Chapter 35: Broadcast Night

Just as he was trying to forcibly deceive himself and somehow gather his thoughts, Ha Jin-woo kept interfering.

On top of that, right at that moment, the subjects of “who” were entering the practice room.

The moment he saw Ha Jin-woo excitedly raise his arm at their appearance, Jae-seo could clearly foresee what was about to unfold and could only squeeze his eyes shut.

“Jun-jae, Hyun-tae!

Come here for a second!”

Why is it that bad premonitions never miss the mark?

As he thought this gloomily, Seo Jun-jae and Yeo Hyun-tae approached them.

Ha Jin-woo started saying they’d just been talking about them.

Jae-seo desperately sent him glances begging him not to go there, but Ha Jin-woo ignored him and continued.

“We were just choosing the best lips.

Jae-seo’s, of course.”

Seeing Ha Jin-woo even spread his hand to point at him, Seo Jun-jae looked momentarily confused, then seemed to understand, letting out an “Ah” and laughing quietly.

Yeo Hyun-tae also glanced at him, seeming to catch on, but showed not a trace of embarrassment.

…Wait, am I the only one uncomfortable here?

“About earlier?

Our lips didn’t touch.”

What?

At Seo Jun-jae’s words, Yeo Hyun-tae nodded in agreement.

Jae-seo was just staring blankly at the two when Ha Jin-woo immediately objected with a suspicious voice.

“Didn’t touch?

You pressed pretty hard, didn’t you?”

“I guess it looked that way from a distance?”

Seo Jun-jae turned his gaze from Ha Jin-woo, who was still tilting his head with a doubtful expression, toward Jae-seo and added quietly, “That’s a shame,” his eyes softly curving down.

It probably wasn’t the right time for this, but the ultimate goal of the ridiculous show he’d put on in front of the mirror earlier had actually been that.

Seo Jun-jae’s smiling face.

Whatever his true intentions, on the surface, it was objectively beautiful to look at.

“But what were you doing here anyway?”

Come to think of it, there was an entire empty practice room, yet here were four grown men huddled together in one corner in front of the mirror.

At Yeo Hyun-tae’s question, Ha Jin-woo made an “Ah!” sound with a face like he’d almost forgotten.

“Well, I was trying to help Jae-seo with his facial expression practice, and somehow it led to….”

Probably feeling that the flow of their earlier conversation had been strange even to himself, Ha Jin-woo trailed off uncertainly.

Then he suddenly snapped his head up, looked at Yeo Hyun-tae, and his eyes sparkled.

Jae-seo worried he was having another weird idea, but thankfully this time, a perfectly normal—and even helpful—question was thrown out.

“Hyun-tae, what were you thinking during the ‘July Snow’ stage at the mid-point check earlier?”

For Yeo Hyun-tae, who didn’t know the context, it must have been an utterly random question, but without a hint of fluster, he immediately answered that he wasn’t thinking anything in particular.

Ha Jin-woo shook his head, saying that wasn’t what he meant, paused as if pondering, then rephrased his question more specifically.

“I mean, you’re not really a character like me or Jun-jae, right?”

Seo Jun-jae, who had been listening beside Yeo Hyun-tae, raised one eyebrow.

The subtly sharp expression suggested there was something in that last sentence he didn’t quite like.

For instance, he might have taken issue with the phrase “like me or Jun-jae”—who was Ha Jin-woo to evaluate him?

Completely oblivious to Seo Jun-jae’s reaction, Ha Jin-woo continued.

“When you’re doing a bright song like ‘July Snow,’ what kind of things do you think about to make yourself smile?”

“This guy here has a damn hard time smiling, you see.”

With that added comment, the three people’s gazes simultaneously landed on him.

Encouraged by Ha Jin-woo to show them, he had no choice but to curl his lips into a smile at the mirror.

Ha Jin-woo shook his head as if to say “see what I mean.”

Jae-seo watched blankly as even Seo Jun-jae, uncharacteristically, let out a thoughtful sigh-like sound.

Then Yeo Hyun-tae quietly spoke.

“Maybe you don’t need to try so hard to smile so broadly?”

Jae-seo looked up at Yeo Hyun-tae with a questioning face.

Yeo Hyun-tae lowered himself to sit, meeting his gaze, and lifted just the corners of his mouth in a small smile.

“Don’t you think smiling just a little like this looks much better than forcing a big smile?”

…That’s, isn’t that because it’s your face?

Swallowing the words that almost escaped involuntarily, Jae-seo awkwardly smiled back, mimicking Yeo Hyun-tae.

Watching him intently, Ha Jin-woo let out a small “Oh!” and muttered that it was still weird, but much better.

“But still, wouldn’t it be better to smile a bit more during the intro?”

Turning his head at the sudden voice, he found Seo Jun-jae had already moved close.

Surprised by the unexpectedly close distance, he tried to lean back, but with a quiet “Excuse me for a moment,” Seo Jun-jae’s hands suddenly cupped his cheeks.

Then, using his thumbs, he gently pressed near Jae-seo’s eyes, pulling them down slightly.

Feeling burdened by his own strange face reflected in Seo Jun-jae’s eyes, Jae-seo squeezed his eyes shut, then suddenly thought that with his face being held like this, shutting his eyes would probably look even weirder, so he snapped them open.

“Ha ha.”

As if reading his thoughts, Seo Jun-jae laughed quietly and released his face.

Then, with an “Ah,” he moved close again, brought his mouth to Jae-seo’s ear, and whispered in a voice laced with laughter.

“So, which one was better?”

…Please don’t do this.

***

[x00407 Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 Episode 2 Live Discussion Thread]

[x00407 Starting a live thread for Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 Episode 2

※Broadcast starts at 10:10 PM※]

***

[Comments]

Why are there so many adsㅡㅡ Is this a show or an ad fest?

Today’s when the rankings come out, right?

↳ Yeah

Go vote if you haven’t http://kmbs.com/mydolplzseason2/vote/

Countdown started!!

60 seconds!!!

📢BROADCAST STARTED BROADCAST STARTED BROADCAST STARTED📢

Son Chae-i is so pretty today tooㅠㅠㅠㅠ

K-Stars!!

Wow starting right off with K-Stars lol

Da—mn

Both of them are main dancer material, insane lolㅠㅠ

What they’re good at singing too???

↳ Hyun-tae’s low voice is insaneㅠㅠ

↳ Holy shit Seo Jun-jae’s high notes are insane too?

K-Stars killed it!! lol lol

The other trainees’ expressions lolㅠㅠㅠㅠ

↳ That’d be me if I were them.

↳↳ Same, I’d reconsider being an idol too lolㅠㅠ

Is this how frogs feel when they meet a bullfrog in their peaceful pond?

↳ Isn’t that an ecosystem disruptor lol lol

If they don’t debut, who will? Gotta vote

Look at Eum Yu-sol’s expression lol He’s so excited seeing good dancers lol lol

How can the tension be this low during grade announcements lolㅠㅠ

First time feeling disappointed that my bias got an A lol

↳ Right lol It’s the highest grade, why am I disappointed lolㅠㅠ

Wow,, it’s gotten so boring since K-Stars ended,,

They should have shown K-Stars last then

↳ I knowㅠㅠ Can’t focusㅠㅠ

Grade evaluations are over!

Wtf are the Blue Team kids completely edited out??ㅠㅠ

↳ They appeared briefly last week!

Oh they’re doing Me and Me now!!

📢GRADE EVALS OVER!! RE-EVAL (ME AND ME) STARTING!!📢

Ah please stop with Raise Meㅠㅠ

↳ The Raise Me sing-along dance-along is hilarious though why lol

Son Chae-i got flustered lol She’s like we should announce ours lol

Me and Me!! They really picked a good song and choreo

↳ Right so good lolㅠㅠ

The A class kids copying the dance right away is so cool

Cheon Sang Jeu ABSOLUTELY DEBUT

Seo Jun-jae, Yoon Ji-heon, Yeo Hyun-tae, Lee Chan-seo — these four are debuting for sure. If even one of them doesn’t debut, the show is rigged.

↳ My one-pick is another trainee, but I can’t really argue..

↳↳ Same only five spots left nowㅠㅠ

↳ Add Nam Jin-wook too!

↳↳ Isn’t it a bit shameless to put Nam Jin-wook in that group? lol

↳↳↳ No matter how much you try to hate, Jin-wook’s views are 6th~

Except for A grade, everyone else is so clumsy;

I thought the dance was easy, but everyone’s got flaws

↳ They just started learning after watching it once, what do you expect;

↳↳ Same lol The show is doing well so people want to hate for no reason ^^

↳↳↳ It’s a fact that except for A grade, everyone else got wrecked, so what hating for no reason? lol

Lots of kids got B in dance, what’s going onㅠㅠ

Oh C grade is not bad?

↳ Right they’re doing better than expected lol

↳ But even here, the ones on the left are meh, only the ones on the right are good

↳↳ Who’s on the right?

↳↳↳ Don’t know, they went by too fastㅠㅠ But Sim Jae-seo for sure

↳↳↳↳ How are you sure about Sim Jae-seo?

↳↳↳↳↳ The white one passed by

↳↳↳↳↳↳ LMAOㅋㅋ “The white one passed by”ㅋㅋ Definitely Sim Jae-seoㅋㅋ

…

📢TEAM PRACTICE STARTED TEAM PRACTICE STARTED TEAM PRACTICE STARTED📢

Oh they’re showing A class right away lol

K-Stars, every time I see their faces I’m amazed

↳ (tingling_new_handsome_is_best.jpg)

Cheon Sang Jeu debut holding hands

Nam Jin-wook fighting!

Is Nam Jin-wook Code:Kids’ main vocal?

↳ Jin-wook is main vocal yeah but not Coz Kids, it’s Code:Kids..

↳↳ Ah sorryㅜ

Wow Seo Jun-jae is so goodㄷㄷ

How is Jun-jae also good at singingㅠㅠ

↳ Seo Jun-jae, confirmed bullfrog

Huh Yeo Hyun-tae is good too??

↳ And it’s not just “good for his visuals,” he’s just plain goodㄷㄷ

What lol Chan-seo rapping instead of singing, truly another class lol lol

Won Ju-ha looks surprised too

↳ How could she not be surprised lol

↳ Even K-pop veterans of nn years are all surprised

Lee Chan-seo isn’t a legend, he’s a legend

Holy shit Lee Woo-rim, Park Seo-hu, Lee Seung-han are all in D grade

Park Seo-hu please debut and be main vocalㅜㅜ

↳ Is Park Seo-hu that good?

↳↳ Yes he’s amazing, his intro video confirms main vocal pick

Lee Woo-rim’s face doesn’t match his voice, how is he main vocal?ㄷㄷ

Ah,, after Seo-hu, Woo-rim, Seung-han it’s just dark,,

…

Finally C!! Jae-seo is coming!!

Huh Kang Tae-geon and then Sim Jae-seo right after? There are so many trainees standing in between!

↳ Guess they’re all edited out.. Our kid is good, show him pleaseㅜㅜ

Jae-seo’s tone is killer

Do it do it do it

So clean

But this guy is really whiteㄷㄷ

↳ For real, his skin is amazing tooㅠㅠ

Is SJSeo the PD’s pick or something? Ever since the preview, every time he does something they give him tons of screentime lol;

↳ Seems like it, it’s super obvious. Heard he has no agency, guess his family has money

↳↳ What is this.. You implying Sim Jae-seo bribed the PD? lol

↳↳↳ Otherwise would that screentime be possible? It’s not like his visuals or skills are that good, and he’s not an entertaining character either

↳↳↳↳ “It’s not like his visuals or skills are that good” << I’m laughing at this

↳↳↳↳ His visuals are so bad that’s why a trainee whose name wasn’t even known got promotional posts just from a 1-second shot in Music Up&Down, right lol?

Jae-seo must be smart, his learning ability? is good. They tell him to do it like this and he actually does it that way lol lol lol lol lol

Kwon ahㅠㅠ

Huh Lee Kwon is doing rap too I guess

Why isn’t he singing lol;;

How can a guy who already debuted act like that..

Won Ju-ha looks so pissed?

↳ I’d be pissed too

Holy shit comparing him to Sim Jae-seo here? lol lol

Why would you even compare him to another trainee;

↳ They were right before each other so it invites comparison

↳↳ I know that, but why say it out loud;

I knew Lee Kwon would be like this lol Soon as he debuted he got such a celebrity complexㅉㅉ

↳ What nonsense are you talking, that celebrity complex thing was all just reading into expressions and forced hate

↳↳ Was him saying with his own mouth that the clothes fans gifted weren’t his style so he couldn’t wear them also reading into expressions and forced hate? lol

↳↳↳ He explained that was a joke, but dragging it up every time is tiring, really

↳↳↳↳ Get tired of hating on Kwon instead, Jung Min might die from overwork soon

Is it for real that the C class kids’ screentime got wrecked because of Lee Kwon and Sim Jae-seo?

↳ ? How is that because of Sim Jae-seo? It’s because of Lee Kwon, right?

↳ Sim Jae-seo just quietly did his best, what did he do wrong?

↳ Bringing Jae-seo into this is so annoying lol

Holy they’re showing C class dance training right away?

What a mess, why did they say they were confident lol

Lee Kwon was Juke’s main dancer, right? Is my memory wrong? His dance is so badㅠ

↳ (worstdancingmaindancer.gif) Isn’t Lee Kwon the guy in this gif?

↳↳ Holy shit that was Lee Kwon lol lol lol lol

Ah it’s Sim Jae-seo again

Jae-seo seems to be dancing better than in the grade eval? Is it just me??

↳ You too? Actually I felt that way since his song earlier

It’s good Jae-seo is doing well, but why do they keep editing it to compare him with that other guyㅜㅜ

Sim Jae-seo, why is he the only one fine?? How is he not tired;;

Wow did anyone else see Lee Kwon glaring at Sim Jae-seo just now?ㄷㄷ

↳ He was just looking, stop reading into expressions;

↳↳ No, when Kwak Jinwoong praised Sim Jae-seo, he was glaring!ㄷㄷ

Ah the screentime difference is really too much lol They’re going all in on Lee Kwon vs Sim Jae-seo lol

Holy.. Did anyone else see Lee Kwon trip Sim Jae-seo behind Kang Tae-geon just now?

↳ What are you talking about; Are you sure you saw right?

↳ I saw it too, thought I was mistaken, guess it’s real

↳ Tripping someone with cameras everywhere? What’s wrong with his character;

↳ (Lee_Kwon_tripping_Sim_Jae-seo.gif) Looks more like Sim Jae-seo stepped on Lee Kwon’s foot, not Lee Kwon tripping Sim Jae-seo

↳↳ All I see is Lee Kwon sticking his foot out, where do you need to look to see Sim Jae-seo stepped on it?

↳↳↳ You can’t see it at all, probably didn’t happen lol

↳↳ Either Lee Kwon tripping or the fans shielding him by lying about him stepping on a foot he didn’t step on ((((((Sim Jae-seo))))))

…

📢RE-EVALUATION STARTED RE-EVALUATION STARTED RE-EVALUATION STARTED📢

F grade kids hang in thereㅠㅠ

Please don’t stop, just make up any lyrics and sing, kids..

No, I won’t complain about screentime, just don’t show themㅠㅠ

B class did well!

These guys are good

LMAOㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Yoon Jae-hyuk lol

Yeah if you forget lyrics, you gotta do it like this!

What? What happened?????

↳ Guess he forgot the lyrics, just made up a whole song of gibberish lol

A class is really good

↳ Same they’re all just goodㄷㄷ

Guess they’re showing the grade eval results now

Oh F to B! Park Ye-chan, gonna vote!

Jae-seo got B!! Well doneㅠㅠ

Wha.. that’s a B..? It wasn’t bad, but not really B-level I think..

↳ Same lol Thought it was just me

↳ Clearly the PD’s pick lol

He did well in both song and dance, why is the vibe like this?

↳ Same lol Anyone would think he messed up and got a good grade lol

↳ *333* The comments are really weird

Son Chae-i, Won Ju-ha, Kwak Jinwoong’s favoritism towards SJSeo is obvious, super uncomfortable, B is seriously overkill

↳ Holy thought it was just me lol

↳ ? If they favor him, it’s probably because he’s good lol Too bad your pick isn’t good enough

I’ve felt it for a while, there are really a lot of comments weirdly trying to hate? on Sim Jae-seo

↳ Same so many. An independent trainee with visuals and skills gets popular and does well, guess it stings for some

↳↳ His visuals and skills are lacking but he gets tons of screentime and does well and they try to force connections with trainees who are actually popular, that’s what’s annoying lol

↳↳↳ Say it straight. If visuals and skills were lacking, no amount of screentime would get a reaction ^^

↳ *33* Sim Jae-seo isn’t my pick but the hating on him is so annoying to watch;

↳ *444* It’s hilarious people complaining about screentime and hating, my cat knows Sim Jae-seo’s reactions were good ever since his face first appeared

…

Next week’s preview!! Looks like a boy group cover

Just from the dance, that’s Breakers, isn’t it? lol lol lol lol

Holy what? Seo, Sim, Yeo are on the same team?????

↳ Ah daebakㅠㅠ Wish I could open my eyes tomorrow and it’s next Fridayㅠㅠ

↳ (screenshot.jpg) It’s a foot capture but I got a shot of Seo, Sim, Yeo together

↳↳ Wow their visual combo is insaneㄷㄷ

↳↳ Holy shit I could die tomorrow with no regretsㅜㅜ

…