Playlist was now in the middle of its live broadcast, but not all the clips that were being played are happening in real-time.

While the stage is being organized and the contestants are changing their clothes, the pre-recorded interview videos and the pre-recorded performances were shown.

“That guy must’ve been very nervous. …Ever since he told everyone to run away earlier, he hasn’t been in a good condition.”

“The association guys are watching the people who came to support him. Maybe that has something to do with it?”

The people in the studio and the audience at home all noticed the regrettable performance of the Namgung employee.

Neither the group performance nor his pre-recorded solo stage received good reviews.

Still, with the performances of the other contestants and the MCs, the last broadcast of Playlist continued.

To give things a sense of realism, MCs Choi Jina and Yeom Junyeol were giving real-time comments to the pre-recorded videos, and the timing of their occasional ad-libs was exquisite enough to impress the audience.

Seeing how smoothly things were going, it’s hard to imagine that the broadcast was almost canceled due to the threat of enemies and spawning otherworlds.

It wasn’t just the MCs who drew attention.

“Wow… Seeing her on-screen, Yuri can speak really well.”

“I think Yuri’s enunciation is crisper than the writer-nim.”

“Hahaha, thanks. The interview was mostly done with the seniors so I didn’t get a lot of screen time but…”

Kim Yuri shyly thanked the others.

In the pre-recorded interview, Geum Chansol and Wang Chansol appeared first before Kim Yuri.

As if recognizing that the two were a duo, the writer decided to interview them at the same time.

The two actually seemed to be on the same wavelength, giving the same answers at the same time which got big laughs from everyone.

“Miro’s video is coming up! How did you feel watching her live?”

“Yeah, it’s a shame we couldn’t watch her during the pre-recording.”

After hearing that comment, Kim Yuri, Kwon Lena, and Mok Wooram looked at each other with meaningful eyes.

Everyone who witnessed Dokgo Miro’s performance seemed to have the same idea.

“See it for yourself! That would be better than hearing it from us.”

“Yep, no spoilers.”

“That’s right. You have to see the great performance with your own eyes to understand its true nature.”

The other kids from Class Zero were curious to death about what kind of performance Dokgo Miro gave but hearing their classmate’s response, they decided to endure it.

Ham Geunhyung, who just finished talking with the staff, returned to his seat in the audience.

“It seems like Dokgo Miro’s video is coming up soon. Let’s minimize our talk.”

“Yes!”

Soon, the giant screen showed Dokgo Miro’s face staring straight at the camera, along with a subtitle introducing her.

In contrast to her past performances where the beginning would start with a dark stage, Dokgo Miro was now staring at the camera in intense lighting.

The staff members were mesmerized by the power Dokgo Miro was exuding.

The moment she started singing and moving her body, exclaims erupted everywhere.

“This isn’t lipsync, right? I don’t think an AR is even playing in the background…!”

“How is she singing so well while moving like that?!”

The song started with a high note from the beginning.

It’s a performance that only a few people can perform without exhausting their energy from the first few lines.

Dokgo Miro aced both singing and dancing with a perfect smile.

The whole video was only about 3 minutes and 25 seconds.

Even though it’s not a long duration of time, It’s not easy holding people’s eyes for more than a minute.

Nevertheless, people watched Dokgo Miro’s performance with laser focused eyes, mesmerized throughout the whole 3 minutes and 25 seconds.

Even those who watched her performance during the pre-recording couldn’t take their eyes off the screen.

When Dokgo Miro was shown smiling brightly and waving after the performance, the audience welcomed her with screams of cheers.

Wowwww…!

Amid the audience’s cheer, Jung Haeon was holding onto her camera and biting her lips tightly.

Geum Chansol noticed that she was holding back her tears.

He tapped her shoulder.

She feigned ignorance at first, but when she looked down at her camera, tears began to fall from her eyes.

“Hey, how can you cry already when the results haven’t been announced yet!”

“You won’t be able to watch things well if you’re crying. We have to see everything before it ends!”

“Haeon-ah, there’s still the live performance.”

Unsure if her classmates were teasing her or comforting her, Jung Haeon chose to scream.

“Gah, I’m not crying!”

“Yeah yeah, wipe off your tears first.”

Leaving the heartwarming scene behind, the broadcast continued.

The next videos shown were an awkward interview with a Namgung employee and the contestant’s pre-recorded performance that had a lot of mistakes.

Finally, the voting for the final winner of Playlist has begun.

“Your Playlist, your last chance to vote for your player!”

“Audience voting starts… Now!”

A code popped up on the screen.

Everyone’s hands began to move busily as they voted for their candidates.

The same was true for the Eungwang High students seated in the audience.

“Uhm… Is this how you do it?”

“Right! Hahaha, you don’t have to press it so many times. It’ll only be counted once anyway.”

“Professor Ham Geunhyung! Have you voted already, professor? You voted for Miro, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

The Year One Class Zero students warmly voted for Dokgo Miro.

The Year Two Class Zero also moved for her.

As if they prepared for this moment, the Year Two Class Zero students looked around before producing a fluorescent placard with Dokgo Miro’s name.

Geum Chansol and Wang Chansol, who immediately found the camera that was filming the audience while they vote, rushed forward.

In front of the camera, the two did their absolute best to promote Dokgo Miro.

“You kids from Year Two Class Zero, are you guys watching? You guys better vote!”

“Dear viewers, gather your strength and give it to Miro!”

The scene was broadcast nationwide, and it seemed like the staff liked the cheerful appearance of two high school students talking to the camera.

Soon, the voting status was updated in real-time over a certain period.

The poll showed Yeo Raehun and Dokgo Miro having an overwhelming amount of votes.

“The number of votes… it’s still lower than usual. I think there are still some people who haven’t voted yet.”

“I guess they’re going to decide after watching the live performance.”

“Then everything depends on the next stage!”

“The order of performances will now be revealed. The first one up is the Namgung C&T office worker, and then Yeo Raehun-ssi, followed by Dokgo Miro.”

Yeom Junyeol unveiled the order of performances for the live stage.

Just when everyone thought that the decisive performances would determine the winner…

Something unexpected happened.

“Oh…? The numbers are starting to look weird.”

“What the? Is someone fabricating it?”

“What’s going on…”

Points for Yeo Raehun suddenly surged.

It was a strange occurrence considering that the voting points had been slowly increasing just now.

Soon, the cause of the phenomenon was identified.

“It’s because of the news!”

“News…?”

On the other hand, the staff also became aware of this unexpected incident.

They checked several times to see if there was a problem with the vote count, but they didn’t see anything.

“This is weird. After the opening stage and the pre-recorded performance, Miro and Yeo Raehun were almost neck and neck. But suddenly Raehun is…”

“At this rate, wouldn’t there be rumors of manipulation?”

“Raehun’s live performance isn’t up yet, but why did his votes go up so much suddenly?”

After instructing the staff to stall with ads for a while, the writers, PDs, and other key staff members held an emergency meeting.

The cause was soon identified.

“It’s a mess! There’s just been an article, and another station reported the incident in a news flash!”

“They’re bound to find out about it anyway. What’s all the fuss about?”

“That’s true but… You see…”

Choi Jina, who confirmed the existence of the reports by floating several holograms, concluded.

“Another station just reported on the otherworld attack. The details were revealed. I think there’s someone in here who leaked them. I’m sure this news is influencing the votes.”

“…Did the reports mention Yeo Raehun?”

Choi Jina nodded.

“The reports focused on Yeo Raehun building a boundary, and that there were no civilians hurt because of it. And that thanks to that, Playlist was able to continue its live broadcast.”

After those remarks, everyone turned silent.

Yeo Raehun, the Saint of Naejang Mountain, was already a well-known player.

Although he has never attacked enemies of otherworlds, he saved so many lives which led to him gaining that alias.

The public remembers his name.

It’s evident that many people voted for Yeo Raehun because of the recent news, regardless of his performance on the show.

“…They voted based on the touching news of Yeo Raehun. Not the performances or the broadcast.”

Choi Jina spoke in a cold voice.

Even those who do not tune in to Playlist seemed to be voting for Yeo Raehun.

On social media sites, the story of Yeo Raehun’s actions as the Saint of Naejang Mountain was going viral.

Things that happened outside the contest were shaking everything up.

“What’s the current situation of the votes?”

“Until just now, Yeo Raehun and Dokgo Miro were neck in neck for the first place but… Yeo Raehun is now overwhelmingly ahead.”

“Yeo Raehun hasn’t even performed live yet! They voted without watching the show?”

“At this rate, our program… Miro…!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to stop things now?”

Amid the growing voices of concern, the person that was at the center of concern appeared.

“I’m alright.”

It was Dokgo Miro.

Next to her was Yeo Raehun, who had a dark expression probably since he heard the staff’s conversation.

Dokgo Miro was now well aware of how disadvantaged she was.

However, she asked the staff in a firm voice.

“Please continue the broadcast.”

* * *

After speaking with Cheongryong and Yeom Bangyeol.

I continued to watch Playlist with the Dragon Clan and the Red Lion Team.

The screens were in ultra-high definition, and the sound equipment was even better than those in a movie theater.

‘It’s sad that I couldn’t watch it live, but this isn’t too bad.’

My playable characters Yeo Raehun, Yeom Junyeol, and Kim Yuri appeared.

And my classmate, Dokgo Miro.

It seemed okay to watch them through the high-end facilities in the Dragon Clan’s territory.

‘There’s something wrong with the viewer voting status…’

While I was looking at the rapidly changing voting graph and thinking of why it was happening…

Yong Jegun spoke to me.

“Euishin-ah, we have another guest. I think they’re here to get you.”

“What? Now?”

Who in the world is it, and how did they get here so fast?

Yong Jegun was smiling with an ecstatic face.

“Yep, he’s at the entrance. I guess he came now since commercials are being shown.”

The Tiger Clan who has access to the Dragon Clan’s territory…

It seems like he’s close with Yong Jegun?

Seeing Yong Jegun’s ecstatic face, I already knew who it was.

“Yong Jegun’s only friend is here.”

“Long time no see. What name do you use now?”

Before the commercials were over, the well-known guest arrived.

Perhaps because he has good connections with the Dragon Clan, I could hear them greeting him as he walked.

“Hello, it’s been a while. I now go by the name Kim Shinrok.”

The identity of the guest was Tiger Clan’s descendant, Kim Shinrok.