Save a Failed Idol's Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 210 Operation Rescue Simnaru

“Did you sign the contract too?”

In the awkward atmosphere, Yu-geon turned the arrow to Hwijin.

“Huh? No.”

“Then it’s even more right to leave Naru out. It’s better for the people who didn’t sign to stick together in a group where there are more people who signed than not. Why bother with Naru?”

He was a bit cold, but he didn’t say anything wrong. But Hwijin hesitated and couldn’t answer right away, then he retorted.

“But you’ve been through it too, you know. The voting was not rigged.”

If there was manipulation in both the ranking and the voting, Yu-geon and Hwijin should have been far behind in the debut group from the start.

Although they had different starting lines from the others, the fans that Naru gathered were people who came to see Naru.

“I know. But that’s different from being in the center of the manipulation. Since we’ve broken up anyway, I’m saying this, but I didn’t sign it and I’ve been cursed so much until now… He really signed it and…”

Yu-geon stubbornly refused to back down.

“Aren’t you angry, hyung? I’m me. I refused to sign the contract because I didn’t like it and got stuck with an F grade, and then I thought I’d get some attention and they raised me to A right away, and they cursed me for being manipulated when I went from F to A. How can I not be angry?”

I’m going crazy. As a cold current flowed between the two in an instant, the car started to get pushed back and I broke into a sweat.

If they don’t agree on their opinions, can’t they fight without me hearing it? The outsider who was stuck in the middle just wanted to focus on driving quietly.

“I thought… you had a positive view of Naru in your own way.”

“That’s because I thought he was selling well with me as a chemistry partner. He acted friendly one-sidedly, so I went along with it.”

“…”

What do I do with this atmosphere? Of course, it was something that would be troublesome if I didn’t know, but it wasn’t something I wanted to hear in surround sound while driving.

“Are you… against going with Naru?”

Yu-geon was silent for a while, fiddling with the car handle, then opened his mouth.

“I don’t feel like it.”

He seemed to have a lot of resentment about the contract.

‘I can’t blame him.’

I quietly fiddled with the handle for a moment and asked.

“Do you not feel like it, or do you not want to do it?”

Then Yu-geon didn’t answer.

“Will you do it if I tell you to?”

“…”

He couldn’t say no right away, so he looked like he would do it if I pushed him.

“Don’t hide and disappear somewhere later if you have any complaints.”

“I didn’t hide.”

Only his mouth was alive.

“You did.”

“Why do you keep talking informally?”

He ran out of things to say and pulled my speech again. I lowered my head and answered.

“Because I’m your hyung.”

“Then can I talk informally too?”

“Do whatever you want.”

I didn’t care what he said or did. I had already heard enough informal speech from him during the idol experience.

“Anyway, you’re going to cooperate, right?”

Yu-geon didn’t answer and crossed his arms, leaning his back against the backrest.

He knew it too. Neither Hwijin nor I could leave Naru alone like this.

And he was getting help himself because of his meddling.

I just hoped he wouldn’t cause any more trouble. I prayed fervently as I changed lanes and headed for the apartment complex.

After another 30 minutes of congested road, I arrived at a luxury apartment complex in Incheon.

When would I get to the accommodation from here? It seemed far away, but I decided to focus on what I had to do now.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Just follow along. I’m going to explain that we’ll support your solo activities later, based on the 3-member unit activities.”

Then Yu-geon pouted his lips.

“I feel like he’s going to say he just wants to go solo after the group disbanded.”

“Then you don’t have to do unit activities with Naru. Lucky you.”

I shot back without backing down, then snorted and pressed the doorbell. I couldn’t check with Naru beforehand because he wasn’t answering his phone, but he should still be at home unless they dragged him to a new agency meeting right away.

“What if he doesn’t open the door?”

Hwijin suddenly started to worry.

‘Did we come here without a plan?’

But this was the best we could do without contacting the person himself.

The intercom rang and soon a middle-aged woman’s voice came through.

“Who is it?”

I sighed, took a short breath, and opened my mouth. Or tried to.

“Hello, ma’am~. It’s been a long time! We’re in the same group as Naru. We have some things to discuss with you about our future activities, so could you spare us some time?”

Before Yu-geon cut in.

“No…”

Is he crazy? He was showing how much he hated it in the car, but he was acting cute and making a flower smile in front of the intercom, pushing his face forward.

“Oh, is that you, Yu-geon? I didn’t know you were coming. It might take me some time. Just a moment. Come on up.”

Was it thanks to Yu-geon’s despicable aegyo strategy? Contrary to my worry that she would slam the door on us if it was related to Floss, she opened the door obediently.

Click, the sound of the door opening and Yu-geon shrugged his shoulders smugly.

“It’s open.”

I was speechless at how easily he opened the door, but it was purely thanks to Yu-geon.

I was annoyed, but I had to be grateful for now.

Just before the three roommates from the idol experience came to Naru’s house.

Naru was curled up on his bed, crying so much that he couldn’t cry anymore.

Should he have refused to sign that contract back then, thinking he could debut on his own? But he knew then and now that he had no right to refuse.

[Kang Yu-geon trainee’s grade is F.]

Whenever he had such thoughts, Naru shook his head as Yu-geon came to his mind.

He started with an F grade, but he debuted on his own like the other members. Shouldn’t I have done the same… he thought, but.

That was only possible because it was Yu-geon.

From A to B, and even C. His mental strength to turn most of the trainees who had a chance to debut into enemies was unbelievable.

He still remembered the cold stares from the other members who were aiming for debut, not to mention at the ranking announcement ceremony where his debut was confirmed.

He was no different.

He wanted to debut anyway, he wanted to beat all the other guys, he wanted to get more attention, just like them.

But how could he be so arrogant and brilliant, turning the top ranks and the producers into enemies like that?

The reason why Naru became friendly with Yu-geon was purely because of the fans’ reaction.

At the music show where he won his first place after debut, Naru did as he planned and held the trophy instead of the microphone, dancing cutely and looking at the camera to kill time.

He could do it live, but he had emphasized too much during the My Idol broadcast, so he had no confidence to sing the debut song he had practiced hastily with full power.

‘Pass the parts as much as possible. If you’re going to sing, sing a little bit.’

In order to show that he was the most pushed member among the main vocals, he had to give him the high-pitched parts, so he only thought of passing the parts with all kinds of ideas.

If he sang softly, they would curse him for singing softly, so he cried first, then calmed down and used the trophy as a prop, and if the part came back, he hugged any member and cried again.

At the end of his ambitious plan, the one who was standing next to him was Yu-geon, who was holding the microphone and digesting his part.

‘Ah, this one is a bit uncomfortable.’

It would be better if it was Chanhyung or Jinhyung. But the two of them were crouching in front of the stage, waving their hands down to greet the audience below.

‘I can’t help it.’

He hugged him anyway, and it got more attention than he thought. Annoyingly, the share count went up like crazy when Yu-geon, who he didn’t even know was in the corner, was in the picture, more than when he posted a selfie of himself on the official account.

Naru was the kind of person who had a ghost-like mind when it came to things that could get him more attention, and he decided to use his position that people liked.

His favorite food was whipped cream cake. His sleeves were one size bigger than the original size. The gifts he received from the fans that touched him the most were letters and character dolls.

To survive in the idol scene where dozens of groups debut every year, Naru chose the path he was most confident in.

‘They all liked me back then.’

On the screen of his phone, which he clenched in his hand, he was eating countless curses for becoming a traitor to the nation’s manager.

Since then, countless words such as disgusting, pathetic, nauseating, etc. have been used to attack him.

The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. The other fandoms and individual fans of the other members who had been crushed by Naru’s strong personal fandom came out and started a seminar on criticism.

The only thing that was lucky was that the one who got the most curses was not him, but Chanhyung.

Naru sniffled under the blanket he had flipped over.

‘It’s all over now, what.’

His plan to go back to his original agency and debut again with another group was temporarily scrapped.

Since morning, his mother had been on the phone with many agency presidents in the living room, but the answer was only ‘the contract dispute is too severe, it’s hard to give an answer right away.’

“Shit… When I was doing well, you begged me to come, but now you’re not answering.”

Naru punched the pillow while sobbing, but it was no different from a cotton candy.

Instead of calming down, the back of his hand was sore.

He was lucky to have made some money so far. He just hoped that his mother would be satisfied at this point, since everything was over.

No matter how many times he hung up the phone nervously, there was no way a decent agency would want him.

‘Maybe I should just retire…’

I shook my head in disbelief. My face was too exposed to live as a normal person. But maybe in time… I was lost in a cycle of negative thoughts when the intercom rang.

‘Who is it…’

Did they come to scold me for leaving the agency without permission? I was sniffling in my pastel-toned pajamas with bears all over them, hugging a hamster-shaped character doll, when I heard an unexpected voice.

“Hello, ma’am~. It’s been a long time! We’re in the same group as Naru.”

‘…?’

I sprang up from the bed. There was no way he was here. But I didn’t have the courage to go to the living room, so I pressed my ear against the door and eavesdropped.

“Oh, it’s you, Yu-geon? I didn’t know you were coming. It might take me some time. Just come up for now.”

Why, why are you inviting them in! And that kid, he hadn’t shown his face for a while, and now he suddenly appeared and barged into someone else’s house! I was in total chaos.

Naru, who had been hiding in his room all this time, afraid of his mom, his agency, and the internet that cursed him, finally gathered his courage and shouted.

“I, I’m not home!”

It was a brave statement, but unfortunately, it was too late.

“Ah…”

“Naru is… doing well… I see.”

They had already entered the living room by then.

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