Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 34 The One Who Can Do It

It was just light makeup. I had done it a few times when I was Lim Hyun-seong.

For a middle-aged man who had suffered from overwork and lack of sleep, he had good skin. I had heard that there was not much to fix.

I sat down with a careless thought like ‘What more can Cheon Ise do? He’s young and handsome.’

“Mr. Ise, I’m going to wipe your face lightly before applying the base. Can you close your eyes?”

A warm steam towel covered my face once and then wiped it with a cold towel.

Is this enough? As soon as I thought that, my face was rubbed like a fish being cleaned.

“Ouch.”

I made a strange sound at the unexpected pain and the makeup staff laughed.

“Mr. Ise~. Don’t use your face so much just because you’re handsome. You don’t take care of it at home, do you? It might be okay now, but it will peel off soon.”

“What?”

I asked in confusion and Yi-jun explained next to me.

“Yeah, hyung doesn’t even use lotion at home.”

“Oh, no, you can’t do that! Moisturizing is so important even in summer.”

In the end, I had to listen to a lecture on how important self-care is throughout the makeup. It felt like blood was coming out of my ears.

When I got off the chair with a shiny face, I saw Yi-jun.

“You, you bastard…”

He must have been nagging me all the time.

It’s more annoying to have a sibling who tells you what to do than a parent who scolds you.

As I approached Yi-jun with a glare, he screamed and hid behind Kyunghwa.

“Get a grip. We’re doing a group activity for the first time in a while. Just stay still.”

Unlike what I expected, Kyunghwa didn’t protect him and Yi-jun whined.

“Ah, that’s too much. Is this all you care about your roommate, hyung?”

“What do you mean care? You should just shut your mouth. I’m afraid you’ll cause trouble.”

Kyunghwa slightly pinched Yi-jun’s mouth with a clip on his clothes.

It wasn’t a very strong thing, so it wouldn’t hurt, but it looked very ridiculous.

“Ugh, what is this!”

Yi-jun struggled to remove the clip and ran away to the air conditioner. Seong-won, who had been watching all along, sighed as if he was pathetic.

“The pre-meeting starts at 1:30, right?”

After finishing the makeup, we were going to have lunch in the car and go straight to the broadcasting station office.

I packed the salad lunch box I had prepared in advance in an ice box behind the car so it wouldn’t go bad.

We were going to take a minivan, so I thought we had a dedicated van, but even that wasn’t a dedicated one…

‘Don’t eat smelly food because you have to use it for another schedule in the evening.’

Even if the entertainment company’s operation was difficult, Floss was doing so well. They should invest some money… I shook my head as I thought that far.

They must have invested billions by now. They couldn’t even recover half of it, so that’s why the treatment was so low.

I waited with a bitter taste in my mouth while Seon-woo finished his makeup.

“That… It’s been a long time… Aren’t you a little awkward? The makeup teacher also did the taping for you…”

Seon-woo walked out of the dressing room with a shy smile, his hair lightly styled with volume.

Maybe it was because of the skillful makeup that covered even the slight baby fat left. He looked like a doll walking around.

He didn’t even need to wear a wig, and at a glance, he looked like a girl group member. He was that beautiful.

“Wow, that’s crazy.”

Yi-jun, who had been teasing us all the time and getting the members’ angry eyes, whistled lightly.

The other guys didn’t express it as openly as Yi-jun, but they seemed to agree.

He was always noticeable even when he didn’t do anything at home. It was natural that he became a unique face at the level of a non-human when he dressed up.

‘Maybe I should check his stats at this point.’

As soon as I thought of it in my head, the status window popped up.

[Name: Na Seon-woo – Age 21]

[Skills]

[Buff: – 0 calorie intake effect for one meal after activation]

Usage point 10pt

[Stats]

Visual: A *(SS)

Vocal: A

Dance: B

Performance: B

Charm: B *(A)

Speech: D

[*The grade in parentheses is the grade before correction.]

I thought he would be at least S.

If this is A, what level is SS? I couldn’t even guess.

Even with the stats, I and Seong-won were higher than A. I wondered what the criteria for the stat grade was.

If I recover to the final SS condition, will I be able to make him fall for me with my beauty?

“It’s a good thing we’re on a radio show that you can see.”

The radio broadcast was only voice, but the studio scene was broadcast live on YouTube.

I had to sit in the most visible seat.

He must have been recognized as a member who was pretty and good at talking in the last live broadcast, so he must have been getting some attention.

“Don’t flatter him too much.”

He didn’t look pathetic even when he was awkward. He showed his unique charm.

He looked like he knew he was handsome with that face.

I couldn’t help but wonder why he was so shy.

Anyway, we were going to talk about what we were going to say at the pre-meeting. The only thing left was to wait until the time came.

‘I hope Kang Yu-geon doesn’t do anything weird.’

The broadcasting job was a long one, even though it looked short on the outside.

I looked over Kang Yu-geon’s personal information again to see if there was anything I could refer to when talking to him.

I calmly fiddled with my phone and spent time.

***

A little later, around 12:30, we started to move, thinking it would be better to go to the broadcasting station early.

We ate carefully, nervous that we might drop some crumbs in the car. Soon, a tall skyscraper came into view.

‘This is the NBS Broadcasting Station headquarters.’

When I was Lim Hyun-seong, I had only visited the old building a few times. I had never been here before.

“Come on, let’s go to the office on the seventh floor and wait there. Hurry up, everyone.”

We were already treated like outcasts, and we didn’t need to ruin our image by being late.

We quickly got out of the van and entered the building.

Maybe it was because it was still daytime. There were only PDs and staff working in the office, and not many celebrities.

As we headed to the seventh floor, tension filled the air among the members.

We hadn’t been completely inactive, but we hadn’t done any group activities for almost half a year.

I wasn’t the type to lighten the mood with some lame jokes.

I looked out the elevator window with a blank expression, and saw Seong-won.

‘What a jerk.’

I muttered to myself and looked away. If he was nervous, I would have found him cute, but he was calm and expressionless.

The elevator arrived at the seventh floor soon. Was it room 703?

But when we got there, there was no one.

“Huh?”

The manager looked confused and searched for his phone to make a call.

“Yeah, yeah, Seung-cheol hyung. Do you know where Yu-geon is? Yeah? No, we’re at the Yoo-nu-ra meeting room right now.”

Yoo-nu-ra was the abbreviation for Yu-geon’s Eye Radio, the program we were going to appear on.

“There’s no one here. Yu-geon must have left for a moment, but there’s no sign of his stuff or materials.”

All there was a table that could seat eight people, a sofa that was big enough for someone over 180cm to lie down on, and a whiteboard.

“Something must have gone wrong.”

Yi-jun casually leaned back on the sofa and sat down.

“Well, we came a bit early anyway. I guess he’ll show up when it’s time for the meeting.”

We had no choice but to wait. We waited for 30 minutes, an hour, an hour and a half, but Yu-geon didn’t show up.

“Damn, he’s not answering his phone again.”

The manager scratched his head and sighed. His hair was already thinning.

“It’s already past two, is this okay?”

Kyunghwa, who had been staring at his phone screen anxiously, asked the manager.

“They’ll be super busy from 2:30, so this is not okay. The meeting is probably impossible, so you guys should at least discuss what you’re going to talk about.”

But how could we do that, when they didn’t even tell us how they were going to run the show?

While we were at a loss, the PD in charge came in, panting.

“I’m sorry. Yu-geon just left his house and he’s on his way. He’ll probably arrive just in time for the broadcast, but the meeting is unlikely.”

It wasn’t unlikely, it was gone.

“Did something happen to Yu-geon?”

Kyunghwa asked cautiously, and the PD answered with a very embarrassed expression.

“No, he just… messed up his schedule.”

The manager might have lied for him, but the PD had no reason to defend him.

We all looked unhappy. We should have known since he messed up our comeback schedule with his disappearance. He was not a normal guy.

“Okay. Can you at least share the materials for today’s show? Or a cue sheet?”

I calmed down and asked for the materials, and the PD handed me a file he had tucked under his arm.

“I don’t know how Yu-geon will handle this, but our usual procedure is like this. You’ll sit down at 2:15 and we’ll do a camera test right away.”

“Okay, let’s go together.”

I glanced at Kyunghwa’s face, and he looked furious.

He was angry, but I had to do my job.

We couldn’t fight fire with fire just because Yu-geon was irresponsible.

“Let’s go, Kyunghwa.”

I scanned the cue sheet in my hand and entered the studio with the others. There were cameras and microphones everywhere.

I had never been on a radio show before, let alone one that was broadcast live.

“Where do you want to sit?”

The staff asked us as they guided us to the guest seats.

“Where’s the best spot for the camera?”

“Over here. The third seat is the best.”

“Then Seon-woo can sit there.”

“Okay!”

Seon-woo nodded obediently. Kyunghwa took the farthest seat from the host without saying anything.

“Where do you want to sit?”

I asked Yi-jun and Seong-won, and Yi-jun beat him to it.

“I’ll sit next to the host!”

“A seat that’s not next to him.”

So my seat was naturally between Seon-woo and Yi-jun. They both talked a lot, and my ears were going to explode.

We finished a simple screen test and had less than 10 minutes left to standby, when someone opened the studio door and came in.

“Ah~. I’m sorry. I turned off the alarm and fell asleep.”

He was apologizing, but he didn’t sound sorry at all. He was casual and light-hearted.

He was the star of the day.