Chapter 32: Survival Entertainment Show - Random Keywords (6)

“Looks like Chronos will be first place again this time.”

“Hehe, do you think so?” The director nodded in response to Joh In-Hyun’s statement.

Choosing Park Yoon-Chan as the center despite his relative lack of skill seemed like a gamble at first. However, it became clear that this was a strategic move. The blue lighting and the violin melody accentuated Park Yoon-Chan's part and ensured that his impact was felt, despite the brevity of his solo. As they selflessly allocated the best parts to Park Yoon-Chan, the performance achieved a sense of balance, showcasing the impressive talents of all members, including the formidable double-center, Suh Hyun-Woo.

Suh Hyun-Woo, in particular, exuded such a commanding presence as he followed Park Yoon-Chan's segment that it seemed like he embodied the adage of dominating solely through aura.

Despite having relatively smaller parts, the other three members also made sure to make a solid impact every time they appeared. In the end, the eye-catching choreography, the giant thrones, and the fluttering flags made a splendid finale fitting for the last performance.

Just like that, their streaming counts were soaring, and audience votes were tipping massively in their favor. With a performance that cleverly incorporated

cheat key

elements and stellar song selections, it would defy logic if they didn't clinch first place.

The atmosphere among the cast in the studio carried a sense of resignation. How could anyone outshine these performance powerhouses? If it weren't for the fan-voting element on the website, the contest would hardly be a contest at all.

"...This won't do. We need a breakthrough," muttered Woo Ji-Hyuk, leader of High Tension, as he watched Chronos triumphantly conclude their performance by sitting on their thrones. He had believed they stood a chance with their own act, but the odds had been stacked against them from the start, especially with the keyword selection.

“Reina, we are about to proceed with the studio recording,” said a staff member to Reina, who was trying to keep her smile down.

‘Sigh, I tried not to be biased...’

She could feel the energy of her song getting lots of attention again, and lots of money would unfold in front of her eyes! Any singer would be happy to have their song covered so wonderfully.

“Phew...” Reina’s smile burst out again as Chronos entered the studio. “You did a great job, Chronos. Thank you so much for covering my song! Not many people know that one! What a great choice!”

“Thank you!”

Watching Chronos politely greet her, Reina thought to herself that she should definitely write them a song after the competition was over.

“All of you have worked hard in the second round. I was surprised because you performed much better than in the previous round. I could see how much effort you put into your performances.”

Seeing that no one responded to her words, Reina could only smile bitterly as she felt the somber atmosphere here. Just call it the intuition of an experienced person. Even if one prepared hard for two weeks, they still couldn’t beat the overwhelming scale of the stage.

Just like the last round, everyone expected Chronos to secure first place in performance without any suspense. While Reina was talking, a staff member rushed in urgently and gave her a big OK sign. Then, Reina nodded and flipped the cue card.

“The audience voting has just ended. The rankings for this round of competition will be determined by the audience votes, streaming viewer votes, and fan votes from the first round.”

‘Ah, fan votes.’

Hearing this, the members of Chronos sighed at the same time. They were confident in having the best scores due to their flawless stage performance. However, fan votes were a different story.

“...We were third, right?”

“Yes. We fell behind after the broadcast.”

After all, fan votes were quite important. With them factored in, if High Tension or Street Center received good performance scores, Chronos would not be able to take first place.

On the other hand, High Tension and Street Center seemed somewhat relieved.

“Now, I will announce the combined scores of the audience votes and streaming viewer votes.”

As Reina spoke, the rankings and scores appeared on the large screen.

1st place, Chronos 26,206

2nd place, Street Center 22,003

3rd place, True Bye 21,884

4th place, High Tension 17,545

5th place, Ash Black 12,107

6th place, Air Senior 9,943

“It’s okay. We are first in performance scores. We can be satisfied with that. It doesn’t have to be the final first place,” said Joo-Han. The other members seemed to have resigned themselves to the situation. There was nothing we could do. Even though we received high performance scores, Street Center’s fan voting scores that followed right after were overwhelming.

“Chronos overwhelmingly secures first place, and True Bye has quickly moved up, reaching third place. Now, I will announce the final rankings reflecting the fan voting scores.”

The screen swiftly changed, updating the rankings and scores for each group. High Tension wore shocked expressions as their rank dropped. In contrast, Street Center appeared to be smiling, as if they had sensed their imminent victory.

Finally, the final rankings were revealed.

1st place, Street Center 31,998

2nd place, Chronos 29,682

3rd place, High Tension 27,745

4th place, True Bye 26,738

5th place, Ash Black 17,330

6th place, Air Senior 13,024

‘Ah, as expected.’

It was bittersweet to actually see the results, even though I had anticipated them since learning that fan voting scores would be reflected in the rankings.

"First place goes to Street Center. Congratulations on your first win, Street Center!"

As there were many members in Street Center, their cheers were loud. The louder their joyous voices, the harder it was for us to hide our disappointment.

"Great job. It's okay."

"We did well. Second place is also impressive."

"That's right. We always rank first in performance. That's all that matters if we perform well."

We comforted each other. Indeed, fan voting wasn’t our battlefield. As long as we did well on stage, that was what mattered.

Amidst our mutual reassurances, Reina deftly shifted the mood and brought the show to a close.

"Time to see future K-POP stars all in one place!

Pick We Up

will continue next week."

"Cut! Good work, everyone!"

As soon as the show ended, the staff rushed in. We somewhat stoically accepted the results, but our manager's eyes were red.

"Everyone has worked hard. It was really great, especially Yoon-Chan. You did well. You were amazing." Despite the manager’s robust physique, he was a person with a sensitive soul.

"Right? Yoon-Chan did really well."

"Oh, come on..." Yoon-Chan smiled shyly. However, he seemed satisfied with himself, and his gloominess from before was nowhere to be found. He added, "This is the first time I truly feel like I am doing something right. It’s all thanks to you guys."

As we made our way out of the studio...

"Why are you always the last to leave? It's so embarrassing. I can't stand it, really."

We were greeted by the incensed voice of True Entertainment's CEO, his frustration palpable as he stormed in.

"Ah, then why don't you invest in us for a change, damn it?! We're a sorry sight next to the other groups."

"Enough, damn it! It's a lost cause."

The frustrated voices of Air Senior members filled the studio. The atmosphere around them seemed very tense and on the verge of collapsing.

***

‘Chronos in 2nd place? What a shock!’

We ranked first in performance, but ended up in second place overall due to the lack of fan votes. This unfortunate incident happened solely because of our lack of fans.

Chronos1st @vkropol_1 · 1 minute ago

Is this really happening... Ah, really annoying. Our kids ranked first in performance, but we lost because we didn’t vote enough. It's so frustrating! I'm tearing up.

ChronosVote @hsudm · 3 minutes ago

What are we doing...? Other groups are voting as if their lives depend on it, so why are our votes so low compared to our views??? What’s the point of my babes doing well if we mess it up? Fuck.

Hyunwoo4Life @healing · 5 minutes ago

Shouldn’t Chronos fans also move systematically? I’m so upset, damn it. I thought my eyes were going to flip while watching live. We should give them continuous 1sts for always showing legendary performances... Please vote, everyone!

The on-site response was phenomenal, and the performance couldn't have been better. Elevating Park Yoon-Chan to the center paid off really well, and their song choice based on the keyword couldn't have been more on point.

It was a flawless execution on Chronos's part. Yet, despite the stellar performance, they were not awarded first place by the fans.

It wasn't a matter of Chronos having fewer fans than the others. After the success of their performances like

Red Riding Hood Cha-Cha

and “Moon Sea,” which were hits on the official homepage, it became clear that what Chronos's fanbase lacked was not numbers, but organizational power.

On the contrary, High Tension and Street Center boasted fandoms that had developed over a long time, and they had been rallying votes even before the premiere. Hence, even with the appearance of Chronos, these fandoms just gritted their teeth and remained dedicated to voting for their groups.

It was a situation that could only make Chronos fans furious.

In the midst of this, an anonymous video was uploaded on

UTube

, featuring a secretly recorded footage of Suh Hyun-Woo and Park Yoon-Chan practicing behind a building during a performance. The video gained a lot of views but was quickly taken down in response to a barrage of comments condemning the act of filming people secretly

However, thinking that they had ruined a competition that Chronos had worked so hard on, their fans experienced a profound heartbreak. Hence, as soon as the performance video was uploaded to the official website, Chronos swiftly secured the top spot in the voting rankings.

But could the fans of High Tension and Street Center remain passive?

From that point, the fandom conflicts escalated, and the voting rankings fluctuated by the minute. Some fans delved into the members' pasts to fuel their arguments, and anonymous accounts—troll accounts posing as fans to disseminate criticism—started to emerge.

This fandom war mainly involved the fans of the top three teams, but fans of other teams were not completely excluded from the conflict. Fans of Air Senior, True Bye, and Ash Black also joined the battle, turning the

Pick We Up

’s fandom upside down.

Here was a sample of the social media posts mentioned:

ParkYoonChanStopDancingPlease @xxxx_x · 2 minutes ago

Jin-Sung's dancing back in the day looks so country, boo. Seems like he got plastic surgery

(Video from Lee Jin-Sung’s dance team days)

└IfYouLookAtHateAccountsYou’llSeeBloodSweatAndTears @shfwlaksrh · 1 minute ago

Reply to @xxxx_x

Thanks for digging up our kid's video, so damn cute. Have you seen your kids' past videos?

(Picture from Street Center’s dance team days)

Of course, there were many posts telling fans to stop fighting and not to behave thoughtlessly. However, the fandom war continued to intensify.

In the midst of this chaos, I found myself scrolling through the turbulent social media responses.

"Wow, it feels like a lifetime's worth of criticism is being thrown at me."

I knew I had to tell the members to steer clear of this mess. Amidst my contemplation on why I was exposing myself to torrents of abuse, I continued scrolling, paying particular attention to the limited but noteworthy comments about Chronos.

‘I can handle this much cursing.

’

Of course, I had never been cursed out like this before, but having gone through many incidents, my mental strength had grown. Therefore, I wasn’t greatly affected.

As I was checking these tiny bits of reactions...

HopePerennialLosersGetEliminatedSoon @iil · 30 seconds ago

Ah, this guy has a shitty personality and is terrible on stage, and even his past is pathetic.

(Sales figures of Air Senior member Kim Jin-Wook’s solo album)

I halted my scrolling when an account of unknown affiliation brought up the past actions of an Air Senior member. I wasn't pausing to mock his bad album sales; rather, I tilted my head in confusion.

“Chil-Two?”

Chil-Two was the stage name of Kim Jin-Wook during his solo debut. It was a name I had heard once or twice before. After thinking for a while, I finally exclaimed, “Ah, Chil-Two.”

Though he started as a ballad singer under that name, Chil-Two was the past alias of Cold E Chil, a rapper who would eventually find substantial fame.