Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 3

Even if I’m in a different body, the day was bright as usual.

7 a.m.

I was going to the practice room.

In Cheong’s memory, Cheong always went to the practice room at this time.

As if it were natural, I opened the door to the practice room, cleaned it, and practiced.

Most of the trainees also used to arrive shortly after.

It was also no different today.

However, the atmosphere was different from usual.

Because today is the start of filming for ‘Make a New Color’.

Currently, there are 50 female trainees in Colors.

However, only 12 trainees were nominated for the debut group.

Only five of them make their debuts.

The seven have to go back to square one and challenge for their debut.

And of these twelve, I knew seven.

It was because only seven people debuted.

Five who debuted with ‘Still Blue’ and two others who debuted afterwards.

The other five will not debut at all and will take a different path.

And out of the seven who debuted, only two lasted 10 years.

Three Still Blue members disappeared within a year, and the other one member disappeared from the entertainment industry within five years.

This industry is like that.

So many people were disappearing that it was hard to keep track of who was missing.

The biggest problem was that this was so common that everyone took it for granted.

Even though it’s not a given.

Well, that’s that.

“The atmosphere is no joke.”

Maybe because today was the start of filming, everyone was stiff.

That’s understandable.

It’s similar to the day of the college entrance exam in the 12th grade.

By the way, there isn’t a single person who greets me.

Cheong was actually a trainee at another agency until a few months ago.

However, she was moved away from that agency’s debut group and moved to Colors, who was looking for a main vocal trainee.

So we didn’t know each other well.

Just because we’re in the same agency doesn’t mean we have to be particularly close.

I sat right in front of the mirror and stretched.

You should loosen your… Eung?

…Why is everyone looking at me?

“You there.”

Then, someone called me.

She didn’t call me by my name, what do you mean “You there”? I’m not sure if she doesn’t know Cheong’s name since she didn’t have any presence, or if she hates her quite a bit.

Neither side was welcome.

“That’s Baekyoung unnie [1] ‘s seat.”

…do you even have seats in the practice room?

I sat aside without much resistance.

There is no need to create a conflict from the start.

Especially with ‘Seo Baekyoung’.

Clatter.

“Baekyoung unnie!”

“Have you arrived unnie?”

“Hello!”

I heard that even a tiger will come when I say it [2] .

It was Seo Baekyoung.

Seo Baekyoung was the trainee who practiced the longest in Colors, and was the so-called ‘leader’-like older sister position that everyone relied on.

Since she has been here for nine years.

Everyone believed that she would debut.

Perhaps that’s why Seo Baekyoung, unlike Yun Cheong, was greeted by everyone.

Seo Baekyoung, who roughly accepted the greetings one by one, came to me.

They say it’s her seat or something.

Seo Baekyoung stared at me for a moment.

“That’s unexpected.”

“…what is?”

“You were always in the corner.”

Seo Baekyoung sat down next to me and began to warm up like me.

“I guess you decided to pretend to be active because of the shoot, huh?”

Ah, I could tell for sure,

“Everything is fine, but let’s not hold others back. Just like last time.”

that she doesn’t like me.

No, all the others in this studio…

they don’t like Yun Cheong.

I’m doomed.

***

In fact, even if I saw Yun Cheong’s memories, they were all rough memories.

To sum up Yun Cheong’s life is- that she is simply a loner.

For some reason, Yun Cheong decided to live alone without any friends or colleagues.

I guess it was because she was afraid of people.

It was a vicious circle.

I’m afraid of people, so I stay away from them, and as I stay away from them, I get more scared of people.

Because I’m scared of people, I’ll be scared of the stage and the camera.

Yun Cheong also practiced alone.

in a deserted place.

Therefore, no one knew that Yun Cheong was working hard.

They only see the result of Yun Cheong.

…the result of stiffening when the camera is turned on.

It was okay during the individual evaluation.

However, when it comes to group evaluation, the problem grew.

‘Are you joking with us? Do you think you’re good just because you can sing well by yourself? None of your dance movements are correct!’

For the group evaluation, we had to practice together.

We need to match the dance moves and combine our vocals.

However, Yun Cheong practiced alone except for the time she had to practice together ‘essentially’.

She was afraid of people, so of course she couldn’t look good in the eyes of other trainees.

‘You’re selfish. You think that debuting as the main vocalist alone is all you have to do right?’

It’s a relief if the results are good after practicing like that but… The result was disastrous.

“Everything is fine, but let’s not hold others back. Just like last time.”

Therefore, Seo Baekyoung’s response wasn’t crossing the line.

Especially since Seo Baekyeong was evaluated while being on the same team as Yun Cheong before this.

The problem is,

“It won’t happen anymore.”

“!”

It’s going to be a little different from now on.

“That’s a relief.”

Seo Baekyoung seemed quite surprised, but soon responded calmly.

Seo Baekyoung was not the only one who was surprised.

All the trainees around me who could hear my answer seemed surprised.

‘….Did you take any medication for the show?’

‘Leave it alone. It’s scarier when people who used to be quiet like that roll their eyes.’

I can hear it all, hey.

Well, anyway.

This is the real beginning.

***

Make a new color.

A survival program for the debut of a new girl group from ‘Colors’, one of the 5 largest agencies and famous for girl group making.

Only five of the twelve trainees make their debuts.

Four are 100% voted by viewers, and one is chosen by the judges.

Voting takes place once every two weeks, but only the final vote is reflected in their debut.

That means that even if you win first place in the first vote, it’s no use if you don’t finish in the top four in the last vote.

However, there is a way to debut even if you don’t make the top four.

That is to catch the judges’ eyes.

There are a total of four judges.

Kim Mokyeong, director and producer of the agency.

Do Heeyoung of ‘Greyish’, the girl group representative of Colors and 12 years of seniority.

Kang Sunhwa, Colors’ representative vocal trainer.

Jo Wonho, Colors’ representative dance trainer and choreographer.

They were all people I knew in my past life.

…of course they are not someone who I know well.

Instead of an elimination system, they continue to announce their popularity rankings every two weeks.

And the MVP of each mission selected by the judges will also be announced.

1st place in the popularity ranking and MVP are given benefits in the next mission.

And the 12th place, the lowest in the popularity rankings, will be given a handicap.

And Yun Cheong never escaped from the 12th place throughout the 12th episode, but made her debut with the choice of a judge.

Originally that’s what’s supposed to happen.

But not anymore.

***

Soon after, cameras and various broadcasting equipment began to line up in one of the practice room.

And the man who appeared to be a PD [3] , stood at the front of the practice room.

“Now, just do what you normally do in practice today. You just have to do what you always do.”

… If we each do what we usually do, there isn’t much to do with 12 of us using the same practice room

I looked up at the PD.

It was a familiar face.

Producer Oh Baekkyung.

The problem is not a face I know well.

“You can talk to each other, ok? Go along with the vibe.”

It’s dangerous if this PD is directing the show.

“Don’t just pretend, it’ll look boring.”

He was famous for his evil editing.

…there’s another famous thing about him, but that’s not what’s important right now.

Naturally, the more stimulating the scenes are, the more profitable the broadcasting station is.

In a competitive survival program like this, it’s amazing if the performers have a fight.

A 5-minute fight would eat up 3 episodes.

The problem is the image of the cast.

Trainees have no fans, and no previously established images.

Therefore, the image created at the beginning remains for a very long time.

So you have to stay still in the beginning.

“Cheong-ah.”

But why is she talking so carelessly?

“Our first group choreography practice, have you done it?”

Seo Baekyoung asked me if I had already warmed up so that I could hear everything.

I’m sure she’s doing it to get some screen time.

“Our group choreography is not easy. It makes me worry.”

The program’s first stage is ‘Group Dance Stage’.

It wasn’t a mission, but it was a stage to introduce the trainees at the beginning.

It’s like a stage used for first impressions that lasts for about 4 minutes.

The problem was that the choreography difficulty was quite high for such a thing.

The original Yun Cheong could barely digest it.

And it was also a choreography I just saw for the first time 12 hours ago.

“Ah, I’ve been practicing, but it’s not easy.”

Be humble no matter what. Be humble.

“Really? What part is difficult? I’ll help you.”

…I know what kind of role you want.

A cool unnie and a kind leader role.

“Ah, then could you look at my dance for a bit? Just the chorus part.”

Still, let’s set the rhythm.

“Of course I can.”

Seo Baekyoung gladly accepted it and stood up.

“Then can you show me first? I’ll point out the parts that you should fix.”

Look at this.

In an instant, the trainees’ eyes were turned here.

“I’ll play the song for you now. Just dance the chorus part.”

Yun Cheong, who sings well but her dancing is a complete disaster.

At this rate, She’ll probably be humiliated in front of the camera.

In the trailer, this scene should come out with subtitles like ‘A trainee who is in danger from the beginning… ?’.

In short, it meant that I would take the image of a ‘ black hole [4] ‘ from the beginning.

“Ah, everyone is practicing though, I’m worried if it’ll be a little inconvenient….”

“No way!”

“Never. We’re fine, so don’t worry about it.”

The other trainees shook their hands quickly.

I’m sure you’re fine with it.

The problem is Yun Cheong is not okay with it.

Most of the trainees looked at Yun Cheong with slightly regretful eyes.

Seo Baekyoung was looking at her with cold eyes.

And lastly, Producer Oh-

“Oh, good, great. Let’s try it once.”

He looked like he was going to die from having so much fun.

Producer Oh probably heard about the trainees’ profiles beforehand.

Each trainee’s strengths and weaknesses, positions, personality, and characteristics.

That means PD Oh also knows that Yun Cheong’s weakness is dancing.

And yet, he is asking us to do it… Of course, Yun Cheong’s crisis is a benefit for the broadcast.

“Ah… It’s because I’m still not good enough…”

“It’s alright. We all lack something.”

“If thats so, then unnie.”

I smiled at Seo Baekyoung.

“Can you perhaps dance with me?”

“Yes?”

“Since unnie is so good, I think I’ll be able to find the rhythm right away if I dance with you.”

Seo Baekyoung’s eyes got slightly bigger, as if she hadn’t expected me to be like this.

However, she nodded right away.

“Okay, I’ll do as you ask.”

She didn’t seem to think it was a loss to her.

“Then, why don’t you dance from the beginning instead of just the chorus?”

Damn PD Oh.

1. a word used by a female to refer to an older female
2. Speak of the devil
3. Producer
4. a person who lacks talents/ is the weakness of the group