Chapter 22: The Team No One Wanted to Face

At the same time, a loud crashing sound echoed from behind.

Startled, he turned around to see the large curtain installed at the back of the hall had fallen to the floor, revealing panels attached to the wall.

Eleven panels were attached side by side beneath a large panel that read “1st Contest Mission – Cover Song Evaluation.”

Stickers numbered 1 through 11 were placed in order over them, completely hiding the contents of each panel.

While the participants murmured and looked around, Son Chae-i crossed the hall and headed toward the panels.

“The 1st contest mission is a cover mission of famous songs by boy groups that represent K-pop, who will become your seniors in the future.”

Son Chae-i, who had arrived in front of the panels, spoke into her microphone, but the participants’ attention was entirely focused on the panels.

In the previous season, the first contest had also been done by covering songs from senior groups, but such mysterious panels had never appeared before.

Son Chae-i opened her mouth for the participants, who were bewildered as to why everything was covered up even though the songs to be covered were clearly written inside.

“Now, everyone!

You’re all curious about how the teams and mission songs will be selected, right?”

At Son Chae-i’s words, the trainees shouted “Yes!” in unison like kindergarten children.

“Let’s select the most important thing first: the teams.

First, the center of ‘Me and Me,’ Trainee Seo Jun-jae!”

One might have expected him to be flustered by the suddenly called name, but Seo Jun-jae raised his hand with a calm face.

Even his steps as he walked out were exceedingly relaxed.

“Trainee Seo Jun-jae has the privilege, as the first center, to have the priority in selecting his team members for the 1st contest.”

At Son Chae-i’s words, gasps burst out here and there.

Voices could be heard whispering gloomily that even if the center privilege was one thing, receiving it being that Seo Jun-jae was like giving wings to the ultimate player who already had visuals, skill, and popularity all wrapped up.

“Trainee Seo Jun-jae, are there any trainees you’ve thought about wanting to work with?”

“Yes, there are.”

“Will you point them out right now, or shall I give you more time to think?”

“I’ll point them out right now.”

Without hesitation, Seo Jun-jae began calling out the names of the participants who would be on his team.

K-Stars trainee Yeo Hyun-tae.

Those two are teaming up.

It’s better if those two stick together, rather than being on the same team as us and being compared.

I was next to them during my agency evaluation, and even my mom texted me after the first broadcast saying I’m in big trouble.

Ugh, whatever happens, I don’t want to be on that team.

True Music trainee Yoon Ji-heon.

Is he crazy?

Going there would make you a grilled squid on a hot plate, wouldn’t it?

How do you beat that team?

Just let them take the contest benefit.

At least it’s not a 1-on-1 team battle, thank god.

But still, if you get on that team, you’re guaranteed at least some screen time, right?

The team gets screen time, and your screentime gets instantly edited out.

ND trainee Lee Chan-seo.

Whoa, Yoon Ji-heon and Lee Chan-seo are teaming up?

Wow, that’s awkward but interesting.

That’s already four A-rank trainees there, isn that being too greedy?

I heard Lee Chan-seo is a good dancer too, looks like they’re gathering dance members.

Ah, I wanted to be with Chan-seo hyung.

Independent trainee Sim Jae-seo.

He’s just sweeping up all the members who got good reactions from the broadcast.

Is Sim Jae-seo good at dancing too?

He seemed just average.

I heard he’s never been a trainee before and only went to an academy for two months.

Of course that’s a lie, who believes that?

Sim Jae-seo’s name was mentioned alongside the K-Stars kids, so maybe that’s why?

I saw a lot of people saying they’d pick him as a package.

Whoa, he’s lucky too.

As Seo Jun-jae called out each name, Jae-seo stood there letting the whispering sounds around him go in one ear and out the other when a participant next to him tapped his shoulder.

“Jae-seo hyung, aren’t you going out?”

At the sudden question, he turned his head to ask why he would go out, but all the surrounding participants were looking at him.

…Huh?

Did Seo Jun-jae call my name?

“He called you, hyung.”

The participant next to him even gave his back a little push as if to confirm it.

In a dazed state, he went and stood next to Lee Chan-seo.

A moment later, his mouth fell open at the name that was called.

“I will select DY trainee Chae Han-ul.”

Seo Jun-jae, Yeo Hyun-tae, and even Chae Han-ul.

All the people involved in the mischief the game had played a few days ago were standing in the same line as him.

That meant he would have to spend the entire duration of this camp in the same team with these three people.

The hall buzzed with the sounds of the remaining participants selecting their teams, but none of it entered his ears.

Of all things, the team had to be formed like this…

He clenched his fist so tightly that his nails dug into his palm.

At this point, debut or whatever could be damned; his top priority was lowering his favorability with the participants.

He resolved to live like a mouse, not getting close to anyone on this program and staying alone.

He forced himself to hold onto the thought that even if he faded away quietly and got eliminated, he could somehow find a new way to survive.

“Now, then, each team needs to select the mission song they will cover, right?”

Once all eleven teams were formed, Son Chae-i smiled with a sly face and continued.

“The mission song selection will be done through… deduction!”

At the sudden unexpected word, the participants looked perplexed and began talking all at once, and soon the hall became unavoidably noisy.

Enjoying their reaction, Son Chae-i stood still for a moment with a smiling face before lifting her microphone again.

“Over the past two weeks, we received recommendations from viewers through the KMBS website for ‘eleven famous boy group songs suitable for cover.’

The songs are written inside these panels here, and the numbers written on top represent the ranking of votes for that song.”

So they’re not just randomly picking any song to practice?

The trainees were speechless, mouths agape at the unexpected song selection method.

When someone from afar hesitantly raised their hand and asked if there were any hints, Son Chae-i raised the hand holding the microphone as if she had been waiting.

“Of course there are hints!

All eleven candidate songs will be revealed.

After they are revealed, each team will have 10 minutes to deduce which song corresponds to which number.

Then, you attach the team sticker provided to the panel with the number you want, and you will perform the mission with that song.”

“Can we attach the sticker at any time?”

“Yes, anytime within the given 10 minutes.

Any more questions?”

“Can we stick it, take it off, and stick it somewhere else?”

“No, the moment you attach the sticker, the song is confirmed.

So you’ll have to think carefully before attaching it, right?”

After that question, no more questions came.

It wasn’t that they had no questions, but rather everyone seemed to want to hear the list of mission songs quickly.

After waiting for a moment to see if any more questions would come, Son Chae-i nodded and opened her mouth.

“Then, I will now reveal the mission candidate songs.”

After the mission songs were revealed, a large clock displayed ’10:00′ and soon the time began to decrease alarmingly fast.

Immediately, one trainee ran out, attached his team’s sticker to the number 1 song panel with a decisive smack, and returned with a triumphant face.

“Whoa, I wanted to do ‘Breakers’ too.”

Seeing participants from other teams looking back with disappointed faces here and there, it seemed everyone had an idea of what the number 1 song was.

Having only heard each of the eleven songs a few times at most, Jae-seo quietly stepped back.

“I think this is the order.”

Yoon Ji-heon opened his mouth first, listing the song titles in the order he thought they were ranked.

Everyone nodded as if they agreed.

With Seo Jun-jae and Lee Woo-rim adding a few words here and there, a plausible ranking table was completed in no time.

“Oh, this seems totally right.”

“I think numbers 6 and 8 are a bit confusing, but the rest seem correct!”

Assuming the ranking Yoon Ji-heon suggested was correct, they started discussing which song would be good to take as their mission song.

It probably wouldn’t be of much help, but Jae-seo also carefully thought about the mission songs.

Even though it was an uncomfortable combination for him personally, perhaps because the team had many talented members, every song he imagined seemed like it would work out fine.

Ah, except for one song.

“How about we first talk about the songs we don’t want to do and eliminate them?”

Whether he had a similar thought, Ha Jin-woo, a participant on the same team, spoke up first.

Yoon Ji-heon seemed to think it was a good idea too, nodding but skillfully rephrasing it, suggesting they talk about songs their team might have difficulty pulling off.

Only then did Ha Jin-woo, with an “oops” expression, glance at the camera that was filming the participants right next to them.

“I think ‘July Snow‘ might be a little… difficult for us to pull off.”

As Ha Jin-woo carefully chose his words, conscious of the camera, and glanced at Yoon Ji-heon and Lee Chan-seo, Lee Chan-seo also subtly stole a glance at Yoon Ji-heon.

…It couldn’t be helped.

Because ‘July Snow’ was that A.C.E’s song.