Chapter 104
There is a saying that public opinion on the internet changes dozens of times a day.
That's a lie.
Internet public opinion changes dozens of times within ten minutes. Someone who was a god-tier OO just three seconds ago can become a fucking OO, a damn dog, three seconds later.
If that can happen by the second, what about by the minute? From the start of Mystica's performance until Group Sound's performance ended, nearly fifteen minutes passed.
The audience at the venue thought Mystica's performance was insane and posted their reactions, while they had been so overwhelmed by Group Sound's performance that they could not react at all... But people with nothing better to do than live online took the two performances in completely different ways.
[Four high school girls, a looks-powered bubble group lol]
A one-song wonder lol
[Honestly, the PD's pushing is way too obvious]
It does seem that way just from hearing about the performances.
Just judging by skill, shouldn't Mystica or WEKIDS be the ones who win?
Seems kinda true.
[There’s nothing to see besides the guitar and their looks]
The guitar member plays guitar well, sings well, and looks good.
The other members look good.
I couldn't see anything beyond that.
The participants' reviews saying they had good fundamentals—isn't that just them putting a nice spin on things?
[Am I the only one enjoying this?]
Honestly, it's a rock-band audition, so seeing them charge in relying on their looks and the editing was a little much.
They aren't even that talented.
There were the people who had disliked them from the beginning, fans who wanted a strong contender eliminated, and even amusement researchers who simply wanted to set the community on fire. In the few minutes that passed, countless screenshots circulated and evaluations continued.
That was until a completely raw, clearly audience-recorded performance video appeared, with no editing or corrections whatsoever.
[3rd9d8ergwqw2f2ejf0]
The video had a title that had clearly been slapped together carelessly, without even a date. The shaky footage had not been edited at all, preserving the excitement of the person recording it. The vocals were completely uncorrected, the kind of vocals one could never hear on a broadcast.
And yet,
“A sea of dawn light shimmering like a heat haze…”
A distant, languid song sung in a dreamlike atmosphere.
“Rise up, you poor!”
And a passionate cry filled with emotion that made the listener's blood boil on its own.
Most importantly, there was a guitar solo brimming with fury, seemingly the textbook definition of early progressive rock. It shattered the doubts of people who acknowledged Ha Suyeon's skill but still wondered, “Couldn’t there have been some correction? Is it really possible to play that perfectly?”
It took only as long as the video's runtime for the atmosphere to turn around. The video itself was deleted almost immediately, likely because the production crew was monitoring the internet to prevent leaks, but it remained available long enough for some people to download it or clip portions and post their reactions.
As a result, most of the people who watched it began writing posts like [Wow, these girls are insane ㄷㄷㄷㄷ]. Even the people who had been mildly trolling had eyes and ears, so they wrote things like [Sorry for trolling] and, to put it vulgarly, “vacated the room.”
[Just watched Group Sound's fancam[]
It was pretty good, but
when I see people sucking up to them like crazy,
honestly, hmm... Is it really that good? Am I the normal one?
- Completely abnormal.
- LOL, you clueless bastard.
- Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!
- Tika mutt ㅡㅡ
- I smell an old man.
- Ugh, fucking dentures.
Even then, a few people continued trying to push their dogmatic opinions and steer the discussion elsewhere, but they were repeatedly beaten down and disappeared.
It did not take long for public opinion on the internet to conclude that Group Sound, not Mystica, had won this round.
* * *
‘This is a headache.’
None of this was what Donguk had intended. He disliked situations that spilled beyond his control. Whatever it was, he liked having it under control.
He had anticipated the possibility that Mystica would choose Group Sound for this round... and he had also anticipated the reverse. He had expected the showdown between the two groups to be fierce as well.
What he had not expected was for the quality of the two groups' performances to be so high. The problem was that this showdown had erupted just as they needed to begin building toward the finals.
The band Donguk had marked as the winner was [WEKIDS], a band from an agency that had a partnership with the production sponsor [C:RSKY].
They had enough skill that a win would not lead to allegations of rigging, a good fan base, and editing that treated them well, so there was no need to actually manipulate the votes. Of course, Donguk had no idea what the band members themselves would think if they were told nothing about the arrangement.
That was why Donguk had actually been quite pleased when Mystica chose Group Sound. It was not as though they had chosen WEKIDS and then suffered the unfortunate situation of having to eliminate them. One side would fall after fighting among themselves, so what was the problem? From Donguk's perspective, it was something to welcome.
But what happened afterward...
“PD Yoon, what are we going to do?”
It was Choi PD speaking at an unofficial meeting held without Kim Jiwon PD, the second-in-command Mtown had attached to control PD Yoon Donguk. Choi PD had helped Donguk and taken care of all sorts of dirty work.
“Who knows.”
Donguk folded his arms. He had no idea how it had happened, but every community related to music, television, and survival shows was already boiling over the showdown between Mystica and Group Sound.
With fancams circulating as well, they could not use malicious editing to drag down the quality of the performances. If they did that, blatant accusations of manipulation would spread. Higher ratings would have been good for Donguk... but with WEKIDS already chosen as the winner, this was not good at all.
But if they did not do that, the later showdowns would be buried. WEKIDS had just put on a fairly good performance as well, and it had even come at the end of the competition. They had received good results from the mentors and judges, too. But the public showed no interest in them whatsoever. Their entire response amounted to, ‘What the hell are those guys?’
‘If we leave things like this, it’ll be no different from holding a coronation.’
He had expected the performances to be high quality. After seeing Mystica's performance, he had even thought, These guys are going to win. But Group Sound had shown a level of quality that overturned all of that.
Both bands had put on performances of insane quality. Who would be interested in whichever band came next? The response would be something like, “Are they holding a school talent show?” After that, no one would care much about the next round or the final. Everyone would simply pour their votes onto Group Sound, the winner of this showdown, and they would win without any upset at all.
“Just air it as is.”
“What about the order?”
“Leave it as is. Don’t make any corrections in editing, either. Just make it look as unremarkable as possible.”
“Then the kids coming after them won’t have any impact.”
Donguk scratched his head roughly. It was true. There was simply nothing he could do.
“Whatever it is... push the boy-band kids as hard as possible. For the first two groups, put in a ‘Watch the full version’ notice and cut them down as much as possible. Absolutely do not give anyone room for a malicious edit.”
“Yes.”
How had things ended up like this? Donguk wondered. It was supposed to be an ordinary program—at least, that was what he had believed—that simply drew viewers and ratings. Should he have refused when Director Park came to him with his request? The thought crossed his mind.
But what could he do? It was already in the past.
* * *
[Hello? I’m PD Kim… I’m in charge of casting for the … program currently airing on KBS. The reason I’m sending an Instagram DM to guitarist Ha Suyeon is that we’d like to invite you to appear on our program.
Our program … is…]
Myeongjeon opened several Instagram DMs and emails one after another. Most were casting inquiries. The rest were requests for collaborations or, in any case, various work-related contacts.
They had all started arriving after the fourth-round performance ended.
When the audition began, Myeongjeon had thought Group Sound's and ‘Ha Suyeon’s’ popularity was rising. Album sales had increased quite a lot, and various stories and articles had appeared as well.
But none of it had ever really felt tangible. It had been more like, Oh, I guess so... I suppose the albums are selling well.
This time was different.
There was the fancam someone had uploaded of the fourth-round performance, as well as the performance clips posted online after the fourth-round broadcast, which clearly showed how much effort had gone into them.
The most successful clip had over ten million views, and a video reacting to the full version of their performance had even made it onto the real-time trending videos list. They had truly hit it big.
Another sign that they were becoming a hot topic could be found on internet communities.
[What song are these lyrics from?]
(“Rise up, you poor!” clip)
Is this a commie?
- ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
- The commie strikes again and again and again.
- I agree one hundred percent. Leftists these days are the height of hypocrisy—red hypocrisy. Anyone who writes lyrics like these should be locked up.
ㄴ Fucking boomer stink.
- Their songs are pretty good.
ㄴ Seeing you suddenly worship a commie, I guess you're one yourself.
The content itself was not particularly pleasant, but Myeongjeon took note of the fact that a post like this had appeared on a general community.
Until now, posts related to Group Sound had appeared almost exclusively on music or survival-show communities. But after the fourth round, Group Sound's name had begun appearing on general communities, TikTok, Instagram... on those so-called ‘popular’ platforms.
‘That’s a good sign.’
Myeongjeon thought so.
[Invasion 2024] had plenty of buzz and a sizable audience, but it was still merely a well-made audition show that drew ratings. It had no star who could represent the program.
But this broadcast had turned them into stars. When someone mentioned [Invasion 2024], people could now immediately say, “Oh, the ones who sang that song?” That was a significant gain, even if they were eliminated.
‘Not that they’ll be eliminated.’
Myeongjeon looked at the notebook where he had written notes during the fourth-round performance. After the competition ended, a staff member had explained the next round's format along with the results announcement.
According to him, the top three of the six bands would advance to the next round. The format involved performing cover songs as a tribute to bands of the past.
“However, you must not perform the genre your band specializes in.”
For example, WEKIDS could not perform pop, while Group Sound could not perform prog... That was roughly what he meant.
It was not much of a problem for them. Myeongjeon was not a guitarist who only played prog. Besides, judging by what Mystica had said about the other bands' atmosphere, they were apparently at the level where people were saying things like, “After seeing their performances, there’s no way we can win. Should we just go out with dignity?” This round felt like it would pass without much incident.
* * *
Round Five, the semifinals, proceeded smoothly, just as Myeongjeon had expected.
After searching for something that was not prog, they performed the Grateful Dead's New Minglewood Blues with the Grateful Dead's signature improvisation. As the experts, mentors, audience, and viewers had expected... it was a comfortable first place. Even WEKIDS, in second, looked as though they had been crushed by Group Sound.
With it appearing that only the championship remained ahead of them, the thing that stood in Group Sound's way was... not something within the broadcast.
[Entertainment Talk) I’m exposing the school violence committed against ‘Ha Suyeon,’ who is currently participating in a band audition show]
It came from outside the broadcast.