Little Pink Starfish

by Drop Out.

I don’t know this song.

Even though I try to monitor K-pop diligently, I haven’t managed to listen to everything on the charts.

Just going through the monthly Top 100 from the past five years would be around 6,000 songs.

Of course, many of those songs are duplicates, so the real number is probably half of that—but still, it’s a lot.

Besides, Remind is apparently a B-side from a Drop Out album—a track only real fans would recognize.

Come to think of it, Drop Out was trying to push up their release schedule…

Could it be coming out while Coming Up Next is still airing?

As I was thinking that, Goo Tae-hwan’s song started.

Yeah, the intro sounds good—as expected.

The issue is, only the intro sounds good with his current skill level.

---

The filming location for Coming Up Next was a massive entertainment complex in Myeongdong.

A café on the first floor, karaoke on floors two and three, and above that, a shopping mall and other tourist attractions aimed at foreign visitors.

People started entering the first floor just as the members began singing enthusiastically.

“Please have a seat over here.”

One of the audience members, Choi Se-hee, scanned the room sharply as a staff member guided her.

There are way more regular people here.

She knew there were only supposed to be 50 audience members today, but barely any looked like idol fans.

More like couples on dates who just happened to win tickets.

There had already been some buzz in idol fandoms about Coming Up Next.

Lion Entertainment had put out a call to recruit trainees for a company-run survival show to launch a new boy group.

The initial reaction from fans was total confusion.

It didn’t make sense.

A survival show meant to debut trainees immediately upon broadcast’s end—recruiting participants from scratch?

Would they debut without any real trainee period? Were they trying to gather people who crash-landed from Idol Planet or something?

Or were they trying to poach debut teams from other companies?

That was the general sentiment.

On top of that, although rare, some fans of TakeScene—Lion Entertainment’s current debut team—existed.

Many had discovered them via the company’s YouTube channel and fallen in love with their casual, self-produced content.

Some of these fans were enraged upon hearing about Coming Up Next, leaving long rants against CEO Choi Tae-ho.

“Has he lost it? These kids aren’t toys. After years of training…”—that sort of thing.

But eventually, whispers of the show’s real format started to spread.

That the show was designed for a face-off between the already-debuted TakeScene and a new team.

Some rumors claimed TakeScene had fallen out of favor with CEO Choi Tae-ho. Others thought the show was designed to promote them even more.

But to Choi Se-hee, none of that mattered.

Her real fandom allegiance was with Drop Out, and no rookie boy group could touch them.

NOP tried hard to challenge them, but aside from first-week sales, Drop Out was ahead on every metric.

“First-week numbers are inflated these days anyway!”

As soon as Drop Out made their comeback, everything would be back in order.

The only downside to stanning Drop Out was that they didn’t promote often.

Their obsession with musical perfection already kept them from being active—and after renewing their contracts, they’d all rotated through solo activities and gone quiet.

But that was fine.

Drop Out fans were used to sudden bursts of legendary music after long hiatuses.

Recently, their leader Sido had posted a shot of a soundtrack project on social media, fueling comeback rumors.

The fandom—Dreaming—had quietly been reignited… but there was nothing to fuel the flames.

Then came the Coming Up Next audience recruitment notice.

Her fandom fire, already lit but with nowhere to burn, naturally pushed her to apply.

When your core fandom is solid, you’re allowed to take little field trips to peek at other groups.

No need to feel threatened by rookies—you can watch them with a smile.

That’s how Choi Se-hee ended up being one of the first audience members for Coming Up Next.

Just as she was thinking all this, the last audience member took their seat, and a man who looked like a PD stepped up.

“From now on, you’ll be listening to two people sing the same song. Then choose which one you prefer.”

As the PD explained, Choi Se-hee’s interest piqued.

Currently, the group was on the second floor, and TakeScene was on the third.

The two groups had no idea the other existed yet.

The production team had collected each member’s go-to karaoke songs.

“We selected songs that overlapped. They’ll be singing those songs—simultaneously.”

Meaning both floors would sing the same song at the same time, and the performance would be broadcast to the first-floor audience.

But Se-hee was skeptical.

If two people sing the same song simultaneously, won’t it just sound chaotic?

A couple in the audience even asked this, but the PD just smiled.

“You’ll understand once you hear it.”

Each audience member received a remote with two buttons, and after a long wait, music finally began to flow through the first floor.

“Huh?”

As a Drop Out fan, Choi Se-hee instantly recognized the intro.

Just one second of the prelude was enough.

This is Remind.

A deep-cut B-side—only real fans would know.

“These kids… impressive.”

She already liked them.

A rookie group should look up to Drop Out as role models.

A team that’s overcome adversity with pure performance.

The first line echoed across the café:

–I thought it would last forever. You and me.

In that moment, two thoughts struck her.

First: This feels good.

This line is originally sung by Day, Drop Out’s lead vocalist—his sorrowful yet resigned tone made the song a hidden gem among fans.

But whoever was singing now was also quite good.

Second: Why am I only hearing one voice?

They said two people would be singing—but she only heard one.

Then she saw the café monitor—usually used to display order numbers—flash the words:

Three Months, Hundred Days – Goo Tae-hwan

Oh, so it’s that member singing now?

Sure enough, as the next line began, the voice changed—and the monitor updated to:

TakeScene – Ready

This round was a battle between Goo Tae-hwan and Ready.

Choi Se-hee made a mental note of their names.

Liking Remind enough to choose it as their go-to karaoke song was reason enough for extra points in her book.

The performance flowed surprisingly well.

The production team had clearly planned carefully, dividing up the lines for a smooth listening experience.

Goo Tae-hwan sang one line, then Ready the next, then back-and-forth with half-lines.

Since both sang honestly, with no ad-libs, the transition wasn’t jarring at all.

But isn’t the person who sings the chorus at a big advantage?

She thought that for a moment—but the chorus was handled fairly.

Both voices were broadcast simultaneously.

What made it fun was a hidden audio feature: depending on which way you leaned, the volume emphasis changed.

Lean left—Goo Tae-hwan’s voice got louder.

Lean right—Ready’s voice stood out.

No wonder there were so many speakers for such a small audience—clever setup.

Is this like Dolby Sound? 5.1 channel or something?

In the second verse, both voices played together throughout.

Now that people could tell their voices apart and had figured out the sound trick, it made sense to just let them perform.

When the song ended, it was time to vote.

“Blue button for Goo Tae-hwan of Three Months, Hundred Days. Red button for Ready of TakeScene. Please vote for whoever impressed you more.”

Choi Se-hee paused to think.

Honestly, just based on the first half, she would’ve voted for Goo Tae-hwan.

Not a landslide, but a narrow win.

But hearing the full song made it harder.

Ready did better on the chorus and second half; Goo Tae-hwan excelled in the intro and soft pre-hook sections.

In the end, she chose Ready.

If this were a “Build Your Own Idol Group” kind of situation, she might’ve picked Goo Tae-hwan.

Not everyone can be the highlight singer—someone has to carry the steady narrative too.

But that wasn’t the case here.

It was just about who sang better.

Of course, either way, the original still reigns supreme.

Before the results were even announced, Goo Tae-hwan and Ready came down to the first floor.

No name tags needed—she could tell who was who at a glance.

They’re both handsome.

Goo Tae-hwan had that “bad boy but not actually bad” look.

Surrounded by delinquent friends but keeps himself in check.

Ready had a trendy, stylish appearance—exactly what’s hot in idols right now.

Fans weren’t into delicate looks anymore; stylish and cutting-edge was the new wave.

Choi Tae-ho, that wildcat, really understood the otaku heart.

Meanwhile, both Goo Tae-hwan and Ready were visibly shaken.

Shocked first by the unexpected audience, then by the unexpected opponent.

Eventually they introduced themselves and exchanged greetings.

Cute.

The vote tally was revealed: Ready won with 29 votes.

Next up: On Sae-mi-ro vs. Juyeon from TakeScene.

One side dominated completely.

Their singing was so good it left the audience stunned.

Three Months – On Sae-mi-ro: 14 votes
TakeScene – Juyeon: 36 votes

Juyeon, TakeScene’s main vocalist, was said to be the best singer in Lion history—and he proved it.

Even Ready was surprised that On Sae-mi-ro managed to pull 14 votes.

Then came the next round…

“Whoa…”

“What the heck?”

The one who stunned the crowd and disrupted the cozy couple vibe was none other than Lee I-on.

As soon as he appeared after his performance, gasps rang out.

Even Choi Se-hee was taken aback.

She’d heard actors had a special aura in person but never understood what that meant—until now.

His features were like a David sculpture.

Even C.U from TakeScene, who was objectively good-looking, looked average next to him.

And he sings well, too? I wonder if he’s bad at dancing.

Lee I-on won the third round with 26 votes.

Both teams have great members…

Two still remained unseen, but the lineup was shaping up to be diverse and well-rounded.

And then, the fourth matchup was announced:

Han Si-on from
vs.
Fade from TakeScene.