While they were in the middle of song selection, No. 26 suggested an self-composed rap. Thanks to that, Kang Rojun was reminded of No. 58’s ‘Witch’, for which he had recently written lyrics.

‘Looks like this guy knows how to compose too.’

Rojun, who thought there were quite a few hidden masters around, asked No. 26.

“Do you compose the rap yourself?”

No. 26 nodded calmly and replied.

“I think I compose one every day. There’s a lot that comes to mind being here. I write lyrics every day too. I just jot them down first and then combine them later.”

“Ah-”

“I just thought of some rap lyrics a moment ago and noted them down.”

It seemed he had been writing lyrics while looking at his phone.

“Since ‘Produce That 100!’ is centered around survival, there’s a lot of material to write about. My own emotions, of course, and if you scan through the other participants, there’s a flood of interesting stories. The thrill of surviving, the pain after being eliminated, the tension during survival evaluations, the jealousy that flares up watching skilled participants, the despair you feel when you're practicing like crazy, and the hopelessness when your skills plateau. Anyway, I’ve written five rap songs since I came here.”

Rojun felt there was a lot he could relate to. He too wrote in a similar fashion as a writer and lyricist. As Kang Rojun slowly nodded, No. 26, who had been calmly muttering, scratched his head.

“I’m not bragging or anything. Just saying.”

He looked again toward No. 58 and continued.

“I saw that No. 58 writes a lot of notes too, so I asked and found out he knows how to compose. But he’s genre-free while I can only do rap."

"Hmm- when you saw No. 58 ssi rapping, who do you think was better?"

“I think I’m definitely better.”

Kang Rojun smiled faintly. He had gotten a rough idea of No. 26’s personality. Then No. 26 met Rojun’s gaze.

“But isn’t speaking formally kind of uncomfortable?”

Kang Rojun simply agreed.

“Shall we speak casually?”

“Yeah. We’re on the same team, so let’s drop the formality for now.”

“Alright, sure. That’s easier for me too. Better for communication.”

“But no sharing personal details for now. We'll sort out ages later."

No. 26 was the first person Kang Rojun had dropped formal speech with since coming to 'Produce That 100!'. It wasn’t like he couldn’t have done so with No. 105, but things had just kind of passed by, and he missed the timing. Whatever the case, Rojun picked up a familiar scent from No. 26.

‘Straightforward and not bad.’

Back in his manual labor days, the aloof older guys he used to work with were similar to No. 26. Rough in behavior and tone, but solid during work and casually considerate. At a glance, people might say No. 26 was rude, but having spent a long time with those manual labor uncles, Kang Rojun found No. 26 decent.

“Alright, and let’s go with your self-composed rap for the assigned song.”

“Okay. That really okay? You’ll have a lot more to get used to. You’ll need to keep listening to the rap and lyrics.”

"It doesn't matter."

Kang Rojun answered without hesitation, and No. 26 nodded blankly. In fact, Rojun had previously tested whether original songs and such could be done through ‘AI Automation’. Of course, the test song had been ‘Witch’. The result?

‘As always, totally doable.’

As if ‘AI Automation’ had no limits, the result came quickly. As long as he had coins, ‘AI Automation’ was invincible. Unaware of this, No. 26 casually tossed out a comment.

"Among rappers, there are people who are uniquely handsome, but none who are insanely crazy super handsome like you, No. 1. That’s why you grab attention. It’ll be fine. If you ride the groove well and split the beat moderately, you including your face, your very existence will be captured as hip."

“You’re talking about color, right?”

“Yeah. Your own color, vibe, style. That kind of stuff. Surprisingly, the rap scene is full of prejudice. Scenes of someone who looks like a bookworm but has an amazing tone that flips everything come out quite often."

“So I can play it as a reversal too?”

“You could. Stage performance is important too. But since you already complete the performance with your visuals alone, I'll make the atmosphere heated like crazy."

This 4th evaluation round allowed complete freedom not only in the competition rap song but also in how the performance stage was set. Costumes, concept, direction, and so on. Right now, No. 26 was deciding on those, and Kang Rojun offered his opinion.

“If the visuals are killer and the performance is good too, wouldn’t that create an even bigger impact?”

“You said this was your first time doing rap.”

“Yeah, but since we’re a team, I’m saying let’s heat up the atmosphere together.”

“Alright, then let’s finalize the stage direction gradually. I’ll pick out a few of my self-composed raps and let you hear them.”

“Cool.”

No. 26 pulled a pair of wireless earbuds from his pocket and handed one side over. Kang Rojun took the left earbud, and No. 26 wore the right. As soon as each put in their piece, No. 26 operated his phone, and rap began playing through the earbuds.

-♬♪

The moment he heard it, Rojun was inwardly surprised.

‘Wow- damn, this guy’s really good at rap.’

It had a different feel from No. 58’s style but was on par in terms of skill. The rap matched No. 26’s thick voice and had a heavy tone. He played with the beat freely. While Rojun’s voice was on the lower side, No. 26’s was closer to thick and full. More than anything.

'The rap is good too.'

The first rap song he heard stuck in his ears. Then No. 26 moved his thumb again.

“That was the first rap. Next is this one.”

The second self-composed rap played. If the first was composed only of rap, the second seemed like rap that could appeal to the masses. It had a catchy vocal hook and chorus. In total, No. 26 played four songs. After playing them, he asked lifelessly,

“Which one’s better?”

Without much thought, Rojun answered right away.

“They were all good, but I liked the first and second ones. If we want to go hard with pure rap, then the first one. If we want public appeal, the second one.”

“You know if we go with just rap, the votes might get spread out? On the other hand, the second one might attract more votes due to its mainstream appeal.”

“So it’s either go with the second one thinking about the votes, or just go raw with the first rap?”

“Exactly.”

The two fell into a deep conversation. Rojun thought to himself, ‘I can’t believe I’m having this kind of talk'. Around then, a cameraman approached with a camera, but Kang Rojun and No. 26 didn’t seem to care and kept talking. No. 26 started off.

“I’m leaning toward the second one. You can handle the vocal part.”

Rubbing his chin, Kang Rojun shook his head.

“Let’s just go with the pure rap and crush it. Clean and sharp, no frills.”

“......”

“Wait- are you picking the second one for my sake?”

“Well, maybe a little.”

Since it was Rojun’s first time doing rap, No. 26 had suggested the self-composed rap with vocals to ease the burden a bit. But Kang Rojun smiled as if it was no big deal.

“It’s fine. It won’t be a problem. Let’s go with the first one.”

No. 26 changed his mind in just a few seconds.

“Okay. Then let’s go with ‘Small Fry'. Ah, that’s the title of the rap- ‘Small Fry’.”