Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 143:

The next day, I headed to the practice room provided by the production team, feeling a bit worried and nervous.

Today was the day we were supposed to finalize the choreography and the costume concept, so they would surely come on time.

Contrary to my expectation of the minimum courtesy and sincerity between humans, I was the only one in the practice room today.

“Am I the only one who arrived early today?”

I asked the camera, which was waiting to film my commute, while greeting it.

“Yes, today the Vesper members are having trouble participating due to their schedule, and one of AtoX has a personal schedule and can’t come.”

“What?”

I couldn’t help but doubt my ears.

“When we had a meeting yesterday, they said only one of Vesper might have a hard time with the schedule…”

“…”

I had hesitated to make a group chat yesterday because of the strange uneasiness. As expected, it was not without reason. I clenched my fist and laughed with belated regret.

“At least one of AtoX is coming, right?”

“Ah, yes. They’re almost here!”

What can two people do? I took out the materials I had written without resting after dinner yesterday and put them on the table.

I had printed four copies of the materials according to the expected number of people. When I threw the unnecessary prints on the table, the cameraman came over and asked.

“What is this, Ise?”

It was probably going to be edited out, but anyway, I had to show only the good side of me when the camera was rolling.

“Oh, this is the print I was going to give to the team members when they came. I’m a bit overzealous, so I made a few concept sketches based on the references that I thought would suit the five of us.”

“Can you show us a little bit?”

“Oh, sure!”

I was going to show them how hard I had prepared at the meeting later, and show them to the other team members as well… It would be better to show them in front of the camera now when I’m alone, since there would be no impact if I did it in front of just one person.

“So… up to here. This is what I prepared.”

I had made the presentation materials as perfect as any professional designer, thanks to the self-made external demonstration PPT that I had made to save money.

And as if to prove the basis of that confidence, the staff all clapped and admired.

“Wow, Ise, you’re awesome. You could go to a lecture or something right now. K-POP Media Introduction, something like that.”

I waved my hand modestly and gave a humble response.

“No, no, that’s not it. I’m interested in planning, so I like to look for things and make materials, but it’s still just a hobby…”

“Right. You said your last comeback was self-planned, right? I’m looking forward to this stage too, aren’t you?”

I wondered why they were praising me so much. They seemed to be in a lot of trouble because the members weren’t coming and they had to film their quota today.

It wasn’t the main broadcast, but practice, so I guess it was inevitable that they didn’t care about the schedule.

‘Who has time to spare? I gave up another variety show at this time to come here.’

I felt a surge of anger. Hold on. I’m in front of the camera right now. It’s better to look like a fool than to be filmed as an idol who loses his temper.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm myself. They say patience is a virtue, but even a saint would kill after three times. Just then, AtoX A burst into the practice room with a loud bang.

“Hello! Sorry for being late!”

He apologized with words, but his expression and tone were far from sincere. He didn’t seem to think that being ten minutes late was a big deal.

I quickly regretted feeling sorry for him when he got bombarded with hate comments after the first mission stage.

I maintained a gentle smile and asked him.

“Weren’t you supposed to come with another member today?”

He grinned and answered.

“Oh, yes! But he suddenly got a schedule and couldn’t make it. He told me to tell you he’s really sorry. If you explain the concept today, I’ll summarize it and let him know!”

What the hell? I had a bad feeling about this, and sure enough, he hadn’t prepared anything.

He expected me to do all the work, and his role was to listen and relay the information to the absent member.

I couldn’t help but laugh at his shamelessness.

The camera was rolling even when I momentarily lost control of my expression.

‘At this rate… I’m going to be edited as a control freak, aren’t I?’

I had to be prepared. I forced a friendly smile and replied.

“Well, I brought some reference materials for the concept today, so let’s discuss them. And since it’s just the two of us, we should write a meeting report and send it to the Vesper members too.”

“Okay! Wow, you’re so well-prepared. I feel so relieved to have you as a leader.”

He seemed to be trying to flatter me, but I wished he would do something helpful instead of just talking. I sighed and started the briefing.

“Ah, I’m exhausted.”

Our team meeting ended much earlier than the others. There were only two of us, so the process of gathering opinions was very simple and clear.

‘So, I think option A is safer…’

‘Oh, I thought the same thing!’

‘It would be nice to add some impactful lighting effects here.’

‘Wow, that’s amazing. I just thought that would be good too!’

‘Let’s minimize the sound editing and just record it ourselves.’

‘Oh~ sounds good. That will be faster!’

He agreed with everything I said. I felt like a tutor at some point. I gave him the answers and he nodded like a student, saying yes, that sounds right, oh I see.

I wanted to think positively, but I was boiling inside.

Tomorrow, AtoX A wouldn’t be able to come again.

We decided on some things today, but I had no idea how many of them would show up tomorrow.

I was more curious about who wouldn’t come than who would. It wasn’t a roulette.

I thought about making a chat room and coordinating the schedule, but… by now, even asking for cooperation felt like too much.

“Let’s just make dinner.”

I decided to cook something that would relieve my stress. Yesterday, I made butter curry, and today… maybe some seasoned vegetables. I remembered the perilla oil that I hastily packed, thinking that I had to bring at least this from the dorm that I couldn’t enter for a while.

Maybe I should make a full-course meal. I added some eggplant fritters… As I imagined the Korean side dishes that I wanted to eat, I felt my indigestion go away.

I used to eat salads and diet foods, thinking that I would gain weight if I ate this kind of stuff, but these days, I am more active, so it should be fine.

I wanted to make braised ribs, but I didn’t have enough time to prepare them. Instead, I decided to thaw the marinated ribs that I had frozen in the freezer and grill them.

“This will go well with steamed fish as a side dish. We can put it in the middle and share it.”

After about 15 minutes of thinking, I came up with a perfect dinner course and started to get the ingredients ready.

I was glad that I ordered everything I needed from the mart delivery yesterday. The kitchen was relatively small, which bothered me, but it was only for this week.

I asked the Vice-Chairman to find me a place to move in as soon as possible, but he said it would take at least a week to move.

I couldn’t go and see it myself because of my schedule, but the pictures that the agent sent me looked pretty good. The interior, the exterior, and the common facilities all seemed nice.

It was an apartment complex where many celebrities lived, so I thought the security would be good.

The moving was going well, and the label separation issue was also resolved smoothly. I only had to sign the final contract next week.

‘I should think positively.’

I was making side dishes non-stop to get away from the stress of the crappy unit activities, when the members came back to the dorm one by one after finishing their practice.

“Wow, what’s that smell? It smells delicious!”

The house became noisy in an instant as several of them, led by Seon-woo and Kyunghwa, who were in the same unit as me, came in chatting loudly.

“Wow-!”

As soon as people came into the house, I became a dog. Pposili licked Seon-woo’s hand with his tongue out and jumped up.

“Ah, I’ll wash my hands and come back, wash my hands!”

Seon-woo ran to the bathroom, avoiding Pposili’s tongue, while Kyunghwa, who had sharp eyes, waved his hand at me without any spirit.

“…I’m back.”

I could tell without looking at what had happened. He must have been exhausted from mediating between the guys who only insisted on what they wanted to do.

Soon, Pposili ran over to Kyunghwa’s side, panting, and poked his pants with his wet nose.

When Pposilil bit his nose, a nose-shaped stamp was printed on his light-colored cotton pants.

“Oh…”

This was a pretty cute sight, even to my eyes, who didn’t like dogs very much. It seemed like he was trying to comfort him, but Kyunghwa’s expression didn’t change at all.

[※‘Ryu Kyunghwa’s’ self-esteem is at its lowest.]

I could see that without him telling me.

What exactly happened? I asked Seon-woo with a wink, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ Seon-woo quickly put his finger to his mouth, as if to say ‘shh’.

“I’m tired, so I’ll go wash up and come out.”

Kyunghwa went into the bathroom with dull eyes, carrying his clothes and underwear from the suitcase he had packed.

“Are you going to eat dinner?”

“…Yeah.”

This guy was a mackerel, not just for a day or two. I needed to find out why he came back with such a bad mental state.

Click-.

As soon as the bathroom door was locked, I called Seon-woo to my ear and whispered.

“What the hell happened?”

“Uh, that’s…”

Seon-woo looked around with an embarrassed expression. And then he whispered in a voice smaller than an ant, as if it was a secret.

“I don’t think it’s right for me to say it… Maybe you should ask him yourself when he calms down.”

No way, Seon-woo could be this considerate? I asked him, raising my expectations of him a little bit.

“What really happened? Did you catch something on camera that you shouldn’t have?”

As I asked with a worried mind, Seon-woo shook his head vigorously.

“Ah, no, not that…! Ah, maybe…?”

He started with no, but trailed off, making me very uneasy.

If I can’t ask him right away, I have no choice but to see for myself. I decided not to show any signs of what happened. I made a short resolution and called the system for the first time in a while.

‘System.’