni spoke in a trembling voice filled with tears.
“I will… stay at the company and train hard with Chiyo while waiting… So all three of you… have to make it to the final debut, okay?”
*
“Yes.”
Ultimately, only three among us would participate in the Idol Season 3: me, Seo-yoon, and Na-eun Unni.
After the third audition, there was a month left until the first recording on May 1st.
The three of us worked hard to prepare stages for the upcoming grade evaluation on recording day.
*
After the third audition, Mwave began the real promotional campaign.
Mwave started dropping various articles and viral content online.
Responses poured in from both male and female communities immediately.
//
[Exclusive] “It will be an unprecedented season.” Mwave Idol Season 3 with major participation from top agencies JS ZY.
Ve Jedol Season 3, participating in 4 major entertainment agencies: JS, ZY, and Haru.
http://q.entertainmedia.never.net/v/2022041245465
Damn it, I told you guys, hahahahahaha
Out of the four, three will participate, lol.
└ Are you kidding? Everyone is coming, right? Hahahaha
└ A legendary Jeodol, lol.
└ Find the ultimate Chamjeol Season 3, wow!
└ They must be getting honey from Mwave, but why are they participating if they have image risks? Hahaha
└ Looks like they paid the trainees like 500 million each, haha.
└ So then, who’s coming from Jeodol? Is Kim Chae-eun going to JS?
└ Would a girl who got eliminated in an internal survival program stay in the company? Hahaha. I bet Eun Se-ra will show up at the JS performance.
└ Eun Se-ra was so pretty, lol.
└ Here’s the list of trainees participating from the four major agencies: Haru, Ha Eun-ha, Lee Gyu-ri, JS Eun Se-ra, ZY Yoon Seo-won, or Hong Seo-eun, Kim Ji-won.
└ Who are they?
└ They’re all kids who’ve appeared in music videos or commercials. I’m confident in my pick that’s been stuck as a trainee for 10 years, right?
└ Wow, there are actually people who sell trainees instead of idols, huh?
└ But are these guys really doing it without manipulation? It feels like all four major agencies are gonna debut someone.
└ Do you believe that? Even if there’s no vote manipulation, they control everything from camera edits, haha.
└ Isn’t Lee Do-hee participating? She was a trainee at Topist, you know.
└ What the hell, lol. Let’s leave out the obscure ones.
└ She’s not obscure; she’s the underarm meme girl!
└ Ah, underarm girl, now I get it!
//
[Exclusive] “It’s going to be a legendary season.” Mwave Jedol Season 3 with JS, ZY, and Haru participating.
Whoa… I’m not kidding, the article is out, holy cow!
└ Seriously…?
└ It said Eun Se-ra was coming; the update confirms it, hahaha. Let’s debut, Eun Se-ra!!
└ What’s wrong with the three major agencies participating? If their rankings don’t meet the expectations of being big agencies, they’ll get mocked, obviously!
└ 2222
└ 3333
└ No way, this is insane, hahahaha.
└ This is seriously ridiculous.
└ Who are the active trainees now?
└ The famous ones are Eun Se-ra and Yoon Seo-won?
//
With the news of the participation of the three major agencies, Jedol Season 3 successfully created buzz even before the first recording started.
*
The day before the recording, I was packing my things for the two-week stay.
‘Got my earplugs. Packed underwear and clothes… Wet wipes are here… I’ll take only basic skincare and the essentials. Cleansing gel, lotion, ampoule, skin, sunscreen, oh, I should take lip balm too.’
As I finished packing, my mother looked at me with a worried expression.
“Do-hee, are you okay?”
Mother has been worrying about me a lot since the debut group’s cancellation.
“I’m doing this because it’s fun, so don’t worry. Have you seen me unable to do something?”
“Everyone’s putting in a lot of effort, so I’m worried. I hope you’re not just toughing it out. Plus, you’re going to be with kids you’ve never met before.”
Even though I’m a seasoned middle school girl who’s used to staying in military dorms, there’s no need to worry.
“If it’s tough, I’ll call. Don’t worry~”
Mother hugged me tightly and patted my back.
“If it gets hard, don’t just endure it, okay?”
“Got it.”
But as I keep doing the melodrama, it seems Mother is worrying even more.
I don’t want to see Mother worrying.
I need to be a filial daughter.
I leaned against Mother, who was holding me tightly, and said,
“But Mom, my chest is quite big, right? Admit it?”
I had just made some meaningful growth over the last four months.
Mother started to hit me on the back with the hand that was previously patting me.
“Oh, it’s foolish of me to worry about you!”
“Ah! Mom, that really hurts! Wait a second. It really hurts, you know?”
After finishing packing, I went to the bathroom to wash up and saw bruises on my back in the mirror.
Mother doesn’t even understand my heart as a filial daughter… so unfair.
…
The next day, I woke up early and left home with Mother and Father’s send-off.
“I’m off~”
“Our princess, fighting~”
“Do-hee, don’t get hurt!”
On the other hand, Do-ah…
She was too sleepy to even see me off and just slept.
I must’ve raised my sister wrong.
Boohoo…
…
When I arrived at the company,
There was a celebrity van parked in front of the building.
It was my first time getting into a van.
As I opened the door and got in, Na-eun Unni and Seo-yoon Unni were already inside.
I greeted them.
“Hi yo~”
“You came?” “Get in quickly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Na-eun Unni, who was looking at me, held my cheek and said,
“But Do-hee, aren’t you wearing any makeup?”
Now that I think about it, both Seo-yoon Unni and Na-eun Unni had their makeup done.
“Huh? Wasn’t I supposed to get it done there?”
All the shoots so far have been done on-site.
“How can you do makeup for all 99 of us? It’s not like we’re going on stage today.”
Ah, right.
“So what now?”
“Why?”
“You’re still pretty without it.”
“Sigh… here we go again.”
Honestly, I don’t know how to do makeup.
Do it for me~