Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 298

298. Not Rigged (1)

“But I’m serious. You don’t have to postpone your schedule because of us…”

“I’ve already postponed most of it. I’ll adjust things as needed, so you don’t have to worry.”

Yeon-woo had planned a packed schedule for the next month or so.

‘I don’t know about the later competitions, but I need to secure the first one for sure.’

It wasn’t just because he was joining as the 6th temporary member.

‘I need to build up their mental strength before the first competition results come out.’

UTT’s stats are very good, technically.

The only thing lacking is mental fortitude.

The reason why their self-esteem and pride don’t rise easily must be because their mental strength is weak.

So, he had to address that starting now.

“Hyung [older brother or male friend]. How far along are you with the arrangement?”

“Huh? Oh, oh. I’m working on the 3rd verse now…”

“Listen to this.”

“Okay…”

The leader quietly played the song.

Even though he had been given luxurious equipment, he still used his old-fashioned MP3 player the most.

“Here. Doesn’t this part sound a bit off?”

“It sounds fine to me.”

“Oh… Really?”

“Yes.”

“Then… how about this part? I put Chan’s voice in here, but does it sound awkward…?”

“No. It sounds fine.”

The leader, Lee Seungmin’s, face brightened noticeably.

‘I did well to come.’

Yeon-woo was brought in as a mentor, but he often joined in on UTT members’ practice.

It was a separate reason from joining the sixth spot.

‘If I hadn’t come, they might have been digging into this for days….’

The pressure from the short timeframe is surprisingly great.

Leader Lee Seungmin was exactly that type.

He didn’t have confidence in himself, but he was impatient, and his work was slow, so he was constantly driven into a situation where things that could have been done weren’t.

“How’s the dance going?”

Minchan was generally in charge of the choreography.

He was huddled together with Daniel, whispering and changing the style of the existing choreography.

When Yeon-woo asked, he jumped up and started demonstrating.

“Take a look yourself.”

Yeon-woo’s evaluation of their performance was quite cold.

“Are your joints rusty?”

“No, I’m not?!”

Minchan, who had been showing off his stiff dance, got angry.

“Why are you dancing like a stick?”

“A stick! This is popping, you know?! Haa… I really can’t talk to someone who doesn’t know anything.”

Yeon-woo asked Daniel.

“Is it popping?”

“Nope.”

“You traitor!”

Minchan screamed as Daniel backed away.

“…Let’s just say it’s a process *of going* to popping. There’s always a process, right?”

Then he moves his body creakily again.

To Yeon-woo, he looked like an old man entrusting his body to a vibrator.

No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t suit the Six Tail’s song they had chosen at all.

‘It doesn’t seem like it would be very useful to develop that….’

It seemed like he was in the same dilemma as the leader.

“Didn’t you learn anything from watching Seungmin hyung do it?”

“No, I didn’t?!”

“Do you really think the dance suits the song right now?”

When he asked indifferently, Minchan wavered.

“Once it’s finished, it *will* suit it somehow…”

While speaking, he glanced at Yeon-woo.

“…It doesn’t seem like it will.”

He finished his words dejectedly.

“I told you not to think too hard? It seems like you’re in a similar dilemma to Seungmin hyung.”

“Did you call me?”

“No. Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh… Okay.”

Yeon-woo continued.

“Get rid of the obsession that it has to be different.”

“But if we make a difference, we can say there’s some change, right?”

“It’s a problem if you put a distance between the song *just* to make a difference.”

“That’s true, but.”

“Just rotate your idea one more time.”

“One more time? How?”

“Usually, you’d think like this. ‘Ah. Since it’s an arrangement competition, I should modify the choreography to match the music.’ You turn it around one more time from there.”

“…Huh?”

Minchan looked like he understood something.

“Tell me honestly. Did you think it suited the song while modifying the choreography?”

“Ugh… The existing choreography suits it the best.”

“Okay. Is there any need to modify it? Anyway, the dance that Six Tail dances and the dance that UTT dances are bound to be different.”

“Oh… That’s true, but.”

“This is also a prejudice. It’s a girl group song, so I’m going to change the style to match it because it’s a male idol group, right?”

“Then… Can I just go with it as it is?”

Minchan hesitated, unlike himself.

“I thought that would be the best too? We can’t dance exactly the same as Six Tail sunbaenims [senior artists/group], and there will definitely be parts that are modified, but. Still, I thought it would be good to keep the base similar to the original…”

“But?”

“I was wondering if I was taking it too easy…?”

As expected.

‘I knew it.’

Yeon-woo scolded him, but it’s not that Minchan doesn’t have the ability.

[Embodiment of Music] [A]

It’s a whopping A-grade stat.

It’s like a stat that exists for choreography, befitting the name?

The only reason why this guy with such an A-grade stat danced like a broken machine is just one thing.

‘Conviction.’

It was because he didn’t have confidence in his own thoughts.

Because he didn’t have confidence, there was no standard.

So, he was wandering around.

From the beginning, they weren’t lacking in skills.

‘If they had, they wouldn’t have made it this far despite that bad luck.’

Yeon-woo decided to properly take on the role of the center.

So that UTT can move with confidence in their own thoughts.

“It’s not taking it easy, it’s hitting the gap. Who would think you’d dance a girl group dance as it is?”

“Ah. I’m not going to dance it as it is. I think it would be better to emphasize it more.”

Since Six Tail’s song is a girl group song, the dance had many movements that emphasized curves and soft lines.

“Okay. It doesn’t seem bad, right? I don’t think I’ve seen many male idols with a sexy concept these days. Good. We can hit the gap with this instead? We can also show that we can do this.”

Once he gained confidence, he started pouring out ideas like a fish in water.

“It would be better to emphasize this part more… This part is…”

He even created several similar but different movements on the spot.

The vibrating, bony figure disappeared completely, and a voluptuous figure of a sleek, carnivorous animal took its place.

The youngest member, Raon, who had been watching the series of processes, muttered.

“Wow… We would have been in big trouble if this hyung hadn’t come today.”

It was only a few hours ago that he told them to rest.

It’s as if he doesn’t know why they did that.

“We were wandering around for a day before hyung came. This hyung solves everything in less than half a day as soon as he comes.”

Then he asked Yeon-woo.

“What can’t hyung do?”

It didn’t seem like he wanted an answer, so he answered himself.

“Maybe he’s not human…? Yeon-woo God… He’s just God…?”

Without Yeon-woo knowing.

Another believer has been added.

Also a very enthusiastic follower.

*

‘The process up to the competition was very smooth.’

How nice would it be if it were like this?

Maybe that’s how it would be explained if it were a normal journey…

“I’m going to die.”

Unfortunately, it was a sentence far from UTT’s reality.

“You won’t die with this much.”

Yeon-woo said in a calm voice.

“No, how… can a person move like that…? You still have to sleep…”

“You slept, right?”

“Oh my god. To say that sleeping five hours in two days is sleeping…”

Even Minchan, the most toxic of the five, didn’t have poison in his words, perhaps because he was tired.

“It’s going to be even busier from now on.”

“Agh!”

“You said you wanted to be busy, right?”

“That’s right. That’s right, but…!”

What is this murderous schedule?

Limit breakthrough was almost every week, as if trying to break the limits of humans as the name suggests.

However, the first competition was given two weeks of time as an exception.

“Think of it as a preventive shot in advance. If you win, you’ll be busier than this.”

Yeon-woo, who said that, checked his wristwatch.

“Get up. We have to go for a profile shoot.”

The profile shoot is three hours away, but we have to move now to get the timing right.

Taking pictures is not just about going with your body.

First of all, you need makeup, as well as hairstyling.

Not only that.

You also have to pick out clothes that fit the atmosphere.

‘Well. That’s something that can be done after throwing it at the shop, so let’s throw it at the shop first.’

Originally, this is what the company UTT belongs to should do.

Why would there be a manager for no reason?

The role of supporting the entertainers in charge so that they can do their best.

That’s what a manager should do.

However.

“Ahem… A shop? Let’s see… Oh… they say the reservation is full? We have stylists in our company, so let them see…”

UTT’s manager was incompetent.

It wasn’t just incompetent, it was the height of incompetence.

‘I knew it from when there was a photo shoot.’

I think I know why UTT didn’t make it properly.

‘This is… It’s hard to see it as just bad luck.’

UTT’s manager was just putting his name on it.

He was a manager, but he didn’t even take care of the entertainers in charge, and it was doubtful whether he knew anything.

Taking care of meals means,

“Today is five samgak kimbaps [triangle kimbap/onigiri]~! It’s a feast, right?!”

It was obvious at this level.

No.

They are members who are practicing so hard that they lack 24 hours a day to go to the competition.

But five triangle kimbaps?

Is it normal to bring that as a feast?

Since then, Yeon-woo has coldly excluded the manager.

And he took care of UTT himself.

‘I can’t help it. If I don’t do this, I would have been sucked dry of the sweet water before I could even try to win.’

How crazy is this crazy company,

“Guys. You have an event scheduled in the X province. Isn’t it fortunate? There are still places that call you.”

They were trying to send the kids who were so busy that they were about to compete to the provinces.

“Isn’t it a really grateful place? To think that there’s a place that calls you, you old stuff… The pay is high this time too. It’s an amount you’ll never be able to touch in your life. The president got this for you. Of course you’re going, right?”

Yeon-woo smiled brightly at the incompetent manager who said that.

And he said.

“Let’s talk for a second.”

I want to say just one word, ‘Get out’….

You have to be careful where there are observation cameras.

The manager who went out with Yeon-woo ran away, leaving his entertainers behind.

‘I wondered why these kids have such low self-esteem….’

It wasn’t because of the many incidents, but because there was a self-esteem thief right next to them.

That dirty way of speaking that subtly gnaws at self-esteem is no different from a poison that eats away at people’s minds.

‘They’re just greedy lumps full of thoughts of making money without thinking of taking care of them.’

Where did the resentment spirit attached to UTT originate from?

Yeon-woo was now completely convinced.

“There’s an interview after the profile shoot. The pre-questionnaire has arrived, so look at it in between and think about the answers. A snack truck will be coming in the middle, so make sure to take care of it.”

In fact, Yeon-woo doesn’t have to do this.

‘I think these kids are going to fail if I don’t do it?’

It was also because of that anxiety, but

-Then let’s just fake it.

The PD [production director], who heard the situation, set up the board properly.

-We’re keeping the stage together a secret. It seems like it would be okay to fake that Yeon-woo is still practicing and doing things together because he’s going to be a manager!

Even if it’s a broadcast without manipulation.

Still, you need enough interest for viewers to keep watching the broadcast.

The reason for deliberately faking it is this.

The preparation process up to the start of the competition was also planned as content.

‘It’s not rigged. Just a little fake…?’

People who already know, know roughly, and fans are guessing.

What.

If that helps the already pitiful image of UTT a little more.

‘It would be better to look more pitiful.’

That way, it will be good to feed the person who made that grudge stick.

The corners of Yeon-woo’s mouth turned up.