Second Try Idol

Chapter 372: Choose (15)

“Ah~ Allure Senior’s ‘Goblin!’ It’s a real masterpiece. If you can dance to this, Eden, we will admire you as a great dancer!”

Who would have thought that a UTube content hosted by a ballad singer, with a guest who’s also a ballad singer, would have a dance part?

I stepped forward and stood in front of the camera, hesitating briefly. I wondered if it was better to pretend I couldn’t dance. But the moment of doubt was fleeting. The dance skills I learned as a trainee from a young age and the techniques I honed as a trainer couldn’t be hidden even if I tried. Especially not when the song was "Goblin.” How could I resist this?

“Since you’ve already been found out, just dodge the questions of whether you are Suh Hyun-Woo and do everything else you want~”

Reina’s resigned words echoed in my mind. Meanwhile, the song had been playing from the middle, and there was just one line left before the chorus. The familiar beats and rhythm brought back memories of countless practice sessions and performances.

“I can’t resist this part!”

Oh Yoo-Wol had been swaying to the rhythm behind me, and started doing some familiar but sloppy dance moves in anticipation of the chorus.

When the song hit the chorus, I was already moving and dancing to "Goblin.” It was an instinct I couldn’t fight. After all, how many times had I danced to this song from its release to my days as a trainer? I could dance to it in my sleep if I heard it anywhere. I decided to just answer “no” when asked if I was Suh Hyun-Woo, that was all.

“Eden! What is this! Wow, Eden, you’re amazing! You’re so good!”

Oh Yoo-Wol began to cheer enthusiastically, unaware of my conflicted thoughts. His cheers were infectious, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride in my performance. Looking ahead, I saw the production team laughing with satisfaction as if they had struck gold.

“You guys should cut off the song soon!” I said.

Unlike Oh Yoo-Wol, who had awkwardly danced for a short while, they kept the music playing for a long time. It was obvious they had chosen this song on purpose. The song finally switched after I complained.

“Eden, your dancing skills were really unexpected. Now I’m too embarrassed to dance anymore!”

He acted as if he didn’t already know I was Suh Hyun-Woo. Oh Yoo-Wol pretended to pout and went ahead. His playful demeanor was quite infuriating.

The next song was...

“Oh! I really like this song!”

“...”

They were definitely teasing me. The next song was Chronos’ “Phantom Spirit.” I immediately looked at my manager, trying to gauge if this was all part of some elaborate plan.

‘Did you know?’ I asked him with my eyes. He nodded and then stepped outside to take a call.

I had never been so relieved to be wearing a mask. Without it, my bewildered expression would’ve been caught on camera. It felt like there would be ten exclamation marks next to my face in the video.

Oh Yoo-Wol started dancing to “Phantom Spirit,” still as sloppy as ever. The manager had coolly left to take a call without warning me to capture a genuine reaction, the production team giggled and enjoyed the situation, and Oh Yoo-Wol had likely planned most of this because he was the most excited to tease me.

‘Whatever.’

“I like this song too.”

“Really?”

I stepped forward, still frowning—though the mask hid it—and stood next to Oh Yoo-Wol. I danced to the song but refrained from doing my part’s choreography and opted instead for Yoon-Chan’s moves.

“N... no way.”

Oh Yoo-Wol was startled, and stopped dancing. I kept dancing and stared at Oh Yoo-Wol. At this distance, it was surprisingly easy to read each other’s emotions through eye contact. His eyes widened with surprise as he realized I was seriously dancing. Oh Yoo-Wol could likely sense my frustration.

‘What are you doing? Dance.’

Seeing me nod while dancing, Oh Yoo-Wol hesitantly started to mimic my moves, still as sloppy as ever. The contrast in our dancing skills must have been stark on camera with me dancing properly and Oh Yoo-Wol fumbling beside me. The production team burst into laughter. Even my manager, who had returned from the call, gave a resigned thumbs-up.

After a few rounds of random dancing, the game ended. I was slightly out of breath but felt a sense of accomplishment.

“Eden, were you hiding these amazing dance skills? I feel so embarrassed. If I’d known, I would have just swayed to the rhythm! I must’ve looked terrible by comparison!”

“No, not at all.”

“But really, you dance so well. Are you Suh Hyun-Woo?”

“No... Haha...”

As expected from UTube, it was more relaxed and straightforward compared to broadcast TV. Oh Yoo-Wol quickly moved on to the next game after my denial.

“Eden, you look pretty tired.”

“Ah, it’s because I just finished dancing.”

“Do you want to go home?”

“Yes, a little.”

Responding honestly in the relaxed UTube environment with my face covered, my words made the production team and Oh Yoo-Wol laugh again. The atmosphere was light and playful. I accepted a couple of tissues to wipe my sweat, even pretending to dab my mask as a joke, eliciting more laughter.

“For the next game, Eden... Do you like shooting games?”

“I play them sometimes on my computer. But not much recently.”

“Ah, right. You must be very busy these days. Your manager mentioned you like shooting games, so we prepared this! Ta-da!”

Oh Yoo-Wol waved his hands enthusiastically. His excitement was palpable. He pointed to an arcade-style shooting game machine, the kind where you hold a gun-shaped controller and shoot at on-screen enemies. The setup was impressive with vibrant graphics and realistic sound effects.

“Have you played this kind of game before?” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Yeah, I have a lot in my middle and high school years.”

“Oh, then I will skip the game explanation. I’m quite good at this, by the way. You will compete with me in this. This is for the winner, ta-da! Over there!”

Oh Yoo-Wol pointed dramatically behind the camera with a playful glint in his eyes. From behind the camera, the staff brought out a dreamy red glow with their hands carefully cradling the prize.

“...Wow...” Applause and exclamations flowed out naturally and filled the room with excitement and anticipation.

“Haha, you seem the happiest since you arrived here today, Eden. That’s right. Because a top star is here, we put some thought into the prize. Ten kilograms of premium Korean beef ribeye!”

Even while working as a Chronos member, I had never seen ribeye with such color on set. The marbling was perfect, and it practically glistened under the studio lights. If I won this, the members would be really happy. Jin-Sung had been musing about meat recently, so he would be very pleased if I brought this. I could already picture his joyful reaction.

My gaze couldn’t leave the meat. As I stared at it for a long time, Oh Yoo-Wol awkwardly patted my shoulder and brought me back to the present. “Eden, you must really like meat.”

“Yes, I love grilled meat,” I replied, almost too eagerly.

Especially Jin-Sung, he absolutely adored it. His voice echoed in my mind, constantly mentioning how much he missed a good steak.

“Great. But I won’t lose on purpose or anything. Win the beef fair and square!”

“Yes!” I nodded with determination.

“Such a spirited answer! I see how much you love meat. Shall we start?”

Oh Yoo-Wol and I stood side by side in front of the arcade machine. He took the green gun, and I took the pink gun and inserted the coin into the slot. My heart raced with excitement.

Ready?

Go!

As the game started, zombies began to emerge from the dark abandoned warehouse on the screen and approached us with menacing gaits. The graphics were eerily realistic.

Oh Yoo-Wol and I aimed our guns at them and pulled the triggers. Our fingers moved in unison.

Bang! Bang bang! Bang!

As the gunfire rang out rapidly, we stepped on the recharging pads to avoid running out of bullets and focused on the zombies in front of us. The sounds of the game were loud and created an intense atmosphere.

“Eden, you’re good at games too. What are you not good at?” Oh Yoo-Wol asked, glancing at me in amazement.

‘Hiding my identity.’

“I’m not good at so many things!” I answered roughly, quickly eliminating the zombies.

Points went up on each of our screens as we killed zombies. I had 4,030 points, and Oh Yoo-Wol had 3,400 points. I could feel the competition heating up. Oh Yoo-Wol claimed to be quite good, but I usually didn’t lose in games either. His reputation was well known, but I was determined not to let it intimidate me.

“Why are you so good?” he exclaimed, frustration creeping into his voice.

“Yoo-Wol, if you click the button next to the gun, you can change the gun type,” I offered, hoping to even the playing field a bit.

“Oh, really?”

‘You’ve never played a shooting game before, huh.’

I easily won against Oh Yoo-Wol and secured the beef. The taste of victory was sweet, and the thought of sharing the prize with my members made it even better.

“Congratulations, Eden. You’re good at games. What will you do with the prize you won?” Oh Yoo-Wol asked after handing over the prize with a smile.

“I plan to share it with my family. I didn’t expect to win Korean beef here. Thank you very much.”

We continued playing many games after that. Oh Yoo-Wol couldn’t continue with Just Dance after a random dance because he got exhausted. It was hilarious watching him try to keep up.

“Now, only the last game remains. Well, it’s more of answering questions that fans might be curious about rather than a game. It’s a balance game! Let’s start right away!”

With Oh Yoo-Wol's shout, the ticking sound of the timer came from the speakers and added a sense of urgency.

“Korean food versus Japanese food!”

“Korean food,” I responded without hesitation.

I didn’t enjoy eating seafood, so I couldn’t eat much of Japanese cuisine which had a lot of seafood dishes. It was a straightforward choice for me.

“If you can’t do one thing for three days? Sleep versus Food.”

“Food,” I answered, thinking of how much I value my rest.

“Oh, that’s quite unexpected from someone who was so happy to see Korean beef earlier. Third! If you could have one ability, which would it be? The ability to go to the future versus the ability to go back to the past!”

“The ability to go back to the past.”

“Please briefly explain your reason!”

It was because I had been very happy when I went back to the past, but I couldn’t say that. “If you could go back to the past, wouldn’t you be able to correct your wrong choices? Like if you unintentionally hurt someone.”

But if I had to give the reason too, the ticking sound effect seemed unnecessary.

“Lastly, am I Suh Hyun-Woo! versus No, I am not!”

“...Oh, really. No, I’m not.”

Oh Yoo-Wol tried to reveal my identity until the end. With my weary answer, the last game ended, and he gave me a box of peach drinks on top of the Korean beef as a gift.

He was really persistent and annoying. However, that wasn’t the end. On my way back to the dorm with my arms full of gifts, I found out from Tae-Seong in the car that some of the questions from the last balance game had been taken from the early Chronos profile questionnaire.

Oh Yoo-Wol was truly amazing (in a bad way.) His attention to detail and persistence were something else. I couldn’t help but be impressed, even if it was a little annoying.