Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 187:

A participant who had just witnessed a stage that was the epitome of C-grade muttered with his mouth wide open.

“Ah… so this is A.”

Everyone around him must have had the same thought.

That guy was not meant to be here with his skills and talent.

I clicked my tongue inwardly as I recalled the stage that Kang Yu-geon had shown me in the future. He did better than this then.

“I have prepared up to here. Thank you.”

Yu-geon finished his stage with the accompaniment and smiled confidently as he looked at the judges.

Since only small and medium-sized agencies had come out so far, there was not a single A-grade yet.

They all marveled that the first A-grade came from an individual trainee. They waited for the alphabet A to appear on the panel behind the stage.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Isn’t that an error?”

They all saw it with their eyes but could not believe it.

The alphabet that appeared behind Yu-geon was not A, but F.

“No… just do it right for once.”

They all believed that there must have been some mistake. And Yu-geon seemed to think the same.

“Excuse me, but I think the grade is wrong.”

Yu-geon, the person in question, raised his hand first to object. Then the judges all avoided his gaze with stiff expressions and the oldest-looking male rapper among them answered with a microphone.

“Kang Yu-geon trainee’s grade is F.”

They all doubted their own ears. Even I could not believe the situation.

“What are you talking about? How is that F?”

“The one from All Black Entertainment who had a sound failure earlier got C, but how can you send him to F?”

“Isn’t something wrong?”

The whole hall was in an uproar as they could only think that the judges had gone crazy.

[Let’s hear the judges’ comments right away.]

The MC quickly diverted the attention to the judges’ side to prevent any more complaints from erupting.

Then the judges turned off their microphones and started whispering to each other as if they were discussing something.

The judging was delayed for a while, and after about three minutes, the male singer in his thirties who was leading the charge opened his mouth.

“Um… first of all, I got the impression that you lacked the basics because you didn’t experience systematic training. Overall, your skills looked flashy, but not solid enough.”

And then the female idol in her twenties took over the baton.

“Being an idol… it’s mainly a group activity. I’m worried that you might have trouble filling the stage as a group. Right now, I think you should focus on polishing your basics rather than the flashy appearance.”

It was nonsense. No, group or solo aside, the ones who got B, C, D in front of him were far behind Yu-geon.

Some couldn’t do live and danced to lip-sync, or some gave up dancing completely because they did live, and they put them in B-grade and told him to do the basics and gave him F?

The other trainees also seemed to find it unacceptable, as sneers erupted here and there.

“Thank you for your hard work. Next trainee, please come up.”

The production team hurried the progress as if they were afraid that the protest would continue if they dragged on, and dragged Yu-geon down from the stage.

I was dragged down from the stage by the production staff in a hurry. Yu-geon looked half-dazed as he walked down.

The next trainee was getting ready to go on stage, but everyone’s eyes were still fixed on Yu-geon.

‘They would have filmed where Yu-geon sits according to his rank here.’

The camera was deliberately facing the stage, as if to ignore him.

How could they treat him like this… unless they really hated him? I frowned at the unfair judgment. I couldn’t think of it as fair at all.

‘Could it have something to do with Yu-geon being edited out in the beginning?’

But he didn’t seem worried when we got on the bus earlier… and he looked surprised when he saw his grade.

Before I knew it, Yu-geon walked weakly to the stage side and slumped into an easy seat. He was ranked 82nd.

The other participants were shocked to see Yu-geon sitting in a low rank with a stunned expression.

[Please focus on the progress for a moment. Next, please welcome the trainees from Neon Wave Entertainment: Yun Min Seong, Im Mo Chan, and Bae Sang Woo.]

It was only when the MC drew attention again for the progress that the atmosphere calmed down.

The judges couldn’t have gone crazy.

The next evaluation was rational again, and they produced one B-grade, one C-grade, and one F-grade each.

Just when I was reasonably suspicious that they were deliberately leaving the top grades empty, a familiar name was called.

[Bright Star Shim Naru, please come up.]

He was short, so I couldn’t see him well, but he had already taken a seat in the front row. Naru walked confidently to the stage.

Wow… he looked young when I saw him at nineteen. He was a kid now. I was worried if he could be a celebrity on TV at such a young age.

As soon as Naru’s name was called, the surroundings started to buzz again.

“Wow, it’s Shim Naru.”

“I know, he was on that Teenager show, right?”

“Wow… he must be good at singing.”

“The big ones are here too.”

Amidst the various stories, Naru puffed up his cheeks and pursed his lips, as if he heard the noise all the way to the stage.

Then he took a deep breath and started his self-introduction confidently.

“Hello, I’m Shim Naru from Bright Star. I’ve prepared hard to give you a good song. Please take care of me.”

He seemed to put some strength on his shoulders, but from an adult’s perspective, he looked so young and cute. I couldn’t help but laugh reflexively.

“Is he a middle schooler?”

“Didn’t they say middle schoolers can’t come here?”

There were heated opinions about his age among the participants. Soon after, the various stories were left behind, and Naru’s stage began.

He wouldn’t go off-key here, would he?

In my impression, Naru was a main vocalist who lacked skills, who either went off-key or skillfully avoided live performances. So I was worried from the start.

‘Oh…’

And that doubt disappeared as soon as the first lyrics started.

He had prepared thoroughly, or maybe the way I saw him was just his condition when he was too exhausted.

It was a pretty neat and good song choice. He had the best skills among the trainees who had come out so far.

Kang Yu-geon did well, but his song was not something to boast about in terms of vocal skills. After his stage that made everyone gasp in admiration, Naru received the first A grade along with the judges’ tremendous praise.

“Wow, you look like an idol who’s already debuted and active. I enjoyed your amazing performance.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing your skills in the remaining period.”

Naru, with his shoulders raised, walked upstairs without showing any interest in Yu-geon.

7th place. It was the highest rank among the empty ones so far.

After that, about 10 more groups were judged. And then, when there were less than thirty trainees left, my name was called.

Hwijin was the only member of Floss’ debut team whose name hadn’t been called yet.

‘Well… maybe it’s because the other members are from medium or larger agencies with some power.’

I didn’t know the details, but I didn’t expect to be called before Hwijin, so I got up from my seat a bit surprised.

The stage looked higher than I thought. It was about three stories high compared to the pyramid-shaped ranking chairs that stretched to the side.

The judges’ seats were slightly higher than the stage, and the waiting room was low enough to see at a glance.

They all looked like they were thinking, ‘Who’s that?’ or ‘He’s an individual trainee, so he’s nothing special.’

I took a short breath and opened my mouth.

“Hello, Cheon… I mean, Lim Hyun-seong. Nice to meet you.”

I almost introduced myself as Cheon Ise, too naturally. Fortunately, it looked like I pronounced ‘Cheon’ a bit strongly because I was nervous.

“Nice to meet you, Lim Hyun-seong trainee. Let’s see the stage you prepared for today.”

They seemed to want to get to the point quickly, since they had already seen my basic skills in the preliminary audition.

I clenched the hand mic slightly and adjusted my breathing. I had shown my dance skills before, so this time I wanted to try the vocal line.

“I’ll sing Friday garden.”

Friday garden was an R&B song that was popular when I was in my early twenties, and it had been released about 20 years ago.

It was an old song, but a masterpiece was a masterpiece, and it was a song that would spread like a trend among the main vocals in a year or two.

It wasn’t a trend yet, but it would be soon anyway. I thought they wouldn’t mind if I started it.

“Okay. Please prepare the sound source.”

As soon as the judge gave the OK sign, I drew a status window and shouted inwardly.

‘I’ll use the fate skill.’

Then, the status window appeared right away.

[Whose fate skill do you want to use?]

[Available fate (15)]

‘Son Seong-won – Sound Source Playback.’

[Confirmed. 30 points will be deducted.]

As soon as the points I had raised to 40 dropped to 10, the buff effect was applied.

Soon, the sound team finished preparing and the cue sign came down. I rolled my feet lightly to the intro and followed the rhythm, then took a slight breath and opened my mouth.

[Friday night, the weekend is not over yet.]

[Bright lights, the beautiful night sky is full of you.]

My voice was calm and low, but quite charming. It proved that the name ‘sound source playback’ was not in vain, as it conveyed the cynical and empty emotions of the original song.

[This is the end. Party is over.]

[I’m the only one who’s still holding on to this night.]

Maybe it was because my first impression was stuck in his mind, when I sang live with an unfamiliar body and no accompaniment.

He looked at me with shining eyes, his vocals much more natural and skilled than before.

[If I could see you one more time.]

[I’ll smile as if I’ve forgotten the pain. I’ll light the candles and play the music again.]

As the emotion in my voice grew deeper, I nodded slightly and wondered if these were the same people who had frowned at Kang Yu-geon’s stage earlier.

Their faces clearly said ‘well done, well done’.

[Like many lovers do, we blessed each other’s departure]

[I’ll remember the miracle that we could love once]

Finally, the chorus came and the highlight began, and I nailed the high notes.

I guess this was how Seong-won always felt.

As I was immersed in a strange feeling, the song was about to transition to an instrumental.

“Wait. Wait a minute, stop the song.”

The polite choreographer in his thirties stopped the song.

‘What?’

The reaction wasn’t bad. Did I make a mistake? As I turned my eyes in confusion, I met the choreographer’s gaze, and he opened his mouth.