Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 330

Moving to seats according to the badges doesn’t sit well with me.

Ryueun keeps nudging me from the side, while Chae Hamin and Lee Hyunjae are chatting about how strange we are acting today.

What to do? I need a brick.

“Okay, so we’ve divided into two teams: the gold badge team and the silver badge team. By the way, the badges are designed after the medals you won at the track meet. Pretty, right?”

“Wow, that’s right! It’s been so long. We even hung them up as decorations in our dorms.”

Chae Hamin cheerfully fidgeted with his badge. Knowing roughly what was going on, I put on my badge without much thought.

“They’re even pure gold and pure silver. A gift for all your hard work.”

I can only see PD-nim [Production Director, a common term in Korean entertainment] as an angel.

To use the most effective form of financial therapy in our capitalist society for us, who were exhausted both physically and mentally from being tormented by the PD.

“It’s pure silver.”

However, Chae Hamin, whose passive trait is having no reaction to financial therapy, was just happily reminiscing as if he didn’t care.

Rather, seeing Lee Hyunjae clutching his badge tightly in his hand, it seems Lee Hyunjae loves money quite a bit.

I let out a soft sigh.

Feeling pity for Ryueun, who was standing in the hallway agonizing, was the problem. If I had known the first game would be like this, I would have ruthlessly crushed him.

“Shall we have a team name meeting?”

“We’ve already decided.”

“Oh, then just wait a moment.”

Right after saying that, PD-nim tilted his head for a moment.

He must have caught on, given the circumstances. PD Jung Kyungwoo isn’t clueless.

Probably in his head right now, he’s thinking, ‘Those guys planned to be on the same team,’ and ‘There’s no reason to be obsessed with winning, so does he want to beat his younger brother that badly?’ Rough thoughts must be flashing through his mind.

Actually, it’s all true.

It’s true that we planned it, and Ryueun wants to beat me at least one more time, so he’s doing this.

Damn it.

“We’ve decided!”

Chae Hamin, the representative of the three who were gathered together, raised his hand enthusiastically.

“We’re the ‘Old Age is the Loss of Youth’ team!”

Ryueun quietly closed his mouth, as if he was about to spit out the tea he was drinking.

It’s definitely a name Lee Hyunjae came up with.

It’s a team name that teases us for being old. No one but Lee Hyunjae could make such indirect criticisms.

Lee Hyunjae waved his hand at us with a sly smile.

How can he be so annoying and cute at the same time? I want to show him the taste of defeat.

Ryueun wiped his mouth and raised my hand along with his.

Don’t raise it, don’t pretend like we planned this together.

“We’re ‘Eohwadongdongji’!” [A somewhat archaic or folksy-sounding phrase, implying a sense of camaraderie or shared destiny]

Not indirect, and not even funny enough to be wordplay.

As expected of a name Ryueun made up haphazardly, Lee Hyunjae was very disappointed.

“If I say this is too lame, will it get edited out?”

I took a slow, deep breath.

In this wide restaurant, I’m the only ally and there are four enemies, seriously. Usually, the members are the team and the PD is the enemy, but how did it come to this?

At this rate, I’ll be lucky if I don’t get indigestion from reminiscing.

Ding!

[Isn’t that karma? Lee Hyunjae, whom you raised, Chae Hamin, who is quick to notice when it comes to your business, and Ryueun, for whom teasing you is one of life’s greatest joys. You created them all. Moreover, even that sickeningly soft sentiment is yours.]

Shut up, Gisaeng [A historical Korean female entertainer, often associated with wit and artistry]. Actually, defamation by timely statement is possible in our country.

[Such sass to your teacher. Now, repeat after me. I’m sorry, teacher.]

Go to hell.

[It’s been a while since I’ve heard that.]

The fruit of my labor, obtained by acting cute like Seokjoon, the self-produced content that should have been heartwarming, why is it like this?

[Actually, I didn’t tell you, but when you were acting cute back then, I calculated that this would happen. It’s an achievement you made with your own will.]

Damn it, Ji Donghwa.

* * *

The first match between ‘Eohwadongdongji’ and ‘Old Age is the Loss of Youth’.

It’s ‘Empty Spaces of Memories’.

“Okay, then, here’s the first question. Let’s watch the following scene.”

At PD-nim’s signal, a scene of me wearing a monocle appeared on the monitor.

Seriously, I never want to see that again.

My figure holding a knife politely in one hand. Below it, in the place where the subtitles should be, there was a blank space.

The scene right before I killed Senior Gyeonhwon, what I said with my own mouth back then.

“What’s the line that goes here?”

This is ‘Empty Spaces of Memories’. A quiz where you have to fill in the blanks in the nonsense we did.

I know the answer, but I quietly remained silent and turned my eyes to the side.

And of course, Ryueun on our side was also making dumb noises like ‘Huh?’ as if he didn’t know at all. That’s acting, damn it.

“…Uh? I know it.”

“If you know it, say it, hyung [older brother or male friend].”

“No, I know it, but I can’t remember.”

“That means you don’t know it.”

“No, I really know it!”

“I’m telling you, you don’t know it.”

Chae Hamin jumped up and down, and Lee Hyunjae calmly answered while contemplating the answer. We have to get it right somehow to do the next game.

“…It’s an interrogative sentence.”

I opened my mouth as if giving a hint to Ryueun. Then Ryueun reflexively smiled and covered his mouth.

After that short time of holding back laughter.

“I’m sorry, but would you die for me?”

Ryueun whispered softly in my ear.

Damn it. He knew from the beginning. He’s doing this even though it’s all going to be on the audio.

“Answer it.”

“No, if I answer wrong, the chance will go to them. I’m a bit pessimistic, so I have to be sure about these things…”

He’s very sly. If I had a brick, a perfect crime (no witnesses or memories of witnesses) would be possible. He’s got a chance to tease me as much as he wants, right now.

He’s not going to answer anyway.

“It’s an interrogative sentence, and it’s a form that combines two clauses.”

Since there’s no hope anyway, let’s stimulate Lee Hyunjae’s memory.

“Correct, OldYouthLoss!”

Lee Hyunjae raised his hand immediately.

“I’m sorry, but would you like to die?”

“Wrong! It’s our chance!”

“Eohwadongdongji! I’m sorry, but…”

Ryueun dragged out the words and made eye contact with me. He has an uneasy face as if he doesn’t know, but any member would be able to see through his true intentions.

That’s not the correct answer, it’s really just saying sorry, and there’s not a single grain of sincerity in it.

“It’s my victory! I’m sure of it! It just popped into my head!”

“Wrong!”

“Too bad.”

“But the attempt was good. I’ll get them all right, Donghwa. Trust me!”

Then he clasped his hands together and covered his head as if he could do it, really, every single action is so trustworthy that I want to kill him.

“Yeah, I trust you, hyung.”

If it weren’t for the camera, Ryueun.

“Correct, OldYouthLive. I’m sorry, but would you like to die!”

When Lee Hyunjae shouted the correct answer, Ryueun jumped up with an exaggerated gesture and hit his head wildly.

“Ah, that’s it, ah. Donghwa hyung, I’m really sorry.”

“…It’s okay.”

“But now that I see it, it’s so cringe.”

“…Hyung.”

Shut up. Unless you want me to swear on air.

However, Ryueun seems to be in a better mood than ever, imitating my pose and expression on the screen.

“I’m sorry, but…”

In the end, I couldn’t stand it.

“Sit down.”

“…Yes.”

A short word, but the deep anger contained within, Ryueun seemed to stiffen at that and sat down quietly.

However.

“I’ll definitely get the next question right, hyung!”

That mouth, it’s really excited today.

* * *

Ryueun’s continuous misses.

A strategy of subtly making mistakes to get close to the correct answer, and then handing over the correct answer to the opponent.

Thanks to that, we’re smoothly trailing by one point.

Ryueun is crazy, but not crazy enough to consider the option of getting everything wrong.

Because the game has to end this close to some extent to keep the show entertaining.

He’s so annoying, that damn dog. What to do, really, with him?

“Okay, everyone, here’s a chance to turn the tables, worth two points!”

The one-point difference will just become a three-point difference. It’s not like winning is important for this project anyway.

We’ll lose smoothly. What a pity.

With PD-nim’s hand signal, the screen was revealed. And a strange gaze poured from PD-nim towards our team.

Um, no way.

‘Ryueun’s solo song, Cliff and ( )!’

Ryueun quietly covered his mouth.

I couldn’t help but laugh. The longer this takes, the clearer it is who’s at a disadvantage.

To dare not answer the title of the song I wrote right away, that’s a disqualification as a human being.

Ryueun fell into a dilemma of whether to safely take the 1 point, or gamble and do his best to lose the next two games.

It’s also absurd not to shout the answer before the other members.

Amidst my laughter, which was close to an explosion, Ryueun quietly raised his hand.

“Correct, Eohwadongdongji!”

“Yes!”

If it were me, I would cleanly take the 1 point.

The bond with me is already strong and will never be broken. In the first place, the oath/curse is making us look forward to being together in the silver town.

However.

“…Boy. Cliff and Boy.”

Ryueun quietly muttered, as if he couldn’t possibly get this one wrong among our memories of teasing me so annoyingly.

“Um, well, it’s the right answer, aren’t you happy?”

PD-nim was rather embarrassed by the gloomy Ryueun.

He was happy to be able to extract a scene of reversal as a broadcast angle, but he thought that if he manipulated the team to beat one team, they would hug each other, that was the look in his eyes.

“…That, that, well, the words Donghwa said to me back then, suddenly came to mind too much.”

Ryueun desperately made excuses.

“Back then, when I was a trainee, I was having a really hard time, and Donghwa wrote this song saying that he would always be on my side and that he loved me.”

“…Ryueun.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t fabricate.”

When did I ever say that?

“I did. It was almost the same!”

However, Ryueun shouted as if he couldn’t back down either.

“Writing a novel to write my song is the same as that, what.”

“…Oh my god.”

Living my life, I’m saying all sorts of nonsense.

While Ryueun and I were looking at each other with absurd eyes, the other three members were looking at us with the eyes of, ‘Those guys are a bit strange today as usual.’

A strange situation where the winning team came out, but no team was cheering.

In that silence, PD Jung Kyungwoo slowly nodded his head.

I’ve been caught, Ryueun. Finally, the situation I’ve been waiting for.

* * *

This is a fix. I don’t know why you’re trying to lose on purpose.

Jung Kyungwoo realized quietly inside.

Jung Kyungwoo could know. Who is the person who conducted this match-fixing.

“…Ryueun.”

Donghwa would never do that. If he was that kind of person, he would have just pretended not to know and moved on, even that day.

“…I didn’t see him that way, um.”

Is there another reason? Jung Kyungwoo pondered, but soon realized it was futile.

“…What heartwarming.”

If there was manipulation in the beginning, it was his, where are you going.

Jung Kyungwoo pondered slowly. If someone is unilaterally trying to lose, it would be more fun to create a situation where they have no choice but to win.

However, he was worried about whether he could do that in front of Donghwa.

“Yes, anyway, Team Eohwadongdongji wins!”

Jung Kyungwoo shouted that and smiled strangely inside.