Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 42 The Negotiation Between the Lion and the Mouse

I felt my eyes sore after cooking a large amount of food and volunteering to play the clown in front of the people.

All I wanted to do was to fill my stomach, wash up, and lay my head on the pillow.

I quickly moved my fingers.

[Me] What do you mean? 7:43 PM

Did he have nothing better to do? I received another message from an ID that I assumed was Kang Yugeon.

[YOU] What if I’m not Kang Yugeon? 7:44 PM

What nonsense was he talking about? 

I immediately activated the voice talk function and called him.

I didn’t like to text like a kid. 

It was not my style.

After a few rings, someone picked up the phone.

“Hello? Is this Kang Yugeon’s phone?”

-…

There was no answer right away. I wondered if something was wrong with the connection and took the phone away from my ear and glared at the screen.

“It’s Kang Yugeon, right?”

Only when I called him with confidence, a snort of laughter came from the other side of the line.

-Wow~. I didn’t expect you to call right away. Yes, it’s me. Kang Yugeon.

What do you mean, it’s me, Kang Yugeon?

I remembered the disappointed faces of the students who were staring at the entrance because of his sudden cancellation.

I got the opportunity because of his no-show.

Thanks to him, I had the chance to talk to the student fans for the first time in my life. It was not a bad thing for me.

‘Is Kang Yugeon really not coming?’

The eyes that couldn’t let go of the hope and kept peeking at the entrance lingered in front of me.

I didn’t know much about the entertainment industry.

But I knew that the popularity and star quality of celebrities were made by the fans’ efforts and support.

I couldn’t help it. I was in the body of an idol who failed even after spending money without the voluntary support of the fans.

‘You shouldn’t betray the hearts of the people who came to see you.’

I answered with a sour tone from the beginning.

“What happened today? How did you miss the schedule and why did you suddenly tell us to contact you?”

Of course, I had no right to blame Kang Yugeon.

He was the young emperor who was firmly seated at the top of the industry. And I was a mouse who was at the bottom of the pyramid.

-Hmm. The first question is an industry secret. The second is that I wanted to turn the opportunity to the right place, I’ll say that.

“The right place?”

What does it mean to put something in the right place? I asked back with a pout.

-Don’t you need a place to appear anywhere?

I did. But it didn’t have to be someone else’s substitute.

“It would have been nice if you had told us in advance, junior.”

-You don’t have to be so stiff and polite. Just call me Yugeon. You debuted earlier anyway.

Should I say he had a good temper or… he was shameless?

I thought again that he was not the type of person I could work well with.

“Then, Kang Yugeon. I appreciate the opportunity you gave me, but your fans were very disappointed today.”

-So you don’t want me to do the same thing again?

Damn. I couldn’t say that even if I had multiple mouths.

As he said, Climax had been playing around without a proper group schedule for a month.

I couldn’t refuse any kind of appearance that could raise my awareness.

“No, that’s not it.”

-That’s good. Then I’ll ask you a favor in the future. Thank you for finishing the job today.

A favor in the future? 

I tilted my head and asked back.

“You’ll ask me a favor in the future?”

-Yes. Well… I’ll try not to notify you on the same day like this time. There might be some schedules that I don’t know about for Climax in the future.

What kind of reckless kid was he? 

I forgot that the members were waiting for me to come out and raised my voice.

“Do you want to use us as your cancellation squad?”

-Well, to be honest, it would be something like that.

“What if we don’t want to accept it?”

We were in no position to say that to Kang Yugeon. If it were another group, they would have been grateful for the opportunity he gave them.

It was an irrational attitude to try to reject the opportunity that came rolling in because of one person I didn’t like.

But Kang Yugeon’s ‘professionalism’ touched the deepest part of my values.

-You seem to be very unhappy with today’s event. What can I do to make you feel better?

He sounded polite, but there was a hint of mockery and amusement in every word.

I wanted to say one more thing to him. But suddenly, a translucent status window popped up and Pposil spun around nervously.

It would have been better if I were a senior in my thirties.

It was a pathetic sight to act like this when I was only a year younger than him.

‘I just want to hang up and rest anyway.’

I was about to wrap up and ask him to let me know in advance next time. But at that moment, a flash of idea crossed my mind.

“No, actually, I think I was a bit rude because I was out of my mind today. If you really feel bad, can I ask you one favor?”

My change of attitude made Kang Yugeon swallow his laughter and answer from the other side of the line.

-Sure, tell me.

I didn’t expect to handle it this way. But I had to grab Kang Yugeon, whether he was a rotten or a golden rope. 

For the sake of Climax.

***

“Ha…”

As soon as I opened the door and came out, I felt everyone tense up.

They must have been surprised that I locked myself in for 30 minutes to talk on the phone after saying I would eat.

“Hyung, is something wrong?”

Ye-jun, who wasn’t there when I just entered the living room, asked me while chewing on his salad.

He sounded worried, but… he was too busy stabbing his salad with a fork and putting it in his mouth.

“Hu…”

I deliberately hesitated. 

My meaningful attitude made them all gulp down their saliva.

“What is it, tell me quickly!”

Kyunghwa, who couldn’t handle this kind of tension well, raised his voice first.

He was the kind of guy who could overcome anything worse than this in front of the camera. But when he wasn’t, he was as timid as a bean.

I bowed my head as if something serious had happened and tapped my forehead with the back of my hand, then shouted.

“We got a choreographer.”

“What!?”

At the unexpected good news, even Seon-woo put down the fork he was holding and his eyes widened.

“Who? Who did you get?”

To be honest, I didn’t know the person very well. But from what Kang Yugeon said, he seemed to be very famous.

“MyType? He asked me to send him a demo right away by phone.”

“MyType has a schedule now?”

Kyunghwa asked in surprise. And I couldn’t answer that, well, he does, but Kang Yugeon must have hooked us up.

“Well, he said he’ll send us a draft within this week if we send him a demo. He said it might be hard to make big changes because he’s short on time.”

“Who cares if he can’t make changes? Of course we have to say okay!”

We had already agreed to it. We weren’t in a position to refuse.

I didn’t know who he was, but Kang Yugeon bragged that he had done us a huge favor. It seemed to be true.

When I thanked him dryly but politely for getting us a choreographer, I remembered the answer he gave me.

‘Senior, I made an impossible thing possible for you. You owe me for this, for sure.’

Hmph. 

He’s all talk. 

He should be careful not to mess up his schedule with his meticulousness of owing people. I hung up the phone with a dismissive snort.

‘That’s one urgent problem solved.’

I quickly sent a demo to ‘MyType’ and started preparing for dinner.

I felt uncomfortable in a corner of my mind as I stuffed food into my stomach. But it was delicious, since someone made it.

After finishing the meal, I called him to check if he had received the sound source, and he was so stiff. He had as much confidence as Kang Yugeon.

‘I was booked until next year, but I accepted it because Yugeon asked me a special favor.’

I wanted to say, yeah, right. But I knew I wasn’t in a position to argue.

‘Yes, thank you. I appreciate it.

After sending the sound source, the long day was coming to an end. The other guys had gone to bed early. I was thirsty, maybe because I had done some proper work for once.

Ah… This is when I should crack open a can of lager and drink it. I opened the fridge, but of course there was no beer can to be found even if I washed my eyes.

I settled for a soda and sat on the sofa with a feeling of being seven years old.

“…”

Before I knew it, Seong-won came out of the living room and looked down at me with his arms crossed.

“Why.”

I asked him briefly and put the can on the table.

“…Thank you.”

What kind of attitude is that for a grateful person? 

Seong-won shouted his thanks as if he was angry and went into his room.

He should be grateful. He went in with just a script, but he didn’t know what to do and just fiddled around.

I told him to do this and that and made sure he didn’t mess up the editing. His thank-you was late.

‘He can say thank you. I guess he’s improved.’

After Seong-won went into his room, the living room was quiet.

I logged into the fake account I had created before and checked to see if there was anything new among the fans today.

I took a picture with several people today, but it was still before the first promotion, so it seemed to be under embargo.

‘The entertainment community side…’

There were only a few questions related to the radio I appeared on last time, and nothing else.

I searched for Kang Yugeon out of curiosity and stuck out my tongue at the buzz that was hard to count properly.

‘He’s so annoying.’

I turned off the phone screen and went into the room where Seon-woo was already asleep.

Tomorrow was the same as today, a day with no external schedule.

Ye-jun was going to finish editing the sound source, Kyunghwa was going to visit his hometown, and Seon-woo was going to focus on his diet.

I think Seong-won said he was going somewhere to take a vocal lesson. He needed a lesson even though he sang so well.

I couldn’t just sit still, so I planned to borrow Ye-jun’s secret practice room and practice my vocals.

‘I got through today somehow.’

It was time to recharge.

I slept well, and worked hard on preparing the album. That’s how I had to do it.

I thought I had solved the choreography problem and returned to a peaceful life, but soon after.

“Ise, how have you been? I have a favor to ask you.”

Peace was bullshit. 

A series of crises or opportunities, I didn’t know what they were, were pouring out.