The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

My world’s time came to a standstill. The crying members, the hosts who continued their lines, and the staff who watched the stage from above froze in place and didn’t move. Even the dust in the air was locked into place.

[A part of the regression’s secret will be revealed to you.]

[Be prepared for incoming shock.]

[Part of this timeline will crumble.]

The system rang loudly to warn me and told me to prepare myself. I wondered what this regression’s secret would be and stayed alert to witness the next scene clearly.

Whoosh!

A semi-transparent current appeared in front of me, and a video began to play. It was the same way I had seen the future with my Precognitive Vision. I looked at the video and checked the video’s background.

‘A concert stage?’ This was unexpected. What was this? I thought the system was going to reveal the secret behind my regression. I looked at the video more carefully for now. There were my group members, Only One members, OnebyOne members, Luminin members, and Bleshu members on top of the stage.

‘Is this The Showcase 2 shooting set?’ I wondered. That seemed to be the case. The Showcase set seemed to be the only likely place where all these teams would gather. It was then that two words came to my mind.

‘Final stage?’ That kind of formation and set seemed only befitting of the final stage.

‘But why is OnebyOne’s Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon still there?’ I wondered and realized that there was something strange about this stage. First of all, there were two members of OnebyOne who should’ve dropped from the stage after a big scuffle and suffered injuries. Things didn’t make sense from that point.

And as I wondered about this, I recalled, ‘The system said a part of the worldline will crumble.’

Perhaps, what I was seeing wasn’t a future of my world, and there was a high possibility the system was showing me a future of a different world. That seemed to be the most likely and reasonable guess. Then, another question popped into my head.

‘But how is this the regression’s secret?’ I didn’t understand how another world’s future could be revealing the secret behind my regression. Shouldn’t it be a world that had little to do with me?

—The Showcase 2’s final winner is—

—Only One! Congratulations!

The next scene showed Only One becoming the final winners of the other world’s future. I was angry at the Tae-Yoon from that world for losing first place to Only One when I heard the system’s voice again.

[Mission failed. You failed to win in The Showcase 2.]

[Penalty for failing: Death of member Bong Tae-Yoon.]

[Penalty will be immediately carried out.]

The system wasn’t talking to me but to someone else from another world, and I was simply a witness. But the problem was that—

‘I will die? That’s the penalty for failing the mission?’ I thought I would naturally be the regressor of this world too. And before I could recover from this shock, I saw myself from the video collapse to the ground.

—Tae-Yoon!

People murmured, and my group members surrounded me in surprise. However, one person was hugging me and crying out loud.

—Bong Tae-Yoon!

‘Do-Seung…?’ All sorts of questions popped into my head, but the system announced the end of the video.

[Recovering worldline.]

[Reward for successfully accomplishing mission has been received.]

[The speed of your world returns to normal.]

Whoosh!

The stopped time began to run its course again and dust frozen in the air floated once more. The producers moved, people talked around me, and the world regained its vibrancy.

“Congratulations, Siren!”

“Now we won’t be able to tell who will be the final winners until the very end,” the hosts began to say their commentaries again.

“Haaa. Tae-Yoon…You worked so hard…” Yeon-Hoon hugged me while crying.

“Congratulations, Mr. Tae-Yoon,”

“Congratulations!”

Surprisingly, Only One members also congratulated us for our first place with cheerful expressions.

‘Ah.’ But I couldn’t focus on what was happening around me. Fortunately, it seemed people just thought I was too shocked that we got first place, and I was spacing out.

I looked so out of it that even Kang Hyun-Sung asked me, “Are you that happy?”

But that wasn’t it. ‘Do-Seung was also a regressor?’ This was the important part. My head was in a mess. It wasn’t even that shocking that I witnessed my own death. I couldn’t erase the image of my members witnessing my death and Do-Seung collapsing to his knees and screaming from my mind.

“Ah.” I felt dizzy and needed something to grab on.

“…Hey, are you okay?” Someone then approached me to support me.

“…Do-Seung?” Why did it have to be Do-Seung of all people? I couldn’t bear to see his face properly right now. I chewed my lips and turned my head.

Perhaps, he thought I was about to cry, and Do-Seung smiled and said teasingly, “Why? Does winning make you that emotional?”

“…Yes, it does.” This was the best excuse I could make right now. I moved away from Do-Seung and stood upright. I breathed in and out and tried to calm down.

“Okay then, let’s hear what the winners have to say! Mr. Yeon-Hoon!”

“…Ah, yes! Pweh, give me a moment please.” Yeon-Hoon took the mike as the representative of our group. Yeon-Hoon spoke brightly while looking at the camera, “Thank you so much for giving us the highest assessment among the many great performances that were performed today. We will continue to try to improve and progress for our fans and the audience. Thank you.”

Yeon-Hoon said the standard lines expected from the winner. After the hosts and other groups made their applause, the host announced the third round’s MVP.

“Okay then, let’s go to our next event—announcing today’s MVP!”

I calmed my heart. Though it was difficult, I was in the middle of a shoot and couldn’t crumble here.

‘Get it together,’ I told myself.

I only had the final performance remaining after this. With just one more step, we could become the winners of the show. I couldn’t fall here. Thus, I resolved my heart and looked forward again. The MVP was also an important part of today’s shooting. I didn’t know what kind of reward they would give out since it didn’t exist in my past life, but normally, the MVP just got more screen time.

‘There’s nothing bad about getting the MVP title. It only has positives.’

“But before we announce who the MVP is, let us introduce the prizes first. Ms. Nahyun, could you present the prizes?”

“Yes. There will be a total of three prizes given to the member chosen as MVP today. The first prize is access to a five-star hotel’s suite room to rest.”

“Oh.”

“Wow.”

“Awesome.”

“The second is receiving support for a live broadcast for the MVP to communicate with his fans!”

“Oh!”

“What?”

“The final prize is an opportunity to personally communicate with the fans on social media sites!”

“Wow~”

“Amazing!”

Everyone reacted in surprise for the show, but honestly, the only thing that could be considered a prize among these rewards was the hotel suite room. The latter two were only helpful in marketing the program.

No, since that hotel suite room was probably given through advertisement deals, even that couldn’t be counted as a privilege. But if I thought like this, there was no proper reward so I decided to stop thinking about it. And honestly, these were all things good to receive.

“Furthermore, these privileges won’t just be given to the MVP member but the group the MVP members are a part of!”

People’s faces brightened hearing this. This was the good part about The Showcase. When they said they would give something, they shared it with everyone in the group instead of one person.

“Okay then, is it time to announce the MVP who will take all these privileges? Let’s first see who the MVP for Woo Yeon-Hoon’s team is,” the host, Kim Young-Jin said and stopped. It was a classic way of drawing out people’s anticipation. “The MVP is someone who carried this performance to new heights and filled the audience’s ears and eyes with joy. Mr. Woo Yeon-Hoon! Congratulations!”

“Whaaat? Really?”

“Yes!”

“Wooow!”

As expected, Yeon-Hoon was the MVP of his team.

“The judges’ comment said that you dominated the stage, and your voice was seamless. How wonderful~”

Yeon-Hoon seemed to be surprised by the fact he got MVP and jumped up and down in glee. The hosts looked at him affectionately, and thanks to Yeon-Hoon, we would be able to lodge in a hotel and do a live broadcast to communicate with our fans.

“I look forward to it.”

“Ahh.”

“I wonder what the hotel suite room will look like.” My other group members didn’t appear regretful that they hadn’t received the MVP title in the slightest and seemed to only look forward to sharing the MVP’s privileges. The announcement for the MVPs continued and in Kang Hyun-Sung’s team, Kang Hyun-Sung received the MVP title. It seemed my group members had hoped for me to get the title and looked a bit disappointed.

“It was close.”

“Yeah, I know right?”

But I didn’t feel any sense of disappointment. Kang Hyun-Sung objectively did the best job on the stage and was the one who led the team. He only received the prize he should get.

“These are the judges’ comments. Kang Hyun-Sung the Great—there’s a reason why Kang Hyun-Sung is as famous as he is. As expected, it was a high-quality performance.” It was a slightly cringy comment. “Ah, there’s one more line. P.S. Mr. Bong Tae-Yoon is the honorary MVP for his cuteness.”

“…What?”

“Hahaha!”

It felt like I got suddenly slapped while standing. I couldn’t believe I was chosen as honorary MVP of all things. I couldn’t raise my head out of embarrassment, and the studio burst into laughter. Afterward, Luminin’s MVP was announced and surprisingly, a member of OnebyOne instead of Luminin got the MVP title.

“Luminin’s MVP is OnebyOne’s Mr. Yoon Gyong-Jun!”

“Congratulations!”

Gasp! “Me? Why?” Though every other team’s MVP was from the members of the central group that made up the team, this team was the only one that was different. Though Luminin members slightly failed to control their expressions for a bit, they quickly smiled brightly again. Yoon Gyong-Jun appeared to find it hard to believe what he just won and looked teary. He was welling up with so much emotion that he even said some lines that he shouldn’t say on broadcast.

“We…went through some tough times internally within the group while preparing for this performance…I also had some personal issues happening, but…”

People couldn’t stop him because he was crying so much while making his remarks. I thought producer Park Soo-Chul would edit it well anyway. If he couldn’t, he didn’t deserve to have the main producer title. Thus, the announcement of the MVPs ended like that.

“A lot of tears were shed today.”

“Certainly.”

The hosts said their ending lines and the shooting seemed to come to a close. Yet, there was a big event still remaining.

“Okay, now this is the last event everyone has been eagerly waiting for.”

“From now on, it’s the final fourth-round performance. I will now reveal the mission for the final performance.”

The mood of the studio, which had been high with all the announcements of MVPs, dropped significantly again. This was the last mission. Whether they won or not, everyone would want to do a good job. A tense feeling circled around the set.

“Isn’t the final performance happening at a concert hall instead of a studio set?” Nahyun asked.

“Yes, it is as you say. A concert hall is a place that will allow them to communicate with their audience more directly. And thus, the theme of this stage is…!” the host, Kim Young-Jin, raised people’s anticipation with a dramatic pause and continued, “The New Showcase! The theme is a ‘new’ stage!”

As soon as I heard the theme’s name, ‘The New Showcase,’ I came to a realization.

“You all need to prepare a creative and original performance that has never been seen before in this world until now!”

This was the mission that was given in the third-round performance in my past life.

“An original stage?”

“Ohh!”

My group members looked at each other with sparkling eyes. Since all we had been doing were original performances until now, it was the perfect mission for us. And with it, we could showcase our imaginations and creativity with no limits.

‘We can become the final winners…’ It was as if the producers had prepped for us to become the show’s winners. We had all the reasons to exceed this mission.

[You’ve reached the mission’s turning point.]

‘…Huh?’ A system’s voice that I had never heard before dug into my ears then. No, I thought I heard it sometime before today, but that wasn’t the important part. I needed to focus on the content, and I wondered what it meant that I reached the mission’s turning point.

[It is now possible for you to change your final mission of ‘reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of album release’.]

[Upon accepting the change, you will have the opportunity to meet with the first regressor.]

[Upon rejecting the change, you will continue with the original mission.]

The content of the system’s messages was alarming.

‘Change of mission?’ Now that I reached the mission’s turning point, it appeared I could change the missions given to me, and this time, I could change the mission of reaching 100,000 sales in the first week of releasing an album. I thought I didn’t need to change the mission since I was progressing well into it.

‘…But a meeting with the first regressor…?’

This wasn’t a reward that I could easily pass by.