TDOCD Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Selection of Parts 

I hurried to the production team, sighing as they fitted me with a microphone.

"Once you have your mic on, put your belongings in the second-floor room with your name tag, then head straight to the first-floor conference room," the staff member instructed.

"Lunch time will be announced over the lobby speakers. E and F teams only have access to the second floor, so don't go up to the third."

"Understood."

"The production team is on the third floor - only come up for emergencies or if you need to discuss something with us. As soon as all members arrive, start working on the assignment Ms. Yuha gave you."

"Got it."

The staff thoroughly explained the rules we needed to follow, camera positions, and even blind spots before disappearing.

​Following her instructions, I quickly dropped off my luggage in the assigned room and headed straight for the conference room.

***

And then...

"...Does anyone want to do this part?"

Danger flags rang in my mind.

In response to Han Damin's question (our temporary leader), the members just pressed their lips together tightly, eyeing each other cautiously.

‘Ah... so it's finally come to this.’

The inevitable has arrived.

The unavoidable battle of side-eyes that occurs when you gather individual trainees together.

During our last meeting, Yu-hwa had said cheerfully before leaving:

"Official practice starts tomorrow. Discuss among yourselves if anyone has specific parts they want - we'll prioritize volunteers, though wanting a part doesn't guarantee you'll get it, haha! Oh, and think about a group name too."

And now that we were alone again, the brief moment when F team's atmosphere had started to lighten was once again shrouded in awkward silence.

Well, I understand.

If this were a debut trainee team, they would already know each other's skills and have implicit position assignments before coming here.

That would typically help avoid part competition between team members.

But we just met here and became a team.

We don't really know each other's abilities - we only know what we ourselves are good at.

In a competition like this, it would be strange if there weren't battles over parts.

To be honest, this team is only for the competition and it will soon disband when the show ends.

The chances to debut in these exact members?

Is very unlikely. Unless we win of course.

After the competition, some of us will either go back as ordinary people with slight popularity. Some will recognize us, some will not or agencies will try contact us and we will debut on different groups.

So, it's inevitable that the atmosphere gets tense over part assignments. Looking back, this too will probably be just another step in becoming a real team.

But even so, everyone sitting here with faces full of hidden ambition, lips tightly sealed...

We can't make any progress this way.

While this situation could provide some entertainment value or become a talking point, if it drags on so long that we can't even have a proper meeting, it won't get good reactions.

It's already hard enough for viewers to earnestly support a group that will disband after the show.

"Girls? Say something."

Damin tried once more, but again, no response.

She nodded as if she'd expected this and closed her mouth again.

She seemed to be thinking about how to handle this situation too.

"Hmm..."

Maybe I should try something.

After quietly wetting my dry lips, I opened the status window for Seo Raeun, who was sitting across from me.

· ✦•·····················•✦•·····················•✦·  ​

 Seo Ra-eun (Age 21)

- Unaffiliated

- Vocal: B-

- Dance: C+

- Appearance: A

- Potential: C

- Trait: Indomitable Hard Worker

Overall Assessment: She has overcome lacking talent through hard work.

A persevering trainee who doesn't give up despite unreasonable trials.

​While she has good empathy and is nurturing, able to embrace others, she is extremely timid with low self-esteem, making her unsuitable for a leader position.

Warning! She is suffering from performance pressure. If pressure exceeds a certain threshold, trauma will occur.

· ✦•·····················•✦•·····················•✦·  

Oh, while her other stats are decent, her appearance stat is an impressive A.

During self-introductions, she did receive a lot of comments about being pretty.

Since she's labeled as a hard worker, if stat increases through practice are possible, we might expect steady growth during the competition.

But what's with that warning message?

Performance pressure? Does it mean trauma will occur if she doesn't do well in this competition?

Though the cryptic message made me curious, now wasn't the time to dig into it.

In any case, her skills are decent but not something she can confidently showcase, while her appearance is an impressive A. Therefore...

I raised my hand and spoke up.

"I have a suggestion. What if Raeun unnie takes the opening part?"

"Raeun?"

All the members turned to look at Raeun Seo. Her eyes shook violently.

"...Me?"

She clearly hadn't expected her name to be the first called in this strange silence.

I nodded and said:

"I just feel like unnie would bring out the opening part best."

Let the confident dancers and vocalists fight over their parts.

Let's start by deciding on a good but less competitive part that everyone can agree on.

Although it was a part I was interested in too, being the opening with high visibility - well, this much I can give up.

But Raeun's expression was ambiguous.

"...Why?"

Why?

I checked her status window again.

There's no special reason really.

We need to break this silence to make progress, and Raeun's appearance stat is the highest after mine.

The opening is all about impact.

For a pure, innocent concept, having the prettiest member do the opening and closing parts creates the best impact.

Plus, she's decent at both dance and vocals, so she should be able to handle the opening without issues, and her overall vibe matches the song concept well.

I smiled with seemingly no ulterior motives and said:

"Unnie, you're so pretty in such a pure way. Your image matches this song well, and I think you'd sing the opening part beautifully."

"Um... me?"

Raeun looked around at the other members in confusion.

She seems a bit intimidated.

Does she automatically think she's the least skilled when we don't even know each other's abilities yet?

I've felt it since our first greeting, but she really seems to lack confidence.

"No, everyone here is pretty..."

"Actually, I'd like Raeun to do it too."

Damin spoke up. Raeun's eyes couldn't have gotten any rounder.

"I heard you sing during the audition. Personally, I think your vocal tone would suit the opening well. And like Jiye said, we really need to grab attention right from the start."

Damin didn't just stop at encouraging Raeun - she went on to convince the other members who were still keeping quiet and watching cautiously.

"Let's be honest. We're a team now, so getting attention for our team should be our priority."

Ah...

Right, she's not the only one with group activity experience besides me.

Thank goodness. She seemed lost in thought earlier, but apparently, she was considering the same things I was.

We're competitors, but we're a team first.

So we shouldn't express our greed through silence.

The members' expressions slowly began to change.

Whether they were actually convinced or just reluctantly agreeing because she was their senior by far, I couldn't tell.

Either way, as Damin continued to persuade them, the greed that had filled the eyes of the other members – Min Hayoung and Choi  Song-yi - seemed to subside a little.

Yes, we're a hastily assembled team of ambitious individuals, so we definitely need a process of coordination and compromise.

They seem to listen quite well. I smiled with satisfaction and looked at Raeun.

"So, even though we don't know each other's skills well yet, I think Raeun unnie would do great with the opening part. That's my thought, but what do the other members think?"

Raeun was still fidgeting with her fingers, watching everyone nervously.

Finally, she managed to say:

"Isn't there anyone else who wants to do it?"

Oh dear, you need to be more ambitious. And confident.

She looked at Min Hayoung and Choi Song-yi as she asked.

While Hayoung might not have been interested, Song-yi had definitely seemed like she wanted the part earlier.

"I'm fine with it. I agree."

Hayoung shrugged as she answered and looked at Song-yi.