Become A Star

Chapter 86

“You’re really not going to tell me how many votes you won by?

Hwang Yi-Young kept badgering Woo-Jin for an answer while they were in the car. They had to be careful at the office to maintain confidentiality, so she only had a few opportunities to openly ask him about it.

“Please watch the episode when it goes on air.”

“How am I going to wait till next Sunday! They’re only showing round one this week.”

“Stop it. There are people like me too, you know.” At least Hwang Yi-Young got to see Woo-Jin enter the waiting room wearing The Masked King’s golden mask; Kang Ho-Soo couldn’t even go anywhere near the broadcasting station that day. The production team had requested him not to tag along as it might expose Woo-Jin’s identity. As Woo-Jin’s main manager, Kang Ho-Soo was rather well-known among Woo-Jin’s fans because of his physique and appearance. Initially, many people had mistaken him for a former gangster turned bodyguard instead of Woo-Jin’s manager. It wouldn’t help much even if he were in disguise, so he couldn’t tag along in the end.

“I want to brag about it, but I can’t, so it’s killing me on the inside.” It was the first time that an ordinary actor – not a musical theater actor – had become The Masked King. It was definitely brag-worthy. Hwang Yi-Young was dying to tell everyone about it, but she wasn’t allowed to, so it was driving her insane.

“You’re preparing well for next week’s recording, right?” Kang Ho-Soo asked. Kim Joong-Sun had restricted access to the studio Woo-Jin was using for his practice sessions. Even Woo-Jin’s staff members weren’t allowed to enter unless needed for music-related work. All these restrictions made Kang Ho-Soo feel very frustrated because he couldn’t get involved in anything related to The King of Masked Singers.

“I can just do what I did previously.” Despite saying that, Woo-Jin’s thought process was a lot more complicated. He wanted to defeat Min Si-Hoo without room for any refutation. He wanted to win by a landslide such that nobody could raise any objection or spin any stories later on. Hence, Woo-Jin pushed himself to the limits.

He knew Min Si-Hoo better than anyone else, so he was well aware of his weaknesses as well. Additionally, he could gauge Min Si-Hoo’s current skills by looking at his previous performances on The King of Masked Singers. He was confident of winning over Min Si-Hoo with his current singing skills, but Woo-Jin also had help from his past lives. Therefore, becoming The Masked King was not a problem as he was equipped with the experiences and secrets from his past lives as someone who used to be a bard, singer, and master of the Sound Technique.

Even though Woo-Jin was still far from reaching his ideal level, he was still able to easily defeat Min Si-Hoo with his current skills, and he certainly didn’t have a problem dealing with the other contestants using these skills. However, despite the production director's efforts, he was worried that the other singers might play it safe and choose not to challenge him. In order to leave the competition without a hitch later on, Woo-Jin had revealed in advance that he would only be doing five episodes. As a result, he might have put himself in an unfavorable situation. The other singers only had to hold out for the next four episodes. Even if they didn’t take on Hanryang Doryeong, the latter would be stepping down on his own, so they wouldn’t want to take the risk.

“The King of Masked Singers’ PD will take care of it.”

“How?”

“He managed to get you to go on The King of Masked Singers. Do you think he can’t convince the other singers to do the same?” Evidently, The King of Masked Singers’ production director was rather impressive in that regard. Even Min Si-Hoo wore a mask and participated in the program despite having ridiculed music variety programs in the past.