Save a Failed Idol's Life

It was past 6 p.m. when the rehearsal for the last order was over. Everyone felt restless as they had never spent so much time watching someone else’s unfinished stage.

‘Well, at least I know how prepared everyone is.’

First of all, Vesper came out with a performance that was not much different from the concept they had shown before, despite their high spirits.

‘Well… it’s better than trying to shed their image and failing miserably…’

I didn’t think it was an idea that many people had brainstormed. They just wanted to take it easy, I guess.

People think alike, so the chances are high that the audience would feel the same way as we did.

‘Our priority is to do well for ourselves.’

Who cares about who? They seemed satisfied with their own stage, so I thought we would have to wait until the day to see the results.

And after Vesper, AtoX showed a mediocre level of performance that was less than I expected. They seemed to have tried hard to break away from the ballad group image, but…

They chose an old disco dance song that didn’t match their group color at all, and I wondered how the choreography would turn out to be good or bad.

There was a side that looked much better than Vesper or AtoX, who had accumulated years of experience.

‘They must know their own shortcomings, so they prepared really hard.’

Playground had only shown their debut stage before, so no one knew what Playground’s color was yet.

Their group concept itself was something like my childhood friend who is closest to me… or something like that.

The staff were captivated by their retro-style arrangement that melted their unique mischief but not over the top fun.

Did their agency do the arrangement? The quality of the sound source was quite good, and the rehearsal was also raw without losing any strength.

If I put it nicely, they worked hard for it, and if I put it badly… They don’t think about strategy.

As I watched them perform with a desperate expression as if they were risking their lives even on the rehearsal stage, my chest felt heavy.

‘Maybe they brought something they had prepared for another plan before.’

As a rookie who needed to make their face known first, it was not bad to use all the support they could get.

I looked at Playground’s stage and looked for a member who stood out.

‘The average skill level of the entire members is definitely incomparable to other groups.’

Maybe it was because BK, the leader, was the oldest. He made a few mistakes and led the feedback with the members in between.

The rest of the members seemed to be doing their best, but they were either too young or inexperienced.

They were cute and pitiful as they fumbled around. I didn’t laugh at them for being young, they were doing their best to show themselves right now.

I also liked people who worked hard like the public, so I had a little idea why they were so high in the cheering rankings.

‘Well… they’re still far from Floss.’

After scanning the last rehearsal of Playground, I was more convinced that Floss would be the first.

‘I have to prepare more thoroughly to be second or third at least.’

As soon as the staff gave the OK sign that they could go home, the members closed their mouths at the same time.

“Let’s practice…”

“After…”

“Can we practice more…”

Everyone had their own way of cheering, but they all wanted to say the same thing. Seeing others do well made me want to work harder and improve myself.

I nodded cheerfully and asked Yi-jun.

“Is it okay if we use your practice room today?”

Yi-jun answered as if it was obvious.

“Of course, you’re always welcome. It might be a bit dusty since we haven’t used it much lately.”

Just as we were about to leave for the practice room with our manager, Hwijin suddenly broke away from the Floss line and came over to us.

“I saw your rehearsal today! You did a great job with the concept.”

Did he come all the way here to say that? I glanced at Hwijin’s face with a suspicious look, then brushed off my uneasiness and replied.

“Floss was amazing too, you know? I’m looking forward to your main stage.”

I was a bit surprised that he came to talk to me, but I meant it when I said I was looking forward to it.

We didn’t have any plans for now, but the oriental style was a concept that most male idols went through at some point.

It would be good to have more references if we ever did it.

“Really? Thanks for saying that. Let’s do our best tomorrow.”

What are you talking about? Why do I have to team up with you? I’m doing this with my guys. I waved goodbye to Hwijin, who seemed to have developed a one-sided bond with me since his last rant.

“Yeah, your members seem to be waiting for you, so you should go in soon.”

“Yeah! You too, take care!”

At first, I just wanted to act friendly for the sake of appearances.

But he was becoming more and more like a real friend, even if it was one-sided. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Anyway, having more connections in the entertainment industry was always a benefit, as long as they didn’t cause any trouble.

I waved at Hwijin until he got into the Floss car.

“Wow, you’ve become really close with Hwijin, huh?”

Yi-jun whistled lightly and exclaimed in surprise.

“Maybe? He seems to think so.”

But not so much on this side.

“Is there something you leaders have in common~.”

Yi-jun stretched and squeezed his body into the minivan.

Floss had nine members, so they had to split into two cars.

I was jealous…or rather, I was more determined to separate from the label.

As long as Floss didn’t disband, our support would always be pushed back.

“Just close the door already.”

Finally, Seon-woo slid into the front seat and Kyunghwa pointed at Seong-won, who was sitting on the outside.

Seong-won pressed the close button with a sullen expression, and soon the noise from outside was cut off and we were left alone.

“I’m saying this now because it might be hard to talk properly when we get there and start practicing. Is there anyone who wants to change the arrangement more?”

Yi-jun raised his hand as soon as he finished his sentence.

“Me.”

As soon as Yi-jun answered his own question, Seong-won grimaced.

“Rejected.”

“What?”

Kyunghwa grabbed Yi-jun’s ear and pulled it, annoyed by his ambiguous answer.

“Stop joking. If you want to change something, just say it. We have to send the new song file.”

I laughed with a sense of relief that I didn’t know why, thinking that this was how we were trash.

After sweating for another three hours in Yi-jun’s practice room, it was almost midnight.

We gathered in the practice room and fine-tuned our movements, and we also matched the vocals that we would record in advance on the day, and time flew by.

“It reminds me of before we made our comeback when we’re like this.”

“Back then, Ise really worked hard to fix our movements.”

It felt like yesterday that we jumped into an event that I didn’t know if it was a corn festival or a corn harvest festival, but I didn’t know how time passed so quickly.

It was summer then, and now winter is right in front of us.

What seasons will I be able to meet with these guys in the future? As I was about to fall into a strange sentiment, I saw Yi-jun and Sungwon arguing like children.

Aren’t they sick of it?

I was trying to get into a soft mood for a change, but they were the ones who came out and slapped me.

“If you’re going to fight, go outside and fight.”

I grabbed Seong-won, and Kyunghwa pulled Yi-jun away and gave them a punch each. The idiots who were closer to 12 than 22 rubbed their spots and rolled their eyes.

“No, he keeps annoying me.”

“It’s because you’re picking a fight for no reason.”

“Both of you are the problem, both of you.”

I wasn’t worried about Floss right now. I can’t stand it. I barely settled the situation and returned to the dorm, and it was almost 1 a.m.

“Tomorrow, don’t fight and do it properly.”

I glared at the two of them as if to warn them, and Seon-woo got in between and fidgeted.

“You’re not scolding me, so you stay still.”

I stuck out my tongue at Seon-woo and handed him Pposili, who wagged his tail.

Pposili, who looked perfectly normal as a dog, gave him a sense of stability, and Seon-woo nodded slowly and buried his face in Pposili’s fur.

The consultation with the agency was scheduled for the day after the stage ended. The next mission was scheduled for two weeks later, so we had more leeway than this week.

I don’t know what the mission will be, so it’s still an unknown thing. But I hope it’s not as hard as this week.

I went to bed with a small hope.

The next morning. We started the day with half-open eyes from 5 a.m., as early as the music show appearance.

“Who’s using the bathroom?”

“Kyunghwa hyung went in earlier.”

“Seon-woo, you’re going to do your hair again at the salon, so don’t wash it and just come out.”

We moved busily before the sun rose, and we all closed our eyes as soon as we got on the van.

‘I came in late yesterday and didn’t sleep well for four hours, so I must be tired.’

I’ll definitely get up after the sun rises in the middle of the sky tomorrow. We all gritted our teeth and entrusted our bodies to the staff.

We changed into the outfits that the stylist had picked up in advance, nodding off.

The base color of the outfit was white, so the waiting room felt bright as if the light bulb was on.

“I wonder if the other teams have already dressed up.”

Seon-woo blinked his eyes curiously and looked around. We had separate waiting rooms for each group, so we still didn’t know what outfits they were wearing.

“Should we go to the other team’s waiting room for a while?”

Our order was the same as the rehearsal, third. We were naturally on standby until Floss and P2CK finished.

“Let’s go to someone else’s place.”

The only place where we could hide was Floss… But would they be able to take us in right now? I thought of Hwijin’s face, which looked even thinner than when I saw him last night, and gave Yi-jun a suspicious look.

“Um… I wanted to check out Floss’s place for once.”

“Come on. Why don’t you ask Yu-geon or Hwijin to come out to the hallway?”

“Then it would be too obvious that I’m curious about their concept~ It would seem like I’m snooping around.”

Yi-jun pouted and grumbled.

We had finished the pre-recording and rehearsal for all six teams in the morning, and the main filming was scheduled to start in the afternoon, so Floss must be busy rehearsing right now.

“Anyway, there’s no one there right now because they’re rehearsing.”

I snapped at him, telling him to stop thinking nonsense.

At that moment.

Bang!

We heard a loud noise of a large structure collapsing outside the waiting room.