Advance Preparation

The academy director, upon receiving my call, gladly promised to provide the best practice room.

However, he says he’ll hang a banner at the academy entrance after I perform well on King of Masked Singer and my identity is revealed.

He’s really someone who’s certain about calculations.

“Grandma!”

My head was complicated and I didn’t think good ideas would come if I stayed home, so I was thinking of going to the academy.

But I ran into the grandma who picks up bottles after a really long time.

“Oh my, have you been well?”

“I’m the picture of health!”

I joked while pretending to make biceps.

The grandma started laughing loudly, seeming to match my sense of humor.

It wasn’t urgent to go to the academy, and since we met after a long time, I walked along with the grandma out of gladness to see her.

“Ah! There’s one here too.”

“Oh, oh. You have good eyes.”

We walked pleasantly pushing the cart while each holding one handle.

I swept up bottles around with eagle eyes.

While putting newly picked up bottles into the plastic bag, the grandma asked.

“You have worries, don’t you?”

“What? Ah, no. What worries.”

“When you get old, you only get better at reading people. It’s stifling to keep it in, so let it out.”

“……”

Once I was caught, it was rather easy to open up.

Maybe I could open up more comfortably because the grandma was someone completely unrelated to the individual broadcasting industry or entertainment world I’m working in now.

“King of Masked Singer? You’re going on that? Were you a celebrity?”

“Haha… Not a celebrity.”

I had to explain more background knowledge about individual broadcasting.

“That’s great, great. Then you’ll become really famous, right?”

“It’s not easy. After all, it’s a program where many good singers appear. If I’m unlucky, I could be paired with a championship candidate in round 1.”

It seemed she didn’t know much about the King of Masked Singer program itself.

So I had to explain the program’s purpose too.

“Hiding everything that can be hidden like age, status, occupation, etc. and only with voice alone… Huh?”

In the middle of explaining, it felt like something tapped the back of my head.

A strong inspiration that flashed momentarily.

The street was too busy to grasp that clue.

I asked the grandma’s understanding and ran home.

“Right, I was thinking wrong.”

I was buried in narrow thinking, only thinking about a perfect stage.

I’m not a singer, but I was thinking of preparing and staging something similar.

“I’m a BJ from New Continent TV, and a YouTuber. I have my own way.”

I’ll surprise the judging panel, audience, and TV viewers completely.

And to do that, a lot of effort was needed.

‘First, let’s post a notice.’

[I’ll be on hiatus and only do short status broadcasts for a while as I prepare an incredible project. I’m sorry.]

The viewers will be on fire right away, but they’ll be very happy when they know the truth.

“Oh… Quick response.”

I posted the notice and was searching for materials, but comments were already posted.

-Ah, this person is starting again ㅋㅋㅋ

-For real, I thought she came to her senses after the penalty broadcast last time.

-Is this that prodigal son story from the Bible? ㅋㅋㅋ Is this the angle where Hani’s broadcast fails completely and only then does she reflect and return to her beginner’s mind?

“……”

The viewers’ reactions were much harsher than I thought.

---

As King of Masked Singer progressed, many long-reigning kings who maintained their fame for weeks, not just once, were produced.

Starting from “Our Neighborhood Music Champion” with the myth of 9 consecutive wins, to “Unrivaled in the East” with 8 consecutive wins, and multiple kings with 6 consecutive wins tied for 3rd place below that…

As this happened, the program gradually focused only on singing ability and the portions related to that increased, but the atmosphere wasn’t like this in the program’s early days.

What was the reason participants wore masks in the first place?

It was about revealing their charms while hiding everything like age, status, occupation, etc.

In the past, they were desperate to hide their identities, but these days it’s not like that.

Participants who blatantly sing whether they’re exposed or not, and judging panels who somehow try to maintain the program format by pretending not to know even though they’ve noticed.

I’ll breathe new life into this program where the concept is becoming uniform.

With that thought, I formed a strategy.

‘I absolutely must not be exposed.’

Thinking about it, the probability of me being exposed was infinitely close to zero.

I’m only somewhat famous on New Continent TV, and even on YouTube, 240,000 subscribers is just barely above beginner level.

Of course, that’s compared to big companies.

For small channels, even 100,000 subscribers was huge.

‘An unidentifiable participant sings in a way never seen or heard before? They’ll probably be dying of curiosity.’

This is a provocation.

Towards this program that has deviated from its original purpose as it progressed, becoming just a broadcast to show off singing skills.

Just who am I?

I’m issuing a challenge to the judging panel and ordinary people sitting in the audience.

‘Completeness… I need a synchronization rate that will surprise everyone.’

I scrape together the remaining points.

With that, I upgraded voice impersonation ability to level 4.

Now points are at zero again.

Next, I search for targets.

I select targets to use on the actual stage, for special talents, and to cause confusion… and enter full-scale practice.

I thoroughly analyze to digest details like voice tone, accent, habits… even speaking speed and unique gestures.

It was by no means an easy task.

Just grasping one person’s characteristics took several days.

But now, excuses like lack of time don’t work.

‘Fortunately, I have what I practiced usually.’

Voice impersonation was an important specialty that became my livelihood in the early days.

It caused quite a sensation in the Miracle joint broadcast and hidden camera on Lark… So I always worked hard to increase my repertoire.

At first I started with game or cartoon characters and people around me, but recently I practiced famous celebrities’ catchphrases and voices too.

Fortunately, two voices I could use in this competition were included in my usual practice targets.

Voices I had practiced before.

Refining these and raising completeness, two days was a period that gave me confidence I could do it sufficiently.

‘The 17th is just checking, so I can manage with completed voices on the 19th… So I’m actually fine until the 23rd. Looking at it that way, do I need to master one new voice in 6 days?’

It’s not an easy task, but it’s also a natural process.

I’m appearing on one of the most famous programs in the country, so it would be stranger if there weren’t difficulties like this.

“Wow……”

“Unnie, how on earth do you do that?”

As I practice various timbres including impersonations of famous singers at the academy, Seah and Arin’s eyes stick to me with admiration.

They were looking at me as if observing a strange creature, not the same person as usual.

Hey, that gaze is rude!

Still far to go.

Differences in minute vibrations, where to exhale and inhale breath… I intend to imitate everything I can imitate.

My impersonation ability improved to an unrivaled level as I learned singing and acquired related abilities.

Actually, I’m a bit arrogant, but I’m confident I could be counted among the top in the country in this field.

One day, two days… Time stained with countless sweat and effort.

November 17th.

The day finally came.

---

I got a text from Producer Bae Il-man.

Saying he’ll arrive in an hour.

I was already washed and prepared since I didn’t know when he’d come.

I check today’s condition while adjusting my voice.

I’m reaping the benefits of upgrading fatigue recovery ability to 3 while preparing for the JYC Entertainment audition, considering the excessive practice amount.

Despite practicing intensely for the past two days even skimping on sleep, my throat condition wasn’t too bad.

Ding dong-!

Soon after the doorbell rings, I leave the house with just a waist bag.

“It’s been a while.”

“Hello!”

Whatever his intentions, he’s someone who gave me a really big opportunity.

I bowed my head politely along with a spirited greeting.

“Hahaha, it’s good to see you’re full of energy. Then let’s go.”

“Okay.”

I get in the passenger seat and fasten my seatbelt.

MBS broadcasting station is located in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu.

The car leaves the neighborhood and starts speeding along Gangbyeon Expressway.

“It’s until 2, so we should have about 30 minutes left. Did you prepare well?”

“… Please speak comfortably. It seems we’ve known each other for quite a while now.”

“Shall I? Ah, okay. Got it.”

After Producer Bae Il-man started speaking casually, the conversation proceeded more comfortably.

We didn’t exchange detailed content, but I informed him I was in perfect condition and Producer Bae Il-man roughly briefed me on what would happen today.

“If you feel it’s not right, it’s okay to strongly insist. If you get swept up in the other side’s opinion and receive an unfavorable duet song, you could be in danger from round 1.”

He means to keep in mind the worst match-up luck.

Since there are cases of meeting a championship candidate from round 1.

As I was taking in such advice well, we were already in Sangam-dong.

We park nearby and walk towards the MBS building.

Looking from the side, I saw a huge advertisement board covering about half the building.

A famous scene from a popular drama currently airing was hanging there.

“Then let’s go in.”

“Okay.”

It was the first step of a broadcast debut I couldn’t have imagined until just a few days ago.