Episode 156: Q Four of a Kind & A Full House (4)
“So?”
Zia asked with sparkling eyes.
I answered without any hesitation.
Yu-won’s reappearance was the very climax of today’s events. If I tried to pace myself, I might get a smack on the back.
“I was completely shocked… I did get a feeling when I first saw him, but I didn’t expect him to be that good.”
Yu-won’s skill actually far exceeded my imagination.
It made me wonder if he wasn’t the real straight flush rather than just a Q four of a kind.
“At first his voice was a little shaky. He probably had almost no preparation compared to the other participants, and he had to sing without accompaniment anyway.”
But that only lasted for a moment.
As soon as he entered the chorus of the first verse, Yu-won proved his own value.
The proof of the evaluation he would receive far in the future—that he was the one closest to “post-AZ.”
“There was nothing to nitpick. His emotional expression was a bit immature, but that’s something that can improve with experience. He was the first participant today who made the CEO enter full music pervert mode.”
“Really? You mean CEO Seo’s hawk eyes? Wow. Doesn’t he only look at kids who are insanely good like that?”
“Yeah. He was that good.”
“Wow… Wait, hold on.”
Zia’s hand, which had been moving a piece of tteokbokki toward her mouth, suddenly stopped in mid-air.
She had realized the huge sense of incongruity herself.
“A kid like that failed the first round? Does that even make sense?”
“Right, that was the problem.”
There was a time gap between the closing of the first round and today’s audition.
But that gap was only about a month.
Spending that time diligently could be enough to decide passing or failing the final interview, but no matter what, it was unreasonable for someone who failed the first round to suddenly rise to the top pick of the final interview.
‘Especially if they did it completely alone, with no help.’
If that were actually possible, the MyWay staff wouldn’t have been so shocked by the changes in Soyoung and Chae-kyung.
‘Unless they regressed like me during that time.’
In that case, it might be possible, but that couldn’t have happened.
If it had, Yu-won’s mentality wouldn’t have been shaken in the first place, and his emotional expression—which had looked somewhat lacking in experience—would have already been more polished.
‘Just because it happened once doesn’t mean it can’t happen twice, but…’
Even then, there has to be a limit.
Regression is like drawing a five-card straight flush in poker—an absurd occurrence.
How could such a miracle happen twice in just a few years?
It would be more reasonable to look for the cause somewhere else.
“What? What happened?”
Zia’s hand had completely stopped.
Even with her favorite food—tteokbokki that had become the original because I made it—right in front of her, she didn’t even think about moving her chopsticks and was fully focused on my story.
It was quite cute.
‘Saving this.’
I stored that lovable sight in my mind, tucking it away carefully in a corner of my heart.
A little guilt came as a bonus.
Because the ending of this story wasn’t quite at the level of tension Zia was currently feeling.
“I checked.”
“You checked?”
“There was nothing.”
“Eh?”
“There was nothing, really. It was just a broken file.”
“Eh…? What do you mean?!”
Even I have to admit it’s a pretty deflating answer.
But what can I do? That’s the truth.
If a file like that arrived, whoever was in charge would frown and ask if someone was messing around before cutting it off.
“Well, there was probably a problem during the attachment process.”
If we were to strictly assign blame, it would fall on Yu-won for not even checking the attached file when sending such an important application…
“I didn’t want to say anything because his mentality already looked like it was about to collapse, so I just let it go.”
“Still, shouldn’t you at least tell him?”
“Later. After some time passes.”
“Hmm. So he’s passing anyway, right?”
Only then did Zia start moving her chopsticks again. I smiled and nodded.
Just as she said, the opinion that “he’s going to be our kid anyway” was the common consensus among all four judges.
Since Yu-won was going to become a MyWay artist anyway, there was no need to give him advice like “Don’t make that kind of mistake when applying elsewhere” right now.
We simply went home with slightly slumped shoulders, feeling a bit empty from the unexpectedly hollow result.
‘The only good thing is that there was no problem with MyWay’s system…’
If it was Yu-won’s personal mistake, there was no need to recheck all the eliminated applicants.
It’s not like someone else would make the same mistake, right?
“By the way, that kid really has some fate. How did he stand out so perfectly among all those people and catch your eye, Yujin?”
While thinking that, Zia’s wording made another small laugh slip out of me.
“The CEO said almost the exact same thing.”
When we parted in the parking lot, Seo Yoon-je had said almost the same words as Zia just now, only with slightly different phrasing.
The nuance was a bit more tilted toward praising my eye rather than Yu-won’s luck.
“Well, the luckiest one is actually the CEO.”
“Huh?”
“He caught me. How many things have I done for MyWay this year alone?”
Well, hadn’t Seo Yoon-je said it himself?
To him, I was basically a royal straight flush.
He had gone all-in on the regression coin that didn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Who could be luckier than him?
Ah, there is one.
“No, not even the CEO. There’s someone even luckier.”
“Huh? Who?”
Instead of answering with words, I just stared at her intently.
“…Han Yujin, open your eyes properly, will you? Anyway, later. I was about to die of hunger waiting for you. Whatever it is, let’s eat first.”
I wonder what she’s thinking.
What I was looking at wasn’t Zia herself, but my own reflection in her eyes.
Well, if that’s what she wants to believe, I have no intention of stopping her.
***
The next day.
“Ugh, it’s finally over.”
With Jeon Seon-woo’s dying cry, MyWay’s public recruitment audition came to an end.
“No, there’s still a little left.”
Of course, as Ailee said, even though the curtain had fallen, the four of us still had a bit of work remaining.
Having to work until late on a Sunday evening wasn’t exactly pleasant, but still.
“Well, Yujin-ssi probably can’t make time tomorrow or the day after. Let’s lightly match opinions before we leave and wrap it up.”
“Yes, CEO.”
At Seo Yoon-je’s order, the files that had been hidden under the table appeared on top.
They were the score sheets for the participants who had interviewed yesterday.
Originally, we would have had to watch the audition videos recorded by camera multiple times, exchange countless opinions, and then make the decision. But since it was difficult for me to participate in that process,
“Then shall we start by each picking our number one?”
“……”
“…?”
The sudden silence was strong enough to make even Seo Yoon-je, who had spoken first, look flustered.
But it was understandable.
“Do we really need to pick a number one, CEO…?”
“Yes. It looks like the number one pick is already decided no matter who looks at it.”
Ailee and Jeon Seon-woo spoke one after another, then both turned to look at me at the same time.
I quickly understood the meaning behind that familiar, not particularly burdensome gaze.
“I see. I asked a pointless question. Everyone already had their number one pick set.”
Seo Yoon-je was no different.
Only a little late did he remember that the number that had risen to the tip of everyone’s tongue was the same. He cleanly acknowledged his mistake and spoke the lucky number he had written down.
“Number 777, Yu-won. There’s no need to even discuss him. Then let’s change the question. Let’s each pick our number two.”
“I…”
“I…”
Only then did Ailee and Jeon Seon-woo nod as if a proper order had finally been given, and they spoke at the same time.
“Team Leader Jeon, you go first.”
“Alright. I pick number 232.”
“Ah, number 232… Wouldn’t it have been better if that kid had chosen a song without rap?”
“Hmm. Song selection skill is also a skill.”
Ah, I remember.
Among today’s audition participants, where almost no faces remained in my pre-regression memories, this kid was one of the more impressive ones.
‘Clearly… he did stumble over the lyrics a bit.’
As Ailee and Seo Yoon-je viewed negatively, there were mistakes, but,
“He seemed quite nervous. It feels like if we let him do it freestyle instead of memorizing, he would fly on his own. What did you think, Yujin-ssi?”
Jeon Seon-woo gave an evaluation similar to what I had thought, then turned to me and asked. I lightly added one more point he hadn’t mentioned.
“His pronunciation itself is good, so even though he stumbled over the lyrics, the delivery was still decent.”
“That’s true, it was.”
“Yes. As Yujin-ssi said, there was that advantage too. Even if we decide later whether to keep pushing rap or not, I think there’s enough reason to give him a chance.”
“OK, that’s Team Leader Jeon’s opinion. What about Ailee?”
“I…”
The file Ailee picked up was one of yesterday’s participants. I could guess who it was.
Probably number 7.
“Number 7. As you said yesterday, I think we need to check the vocals first. Even if the vocals are a bit lacking, I judged that it would be better to take him and teach him.”
“Hmm. I agree with that too. It’s definitely a shame that there aren’t many artists who sing in the style of Ji-yoon. What about you, Yujin-ssi?”
“Yes. I have similar thoughts to Ailee. With dance lines at that level, the value is more than enough just from that. Even if we have to hammer in the vocals.”
It felt strangely like they were passing the final evaluation to me.
“Alright, with Ailee’s opinion as well. What’s your number two, Yujin-ssi?”
It was my turn. Seo Yoon-je signaled it, and both Jeon Seon-woo and Ailee stared at me intently.
The expectation in their eyes seemed to say it wasn’t just my imagination.
Well, rather than imagination, I decided to understand it as them trying to hear as many of my opinions as possible since I couldn’t participate in the remaining evaluation process.
“I pick number 150, Oh Cho-hee. She chose a song that perfectly suited her vocals, and her sense for the choreography that appeared here and there was also good. Even by current trainee evaluation standards, I think she would at least be in the upper-middle tier.”
I deliberately didn’t mention visuals.
“Ah, right, there was that kid.”
“Her impact was so strong because of number 777 that I forgot for a moment.”
“I was going to pick 150, but Yujin-ssi took her. It seems neither Team Leader Jeon nor Ailee has any objection to 150 either.”
The evaluation of Oh Cho-hee passed much more smoothly than the others.
It wasn’t that they weren’t interested; it was closer to the feeling that Oh Cho-hee’s passing was already confirmed.
Contrary to the original plan of keeping the discussion short, the exchange of opinions didn’t end easily.
In fact, it was expected.
Unless opinions perfectly aligned, it was impossible for personal tastes not to clash, so expecting this meeting to end quickly had been unrealistic from the start.
“Shall we stop here for today?”
In the end, the discussion continued even after I texted Zia to eat dinner first, and it only concluded late at night thanks to Seo Yoon-je’s mediation (which wasn’t really mediation).
***
Two days later.
While I was arranging the song that Team Y’s kids would sing, a message flew in.
[Ailee: Yujin-ssi, the passers have been decided.]
[Ailee: 7, 150, 232, 777. That’s it.]
In the end, the chronic weakness of MyWay’s public recruitment audition—the low acceptance rate—had become even more notorious.
‘Then why did we argue until so late at night?’
They had squeezed out even a non-existent 10th pick, making it seem like they were going to take about 30 people.
These people are really impossible to understand.
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