TDOCD Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Part battle between members

 Choi Song-yi showed a slightly displeased expression but soon nodded primly.

 "I'd like to do it... but I think you'd do it best, unnie. There are plenty of other parts I wanted to do anyway, so it's fine."

 "Then... if everyone's really okay with it..."

 After hesitating, Ra-eun nodded with determined eyes.

 "If you'll entrust it to me, I'll work hard on it."

 I applauded lightly to congratulate Ra-eun and quickly moved on to the next topic.

 "And remember we decided to put in a dance break in the middle? The one we discussed with Senior Yu-hwa."

 Busy, busy. Let's decide quickly before it gets quiet again.

 "We should decide on that soon too."

 This was probably the part causing the silence.

 In a team of five, there were two main dancers.

 Han Da-min with her dance stat of B+, and Min Ha-young who showed confidence in her dancing.

 Both of them would probably want this part.

 'Come to think of it, I wonder what Ha-young's dance stat is.'

 Ding!

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

 Min Ha-young (Age 20)

 - Unaffiliated

 Vocal: D

 Dance: A

 Appearance: B-

 Potential: B

 Trait: Dance Master

 Overall Assessment:

 A person showing exceptional talent in dance. When she starts dancing, everyone's attention is drawn to her. However, growth in areas other than dance is extremely slow, so it might be better to focus on what she's good at!

 *Her dance grade can grow up to SS depending on her effort.

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

 'A... Ah, no wonder she was confident.'

 After a brief consideration, I decided the dance break part competition wasn't something I should get involved in.

 Min Ha-young's dance stat is A, Han Da-min's is B+.

 Just by taking a look at the status window, one could say that Ha-young should do it, but Da-min has enough skill to overcome the difference in ability.

 In the idol world, once you get past B+ it's considered top-tier dancing skill, excluding professional dancers who get higher skills than that.

 At this point, I don’t think the difference in skill matters.

 "Ha-young, you wanted to do this part too, right? To be honest, I also don't want to give up this part."

 "Ah, unnie, you're an amazing dancer too."

 Looking at their conversation, neither seemed willing to readily give up the part.

 Let's let them decide between themselves.

 I picked up the lyrics sheet and turned to Song-yi.

 "What about you, Song-yi? You said earlier there were lots of parts you wanted to do."

 Song-yi stared at me blankly with her usual expressionless face before shrugging her shoulders.

 "Which part do you want, unnie?"

 "Huh? Oh, should I choose first?"

 "Just do whatever you want. I'll take what's left. It doesn't really matter to me."

 "Oh, really?"

 Apart from the opening part she missed earlier, she seemed to have neither desire nor interest in any particular part.

 Well, it's fine if I can do the part I want.

 Nodding, I pointed to the lyrics of the part I wanted to do.

 "I'd like this part. Um, would it be okay if I did this section?"

 "Huh? Which part?"

 I deliberately asked in a slightly louder voice, causing the members who were bickering over the dance part to stop their argument and turn towards me.

 "I'm confident in singing, so I'd like to do the high note part in the latter half."

 Given that we had many dance members, I thought I could easily claim this highlight part despite its importance.

 "Oh, here. Yeah, Ji-ye, want to give it a try?"

 "Oh, I'm fine with that. But the high notes are really high there, will you be okay?"

 And just as I was about to confirm my part with the members' favorable responses...

 Knock knock.

 "Hey everyone, how's the homework coming along?"

 The meeting room door opened, and along with an energetic voice, a fresh fragrance wafted in.

 The members, recognizing the voice's owner, jumped up in surprise.

 "Senior!"

 "Good morning."

 "It’s a good morning, isn't it? Have you all eaten?"

 Our mentor, Yu-hwa, had once again arrived with both hands full of snacks.

 "I had a feeling you might not have eaten, so I brought some food."

 "Thank you!"

 The members immediately reached for the snacks.

 Being their first training camp and filming, they probably hadn't thought to eat anything in the morning.

 Yu-hwa watched the members eating snacks with a pleased expression and said,

 "Last time, I told you to try to divide the parts as you wanted, have you guys made a decision yet?"

 "Ah..."

 Among the hesitating members, Da-min spoke up.

 "We're sorry. We haven't decided yet. Some members want the same parts."

 "Oh, don't be sorry. It's fine. You've only just started the meeting, right?"

 Yu-hwa shook her head, speaking in a slightly stiff tone.

 Come to think of it, weren't Yu-hwa and Da-min both 25 years old? For Yu-hwa, Da-min was a peer who had already debuted, so she probably couldn't be as casual with her as with the other trainees

 Da-min seemed to notice Yu-hwa's awkwardness and just nodded silently.

 Yu-hwa spoke with enough energy to dispel even the slight uncomfortable atmosphere.

 "Then we can decide together. Whether it's dance or singing, we need to see it first, so shall we move to the practice room?"

 "Yes!"

 Yu-hwa gathered her laptop and stood up first, and we followed her to the practice room.

 ***

 This is the first time I entered the training camp's practice room.

 Like the exterior, the interior was also incredibly spacious and clean.

 'This is nice enough to use for rehearsals too.'

 I really loved how shiny the floor was.

 If I'm exaggerating a bit, I'd want to practice here forever.

 Slightly excited at the thought of practicing, I ran my hand back and forth across the floor before straightening up.

 While outwardly I was just admiring the practice room, in reality, a subtle tension was hanging in the air.

 "So, continuing the part discussion from earlier, you were deciding on the dance part?"

 "Yes..."

 "Who wants to try for the dance part? Let's see a show of hands from those interested."

 At Yu-hwa's words, Da-min and Ha-young raised their hands. Yu-hwa gestured to the two.

 "Then could you two come forward?"

 Da-min and Ha-young glanced at each other simultaneously before quietly standing up and walking towards Yu-hwa.

 As the two moved away, the tension in the room noticeably dissipated. Song-yi muttered quietly:

 "It was suffocating."

 She had a point.

 Actually, neither Song-yi nor I had much reason to be tense.

 Song-yi said she wasn't particularly interested in any part, and as for me, well, even if there was competition for my desired part, I was confident in my vocals at least.

 That's why I could leisurely admire the practice room.

 But those two are different, both were neck-and-neck when it came to dance.

 This was the only solo dance part in the song, and the composition didn't offer any other opportunities for dance members to showcase their skills.

 Moreover, they needed to establish their image as the main dancer of this newly-formed group, so it was a battle neither could afford to lose.

 This was a matter of pride.

 Yu-hwa looked at the two standing with tense expressions and said:

 "This section is key because it flows directly from the previous vocal part into the dance break. So it's not just about dancing well - the preceding vocal part is part of the set."

 At her words, Da-min's face showed she already knew this, while Ha-young stiffened slightly.

 Though I could only see her expression through the mirror, her dismay was evident.

 'Ha-young's vocal grade was D, wasn't it.'

 She must have been so focused on the dance break that she hadn't considered the vocal part leading into it would be part of the main dance section.

 "I'll go first."

 While Ha-young was hesitating, Da-min stepped forward.

 Her expression was full of confidence. Da-min's vocal grade was C+.

 Though not particularly high, it was a passable skill level, and since the part itself wasn't difficult, she'd probably do fine with it.

 "Then please begin."

 At Yu-hwa's signal, Da-min immediately started singing while dancing.

 Orange color painting the sky

 Ra tata-

 "Wow..."

 Yu-hwa and I exclaimed simultaneously.

 As expected, Da-min handled the vocal part very smoothly and stably.

 But our exclamations weren't because of her skill.