The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

“What in the world does this mean, Bong Tae-Yoon?”

“You met the Director this morning?”

“Follow-up activities? Are there follow-up activities that we don’t know about?”

“Did you...lie about going to famous restaurants and going for a jog?” The members approached me and narrowed down the scope of my lies. Everyone’s expressions looked hurt by betrayal; in particular, Yeon-Hoon was still holding the fly swatter.

I thought about how getting hit with the handle of that fly swatter really hurt. No, it would be a relief to end this matter with just a few hits. I said, “Guys, please calm down and listen to my story first.”

I needed to resolve this issue with words somehow; whatever excuse or sophistry I used, I needed to persuade them first. Although my situation had become quite ridiculous, I needed to save myself, and above all, if I didn’t persuade them now, we wouldn’t be able to do follow-up activities and get a Triple Crown.

Thus, I said anything on my mind. “I...want to win the Daesang this year.” I chose words that seemed related to the current issue as much as possible but were strong enough to generate a strong reaction. Daesang was an honor that a rookie who debuted that year could never dream of.

“What?”

“...Grand Prize?”

“What, are you serious?”

“What...the hell are you talking about?” The members seemed to have fallen for my provocation. I used that opportunity to take away the fly swatter in Yeon-Hoon’s hand.

“Whaaat? Hey, give me back the fly swatter.”

“Let’s solve this by words...by talking, Yeon-Hoon.”

Yeon-Hoon glared at me briefly but nodded and sighed in the end. “But you really want to win the Daesang? Seriously?”

“What, how can we get a Daesang right away in the year we debuted?”

“Who in the world got a Daesang right away in the year they debuted?”

I agreed with all their doubts and questions. Honestly, until just now, I hadn’t even thought about winning the Daesang this year, as it was a wish I made about a minute ago. However, as soon as I dropped this topic, I would fail to persuade them of the reason why I went to see Director Yoo in the morning. I needed to do my utmost best to clutch onto this excuse.

“Were there any other artists or groups that sold over 500,000 copies in the first half of this year?”

“You’re asking this suddenly?”

“Hmm...”

“...Hold on a second.”

“...There wasn’t?”

“There wasn't.”

The members seemed to have realized that we were the most popular idols in the first half of this year and far surpassed the level of rookies.

“It doesn’t matter whether we’re rookies or not anymore. If we continue this trend well, and if we increase our activities a lot more than others in the second half of this year, we’ll be able to aim for Daesang.” This was not actually sophistry but quite a logical persuasion. In fact, the group that won Daesang in 2022 before I regressed was a rookie group.

It was a girl group that debuted that year, and their situation was similar to ours in many ways. The beginning of their debut garnered a lot of attention and popularity, and their follow-up activities continued for almost one month to two months, and they dominated the music scene by avoiding famous singers. As a result, they ended up receiving the Daesang besides being a rookie group.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t that group’s comeback in July?’ It seemed their group’s fate changed after I regressed. Anyway, it was possible to win Daesang even despite being a rookie, and we were definitely better than the girl group in many aspects.

“We’ve shown the best impact we can show as rookies, right?”

“Yeah.”

“If we don’t lose this flow and continue our follow-up activities without a break, and then after a month of rest, release a mini album or a double-title single album, regular album, and repackaged album, we might be able to win the grand prize this year.”

“...Are you crazy?”

“Tae-Yoon, that might not be a plan to win Daesang but a way to assassinate Do-Seung.”

“What...How many songs do you want me to write, Bong Tae-Yoon?”

The members gasped at the ridiculous schedule I proposed. Even if I were in their position, I would have cursed after listening to this crazy schedule. We may die from overwork within 10 years if we continue with this schedule. However, I didn’t plan to live like that for the rest of my life either. Just one year. No, it was actually about 6 to 8 months. It was a completely doable time period that anyone could do.

Above all, I knew my members very well. “But guys, don’t you think we could really win Daesang if we accomplish that schedule?”

They were on the defensive because of how surprised they were, but all my members had a strong desire to improve and succeed as idols. In the past, when they first came out in The Showcase 2, their mindset had been to just get their names out to the public and garner attention before their debut. However, after winning The Showcase 2, their mentality seemed to have changed.

Now, they realized they could really win if they tried, and they could get closer to their dreams. They probably began to have thoughts like this, at least a bit.

“Guys, it’s the grand prize. As far as I know, there has never been a rookie that won the grand prize, at least in the revamped music industry. Don’t you want to give it a try?”

“...”

“The Grand Prize.”

“...It would be amazing if we got it.”

“Yeah, it would be no joke.”

The members’ expressions began to grow more excited, as they probably imagined us receiving the Grand Prize. In particular, the corners of Do-Seung’s mouth twitched a little.

‘Is he already making up his acceptance speech inside his mind?’ Our black cat seemed quite imaginative, and I couldn’t miss the timing now.

“Right now, we’re being recognized as a similar group to Only One.”

“Yep, that’s right.”

“If we continue our follow-up activities without a break this time, we can be far ahead of the public in terms of public awareness. That’s how we can gradually widen the gap.”

“...”

“And at the end of the year, while we get the grand prize, the best Only One can get is the rookie award.” I tried to provoke them a bit more by using our rivalry with Only One.” However...

“Ah, but I’ll feel sorry for Only One then...”

“They will probably compare themselves directly to us...”

“If we try to go too far ahead by ourselves, won’t they also go overboard to compete with us?”

‘I made a huge mistake.’ I forgot for a moment how nice these people were.

“But I would be really happy to receive the Grand Prize.”

“If we get it...I think I’ll be overjoyed.”

“Honestly, as Tae-Yoon said, I don’t think it would be completely impossible if we tried a little harder.”

“If we don’t get a good footing in our first year of debut, we won’t be able to continue next year anyways. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to work a bit harder this year.”

The previous build-up seemed to have left a clear impression on the members, and they eventually agreed with my plan to win the Grand Prize. Their eyes were like racehorses who wanted to sprint towards the target. This was a satisfactory situation, and I thought I should slowly wrap up this conversation.

“That was why I went to the boss in the morning and laid the foundation for Siren’s Grand Prize.” I thought the conversation would now end smoothly with everyone agreeing to work hard to win the Grand Prize, but the members weren’t so easily appeased.

“But you still shouldn’t have done that, Bong Tae-Yoon.”

“...”

“Why did you go to see the Director alone without consulting us?”

“Above all, it’s hurtful that you even showed us pictures of restaurant food to lie to us.”

“Wow~ Bong Tae-Yoon~ Did you get these food pics from the internet? After I changed the angle a bit and zoomed in, they looked the same as the ones you showed me~”

“Bong Tae-Yoon, do you want to go to the gym with me?” The members didn’t easily let me off the hook.

I asked, “...What do you want me to do?”

“Go over there and stand there with your hands up.”

“...For real?”

“Yeah, go and raise your arms.” I wondered if this was really fair punishment, but I went to the corner of the living room and raised my hand. This was the first time I received a punishment like this since elementary school. I felt a keen sense of embarrassment that I was doing this after I was all grown up.

“Good job!”

“Nice.”

“You’re good at raising your arms~”

This alone gave me huge mental damage, but they also wanted to take a picture of me holding up my arms.

“What, taking a picture is a bit–”

“What did you say?”

“...Yes, do what you want.”

“Yep, of course. We will.”

My moment of humiliation was forever left in the data, but the most humiliating part was that they posted this picture in a group room where Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were.

—I won’t ever lie to my members again. (Photo of Bong Tae-Yoon raising his arms.jpg)

—hahhahhahahahahhahhahaha

—Oh my...Mr. Tae-Yoon...haha

Like this, my disgraceful history was revealed to Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna, and they later shared with me that they showed this photo to every employee they met at the agency.

***

After finishing the schedule for that afternoon, we moved towards our company. It was for a follow-up meeting that Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna talked about in the morning. As one of the key speakers of the meeting, I shared a lot of my opinions. Frankly, most of my suggestions were made on the spot, but I had to package them as if I had thought about these plans for a long time, as my concept was a maknae, anxious to receive the Grand Prize.

“Hmm.”

“I think we can do it if we just have enough budget.”

“Yeah, marketing is certainly important.”

“Challenges will be important as utilizing Tictactok or Utube is extremely important.”

“In the end, it would be most important to extensively target teenagers and those in their 20s and 30s.”

The members agreed with my opinion that we needed to do activities that would garner enough attention to obtain an all-kill Triple Crown.

“Then you want us to choose a song from our B-tracks?”

“Yes.”

“Instead of making a new one?”

“We don’t have much time to make a new song, and personally, I think that song had a lot of potentials.”

“That song?” I told them the song I was thinking of, and the members nodded as if they understood my perspective.

“Yeah, this song’s reviews are great right now.”

“We barely promoted this song, but it keeps going up in the charts.”

As such, our meeting on follow-up activities lasted quite a long time. In the second half of the meeting, I talked less, and my members dominated the conversation much more. Despite everything, my members were more serious about being idols than me. And after a three-hour meeting like this, we finished our follow-up meeting past ten o’clock.

“Let’s end today’s meeting for now.”

“I think we have to decide more detailed matters after seeing the budget being executed by the company.”

“Thank you for your hard work~”

“Thank you, everyone~”

Although we didn’t produce any significant results, it was a meaningful time when my team members’ opinions and goals all came together.

“Wow, we didn’t even have dinner and had a meeting.”

“I wanted to eat something delicious for dinner today...”

“Yeah, I know! Let’s hurry up and eat something delicious! A late-night snack!”

“We have to go to a music show tomorrow, Park Dong-Jun.”

“...Wow, you’re seriously too much.”

My members and I got in the van parked in the parking lot. It was a personal car driven by Yeon-Hoon, and it was the car we had brought from WD Entertainment before.

“Let’s just endure tonight and eat something delicious tomorrow morning.”

“Oh.”

“Even if we get a bit swollen, we’ll be less bloated in the morning than eating at night.”

“Ohh!”

“Then let’s definitely eat what Dong-Jun wants to eat for breakfast tomorrow.”

“Then...is malaxianguo okay?”

“Okay.”

“Wow, Yeon-Hoon...! I’m touched...”

“What, are we really going to order malxiangguo because Park Dong-Jun wants it? Really, for tomorrow?”

“Just let him eat what he wants for just one day, Do-Seung.”

“Ha...I guess it can’t be helped...”

While the members talked about eating high-calorie food for breakfast tomorrow, I was silently listening to them in the background. I wondered how long a peaceful evening like this would last.

[A surprise mission.]

‘Shit...’ Saying the word peaceful was now forbidden as it was almost like a trigger. I wondered what kind of surprise mission it was.

[Get first place on tomorrow’s music show.]

[Upon success, regain Precognitive Vision.]

[Upon failure, Insight will be retracted.]

“...Damn it.” This was a mission with Insight on the line, and at the same time, it was also a mission to regain Precognitive Vision. Furthermore, the date grabbed my attention.

‘It wants us to win first place tomorrow?’ This was quite a serious issue, and there was one thing I needed to address right now.

“I’m completely against...eating malaxianguo.”

“...What?”

“Bong Tae-Yoon?”

I needed to stop everyone from eating salty food in the morning.

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