Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 301

The time was when I was happily eating tteokbokki [spicy Korean rice cakes] at the snack bar, and Seok-jun came back and heard all the facts.

“Ah, it was a competition.”

Seok-jun nodded after hearing that the winner could create content using the wish ticket.

“I thought so. The writer kept talking about the snack bar.”

Then, he devoured the tteokbokki as if he was really hungry. He’s the most fond of spicy food among us.

On the other hand, Ryu Iden is the person who hates spicy food the most among us, so he took a few bites for show and put down his chopsticks altogether.

…Ah, maybe it’s because I’m looking at him with rose-tinted glasses, but he looks like a picky dog.

“I told you. Did you feel exactly like that?”

Lee Hyun-jae turned to me and asked.

Oh dear, what should I do? I didn’t think so.

“Dong-hwa thought we were just filming content by dividing into concert units. Like emphasizing cooperation in advance.”

“Oh, really? I heard that our unit stage is being planned, so I didn’t think so.”

“I couldn’t even imagine fighting with you guys.”

I thought that if you were going to compete for something like that, you should have made it clear from the beginning.

A competition that takes place without knowing you’re competing is difficult to see as a fair game.

The PD [production director] is really an unpredictable human being.

“Dong-hwa!”

Please, when will the speeding rabbit regulation law be implemented? I’ve been arguing for it day and night for years, but I can’t believe it hasn’t even entered the legislative stage yet.

Fortunately, I didn’t collapse in someone else’s store. It’s all thanks to Ryu Iden sitting next to me.

“What.”

“Three people, three people!”

What, you crazy bastard. Did you finally go crazy after eating so many mushrooms? It can’t be helped if you eat something so soggy.

“Weren’t there three ghosts? Tell me it’s true!”

He hasn’t even taken off his shaman clothes yet. What are we going to do if a shaman is afraid of ghosts, Ha-min.

“That’s right. Three people.”

“You’re not, you’re not lying to me, are you.”

Someone must have leaked the secret. It must be the PD.

“Yeah, I counted them all.”

A sigh of relief. Chae Ha-min sat down in his seat as if collapsing and stroked his chest.

Then he pouted.

“No, the PD is teasing me!”

The PD is saying the right thing for the first time. The PD, who was following behind, winked at me and shouted.

“That’s right, there were three people, but I think we counted wrong!”

“I, I was so scared, I thought I was going to die…….”

“I’m sorry. We’re liberal arts majors.”

Again, a sound that grates on my nerves.

Seeing him winking at me again this time, I’m even more annoyed because I can see that he’s trying to screw me over.

…Is that human rigging the game so that Lee Hyun-jae’s team wins? He’s great at predicting how people will act when organizing a broadcast, so a seed of doubt has sprouted.

“Ah, it’s a shame. The hyungs’ [older brothers/male seniors] team finished the game faster, but Jun wanted to eat snacks, so he won.”

Looking at that, I think he’s right, that bird…….

No. I accept it.

I’m going to be working with that human a lot in the future, and if I get annoyed by every little thing like this, I won’t be able to live out the rest of my life and die.

“Ha-min, eat too, and when you’re full, I’ll give you the winning prize, a one-time PD ticket, and we’ll film the ending!”

Not a wish ticket, but a usage ticket. The wording is quite satisfying. Maybe this is the only chance to get revenge on that human.

I, who was briefly dreaming of the PD living as our slave for a day, called Lee Hyun-jae, who was sitting in front of me.

“…Hyun-jae.”

“Yes?”

“How much are you going to sell the PD ticket for?”

I can give you my bank account.

You can earn money, and the opportunity to screw over the PD as much as you want is rare.

Lee Hyun-jae looked at me with a ‘?’ expression and then burst into laughter as if he understood. He looked innocent, as if the crazy smile I had seen a little while ago was a lie.

“Haha, Dong-hwa, I can never film content that harasses me. I hate going in front of the camera too much.”

“…Someday, definitely.”

“Then that will be my resignation day. What a shame, right?”

…Ah, I think I know why Loki was rejected by everyone in Norse mythology.

* * *

Lee Hyun-jae was on his way home with Seok-jun after receiving a splendidly decorated panel that said, ‘One-time content as I please, PD as I please.’

Lee Hyun-jae was affectionately stroking the panel neatly placed next to him (it felt like stroking a pet) and poked my shoulder in the front seat.

“But, hyung [older brother/male senior], do you think we’ll divide our unit like this?”

I have to look at his eyes when I talk to him, but the seatbelt is uncomfortable to turn around, so I moved the chair back to see his eyes while wearing the seatbelt. Fortunately, the car was big enough to have enough space.

“Yeah.”

It was easier to compose like that.

Except for the unit stage, the group stage and individual stages have all been completed and are in the process of improving the quality, so the unit theme naturally became the topic of conversation on the way home.

“Hyung, you shouldn’t be called weird by others.”

Lee Hyun-jae, who was looking upside down, looked at me with an expression that said, ‘I can’t understand this either.’

What can I do, Hyun-jae. I can’t tell what you’re thinking if I can’t see your face, and not wearing a seatbelt is an act of giving up your life.

“Wow, but what should we do for our unit stage?”

“It’s too late for Dong-hwa hyung to write a song, so maybe we’ll cover it?”

Ryu Iden moved the chair back following me. Chae Ha-min was watching quietly, and then he laid back as if he was being left out.

…It’s a bit strange.

“Um, I already wrote the song and submitted it.”

Chae Ha-min tried to get up, but was blocked by the seatbelt and collapsed with a gasp.

To reach that speed with his body, he must be a real rabbit.

“Keuheo, no, Dong-hwa, hey, what, that, when!”

He takes pride in cracking down on my work, and these days, his ears have become so sharp that it’s hard to work secretly, but he must be upset that he couldn’t stop it.

But this time, there’s no reason to be upset at all, Ha-min.

“…When we debuted.”

“Huh?”

“Why?”

“Wow, I really respect hyung.”

Then why is your expression so pale, Hyun-jae.

“I practiced writing songs with your combinations, and then I submitted the best ones.”

It was a kind of homework check. It was also intended to reduce work if there was a need to use it later.

“When I wrote it back then, I found it easiest to split it up like this.”

Sometimes I get a headache thinking about what kind of concept to use or what kind of voice combination to use.

It’s easier to split it up like this. Of course, it’s easiest when considering all five people. It’s terribly paradoxical.

“Oh? Then we don’t have a practice schedule today, so should we go to Dong-hwa’s studio and hang out?”

Ryu Iden is the first to suggest working on a day that the company has set as ‘You’ve worked hard today, so take a good rest.’

“Great job, hyung. Work is always right.”

Great job. We’re going to the studio anyway, and it would be uncomfortable if other people came, but it’s not bad to take these guys with me.

In our group, everyone has equal speaking rights and decision-making power, but there are only two people who we can’t help but follow.

That’s me and Ryu Iden.

People who follow us without anyone forcing them.

When the two of us asked together, ‘How about working overtime, everyone?’, Lee Hyun-jae and Seok-jun smiled awkwardly.

“It’s so good, I wanted to do it too.”

“Wow…….”

And Chae Ha-min, who has a firm belief that work should always be done in moderation, a rightly bourgeois.

“I want to listen to it, but Dong-hwa has to work again, it’s too much, I’m worried.”

He fell into an internal conflict.

“Oh? No, I really meant to hang out.”

Ryu Iden waved his hand as if he was embarrassed.

We’ve only been in the practice room these days, so we haven’t had time to hang out in the studio, so he meant to go and hang out together, but I think we misunderstood.

“No, it’s good. Shall we work?”

We can see what we’re going to use for the unit song. And if we make a different choice, we’ve improved the arrangement skills of all of us, so we have something left.

But if we don’t work, we’ll just rest, and nothing will change.

We had a lot of work today, but everyone seemed to have enough energy left.

The most necessary talent when rolling humans [pushing people to work hard] is ‘the ability to judge how far to roll them so that they can still work the next day’, and I have accumulated that ability enough while working as a composer.

A little, a little more is okay. Of course, it’s a little by my standards.

I took out the rope (climbing rope) next to the brick cushion, which I always keep in my bag.

I was fully prepared for this kind of thing, and it’s paying off.

“Voluntary, or forced, choose.”

“…I’ll do it voluntarily.”

* * *

The studio was filled with a warm atmosphere for the first time in a while. As expected, the space where only I am gets cold quickly.

“It might be a little bad.”

“Hyung’s skills have improved a lot, so isn’t it inevitable? Writers originally want to tear up their old works.”

It’s convincing because the Korean literature major is saying it.

“At first, it was your and Jun’s song.”

I tried to remember what the concept was.

“Pine tree and chrysanthemum.”

Even now, they are letters that I want to write songs about. It’s exquisite and encourages imagination.

“They’re our birth flowers.”

“My birth flower is chrysanthemum―?”

“It’s me.”

“Ah, it’s pine tree―.”

I played the song. The sound of drums and traditional instruments like gongs. The sound wasn’t real enough to satisfy me.

“Heung [an onomatopoeia], same.”

“This was the original.”

Seok-jun and Lee Hyun-jae, even if you watch them quietly, they seem to be spending their days in vain, but they have the wisdom and formality of a carefree person, and they feel like the crown prince who has come of age is friends with them.

It may be a little different now, but the essence doesn’t change.

So the atmosphere I wanted to capture in the song was the feeling of two people arguing while drinking.

They cherish each other as friends, but their basic ideas are so different that they fight from time to time.

The verse is cheerful and there are parts where the beat is missing in between, so it’s like a carefree person, and the chorus has the sound of instruments often used in court music in a formal way, like a crown prince.

“This is the bridge.”

It’s the only place where instruments that would be used on the floor and court instruments are mixed. If I were to write lyrics, I would have written them so that they could exchange one word each here.

Seok-jun was listening quietly and scribbling something on the paper.

I told him to write down all the parts he wanted to fix, and I’m proud to see his hands moving already.

“How is it?”

“Good, good.”

“But it seems difficult to rap―.”

Um, definitely. The beat is weird. The measure structure is not catchy.

“Can I― arrange it?”

Oh my god.

He has grown up like this. There was a time when he complained that composing was too painful next to me, but now he’s stepping up to do the work.

“…Shall I set up a studio for Jun?”

I earn that much.

“No―.”