I Became the Youngest Member of a Top Idol Group

Chapter 13: First Broadcast (2)

The next evening, the team members, having finished practice early, gathered in the lounge.

There were quite a few other teams there as well.

Although everyone stuck with the people they were familiar with, there was still a subtle sense of tension.

The profile and center evaluation videos and the music broadcast stage videos were released.

In my case, even my personal talent video was briefly revealed.

Everything else remained shrouded in mystery.

Various online communities were abuzz with speculation about whether this program would be a hit or a flop.

– Lee Young-chae’s sense has dulled, this one’s going to be a disaster, LOL.

⨽ They really milked the format dry, huh?

⨽ It’s basically bone broth now, haha. Isn’t it time to get bored?

⨽ Just the fact they call the viewers "sponsors" is so cringe, LOL. Are we their moneybags or something? You can totally see how they view fans.

⨽ Damn, thought this was UNICEF. Are you guys Good Neighbors or what? Stupid broadcasters.

⨽ Everyone’s bashing it, but honestly, if it’s getting flamed this much, it’s probably going to do well?

⨽ 22222 Yeah, didn’t the last one blow up after this kind of reaction?

– I gotta give props to TBN for putting out a new show even after all the criticism.

⨽ They’ve got weird persistence.

⨽ Still, since it’s Doubles, it might at least be average?

⨽ Nope, they completely tanked that audition show from the other big agency.

⨽ From the broadcast clips, the kids look alright though.

⨽ Even from the pre-release videos, it was already getting traction, LOL. People wishing for it to flop will probably shut up once the ratings come out tomorrow.

– I’ve always liked Number 3 the best, personally.

⨽ Mam-Seohan?

⨽ He hasn’t even shown anything yet? He’ll probably pass Round 1 with that personal talent trick, LOL, whatever.

⨽ Already starting to bash him.

⨽ Wow, Seohan, looks like you’re really debuting. Look at all the shade getting thrown already. T_T

⨽ Seems like someone’s got a bit of a superiority complex.

– Kevin totally looks like a first-place face.

⨽ Absolutely not, something about his eyes looks off… it’s kinda unsettling.

⨽ The unsettling one is your face, buddy.

⨽ Even the mirror was creeped out looking at you.

⨽ What a bunch of nonsense, LOL. You’re hilarious.

“…Wow, someone’s got a sharp eye.”

Could that person be a regressor too? How did they figure that out?

I was still amazed by how someone could instantly tell someone was a druggie, when Ha Junseo suddenly placed his hand on top of my phone.

“Stop looking. It’s not all going to be good stuff.”

“Ah.”

“Gotta watch the first broadcast.”

He probably glanced at the top of the screen and saw my hate comment while passing by.

I had been marveling at something completely different, and with my mouth open like that, he might’ve thought I was in shock.

He was naturally a kind person, and I didn’t want to make him worry.

“The first broadcast! Of course we have to watch it.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the room quickly quieted down.

“It’s starting, it’s starting!”

As the show began, MC Han Dawon walked out onto the screen.

– Today, at the heart of the universe, thirty-four boys have entered Stardust World.

– To survive in this harsh and brutal land, every single vote from our sponsors is vital.

– Please support your boy so he can secure his place in Stardust World.

“Wow, a real celebrity!”

“Whoooa. MC-nim!”

Everyone exclaimed at Han Dawon’s appearance. There weren’t even any cameras around, so this was pure, instinctive cheering.

I smiled faintly and focused on the broadcast.

The screen transitioned and went straight to the first evaluation.

The judges, who said they’d be evaluating without laughing, handed out F grades just as expected.

– That was terrible.

– I heard you were a Doubles trainee… I don’t know how you lasted with skills like that.

“That’s seriously harsh….”

“They must’ve cherry-picked and edited it that way.”

Seo Haim shook her head with a dazed expression.

Originally, they didn’t speak that harshly—it looked like they had cut out the encouraging parts entirely.

Honestly, the trainees who at least got those reactions were better off.

The rest were completely edited out. A montage of fleeting clips zipped by, and groans escaped from the corners.

“Good thing we stuck together. Over there… they all look miserable.”

Lee Junhyeok added a tactless comment on top of that.

Ha Junseo, seemingly genuinely heartbroken, lowered his head without replying.

Some of the trainees who were shown were people he had trained with and grown close to.

Sometimes I wondered how someone as soft as that guy, softer than a cushion, had managed to survive inside the time bomb that was Stardust.

Thankfully, Ha Junseo got a decent amount of screen time.

– Ah, you’ve got a good foundation in both dance and vocals. You’re in Grade A. Congratulations.

– Thank you, I’ll do my best!

No negative edit, and overall a pretty favorable portrayal.

Now I was curious about when I would appear. The order was clearly different from the original filming.

Some might get pushed to the next broadcast, but I hoped I’d appear today if possible.

It wouldn’t be bad to raise my recognition early.

Time flew by quickly.

As the broadcast was nearing its end—

Lee Junhyeok, Ha Junseo, Seo Haim, and Jin Sehyun had all already appeared.

“Maybe you’ll show up next week.”

Well, I had a strong feeling Kevin would be the grand finale, and I agreed.

But then—

– I’m Do Seohan from Doubles! Please take care of me!

“Uh-oh?”

“Hey! That’s you!”

Ha Junseo jabbed me in the side, making me let out a weird sound.

The live chat was flooding in fast.

– Isn’t that Mam-Seohan?

– It IS Mam-Seohan!!!

– Wait, he’s the center, right?

– I’m curious now. That center kid, is he the one good at dancing?

– Yep, that brown-haired guy, dance genius center, the one who did the cicada impression, it’s him. Our Seohan is a passion-filled hamster, so please show him lots of love. T_T

As the center and also the "cicada," I had started to build a bit of recognition, so a few people in the comments were beginning to notice me.

I wondered how the stage would be picked.

“We’ve prepared the ‘Dancing on MV’ by LROY seniors.”

As soon as I threw out a word, background music like a bucket of cold water rang out.

“Huh?”

“‘Dancing on MV’?”

“Why that song of all things….”

“I just hope it’s average. That’s the worst song choice.”

The judges’ faces darkened, and their rotting expressions were zoomed in on.

After an overly dramatic portrayal of the situation, the sound of the song slowly began to flow.

I swallowed and fixed my gaze on the screen.

Then, time stopped.

Only I was moving on screen.

And the lyrics of “Dan-O-Mu” that I had memorized from hearing it so much.

"You let go of me, you're probably a prisoner."

"I'm trying to put an end to this meaningless wandering."

The eye movements I had put some thought into were naturally captured by the camera.

My smiling face flashed across the screen, accompanied by a confident and unhesitant performance.

It was me, but…

I had done better than I thought.

“What the, what the. You came out looking that cool? You did great!”

Ha Junseo, who had been peeking from backstage, fussed as he spoke.

“What is this, that’s seriously cool?”

“I still don’t get it.”

“I still don’t get it.”

With the reactions of Seo Haim and Ha Junseo, the comment section started to speed up.

-“Wow, this song???? And you actually pulled it off?”

-“Look at that head turn. That angle is insane.”

-“Wow, f*ck, a trainee actually made Dan-O-Mu work.”

-“Who is that guy?”

-“Who’s that in Dan-O-Mu??”

-“He’s good, damn.”

“Now I see why he’s the center.”

-“What’s with those dance lines? That’s insane ㅠㅠㅠㅠ”

-“Crazy, crazy, crazy—did you see that wink just now? What a sly hamster!”

The comments were overflowing with excitement.

As I watched the endless stream of comments, I became slightly dazed.

That wink… I think it was just due to a magnesium deficiency, anyway.

“Hey, you really did great.”

“Waaaaaah!”

The judges’ cheers sealed the mood of the stage, and the surprised faces of the other trainees followed.

One by one, they were shown on screen.

It was clear how much effort the production team had put into editing this stage.

I hadn’t expected it to go this far.

Even the performance itself was twice as good as I remembered.

Almost to the point where I wondered if it was really okay to be this good.

-“My heart is pounding. What did I just watch ㅠㅠ I already picked my top choice from the first broadcast, this is legendary.”

-“Oh my god ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ”

-“Seohan, ㅠ noona will debut you!!”

-“Mam-Seohan, you must debut!”

-“Debut! Debut!”

My heartbeat was quickening along with the flood of comments.

“Let’s debut, Do Seo-han!”

I hadn’t meant for this to happen.

I told myself not to be swayed by every little thing.

But my heart kept pounding.

If the excitement of the first episode’s broadcast was real, a bomb to match it was also waiting.

As expected, the laughter didn’t last half a day.

That dawn.

Unprecedentedly, all the trainees were outside.

A commotion.

“Hey….”

“What’s going on?”

“What is it? What is it?”

This chilling air.

I instantly sensed what was happening.

There was one thing that was likely to explode around this time.

“Hey, what do we do?”

“This looks serious, doesn’t it?”

“Did you see the article? Is it confirmed?”

“Oh, are they out of their mind?”

“Ha… Seriously insane.”

It finally came.

The reason why I hadn’t chosen a VENUS song, even with Lee Junhyeok breathing down my neck.

[VENUS leader Hyun Taeseong booked on DUI charges]

“What’s going to happen to those teams then?”

I told you.

Stardust was the second VENUS.

They were the original group for getting into endless trouble.

The teams assigned VENUS songs were the very picture of gloom.

They all looked so depressed no one dared say a word.

Rumors started going around that the songs would have to be changed.

“…What’s going to happen?”

Ha Junseo asked worriedly, even though it wasn’t his business.

Seo Haim sighed as he chewed his food.

“Still, I think they’ll change it. This situation is a disaster.”

“The mood was like a funeral.”

Changing the song would be a problem, but not changing it would be one too.

Everyone tried to practice, but their mental state had completely collapsed.

That shock was being passed on to the other trainees as well.

Ha Junseo asked with a bitter smile.

“If they change it, will they have to practice everything all over again?”

“Even if teams picked the same song, there’s still an overall evaluation… isn’t that too much of a disadvantage?”

Even a few days of difference in practice time could be critical.

It might not seem like a big deal, but as with any survival show, every single day counted.

Because the song changed suddenly, if we ended up showing a terrible performance, the public would remember that terrible stage as their first impression.

Of course, if we managed to pull off a miraculous story from that, we could get both airtime and emotional impact.

But that was easier said than done. From what I remembered, the team that had chosen the VENUS song had all failed.

There just wasn’t enough time to overcome it with effort.

“I doubt it’ll be good news, but I think they’ll change it.”

As Seo Haim predicted, the song was changed to that of another boy idol group instead of VENUS.

At first, they had planned to go ahead with it, but there was too much backlash on the viewers’ forum.

When the list of trainees assigned to the VENUS song leaked through rumors, the community went into an uproar.

People were saying things like, “If our kid’s image is ruined from the first song, are you going to take responsibility?”—so changing it was practically a done deal.

I didn’t know if the result was good for the teams involved, though.

Either way, it was a dilemma.

Seo Haim let out deep sighs and then carefully opened his mouth.

“But… we almost did the VENUS song, didn’t we?”

There were no cameras around anyway, so it didn’t matter that we were speaking cautiously.

Seo Haim’s eyes were trembling as if he had just survived a near-death experience.

“That really could’ve been a disaster.”

“Right? I thought we’d get the VENUS song too.”

Back then, the teams chose in order of the wake-up mission rankings, and VENUS had been chosen.

The song was that appealing, and its impact stood out compared to the others.

I heard that people were wondering why the first-place winner gave up a famous VENUS song and chose Eloy’s ‘On the Way to School’ instead.

Seo Haim scratched his head as if remembering that moment and continued speaking.

“To be honest, I also thought the VENUS song was the best choice at the time.”

“Same here, same here.”

“I thought so too.”

Jin Sehyun nodded as well.

Whew. They all pretended otherwise so I wouldn’t feel bad, but clearly they had wanted the VENUS song too.

Seo Haim laughed and waved his hand.

“But it’s a relief we didn’t do it. I used to wonder why we didn’t, but now I’m like, how many steps ahead was he seeing? Of course, not like you knew it at the time!”

…But I did know.

“The youngest must have the ability to see the future.”

“Is it intuition or something?”

“Cicadas are known to have good instincts.”

“…?”

Haha.

I smiled awkwardly and shook my head.

“It just felt like the Eloy song suited us better. How could I have known?”

“No, be honest. You laid out a fortune mat, didn’t you?”

“No, hyung.”

Ha Junseo poked my side while sipping his Americano.

For a moment, I almost made a serious face.

Not because of the fortune mat joke…

“Huh? What? Ah, just kidding.”

“It’s not that, it’s just—I was shocked you ate it with rice.”

“Hmm?”

“…I mean, that hyung’s eating habits, seriously. I’m always surprised.”

Jin Sehyun shook his head, clutching his forehead.

Ha Junseo, seemingly frustrated that his eating habits were being treated like bizarre cuisine, rested his chin in his hand and changed the subject.

“I mean, that can happen. You guys are too harsh.”

“I’m scared you’ll start mixing Americano with rice soon. Please stop.”

“It’s essential for practice…”

Ha Junseo lowered his head in defeat at Jin Sehyun’s blunt remark.

The conversation circled back to VENUS again.

Ha Junseo grinned and spoke again.

“Hmm, anyway. I’ve decided to trust Seohan’s instincts from now on. Let’s do the next song together too.”

“Me too! Count me in!”

Seo Haim added, even while eating meat with his hands.

Jin Sehyun wasn’t usually the type to insert himself into these things, but his serious eyes were clearly filled with trust in me.

I didn’t think they’d attach so much meaning to this, but it was unexpected.

“Seohan, predict the next mission. What do you think it’ll be? If you’re right, I’ll buy you meat every day.”

“Ooh, if it’s meat, I’ve already guessed the mission after next!”

“Oh, meat changes everything. Want to be on the same team for the next mission, hyung?”

“Let’s go, youngest!”

“Let’s give it our all in practice.”

Clap.

I high-fived Ha Junseo with a faint smile.

Ha Junseo actually gave me some of the special meal from his tray.

This hyung, I always feel this way, but he’s really kind.

Anyone who shares food is definitely a good person.

To think he gave away this deluxe meal thanks to big company sponsorship…

The meat melted in my mouth.

I blinked my eyes, moved.

“Ah, hyung…”

“You need to eat well to keep practicing for the next mission.”

Ha Junseo, this person.

…Could he be an angel?

That was the moment.

A voice like cold water being thrown over us broke the mood.

“It was just a lucky guess. You guys are overreacting.”

It was Lee Junhyeok.