Chapter Text
The training atmosphere continued as Moondae had hoped. There were no stupid arguments, no additional discussions and Moondae could try to find enjoyment in the difficulties he was facing.
Dancing was difficult, but the process of working hard with those around him kept Moondae moving.
The hard work we put in today is for the success of our performance. To introduce to the public that the trainees in this season are very reasonable trainees to be given a chance to debut. And introduce his talent as main vocal to the public officially of course.
Moondae probably didn't like the image created by the production team later, that's why he had to work even harder to prove that his presence here wasn't just accidental like many people thought.
He's dead if he fails to debut after all.
..
"All team members ready?!" Keun Sejin shouted excitedly while gathering their team members.
Today was the first day they would be performing live in front of many people. The first team match was no less important than the first evaluation. They would all show the results of their days of hard work.
"Let's say fighting!"
"FIGHTING!"
Park Moondae called out in a low voice. He didn't feel too nervous because he was confident in what they had. But the other youths certainly had their own worries. A shout of encouragement like this could always ease some of the nerves.
....
"We performed well!"
Moondae staggered slightly as Ahyeon suddenly hugged him tight. The screams of the fans asking for an encore could still be heard clearly.
Even Park Moondae was intoxicated by this pleasant atmosphere.
His goal in making his debut was to avoid the sudden death.
But... But when he heard the audience's happy screams, their enthusiasm to see the future idols again...
The pride that they managed to perform perfectly without a single mistake...
This sense of happiness...
The atmosphere was pleasant.
"Yes, we did well"
Moondae patted Ahyeon lightly on the back as he could feel that the young man was now crying tears of joy. Aigoo, they hadn't even had a chance to sit down yet because now one by one the members of October 31 team were hugging each other with Park Moondae as the center.
"Waaaaah, it feels so good"
"We managed to put on an amazing performance!"
"The concept is awesome! Thank you for giving us this concept Hyung-nim!"
Keun Sejin, gold 1 and gold 2 each expressed their happiness while hugging. If only Moondae hadn't been crushed by these Alphas, he probably would have felt much better.
"Now now, let's take a break and wait for the final result of this match. Let's have a drink first and sit comfortably" Keun Sejin managed to pull Moondae out of everyone's arms.
Yes, it was much better now that he could breathe.
"Here, drink."
Receiving the bottle of drink from Keun Sejin, Moondae took his share of the seat to continue their filming. This long day was still not over.
★
Today was the day they filmed while watching the first episode together with everyone.
Tonight, we sat on uncomfortable chairs, wore not-so-comfortable clothes too, but still had to show the best reaction we could give.
Gold 1, gold 2 and Keun Sejin looked quite tired as they didn't talk as much as before.
But of course, they still had the energy to annoy Park Moondae.
"Wow Moondae Hyung, you're going to be a legend in this episode!"
"What a performance! I remember it clearly until now!"
"Moondae-ssi is amazing!"
"Stop it!"
The trio laughed at the dominant omega's annoyed response.
Park Moondae didn't want to care what kind of fun these Alphas were having while teasing him, but there was no bad purpose to all this joking around.
Honestly, it had been too long for Moondae, well, Ryu Gunwoo not to be surrounded by noisy people who wanted to joke around with him.
They, the contestants here also have a relatively young age. Naturally, they were still full of energy.
After a long wait, the staff finally started the first episode on the big screen in front of them.
Within 2 hours, Moondae wondered how much screen time he would get.
.......
Park Moondae is quite happy with the amount of screen time he gets. However... While everyone was entertained by his performance and his responses to interviews, Moondae had other concerns.
The Productions team decided to make Park Moondae's character look like someone who had no intention of becoming an idol because of his background as an ordinary person.
A lot of screen time but only to be laughed at by others...
Even his performance was inferior to other editing which made Moondae uncomfortable.
He had to check public opinion as soon as possible and think of the best way out.
This is bad.
If his image seemed like he wasn't serious about becoming an idol...
All his hard work would be in vain. What was the point of him not sleeping for a whole week to get a good evaluation score? What's the point of almost starting a fight with a teenage boy over a song concept?
Out of the 76 contestants, only Park Moondae would have just died if he failed to debut.
No, this can't happen.
An omega dominant who has a background from among ordinary people, who does not have any talent except singing and visuals that fall into the category of ordinary among other idols....
His head was spinning. There are too many bad possibilities happening on the internet right now.
★
The live PR will start soon. Park Moondae has been researching the internet about what kind of PR live the viewers are interested in.
He worked hard to change his image in the first episodes. Such things must not continue until the finale or the number of people sympathizing with him will decrease.
In this season, their mission is to find some balls with different levels. The level itself doesn't matter, it's the content that needs to be as interesting as possible.
"I told you, we'd better follow Park Moondae"
"Hyung-nim is a genius!"
Moondae gasped as he heard two voices behind him. Gold 1 and Keun Sejin managed to follow him behind the door without Moondae realizing it.
Seriously, couldn't he avoid Keun Sejin? Why did he keep ending up with this young man?
"Moondae moondae, should we split up?"
".. Yes. The sooner the better."
"Haha, I knew that you would answer like this"
"Thanks for the help with the location. We'll work hard!"
Keun Sejin went to look for their little ball, of course after messing up Moondae's hair first. His 29-year-old mental psyche screamed unacceptably at being treated like a child, but Moondae couldn't protest.
Park Moondae couldn't protest because in reality, the two young men were moving quickly. It was easy to find the ball in various places with those two by his side.
With Moondae as the director of the room, they kept moving before the other trainees came to these places.
"Hide! There's someone!"
To avoid any commotion like the ball theft... Gold 1, Keun Sejin and Moondae decided not to meet anyone before they returned to the main room.
It ended up with them having to keep hiding in the best place possible.
Keun Sejin pulled his hand while Gold 1 pushed them both against the wall.
Was this really necessary? He didn't know how many times Moondae had found himself crushed by others.
"Hyung, move forward a little. I'm being crushed" For the first time, Moondae let out a protest.
"Ah, sorry... Please hold on for a moment hmm? They're still here" The soft voice of gold 1 really sounded sorry, but they didn't want to be noticed by anyone.
In the next second, a large hands wrapped around his waist, pulling Moondae to take a few steps back and lean against Keun Sejin's body.
He had more room to breathe, and Moondae was grateful for that.
In the moment where Moondae took a deep breath in relief, at the same time, he could inhale the same scent of wood.
Wood... This scent was hard to describe properly. But it was definitely the kind of scent Moondae would encounter if he went to an area where there were a lot of shady trees.
The scent of nature.
Pheromones...
"Sejin"
"Hmm?"
"Hurry up, we've been summoned!" Before Moondae could get confirmation of the pheromone's owner, Gold 1 had grabbed Moondae's wrist and led him away.
Well, this wasn't something Moondae needed to worry about. Keun Sejin probably just forgot to take his pills and ended up with Moondae being able to pick up the scent of the man.
There was no prohibition for everyone to release their pheromone scent, it was just that... For everyone's convenience, it was better not to. Although it's not something that can threaten an idol's life or image, the scent of pheromones spread without the owner of the body's will is still an annoying thing.
....
"Sejin"
After going through several trainees, Moondae finally managed to tug on the hem of Keun Sejin's shirt before the young man left the room.
"Ah yes, what did you want to talk about?"
For no apparent reason, Moondae didn't really like it when Sejin bent his body slightly to hear Moondae's voice better.
Perhaps due to the fact that Sejin knew about the sensitive topic Moondae was likely to say, he chose to move closer so Moondae could speak in a lower tone.
"Pill. Did you forget to take the suppressant?"
"Eh?"
"I could inhale the woody scent earlier. Now it's getting stronger."
"Oh my God... "
Keun Sejin looked quite panicked when the information was given. But of course, Keun Sejin was a person who could quickly decide what he should do.
"I'll say my thanks properly later. I'll go first!"
Keun Sejin quickly ran away from everyone to his room.
Park Moondae let out a long sigh. Perhaps, because that young man was an alpha dominant, his pheromones had little effect even on his omega dominant self.
Whatever, just think of it as a return favor for successfully assisting him in finding balls in various places.
. ...
At exactly 7:50 PM, the live PR began. Moondae had prepared everything. Starting from the most delicious food from all the samples he ate, Kimbab which would be the hidden weapon of this mukbang event and what he should talk about.
The best mukbang shows are those that manage to eat neatly and make the audience want to eat together. Not too noisy to the point of ear-splitting, nor too ordinary because the content won't be interesting.
If Moondae makes it to the top 33, his PR live duration will be increased by 10 minutes.
It's time for Park Moondae to start changing public opinion about his character before things get worse.
......
Park Moondae finally arrived at the house that he thought belonged to Keun Sejin because the man kept pointing out the location of the room that Moondae might need.
Seon Ahyeon, as the owner of the house, just smiled shyly while escorting Moondae to the living room.
One by one, all the members of October 31 finally gathered.
Moondae could only let out a long sigh when he saw how chaotic the atmosphere was in this living room.
Gold 1, gold 2 and Keun Sejin looked so bright and noisy as always. They were a talkative bunch of young men who laughed easily at light jokes.
On the other hand, there are Choi Wongil and Bae Sejin who don't even try to socialize with anyone in this house.
And finally, Seon Ahyeon, the owner of the house who is busy with the game in his hand.
What a mess.
It's still amazing that they managed to put on such a great performance on stage.
Episode 3 began.
Things were starting to calm down and Moondae was able to monitor public opinion comfortably while watching episode 3 intently.
This focus was slightly broken by Keun Sejin who suddenly moved to sit near him.
"Moondae moondae~"
"Hmm."
"For that day, thank you again"
Hmm? Which one?
"Looking for the ball?"
".... "
Keun Sejin suddenly laughed when he heard his answer, and in that instant, Moondae realized where this young man was going. No wonder his tone was kept low.
"I mean, thanks for reminding me about the pills. I completely forgot to drink the pill that day."
"Since you seem to care so much about it, I hope you don't forget it again"
Keun Sejin nodded, it seemed that this young man still wanted to talk because he didn't move his position.
"What?"
"Chocolate."
Moondae looked confused at this strange guy. Seriously, what did he really want to say?
Since Moondae happened to be holding a jar of chocolate, he chose to feed Keun Sejin with chocolate.
Maybe this way, the big boy would go away.
"Thanks for the chocolate. But I mean... "
Suddenly bringing his lips to Moondae's ear, the young man whispered softly.
"Your pheromones, they smell like chocolate. You should take an even stronger dose of pills if you don't want to get into trouble."
Fuck.
"Now now our leader, you're too close to Moondae"
Without anyone noticing, Gold 1 suddenly appeared to move Keun Sejin's head away from his ear. Pushing the big young man some distance away before placing himself in the center.
"I know that dominant omega is interesting, but we should avoid rumors while IdolCo is still going on!"
This time, Moondae did not hold back from hitting the back of Gold 1's head.
This action generated laughter from Gold 2 and Seon Ahyeon, and even Bae Sejin could be seen smiling a little before refocusing on the TV screen.
Choi Wongil? That kid didn't even want to turn his head to him.