The Malicious Member is Back! - Chapter 132
After the short break, the announcement for the mid-rankings filming came.
Though it only lasted around ten minutes, the impact it had on the trainees was immense.
Every word that came out of Choi Gaon sunbaenim’s mouth was brief but powerful.
“The filming for the mid-rankings, determined by the official website votes and the scores from the first mission, will take place this coming Wednesday! This is the point where the ‘real’ debut starts taking shape.”
“……”
“Come on, everyone. Smile! The cameras are rolling right now, aren’t they? Hmm?”
“Haha! Yes! I’m so excited for the mid-rankings announcement!”
“I-I wish it would come… sooner, no, um, maybe we should push it back by a week….”
“Gong Minho, that’s an NG!”
“Eek! No, I mean, tomorrow would be perfect!”
After the disorganized end of the filming, the trainees stayed in the auditorium, whispering amongst themselves instead of leaving.
There were hardly any who didn’t know what the mid-rankings meant in an idol survival show.
Of course, that made sense.
“The mid-rankings… If only I’d asked my college friends to vote on the official website. But I barely even went to class….”
“Jesus. There aren’t any eliminations, but I’m still shaking.”
Even Logan and Yu Chan hyung, who didn’t know much about the survival show ecosystem, were darting their eyes nervously.
Ryota was probably the same. As for Gao Yan…
‘Chunyong hyung!’
…He was still at it.
“God, Chunyong hyung. Are you nervous too?”
“Huh?”
“You were sweating a bit earlier. Even you must get nervous thinking about the mid-rankings, huh?”
Logan, noticing how I’d been awkwardly turning my head to avoid Gao Yan, asked me innocently.
Though his guess was wrong, it helped me escape Gao Yan’s intense stare for the moment.
“Man, he’s like a gracious crane… No, a ‘gracious Liverpool boy,’ repaying favors. It’s kind of funny.”
“Oh, so you’re not nervous? Are you sick? If that’s the case, then…”
“No, no. I’m just tense. This is an important shoot.”
I waved off Logan, who had been about to call a staff member over, scratching my cheek in embarrassment.
Right. The mid-rankings announcement was an important filming session.
In terms of significance, it was probably even above the missions, maybe second only to the final live broadcast.
Like Choi Gaon sunbaenim had said…
This was the moment where whether I would debut or not became painfully clear.
It was my second time, but that didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking.
I just wasn’t feeling it as intensely because I had so many other things on my mind.
By now, I didn’t even bother glancing over at Liu Wei.
He was either talking to Li Ming Shen in some incomprehensible language, or standing still with that unreadable expression, or glaring at me.
Either way.
The last time I checked, Liu Wei’s current ranking was third.
Though it was a slight drop from his previous second place, his position was still solid and stable.
Of course, as an international member, his popularity had dipped slightly compared to the start.
Now, let’s take a look at the projected debut lineup.
“Logan, what was your rank the last time you checked?”
“What? Oh, my rank… Um, thankfully, I think it was sixth?”
“Nice, that’s within debut range. Well done.”
“Debut range… I never even imagined this!”
Logan, who was ranked sixth, sat next to me. Si Woo, who was getting playfully headlocked by Ji Hwa Sung in the corner, was ranked fourth.
“Man, I lost all my classmates’ numbers! How am I supposed to ask for votes now?”
And Yu Chan hyung was ranked fifth.
As for me…
Ping!
“Huh? Chunyong hyung, that sound! I heard it while we were practicing, too. Is that coming from your phone?”
“Oh, uh, no.”
– X: You’re seventh! SEVENTH! This guy!!
– X: Ugh, lucky number seven.
– X: By the way, didn’t you read the goal tracker?
– X: It should say something like ‘Final 6 in Targeting Star’?
– X: Seriously, dude!! Get it together!!
“Chunyong hyung? What is it?”
“Oh, it’s just a mobile game notification. I installed it before the survival show, but for some reason, I can’t delete it. Haha!”
“Wow. We should ask the app store for help. I had the same issue once, and they deleted it for me right away.”
I shoved my phone into my pocket, ignoring the furious X still blowing up my chat.
Yeah.
Despite the goal tracker’s reminder, my current ranking was seventh.
I wanted to justify it by saying, ‘I had no choice but to make sure Logan wouldn’t drop out,’ but…
Now that the mid-rankings were around the corner, I was getting anxious.
“Hmm.”
I glanced around at the former Arrows members laughing and joking and then back at Logan beside me. I let out a tired laugh.
If somehow, I managed to push Liu Wei out and debut with this group…
It would look pretty good.
Thanks to X’s messages and seeing everyone around me, the anxiety crawling up from my toes had eased a little.
Yeah. Expecting a smooth ride on this train of atonement would be foolish.
Now it all depended on how I dealt with the tasks in front of me.
The stage, the Liu Wei issue—neither could be dropped.
And for now…
I cheerfully called out to Logan, who was staring blankly at his empty Outgram account.
“Logan. Now that the filming is over, let’s head to the practice room.”
“Huh, already? Everyone still seems to be chatting─”
“No, look. They’re all taking pictures now.”
“…Huh. You’re right.”
“Yeah. They only said we could do live broadcasts at specific times, but they never said when we could start using our accounts.”
Which meant…
“…So, it’s starting the moment we got our phones back? Got it. But why are we going to the practice room?”
“Dude, you still don’t get it?”
I grabbed Logan’s shoulder, grinning as he stared at me, bewildered.
“The lighting is way better there.”
Whether you’re taking pictures, going live, or whatever, a trainee should naturally be doing it in the practice room.
“…Holy.”
Regardless of how much Logan seemed to be struck by my “brilliant” idea, I pulled out my phone, which I’d shoved into my pocket earlier, and logged into my Outgram account.
[Springyong_TT]
The last one I used was cringey, something about T-Rex, but this time it wasn’t so bad.
“…Whew.”
Time to do what’s necessary to boost my rank.
