Chapter 199:


    <b>Trantor: MarcTempest</b>


    <b>Editor: NicoleTempest</b>


    Chapter 199 Copycat (2)


    The stage began as soon as the director gave the cue.


    ‘Using a scarf as a prop for the choreography is not that umon….’


    I shouldn’t be biased from the start. They prepared the stage by reinterpreting the same song and choreography, so their idea might not be that original.


    It could have been a coincidence.


    I passed the beginning part, since they used the original choreography without any changes.


    They didn’t use the scarf until the first chorus, which made me more curious and nervous about what they were going to do.‘What are they trying to do with that….’


    And then, the problematic dance break, a modified version of tap dance, started. They took out the scarves that they had tucked in their waistbands.


    ‘Thankfully, they have a different way of using it than us.’


    The prop was the same, but the method was not. But still, it annoyed me just as much, and I saw Taeryun’s eyes turn fierce.


    “If they wanted a prop, they could have thought of something like a fedora or a cane….”


    I felt the same way. We chose the scarf because we had a choreography where we started with our wrists tied together like handcuffs, and then we bit and freed them one by one in sync.


    ‘At first, I thought of a fedora and a beret.’


    A beret was easy to make a choreography with, but it might not be enough to utilize the space with four people, so we scrapped it.


    A fedora might look too cheesy or old-fashioned, so we scrapped it.


    A cane was hard to get in the shape we wanted in 3-4 days, so we scrapped it.


    ‘In the end, the only thing left was a scarf.’


    At first, we tied our wrists and started, and then we untied them and waved them like a scarf, or tucked them in our shirt pockets like a handkerchief.


    They might not have shown everything yet, but they just shook it like a scarf a few times and then pushed the end back into one side of their pants, making it look like a tail.


    ‘It doesn’t look like they copied the choreography either.’


    If I hadn’t seen Junki’s inner thoughts card, I might have thought it was a ‘coincidence’.


    But I had no evidence to raise an issue, and I just felt disgusted with only suspicions.


    That’s when I caught Junwoong’s expression at the corner of my eye.


    ‘……?’


    Why did he look so bored? He had been tense and gloomy since earlier, but now he looked like he hadmitted a crime, his limbs trembling.


    ‘Why is he like that?’


    When I looked closely, he didn’t look like a person who was nervous because his team’s strategy didn’t go as nned.


    He looked like he had done something wrong….


    ‘Could it be….’


    I wasn’t sure, but I put my hand on Junwoong’s shoulder.


    “Mr. Junwoong.”


    He was startled and screamed.


    “Ee, eek.”


    Fortunately, it wasn’t loud enough to be heard over the music, but it was enough to draw attention from the surroundings.


    “Calm down. I didn’t say anything.”


    He looked like he had been caught stealing on the spot, his eyes full of fear.


    “Ah, sorry, sorry….”


    Unfortunately, the mind-reading card could only read thoughts rted to me. I had no idea what they were thinking overall.


    The only thing that was clear was…


    ‘They both seem to have some doubts.’


    Indeed, it was worth having a conversation.


    I nced at the ion drink, a PPL product, lying next to me. The cap was slightly open.


    Then I pretended to make a mistake and kicked it over with my foot.


    “Oops.”


    The drink bottle, which still had plenty of contents, fell over and soaked the hem of my and Wonsang’s clothes.


    “Oh, I’m sorry.”


    The production crew noticed that something needed to be cleaned up and approached me.


    “Do you want a new outfit?”


    “Yes, please. Two sets, if you can.”


    I nodded quickly. Then the staff picked up the fallen bottle of soda and checked the size.


    “What size are you?”


    “Uh… onerge, and how many do you need?”


    Wonsang answered with a flustered expression.


    “I’m M.”


    The staff quickly headed somewhere and soon brought back a new pair of pants.


    “Do you want to change together?”


    I gestured towards the bathroom, hoping that Wonsang would get the hint. He nodded slightly, as if he sensed the situation.


    “Okay.”


    I turned to Taeryun and said,


    “Mr. Taeryun, do you want to go to the bathroom with me? You seemed to drink a lot of soda earlier.”


    He looked at me with a questioning expression, as if asking, ‘Me?’ and shrugged his shoulders.


    “Yes. Let’s go.”


    I discreetly pointed to the bathroom and he obediently followed me, as if he understood. Luckily, there was no one in the bathroom, and I locked the entrance as soon as everyone was inside.


    ‘I can say I locked it because I was changing clothes. That should be a usible excuse.’


    Then I turned to the other two and opened my mouth.


    “It’s a bit strange, isn’t it?”


    I was careful not to openly suspect Junwoong from the start, as that could backfire and make me a target of political intrigue.


    Wonsang seemed to be waiting for me to speak.


    “Yes. Fortunately, it seems like the dance moves haven’t been leaked yet, but the scarf is not amon material and there’s something suspicious about it…”


    Then, unexpectedly, Taeryun said something I never thought of.


    “Ah, did you check too, hyung? There’s Park San-il on the other team.”


    Huh? I perked up at the unfamiliar name. Who is Park San-il?


    As I tilted my head in confusion, Wonsang exined for me.


    “He’s from the same agency as Junwoong.”


    Oh.


    I finally remembered the faint memory of the grade evaluation, and realized that Junwoong had auditioned on the joint stage.


    Could it be that they are from the same agency now, and he stole this idea and brought it to them?


    It was quite suspicious, but there were too many eyes here to ask anything. I calmed Junwoong down for now.


    “Are you feeling unwell? Can you do the rehearsalter?”


    I asked with a worried expression as if I was concerned about the rehearsal. Junwoong nodded slowly.


    “Yes, I, uh, I’m fine!”


    He didn’t look fine at all. The other two B-rank members also sensed that something was wrong with Junwoong and came closer to ask.


    “You look really out of it. Are you sure you’re okay?”


    Junwoong nodded his head vigorously, flustered.


    “Yes, I’m really okay!”


    Meanwhile, the A-team of DIY finished their rehearsal and left the set leisurely.


    “There’s an infirmary here. Do you want to go and rest for a bit? It seems like we have some time until our turn.”


    At Wonsang’s suggestion, Junwoong nced around and avoided eye contact, then nodded slowly.


    “…Yes.”


    He didn’t look like someone who was just having a bad day.


    I immediately checked the inner thoughts cards of my teammates.


    [Choose who you want to check the inner thoughts card of.]


    [Remaining times 5]


    [>Seo Taeryun]


    [>Lee Wonsang]


    [>Kim Junwoong]


    I looked at Junwoong’s first.


    [>Kim Junwoong]


    [- Do you know everything?]


    What’s with this shortness? There was nothing more than this ominous one-liner. I doubted my eyes.


    ‘What is he hiding?’


    I knew he had done something, but I wasn’t sure what it was.


    ‘Maybe…?’


    Did he give the scarf idea to the other team?


    That seemed to be the most likely scenario right now, but there was no reason to do that.


    Let’s think logically. If he leaked the idea to the rival team, it would eventually hurt him as well.


    The ranking was individual anyway, and Junwoong’s skills weren’t that impressive.


    He had to do well in the teampetition to stand out and stay within the top 70 to avoid elimination.


    There had to be a convincing reason why he would do something that could harm himself.


    ‘Usually, it’s when I want to give a big f**k you to my teammates even if I fail.’


    But judging by the atmosphere during the practice, it wasn’t that friendly, but it wasn’t bad as a business.


    They also adjusted the parts well so that no one would take too much, and they were actually struggling to handle their parts and wanted to pass them on to each other.


    ‘There’s really no reason to do that.’


    As I was thinking, Wonsang came back after taking Junwoong to the infirmary.


    I decided to check the inner thoughts cards of Wonsang and Taeryun as well while I was at it.


    [>Lee Wonsang]


    [- I don’t know if I’m the only one who’s suspicious, but should I ask what he thinks?]


    [>Seo Taeryun]


    [- Maybe I should talk to him. Or I’ll look like the weird one.]


    But to do it just for friendship… I wonder if the risk he’s taking is too big.


    “I agree that Mr. Jun is a bit suspicious, but…”


    Did I go too far with that? I said it subtly, but Taeryun snorted.


    “You don’t know because you’re a personal trainee, Hyun-seong.”


    What does being a personal trainee have to do with this? I raised my eyebrows with a puzzled expression, and Wonsang answered for me.


    “They were famous for their agency strategyst year when they did season 1. Pushing the one with the highest debut potential in the agency.”


    “What?”


    So what the other two suspected was. Junwoong leaked the idea to help out a member of the same agency in the opposite group.


    Is that okay to do? If I ask that in principle, of course it’s not.


    But secretly, the contract writers are entrenched, and how many and what kind of secret tricks are there in the agency… It was too naive to think that there would be none.


    “What do we do now?”


    We can’t kick Junwoong out now by making a fuss about the leak. First of all, we have to give up our stage to do that.


    It was not rational to raise the issue while giving up the stage.


    ‘A group… It didn’t look that bad.’


    Anyway, the winner is over there, and it was awkward to im that they stole the idea that would fill 1% of A group from our group without any clear evidence.


    ‘If they want to manipte it as if the loser can’t admit the win or lose and is forcing it, they can do it as much as they want.’


    So if I push from my side, Taeryun and Wonsang won’t sit still.


    What do I do now?


    Since the preparation period is short, we are theters, but we won’t be pushed into copycats.


    It was a painful situation in many ways.


    “…”


    What did I do in this case until now?


    In the food industry, copycats weremonly useful strategies. I had simr experiences countless times.


    I briefly recalled the experience of almost losing the first idea we came up with to theters.


    ‘Usually, I added an alpha that the other side couldn’t follow and pushed them away.’


    Now… It was not an individual game, but a team game. I had almost saved a team by pulling it up to this point.


    ‘If it’s hard to differentiate the quality…’


    “Ah.”


    Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I organized the sentences in my head to persuade Wonsang and Taeryun, and drew their attention.


    “I think it’s unrealistic to demand an exnation from group A for now.”


    The two of them looked at me with their eyes narrowed, as if they knew that.


    Don’t look at me like that. The main point is from now on. I opened my mouth with a smile.