GIJS

Chapter 153 Burned Brightly

The inclusion of the 'Haka' in the team's joint performance was purely accidental.

Due to the nature of the joint mission, a group dance part involving both 7IN and Guardians was mandatory.

To accommodate the Guardians members who had never experienced such choreography, Taewoong and Yuchan created a simple and easy-to-follow routine.

"Guardians members, it's time to practice the choreography~"

"No way—!!"

"Even if you don't like it, it can't be helped. We all have to be together for this part~"

The Guardians members grumbled for a moment but soon nodded as if accepting their fate.

That was when they first performed the 'Haka.'

"Whoo, Whoo—!!"

Without warning, the Guardians members, arranged in a 3-2 formation, spread their legs and began the Haka ritual, striking their torsos.

"Huh?"

"What's going on all of a sudden?"

"Oh, it seems like they're angry!"

The 7IN members were initially confused, but Inhyuk and Taewoong understood what the Guardians were doing.

"The Haka."

"Eh? The Haka? What's that?"

"It's a traditional Maori ritual."

"What kind of tradition is so fierce?"

"It's a ritual to solidify resolve before battle."

"Ah..."

As Inhyuk explained, the 7IN members nodded in understanding.

"It seems like they're really scary when they dance. If they think of it as a battle..."

"But I think I've seen this before. The New Zealand rugby team does it."

"Right. It looks really cool when done by many people at once."

"...It looks cool when many people do it..."

"Hmmm, wait a minute. Maybe..."

"What if we incorporate that into the group dance?"

"I was thinking the same thing."

"...It might actually be cool..."

Even the Guardians' Haka was perfectly synchronized. For Taewoong and Yuchan, it seemed that a new routine for them wasn't necessary.

Taewoong, who spoke English, approached bassist Jesse and casually asked.

"Jesse, that's the Haka, right?"

"Oh, you know the Haka. My parents are from New Zealand, so I learned it when I was young."

"But the Haka is a dance too."

"Yeah... I guess it is?"

"You guys do the Haka really well."

"Really? I guess it's because we do it often when we're bored."

"I think we should learn from you."

"Ha ha, really? I'll teach you after the dance practice."

"No, we don't need dance practice."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I think we can use the Haka for our group dance part."

"Huh?"

Jesse tilted his head, but the Haka was quite appropriate for ending the stage.

The Haka is a dance performed to solidify resolve before battle. For the slaves who were ready to face internal conflict, there was no better group dance.

Thus, the troublesome joint group dance section became the ultimate weapon of the slaves.

Kuuuuuuuung—!!

With every drumbeat, the massive formation stomped in unison.

Chooong, Chooong—!!

As the warriors struck their chests, a grand gong sound echoed. When they opened their mouths in unison, the resolve of the battle in Maori language seemed to pierce through the ceiling.

The flames in the eyes of the resolved slaves grew. The fire emanating from the floor made the stage's temperature like a furnace.

Now, the Haka was transforming into a new choreography that combined crumping movements. The Haka, a dance of warriors, perfectly matched with the intense crumping, as if it were destined from birth.

At the center of the crumping formation were Taewoong and Inhyuk. As the two muscular members moved their arms and shoulders with authority, the fans held their breath and swallowed.

Kuuung, Kuuuuuung—!!

The increasingly intense drum sounds seemed to signal that the war was imminent.

"Haaaah—!!"

With a loud final shout, a battle cry echoed.

Buuuuuuuu—···.

As the battle cry faded, the stage once again went dark.

Kiiiiiing—!!

With the sharp tune of the electric guitar, the stage brightened once more. The explosive voice of Chad drove the performance towards its end.

* * *

It took quite a while for the cheers to die down. After MC Jeong Hae-jin finally managed to get the situation under control, the microphone was handed to the judges. The reviews were, of course, filled with praise. The American judges, known for their expressive reactions, were the first to speak.

"It was so, so, so, so energetic and amazing!"

Starting with an explosion of exclamations, the American judges showered praise in a rapid-fire manner.

"It was a perfect collaboration between a rock band and an idol group. Honestly, I couldn't imagine how the two teams would work together. But this was a perfect chemical reaction. The guitar used like a bass, the collaboration between the drum and gong, the detailed sound sources... Musically, it was a flawless performance."

"The visual performance was also fantastic! Especially impressive was how well the overall emotional arc was conveyed. While the beginning showed the anger of the slave class, the middle sections depicted sorrow and joy in sequence, portraying the emotional changes of the slaves. And the Haka at the end was filled with fighting spirit. This isn't just because I'm an expert. I'm sure the audience felt the same way!"

"Everyone, give a big round of applause to 7IN and Guardians—!!"

At the American judges' incitement, the audience stood up once more and erupted in enthusiastic applause. Even the Chinese and Japanese teams' supporters, who were believed to be loyal to their teams, joined in.

* * *

Wow—!!

Neither the audience nor the judges showed any sign of sitting down. The only ones who remained with sullen expressions were a few of the Chinese judges.

It seemed like they were eager to find fault with the performance. While the American judges continued their praise, the Chinese judges, who had been resting their chins on their hands with indifferent expressions, began to raise their objections as soon as the microphone was passed to them.

"There was energy, but honestly, I thought the composition was too chaotic. It started with a rock band focus, then moved to dance, K-POP choreography, and finally Haka... it seemed like they were trying to fit too much into one stage."

"I agree. I especially didn't feel that the vocals were outstanding. Chad, who was the focal point of the vocals, lacked dynamism. It sounded like he was just angry, which made my ears tired."

When a few Chinese judges voiced their negative opinions, the Korean judges quickly became agitated and requested the microphone. However, before the Korean judges could take the microphone, it seemed that discord had already erupted among the Chinese judges.

"That's a bit much. You shouldn't say that."

The strong rebuttal came from another judge within the same Chinese panel.

"Honestly, it was an outstanding performance. As mentioned by the other judges, they followed the emotional flow with a clear rise and fall, and the quality of the performance at each point was excellent."

"But in my view..."

"Okay, it may not look good to you. But didn't you praise the performances of Teibo and QUAN just an hour ago?"

"!"

"If you have eyes, you'd see that this stage was far better than those two teams. If all the stages were below standard, I could understand. But Teibo did well and 7IN was a mess? That doesn't make sense."

The fact-based assault from the judge was relentless. The suddenly bombarded judges fought back fiercely.

"Do you have eyes? Have you said everything? I was just sharing my perspective as a judge."

"Perspectives can only be given by those with musical knowledge. Listening to the evaluations, honestly, any audience member sitting here would do better than you."

"What? Are you insulting my career now?"

"Your career was insulted by yourself. By praising a nonsensical performance and belittling a proper one, you've already undermined your own dignity."

"You little..."

"Are we fighting with words or with something else?"

While the heated exchange in Chinese continued, MC Jeong Hae-jin could only look at PD Kim Seok-hoon with a pitiful expression. However, PD Kim Seok-hoon seemed not at all interested in stopping the fight.

"Etiquette, etiquette~ Is this the spirit of the continent~"

He just hummed and happily filmed the ongoing dispute among the Chinese judges.

The conflict among the Chinese judges continued for a long time. Later, seeing judges who looked like they might even start a physical fight, the scholar felt once again.

"To grab someone by the collar when they could just compete with words. They must indeed be descendants of Confucius and Mencius."

Anyway, it was a relief that there were also those on the Chinese side who supported 7IN and the Guardians.

"Haha, they're fighting and causing a commotion."

"It looks like there are people from China who had a positive view of our performance."

"It seems so. I wonder what they are saying."

"They don't even translate the arguments. Anyway, who isn't stopping them?"

"PD Kim, of course."

"Oh right, haha."

"Anyway, everyone did a great job. We did our best, so we should get a good result."

"...Y-yeah. We really did well this time..."

"Guardians did a great job too! Let's all go out for samgyeopsal next time."

"Yay—!!"

All the members of 7IN and the Guardians were satisfied with their performance. However, this time, they had to bring about a result of 'status elevation.' After all, this stage had been prepared with gritted teeth.

After the commotion subsided, and after all the judges, audience, and internal evaluation counts were completed.

MC Jeong Hae-jin, once again standing in the center of the stage, began to announce the results of the first round of the competition.

"Thank you for your patience! The results of the first round of [Dynasty> will be announced now!"