Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 66

66.

“Now, to signal the start of the full-fledged appreciation festival, we will give a big bow!”

And as Ryu Iden gave the signal through ventriloquism, we bowed in perfect unison.

And then, an explosion of cheers.

…It’s like a religion worshipping light.

With all of our members wearing unique Hanbok [traditional Korean clothing]-style outfits, it feels solemn, like performing a ritual for some religion.

And as we lifted our bodies, we were already standing in formation.

Lee Hyun-jae looks back at us with an innocent expression and asks.

“Um, the atmosphere suddenly became awkward, should we start the next song right away?”

“Then we’ll play ‘Start, Time’ right away, Luminous!”

And then, a dreamy beat follows. I just start moving as I’m used to.

Not the dark auditorium, but the faces of the fans, more clearly visible under the afternoon sun. Everyone is watching us with their mouths half-open.

‘Why are they opening their mouths…?’

It’s my first time seeing their faces so clearly, so I’m happy but also embarrassed.

Unlike ‘Our Hour,’ which we were able to perform with the title track thanks to the support of the agency during our debut, ‘Start, Time’ has never been broadcast on music shows, so is that why it’s their first time seeing it?

‘Start, Time’ is the most dreamy song on this album.

If ‘Our Hour’ is the epitome of refreshing, then ‘Start, Time’ is the epitome of dreamy, with ‘Cloudy Blue’ in between.

The melody of the violin is still resonating powerfully. I guess they’re opening their mouths because they’re surprised by the different atmosphere from the existing songs.

While I was thinking that, the song passes the middle part and approaches the end.

I approach Lee Hyun-jae behind him in time with the beat to prepare for the pair choreography.

And then the flowing bridge part. With our backs against each other, we turn our bodies about 90 degrees to look to the side, and with our hands clasped, we raise them up and slowly lower them.

Start, time, the time for you is now

Start, We are, Loving each other, already

My voice is laid as harmony under Lee Hyun-jae’s clear tone.

When I first heard the lyrics, I wondered how I should sing them because I was embarrassed, but now that I’m used to it, it’s okay.

And as all the songs come to an end, I stand alone in the center, and Lee Hyun-jae stands with his back against mine behind me.

Start, time, ready to go meet you beyond

Start, time, we’ll meet as if we’ve forgotten even

And when I turn back, Lee Hyun-jae comes forward and looks at the sky, and the song ends.

* * *

After finishing the second stage, I tried to suppress my rough breathing.

I pulled the chair back onto the stage and sat down, and the five of us gathered together.

“So, our Luminous! Did you enjoy the previous stage?”

In response to Ryu Iden’s question, answers burst out, and the sight of everyone shouting in unison in a bright place was strange.

…I really feel like a religious priest. If I ask, ‘Do you believe?’ it feels like everyone will enthusiastically answer, ‘I believe.’

“Showing you the stage is important, but! Since it’s an appreciation festival, we should also answer your questions, right?”

Ryu Iden’s smooth progress and.

“This is the so-called ‘Blossom Detective Agency’ time, where we select questions that our Luminous have asked in advance and answer them ourselves!”

Chae Ha-min’s excited voice announces the break corner. By the way, this corner also shows off a truly bizarre naming sense.

A staff member pulls in a huge container filled with countless post-it notes.

“We’ll ran―domly pick a question from the con―tainer and an―swer it!”

That’s how the first question was picked. Ryu Iden reads it out one letter at a time.

“I really enjoyed Blossom’s Philosophy Academy! I cried watching Jun fighting with Dong-hwa in the last episode 4, are you doing a season 2 of this?”

Ryu Iden finishes reading the question and says to me.

“It would be better for Dong-hwa to talk about this than me! Dong-hwa wrote that scenario.”

“…Um, the reason why the ending was ambiguous is due to realistic problems, and the next episode is already written in my head.”

Realistic problems mean the budget. CG [computer graphics] work is essential, and if you don’t do it properly, it’s just ridiculous, so it’s a monster that eats money.

Thanks to that, Chae Ha-min, who is Aristotle who learned the secret of his birth, studies philosophy with me, who is Plato, and argues due to differences of opinion, and then dramatically reconciles and fights with Seok-jun and Lee Hyun-jae, and then the subtitle ‘Season 1 END’ comes up and it ends.

For reference, although it is not mentioned, Ryu Iden continues to appear like a licorice [something that keeps popping up].

Seok-jun, who heard my words, clapped his hands brightly and asked.

“Oh! Please spoil us a little [give us a sneak peek]!”

That smells dangerous.

“…I don’t think I should say that.”

And at that moment, a sigh of regret echoes. Ryu Iden reacts to it.

“Hey, I’ll take responsibility. Just say it, Dong-hwa hyung [older brother/male friend].”

He’s still a leader. Even if he leads you down the wrong path, he’s still a ‘leader’.

“…Then, if the next episode comes out, I’ll just tell you one story that I wanted to use as an idea.”

That’s how Q&A mainly consisting of Blossom’s behind-the-scenes and TMI [too much information] was conducted.

For example…….

‘Blossom! Can you eat spicy food well?’

“…Based on the food that Ha-min cooked for me before, I can’t eat spicy food.”

Like that.

‘What does Blossom do when they rest?’

“I usually when I rest…….”

“Dong-hwa doesn’t rest, so he won’t be able to answer!”

In the same way.

The answers were mainly about questions that seemed useless in some ways.

Nevertheless, the fans were listening to our trivial stories and laughing.

And it’s my turn to pick a question.

I put my hand in the container and picked up a piece of paper.

‘This time, 2nd place on music shows at debut! The proud Blossom! It hasn’t been long since your debut, but do you have any dreams you want to achieve in 3 years?’

…I’m a little dazed.

I took out the questionnaire and was lost in thought for a moment.

3 years. 3 years. I had never dreamed of such a distant future.

When I was living with Mok-hwa, the problem was tomorrow, and after I was dropped, I was more accustomed to regret than dreams.

3 years… Blossom has a 7-year contract, so it’s about half of that time.

And this is the same even after I fell with this possibility.

Suddenly, I walked a strange path called trainee and solved the problems in front of me, and I, who wanted to debut because of my personal greed, had never imagined such a distant future.

I start to imagine myself in 3 years in my head.

“Uh… Dong-hwa?”

Then, I hear Chae Ha-min’s voice calling me in a flustered voice.

When I first saw this guy, I thought he looked like a rabbit.

And because of this guy’s unnecessarily good personality and unnecessarily meddlesome consideration for others, I ended up auditioning.

As time passed, I had a job called idol, which receives excessive love.

Now that I imagine the future in 3 years, I can’t imagine a future without the members.

‘…I see.’

Now I clearly understand what Chae Ha-min said.

Chae Ha-min told me to rely on the other members as well. As any human would.

‘…And yet he made such a fuss about protecting them.’

I don’t have the ability to pave the way evenly for these people. That’s just an unknown area described in terms like God’s power or the harmony of the universe.

Nevertheless, I thought that I was the only one connected to the omniscient being called Gijisaeng, so I became arrogant that ‘I’ had to protect their future somehow.

In the first place, their future is not something I protect, but something we protect together.

Chae Ha-min must have read my inner thoughts. He’s terribly quick-witted in that way.

In other words, my mindset of protecting them is wrong in itself.

…Damn it.

Once this appreciation festival is over, let’s apologize to Chae Ha-min and the other members again.

They don’t seem to have any ill feelings towards me right now, but even so.

And as time goes by, I have to tell them all about my secret. About the 9 years and the existence of Gijisaeng.

I finish thinking there and look around.

Only then do I notice the gazes that are momentarily focused on me. I clear my throat once and raise my head to apologize.

“I’m sorry. I had a lot of thoughts because of the question.”

“Oh, what kind of question is it?”

Ryu Iden’s voice contains a slight amount of anxiety. Since I, who don’t get flustered easily, paused, it seems like he thinks a strange question that couldn’t be filtered out.

“First of all… I’ll read the question. It hasn’t been long since your debut, but do you have any dreams you want to achieve in 3 years?”

“…Wow, it’s the first time I’ve seen Dong-hwa hyung say ‘what do you do’.”

…I’ve probably done it once or twice in my life too.

“Oh, that’s a great question. Dong-hwa, let’s talk first!”

At Ryu Iden’s words, I nod and open my mouth.

One answer created after a long, long thought.

“…If it’s a future created ‘together’ with the members, it will be the future I want, no matter what form it takes.”

And the venue becomes silent for a moment.

…What.

Chae Ha-min jumps up from his chair and runs towards me.

“Dong-hwa!”

…Damn it, the rabbit speeding regulation hasn’t been implemented yet.

I anticipate the upcoming crash and relax my body comfortably.

* * *

Gijisaeng was confined to the cracks of space-time with a bored expression.

“Ha… Damn Ji Dong-hwa.”

Since he had been running at the peak of boredom since he came here in the first place, it wasn’t particularly painful, but he wanted to quickly check whether Ji Dong-hwa had successfully completed the quest.

As he was counting numbers one second at a time in the cracks of time, he heard someone’s voice from afar.

“Have you come to your senses now! You damn mentor!”

The voice of the guy who is his boss and brought him to this place called ‘The Strict and Solemn Organization for Space-Time Operation Management’, or ‘Siungwan’ for short.

“…Hmm, this time it was a little longer than announced. Based on the sense of time in the world I lived in, it’s about 839 years.”

“You know better than anyone that time is difficult to calculate. That’s why you keep messing with the possibilities! You were punished last time for twisting the past possibilities of that guy!”

He’s saying that he’s being punished for being displeased because he was confined for about 293 years when he changed the monthly rent record.

“…I’m sorry, but Kairos (Καιρός, time, good time) [Greek word for opportune moment], I’m confident that I’ll cause this kind of thing several more times.”

“Ha… Space-time alteration, possibility manipulation, even leaking secrets of heaven. Just showing humans the inherent possibilities out of curiosity, what kind of crazy thing is that. I’d understand if it was the future, but all the past… I clearly warned you! Even after finding out, you used tricks several times!”

“…Because I know that humans who are curious will suffer if they don’t know.”

Then a sigh.

“You’ve broken too many rules right now, you damn bastard. Things that even a rookie wouldn’t commit by mistake… I’m the one who said it’s okay to do anything in the space-time you’re in charge of, but there’s a limit!”

“You’re the one who forcibly brought me here, who was living a decent life while researching physics, so you can say that well.”

“…That’s because you know too much about things that humans shouldn’t know. That’s why I understood the first space-time alteration!”

“Kairos, you probably don’t know well because you existed as an abstract concept before you gained divinity, but humans are originally animals who enjoy being interested to the point of being annoying. If you have the ability, you can’t help but do it, right?”

Then Kairos tears through the cracks of space-time as if he’s fed up and summons Gijisaeng to the central headquarters of Siungwan.

Then, the existence in front of him, which doesn’t take the form of a human but somehow makes him feel like he wants to hold on to it, stares at Gijisaeng in front of him.

…Wouldn’t this be the Gijisaeng that Ji Dong-hwa is talking about? Gijisaeng thought so.

“First of all, it seems like you’ve paid enough for the price according to Article 67 of Chapter 543 of the Management Rules.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll go back to watch over my space-time again.”

As Gijisaeng bowed his head, Kairos crouched down as if sighing.

“…It’s no use saying it, but don’t do this again.”

And Gijisaeng turns around and smiles as he answers.

“You know exactly that it’s no use.”