ALL NOVEL Chapter 92
Chapter 92. Bomb? (3)
It was true that Kang Hajin had a lot of screen time in the controversial second episode.
In fact, he practically did everything on his own.
Kang Hadi @kang_HD
Who the hell made my baby wolf cry?
(Capture of Kang Hajin tearing up in the second episode preview)
Share 308 Quote 22 Heart 412
‖
Kang Hadi @kang_HD
Guys, it’s a senior.
Disperse.
(Video of Hajin crying in response to Seo Taeil’s question in the second episode)
Share 725 Quote 167 Heart 1,536
Inya ???? @inging02
This guy is so cute lol should I try it out?
Funny Celebrity Memes @IDOLOL
Doesn’t know how to wear hanbok.
(Video of Hajin covering his face after messing up the lyrics in front of Ria)
Rossy Day @rossy_1017
Isn’t this where Hajin winked at Doha?
What’s going on, you guys are on opposite teams…
(Video of Hajin winking in a certain direction)
(Capture of Doha, sitting in the direction of Hajin’s wink)
Share 73 Heart 92
Additionally, self-praising comments Hajin made to align with Seo Taeil, or his sharp critique of Team A’s performance, were being rapidly clipped and circulated in real-time. When the final result aired, showing Team B’s victory, the intensity only increased.
It was the epitome of the “rebellion of the underdogs” that survival show fans go wild for.
Clichés always work.
[Todays Dopamine Insane Boy Group Survival Show]
(Summary of the Miro Maze broadcast)
* * *
– Eh, but Kang Hajin lost the battle? Who was his opponent?
└ It’s someone who left, so they didn’t show it on the broadcast.
– Team battles seem like a matter of preference between A and B, but the individual battle was a landslide win for Kang Hajin? Just watched the P*DI.
– They say the kid who left crushed the main stage? How did they win?
The controversial post went up right around that time.
After the broadcast ended, when interest in Miro Maze and Kang Hajin was still at its peak.
[But isn’t it obvious Miro is pushing Kang H*jin?? lol]
No matter what else, this can’t be denied…
Honestly, I wanted to say this yesterday after watching all the B team kids being set up as K*hj’s supporting cast…
Other B team trainee fans must be feeling pretty upset, to be honest.
This kind of post wasn’t the first of its kind, but most of them were usually treated as trolling and disappeared quietly.
But this time was different.
– Honestly, I was okay with it up until episode 1… but after watching episode 2, um, yeah…
– They practically advertised him as the leader, but then again, agency survivals are always like that.
└ Exactly. Weren’t we all watching knowing that? The debut lineup is already set.
– I’m fine with most of it, but the scene where they asked if B*J* was okay at the end felt unnecessary??? Like, they really want to protect his image.
Someone started agreeing in the comments.
As more of these posts piled up, it led to the spread of misinformation by those who only read the problematic posts.
[OMG guys, is this real? J*O Miro Maze]
(Trolling post about Kang Hajin)
I’m so shocked after reading this…ㅠ
Did they really cut everyone else’s parts to give it all to K*hj just to push him???
* * *
– Yeah, that all happened in the main broadcast, but the P*DI showed other kids’ parts.
└ What the heck are you talking about? If you didn’t watch the show, stay out of it.
– What nonsense is this now?
– The trainee who had the part got sick and had to leave right before filming, so Hajin stepped in;;; Stop spreading rumors.
└ (OP) So in the end, K*hj did do it all, right?? Even though there were other kids… OMG…
└ No, it’s because Hajin was the best among the B team kids, so they asked him to do itㅠㅠ Please stop bashing him unfairly.
└ ??? This is a bit… I’m a fan of another B team trainee, and this is annoying lol Kang Hajin himself said that he took another trainee’s part after they offered it, but why is this about his skill now, huh?
– Hey, it’s obviously trolling, can we please stop feeding into it?
Comments and replies flooded in, and more spinoff posts started to appear.
The Destiny fans, who initially tried to ignore it, found it harder and harder to stay silent as the controversy heated up.
Hajin, who had just seen a few of the controversial posts land on the popular list, put down his phone and thought.
‘It’s blown up.’
How many of these people have actually watched Miro Maze live and voted for the trainees?
‘I bet less than 20%. I’d stake Han Sungwoo’s wrist on it.’
I couldn’t bet my own wrist.
‘Well, there could be fans of other trainees trying to hold me back.’
Miro Maze isn’t some random agency deathmatch run by the network. It’s an agency survival show, and we’re all going to end up under the same roof anyway.
The debut isn’t solely determined by viewer votes, so is there really a need to go this hard on me?
“Well, I expected as much, so it’s fine.”
I was prepared for this kind of backlash from hogging the screen time when I cried in front of Seo Taeil.
That’s why I let Han Sungwoo take some of my votes in the first place.
‘If I slip up now, they won’t have any more reason to bite at me.’
If I drop down to the Feather rank, even better. I’m likely to get a ton of airtime after winning first place in the second mission anyway.
‘I noticed that some of Park Jaeyoung’s fans are a bit upset that I took all his parts….’
That will die down soon enough after the second mission airs. I purposely handed him plenty of parts to make up for what he missed in the first mission.
‘Honestly, the focus might shift more towards Seo Taehyun in the second mission anyway.’
With everything falling into place in my head, I started to feel at ease.
‘In the beginning, someone’s always going to get hit. It’s better that it’s me than ending up as the Chosen Regressor and getting stuck in a loop.’
Thirteen, who I thought would show up soon, was still absent since the sports day. My skills seemed to remain intact, but I had no way of knowing if the risk of regression suddenly increased, so I needed to be cautious for now.
In that sense, it was quite a risk that Yugeon, currently the most likely candidate for the Chosen Regressor, had become the target of trolls.
‘Is that guy seriously planning to half-ass his way into regression?’
Thankfully, because the gathering at Joo Eunchan’s place last time was mostly made up of Team A members, I got to hear a more diverse range of opinions on the situation.
– Yugeon’s had that attitude since he first joined the company. Siwoo hyung didn’t care until now, but he got angry because it’s a survival show where debut’s on the line. He hates when people cause trouble for others.
That’s from Lee Doha, who is close to Jung Siwoo and worked with Yugeon on the second mission.
– But I don’t think Yugeon was totally out of line. He picked up the choreography the fastest and taught it to us. Honestly, I got a lot of help from him. I think he’s just naturally laid back.
This is from Kim Wonho, who was so helped by Yugeon during the battle and second mission song selection that he’s practically a Yugeon fanboy now.
– I haven’t been here long, so I don’t really know!
– Right, keep eating your pizza.
Just Dan Haru.
– I heard from Taehyun hyung that he doesn’t practice on weekends and doesn’t take private lessons anymore. But at the time, Siwoo hyung was a bit sensitive too. Han Sungwoo hyung kept whining about how insecure he felt.
This is Joo Eunchan’s opinion, who had a hard time during Team A’s practice because of Han Sungwoo.
In any case, everyone agreed that Yugeon’s usual attitude was lax. It didn’t seem like he had any intention of debuting.
‘For now, I’ll assume Yugeon is the Chosen Regressor and act accordingly.’
With the system down for maintenance, I couldn’t recruit teammates or view past timelines. For now, I’d focus on not creating any situations that would make Yugeon so frustrated that he’d want to regress.
“If I want to keep an eye on him, maybe the best way is to pair up for the third mission….”
Tomorrow was already the day when the third mission and new ranks would be announced.
To prevent Yugeon from acting out, it would be best to keep him close, but the problem was that this third mission was also crucial for me.
‘Even though “To You” won first place, they won’t just overlook how things went sideways during the mid-check because of me.’
After episodes 3 and 4 air, there’ll be even more people trying to take me down. To shut those trolls up, I needed to create at least one performance that everyone would acknowledge.
‘That way, my fans will have something to defend me with
.’
At the very least, I wanted to make sure that they could feel proud of the trainee they were supporting.
Since I’d likely be the leader again this time, I’d have to create a stage with both strong teamwork and high quality.
Right about then, the thought started to give me a headache.
“Ugh, whatever. I’ll think about it after I see the results tomorrow. I mean, is it even okay for me to be working this hard? Meanwhile, the Chosen Regressor is probably feeling just fine. Is this fair?”
When Thirteen comes back, I’m definitely going to squeeze something out of him. This isn’t right.
“Mom, the world is being so unfair to me….”
It was a night when I missed my mom.
* * *
And the very next day. Kang Hajin thought.
‘The whole universe is conspiring against me.’
There was no other explanation for this.
Thirteen vanished after saying he’d check the system, and now it seemed like he was loading my timeline with misfortune. There was no other possible explanation for this.
‘What’s the point of making plans? Nothing goes according to plan anyway.’
Hajin reaffirmed his belief that life was something you just had to tackle head-on.
Meanwhile, it seemed they had finished setting up the camera in the practice room, as the assistant director came over and loudly gathered everyone’s attention.
“Alright, let’s do a quick headcount.”
“Yes.”
“Jung Siwoo, Kang Hajin, Lee Doha, Kim Wonho, Yoon Yugeon… and Joo Eunchan. All six are here, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Okay. We’re about to start filming. The PD will be here soon to lead the script reading, so please wait a moment.”
It was over.
‘Forget about making a well-coordinated, amazing stage. If we can get through the performance without anyone grabbing each other by the collar, I’ll consider it a win!’
Instead of grabbing the Chosen Regressor by the collar, I kept ending up in situations where others might grab mine.
If you ask who was crazy enough to put together this team, the answer, shockingly, was everyone.
Hajin held his forehead and recalled the moment during the mission announcement filming.
– These are the new Wings ranks, reflecting the votes from Destiny up until the first broadcast.
‽
〜〚WINGS OF MIRO MAZE〛〜
Seo Taehyun Jung Siwoo Joo Eunchan
Dan Haru Kim Wonho Gong Seok Jaiden
‽
‘I expected as much.’
Dropping down to the Feather rank was actually a relief. I congratulated Kim Wonho on rising to Wings rank, likely due to his Miro escape and his connection with Yugeon, and even gave him my Wings badge.
– Before we announce the theme for the third mission, we will first proceed with team selection.
– There are three rooms prepared outside.
– Each of you will take turns choosing one of the three rooms to enter.
– Your choices will not be revealed to each other, and once a room reaches its capacity, no more can enter.
Even this wasn’t too bad. It was a common random selection method.
The problem came next.
– However, the capacity of each room will be determined by the highest-ranked trainee in that room.
Yeah. That was the cause of this ridiculous team combination.