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“Let’s drop the plan.”
“What!?”
When I came back, the manager jumped at what I said. It seemed like a good reaction that would be useful for the prep talk later.
I thought about what the manager’s name was and then I stopped. As I thought about the broadcasting instead, I turned my head away from him.
“We’ll do it again. I can’t sing this song.”
“Hey, are you crazy? Who do you think you are? Don’t you know you just came back?”
“Manager-nim, think again. Can we really become successful with this?”
“That… that… of course!”
He seemed very confident.
“Pop, pop, pop! Nyam, nyam, nyam like an apple!”
I looked at the reluctant manager pitifully. I gave up on giving him the prep talk. If this manager was my subordinate, I would have fired him right away.
He couldn’t work in the sense that he couldn’t grasp reality and push ahead.
“I don’t know what manager-nim is thinking, but I’m not sure. So redo the plan.”
“Are you kidding me?”
Kim Sunghyun, who had been listening quietly, abruptly stood up and grabbed my shoulder. These kinds of things happened a lot, but… that didn’t mean it felt good.
“What the hell is this, all of a sudden? Are you trying to make us fail and destroy us?”
“Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’? We’ve finished talking without you. If you just came in, be quiet. Don’t ruin everything.”
Kim Sunghyun had quite the temper.
It was never a good thing to be threatened, but it was better to have someone willing to do it. I looked at Kim Sunghyun.
“Have you listened to the top 40 songs on the music charts?”
“What?”
“No, let’s just think of an idol song that got on the charts. If you’ve heard of it, you’d know it’s very hard.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I looked at Kim Sunghyun, who still couldn’t understand the situation. The young face continued to burn without being able to suppress his anger.
“Trends change and go every day. Now, songs need to expand overseas, not just in Korea. To do that, large agencies spend a lot of money to bring songs from the U.S or U.K.”
“…”
“Or, well, get a song made by a genius composer.”
“So, what’s your point?”
Impatient. I clicked my tongue.
“Do you think our song will be there? Do you think a song about a fucking pineapple can make it to the charts?”
Kim Sunghyun was speechless.
“Doing this is a waste of money. A waste of time.”
I put Kim Sunghyun’s hand away.
Everyone was looking down at the ground with gloomy faces. It was high time you accepted reality.
Like the president said, idol activities cost more money than expected. A lot had to be spent on makeup, hair, costumes and labor costs just for one music show. Even if The Dawn was a nugu group, it was the case as well.
But doing music promotions with this kind of song? It was just a waste of money.
Kim Sunghyun, who knew the reality, couldn’t refute and clenched his fists.
“Then, do we have a better option? There is no such thing. So we have to just do it.”
“It’s not enough to ‘just do it’.”
I cut him off flatly.
“We have to do it well.”
Yes. It wasn’t enough for an idol to just maintain such results. In other words, to become a first-class idol, you had to at least have an early start.
Jung Dajoon, the maknae who was sitting down on the floor, asked waveringly.
“Hoyoonie hyung, but you also don’t have a solution…”
“Me?”
“As hyung said, we’re going to throw this plan aside and bring another song, right? But there’s no way for us to bring another song. The president has given up on us…”
There was no way.
Before answering that directly, I brought a chair over and sat down. It was unintentional, but because everyone was sitting on the floor of the practice room, they all had to raise their heads and look up at me, and I looked down at them from above. I liked it very much.
“Is it worth it, guys?”
“What?”
“The time we spent in the practice room. The days we looked forward to in the uncertain future.”
Everyone’s eyes shook. I’ve never been an idol, nor have I ever understood, but I was able to pretend to know their mental state better than anyone through years of handling competition programs. I deliberately said harsh things.
“Other kids would study in college or work part-time jobs to make money. But here we are throwing away our family and the company’s money.”
“Seo Hoyoon.”
Surprisingly, Sung Jiwon, who seemed the most gentle, warned me. I looked at him.
“I know you’re anxious, but don’t talk like that. Saying such things won’t make us any better, especially when we have nothing left.”
I noted the peculiarity in Sung Jiwon’s words in my head. Seeing such a calm guy get angry, it seemed like he had problems with his family. As Sung Jiwon said, my anxiety and impatience grew stronger, and I raised my hand.
“Listen.”
“…?”
“It’s about not living like that.”
“What?”
“Look again. When you first came to the practice room, when you first joined the agency, what did you think?”
“…”
“I’m going to be an idol who will make billions and buy an apartment for my parents, or an idol who will appear in articles even if I didn’t do anything, and an idol who will make fans go crazy just from reaching out my hand.”
Everyone shut up as if I had hit a nail on the head. It wasn’t something I didn’t understand. It was a natural human desire.
“But what are we doing right now? Wasting our time wanting to sing a song that represented orchards?”
“That’s…”
“You don’t want to, right? You can’t, right?”
Mm, good. Everyone felt conflicted.
I thought it was time to do it now, so I lowered my eyebrows and sighed, pouring sweet words out of my mouth.
Of course, I didn’t forget to take a break.
“…I know it must’ve been hard to hear all that. Waste of money, waste of time, etc… I spoke harshly without realizing it, but I just didn’t want to waste your talents.”
Oops, I should have said our talent, not yours.
It didn’t matter.
“Trust me. Let’s drop the plan. We can start over. The sweat you shed in the practice room will make you shine on stage.”
Everyone was shaking. The manager seemed to be thinking about when Seo Hoyoon became such an eloquent speaker.
And I decided to put a wedge on myself here.
“And, Jung Dajoon.”
“Ye-yes?”
“When did I say I had no solution?”
I wasn’t the type who talked nonsense for nothing.
[Are you very confident?]
‘Of course.’
The system window popped up. I glanced at the window.
‘I’m changing the plot. It’s not against the rules, right?’
[Follow your heart! Nugu Idol Tycoon respects the player’s freedom to a degree.]
What respect… You manipulated the words I said out loud before.
“What’s your solution?”
“Of course, I only have one.”
Everyone was staring with their eyes wide. It was a natural reaction to be drawn to the newcomer who made such a mess less than five minutes after coming back and talked with so much confidence.
“We’re gonna make a comeback with a good song.”
I replied arrogantly, but adjusted the angle so I didn’t look too pretentious.
The foundation of success was a good song.
“We’re gonna get a song from Blue Tiger.”
“From Blue Tiger?!”
Everyone stood up in surprise.
Blue Tiger. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he was one of the most outstanding composers of all time. A composer who covered all types of genres from ballad to idol songs, he was famous for having his nose up in the air.
That was why large agencies poured out money and idols and singers had to come beg for a song from Blue Tiger. All his songs were guaranteed to be successful.
“If it’s Blue Tiger, the last song he worked on was Black Call by Joo Woosung sunbae-nim, and it was a huge hit.”
“Besides, even the King of Ballads, Hyeonsung… Hey, Blue Tiger would be great.”
Jung Dajoon, the maknae, and the manager jumped, but the rest of them frowned. As I said all along, I liked the realistic side better.
“What… I was wondering what you wanted to say all along, but it was actually nonsense?”
“Mm, I know what you’re thinking. Blue Tiger only writes songs for big agencies. It’s only for those who are really popular… So you’re wondering how we’ll get it.”
Yes, I expected this kind of reaction.
It was the same even if you thought about it realistically. ‘How can a half a year-old idol group that didn’t even work properly even after their debut get a song from Blue Tiger?’, was what they were probably thinking.
But, once again, I was Seo Hoyoon.
“I can bring him.”
“Where in the world are you getting all this confidence from?”
“Are you still sick?”
They thought I was joking, so the atmosphere in the practice room gradually became tense.
But I wasn’t joking. Once again, I repeated it for them one syllable at a time.
“I’ll be sure to bring him. I promise.”
“…”
Silence enveloped the practice room. Everyone looked tired. They all seemed overwhelmed by my confidence and confused as to whether or not I was lying or if I could really do it.
I cut off the silence.
“I’m gonna make… no, we’re going to make it work.”
I had a way.
Strangely, the atmosphere in the practice room changed. Everyone’s loose and despondent expressions showed subtle expectations, hopes, and lowered boundaries.
Good. This was true competition. It was a much better look than the tired and discouraged pathetic side I saw earlier.
The corners of my mouth raised.
“Trust me and you won’t be fooled.”
I will make you survive.
As expected, the rest of the reactions were cold. To be precise, suspicion and disbelief lingered.
But, well, it had nothing to do with me. Because I was going to make it work either way. I stretched out my three fingers.
“Just give me three days.”
“Are you really going to bring a song from Blue Tiger?”
Kim Sunghyun asked me doubtfully. I ignored him on purpose.
“I recommend you to practice the basics…If you don’t want to believe me, practice Pineapple. But I won’t do it.”
Then, I spewed out words that spurred morale. To be honest, I didn’t want my time to be wasted even if I felt bad.
Fortunately, my words seemed to work as everyone looked a bit more placid.
“I…I’ll trust Hoyoonie hyung.”
“Kang Yichae!”
“After all… It wouldn’t hurt to see how far this idea of his will go.”
Kang Yichae smiled and sympathized with me. Judging from that look, I thought it was just an excuse for him not to do the pineapple song. I just lit the fuse.
I nodded and looked around and made eye contact with the manager.
“Manager-nim.”
“Ho-hoyoon-ah.”
“Please prepare the contract. I’ll talk to you again.”
I had the upper hand. The manager looked confused because it was normal for idols to be shy and self-conscious at the start of comeback promotions.
It wasn’t any of my business.
“See you in three days.”
I greeted them lightly and left. As I walked down the hallway, the system window popped up.
[Sudden Quest Arrival:
‘Let’s bring a comeback song!’
What a bunch of nonsense!
Let’s find out if it’s just all bluff or not.
Upon success: +5 Charm
Failure to succeed: Reputation decline, wearing pineapple clothes while at the center.]
“…You must be enjoying this a lot.”
I murmured shakily.
I didn’t want to wear a pineapple costume as a penalty for failing. I swiftly hurried my steps.