WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

[ Translation - Aren ]

I'm a Reporter, Please let me get off the Stage

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Chapter 32

“Really pretty……”

“It’s like…… a really fancy prison.”

These were our first impressions.

A rounded, arched roof over pure white concrete walls.

It was almost too white, with not even a speck of dust anywhere.

The winter sunlight reflected off the walls, hurting my eyes.

This just made more questions appear in my mind.

……Did they actually build this building?

Just for this one program?

It was probably better for my peace of mind to think that they just slapped a fresh coat of paint over an already existing building.

It was enough that the program already firmly held my life in its hands.

Putting too much pressure on anyone else would be quite disadvantageous.

Why?

Because once people get pressured too much, desperation kicks in. And desperate people would usually act in crazy ways.

One desperate person was manageable.

But if everyone went crazy from pressure…… We’d end up with a competition to see who panics the hardest.

So that was why it was already enough that I was the only desperate one here.

If the others start flailing about, it would be harder for me to secure first place!

“A prison……”

“The walls by the entrance are way too high. I’ve only ever seen that at embassies and prisons.”

It was Tae Oh who first remarked that this place felt like a prison.

When I asked him to elaborate, he explained further.

Now that I thought about it more, he was right. I heard that these high walls were meant to make one get this oppressive feeling, emphasizing just how isolated this place was from the outside world.

Usually buildings with that kind of exterior…… are either found in, as Tae Oh said, buildings where safety might be a concern, like embassies.

Or places where clear spatial separation was important, like amusement parks.

Of course, comparing it to an amusement park was a more optimistic take.

A more pessimistic take would be…… comparing it to a prison.

The semicircular doors that opened on both sides were made out of steel as well.

That part kind of reminded me of the entrance to luxury mansions.

It felt both exotic and strangely foreign at the same time.

Once we passed through the doors, we found ourselves faced with a dome-shaped building.

It felt like a small arena.

On either side of the dome stood taller, sleek buildings.

They looked to be auxiliary facilities, perhaps for dining, meetings, for staff use, etc.

Since this was supposed to have a dormitory-style set up, they might also serve as our living spaces.

Before long, we spotted someone walking towards us in the distance.

Seemingly a staff member, they bowed politely as they approached.

Were they here to guide us?

“Nice to meet you!”

I couldn’t shake the thought that this person looked like the NPC that first greeted the player in games.

* * *

Thirty minutes later.

My earlier assumption that ‘the main filming location and the dormitories were right next to each other, to efficiently control participants’ movements’ was thoroughly crushed.

The dormitory, strictly speaking, was located outside the main building.

So this wasn’t exactly like a prison at least.

However, the dome-shaped building which I thought looked like an arena (and I guessed to be the filming location) was quite far away from the dormitories.

It was about a 7-8 minute walk, which couldn’t be said to be exactly close.

Moreover, the dormitories hadn’t been newly built or even given a new coat of paint.

It just stood there at the entrance of the mountains, looking quite desolate.

Wasn’t eating and sleeping supposed to be the most important aspects of life though?

I just wanted to survive well……

I almost grumbled out loud, but held my tongue.

Once inside this place, we couldn’t know who might be listening.

That said, the interior didn’t look all that bad.

A four-story building, each room able to accommodate four people.

Considering that I had prepared myself for the ‘worst case scenario: military barracks’ this wasn’t half bad.

As I expected, the habit of always assuming the worst really came in handy sometimes.

That way one wouldn’t get disappointed as easily.

Not that I was really in any position to say that, given that I had spent weeks clinging onto some baseless hope.

“Hyung, let’s quickly go and……”

“……Wait.”

The room Haram and I were assigned to was on the third floor.

Haram seemed like he wanted to say something as we climbed up the stairs.

I quickly stopped him.

Then, I moved my eyes towards my phone a couple of times.

It was supposed to be a signal to check his messages.

“Ah…… got it.”

“Shall we go up?”

What Haram checked was a message I had sent to each member (I avoided the group chat because I knew some of them would just ignore the notifications to that one) while we were walking to the dorm.

To Baek Gyeom’s reply I simply responded with a single sweat-dripping whale emoji.

"We're here.”

“Wow, I’m so excited.”

Gong Haram. This guy wasn’t some rookie who just debuted yesterday, so why did he look so nervous?

However, his overly formal, textbook-like speech actually helped me relax a bit.

I faintly smiled as I grabbed the doorknob and pulled it.

Room 302. This was Gong Haram’s and my room.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy, because Beak Gyeom, who was on top of my list “to be monitored”, wasn’t in the same room as me.

I think he was supposed to be somewhere on the third floor, but…

……

Ah, come to think of it……

Why were members of the same group split into different rooms?

If that’s the case then…

“……Hello!”

“……Hello!!!”

When we entered the room, there was already someone else inside.

“Welcome! You’re the second ones to arrive.”

“Ah, yes, yes. Hello. When did you get here?”

“I just got here as well. This place really is out in the middle of nowhere, huh? Haha.”

The guy had a youthful face and seemed like he had been kept away from life’s storms, that probably weren’t any harsher to him than an early winter breeze.

He reminded me of a cheerful college freshman naturally striking up a conversation with me like that.

I let out an awkward laugh and set down my suitcase.

‘……This is bad.’

Hey, I was pretty sure I had seen this guy somewhere.

What was his name again?

“By the way… you’re WEEKANIZ’ Yuyoung, right? It’s been a while. I think we met once at a music show a while ago. Haha.”

“Ah, yes…… I vaguely remember that too. Haha……”

I forced a smile, trying my best to seem natural.

Then I tried to give Haram a nudge to the side with my elbow.

Hey, why don’t you say something too?!

Huh? But my elbow hit nothing but air.

“Ah, Haram went to the bathroom as soon as the door opened. You didn’t notice?”

“Ah! Right! Yes, I know, I know.”

“Anyway, nice to meet you!”

“You too. Haha.”

Ah…… so this was what they were going for.

This program deliberately mixed members of different groups into the same room.

This unexpected setup was starting to give me a serious headache.

What were those guys trying to accomplish with this?

‘Idol groups are all about cohesion……’

This setup made no sense to me at all.

Cohesion. Unity. Teamwork.

That was one of the unique traits of Korean idol groups that set them apart from other teenage pop groups found abroad.

Long before debuting, they would form tight-knit bonds.

An ‘unshakable’ camaraderie that showed that they shared so many trials and tribulations, each member able to almost tell what the other thought at just a glance.

Fans, touched by this deep friendship, became even more united under them, forming fandoms that felt like they were bound together by a ‘collective destiny’.

This sense of shared purpose and fate was unique to K-pop Idols and their fandoms.

And the stronger the bond within a group, the harder it was for them to be open to outsiders.

The K-pop ecosystem wasn’t any different.

There were quite a few fans who loved their idols so much that they felt hostile toward other idols who weren’t their bias.

Just look at Seo Haedun’s fans. Some of them were outright anti-Yuyoung.

Now imagine fans who were so deeply immersed in their devotion that they felt uncomfortable with the mere existence of other idols.

And yet, this program seemed to ignore all that and forced us into this mixed up stew?

‘……Then again, maybe they didn’t do it out of ignorance.’

If this network idol program had the resources to build, or at least repaint, a building like this, they certainly wouldn’t be clueless about current trends, otherwise they would be criticized as outdated and misreading the room.

However, this attempt felt different.

It certainly wasn’t what one would call tacky.

It was hard to dismiss it as lacking sense. There was something about this……

Perhaps...

Was this space I just entered meant to be a massive sparring arena?

For the first time I started to feel rather nervous.

* * *

Later on, another person joined our room.

It was Yunho from VOV.

Considering that VOV was about as much of a flop as WEEKANIZ, the fact that I actually remembered him was surprising even to me.

The reason for that was simple.

It was from a roundtable interview we both attended.

I remembered that this guy reeked of cigarettes.

I distinctly recall that acrid, stale smell clinging to him when I shook hands with him. I couldn’t catch even a whiff of that scent from the other members though.

Sharing the room with a smoker felt slightly unsettling to me, but what could I do?

After we finished unpacking and resting within the room, lunch boxes were brought in.

A handful of spicy pork stir-fry, a scoop of rice, some green vegetables, stir-fried kimchi, and bean sprouts.

It tasted salty and rather dry. It didn’t look that great either.

So I just ate without even bothering to think about the cameras.

If fans of these idols found out they were served such pitiful lunchboxes, the broadcast would be flooded with negative comments from the very first episode.

I doubted that this part would even make it on the show.

After quickly finishing the meal and waiting around, it was 6 pm already.

Suddenly a notification sound rang out in the room, followed by an announcement.

It seemed to be playing through the central speakers in each room.

― Good evening, idol participants. Filming will begin shortly, so please gather in the lobby of the central building. Seats have been prepared for each group, so please check your group and name before sitting down. Filming will start at 7 pm. Once again……

I wasn’t trying to be nitpicky or something because I was possessing the body of an idol, but…

Don’t managers usually relay this kind of information?

Being directed by a central announcement like this felt more like being a middle schooler at a summer camp than an idol.

Also, using the word “name” while trying to be all polite was kind of odd.

Normally wouldn’t they elevate the tone and say something like ‘full name’...... wasn’t that the standard?

Well, not that it really mattered.

The central lobby was probably that dome shaped building we first came across.

I noticed that there weren’t any cameramen following us as we walked down the sandy path at dusk.

Typically, in these kinds of programs, there would be one cameraman per trainee, wringing out even the last drop of screen time like squeezing out a load of laundry……

It was so quiet that it almost felt eerie.

* * *

“Hello, participants!”

We entered the studio, which wasn’t much different from your typical studio set.

I found my assigned seat with a piece of paper reading WEEKANIZ - Ahn Yuyoung and sat down.

Haram and the other members, whom I hadn’t seen for a bit since we were split into different rooms, were seated next to me.

Why did I feel so relieved about that fact?

……The fact that those runaways had somehow gathered here, obediently sitting side by side as they had been instructed, felt like a small miracle to me.

Idols began taking their seats positioned in a semicircle one by one.

Though everyone had apparently just been waiting in their rooms, the unfamiliar situation and long wait seemed to have taken a toll on them, seeing that most of them looked rather worn out.

……Except for that guy that had been in our room earlier. He still looked annoyingly cheerful.

I quickly moved my gaze over to his chair, checking the name written on the tag. It read ‘Chenstin - Munsu’.

Munsu? For someone that looked so young, his name seemed kind of……

……Wait, why did that name sound so familiar?

Just as I was trying to place it, our eyes met.

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