Save a Failed Idol's Life

“Uh…”

“I won’t let you sleep until you tell me.”

“Well, well…”

He hesitated for a long time, as if he was about to reveal a state secret, barely suppressing his boiling anger. The reason he finally confessed was rather anticlimactic.

Although Kyunghwa had tried to be considerate, it was not easy for Seon-woo to fit in with the unfamiliar members and the team of six vocalists.

The other members were quick to learn and managed to reach 70% of their potential in no time. But Seon-woo took a long time to prepare to show a decent level, causing some friction.

On top of that, there was a misunderstanding that he relied on his face and didn’t practice hard enough, and he accidentally heard some unit members mocking him for being a visual member who couldn’t even land a solo CF.

Seon-woo had never been ignored for his face in his life. But this time, he was hit hard by the jealous remarks he heard for the first time.

‘This kid… secretly… had a lot of pride in his face, right?’

I was incredulous and snickered at the same time.

“You were so bothered by them talking behind your back about your face?”

I asked with a teasing smile, as if I was talking to a child. Seon-woo finally raised his voice and pouted.

“Don’t laugh…! I’m serious…”

If he said he was confused and worried about his visual appeal with that face, he would deserve to be cursed by everyone around him.

“Don’t mind them. They can’t even match you if they combine ten of them.”

I would have been comforted by Kyunghwa if my reason for being depressed was reasonable enough. But there was a reason why he ignored me and didn’t feed me.

“Really?”

Seon-woo blinked his eyelids with tears in them and asked. His face was so beautiful that he deserved a national award for just having such genes, as the fans would say.

“Yeah. I always told you. If someone picks a fight with you because of your face, it’s because they’re jealous of how pretty you are. Don’t worry about it. And we’re done with the unit activities now. What else are you worried about? We’re only going to work with us from now on, right?”

Only then did Seon-woo nod his head slowly, as if he was a little relieved.

“Yeah…”

“Then that’s it. Don’t worry about the past anymore.”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like a situation that required me to be so serious. I sighed with relief and stroked Seon-woo’s head before heading back to bed.

“Go wash the dishes and go back to sleep. We have to move again tomorrow morning. You’ll sleep well since you’re full.”

We didn’t have much to pack anyway, since we just kept our stuff in the bags we brought.

We just had to sort out the things we needed for tomorrow morning and move them right away. There was another shooting scheduled.

I heard the clattering sound of Seon-woo washing the dishes in the kitchen.

Bang-. Rumble rumble…

“Huh…”

Was that really okay? I felt like my ears were forced open by the ominous sound, but I tried to ignore it.

I should be glad that nothing serious happened. I let out a short sigh and closed my eyes.

The next morning. Since we didn’t call a moving center and just asked for one more assistant manager, we had to move our stuff ourselves in the morning.

“Ah, just leave that and go!”

Some of the things that Cheon Ise used to use were mixed in with our luggage, and it took longer than we thought to sort them out.

We barely managed to move all our stuff and belongings to the van by the time it was past 10 o’clock.

“What time do we have to arrive at the broadcasting station for the filming?”

“We’ll do the makeup and hair in the waiting room there, so I think we only need to arrive by 3 o’clock.”

The filming was starting in the evening, so we still had some time. I told myself not to be too impatient and headed to our new accommodation, which I had only briefly visited once after signing the contract.

‘Money is good…’

The high-rise building, which had a separate entrance for us, boasted a strict security system that required us to swipe a card three times to get in.

“We’re moving into room 1809 from today.”

While the manager quickly went to the security office to get some extra card keys, we all looked around the central entrance.

It was amazing how the building was separated from the surrounding shops, considering the rent.

“Why?”

I asked Seon-woo, who had been rolling his eyes since a while ago, and he hesitated.

“Well, I’ve never been to a place like this…”

“What do you mean, a place like this?”

“A place where you have to swipe a card to get in from the entrance?”

I remembered that his house was a detached house when he sent me a selfie from his hometown. This was also my first time in a place with such tight security.

“It’s not for nothing that we moved to a place with good security.”

We had brushed it off as the work of a stalker fan this time, but it was lucky that only our things were gone and no one was in the house.

It would have been a disaster if someone had escaped with our cat, Ppoyeol, who was a real cat unlike Pposili, who was a stuffed animal.

I glanced at Seong-won, who was holding the carrier with Aeongi inside with his whole body, and nodded.

“They’re all registered. Let’s go in.”

We had been waiting for a while at the security office, and the manager came back with six cards.

He gave us one each, and one for himself as an emergency. He told us to be careful not to lose them, and we finished packing our luggage.

“What should we eat for lunch…?”

I reflexively muttered, and six pairs of eyes stared at me.

The fridge was empty, and I didn’t have the skill to whip up something right away.

“Let’s order Chinese food.”

I shouldn’t say that these days. Ahem. I coughed and searched for a Chinese restaurant on the app.

“What’s up? I thought you hated stuff like black bean sauce noodles because they’re bad for your body.”

Of course, they were not good for the body. They were high in calories, carbohydrates, and pork fat, which was not healthy at all.

‘It’s amazing how the Chinese people eat so much fried food and lard, and still stay slim.’

I heard that they drink a lot of tea, which helps break down the fat, but I didn’t know if that was true.

Anyway, that was the story of people who were used to that culture and diet. We were ordinary Koreans, and if we ate that greasy stuff every day, we would have no veins left.

But… on moving day, you have to eat jajangmyeon. I smiled and answered.

“Let’s just eat today. It’s not the same without jajangmyeon on moving day.”

The others seemed to agree, and Kyunghwa answered with a rare bright expression.

“Then I’ll have seafood jjamppong.”

Seong-won also glanced around and added his order.

“I’ll have black bean noodles.”

I had to persuade someone to join me before it was too late. I felt anxious and said,

“Uh, are you all going to eat individual menus? Isn’t anyone going to have the large black bean noodles?”

The large black bean noodles were a basic two-person serving. Well, I could force myself to eat two servings at once, but I had to shoot later and overeating was forbidden.

I couldn’t go to the camera with a bloated stomach from eating two servings of large black bean noodles.

“Then I’ll have the large black bean noodles.”

What’s going on? I was expecting to coax either Seon-woo or Yi-jun, but unexpectedly, Seong-won quickly agreed to share the menu with me.

“What’s wrong?”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously and asked, and Seong-won turned his head away with a polite smile and snorted.

“Black bean noodles are black bean noodles, whether they’re regular or large. It’s not much of a difference.”

It seemed like Seong-won was a bit embarrassed by his own words, but… no, that’s not true. Regular black bean noodles were basically stir-fried with the moisture from the onions, so they had a different texture from the large black bean noodles, which used starch water to adjust the thickness.

If you wanted a low-level and crisp stir-fried feeling, then the large black bean noodles with their thick sauce would feel completely different…

I was a bit worried, but since he rarely compromised, I quietly shut my mouth.

“Okay, then one large black bean noodles, one seafood spicy noodles, and the rest of you?”

I asked the rest of the members and managers, and the assistant manager who was standing awkwardly said with a flutter.

“Uh, me too?”

I had to send them back to the office before going to the broadcasting station, but I felt better if I fed them a decent meal at least.

“Yes, you worked hard today, so have a meal, even if it’s not much.”

As soon as I ordered through the app, the delivery man arrived at the entrance about 30 minutes later.

I opened the double entrance and received the food, and finally felt relieved.

It was a high-rise, so there was no risk of anyone climbing the wall and breaking in, and I could take the elevator directly from the underground parking lot to the house, so I didn’t have to worry about being photographed by someone waiting in front of the complex.

‘I wouldn’t have had to worry about this before Climax became popular.’

I felt a little bit… very little bit comforted by the fact that this was also because we had gained some popularity.

I spread a newspaper on the living room floor and sat around with the others. After finishing the meal, it was time to get ready and head to the broadcasting station.

I didn’t know how the stage would turn out yesterday, so I was still a bit anxious.

But I didn’t have to sit with those jerks anymore, and I just had to vote for the ace, do the interview, and participate in the ranking evaluation.

They said the results would be out today, so it didn’t seem like the external channel views would affect the evaluation like in the first mission.

“Let’s get moving if you’re ready.”

Kyunghwa, who had washed and cleaned the disposable dishes, took off his gloves and took a breath, then started to get ready to go out.

“Yeah, it’s better to arrive a little early than to be late.”

They all nodded in agreement and headed to the parking lot.

Things don’t always go as planned. The road was more congested than expected, and the van arrived at the broadcasting station parking lot at 2:58, just two minutes before 3 o’clock.

If I had some spare time, I would go down and greet the fans, maybe do some simple fan service before going back up. But time was too tight, so we all barely managed to give a quick bow and head to the set.

“Isa, fighting!”

“Seong-won, I’m looking forward to today!”

“Climax, fighting!”

“Kyunghwa, cheer up!”

The only thing that reached my ears from outside the parking lot was someone’s enthusiastic cheering, which stabbed somewhere in my heart.

I have to do my best, yes.

It won’t be long before I can repay them through the broadcast. But for now, finishing my revenge with a clear head was my priority.