Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 212

I Didn’t Plan to Be an Idol – Episode 212

The beauty of Janggi [Korean chess] lies in the process of finding that one perfect move. Mok-hwa and I glared at each other intensely, yet neither of us forgot to keep a smile on our faces.

We had finished arguing about all the elements in this space, and amusing moves were rampant. I couldn’t help but marvel at how much he had grown.

And perhaps, this was the finale. Suddenly, the cafe door burst open, and a crowd of people stormed in.

“…Oh my god.”

Mok-hwa momentarily lost his composure and mumbled with a blank expression. Oh dear, he still has a way to go. Just because we’re filming in a cafe doesn’t mean a horde of zombies can’t come in.

When a server approached a zombie to take an order, the zombie bit his arm. The server, as if used to it, patted his head a few times, took out a syringe from his pocket, and injected it into his neck.

“Ugh?”

At Mok-hwa’s dumbfounded voice, I patted him on the shoulder. This is a gift from the production team to overcome together.

“Hyung [older brother or male friend].”

“Huh? Why, why, Hyung?”

No, I’m your younger brother. Maintain consistency. It’s the rule of this program.

“They’re really rampant these days, aren’t they?”

“…Ah, right. There’s a lot of talk about it in the news. The zombie virus.”

“I heard the Ministry of Health is implementing ‘Living with Zombies.’ Do you carry the cure with you, Hyung?”

“How can you live without it these days?”

“It looks like the zombies are having a club dinner. It’s a familiar sight now. Shall we have another cup of tea?”

The moans spreading around us. The actors moving with creaking sounds. And us, comfortably drinking tea among them. Truly, it was spring.

* * *

“My head hurts, Hyung.”

“Mine too.”

As time goes on, I wonder where they’re getting the money from. The number of actors is increasing, making it harder every time we film.

The PD [Production Director] is so happy to be realizing his ideas that his complexion is getting brighter day by day. In proportion to that, the vengeful spirit deeply rooted in my heart has also sharpened. A petty person’s revenge is too late after ten years, so I plan to take revenge as soon as possible.

“This show is weird. Even when I watch the edited version at home, I doubt whether this is a script or not…”

“That PD is weird.”

“No, you’re weird too, Hyung. Doing this without a script, so nonchalantly… Hmm, I should keep this to myself.”

Oh dear, adaptation is a basic quality of all living things. You can’t blame me for it, Mok-hwa. Of course, it’s true that I completed adapting from the first episode, but the environment has changed that much.

During a break in filming, Mok-hwa loosened his tie as if he was fed up with it.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Is filming over today?”

“You have to do the penalty.”

“…Ah, right. What’s the penalty?”

I thought for a moment and then burst into laughter. Mok-hwa looked at me strangely as I laughed loudly, unlike usual, and then took out his phone to film. Ignoring me for now since laughing is the priority.

“It’s been a while, seeing your antics.”

“…Antics?”

“Yeah. Looking at the list, there were things like acting cute.”

“Oh? I thought the penalty would be something serious, but it’s nothing?”

“It’s made based on my standards.”

I had looked at the penalty details once before, and I really didn’t want to do them.

“Everyone, you’ve been waiting! Sorry. It’s our first time with penalties too, so we were searching for where they were…”

The PD ran over and signaled the start of filming. The people behind him were pushing a lottery machine on a cart.

“Seriously, Hyung is a crazy person. How can you do this and never once…”

“We’re filming, Mok-hwa.”

“This is X-Tube, so isn’t this much okay?”

“Hmm.”

I don’t think that’s the important thing, but let’s move on for now.

“Today, there will be a total of two people receiving penalties.”

What. Don’t talk nonsense, PD. Do you think I don’t know my own body condition? My heart hasn’t fluttered even once in the second half. I frowned. I felt annoyed to the point of choking.

“Mok-hwa’s went off as soon as Dong-hwa accumulated one stack of criticism.”

Grinning. That guy is more annoying than Ryu Iden. The PD, with a look on his face as if he was thrilled to death, narrowed his eyes and shouted, trembling with excitement.

“Dong-hwa’s went off the moment he called Mok-hwa ‘Hyung’!”

I can’t even imagine what my expression looks like right now. I feel like I’m straining facial muscles I don’t usually use.

“Ah, it was a tie.”

Mok-hwa, you bastard.

The determination to never let my heart rate rise was already wrong from the start.

“Now, for the first time in our mental training class history! It’s penalty drawing time!”

“Haha, I’m looking forward to it.”

Everyone, please leave. I feel like I want to be alone in the world.

Contrary to my wishes, the world moves on. Mok-hwa and the PD matched up and immediately pressed the button on the lottery machine.

“Hyung, Hyung! Come and upload this! The ball is coming out!”

Don’t be happy, little brother. Please, please, I beg you. Your brother wants to die right now. But I couldn’t abandon my long-standing habit, so my body moved first at my brother’s request.

I moved with zombie-like steps. Practicing living with the zombie virus.

When I lifted the plastic lid, a ball slid down the slide. I felt like a French aristocrat waiting for the guillotine blade to fall. The thrill is worse than bungee jumping.

“Number 3! The long-awaited first penalty is!”

Mok-hwa’s declaration.

“Old age experience!”

Even the PD’s answer. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t want to do it.

* * *

While wiping off the makeup with Mok-hwa, a sense of skepticism suddenly bloomed in my head.

“…This feels strange.”

“I know.”

I didn’t want to experience something like a senior center.

“Grandma Kim Chun-ja… was kind. Even to me, who came for the first time today…”

You’re an actor, wake up, Mok-hwa. I’m curious to death how it will be edited.

Drip, drip, I wiped the water flowing down my cheeks with a towel. It’ll work out somehow, this damn program. I hope it fails.

I’m trying to accept reality and perform properly, but I hope it fails. I’ve acquired the attitude of a working person who wants the company to fail while still working well.

“Hyung, right, did you hear about that?”

“What.”

“They’re doing a survival audition, a new one.”

“Here we go again.”

That damn survival show. It comes back like an annual event, but the essence is not much different, so it feels like only the title has changed.

“Hyung, you’re from there.”

“Hating your hometown is a surprisingly common phenomenon.”

Even though I was the one who survived at the time, I saw the sadness of those who fell too closely.

Of course, it’s positive in terms of the opportunity for debut, and I think the culture of cheering for it together is not bad, but I don’t like the way they edit it. I don’t like the sight of people crazy about viewership doing bizarre things.

“Anyway, Jin-han Hyung said there’s a rumor that they’re trying to scout you.”

“I’m not going.”

I’m suffering because I chose the wrong program, why would I go?

“And, why would they scout me, who’s only been around for three years.”

“That’s strange. Is it because you’re definitely skilled?”

Are they planning to scout me as a song-making machine? I really don’t like it.

“But it would be good to do it. It would be a huge issue.”

“Interest is originally two-sided.”

As a celebrity, it’s hard to only receive good attention. If I get scouted as a coach or something on a survival show, I think it’s not good to think about the fuss about my skills or lack thereof. I don’t care about getting criticized, but why would I go out of my way to provide unnecessary gossip?

“That’s true. But neither you nor I care about that.”

Mok-hwa wiped his face with a towel and took a deep breath as if he felt refreshed.

“Maybe it’s because I wrote this song well, but everyone shut their mouths.”

I don’t know because Hyun-jae hasn’t told me yet. I guess it’s still the counting period.

“I knew it, from when Hyung revealed that you wrote the song. It’s true that you’re good, so they can’t criticize you, right?”

Maybe it’s because it’s been a while since I saw him, but Mok-hwa seems to have changed a bit. I feel something like an unspeakable regret, is this empty nest syndrome?

“Then, tell me in detail now. I’ve been planning to ask you face to face.”

Oh dear.

“…You didn’t say that I wrote the song?”

He nodded confidently right away. His expression was as if he was saying something too obvious, so I could only laugh. You’re a little resentful, little brother.

“No, how can you keep your mouth shut for months, and Jin-han Hyung knows about it. I was really upset.”

“Jin-han figured it out on his own, that.”

“…You’re sure Hyung didn’t tell him?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m upset. Finding out later than that guy…”

Then Mok-hwa, while organizing the towel, muttered with a mixed tone of annoyance, ‘Ah, just wait until I get back…’

“Don’t be too close with that guy, Mok-hwa.”

It was a joke. When I heard about it, Mok-hwa, who is the owner of excellent personality qualitatively different from Hyun-jin, Jin-han, and these two, was tied up under the name of Hoppin’s hopeless three brothers.

It’s not funny. There’s no way my quiet brother would do something that would be called ‘hopeless’ anywhere. Even without seeing it, I can guess that Jin-han and Hyun-jin are the problem. Our Mok-hwa is not violent, polite, and not the type to cause trouble by doing things without consulting.

“It’s probably too late to turn back, Hyung. I’ve learned too many secrets that that guy was hiding.”

Then that’s a big problem, I’m not big enough to bury Jin-han yet. I can’t ask Hwa-yang’s grandson for a favor either.

“Anyway, if you don’t have anything after today’s schedule, let’s eat. I’ll pay.”

“Filial piety?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

I’m glad I have a brother like a son who will support me even when I’m old.

* * *

Jin-han ruffled his hair as much as he could after hearing Mok-hwa’s words.

“It’s unfair. Why does Sunbae [senior colleague] look at you like an angel! I’m the one who gets beaten by you every day!”

“My Hyung is open to accepting new knowledge, but he has some hard-to-discard common sense.”

Looking at the confident Mok-hwa, Jin-han wanted to hit him on the head, but he wasn’t stupid enough to jump into a fight he was sure to lose, so he just quietly asked.

“That is, the thought that you wouldn’t do that? Is that common sense?”

“Yeah. Even if I said I killed someone, he wouldn’t get angry at all and would ask why first.”

“I was just trying to give Sunbae some information.”

“…But, is it true? Why is HBS doing that to Nietzsche?”

“Hmm, if you want to know, you have to know even deeper secrets, can you handle it?”

“No, don’t tell me. I’m annoyed to death right now.”

The rumor that HBS [a broadcasting station], which traditionally doesn’t have a good relationship with Nietzsche, is trying to cast Ji Dong-hwa in a coaching-like position for a newly launching boy group survival show.

It’s not widely spread, but it’s reliable because Jin-han, who has a reliable information network, said it.

“Our Hyung will do well on his own.”

Mok-hwa sat in the room scheduled for the W app and yawned. This was not indifference, but a conviction based on trust. The conviction that his brother would definitely decide whether to appear after properly calculating the gains and losses.

“Mental training class, it really trains your mentality. I really woke up today while broadcasting. I realized how to broadcast.”

“That, was it really purely ad-libbed?”

“It’s a secret.”

Again, he’s keeping his mouth shut, saying that’s his brother’s look that only he knows. Jin-han realized the fact that it was ‘purely ad-libbed’ while looking at Mok-hwa’s lively expression.

“Dong-hwa Sunbae too…”

He’s not in his right mind. If he spits out the words until the end, he’ll have to be prepared to be grabbed by the collar again by Mok-hwa, so he only said that much and closed his mouth.