Chapter 49: Stepping Into the Center

The problem arose next.

They needed to learn the choreography, but on their side, there was no one capable of doing that.

Taking on the main vocal role—if he messed that up, he’d just be personally criticized for being bad.

But with choreography, the moment he got it wrong, it would harm the entire team, so he couldn’t easily step forward.

“Um, let’s just take a short break for now and try again later.”

Saying that, he grabbed the tablet PC and went out to the hallway.

Sitting on the sofa at the end of the hall, he played the choreography video and stared at it intently, but no matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t be confident he could do it.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

Startled by the sudden voice, he fumbled and nearly dropped the tablet PC he was holding.

He blankly watched the expensive device falling towards the floor, thinking about how much he’d have to pay to compensate for it.

Fortunately, a hand stretched out and safely caught the tablet PC just before it hit the ground.

Only then did he look up to see Yeo Hyun-tae looking at him with slightly surprised eyes.

…I guess I overreacted a bit.

“Ah, sorry.

I was thinking about something, I got too worked up, right?”

Yeo Hyun-tae, who had returned to his usual expression, apologized for startling him and handed the tablet PC back.

“So, what were you looking at?”

Come to think of it, he realized Hyun-tae had asked the same question earlier.

He showed him the choreography video playing on the tablet PC screen.

Yeo Hyun-tae, who already knew his dance skills, would probably find this odd, but—well, actually, even he found it odd—he answered that he was trying to learn the choreography anyway.

“Want me to help?”

“With what?”

Only after reflexively blurting that out did he realize Hyun-tae meant helping their team learn the choreography.

“No, it’s okay.

You must be busy practicing too, don’t worry about it.”

No matter how naturally talented Yeo Hyun-tae was, it had only been an hour since the new teams were formed.

He’d be busy learning his own song and dance; asking him for help would be shameless.

Thinking this, he met Hyun-tae’s gaze.

Hyun-tae wore an expression that said he didn’t understand what he meant.

No way….

“Did your team already finish learning the choreography?”

Yeo Hyun-tae nodded.

“What about the song?” he asked.

Hyun-tae answered that since his part was small, he’d already finished that too.

Surely I’m supposed to be the protagonist of this game, so why are all the good points being dumped on Yeo Hyun-tae and Seo Jun-jae….

Even as he thought about how unfair this immense talent gap was, he shook his head.

No matter what, asking Yeo Hyun-tae, who was on a different team, to help with their team’s choreography just didn’t feel right.

“Then I’ll just help you.”

What does that mean?

He looked at Hyun-tae with a face that couldn’t decipher his intentions.

Hyun-tae gave a faint smile, took the tablet PC from his hand, played the video, and started following the choreography.

Then, at some point, he stopped moving, handed the tablet PC back to him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to his feet.

“You want me to follow along too?”

“It’s not against the rules for me to watch you, is it?”

He had no idea what was or wasn’t against the rules, but with the feeling of ‘ah, whatever!‘, he nodded.

And there, in the middle of the hallway, they started an impromptu dance session.

***

“Sorry I’m late.”

Apologizing to his team members, who must have waited around doing nothing while he was out for an hour with the tablet PC, Lee Jun-han shook his head.

“I saw you learning the choreography in the hallway, hyung!”

…When did he see that?

Anyway, thanks to Yeo Hyun-tae’s help, he had managed to learn all the choreography.

“Then let’s try it from the beginning.”

He paused the video at the starting formation, they took their positions according to their parts, and started the music.

Even though both he and Yeo Hyun-tae had tried hard, they couldn’t master it perfectly in just one hour, so they fumbled through the choreography, referencing the video.

It must have been frustrating and annoying with all the stopping, but the team members never once complained, and he felt grateful to them.

“Then shall we work on the intro part a bit more?”

Standing in front of the mirror, checking each member’s choreography and adjusting the formations, a wave of embarrassment suddenly washed over him.

During practices with the ‘July Snow’ team, Yoon Ji-heon, Seo Jun-jae, and Yeo Hyun-tae had done this same role, and realizing he was doing it now made him suddenly feel intensely shy.

“Jae-seo hyung, you’re cool!”

“Right, you’re doing great!”

Sensing his awkwardness, the team members offered words of encouragement, almost excessively so.

He appreciated them caring, but hearing those words was even more embarrassing, so he tried hard to wipe the awkward expression off his face and continued practicing.

Over the next two days, both he and his team members worked hard, clumsily piecing together the song and choreography to a rough completion.

At the ranking announcement ceremony in two days, they might be eliminated and never get to perform this stage, but if even one shot of them working hard made it to broadcast, it might somehow help the lives of these team members who dreamed of being idols or entertainers.

So, to not cause harm to the team members who were practicing harder than anyone, he also worked harder.

And then came the moment that was crucial, if crucial could describe it, for their team.

It was the mid-point check with all the vocal, rap, and dance trainers together.

There was a high chance this would be the first and last time they’d all perform ‘Beautiful Hate’ together, and since some of them might get their final screentime from this scene, he wanted to do his best.

“Hi, kids!”

The trainers, appearing with brighter greetings than usual, sat on the chairs placed in the middle of the practice room and laid the groundwork by saying, “The practice time was too short, right?”

It seemed they meant they would evaluate taking into account the short practice time and the fact that more than half of them might be eliminated.

“Then first team, please come out.”

He led his team members forward.

Won Ju-ha and Kwak Jinwoong, who had probably encountered him the most, looked at him as he stood prominently in the center, then alternately glanced at the paper with their team’s position information and made surprised expressions.

“No, what happened to Jae-seo?”

It made sense for them to react that way.

Until now, he had mostly taken non-prominent roles and stood on the outer edges in formations.

But now, he had both the leader and center stickers and was even the main vocal.

For these two, who had mostly seen his former self, it must have been a truly surprising situation.

“Ugh, are you going to be okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

He had ended up taking on these noticeable roles somewhat passively, but he had no intention of overdoing it to stand out.

Thinking he’d just do the basics well so the other team members could do their best in their own roles, he asked the staff to play the accompaniment.

Soon, the accompaniment for ‘Beautiful Hate’ began to play, and they started dancing to the music.

The other team members visible in the mirror were following the choreography without major issues.

Although the first part was a bit shaky, the vocal parts soon stabilized.

Keeping a calm mind and continuing the stage without mistakes, before he knew it, the song was nearing its end.

Right before the song finished, there was a slight mistake in the choreography for the most difficult part, but it wasn’t a major error, so he was satisfied as they finished singing and dancing.

Perhaps due to the pressure of taking on so many roles, he felt much more tired and out of breath than usual.

After catching his breath heavily, leaning on his knees, he straightened up to find Kwak Jinwoong looking at him with a strange expression.

Even as he gathered his team members to stand in a line, Kwak Jinwoong kept looking at him with that odd face, then raised his microphone.

“That’s Jae-seo, right?

You are Sim Jae-seo, aren’t you?”

At the completely absurd question, Jae-seo couldn’t even think of answering.

Instead, Won Ju-ha nodded, but it seemed more like expressing agreement with the sentiment than answering the question.

“No, I think this is the first time I’ve seen Jae-seo look this exhausted after dancing.”

Normally, after an evaluation, they’d say thank you and bow.

He was wondering if this counted as an evaluation and if he should do that, but fortunately, Kwak Jinwoong continued.

“Honestly, I’m a bit surprised at how high the compeletion level is, given the short time.

Especially since there are almost no dancers here, the fact that they synchronized this much is proof that everyone really worked hard, so uh, really….

I respect you.”

Then he raised both thumbs.

He had hoped that since everyone worked hard, they’d all be praised together rather than just one person, so this was really fortunate and made him feel so good.

They all bowed together and shouted, “Thank you!”

“It might get a bit boring, but I think I have to say something similar.

It really felt like everyone practiced well together, and no one seemed to be slacking off….”

Continuing, Won Ju-ha suddenly choked up, stopped speaking, and turned her back.

Kwak Jinwoong got up from his seat, took some tissue from the production team, and handed it to her.

Won Ju-ha wiped her tears and opened her mouth.

“Thank you for working so hard, without thinking you should give up because your ranks are low, or not being able to give your best because you’re feeling down…

You all did really, really well.”