Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 23 Bae Su-jin

As soon as I opened the door, I saw Oh Yi-jun sitting in front of the living room TV, fiddling with a game console.

Seon-woo, who was sitting quietly next to Yi-jun and watching the screen, turned around when he heard the door lock.

“We’re here.”

Kyunghwa greeted us with a composed expression, as if he had made up his mind to deal with the troublesome matters ahead.

I didn’t know exactly what he was thinking, but I was glad that he had a sense of ownership that said, ‘I’m needed in this team.’

‘Just like any other company…’

When was the most typical moment for a member to lose motivation and decide to quit?

It was when they felt that they were not needed for the job.

In other words, it meant that there was no better motivation than making them feel that they were needed in this position.

‘Although it would be a problem if they were really not needed.’

It was a great deal to give Kyunghwa a sense of responsibility with just one word.

As I said, I was still a novice, and I had a lot to learn.

It was almost impossible for me to control these headache-inducing guys and lead the project by myself.

“Turn off the TV and gather in the living room. I have to tell you what came out of the meeting.”

Kyunghwa laid the groundwork first, and I quickly added.

“Seon-woo, go and get Son Seong-won.”

I opened the laptop that I had taken to the meeting to play the file that I had sent by email earlier. In the meantime, Seon-woo nodded.

“Okay, I’ll go and knock and call him!”

Seon-woo was not very quick-witted, but he couldn’t open the door to Son Seong-won’s room easily.

I wondered how to deal with that troublesome tyrant as I glared at the closed door.

“Seong-won hyung, Ise hyung and Kyunghwa hyung have something to say about today’s meeting. Come out and see.”

Seon-woo hesitated and tapped the door with the back of his hand for a moment.

Son Seong-won came out with a headset around his neck and a frown on his face.

“What do you have to say?”

He looked down at the members with a domineering attitude, without even sitting on the sofa.

“Sit down. It doesn’t seem like a short talk.”

What do you know? Of course, it didn’t seem like it would end soon.

I was impressed by Oh Yi-jun, who was always on edge when it came to Son Seong-won.

He was twenty-two, the age when he should be full of energy. Maybe that’s why he could do that.

As I got older, dealing with one annoying person after another was a draining task. I couldn’t do that.

“Okay, sit down. It doesn’t seem like something we can talk about standing up.”

Kyunghwa pointed to the seat next to him with his palm, and Son Seong-won snorted with a displeased expression.

He sat down with his arms crossed tightly, as if he had no choice.

It was a very annoying attitude, but everyone knew that there was no point in provoking him further.

“So, how did it go?”

Oh Yi-jun stretched his long legs out to the side and asked impatiently.

Kyunghwa calmly opened his mouth.

“First of all, the comeback schedule is the fourth week of October.”

That was what everyone expected.

According to the replay video we watched last time, the average activity period of Climax was two weeks.

If they followed the same steps this time, it meant that everything would be settled as promised within six months.

It was a situation where they had to show something different and noticeable within two weeks.

“That means it will be over by November.”

Son Seong-won spat out in a cold voice.

“Whether it will be over or not… that’s still an unknown thing…”

Seon-woo tried to correct him from the side, but it was not much of a use.

“Anyway, the time is set. We’re going to release a digital single without a physical album, so we don’t have to worry about the preparation time.”

“What?”

Yi-jun twitched his eyebrows at the news that there would be no physical album.

“What about the album score if there’s no album?”

“Zero. There’s no CD sales to count.”

I nodded at Kyunghwa’s words, as if I knew it even though I didn’t.

“Then, in fact… we have to give up on the music show ranking, right?”

Kyunghwa hesitated a bit at Yi-jun’s question and answered.

“We actually… never made it to the top candidates, so we didn’t even know how much the album score was…”

Come to think of it, there was this comment on the hate comments from the last album.

‘Losers who can’t even make it to the initial sales.’

Now I knew that the initial sales were the sum of the albums sold in the first week after the release.

That period of sales meant the loyal fan base,

‘I searched and found out that Floss fans do bulk purchases to increase the initial sales…’

Unfortunately, there was not a single person who said they would buy Climax’s album in bulk.

“It’s hard enough, and we have to go in with a penalty compared to other groups.”

Yi-jun showed his disappointment bluntly. Seon-woo and Son Seong-won didn’t distort their faces openly, but they were not happy either.

“There are plenty of groups that won first place without an album score…”

“As if we could do that.”

Kyunghwa tried to ease the tense atmosphere, but Son Seong-won cut him off.

It was my turn to join in.

“Anyway, that’s how it happened. They played three sample songs for us, and one of them seemed to be prepared for another group and scrapped. The other one was too low quality, so I picked the best one.”

I turned the screen of the laptop that was lit up brightly so that everyone could see it.

As soon as the meeting was over, the planning team staff sent me an email, and it opened with a few clicks and started downloading.

“The song doesn’t seem bad. Seong-won, you might know this song.”

As soon as I said that, Seong-won’s handsome face wrinkled with doubt.

“What?”

I pressed the play button at the right timing and pressed my index finger to my lips.

♩♬~♩♪-♩

When I heard Seong-won’s voice earlier, he definitely sounded younger than now.

Did he record it a long time ago? As soon as I thought of that, Seong-won’s expression twisted.

“Where did this come from?”

Where did it come from?

I obviously got it from the planning team.

I didn’t understand why he reacted so sensitively.

“I got it from the planning team. The other candidates seemed inappropriate for the timing, so I told them we would go with this one.”

Then Seong-won bit his lip with a very complicated expression.

“This is…”

This is what?

You have to finish your sentence.

I waited for him to continue and twitched my eyebrows. Seong-won closed the laptop with his hand.

“What are you doing?”

Yi-jun shouted nervously before me.

“I can’t sing this.”

“What?”

“What did you say?”

Everyone was bewildered by Seong-won’s sudden boycott declaration.

They looked up at Seong-won helplessly, like dogs chasing chickens. Seong-won got up from his seat.

“If we’re going to do this, I’m out.”

“Hey, what nonsense are you talking about? Is group activity a joke? Explain yourself, don’t just spout nonsense and sit down.”

Yi-jun got up as if he was going to grab Seong-won’s collar.

Fortunately, he didn’t actually do it, and I sighed with relief.

‘I’m going crazy. Why is he acting like this?’

I tried to figure out what was going on and muttered to myself.

‘System.’

Woof-!

Pposili wagged his tail happily, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

‘Dogs are cuter than cats after all.’

I wasn’t thinking about this situation, but I remembered it because Yi-jun was in front of me.

‘Can I use the replay service now?’

[Do you want to purchase the replay service?]

[Yes/No]

There was nothing more to see. It was ‘yes’. The surroundings turned black and white in an instant and were dyed in darkness.

When my eyes brightened again, I was in a space that looked like a studio recording room.

Woof-!

Pposili barked happily when he saw me and I picked him up. He felt solid unlike a cat.

Heck-.

He was excited because I hugged him for once. Pposili lifted his sharp snout and tried to lick my chin.

‘Stay still. The service is playing.’

He quieted down at my scolding and I hugged him. Then I heard someone throwing something in the recording room.

“Team leader, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

It was Seong-won, who looked like he had just graduated from middle school.

“I know you’re upset, but the director’s order came out like that, so there’s nothing we can do to help. I’m sorry.”

Then Seong-won protested strongly, as if he couldn’t accept it.

“You said I passed the preliminaries. You said I would be on the show from September.”

“You could be on the show. You know we can’t confirm anything because we’re not in charge of the editing.”

What show are they talking about? I was curious for a moment. Pposili woofed and pointed his nose to the wall.

[Teenager Singer Star]

[To be aired from September]

“I prepared the song, but you only say I can’t be on the show. What do you expect me to think?”

“You’re still young, you have plenty of opportunities, you can go next season if not this one. Don’t make a bad impression by saying something rude when the adults come later. I’m saying this because I want you to do well.”

‘Teenager Singer Star’ was the program that the main vocalist of Floss, that guy, went on and became popular.

From the situation, it seemed that Seong-won had prepared to appear in some season.

But it was canceled due to some incident between the adults, and the song he prepared was eventually discarded.

I guess that’s the story.

I put Pposili down on the floor and looked at the filename stuck on the editing program.

[Drink me]

Yeah. It was the same file name as before.

I thought the second and third ones were new drafts since the first one was reused.

But it turned out to be an older rehash than the first one.

“The director said he would make a plan for you to debut soon. Don’t be too disappointed and wait a little longer.”

Seong-won, who still couldn’t calm down, was left alone in the studio.

Maybe it was because he was young. He couldn’t vent his anger and soon started sobbing.

‘If only crying would solve everything, life wouldn’t be so hard.’

Tsk, I leaned against the wall and lightly bit my tongue.

I didn’t understand why he was so upset about a song with such a backstory.

‘But man. You have to tell us what’s going on, so we can understand.’

And even if there was a story, we couldn’t change the song now.

It was an hour ago that I had a tug-of-war with the team leader and decided to do this.

It was the same for me that I couldn’t back down.

‘How am I going to persuade him now…’

[Replay service – 18 years old July 29th end]

I whistled lightly and returned to reality.