A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 381
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
A Regression Guide for Idols Who Lost Their Original Intent Episode 381
As the lights descended onto the stage of the concert hall that had been dark and dim, thunderous cheers from the audience filling the vast dome echoed throughout.
Brilliant lights and lasers filled the stage completely.
At the same time, the opening stage of a rookie idol group that had been rising in popularity lately announced the start of WAMA.
Yoon Eden’s homma ‘EDEN81’ reminded herself that Rev was the final act and unconsciously tried to let out a sigh, but swallowed it down forcefully in case it might bring bad luck to our kids.
‘Is this what they call complaining when you’re well-fed?’
Just a few years ago, no, what do you mean a few years. Even just a few months ago before DTB Season 4 aired, could anyone have imagined that Rev would stand on the ending stage of one of the year-end award ceremonies?
If it weren’t for Yoon Eden becoming Dub Net’s golden child after DTB Season 4 became a so-called ‘huge hit’, it would have been unthinkable for Rev, who wasn’t even from a major agency, to handle the ending stage.
Didn’t the fandom of D-Green Entertainment idols, who had always monopolized WAMA’s ending stages, refuse to accept this result and viciously criticize Rev and Wnet?
Well, it was understandable. The ending stage was practically a measure of popularity.
Whether Dub Net’s favor toward Yoon Eden and his group Rev would continue until next year was uncertain, but the homma decided to enjoy today’s ending stage for now.
If Dub Net was planning to abandon Rev next year, she hoped they would spectacularly ruin DTB Season 5’s viewership ratings and buzz.
Still, it was fortunate that there was one stage where Yoon Eden would appear in the middle of the lineup.
While mindlessly watching the stages of other groups she wasn’t interested in, the homma hoped the rap performance stage would come out soon. She wasn’t particularly a hip hop lover, but at least our Eden would appear there.
Since Wnet’s biggest hit program this year was the hip hop survival show DROP THE BEAT Season 4, naturally WAMA, the award ceremony hosted by Wnet’s parent company, also inserted DTB stages.
The Best Rap Performance award was given to a new song by a rapper who appeared as a DTB producer, as always, and the DTB stage was organized by the rappers who appeared as producers along with the winner and runner-up.
The song selected for this year’s DTB stage was from the label that housed Moltic and Young Billy from the runner-up team, a song that had reached 3rd place on the real-time music charts.
It was a song with decent mainstream appeal, preventing the disaster of only the rappers getting excited on stage while the audience felt cold, using big data accumulated from numerous trial and error attempts so far.
‘Is it the band’s turn soon?’
Listening to vocals that were clearly rock-style singing, the homma gauged the order.
Meanwhile, there was no time to be bored thanks to Seo Yehyeon, who was caught on camera without realizing it, mouth agape while appreciating the incredible vocal ability, then belatedly noticing himself on screen thanks to Gyeon Hajun’s touch and awkwardly smiling while slightly waving his hand.
Thunderous applause poured out toward the band that finished their stage without mistakes and was leaving.
While wondering who would take over the atmosphere that the band had built up, the stage lights suddenly dimmed and the screen installed on the stage lit up.
Of course.
Hip hop was currently running at the highest stock among music genres, and there was no way Dub Net, which had made decent profits from DTB, would organize the DTB stage with just one song.
[Cypher
00:00
00:01:30]
A microphone stand standing tall in the center of the stage with a single microphone attached to its end.
DTB viewers would have been able to immediately recognize what WAMA was trying to recreate.
It was the guerrilla mission that had generated the highest viewership ratings and biggest issues after the diss battles in the preliminaries: the mic steal cypher.
As six people came up on stage, hot cheers poured out.
Gongchul and BQ9, producers of this year’s winning team, Moltic and Young Billy, producers of the runner-up team, winner Yoon Eden, and runner-up Skoen.
Yoon Eden in particular drew attention by coming out wearing the three-piece suit that had played a part in creating issues.
His bangs swept back slightly messily over his forehead like a slicked-back undercut seemed both unsuited and well-suited to the suit.
The homma’s hands became busy as she continuously pressed the camera shutter to somehow capture that appearance better.
The beat started playing, and BQ9, who grabbed the mic first, began rapping with a relaxed smile. Since BQ9 had built up quite a fanbase from DTB 3, the response was quite loud.
Of course, the producers who were already well-known named rappers from the start received great cheers. Skoen, who received the microphone from Young Billy, also received cheers no less than the producers.
But among the six, who received the most enthusiastic response was undoubtedly Yoon Eden. He was the one who caught the most attention in every aspect.
Unfortunately, the mic steal attempt prevention and mic yielding, which was considered one of the best performances moments, wasn’t showcased, but Yoon Eden’s truly best performance, entering with exactly 15 seconds left in the given time limit, was recreated in this cypher.
The rap performance that finished perfectly as the backscreen timer changed from 00:15 to 00:00:00 was enough to evoke admiration and cheers even from people who weren’t particularly interested in hip-hop or Yoon Eden.
After the cypher ended flawlessly without a single mistake, enough to naturally make people say that professionals are indeed different, Gongchul and BQ9 entered, and it was time for the stage selection songs.
As mentioned earlier, since it had climbed to real-time 3rd place on the domestic music charts, it was a song that had become somewhat familiar to the general public’s ears. Even if the verses were hard to follow, the addictive hook was easy enough to sing along to.
Since Yoon Eden was in charge of the hook part, this stage allowed audiences to taste both Yoon Eden’s rap and vocals.
In fact, the hook part was closer to singing rap with a cheerful melody rather than vocals, so Yoon Eden smoothly handled the hook part without any special techniques. His vocals, raised a tone higher than usual, immediately caught the ear.
Of course, there was also the rap verse where he naturally joined in as if it had originally been his song, even though there was no designated spot for him.
The hip-hop stage was perfectly concluded amidst pouring applause and cheers.
Now she had to wait endlessly again until the ending stage, but the homma could endure until the ending stage with the memory of Yoon Eden’s performance she had just witnessed.
The screen also occasionally showed the faces of Rev members enjoying other idols’ performances in the artist seating area.
The homma’s fingers got busy once again capturing Yoon Eden, who was nodding his head to the rap part of the performing idol, then discovered the camera pointed at him and smiled with just the corners of his mouth raised.
She also captured Kim Dobin as a bonus, who coolly mimicked girl group choreography gestures, then smiled with his characteristic mouth shape toward the camera filming him and drew a V with his fingers.
Awards ceremonies took place in between the performances.
Rev also won awards, but WAMA had long lost its credibility due to award monopolization by specific agencies and incomprehensible ranking evaluations, so it was regarded more as a year-end K-POP group concert rather than an awards ceremony.
Although KICKS, who had quite a few hit songs this year, was excluded from the awards ceremony lineup, considering that whole incident happened less than a week ago, it was understandable.
This would be a better choice for KICKS, who would have had to receive awards and perform on stage amidst jeers or silence.
And finally, the ending stage that the homma had been waiting for so eagerly was approaching. The bright concert hall lights gradually turned off one by one, and only the lights of various colorful light sticks sparkled.
The prelude of 【Ride or Die】 echoed through the concert hall that had become dark again. The fans’ cheers exploded as explosively as their wait had been long.
A structure densely embedded with lights began to slowly rise from the stage floor. The Rev members were sitting or standing on the structure that looked like a low jungle gym.
Seo Yehyeon and Yuje, who were in relatively high positions, were sitting, while Yoon Eden, Gyeon Hajun, and Kim Dobin, who were in lower positions closer to the floor, were standing on parts with added footrests.
Stage lights came on, dimly illuminating the members’ faces.
The screen at the back of the stage lit up. Light particles were scattered like a constellation across the blue-tinted screen.
[There’s no way back for us now
Will you ride or die with me?]
As the song progressed, the structure that had risen high slowly descended again, and when it came down to a level not much different from the stage floor, the Rev members also got off the structure and stepped onto the stage.
The stage costumes were aviation jackets and baseball jackets with moderate splendor.
Yuje, who seemed to have some problem with his in-ear monitor and kept tapping it with his finger while singing, eventually pulled the in-ear out of his ear and continued singing.
【Ride or Die】 received quite a good response, being the first song to get Billboard media play and even achieving a reverse run on domestic charts. And this song had also become a painful point for Daydream due to the early termination of activities caused by Yoon Eden’s health problems.
The fans’ group singing filled the chorus together. Listening to that, Yuje, who was blinking his eyes, quietly approached Yoon Eden.
Since the current part was transitioning from Seo Yehyeon to Kim Dobin and then to Gyeon Hajun, the two who were the main vocalist and main rapper respectively had stepped back to avoid being caught on camera.
When Yuje poked Yoon Eden with his finger and pointed to his in-ear, miming taking it out, Yoon Eden slightly frowned and also pulled his in-ear out of his ear.
Swoosh, when Yoon Eden turned to look at Yuje, Yuje moved his mouth to convey something through lip reading.
Yoon Eden, who similarly asked something only through lip movements, nodded and pushed Yuje’s back.
The moment Gyeon Hajun’s high note part ended and the chorus was about to come around again.
Once again, the fans’ group singing naturally harmonized with Yuje’s chorus.
The corners of Yoon Eden’s eyes, who was performing light choreography on stage, curved gently. The corners of his mouth also drew a refreshing arc.
Homma pressed the shutter as if mesmerized by that radiant smile filling her camera screen.
It was the moment when Yoon Eden’s conviction about his music was forever captured.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————