Chapter 54: One Last Rehearsal

He explained the added song parts and the changed choreography formations to Kim Jae-ho, Na Woo-jae, and Bae Jae-hyung, but the three of them looked like they had no idea what he was talking about.

Come to think of it, it was impossible to expect them to understand complex dance formations through verbal explanation alone.

They decided to practice the choreography and formations later and focus on sorting out the song parts first.

At least it was fortunate that he had been the main vocal in Team 1.

Since he didn’t need time to memorize lyrics or learn the melody, he took on the difficult parts himself, while the relatively simpler parts or parts that needed to stand out at the center were divided among the other members.

“You’ll each have to memorize your parts on your own.

Can you do it?”

None of the members were bad singers to begin with, but seeing their serious faces as they looked down at the lyric sheets reassured him further.

With that, they finished practicing the song by singing it through several times.

Next were the choreography and formations.

Fortunately, thanks to Kwak Jun-sung, who had properly understood the explanation the second time around, they could smoothly adjust the formations from both sides.

Since it was natural to get confused between the already ingrained formations and the newly changed ones, they agreed to overlook minor mistakes as they continued practicing.

It was around 8 PM when Kwak Jinwoong finally arrived at their practice room.

He must have heard the full story from the production team, as he entered with a serious expression, but after watching them dance, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew, I was really worried all day, but it’s better than I thought, isn’t it?”

Of course, there were still frequent minor mistakes and the live singing was unstable, but he nodded, saying it would probably be enough for the audience.

Of course, doing better would be ideal, but forcing things and causing problems seemed worse than being a little lacking.

“You changed the formations well.

With this, Rohan won’t feel burdened either.

Rohan, are you ok?”

At Kwak Jinwoong’s question, Rohan smiled brightly and answered, “I’m okay!”

Haha, Kwak Jinwoong laughed cheerfully, then suddenly wiggled his eyebrows and opened his mouth.

“Uh, this.

Somehow, this formation smells like Yeo Hyun-tae and Seo Jun-jae, doesn’t it?”

“How did you know?”

At his surprised question, Kwak Jinwoong let out a small laugh.

“What other trainees could create formations of this level besides them?”

He muttered, calling them scary kids, and shook his head.

Then, perhaps remembering that the contest was tomorrow, he hardened his expression and called them together for a few more run-throughs.

Jae-seo headed to his spot, thinking about how he was going to repay this debt to Seo Jun-jae and Yeo Hyun-tae.

***

They practiced until dawn, barely slept, and then headed to the broadcast station.

The dress rehearsal order kept getting delayed, and just before their turn, Won Ju-ha and Moon Gi-hoon rushed into the studio.

“How did the parts work out?”

To Won Ju-ha and Moon Gi-hoon, who approached urgently asking, he handed over the new lyric sheet he had in his pocket, not having had a chance to take it out.

The two scanned the sheet and simultaneously looked at him.

“At least with Jae-seo here, I feel a bit relieved.”

“Right.

It’s fortunate that Jae-seo handled the main vocal part before.”

They then checked the changed parts and started giving various advice to the other members.

After the short training session, the rehearsal began.

There were still occasional mistakes, but they had noticeably decreased.

As proof, the two vocal trainers, who weren’t very knowledgeable about dance, applauded, saying the choreography looked perfect.

After finishing the rehearsal, he went down to the waiting room to change his clothes.

Just as he was about to start, a familiar notification sound, ding, rang out.

At the sudden sound, he picked up his phone and saw the game screen lit up.

[A wandering peddler has come to your home]

[“Take your pick, take your pick~!

An opportunity that won’t come again if not today!

I only deal in rare items you won’t easily see elsewhere.

Take your pick, take your pick~!”]

[ Look at the items / Send him away ]

…Suddenly?

A character he had seen once before was rubbing his palms together on the screen.

I’m busy as hell, how annoying, he thought, and was about to unhesitatingly press ‘Send him away’ when the hidden stat he had obtained from the peddler before suddenly popped into his head.

Hidden stat: Sexy.

Back then, he hadn’t thought much about it, feeling he had wasted money on something useless.

But looking back now, he wondered if the hidden stat might be related to idol concepts.

Of course, it might not be, but with a sexy concept stage ahead of him, a groundless expectation arose.

He moved his finger and pressed ‘Look at the items’.

A list of items scrolled up.

[Fairy’s Earrings] [Devil’s Necklace] [Unicorn’s Bracelet] [Dragon’s Ring] [???]

Except for ‘???’, they were all different items from before.

To check what kind of items they were, he tapped on ‘Fairy’s Earrings’.

[Fairy’s Earrings]
[Effect: Increases hidden stat points by 25 │ Price: 100,000 won]

He clicked on the others and saw that the listed effects and prices were all the same.

He guessed that each item probably increased a different hidden stat.

He hoped one of these items would increase the Sexy stat like before, but there were two major problems.

First, even if there was an item that increased the Sexy stat, he didn’t know which one it was.

And second, even if he figured it out, he didn’t have the money to buy it.

Sighing, he was about to close the game, but feeling regretful, he tapped a random item and clicked ‘Buy’.

Suddenly, his funds decreased and displayed a negative number.

At the same time, a message appeared thanking him for the purchase.

So funds could go into the negative?

Flustered, he first checked the purchased item.

If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have pressed randomly.

I’m screwed.

Thinking this, he looked down at the screen and was truly startled.

[Devil’s Necklace]
[A necklace rumored to have been favored by a legendary demon.

Increases the hidden stat Sexy by 25.]

[ Equip / Don’t equip ]

He had pressed randomly, and it turned out to be the item that increased the Sexy stat.

This is unbelievably lucky.

Just as he thought this, noisy voices came from outside the changing room.

He had no time to delay, so he quickly pressed ‘Equip’.

[You have equipped the Devil’s Necklace]

[Sexy 337 → 362 (+25)]

After confirming the stat had increased properly, he closed the phone and hurriedly began changing his clothes.

As he came out after changing, Na Woo-jae, who had come out first and was putting on his shoes, raised his hand to cover his eyes and said it was too sexy.

It seemed like a joke, but Na Woo-jae, wearing similar clothes, also looked quite embarrassing to see, so Jae-seo was just hesitating awkwardly when a staff member approached and started adjusting his clothes here and there.

After changing his shoes as well, he was heading to another waiting room for hair and makeup when the door suddenly burst open.

“Jae-seo hyung!

Helloooo….”

Chae Han-ul, who had been greeting him with a happy smile, glanced down at his top.

The moment he did, his face turned bright red, and a sigh involuntarily escaped Jae-seo.

He had no idea whether it was Chae Han-ul who was weird, his outfit that was weird, or if both were just plain weird.

Pushing past the strangely flustered Chae Han-ul, he entered the waiting room and got his makeup done.

It was truly one thing after another.

As he looked in the mirror at his eyes, covered in a lot of red and black powder, the makeup staff reassured him, saying he looked “pretty,” but it was hard to believe.

“Holy!

Hyung, isn’t that a bit too drastic?”

Lee Woo-rim, who happened to be entering the waiting room at that moment, flinched with a surprised face, deepening Jae-seo’s suspicions even more.

***

“Everyone who has come to the Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 3rd contest, thank you!

I’m your MC, Son Chae-i!”

The moment Son Chae-i’s voice greeting the audience was heard, the in-ears were placed in his ears.

With now-familiar hands, he neatly arranged the in-ear wire, and a staff member came over to adjust his clothes.

As he obediently let the staff member handle him, he suddenly heard someone calling his name.

Turning his head, he saw Kim Jae-ho and Bae Jae-hyung standing together.

“This guy has something to say.”

As Kim Jae-ho glanced at Bae Jae-hyung, Bae Jae-hyung’s lips moved silently for a long time before he finally apologized in a small voice, saying he was sorry.

Wondering why he was acting like this out of the blue, he looked at Kim Jae-ho, who just shrugged.

“Thinking we’re about to do a stage that almost got ruined because of Nam Jin-wook, I guess he suddenly feels sorry for you and grateful and stuff?”

At Kim Jae-ho’s words, Bae Jae-hyung immediately frowned but ultimately couldn’t say anything, so it seemed Kim Jae-ho was right.

Of course, there had been moments that genuinely pissed him off, but right now, he didn’t have any particular feelings about it, so he just nodded and said, “Okay.”

Kim Jae-ho slung his arms around both his and Bae Jae-hyung’s shoulders.

“We’ve made up now, so let’s work even harder.”

He didn’t really consider it making up, but he nodded vaguely.

Soon, Kim Jae-ho gathered the rest of the members, making them stand in a circle with their arms around each other’s shoulders.

“Alright then, fighting!

Fighting!”

Following Kim Jae-ho’s lead, they shouted fighting and steeled their resolve once more.

“Next up is a song notorious for being sexy, isn’t it?

Trainees who will present the stage of the alternative R&B genre song ‘Beautiful Hate’, please come out!”