141 - Upki Girl

< Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack > Each user ID allowed voting for two teams. An event promised to give away live show tickets to randomly selected voters, which surprisingly boosted the voting rate. Yet, even accounting for that, the number of votes Eye Contact received was unreasonably high and hard to believe. Our office members collectively suspected foul play was afoot, and it wasn't long before we found proof of manipulation. The discovery was made by Sewon, our resident cynic. With her eyes blazing, she stared intently at her phone and eventually uncovered the shady dealings. “Caught it, you rascal. Screenshot complete.” “Why?” “Look at this.” Sewon turned her phone towards others in the room. The captured screen displayed consecutive comments beneath Eye Contact’s video. — ZetaHolic: A-Plus supports Eye Contact. — MarkBolta: Oh, I’m A-Plus too, haha, nice to meet you! “What’s A-Plus?” When I posed the question, Yona replied. “A-Plus. It's Attention's fan club.” “Attention? Oh, right. Eye Contact picked Attention as their role model mission partner... But how would Attention’s fans know that? The broadcast hasn’t aired yet.” Even as I asked the question, the answer was already forming in my mind. How did they know? Karma Entertainment must have leaked the information to rally Attention’s fandom votes. Both Hum and other trainers and staffs mumbled similar sentiments of frustration. “Karma dropped the bait for Attention’s fans to guide the votes.” “Bunch of scummy bastards…” There were only two comments openly claiming to be fans of “Attention” among the hundreds that Sewon found, but it was enough to prove that they had come out as reinforcements. It was likely coordinates were posted in Attention’s fan cafe. With that in mind, I scrutinized Eye Contact’s comments, and they unmistakably radiated an artificial vibe. While it wasn’t technically cheating, it was certainly unethical. The case differed from that of “Teenagers” or “Love One,” where other boy group fandoms offered help. This involved leaking premature information about unaired content. “Shouldn’t we lodge a complaint with the production team?” As soon as Jangwoo suggested it, I immediately dialed Writer Jeong So-jin. She was surprised, claiming she hadn’t been aware of the issue, and promised to check into it and contact me again. A few minutes later, she called back. She couldn’t find the comments I mentioned. “What? Did they slip back? Wait a moment…” They vanished. I quickly checked on my computer, but those comments had disappeared in the meantime. Well, look at these sneaky bastards! If our devoted screenshot enthusiast hadn't acted, our protest would have been in vain. “We have screenshots. I’ll send them to you over chat.” — Yes, please send them right away. Something felt off… Writer Jeong was passionate, insisting that she too had found it suspicious. She couldn't understand how Eye Contact, with its lackluster performance and weak fandom, ranked third. Since each writer was assigned to a team, she was practically part of our Upkick Girl team. Jeong, fired up like a rookie prosecutor with a sense of justice, said she would report directly to Senior Writer Yoonjin (in charge of Teenagers) before hanging up. However, the outcome was disheartening. Later, I received a message where she vented as though seeking comfort. Writer Jeong So-jin [Senior Writer Yoonjin spoke to Director Jang Ho-jun, but he said having Attention fans involved helps the program and isn’t a loss, so he’s uninterested. With over hundreds involved, he argued some leaks are inevitable. T_T] As soon as I read the message, I had a feeling. Chief Producer Jinsang-yoon and CEO Kim Seok-won had already covered their tracks. If everything is going as the confidential info had implied about Eye Contact getting pushed to victory—this is quite disheartening. I expected more discernment in professional matters from a CP of his stature. Are they trying to crown Eye Contact winners just to endure the torrent of criticism that’ll follow? Perhaps their plan from the start was to have Attention—the group with a strong fandom—endorse Eye Contact. “The PD must have received some lavish benefits from Karma. They could’ve given him a cut of Eye Contact's profit rights.” Yeom, unaware of the true connection between CP Jinsang-yoon, Kim Seok-won, and Eye Contact's sponsorship, merely speculated. I turned to check Yona’s expression. Worried she might blame herself, but it was an unnecessary concern. Her expression was now in its Yosung-hwan ‘Stone Buddha’ mode. With a nonchalant stride, she rose from the couch, as if she’d heard enough. “We’ll head to practice now. Doesn’t matter if it’s Attention or whatever, we just need to outdo them.” “When exactly did Yonna start being this cool? Please just take Alia, wah wah.” Thanks to Yona’s words, the morale of the other members soared. Eunbit suggested we were the real winners if we excluded the teams buoyed by the boy group buffs, doing a happy shuffle, her face like a joyful fox under frosted snow, while Sewon smirked sarcastically. “They’re really living by all means necessary. Would it feel rewarding to win like that? Personally, I’d feel humiliated.” Hong chimed in, agreeing with Sewon. “Yeah, wouldn’t we feel uneasy too? Like filling up on unappetizing food during a hunger spell?” “What nonsense. There’s nowhere you find tasteless food…” “Sewon unnie, Hong-gazzi period isn’t over yet!” “Oh, Hong, I’m sorry! I almost roasted out of habit. Really, I’m sorry!” “Han Sewon. Remember, we only have one life.” “Got it. Sorry. Truly, it just slipped out. Please put the fist down.” “Whether it’s Attention or Eye Contact, Upkick Girl's the one taking the crown! Isn’t that right, Bit-bit unnie?” “Yeah! Forget about all the K-pop girl groups in Korea. We're the best! Doom-cheet, do-doom-cheet!” With that fierce "my way or the highway" attitude, they strutted off to the dance studio. As soon as the kids left, the office became eerily silent, like a ghost town. Yeom sighed in relief, feeling like he could finally breathe. “Wow, Yoon-ho hyung even looks through stuff like that after work.” “Right? He never truly rests until he’s about to fall asleep.” “I could never live like that.” “I was the same at first, but you just sort of find a way to get through it. When it's quiet, I feel uneasy instead.” “Hyung, when you die, will relics come out of your body?” “Ha ha ha.” “Giggle.” Watching the staff snicker made me think. Yeah. Not sure about relics, but I’ve already had two wet dreams. *** On the fifth day since the replay girl voting began. In the car heading to the military concert in Yanggu, I checked the rankings, and the unthinkable finally happened. Until just a few hours ago, Eye Contact had been barely holding onto second place, but now they had climbed to first. I scrutinized the top comments under each ranking, checking for any other changes from first to fifteenth place. Except for the shift between first and second, no other positions had changed. The rankings were solidifying. Upkick Girl was still holding onto fourth place. If things ended this way, our victory points would be lost. The silver lining was that a new top comment system had been established from today, and Upkick Girl’s top comment stood out the most among all videos. While comments for other teams came mostly from dedicated fans, ours seemed to be from a passerby whose attention was genuinely captivated, with vibrant energy and the longest sentences. ――――――――― < Replay Girl Project > Support the beautiful beginnings of these girls! 1st Eye Contact (26,561 votes) — EurekaS: As expected, EyeCon is EyeCon, haha. 2nd Teenagers (24,121 votes) — Kkobyung: It's okay if Teenies don't win, just don't get hurt. 3rd LOVE1 (17,460 votes) — GongBanjang: Love beam! The victory angle's sharp! 4th Upkick Girl (15,605 votes) — LeeSeogan: Wow... I must have lived long. To think I'd see a girl group do breakdancing... I'm speechless, haha. I've watched all 15 team videos for an hour and based on the teasers, these girls are on a different level. Only maybe May Queens can compare, the rest are just the stereotypical girl group stages we've always seen, nothing more. 5th GIG (9,127 votes) — Filak: Fly high, GIG! Let's hit it big! Fighting, Hyejin! 6th Your Girl (7,002 votes) — Kirknar: My cuties when all seven gather! Happy to be your fan! 7th Promise12 (5,997 votes) — kyh0830: Supporting Promise12^^ 8th Lip Balm (3,460 votes) — PEFINK: Came from ManMan.com. If you’re a man, Lip Balm! Loyalty! 9th Apple Soda (3,109 votes) — Humbaba: Please, let’s make it big this time. 10th May Queens (2,687 votes) — AhoSip: Who is this team???? First time seeing them, but they're stunning. Top pick for me. 11th Happy Joy (2,360 votes) — TombinInSan: Happy, happy pop-pop! Great job. 12th Pink Candy (2,188 votes) — BeeHoney: hahaha crazy hahaha 13th Ladybug (1,812 votes) — HongGakkoong: Came from Insect Gallery. 14th Power of Girls (912 votes) — HaTaeYeon: Myungji♥Hera♥Yooyeon♥Soar high! 15th DNA (594 votes) — WinglessBird: Please love our Dayoon (D), Anne (N), Ajin (A) a lot! ――――――――― Wait, hold on a second. Did I spot something unusual? I quickly scrolled back up to check Promise12’s top comment. — kyh0830: Supporting Promise12^^ Eeeek! Why is my user ID showing up there? If you don’t leave a specific comment after voting, an automatic generic message saying “Supporting whomever^^” gets posted, and somehow, my ID ended up getting recommended. It's probably because I voted among the first on the page, huh. If the kids find out about this, I’ll never hear the end of it. After it got out that I, younger than Leeah, was a total fanboy, I lived on pins and needles for a while, thinking things had calmed down. I tried to delete it, but if a comment becomes a top comment, it can’t be removed; there’s no delete button. Gulp. I swallowed hard and peeked at the kids through the car’s rearview mirror to gauge their reactions. Sewon and Hong were asleep, and although Eunbit, Yona, and Leeah were fiddling with their phones... Since it was ranking update time, someone might check. “Oh! What’s this!” Flinch! Eunbit shrieked, waking Sewon with a start. “Ugh, Yuenbit, you're so annoying! You scared me!” “Unnie, Eye Contact is in first place!” “Ugh. I thought it was something else...” Sewon, as if she had expected it, closed her eyes again, and the other members seemed uninterested. Hong didn’t even wake up. Only Eunbit, like a child begging her mom for a sibling, whined to me. “Oppa, let’s create our own boy idol group! I can’t take this injustice!” I tried to steady my racing heart and laughed it off. Thankfully, the others didn’t seem interested in the teaser rankings; they were preoccupied with their activities. After briefly mumbling about our top comment, Eunbit closed the Replay Girl site and started rehearsing the repertoire for the military concert. Yeah, people are generally only interested in the content of the comments, not user IDs. Eventually, new top comments will replace the macro-generated ones and push them out of view. “Jang-woo, let's stop by the rest area when it shows up. Alia needs the toilet,” “Alright, hang in there. Just 11 km more.” “See, I told you to go before we left.” “Shushu-bo, you shouldn't scold Alia. Bladder emergencies aren’t something I can control myself, you know.” “What’s this? A change from the usual Myeon Myeon. What does Shushu-bo mean?” “Bot-su.” “Bot-su?” “Revenge.” “Oh, revenge. Got something to avenge against me?” “Since you caught me snooping on your phone and started treating me badly.” “Look who’s talking! Do you want to kneel and raise your hands?” “No.” “Oh, really now.” “Did you get a message on your phone, Shushu-bo?” There was a buzz just now. Curious, I checked and thought, oh no... 5th Unit [Supporting Promise12^^] 5th Unit [hahahahahahaha] Busted! But I decided to play it cool and replied. Me [What is this?] Then they sent me a screenshot showing my username in plain view. Me [haha] 5th Unit [Is that funny?] Me [Should I be crying instead?] 5th Unit [Once we reach the rest area, kneel and do ‘put your hands up.’ Only then I won’t tell the others.] Me [How can I believe that?] 5th Unit [Shushu-bo's really dumb. If I was going to tell, I would've already.] Me [What do you want me to do?] 5th Unit [I have a conscience, so you just need to be Alia's slave for today. Ok?] Me [Just for today?] 5th Unit [Yep.] Me [Fine.] 5th Unit [When we get to the rest area, switch seats and sit next to me.] Ah, the good times are over. What makes Alia so cunning is how she perfectly balances the terms of the deal. Right, facing one day of this is better than being tortured by five people for days. I changed seats with the stylist at the rest area to sit next to Ria. Immediately, the royal orders came. “Shushu-bo, Alia is thirsty. Put a straw in a strawberry milk carton and hold it for me.” “Alright.” I obliged. The other members didn’t find it odd. This was about the extent of what I had to do when she used to leverage her investment money at the beginning. "Okay, put it away." She didn’t drink a single sip before tossing it aside. Then she took off her sneakers and socks, turning her seat to place both feet on my knees. “What now?” “Massage my feet. I think I overdid it with the dance practice.” “Seriously?” “What’s the matter, KYH0830?” “...Will just the feet do? Aren’t your calves sore?” “Now that you mention it, they are. How about starting with my feet, with soul between each toe, press and press!” “Oppa, after Ria, can I have a turn? Eunbit’s feet are tired too.” “Sewon too.” “Me, Hong as well.” “I’d like to reserve, Yona too.” “Hyung, Jang-woo’s in too, haha.” “Hey, might as well get a group massage afterward!” Darn kids. Feels like I'm forming a relic inside or something. Ria continued to boss me around with a haughty expression until we arrived at the venue. After another hour on the road, we finally reached the military base. The temperature in Yanggu today was minus 24 degrees Celsius, with a wind chill of minus 28. < Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack > End