Episode 155: Q Four of a Kind & A Full House (3)
If I had to pick the most nerve-wracking position in the audition order, it would undoubtedly be the very last one.
Because you only get your turn after watching everyone else perform.
Whether the results are good or bad, watching everyone else disappear one by one while you wait would naturally make your blood run cold, right?
“Hello! I am participant number 150, Oh Cho-hee!”
But Oh Cho-hee’s condition as she stood before us was, at a glance, sky-high.
Her voice, overflowing with confidence, was truly astonishing considering she had just turned 17 and entered high school.
“You waited a long time, right? Was waiting hard?”
“Ah, yes! It wasn’t hard at all!”
The answer that came back to Jeon Seon-woo’s casual question didn’t sound like empty politeness.
“Actually, they opened the practice room for us, so I practiced there before coming.”
We knew very well that later audition numbers had to wait endlessly.
For that reason, after lunchtime we had opened some of the facilities used by MyWay’s trainees.
We had provided space for them to check their condition and practice, and it seemed Oh Cho-hee had made full use of that opportunity.
“How were the facilities?”
“Um… honestly, I don’t really know how good they are. I’ve never been to other places…”
“Well, that’s true. I asked a silly question.”
“But one thing is certain.”
“…?”
“I really want to come back here and practice properly someday.”
Not only did she show zero nervousness toward Seo Yoon-je’s question, but she also gave a multifaceted answer that clearly included praise for MyWay and her own ambitions.
“Hah. It feels worth the money we spent.”
Seo Yoon-je stroked the area under his nose with a bashful smile, and even Jeon Seon-woo and Ailee moved their hands in approval. It was a truly perfect answer.
If it was a prepared response, points would naturally be added for her preparation. If it was freestyle, points would be added for her quick thinking.
“Alright, then shall we start by hearing what you prepared?”
“Yes! I prepared a song.”
“What’s the title?”
“‘YMQ’, ‘Legendary’!”
YMQ (Yes, My Queen) was a project girl band formed by internet broadcast streamers.
Although it started as a project group, it had continued steady activities for nearly two years now, proving how much larger internet streaming had become compared to the past.
‘It feels like a mix of half regular idol and half virtual idol strengths.’
The producer was a famous YouTuber, and since the main members were streamers, they were far from terrestrial programs or Music On Net TV appearances.
However, at game events and university festivals targeting their main consumer base of people in their 20s and 30s, they exerted influence comparable to any idol group.
Especially at military consolation performances, where men in their 20s made up over 90% of the audience, they were said to be top-tier among first-tier acts.
If this had been an audition at another company, choosing this song might have been a bit awkward.
For major agencies like Sunshine it might be different, but for mid-tier or smaller agencies, YMQ would be nothing more or less than a cherry-picker stealing their pie.
But this was MyWay, where the main slogan was the diversity of music.
It was the kind of place that would like YMQ-style singers rather than dislike them.
In fact, during today’s audition, after Hylliy, Orion, and E-GIS, the most participants had chosen YMQ songs.
“Then shall we hear it?”
“Yes!”
Along with the somewhat cheerful band sound, Oh Cho-hee began showing off her skills.
The song she chose, Legendary, suited Oh Cho-hee’s vocals perfectly.
In addition, although it was a bit lacking to call it proper choreography, the refined movements that bordered on idol-style—characteristic of YMQ—were expressed without any awkwardness, proving Oh Cho-hee’s sense for dance.
‘Clearly… the reason she failed Sunshine’s audition was visuals.’
Oh Cho-hee would go to Sunshine’s audition a little later than now.
If her skills hadn’t regressed in the meantime, the only possible reason Sunshine would reject her was that one.
We couldn’t blame Sunshine.
For idols, visuals were an undeniable “skill” that was just as important as vocals or dance—perhaps even more so.
If one asked whether Oh Cho-hee had no charm at all,
‘Since she did debut, I can’t say she has none at all.’
But it was undeniable that she was a bit distant from the visuals Sunshine preferred—the so-called “definitive Sunshine face.”
‘If she had aimed for Overwhelm instead… ah, but her vocal color might not match Overwhelm.’
When I looked at it properly, the pre-regression Oh Cho-hee had a somewhat contradictory character—vocals that suited Sunshine or JWY, but visuals that suited Overwhelm. That felt a little unfortunate for her.
Well, it didn’t matter anymore.
Swoosh. Scratch.
Three pens moved quietly but surely.
The parameters Seo Yoon-je, Jeon Seon-woo, and Ailee were marking according to their own standards were heavily skewed toward the right side of the sheet rather than the left.
Thanks to Oh Cho-hee’s skills not being at a level where we had to worry about elimination, I also picked up my pen with a slightly lighter heart.
There was no check in the bottom row of 10, but the visual score I gave—the lowest—was a 6, meaning there was room for improvement.
Tap.
The moment I lightly set my pen down, my eyes met the three who had already finished.
Oh Cho-hee had used just over one minute of the three minutes given to each participant.
For the remaining two minutes or so, all we had to do was enjoy her song (without making it too obvious).
When Oh Cho-hee’s song reached the interlude and paused for a moment—
[CEO Seo Yoon-je: By the way, that kid over there]
A message from Seo Yoon-je popped up on the tablet messenger window we had placed out of the participants’ sight so we could check each other’s opinions during judging (usually about whether to cut someone off midway).
[Ailee: What about her?]
[CEO Seo Yoon-je: 3rd incident]
[CEO Seo Yoon-je: The one I brought here is that kid]
[Team Leader Jeon Seon-woo: Aaaah!]
[Team Leader Jeon Seon-woo: Her friend’s skills are pretty good too?]
[Team Leader Jeon Seon-woo: Birds of a feather really do flock together]
‘Birds of a feather… is that even appropriate to say here…?’
That question flashed through my mind for a second.
Of course, everything had already been written on the evaluation sheet, so his words wouldn’t affect anything.
Seo Yoon-je must have known that, which was why he only said it now.
It was undeniable that Jeon Seon-woo’s and Ailee’s gazes toward Oh Cho-hee had clearly changed.
It was also obvious that those gazes were directed not only at Oh Cho-hee but beyond her to Yu-won as well.
‘It’s a bit… burdensome…?’
For Yu-won, not me.
I wondered whether Yu-won could handle such heavy stares.
Even though a lot of time had passed, it had been visible that Yu-won’s mentality had once been shattered.
‘This might not be good.’
No matter what, Yu-won had already been filtered out once, so I couldn’t help but worry.
But that worry didn’t last long.
What completely shattered the worry was the conversation after Oh Cho-hee used up all three minutes given to her.
“You’re the last one, but you didn’t seem nervous at all. That’s really impressive.”
“Huh?”
Oh Cho-hee jumped in surprise even though it was a casual remark.
When her gaze alternated between me and Seo Yoon-je, Jeon Seon-woo, who remembered what Seo Yoon-je had mentioned earlier, quickly realized his mistake.
“No, that’s not what I meant. Officially, you’re the last one.”
“Ah…”
Oh Cho-hee let out a sigh of relief at Jeon Seon-woo’s hurried addition, then smiled awkwardly and answered.
“Actually… when I first saw my number, I was extremely nervous. I felt so much pressure… But there was a friend next to me who was even more nervous, so I thought I couldn’t act like that. Fortunately, you opened the practice room, so while helping my friend practice, my own tension eased up a bit.”
“Hmm…”
It seemed the source of the confidence Oh Cho-hee had shown was the time she spent with Yu-won.
‘Rivals and pacemakers who push each other forward.’
Their relationship was probably something close to that.
Well, later Yu-won would pull far ahead, but at least for now.
That was probably why, in the pre-regression timeline, when Oh Cho-hee was covered in all kinds of mud and about to leave the industry, Yu-won had grabbed onto her pant leg.
In that sense, bringing Yu-won here might have been a godsend for Oh Cho-hee as well.
This was only my assumption, but the skills Oh Cho-hee showed today might be the result of the pumping effect from Yu-won being given a chance.
‘Well.’
I wasn’t sure whether that fact would be a plus or a minus.
A person who can mutually polish and sharpen each other is definitely close to a plus, but if it looks like one is leaning too heavily on the other, it can’t exactly be called a good look.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to make a judgment about that.
No matter how much we were judges, the time given to Oh Cho-hee had already ended, so we couldn’t keep her any longer.
“I listened well. Among the YMQ songs we heard today, yours was the best.”
“Thank you!”
“Go home safely.”
At the maximum praise possible from a judge’s position, Oh Cho-hee bowed deeply and disappeared from our sight with quick steps.
And a little while later.
The final audition of the day finally began.
“Hello… Um, I’m participant number 777, Yu-won…”
Unlike Oh Cho-hee just before, Yu-won spoke in a timid, shrinking voice. Seo Yoon-je addressed him gently.
“Since this is an unscheduled audition, we don’t have much information. Could you give a short self-introduction? Just your age and where you live is fine.”
“Ah, yes! I’m 17 years old, a first-year high school student, and I live in Seoul…”
I wondered if he could have mentioned which district, but because he looked like he would shatter at the slightest touch, Seo Yoon-je didn’t press further.
“Then shall we hear what you prepared?”
Instead, he went straight to the main point.
Yu-won tightly closed his eyes, bit his lip slightly, then—
“Huu…”
Took a deep breath and continued.
Of course, his timid voice didn’t change.
“I didn’t actually prepare for the audition… so I don’t have an MR or anything… I think I’ll have to do it a cappella. Is that okay…?”
“Of course. This is unscheduled for us as well as for you, Yu-won. If you can do it even like that, we’d be grateful.”
When Seo Yoon-je offered encouraging words instead of worrying about the lack of MR, Yu-won took another deep breath and revealed his song choice.
“The song I’ll be singing is… senior Han Yujin’s ‘You, For a Moment’.”
A brief silence fell between us.
The reason was simple.
[Ailee: A participant who brought Yujin-ssi’s song today]
[Team Leader Jeon Seon-woo: ㅇㅇ]
[Team Leader Jeon Seon-woo: This is the first one]
Because Yu-won was the first participant today to bring one of my songs, which no one else had chosen.
[CEO Seo Yoon-je: I like the courage]
[CEO Seo Yoon-je: Getting judged with the original composer’s own song right in front of him]
[CEO Seo Yoon-je: That usually takes a lot of guts]
[CEO Seo Yoon-je: (winking emoji)]
While saying that, Seo Yoon-je looked at me with a strange gaze. From my position—having done that exact thing multiple times during Blind Singer—it was inevitably a little annoying.
But with the trembling Yu-won standing in front of us, I couldn’t drag things out any longer.
“Whenever you’re ready, you can start.”
I simply said that to Yu-won and deliberately ignored Seo Yoon-je’s gaze.
Of course, Seo Yoon-je’s smile only grew deeper, but that didn’t last long.
“Where is this train taking me?
The scenery passing by the window is distorted.”
The moment the trembling voice reached our ears, the smile completely vanished from Seo Yoon-je’s face.
It was the first time during today’s audition that Seo Yoon-je didn’t show a smile in front of a participant.
Because he didn’t like it?
‘No.’
Yu-won’s tone, which couldn’t help but captivate the ear, had simply summoned the hawk eyes that symbolized Seo Yoon-je’s dormant instinct—the “music pervert.”
‘I should listen to it properly later.’
I was probably not the only one thinking that.
Both Jeon Seon-woo and Ailee had the same expression.
Their faces said they were dying of curiosity about how a kid with this kind of tone could have been eliminated in the first round.
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