Episode 154: Q Four of a Kind & A Full House (2)
“Yes, I saw it well. Good work.”
“Haa… Thank you!”
The child answered with a bright face even while breathing heavily.
No matter how intense the choreography is, maintaining facial expression is basic knowledge for dance.
‘Still, expecting that from a kid who’s only 15 is a bit much.’
Even so, the reason the child’s expression remained bright after such intense choreography was because a smile was also lingering on my face.
“You said you came from Daegu, right? Thank you for coming such a long way, and thank you for participating today.”
“Thank you!”
“We will contact only those who pass by next Wednesday as previously announced. Don’t forget to collect your transportation fee at the lobby.”
Not only me, but Seo Yoon-je, Ailee, and even Jeon Seon-woo, who had been silently nodding, all had smiles on their faces.
The child’s bright smile must have been filled with anticipation and excitement while imagining what their future might hold.
But the child probably didn’t know.
“Please come this way.”
“Yes.”
Click.
The moment the child, guided by the rookie development team staff, disappeared and the door closed, the smiles that had been on all of our faces vanished at the same time, as if on cue.
Ah, of course, it wasn’t because we didn’t like the child’s skills.
Applicants whose skills weren’t up to standard had already been filtered out long ago.
‘This is its own kind of manners.’
Even though we were clearly in the superior position today, we still had to show courtesy to the other party. Not only the children, but we as well.
Unless there were serious disqualifying reasons such as insufficient preparation or bad attitude, it wasn’t proper manners for judges to sit there looking stern and heavy the whole time.
‘Above all, our CEO wants this kind of atmosphere.’
In any case, the person with the biggest decision-making power in this audition was Seo Yoon-je.
Our CEO wanted “talent that cannot be completed just by teaching.”
Creating the optimal environment so that the participants could pour out all their capabilities was another role given to me, Jeon Seon-woo, and Ailee.
‘Though I do feel a little sorry for making them hold onto the dream of passing.’
Well, that remains to be seen.
In this audition where the number of successful candidates wasn’t even fixed, no one knew who would make it or how.
Whether the expectations and excitement the child—no, applicant number 50—held would become reality was no different from the fate of Schrödinger’s cat until the audition ended.
“Ugh…”
Was it because I had seen that number?
A small groan unconsciously slipped out of my mouth.
“CEO-nim, it looks like Yujin-ssi is having a hard time.”
“Seems so.”
“During the Jooyul audition he was scarily good for a first-timer, but seeing him like this now, Yujin-ssi is still human after all.”
Smiles of a slightly different shade from before began appearing on Ailee’s, Seo Yoon-je’s, and Jeon Seon-woo’s faces.
Since it was already something I couldn’t take back, there was no need to stubbornly deny it.
“Yes. I’m a little tired.”
“Feeling the real taste of an audition is quite spicy, huh? Well, shall we take a short break? It’s almost lunchtime anyway.”
“Shall we… Yeah. The number was 50 anyway. It’s a bit early, but let’s cut it here. It’s better than the judges collapsing.”
“…Yes. It’s me. We’ll take a short break. Please inform the participants and guide them for lunch as well.”
While Ailee gave orders to the staff over the phone, I quietly accepted the two men’s hands patting my shoulders from both sides.
‘This is something I just can’t get used to no matter what.’
It had been two hours and forty minutes since the audition started at 9 o’clock sharp.
With three minutes given to each participant, including movement and preparation time, the situation was proceeding smoothly without any problems.
But subjectively, it felt like five or six hours had already passed.
Sitting in one place for several hours was something I was used to.
In fact, when I really got into work mode, there were times I kept my butt glued to the chair all day long.
However, this audition judge’s seat was a bit of an exception.
In the past, before regression, I thought it was because I had gotten older.
‘Even now it feels heavy.’
The weight of the pressure that came from arbitrarily judging someone else’s dream (even though there were standards) didn’t feel much different even with my younger body.
If anything, because my expectations were so high, the weight pressing on my shoulders felt even heavier.
Of course, the burden would fly away the moment even one proper rough gem appeared.
That thrilling dopamine rush from an unexpected talent suddenly showing up and hitting me in the back of the head was still, both before and after regression, the biggest reason I voluntarily sat in this seat.
Unfortunately, so far there hadn’t been any participant skilled enough to blow away this burden.
It was even more unfortunate that there had been a few who came very close.
‘For now… the most likely card to give me that dopamine is probably Heidi, not Yu-won.’
When thinking about the high point, Heidi’s status couldn’t compare to Yu-won’s,
‘But she said she failed the first round.’
If she was eliminated in the first filter, there must have been a reason.
Just like the two vocalists of Laira that Seo Yoon-je mentioned—when they first appeared in front of me, they were far below MyWay’s standards, so it wasn’t strange at all.
All I could do was remind myself once again that, unless one could see the future, there was potential in everyone that couldn’t be known from demo tracks alone.
Naturally, my expectations leaned toward Heidi, who had already passed the first round and whose high point I already knew.
The problem was,
‘But what number was Heidi again…’
I couldn’t remember the number written on her chest.
Yu-won’s presence had been so overwhelming that I didn’t have the chance to pay attention to anything else.
‘Ha, I can’t even remember her name.’
The fact that Heidi was from the virtual idol side was also an issue.
The so-called “red pill”—the real person behind the avatar—was top-secret information even within the virtual industry, so there was naturally no way for me to know Heidi’s real name.
No, to be more accurate, it was probably more correct to say I simply hadn’t been interested.
I had heard that because of her relationship with Yu-won, Heidi’s red pill information had spread around a bit.
In any case, the clear fact was that no matter how much I searched my memories, her name wasn’t there.
‘In that case…’
Since I remembered her face anyway, I was about to quickly flip through the remaining roughly 100 application forms to find Heidi’s name when—
“Since it’s just sandwiches for lunch anyway, shall we lightly cross-check the kids we’ve seen so far?”
Seo Yoon-je’s suggestion at the worst possible timing blocked even that.
“Sure. I’ve been itching to talk about it anyway.”
Jeon Seon-woo immediately jumped in and opened the topic, so I wasn’t even given the chance to refuse.
Not that I could have refused anyway.
“The first thought that comes to mind is… that Yujin-ssi is truly a great blessing to our company?”
“You’re suddenly launching a surprise worship session for Yujin-ssi?”
“Surprise? It already changed to constant habitual worship the moment Team Y hit number one on the charts.”
“Huh, I don’t remember you ever doing that toward me, the one who pays your salary.”
“Well… that’s because you, CEO-nim, have been singing that you’ll quit management any day now.”
“I said I might quit management, not retire from the industry, Team Leader Jeon?!”
While the conversation between Seo Yoon-je and Jeon Seon-woo suddenly turned into a comedy skit starting from my worship, my head was about to tilt toward the ceiling when Ailee smoothly jumped in between them.
“I agree with former Team Leader Jeon. To some extent.”
“Even Ailee?!”
With an introduction that was a bit surprising considering Ailee’s usual personality, she was still Ailee.
“Not about retiring. I’m on the side that thinks you, CEO-nim, should continue management. What I agree with is that Yujin-ssi is a huge boon to this company called MyWay. Because of the banner ‘pursuing diverse music,’ the thickness of performers—whether idols or solo singers—has always been extremely thin. For example, someone like Noh Ji-yoon?”
Ailee continued with a bright smile, skillfully bringing the topic back to its original purpose.
“That’s true. Even Ji-yoon was like that. We didn’t even make an offer since she already had an agency, but when three people came to us during Blind Singer, I didn’t feel any particular regret.”
“But look at it now. Out of these 50 people, already half of them. There are 16 participants who brought both dance and singing, and 7 who properly prepared only dance. Considering that last year’s public recruitment had only 6 participants who came with only dance, and none of them passed… it’s truly a world of difference.”
Even while thinking that it was impressive they remembered all of that, Seo Yoon-je and Jeon Seon-woo nodded as if it were obvious.
After a short pause with no one else speaking, Ailee gave a small shrug and continued sharing her thoughts.
“I’ve become quite localized to MyWay as well… so I usually think it’s impossible to evaluate someone without hearing them sing. But even I felt that there were a few participants where it seemed okay not to hear their singing.”
“Ah, I think I know who Ailee is talking about. Number 7, right?”
“Ah, that kid caught my eye too.”
“……”
Jeon Seon-woo and Seo Yoon-je chimed in, and I lightly nodded as well.
The participant who came closest but still didn’t reach the level of dopamine that hits the back of the head was exactly number 7.
His dance skills were so outstanding that I thought they wouldn’t fall short even compared to Sugeom, whom I consider the best male dancer of all time. That was why I was puzzled why I had never seen that participant’s name before.
If he had mixed in even a little singing, and if it had been stable, a golden bell of dopamine would probably have rung in my head.
While thinking that, I noticed Ailee quietly watching me.
‘She seems to like him quite a bit.’
It felt like she wanted my evaluation to ease her mind a little.
But,
“It looks like Yujin-ssi doesn’t think that highly of him?”
Seo Yoon-je saw right through my inner thoughts.
No, rather than reading my mind, he had probably noticed the difference in my smile that he mentioned this morning.
“Yes. I think we should at least hear them sing first.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“I agree.”
Ailee nodded with a slightly regretful expression.
Still, unlike a broadcast audition program, we didn’t have the authority to confirm passes unconditionally, so there was nothing we could do.
At least the regret was small because neither I nor Seo Yoon-je had completely cut them off.
‘Saying we need to hear the singing means there’s still room to call them back.’
Since the exact number of passers—whether 0 or 00—hadn’t been decided, I couldn’t say for sure, but at least for now, they hadn’t entered the elimination line.
This was only a mid-point cross-check, and we still had 250 kids left to watch, so even this level of evaluation was sufficiently positive.
“Lunch has arrived. Please eat and then continue.”
“What about the kids?”
“We’ve distributed everything. The team members are eating too.”
“OK.”
The sandwiches arrived right on time.
Perhaps because the in-house cafeteria chefs had worked hard since morning, the sandwiches were incredibly delicious, and my thoughts shifted a little.
‘Who knows.’
There might be a flush-level vocal hidden behind what I felt was only a straight in dance.
My eye, which looks like magic to others, is basically a cheat key based on future knowledge.
The fact that the cute face with visuals somewhat different from the dance skills didn’t remain strongly in my memory could be a negative factor, but conversely, it could also become an element that spreads dopamine I’ve never felt before.
Just like how Heidi, who was originally supposed to bring Yu-won to Sunshine, ended up coming to MyWay due to unknown changes, some new variable might have pulled someone who originally had no interest in the entertainment industry here.
‘Well, the probability of that is probably tiny.’
And if that were the case, they probably would have brought singing from the start, but you never know.
After all, a straight flush originally has an extremely low probability of appearing, right?
With those reversed thoughts, the thing I had been looking for appeared at just the right timing.
[Applicant 150: Oh Cho-hee]
Heidi—no, Oh Cho-hee’s application form, which I found quickly because it was near the back.
If it had been earlier, I might have been disappointed by her late number, but now it might be okay.
Yes, what I was looking for wasn’t only the fully open hands like Yu-won or Oh Cho-hee.
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