Idol of the Heavenly One - Chapter 14.1
For four weeks, weekdays and weekends alike, the six of us gathered every single day to practice. Now and then, some of us, including me, struggled, but everyone helped each other and improved the quality of our practice. The more we did this, the more I believed this plan would work.
And soon, that belief became certainty.
“You guys really used your heads. This feels so refreshing.”
It was finally the day of the monthly evaluation.
As expected, most of the other trainees performed songs and dances in the hip-hop genre. In contrast, when our group of six performed a bright, refreshing song with a full group choreography, the evaluation directors’ eyes widened in surprise.
“The members, the song choice, the arrangement—everything is so good.”
“Who came up with this? Seriously, it’s put together so smartly.”
Overall, the directors’ feedback was positive. Other trainees, as well as the choreography and vocal instructors, gathered around and clapped. Our strategy had worked. It was a relief. I had been almost completely confident that the strategy was good, but still, it felt good to have that confirmed.
“Myeong-hyeon came up with the idea.”
When the director asked who had planned it, Joo I-rip spoke up and answered. The directors’ gazes turned toward me, full of surprise and curiosity, but the reactions seemed positive, which was a relief.
“You reworked the choreography really well to make it look like a boy group performance, but for the ‘Goodbye, sadness’ part you kept it completely in the original style?”
“Yes. I thought that part should be the key choreography.”
“You brought it out nicely. That part was really good.”
Actually, the others had wanted to make that part look more like a boy group performance as well, but Baek Jae-heon had insisted they keep the original move where you stretch your hand up high while singing “Goodbye―,” saying it gave a fresh, youthful feeling. And the directors loved it. Baek Jae-heon really had a good sense for these things.
“The part distribution was great too. As soon as Jae-heon stepped out in the beginning, everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to him.”
Well, of course. His face was already more than good enough. There was nothing lacking about him. It was probably everyone’s instinct that unanimously decided Jae-heon should sing the opening line. They must have all felt that for this evaluation to succeed, he needed to grab attention right from the start.
“It really shows that Jae-heon has a talent for capturing people’s focus. His visuals help, but the way he uses his facial expressions is just like a real idol. People might think he’s already debuted once.”
“Jae-heon, are you sure you’re not some rookie who already debuted somewhere?”
Even as the directors laughed, Jae-heon just stood there calmly. Well, by now he must have been tired of hearing compliments about his looks.
“I-rip’s vocal tone is stable, and his expressions fit this concept really well. I guess you can’t ignore five years of experience, huh?”
“Ha ha, thank you.”
“And Hee-min. Hee-min, you’ve never once disappointed with your high notes. I think you might sing better than me now. The way you belted the line ‘I’ll tell you all of my trembling heart’ in chest voice was so refreshing.”
Go Hee-min would have debuted even if it wasn’t with YEARZ. The directors showered both Baek Jae-heon and Go Hee-min with so many compliments it was impossible to count. At first, I had thought Go Hee-min’s eyes were so small that maybe singing was all he could do, but as we practiced together, I realized the truth.
Go Hee-min could do everything—singing, dancing, everything. Honestly, if Lee Soon-bok or Kwon Ji-hak had been even slightly worse at dancing, Go Hee-min could have easily taken the main dancer position on top of being the main vocal, and it would not have seemed strange. There was a saying among otaku that you should be careful with characters who have thin eyes, and apparently it was true.
“Soon-bok and Ji-hak, you were the ones who revised almost all the choreography for this, right?”
“Y-yes!”
“Yes!”
“You two could start making choreography right now. You completely cleaned up all the parts that could have looked outdated since it’s an old song.”
“Th-thank you!”
“Thank you!”
The way the two of them answered at the same time, almost like twins, was so cute and funny that I almost smiled like a proud dad, but everyone else was keeping a serious atmosphere, so I forced myself to stay composed and listen carefully to the evaluation.
“And…”
As the director’s gaze traveled down the line of members, it stopped on me, standing at the end.
“Ji Myeong-hyeon.”
The director had been smiling as he gave feedback to the others, but when his eyes landed on me, his expression turned serious, which made me tense up. Was I really that lacking compared to the others?
“You know DIFFER’s Seong-hyun, right?”
“Yes.”
“He debuted after the shortest trainee period in our company’s history. Probably six months total.”
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