GIJS

Chapter 144 Don't Show Weakness

Before leaving for 'Dynasty Castle', Team Leader Seo Eun-woo made a serious request to the members.

"Everyone, there's something I must ask you when interacting with idols from other countries."

"Hehe, we know. Watch your words and avoid creating controversies, right?"

"No, that's not what I'm concerned about."

"Huh? Then what is it?"

"Don't show weakness."

"Pardon?"

"No matter what kind of psychological warfare occurs, you must not show signs of being pushed back."

As Seo Eun-woo spoke, he firmly held the members' hands.

"Of course, I'm not saying you should start fights, but you mustn't act submissively when conflicts arise."

"So what should we do? Should we growl?"

"At the very least, you mustn't appear weak."

"Hehe, with Hyuk here, won't it be okay?"

"Not only should you not fall behind visually, but you must also not falter mentally."

Not showing weakness in psychological battles was Seo Eun-woo's only request.

While they weren't participating in 'Dynasty' to fight, they weren't there to be devoured either.

If it were a domestic survival show, they would have been advised to show proper respect to senior groups as the youngest members.

However, 'Dynasty' was different.

There was no senior-junior relationship between the idol teams from different countries and 7IN. Moreover, given PD Kim Seok-hoon's tendency to promote controversies and conflicts, even minor disagreements could be used to build the narrative.

In such a jungle-like environment, appearing weak could lead to being pushed out of the central narrative and becoming insignificant. No matter how well they performed on stage, viewers tended to prefer teams with a compelling story.

"I'll keep that in mind, Team Leader."

Gunja simply did as instructed.

The Chinese team members started the confrontation by talking about the class system and tribute states.

Indeed, Joseon did pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. It was a diplomatic strategy by Joseon to secure its position between Japan and Ming.

It's understandable to call Joseon a tributary state of Ming based on that historical fact. However...

If they were so proud of Ming's history, how could they have destroyed that legacy in the modern era?

It wasn't like they were forced to burn it due to foreign invasions. They denied their own history with their own hands.

Under the strange justification of starting fresh and organizing everything anew, they committed acts that a scholar could never understand.

And now they claim to be descendants of Ming? What absurdity.

The Chinese friends' faces twisted with anger, but Gunja's expression remained one of pure confusion.

Who are you? Descendants of Ming or the people of Mao Zedong?

"Are you Pi Hou-kam?"

"I'm Pi Hou-kam!"

"By the way, are you aware that your claims are contradictory?"

"I said I'm Pi Hou-kam!"

"Yes, yes, Mr. Pi Hou-kam."

"You little—!"

"Anyway, we didn't come here to argue about past history. We came here as idols living in 2022 to compete, right?"

"!"

"But if you prefer the ways of the past, I won't avoid it."

"W-what?"

"Whether it's shooting arrows or composing Han poetry, I'll accept it. Whether it's the ways of the past or the present, I'm confident I won't lose to you, Mr. Pi."

After finishing his words, Gunja handed the microphone back to his teammates and sat down with a smug expression. The Japanese idols kept swallowing their saliva and rolling their eyes, while the American idols cheered loudly as if it were a festival.

"Gunja, you're the man!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah—!!"

Gunja responded to the enthusiastic cheers from the Americans with a slight wave of his hand.

"Haha, yes, manners and all~"

As the mood shifted towards Gunja, Pi Hou-kam clenched his lips. Shaking with anger, he still held onto the microphone, seemingly determined to turn the situation around.

"Let's see. Who will be laughing in the end?"

"Pardon? I'm laughing now."

"Ugh..."

Pi Hou-kam tried to deliver a stylish closing remark, but Gunja's unrelenting rebuttal made his rationality fade away once more. In the end, veins bulged on Pi Hou-kam's forehead.

"You... What are you?"

"Pardon?"

"Aren't you a group that debuted less than a year ago?"

"We've been active for about four months."

"Really? I've heard of Velocé, but I've never heard of Chillin."

"Oh, I see."

Even with Pi Hou-kam's mockery, Gunja only nodded with a kind expression.

Their global recognition must still be lacking. It must be a sign to work harder.

"Haha, it seems our recognition is still lacking. But if you search on YouTube, you'll find plenty of our videos."

"What? YouTube?"

"Oh, do you not know how to use YouTube? I can show you..."

Gunja's offer to teach how to use YouTube unintentionally served to further embarrass Pi Hou-kam.

They were engaged in a psychological battle, but it was better to end things on a good note.

Thinking this, Gunja extended an olive branch to Pi Hou-kam.

"It's okay. We don't know Mr. Pi, and Mr. Pi doesn't know us, so it's mutual."

"..."

"Let's take this opportunity to get to know each other."

Gunja smiled brightly, but Pi Hou-kam was already in a disheveled state.

Despite trying to say something with the microphone, Teibo's members stopped him. It was evident that continuing the conversation would only break Pi Hou-kam's mental state further.

"Alright, let's take a 10-minute break. Then we'll start preparing for the preliminary competition!"

Kim Seok-hoon PD, who had nearly reached the brink of joy, announced the break with a smile. As soon as the cameras turned off, the 7IN members gathered around Gunja.

"Hyung, what were you thinking!"

"Hehe, didn't Team Leader Seo tell us not to be pushed around in psychological battles?"

"Even so, what's the point in beating them so thoroughly?"

"...I, I just verbally hit them."

"Wow, you really went all out. Your rap skills that used to beat up Joo Ha-seong haven't faded, huh?"

"I could hear the beat in my head..."

"I think we might get scolded by the manager later, but seeing the Chinese team's stunned faces was quite satisfying. Did you see the American team's cheers?"

"They were quite lively, haha."

"Anyway, let's not be pushed around in psychological battles. Let's keep our eyes sharp!"

"...Like this?"

"No, that just looks like an angry deer. Try to look more like a goblin."

While 7IN practiced how to look fierce, Kim Seok-hoon PD and the production team held an emergency meeting.

Although it was called an emergency meeting, Kim Seok-hoon's expression didn't seem urgent at all.

"PD, what should we do about this?"

"What's the problem?"

"I mean, the idols are having a historical diss battle. Are we just going to let that happen?"

"What's the issue? They haven't used any vulgar language or violence."

"Really? You're going to air content about the Cultural Revolution like that?"

"I don't recall the Cultural Revolution being mentioned. If it becomes a problem, we'll just cut that part and make a separate Chinese broadcast version."

"Huh?"

"Am I the only one excited? Why is everyone's face like that?"

Seeing Kim Seok-hoon's happy expression, the assistant director shook his head.

"Wow, you're even more amazing than I thought."

"Thanks for the compliment~"

"It's not a compliment! And PD, weren't you a fan of Chillin?"

"I am. No, I love them."

"Then you should protect them! Koreans might like the drama, but the Chinese..."

"But I like making the broadcast entertaining. Why should I protect them? I'm neither their manager nor their parent."

"Ugh..."

"Anyway, Gunja didn't say anything wrong. The Chinese team started the fight. If we air it without any adjustments, at least they can't say it's unfair editing."

"That may be, but PD, you might get targeted."

"Let them. Do you think another chance like 'Dynasty' will come around? It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Are we going to waste it on a lukewarm show?"

Kim Seok-hoon PD's eyes sparkled with madness.

"It needs to be extremely spicy. The Chinese like hot pot too. Even if they complain, they'll end up watching it."

* * *

After the short break, the stage was set for the preliminary competition. The first preliminary competition to determine the status on 'Dynasty' was just around the corner.

"As I mentioned before, the results of this preliminary competition will be determined solely by your evaluations. As it's a competition that will decide your status, your evaluations should be careful."

Upon hearing that the results would be determined by internal voting, Ji Hyun-su looked uneasy.

"Hey, didn't we fight too much from the start?"

"Why?"

"Well, the results will be determined by internal voting. Since we fought with Teibo, they'll probably give us really low scores..."

"Oh, come on. Even if one or two teams give us low scores, it won't change the overall result. There are seven teams here."

"Is that so..."

"Don't worry too much and just perform well. The Japanese team seems to be favorable towards us. They even cheered for us earlier."

"That's 'Ganbare,' not 'Kavare.'"

"Anyway, they were smiling and seemed friendly."

Taewoong patted Ji Hyunsu on the shoulder, trying to reassure him.

After the long wait, the first preliminary round was finally about to start. The first team to take the stage was Japan's 'SHINO,' a group with a unique concept of six ninjas.

After a somewhat chaotic performance by SHINO, the six ninjas bowed deeply, almost touching the ground, and expressed their gratitude in various languages.

"Thank you!"

"Xie xie!"

"Thank you!"

Although the performance didn't seem extraordinary, the 7IN members clapped enthusiastically. Regardless of the stage quality, a lot of effort must have gone into preparing it.

Next up was another Japanese team, 'Akira.' Akira was the oldest boy group in "Dynasty," with all members being over 30 years old.

As the stage began, time flew by. Following them was China's 'QUAN.' QUAN had one member wearing a traditional hairstyle, and their performance was based on Shaolin martial arts.

"Wow, that hairstyle..."

Taewoong seemed envious of the traditional hairstyle, but other members were focused on QUAN's performance. It was definitely more precise and powerful compared to the Japanese teams. The concept of Shaolin martial arts was also quite interesting.

Next was the stage of 'Teibo,' who had clashed with the scholar earlier.

Paan, paang—

Teibo had decent skills. Their choreography, movements, expressions, and costumes were all above average even among Korean idols.

However, their performance had a strong scent of something familiar.

As soon as Teibo's stage ended, Pael from Velocé poked the scholar in the side and said,

"They're a copycat of Lunatic."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"...A Lunatic imitation."

"Ah, I also got that impression."

They had cleverly incorporated details from Lunatic and other successful K-idol groups like Velocé and Favorite, patching them together into a makeshift performance.

"Those aren't descendants of Ming; they look more like descendants of Korea."

"The level of choreography is the highest among the teams we've seen so far."

"That's true."

Even though Pael acknowledged that, he seemed uncomfortable. As someone who was serious about the stage, Pael didn't like Teibo's patchwork performance.

After Teibo's stage, it was finally time for the Korean idols to perform.

First up was the junior group 7IN.