Save a Failed Idol's Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 234 If You Are Happy

After a quick wash and changing into his outdoor clothes, Yu-geon soon packed his luggage and headed to Hwijin’s house.

The way there was all edited out, so I didn’t know which apartment he lived in, but the interior design was made of the same material, so it seemed like they lived in the same complex.

‘He must live close to Hwijin. They both moved out of their dorms, so they must be living on their own.’

As I watched Yu-geon’s whereabouts diligently through the clip videos, I soon saw him join Naru and head to the airport.

And then a game transition screen-like caption appeared.

[Meanwhile, at the Climax dorm-.]

I don’t care. I almost pressed the +10 seconds button, but I never knew when or where a TMI about Yu-geon would pop up.

I suppressed the urge to skip and watched as one of the older members of Climax, the brown-haired one, got up from the darkness and checked the clock.

[5 o’clock]

[Alarm time 30 minutes before]

He buried his head back into the pillow and tried to sleep, but the sleep that had already escaped didn’t seem to come back, so he walked out to the living room.

[What? You’re up too?]

As he came out to the living room, the leader of Climax was sitting on the sofa, looking at his laptop.

[Old people who lose their morning sleep]

[Booting]

While the Climax leader was busy tapping on his laptop in the morning, Kyunghwa sat next to him, hugging a strangely shaped deer doll.

I could just skip this, right? I thought, but then.

[Woof-!]

A puppy with a tail like a duster ran up to Kyunghwa.

‘Wow. So cute!’

There was no way around it. I was mesmerized and repeated capturing and recording videos, and a 15-second short clip was made.

‘Puppies are cheating.’

Soon, a staff member arrived to take care of the puppy and the cat while the members were away, and a spotted cat came out to the living room.

‘No way, this is really cute.’

The cat was relatively fearless, or maybe it was close to the staff, but it rubbed its chin on the staff’s hand, and it was adorably cinematic.

[Oh, my furballs, what are you going to do without your butlers for almost a week?]

The loudest one cooed and stroked their heads, mixing in some whining, but the furballs were distracted by the snacks in the staff’s hand.

[Capitalist furballs]

I was hooked by the furballs and watched blankly until the scene where Climax joined the airport.

‘From now on, I’ll really focus on the part where my guy comes out.’

I tensed up and focused on the next screen, and as soon as Kyunghwa got out of the car, the camera zoomed out and the screen turned black and white.

[Cause you are my boy~]

The familiar drama OST played along with the darkening screen and the production support logo popped up.

[When you want to feel the quality of coffee -Weclick Coffee-]

[This is really production support.]

[We love you Weclick Coffee]

[PPL welcome]

I wondered why they suddenly planted a flag there. But soon, Kyunghwa left his small bag with his passport in it and got off, and the scene became contemplative.

[Ryu Kyunghwa(25)/The age when his memory is gradually fading]

[Kyunghwa is only upset by his ridiculous mistake.]

[Sigh…]

[He opens his bag with a troubled mind. But unfortunately, he can’t see his passport.]

[Hyung, you told me to pack your passport]

[Last night. He regretted scolding his clumsy brother harshly.]

[Oh Yi-jun(23)/The age when he enjoys teasing his brother]

[I’ll look for it a little more.]

The editing sense was good and the members were all close to each other, so the usual fun of the ‘real friends tension’, the core of the Climax sales posts that I used to glance at with dull eyes, was quite high.

‘They do look really close.’

I felt a bit jealous as soon as I thought that, and my head was immediately turned sideways.

‘Whatever, they must have been close enough to endure the curse for five years.’

I denied my liking for Climax and glared at the screen, and in no time, 20 minutes had passed.

‘I can’t believe I watched all this.’

How many episodes have been released? I checked the episode count and it was up to four.

I’ll just upload the clip I made to my account and check out the community situation… I thought casually and went to Celebrity Talk, and most of the real-time rankings were occupied by Holiday with Offbeat.

[Real-time Hot Talk]

You can tell the difference when you see real friends (+361)Where do you want to go the most in Japan? (+273)Wow, what the hell is this, Kang Yu-geon? (+335)Anyone saw the Offbeat jacket photos? (+219)(Sorry for the escape) I think my boyfriend has changed (+124)Yoo Dayoon’s selfie today is legendary (+96)Offbeat really nailed the jacket photos (+112)

It was a frenzy everywhere with the content that was released as if it was going viral.

‘It’s really fun.’

I had to admit that they did a good job. The members had good chemistry, and they mixed well without isolating the former Floss members, and they played with each other with consideration and without ulterior motives.

‘…’

I was still heartbroken that my solo debut was gone. But there was no fan who could keep hitting on the sight of their favorite looking happy.

Yu-geon looked comfortable unlike when he filmed the variety show during his Floss activities.

I realized it now. That Yu-geon was a person who could film with such ease.

Then how much did he live on the edge of tension since he first appeared on My Idol stage until now?

I didn’t want to accept the fact that all the things I enjoyed so far were nothing but business. But now I had to admit it.

‘Be happy, you Xbalom.’

I had no choice but to wish him to be happy and active well since he went there.

As the folder where I collected the clips was created with [Climax], the mouse was automatically dragged over the play button of the second episode.

‘The reaction is… not bad so far.’

Was it because Climax was basically a jacket photo hotspot? Or was it because all the former Floss members joined in?

I couldn’t clearly divide the shares, but I felt good seeing that they swept the real-time post rankings in an hour of release.

‘To be honest, what I was most worried about was…’

It was that the content that I had provided for free until now was affiliated with a paid site for the first time, and it became a content that only fans could see and was shunned by the public.

Until now, there were quite a lot of opinions that they were not fans but they liked to watch it while eating because it came up on YouTube regularly.

I was honestly worried about how embarrassing it would be if the view number was poor with only pure fans left and the viewers gone.

I’m holding on with the investment money I got from Cheon Soo Group for now, but the operating cost that goes out every month was not negligible as I had 10 employees.

I would have more confidence and certainty if I had done it several times.

‘Entertainment business is mostly the first time for me…’

I felt like I was testing my limits every time I challenged myself.

Can I do this? Can I do this too?

Now I felt heavy on my shoulders thinking that it was not just my livelihood that was at stake in this challenge.

For the sake of the employees who trusted me, who seemed to be drunk on my own pride, success was essential.

‘I should start recruiting investors for Climax’s solo jacket photos as soon as possible with the good reaction.’

I proved that the success so far was not a lucky fluke that I just threw out for free, so I had to keep rowing when the water came in.

In the meantime, I repeated various attempts and minor failures, and big successes.

The release date of Offbeat’s first single with eight members came closer.

And on the day. Everyone gathered their phones with tense expressions.

“Do we have to do this?”

“I feel like a rookie and it’s not bad.”

“Isn’t it better to get hit sooner?”

The opinions were divided, but in the end they agreed to follow what they had decided together.

The reason why they were buzzing like this was none other than the chart.

The music and music video were released at 6 p.m. The showcase was at 8 p.m.

Since the first time it was counted on the chart was from 7 p.m., they could check the chart results before the showcase at 8 p.m.

And the problem was that we were at risk of being affected by the chart results, whether they were good or bad.

‘Floss never bounced out of the 20th place.’

It was the first place in an hour in real time. The recent music was even in the top 10 of 24hits, and the music platform considered reorganizing because of the firepower.

To get that level of numbers, it had to be not only Floss fans listening, but also the general public who would listen to Floss’s new song once.

‘I don’t hope for that much…’

But I was hoping that they would enter the top 50 with three of Floss’s popular members.

Whether the performance was unexpectedly better than that or worse, it was the same to shake the mental.

They decided to put their phones away until the stage and showcase were over so that they wouldn’t be conscious of it as much as possible.

Yi-jun and Yu-geon protested, saying, ‘What is this modern way?’ but they agreed to the purpose.

They couldn’t help it. They could do other things well! But they knew that it wouldn’t work normally.

‘Especially Kyunghwa, Seon-woo, Naru…’

They were all somewhat weak-minded. No, Seon-woo and Naru were more than just weak, they were soft tofu. Kyunghwa was the kind of tofu that pretended to be firm, but collapsed at the end.

Anyway, this was the best way to prevent them from causing trouble on stage.

As a result of trying hard not to care about the music chart performance and focusing on the rehearsal and showcase preparation, it was almost 8 o’clock.

“Alright, stand by your positions and check your conditions.”

While everyone was busy running around for the last rehearsal, Yu-geon looked unusually nervous and clenched his fists.

“What are you doing? We have to rehearse.”

We had already done the dry rehearsal. It was only the camera rehearsal left. It was not the time to lose focus. The next time, we would have to show our best on the stage that we prepared in a short period of time.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Yu-geon shook his head as if he was distracted for a moment and walked towards the marked spot on the floor.

‘Why is he like this again?’

He wasn’t this conscious during the dry rehearsal. I felt a sudden anxiety and followed Yu-geon to ask him.

“Do you want to cancel the father thing now? It’s not too late. We haven’t sent any materials to the reporters yet.”

The reason why Yu-geon was so tense was obvious. He had decided to announce the father thing at the press showcase today, instead of releasing it as a behind-the-scenes video with proper editing as planned.

It wasn’t my suggestion. It was Yu-geon who proposed it first, saying that it would be better for the buzz.

I looked at Yu-geon with a strange uneasiness, who seemed anxious.