Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 4

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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 4.

Oh PD, now thoroughly excited, began to escalate the spectacle.
It was painfully obvious what he intended.
Ace Trainee VS Black Hole Trainee. The First Showdown?!
He was planning to pit Seo Baek-young and me against each other with captions like that.
According to Yun Chung’s memories, Seo Baek-young was universally recognized as the ace trainee.
She had trained at Colors the longest and was, in every sense, a “well-rounded” trainee.
Her desired position was main dancer.
But she sang exceptionally well too—talented enough to aim for lead vocal.
If you put a trainee who dances well enough to be the team’s main dancer alongside a trainee who couldn’t dance at all, the comparison would be inevitable.
It was a dynamic anyone with sense would avoid at all costs.
But I was a fool.

“…Well, from the beginning—”
“Yes, I’ll do my best!”

Because I was an idiot.

“Chung—”
“I’ll learn diligently from the side, unni.”
“Uh, well… okay.”

Seo Baek-young stared at me with bewilderment written across her face.
She was undoubtedly thinking I’d lost my mind.
And for good reason—we’d only had this choreography for four days.
Four days to master a four-minute routine with considerable difficulty?
Even Seo Baek-young, confident in her dancing, couldn’t guarantee perfection.
And what of Yun Chung, someone with no sense of rhythm whatsoever?

“Then let’s get started right away!”

At the PD’s word, the other trainees cleared the space to make room.

Always we are…

And as one trainee started the music, this absurd showdown began.

“….”

And a few minutes later, the song ended.
Yet no one opened their mouth.

***

As the silence broke, people gradually came to their senses.
Of course, it wasn’t that I danced so brilliantly that no one could speak.
I knew better than anyone that I wasn’t at that level.
I was never particularly renowned for my dancing in the first place.
Everyone’s shock was simply…

‘Yun Chung… danced without making mistakes?’
‘And even standing next to ace Seo Baek-young, she didn’t fall behind at all…?’
‘What…? Actually, Baek-young unnie still had some sloppy movements.’
‘She didn’t miss a single move and executed everything perfectly…’
‘Did she get the choreography early on her own?’

The trainees were more shocked than the film crew.
They were the ones who had witnessed Yun Chung firsthand.
It was astonishing enough that she didn’t make mistakes, but Yun Chung was actually dancing better than Seo Baek-young in certain aspects.
That was what truly shocked them.

“Thank you for your hard work. We appreciate it!”

I greeted them quickly.
Everyone has a misconception.
Yun Chung can’t dance well.
That’s true.
But that doesn’t mean Yun Chung hasn’t mastered the choreography.
Rather, Yun Chung practiced more than anyone else to overcome her inability to dance.
So she did well with ‘mastering the choreography’.
…It’s just that her body wouldn’t cooperate.
Whenever she saw a camera or people, her body would stiffen.
That’s why ‘Yun Chung’ can’t dance.
But ‘Baek Nok-ha’ is different.
I didn’t even glance at Seo Baek-young. I only looked at the mirror wall in front of me.
Nine years as a trainee?
I’ve endured twenty years here.
If you add Chung-i’s memories, that’s thirty years, damn it.
Choreography with difficulty at the trainee level….
Compared to the solo song choreography I usually had to perform, it was naturally incomparable.
I didn’t become famous for dancing. I wasn’t the singer who danced the best.
But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t dance.
If I danced worse than a trainee who hasn’t even debuted yet, I should return my award!
Talent comes first, then effort, then experience.
Certainly, Seo Baek-young danced well. Just by looking at her line work, you could tell she had talent for dancing.
But there were still immature aspects in things like dynamic control and facial expressions.
And I was confident I wouldn’t fall behind in the latter.

“….”

Oh PD was looking at me with a very subtle expression.
Then he whispered with another writer and stopped the filming.

“Thank you for your hard work. Now we’ll do individual interviews with each trainee. Please come in the order you’re called!”

***

Pre-filming trainee interviews.
The production team had already conducted pre-interviews with all the trainees about the images and skills of the other trainees.
For example, like this.

Production Team: What kind of person is trainee Seo Baek-young?

[Geum: An ace.]
[Production crew: An ace?]
[Geum: No need for more words. Just an all-around ace?]

[Bora: Like a spiritual pillar for the trainees? She helps everyone so well. Especially with dancing.]
[Production crew: Ah, she dances well?]
[Bora: Yes. At least among us, she seems to be the best dancer.]

Production crew: Then what kind of person is trainee Yun Chung?

[Ju-hong: Chung unnie? Um… she sings really well!]
[Production crew: What about dancing?]
[Ju-hong: (awkward)]
[Ju-hong: Hahaha.]

[Ryeo-yu: Chung… honestly, I haven’t been at our agency that long, so I don’t know much, but… dancing isn’t really her main thing, is it? That’s the feeling I get?]
[Production crew: Ah, so dancing isn’t her strong suit?]
[Ryeo-yu: Oh, that’s not what I meant! Just that it’s not really her specialty, you know… something like that?]

[Seo Baek-young: She can’t dance.]
[Production crew: (everyone startled)]

Caption: Seo Baek-young’s blunt honesty… a scary side?

[Seo Baek-young: Still, it should be fine. Chung sings better than anyone.]
[Production crew: But dancing is a problem?]
[Seo Baek-young: She just needs a bit more effort.]

***

After the showdown between Seo Baek-young and Yun Chung, the production crew asked the trainees for their impressions of what had just unfolded.

[Geum: I was shocked.]
[Ryeo-yu: I mean, when did she practice like that all by herself? I’ve never seen her training.]
[Ju-hong: Wow, seriously. See right here? Goosebumps? Chills.]
[Ha-eun: I don’t think there’s anyone here who wasn’t surprised.]

Production crew: Why were you all so shocked?

[Su-in: Yun Chung unnie… she got an F in dance during the last evaluation. Colors gives scores for each evaluation. A through F. Yun Chung unnie got an A in vocals, but an F in dance.]
[Ju-seon: So among us, we said if unnie had just danced well, she would’ve debuted at sixteen.]
[Yu-hyeon: Actually, Yun Chung unnie is a good person, but… kind of….]
[Producer: Kind of?]
[Yu-hyeon: (awkward laugh)]
[Yu-hyeon: During evaluations, she’s someone you want to avoid… that kind of image? Because her dancing really doesn’t match at all.]
[Ryeo-yu: Since she drags us down with her too, we all thought of her as public enemy number one.]

Caption: Harsh evaluations of trainee Yun Chung…!

[Bora: Really? I wasn’t that surprised.]
[Producer: Oh, the first trainee who wasn’t surprised. That’s you, Bora.]
[Bora: Oh, is that so?]

Bora laughed with a light chuckle before continuing.

[Bora: I don’t know about other things, but I understood that much. Yun Chung unnie really wanted to debut. More desperately than anyone.]
[Producer: Isn’t that true for everyone?]
[Bora: Of course.]
[Bora: So I wasn’t surprised. If you want to debut, everyone tries to do at least that much.]

***

When it came time for Seo Baek-young’s interview, the producer began laying groundwork as if they’d been waiting.

“You approached trainee Yun Chung earlier and mentioned you were worried about her dancing.”
“Oh, yes.”

Seo Baek-young nodded, tense.
No matter how long a trainee I was, I was still a trainee.
Facing this many cameras one-on-one was naturally my first time too.
Especially an interview like this.

“Why did you say you were worried?”
“Oh, Yun Chung….”
“Did you perhaps have some trouble with trainee Yun Chung during the evaluation regarding choreography?”
“What?”

That’s why I could only be inexperienced.

“I heard from the other trainees that Yun Chung couldn’t keep up with the choreography and was dragging the team down. Is that true?”
“I wouldn’t say it was dragging the team down.”
“Then what was it?”
“Just….”

I was flustered.
I hadn’t expected them to ask such direct questions about Yun Chung.
The fact that the other trainees had said such things was equally startling to me.

“In the pre-interview, you said Yun Chung couldn’t dance. Wasn’t that what you felt during the group evaluation?”
“That’s… true.”
“How was it today? Did she dance the same as usual?”

The production staff pressed on relentlessly.
Their eyes gleamed with the hunger of predators waiting for a single slip.

“Today she danced much better than usual.”

Everyone else was probably shocked, but the most shocked was me—dancing right beside her.
I had never intended to perform the entire choreography. I’d planned to dance only the chorus with her and teach her the moves adequately, nothing more.
But during those four minutes,
I found myself thinking: shouldn’t I be the one receiving help from her?

“So she couldn’t do it in the group evaluation, but suddenly she can now?”
“…Yes, I suppose that’s the case.”
“Ah, could she have been hiding her true ability?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say—”
“If she wasn’t hiding her ability, how could she suddenly dance that well overnight?”

I couldn’t answer easily.
Could someone really become a good dancer overnight?
It defied common sense.
A person who can’t dance can become skilled.
With time and effort.
But in a single day?
That was impossible.

“That would be difficult.”
“Ah, then could you say that to the camera for us?”

The production staff asked with a gentle smile.

“Say something like, ‘I wonder if Yun Chung was hiding her skills all this time.'”

Of course, their intentions weren’t quite as kind as their tone suggested.

***

Naturally, my interview was last.
They’d probably gathered plenty of material while interviewing the other trainees.
…provocative material, at that.
A leading candidate for last place suddenly becoming skilled at both singing and dancing?
Any broadcast producer would jump at bait like that.

“So, trainee Yun Chung.”
“Yes.”

Oh PD began the interview with an oddly gentle voice.
It gave me chills.

“Do you happen to know what the other trainees think of you?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
“We’re almost done with the interviews, and they all seem quite puzzled.”

So the groundwork was beginning.

“Really?”
“You were originally a trainee who struggled so much with dancing that you received an F, but today you performed well enough to earn an A.”
“Ah, I can certainly understand why they’d find it puzzling.”

I answered without letting my smile falter for a moment.
If my expression hardened even once, they’d definitely splice it together and broadcast it.

“Ah, is that so? Then could you clear up this mystery for us?”
“Of course.”

I answered with the brightest smile I could muster.

“Seo Baek-young and I practiced incredibly hard together. It’s all thanks to how much she helped me.”

Bait?
I’ll just bite it first and destroy it.
No one will be able to touch it.

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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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