The Idol Training Simulation I Messed Up

Chapter 20

I went back to the waiting room for a moment and then stepped out into the hallway to get a drink, where I ran into a member of Iris in front of the vending machine.

‘It’s Yellow!’

It was Yellow, the third member of Iris.

She was getting a drink with her manager when she noticed someone approaching from behind and turned around to meet my gaze.

“Oh? Hello!”

She remembered me from the one time we met!

The manager also lightly bowed to greet me, perhaps recognizing me as someone they had greeted before.

“We’ll be done soon!”

“No, take your time.”

Even in this world, I had only seen Iris in person once before, so it was still amazing to see them up close.

Why is every little action so cute? Is this what people mean by rose-colored glasses?

As I watched with a smile, I noticed that the area above Yellow’s elbow was red.

‘That was from earlier…’

While observing the filming site earlier, I kept an eye on the direction where Iris was located. Jae Min, standing next to me, asked, “What are you looking at?” but since the idols were gathered there, I was worried Red might show her tendency to fall in love quickly.

No, I wasn’t being biased.

Then, I saw Yellow slightly bump into a staff member who was moving a set prop.

‘Why are they moving it so dangerously!’

I heard that Jae Min’s injury before was also due to a set safety issue.

I could somewhat empathize with the fans’ feelings back then.

The broadcast station didn’t take responsibility when the cast got injured, and the company, being powerless, couldn’t blame the station, so the responsibility unfairly fell on the members.

And now again! Being careless with such precious people around!

Fortunately, it seemed that Yellow wasn’t injured but had just a slight abrasion on her skin.

It was located where her short sleeves ended, so it wouldn’t be easily visible to fans whose eyes were higher up.

‘The fans would be upset if they knew.’

Fans’ hearts break ten times more when their favorite singer gets hurt, even slightly.

Since there were no cameras around, I thought it would be better to cover it, so I pointed out the spot on Yellow’s arm.

“There, on your arm.”

“My arm? Huh? What is this!”

She twisted her arm and head trying to see the spot I pointed at.

Then, realizing the mark, her expression quickly turned into a frown.

“Did you get hurt?”

“No. I just bumped into something earlier, so that must be it.”

She spoke cutely, dragging her words to her manager… No, I should say.

“What should I do? I need to go back in right away.”

“Go to the waiting room and use some foundation… Oh. It’s too late for that.”

With so many groups and waiting rooms, it seemed that Iris’s waiting room was quite far.

‘I only brought my wallet, not my pouch.’

As I was thinking of ways to help, something came to mind.

“Can I see your arm for a moment?”

I took out a handkerchief from my pocket and wrapped it around Yellow’s arm.

Luckily, the color didn’t stand out much against her clothes.

I wrapped it twice around her thin arm, so it wouldn’t come loose, and it would just look like a fashion accessory to others.

“Just wear this for now so the fans don’t worry.”

“Thank you!”

Yellow’s face brightened up, perhaps relieved.

Then, hugging seven drinks, she hurried back inside and turned around to say,

“I’ll return this to you later!”

Does that mean I’ll see her again? ……Lucky me.

***

Yellow, who had volunteered to get the drinks, returned to the other Iris members.

“What’s that on your arm?”

“I didn’t notice it, but I guess there was a mark from earlier when I bumped into something.”

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No. It looks like it’ll fade soon, but it’s red right now.”

Red, the leader, asked as she looked at Yellow’s arm while handing out drinks.

She had slightly bumped into a moving staff member earlier and nodded as they passed, but it must have been harder than she thought.

“It doesn’t look like you’re hiding anything, does it? It’s a makeshift cover.”

“Yeah.”

Since they were all wearing similar outfits, it actually added a lively touch. It suited Yellow’s cute character well.

Fans were looking at her as if she were adorable.

“Good thing you had a handkerchief.”

“It’s not mine….”

Yellow looked down at the handkerchief tied around her arm and said,

“You know that executive who greeted us when we were filming our dance video.”

“The director from Newma?”

“Yeah.”

Red remembered her too.

She felt like she could see right through her, so she quickly ran away.

“She seems kind.”

“Shh.”

Although there were no staff around, Red cautiously put a finger to her lips.

Recently, Newma and Newrain weren’t on good terms. It made sense, considering that a member of Monochrome had left and joined Newrain simultaneously.

But that wasn’t the end. Red remembered what she had seen at the company a while ago.

[Manager, you should consider our dignity too.]

[What’s the big deal if we’re not moving to a completely different place?]

It was Director Heo Yongseok and Producer Song Joon-oh.

Yongseok was at a loss for words. He got the same response he had given to the manager who had recently moved with Yunhwan.

What’s the problem if they were just moving within related companies?

Yongseok kept trying to dissuade him, but Joon-oh seemed resolute.

In the end, Yongseok gave up on persuading him and left, and Red quietly approached Joon-oh.

[Are you leaving Newrain?]

Iris was continuing their activities with rising momentum, but Red, interested in composing, had been learning bit by bit from him whenever she had the time.

She was very disappointed to hear he was leaving the company.

Since he had been with Iris since their debut, she thought of him as a producer and mentor who knew them best.

[Why is everyone making a fuss? I’m not going far.]

He left, telling her to come to Newma whenever she needed anything. He said the higher-ups would understand.

‘I know it’s just next door, but….’

From an artist’s departure to subsequent staff transfers.

To her, the wall between these two agencies seemed incredibly high.

***

“Hey, why has your style changed so much?”

“Oh, it’s been a while.”

Men’s 100m preliminaries.

Someone greeted Haerang by putting an arm around his shoulder, and Haerang responded.

It was Ha-beom, a member of ‘SPID,’ who debuted in the same year as Monochrome and was currently enjoying great popularity.

“I wouldn’t recognize you if I saw you passing by. You used to be so cute.”

“What are you talking about?”

Haerang replied with a chuckle.

Since they were idols, they were busy… To be precise, one side was busy, so they didn’t meet often, but they had known each other for a long time and always greeted each other warmly.

The two had been trainees at the same company at one point.

Currently, SPID, Ha-beom’s group, belonged to one of the major agencies.

What stood out the most was that when Haerang decided to move to Newma, Ha-beom was the one who opposed it the most vehemently.

In the end, Ha-beom stayed and became a debut member, while Haerang moved to Newma and debuted with Monochrome.

To be honest, Ha-beom still harbored a bit of resentment in his heart.

He had firmly believed that he and Haerang would debut in the same group, but Haerang had resolutely changed agencies.

And what about the news from Monochrome? Withdrawals, recruitments, withdrawals.

Every time bad news came out, Ha-beom felt sorry and thought it was a waste for Haerang to be in such a company.

‘He must not be planning to try hard.’

Seeing Haerang warming up half-heartedly before the race, he could predict.

The Haerang he knew was the type to give it his all or not do it at all.

‘We haven’t competed in a long time, so I won’t let him slack off.’

He knew about the incident that occurred while Monochrome was filming this program, and he understood why Haerang wasn’t giving his all, but somehow, it didn’t sit well with him.

It was partly camaraderie, partly rivalry.

“Your song’s releasing tomorrow, right? My solo’s coming out tomorrow too.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

Ha-beom, warming up with light jumps, playfully curved his lips into a smile.

“How about a bet? The loser has to promote the winner’s song at the top of their SNS feed for a day. What do you think?”

“What?”

“It’ll give us more motivation, won’t it? Huh?”

Objectively, this was a favorable bet for Haerang.

The popularity gap between SPID and Monochrome was significant, and there was also a difference in the number of followers Haerang and Ha-beom had individually.

Both of them were aware of this, but they also knew it wasn’t about comparing popularity.

Ha-beom had always pushed Haerang by showing off what he had.

“……”

Haerang pondered for a moment.

To keep the pre-shoot agreement of ‘let’s not get hurt,’ he wondered how hard he could push himself.

But the deliberation didn’t last long.

“……Okay.”

Accepting the bet, Haerang’s warm-up routine became more serious.

Ha-beom, seeing this, also smiled with satisfaction and fired up his determination.

Although the preparation time was long, the actual race didn’t take even 30 seconds once it started.

Han-yi, who was in the same preliminary group as Haerang, crossed the finish line a few seconds later and stood next to the members.

“Wow. I was surprised when you suddenly shot out next to me.”

Wasn’t today’s motto to do just enough not to get hurt?

“I thought you were a cheetah or something.”

“What got into you all of a sudden?”

“……Nothing.”

The members, puzzled by the reason, but Haerang just responded as if nothing had happened.

The preliminaries were divided into several groups, and there was also a women’s preliminary, so they had to wait for the finals.

And then, the long-awaited final.

The first and second places crossed the finish line almost side by side, and cheers erupted simultaneously from two sections of the fan stands.

A rare occurrence, the seats belonged to Colors’ fans.

***

Unlike the fans who were confined to one place, there were several places where officials could move around.

Jae Min and I, who almost got caught by a familiar idol while being below, now came up to the upper floor of the fan stands to watch.

Since the fans were focused on their favorite singers in front of them, there was less worry about being noticed.

‘Though it’s far.’

The large screen showed the action, and the outfit colors made it possible to distinguish everyone, so it didn’t hinder the overall view. At least not for an official.

Honestly, I, who until recently had no connection with this world, found it more interesting to watch up close…. It couldn’t be helped.

As we settled in, the men’s 100m final was about to start.

Since they were idols with a lot of activity and regular exercise, they were all fast.

But among them, Haerang stood out the most.

It wasn’t because of his height or appearance, even from this distance, but because he shot forward as soon as the race started.

Maybe because of his long legs, he ran fast.

‘No one asked you to try so hard!’

Haerang crossed the finish line in no time and went straight into an interview with barely a moment to catch his breath.

Next to him was another idol who had finished almost simultaneously.

They exchanged greetings with a light hug, seeming to know each other, then Haerang rejoined his members.

Wiping his sweat, a bit of his makeup came off, so the members returned to the waiting room for a moment.

‘An athletic event where idols must always show a polished appearance, they sure have it tough.’

Haerang, who returned with a gold medal, saw me in the waiting room and looked momentarily surprised.

“Well, this…”

“No. You did well. You were the most noticeable.”

Haerang, who was about to make excuses even after winning first place, looked relieved.

I didn’t say not to try hard, just that he didn’t have to.

He had done an interview as the first-place winner. As long as he didn’t get hurt, it was all good.

‘By the way, there’s not much filming left now.’

I checked the time. We had gathered early in the morning, and it was well past noon.

Some events Monochrome didn’t participate in were scheduled to be filmed at another location tomorrow, so this was actually wrapping up quickly.

It looked like we would go a bit over the scheduled filming time, but not by much.

The end of filming also meant that Jae Min’s teaser image release was not far off.