Invasion from Seoul (20)

“1:1 Original Song Mission! Your opponents… will be decided by nomination. Today’s announced order, from first to sixth place! Each band will nominate an opponent in turn. If a higher-ranked band with the right to nominate chooses a lower-ranked band! The nominated band loses its right to nominate, and that right passes to the next band.”

With the empty audience seats before us, the rankings appeared on the screen. Mystica was in first place, and we were second. WEKIDS was third… followed by the others in order.

Muzaku had come in twelfth, but after the audience left, the MC announced that they had voluntarily withdrawn. The other bands asked what had happened, but it did not seem as though anyone received a proper answer.

‘Either way, this is better than the previous rules.’

A one-on-one battle in which the higher-ranked bands had the right to choose their opponents. It was a format designed to produce scenes of the strong, in vulgar terms, ‘slaughtering the commoners.’ Given what he had seen of the producer’s personality so far, Myeongjeon was sure he would hate this kind of format, but… to calm public sentiment surrounding the show, they had no choice but to show this sort of ‘fairness,’ Myeongjeon thought.

The third round’s format—disbanding bands and doing this and that—might have produced plenty of footage for television, but it was a terrible format for the bands actually competing in the audition and their fans.

“And although this mission is a one-on-one battle! To ensure fairness…”

The MC paused for a moment to draw out a dramatic reaction, then pointed at the screen. Typography streamed across it: ~ the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s… What was that supposed to mean?

“Each battle will be assigned a random era! The genre is unrestricted, but you will need to interpret the music in a way that suits that era. For example, if you choose to perform a metal song from the 1980s! You will need to preserve the feel of metal from that period. On top of that, you must reinterpret it by adding your own color.”

At the MC’s words, the bands began murmuring. It was only natural. No matter what, this meant there would be limits on how they could interpret their songs...