Chapter 199
The bomb Liu Wei dropped during the live broadcast sent shockwaves not just through the venue but across social media and online communities as well.
[Wait, what’s Liu Wei doing? Suddenly deciding on his own to leave or whatever? I thought it was health reasons ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Like, the fact that a guy who’s supposedly in poor health still got on stage for the final performance proves that was obviously a lie too ;]
[└ Do you still not get it? He said he decided to marry his fiancée]
[└ I just had an epiphany. So THAT’s what he meant]
[└ Holy crap, a wedding announcement on a live stage… isn’t that something you only see in dramas? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[└ Honestly, even modern dramas would get roasted and canceled by episode 3 if they pulled this. Tsk tsk]
[I fell in love with a Chinese man… @alwaysliuuway
(photo) (photo)
Liu-Liu’s Targeting Star journey ends here, but I’ll keep waiting until Liu-Liu returns
I look forward to seeing you again in good health, Liu Wei… ]
[└ Excuse me, I’m genuinely curious. Do you know that “Liu-Liu” is the pet name Liu Wei’s fiancée uses, and you’re still going with it? Or do you think you might become the fiancée yourself…? ]
[└ The above reply hit that fan so hard in the bones they got an injury requiring 8-week rest. Someone call an ambulance]
How is it that people are paying more attention to the person who’s leaving than to the trainees who have to perform next right away?
“Seriously, that damn Chinese bastard… After this stunt, what happens to the broadcast ratings? At least finish the damn stage before you leave! That f—. Where’s the staff Director Shin assigned to him? Director Shin, that son of a—”
“Shh, shh! PD, people can hear you!”
Just as PD Joo Cheol Yeong, the devil of ratings, was about to collapse clutching the back of his neck…
Fortunately, the explosive response to the next stage saved him.
“—Thank you! That was the trainees’ second group stage: ‘Loop & Repeat’!”
WAAAAAHH!
That was the song Jeong Yeon Woo had gifted to the trainees.
– On a night like tonight
I just want to ask you
Are you sleeping well, or what are you thinking about?
Please sing for me
No choreography. Nothing intense.
A gentle backing track, trainees standing in place singing into standing microphones. How could “Loop & Repeat” possibly generate a response?
It was thanks to what was shown on the electronic display board behind them: footage of everyday life in the trainees’ shared dorm.
– Everyday, Every time
Whether it rains or snow
I had so much fun just being with you
The scenes of the boys the same age, laughing under their blankets. Screaming in genuine anguish during card games.
Racking their brains, the surfaces of their foreheads scrunched in concentration, trying to memorize all the choreography in a limited timeframe. Someone of them were even crying.
And watching footage of their own fans on broadcast, gazing at the screen endlessly.
– All the time we’ve had so dar
Isn’t enough for me
Loop, Repeat, Again & Again
From the very beginning
I want to get to know you one more time
Those moments, combined with a visual style that felt like peeking into an old camcorder’s memory—
– Loop, Repeat, Again & Again
I want to ask even what I already know
How was it?
Were we good enough?
Together with lyrics tinged with uncertainty, it utterly tore into the fans’ hearts.
[Can they PLEASE release this as a digital single? You could release it as an original alongside “Aiming”… I can’t believe the lyrics say “I’d turn back time to meet you again.” That IS the TaSta trainees’ entire story isn’t it]
[└ Honestly, concept-wise “Aiming” fits TaSta better ;; What, they’re going to make a song written by another group’s leader their original song? ㅋㅋㅋ]
[When did I ever say “Aiming” was bad? The reading comprehension of kids these days is so abysmal it’s driving me insane]
[└ Reporting this ]
That “Loop & Repeat” performance drew people’s attention back to the trainees, and away from Liu Wei.
Thanks to that, Kim Chunyong didn’t need to escape the stage to go plant his fist in Liu Wei’s face.
‘When Yeon Woo said they’d need more time for voting, I was half-skeptical… but this is the real deal.’
Whether to admire his foresight or to be frightened by how he’d predicted even this scenario.
Kim Chunyong marveled at Jeong Yeon Woo’s judgment, but didn’t forget to spread eight fingers toward the camera and wave them.
Voting number 8, Kim Chunyong.
Please vote so I can debut.
Once Kim Chunyong made that move first, the other trainees followed suit in a chain, promoting themselves with charming and cute expressions.
For the first time, it truly felt like a proper live broadcast of an idol survival show.
‘My, trainee Kim Chunyong. A choice as good as Mr. Jeong Yeon Woo’s song. Now then…’
With the trainees’ mood and the venue’s response both stabilized, Lee Hyeon Jeong nodded and used her sketchboard to signal Choi Gaon for a swift transition.
There was something important that needed to happen while the momentum held.
“Now, everyone! Having just witnessed the trainees’ second stage, it’s time for one of the biggest highlights of any survival show with ‘debut’ as its goal!”
Choi Gaon took a deep breath, then announced in a booming voice:
“It’s time to reveal the debut group name!”
“…Haha.”
At the moment that had finally, inevitably arrived, Kim Chunyong let out a quiet, bittersweet laugh.
An idol group’s name.
What does that even mean?
If it’s tacky, you get mocked. If it’s too long, people complain it’s hard to say. If the meaning is too grandiose, you get sneered at with a “Who do you think you are?”
Finding the best name amid those reactions was no easy task.
‘Our team name… was on the mocked side of things.’
By now, Kim Chunyong habitually said “our Arrows,” but when he first encountered the group name, he’d been genuinely bewildered.
How on earth did the group name end up being Arrows?
The truth behind it, which he learned later, involved fans of other groups infiltrating the group name vote.
[So they’re crowdsourcing and voting on the trainees’ group name? How many times can each person vote?]
[└ Looks like you can just vote unlimited times from what I can tell?]
[└ Oh f**k, let’s go vote for the funniest one right now, we gotta go]
[Flight / Barrel / Arrows ← vote for one of these, honestly the last one’s the funniest]
[└ An idol group name… Arrows!?]
[└ But looking at the polls now it might actually happen…?]
Just for laughs, or to humiliate those fans and make them hate the name.
That was how Arrows got its group name.
In Kim Chunyong’s estimation, barring any major upsets, the group name would be Arrows again this time.
[1. Arrows (830,405 votes)
- TFY (437,983 votes)
- Ifou (794,282 votes)
- Conneta (273,803 votes)]
In the voting window he’d last checked, Arrows had been comfortably in the lead.
“The group name was chosen by our fans through open submissions and dedicated voting! We’ll reveal it on screen right now!”
‘As long as I’m not embarrassed by it, it’s fine. My own name gets remarks like “an idol trainew named Kim Chunyong?” What else is new? And it’s not even certain I’ll actually debut.’
Kim Chunyong clenched his fist tight and nodded firmly at Choi Gaon’s words.
Swoooosh—
As if to match those expectations, a pictogram of someone shooting an arrow appeared on screen, accompanied by sound effects.
It was definitely the same pictogram Kim Chunyong had seen before receiving the name “Arrows.”
And around it, countless letters swirled chaotically.
Other name candidates: Barrel, Flight.
And beyond those: Tango-Down, Conneta.
Those letters collided and merged, slowly getting drawn into the arrow in a swirling visual effect, and then…
“…The group name for the trainees debuting through Targeting Star is!”
The screen went dark, and Choi Gaon slowly opened his mouth.
“ToZ, Zenon!”
“…Huh?”
And naturally, the jaw of Kim Chunyong, who had been fully prepared to receive the name Arrows once again, dropped wide open.
Discussion
2 CommentsBeees
Beees
Anyways, this chapter reminded me of those time travel naruto fics where the team assignments change as an unintentional result of the time travelers' actions.