Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Why did he ask me that? His intention was obvious. 

He was either interested in me personally, or he wanted to show off how well-connected I was with someone.

Either way, he was not someone I wanted to get close to.

“Uh…”

Ye-jun didn’t answer right away. He smiled faintly and trailed off. What was he smiling about? He should have said no right away.

As I glared at him nervously, my staff asked me with a puzzled look.

“Mr. Ise, aren’t you moving?”

Oh. I turned to the staff and moved with hesitant steps. As I moved slowly, my eyes were fixed on Ye-jun. What was he doing? He should have answered quickly! I was frustrated inside as Ye-jun finally opened his mouth.

“I don’t have any account for socializing, only for subscribing. Our company forbids us from using personal SNS. Sometimes the manager checks on us. To see if we only subscribe or if we follow anyone back.”

Ye-jun’s answer was strangely long. What? Did he really do something shady? I looked at him with suspicion.

“Ah~. So that’s what you were looking at. I thought. The company is too harsh. It’s really too strict.”

“Right? I really wanted to have an account where I could DM with fans and talk freely, not just the official one. But they said it’s not possible yet.”

Well… He was a clever guy, so he wouldn’t do anything extreme. But there was nothing good about talking too much.

He would ruin himself with his mouth, and one slip of the tongue could destroy the image he had built up.

“Mr. Ye-jun, you should move quickly!”

“Ah, yes! I’ll go!”

Only then did Ye-jun manage to escape from the staff. I sneaked up to him and asked.

“What’s going on? Why did you talk so long?”

Ye-jun made a face as if he was caught red-handed. He said playfully, “Ah, I have something like that. Trade secret.”

“Are you kidding me?”

I squeezed his neck with my hand.

“Ow, I surrender, I surrender! How come you have such a strong grip?”

It wasn’t that I trained or anything. It was just Cheonise’s natural strength. When I was Lim Hyun-seong, I developed it from working in the kitchen.

It was unfair that someone who had never done any hard work in his life had such a good grip.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Why did you talk so long?”

“It’s really nothing. I have a separate account to contact the hip-hop scene and foreign producers. I thought he might think I was a secret fan and ask me to follow him back, so I dodged him.”

He then showed me his private English account with no profile picture.

The following list had no women, only black rappers.

“Will you trust my sincere innocence?”

Well… He wouldn’t suddenly cause a scandal with the Billboard old-school rappers. And they all had verified marks, so I guess I could relax.

“Be careful of scandals all the time.”

I pressed his shoulder harder and let go. Ye-jun ran away to join the members.

“Down with the violent leader!”

“What are you talking about…”

Seong-won moved his seat with a clear annoyance, avoiding Ye-jun and putting Kyung-hwa between them.

“Come on, let’s finish the group shooting and start the individual shooting right away!”

“Yes!”

It would be fine, right? I decided not to think too complicatedly and focused on the shooting.

***

“Good job!”

After finishing the monitoring, it was already dark.

There was no way it would end before dinner.

When the sun finally set, the atmosphere changed again. We could only get out after taking a few more shots.

The botanical garden itself had a unique atmosphere, with a perfect harmony of steel structure and planter. It matched our concept so well that it was scary.

It felt like a world where humans had gone extinct and only plants had survived.

The botanical garden staff also checked some of the shots and praised us for how well they came out.

‘The result was good, so I’m glad…’

Try this pose, pull your chin, stretch your arm, no, not like that, the other way.

I was exhausted from all the suffering.

“Mr. Ise, are you tired?”

Seon-woo came close to me and handed me a pet bottle with a low-calorie ion drink.

“I’m not that worried. It’s just been a long time since I did this.”

“I’ll lend you a steam pack when we get home. Get some rest.”

Tomorrow, we had a pre-planning meeting for the music video shooting, and the day after that, we had to go back to the countryside for the second episode of Jakon.

‘Now that we have Jakon, we have to schedule well. Who knows when Kang Yugeon will try to pass on his schedule. I have to take care of my health.’

I thought of Seon-woo, who ate the least calories among us.

‘Is he okay? It’s hard to digest even if you eat well.’

I looked at Seon-woo without realizing it.

“?”

Seon-woo looked at me with a bright expression, without any doubt or anxiety.

“Did I do something wrong?”

If it was Seong-won, he would have said what, why, what first. How could I deal with this naive guy who would be easily scammed anywhere?

I patted Seon-woo’s shoulder with the heart of an old man who gave his grandson money.

“Hmm?”

Seon-woo tilted his head as if he thought something was wrong, but I just gave him a thumbs up with my right hand.

‘Anyway, I’m glad he looks okay. Let’s run away before he says he wants to eat more.’

Until I clear my success as an idol and start my revenge… I’ll take care of you as an adult.

I left only a thumbs up and rushed to the mini van, leaving Seon-woo with a bewildered expression on his way home.

***

The next morning. 

As soon as I woke up, I was greeted by a severe muscle ache and got up. The first thing I checked was the time.

‘10:43… That’s not bad… Wait, 10:43!?’

The manager was supposed to pick us up at 11. I hadn’t prepared lunch at all! I screamed and ran out, and Seon-woo and Ye-jun were sitting side by side on the sofa, watching a foreign drama.

“Hyung, you’re up?”

“I was about to wake you up.”

They looked so peaceful that it cured my low blood pressure.

“I didn’t expect anything from you guys.”

I was sure I set the alarm, but why didn’t I hear it? I hurried to wash up and change clothes, then asked Seon-woo.

“Did the alarm not go off this morning?”

Then Seon-woo said something ridiculous with a bright smile.

“Hyung, you looked so tired that I couldn’t wake you up. I turned it off for you.”

How could he say that now? I wanted to raise my voice, but I didn’t have time to argue.

“Ugh… I can’t live like this. From now on, if the alarm goes off and you can’t wake up, I’ll splash water on your face!”

“Uh-huh, okay!”

It wasn’t a very convincing answer. I looked at Kyung-hwa, who had finished getting ready early, with resentful eyes, and he avoided my gaze.

“Ah, I thought you’d wake up on your own.”

“Me too.”

The damage was done, so I had to get ready as fast as I could.

“There’s salad and pasta in the fridge, help yourselves!”

As I finished getting ready and ran out of the door, the manager honked his horn in the parking lot.

“Yeah! Have a good trip!”

This time, too, Kyung-hwa and I went together, just like the last time we had a concept meeting.

It was no use having too many people involved.

I had prepared some analysis materials in advance, but I still wondered.

‘Did I overdo it last night?’

I woke up in the middle of the night and searched for dystopian-style music videos, which seemed to be the cause of my oversleeping.

As the algorithm led me to this video and that video…

I felt like I had pushed myself too hard, considering the fatigue from the jacket photo shoot.

‘But it’s not like me.’

I had never ignored the alarm in my 40 years of living as Lim Hyun-seong. I was so sensitive that I would open my eyes at the slightest noise.

Especially on a day like this, when I had an important meeting ahead, I would be alert and wake up long before the alarm went off.

‘I thought it was a comfortable habit, living like this.’

It was the same after I became Cheonise. Was it because I was too tired? I wondered, but I couldn’t dwell on it.

“It feels real now that things are going smoothly.”

As I got on the mini van and buckled up, I turned my head and stretched, and Kyung-hwa chuckled lightly.

“When was it not?”

“What are you laughing at?”

“Well, sir. Please only crack your joints when there’s no camera.”

“What are you talking about?”

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Kyung-hwa with suspicion, and he shrugged. I should have asked him why the fans hated me driving.

Soon, an awkward silence came and it was hard to start a conversation.

‘Come to think of it, we haven’t had a chance to talk since we checked the feedback together.’

Now would be a good time to do it. But before I could say anything, Kyung-hwa took out his wireless earphones from his bag.

‘Ah~. I’m not a father watching his teenage son, what is this.’

I ended up just staring at Kyung-hwa listening to music like a dog chasing a chicken, and turned my head.

***

The meeting ended sooner than I thought. The music video director that the company hired brought the storyboard first, and the discussion went smoothly.

The plans that we brought were all scrapped, but the expert’s work wasn’t bad.

Mr. Ise, you do this, Mr. Kyung, you do that. Mr. Ye-jun, you do this, and Mr. Seon-woo and Mr. Seong-won, you do this.

It was a work that only required following the guidelines that someone had set, so I didn’t need to think and it was easy.

‘But I don’t like not having control…’

Was it because of my obsessive-compulsive disorder that I wanted to control everything with my own hands? I thought with my eyes narrowed on the way back.

“What are you thinking about with such a profound expression?”

As we were almost there, he took off his earphones and looked at me.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing, my ass.”

The work was progressing steadily, but I couldn’t shake off the vague anxiety.

After a close call, the next day came. It was the day of the second episode of Jakon.