飘零影视

Chapter 367: Choose (10)

This was the first time I realized that Reina could look so intimidating. She watched me with a troubled expression, and when the camera panned away briefly, she mouthed the words, ‘Stop with the dialect. You will get in trouble.’

I should have stopped sooner. I felt just as bitter as Reina\'s expression. Watching people laugh every time I opened my mouth made me realize that I was butchering the dialect. Despite that, I kept going, thinking I could just hide my usual speech. However, that seemed to backfire.

Should I blame Goh Yoo-Joon or my own poor acting skills? No, they were probably both at fault.

Just then, one of the panelists said, "Hyun-Woo, stop it already! Please, I can\'t bear to watch this anymore!"

And everyone burst out laughing. Ah, what now? I figured I had been found out, but I didn\'t expect them to call me out by name so openly. Even though my attempts at speaking in dialect were terrible, I had managed to eliminate any trace of Suh Hyun-Woo, but calling my name so bluntly was...

As I stood there, frozen and speechless, Seo Han redirected the question to Reina. "Reina, this is the perfect timing. Everyone\'s been curious but too afraid to ask. Allow me. Is Eden really Suh Hyun-Woo?"

Reina managed to maintain her smile and raised the microphone to her lips.

Seo Han was encouraged by her willingness to answer, and excitedly repeated the question. "Is Eden actually Suh Hyun-Woo?"

Reina looked at me once more, then turned to Seo Han while curling her lips into a smile. "No."

At the sound of Reina\'s composed voice, I realized what I needed to do from now on. Her answer was a signal. I lowered my hand that had been hanging in midair. It wasn’t about a clumsy dialect. I would later deal with this through self-reflection and have a conversation with Goh Yoo-Joon. From now on, I had to be just as shameless as Reina.

"Really, no?"

"No, I’m serious. Why is everyone so convinced? Please stop pestering our Eden."

"Oh, come on. Who\'s pestering? Are we pestering you, Eden?"

"He is new and gets flustered when you push him too hard!"

When Seo Han got nothing out of Reina, he turned back to me. "Eden, what’s your real identity? Who are you?"

Reina\'s gaze turned fierce again, but now I understood what it meant. I abandoned the dialect and replied in my usual polite tone. "I don\'t know."

Seo Han got surprised, then asked again. "You don\'t know?"

"No."

"Haha! Eden, no more dialect?"

"Really? You’re not using the dialect anymore?"

I answered the panelists\' questions in an aggrieved voice. "No one believes me even if I use dialect..."

"Alright, Eden sounds quite bitter. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Doesn’t matter if it’s awkward. We are very curious."

"Well, I am not Hyun-Woo, despite what you all think."

No one would believe it, but even if everyone knew my identity, the concept was to act like they didn’t. Seeing Reina\'s expression relax, I nodded and followed her lead.

"Oh, please believe him. Our Eden worked so hard for a great performance, but you keep asking about his identity!"

Reina’s playful complaint made Seo Han laugh and nod. "That’s true. We’re sorry. Our curiosity got the best of us. Let\'s talk more about Eden\'s performance. It was a strong contender for the win in the last episode. Today’s arrangement had a great rhythm unlike last time, right?"

He finally asked me a proper question. I stopped glancing at Reina and raised the mic again.

"Yes, I sang a calm and emotional song last time. This time, I wanted to capture the upbeat rhythm of the original dance track."

"An upbeat song? Was it quite a challenge?"

"Yes, I usually..." I mimicked a dance move. "I usually don’t sing rhythmic songs, so I was worried about my performance until the very last minute."

"Oh, really? Never done rhythmic songs before, Eden?"

"No."

"...Really? Never?" Seo Han’s suspicious gaze lingered. It felt like he took it upon himself to unveil my identity.

Suddenly, Reina jumped up and spread her arms. "Ah! That’s enough! Stop!!!"

"Haha, alright, I’ll stop. Let\'s move on to Yoo-Wol."

"Yep."

As everyone laughed about my identity and dialect, Yoo-Wol was smiling nervously. He hurriedly grabbed the mic.

"You competed against Eden a few weeks ago and got first place."

"Yes, that\'s correct."

"There were multiple articles saying that a strong competitor has appeared. How did you find Eden\'s performance this time?"

"Well...." Oh Yoo-Wol hesitated. "Honestly, I’m worried. He is so good, I’m not confident I can keep winning."

"Not confident?"

"Not really. I knew Eden was great at emotional and lyrical songs, but this song is completely different from his image. I never expected him to pull it off so well."

"It sounds like you were very impressed by Eden\'s performance."

"Yes, it was enjoyable to listen to. Even though I’m his competitor, I found myself wanting to hear more of his singing. His voice, even when he casually throws out a note, is really good."

"Thank you," I said with a bow. Oh Yoo-Wol gave me a thumbs-up.

"Such a heartwarming moment. Anyway, Eden. You did great. Everyone, please give Eden a big round of applause."

"Thank you!"

As I descended the stage, the audience\'s applause rang in my ears.

Reina met me with a frosty expression. "Eden."

"Yes, I’m sorry."

"You said not to worry. Follow me to the waiting room."

It had been a long time since I felt this way. Following Reina without looking back, I felt the same cold atmosphere as when Supervisor Kim summoned me during my trainee days.

Slam.

As soon as the waiting room door closed, Reina pulled off my mask. "If you’re going to use a dialect, do it properly. Do you even realize how terrible your acting is? Or did you know and still did it? Eden, for someone from Seoul, speaking in dialect is a form of acting."

"I’m sorry."

"Look. You performed great on stage, but the whole talk time was wasted on your dialect. If you had spoken properly, you could have received comments from other senior singers as well. I wanted you to get more praise for your perfect performance."

Only after becoming a laughingstock did I regret my choice. When the show airs, my dialect attempt would probably get more attention than my performance. I messed up.

Reina sighed. "You seem to realize your mistake, so that’s enough. Next time, get my approval first if you have an idea. And..." Reina grabbed my shoulders and looked at me with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yes?"

"When everyone was laughing at you earlier, I was worried. Don’t you have a phobia of that?"

Ah, because we worked together on Again After Rainfall, Reina had to be somewhat aware of my issues.

I nodded and took the mask from her hand. "Thank you for worrying. I was a bit anxious, but I’m okay."

What worried me more was my mistake.

"I have a lot of friends like you around me, so I was worried," Reina said. "Alright, then. Now, head back to the panel. I’m not mad, so don’t worry."

She patted my arm gently and left the waiting room. I quickly wiped the sweat off my face and returned to the panel. The next performance was by the mysterious singer, Isaac.

The stylist was still fuming, and she muttered under her breath as we walked, "Let’s see what this high-and-mighty guy is all about."

***

Both the staff and cast were curious about Isaac, the mysterious singer who hadn’t greeted any of the seniors before the shoot. I didn’t have much time to be curious because I was busy reflecting on my own actions. The panel was abuzz with chatter until Isaac’s stage was ready.

A few moments later, Seo Han appeared in front of the panel and signaled the resumption of filming. "Everyone, our representative mysterious singer, Eden!" Seo Han gestured toward me. "But today, there’s another mysterious singer preparing to take the stage. He is as mysterious as Eden for sure! While we got ready, the panelists were discussing the next singer..."

Seo Han trailed off by looking around the panel. A panelist in the back raised their hand. "We were just talking about how mysterious this singer is. None of us know what they look like."

"Really? No one knows anything about this singer?"

"Only I know!" Hye-Yeon laughed. She was Isaac\'s direct senior and was sitting near the front.

"Oh, truly a mysterious singer. As expected, this singer was chosen by Hye-Yeon. Hye-Yeon, would you do the honors of introducing them?"

"Sure! Let me introduce you to my pick, Isaac! Please enjoy his stage performance."

With Hye-Yeon’s dramatic introduction, all the lights focused on the stage. The grand background music started, and Isaac’s introduction video played. When his face appeared, I froze.

"...What."

‘What am I seeing?’

"Oh, we finally see Isaac’s face! He is handsome, so why didn’t he show it before?"

"His hair color is so unique! I’ve heard of half-and-half dye jobs, but this is my first time seeing one."

‘Why is that asshole here?’

I felt a fear greater than when I became a laughingstock with my dialect. The whole day had been a prelude to the moment I would meet him again.

My hands were hidden in my gloves, but they started trembling. My already shaky mood crumbled. I wanted to rip off my mask and confirm that it was indeed that bastard’s face.

As the introduction video ended and Isaac appeared on stage, he looked directly at me and smiled broadly.

‘You’re a singer now? Seriously? This is bullshit.’ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

With pastel blue and pink hair, I remembered that face clearly. It was the creator god.

The intro started. Ignoring it, he raised the mic to his chest and mouthed at me, ‘Synchronization starts soon.’