Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 97:

Chapter 97

Idol Trainee. (4)

The trainees had to practice the theme song and record their individual evaluation videos by the next morning.

Ian felt sorry for focusing too much on vocal training yesterday, so he shared the dance tips he got from Kim Hyun and Kim Joo-young with the other trainees. 

He then took a nap in the trainer’s waiting room.

“Are you okay, hyung?”

“Uh… I couldn’t sleep because we were practicing our choreography until dawn.”

Ian’s voice was low and hoarse. Cheon Shin-hwi handed him a coffee with a sympathetic look.

“Do you keep in touch with the Top Five members?”

“Sometimes.”

Top Five couldn’t break out of the limits of their small agency and eventually disbanded. 

They were lucky enough to get their contracts terminated amicably, which was no different from avoiding a lawsuit. Otherwise, they would have been stuck in their contracts and lived a miserable life.

“The hyungs keep telling me to come to Korea for fun.”

Ian smiled faintly, remembering how close they were when he saw them at the Arimpyc.

“Yeah, come to Korea when you have time. Let’s meet up with our members too.”

Cheon Shin-hwi nodded his head with a smile.

***

While Ian was catching up on his sleep, the trainees finished recording their individual evaluation videos.

The center and front row positions of the theme song were decided by first consulting with the mentors, then voting by all the trainees, and finally adding up their votes.

When Cheon Shin-hwi and Ian arrived at the conference room, Wang Yi-feng, who was already sitting there, greeted Ian warmly.

“You were teaching until late yesterday, aren’t you tired?”

“I’m a bit tired. But I have to work hard to not fall behind the seniors.”

Wang Yi-feng laughed heartily.

“Is this a competition between mentors too?”

Fortunately, Wang Yi-feng spoke English, so he wasn’t bored while waiting. The three of them chatted until the other mentors arrived at the conference room.

When the mentors were ready, Cheon Shin-hwi lifted a cue card at the staff’s signal.

“It’s time to evaluate the theme song. Did you all teach a lot yesterday and today?”

“Let me tell you in advance, there are quite a few trainees who are still terrible even after teaching them.”

Wang Yi-feng, the rap mentor, shook his head vigorously. The mentors laughed.

“Shall we watch the videos first? The first trainee… Ryu Seol-young from Dongbang Records. She got a B grade in the rating evaluation.”

“This kid wasn’t bad.”

Ryu Seol-young’s video played on the large TV screen in front of them.

“Her dance live level is really high, isn’t it?”

“Did Zhao Gaga mentor teach her a lot?”

Zhao Gaga looked at Ian with a puzzled face.

“I didn’t go to that practice room.”

The two vocal mentors and two dance mentors each divided into halves and took charge of six practice rooms. 

Ryu Seol-young, who was on the screen now, was one of the trainees in Ian’s practice room.

At Zhao Gaga’s words, everyone in the conference room looked at Ian.

“She followed me very well…”

Ian smiled awkwardly under the pouring gaze.

“The next trainee… Xiling.”

The mentors shrugged their shoulders and moved on to the next profile.

Until now, they didn’t think much of it.

But as Ian’s trainees’ progress became more noticeable, the mentors’ eyes naturally turned to Ian.

“What did you do?”

“They were all enthusiastic about learning.”

“Don’t be too humble, that’s deception. This is not because the trainees followed well, but because you taught them really well.”

As Wang Yi-feng praised Ian, it was finally Yang Zaling’s turn. Ian looked at the monitor nervously.

She barely followed the dance moves, but her voice had changed dramatically.

“Wow…”

Cheon Shin-hwi and the mentors opened their mouths in astonishment. 

Yang Zaling finished singing the theme song and bowed her head to greet them. 

The video ended.

“Why is she singing so well?”

“This is also practice room 4, right? The one that Ian took care of?”

Ian nodded his head. Zhao Gaga jumped up at her change.

As the mentors looked at Ian with surprised expressions, only Ian stared at the monitor calmly.

-Teacher Choi is so cool…

-How do you teach them to improve their skills so quickly?

-I was unhappy that he only taught singing, but I was convinced when I saw that they improved overall.

-He’s young and inexperienced, so I thought he wouldn’t teach well, but he does.

-Look how happy they are that Yang Zaling succeeded. All the trainees in practice room 4 will vote for her!

-I had some personal troubles, but I felt comforted when I heard him say that nothing is impossible if you try.

-I want to vote for the mentor rather than the trainee.

A week later, the broadcast of Ian teaching the trainees aired and the response was explosive.

After the broadcast of Idol Uni, Ian and Avi’s names kept rising and falling on the real-time search terms of China’s major portal sites.

***

“*You’re doing well, how about trying this? Mix your chest voice and head voice.”

Ian had a reputation for being a good teacher, and the trainees flocked to him. He actively taught them vocal lessons with enthusiasm.

[The skills I learned didn’t go to waste.]

‘That’s right… I didn’t know I had a talent for teaching.’

As time passed, one contestant was eliminated, and the special stage was a joint stage with the mentors.

The trainees who formed teams through a game waited in their practice rooms, and the mentors chose which room to enter.

“*Hello.”

As Ian entered the practice room, the trainees who were waiting cheered and smiled.

“*Wow!”

“*It’s our Choi mentor!”

Ian was the first choice of the mentor they wanted to share the stage with in the trainees’ pre-voting.

[Do you like being cheered by girls?]

‘Well… The problem is that they’re too clingy.’

Some trainees boldly asked him to pat their heads, praise them, or hug them, and he remembered how awkward he felt because of that.

The team that Ian would join for the mentor stage was the one with Zhiwei, a former member of Friday, and Ryu Seolyoung from Dongbang Records.

“*Did you decide how to do the stage?”

“*Yes!”

Ian didn’t have to dance or sing for the joint stage. He only had to act on stage, because the spotlight should go to the trainees, not the mentors.

“*What’s the concept?”

“*A princess from a neighboring country who saves a prince!”

Did I hear the interpreter wrong?

“*What… what?”

Ian asked back, and Ryu Seolyoung answered in Korean.

“A princess who saves a prince.”

‘Wow… a prince…’

[Prince Choi?]

Jin laughed out loud as Ian stiffened his fingers.

‘A prince… it’s cringy…’

The trainees laughed teasingly as if they knew he was embarrassed.

‘I guess this is how Seodam felt…’

When Avi prepared a vampire concept stage for the awards ceremony, Park Seodam, who played a pitiful and innocent sacrifice, complained softly every time they practiced.

Ian sighed softly as he remembered that moment.

***

Ian, who played a similar role to Park Seodam in the mentor special stage, showed off his charm on stage.

After that, another contestant was eliminated, and only the final live broadcast of Idol Uni was left.

The trainees from the fourth practice room that Ian focused on teaching all survived surprisingly, thanks to their loyalty to Yang Jaring, whom they sincerely supported.

(You did well with the choreography.)

“Really? Is it okay?”

Ian called his members from time to time and practiced the choreography in real time.

(We’ll have to match it with you when you come back, but I don’t think there’s anything more to fix.)

“Is everything else okay?”

(Yes. By the way, what did you do there that made headlines here?)

“Headlines?”

He was too tired from teaching the trainees and practicing his group’s choreography that he didn’t check the internet reactions.

Kim Hyun answered Ian’s question.

(The reporters don’t write what they’re told to write, but they’re good at copying and pasting community reactions. If there are articles, it means there are a lot of posts on the community.)

“Really?”

(Our fans like it too that you’re teaching. But they say they want to see you in Korea now. There’s not much left of Idol Uni, right?)

Ian nodded as he checked the date.

“There’s only one live broadcast left. Ah, I want some chicken.”

(We’re already eating it.)

Jo Taeung smirked and held up a chicken leg. It looked like it was from the chicken franchise that Avi advertised.

“Ah! Really!”

At that moment, Ian hung up abruptly.

(Lee Juhyuk1) ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ – 01:42

(Hyunhyun2) Are you crying? – 01:42

(Dancing King Kim Juyoung1) Are you crying? – 01:42

(Johtang3) ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ500 won for crying – 01:42

(Seodami1) Hyung, he’s crying on the phone – 01:42

(Park Jinhyuk1) Park Seodam is the worst – 01:43

The members sent busy chat messages instead of calling again.

(Ian4) I’ll smash everything when I go to Korea – 01:45

***

Finally, only the last live broadcast of Idol Uni remained.

“*The trainees’ stages are over and now only the final vote count is left. How do you feel, our mentors?”

“*I feel a bit sad. And disappointed too.”

“*Actually, I wish it would end soon.”

Starting from Wang Yifeng and Jang Hyukgun, the other mentors expressed their feelings one by one.

Idol Uni was different from Korea, where only the final nine trainees survived.

“*I’m also sad, I wish I could stay longer…”

Ian, holding the microphone, spoke his feelings last. The live audience held their phones and took pictures of Ian.

‘I actually want to go to Korea soon…’

Ian forced a smile. 

As he stood out in the broadcast, of course, the flies got tangled.

[It was no joke. The Korean kids are gentlemen.]

The production team was busy controlling the people who broke into the filming site and increased the bodyguards attached to Ian.

“*We will announce the final ranking!”

Chen Xinwei, who was getting tired of dragging time, sighed with relief and started the progress according to the PD’s instructions.

“*First… the 8th trainee…!”

After the typical time dragging of the survival program, the rankings were announced one by one.

“*Next, 1st…!”

[It must be Zhuxie.]

Jin’s guess was right. Zhuxie, who debuted with ‘Friday’, was already good at skills, and had a lot of fandom attached to him already because of his hardships in Korea and his consideration for the trainees.

“*9th is… Dongbang Records Ryu Seolyoung!”

The big screen on stage showed Ryu Seolyoung, who was crying with joy, and Yang Zaling, who bowed his head. 

The front-ranking trainees who had already confirmed their debut gathered around Ryu Seolyoung and hugged him, and Yang Zaling wiped away tears with the eliminated ones.

[Yang Zaling dropped out.]

‘Based on his skills, his singing improved but his dancing didn’t…’

He felt strange because he was the trainee he cared for and watched the most. 

He felt sorry for her as he saw her crying, and Kim Yongmin’s face overlapped with hers, who had fallen out in the past.

[This is reality.]

‘…I hope her agency does well.’

[But she’ll make a lot of money anyway, right?]

‘I guess so…’

Being in the top 10 of China’s popular survival program would make her more famous than in Korea anyway.

‘It’s finally over…’

Anyway, this was also the last schedule in another country.

As flower petals celebrating their debut fluttered, he faintly heard the cries of the losers.

Ian leaned weakly on his chair.

‘These survival programs should disappear.’