Save a Failed Idol’s Life

#032. An apple to who received the most attention

“The center this time, I heard Yise Hyung won’t do it?”

While all five members huddled in the living room, Yejun brought up a topic with his eyes shining.

Everyone knew that the position that had received the most attention so far was Cheon Yise’s, so it seemed quite unexpected.

“Who will be the center of the single this time?”

Since I was the general planner, their eyes naturally turned to me.

To tell the truth, I haven’t decided yet.

‘Sunwoo is still in an ambiguous condition, and I haven’t had a chance to talk openly with Son Seongwon.’

Even though he succeeded in losing weight, Sunwoo was still in the late 70kg range. Considering the height in the early 180s, the weight is not that burdensome—.

Yejun, who is about 4cm taller than Sunwoo, is in his mid-70s with a muscular body built through boxing. While the slightly taller Seongwon was in the early 70s.

Considering that Kyunghwa, which is slightly smaller than Sunwoo, was in the late 60s, Sunwoo also had to get down to the early 70s.

‘He lost a lot compared to the time when he almost hit three digits, but….’

If you stand in the center, people can’t help but notice you.

And if a member who was once talked about because of his body shape during a live broadcast showed up looking bloated during broadcast editing—.

I hated thinking about Sunwoo, who would be hurt, and the storm’s aftermath.

I couldn’t even continue to rely on skill buffs from the beginning because I didn’t know where the side effects would bounce.

Considering that, it was safe to put Seongwon, who is scheduled to appear in the competition program, in the center just before the comeback.

‘I think he thinks he’s the center too….’

Sunwoo seemed to have no thoughts. Yejun was half expecting and half curious. Kyunghwa didn’t openly say he wanted to go for the center, but he didn’t seem to hate it.

‘This is totally that.’

An apple dedicated to the most beautiful goddess. It was a structure in which, regardless of who was picked, the person who wasn’t chosen would be resentful.

They won’t be jealous or hate me because I didn’t give them the center position. But they can’t help but feel disappointed. When I thought about it, sweat broke out on my back.

Considering the relationship between Seongwon and Yejun, it was a catastrophe. Yejun has been removed from the center candidate, so there is no need to look at Seongwon.

The problem was when Seongwon was given the center position.

‘Yejun must hate it a lot.’

In order to give Seongwon the center position, I needed a reason to persuade Yejun.

It wasn’t enough just to say, ‘He’s good at singing, so let him become the center~.’

‘But I’m good at rapping too?’

One word will refute me. I couldn’t open my mouth and mumbled.

“Oh…” 

“Stop pressuring him. Hyung isn’t that kind of character.”

If I was in the position of CEO Lim Hyunseong, I could have made this decision at my own discretion. 

Because no matter who was appointed as the center, I would have had the confidence to wrap it up as a product that could be sold.

But apart from that, the pity for the big-bodied children made it difficult to make a decision.

‘I’m weak to kids.’

I don’t even need to feel a sense of fellowship, I use everything rationally. Even with a strong will—.

As expected, as soon as I saw their stubborn or tender appearance, I felt they were children, and my strong will crumbled like a sand castle in front of the waves. 

Everyone was still immature, maybe because their entertainment lives took them out of the normal flow of social life.

No matter which one I choose, there will be a guy who gets hurt, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

‘A guy who’s the same age as one’s father and never married is thinking of playing Dad, Lim Hyunseong.’

I tapped my cheek lightly to wake up.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Today, we have to split our parts. Pick one person, quickly.”

Even Kyunghwa spat it out as if he was frustrated. Of course, considering the future schedule, that was correct, but I felt cornered right now.

“Let’s divide the parts first. Since making choreography for the center is more important, wouldn’t it be better to talk to the choreographer before deciding?”

In the meantime, I looked around for choreographers, referencing what I had seen on a YouTube channel run by a famous choreography team.

It wasn’t wrong, so the refutation didn’t come back immediately.

“It’s right that Seongwon takes the high notes for the highlights. Yejunie can go into the chorus in the main rap part that goes into the chorus variation.”

The lyrics were a total of six parts in the structure of ABABCB. Groups with a large number of members divide parts even within a word, but—.

Cimax didn’t have to go that far. Because the members who were originally seven were reduced to five. 

I heard that there were some abandoned settings as the number of members decreased, but now that I think about it, it was ridiculous.

[Unusual boys who come every day!]

Therefore, it was a worldview in which members were designated for each day of the week.

It bothered me a little because there was a story that said the older the idol, the more important the worldview is.

‘Can we not worry about setting our worldview for this comeback?’

In the end, when I asked Kyunghwa, Kyunghwa looked at me with the eyes of a person from the Joseon Dynasty. 

‘The weekend is out in the middle of the week, so how do you use it…’

That’s right. It was Saturday for a foreign member and Sunday for a Korean member, but both of them left side by side.

If we keep the setting that only weekdays are left, people will laugh at us.

‘It’s better to just treat the settings that disappeared naturally.’

I also nodded to Kyunghwa’s cold-hearted conclusion. Anyway, let’s think that the distribution of parts has become a little simpler by reducing it to five.

I turned off the mind circuit and came back to reality.

“Is there a part that you want to do?”

Seongwon and Yejun, who received the vocal and rap parts of the variation C part, had nothing more to say.

“I can go anywhere.”

I meant it.

Seongwon already took over the parts that were difficult to sing anyway, and Cheon Yise wasn’t a member with strong vocals.

“Then can I take the introduction?”

As soon as Sunwoo asked carefully, Kyunghwa was delighted.

“I wanted to do that part, too.”

“Ah.”

Sunwoo couldn’t argue strongly and was hesitant. I also understood Kyunghwa’s position about not willingly giving up his part.

As this could be the last activity, everyone must be desperate for attention.

I knew how he felt, so I couldn’t readily take anyone’s side. Kyunghwa was worried as he had been excluded from the center candidate earlier.

Personal sympathy shouldn’t be mixed with business decisions. Let’s get it together, Lim Hyunseong.

After a brief silence, Kyunghwa eventually raised his hand first.

“It’s what you want to do after a long time, so you do it. Instead, promise me that you’ll lose weight to 74 by the day of the jacket photoshoot.”

He would have wanted to do an intro too. But it was the attitude of a responsible big brother to try to take care of his youngest, even though he was the recognized eldest.

“Is that really okay?”

Sunwoo’s pretty face instantly turned bright.

“Yeah. But that doesn’t mean I’ll just let you do it. Now, since there really isn’t much left, you’ll have to work hard.”

“Yes! I’ll do my best!”

Seeing Sunwoo, the youngest, smiling with his face, warmed my heart.

It would be nice if it goes on like this in a warm and easy way. But that won’t be easy, right?

I glanced at Kyunghwa’s expression. He pretended to be resolute, but his expression wasn’t very bright.

‘Anyway, since the two agreed, this must be it.’

After the parts were all divided and Yejun sent the final music file that had been arranged to the company, I felt relieved.

“Then the most important problem is…”

After going through a lot of fuss, the big crisis that I had forgotten for a while came back to mind.

A radio appearance with Kang Yoogun.

“Ah… honestly, I have no idea what he’s thinking, and I’m very reluctant.”

Kyunghwa looks more cautious than me. It was natural.

It was to the point of being terrorized by the Floss fandom to me, but—.

‘It must have been a nightmare that Kyunghwa experienced in person.’

If he had come separately to apologize or give an explanation, the emotion wouldn’t have been this deep.

He didn’t say a word, as if he hadn’t done anything wrong, and pretended to be a victim. It was a situation where I had no choice but to grind my teeth.

“Well, I’m sure he’s not playing around with malice now. It’s true that we got help.”

Climax was in a state where we didn’t have regular activities, like a failed idol.

It was fortunate that I was able to give fans something to consume.

‘It would be nice if we could create our own content as long as we secure the minimum number of fans who will consume the content.’

Even if we film something now, the company will not be willing to invest because the minimal demand for consumption is not guaranteed.

I guess I’ll have to think about this some more later. Back to the radio show again.

“I still can’t believe it. Kang Yoogun, whether it’s in entertainment or not, there must be one or two going around behind his back.”

I didn’t believe it because I wanted to believe it. I didn’t even believe it at first. However, at the moment, there was no way I could refuse at this point, so I did my best to face it.

“Well, we can’t say we’re not going, so we’ll use it as much as we can.”

“Who, Kang Yoogun?”

I didn’t answer.

***

As I was busy preparing for the comeback after the distribution of parts, it was the day of my radio appearance.

We only appeared for less than an hour, but they already made a fuss in the morning.

The radio broadcasts at 3 pm, but I was tired from preparing at 10 am.

“His snout has been full of energy since morning.”

Kyunghwa suddenly looked somewhere and sighed.

At the end of Kyunghwa’s gaze, there was Yejun, who chatted with the staff. Anyway, it must be good to have a thick-skinned. I didn’t even know his mouth would stop even when he was wearing makeup on his face.

Whoever sees it, is there a female staff member he is interested in? It was a scene that deserved to be misunderstood. 

But no one had such a misunderstanding.

The stylist was a man a while ago and had to suffer more than the makeup staff.

Then I bluff to calm Kyunghwa.

“That’s also… I think it’s a talent.”

If you are an idol, you should be brazen enough to hold onto someone you’ve never seen before and talk all day long.

Even though it’s too much for me. 

“Maybe talking to Kang Yoogun alone for 30 minutes is possible.”

Well, if Kyunghwa, who is in charge of the host position in Climax, is so shocked by Kang Yoogun—. 

It might have been a safer option. Then Kyunghwa said something unexpected.

“Isn’t Kang Yoogun interested in you?”

“Hmm?”

It was the first time I heard about it. I looked at Kyunghwa with a somewhat puzzled expression.

“What do you mean by that?”

Why is Kang Yoo-gun interested in me? It sounded like nonsense.

“You know, the messages he sent when you got attention for salad. I wonder if he’s doing that because he wants to eat the food you cook.”

Does he bother me so much just for food? I narrowed my eyes for a moment.

Of course, if it were me, it would remain that way.

However, I am a person who likes to eat, so I even started a business with it, and it became a jackpot!

He doesn’t usually do that, does he? While I was lightly raising a question mark, the makeup staff called me.

I wondered if I really needed to do it if it was real makeup and not just a simple skin correction. 

I was also the type that didn’t get along well. I walked slowly like a cat with a lot of fur.

‘Ha… I guess this is something I have to get used to as an idol.’

It was time to put aside the question of Kang Yoogun for a while and dress up nicely as an idol.