Chapter 57: Rankings Rewritten

[Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 Episode 9 Online Voting Rankings]

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

[Comments]

What’s with Chan-seo’s rank..?

↳ Holy isn’t this the first time he’s dropped out of the top 5?ㄷㄷ

↳ Is it because of the 2-pick? He can’t drop furtherㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Park Kang-hoon is a shock, he’s never been out of the debut group before..

↳ Aren’t there only two Juke members left? Why is the impact of 2-pick so bigㅠㅠ?

↳ I guess they were everyone’s second-favoriteㅠㅠ

Jae-ho, let’s go for debutㅠㅠㅠㅠ!!

It seems like there’s change, but actually no;; so boring;;

↳ Inside the top 20 it’s just concrete, it’ll never change lolㅠㅠ

I’m really curious whether Seo Jun-jae, Yeo Hyun-tae, or Yoon Ji-heon will get 1st place

↳ Same whichever of the three gets it is valid, but I’m so curious how the group’s image will change depending on who becomes center lol

↳ Probably not Yoon Ji-heon, the momentum is leaning towards K-Stars nowㅠㅠ

↳↳ The next vote will probably be 1-pick, so who knows? There are many K-Stars fans who always vote for both, right?

↳↳↳ Among K-Stars voters, there were also many who voted for Yoon Ji-heon, so who knows? This time with 2-pick, there were also many who voted for one K-Stars member + Yoon Ji-heon combination

I hope it’s Seo Jun-jae. Among the three, he’s the most flexible with concepts, so it would be interesting lol

↳↳ He has the best balance

↳↳ *33* The dance position stage last time, was it Anomaly? That was so cool, so I’m definitely for Seo Jun-jae!

After today, I’m definitely a Hyun-tae pick

↳↳ *222* Center Hyun-tae was so cool. If you didn’t see today, maybe, but having seen it, I’m definitely pushing for Hyun-tae

↳↳ *33* His presence is insane. For a song like July Snow, maybe not, but for a song like Villain, it’s definitely Hyun-tae

Can’t we have both Jun-jae and Hyun-tae..?

↳↳ Agreed lol Please let them be joint 1st placeㅠㅠ

…

[Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 Participants Who Caused a Stir with Reactions in Today’s Broadcast]

[(BeautifulHate_Jae-seo.gif)]
[(BH_Center_Jae-seo.gif)]
[(BeautifulHate_Jaeseo.gif)]

Independent Trainee Sim Jae-seo
Reactions exploding across all communities and SNS

+Stage Video
http://tv.navum.com/57271246780
[(Full Version) Beautiful Hate | Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2]+)

(MusicUpDown_SimJae-seo.gif)

(Grade_Evaluation_Jae-seo.gif)

(JulySnow_EndingFairy_Jae-seo.gif)

The participant originally had a lot of talk about lacking charisma, so the reactions are even stronger

[Comments]

Sim Jae-seo, let’s go for debut!

Holy I stopped watching after July Snow, but that’s Jae-seo?ㄷㄷ

↳ *22* Wow he’s improved a lot lol

(screenshot.jpg) It exploded with a song that was pushed by other fandoms to sabotage him, so it’s so satisfying lol lol lol lol

↳ (screenshot.jpg) Their mentality is totally wrecked right now lol

↳ Holy the screenshot content is shocking, but serves them right, you reap what you sowㅉㅉ

↳ It’s also funny that there are many Nam Jin-wook fans lol You guys focus on your own oppa~

Wow the eyes in the first gif, what’s going on? So captivatingㄷㄷ

Jae-seo kept bouncing around the PTSD zone, but from today, I’m convinced he’ll definitely debut

↳ You too? I’m actually a fan of another trainee in the debut group, but after watching today, I thought Sim Jae-seo would debut

↳↳ Same, for some reason, I got a feeling about Park Seo-hu too

↳↳↳ Today, Park Seo-hu, Sim Jae-seo, and Yeo Hyun-tae dominated

(BH_Wave_Choreography.gif) Even in the group wave, he’s outstanding

↳ I don’t watch Please Take Care of My Idol, but Sim Jae-seo is second from the left, right? I don’t know this, but I can tellㄷㄷ

↳ This goes beyond the category of sexy lolㅠㅠ

Sexy being a word that can be associated with Jae-seoㄷㄷ

↳ Right lol I’m a fan and thought sexy would absolutely not work, so I voted for a different song, but now the result is so surprising lol

↳↳ Fr I thought a pure concept would be best, but he exploded with sexy;;

…

***

“Holy!

Hyung, what’s with your face?

Why do you look like that?”

When he visited the broadcast station for the third ranking announcement ceremony, Lee Woo-rim, whom he ran into by chance, approached with a surprised face.

The moment he opened his mouth to answer, a yawn escaped, so he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

“Uh, I’ve been busy with school stuff.”

For the final two weeks leading up to the last live broadcast, he would be confined to the camp full-time.

Not only was attending classes impossible, but the camp period also overlapped with finals, so he couldn’t take the exams and had to submit alternative assignments instead, which meant he hadn’t slept properly all week.

Ah, and he’d also been busy replenishing the negative funds he’d ended up with during the last contest.

“Eesh, university isn’t all that great then!”

He glanced at Woo-rim, who said this, and shook his head slightly.

Actually, when he first chose his university lectures—that is, when he first decided to participate in this program—he never imagined he would receive such a high rank.

So back then, thinking he shouldn’t give up on school just yet, he had filled his schedule mainly with liberal arts courses where it wouldn’t matter if he got low grades.

But now, the situation had changed a lot.

With a bit of luck, he might even debut from this program, and even if he didn’t, he felt hopeful that some agency would take him in, given his high ranking.

Plus, he himself now wanted to stand on stage more than he wanted to attend university, if possible.

So, at this point, it was okay for him to skip classes, not do assignments, and not take exams.

…It’s just that my identity as a university student, built up over long years of college life, didn’t easily allow that.

Letting out a small sigh-like sound, he entered the broadcast station with Lee Woo-rim.

***

“This will be the last time, right?”

Turning his head at the word ‘last’, he saw Choi Gyeom smiling back at him.

It seemed he meant this would be the last time they’d be grouped together as independent trainees to take a pose.

Of course, today was also the last ranking ceremony where they entered together with trainees from the same agency, but Gyeom seemed to be speaking expecting his own elimination rather than that.

“Shall we do ‘Me and Me‘ for the last time?”

To Choi Gyeom, who smiled and said, “Isn’t this the perfect bookend?”, Jae-seo nodded.

After deciding on the main move, they arrived at the studio and finished their preparations.

Following the signal to enter, they went up on stage.

The number of waiting chairs and the pyramid-shaped chairs were noticeably reduced compared to before, easily seen at a glance.

Looking at it made him feel strangely uneasy, and he stood there blankly until Gyeom tapped his shoulder.

“Two, three!”

Snapping back to attention, he started performing the ‘Me and Me’ choreography to Gyeom’s count.

Participants already seated in their chairs cheered, then began singing along to their choreography.

After finishing a longer dance than planned, they gave a brief bow to the camera and went to sit in their seats.

Once all participants were seated, Son Chae-i had also arrived below the stage.

Unlike the previous ranking ceremony, the atmosphere wasn’t bad.

The last ranking ceremony had been held while they were preparing for the contest, which made it more somber, and perhaps after experiencing several ranking ceremonies, they had also gotten somewhat used to this situation.

In the calm atmosphere, Son Chae-i walked onto the stage.

She too had a slightly lighter expression than during other ranking ceremonies.

She raised and lowered her cue card briefly.

“Hello, I’m Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 MC, Son Chae-i.

I will now begin the 3rd ranking announcement ceremony.”

***

“Yes!

Now for the debut group, right?

I will call out the 9th place trainee.”

Again today, his name hadn’t been called down to 10th place.

Thinking he’d be 9th again this time, he was preparing to go out when “Wakers trainee Kim Woo-hyun!” was called.

He stared blankly at the participant walking forward, receiving congratulations.

…What?

Then 8th place?

“8th place is, Real Sound Company trainee Lee Woo-rim!”

It wasn’t him.

He stood up following the other trainees and hugged Woo-rim once, but still felt dazed.

He kept waiting for his name to be called, but even as 7th and 6th place were announced, his name wasn’t called.

Around then, he started to get anxious.

What if my rank dropped sharply and I get eliminated?

He felt embarrassed about having submitted assignments early, assuming he’d survive, and he also worried which company would take him in if his rank suddenly dropped like this.

While he was anxious, wondering if he’d end up as a graduate student, as the wandering fortune teller he’d seen before had prophesied, the announcements for 4th and 5th place also ended.

The remaining spots were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 19th, 20th.

No matter how he thought about it, dropping to 19th place seemed much more likely than rising to 3rd. Please, I hope I’m at least 19th, he was praying inwardly, with no particular recipient in mind, when—

“Independent trainee Sim Jae-seo!”

His name was suddenly called.

Thinking they’d already called down to 1st place and were now announcing 19th, he looked around, but the participants sitting near him congratulated him with quite surprised faces, so it didn’t seem to be that.

That meant… he was 3rd place.

Unable to believe it, he stumbled forward.

“Trainee Sim Jae-seo is the official ‘growth character’ of Please Take Care of My Idol, consistently showing improvement, right?

With his impressive facial expressions in the 3rd contest, he has risen to 3rd place.

Could we hear a word from you?”

He took the microphone, still stumbling.

“Uh, first of all, thank you.

Um, I really never thought I’d get such a high rank.

Thank you so much for always looking favorably upon me.

I will always work hard never to disappoint you.

Thank you so much.”

He handed the microphone back with hands that were even trembling slightly.

He bowed to Son Chae-i, who was smiling and congratulating him, then moved his steps.

As he slowly climbed the pyramid-shaped chairs, participants already seated shouted congratulations, but it felt so unreal.

Sitting on the second row from the top, the highest spot, looking down at the stage felt incredibly strange.

“Sim Jae-seo, snap out of it.”

At the laughing voice, he looked down to see Kim Jae-ho, sitting in front of him, looking back.

“Congratulations, 3rd place!”