Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 150

150.

I went up onto the darkened stage and stood, finding my place in the formation. I reaffirmed my resolve not to fall, no matter what.

“A grand festival for K-pop listeners around the world.”

“Are you enjoying yourselves, Bangkok citizens?”

The audience erupted in cheers at the hosting of Lukachi and Sujin, who had long been the MCs of K-Net’s music broadcasts. Not everyone understood exactly what they were saying, but their energy matched the mood. Everyone was wearing raincoats, holding up the light sticks of their favorite singers, or simply smiling brightly.

Once the lights come on, I can’t see the faces in the audience because of the brightness, so now is the only time I can see them. Over there, some people were holding the flower-shaped Blossence official light sticks.

Chae Hamin must have seen them too, as he turned to me and raised his eyebrows. He looked excited.

“I’m glad you seem to be enjoying yourselves. Shall we bring out the people who will continue this exciting atmosphere?”

“Oh? Sujin, could it be them?”

“What are you doing, Lukachi? Hurry up and dance! It’s all about excitement here right now!”

I’ve always wondered why music show MC scripts always feel like this.

“Let’s get everyone hyped up, Blossence’s ‘Heung’ [Korean word for excitement or fun]!”

The lights turned on, cheers erupted, and the heat permeated the slightly humid air due to the rain. All of this made my heart beat a little faster. It’s the most mysterious moment since I took on the job of being an idol, and I want to analyze it someday.

Have all the loafers gathered?

I raised my hand to match Ryu Ideun’s voice, signaling the start of the song. Will the people of Bangkok be able to accurately grasp the meaning of these lyrics? The nuance of the word ‘loafers.’ Standing in front of fans from other countries like this, I felt the urge to learn all the world’s languages and distribute direct translations. Of course, it’s unlikely to happen.

Just, here, moment, heung

When you practice a stage for a long time, you have time to think about random things like this even during the performance, as if my body and mouth are naturally moving to perform a task they are already too familiar with.

Sorry, Father, I’m going to be a loafer

I’ll forget about tomorrow and hum a tune

Before I knew it, I was quickly approaching the end of the song. When Lee Hyunjae raised the note in the ‘Father’ part, he looked at me and bowed 90 degrees as an ad-lib. I had heard about it in advance, but I didn’t know he would make such a full-fledged gesture. I burst out laughing and nodded. It meant I had given up, so live as you please.

My son has just declared that he will become a loafer to my face, so it’s almost my turn to go to the center.

If you sit still in anxiety, only time passes (tick-tock)

It’s okay, so stand up and entrust your body to this melody (what are you doing)

As my part ended and the sound disappeared, I slowly walked to the front of the stage with a blank expression.

…Wait, it was definitely fine during the rehearsal here. The rain had become heavier than expected, and rainwater was falling in a place that was safe when I saw it during the rehearsal.

Damn prophecy, you should have told me this instead of telling me it was going to rain.

I didn’t show it on the outside and maintained a blank expression.

Dance.

This back part is my short solo part. There’s a bit too much of a quick step, damn it.

The moment I put my right foot on the floor, I sensed it – the fact that I am now in the middle of a natural disaster. Let’s get a grip. If I fall, it’s a philosophical death sentence.

Let my slowly sliding right foot slide as it is, but shift the center of gravity to the left foot and sit down slightly. If I put my body on gravity as it is, I won’t fall in an unsightly way.

Instead, I can make a stretching posture. Spread one foot out to the side and press down so that the leg muscles are not surprised.

…That was the best I could do. As long as I don’t fall, I can gloss it over as an ad-lib…

*Phuh.*

I heard Ryu Ideun’s suppressed laughter next to me, who was taking off his microphone. I’m screwed.

I stretched my legs once as if nothing had happened, finished the rest of my solo, and returned to the formation. I could feel Ryu Ideun’s playful eyes following me to the end. Even Chae Hamin’s worried eyes.

…Ha, damn it. When I get off, two beasts will be making a fuss on either side of me.

* * *

“Damn life.”

And damn philosophy is of no help in moments like this.

“Wow, you could be a stretching instructor! I wanted to learn!”

“Donghwa, is your ankle okay? I’m glad you didn’t fall completely.”

“You really have a prophetic ability! How did you predict you were going to fall 6 hours in advance?”

“No, hyung [older brother/male friend], please be quiet! Donghwa can’t answer.”

Shut up, all of you.

I grabbed my ringing head and sat on the sofa in the waiting room. Lee Hyunjae carefully sat down next to me and quietly spat out five letters.

“Murphy’s Law.”

“…I don’t think it was safety insensitivity.”

“Was this a comment pointing out safety insensitivity?”

“Anyway, yeah. Murphy said it with that meaning.”

“Hyung really knows everything. You look even more like my dad.”

That’s absurd. If you could choose your parents, the first thing you should consider wouldn’t be the amount of knowledge.

“Is the amount of knowledge the selection criterion?”

“Just in case. Wouldn’t it be better than not knowing?”

“Put character and wealth first.”

Lee Hyunjae nodded vigorously as if he had realized something.

“Which do you think is more important, character or wealth?”

That’s a question that doesn’t even need to be considered, Hyunjae.

“Character.”

Lee Hyunjae smiled as if he knew it and nodded vigorously again.

“They say that wealth without character is not good for a child’s growth.”

Our parents were representative of character without wealth, but I don’t regret growing up under them. The reason why Chae Hamin was able to grow up like that was because his father and mother had good character; otherwise, something big might have happened.

…I want to see Chae Hamin with a bad personality at least once.

“So, Donghwa, let me see your ankle.”

“It’s okay.”

“Do you think I’ll believe the word ‘okay’ that came out of your mouth?”

With such vague distrust, what will happen to this team?

Chae Hamin squatted down under the sofa, rolled up his hanbok [traditional Korean clothing], and was poking, turning, and doing all sorts of nonsense to see if there were any injuries to his ankle.

“…It’s really okay. I’m glad. That’s a relief.”

Chae Hamin sat down on the floor as it was, put his hand on his chest, and caught his breath. What are you doing, you savage rabbit? Stop showing off that you haven’t received the benefits of civilization and come up to the sofa.

“Donghwa hyung, there’s a post on SNS that says, ‘Today’s Ji Donghwa is quite seductive,’ let’s watch it together!”

When Ryu Ideun shouted, Chae Hamin jumped up and ran. Lee Hyunjae and Seokjun also got up from their seats and headed to Ryu Ideun’s side.

“I want to see it too, hyung!”

“Everyone gather around. Let’s watch today’s Ji Donghwa seductive capture!”

I have to run away.

“Wow! Hyunjae, doesn’t this look like that? Widow from AvenXgers [referring to the Avengers movie franchise]? That!”

“…Oh, it really looks like that, hyung. Our dad is quite seductive.”

I ignored the nonsense coming from behind and left the waiting room to go to the bathroom.

* * *

…Goodness, I don’t know where the bathroom is here.

The basic style of the building wouldn’t have changed, but even though I headed to where the bathroom should be, I couldn’t see anything.

‘I should have told the manager and come out.’

I was contemplating whether to go back when a loud voice erupted from what looked like an emergency exit.

“I told you not to drink, please!”

“…I’m sorry.”

“No, even if you drink, please drink only as much as you can handle, Hyunseong! Why are you doing this? Huh? The reporters are going crazy. An article is scheduled to be published today, so keep that in mind.”

“Hyung!”

Oh, Hyunseong. It’s the name on the ‘List of People to Avoid in the Entertainment Industry’ presented by the prophecy.

I was wondering whether to go back as it is or continue looking for the bathroom when someone grabbed me and pulled me in.

“Donghwa, shh.”

The voice of the prophecy. Immediately after that, the door opened and someone ran out and ran to where I was standing.

“This time too……”

What are you talking about?

Only after one more person left did the prophecy let me go.

“Thank goodness.”

He was turning me around and looking around, as if checking if I was okay. After being swayed around as his hand moved, I opened my mouth.

“Hello, senior.”

“Oh, really. This is the problem. Don’t you know that if I hadn’t brought you here, you would have bumped into that person and gotten hurt?”

…Writing experiment log. I want to hear how you know that.

* * *

The prophecy flinches at Ji Donghwa’s sudden change in atmosphere before his eyes.

‘…What, the composer’s atmosphere.’

A slightly sharp glint in his eyes. A gaze that felt like some kind of obsession to dig into his deep secrets. The prophecy shrank back for the first time in a long time.

“…Um, thank you. Both yesterday and today.”

“Yesterday?”

“The rain, you told me.”

Ah, I haven’t seen this.

“Ah, if it’s that, well.”

“It’s really amazing. Thirty percent is a pretty low probability. You predict it easily.”

I really haven’t seen this. The prophecy’s head ached a little because this was the first time I didn’t know what would happen after this.

“Thank you so much. I want to learn too, do you have any tips?”

There’s no way there’s a trick to something as natural as breathing. The prophecy smiled weakly and shook his head. All the words to him are memorizing and spitting out a script in a set order, but the prophecy was awkward like an actor improvising for the first time.

‘…This guy really doesn’t know. Why don’t you move as I saw it.’

Originally, Ji Donghwa would just say thank you here and leave, but this time he’s doing whatever he wants again.

So it was fun and tiring. About 4 years ago, after the path I was living on was greatly changed once, there were minor changes, but the changed things happen as they are.

Even now, the prophecy’s sense of time was distorted every moment. With every gesture, every breath, every time a word was 1 second late, I felt like the present I was standing in was distorted every moment.

“It’s something you’re born with.”

Ji Donghwa smiled at the prophecy’s answer.

“Can you tell me a little more in detail?”

Once again, a distortion occurs in the memory. The memory of the future that had been taken for granted is distorted again. A terrible headache comes, so quickly that I don’t even know how it’s changing.

The prophecy feels that his mind is slowly fading away, just like that day 4 years ago, like that day when, according to Giseong’s expression, he put a new possibility into the possibilities of the world.

Thud.

* * *

When the prophecy opened his eyes again, what was in front of him was Junseong’s face, not Ji Donghwa.

“Are you okay, Yaeon?!”

Even with Junseong’s worried face in front of him, the prophecy couldn’t come to his senses properly. It was as if he had amnesia, and he couldn’t remember parts of it.

Junseong laid himself down again as he tried to get up.

“Lie down still. We have about 10 minutes.”

The waiting room was as quiet as if ice had fallen. It was not unreasonable for this kind of atmosphere because it was a situation where one member had collapsed right before the stage.

“…What happened, what about Donghwa?”

“Ah, that’s right. Let’s go thank Donghwa later. He found you collapsed and carried you all the way here. He was panting a lot.”

“…Am I that heavy?”

“Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that the junior is weak? So, is your body okay? We’re considering changing the formation right now.”

“It’s okay. I was just sleepy and leaning against the wall.”

“What the hell are you talking about.”

“If I’m talking this kind of nonsense, it’s proof that I’m okay, right?”

The prophecy slowly checks the memory again. All the sounds that are moving and spitting out now are exactly as written in the script.

Fortunately, I didn’t make a mistake.

“Are you really okay?”

The other members are all standing a little apart and staring at this place, and Junseong hyung is looking down at me with a very worried expression.

The prophecy smiled and raised his upper body.

“Yeah, I’m really okay. I’m having the most fun in my life right now.”

The prophecy always lived dead. Knowing where the destination is, a train running on a fixed track, that was the concept of ‘life’ defined by the prophecy.

This is the first time there have been so many derailments, but really.

“Really, it’s fun.”

Junseong took a deep breath of relief as he watched the prophecy’s smile.