Falling for the Omega Idol-Chapter 158: VOCAL PERFORMANCE (I)

"TODAY marks the trainees’ very first mission." Lily paused, letting the importance of the moment sink in before continuing. Her voice remained steady, but there was a firmness to it that held the audience’s attention. "And more than that... it’s their first time standing on stage in front of a live audience. They’ve only just begun their journey, but already, they’ll need to prove what they’re capable of, not with dancing or flashy moves, but with their voices alone."

A murmur of anticipation spread through the crowd. The stage lights lowered, focusing a bright circle on the empty spaces where the first two teams would perform.

"In this mission, they’ll perform vocal covers of beloved songs from senior idol groups." Lily’s tone shifted slightly, warmer now, as if sharing a secret. "The songs might be familiar to you. But this time, they’ll carry new voices, and new stories." She tilted her head, her smile turning genuine. "Will their voices reach your hearts?"

The screen behind her lit up with the title of the song: <Scenic Love> by Radiance.

***

Haneul watched the screen as two groups walked to the stage from backstage. He and his group, along with the others who didn’t need to prepare yet, were in the lounge where they could watch the performances. Cameras were set up around them to capture their reactions.

Lily turned to one of the two teams. She asked them to introduce themselves, which they did, acting all cool in front of the audience. They finished their introduction by saying their group name at the end. The audience cheered and clapped. Then Lily turned to the other group.

Haneul watched this group more carefully because Seojun was part of them. His teammates introduced themselves one by one. When it was Seojun’s turn, the audience’s reaction grew much louder, with people screaming his name.

"Wow. That reaction was insane."

A contestant’s voice came from somewhere nearby. All Haneul could think was, ’Exactly’. The level of Seojun’s popularity was clearly the same as it had been in his past world. Not that it was surprising. Seojun had that kind of star power. Even just standing still, if a camera caught him, people couldn’t help but notice.

"Hi! This is Seojun." He held the mic lightly, voice dipping warmer. "They say the best love songs feel like a perfect view... so don’t blink. I’ll give you one worth remembering."

As the audience screamed, he pressed a finger heart to his chest, then flicked it toward them with a wink.

The audience erupted into even louder screams, their cheers nearly shaking the stage.

"If I said the same thing, I would definitely sound cringe," Robin remarked beside him.

Haneul chuckled, but he had to admit it was true. A line like that only worked when someone had Seojun’s level of charm and charisma. Take Taeyang, for example. Even with his looks, his personality would never fit that kind of line. Instead of making people scream, he’d probably just make the whole room uncomfortable.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. Everyone had their strengths—things they were naturally good at. Nobody could be perfect at everything, and that was fine.

The first to perform was Seojun’s team.

Earlier that day, the staff had randomly drawn the song order: [Scenic Love] first, then [Adore Me True], followed by [Beat Flow], [Secret Entrance], and finally [Falling For You]. The two teams assigned to each song then had to decide who would perform first.

Seojun’s team volunteered to go first, and their opponents didn’t argue. For Haneul’s team, the opposite happened. Baek Eunwoo’s team volunteered first, so they ended up performing last. The remaining teams settled it with rock paper scissors.

We wrote a script, a perfect start

Laughed in the sun, played every part

But all good films must reach their end

Our credits roll, goodbye, my friend

Seojun’s team began their performance. The opening was decent, nothing outstanding, but solid enough. Then Seojun stepped forward and sang the next lines.

The skies we chased, the nights we owned

Are now just postcards we once known

Seojun sang his two lines with a deep, smooth tone that carried the emotion he wanted to convey well. His pitch wavered slightly in the middle, but the rawness in his voice and the way he poured feeling into the words made it easy to miss. The audience didn’t seem to notice at all, too caught up in the mood he created.

The group stumbled in a few places, but none of them panicked. They just kept singing without missing a beat. In Haneul’s opinion, that composure made all the difference. The audience’s enthusiastic applause when they finished showed they felt the same way.

After Seojun’s team left the stage, Lily walked back out. She called up the opposing team, then moved aside as they came forward to perform.

Unlike Seojun’s team, this group didn’t make any mistakes. But for some reason, Haneul still preferred the performance of Seojin’s team. Maybe it was because this team sang without real emotion, like they were just following instructions rather than feeling the song. It came across as too technical. And he really didn’t like that.

When their performance ended, Lily came back out. Seojun’s team returned to the stage too.

"Did you love that performance?" Lily said. "But only one team between these two can win this vocal match. That’s where you come in," she added, looking at the audience. "Do you still have the small remote the staff gave you when you boarded? It has two columns and six rows, left side for the first team, right side for the second. You can give up to 10 votes per round of performances. Or you can skip if you prefer. If you’re unsure which button is for which contestant, don’t worry, a guide will appear after each performance."

Right after she spoke, the screen behind her changed to display the names and profiles of the two teams that just performed, along with their assigned positions.

"The number of times you press the button would represent how many votes you would give a contestant," Lily continued. "You have 60 seconds to vote, please start."