The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 69

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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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The Former Idol Does a Hard Carry for the Indie Band
Episode 69
Thanks to the promotional efforts the production team had poured their heart into, the broadcast date for the first episode of Who’s The Real was drawing near.
The opening scene of the broadcast began with the backs of participants heading somewhere.
Following that came the judges’ voices layered in as narration.
—This won’t be easy at all.
—I have no intention of grading with any leniency.
—We have to find a truly authentic band…….
—What exactly is a real rocker…….
The judges’ faces and the participants performing alternated across the screen in sync with their voices.
As the screen transitions accelerated, the judges’ voices began to overlap more rapidly in turn.
—A truly authentic band.
—What matters is genuineness.
—The power of a true rocker lies in…….
—The real thing.
—An authentic presence…….
—Music that’s honest without deception…….
—When we talk about what’s real…….
As the sound gradually faded, the screen darkened as well.
—There is only one truly authentic band.
And then the program’s logo appeared.
—Who’s The REAL?
A container-style studio in Ilsan filled the screen.
A scene of numerous cast members heading to the set followed, and the footage quickly transitioned to interview segments with several participants.
—I’m confident. We prepared so much for this.
—Let’s just blow everyone away!!!!
—It doesn’t seem that difficult.
—We’re going to win. We’re the truly authentic band!
Several participants’ ambitious remarks overflowing with confidence led to a personal interview segment with judge Park Chul Hwan.
—Hello. I’m Park Chul Hwan, the drummer of Matryoshka, and I’m participating as a judge. Ha ha, this feels awkward.
His usual sharp gaze remained unchanged, but his tone conveying awkwardness carried a touch of humanity.
—Of course, there are many teams I’m looking forward to seeing. I hope everyone performs without any mistakes.
After that, individual interview segments with the other judges continued.
The broadcast then moved directly into the main content.
The first round of actual performances and judging followed.
The teams revealed in the early portion were mostly there to capture attention.
Some teams made such major mistakes that they exited in tears.
Some teams had mediocre skills but took themselves seriously enough to draw laughter.
And then another performance came up.
The judges’ expressions were filled with fatigue, and they seemed bored with the judging process.
—Hello! This is the Cho Sung Hoon Band!
The judges didn’t hold much expectation at the Cho Sung Hoon Band’s greeting.
But the moment their ensemble began, their eyes transformed.
The individual instrumental performances of the Cho Sung Hoon Band were lacking.
However, their ensemble was tighter than their individual skills would suggest, and the vocalist’s ability was strong enough to cover for much of it.
What stood out most among all of that was the unnamed ensemble piece itself.
The Cho Sung Hoon Band performed their prepared song flawlessly without a single mistake and received three Real votes, securing a pass.
—Wow!!! We passed!
—Yeah, we actually passed. This is crazy!
The Cho Sung Hoon Band exited the studio amid wild cheers.
The production team congratulated them and conducted a brief interview asking for their thoughts.
—Actually, right before we went on stage, our vocalist got a lesson, and I think that helped so much.
Jo Sung Hoon’s response immediately transitioned to another scene.
—Teacher! I want to be good at Shouting!
Participants gathered in a tight circle in the central corridor of the Tent Waiting Room.
—Ah, Shouting. That’s honestly really difficult. If someone doesn’t have the natural feel for it, they need to master Head Voice first. So what is Head Voice? Head Voice is…….
And standing in the center of that circle was Cha Seo Ha.
Cha Seo Ha’s passionate lecture was captured prominently on screen.
Cha Seo Ha sang directly and shared tips,
and was answering numerous questions kindly.
—I came here to compete, but what’s more important to me is seeing this culture grow. Even if someone else wins, as long as they’re someone who can lead Band Culture forward, that’s enough for me.
An interview full of Cha Seo Ha’s humanitarian spirit.
After that came grateful interviews from those who had received his help,
and naturally, opposing opinions also appeared.
Destruction had received a pass in the first round and was leaving the audition venue when they caught sight of Cha Seo Ha’s vocal lesson, and Im Hyun Taek’s expression turned incredulous.
The production team, quick to catch that, conducted an interview, and in the broadcast, Im Hyun Taek’s remarks were featured.
—Seems like you’re being a bit too relaxed. When people are already struggling to do their best…….
It was an answer open to interpretation.
But his expression carried an unmistakable sense of direction.
While other bands at the venue showed similar reactions to Destruction, only Im Hyun Taek appeared in the broadcast.
Following that came a scene of Heo Jun Sung’s guitar maintenance method before transitioning back to performance footage.
A couple of decent performers.
And then again, mostly showcasing teams that were either entertaining or humiliating.
Then the screen shifted back outdoors, capturing two bands in a single frame.
Okdap and the Maruru Band.
Two bands appearing alongside very famous music with an atmosphere like starlight descending.
It was clearly a production emphasizing visual impact.
In between, whispers from surrounding bands were also inserted.
—Wow, Okdap is seriously handsome.
—Are they idols?
—They look even better in person?
—Hyun-ah!!!!!
—Wow, Maruru Band looks incredible in person too
Next came a scene of the Maruru Band about to start their performance,
and thus the first episode ended.
* * *
“Oh my god! Are we in the next episode?”
The moment the broadcast ended, Heo Jun Sung shouted loudly.
“Yeah, it’s a shame though. I wanted to see our performance.”
Kim Ji Hu also voiced his disappointment.
The moment the broadcast ended, my grandmother sent a text.
She said her friends in the neighborhood were going crazy because my face looked so good.
And asking when I would actually sing.
My grandmother seemed delighted too, so I felt good about it.
I should pick up something delicious to bring home later.
“Hey, don’t you think we actually got something out of this?”
The guys all agreed with my question.
“Yeah, even though we didn’t perform, you and Jo Sung Hoon got quite a bit of screen time.”
“So you have to show off a bit to get on camera…….”
The guys thought the benefit was just that Heo Jun Sung and I had gotten so much camera time, but that wasn’t the real point.
“No, it’s that Im Hyun Taek did an interview reacting to what we were doing. That’s the key.”
At my words, which skipped over the obvious conclusion, Kim Ji Hu was the first to respond again.
“Ah, so they’re trying to build up some narrative by linking us with those guys?”
“Exactly, Kim Ji Hu. That’s it. I don’t know what direction they’ll take the story, but anyway, we’re going to have plenty of footage ahead.”
“That’s not bad.”
At Kim Ji Hu’s sharpness, Heo Jun Sung made a sarcastic quip.
“Is there anything you don’t know? So annoying.”
“You should actually learn something while you’re at it.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re so smart.”
This was my first time being in an audition program, and watching it like this, I thought the broadcast was quite well made.
The first episode of a program like this is like an instruction manual.
You have to show the broadcast’s concept, explain how it will proceed, and showcase numerous cast members and performances.
In the midst of all that, you have to extract entertainment value and not sacrifice the quality of the performances.
Amid all that busyness, the production team managed to capture the appearance of people who would survive to the later rounds in quite a memorable way.
It had nothing to do with screen time.
Their appearances were sometimes used for reaction shots, brief though they were.
For people with less action, their presence was highlighted through the judges’ commentary.
I was definitely getting the sense that Producer Lee Jong Myung was skilled at making broadcasts.
That’s what I was thinking.
But what about other people’s reactions?
“Hey, let’s search for people’s reactions online.”
“Oh, good idea!”
At my words, Heo Jun Sung immediately picked up his phone and started searching around.
“Hey, this is already trending big.”
Heo Jun Sung, who had searched by the program’s title, eventually reached the band community where he could see the most posts related to it.
Given that the initial promotion had gone well, the broadcast was getting quite positive reactions.
—Have you seen episode 1 of Who’s The Real? It’s fun right?
—Saw so many familiar faces, it was nice ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Wait, isn’t Cha Seo Ha a high schooler? Why is it so ridiculous that all the adults are calling him teacher ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Isn’t it insane how they cut right before the Maruru Band?
—I’m in a band myself, I should’ve gone for Who’s The Real ㅅㅂ
—Cha Seo Ha ㅅㅂ went on an audition show and is out here giving vocal lessons lol that’s hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Even Heo Jun Sung’s guitar maintenance lecture, since they’re high schoolers they seem to be showing off? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Cho Sung Hoon Band? Who are they? First time seeing them but they wrote songs really well?
└Looks like a composition major to me? The songs are really well written but the performance is disappointing
—The judges lineup is seriously legendary
└Jo Hyun Woo was apparently on the judge list originally but turned it down because he’s preparing an album
└Damn, it would’ve been way more fun if Jo Hyun Woo was there
—Cha Seo Ha’s vocal lesson is real?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—They didn’t show the Maruru Band and just ended it
—How am I supposed to wait until next week…….
The band community was burning hot with discussions about Who’s The Real.
Of course, there were negative opinions as well.
—What kind of band audition show is this, it’s just entertainment, they just stuffed in footage of bad performers
└Yeah band standard is seriously lowered by this broadcast why watch?
—Something about the combination of rock and TV feels awkward…….
—It’s not fun at all, why am I even watching?
—What’s lacking that the Maruru hyungs and noonas are doing that?
When the first episode of the past hip-hop audition show Show Me The Money aired, it was worse than this.
In the hip-hop scene, appearing on that show was considered something only fakes did.
And professional rappers had even publicly criticized that broadcast.
Of course, times have changed a lot now, and even in the most conservative scenes, there’s a level of acceptance compared to the past.
Positive opinions and negative opinions.
But the hottest reaction was about the rivalry.
Among highly recommended posts, there was one with this kind of content.
—You guys know about Destruction and Okdap fighting at Band Slam last year right? Doesn’t Im Hyun Taek’s interview about Cha Seo Ha feel like there’s something behind it?
And this post had quite a lot of replies.
—Right, it’s famous that they’re on bad terms, I felt it watching too
└Bad terms? Why?
└No clue, rumor is Kang Min and Im Hyun Taek got into a fight after a show?
└What? Why would they fight? I’m so curious
└I don’t know the reason but bands always have tension between members right?
└Yeah
—Honestly I wasn’t that interested in the show itself? But I’m honestly getting hyped thinking they might match Destruction and Okdap 1v1
└That would actually be so fun
—Really? Why did they fight?
—But if Destruction faces high schoolers, doesn’t it look bad either way ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└You’re right, if they beat high schoolers what does it matter ㅠㅠ
—Does Destruction even have the chops to go up against Okdap?
—If the producers have any sense they’ll match the two teams on their own
Most fans in the band scene already knew about the relationship between Okdap and Destruction,
and the anticipation surrounding those two teams only grew.
And the general public, completely unaware of these facts, was showing an entirely different reaction.

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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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