The Malicious Member is Back! - Chapter 22
After Kim Chunyong’s shocking stage and evaluation, the competition continued.
Perhaps due to Min Si Young’s declaration, “I won’t give any points to trainees who use unfair methods,” the atmosphere was somewhat subdued. However, even with that, there were certainly trainees who showcased their skills.
“Just looking at his face, I thought, ‘Ah, he’s going to debut.’ Who would challenge this? I don’t think anyone will. Beauty is a weapon for idols, a weapon.”
The one who received such an outstanding evaluation from that ‘he,’ Moon Yun Ha.
“Thank you. I’ll be Son Jae Ha who works harder!!”
AG’s ace, Son Jae Ha.
“You wrote all the lyrics, and you composed the beat, right? This stuff.”
“Hehe, thank you!”
Adding a few more, there was the singing-rapper Ji Hwa Sung, who caught Na Ji Hyuk’s attention with his unique delivery on a seemingly unheard beat.
“17 years old? My youngest brother is the same age, and he’s at home playing games. But here, a 17-year-old is directing a stage performance. Truly, like an older brother with his younger sibling.”
“I’ll, I’ll work even harder…”
With a fairly decent stage setup appealing at a young age, Jang Si Woo.
“In terms of dance, fundamentals… he’s good. Not as much as others, but…”
“谢谢 (Thank you).”
Following Kim Chunyong, AG’s Chinese trainee, Liu Wei, was the first to elicit a reaction from Jin Dasol.
And…
“Huh? He’s British?”
In response to Na Ji Hyuk’s surprised reaction while shuffling through the demographics, a trainee with a guitar in the middle of the stage gestured passively and spoke up.
“Oh, Yes. I’m*, um. I’m from Liverpool.”
(T/N: This part is spoken in English. For Logan’s dialogue, I’ll be italicizing the parts he speaks in English.)
Logan Lee, who came from Liverpool, England, with the Korean name Lee Logan.
Round and delicate facial features.
In contrast, with Logan’s modest and kind smile, Na Ji Hyuk, on the other hand, got the image of a good big dog from Logan’s gentle smile, so he smiled back and tried to make small talk with him with what he knew.
“Wow. Is this the city with the soccer team Liverpool? Are you a Liverpool fan, Logan? I know the chant.”
In an instant, Logan’s face oddly stiffened.
“God, No. I mean, I’m a proud Everton FC supporter, who’s next to them…”
Asking if he’s a fan of a rival team, not just any other team. Na Ji Hyuk, who has been diligently watching overseas football, urgently cleared his throat, knowing what it means to the British Hooligans.
“Ahem. Sorry, I apologize.”
“Um, Wow! Anyway, I’ll sing a song for you. It’s a song I made, and the title… Well, it’s not decided yet… You can put one on it later.”
After slightly embarrassing Na Ji Hyuk, Logan cheerfully sang his original song.
“… This is an original song.”
It was a dark horse that even pulled out compliments from the usually strict Min Si Young.
Biting the tip of her pen, Min Si Young, who now held the microphone, had a brighter expression than usual.
“I can’t believe it. It’s almost as if you stole a famous song from somewhere. Oh, it’s a compliment, so don’t make such a sad face.”
“Holy! No, um. Thank you.”
“Of course, you need more practice in Korean… Still, you did really well. It would be even better if you danced next time. My evaluation ends here.”
“Oh, I want to hear Liverpool’s cheer song next time…”
“No! Never! Absolutely not! You’re joking too much!”
“…Gee, it’s cute.”
Afterward, various performers came on stage.
From Seong Won Hyeop, who has been a trainee at another major agency for quite some time, to Ahn Jin Woo, another AG pureblood, and even Tsubasa, who was active as a live idol in Japan.
Finally, after all the performers’ stages ended, the time for the announcement of rankings arrived.
All trainees gathered in the center of the stage, and in front of them, Choi Gaon, surprisingly more nervous than the participants, began to read the cue sheet.
“Now, soon, the rankings will appear on the screen behind you. Before that, shall we first hear from the mentors who gave fair evaluations?”
Min Si Young, her face thoroughly exhausted from the extended shoot, took the microphone and began to observe each trainee.
“I enjoyed the stages everyone prepared. As mentioned earlier…”
Then, when she saw Kim Chunyong, her eyes narrowed into a triangle.
“We evaluated ‘fairly.’ I want to make that clear.”
“Ha, hahaha! Yes, that’s right. You are the best mentors active in each field right now. There’s no way it wouldn’t be fair!”
Choi Gaon, who quickly rectified Min Si Young’s words, glanced at the prompter.
“Now, let me briefly explain again to all the Star Shooters and trainees watching over this, the ‘scoring system’ of Targeting Star.”
To summarize Choi Gaon’s words:
The scores given by each mentor today will be used to create a base ranking for the next round of the competition.
Later, the top six will debut with the highest sum of audience scores, online votes, and some sort of “mission score.
“Yeah, that sounds like a simple scoring system, but there’s a lot to think about, especially the ‘mission score’ part.”
After finishing his explanation with a huff, Choi Gaon rubbed his forehead once in an elegant manner and said loudly.
“Now then, let’s check the long-awaited basic rankings. Show me the rankings!”
“…Gasp.”
At that moment, goosebumps crept up on the arms of all the trainees as they looked at the screen.