Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 125

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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 125.

Tears shed because of you
A path created that way Milky way

The questions that had been raised bit by bit became certain once Cha-yul’s next part came.

★
Kim Ryeo-yu’s lip movements don’t even match, is this for real
Seriously, how much AR did they layer on this lol
They really stacked the live AR thick
Look at Cha-yul’s vocal power breaking through the AR even with all that
If Kim Ryeo-yu had sung alone, we’d be uncertain because of post-production, but Cha-yul just authenticated it right there
If you layer live AR this much, this is basically lip-sync, and meanwhile Cha-yul’s vocal power just demolished the AR lol

AR is pre-recorded audio with both the singer’s voice and the backing track.
And live AR is pre-recorded audio made to look like a ‘live’ stage performance.
Made vivid by including even breathing sounds.
But actually, this wasn’t simple live AR.

This isn’t live AR

※Not defending Kim Ryeo-yu※

This is LMR
When I only heard Kim Ryeo-yu’s part, I thought it was live AR, but after hearing Cha-yul’s part too, I get it
It’s LMR
LMR is live MR
Some parts the singer performs live, and some parts are left as AR
If you put it all in as AR, it’s too obvious and no fun, so they leave the parts they can reasonably perform empty
Looks like they didn’t leave Kim Ryeo-yu’s part empty but left Cha-yul’s part empty
Normally with post-production after broadcast, you wouldn’t notice at all, but Kim Ryeo-yu’s lip movements are completely off so it got exposed right away

Hahahahahaha… it’s funny but not funny
Honestly, whether it’s LMR or LAR, they’re so common that most idols use them—there’s barely anyone who doesn’t
└222 It’s often used regardless of skill level due to audio issues… when live broadcasts aren’t stable enough
└└But this is an extremely stable situation, isn’t it? It’s pre-recorded in the studio, right? And it’s not even a music broadcast, it’s a variety show recording, so the schedule shouldn’t have been that tight
└└└That’s true
Actually, outdoor stages or provincial event stages often use LMR or LAR—they broadcast with LAR while the stage itself performs live…
└But this isn’t that kind of situation, it’s a studio stage lololol you’re defending it weirdly
└└Gritting your teeth and defending anyway~
└└└NN That’s why even in a studio stage… there are lots of people criticizing because of various circumstances, it has nothing to do with skill lololololol
★
Even if it’s a studio recording, how would we know the actual conditions on-site; they might have used LMR because of budget issues and poor audio support, so what do they know
Our Ryeo-yu wouldn’t have decided it alone, pushing aside three seniors, right? They must have discussed it with the seniors and made the best choice…
└ It could be that SBN told them to do it…
And on the day of recording, the kid’s throat condition might not have been good;

Now the real problem was the other team members.
Se-a and Yun Chung.
Would these two use LMR as well?
Or would they sing live like Cha-yul?
Actually.
There was one person for whom this wasn’t even the problem right now.

***

‘This… this seems like a real problem.’

That person was me.
I realized it the moment I was warming up my voice right before taking the stage.
This was a real problem.

‘My voice is completely shot.’

But today of all days, I absolutely couldn’t let it fall apart.
Why?

“No, I understand the situation. I do understand. But using LMR like this is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“….”

Cha-yul and Se-a were absolutely furious.
We were in the Waiting Room.
It wasn’t until we were about to step onto the Stage that we discovered our original backing track had been swapped out without warning.
So we decided to hold an emergency meeting with just Oh PD and the four of us, away from the cameras.

“Ryeo-yu, if you layer your part like this, it’ll be obvious. I’m saying this for your sake.”
“…I know that much.”

Kim Ryeo-yu spoke with an incredibly stubborn and irritating expression.
She was forcing herself to appear compliant, but she wasn’t compliant at all.

“Then why? And if you were going to do this, shouldn’t you have at least consulted with us first?”

That was the crux of it.
Kim Ryeo-yu had recorded only her part live without telling us and then overlaid it onto the original backing track.

“We gave you the main vocal position at center—did you think that was so you could pull something like this?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, an apology doesn’t fix this. If you weren’t confident in your abilities, you should have told us so we could adjust your part!”

Se-a’s anger was genuinely terrifying.
Especially when someone was angry for such a legitimate reason—that made it even more frightening.

“I wanted to tell you.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“The atmosphere wasn’t right for it.”
“?”

At Kim Ryeo-yu’s answer, the atmosphere became nothing but a question mark itself.

“What do you mean the atmosphere wasn’t right? Have we been beating you while teaching you all this time?”
“…You didn’t hit me, but you did pressure me while teaching me. And I did try…. I did exactly what you seniors asked of me.”
“Ah, so you’re admitting we taught you everything from A to Z?”

Cha-yul, who had been holding back her anger, joined in as well.

“How many times did I ask you? ‘It doesn’t seem like you can handle main vocals—wouldn’t it be better to just switch your part back?’ How many times did I say that?”
“…Then you should have kept the main vocal position from the start.”
“What? You think I gave you the main vocal position because I wasn’t confident in myself?”

Cha-yul stared directly at Kim Ryeo-yu, her voice dropping to barely a whisper.

“I’ve already climbed to where I belong, so I gave you newcomers a chance. I told you to show your talent. To let the public see what you could do. But since you didn’t have much to show, I asked again. It seemed like you weren’t ready for this position yet, so I thought it would be better if the senior members took the main parts this time.”
“….”
“But what did you say to that? ‘No. I can handle it, and I don’t see why I can’t.’ That’s what you said.”

Cha-yul let out a short laugh.

“And this is the result?”
“…Isn’t this too much, everyone?”

Then Kim Ryeo-yu suddenly lifted her head sharply.

“…What?”
“Where is LMR so common that you’d say that? Everyone does it. It’s so common that it doesn’t even stand out. Why are you only coming after me about this!”

Without the cameras rolling, her true colors were showing.
I sighed quietly to myself.

“Honestly, if this stage gets picked as the worst team, it’s obvious who among us would be picked as the worst member.”

Kim Ryeo-yu glared at me with eyes brimming with tears.
…Was she actually crying?
While looking at me?

“Cha-yul only likes Yun Chung so much that people gossip about it online. Se-a just scolds me no matter what I do. How could I feel safe? And you too…!”

Kim Ryeo-yu pointed an accusing finger at me, then seemed to remember something and lowered her hand, crossing her arms instead.
Then she turned her head away sharply.
Had Kim Mo-gyeong instructed her not to clash with me?

“I did it because I didn’t want to be picked as the worst stage, because I was that desperate. Is that such a grave sin?”
“Yes. It is.”

Se-a spoke with absolute conviction.

“You’ve never done group activities before, so you don’t understand. Hurting others because of your selfishness is a grave sin. You should have at least consulted with us first.”

You’re absolutely right.
So Se-a was the type to be so sharp and decisive.

“Alright, everyone calm down.”

That’s when Oh PD, who had been quietly observing the situation, interjected.

“Kim Ryeo-yu. You’re going to layer this underneath, right? You’re going to sing it, aren’t you?”
“…Yes, I’ll sing it.”

Kim Ryeo-yu answered reluctantly to Oh PD’s question.

“I’ll~ sing it~?”

This was bad.
Cha-yul was on the verge of losing it.

“That’s not something a singer should—”
“Whoa, whoa.”

I immediately wrapped my arms around Cha-yul from behind and dragged her backward.
Then I pulled her into the empty Waiting Room.
I hastily handed her the chocolate I’d prepared in advance for situations like this, and Cha-yul accepted it while still fuming.

“There are a lot of eyes watching here. If you say things like that, it’ll cause real trouble, senior.”
“But she—”
“I know, I know. But everyone already knows the truth, so they’ll understand without you saying it. Don’t worry.”
“Still—”
“You have every right to be upset. But if the LMR track falls through, she’s the one who loses. Don’t worry too much. Instead, why not just drop a hint during the interview later?”
“But still!”
“I know, I know.”

Cha-yul gradually began to calm down.
Though it was clear the anger was still difficult to swallow.

“If you layer it only on her part like that, it’ll actually be more obvious.”
“Should we layer it on your part too, senior?”
“Absolutely not.”

And yet, what was I doing?

“Anyway, it’s not like he’d listen no matter what we say. We just need to do our stage well.”

Cha-yul reluctantly nodded her head.
But then she suddenly snapped her head up to look at me.

“Wait. Why is your neck doing that?”

Oh no.

“Ha-ha.”
“Ha-ha? Ha-ha? Are you actually laughing right now?”

Cha-yul grabbed my shoulder, even more agitated than before.
Is this really the same person who was shy in front of me and asking me to grab a meal just a while ago?
This is how Cha-yul is.
Outside of music, she has a naive, spacey side to her.
But when it comes to people she’s fixated on or topics related to music?
She goes a little crazy.

“This won’t do. You need to get LMR right now—”
“No, no. I’m not using it.”

If I used that, I’d end up getting beaten down alongside Kim Ryeo-yu.
I’d rather have my voice give out gloriously on stage and at least get sympathy votes.
Just LMR alone was bad enough, but LMR with Kim Ryeo-yu?
That was perfect for slapping labels like “birds of a feather” and “two peas in a pod” on us.

“But if you keep going like this, your voice will completely die. You’re still a rookie, so you probably don’t realize how fatal that is for a singer. It’s not something to take lightly. It’s hard to recover from—for both your reputation and your voice.”

I knew that well enough.
But this was something I couldn’t compromise on.
More than anything…

-Don’t worry. Even if your vocal cords get damaged… I’ll make sure you can still perform on stage!
“But how exactly?”
-You’ll find out when the time comes.

Cotton Ball Entity promised to make sure I could at least perform on stage.
Besides, in a few days when I returned, it said it would completely fix my throat.
So it would handle this.
Even if… it didn’t work out, I had Kim Ryeo-yu—a massive disaster—right beside me, so I could say I’d avoided the absolute worst-case scenario.
But….
If Cotton Ball Entity betrayed me again this time, I didn’t think I’d want to obey its words so willingly anymore.

***

Standing on that stage.
All four of us had anxious expressions—there was no way we could look good.
Cha-yul and Se-a were worried about getting dragged into Kim Ryeo-yu’s mess.
Kim Ryeo-yu was worried about being caught doing LMR solo.
I was worried my throat would completely give out.
Even standing there with such anxiety—the moment the intro started.
We all erased our expressions as if nothing had happened and smiled.
Because the stage had begun.
I steeled my resolve completely.
First came Kim Ryeo-yu’s part.
Then Cha-yul’s part.
And here—
In the midst of this, Cha-yul added ad-libs, wanting to emphasize that she wasn’t doing LMR.
Next came Se-a’s part.
Se-a also… while not as obvious as Cha-yul, subtly let it show.
Now it was my turn, but—

It was time.

The moment I sang the first phrase, I felt it.
The next phrase wouldn’t come out.
But in that instant—

Ding!

[【???】 grants you ‘Promised Support’!]
[Support Name: 【Just Once More, Let Me Stand on Stage With My Own Voice】]
[Loading support data…]
[Support settles upon your throat!]

You filling my heart
Today, too, Full Moon

I was startled.

“…!”

Yun Chung’s voice was… so remarkably similar to my own.
You resembled me far more than I ever realized.

[Current Support Data in Use: ~If Yun Chung Had Her Prime~]
[You are borrowing the vocal cords and voice Yun Chung would have possessed had she not been overworked!]
[Time Limit: 00:05:00]
[Stats are being adjusted…]
Yun Chung (Baek Nok-ha)

Singing: (89~97)/100

▼

Yun Chung + Baek Nok-ha

Singing: 100/100

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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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