Chapter 34
Even after Lee Hye-na’s and my stages ended, four more stages followed.
Choi Seong brought an appropriate ballad as he always did, and whether he was simply in good condition or had genuinely improved, he put on a remarkably fine performance.
By contrast, Baek Yu-yeon gave a relatively disappointing performance.
It wasn’t that their skill was lacking; the song they had brought was simply awful.
‘I’ve used up every usable historical-drama-style song now.’
So Yu-jin and Han Seong-sik put on fairly average performances, and the winner was difficult to predict.
‘Still, Mr. Seong-sik, with his powerful high notes, probably has the better chance of advancing.’
“This next one is the highlight.”
“Yeah. The real battleground, right?”
“I suppose so.”
Yoo Seolha, Blooming’s vocalist, had grown another step while practicing this song.
She had become able to reach notes that had previously been beyond her, and perhaps thanks to K-Sep and Yoo Sang-hyun’s close coaching, her transitions between falsetto and full voice had also become somewhat more stable.
Watching her grow into an increasingly complete vocalist beside me, I felt a fear I had never experienced before.
‘She’s growing way too fast…’
Still, it was a good thing for someone close to me to do well, so for now, I decided to be happy for her and pray for her continued growth.
But Blooming weren’t the only ones who had grown.
Joo Jinwoo’s stage skills had also clearly improved since the beginning of Singerstar.
Perhaps because he had been an ordinary engineering student, he had seemed unable to show his full ability onstage, but now he could bring out not only 100 percent of his skill onstage but also considerably greater vocal ability.
He had already been a monstrous, fully formed vocalist, but he was still improving.
‘Even so, Blooming has a decent shot.’
The song I gave Blooming was an extreme competition song. Its high notes were bound to hurt your ears if you listened through earphones continuously, and its instrumentation was noisy, but the explosive power it could produce live onstage was correspondingly overwhelming.
“Hehe…”
“Un…ni. You’re kind of a pervert.”
I looked at Lee Hye-na, who had settled me on her lap and was pawing at me here and there while using a form of address I wasn’t used to hearing.
Whatever had her so pleased, her face was full of smiles, making her completely different from the person she had been onstage earlier.
Unlike Yoo Seolha’s soft, ample flesh, Lee Hye-na’s was a little smaller and didn’t feel much like a pillow, but…
‘Well, this is nice too.’
After all, simply being held in the arms of such a beauty was something I could never have imagined in my previous life.
If I had ever dated an idol, I would obviously have been buried alive in some remote hill, so in my previous life, I had deliberately kept as much distance from the girls as possible.
‘Maybe this life will be different?’
I still didn’t know what I might do in the future.
Perhaps I would give up being a singer and take the path of a producer, or perhaps I would continue singing.
‘Maybe I can do both.’
I supposed doing both was probably the most likely outcome.
To be honest, after spending so much time onstage, I was slowly becoming addicted to the applause and attention I received there.
I was beginning to understand why celebrities never retired from show business, no matter how much abuse they received.
-The next stage will be Blooming’s! Please welcome this high-school band, brimming with powerful passion, with a round of applause!
“It’s starting.”
I hopped down from Hye-na’s lap and sat beside her.
I wanted to watch this stage closely, since a song I myself had created was about to be performed.
‘What’s with that look…’
I did my best to ignore Hye-na, who was giving me a sidelong look as if she were disappointed.
* * *
Child of the Waves.
A Japanese anime OST, it was a song that required vocal ability spanning a remarkably wide range and the ability to bring out its uniquely gentle yet rugged emotional character.
Of course, I hadn’t written it; I had simply copied it and brought it over.
In my previous life, this song had been called the very symbol of high-note vocal songs in Japan, and it was extraordinarily difficult.
But if she could pull it off live perfectly…
‘The thrill it can give the audience is second to none.’
Yoo Seolha’s live performance wasn’t perfect. Since the song was so difficult, she would occasionally crack a note even during practice.
Even so, the reason she kept choosing it without giving up was…
“This song is incredibly difficult…”
“But the return is worth it.”
If they succeeded, it was powerful enough to beat Joo Jinwoo no matter what stage he put on.
Since they had been promised a trip to Hawaii if they won this round, victory was especially precious to them.
‘Why does it seem like they want to go to Hawaii more than they want to win?’
Perhaps they considered it a success simply to have come this far; lately, Blooming’s members had begun just enjoying the stage.
Actually, considering they were a band—and one with members who had gaps in their skills—perhaps that attitude was better.
This song in particular was essentially a vocal powerhouse showcase, leaving the band little to do. They just had to get through the full song smoothly, following bassist Park Hee-soo’s lead.
A gentle piano melody soaked the stage like the sound of waves.
Yoo Seolha gripped the mic stand with both hands, her eyes closed.
Her usual playful expression was nowhere to be seen; she wore only the face of an artist immersed in the song’s narrative.
-Fragments of memories washing in, like foam beyond my fingertips
The moment the first line burst forth, the air in the waiting room rippled.
A thin, breathy falsetto flowed gently along the studio ceiling.
Yoo Seolha’s clear timbre, overflowing with boyish charm, blended with the song’s distinctive lyricism and instantly heightened the audience’s immersion.
But the song’s true worth began here.
As the song entered its middle section and the drumbeat intensified, Yoo Seolha’s vocal technique changed 180 degrees. Sharp energy was layered over the frail girl’s voice.
-In the screams bursting forth, become the wave that swallows me!
The high-note section began. A punishing melody ranging through the middle of the third octave drove forward without pause.
It was the devilish passage that had tormented her during practice. I unconsciously leaned toward the monitor as if I might be pulled inside it.
‘If she founders here, everything will be reduced to nothing.’
As if mocking my concern, Yoo Seolha threw back her head and fired off an explosive full-voice note.
Not a single crack.
If anything, the higher the pitch climbed, the more solid her voice became, and her straight, soaring high notes cutting through the instruments were enough to raise goosebumps.
“……Wow. Amazing.”
Lee Hye-na, sitting beside me, muttered with her mouth hanging open.
I felt a shiver myself.
Rather, a live performance even more solid than her peak in practice had burst forth.
At the highlight, Yoo Seolha unleashed three consecutive high notes and ran out to center stage.
-Aaaaaah—!
A cleanly soaring G in the third octave.
The band members built a massive wall of waves with weighty sound behind her, and Yoo Seolha looked like a girl freely swimming atop those waves.
-I’ll never go back again, beyond that shining horizon!
The final ultra-high note rang out as if it would tear through the studio’s audio equipment, then scattered into silence in an instant.
The stage lights went black, leaving only Yoo Seolha’s silhouette as she breathed heavily.
The applause that erupted after a brief stillness was hotter and longer than for any contestant’s stage.
“……Perfect.”
I murmured quietly.
It was a performance that drew out more than 100 percent of the potential in the song I had given her.
Along with the joy I felt as the person who had written the song, I could almost feel on my skin the pressure Joo Jinwoo would have to endure in answering this stage.
‘Can Joo Jinwoo overcome this pressure?’
After a stage that could be called not merely perfect but legendary, could Joo Jinwoo, who until a few months ago had lived entirely apart from the stage, overcome this pressure?
‘It won’t be easy.’
I had already decided the winner in my heart.
The public and the judges would have no choice but to give Blooming the win, at least for this stage.
* * *
Joo Jinwoo’s stage followed immediately.
Across all of Singerstar’s stages, he made an unexpected song choice for the first time.
“A band song. That’s unexpected….”
“I know, right? He always sings ballads.”
Come to think of it, Joo Jinwoo had originally worked as a band vocalist on the indie scene, hadn’t he?
Considering that, this song choice might not have been such a bad one after all.
Based on his clear belief that he was superior as a vocalist, he must have chosen the same genre intending to crush her.
However, this time, he was unequivocally mistaken.
For this stage alone, Yoo Seolha’s vocals did not lose to Joo Jinwoo’s at all.
If they performed 100 stages and averaged the results, it wouldn’t be difficult to determine that Joo Jinwoo was clearly the better singer than Yoo Seolha.
No matter how much Yoo Seolha had improved, the gap in skill between her and Joo Jinwoo was still quite significant.
Joo Jinwoo was a monster who could reach the middle of the third octave despite being a man.
However, just as they say a soccer ball is round, countless variables arise onstage as well.
A great deal could change depending on the day’s condition, the state of the stage, and the performances placed immediately before and after it.
“We’ll now announce the results for Group 4!”
The taut tension that had filled the studio reached its peak along with the announcement of the results.
The cue sheet in the MC’s hand flashed as it reflected the lights.
Joo Jinwoo swallowed hard, his face showing every sign of tension, while the Blooming members clasped one another’s hands tightly and stared at the screen.
Yoo Seolha in particular was biting her lip with a pale face, perhaps because she had just poured out every last bit of her energy.
“These are the final results, combining the viewers’ votes and the judges’ scores!”
Numbers began flickering chaotically across the screen. The judges’ scores were revealed first.
[Judges’ Scores]
Blooming: 482 points
Joo Jinwoo: 488 points
“Ah……”
A small groan escaped beside me. As expected, the judges gave Joo Jinwoo the edge in vocal precision and polish. Six points. It was a very narrow difference, but well within the range that could be overturned by the viewers’ votes.
“We’ll now reveal the final scores, including the viewers’ votes!”
Huge bar graphs shot upward beneath the two contestants’ names.
Joo Jinwoo’s graph stopped first, and a little later, Blooming’s graph climbed with frightening force, passed Joo Jinwoo’s score, and stopped.
[Final Results]
Blooming: 924 points
Joo Jinwoo: 891 points
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
Onstage, the Blooming members screamed and hugged one another.
Yoo Seolha sank to the floor and covered her face as if she couldn’t believe it, while Park Hee-soo clenched a fist toward the sky with his bass still strapped on.
“The winner of Group 4 is Blooming! Congratulations on advancing directly to TOP 6!”
The waiting room also began to stir. Joo Jinwoo’s defeat, despite being one of the strongest contenders for the championship, was the biggest upset of the competition.
“We really won……”
Joo Jinwoo’s stage had been excellent too, but Blooming’s single peak had completely stolen the public’s heart.
Joo Jinwoo’s expression as he stood onstage looked complicated.
He applauded the Blooming members with a bitter smile, as if acknowledging his defeat. But he couldn’t hide the emptiness deep in his eyes.
The final results were announced next.
[Confirmed Direct Advancement to TOP 6]
1조: Seo Si-yeon
2조: Choi Seong
3조: Han Seong-sik
4조: Blooming
The showdown between Lee Hye-na and me also ended in victory for me by an overwhelming margin in the viewers’ votes.
Lee Hye-na’s performance had been excellent, but apparently it hadn’t been enough to surpass the emotion Starry Night had stirred.
“Now, only the loser revival remains. Of the four eliminated contestants who performed today, only two will join TOP 6 through the people’s choice.”
Lee Hye-na, Joo Jinwoo, Baek Yu-yeon, and So Yu-jin stood side by side onstage.
Names far too formidable to call eliminated contestants.
The vote results, tallied amid the tension, appeared on the electronic display.
The loser revival results would be determined solely by the viewers’ votes.
“Huh?”
The moment I saw the results, I had no choice but to widen my eyes.
Because an utterly unexpected result had appeared on the monitor.