# Chapter 73
The return of the king.
The legend returns.
The second coming of God Hyunshin.
Even before the broadcast began, interest in the “God Hyunshin Cover Contest” was pouring in, and the media, sensitive to trending topics, couldn’t miss it.
Grand Tamer’s PR team was so overwhelmed with countless requests and inquiry calls that they set up a separate team to handle the “God Hyunshin Cover Contest.”
Among the many entertainment reporters, those who had maintained good relationships with Grand Tamer contacted me personally, asking for something special.
So I let them know that there was a prize prepared by Ki Hyunshin himself, separate from the originally planned prizes.
CMN caught wind of it early and actively proposed to host the program on their network.
Grandfather also called us in once and asked how we would feel about doing the program on CMN.
Along with the comment that if we had found a goose that lays golden eggs, shouldn’t we hatch those eggs?
There were many proposals from other places too, but they seemed to know to some extent that we would be working with CMN, so they expressed their disappointment by asking us to give them a chance next time.
As the “God Hyunshin Cover Contest” didn’t restrict participation to professional singers, many ordinary people also knocked on the door.
The preliminary judging was handled by Grand Tamer’s vocal trainers, with Sarah Yeon playing a central role.
The preliminary judging was also filmed and aired first, and it received good responses from the beginning because of the high caliber of the participants.
It was already widely known that even God Hyunshin’s fans had good singing skills, and this was a place where that could be confirmed in real-time.
They avoided editing that would create tension and instead highlighted each person’s stage as much as possible. People were amazed by the footage produced by ten cameras and a veteran filming director.
The quality was so excellent that many people who had only been observing despite hearing about the cover contest belatedly regretted it after watching the broadcast, making complaints a common occurrence in online communities.
[Wow. Really!!!! What is this God Hyun Cover Contest!! Why are these people splurging money on preliminary judging like this? I’m jealous as hell!]
[I thought that too, but if you think about it, it’s not something to be jealous of. Can you cover God Hyun’s songs? How difficult are God Hyun’s songs? Only God Hyun can bring out that flavor in God Hyun’s songs. I thought about entering for a long time, but when I tried singing at karaoke, I quickly came to a conclusion. That’s just a song to listen to.]
[Why is so much effort put in from the preliminaries? They’re just competing with songs? Seems like they don’t care about contestant narratives. Looks like they’re focusing all their attention on the stage and planning to evaluate based solely on singing.]
[It’s been a while since I’ve seen Teacher Sarah. Feels like it was just yesterday that she raised Crop Five. She must be so proud every time she sees Crop Five.]
[Teacher Sarah hasn’t changed at all. She’s so cute when she watches contestants sing with such focus. Looks like stars will shoot out from her eyes.]
Not all participants could have great skills, but there were many opinions that the editing, which didn’t expose the contestants’ mistakes, was good.
Without repeatedly showing the sections where mistakes were made or pointing them out explicitly through subtitles, the editing flowed naturally like a drama, making everyone look good whether they performed well or not.
While they had to decide and separate those who passed and those who didn’t, the sentiment that there was no need to unnecessarily hurt feelings was evident in the footage.
When Crop Five members appeared, I couldn’t bear to watch the broadcast and turned it off.
I couldn’t watch because I was worried about my kids making mistakes, but when I checked the results later, they had all passed.
When I asked Hyung about the results and showed my happiness, he asked me as if it was strange.
“Did you really think they would fail? Seriously?”
“No. I didn’t think they would, but still, you never know. They could make mistakes. From being nervous.”
“What a silly thing to say. Crop Five? You still seem to think of them as the kids who failed at auditions. Well, that’s not a bad thing, but it is peculiar.”
Crop Five chose lesser-known songs, and those songs began to gain attention again when sung in Crop Five’s voices.
Inspired by the program’s success, every broadcasting station planned similar projects, but there weren’t many singers who could create as big an issue as Ki Hyunshin.
Moreover, it wasn’t easy to expect the element of lateral support from a singer with a powerful fandom like Crop Five.
The opinion prevailed that even if they tried, they wouldn’t achieve much success.
It was practically confirmed from the beginning stage that this program would be an enormous success.
So, with predictions of a success rare in recent times, talk circulated among the production team about extending the cover contest for a long time.
Hyung called in Ki Hyunshin and Crop Five to decide on that matter, and I was also present at that meeting.
Crop Five had been putting considerable effort into preparing for the cover contest finals, and even after gathering at Hyung’s call, they were asking me what was going on, not knowing the reason.
Ki Hyunshin, who arrived before Crop Five, also didn’t know the reason, but Hyung asked for opinions on how they would like to proceed with the cover contest.
“While it was a program where some success was predicted, this exceeds expectations by far. And there’s a lot of talk that it will be difficult for a program this good to come out in the future. So, if Hyunshin and Crop Five agree, I think it might be good to extend this for a long time. I called you to ask what you all think.”
“Ah…”
At Hyung’s words, Ki Hyunshin made a troubled expression.
Crop Five, on the other hand, couldn’t say anything.
It was probably something they started thinking it would be interesting and judging it would be meaningful.
But if they extend it for a long time because the program is doing well, the priorities might get reversed.
However, it was difficult for Crop Five to speak up about that.
Just then, what I was thinking came out through Ki Hyunshin’s mouth.
“I know how important this period is for Crop Five, and I don’t think it’s good for me to be tied up here for long either. Now I want to make music. I’ve been charged with great energy and support. Now I should move forward with that as my driving force. There are definitely things to gain here and I feel happiness, but you know what they say. A ship isn’t made to stay docked in the harbor.”
Hyung nodded.
“Yes. Good. If that’s how you feel, we’ll do it as originally planned and end it. I think it’s a good decision too.”
Crop Five supported Ki Hyunshin’s decision and congratulated him.
“Congratulations, hyung.”
I joined in the congratulations, and Ki Hyunshin smiled brightly.
“Then all that’s left is to determine the winner among us.”
When Jeong Chan spoke with a confident voice, Ki Hyunshin put his hand on his shoulder and made a meaningful expression.
“Is that really so?”
“What? Why? Isn’t it us? Objectively, I think we did the best.”
But Ki Hyunshin didn’t give a clear answer to that.
* * *
Not everyone viewed Crop Five’s serious participation in the God Hyunshin Cover Contest positively.
Especially Crop Five’s hardcore fans expressed increasing dissatisfaction, asking why Crop Five was playing a supporting role to Ki Hyunshin.
They were uncomfortable seeing them appear on a program centering Ki Hyunshin for quite a long time and singing Ki Hyunshin’s songs.
The question was why their stars were competing for victory while singing someone else’s songs, which was a reasonable concern.
The more they cherished and loved Crop Five, the more valid these feelings were.
On the broadcast, Crop Five expressed that this was originally their rest period when they wouldn’t be broadcasting and would be resting, but they got to broadcast with a senior they admire, so please look at it favorably.
Since Crop Five fans’ complaints stemmed from wanting their stars to be more loved and wanting people’s attention to be focused on Crop Five, the fans couldn’t express further complaints after the members’ statement.
Crop Five learned about the fans’ position and asked for my thoughts.
They asked if I also thought they were wasting their time.
However, I could clearly state that this time was by no means a sacrifice for Crop Five.
For Crop Five to continue with their own music, finding their own color without settling for their current success, they needed stimulating inspiration that they could immerse themselves in.
And Ki Hyunshin was a presence that gave them sufficient stimulation.
They listened to Ki Hyunshin’s songs, interpreted them to cover them, and had long, deep conversations with Ki Hyunshin – there was no need to explain how helpful this was for Crop Five.
“You might be gaining more. I think you, if not others, would know that.”
“That’s right. We were curious if you knew that, hyung, so we asked.”
Irun said playfully.
Ki Hyunshin helped Crop Five as they tried to arrange his songs, teaching them how to interpret songs and sharing his feelings about them.
In the process, the members seemed to receive know-how that went beyond what they had learned so far.
From methods of putting emotion into songs or ways to exercise restraint, to stage production and song development – they learned so much from Ki Hyunshin.
