Little Pink Starfish

“Then is it okay if we change up the song a little? Like adding a rap to a vocal part…”

“That’s fine.”

The sighs of relief from the rappers in the losing team were practically visible.

Well, with three rappers and only two vocalists, their song choices must’ve been severely limited.

As I listened to the contestants’ follow-up questions, I gathered my thoughts.

I’m an undeniable pass.

I probably got four passes in the first stage, and even if I didn’t, they’ll make sure I get through in the end.

So that means there’s a clear goal for what I need to show here.

A weakness.

I have to show a flaw.

Especially, I want to be reviewed as “impressive in the solo stage but disappointing in the team performance.”

If someone could hear my inner thoughts, they’d probably ask if I’m crazy, but this is necessary.

I’ve been on countless audition shows before.

Particularly whenever I wanted to change up my environment, I turned to audition shows.

There’s nothing better for fast-tracking cultural learning, building connections, and gaining experience.

And what I’ve realized through those experiences is that you don’t have to be perfect.

You need flaws for the audience to root for you, and for your character to have room to grow.

A contestant who’s perfect in every way?

Of course, that’s great.

If I could pull it off, I’d want to be that person too.

But in music, perfection isn’t an absolute—it’s relative.

If I keep scoring 100, eventually that 100 becomes my baseline.

And then when I hit another 100, I’ll start hearing feedback like:

“As polished as always. But you keep showing the same thing. We’d like to see your ‘plus alpha’ next time.”

That’s something I’ve literally heard before.

Still pisses me off, just thinking about it.

Even though they sell way fewer albums than me.

Anyway, that’s why I plan to dial it back for the team mission.

Not that I’m going to sabotage the performance.

There must be no doubt about Han Si-on’s individual capabilities.

But I’m not going to be the centerpiece of the team.

---

The members of the team officially named Winning Team sat around a conference table.

The table was stacked with snacks provided for PPL (product placement), and although the staff said they could eat as much as they wanted, no one touched anything.

At the very least, they’d need to pick a song before any of them got their appetite back.

Especially those who felt they flopped on the first stage.

That’s when Choi Jae-sung directed a question at Han Si-on.

Choi Jae-sung was the one who found Han Si-on’s voice familiar but couldn’t place where he’d heard it before.

“Um, do you have any ideas for the song selection?”

The team’s eyes were full of hope and desperation as they looked at Han Si-on.

They’d all seen what he did during the pre-mission and first round.

So of course, they were hoping he’d come up with another killer idea.

But Han Si-on dashed their hopes.

“I’ve never performed with others before… So this is kind of tough for me.”

“You’ve never performed with others? Not even once?”

“Nope.”

“Weren’t you a former trainee?”

“Nope. Self-taught at home.”

Hard to believe he was never in an agency, but thinking back on Han Si-on’s performances, it kind of made sense.

His performances didn’t follow the mold agencies usually demand.

He covered everything with skill, but still didn’t quite feel like a typical idol.

Maybe because the “Han Si-on cheat code” was off the table, the meeting started to move faster.

“Should we look at weekly charts focusing on 5-member groups? How many years back should we go?”

“Should we avoid songs released within the past year? We’d be compared to the original artists.”

“But there are so many good recent songs…”

“That’s true.”

“What if we include 6-member groups too? If we divide parts right, five people could pull it off.”

Then Choi Jae-sung spoke again.

Still trying to place Han Si-on’s voice in his memory.

“Before that, shouldn’t we sort out the rap parts first?”

“Ah, rap…”

In idol groups, it’s practically a given that there’s at least one rapper.

But the Winning Team had none.

While the losing team had too many, they had zero.

“Anyone here confident in rapping?”

On Sae-mi-ro, Choi Jae-sung, Kim Sung-woo, and Shim Ju-wan glanced around at each other, but no one stepped up.

They could rap if needed.

They had go-to rap songs they sang at karaoke.

But this was a situation where they needed to impress the judges and get passes. No one was confident enough to step forward.

They were vocalists because they were more confident in singing.

That’s when someone raised their hand.

“I’ll do it.”

It was Han Si-on.

“…You’ll rap?”

“Yeah. I’m not bad.”

“Hyung, you’re not saying you’ll do both main vocal and main rap, right?”

To Kim Sung-woo’s question, Han Si-on shook his head.

“Just the rap. On Sae-mi-ro can be the main vocal.”

On Sae-mi-ro, who hadn’t said a word since the meeting started, looked at Han Si-on and slowly opened her mouth.

“Why?”

“You’re good at singing.”

“You’re… better.”

“Who says? We’ve never even sung the same song.”

A polite way of saying his song choice was just better. On Sae-mi-ro eventually nodded.

The one most thrown off by Han Si-on’s rapper declaration was the production staff.

The writer assigned to him actually paused filming to confirm—was he really just going to rap?

The other contestants had mixed feelings.

On one hand, it was a relief in terms of part distribution.

Everyone expected Han Si-on to be the main vocal and On Sae-mi-ro to be the lead vocal.

Considering their skill levels, anyone trying to fight for those roles would’ve just gotten backlash from viewers.

But now, with Han Si-on stepping out of vocals, everyone’s roles bumped up a tier.

And they’d avoid being directly compared to him.

Still…

Wouldn’t this completely betray the expectations of viewers looking forward to the Winning Team’s stage?

Even if their solo parts go well, wouldn’t the team performance tank and drag them down?

That thought was hard to shake.

But surprisingly, Han Si-on was firm in his decision.

So for now, they decided to just pick out candidate songs.

The selection happened surprisingly fast.

“I think this one’s good.”

The moment they heard BOY SCOUT by NOP, a song that ranked on last year’s year-end chart, Han Si-on gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

BOY SCOUT by NOP was a famous song.

The undisputed top boy group was still Drop Out, but right now, NOP had more popularity.

Who knows what’ll happen when Drop Out makes their comeback, but NOP was huge at the moment.

Everyone was understandably hesitant.

“Wouldn’t we be directly compared to NOP? And it’s so recent…”

“Are you planning to rearrange it? If so, I’m against it.”

But Han Si-on shook his head.

“No. I think it’d be better to just sing it as is. It suits our vocal colors.”

“Hmm… Let’s at least watch the performance video.”

NOP’s stage was excellent.

Six idols in Boy Scout uniforms with lively choreography.

The moves weren’t overly difficult, but the wide, energetic gestures captured the spirit of mischievous boys dreaming of adventure.

“Hmm…”

Those who were wary of covering a NOP hit seemed intrigued after seeing the choreography.

They only had one day to practice, so it couldn’t be too hard—or too easy.

BOY SCOUT hit that sweet spot.

And it didn’t emphasize rap, so Han Si-on likely didn’t choose it with ulterior motives.

“Let’s still check out a few more songs.”

They went through more songs, but none felt like a better fit than BOY SCOUT.

“Let’s go with this.”

“Ugh, if we mess this up, we’re gonna get roasted so bad.”

“Should we just sleep four hours and start practicing? The losing team looked like they were going to sleep too.”

“Let’s do that.”

The filming for the second round—the team mission—was scheduled for 7 PM the next day.

Since it was already past midnight by the time the song meeting ended, it was technically “today.”

They’d need at least a little sleep to handle the high-intensity practice and the actual stage. So the contestants headed to the accommodations rented by the broadcaster.

---

The program’s main producer is a lot like a chef.

They need to decide what kind of dish to make from the mountain of footage brought in by the cameras.

But sometimes, they decide on the final dish first and then go looking for the ingredients to match.

Just like PD Kang Seok-woo was doing now.

Kang Seok-woo had already decided what the first episode of Coming Up Next was going to be.

Han Si-on’s one-man carry.

So what he needed most right now was…

“The composer’s contact info.”

It was the composer of Flowers Bloom, the debut song by girl group Way From Flower.

After the first stage, Han Si-on had made a pretty intriguing comment.

“Flowers Bloom was probably originally written for a male vocal in the early stages. I think it was only adjusted for a female singer during production.”

“So I didn’t change anything. I just sang it like the initial version would’ve been.”

Honestly, it sounded meaningful because it was Han Si-on saying it.

If anyone else had said something like that?

They’d be laughed off or edited out entirely.

I mean, seriously—how could a debut track for a top girl group have been meant for a male singer?

And Si-on just instantly figured that out with his genius?

Nobody else had ever said anything like that before?

And yet, the reason it didn’t sound completely ridiculous was simple.

Because the performance was that good.

No, it was f*ing amazing.

The moment I heard it, I knew.

This was going to make headlines.

Chart-wise or in streaming numbers, Under the Streetlight might do better.

But in terms of viral content and YouTube views? Flowers Bloom was going to dominate.

It had all the buzz-worthy keywords netizens could latch onto.

Plus, as someone without much musical knowledge, even I wasn’t sure whether Han Si-on actually changed any musical structure.

If I can’t tell, imagine the netizens.

Even if the program doesn’t become a hit, this performance alone will generate massive word-of-mouth.

That’s why PD Kang Seok-woo was deep in thought.

He originally planned for the pre-mission song Under the Streetlight to be the main feature of Episode 1.

But after seeing the first stage, it was clear Flowers Bloom was the bigger deal.

It would be a waste to split the spotlight by featuring both songs in Episode 1.

What if they did one song in Episode 1 and one in Episode 2?

But since the show focuses on the main characters from Team A, they couldn’t dedicate a full episode to Team B.

That was the dilemma tormenting Kang Seok-woo.

Just then, the junior PD he’d been waiting for walked into the set.

“You found them?”

“The composer? Yeah, I found them.”

“What took so long to find one damn composer?”

“Turns out their English name wasn’t a stage name—it’s their real name.”

“They’re a foreigner? From where?”

“Denmark, but they’re living in the U.S. now. But, senior… I don’t think we can book them.”

“Why not?”

“They’re kind of a big deal.”

Kang Seok-woo’s eyes widened at the name the junior PD said next.