Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 122

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 122.

“Hello.”
“Hello~”

Me, Cha-yul, Se-a, and Kim Ryeo-yu.
All four of us had gathered in the Practice Room within the Colors Building.
It seemed the location had been decided here, likely because half of us belonged to Colors.
The cameras were already fully set up.

“Let’s start by listening to the song we’ve been assigned.”

Se-a, naturally the eldest among us, took the lead in setting the tone.
The song our team had chosen to perform was.
Full Moon.
A classic idol masterpiece released roughly twenty years ago.
Even now, it was characterized by its refined, sophisticated beat.

“This mission really does prioritize team member evaluations above all else, doesn’t it?”

Se-a spoke with a business smile.
That was right.
The method for determining the eliminated participant in the second mission was as follows.
Pre-release public voting 50%, rival voting 50%.
If there was something noteworthy, it was that ‘Best’ was not selected in the rival voting.
In this rival voting, only ‘Worst’ was chosen.
After announcing each team and team members on the internet, pre-release public voting proceeds by team.
And in the rival voting, after watching the performances, the team with the most disappointing stage is selected as the ‘Worst’ team.
The pre-release public voting and rival voting scores are combined, and the team selected as the worst team designates the team member who was least helpful as the ‘Worst Member’.
And the group to which this worst member belongs becomes the final eliminated group in the second mission.
The problem was that when selecting the ‘Worst’ member, it wasn’t chosen solely based on skill and popularity.
‘Cooperation’ could also be included as an evaluation factor.
In other words, if I messed up the politics, I could be selected as worst.
Also, a group with more members could be advantaged or disadvantaged.
The more members, the more candidates who could be selected as the worst member, which seemed disadvantageous.
But in reality, the more members, the higher the probability of being good at ‘politics’.
Since there could be two or more members from the same group on one team.
Moreover, since all twenty people were given voting rights in this rival voting, there was a possibility that team members could discuss and concentrate their votes on a specific team.
Of course, the probability of that happening was extremely low due to editing or public opinion.
In the end, it evened out.
I looked around at my team members.
There’s not a single person I can trust here.
Why can’t I trust Cha-yul?
This unnie did like me back when I was Baek Nok-ha, but….
She sometimes did things I really couldn’t understand.
Her way of thinking isn’t that of an ordinary person.
I can’t let my guard down.

“So… let’s cooperate well, okay?”
“Yes.”
“Yes~!”

Kim Ryeo-yu laughed, pretending to be pure in a way unlike herself.
You must be quite desperate too.
If you’d managed your character better with that desperation, you wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.

“Roughly, we can divide the positions into main vocal, lead vocal, sub vocal 1 and 2. The main dancer can do sub vocal 2. After we finalize all the positions, we can take separate applications for the center position.”

Se-a deftly divided the parts among us.
Even at a glance, it was a balanced distribution that didn’t lean excessively toward any single person.
The main vocal had the largest share, but not so noticeably that it stood out.
…It felt comfortable.
After carrying extreme group projects at Make a New Color while herding the kids around, this was what it felt like to be carried instead.

“Does anyone have a preferred position?”

Se-a asked, looking at us.
I stayed quiet for now.
Here, I was still very much a rookie with minimal experience.
Staying silent was the right call.

“Senior, why don’t you take one first.”

Cha-yul spoke up.

“Is that so? Then I’ll take Sub Vocal 2. Can I take the main dancer role, juniors?”

That was unexpected.
I thought she’d take Sub Vocal 1.
Within Sugar Dream, Se-a had felt like a sub-center type.
Her skills themselves were unremarkable and ordinary.
She was pretty and had charm, sure, but her dancing and singing were just adequate.
Yet she was claiming the main dancer role?
I paused in confusion for a moment, then looked at my teammates and immediately understood.
There’s no one here who can really dance.
Neither I nor Cha-yul are dance-focused.
Kim Ryeo-yu probably thought she danced well, but honestly, that wasn’t the case.
Would Kim Ryeo-yu actually accept that?
I glanced sideways at Kim Ryeo-yu.
Sure enough, her barely-raised lips were twitching with tension.
She was barely holding onto her composure.

“Yes~! I’m fine with it!”

Still, the fact that she answered well suggested Director Kim had trained her thoroughly.

“I don’t mind either.”

Cha-yul seemed indifferent either way.
Hmm.

“I support you taking the main dancer position. But I think you could also do Sub 1, senior.”

It seemed I was the only one with a different opinion.

“…Is that so?”

The actual volume between Sub 1 and Sub 2 wasn’t significantly different.
It was just that Sub 1 had slightly more challenging parts.
In other words, it was a position that required experience.
I felt more comfortable with Se-a, who had the most seniority here, taking it.

“Yes. I think you’d be perfectly suited for main or lead as well. Since you mentioned you’re more interested in the main dancer position… how about Sub 1?”
“Well, I’m fine with it either way… what do you juniors think?”

At my words, Se-a’s lips curved subtly upward.
Playing dumb, are we?
Your desire for Sub 1 was completely transparent.
You deliberately pretended to take the smallest position out of modesty.
But it was obvious.
That Sub 1 was your real goal.
But there was no way the oblivious Cha-yul or Kim Ryeo-yu would pick up on that….
I had to acknowledge it.

“I think it suits you well. You have strength in your voice, senior. Sub 1 would be perfect for you.”
“…Yes, I was thinking the same thing!”

Ryeo-yu, don’t cry.
And so Sub 1 was decided.

“Then it’s my turn.”

Cha-yul fell into thought, studying the lyrics sheet.

“I’ll do lead vocals. I won’t take center. I’m a solo artist, so I’m not good with group stage performances.”

Oh no.
I tensed up immediately.

“Then why don’t you take it, Yun Chung? What part would you like to do?”
“Main vocal seems like it would suit you? I saw your performance on the Slope stage last time, and you were really good.”

Cha-yul and Se-a each added their own comments.
Every time they did, Kim Ryeo-yu’s eyes grew subtly colder—though perhaps only I could see it.

“Then I’ll….”

I glanced at Kim Ryeo-yu.
Main vocal, huh.

“I’ll take Sub Vocal 2.”

Absolutely not taking the main part.
There was genuinely no reason to claim the main vocal.
In the first place, the public’s voting was conducted ‘in advance’.
It meant people were choosing without having seen the actual performance.
Because of that, the importance of the stage itself had been inadvertently diminished.

“And I won’t be taking center either.”

Now I just needed to do my own part well—there was no need to stand out unnecessarily.
In a survival show like this, standing out only created enemies among rival group fanbases.
Staying in the middle was enough.
But…

“…! Then does that mean I’m… becoming the center?”

There was no way Kim Ryeo-yu could have anticipated this.
Kim Ryeo-yu looked visibly tense.
She had been criticized for insufficient ability after standing as center in Make a New Color, so she couldn’t help but be this way.
Maybe I should ease her guard a little.

“Ah, is it perhaps too much pressure for you?”

Kim Ryeo-yu’s eyes betrayed her confusion.
Caught between the thought, ‘Why is Yun Chung giving me the center position?’ and
the thought, ‘I want to do center, but… am I allowed to?’
So let me dangle the bait one more time.
Ask, ask…

“If you find it burdensome, please feel free to say so. We can discuss once more who would be best suited for the center position—”
“Oh, no.”

She asked.

“If everyone truly thinks it’s okay for me to do it… I’d like to give it a try.”

Had Kim Ryeo-yu possessed even a shred of rationality in that moment, she would have refused.
Center position, surpassing accomplished seniors?
The risk was far too great.
But right now, Kim Ryeo-yu was consumed by anxiety.
The internet held nothing but insults, and fans were disappointed by her image diverging from the original concept.
Kim Ryeo-yu had chosen an innocent concept for her first mission to revitalize her image, but the truth was that fans had never fallen for the innocent version of Kim Ryeo-yu.
Kim Ryeo-yu was deeply mistaken.
That her fans loved ‘Kim Ryeo-yu’ herself.
That wasn’t it.

“What do you seniors think?”
“I don’t mind.”
“Me neither. I think whoever does it will do well.”

They simply loved Kim Ryeo-yu’s ‘image’.
A common misconception in the entertainment industry, and a common tragedy.

“Ryeo-yu. How about the main vocal position? Think you can handle it?”

Se-a asked with a peculiar gaze.
A look that said, ‘Do you think you can do this?’
She watched Make a New Color too, I see.

“If you’ll help me… I’d like to give it a try!”
“Of course we’ll help. Since you say you can do it, that settles it. You’re responsible for your own words.”

Se-a let out a sharp laugh and delivered her pointed remark.

“Let’s take responsibility for this ourselves.”

The bait had been cast, and the prey had bitten.
Now it was time to slowly reel in the line.
Kim Ryeo-yu, barely clinging to survival with a handful of core fans.

“Then, we’ll have Ryeo-yu handle the center and main vocal positions.”

What if even those core fans disappeared?

***

“Hello~! I’m Shin Yu-hwa from Rise Up, Jet A!”

An uninvited guest had appeared while everyone in the Practice Room was running through songs.
I’d been wondering when he’d show up.
I simply bowed in greeting.

“Today~ I’ve come to cheer on our team’s Full Moon! I’m so delighted to see you all again like this~”
“Wow….”

All four of us clapped mechanically and offered our reactions.
From the atmosphere, it was clear that the other three all knew about Shin Yu-hwa’s “unsavory” reputation.
Kim Ryeo-yu would have naturally heard it from Director Kim.
Even Cha-yul, who barely paid attention to entertainment industry gossip, seemed to know about it—which was somewhat amusing.
It meant the rumors were truly vicious.

“Yes~! Yun Chung!”
“Yes.”

I made every effort to smile with complete sincerity.
A smile with lifeless eyes but lips that curved genuinely upward.

“Actually, you and Ryeo-yu first met at Make a New Color, and now you’re taking the stage together again~! How does it feel to reunite with Ryeo-yu like this?”

How would it feel?
I have plenty to say, but I won’t say it.

“Yes, actually the four of us ended up performing on stage together. We’ve received advice from seniors we’ve always admired, and we’ve even gotten vocal coaching, so it’s truly an honor.”

I deliberately shifted the focus to “the four of us” rather than Kim Ryeo-yu.
There was no reason to get entangled with Kim Ryeo-yu and have articles pop up online with titles like “StillBlue’s Yun Chung shields a school violence perpetrator” or “Yun Chung sold out to capital.”

“Ah, yes~! It must have been an honor to stand on stage with such senior artists. Then, how does this differ from Make a New Color?”

There he goes, trying to tie it back to Make a New Color again.

“Both are truly excellent survival programs. But if I had to point out a difference, I’d say I’m able to participate in a more grown state, having learned from my experience on Make a New Color. Also, I was the eldest during Make a New Color, but here I’m in the maknae position, which feels wonderful too.”

I needed to steer the conversation away.
I smiled brightly and deftly dodged the topic.
I could see the veins bulging in Shin Yu-hwa’s neck, but I casually ignored it.
Life has always been won by those without social awareness.
And I had resolved to become thoroughly oblivious.

“…So then, Yun Chung. Doesn’t it feel awkward being on the same team as Kim Ryeo-yu?”

But Shin Yu-hwa was far more persistent than I’d anticipated.
When someone came at me like this, there was only one option left.

“Oh! Now that you mention it, I heard that you’re incredibly close with Kim Ryeo-yu and her family, senior. You must have been so delighted to see her here!”

The only way was to make the footage unusable.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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