That sa night, near Gangnam Station, in an enormous pub.
Perhaps because it was Friday night, the crowd at Gangnam Station was imnse. Not only was it packed outside, but the bars were bursting with custors too. A massive two-story izakaya was also completely full.
There were tables filled only with won, others with n, and so mixed-gender groups.
Each table had its own crowd, and with over a hundred custors easily, the noise inside the bar was overwhelming. On the wide wall of the first floor of the large izakaya, a giant screen was mounted.
What was playing on the screen was a TV broadcast.
Currently, comrcials were on, and at the top of the screen was the logo of the program that was about to air.
-‘Produce That 100!’
Even while drinking, the custors glanced at the screen and chatted.
“Hey, that’s ‘Produce That 100!’ Wasn’t today the first broadcast?”
“Oh? Ahhh! That’s right, today’s Friday, huh?”
“I marked it to watch because it looked fun. Nice! Should we head to round two after watching a bit here?”
“Wasn’t it like 100 contestants? That’s insane.”
At many tables watching the screen, the topic of ‘Produce That 100!’ ca up. Of course, the conversation quickly shifted to sothing else.
Then.
"Ah, the comrcials are over! It's starting now."
As soon as the ads ended, the first episode of ‘Produce That 100!’ began on the izakaya screen. The first cut showed flashy scenes of already wildly successful idols that had appeared in the official teaser.
-♬♪
As the BGM played, the ‘Produce That 100!’ title and official logo appeared. Then it showed an overview of the ‘JTVM’ broadcasting station, the production team in a eting, the confird concept for ‘Produce That 100!’, and the process of selecting the final 100 participants.
For roughly 15 minutes, ‘Produce That 100!’ delivered a fast-paced introduction.
-[“Let’s get the pre-eting with the judges ready.”]
Next, the four judges were introduced: Yoon Seung-won, Gong Joo-mi, Song Min-geun, and Lee Da-mi. Around this ti, more and more male and female custors at the izakaya began to focus on the screen. So were watching openly, so kept an eye on it while drinking, and others were half-watching, half-not.
Soon.
-♬♪
The music changed in ‘Produce That 100!’ as it showed the massive Paju campus where the survival audition would take place. It also displayed various locations like the huge stage hall, dorms, dining area, and practice rooms.
The directing made it look like an enormous village.
“Damn, the scale is huge??”
“Exactly, where is that place? Did they build the whole set from scratch?”
“No way. If they rebuilt all those buildings, imagine how much that’d cost.”
“Still, I love the scale. It’s impressive.”
Before long, masked participants began appearing on screen one by one. They were gathering before entering the campus. But with their masks on, it was hard to recognize their faces.
"What's this?? Why are they wearing masks??"
“Don’t tell they’re keeping them on until the audition?”
“Look at that one, his hair’s bright yellow!”
“Are there foreigners too? That guy’s eyes are totally-”
As the izakaya custors gradually got drawn into ‘Produce That 100!’, scenes began to show the participants awkwardly chatting while being transported by bus.
-[“Where are you from?”]
-[“Seoul.”]
-[“Ah- I'm from Yongin.”]
Then ca the scene of drawing numbered balls.
-[“Please keep your mask on, pick a ball from this box!”]
A black-haired guy drew number 1. It showed him pinning the number 1 badge to his chest.
“He looks like he’s gonna be good.”
“Probably a mask-fish. Looks fine from the nose up, but if his lower face sucks, he might be ugly as hell.”
Following that, a sequence of other masked participants attaching number badges played, and in the current broadcast, Groups 1 and 2 were mixed together as if fild simultaneously. The people at the bar didn’t realize it, but the footage had been cleverly edited.
About ten minutes passed.
-["It was my dream and is also the dream of 'The 100' who will stand on this stage to beco idols! 'Produce That 100!' begins now!"]
On a grand stage, Jang Dae-han was shown in a solo shot, declaring the start of the audition, and then he looked at the cue cards to brief how the first evaluation of ‘Produce That 100!’ would proceed.
-[“...As soon as the contestant steps on stage, they will reveal their face, and without any interview, they’ll imdiately perform what they’ve prepared!”]
Finally, the first contestant took the stage. The long-awaited mont excited many male and female custors in the izakaya.
“Ooh- it’s starting!”
“Is that guy’s hair red? Looks like a tomato.”
“Show the face, show the face!”
The red-haired contestant who first appeared on screen was Number 10. As soon as Number 10 took off his mask, the custors imdiately started judging.
“Sss- kind of ambiguous.”
“He looks a bit like a weasel.”
“The red hair is a minus, black would’ve looked better on him.”
Number 10 greeted the judges, then declared he would show his dance. The performance began imdiately. His skills weren’t bad, and many of the bar patrons responded positively.
"He seems to be a good dancer?"
“Yeah, he’s kind of flashy and showy, which is a bit much, but he’s got sothing.”
“Not bad at all??”
Indeed, Number 10 received decent evaluations from the judges and passed.
-[“Congratulations! Number 10, you’ve officially passed!!”]
Next was Number 2. With his entrance, Number 2 received rave reactions from the custors.
“Oh! That guy’s good-looking!”
“Looks like the decent ones are finally showing up??”
“He’s totally my type!! He’s mine, mine.”
“Get a grip.”
-♬♪
But for so reason, he showcased unstable vocals.
-[“Number 2, you’re lacking in basics. You have so bad habits, but you didn’t realize them, did you?”]
He was ultimately eliminated.
After that, contestants wearing various number tags stepped on stage and removed their masks, receiving either passes or rejections, smiling or crying as it went. anwhile, over a hundred custors were fully imrsed in watching ‘Produce That 100!’ and critiquing the contestants.
Especially, the fun of watching them take off the masks beca a key feature.
“That one just now gave off a kind of gloomy vibe, but played the guitar well? Bit of a twist??”
“But seriously, why did Number 2 get cut? He was handso.”
“Eh, if it’s just looks, that gloomy one who just went is better.”
“For , it’s Number 42? That one looked super sharp, I liked him.”
“Don’t you think overall the contestants are in pretty good shape?”
“Not for ?? I feel kind of let down, to be honest??”
Before anyone realized, ‘Produce That 100!’ had beco the new dish to devour at the massive bar. The episode ran a little over an hour.
Then it happened.
-[“Number 1, please remove your mask.”]
On the ‘Produce That 100!’ stage shown on the screen, a black-haired man wearing the Number 1 badge had stepped up. This caused many bar patrons to once again fix their eyes on the screen, as Number 1 lowered his head and took off the white mask.
The cara angle slowly zood in from a full shot of the stage to a close-up of Number 1’s face as the mask ca off.
Under the stage lights, Number 1’s face filled the entire large screen in the izakaya.
For a mont, the loud, noisy atmosphere of the izakaya dropped by a few decibels.
“Huh??”
“...Wow- ”
“Wait, what?? Huh?”
At that, many eyes near the first-floor screen widened dramatically.
They also instinctively parted their lips slightly.
“Holy- he’s insanely handso?? What is this, CGI?”
Number 1. No, it was Kang Rojun’s first appearance.
*****
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