Translator: Dreamscribe
PD Woo Han-suk made an additional request to the person in charge at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium.
"Before the match, during the rehearsal, we'd like to secure as much time as possible if that's feasible."
"Hmm- alright. We'll prepare accordingly."
"Will the lighting and stage direction be possible as per what we sent you?"
"Yes. No problem."
PD Woo Han-suk nodded and asked.
"How full do you think the audience will be for the volleyball match on the 26th?"
"Usually, we get at least 70% occupancy no matter what, but since that day's match is a popular one, it'll probably be more packed."
"I see."
"But the performance being top secret applies not only to the audience but also to the reporters coming, right?"
"We actually need to be even more careful with the reporters."
The meeting ended in about 30 minutes, and as soon as the stadium representative left, writer Kim Se-hee, who had been waiting in the back, rushed over.
"PD nim!!"
She waved her phone.
"The ratings, the ratings!"
PD Woo Han-suk chuckled.
"Yeah. What are they?"
Kim Se-hee and the other writers shouted in unison.
"23.2%!!"
Breaking 23%. Once again, 'Produce That 100!' broke a new record, and the news had already been spread widely by the reporters.
"'Produce That 100!' heading toward 25% ratings, Episode 6 officially surpasses 23%!"
No. 1 among all variety shows, No. 1 in its time slot, and the track 'Produce' was also No. 1.
'Produce That 100!' was in the midst of a No. 1 party, like a runaway locomotive, and public interest in the surprise performance for the third evaluation was exploding on SNS and various communities.
Netflix Korea did not miss this momentum.
-[Hello, this is Netflix Korea. Today, 'Produce That 100!', the sensation sweeping the nation, is officially launching...]
Starting with their official SNS channel, Netflix Korea did not neglect media play either.
"'Produce That 100!' finally enters Netflix"
"From tonight, you can watch 'Produce That 100!' on Netflix too... countdown to overseas expansion?"
At this time, similar news was breaking not only in Korea but also in Japan.
-Just saw in an official Japanese article that it's launching on Netflix Japan on the 31stㅇㅇ
-Woooow are they already targeting Japan?
-Japanese people are super interested in Korean idol industryㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-It's already going viral on Japanese SNS
-Right ㅋㅋㅋㅋ the participants' photos are being shared like crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ No. 1 the most popular
The Korean and Japanese Netflix launch dates for 'Produce That 100!' were confirmed. A double score. For reference, 'Produce That 100!' was the first Korean variety show to launch on Netflix Japan. This was enough to excite both Korean and Japanese fans.
'Produce That 100!'
"Japanese fans buzzing over official Netflix Japan launch of 'Produce That 100!' on the 31st"
It took the number one spot on the real-time rankings of a famous Japanese SNS.
At the same time.
Participants at the Paju Campus were focused on practice. Of course, except for Kang Rojun. After completing his daily mission and checking the viewership rating for 'Produce That 100!', he headed straight to the break room.
A laptop was placed in front of Rojun, who was sitting alone.
"Hmm-"
On the turned-on screen, the lyrics of the rap track 'Witch' were densely written. He had already finished writing the lyrics, but was doing a final check before handing them over to No. 58. Kang Rojun crossed his arms and focused on the lyrics he wrote.
"..."
A quick glance showed the beginning of the lyrics for 'Witch' like this:
-[Wi- tch, the curse you cast is a vicious type, get your face out of my sight]
[Grinding teeth, you're my only failure, 실패] (TL Note: In the original raw text, 실패 (fail) is in English, so in the translation I changed it to Korean.)
[You should exist in myths or fairy tales, why are you fueling my anger]
.
.
.
Of course, it wasn't written carelessly. Kang Rojun had studied by searching about lyric writing. As a bonus, he had thoroughly read through a lot of rap lyrics. From that point on, it was all about Rojun's intuition and sense. Lyric writing was unexpectedly easy for him. Like when he wrote scripts, it flowed naturally.
'Well, ultimately, it's up to No. 58 to judge how it is.'
Then, Kang Rojun closed the laptop.
Meanwhile, at the SBC Drama Department.
Key staff members including PD Jung Soo-ryeong gathered in a meeting room. Most of the key staff who had attended the pre-meeting were present. It was the final production meeting before the script reading.
Rather than a full meeting, it was more like a final check.
All confirmed elements, shooting set, locations, actors' outfits, filming schedule, and so on, had to be double-checked again. Even with all this, once actual filming began, various issues always popped up on set.
A break was called in the middle of the ongoing meeting.
Key staff members stretched and left the meeting room for coffee or a smoke, but PD Jung Soo-ryeong, sitting at the head seat of the ㅁ-shaped table, said.
"Hm-"
As she retied her hair, she closely studied the script of 'Rental Lover'. Her expression showed deep thought. A junior assistant director, who was on the way to the restroom, asked her.
"What's wrong??"
PD Jung Soo-ryeong scratched her head.
"...It's about 'Lover No. 4'. Do you think it looks okay?"
"It seems fine to me."
"There's no problem per se. But I still think we should remove the English lines for 'Lover No. 4'."
"Why?"
The junior AD tilted their head, and PD Jung Soo-ryeong replied, thinking of Kang Rojun's face. (TL Note: Assistant Director)
"Writer is good at Japanese. But in comparison, his English is pretty average. Just normal. But when they're both in the same frame, the English stands out as really weak."
The junior AD's expression shifted to one of understanding.
"Whoa, so writer-nim is good at Japanese too, he's totally OP. I almost dropped my jaw during the pre-meeting when I saw his acting. But it seems like the other key staff didn't get to see his acting?"
"No one except the camera director had the time. We kept the writer's identity under wraps the whole time. Everyone will see at the script reading anyway."
"Ahh. But if we take English out of 'Lover No. 4's setup, doesn't that remove some of the fun from the character?"
PD Jung Soo-ryeong let out a small sigh and agreed.
"It does. The charm drops too. Foreign languages are the hook for 'Lover No. 4', and it's fun that the communication gap with the female lead comes from all the different languages."
"Right, but if the Japanese is too good, it could feel off. The setup could get messy."
"Exactly. If both are fluent, there's no issue, but if only one stands out, the English comes off as obviously practiced, and the character feels off. It's smoother to just go with Japanese."
"Hmm, but it's a shame to lose that character appeal."
"Well, I'll look at it again during the script reading. If the result is as expected and it stands out too much-"
After pondering, PD Jung Soo-ryeong made a decision.
"We'll go with cutting the English lines."
That same night, at the 'Produce That 100!' campus.
Dozens of exhausted participants were groaning in their rooms or in the lounge. It was mostly Team 1 members.
That's when it happened. A campus-wide announcement was made.
"Thank you for your hard work today."
PD Woo Han-suk's voice echoed.
"I have an announcement for Team 1 members. Please gather after breakfast tomorrow, Sunday the 23rd. Only Team 1 has their first 'Produce' group dance evaluation and rehearsal scheduled. Let me repeat..."
This meant that, now that individual training was over, the final group dance evaluation and rehearsal for 'Produce' would continue. Group dance practice for the 13 members of Team 1 was already underway, and Lee Han-na had already completed a preliminary evaluation.
It was effectively the next step.
With only 3 days left until the surprise performance on the 26th, excluding the actual day, it would be a series of rehearsals. Whatever the case, the dozens of participants reacted in various ways to the broadcast announcement. Despair and joy, fear and anticipation, and more.
Room 105 was no exception.
No. 19, No. 37, and No. 58, who were assigned to Teams 2 and 3, glanced at Kang Rojun, who was in Team 1. They wondered what his expression was like. Rojun's face was neutral. Just calm.
'Tomorrow morning? Then I'll have to wake up earlier. If I want to finish my daily mission.'
Because he was more concerned about completing his mission.
For reference, Teams 2 and 3, excluding Team 1 with Kang Rojun, were still in individual practice. Their first evaluation would start next Monday.
Anyway, as the dorm became noisy, Kang Rojun called out to No. 58.
"No. 58 nim."
"...Yes?"
"Just a moment."
Rojun left the room. No. 58, wondering what was going on, followed him. Once in the corridor, Kang Rojun calmly told No. 58.
"The lyrics for 'Witch' are done. I actually finished them yesterday, but I just did a final check today. I'll send them to you on chat now, so please take a look."
No. 58 was visibly surprised.
"Al-already??"
They had only discussed it on Wednesday afternoon. If he finished it yesterday, that meant he completed it in just two days.
'Is he serious? That's way too fast?!'
While No. 58's eyes widened,
'Don't tell me he just scribbled random nonsense instead of real lyrics?'
Kang Rojun seemed unfazed.
"I just did what I could, so don't expect too much."
"No, did you really complete it??"
"Yes. That's how it turned out. It's my first time writing lyrics, so it might be weird, but have a look."
"Uh… okay."
Rojun sent the lyrics through chat, and No. 58, still wide-eyed, looked down at his phone as he walked back into the room. Rojun stretched with a big yawn.
'His expression looked vague. Well, even if No. 58 thinks the lyrics are crap, nothing I can do. I'm satisfied. Writing lyrics was actually kinda fun.'
Once he actually tried it, songwriting was clearly different from scriptwriting. Roughly speaking, writing a script involved unfolding a story, whereas lyric writing was about compressing it. However, neither was particularly difficult for Kang Rojun.
It seemed haphazard at first glance, but contained potential.
Having wrapped up one task, Rojun moved toward the bathroom to empty his bladder before bed, while No. 58 stood still in front of Room 105's door, slowly reading the lyrics Rojun had written.
It looked odd, so No. 19 and No. 37 asked him,
"What are you doing, No. 58?"
"Did you just read a crazy article or something??"
"..."
No. 58 didn't have time to respond. The new lyrics for the rap track 'Witch' had utterly shocked him.
'...What is this. These are amazing?!'
The moment he read the lyrics Kang Rojun had written, No. 58 fell in love with them. When Rojun said, "I just did what I could," No. 58 hadn't expected much. Rojun had even said this was his first time writing lyrics.
But the result was.
'Is this really the level of someone writing lyrics for the first time???'
It could rival a professional lyricist. If someone who didn't know Rojun's story saw this, they'd never guess it was from a rookie. Even for No. 58, who had been composing for years, this was unimaginable.
-Whoos.
Still reeling, No. 58 hurried out of the room and back into the hallway. But Kang Rojun was nowhere to be seen. He looked around to find No. 1, then looked back down at his phone with wide eyes.
Then.
-Swish.
He began to softly mutter the lyrics Rojun had written. More precisely, he started performing the newly completed rap 'Witch'. If any other participant saw him, they'd think No. 58 had lost it, but he didn't care. Following the lyrics, he completed the first verse of 'Witch'.
At this point, No. 58 muttered to himself,
"...It's definite, he wrote this with rhyme and flow in mind. He even incorporated the concept of the 'Witch' rap."
It finally felt like 'Witch' was complete.
"How could someone who's never composed or written lyrics come up with this?"
After standing frozen for a moment, No. 58 returned to his room, pulled out his composition notebooks from his bag, opened the page with the 'Witch' rap, took out a pencil, and wrote something at the very top.
-Composed by: No. 58 / Lyrics by: No. 1
Around this time, Kang Rojun was washing his hands in the bathroom.
At that moment.
-Buzz buzz.
-Buzz buzz.
Several short vibrations felt on his wrist. Startled, he immediately checked his smartwatch. Multiple notifications had arrived.
-[Due to an additional side job added to the title 'Side Job Tycoon', +1 enhancement has been applied!]
-[The title 'Side Job Tycoon' has been enhanced to +3, increasing bonus coins to 3.]
-[You have achieved a +3 title enhancement! As a reward, the item 'AI Automation One-Time Free Pass' has been granted.]
Suddenly, 'Side Job Tycoon' had been enhanced.
'Because I wrote lyrics?'
At this point, Kang Rojun focused on the newly received reward item.
"AI Automation One-Time Free Pass?"
An item that, clearly, allowed one free use of 'AI Automation'. Rojun's eyes widened a little.
"Seriously? One free use of 'AI Automation'?? Hold on, in that case-"
A slow smile spread across Kang Rojun's face.
"I've gotta use it on something expensive. Wasn't English 400?"
English came to mind.
*****
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