Translator: Dreamscribe
In episodes 1 or 2 of 'Produce That 100!', Kang Rojun received an intense spotlight, and because that Kang Rojun did things like skipping training by acting as a villain, as soon as Rojun picked 'Dance', viewers went wild.
So far, most of the reactions praised contestant No. 1, but there were also quite a few who spoke negatively about Kang Rojun.
Regardless, episode 3 of 'Produce That 100!' continued as planned. Following contestant No. 1, No. 10 stepped up and picked a ball, and what he selected was also Dance. The angle alternated between Kang Rojun and contestant No. 10. It was a deliberate production choice. In episode 2, red-haired contestant No. 10 had been shown keeping Rojun in check, and since both picked Dance, the setup hinted at a rivalry.
-No. 1 and No. 10 are totally gonna battle in a survival match ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Didn't No. 10 totally diss No. 1 in episode 2?
-That was because No. 1 disrespected him first
-He was just answering though, what do you mean disrespected ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ No. 10 is just being annoying, don't like it
-No. 1 is also kinda annoying but ㅋㅋㅋㅋ letting it slide 'cause he's super handsome
-No. 10 did dance in the first Dance round ㅋㅋㅋ this time No. 1 will probably get crushed by No. 10
After that, all 70 contestants drew their second-round evaluation assignments. Photos of 20 Dance, 30 Vocal, and 20 Rap contestants popped up quickly. At the same time, a voiceover briefing by the hired voice actor played in the background.
-["In the second evaluation, successful candidates grouped by assignment will compete against one another. The method is 1-on-1 survival. You will soon find out your opponent and the song, dance, etc.!"]
Then all the surviving contestants moved to their dorms, with rooms being assigned and a lottery-style pick for beds.
-[Room 105 / No. 1, No. 19, No. 37, No. 58, No. 88]
Angles showed each room's contestants with their numbers displayed as captions at the bottom of the screen. There were a few minutes showing the contestants touring the dorms or short interview clips. Then came the voice of PD Woo Han-suk, halting the noisy dorm tours.
-["Dance team, please gather back at the hall with the stage."]
The next cut showed the 'Dance team' gathered again at the hall with the stage. The screen displayed the lineup starting with Kang Rojun, red-haired No. 10, and the rest of the 20 contestants.
-["From now on, please stand with the contestant number I call together."]
At PD Woo Han-suk's request, the contestants paired up. The camera first caught No. 1 and No. 10 standing together.
-["No. 1, can you dance well?"]
-["Who knows."]
-["But people in our room were saying No. 1 might be bad at dancing."]
A short exchange between Kang Rojun and No. 10 aired.
-["I might be bad at dancing."]
-["If you're really bad, that would be funny, since you acted so confident, right? I can dance pretty well."]
Viewers started to take interest in the conversation.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Is No. 10 picking a fight with No. 1 again??
-Looks like he's got an inferiority complex toward No. 1
-I don't like No. 1 so what No. 10 says feels satisfying
-Anyone here actually watched episode 2?? No. 10 had a right to be pissed ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
On-screen, Kang Rojun answered in a calm tone.
-["Saying you're kinda good at dancing also sounds like boasting."]
The camera even showed the faces of other contestants who were listening.
-That was savage ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-No. 1 got some attitude
-After all that, if he gets wrecked by No. 10, it'll be hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Once again, the voice actor's narration played. It was something like "the contestant you just paired with is your survival opponent!" PD Woo Han-suk then picked it up.
-["No. 1 and No. 10, your dance is to the song 'brake'."]
He announced all ten songs for the 'Dance team'. At the end, the voice actor explained the evaluation method for the second round for the 'Dance team'. All songs were duets, and the two contestants matched up would split the dance between the first and second verses.
-Oh that's interestingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-If they do a 1st vs 2nd verse battle with the same song, the skill gap will be so obvious
-All ten songs are hits so the judges will probably be super strict
At this point, the atmosphere of 'Produce That 100!' shifted. A background track started, and ten members of a girl group appeared from the right side of the stage. As soon as the two girl group teams were shown on stage.
-Why is Lime Some showing up here???
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋchat blew up instantly ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Don't tell me they're doing joint performances with girl group??!!
The voice actor shouted loudly.
-["Introducing the girl groups who will take on the female parts in the male-female duet dance!!"]
After the rookie girl group appeared, episode 3 of 'Produce That 100!' introduced each of the girl group members, and in the midst of that, Ha-young appeared alongside Kang Rojun and contestant No. 10. Naturally, Ha-young and the other 'Lime Some' members, who were watching 'Produce That 100!', were jumping up and down with excitement.
"We're on!!"
"Wow- they showed us for so long!"
"This is insane! Our fans are promoting us in open chat rooms!!!"
The promotional effect was massive.
Next came the scene where each team's contestants chose whether they would perform the first or second verse of the dance. Of course, it started with Kang Rojun, who picked the second verse. After everyone had made their selections, the voice of PD Woo Han-suk was heard.
-["All dance practice rooms are open 24 hours. You can use them anytime you want."]
Soon an insert of the campus bathed in morning light appeared on screen, and the first cut of the day when full-scale training began featured contestant No. 1, Kang Rojun. He was the first among the 70 contestants to wake up and go running.
Even after completing an hour of running, he immersed himself in bodyweight exercises like push-ups and sit-ups.
Thanks to the sweat, his well-toned body was visible under his white T-shirt, and the camera zoomed in on Rojun's face as he brushed back his wet black hair.
-Damn, working out with that face is just cheating
-Wowww....
-He's really going to work out too???
-Seriously... In terms of visuals, No. 1 is just dominating
Tens of thousands of viewers were having meltdowns.
At the same time, at the broadcasting station 'JTVM'.
Inside 'JTVM' was the main control room, lined with numerous monitors at the front. Behind the busy employees operating something from their seats, a man with dark under-eye circles stood with his arms crossed, checking several monitors.
It was PD Woo Han-suk.
He was monitoring the broadcast status of episode 3 of 'Produce That 100!', and surrounding him were writers including Kim Se-hee. The key staff of 'Produce That 100!', including PD Woo Han-suk, were in the broadcasting station rather than the campus. Of course, the variety department chief and some executives were also present.
The control room was quite crowded.
Just as PD Woo Han-suk was looking at the monitor with a serious face.
"PD-nim."
An employee seated in front of the monitors turned around and smiled.
"The mid-episode ratings for 'Produce That 100!' are 16.8%. At this rate, we might even hit 17% overall??"
Even though it was just the mid-point rating, PD Woo Han-suk clenched one hand tightly at the number being higher than episode 2. It was the expression of someone thinking, "We did it." The variety department chief soon smiled and patted his shoulder.
"It's up again! Congratulations."
"What are you saying. It's only episode 3, we need to push it higher."
"Hahaha. Still, man, in this day and age, breaking 16% is a huge deal! Keep it up and push past 20%."
A hyper Kim Se-hee and the writers flocked to him, bouncing with joy.
"Seriously, amazing, 20%?? Then 'Produce That 100!' would be a total legend."
"It's already legendary!! We've exceeded 16%!"
For several dozen minutes, the control room was bustling, and whether it was due to a release of tension or something else, PD Woo Han-suk let out a deep breath and moved. Now that he had heard the answer he wanted, he headed to the dedicated meeting room for 'Produce That 100!'. The table placed at the center was packed with various materials. Regardless, PD Woo Han-suk sat at the head of the table, and the writers took seats to his sides.
The first to speak was PD Woo Han-suk.
"How's the campus side?"
The answer came from writer Kim Se-hee, who was smiling brightly.
"Same as during episode 2's broadcast! All the contestants are watching episode 3 from the dorms!!"
As PD Woo Han-suk nodded, writer Kim Se-hee leaned in close.
"The viewer monitoring side is even more active than episode 2. Real-time open chat hit over 200,000 simultaneous users!"
"Phew- okay, how's YouTube?"
"What do you think?? The views and comments are insane, just insane. Especially the video showing No. 1's face, it might actually reach 10 million views."
She was talking about the edited clip featuring Kang Rojun, which had already surpassed 8 million views. Then writer Kim Se-hee shifted the topic.
"We're getting reactions from Japan too. Rumors are spreading on social media there. YouTube is having a big effect. We're seeing a noticeable increase in Japanese-language comments."
"You've got the footage for Japan's YouTube ready, right?"
"Of course, already done."
In truth, PD Woo Han-suk was preparing to target Japan with 'Produce That 100!'. The shows he directed in the past had done the same, and they had elicited a fairly good response in Japan. The Korean Wave was already sweeping strongly through Japan, and even now, Korean idols were actively promoting there or enjoying explosive popularity.
PD Woo Han-suk aimed to globalize Korean culture.
Therefore, 'Produce That 100!' needed to expand its universe overseas, and the fastest reactions always came from Japan. Of course, Korea remained the main focus, but it was time to gradually start building things up overseas too.
"If we've proven our popularity through viewership ratings, and we also get good results in Japan, Produce That 100!'s influence will skyrocket to several times its current level. At that point, we'll be able to expand into an even more global universe."
Japan would be the fuse. If 'Produce That 100!' could then spread to places like Vietnam and other international markets, the impact of 'Produce That 100!' in its main stage, Korea, would grow even more massive.
It was still in the planning phase, but to PD Woo Han-suk, it was worth the challenge.
At the very least, that's what PD Woo Han-suk thought, as he dreamed big. Then, Kim Se-hee and the other writers asked PD Woo Han-suk a question.
"PD-nim, don't you think it's about time to tell the contestants too? That 'Produce That 100!' will first be uploaded on Netflix Korea and then launched on Netflix Japan."
"There will be a briefing. I'll also deliver the finalized 'Produce That 100!' theme song, along with the fact that there'll be a first domestic schedule using that theme song, and a Japanese schedule too."
"The contestants are gonna go nuts."
As he rubbed his chin, PD Woo Han-suk murmured,
"The best timing to announce it would be after the viewer vote, once the next group of survivors is confirmed."
Meanwhile, at the campus in Paju.
All the contestants were fully absorbed in watching 'Produce That 100!'. That included Kang Rojun and his fellow dormmates in Room 105. Just like in episode 2, a tablet was placed on Rojun's single bed for viewing.
Just now, episode 3 of 'Produce That 100!' had shown a clip of Rojun working out. His expression stayed calm, but Rojun felt awkward for no reason.
'Ugh- what is this, a sports drink commercial? I was just completing a mission, but they edited it to make me look like some kind of super fitness guy.'
Soon, his dormmates in Room 105 each chimed in.
"Our workout session with you will probably show up in the next episode."
"Maybe it's the video quality or something, but doesn't No. 1's body look even better? How much do you have to work out to get a six-pack like that??"
"They say you have to train like a maniac to get a body like No. 1's... it's ridiculously intense."
Kang Rojun scratched his chin.
'I don't know about the muscles, but most of that probably came from doing manual labor.'
Just then.
-Buzz buzz.
-Buzz buzz.
Several short vibrations were felt. It was from the smartwatch strapped to Rojun's wrist. He glanced at it and stood up from his seat.
"I'm going to the bathroom for a bit."
As Kang Rojun left the room, he checked his phone while walking down the hallway. 'AI Simulation' had sent quite a few notifications. What is this? Curious, he checked the alerts right away. It started with bonus coins.
-[You have completed the Hidden Mission 'Excite the Viewers!' You have been rewarded with 20 coins.]
-[You have completed the Hidden Mission 'Secure Over Ten Thousand Fans!' You have been rewarded with 30 coins.]
Next were notifications related to titles.
-[The recognition level of the title 'Recognition Monster' has met the condition and will be enhanced by +1. You have been rewarded with 20 coins!]
-[With the enhancement of the title 'Recognition Monster' to +2, the bonus coins have increased to 2.]
These were alerts that would naturally make Kang Rojun smile. But then, another vibration rang out.
-Buzz buzz.
'AI Simulation' displayed a new notification.
-[You have completed the Title Mission 'Build-up for the First Step Toward Overseas!' You have been rewarded with 30 coins.]
-[The title 'Global Genius' now meets the conditions and will be applied!]
-[With the application of the title 'Global Genius', an additional bonus coin will be granted for mission rewards.]
Suddenly, he had earned close to 100 coins, enhanced existing titles, and even gained a new one.
Somewhat surprised, Kang Rojun thought,
'What's with this sudden rush?'
He immediately checked the main screen of 'AI Simulation'. It had upgraded quite a bit.
-[Title: Side Job Tycoon+2 / Recognition Monster+2 / Global Genius+1]
-[User: Kang Rojun / Age: 24 / Height: 182.8 cm / Desired Occupation: Idol / Coins Owned: 300]
-[Side Job: [1] Screenwriter, [2] Actor]
-[Global Language: [1] Japanese]
What stood out most was the title 'Global Genius'.
'Did they build up for overseas advancement? Or was it because I studied Japanese?'
There might have been some other reason, too. Whatever it was, it was a great situation for Kang Rojun. He soon scanned through his dramatically increased list of titles.
'Already three titles. Side job, recognition, and global.'
In just two months, Kang Rojun was.
'And I've got 'AI Automation' that can do anything. Even I think this is cheat-level.'
Truly becoming a monster.