The Goal is the Ending Fairy

‘590,000 views.’

It had grown this much compared to the first day.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the view count shown before entering the video.

I’d guessed “fortunately, quite a few people watched my video” since I received 8 points as an additional score, but…

Still, it was just a 1-minute-20-second video of a trainee with zero recognition.

Not to mention, it wasn’t even from an aired broadcast – just an introductory video for a program that only had teasers out.

Compared to other trainees who used lots of props and catchphrases, my filming was practically charmless.

At the time, my stat experience was basically zero, plus I was under the influence of the choice window… (Though I did my best.)

Yet this video that even I hadn’t expected much from suddenly exploded in views.

If I got additional points from recommendations, it probably wasn’t due to any negative controversy.

‘Was I just lucky?’

…Shaking off my momentary daze, I quickly clicked on the video.

The view count on my video the first day it was posted was ‘39,000’.

That wasn’t a bad number considering how recently it had been uploaded.

Based on the hourly view count trend from there, to reach this many views, the momentum would have had to stay strong for about a week.

No, it would need to have increased even more to achieve this result.

‘So why exactly?’

Scrolling down to the comments section, my eyes fixed on the top-rated comments.

The comment that had been at the very top on day one had been pushed down a bit.

Above it now were rows of comments filled with “haha”s getting lots of upvotes.

These weren’t mocking or ridiculing laughs. If anything, they expressed interest, amusement, and affection.

@CreamPuff

‖This seemed familiar and like I’d heard it before… Pureum’s Journey…? I thought it was an original song and was thinking ‘their composing is good but lyrics are terrible’…‖

↳ OMG it really isㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ what an arrangementㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ Ahh I thought it was some pop song translationㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ They took that cutesy song and sang it like a drama OST lol

↳ ? What’s everyone talking about?? What’s the original song?? Tell meㅠㅠㅠ

↳ (MeTube link) It’s a children’s cartoon opening song

↳ Oh manㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ This is hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ Who sings a cartoon opening like that thoughㅋㅋㅋㅋ

@KpopChadorLife’s…

‖For those in the comments looking for the song this trainee sang… It’s not a sad movie OST, it’s the theme song from a children’s cartoon called ‘Pureum Pureum Journey’… (MeTube link)‖

↳ What…?

↳ Huh?

↳ What?

↳ ?

↳ You’re kidding

↳ These repliesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ everyone being clueless is hilarious

@AbsolutelyCannotRes…

‖The official ‘Songs That Sound Good If You Don’t Know Korean’‖

↳ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ You must not know the lyrics….

↳ Give me back the time when I didn’t know what this song really was

↳ Now I just laugh every time I listen to itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

@ReveRupReveRup

‖To arrange it this extensively… This kid’s more serious about Tong-Tong Bus than we thought?‖

↳ Turning on my childhood memories

↳ That cartoon did come out during Tong-Tong Bus’s peak

↳ But of all the Tong-Tong Bus cartoons with great songs, why this one?ㅋㅋㅋ

Hmm…

The reactions were pretty entertaining.

Clearly, this was a better choice than that horror whatever song.

Even now, as I scrolled through comments, most focused on interest in my song choice.

I could finally relax, seeing how much the song selection had worked in my favor.

Though there was one misunderstanding – people thought I had arranged the song myself.

Well… the quality was too good for someone who just got the notes wrong and sang randomly.

If I were a viewer who didn’t know I’d made a mistake, I probably would’ve thought this was the original arrangement too.

This game really does create significant ripples when it comes to choices.

If I had chosen that weird horror game OST back then, I wouldn’t have gotten nearly this much attention.

Just thinking about that was enough to remind me of how important choices are.

And then, a comment caught my eye.

@ekrcurotozl

‖Came here from Twitter ㅋㅋㅋㅋ It’s realㅋㅋㅋㅋ‖

↳ Singing Pureum Journey with this quality is truly insaneㅋㅋ

↳ Me tooㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ Came to check if it was true and it actually wasㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

It was a post saying they came here after seeing me mentioned on a famous social media platform.

There were over 70 replies saying they’d done the same.

After liking all the comments I’d been reading, I opened the social media app.

Right as I entered the app, there was a post.

Clicking on the heavily reposted post, the video attached with a brief message expanded.

The automatically playing video was a short edit of just my singing part.

@Mym∗∗∗∗

‖This is crazyㅋㅋㅋ One of the HON trainee intro videos has someone singing Pureum Pureum Journey but with a mood arrangement….

(Trainee Seo Dan-ah singing video |00:34)‖

〚⇅8,344 | ♡6,976〛

And this wasn’t the only one – there were several similar posts.

And all these posts were being “RP’d” (reposted) and spreading wider.

The post I saw first actually had the lowest number of reposts.

Without my knowledge, I had gained quite a bit of fame on social media.

Plus, seeing several posts getting late reposts suggested it was thanks to raising my stats midway through.

The more I raised my charm and likability stats, the more favorably people viewed me.

In other words, the public was looking at me through a positive filter.

That seemed to be why some people were late to notice my existence.

For me, the more people interested in me, the better, so this was all good news.

Similarly, I liked all the posts showing interest in me.

〚♥6,977〛

Seeing the heart count go up by one, I couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.

The first episode hadn’t even aired yet, but this level of interest was a very good sign.

A good start is important in everything.

It’s safer to maintain a consistently good image from start to finish than to have a redemption arc recovering from a bad image.

Nodding at the not-bad reaction to my video, I went on to check other trainees’ videos.

The view counts for trainees with existing recognition were definitely on another level compared to my video.

Won Chaeseo, who ranked first in the initial mission, was already approaching 1 million views.

I’d heard she was popular during another audition show, but you could really feel how solid her fanbase was.

Almost to the point where it felt like balance destruction.

Actually, the comments on Won Chaeseo’s self-PR video were criticizing the company.

‖How could they put Won Chaeseo in a debut survival showㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Shouldn’t they just confirm her debut and select the other members??‖

‖I mean, Won Chaeseo is basically guaranteed to debut….‖

‖Isn’t this less a debut survival and more of a ‘Beat Won Chaeseo’ survival?‖

Well… public opinion was pretty clear. No explanation needed.

But something was puzzling.

Why hadn’t someone this skilled and popular debuted yet?

From what I remembered, Won Chaeseo wasn’t among the debut members. That’s why I hadn’t known about her.

If I had to pick the most impressive performance from today’s stages, I’d definitely choose Won Chaeseo’s.

Currently, she had the most overwhelming skills among the trainees, and overall, she just performed well.

The public recognized her skills too, and from today’s stage, she seemed to genuinely enjoy singing and dancing.

Can sing, can dance, has star quality, looks good… literally the textbook definition of an idol.

A cheat character no less powerful than the future debut members.

But why on earth…

Unless she withdrew midway, it’s hard to imagine her not making the debut lineup.

That point was definitely questionable.

‘Well… it’s not important right now anyway.’

Thinking I didn’t need to worry about this, I closed her video.

After browsing through some other PR videos, I left MeTube entirely.

By this point, I was starting to worry if I’d raised expectations too high.

Public opinion can flip at any time, so I’d need to stay alert about that.

And give my best at every moment. But before that, I’d need to use my head well.

Anyway, with what felt like a smooth start, I thought I’d sleep well tonight.

Practice Room 3 was crowded with cameras.

All of us in “Team Won Chaeseo” were gathered here, including me.

“Have you chosen a song?”

“I’ve just narrowed down some candidates. I wanted to discuss it with everyone.”

“Aww, how thoughtful!”

“How considerate!”

The 11th and 15th place trainees on either side patted Won Chaeseo as she answered my question.

I too nodded in agreement with her excellent suggestion.

Since it was a benefit she earned through her own efforts, nobody would complain if she took advantage of it.

Nevertheless, her slightly yielding approach while trying to build team unity was extremely wise.

Sure, if she picked a song that only she could do well, her ranking would be secure, but it would be harder for the team as a whole to aim for the top.

That would make it look like she was trying to survive alone, which wouldn’t be good for Won Chaeseo either.

Moreover, if the leader dominates alone, it puts the entire team at a significant disadvantage. Including Won Chaeseo herself.

Because…

“The team absolutely needs to place in the top 4. We need to choose something we can all do well, not just me.”

As Won Chaeseo said, the team absolutely had to place in the top 4.

This was due to the competition format of this second mission.

The most important rule of this mission: no eliminations for the top 4 teams.

In other words, six out of ten members from the bottom two teams would be eliminated.

Plus, with additional benefits given to the first-place trainee in the first-place team… we couldn’t miss that.

Although the team leaders had advantageous benefits, if teamwork suffers because they’re too focused on that?

Then they themselves could be at risk of elimination.

Therefore, even the leaders couldn’t just do whatever they wanted.

While you could say “that’s survival” and leave it at that…

At least Won Chaeseo didn’t seem to be the cold-hearted type.

“Right! None of us can get eliminated.”

“Let’s all make it through together~!”

I kept nodding along with the trainees who were energized by Won Chaeseo’s words.

Now then, let’s get to the main point.

Let’s see what songs Won Chaeseo picked.

As I received the three sets of lyrics she handed over, I looked at the list of three candidate songs.