The production crew’s lodging area.
Currently, the staff of 'Produce That 100!' were generally using the lodging facilities, but they operated on a system which allowed them to leave and return depending on their circumstances.
In one of the eting rooms within the staff’s lodging building.
Although it was called a eting room, it was rely a space with a desk set up. Inside, PD Woo Han-suk, Kim Se-hee, writers, key staff from the directing team, and a few others were gathered. The second round of filming had already begun, but they were also holding etings in between.
The topics were issues that arose during filming, the participants’ conditions, and the current situation.
Right now, Kim Se-hee, who resembled a hamster, was conducting a briefing while looking at her tablet.
“All the vocal, dance, and rap teams have begun their training. For today, they’ll mainly be introducing themselves and doing a brief skills check.”
PD Woo Han-suk slowly nodded. The dark circles under his eyes had grown even darker.
“Since the training just started, there shouldn’t be any issues yet. But is there any conflict between the trainers and participants?”
“I haven’t received any reports. Since it’s still early, they’re probably all following instructions well, right?”
“Hmm- if it’s too uneventful, there won’t be much to use.”
Woo Han-suk, crossing his arms and exhaling, took off his glasses.
“Is there anyone we can build a character around? Except for number 10.”
Another female writer responded.
“No one stands out yet. The closest would be… number 58? The kid’s a bit quiet? Or rather, gloomy? Maybe even creepy?”
“Number 58? Oh- the one with the baby perm?”
“That’s right.”
“Alright, keep an eye on them.”
The production team continued analyzing the participants’ personalities for a while.
“There aren’t any particularly unique individuals yet. It’s a bit disappointing for the early stage.”
“This is only the second round, after all. It’s still the adjustnt period. Once they get more comfortable, things might start blowing up here and there. Let’s wait and see.”
“You think I don’t know that? Hah- the more hook-worthy participants there are, the easier it is to edit. So if there are any small issues, report them imdiately.”
As the key staff nodded in agreent, Kim Se-hee, looking at a photo of Kang Rojun on her tablet, joined the conversation.
“Number 1 is too strong. So far, he has both skills and a solid villain character, plus his visuals are on another level. On top of that, he acts however he wants.”
“Yeah, honestly, I wonder if any character will even be able to beat number 1.”
“In the early episodes, number 1 will definitely monopolize all the attention, right?”
“No need to even say it.”
As the conversation suddenly shifted to Kang Rojun, PD Woo Han-suk crossed his legs and asked,
“I heard he worked out in the morning? What did he do?”
“Nothing much. Just running and push-ups, that kind of thing. Ah, but we did film it.”
“What’s number 1 doing now? Since everyone else went into training, he should be alone.”
“After working out and eating, he went into the practice room by himself. All the caras are focused on the training sessions, so we haven’t seen what he’s doing. Should we assign a dedicated cara to him now?”
After a brief thought, PD Woo Han-suk shook his head.
“No, there’s no need to push it. It’s not like we don’t have small caras in there. We can check the footage later during editing. And right now, the main focus is training, so it’s best to concentrate on that.”
“Understood.”
“He chose to skip training, so he must have accepted that his screen ti will be reduced during this period. Let’s observe for a few days and then do a brief interview with him.”
As if wrapping up the eting,
“Maybe, during the training period, number 1 will barely appear…”
PD Woo Han-suk stood up smoothly.
“…Only to suddenly make a dramatic entrance during the second evaluation. That might actually be a great hook for the viewers.”
At the sa ti, in the large practice room.
Kang Rojun stood alone in the vast practice room, surrounded by mirrors on all sides. Or rather, it would not have been strange to say that the person in the room was not Rojun.
-♬♪
As 'brake' played through the speakers, he danced in sync with the beat. His movents were so unfamiliar that they seed like those of a completely different person.
There was no trace of the clumsy, stiff body that used to stumble through any attempt at dancing.
Only.
“Haa- hngh-”
Though his breath was rough, his dance lines were smooth. Only this version of Kang Rojun existed. His heart felt like it might burst, but he did not stop dancing.
This was already his fourth ti.
Repeating the first and second verse choreography of 'brake' in full, over and over again. Because he was enjoying it.
‘It feels completely different from singing.’
Of course, singing was fun and interesting as well. However, with dance, the intense movents of his body made it feel more refreshing. On top of that, his body moved exactly as he wanted, following the precise choreography, giving him an almost euphoric sensation.
Before long.
"Argh!!"
After completing the fourth round of the choreography, Kang Rojun collapsed onto the floor of the practice room, lying spread out. His short-sleeved shirt and hair were already drenched with sweat. Staring at the ceiling, Rojun smirked.
“What the hell, this is fun?”
It felt like a character in a ga rapidly leveling up dozens of tis faster than others thanks to in-ga purchases. Afterward, Kang Rojun danced through the 'brake' choreography a couple more tis before finally leaving the practice room.
‘Soone might start coming soon.’
He was referring to participants finishing their training or the staff. If possible, Rojun wanted to use a quiet practice room.
The place he arrived at next was a lounge near the practice room. It was furnished with multiple desks and sofas.
-Swoosh.
Here, Rojun intended to write. Even if he ended up producing a few more piles of literary garbage, it would be best to at least try writing for now.
But before that.
‘Let’s check 'AI Simulation' first.’
There was sothing he needed to do first. He had completed today’s mission, but he had yet to enhance his stats. When he checked his status, he was slightly surprised.
-[Appearance (100/100) │ Singing Ability (4.8/100) │ Rap (1.5/100)]
[Dance (1.2/100) │ Eloquence (5.7/100) │ Acting (0.8/100)]
His stats had increased slightly across the board. Singing Ability and Dance made sense, but
‘Why did my Acting stat go up? Don’t tell , it’s because I’ve been hiding my lack of singing and poor dance skills??’
Whatever the reason, having stats rise on their own was a blessing. Without hesitation, Rojun invested 10 Coins into his Singing Ability.
-[Singing Ability (5.8/100)]
There was still a long way to go, but curiosity started to creep in. There probably wouldn’t be any significant changes yet, right? Still, just in case, he moved toward the restroom. It was the best place to check after all, it was the only place on this campus without caras.
Luckily, the restroom on the sa floor was empty.
“Ah, ah.”
Sitting inside a stall, Kang Rojun sang as quietly as possible. The song? Just whatever ca to mind.
-♬♪
About ten seconds in, Rojun stopped singing. Then, with a deliberately serious expression.
‘Huh? This… feels slightly better?’
Of course, he was still tone-deaf. However, if yesterday he was garbage tone-deaf, today, he was just tone-deaf? His pitch deviation had decreased.
‘Again.’
The second attempt was the sa.
The next morning, at the SBC Drama Departnt.
PD Jung Soo-ryeong was seated, engaged in a phone call.
“Oh wow- Kim Star-nim? I read the article. What a generous donation you made!”
She was probably making courtesy calls to actors, checking in on them. As a director, maintaining connections was a natural part of the job.
Once she finished the call, a male PD approached her.
“Hey, PD Jung? The departnt head is calling for you.”
“Okay~”
After standing up, she quickly adjusted her clothes and retied her frizzy brown hair. Being a fast walker, she arrived at the departnt head’s office in no ti.
-Knock, knock.
After knocking, a deep male voice from inside told her to enter. Inside the departnt head’s office, a bald man seated at his desk removed his half-rim glasses. He appeared to be in his mid-to-late 50s.
“Sit.”
“Yes, yes-”
PD Jung Soo-ryeong sat on the five-person sofa. The departnt head, seated at the head position, placed a stack of papers on the table. A familiar na stood out.
-Rental Lover
-Writer Kang Chul-soo
The departnt head tapped his index finger on the script for 'Rental Lover'.
“I heard you were the one who pushed for this one to win Grand Prize in the one-act play contest?”
“I did push for it, but others and the higher-ups recognized it too. You didn’t like it, departnt head?”
“No, it was good. More importantly, we were originally planning to air this in the fall lineup or at the end of the year, but we need to move it up quite a bit.”
“Move it up? By how much?”
“Imdiately. We need to start filming as soon as possible.”
“Huh? Right away? Why??”
The departnt head let out a deep sigh.
"At first, there was so friction between Hyun-soo and the writer, but it seed to settle down… then another problem popped up. The male lead got hospitalized."
"Park Se-hoon? I heard he had a minor accident while filming a movie, but wasn’t it nothing serious?"
"I don’t know, but he’s been admitted. His schedule is completely ssed up. So, let’s use 'Rental Lover' to fill the gap. If we start right away, we can air it by the end of September, right? That buys us two weeks, and if we run a special episode of 'After Drinking' for another week, that gives us three weeks. That should work."
PD Jung Soo-ryeong scratched her chin.
"End of September? That’s a bit tight. And 'After Drinking' isn’t even getting high ratings right now. You want to air a special episode of that?"
"We need to plug the hole first, you fool. Anyway, it’s about ti for Jin-sung to debut as a director under you, right? Have him handle 'Rental Lover'."
"Ssshh- I actually asked him about it, but he was trembling. He says he’s still not ready."
"When I say do it, just do it. What, there's a director who doesn't want to debut??"
"He’s just that kind of guy."
"What about soone else?"
"If we don’t use Jin-sung, no one else is experienced enough. Eun-jung has joined the B Team."
"Then take Eun-jung out and put Jin-sung in Team B instead."
"And what if both projects fail due to that?"
The departnt head covered his face and let out another sigh. Watching him for a mont, PD Jung Soo-ryeong’s lips curled into a smile.
"How about I do it?"
anwhile, at the the studio campus in Paju.
Today's 'Produce That 100!' filming would mainly focus on the participants' training sessions again. However, since the trainers had assigned them tasks the previous day, today’s footage was expected to be different. Additionally, more participants were starting to use the practice rooms.
A clear sign that they were seriously preparing for the second evaluation.
At this ti, PD Woo Han-suk was at the park next to the participants’ building.
"Hmm-"
Around him were a few writers and several caras. They were all watching Kang Rojun as he ran.
"He runs at the exact sa ti every day? How long does he go for?"
"About an hour."
"An hour??!"
"Yes."
PD Woo Han-suk clicked his tongue in disbelief.
"Even for soone who exercises regularly, running for an hour straight isn’t easy."
As if agreeing, the female writers joined in.
"It doesn’t seem like he’s doing it for show. Rojun-ssi had a fit body from the start. He must’ve been doing this all along."
"I told you not to say the participants’ nas during filming."
"Oh, sorry."
"Tsk. Anyway, even covered in sweat, Number 1 still looks insanely good. How is that even possible?"
"He’s basically a walking photoshoot."
Rubbing his chin, PD Woo Han-suk gave instructions to one of the caran.
"Get a frontal shot of Number 1. Even a short clip will have the viewers falling for him."
Soon, one of the staff with a cara started jogging to get the shot. Just then, a call ca through Woo Han-suk’s walkie-talkie.
-["PD-nim, the judges have arrived at the hall-"]
After replying that he would be there soon, he glanced at Kang Rojun once more before turning away.
A few minutes later, inside the nearly empty hall where the stage was set up, four judges were standing near the caras and audio equipnt.
"Hello-"
PD Woo Han-suk greeted the judges seated on the folding chairs and handed them the transparent files that had been prepared in advance.
"Please take your ti reviewing them. As I ntioned earlier, the second evaluation will be divided into vocal, dance, and rap categories."
The first to react was Lee Da-mi, a forr girl group mber who now managed a mid-sized entertainnt company.
"The songs and choreography have already been decided?"
"Yes. Everything is in the files."
"This is interesting. So, for vocals, dance, and rap, the participants will split the performance between the first verse and the second verse?"
Next to speak was Song Min-geun, the hit-song producer.
"This will make comparisons really clear."
Veteran singer Yoon Seung-won nodded in agreent.
"It’s like a duet, but not quite, which makes it intriguing. Oh, by the way, what did contestant number 1 choose?"
"Dance."
The four judges imdiately flipped through the files. Rojun’s face appeared first in the dance team section.
"He’s paired with number 10? That kid was pretty decent at dancing too."
"His flashy attitude was a bit much, but he definitely knew how to use his body. His dance lines were solid as well."
"A male-female duet dance… and the song is 'brake'?"
"Haha, 'brake' is quite a difficult one."
As the judges discussed for a few more minutes, PD Woo Han-suk added,
"By the way, number 1 really hasn’t received any training. Every other contestant has started theirs."
"Then is he practicing alone right now?"
At that mont.
"Um, PD-nim."
"Yes?"
Gong Joo-mi, a forr girl group mber and now a musical actress, spoke seriously.
"Looking at the second evaluation thod… Let’s take number 1 as an example. In 'brake', number 10 does the choreography for the first verse, and number 1 does the second verse, right? That’s how all the participants are practicing right now too."
"That’s correct."
"Hmm… I was wondering if we could introduce a variation during the evaluation. Sothing that would test their improvisation skills and sense beyond just what they’ve rehearsed."
"What kind of variation are you suggesting?"
When asked, Gong Joo-mi replied simply,
"They perform with the assigned parts first. Then, we have them switch the first and second verse parts and perform again."
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