The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Chapter 106

We finished our morning meeting, and our practice continued till the afternoon. Since our universe hadn’t been formed yet, we didn’t officially begin practice but lightly warmed up our body. We practiced the moves of famous choreographies or found themes that we thought we could use for the final stage and made a choreography that went well with it. The practice continued in a light atmosphere without too much pressure.

“Let’s stop here for today!”

“Thanks everyone for your hard work~”

Since the practice wasn’t too tough, everyone was able to leave the practice room in a refreshing state today.

In the evening, we returned to our dorm and watched the fourth episode of The Showcase 2. Since we were now getting used to reading the internet reactions after the broadcast, the members and I both didn’t feel as nervous as we did when we watched the first episode of The Showcase 2.

“Only One really got most of the screen time today.”

“I mean, they did win the second competition.”

However, one unfortunate aspect was that the content of today’s episode was centered on Only One....

‘Well, it’s what I expected.’ Since Only One won first place in the second round of competition, it was a natural occurrence. The build-up, which set Only One as arrogant, slightly complacent winners, finally played out to their full effect in this episode; the producers edited Only One as if they were reborn amid criticism from viewers and became stronger than before. In particular, the climax of this narrative was when Park Young-Ho burst into tears.

—Hmph, um...

—Huh?

—Mr. Young-Ho?

—Hahaha, Mr. Young-Ho must be really happy.

—What a heartwarming sight.

It was a heart-wrenching scene just by itself, but—

—I was so, so sorry to my members...But now that we’re getting a first place like this...hmph!

The production crew inserted a scene where Park Young-Ho made a mistake in the first competition and then inserted the interview scene after. Like this, it felt just like a scene from a drama. A full course growth narrative was laid out in abundance. And the funny thing was—

“Yeon-Hoon, why are you crying again?”

“It’s so sad...” Yeon-Hoon cried after seeing that. If my memory served right, I remembered Yeon-Hoon crying at the scene as well. And sure enough, the camera also caught Yeon-Hoon crying while watching Only One. Seeing that it was a close-up shot, producer Park Soo-Chul must have also thought that was quite funny. If I assessed the internet reaction, Only One fans, who have been suffering from Wnet’s evil editing, were finally revived again.

—Everyone did so great. I’m bawling right now.

—Geez, where are those fucking people who complained about Only One’s personality and whatnot?

—Ah, I feel so much better

—Shit, where are all the folks who cursed Only One to flop? lol

—I think Kang Hyun-Sung is seriously crazy; how the hell did he reinterpret Walya with narcissism?

Reply: It’s also insane that they changed all of Siren’s orientalism into Western medieval style. Yesssss

Reply: I’m watching this a hundred times now (Kang Hyun-Sung falling from terrace.gif)

Reply: This is also crazy (Kang Hyun-Sung grabbing his neck behind Park Young-Ho.gif)

Reply: Pls, I’ll die for you;

As if they had been waiting for their moment all along, all the social media feeds were filled with content about Only One. Of course, this might also be because I followed all the fandom accounts of The Showcase 2’s groups to see transparent responses on the spot.

‘But there’s definitely a lot more traffic than usual.’ Park Soo-Chul’s big picture seemed to have worked perfectly. If Only One, the overwhelming powerhouse, was portrayed as the sole winner from the very beginning, their story wouldn't have a feeling of catharsis like now. However, there was one part that surprised me.

—Ah, look at how soft our sweet peach boy is awwww. I feel bad for saying this but he’s so cute when crying

—Woo Yeon-Hoon so precious aww

—Who’s the man crying over there? I’m desperate

Reply: That man is the main vocalist of Siren and our cutie-pie leader Woo Yeon-Hoon...If you like this man, please vote for the final stage of The Showcase 2 on April 8

Reply: Please also check out our cutie-pie’s boyfriend and #1 criminal for stealing hearts, Bong Tae-Yoon...

‘Responses towards us are also favorable.’ Although the producer made a choice to only highlight Only One in this episode, they didn’t go in the direction of making us look worse. Looking at Park Soo-Chul’s directing style so far, he always uplifted someone while putting down another person. However, he shed light on Only One’s growth and improvement while uplifting Siren together.

‘Is he trying to create a healthy rivalry between us?’ The ones that always got the most attention and views were a fierce and intense rivalry. I had no idea that Park Soo-Chul would edit the show like this.

‘Does he have a specific narrative in mind?’ He must have judged that uplifting us both would be more beneficial than putting one group down. Anyway, if I summarized our team's reactions, most people were amazed by the quality of our performance.

—This is Light’s <Traitor>?

Reply: This is self-produced?

Reply: This is from a small entertainment agency?

Reply: This is from a group that hasn’t debuted yet?

—Wow, those are the outfits that Tae-Yoon made himself?

Reply: Yeah, fucking insane

Reply: How bad is WD that they pick out outfits like this? What would have happened without Bong Tae-Yoon?

Reply: Wow, but it’s really amazing that they combined it with hanbok

Half of the reactions were insults towards WD Entertainment because of the messed-up outfits, and half were shocked that I was able to save the outfits. Frankly, I wouldn’t have been able to remake the outfits if it wasn't for Insight.

‘It’s really interesting to see it on the show though.’ I didn’t know what state I was in when I used Insight, and the only way to check it was through a screen like this. However, I didn’t expect to look like a complete madman.

—Whenever they are in an urgent situation like this, he shows something unbelievable.

—Isn’t he a real genius?

—I think we need to add Bong Tae-Yoon to the list of talents from other industries that the music industry took away

In my perspective, I looked like a madman, but others thought I looked like a genius. It was all thanks to the system anyway, but at the same time, it didn’t hurt to look like a genius to others.

—When this scene came out, I exclaimed from the bottom of my heart (scene where altar collapses.gif)

—Kang Do-Seung going up alone is making me too emotional

—Why does Woo Yeon-Hoo look so innocent and pure even when he is falling?

—Everyone, please pay attention to how good Dong-Jun’s voice is too. There’s nothing this puppy can’t do.

Although we didn’t win first place, it was fortunate that our fans enjoyed the performance as well. I was worried that our upward trend would slow down before the third and final competition, but it seemed as if we maintained our status quo. Moreover, it seemed as if we also maintained our fanbase so that the gap between Only One and us did not widen, and the inflow of new fans seemed to have increased quite a bit as well. Our fandom was slowly being organized into a large group as well. Although it was still somewhat smaller than Only One, it didn’t feel lacking to them anymore.

‘By the time we get to the final, it might be well worth a try to win the whole show.’ Frankly, only Kang Hyun-Sung was famous in Only One, and the rest of the members were not very well known. Thus, excluding Kang Hyun-Sung, we were overall better off than Only One.

‘We might really have a good chance.’ There were still many opportunities in the future, so the final victory was plausible.

“Today’s episode was fun too~”

“Yeah, Only One did a great job.”

“I think Senior Hyun-Sung really is good at dancing.”

“Come on~ Woon, I think you dance better~”

The members began to talk amongst themselves like this. Since this episode ended without villainizing anyone, it was possible for us to show relaxed reactions like this.

‘The Only One members are probably in a festive mood right now.’ I thought they might be all dancing in joy right now since the build-up they’ve built up so far had reached its climax in this episode.

‘But I can’t imagine Kang Hyun-Sung dancing in joy.’ I quickly erased the image forming in my mind because of how unpleasant it was.

—An exciting twist!

—Pepcola Lime! A refreshing taste!

I closed the laptop instead of watching the advertisement. The other members also began to get up one by one as they saw enough.

“What should we do now?”

“Hmm. Shall we practice more?”

“I’m going to the gym. Is there anyone who wants to go with me?”

Normally, we would have all gone to practice, but we had free time because we hadn’t decided on a final song yet. Do-Seung said he was going to the gym, and Woon said he was going to practice his dancing more. Dong-Jun tried to sneak into his room, but—

Do-Seung stopped him. “Park Dong-Jun, come out.”

“Ah, why?”

“You have to atone for eating mala hotpot yesterday.”

“What, I’ve already digested it all from the practice this morn—”

“No, it hasn’t. We have to burn extra calories.”

Do-Seung grabbed Dong-Jun and headed to the gym.

“Yeon-Hoon, do you want to practice with me?”

“Should I?”

And Yeon-Hoon went to dance practice with Woon.

“I’ll build our universe at home,” I said while holding the laptop.

“See you later, Tae-Yoon~”

“I’ll come back alive, Tae-Yoon.”

“Don’t be a baby, Park Dong-Jun.”

“See you at night, Tae-Yoon.”

The members each said their greetings and left the dorm. Left alone in the quiet living room, I took a deep breath and turned on my laptop.

‘...How long has it been?’ I stared blankly at the Hancom* screen that came up on my laptop screen. [1]

I’ve been continuously working on lyrics, but I’ve done most of them with my phone’s Notepad app. It has been a really long time since I turned on Hancom to write. I calmly unraveled the stories I organized in my head. Since I was writing an idol’s universe, not a web novel, I needed to write a different story than what I usually wrote. However, interesting stories all shared a similar style. I eventually wrote down a story that mixed web novel-style developments so that fans could enjoy and follow along.

As I typed, I suddenly thought, ‘Why did this story come to mind right after my regression?’

Immediately after my regression, I thought of Siren’s universe as if someone had ordered me to. However, I didn’t think deeply about this, and it was more urgent to write down what was in my head right now. After writing for a long time—

“I should take a break.” I stopped typing after seeing that nearly two hours had passed already. Since I’ve written down everything in my head, I thought I needed to get a breather for now and rest.

“Pwehh.” I got up and did some stretching and got a glass of water. When I was about to type to wrap up my work—

‘Hmm?’

Ziiing-

‘What?’

My ability suddenly began to show signs of activating. My entire world paused for a moment, and a haze began to appear in front of me.

Flash!

A translucent screen rose through the haze.

‘Precognitive Vision?’ I realized that these were signs of Precognitive Vision being activated, but I wondered why it was activated so suddenly.

I was annoyed that it broke my flow while I was in the middle of writing, but I thought, ‘...Let’s see for now.’ Since the system always showed me important or useful scenes, I decided to watch the Precognitive Vision for now.

‘...Hmm?’ The Precognitive Vision so far had shown me future scenes where I was included, but this time, I was nowhere to be seen. Instead, three people were standing together.

‘Ms. Seung-Young, Ms. Hyuna, and Team Leader Yoon Tae-Hyun?’

They were the administrative staff at WD Entertainment. However, the problem wasn’t that the screen left me out.

—If they win, I’ll tell Jaeil Group to transfer us directly to the joint company.

—But sir...that’s not the right thing to do.

—In their perspective, if we decide to cut the settlement rate, they’d be all for it. If we just get 10 percent more of the settlement rate, it would easily surpass all three of our salaries.

—I know that, but...this is immoral...

—...Are you two doing charity work now? Why can’t you get on board with me?

The real problem was the conversation that these three were having.

To sum up their conversation–‘Is Yoon Tae-Hyung, that bastard, trying to rip off our settlement rate and change his job?’ In short, he was trying to stab us in the back and fill his belly. As soon as I heard him, my blood boiled.

Whooosh—!

The Precognitive Vision stopped, and the world returned to its original pace. After I saved the universe file I was working on, I immediately picked up my phone.

Sighh.

This was a problem that I thought I needed to address at least once, but it came sooner than I expected. I thought I should really prepare myself while I still had the chance.