Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 79

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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 79.

When Kim Ryeo-yu abandoned the stage entirely, the trainees were taken aback.
But there was no time to dwell on their shock. Someone had to cover the parts Kim Ryeo-yu wasn’t singing.
And in that moment, the trainees’ cooperation shone brilliantly.

Just look at my light
Forget the shadows I’m trying to hide

Without a moment’s hesitation, each of them sang.
First, Seo Baek-young,

Because you are my light

Then Lee Gyeong-a,

I’ll become your light too

Then Yun Chung,

Because we’ve both passed through the same summer prism

And then Kim Geum, Bang Su-in, Ryu Bora….
Fortunately, without any tangling, they all exchanged glances and matched their voices perfectly whenever Kim Ryeo-yu’s part returned.
If even a single person had overlapped, the moment could have looked awkward.
But the trainees, drawing on the synchronization they’d built through all their practice together, read each other’s hearts.
This time, you?
Next, me.
Even in this bewildering situation, they all sang without losing their smiles.

We’ll shine forever
You and I, glittering bright

The moment the final verse ended.
Kim Ryeo-yu fled down from the stage.
Only then did the trainees notice the audience members below the stage.
Only then did they see the people’s eyes.
Only then did everyone understand.
Why Kim Ryeo-yu had run.
Whatever had happened, something was clearly and terribly wrong.

***

“Thank you for your patience. We will now begin the countdown. This is the moment when our Colorists can paint color onto these trainees’ dreams. Exactly. One minute. One minute remains. We ask for your final support.”

Do Hee-young smiled at the camera as though nothing had happened.
But the trainees on stage could not maintain such composure.
Though each processed it differently, all bore unmistakable signs of shock.
Just moments ago, the moment the stage ended, they had come down.
And they had been told.
What was unfolding outside this studio—vast yet somehow cramped.

‘Listen, all of you—don’t let on that you know anything. You’re to act as though you’re completely unaware of this incident. That’s the best path for everyone.’

An employee who had rushed from headquarters explained.
We’ll handle the damage control ourselves, so don’t add your voices to this.
All that would do is drag you down into the mire with us.
Those words cast a shadow over the trainees’ hearts.
It wasn’t that they liked Kim Ryeo-yu, but they couldn’t feel good about this either.
Because they understood that what was happening now was no ordinary scandal.
So really, even though this was supposed to be the time to focus intently on the camera and promote their numbers.
Everyone’s hands had gone rigid, and they couldn’t promote themselves properly.
They could only force smiles and barely manage to wave.

“Please send your support to these earnest dreams. Add new color to Colors, this blank canvas. Send #16XX followed by the number of the trainee you wish to support. You may send up to five numbers. The time for you to paint with whatever color you desire is… now. Ten seconds. Ten seconds remaining. 10. 9. 8….”

3.
2.
1.

The audience members roared with all their might.

“Thank you. With your passionate support, the Make a New Color voting has concluded with an overwhelming number of votes. The next-generation dream Colorist who will lead the future of South Korea’s K-POP. Who will be the five who fill in that new color? We’ll take a moment to tally the votes. In one minute, the results will be revealed.”

A brief one-minute commercial break.
The internet remained abuzz.

★
Wow, finally we’re getting the results
Whoever it is, this survival show will definitely go down in history… the most chaotic survival show ever lololol
Current status of Make a New Color
: 1 voluntary withdrawal
1 praying for national elimination
I’ll support whoever makes it out of the ten
They said we could pick five, but honestly I wanted them to just pick all ten…

In a situation where the fans, Colors, and trainees couldn’t simply laugh it off.
There was one person whose mouth was split wide open in a grin.
It was Oh PD.

“Man. What good deeds did I do in my past life to have these kids draw all this attention on their own like this?”
“….”

In truth, the trainees being caught up in controversy meant Oh PD had nothing to lose.
Colors naturally had their hands full, with the trainees they’d carefully developed about to slip away.
But MEN?
It was nothing but good news.
The more the controversy erupted, the higher the real-time viewership ratings climbed.

“When we first planned this, we weren’t sure if we’d even hit 1%. Right, Kang Writer? What were our ratings last episode?”
“…2.1%.”
“I’m betting we break 2.5% this time.”

In an era when idols debut constantly, idol survival programs struggle to maintain high viewership ratings.
Especially programs that select a single idol group from one Entertainment Company.
The reason was simple.
There were too few trainees appearing on the show.
The more people who appear, the broader the fanbase becomes.
People have diverse tastes, after all.
The strategy of “surely one of these will match your preference” wasn’t without merit.
However, Make a New Color featured at most twelve trainees. Now it was eleven.
Naturally, high viewership was difficult to expect.
Of course, Colors was one of the few major Entertainment Companies, and their fans were quite loyal.
So I thought nothing interesting would happen and only well-behaved kids would appear.
But what’s this?
Incidents and controversies erupted one after another.
Of course… most of them were caused by Kim Ryeo-yu.
But the other kids weren’t the type to just take it lying down either, so there was entertainment value in watching.
Other kids weren’t the type to just take it either, so it was fun to watch.

“One more…?”
“One more…?”

Unable to bear it any longer, Kang Writer opened his mouth.

“Right now, these kids—the oldest is barely over twenty years old.”
“What?”
“Huh?”

Kang Writer had never reacted to his words like this before.
It was because Kang Writer had never reacted to his words like this before.

“No, Kang Writer. You’re being pretty funny right now.”
“Isn’t a PD who hopes young kids get ruined for their own gain being even funnier?”
“Isn’t it more ridiculous for you, PD, to wish for young kids to fail for your own benefit?”

Oh PD’s eyes fluttered open.

“But you’re the one who leaked the source.”
“It was the PD who passed the sauce, wasn’t it?”

That was it.
It was Oh PD who had handed Kim Ryeo-yu’s school violence material to the cyber bullies and YouTubers in the first place.
Oh PD.
Of course, Oh PD had known about Kim Ryeo-yu’s school violence incident from the beginning.
With how much money went into the program, would he really not have pulled the personal records of a mere twelve trainees?
He simply kept it buried because Director Kim told him to bury it.
Oh PD was merely observing the situation for now.
In truth, Oh PD had been deliberating.
Should I expose this, or not?
At first, he hadn’t intended to expose it.
Because there was no guarantee that exposing it would actually prevent Kim Ryeo-yu from debuting.
If Colors responded forcefully by claiming it was baseless, it could be buried. The public might simply not care.
If he moved carelessly, he risked earning only Colors’ resentment and destroying himself.
If he exposed this, Kim Ryeo-yu must never debut.
So he needed someone more ruthless than himself.
That’s why Oh PD had been watching and waiting.
Oh PD thought the current situation was exactly like a sandcastle-toppling game.
The players were Colors, MEN, and… Yun Chung.
A mere trainee as a game player? Was that even possible?
Oh PD believed it was possible with Yun Chung.
In any case, if one of these three crumbles, the ratings will skyrocket.
Oh PD crumbles and the ratings skyrocket? How does that work?
The production team could manipulate things a bit and set the internet ablaze.
But Oh PD had absolutely no intention of toppling his own sandcastle.
Why should I be the one to manipulate things?
Just to end up in prison?
So it had to crumble on Yun Chung’s turn or Colors’ turn.
For that, the player ahead had to kick up a lot of sand first, making it unstable.
Then he would take the baton and make the next player crumble.
But then.
Yun Chung kicked up sand.
A lot of it.
Oh PD instinctively realized it was now his turn.
The moment had come when exposing this controversy would most effectively boost the ratings.
Fundamentally, Oh PD was an opportunist and a safety-first pragmatist.
Oh PD had no intention of being the vanguard.
When there was a frontrunner, Oh PD’s way was to gently add his weight.
When Kim Ryeo-yu’s reputation was wavering, he would expose the decisive scandal.
And since he might as well rake in money through paid text voting—
Right now.
People would vote simply to eliminate Kim Ryeo-yu.
The way to increase text message votes wasn’t to rely on the popularity of a single trainee.
It was far more efficient to turn that one person into the enemy of the entire nation.
After all, lifting someone up is difficult, but tearing someone down is easy.
That’s why Oh PD leaked the information.
And it worked remarkably well.

“Yeah. I leaked the source. And Kang Writer turned a blind eye to her past and put her on broadcast.”
“…!”
“You knew that when she appeared on broadcast, people would get hurt. You knew it clearly. Yet you turned a blind eye, didn’t you? Whatever my motives, at least I achieved some semblance of justice. What did you do? Under the guise of neutrality, you didn’t just stand by—you actively enabled it, didn’t you?”

Oh PD never once believed he had done anything wrong.
It was true that he was selfish and opportunistic.
It was true that his motives were purely self-serving.
But his methods weren’t that bad, were they?
I reported that a girl who did something wrong actually did it.
Isn’t that broadcasting?
What’s wrong with that?

“Kang Writer, you turned a blind eye and kept your mouth shut just because you didn’t want to lose your job, and now you’re criticizing me? If I had fabricated facts that didn’t exist and reported them, fine, I’d understand your criticism. But I only delivered the facts as they were. No manipulation. Isn’t that broadcasting? Isn’t it?”
“If it was such a noble act, you should have put it on broadcast yourself, PD.”

For the first time, Oh PD’s mouth fell silent.
That mouth which never ceased its incessant rambling.

“If it was such a righteous action, you should have done it with your own hands. But you didn’t want to dirty your own hands, and you didn’t want to make Colors or the Kim family your enemy either. So you just leaked the source. You wanted to gain the benefits without the cost. That’s not broadcasting. That’s just being a pathetic bastard.”
“Has Kang Writer lost his mind?”
“And I’m also a pathetic bastard working under that pathetic bastard. But still, you know? I’d rather be a pathetic bastard who at least feels some shame!”

Kang Writer turned around sharply.
It was time for the vote count to be finished.
Kang Writer actually regretted his own words.
He had never been a particularly courageous person to begin with.
If he had been courageous, he would have done something long ago.
But Kang Writer had chosen silence.
That’s why he felt even more ashamed.
Yet the reason he couldn’t contain his anger in that moment was probably—

[Thank you for your patience. The vote count has just been completed. I’ll announce the total vote count first. Wow, truly, it’s an astronomical number. Total text message votes: 1,244,728. One million, two hundred forty-four thousand, seven hundred twenty-eight votes.]

It seemed to stem from my heart gradually shifting toward those children standing on that stage.

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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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