The team, led by Ryu Chung-woo, practiced in a brutal atmosphere because of the endless conflicts between team members.

Interviews and BGM that were inserted in between created an uncomfortable atmosphere. The practice did not stop because all the members were ambitious, but that didn't work out well.

And instead of showing the parties of this conflict, the production team decided to push all the character growth narratives to Cha Yu-jin, who was alienated from the conflict. Park Moon-dae also appeared there in the role of an advisor who helped the main character grow.

Several scenes of Park Moon-dae conversing with Cha Yu-jin at different places and giving him snacks quickly passed by with few cuts.

Like a mother giving rice cakes to a tiger cub, I only provided snacks to quickly end the situation, but thanks to Cha Yoo-jin's interview where he said, 'Moon-dae hyung helped me,' the scenes came out very good.

Park Moon-dae's fans were also bewildered because it was a scene they haven't witnessed from him much. Although the performance of the second team match was succesful because the two were in the same team, they didn't seem to have a personal relationship with each other.

Besides, why didn't he go to Ryu Chung-woo, the proven leader of his team, and went to take refuge from our Park Moon-dae instead?

But the doubts quickly died down, because cute extra scenes of Park Moon-dae were always welcome.

On the screen, Cha Yu-jin succesfully finished the performance by showing the passionate focus he has on the performance instead of his innocent image.

He might be criticized for having all the attention to himself, but the positive impression he made was more indisputable than that. The show made a narrative that showed his inner growth and desperation.

Park Moon-dae felt cold as he watched Cha Yu-jin getting the kind of attention he had wanted. Although his fans just enjoyed seeing more of Park Moon-dae's cute side and his good and reliable personality.

Even the general audience reacted well to this.

The cuts with Park Moon-dae only appeared as a small part while Cha Yu-jin got a good amount of screentime, so all the aggros were directed at Cha Yu-jin. Which is why only a good image remained for Park Moon-dae.

For this reason, the day after episode 10 aired, Park Moon-dae felt subtly complicated as he was browsing the internet.

'It's good that I could make up for the first impression I gave. But... as expected I couldn't show how desperate I was.'

I needed to show that image that Cha Yu-jin was able to show.

However, there was only the final stage left, and the production team didn't have any reason to show that kind of narrative about Park Moon-dae in the finals.

Until now, they have only shown sides of me that would make the show entertaining.

'Should I give up?'

Park Moon-dae, biting his tongue, summarized the upcoming filming schedule in his head.

All of a sudden, I remembered an event that was going to happen during the shoot.

'Wait a minute, even with that... would it be possible?'

Of course the final broadcast depended entirely on the editing crew. However, it was worth the effort to try to make a cut that could be used as content.

Park Moon-dae made up his mind.

'There's no harm in trying.'

I didn't notice that Seon A-hyun was about to suggest that we eat braised chicken, but when he saw me immersed in my thoughts, he quietly put his phone back down.

* * *

"Wow, it's getting a little hot now."

Big Sejin muttered as we entered the filming set.It was already the end of April. The first filming started in winter, but time passed in a flash.

'I'm totally used to this.'

I bitterly thought and changed into my uniform. Moving around in Park Moon-dae's body doesn't feel unfamiliar to me anymore.

At that time, Big Se-jin glanced over and talked to me.

"Oh, it seems like you've grown?"

"What?"

"You must be working out hard. You've bulked up a bit."

His words also made me notice it.

In the past few months, I have grown quite tall and gained some muscles, so right now there was little difference between my current body and original body.

"I've heard that people can grow taller even after turning 21 years old, but I've never seen it before."

"It's a first for me too."

"Aigoo~ is that so."

I shrugged and ignored him.

'Am I about 177cm tall?'

I sat in the waiting seat on the set, recalling the height I measured a few days ago. It was rather awkward that there was no unfamiliar faces around now.

"Hi, Moon-dae~"

"Hello, hyung!"

'Even if I return to my original body now, I would need some time to adjust.'

This was amazing.

I roughly greeted them back and took out my smartphone. I had to return it soon, so I was going to turn it off in advance.

However, a new notification popped up on the smartphone. It was from an anonymous SNS account made for public opinion search.

When I indifferently tapped to open the notification, a newly written public article appeared.

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This wasn't unusual.

As the program's popularity keeps rising, uninvolved celebrities were also mentioning the contestants.

As I moved to the link, a photo of the trot singer's face with a big smile and a finger heart appeared on SNS.

In the background, I could see a TV screen where 'Park Moon-dae' was singing the trot song.

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"......"

Well... it's good that the original singer was satisfied. The fans seem to be having fun, too.

With that in mind, I went to the next page. Another post by the trot singer flashed across the screen. This time with a bigger picture.

'Wait a moment.'

That's a picture I took.

When I checked again, it was indeed the photo I took a few years ago at an event.

It didn't sell well, so I released the picture on a fan site because I felt bad. The natural lighting was good on that day, and the quality of the picture was also good, so I just wanted to post it on social media.

But I felt kind of uncomfortable. As I turned off my phone, I realized the reason for this uneasiness.

'Am I not here right now?'

Obviously, I had tried to track the whereabouts of my original body as soon as I entered Park Moon-dae's body. However, I couldn't find any personal information at all.

But why is the picture I took still there?

'This is strange.'

I immediately went into WeTube and searched for the most famous fancam I took.

This is a fancam where Young-rin, the judge of this show, passionately completes a performance in heavy rain, when se was still unknown. This set the stage for Young-rin's rise to popularity.

Right then, I saw a familiar thumbnail at the top of WeTube search.

'There it is.'

There was a video.

Of course it wasn't posted on my original account. The account that I used to post data that wasn't sold was deleted by me when I started to prepare for public exams. So from this point... this was around last year.

Still, the uploader's comment was pinned on the top of the video's comment section.

I am almost certain.

The original me doesn't exist, but the data I took is still there.

This was kind of terrifying. Even more so since I would die if I can't become an idol in a set period of time.

'Did the karma from selling datas come back at me?'

I was half-jokingly thinking, although it doesn't seem like a joke now.

'What the hell are you?'

I asked as I turned on the status window, but there was no answer. I feel stupid. What's the purpose of this shitty thing?

"Hey, what are you up to?"

"Wait. I'm thinking."

First, I quickly got it out of my mind. I found contradictions in this mess, but right now the filming is just around the corner.

'So when I'm done with this, I'll go find out more about it.'

I immediately stopped thinking about it and returned my smartphone.

If I'm distracted by something else, I will only become prey to controversies over my attitude. I had to clear my head.

Fortunately, no effort was required for this as the MC made me forget about the situation as soon as the filming started.

", welcome to the long-awaited 3rd ranking announcement ceremony~"

Participants knew to clap their hands after several months of filming and the MC went straight to the point.

"But before you can know your ranking, there is one thing! There's something I need to find out first and it's your sincerity."

They got the content out right away.

I guessed that the MC's next words would be 'I'll see how serious you are about this audition by doing '.

That's right. This series traditionally puts another stimulating content at this point of the show. It's called 'Casting call'.

In short, it was an event where Tnet and reputable agencies came to cast the participants. However, if you chose an agency, you had to drop out of the program. Which is why participants who have done a great job during the show rarely chose an agency.

The participants are not stupid. There is no reason to go to an ambiguous agency when they could debut on this show with guaranteed popularity.

In the end, there is no escape for someone who deserves to debut here, so this is just an event that adds tension to the program.

'But I could take advantage of that tension.'

So, I will try to appeal to this program as much as possible by showing how serious 'Park Moon-dae' is about this show and induce conversation about it.

...of course, there is a higher chance of being cut in the editing.

"....hmph"

I heard the sound of swallowing next to me. Perhaps most of them already guessed that it would be 'Casting call' based on the timing of the show and MC's words.

In addition, if you were ranked middle or lower at the last ranking announcement ceremony, this moment could be conflicting. Since there's a low probability to debut in this show, they would want to grab on another rope.

The leaving participant would say something like 'I want to start a new challenge, since the agency that casted me is the one I've been wanting to join for a long time. In the future, I will show you a better grown side of me'.

'In fact, there have been a steady amount of participants leaving in lower ranks.'

I think about five people left to another agency last season. Considering that the broadcast ended early immediately afterwards, it was a very wise choice. Only for the ones about to debut, things went down the drain.

The MC paused and opened his mouth before the participants ran out of breath.

"That's right~"

The big screen in front of me lit up.

'Will a list of agencies appear?'

Around the time when the sounds of gossiping mentioning the 'casting call' could be heard, the MC continued to speak with his arms wide open.

"It is a psychological test!"

"Through the personality type test, we will match the K-pop concept that fits you."

'Woah....' the participants who relaxed expressed out loud.

I cooled down.

'Is this just the variety show section of the program?'

Or maybe the next team match is decided based on the data of the test.

Regardless, one thing is for sure... and it's that we were tricked.

'Damn it.'

The participants followed the staff's lead and moved to small rooms with ten people in each of them.

It was good that we didn't have to wait because of the order of the names, but the aftertaste was bad because of this reality.

'I drank kimchi soup for no reason.'

//TN: an idiom that means that he counted chickens before they even hatched

The room I entered was a renovated one-person practice booth, with a camera installed in the middle of a small desk meant for two people. It was a typical angle for a single cut.

With a sigh, I went to the other side and sat down at the desk. A question-and-answer screen window was displayed on the tablet that was set in advance.

The popular SNS design which is popular these days lowered the credibility.

'It looks like a form that's floating around on the internet.'

Guessing that maybe it was created in a hurry, they chose to make a multiple choice question.

//TN: It's so confusing how the narratives keeps changing from first person to third person.