Chapter 28: Group Evaluation from Hell (2)
The practice room with the camera rolling.
"Let’s decide on what song we’re doing."
Clap—
The one who clapped his hands to gather attention was Lee Dokyung from Vocal A Team.
With his characteristically playful gaze and crystal-clear voice.
Judging by his tone, which was close to a pure tenor, it seemed like he could easily reach high notes, but unfortunately, vocals weren’t his main strength either.
‘He’s more of a talker.’
Do Seohan thought honestly to himself, then erased the thought.
‘No, he’s an impressive person.’
In any case, he was one of the final debut members of Stardust.
Lee Dokyung was someone with enough charm to captivate the public.
Even if that charm was just…
Well, just being good at talking.
Visually, he ranked among the top among Stardust members.
Compared to other members who caused incident after incident, he had some minor scandals, but unlike those people, he’d never made it to the front page of the society section...
-Other than that, I don’t know much.
Even in his past life, Do Seohan hadn’t really had any particular connection with him.
Still, the fortunate thing was that, unlike Lee Junhyeok, he had a cooperative personality.
And considering his abilities, he didn’t seem the type to hog the spotlight.
"Does anyone have a song in mind?"
‘At least we’re not in the nightmare stage of group projects.’
Seohan let out a silent sigh of relief and opened his mouth.
"I have a concept in mind."
"Oh, what is it?"
As soon as this mission was announced, a certain direction had come to his mind.
"I think we should pick a song that’s relatively known to the public but doesn’t have too strong of a unique vocal color. If we want to add visual fun to the stage, something like a bright love song could work too."
Ballads that relied purely on emotional delivery were excluded.
Rock songs that demanded strong vocal technique and volume were also excluded.
And idol songs that were too ambiguous to showcase vocal talent were ruled out too.
‘A duet.’
"Oh. That’s nice."
Lee Dokyung blinked and nodded.
In fact, Seohan’s suggestion, if you boiled it down...
Was basically: ‘Let’s not pick something too hard.’
What if you tried to belt high notes and it cracked?
That kind of mistake could be fatal in a vocal competition.
It wasn’t like their team had any clear main vocals either...
If they really wanted to beat Vocal B Team, which was filled with strong vocalists, they had to be strategic.
Since the two of them excelled more in performance and charisma, it made sense to focus on “visual appeal” on stage.
Lee Dokyung lightly laughed, stroking his chin.
"It’s a bit different from what I was thinking, but it sounds good now that I hear it. I agree."
(You’re pretty sharp, aren’t you?)
When Lee Dokyung’s obvious gaze met his, Seohan blinked calmly and smiled naturally.
Alright, one mountain climbed.
‘Now the real problem…’
Seohan turned his head and looked toward Kang Siwoo.
Currently ranked 21st.
Someone who hadn’t taken up much space in Do Seohan’s memory database.
If not for Lee Junhyeok’s elimination, he probably wouldn’t have ended up in the same group, so it made sense.
What kind of personality he had,
What style he preferred,
Even what he was good at—none of that was known.
The one thing that was clear…
‘He’s scary.’
He had been silently listening to Seohan and Lee Dokyung’s conversation without saying a single word.
"Hmm…"
From time to time, he’d rub his eyebrows like something was bothering him...
And each time, it felt like someone should mutter a line from a third-rate movie, like, “Boss, are you okay?”
His build contributed to his intimidating presence, but the biggest reason was his eyes.
Eyes as cold and piercing as a Siberian husky’s.
It seemed like he was just staring—
But also kind of glaring?
His expression could definitely be misunderstood.
Seohan mustered up the courage and spoke.
"Excuse me."
"……."
A chilly stare was the only reply.
Why do my hands keep folding themselves politely?!
Seohan smiled awkwardly and got to the point.
"What do you think of the idea we just discussed?"
"Ah."
Rustle.
Unbeknownst to them, Kang Siwoo had been taking notes.
He flipped a page in his notebook and finally spoke.
And then—
A sigh deep enough to sink the earth came out.
"Ha…"
Startled, Seohan’s eyes went round like a hamster’s.
"Was it… really that bad…?"
"…It’s seriously amazing."
"Sorry?"
"I think we should go with this plan."
It may have seemed like he had no soul, but...
This guy—he was sincere.
"……."
In the sudden silence, Kang Siwoo glanced around with a confused look as if wondering what was wrong.
That expression only added to the image of a Siberian husky wondering how to cook the hamster in front of him, but that was another issue.
"I think it’s… the best idea."
"Is that so…?"
"Yes. Ah, just one thing."
After finishing his thoughts, Kang Siwoo continued in a calm voice.
"Let’s choose a song in a similar direction and go with a high-teen concept."
It turned out he hadn’t responded earlier because he was thinking of his own concept.
Only then did Seohan catch on to Kang Siwoo’s style and listened to what he had to say.
‘So that’s just his personality.’
Then Kang Siwoo continued with his analysis.
"Since Seohan did a school uniform concept in the last evaluation, I thought it might be too repetitive if we go with the same high-teen concept, so I excluded the school uniform."
"Ah, okay."
"My idea is to go full-on high-teen with the concept of falling in love at a party… so while you were speaking earlier, I put together a song list. This one seems to match the concept well… How about this? The lyrics match the vibe we’re going for the most."
Seohan was left speechless by the rapid-fire, cold yet sharp analysis.
"I think it would be great if we reference a famous movie for the overall stage. It’s a bit of an old film, but you might have seen this scene, Seohan…"
"…That sounds good."
Wow.
What is this guy?
It was hard to believe this was someone who would've been eliminated in the first evaluation—he was the perfect image of a leader.
Where had he been hiding all this time?
After finishing the first team meeting safely, Seohan walked out of the meeting room feeling worn out.
It was now up to Seohan to add flesh to the bones of the concept Kang Siwoo had constructed.
As expected of someone in their second round of the audition, he knew exactly where to place emphasis to make an impact.
That’s where Seohan focused his energy.
When it came to experience, Seohan had the upper hand.
So as the two of them coordinated without rest, they finally wrapped up the meeting only when their voices were nearly gone.
But contrary to his worries, this team was going smoothly.
"Why is everything going so well?"
Peace is the best.
It’s always thrilling.
Even so, physical exhaustion was unavoidable.
Seohan stretched lightly and shoved his hands back into his hoodie pocket.
His throat was dry—maybe he should grab a can of cola from the vending machine.
"Ugh… I'm so tired."
He muttered as he walked toward the end of the hallway where the vending machine was.
“…!”
There, he bumped into a familiar face.
It was his teammate Kang Siwoo, whose thoughts were still unreadable.
"Hello."
Seohan gave him a bright smile and greeted him, and Kang Siwoo responded with a slight bow.
‘He’s two years younger than me.’
Of course, he was twenty-five inside, so being treated like an older brother didn’t feel too strange, but still—it felt awkward to receive a bow.
‘Maybe he’s not actually scary.’
Just like during the meeting earlier.
Though it was still kind of intimidating to make direct eye contact with him…
Maybe that was just instinct, but he didn’t seem like a bad person.
Seohan inserted his card into the vending machine while thinking about Kang Siwoo’s unpredictable personality.
But then.
"Seohan."
Why did he have to say it so menacingly? That startled me.
"Yes?"
Seohan turned his head with wide eyes.
He had assumed Kang Siwoo had already left, but he was right behind him, lingering.
With eyes full of some mysterious story, he parted his lips.
"I’ve been seriously meaning to say something."
"Ah, okay."
Here comes the backstory.
"What is it?"
Was he unhappy with the changes they discussed?
Or maybe there was a personal issue bothering him…
While Seohan imagined all sorts of scenarios in his head—
"Um…"
Kang Siwoo spoke with an intensely serious expression.
"My shoelace came undone."
Oh.
"My shoelace came undone."
To say something like that in such a stiff, serious voice—he was definitely a bit of an oddball outside the realm of normalcy...
But who cares?
When it came to group projects, Kang Siwoo was the best teammate, and Lee Dokyung was also sharp and quick-witted.
Still, no matter how laid-back your teammates were, there were always tense moments.
After glancing around, Lee Dokyung carefully opened his mouth.
"We need to divide the parts now."
Read: the main vocal battle.
In the case of Vocal B Team, Lee Hajin was essentially predetermined to be the main vocal.
There were no other members with her level of skill, and she was recognized as a top vocalist in the entire Stardust Project.
If Jin Sehyun had joined the vocal team, it might be a different story, but since Sehyun-hyung went to the performance team, she didn’t have much competition left.
But our team’s situation was a bit different.
How could it be that none of the three members had strong vocal skills?
Just as Seohan sighed internally, Lee Dokyung spoke up first.
"I’d like to try it."
Perhaps he thought the lineup was manageable—he stepped up confidently.
"Hmm…"
Kang Siwoo stayed quiet, perhaps lacking confidence.
If I only went by my memory, Lee Dokyung probably had the advantage…
But this was my second life.
I didn’t need to be intimidated or give up thinking I was less capable than Lee Dokyung.
You never know until you try.
For once, I wanted to go for it.
"I think this part suits me."
"Then shall we each try singing it once?"
Lee Dokyung looked back at me and made the suggestion, and so we agreed to each try singing the main part and the intro.
That meant the final decision would be up to Kang Siwoo.
There was a brief exchange of glances between us, but without much comment, Lee Dokyung played the music.
The intro, where tone quality mattered most, and the climax, where clean vocalization was key.
The song wasn’t overly difficult, but there were tricky parts if you wanted to make an impact.
Lee Dokyung slowly sang the main part with his soft voice.
I want to know
Everything about you
My achromatic world is colored because of you
"Listen—this is everything I’ve got—"
Lee Dokyung, who would later become Stardust’s sub-vocal, had a decently pleasant tone.
But his still-immature vocal technique made it obvious he was a trainee.
He rubbed his reddened ears and wrapped up his performance modestly.
"Mmhm, I’ll stop here."
"Then, Seohan, would you like to try?"
"Yup, I’ll give it a shot."
I nodded with an awkward smile.
Taking on the main vocal part on a big stage like this one came with just as much risk as reward.
Everyone watching our team was probably thinking, "Let’s see how good these top-ranked kids are," so I had to meet their expectations.
I knew I wasn’t the best.
It wasn’t like I didn’t feel pressure.
‘But I can do it.’
Giving up when you’re given a chance is just foolish.
This is my second round.
And I knew—I had to make things happen, even when they seemed impossible.