Chapter 119: Blind Evaluation

Cha Seongbin swallowed hard.

Do Seojun PD’s gaze was fixed squarely on me.

It was a topic I had never thought I would bring up with my own mouth, but lying wasn’t an option.

I’d have to say it.

With my head bowed, I carefully parted my lips.

“Half right, half wrong….”

For some reason, a sorrowful line slipped out of my mouth.

“To be honest, I wanted to let my little brother hear it.”

The filming site of Boy’s Dream.

After the first ranking announcement ended, only about forty trainees remained in the auditorium.

Compared to the first evaluation, the number had dropped significantly, but with around forty people gathered in one place, there was no way it could stay quiet.

The trainees chatted nonstop, pointing at the front of the auditorium.

“Today’s the second evaluation, right?”

“Looks like it.”

“Look at the board over there. Something’s covered. That’s probably the mission song.”

“If it’s the second mission… it should be the artist collaboration mission, right?”

Since it was the second season following Girl’s Dream, many trainees already knew what the second mission entailed.

A chance to collaborate on stage with debuted seniors.

“Ah, this is already going to be fun.”

“I’ve really been looking forward to this mission.”

Murmur murmur—

With flushed faces, the trainees chimed in one after another.

“Alright—.”

Just then, the noisy auditorium fell silent in an instant.

It was because MC Im Dahyung walked forward holding a microphone.

“Forty-one boys running toward their dreams.”

With his hair parted neatly to the side and wearing a composed suit, the idol-turned-MC Dahyung continued the program with practiced skill.

“Why do you think I’m here today?”

“To announce the second evaluation?”

“The second mission!”

Im Dahyung grinned and nodded.

“Yes, that’s correct. I’m here to announce the second mission of Boy’s Dream along with the evaluation method. At this crossroads where the second ranking announcement will decide your fate, the second mission you’ll be evaluated on is…”

“The artist collaboration mission?”

“Artist…”

“The blind evaluation mission.”

At Im Dahyung’s words, a cold air settled over the room.

“What’s that?”

“Blind evaluation?”

“This is the first time they’ve tried something like this, right?”

“Does this mean the evaluation will be done blindly?”

While various guesses were being tossed around, Im Dahyung spoke again.

“Unlike the first evaluation, in the blind evaluation mission, you will choose your mission song blindly, with only the minimum amount of information provided.”

What is that supposed to mean?

The trainees, still unable to fully grasp the mission, rolled their eyes in confusion.

“What kind of information will we get?”

“Could it be the group name?”

“I think they won’t even reveal the group.”

“Do we choose the song ourselves?”

Rather than a hundred words, it was faster to show them directly.

Im Dahyung stepped back a pace, holding the microphone.

“Then please reveal the mission board.”

“…!”

Shhraak—

As the covered mission board was unveiled, the trainees’ eyes widened.

Someone swallowed a deep gulp.

“Gasp.”

[1-year male idol, dreamy-refreshing, deep house]

[2-year female idol, powerful, pop rock]

[3-year male idol, sexy, R&B]

[4-year male idol, powerful, punk]

[5-year female idol, refreshing, pop dance]

“They’re revealing it like that…?”

A survival show turned full-on gacha game.

Now it was time to choose.

“So, we’re one team now. Of course, it’s blind, but let’s talk about which song might be good to pick.”

Right after team assignments, the first to speak up was Ray from The Core. Ray’s Team 2 was considered an Avengers-level lineup, with overall high abilities among the members.

There was himself, an active idol, Lee Junhyeok from Starf, and Lee Dokyung. The remaining five members were all ranked in A or B tier.

As long as they picked the right song, they’d be fine.

Thinking so, Ray glanced around at the members.

Lee Dokyung, the one who could be considered the brains of the team, was the first to raise his hand.

Lee Dokyung stroked his chin as he scanned the list of songs.

“For some of these, I can more or less guess the group.”

He couldn’t know the exact songs, but looking at the debut years, the likely groups became apparent.

If the show was covering their songs, they had to be at least somewhat well-known. Considering the mood of the songs, they could guess the team’s color.

First, the 1-year group.

After narrowing down the possible candidates in his head, Lee Junhyeok’s expression darkened.

“For 1-year male idols, it’s probably The Core or Stardust…”

At this point, they were the only rookie boy groups with enough recognition.

One teammate pointed at Ray.

“But The Core is right here?”

“Since Ray’s here, I don’t think it’s The Core. You haven’t heard anything about it, right?”

“Uh… I don’t know either.”

Ray was certain it wasn’t a The Core song.

“For one, our debut album didn’t have any dreamy-refreshing tracks.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

The Core was far from a refreshing group.

Judging from the song’s mood, Stardust seemed more likely, but…

“Maybe it’s not Stardust either…”

The teammate who had been speaking trailed off tactfully.

The production crew had highlighted Lee Junhyeok’s claim about malicious editing, openly creating friction with TBN.

And now, in the midst of this tense atmosphere, they were saying they’d gotten a song from Stardust, a group that debuted through this very program? It was hard to imagine Doubles allowing that.

‘It’d be strange if it was Stardust, but it makes even less sense if it’s not.’

That point nagged at Ray, but he decided to put it aside for now.

Lee Dokyung continued, analyzing the songs one by one.

“For the 2-year group, I think it’s Ivel sunbaenims. The debut year matches, and I remember their most recent title track was pop rock.”

“That’s right. I’m starting to get a feel for the other two songs as well…”

“For me, I’d like to avoid the 1-year group.”

Lee Junhyeok was the first to state his strong opinion.

“I’m not confident with refreshing songs.”

“Ah, same here.”

Ray knew the talk about “refreshing” was just an excuse, but he nodded along without protest.

‘No need to pick a risky option for no reason.’

“I think it might be good to try the 3-year sunbaenims’ song.”

“R&B is the best.”

“I like the 4-year group’s powerful song too.”

“Yeah, yeah. I want to do that one as well.”

Fortunately, the team’s opinions were mostly aligned.

No one was overly insistent on their own choice yet, and their preferences matched, so there was no problem.

As the second evaluation was proceeding surprisingly smoothly, Ray smiled inwardly.

But.

Life never went the way you wanted.

“Huh?”

“So, we’re last?”

“What, we don’t even get to choose?”

They lost one game after another in the song selection process, ending up last in line.

“We’ll take the fifth song.”

“The third song.”

“We’ll go with the 4-year sunbaenims’…”

The songs they had wanted disappeared quickly before their eyes.

Another team had snatched them all up, rendering their carefully ranked first and second choices meaningless.

In the end, only one option remained.

[1-year male idol, dreamy-refreshing, deep house]

Ah.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Ray swallowed dryly, fixing his gaze straight ahead.

He could feel his expression slipping out of control, but…

Just don’t let it be Stardust. Please.

“We’ll now reveal the first song.”

[Stardust – Spacewalk]

“……”

Ray’s eyes lost focus.

[Anyone know what happened to Cha Eunha from U-Yeongdan (Our Neighborhood’s Gifted Youth Group)?]

You know, the “Korean Van Gogh” girl who appeared on U-Yeongdan.

She popped up on my YouTube algorithm recently, and wow, she’s on another level.

I was captivated by the way she used colors—she’s a crazy genius.

Got curious about what she’s been up to lately.

It’s already been 3 years, so she must be around 20 now.

Did she go to an arts high school afterward?

Or hold an exhibition?

– Her classmate exposed U-Yeongdan as a fake show 3 years ago, caused a huge stir.

└ Oh right, I remember.

└ ???? Fake show? What do you mean?

└ They said she had no talent and was just packaged as a genius lol, claimed she was terrible at painting and got rejected by every arts high school.

└ I think that fake scandal is what tanked the ratings and got the show canceled.

└ Last year, it came out that the classmate’s “fake” claim was actually the fake one. Don’t spread baseless rumors like they’re fact.

└ What the heck?

└ Apparently, the classmate was just eaten up by jealousy and made it up. Cha Eunha was already well-known locally as a painting prodigy.

└ I’m her elementary school friend, and that’s true. She was always exceptional—I don’t know why those rumors started ㅠㅠ

└ If that’s the case, she must’ve been furious. People basically tried to bury her with personal attacks.

└ Why tear down a regular person like that in the first place…

└ I remember the vibe back then—it was pretty insane.

└ ㄷㄷㄷㄷ That post was fake?

└ That’s messed up.

– I heard she got into an arts high school but didn’t go.

└ Why not?

└ So what’s she doing now, studying abroad?

└ I don’t know.

└ She probably went abroad.

└ If I were her, I’d leave the country too, totally disillusioned.

└ 222222

.

.

.

.

At the same time, Cha Seongbin took a deep breath and stared at the firmly closed door.

It was his first vacation since debut.

He’d had no time to rest while powering through a packed schedule, but with their recent activities wrapped up, he finally had some breathing room and dropped by his family home today.

He had hoped that maybe, in the meantime, things might have changed even a little—but your time is still frozen three years ago.

Standing at the door, Cha Seongbin quietly called a name.

“Eunha.”

“……”

“Hey, Cha Eunha.”

Knock knock—

Cha Seongbin tapped on the door, but there was no answer from the other side.

It had already been three years.

They were only a year apart in age, always bickering and wrestling every day. Even though her personality was a bit rough, she had always been bright.

She loved painting and had a brilliant talent.

But that younger sister had locked herself away behind that tightly shut door.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

If she had only never gone on that program.

He regretted pushing her into it, telling her it was a good opportunity, when she had said she didn’t want to go because she hated being recognized.

That stupid program.

Opportunity or whatever, she could have just not gone.

Even now, if you typed his sister’s name into the internet, countless malicious comments would pour out.

– Korean Van Gogh girl? What a joke. Van Gogh would jump out of his grave in rage.

– I saw the broadcast and her paintings were amateur level lol.

– I heard she copied other professional artists’ work and pretended it was hers. Rumor has it the whole thing was fake.

└ Seriously a fake show?

└ All public broadcast shows are like that lol. An arts high reject, a “genius”? What a laugh.

When she thought the whole world was against her—

Even after receiving acceptance letters from multiple arts high schools, his sister refused to enroll.

And after that—

She never picked up a brush again.

“I’m coming in.”

Cha Seongbin yanked the door open.

Inside, the room smelled stale, probably never ventilated. With the curtains drawn shut, not a ray of sunlight entered, leaving the air bitterly cold.

“……”

He glanced at the brush holder and colored pencils, covered in a thick layer of dust after being left untouched.

The brushes were dry and cracked, the paint had long since faded.

Whenever their mother tried to clean up, she would lash out like she was having a fit, so the shelves had stayed like that for years.

With his eyes shut tight, Cha Seongbin spoke.

“Cha Eunha.”

His sister’s unfocused eyes stared up into empty space.

Her lips twitched briefly before spitting out cold words.

“Get out.”

“After nearly half a year, that’s what you say to your brother?”

Her icy eyes glared at him, then turned away. Cha Seongbin bit his lower lip hard before speaking.

“How long are you going to live like this?”

“So that’s why you came.”

She was right.

If he left now, he might not see her again for a long time.

At the very least, he had to see her living like a human being.

He began with effort.

“Let’s start painting again.”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

It was heartbreaking.

She was twenty years old—an age when she could be shining—and she was destroying it like this.

Fighting back the lump in his throat, Cha Seongbin continued.

“You liked painting. Quitting because of that person… don’t you feel wronged—”

“You couldn’t handle it either.”

“What?”

“Just like me. Pathetic, humiliated.”

Cha Eunha gritted her teeth and spoke one word at a time.

“If you couldn’t even handle it yourself, don’t give me that pathetic advice.”

“That’s…”

She had already been against him debuting as an idol, but after the anonymous account scandal, she became even more sensitive.

‘I was right, wasn’t I? People are all the same. They hate to see others do well, and if it’s someone they know, they want to drag them down even more.’

‘That’s not true. Why do you have to twist it like that?’

‘Then what? Is getting stabbed in the back by a classmate our family tradition? I… I… it was my best friend, too.’

It was, unfortunately, a betrayal eerily similar to her own trauma.

Jang Juwon, a classmate from the same school.

They hadn’t been particularly close, but they weren’t enemies either—yet he made up lies to drag him down.

It had been really hard, but at least he had his members.

The issue was resolved peacefully, and time passed.

He thought he had gotten through it safely, but his sister hadn’t.

For years, she had been stuck in that day.

Cha Eunha’s voice trembled as she spoke.

“I told you not to be an idol.”

“Hey.”

“I hated it—seeing strangers who don’t even know your name or face insult you. I hated it so much I shook. I hated it so much that you were walking the same path as me… it was terrifying.”

With clenched fists and bloodshot eyes, she looked up at him.

“I won’t stop you anymore. It’s your life, do what you want. But you don’t have the right to say this to me.”

Because he had been just as stupidly humiliated.

Because he had forced her to remember that terrible day all over again.

That was probably the reason.

Cha Seongbin listened in silence, unable to refute even a single word.

“You couldn’t even squeak in front of Jang Juwon, just trembling. You should’ve hit that bastard. I couldn’t do it, and I’ve regretted it my whole life…”

But he had been able to handle it.

He had been able to move on.

“No, I didn’t just stand there.”

Cha Seongbin cut her off.

“July 30th.”

“What?”

“The broadcast date.”

A flicker of something unknown passed through Cha Eunha’s eyes.

Cha Seongbin gave a faint smile as he spoke.

“I wanted you to watch the stage I arranged.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep