"The Ballad of Us 2" continued its streak at No. 1 in viewership ratings for three consecutive weeks, bolstered by the touching performance of its youngest contestant, Park Jin-seo.

According to Nielsen Korea, Episode 3 of SBS's "The Ballad of Us 2," which aired on Monday, October 19, saw its ratings climb from the previous week to peak at 6.5% per minute, while recording a 5.8% household rating in the Seoul metropolitan area. With this, the show took first place in its time slot and ranked No. 1 across all Monday variety programs for the third straight week. It also demonstrated unrivaled buzz by recording a 1.5% rating among the key 20-to-49 demographic.

The broadcast featured the final stage of Round 1 of the main competition, where Season 2's youngest contestant, 13-year-old Dangjin native Park Jin-seo, claimed second place overall with 148 votes. Having studied music while making a five-hour round-trip commute by bus with her mother three times a week, Park Jin-seo passionately sang Yoon Mi-rae's "Good Bye Sadness, Hello Happiness," pouring out her gratitude and apologies toward her mother.

Park Jin-seo's deep, resonant voice drew gasps of admiration from the "Top 100 Ears" panel from the very first line. Park Kyung-rim and the "Top 100 Ears" were moved to tears as they felt the heartfelt emotions embedded in the lyrics, while Joo Woo-jae marveled, "I thought an R&B master had arrived." Cha Tae-hyun exulted, saying, "A star has finally emerged from Dangjin!"

Kim Hae-rim, who delivered a solo acoustic reinterpretation of Noel's "Proposal," earned the distinction of becoming the fastest contestant to pass in Episode 3, drawing rave reviews from Cha Tae-hyun, who praised it as "a performance that didn't make me think of Noel at all." Cho Seung-beom, who took the stage for another challenge, also grabbed a ticket to Round 2 by showcasing explosive high notes with Lee Juck's "I didn't know yet."

In addition, Kim Ha-yul, Shin Chae-won, Yoo Hye-ri, and vocal music major Kim Hoon-oh succeeded in advancing to Round 2, delivering a sense of catharsis to viewers.

Having concluded Round 1 of the main competition, "The Ballad of Us 2" is set to dive into intense one-on-one death matches starting with the upcoming Episode 4. "The Ballad of Us 2" airs every Monday at 10 p.m.

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)