Chapter 36: Sixth Place

[Please Take Care of My Idol Episode 2 Online Voting Rankings]

[1st Place Yoon Ji-heon
2nd Place Seo Jun-jae
3rd Place Nam Jin-wook
4th Place Yeo Hyun-tae
5th Place Lee Chan-seo
6th Place Sim Jae-seo
7th Place Park Kang-hoon
8th Place Han Tae-woo
9th Place Lee Kwon
10th Place Chae Han-ul
11th Place Rohan
12th Place Kim Woo-hyun
13th Place Kim Jae-ho
14th Place Lee Woo-rim
15th Place Na Yoon-jae
16th Place Lee Seung-han
…]

[Comments]

I knew Yoon Ji-heon would be 1st congrats congrats

Ugh I wish this was the final ranking,,

K-Stars debut

Holy I thought Seo Jun-jae would be 1st;

Lee Kwon is gonna drop like a rock because of today’s broadcast

↳ Why?

↳↳ (Lee_Kwon_character.gif) He tripped Sim Jae-seo

↳↳↳ What is this;

↳↳↳ Daebak.. lol

Except for Lee Kwon, this lineup is awesome right now

Woo-rim absolutely debut!

Jae-seo, hold onto that spotㅠㅠ

Rohan, rise up!!

Definitely still a lot of former idols/debutants on the list

Starting tomorrow I’ll steal my siblings’ IDs if I have to and vote

…

[Proof) Why Sim Jae-seo is NOT the PD’s pick]

[Source: Naverum TV

http://tv.navum.com/29127570987

[Grade Re-evaluation_Individual_Sim Jae-seo | Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2]

*The full video of the grade re-evaluation was released.

Pitch perfect, no wavering in the live singing until the very end, clean high notes.

I don’t know much about dance, but comments say he danced accurately without missing a single beat.

Comments are amazed starting from the part after 2 minutes, but only the beginning part briefly aired on broadcast.]*

***

[Comments]

Do you think they only watch the broadcast once? He’s an independent trainee, so they think he’s easy to push around. It’s obvious he’ll become a victim of malicious editing if anything goes slightly wrong lol..

↳ Same thing happened in Season 1. Independent trainees are the easy targets for the PD or other trainees’ fans..

Isn’t he just getting screentime because reactions are good? Lots of people around me like him too.

In terms of time, his screentime isn’t even that long

Lol there are people saying Sim Jae-seo is the PD’s pick?ㅋㅋ Is this their first time watching a survival show?ㅋㅋ

↳ They’re just crazy with the hate

..How is this proof?

↳ Exactly lol..

↳ *333* It’s not hate, it’s a fact that they’re obviously pushing Sim Jae-seo, so what

↳↳ Just because you feel that way, does it become fact? lol

↳↳ Yeah, that’s called hate

***

April 9th (Sunday), Year 0

The [Please Take Care of My Idol] game window filled the phone screen.

In one corner, today’s date marked the 99th day since he had entered this crazy perverted psycho game.

And today was,

[Schedule: Participate in Please Take Care of My Idol 1st Contest.

Execute?

Yes / No]

the day of the Please Take Care of My Idol 1st contest.

“…Ha, what kind of nonsense is this.”

Even though there was no way to back out now, he hesitated to press the ‘Yes’ button for no reason.

It had already been three months since he entered the game and started preparing to be an idol.

He thought he had gotten somewhat used to it, but now that the actual contest day had arrived, a sigh escaped due to the pressure.

He was just staring at his innocent phone as if glaring at it when his name was called from behind.

“Sim Jae-seo!”

“What are you doing?

Hurry up and come!”

Turning around, he saw Ha Jin-woo through the open door, slipping his heels into his sneakers as he spoke.

Behind him, other team participants were also passing by busily.

If he hesitated any longer, he might be late.

He finally pressed his finger firmly on the screen that said ‘Yes’.

He stuffed his phone into his pocket, grabbed his outer layer from the bed, and went outside.

Under the pitch-black sky, the headlights of cars lined up in a row shone brightly.

“Jae-seo hyung!”

Turning his gaze towards the sound, he saw Chae Han-ul, who had called his name, standing in front of the second bus door, waving his arm widely.

Quickening his pace, he approached Chae Han-ul and got on the bus together.

Except for him and Chae Han-ul, all the other team members were already seated.

“Jae-seo and Han-ul are here.”

He exchanged a brief greeting with Yoon Ji-heon, who was sitting in the very front seat welcoming them, and looked for an empty seat.

He felt someone following him.

Turning his head, he saw Chae Han-ul sticking close behind him.

“You go sit with Ji-heon hyung.

I came last, so I’ll sit alone.”

He gestured with his chin towards where Yoon Ji-heon was sitting.

Chae Han-ul made a flustered expression, his head turning anxiously back and forth.

Seeing Chae Han-ul fidgeting, unable to decide what to do, Yoon Ji-heon waved his hand towards them.

“It’s fine, just go in and sit.

Make sure to buckle your seatbelt.”

Chae Han-ul nodded vigorously and followed Jae-seo again, whispering in his ear.

“Doesn’t Ji-heon hyung seem like our homeroom teacher?”

He added that it felt exciting, like going on a school field trip.

Homeroom teacher, field trip—it had all been over 10 years ago, and not particularly good memories either.

Jae-seo just nodded vaguely when Yoon Ji-heon’s voice came from the front.

“Han-ul, I can hear you.”

“Hey, hyung!

I meant it in a good way!”

Jae-seo tuned out the chatter about leadership and responsibility and sat down in an empty seat.

Leaning his head against the window, he saw through the gap that the back of Lee Woo-rim’s head, sitting in the front seat, was stiff.

Only then did he realize the bus was unusually quiet.

Not only Lee Woo-rim and Ha Jin-woo, who would normally be chattering and joking around, but even the other team participants were all silent.

“Are you okay?”

He reached through the gap between the seats and gently tapped Lee Woo-rim’s shoulder.

Lee Woo-rim turned his head stiffly and answered that he was fine, even though his face looked anything but fine.

Stretching his neck to look diagonally ahead, Ha Jin-woo and Jang Young-bin didn’t seem much different.

Jang Young-bin had been trembling with nerves since last night, which was understandable, but even Ha Jin-woo and Lee Woo-rim, who had mercilessly teased Jang Young-bin about it, were acting like this.

Just as he was about to get up to check if they were really okay—

Thump.

Something heavy landed on his shoulder.

Turning his head, he saw Chae Han-ul, who had been chattering away just moments ago, now leaning his head on Jae-seo’s shoulder, fast asleep.

It made sense—they had practiced until late at night and only managed about two hours of sleep before coming down.

He carefully sat up straight, adjusted Chae Han-ul’s head to rest more comfortably, and turned to look out the window.

Soon after, the bus began speeding down the dark road.

***

Upon arriving at the broadcast station, the now-familiar cameras busily followed them.

Following the staff’s instructions, they arrived at the studio to find name tags with each team’s name prepared.

‘Miracle Idols, Sim Jae-seo’

Seeing the name tag Yoon Ji-heon handed out, he was speechless.

He had thought it was embarrassing enough when they had to shout it out loud during the mid-point check, but seeing the team name written down made him groan involuntarily.

At least the reactions from other teams nearby seemed similar, which was a relief.

He peeled the sticker off the back of the name tag and stuck it on his stomach.

“Starting now, we will proceed with the dress rehearsal in contest order!

Team number 1, come up now!

Team number 2, get ready down below!”

At the PD’s shout in front of the camera, the members of the first team went up on stage.

Soon after, the accompaniment for ‘Hashtag’ began playing.

After repeating the song twice, apparently checking something, the first team finally came down from the stage.

A staff member who had been filming them below handed a filming tablet PC to the first team’s leader.

Watching them leave the studio with it, it seemed each team was provided with one for monitoring purposes.

After a long time, it was finally their team’s turn.

Having waited until the sixth order, they roughly loosened their stiffened bodies and went up on stage.

A staff member quickly checked the center position and went back down.

Once they formed their formation according to that spot, the accompaniment for ‘July Snow’ began to play.

Like the previous teams, they performed the stage twice, then took their team’s tablet PC and headed to the waiting room.

Upon arriving at the waiting room, it was practically chaos.

The five teams that had finished their rehearsal earlier were in a frenzy getting their stage hair and makeup done.

Their team was immediately thrown into the pandemonium.

First, they changed into their outfits.

Coming out wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and denim shorts—colors he didn’t remember ever wearing in his life—clothes pins were stuck here and there to adjust the fit.

He carefully removed the name tag from his original sweatshirt, stuck it onto the changed t-shirt, and finally put on the provided white socks and sneakers.

Immediately after, he was sent off to get hair and makeup.

Arriving there, he saw Yoon Ji-heon, Ha Jin-woo, and Lee Chan-seo, who had finished changing before him, already getting their hair and makeup done.

He sat on a waiting chair behind them, waiting for his turn.

Soon, the other team members arrived one after another, filling the empty seats.

“Should we do some monitoring among ourselves first?”

At Jang Young-bin’s suggestion as he appeared with the tablet PC, the team members nodded and gathered in the center.

The waiting room was too noisy to check the vocals, so they agreed to prioritize checking the dance.

Since their leader Yoon Ji-heon was getting makeup done, Seo Jun-jae and Yeo Hyun-tae took over the role, pointing out things to fix or be careful about.

As they watched the video and exchanged opinions, the 3 minutes and 17 seconds of footage flew by.

After monitoring the video a few more times, Yoon Ji-heon, who had finished his makeup, called Jae-seo’s name.

He went and sat in the chair with lights and a mirror.

Makeup immediately began.

He thought he had received enough hair and makeup treatments while appearing on Please Take Care of My Idol to know what it was like, but he was completely mistaken.

Using far more types of cosmetics than ever before, they patted and swept every part of his face.

By the time the makeup was done, he was practically half-zoned out.

Hair, which followed shortly after, was no different.

Usually, they just added some volume and kept it neat, but today they were practically stir-frying his hair.

Several hairpins were stuck in various places, a device emitting hot air passed back and forth, spray was applied, and finally, they even decorated it with an accessory woven with multicolored beads.

Thinking it might be too much, he hesitated and returned to the waiting chair.

Jang Young-bin, who was still waiting alone for his turn because he hadn’t received hair and makeup yet, praised him, saying it suited him well.

Feeling a bit sheepish, Jae-seo unconsciously raised his hand to touch his face, but it was stopped by a hand reaching out from behind.

“You’ll ruin your makeup.”

Turning his head, he saw Seo Jun-jae holding his arm.

The sight was absolutely spectacular.

A dazzling array of tiny glitter pieces were placed all over his face—the ornate style suited Seo Jun-jae incredibly well.

Jang Young-bin, who had just complimented Jae-seo moments ago, now had his mouth hanging open, unable to utter a single word.

So this is a genuine reaction, huh?

Anyway, he thanked Seo Jun-jae for preventing him from ruining the carefully done makeup and tried to pull his arm away.

Seo Jun-jae, who had been staring intently at Jae-seo’s face, smiled with his eyes curving.

At that small movement, the tiny pieces attached near Seo Jun-jae’s eyes sparkled and shone.

It was somewhat overwhelming, so Jae-seo turned his head away to avoid his gaze.

And at that moment, he made eye contact with Yeo Hyun-tae, who had just finished his hair and makeup and was rising from his seat.

…It was truly time to feel like a grilled squid.