The Maknae Has to Be an Idol
Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Noises that sounded like shouts, screams, or roars began bursting out from the studio. It was only then that I fully realized what I had done.

‘Ah...crazy.’ I think I went crazy for a second and became too immersed in the concept. I couldn’t believe I said nuna. I had never called anyone nuna in my life. I had no female acquaintances, and that term was too cringy for me. But...

‘I’m crazy...’ I was shocked that I acted cute in a public setting like this and said nuna. I felt like my face might explode from embarrassment. I thought something had gone wrong with my head a second ago.

“Mr. Tae-Yoon! Wow, I had no idea your personality was like this, Mr. Tae-Yoon!”

“You said nuna, how cute. Hahaha!” The two hosts burst into genuine laughter for the first time during today’s shooting. In particular, Nahyun laughed so loudly that her face turned bright red. Kim Young-Jin opened his eyes wide as if he was really shocked.

“Tae-Yoon!”

“Nuna!”

“Tae-Yooooon!”

The audience was still roaring, and I bowed my head low. I had no courage to look at the audience anymore.

“Mr. Tae-Yoon, your ears are becoming almost black, not even red anymore.”

“Hah, for real. Hahaha!”

The two hosts didn’t stop teasing me until the end. They talked about the ‘nuna fiasco’ for a while, and after clearing the scene, we were finally able to move on to the next team member's appeal to the audience for high rankings and commentaries about the performance.

“Ah, well, Mr. Tae-Yoon did something so incredible before I took the microphone that I feel a bit pressured. Haha.”

However, my name was included in everyone’s commentary. Even Kang Hyun-Sung was not an exception. “I don’t have Mr. Tae-Yoon’s cuteness, but I did my best, so please vote kindly for me,” he said while looking at me.

“Let’s now finish the commentaries and start voting! Audiences in the studio, please give each member their appropriate ranks!”

It was now time for the audience to vote.

“Thank you for your support!”

“Thank you~”

“I love you!”

We went down the stage after saying goodbye for the last time. And the moment we went down the stage, that was when it started.

“Nuna?”

“Nunnnna?”

“Nunnanunna?”

“Nununana~”

All the team members made fun of me as if they had planned it.

“Why don’t you call me hyung?” Even Kang Hyun-Sung made fun of me with a mocking voice.

I just answered all their taunts with silence, and I wished I could kill myself five minutes ago if I could. While I was finally relaxing after the fuss behind the stage—

[Thanks to your better-than-anticipated performance, the mission’s progress speed has increased.]

[You are showing signs of reaching the mission’s turning point.]

‘...What?’ Out of nowhere, the system rang out and uttered strange notices. Since that seemed important, I wanted to listen to it again, but—

“We will now head out for a group interview~”

I didn’t have more time to think due to the production team’s remarks.

* * *

After finishing the team interview, the joint team finally disbanded. Since we had grown quite attached the last two weeks, Only One members and OnebyOne members were sad about separating.

“It’s been a lot of fun, the last 2 weeks.”

“I wonder if I’ve ever practiced so hard in my life.”

“Everyone did a great job!”

“Let’s all get together and eat BBQ together!”

“That sounds great~”

I stood calmly during this warm farewell moment and kept my head down. The reason for that was...

“Mr. Bongnuna

, you will also come when we eat dinner together, right?”

“...Yes.” I was constantly teased whenever I raised my head. Like this, the interview time was over.

“Great job!”

“Thank you!”

We all separated. Though we had been separated into different waiting rooms by teams, we were now back to our original groups. In a way, things were finally back to normal. I stood in the waiting room, which said, ‘Siren.’ When I opened the door and went in—

“Tae-Yoon!”

“Hey!”

“Bong Tae-Yoon!”

“Nuna? Nuna?”

...As expected, my members went all out on ridiculing me.

“Nuna? Did you say nuna, Tae-Yoon? Nuna?” Dong-Jun spun around me and repeated nuna repeatedly like a sound speaker.

“I was really surprised. I never thought Tae-Yoon would do that,” Woon killed me even further by saying this in a serious voice.

“Wow, you were really serious about being an idol. I give you my full respect.” Do-Seung put a dagger in my heart by lauding my efforts and making an awed expression.

“Tae-Yoon! Say nuna one more time! I had no idea you could do that. It’s because I’m so proud of you, so please do it one more time.” I was not sure whether Yeon-Hoon was making fun of me or not, but he requested an encore for me to say nuna again.

Since I dug this hole myself, I had to accept it, and I thought responding in silence was the best answer to all of their mockery. When I didn’t respond, it seemed the members also gave up on teasing me, and the conversation flowed in a different direction.

“Tae-Yoon, your performance has improved a lot,” Woon said first.

“Yeah, right. I was surprised. Your dancing and use of facial expressions and everything in general have gotten a lot better,” Do-Seung seriously complimented me.

“I guess you learned a lot from the other team?” Dong-Jun sat next to me and intently looked at me.

“I learned a lot.”

“What did you learn?”

“...That even if you think you are at your limit, you can always push yourself to do more.”

“...What the hell have you been doing?” Dong-Jun now looked at me with a shocked expression.

Frankly, I also thought my performance ability had significantly improved. Besides Kang Hyun-Sung’s Spartan training methods, it was also because I had to really work hard this time.

Furthermore, since I could see our group's probability of winning change in real-time, I had to concentrate more than usual and did better.

‘Also, being on stage is fun.’ For the first time since I joined this competition, I realized that the stage was a fun place. Although the topic of love remained an unanswered question for me, I thought, ‘I think I can be different on stage.’

At least while I was on the stage, I felt that I could forget the past. To put it simply, I felt like I became more of an idol now. It felt a bit cheesy to say this about myself, but that was what I felt. I turned my eyes and looked at Yeon-Hoon, and he smiled brightly at me. I thought this many times before, but he really was like an idol in many ways.

“We can win first place this time, right?” Yeon-Hoon said as he looked lost in thought for a while, and the atmosphere in the waiting room immediately became heavy.

“Hmm.”

“First place.”

“Hmmm.”

Everyone seemed to be lost in thought.

“Only One was so good.”

“Yeah.”

“Senior Kang Hyun-Sung is such a good dancer.”

I was on the same stage, so I couldn’t watch him well but the members must have seen him better through the monitor screen.

“Whenever Senior Hyun-Sung comes out, the cheers are no joke.”

“Mr. Young-Ho’s skills also improved even further in that short time.”

“It definitely feels like everyone in Only One is good overall.”

They all seemed to feel overwhelmed by Only One’s stage. However, as someone from a different team than my members, I could confidently say, “Your performance was great too.”

In fact, it didn’t feel like their performance fell behind Kang Hyun-Sung’s team at all. But above all, I could see the probability of winning first place. I thought the probability would stop increasing right before the stage, but the probability went up during the stage. Moreover, it went up after the performance, and even now—

‘It went up again.’ It just went up another 1%. While my members were nervous, I wasn’t nervous at all. I said, “We will win first place.”

Just in time, the production crew walked around the waiting room and said, “We will now announce the ranking and MVP of each team!”

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s go.”

“Pwehh.”

“Whatever the result is, let’s accept it.”

Everyone looked determined since if Only One won today, the final first place in The Showcase 2 would no longer become feasible for us.

However, I rubbed my members’ shoulders and said, “Don’t worry.”

We all went up on stage together.

* * *

When we went up the stage, the audience and studio had already been cleared out, and there were only the two hosts and other group members on stage. Everyone seemed to have developed stronger friendships through this joint mission as we all greeted each other and smiled without awkwardness.

Then we all stood on stage in groups, and by the time the setting was complete, Kim Young-Jin said, “We will now begin announcing the ranking ceremony for The Showcase 2’s third competition.” He continued, “I’m sure all of you must have spent a hard time preparing this joint performance over the past two weeks, right?”

“I heard that you all prepared for this one performance every day while staying together. You’ve all worked incredibly hard.” Although it sounded like written lines, perhaps because of the hardships we’ve experienced during the past week, everyone’s eyes were getting a bit moist.

“However, the world of competition is cold. Just now, the total score of each member for each performance has been calculated, and the average score of that total score has been summarized by each group.”

People, who were about to become sentimental, immediately regained their senses and concentrated hard on the host’s next words.

“From what I’ve heard, if Only One wins again in this competition, they will be the final winner. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The host raised the tension by pointing out facts that everyone here already knew once more.

“Will the final first place of The Showcase 2 be born here today, or another new rising star will rise to the challenge? While we are eagerly waiting for the results—,” Kim Young-Jin looked around and said, “From now on, I’ll announce the ranking starting from 5th place.” He said in a more determined voice than before.

The atmosphere was tense, and fifth place went to—

“It’s a group that had a lot of issues while preparing for this round. It’s OnebyOne.”

Unfortunately, it was OnebyOne.

“Ah.”

“Hmph.”

OnebyOne members seemed like they were about to cry for a moment but nodded and looked towards the camera.

“Thank you...!”

“We will work harder.”

Then fourth place was announced right away.

“Fourth place is Luminin!” As expected, Luminin was in fourth place.

“Third place is Bleshu.”

Bleshu was a group that got separated into many teams but still showed great performances on their respective stages. Bleshu came in third, and it was the same pattern that had been going on since the first competition. Once again, Only One and we were the ones fighting for first place. Perhaps because they would win the final championship if they just won this round, Only One members looked visibly nervous. They had looked relaxed on stage, but they now looked nervous before the announcement. I briefly made eye contact with Kang Hyun-Sung.

‘He’s fine though.’ Strangely enough, Kang Hyun-Seung’s face looked blank. On the other hand, my members were—

“Ahhhhh.”

“Pweh.”

“Let’s calm down.”

“Hmmm.”

They were all extremely nervous. Even Dong-Jun, who was always relaxed, looked pale.

“In today’s joint mission, the long-awaited number one is...” The host stopped breathing before saying the final winner and scanned the surroundings to increase the tension. This moment’s pause was so nerve-wracking that sighs burst out everywhere.

When the tension seemed at its highest, he exclaimed, “Finally, this team was able to become the sole winner!” The host said a description that seemed to refer to us, and then he said, “It’s Siren! Congratulations!” He finally called our name.

“Huh?”

“Ohh!”

“...What?”

“Aghhh! Argh! Ahhhhh!”

The members all went crazy.

“Tae-Yoon! Tae-Yoooon! Tae-Yoon!”

Was it because Kim Young-Jin kept playing with our feelings so hard about who the winner was? Everyone reacted more intensely than usual. This was the first time that we won first place alone.

“Everyone did a great job.” On the other hand, I was calm, unlike my members. The reason for that was—

[Probability of winning first place: 98%]

The probability that hovered around 95% immediately after the stage rose to 97% at my nuna remark and then rose again to 98% while I chatted with the members in the waiting room. How could we not win first place with this probability? If we lost, the system would have been deceiving me all along. Thus, for me, I felt like I was receiving a report card just as I expected.

“Only One unfortunately got second place this time. Nevertheless, you were able to obtain a high score, so I hope you don’t feel too discouraged.” The host finished saying his lines with this comment.

Until then, the members could not hide their excitement.

“Hmmph!”

“We’re first place...!”

Sigh. The members could not hide their excitement. In particular, Yeon-Hoon was already crying. Since he cried so often, I wasn’t even surprised. Woon was also tearing up with Yeon-Hoon. But the real surprise was—

“...You’re crying?”

“Be quiet...”

Even Do-Seung was crying. He wasn’t sobbing, but tears formed around his eyes, so he seemed like he would burst into tears if anyone just tapped him. Only Dong-Jun and I didn’t cry and enjoyed this moment. Just in time, the final score was posted on the back screen.

‘What, there’s only a 1-point difference between us and Only One.’ Seeing that there was only one point difference between Only One and us, I got goosebumps for a moment. I briefly made eye contact with Kang Hyun-Sung, and he was smiling softly as if he had expected this result. When I was also getting goosebumps from that image—

[Mission success. Siren has won first place in the third round of competition.]

The system’s voice rang in my ear.

[Reward has been received.]

Then, it immediately moved on to the compensation part without delay.

[A part of the regression’s secret will be revealed to you.]

With that sentence,

Whoosh!

For a brief moment, my world’s time came to a standstill.