Chapter 125: Prison Break (1)

It was one hell of a voice crack.

I hadn’t expected his mental state to crash that spectacularly, but Jang Juwon put on a performance far worse than I could have imagined.

“Hey… what do we do?”

“Ah.”

Murmur—

Sighs burst from the audience seats.

Some covered their mouths, glancing around nervously.

On the broadcast, they’d probably rewind the scene of Jang Juwon’s voice crack a couple of times, overlapping it with the shocked faces of the judges.

Could he even continue the performance after making such a huge mistake?

Well…

It already looked hopeless.

“Oh dear.”

“His choreography’s completely off.”

“What about his teammates…?”

While I kept a blank expression, Jang Juwon messed up his choreography a couple more times.

He even got so obviously off his mark that he bumped into a teammate.

Each time, the judges’ expressions twisted into grimaces.

A fatal mistake, ruining not just the midterm evaluation but now the main stage too.

He hadn’t been this disastrously bad before.

Any chance to recover had long gone out the window.

“Thank you, Villain team, for your performance. You’ve worked hard.”

“Kyaaaaaah!”

“Wooooooo!”

“Good job, guys!”

The cheers burst out after the stage ended, but compared to other teams, the applause was pitifully small.

I couldn’t say the response was… good.

‘Wow, what’s going to happen to them?’

The exchanged glances looked serious, as if that’s exactly what they wanted to say.

“……”

I glanced over at Cha Seongbin.

That stage had been spectacular, but in a slightly different way.

I’d worried that he might not have been able to keep a straight face during such a disastrous performance, but his gaze toward me was calm as could be.

Cha Seongbin spoke in a composed voice.

“Let’s watch the next stage.”

You’ve grown a lot, Ocean Sunfish.

[Boy’s Dream 2nd Live Audience Review]

Yoo Young’s team was amazing—both the arrangement and the stage were flawless. The crowd reaction was the best.

Villain team was… uh… hmm…

They seem like they’re in big trouble lol

[Boy’s Dream Villain Team]

Is the Villain here really J J W?

From the reviews, all I hear is that it’s a disaster.

How bad was it?

My kid is in Villain team and I’m scared and shakingㅠㅠ

[How bad was J J W’s mistake?]

But isn’t he skilled enough to get the main vocal part? What did he do on stage for the reaction to hit rock bottom?

Was the voice crack that obvious?

-He was just reeeeeally bad. Sorry, but it was at a pitiful level.

└That bad?

└Yeah. I went to the live taping, and the atmosphere completely froze.

└A voice crack can happen, but he basically couldn’t deliver his part at all. On stage.

└This might become an all-time legendary competition stage—in the worst way possible lolololol

└Has Starf ever had something like this before?

└Yeah, Starf had voice crack stages before, but this is at the level that clips will go around online lol I don’t know how they’ll even edit this for broadcast haha

└Wow, what did he even do?? Seriously, if it’s that bad…

└I don’t think editing can cover it unless they scrap the whole stage.

└To cover it with editing, lol, they’d have to erase the entire stage from the episode.

-Fans who hyped up Jang Juwon as a skilled performer are going to go silent lol

└You’re just taking this chance to hate… He’s usually goodㅠㅠ I heard he wasn’t feeling well.

└Stop overhyping J J W lol He’s never even been that good.

└True. Honestly, he’s not main vocal material, but he got greedy and ruined the stage—that’s just a fact.

└No, but from the reviews, the voice crack wasn’t even the main problem lol They said it was a complete mess overall.

└So did the voice crack mess with his head, and then he botched the choreography and wrecked the stage?

└Yeah, sounds plausible.

└It’s still a shame…

└I feel worse for his teammates lol What did they do to deserve that??

└Honestly, it’s bad enough they’d be justified in chewing him out.

-Boy’s Dream trainees’ overall quality seems down, huh? Feels like they’re weaker than Starf.

└??? I don’t think so.

└They have Ray and two former Starf members… The top ranks are about Starf’s level, but the skill gap in the lower ranks is big.

└Did they just shove people in to fill the numbers? lol

└Don’t drag the other trainees into this when it’s only J J W who messed up.

└Yeah, just say it’s only Jang Juwon who sucks~

Even before the broadcast aired, fans who’d posted live reviews were repeatedly mentioning Jang Juwon’s name, and it became a hot topic.

Since survival show fans tend to latch onto any scrap of gossip, the online communities were buzzing in no time.

“Seohan said it, remember? That Jang Juwon’s stage yesterday was awful.”

Kang Siwoo looked up as he scrolled through his phone.

Crunch crunch—

Jin Sehyun chewed on half an apple and replied to Kang Siwoo.

“That’s right.”

“The reaction’s really bad. He must’ve messed up big.”

“Sounds like he really tanked it.”

Thinking about the details I’d heard directly from Cha Seongbin, I figured Jang Juwon’s total stage wreck was just karma.

I didn’t particularly feel sorry for him. I was just curious.

Kang Siwoo suddenly turned his head and asked Jin Sehyun,

“But why did Jang Juwon’s mental state suddenly collapse? Was it because of Seongbin hyung?”

“Well… I doubt a guy like that would get so shaken just because Seongbin hyung was sitting in front of him.”

“Exactly my point.”

That was the mystery. If his mentality was really that fragile, would he have even had the guts to run an anonymous account in the first place?

From what I’d seen of him on Boy’s Dream so far, he hadn’t seemed like someone with such a weak mentality…

“Mmm…”

Fans might not notice, but for someone who often stood on stage, there was something I could see.

From the moment he stepped on stage, he hadn’t been able to focus at all. Just what reason could there be for him to completely lose his head during such an important performance?

While Kang Siwoo was puzzling over it, Jin Sehyun stretched his arms out wide with a long, refreshing yawn.

“Ah—, the one who went to the live taping with you was Seohan, right?”

“Yeah, it was Seohan.”

He’d said he wanted to go too, so the company gave permission.

But so what?

“Hey, hey, did Do Seohan blow up his mentality?”

“What?”

At Jin Sehyun’s sly grin and casual remark, Kang Siwoo furrowed his brows in disbelief.

“Seohan?”

“It reeks of it. I can just feel it. Remember when his anonymous account got exposed before? Seohan hyung was the one who helped him out.”

“That was thanks to the PD being kind enough to help…”

I couldn’t tell if Jin Sehyun was joking or being serious.

Either way, it was still baseless nonsense.

Kang Siwoo shook his head firmly.

“Hey, how could Seohan do that? He’s so pure.”

“Huh?”

At those confident words from Kang Siwoo’s mouth, Jin Sehyun’s eyes widened.

“Pure…? Do Seohan?”

Jin Sehyun tilted his head, trailing off.

Seo Haim, biting into a chocolate bar she’d taken from the fridge, plopped down on the sofa beside them.

“Why? Seohan’s cute.”

“Do Seohan is cute. But he’s not pure.”

He was a cherished younger member, but facts were facts.

Jin Sehyun spoke with a decisive tone.

Kang Siwoo, however, shot back like he couldn’t understand at all.

“He is pure.”

“If we’re being precise, he’s clever.”

“That’s just being smart. It’s a good thing.”

“Come on, hyung. You’re so biased your arm’s about to pop out of its socket.”

Kang Siwoo’s expression was deadly serious.

The memory of those sharp eyes threatening reporter Lee Doyeon seemed to have vanished completely—

He looked like he truly believed their youngest was the purest person in the world.

With unwavering certainty, Kang Siwoo muttered quietly,

“Seohan is… really kind.”

Being kind and being a pushover were two different things.

As far as I knew, Do Seohan was the type to be razor-sharp kind only to his people.

That was what made him clever—and the reason Jin Sehyun liked the youngest in their team.

But that aside—

“Do Seohan is pure… huh.”

Jin Sehyun let out a disbelieving chuckle.

“Hyung, how do you even survive in this world with your purity?”

One week after the Boy’s Dream live audience recording.

In the meantime, three pieces of good news had arrived.

First—Jang Juwon’s terrible performance had been broadcast on Episode 8 of Boy’s Dream in all its raw glory.

They hadn’t specially rewound his mistakes three or four times, or drawn it out to show the judges’ reactions.

It was simply that no matter which part of the stage you looked at, it was awful.

‘Goodbye, Jang Juwon…’

Judging by public opinion, his chances of surviving the third ranking announcement seemed slim.

Even if it hadn’t been for this stage, I’d thought from the start that Jang Juwon wasn’t debut material anyway.

And—

Second, Cha Eunha had finally stepped back into the world.

“Guys, guys! I have something to tell you.”

Three days after the episode aired, Seongbin hyung called the members together with a bright face.

In the living room, gathered close, he delivered unexpected good news in a meaningful tone.

“My sister… is starting to draw again.”

He’d believed firmly that if she saw the stage of spacewalk he’d arranged for Yuyeong, she might find the courage again—

And now that wish had come true.

“R-really?”

“Her mind changed after watching the broadcast?”

“Wow, hyung, congratulations!”

Of course…

“She said it wasn’t because of my arrangement…”

“Huh?”

“Then what was it?”

“Well… uh… she said it was after watching Villain’s stage…”

“…Huh?”

The incident had gone like this—

‘That bastard who screwed you over before, that was Jang Juwon, right?’

‘Yeah, that’s right.’

‘Seeing that guy crash and burn on stage gave me hope and courage! I want to draw again.’

It seemed she’d found her courage from somewhere strange…

But, hey, good news is good news, right?

Apparently, Cha Eunha had felt genuine joy seeing Jang Juwon, who’d betrayed her brother, get wrecked.

Looking embarrassed, Cha Seongbin trailed off.

“Haha, so she said she’s going to prepare for art school entrance exams…”

“Woooow!”

“Congrats, that’s amazing.”

“Yeah. Just the fact she feels that way is huge. You can breathe a little easier now. Congrats, Seongbin.”

Come on—surely she’d changed her mind after seeing the spacewalk arrangement stage.

She’d probably just been too embarrassed to tell her brother directly.

Though he strongly denied it—

“…She’s really the kind of person who would mean that.”

“Huh?”

“She looked way too thrilled for it to be just a polite comment…”

Mm, let’s just pretend I didn’t hear that.

Anyway, amid all this overflowing good news—

The third and final thing—

“We’re preparing for a comeback?”

“That’s fast…!”

Stardust’s comeback date had been decided.

.

.

.

“Do Seohan’s V-log!”

It had been a while since I last ran a Yui App live broadcast alone.

With one hand, I held the selfie stick and positioned the camera at a flattering angle.

The background was our practice room, hastily cleaned right before filming.

I fiddled with my hair and smiled brightly.

“Hello, Dusty.”

At that single greeting, comments poured in at a speed I would never get used to.

-seohan!!!! I LOVE YOU

-Were you in the middle of practice???

-When’s Universe Dust’s comeback date?

-Wait, are you guys coming back?

-I want to put Do Seohan in my pocket

Among the flood of scrolling comments, a few hot topics caught my eye.

With an awkward smile, I glanced around cautiously.

“Haha, our comeback?”

The fact that we’d started preparing for a comeback was, of course, supposed to be top secret. But someone’s face had betrayed it during a live broadcast, and the whole thing got leaked.

The culprit was Seo Haim.

I clicked my tongue briefly and shook my head.

“Haim hyung… his mouth is as light as a bird’s, I swear.”

-lolololololol Choco Haim spoiled everything

-No, but it’s not like Haim wanted to spoil it lol He said it by accident, and the moment he did, it was SO obvious x100000 ㅠㅠ

-Too late to deny it now, Seohan lololol

-his mouth is as light as a bird’s lololol I’m dead

-Chick-flavored Choco Haim

“Chick-flavored Choco Haim? Wow, that’s kind of cruel.”

As soon as I said that, a wave of balance game questions flooded in.

-lolololol what even is chick-flavored

-Isn’t that better than choco-flavored chick??? Let’s start a balance game~

-Choco-Haim-flavored chick VS Chick-flavored Choco-Haim

-Living with 5 chicks (they’ll all turn into chickens later) VS Living with 5 Seo Haims

Wait. Hold on.

Scanning the comments calmly, I chuckled.

A showdown between Choco-Haim-flavored chick and Chick-flavored Choco-Haim.

“Chick-flavored Choco Haim… is that basically chicken? Not bad, maybe?”

The next balance game was a little horrifying.

5 chicks VS 5 Seo Haims (?).

I couldn’t help but grimace.

“I’d rather run away from home than live with 5 Seo Haims… I can’t handle that energy.”

Even now, I was feeling slightly drained.

-I swear Do Seohan genuinely looks drained lololol

-Same, I couldn’t handle 5 Seo Haims ㅠㅠ

-Even extreme E-types can’t handle Choco Haim’s energy

-I’m dying to know what Cha Seongbin and Seo Haim’s room is like lololol If they’re roommates, isn’t just existing together already noise pollution??

-I love you, Do Seohan

-So when’s Universe Dust’s comeback date?

I quickly caught that last question in the torrent of comments.

“Our comeback date?”

I swallowed dryly and hesitated for a moment.

“I haven’t heard the exact schedule yet… I don’t think there’s a concrete date. The time frame is… wait, am I allowed to say?”

I glanced sidelong at our manager hyung and clammed up.

“Sadly, we’ll have to skip that one.”

Yeah, I needed to be careful.

I wasn’t like certain people who were runaway trains—I had no intention of recklessly dropping spoilers.

I’m still a rookie, okay! I need to think about the consequences.

Still, there was another spoiler I could definitely give.

“Hmm…”

I grinned and looked straight into the camera.

“But tomorrow, there’s a surprise present.”

-?????

-What is it?

-It’s not gonna be concept photos suddenly dropping, right? Ah, that’s too soon, my bad haha

-Seohan, your existence itself is JUST A PRESENT!!

-Do Seohan sneaking glances is so cute ahhh

And that present was…

“Our self-content goes up tomorrow night~.”

-!! omg ahㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Wait, is this the follow-up to Dusty Campus??

-My babies are such angels ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-Doubles actually working?? omg I love you

That’s right.

[Secret Agent Stardust: Escape Safely from Prison!]

[Subtitle: Cops and Robbers]

[20170803 (KST) 8 p.m. coming soon]

It was a new self-content to keep our break from being boring.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep