Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 237

“Okay, I’ll take the picture when I count to three.”

Kyunghwa spent a long time finding the perfect angle and finally gave the signal.

“One, two, three!”

The screen of the phone went black for a moment and then brightened again as Kyunghwa changed the angle and posed again.

“Come on, we need to fill up four pictures, so please make a different pose from before.”

They stuck together and took pictures as if they were at someone’s wedding.

They all seemed to have the same thought.

Soon after, they barely escaped from the photo shoot and sighed in relief, when they heard some good news.

“Wow, it’s not even midnight yet and we’re already in the top ten!”

Seon-woo exclaimed in admiration, as if it was nothing that there was another group next to them that had the same achievement.

They looked around at the other indicators besides the ranking and saw that the likes were also at the level of the top 1-2 groups.

[- ‘This is how you do a reverse run and skyrocket.’]

[- It’s so good? I want to keep listening, but I’m worried that I’ll get tired of it if I listen too much. I’m streaming on mute on purpose.]

[- Three… two… one… click, clack… click, clack… click, clack… click, clack… click, clack… click, clack…]

[- Why didn’t you just debut together from the start?]

[ㄴ Two left and three joined, so it’s +1 in the end.]

[- The members who left Climax must be regretting it so muchㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[ㄴ Wasn’t Climax five people?]

[ㄴ They were originally a seven-member group, but two left. They’re both inactive.]

[- Ha… They were a group that only I knew, but they suddenly became superstars… I’m so glad they didn’t disband…]

[ㄴ They were a group that only I knew, but they grew so much in a year22222]

[- The comments are so funny, they only mention Climax with clenched teeth. Do you think they would have gotten this ranking if it was only Climaxㅋㅋ? They rode on Floss’s coin and pretended to rise on their own. How ridiculous.]

[ㄴ -Black Gold- I’m an old Tempo, and I know that Climax did a lot of work for this single.]

[- At first, I thought they were doomed when Floss’s corruption scandal broke out, but when I saw the press conference, I couldn’t help but think that they all suffered so much… The song is so good, I hope they can be happy from now on.]

[- The strongest synergy between a five-year rookie and a two-year rookie…]

[- Dad, I’m so happy that you brought out such a masterpiece…]

[ㄴ Thank you, I love you222]

[ㄴ Severe suddenly became a son from a rich family to a daughter from a rich family.]

[- They did so well that I’m angry for the first time. What did Wiffle Planet do with these members until now?]

[ㄴ When I think about how Climax was shelved until now, it’s reallyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ sigh…]

[- Cheon, you have a good sense, so you know what to do now, right? Please prepare an album soon, please.]

[- They tore it up… How can self-producing and self-planning be so well done?]

There were some complaints from the fans of the other members of Floss or the participants who didn’t debut in My Idol Stage, but they weren’t very bothersome.

Rather…

‘It’s much better than I expected?’

At this rate, they might aim for the first place in 24Hits before midnight.

No, the first place was already confirmed from the start. It was so unrealistic that I couldn’t believe it, but this was reality. I unconsciously reached for my cheek.

“Do you want me to hit you?”

As soon as he came to my side, Yi-jun smiled playfully and clenched his fist. Would I? I frowned and answered.

“No?”

He laughed out loud when I glared at him. I wanted to shut him up, so I asked him.

“So, how does it feel to be a chart-topping producer?”

Yi-jun had expected it a little, but… He didn’t act shy or tell me not to jinx it, but shrugged and answered.

“I’m still lacking. I think I need to make at least ten hit songs to get a pension-like income.”

He had a lot of money at home and he was talking about a pension. His grandmother owned several buildings, and it was ridiculous that he was talking about a pension as a grandson.

“Do you want a pension that much?”

There were also members from Floss next to us, so I didn’t think it was necessary to make it obvious that Yi-jun was a golden spoon, so I skipped the details.

“Of course. It’s different what I inherit and what I earn.”

I could understand that part. Of course, I… I didn’t have anything to inherit, let alone being killed.

“Anyway, you worked hard. I’m counting on you for our regular album too.”

I felt like they were preparing all along, but. I hadn’t received anything except the remake version of the previous songs, so I didn’t know what they were thinking.

“Ugh. I’m getting a lot of work done.”

Yi-jun finally sighed as if he had recovered and stretched out again. Hwi-jin, who was watching him from the side, smiled.

“Why?”

I asked Hwi-jin right away, and he answered with a faint smile.

“Because you all look close.

I snorted and said,

“You shouldn’t think of it as someone else’s business. Swift also needs to release his debut single soon.”

“Ah.”

Hwijin seemed to realize it then and let out a small exclamation.

At the same time, Naru squeezed in between me and Hwijin.

“Give me a vocal song! A vocal song!”

<Between Us> was actually a dance song with a strong teen pop vibe, despite its rather lyrical title.

‘Well… that’s because… we pursued something fun and light, with a solid rap line and no dance holes.’

One of the main criteria when preparing the song was that it should be easy to hum and sing along, so there was no section where we could show off our vocal skills.

There was a time for the sub-vocalist to ad-lib, but that was more like a filler for a specific part, not the main focus.

“It depends on how you set the concept.”

Hwijin and Yu-geon were not bad singers. They could pull off a vocal song, but it wouldn’t be ideal.

We already had a dynamic image, so a ballad would be too risky.

“Come on!”

Naru puffed up his cheeks. But for some reason, the ‘hyungs’ who should have indulged him didn’t take any action this time.

‘We have to toughen him up.’

Naru was already an adult, so he needed to learn some independence and not rely on us too much.

I guessed the other members thought the same.

“Alright. Let’s do a short thank-you live broadcast here, for about 5 to 10 minutes, and then go back to our dorms and rest.”

I wrapped up the lively atmosphere and thought about tomorrow’s schedule. There was one radio show that only me, Yu-geon, and Hwijin would appear on, one variety show with Yi-jun and Kyunghwa, and one CF with Seon-woo and Naru.

We had so many members that the schedule was crazy and overwhelming.

Thanks to that, even the management team staff who used to work in the office had to temporarily join the field work.

‘But it’s still too early to hire more managers.’

We had to finish this promotion with two people and see how the revenue came in before deciding.

I nodded silently and the new manager finished preparing the live broadcast and drew a sign over his head.

I was quite nervous at first. But he got along well with the manager who had been with us all along.

The friction that happened a year ago seemed like a thing from a movie, and everything went smoothly.

“Okay, one, two, three, and we’ll start the broadcast.”

“Yes!”

“Yeah~!”

With eight energetic voices, four of us sat on the sofa in the waiting room and four stood behind it, and the live broadcast began.

“Two, three, Game start!”

“Hello, we are Offbeat!”

The voices of the eight of us became one and echoed as the broadcast started.

I felt a surge of emotion in my chest, but I didn’t show it.

“Wow, did you see the number of viewers at the end?”

“It’s scary. To think that so many people watch us…”

“What are you scared of? The showcase broadcast had several times more than that.”

With Seon-woo’s whining and Naru’s remark, today’s schedule was completely over. We split into vans and headed to our dorms and homes, and the surroundings became quiet again.

‘The cars are better as they are now… but considering the overlapping activities in the future, maybe we should share the dorm with Swift too.’

It would be quite uncomfortable to live together with a dozen members, and finding a house that big would be a hassle.

But eight people… that was manageable.

I thought so and looked out the window, and Kyunghwa screamed.

“What?”

Right before we got off at the dorm parking lot, Kyunghwa clutched his phone and sobbed.

“We’re number one on 24Hits!”

I looked at the screen he showed me, and sure enough, <Between Us> was proudly at the top.

“You worked hard.”

I gave him the standard answer. Of course, working hard didn’t guarantee success.

But the members were talented and did their best to prepare, so it wasn’t impossible to succeed like this.

‘Actually… it was also thanks to the solo artist who made a comeback and scared everyone away, leaving us an empty house.’

But the person who made everyone avoid the timing tried something weird and couldn’t perform as well as before on the charts, so we got to gobble up the empty house.

I happily opened the mission tab and saw the rewards I could claim piled up.

[- Achieve number one on 24Hits on the release day]

I thought they should admit that we succeeded as idols by now.

But the system was silent.

‘Hey, I know you’re pretending not to hear when you’re listening.’

I expected Pposili to at least bark or answer me, but there was no reaction at all.

‘What’s wrong?’

I felt a strange sense of unease for a moment. As I followed the members of Wooreureu back to the dorm, the tension I had felt until then was relieved.

“Woof!”

Pposili greeted me with a body slam as soon as I opened the door, and I didn’t think much of it as I started to prepare for tomorrow’s schedule.

“Whine, groan, whimper…!”

But soon after, just before falling asleep, Pposili started to make anxious noises and whine again.

“Pposili, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

Seon-woo, who shared the room with me, seemed worried and stroked Pposili’s head, but Pposili whined and came back to me.

“Hyung, don’t you have any pain that you’re not aware of?”

Seon-woo read some foreign topic online and showed me an article about a dog that detected its owner’s cancer by smell.

“That’s not it.”

Something was wrong with the system. It had been silent since earlier, even though the window was on.

‘Hey, system.’

I called it with a rather rude nickname, but the system remained silent.

‘Sigh…’

Why is this happening? If it was a machine, I could physically repair it aka hit it hard. But that didn’t work either, and it was frustrating as hell.

‘Let’s just sleep.’

I had to check if it was still unresponsive after I woke up. I had a schedule to leave the dorm at 5 a.m. tomorrow.

I had no time to waste with my eyes open.

I closed my eyes and hugged Pposili, who kept whimpering.

And just before I lost consciousness completely.

[@^*Welcome, sir&@#.]

[&&(The system has successfully connected to @#$your device#%&.)]

[To prevent system^% crash, the access of the thousand^%(year-old@#dragon) will be terminated.]

I heard a bad announcement.