Chapter 56: Vocal Competition, Part 3

Next week.

“It’s decided.”

Park Geun-soo, with a serious look on his face, showed up in the club room after a long time.

Hayoon and Choi Arin, who had been working since morning, tilted their heads and waited for an answer.

However, having interacted frequently with Park Geun-soo over the past few weeks, they could roughly predict the outcome based on his reaction.

“The contest is approved! Other teachers also liked the idea of holding it online, saying it would help fill the gaps between small events, since they felt uneasy about conducting in-school events anyway.”

As expected.

Park Geun-soo’s expression was bright, suggesting he had managed to get approval for the contest.

And it didn’t end there.

“I got this too. I’ll send it to you by text, use it later when you award the prizes.”

“Ohh….”

“This is it, right? The Shy Burger set coupon.”

He had secured more gift certificates to be used as prizes.

Choi Arin, perhaps a fan of the brand, immediately recognized it and chimed in.

“We can give one of these to the 4th and 5th place winners. The prizes for the top three winners should remain the same.”

“Yes, we need to have about three sets of chicken for the first prize to ensure distinction and genuine participation.”

Now, the rewards were more luxurious than most school events.

“We will just add the 4th and 5th place prizes and start distributing the flyers right away.”

“Alright, I’ve told the teachers of each class to leave the bulletin boards empty. Once you’re done, go around and post them in each class.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay.”

“Good, good work.”

Having said his piece, Park Geun-soo left the classroom.

Hayoon and Choi Arin quickly modified the vocal contest poster they were working on.

It didn’t take long.

Since the poster was already complete, they only needed to add the 4th and 5th place prizes.

“Okay, done!”

Hayoon finished the final edits in minutes, pulled out the USB, and headed to the faculty room to use the printer there.

After a few more minutes.

The printer whirred, spitting out a flurry of printouts.

“It’s all done. Shall we go right away?”

“I’ll take the 2nd and 3rd graders. You just do the 1st graders. You did most of the poster design anyway.”

Choi Arin took about two-thirds of the posters, as if it were the natural thing to do.

She wanted to act like an older sister and assert her presence in this way.

“Oh, could you? I have a major-specific class this period, so it would be better for me to go quickly.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, just take these. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Then, thank you.”

Hayoon didn’t refuse.

She was in a bit of a hurry since her first class was major-specific.

The two agreed on this arrangement, promising to see each other later as they headed to their respective areas.

“…?”

“…?”

Of course, not many people paid attention when they posted the posters on the classroom bulletin boards.

They just stared blankly at the unfamiliar women entering their classroom, and once they left, they continued their conversations as if nothing had happened.

With a gender ratio of 3 to 1 in the school, this was a natural reaction.

“Vocal contest…?”

However, there were definitely people who showed interest in the posters themselves.

In fact, students around Hayoon’s age tend to avoid participating in school competitions.

The chances of winning a prize in events like essay contests, where the entire school participates, are extremely slim.

Art competitions are also out of reach unless you’ve been drawing consistently for years.

On top of that, the prizes are usually just a 10,000 won gift certificate.

Who would enthusiastically participate in school competitions with such conditions?

School E-sports competitions led by student council members are a bit better.

Unlike essay or art competitions, where you have to produce something that suits the faculty’s taste, E-sports competitions allow for pure fun.

Just trying out a team game with friends can be satisfying.

Many students enjoy it with smiles.

In that sense, the vocal contest prepared by the game release club was similar in nature to the school E-sports competition.

The prizes were incomparable to the meager rewards of essay or art contests.

Unlike competitions that require writing or drawing experience, singing doesn’t require any particular skill.

Have any high school students in their prime never been to a karaoke?

Do Meister High School students, buried under an overwhelming workload, not have a single work song they enjoy listening to?

It wasn’t even an offline competition, so they wouldn’t be compared to others.

Naturally, participation rates soared.

Hayoon, Choi Arin, and Do Jin-ho were overwhelmed by the flood of application emails.

“Geez…. How many emails are there….”

“166…”

“Chicken and Shy Burgers are really effective. I’ve been at this school for three years, and I’ve never seen these kids participate in school events.”

There were just too many application emails.

If there are only 400 students in the whole school and 166 emails have come in, doesn’t that mean one in three students has applied for this vocal contest?

“Ah, this is typical for specialized high schools, right?”

“Oh? Is it?”

“Maybe…. There are a lot of delinquent-like kids….”

Although it’s different from typical specialized high schools due to the somewhat demanding admission process, it doesn’t mean there are no slackers who live life casually at Meister.

Those who goof off in major classes and hang out as soon as class ends are likely to frequent karaoke.

So, it’s not that strange that 166 students are participating in the contest, including them.

“We should have a character interview for the top five, along with the vocal contract and club entry offer.”

“Yeah, right. Right. We can’t risk getting involved with some delinquent.”

“I agree.”

It seemed necessary to strengthen the character assessment in the final interview process, which they had initially prepared without much thought.

All three agreed on this point.

They were all distancing themselves from regular classes for their vision, not avoiding them to hang out at coin karaoke.

“Alright, then….”

And so.

The three discussed the evaluation criteria and the elements to focus on in the upcoming interviews for a while.

“Now, shall we start?”

“How are we going to finish 166 submissions…?”]

“If each song is about 3 minutes, that’s at least 500 minutes, and considering the evaluation time, it could take up to 9 hours, right?”

“Wow….”

“…”

Hayoon, who suggested starting, felt dizzy just from hearing the harsh reality check from Do Jin-ho.

It was fortunate that they came to the club room early on a weekend morning.

It seemed likely that they would be stuck in the club room until 7 PM.

“Still, if you guys allow it, I can quickly eliminate the ones that are clearly not suitable.”

“Can you do that?”

“How many years have I been an otaku? If you give me permission, I can judge them right away to save time.”

“Hmm….”

Do Jin-ho volunteered to take the lead.

Hayoon seemed to hesitate for a moment, but soon nodded.

Who was Do Jin-ho?

The owner of the outstanding naming sense, M4BabyRoomGuard.

He must have a reason for doing this.

“Let’s give it a try? Is that okay with you, Arin?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Alright, let’s do it.”

With Hayoon and Choi Arin’s consent, Do Jin-ho connected a Bluetooth speaker to the laptop.

This was to ensure decent sound quality and allow everyone to listen together.

Soon, the first song began to play.

“Oh….”

Hayoon had heard this song many times.

It’s the song that guys always sing at karaoke, right?

“Hmm….”

The intro played, and Do Jin-ho’s displeased hum followed for a moment.

-Even without you, the dazzling sky….

“Cut. Next.”

“Huh?”

Choi Arin made a strange sound and widened her eyes as he stopped the music before the first verse was even finished.

“What did you hear?”

“Why?

“Do you need to hear more?”

“No…”

Choi Arin looked like she didn’t understand at all, but Hayoon instinctively knew.

She realized what criteria Do Jin-ho was looking at.

“First, the song choice. This is ‘Needle’. A karaoke favorite for guys.”

“So, why is that a problem?”

“It’s a common pop song. There’s a high chance they don’t understand this scene. And decisively.”

Do Jin-ho pressed enter, and the lyrics started playing again.

-People smiling brightly……

Do Jin-ho stopped the song again after just one line.

“It’s a guy. Have you ever seen a male vocal used in an otaku game? At least I haven’t seen one yet.”

She was sure.

This guy is an expert.

He can be trusted.

“I agree. Honestly, if we don’t do it this way, we won’t be able to listen to all of them even by the time the school gates are locked. Let’s proceed at this tempo.”

“O-okay. I’ll try to adapt.”

Hayoon nodded, agreeing to follow Do Jin-ho’s judgment.

Choi Arin also nodded, and the music started playing again in the club room.

“Cut it, he brought another normie song.”

Of course, that second song didn’t even play for 10 seconds.