Among the 20 active contestants who advanced to the third round of the ‘King of Singers 2’, shocking upsets arose in the first round of the ‘One Song Battle’.

On the 7th episode of ‘King of Singers 2’ on MBN, which aired at 9:50 PM on the 14th (Tuesday), the 20 active contestants who advanced to the third round of the main competition had a bloody battle in the ‘One Song Battle’, where two contestants sang one song each. In particular, in the first round ‘One Song Battle’, the active players such as Hwang Min-ho, Enoch, Jin Hae-sung, Park Gu-yoon, Kang Moon-kyung, and Shin Seung-tae, who were considered the leaders, experienced the bitterness of defeat, which was a completely unexpected result that shocked everyone, while the active players raised expectations by showing their determination as they entered the second round ‘One Comeback Match’, where the score was doubled.

First, after the second round of the main tournament, the active players gathered in one place, and the celebrity judges held a vote to decide who would be ejected, reflecting their expectations for the future, for the 20 players excluding the Enoch team (Enoch, Park Seo-jin, Noh Ji-hoon, Han Kang, Kim Kyung-min) who all advanced to the third round of the main tournament. Based on the votes, the final ejectors were decided to be Yang Ji-won, Choi Woo-jin, Yoo Min, Gong Hoon, and Jeon Jong-hyuk, leaving 20 people alive, and the active players held tears in their eyes as they watched the ejected players leave. And Enoch, who led the team mission to first place, was selected as the MVP of the second round of the main competition and received congratulations.

Next, the third round of the main competition, the final gateway to the semi-finals. The first round is a ‘one song battle’ where the two active contestants share a total of 300 points, and the second round is a ‘one turnaround’. The tension was heightened when the rule was announced that only the top 11 out of the total 20 contestants will advance directly to the semi-finals by adding up the scores from the first and second rounds, and the bottom 9 will be candidates for elimination.

The first match was between trot world‘s fashionista Noh Ji-hoon and trot world’s big brother Park Gu-yoon. Park Gu-yoon, who lost a lot of weight because of the competition, fiercely attacked Noh Ji-hoon, saying, “I‘ll show you that small peppers are spicy.” The two faced off with “I Want to Be in Love Once,” and Park Gu-yoon received praise from Nam Jin, saying, “I didn’t know Park Gu-yoon danced,” for his outstanding dancing skills, but Noh Ji-hoon received praise from the original author Seol Woon-do, saying, “He did it in his own style,” and won over Park Gu-yoon in a major upset.

Kang Moon-kyung and Song Min-joon, who had a showdown between a traditional master and an emotional master, caught everyone‘s attention with their unlikely pairing. Kang Moon-kyung revealed that she nominated Song Min-joon for the simple reason that he was tall and looked good, and they had a hard time right from the song selection because of their opposing modes. The two who chose ‘If You Lend Me a Thousand Years’ performed splendidly, with Song Min-jun, who was debuting a genuine trot stage, breaking expectations and defeating them, while Kang Moon-kyung, who was a trot singer, made the mistake of missing the lyrics and lost miserably to Song Min-jun.

The ultimate performer Kim Joong-yeon and the spirited trot idol Seong-ri, who had been fighting since the preliminaries, went into a revenge match, and Kim Joong-yeon said, “Your role ends here”, while Seong-ri said, “I thought you went home after losing the death match”, foreshadowing a fateful match with a tense battle of wits. Kim Joong-yeon and Seong-ri, who even wore matching costumes, chose ‘Stop’, and made viewers unable to take their eyes off them with their powerful glow stick dance and high-quality dance break. But this time again, Seong-ri took the lead, causing an upset where the performance throne was reversed.

Muterot gentleman Enoch and witty Kim Soo-chan selected ‘Rain is Falling on a Man’s Heart’ and completed the stage with different emotions. Enoch surprised the audience with a solid bass based on musicals, and Kim Soo-chan surprised them with an unexpectedly serious side, but he received criticism from Nam Jin saying, “It‘s a blues song, but he didn’t get into the rhythm”, and Joo Hyun-mi saying, “I wasn‘t very impressed”. Kim Soo-chan won with an overwhelming score of 104 points.

Shin Yoo and Shin Seung-tae, who have completely opposite characters, came up on stage, and the celebrity judges sighed, “How could those two be together!”. Shin Seung-tae, who was pointed out by Shin Yoo, said, “Why is that guy like that? He lamented, “Why did you pick me?” but once on stage, he threw down the gauntlet, saying, “I’ll make you regret it.” The two chose “Ah! Sarubia” and captivated everyone with their bright red costumes, passionate tango-style dance, and alluring hand gesture choreography. Shin Yoo drew cheers with a perfect dance that made Park Hyun Bin’s worry, “Shin Yoo shouldn’t dance,” seem meaningless. Shin Yoo won amidst Seol Woon Do’s rave reviews, saying, “This is a stage that will be a role model for aspiring singers.”

With Jae Ha and Hwan Hee’s appearances, a showdown between the deadly vocals took place, and Jae Ha made a strong provocation, saying, “You came because trot looked easy.” When Hwan-hee gave a gentle answer, “It won’t be easy to win,” Shin Dong-yup made Hwan-hee bite Jae-ha, causing an explosion of laughter. The two who chose ‘Heavenly Reunion’ delivered a feast for the ears with their deep tones, resonant singing skills, and rich vocal volume, and the result was unpredictable as Hwan-hee narrowly beat Jae-ha.

Park Seo-jin and Kim Kyung-min were on the same team in the second round of the main competition, but faced each other as enemies. Park Seo-jin, who came out without a janggu, showed special determination, saying, “I have to put on an unexpected stage, not just look the same,” and made a bold move to clash with Kim Kyung-min only through song with ‘You Going Back to Memories’. Yoon Myung-sun told Park Seo-jin, “It seems like you sang it gently out of consideration for your younger sibling, but it would be better if you sang it more tensely,” which made Park Seo-jin and Kim Kyung-min nervous, but Park Seo-jin ended up winning.

The first round MVP Hwang Min-ho and Taekwondo Trot Na Tae-joo, who were automatically matched because no one pointed them out, had a hard time practicing since the beginning because Hwang Min-ho has a high-pitched voice that is five keys higher than Na Tae-joo, but they created a warm atmosphere through their friendly practice process. The two created an attractive stage with a dance that added cute movements to ‘Nina No’ and a fantastic harmony that utilized the difference in their vocal ranges, but Hwang Min-ho was unable to show his skills due to his very different vocal ranges, and Na Tae-joo won with a landslide vote from the celebrity judges.

Jin Hae-seong and Han Kang are close friends and loyalists, so a tight match is expected. Furthermore, Jin Hae-seong threw a challenge to Han Kang, saying, “Please yield to my younger brother with a broad heart like Han Kang,” and Han Kang burst into laughter. Jin Hae-seong, who had been losing streak since the team mission, expressed his burden, saying, “I just want to win once,” and Han Kang showed his earnest determination, saying, “This is my last audition challenge,” before showing off his different charms in “Empty Saddle.”

However, after the performance, Joo Hyun-mi showed a disappointed look and refused the judges’ critique, saying, “I didn’t even know what song it was. I’m going to move on without giving a critique,” and the atmosphere became icy. In the end, Han River won by 36 points.

Finally, Kim Junsu and Choi Suho, the master and disciple of the traditional Korean music world, clashed, and Choi Suho was moved by the competition with Kim Junsu, who was his idol and role model. However, before going on stage, Kim Junsu was worried that he would not be able to speak due to a bad cold and worried that he would harm Choi Suho. The two who selected ‘Spring Rain’ received a standing ovation with their explosive singing ability that drew out the most heartbreaking vocals and emotional lines, and Lyn was moved to tears, saying, “I think I‘m going to cry.” Choi Suho, who aims to surpass his role model Kim Junsu, won by just 8 points.

After the end of the 1st round ‘One Song Battle’ of the 3rd round of the main tournament, the rankings of the 20 contestants were announced, and the 1st round ranking results were 1st Na Taejoo, 2nd Kim Soochan, 3rd Park Seojin, 4th Shin Yoo, 5th Song Minjun, 6th Han Kang, 7th Hwanhee, 8th Noh Jihoon, and 9th Seongri and Choi Suho.

Next, in the 2nd round of the 3rd round of the main tournament, ‘One Round to Turn Around’, each active contestant prepared a solo stage. In particular, the ‘One Round to Turn Around’ was conducted with a full score of 600 points by doubling the voting points from 300 points in the 1st round, which made the situation where the results of the 1st round could be overturned very exciting. With a combined total of 9 contestants from rounds 1 and 2 facing the risk of elimination, 13th place Park Gu-yoon, 14th place Jae-ha, 15th place Jin Hae-seong, 16th place Kang Moon-kyung, 17th place Shin Seung-tae, 18th place Kim Kyung-min, 19th place Enoch, and 20th place Hwang Min-ho, who are on the list of at-risk contestants, are raising curiosity about whether they will be able to make a comeback and advance to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the 8th episode of ‘Current King of Singers’ will air on Tuesday, January 21.

Photo=‘Current King of Singers 2’, Crea Studio

Reporter Lee Seul-bi, Donga.com misty82@donga.com