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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: 50화
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Shoot, shoot
I’ll shoot you
Skit, Skit
We swing on the same pendulum
I can't run away from you
First up was Dance Position A’s performance.
The trainees gathered together in the waiting room to watch the other teams’ performances.
However, no one was fully focused on Dance Position A’s stage.
Everyone’s attention was entirely on the team waiting below the stage.
“Wasn’t that… Cheong Unnie just now?”
Lee Ju-seon said with a flustered look.
“It was Cheong Unnie, alright.”
Kim Geum replied triumphantly.
See? What did I tell you? I said she’d come. Her lips curved as if to say just that.
“Looks like she’s feeling better, at least.”
“Cheong Unnie isn’t the problem right now.”
Bang Su-in pointed at the monitor with her chin.
“Did something happen to Kim Ryeo-yu Unnie today? This is already her second choreography mistake. Earlier, she got her positioning wrong and took the center when it wasn’t her turn…”
“It was Seo Baek-yeong Unnie’s turn for the center, and she just took it… It’s a good thing Seo Baek-yeong Unnie immediately changed her position, otherwise it would have been a huge accident. If they had even bumped into each other…”
“Someone could have gotten hurt…”
Indeed.
Now, Kim Ryeo-yu was making her second choreography mistake.
It was because, after receiving feedback from the judges last time, she had, if not completely, at least somewhat restored the song.
Naturally, the stage had become much more challenging than during the interim evaluation.
But Kim Ryeo-yu, who was expected to easily handle that much, was faltering.
“She wasn’t like that during rehearsals. Did she get too nervous and lose her focus?”
Even Shin Yu-hyeon looked puzzled.
“Kim Ryeo-yu Unnie, just a little more effort!”
Park Ha-eun glanced at the camera and shouted.
“Even amidst all this, Seo Baek-yeong Unnie is truly amazing.”
Shin Yu-hyeon shook her head repeatedly.
Though in the same position, Seo Baek-yeong was on a different level.
“Of course, Unnie was an all-rounder, but I don’t think her vocal skills were at that level. Isn’t that almost Main Vocal level?”
“Right? Did she go into the mountains somewhere and achieve vocal enlightenment?”
The trainees admired Seo Baek-yeong, who remained completely unshaken even in the chaotic situation.
“And surprisingly, Yeon Ju-hong is doing well.”
“Not surprisingly.”
Lee Ju-seon said coldly.
“Yeon Ju-hong was always good.”
“Why are you suddenly praising Yeon Ju-hong…? If I tell Yeon Ju-hong this, it’s practically material for three days’ worth of her diary…”
“Don’t tell her! If you do, I’ll tell her you said Yeon Ju-hong was getting to you last time!”
While Kim Geum and Lee Ju-seon bickered, Dance Position A’s performance ended.
“Kim Ryeo-yu Unnie might not be the MVP for Dance Position A Team…”
“But I actually thought Seo Baek-yeong Unnie would get it from the start.”
The trainees whispered among themselves.
The stirring atmosphere seemed to foreshadow Kim Ryeo-yu’s quiet downfall.
Would her solid core fanbase collapse with just these two mistakes?
Probably not.
However, the public’s perception might shift slightly.
From a trainee who was a bit prickly but undeniably skilled, she might become a trainee who acted prickly with only *that* much skill.
“Oh, they’re coming out. They’re coming out.”
“Whoa. The Vocal Team is coming out.”
“Their ‘Fingertips’ was really amazing back then.”
The trainees murmured.
“Lee Gyeong-a Unnie said there were a lot of concepts and choreographies they couldn’t show during the interim evaluation.”
“So that means the main performance will be even more amazing?”
“But has Yun Cheong Unnie’s condition fully recovered?”
“Exactly. That’s the key. The MVP is important, after all…”
“Ryu Bo-ra might even become MVP.”
Lee Ju-seon and Kim Geum even stopped their bickering and watched the monitor.
Yun Cheong, who had disappeared, was back.
Carrying everyone’s worries.
Would she truly be alright?
[Vocal Team. I heard you faced quite a few difficulties. Is that right?]
Do Hui-yeong, perhaps aware of the audience and viewers’ concerns, asked a question that scratched where it itched.
[Ahem.]
The one who took the microphone was Lee Gyeong-a.
[Yes. You’ll probably all find out when the broadcast airs, but… Yun Cheong was actually very sick.]
[...]
Perhaps when it aired, subtitles like these would appear.
[Subtitle: Trainee Yun Cheong, who had to be hospitalized for several days]
[Subtitle: Just until recently, she was in the hospital, barely making it to work!]
[Oh my. Is Trainee Yun Cheong alright now?]
At Do Hui-yeong’s question, the microphone was passed to Yun Cheong.
The cameras, the eyes of hundreds of audience members, and the trainees’ eyes were all fixed on Yun Cheong.
Aware of this, Yun Cheong also smiled brightly.
– Uwaaaaah!!
– Cheong-ah!!!!!!!!!! Cheong-ah!!!!!!
– Don’t be sick!!!!!!!!!!!!
Voices bordering on wailing could be heard from the audience.
Yun Cheong laughed and waved her hand towards them.
[Wow, Trainee Yun Cheong. You’re already incredibly popular.]
Even Do Hui-yeong said with a surprised expression.
[Thank you for your concern. Thankfully, thanks to the Colorists and my team members, I’m alright now.]
For some reason, her voice was slightly huskier than usual.
That voice made the fans’ hearts ache even more.
Especially ‘Col-duck,’ the *akgae* of Yun Cheong in this area, was on the verge of wailing.
For some reason, she even looked thinner and more emaciated than usual.
[Alright, Trainee Yun Cheong. And Vocal Position Team. We have high expectations for the performance you’re about to show, .]
[Yes!]
***
“Yun Cheong really doesn’t look well today.”
Prism Homma looked at Yun Cheong worriedly.
“But it looks like an East Asian concept. The outfits are incredibly pretty.”
“Right. It’s a unique concept, so it stands out.”
“That’s 100% Yun Cheong’s strategy to capture the hearts of her fans…”
Although Prism Homma hadn’t been stanning Yun Cheong for long, she knew instinctively.
Our girl is a born idol.
She’s also smart, so she knows what points drive fans crazy.
Normally, she would have tried to capture Yun Cheong’s poignant beauty with her camera, but this performance was a strictly private broadcast, kept completely secret.
As there was a strict embargo, bag searches were thorough.
In the end, Prism Homma gave up on bringing in her camera.
However, she was confident she could leave a more vivid review of the audience experience than anyone else.
Who was she, after all?
She was a homma with a whopping seventy-eight thousand followers!
Fandom power proven by *jjambap*!
If photos aren’t possible, I’ll live-blog it!
“They shouldn’t mess up the stage like Kim Ryeo-yu did earlier…”
Another homma who came with Prism Homma said.
This homma was the homma for Do Hui-yeong, 'Over the rainbow'. She was also known as Rainbow Homma.
And she was also Prism Homma’s university classmate.
Actually, she came here today to see Do Hui-yeong.
As for the Make a New Color trainees, her feelings were still only curiosity.
That’s why only merciless evaluations came from her mouth.
“Don’t worry too much. Fans usually go wild when that kind of poignant beauty appears.”
“That’s not the problem right now, I’m telling you. What if her vocal cords are damaged?”
“It’s fine. If she’s sick, a blood shield is possible. Then again, if we put it that way, Kim Ryeo-yu could also get a pressure shield.”
“You heartless bastard… You only stan Do Hui-yeong, huh…”
“I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t for Do Hui-yeong-nim in the first place. The trainees can’t even hold a candle to Do Hui-yeong-nim’s toenail dirt yet.”
Prism Homma gritted her teeth.
“You’re going to regret saying that.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Just don’t kick your blanket in regret after you fall for Yun Cheong later.”
“Yeah, you’re the next Cheong-fan.”
Rainbow Homma snorted and turned her eyes to the stage.
No matter how much the trainees boast their skills, they can’t compare to Do Hui-yeong.
How incredibly amazing is our Do Hui-yeong-nim?
“The stage is starting. Oh no. I think I’m going to lose my mind.”
“You’re being overdramatic.”
Of course, naturally—
My beloved,
On a night where even the full moon is pale,
Where are you going?
The moment the performance began, Rainbow Homma regretted her words.
***
Yun Cheong, who had lost even more weight than usual and was completely clad in an aura of poignant beauty, appeared.
Yun Cheong’s opening verse was enough to captivate everyone.
Makeup that emphasized the beauty mark near her eye.
Black hair, half-secured with a modernly interpreted *binyeo*, flowing down the side.
And a red *bipa* held in her hand.
Yun Cheong appeared alone on stage and sang.
Oh, fallen leaves,
My love, who said they’d rather fall than become a flower,
How far have you come?
Yun Cheong slowly dragged her finger down from her beauty mark.
As if to represent tears.
Then, perhaps because she had applied black makeup to her hand beforehand, the black eyeliner began to smudge slightly, as if her eye makeup had run with tears.
An incomprehensible fate,
I thought.
Following this, Ryu Bo-ra appeared.
However, the stage design was unique.
Ryu Bo-ra was perched on a rock-like stage prop, opposite Yun Cheong.
A fate that could not be,
I thought.
In her hand, she held a spool of red thread.
Stretching out fate,
What touches is your fingertip.
Stretching out destiny,
If only our fingertips could entwine.
Following this, Lee Gyeong-a led the chorus.
Lee Gyeong-a was also sitting on a swing set up far behind Yun Cheong.
In her hand, she held a red spider lily.
Eyes swaying like weeping willows,
I saw your trembling
Fingertips.
Next, Jo Hui-on appeared opposite Lee Gyeong-a.
On her hand, a red butterfly rested.
Stretching out fate,
What touches is your fingertip.
Stretching out destiny,
If only our fingertips could entwine.
This time, the chorus was sung by all four simultaneously.
A promise unfulfilled,
With an aching heart,
You,
I…
Just when one thought it was a tranquil ballad continuing like that.
I will catch you,
Even in any delusion,
I will catch you.
The song’s atmosphere shifted.
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