Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 17

17.

On the day of the judges’ mid-term evaluations, Seok-jun and I presented what we had prepared. I hadn’t studied the members of idol groups when I was researching the idol scene, so I didn’t recognize him, but Jun-seong, the leader of a famous group, looked at us and asked,

“Who came up with the concept?”

*Damn it*, here it comes. What kind of insults am I about to endure?

“…The idea of ‘The Little Mermaid’ was suggested by trainee Seok-jun, and I agreed. We discussed and developed the detailed concept together after that.”

Yeah, I have to tell the truth, even if I get cursed out.

“Then what about the composition?”

“That’s, Dong-hwa *hyung-nim* [term used to address an older brother or male friend]—took charge of the overall work—”

“I oversaw the overall work, but trainee Seok-jun played a significant role in setting the song’s mood.”

Jun-seong, who had been watching our fierce blame-shifting, clapped briefly.

“I never thought I’d see you guys passing the buck to each other after putting on such a great performance on a survival show.”

…I think he’s a little weird, too. He *likes* this?

“The stage concept wasn’t bad. The song was good, too. Ji Dong-hwa trainee definitely seems to have outstanding talent in composing. Did you arrange it yourself this time, like last time?”

“…Yes, I did.”

“Wow, you’re a really coveted talent. Give me a song when I make my solo debut later.”

That’s a hasty generalization. You’ve only seen two stages I’ve composed, haven’t you? And who knows what will happen—if I get eliminated, I have no intention of setting foot in this industry, so I can easily get away with it.

“…If I debut, of course.”

“PD-nim [Producer], can you send me this screen separately later?”

Of course, it’s a joke, but why does he seem so sincere? I haven’t been good at reading other people’s emotions, so maybe not…

“I’m serious, PD-nim.”

…I see.

“Anyway, the song is good, but there are some lacking points in the overall stage composition. In particular, the movement is too simple, so the stage feels empty. Considering that the other teams have three members, but only two here, it seems better to fix it.”

I’m ignorant about choreography. Seok-jun, who is next to me, is a Wiz*One [IZ*ONE fan club name] *otaku* [person with obsessive interests, often in anime or manga] and the last surviving dinosaur after the meteor collision, can only write rap lyrics, so he’s just as ignorant.

…It would be nice if Chae Hamin was here; I could just throw it to him for an hour, and he’d complete it on his own, but it’s a shame.

Feedback ends, and Jun-seong approaches me.

“Ji Dong-hwa trainee, is it true that you’ll give me a song if I debut?”

…He’s the subtly obsessed type. He knows how to use others, and he’s social and outgoing. …In other words, he’s my polar opposite.

“…It’s true.”

“Dong-hwa trainee seems to be half-confirmed for debut; should we exchange numbers in advance?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have a phone right now.”

“Oh, then just tell me your number. I’ll save it.”

No, why bother? If he’s the type to bother me with periodic contact, I should carefully change my phone number.

First of all, I have to accept it here to avoid causing trouble for Seok-jun.

“…Do you have a phone?”

That’s how my number was passed on to Jun-seong, and Jun-seong nodded as if satisfied and went outside.

“*Hyung-nim*—you’re so cool—”

What’s with him again?

“…What?”

“How can you not be intimidated—even in front of Jun-seong *nim* [honorific suffix]? I always think you’re so cool.”

Is that person some kind of god? I don’t think I’d be intimidated even in front of a god, so why would I be in front of a human like me?

“…*Hyung-nim*—I’ve decided.”

I have a small wish that you wouldn’t decide anything if possible.

“…What?”

“I’m ready to follow *hyung-nim*—wherever you go—!”

…It’s a relief the camera isn’t rolling.

The 3rd competition day has finally arrived. Since the stage is held two days after the 2nd episode airs, a Sodom and Gomorrah mixed with the fans of the eliminated contestants is expected to unfold.

And a woman sitting there. In her hand is a printout that says, ‘Winter flowers are snowdrops.’

‘Ji Dong-hwa, I skipped class to see you.’

After watching Ji Dong-hwa’s second competition stage, she created a Twitter account and realized she now wanted to bet her life on Ji Dong-hwa.

It was the idol scene that she had decided never to return to, but now her fighting power was at its peak, and after the 2nd episode aired, she began to combat aggressively against the sharp comments directed at Ji Dong-hwa, who had taken first place.

‘Our Dong-hwa has no fault but being good; why are you guys making a fuss?’

So, to heal her tired mind and body, she skipped class and came to see Ji Dong-hwa’s 3rd competition. She heard that the 3rd and 4th competitions will be combined to determine the eliminated contestants, so she will need to come and vote in the 4th competition as well.

The audience size has increased slightly this time to 250 seats. The number of tickets provided per person is 5, and they can be given to one person or divided among up to five people. She doesn’t know why such a system is needed, but it doesn’t matter since she’s going to throw them all at Ji Dong-hwa anyway.

It was then.

“Who are you here to support?”

The person sitting next to her spoke to her.

It would be nice if she could find a *deokjil* [act of intensely supporting an idol] mate, but Ji Dong-hwa is currently in 1st place, a public enemy, so it probably won’t be easy.

“…Ji Dong-hwa.”

“Heok!”

Then, a sigh close to cheering erupted from the side.

She quickly scans the hands of the woman in front of her. She is holding a printout that says, ‘The Greatest Rabbit’s Idol Conquest.’

‘…Chae Hamin!’

Isn’t that the only fandom friendly to Ji Dong-hwa!

“…You’re a Chae Hamin fan, right?”

“Yes! Isn’t it really nice to see our Hamin and Dong-hwa looking so friendly?”

“I really hope Hamin debuts with Dong-hwa, and they stay friends.”

“A warm, tall rabbit and a cold cat—isn’t that already the end of chemistry?”

‘*Damn it*, this person… has the same values as me.’

Now that she was convinced that she had entered the idol scene again, she cautiously asked.

“…Do you use Twitter?”

* * *

The stage begins, and MC Lee Dong-seok comes up.

“…So, the name of the competition that the trainees will be performing in front of you is! Position Competition.”

‘Position competition…? What about Dong-hwa?’

Those who support Ji Dong-hwa among the audience made a slight commotion, as if they all had similar thoughts.

“Now, let’s look at the position assignments on the electronic display board.”

“…Dong-hwa even rapped?”

“…It’s only been about two weeks since I met Dong-hwa.”

“If you look at the electronic display board! You may be wondering about Ji Dong-hwa trainee’s position. However, we will explain that point through a VCR, so please wait a moment. First, let’s check the order determined through the pre-mini game.”

‘If Dong-hwa is even good at rapping… I can’t refute Ryu Iden’s words.’

She had been refuting the word ‘mistake’ of God because she didn’t like it, but if he was even good at rapping, even she would have to admit it was a mistake.

* * *

# Some of the Mini Game VCR

‘Everyone, I have an important announcement, so I’ve raided the practice room like this.’

[Lee Dong-seok MC who suddenly barged in]

Behind the subtitles, the members are shown being surprised, and Ji Dong-hwa is briefly captured looking at Lee Dong-seok coldly with the same expression as usual.

‘Um, does Dong-hwa *ssi* [honorific suffix] not like it, by any chance?’

‘…No, I can’t dislike it when I don’t even know what it is.’

And Chae Hamin’s interview briefly passes.

[Q. Can you decipher Ji Dong-hwa trainee’s expression?]

‘Ah, actually, I can because I have a habit of paying attention to other people’s expressions! Other people find it a little difficult.’

[Then can you interpret that face from earlier?]

[Q. What kind of expression is this?]

‘This is… I think he’s surprised. I don’t know when the picture is from, but yes, I think he’s surprised. You can see his eyebrows are slightly raised here, and his mouth is slightly open. Dong-hwa makes this expression when he’s surprised.’

[Our production team was really surprised. So we asked him himself.]

[Q. Is it true?]

‘(Nod)’

A scene of Ji Dong-hwa staring straight ahead without saying a word is shown, and the subtitle [Truth] falls first, and the subtitle [Confirmation] falls later.

* * *

The woman who wanted to bet her life on Ji Dong-hwa realized after watching all the VCRs that Ji Dong-hwa is a great person who is not enough to bet her life on.

After seeing him answer almost all the questions in the quiz show that was held as a mini-game, from nonsense quizzes to common sense quizzes, and even difficult quizzes, she felt something she had never felt from an idol before.

‘Is it okay to let such an outstanding talent… become an idol? The sense of guilt… is so sweet……’

If he had studied, he would have clearly contributed greatly to the development of the academic field.

But Ji Dong-hwa abandoned the path of academia and is supporting his dream of becoming an idol without stopping him, and the sense of guilt from that is pounding her heart.

‘I must be crazy, really. Everything is making me flutter, really.’

The feeling of being a man who has only lived a decent life secretly studying composition at home, and his parents oppose it, but being the only person next to him who supports such a dream… is ecstatic.

While she was struggling with the pain in her heart caused by Ji Dong-hwa, the stage begins.

The first is the stage of the group with Chae Hamin.

When the old-school beat came out, Chae Hamin started walking out, swaying to the rhythm. Then, when the beat was built up to the highlight, he quickly showed a series of movements in the locking genre he was in charge of, showing what naturally rising excitement was. On top of that, he had a pure face and an exciting expression.

He’s good, but if he wasn’t, a grandmother’s smile would have bloomed on its own while watching the talent show.

But because he’s good, all that comes out is admiration. Watching his dance, I’m convinced that he can make a living from dancing.

She turned her head to look at Chae Hamin’s fan.

“Hamin-aaaaaaa!”

The shouting, reminiscent of a dolphin, shook the ground.

Chae Hamin looked this way, made a circle with both hands and pretended to bite it, then made it into a heart and shot it.

It was perhaps natural that Chae Hamin’s fan, who was hit by that heart, felt a sense of crisis as if he was about to collapse.

And Ryu Iden, pushing his back from behind Chae Hamin, walked out confidently. When Ryu Iden slammed the bottom with both hands and grabbed the air with his hands, the atmosphere of the exciting song was slightly changed to a jazzy style.

Ryu Iden, who presents urban dance based on sensual dance moves, easily digested choreography that was difficult to create an atmosphere thanks to his innate physique and intense dance lines.

The ending where he takes off his jacket and shows his back in a sleeveless shirt in the highlight part was visually satisfying. As if responding to that, the combative cheers of Ryu Iden’s fans pour out.

And soon, Kim Hyun-jin’s stage looked at Ryu Iden’s back as if it were vulgar and waved his hand gracefully to change the song to a waltz-style music.

And the gracefully connected modern dance was skillfully connected to the point where you could believe he was a major. He was able to connect the movements skillfully while preserving the rhythm of the three beats.

‘Wasn’t his ranking last time… 7th? Why is he so good?’

That was actually the effect of Chae Hamin’s crazy education, but she couldn’t know.

Kim Hyun-jin presents choreography in which he hugs Ryu Iden as an ending scene, passes him to the side, and faces his face.

‘It feels like a princess is grabbing a rough servant.’

She smiled at someone other than Ji Dong-hwa for the first time because she found the imbalance funny.

After that, the song changed to exciting party music and developed coolly with three people’s group dance and witty point choreography in between.

Everyone was so good that the people watching also started to wiggle their butts slightly from their seats.

Just when I thought I could go to a dance competition like this, Chae Hamin did a backflip in the air, and Kim Hyun-jin popped out from under it and showed the choreography again for the last time, and the song ended.

‘If it’s this good, it wouldn’t be strange for anyone to debut with Dong-hwa.’

She nodded with a smile at the satisfactory thought. Of course, Ji Dong-hwa’s debut was an obvious truth to her.

* * *

‘This is… a bit of a comparison to the previous team.’

I didn’t want to criticize other trainees if possible, but the team that performed the second stage was a bit too much.

At least Lee Hyun-jae carried the others by grabbing their collars with his idol-level vocal skills. However, the entire stage collapsed due to the continuous mistakes of the others, whose notes were unstable and whose voices trembled unnecessarily, failing to produce a proper sound. Yoon Seong-ho was not bad, but the stage usually collapses together when one person messes up.

‘It would have been more watchable if Lee Hyun-jae sang all the songs and the rest stood in the chorus. Especially Park Woo-jin… is a bit so-so.’

And while thinking that, she recalled Ji Dong-hwa, who matched Lee Hyun-jae in the 2nd competition and sang the chorus, and once again felt a heart-pounding feeling.

Just the fact that ‘my idol is good at composing, singing, and dancing’ makes me feel satisfied even if my GPA for this semester is unified to C0.

* * *

That’s how it was the turn of the rap position team. Before the VCR is played, Ji Dong-hwa and Seok-jun come out first and give a stage greeting.

‘……!’

Ji Dong-hwa, wearing *hanbok* [traditional Korean clothing]? Her language ability, which had regressed due to a sudden shock, slowly opened her mouth.

Ji Dong-hwa, wearing a slightly long *jeogori* [short jacket of hanbok] that had been modified to make it easier to dance, and wearing red makeup around his eyes, had a visual that could be believed even if the *hwarang* [elite warrior group of Silla kingdom] of Silla had returned.

She felt a sense of purification in the visual and slowly closed and opened her eyes. It was a will not to close her eyes even once until the moment the stage ended.

‘Even if I die after the stage ends… I’ll capture everything from beginning to end.’

With her resolute determination, the stage began in earnest.