Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 258 The Brilliant Thing (1)

After a game-like sound effect that seemed to be Junye’s signature sound, the melody that followed was a pop band song with an impressive guitar sound.

The refined beat and the catchy melody blended well, making the song feel full without being too heavy.

I couldn’t tell exactly how to attach the lyrics or the concept until I decided later, but it felt as conscious of the public appeal as the Offbeat’s new song.

After a little over three minutes of playback, everyone looked at Yu-geon’s expression at once.

“…?”

Yu-geon frowned as if wondering why they were looking at him instead of Junye. He realized anew that he had more experience in working with hit songs than Climax, although they had a longer career.

“Ah, it’s good. It would be nice to add a bit more of an orchestra band feel. I can’t say you have to cut the rap part exactly because I don’t know how to remove it. You’ll do well on your own. Have you decided on the concept?”

He gave a simple evaluation as if he were a judge, and Junye smiled confidently and answered.

“No!”

“What?”

Yu-geon doubted his ears and wrinkled his forehead. He wrote the song before the concept came out?

“Ah, well, it’s not like I have no candidates. I narrowed them down with Ise hyung before he stopped working. I made them all fit well for now, and I was going to write another one that suits the concept better as a double title. Um…”

Junye’s confident expression turned into a disgruntled one.

“I don’t know what to do because hyung doesn’t answer my calls.”

Junye shrugged and sighed, and the other members who were satisfied with the sound quality and had bright expressions also sank down.

Seong-won, who usually didn’t show his emotions on his face and always maintained a blank expression, also looked listless today.

Yu-geon thought for a moment and gave the best advice he could in this situation.

“But it seems like he’s still checking the web server. How about attaching the file and submitting it through the groupware? Or send him an email.”

Kyunghwa immediately disagreed.

“He doesn’t even answer our calls, do you think he’ll check the email?”

Yu-geon answered with strong conviction.

“He will. Just send it.”

As the members looked at Yu-geon with skepticism, Yu-geon’s phone vibrated.

[Sender]

Manager (Park)

010-XXXX-XXXX

Yu-geon winked lightly and said he would go out now, and got up from his seat while answering the phone.

“Ah, yes. I’ll go down to the parking lot now.”

Seong-won, who was scheduled to appear on the radio with Yu-geon, followed Yu-geon and got up from his seat. It was awkward as hell to appear together when they weren’t even close, but he had to do his best to make the atmosphere comfortable.

He would give Seong-won the right to speak when he asked for a cover or sang the highlight part, and block him from saying anything else.

Yu-geon briefly reviewed his plan and turned on his phone screen.

He had to prepare his hair and makeup because it was a visible radio, so he had to contact them in advance.

[Me] Please check your email later. 7:21 PM

[Me] I’ll send you the sound that Junye made. 7:22 PM

Then, as if he had turned on the messenger notification, he got a very fast reply from Hyun-seong.

[Lim Hyun-seong] Okay. 7:22 PM

He seemed to be working hard. Should I tell him that someone suspects that it’s not what Cheon Ise is doing?

If it was someone like Hwijin, Kyunghwa, or Junye, who had a relatively strong influence in the label, it would have been natural to tell him separately.

‘Of all people, that guy…’

Naru’s position was still ambiguous. He was indispensable as a main vocal, but Climax had solid sub and lead vocals, and he couldn’t beat Seong-won, who had the main vocal role, in terms of skill.

And he couldn’t push him with his visuals either, because Seon-woo was holding on.

No matter how much Naru claimed that something was wrong, they wouldn’t listen to him as much as he was prioritized in terms of importance in the team.

‘It doesn’t seem like a big problem for now.’

Anyway, he did his best to help as much as he could. The rest was up to Ise, or Hyun-seong.

He suddenly felt bad. What was he doing?

It was not much different from his initial impression of Mydol. I had something I wanted, but it wasn’t entirely up to my will, but it was shaken by the decisions and choices of others.

‘…’

Yu-geon couldn’t be rude enough to urge Hyun-seong to take over Ise’s body.

Would he have felt better if he did? Yu-geon threw a question without an answer and shook his head.

As soon as he got in the car, the manager drove and said.

“Let’s go to the shop right away.”

He didn’t feel good while moving for the appearance.

Fortunately, Yu-geon was not young or stupid enough to show his bad mood in front of others, and the schedule was finished safely.

At first, some chats criticized Seongwon’s passive attitude, but soon the online communities were turned upside down by his cover request, which surpassed the original song in quality.

This would surely make a clip, and if a fan account uploaded that part as a short video, it could get hundreds of thousands of views.

If he was lucky enough to catch the algorithm, it wouldn’t be impossible to reach a million.

He didn’t seem like the type that suited being an idol in many ways… But the agency probably didn’t want to exclude him from the group debut with such a stable visual.

Yu-geon shrugged his shoulders.

He had already contacted them during the waiting time and said he would visit the hospital tomorrow. As soon as he finished his schedule and returned to the dorm, Yi-jun asked him out of the blue.

“Hyung, you said you’re going to visit Ise hyung tomorrow, right?”

Yu-geon answered, hiding his surprise that Yi-jun was still awake after working on his songs until dawn.

“Yeah, I have a schedule in the afternoon, so I’m going to go in the morning.”

He had to hurry if he wanted to go with Hyun-seong. He stretched his stiff body and answered, and Yi-jun barged in at an unexpected timing.

“Can I go with you then?”

“You’re going too?”

“Yeah, I want to see him at least once.”

Didn’t he check his email today? He tilted his head in confusion, and Yi-jun opened his mouth first.

“I got the email, and the feedback too, but I still want to talk to him face to face. I’m worried because he doesn’t even check his phone or messenger.”

Yu-geon hesitated for a moment. Should he stop him here? What if he found something strange at Ise’s house, like Naru did?

Then he wouldn’t be able to let it go as if nothing happened.

“Hmm…”

As Yu-geon hesitated, Yi-jun added as if to urge him.

“Well, if you’re uncomfortable, I’ll contact him separately and arrange a schedule.”

Sooner or later, he would be exposed. And if he was going to be exposed, it was better to be exposed now, when he still had time.

For Hyun-seong, not Ise.

Yu-geon relaxed his tense expression and answered with a smile.

“No, let’s go together. I think we can leave around 10 o’clock tomorrow. We’ll get there around 11 o’clock.”

Yu-geon’s positive answer made Yi-jun nod his head with a smile.

“Okay. Then I’ll sort out the files and go to bed. I’ve only made a beat for the double title song candidate. I think the mood will change a lot when I mix it with the melody, so I’ll just leave it as a base for now.”

Yi-jun’s eyes sparkled, unlike the fact that it was already dawn. But he couldn’t oversleep and be late for the hospital visit, so he had to go to bed quickly.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’m not participating in the song, but I’m curious how you’ll do it.”

He meant it. And he also wanted to ask him to write some Swift songs for the double title song.

“Ugh, hearing that makes me want to work more. But if I work now, I won’t be able to wake up in the morning, so I’ll go to sleep.”

Yi-jun groaned and complained to himself, then headed to his room.

Yu-geon watched his back for a moment, then followed him into his room. He lay down on the bed that had been ownerless for over a year, and the mattress, which was almost new, supported his back firmly.

Would Yi-jun notice something tomorrow? Yu-geon secretly hoped that Yi-jun would catch on to something, and his eyes closed.

The next morning. Yi-jun woke up much earlier than 10 o’clock.

He saved the candidate beat on his desktop so that it was easy to see, and he also prepared a slightly refined version of the sound source.

He had heard that the other members had gone to bed without waking up properly when they went, and he honestly doubted his ears.

‘How could that be?’

The hyung who was meticulous about self-management and couldn’t stand wasting time?

Of course, Ise wasn’t like that from the beginning. When he first joined the debut team, his impression of Ise was ‘a spoiled brat who only wants to do what he wants’.

At least he practiced dancing harder than the other members, so he thought he wasn’t just joking around with being an idol.

Ise, who had endured vocal training that he didn’t like, started to go astray like a train with a broken brake after Climax became a full-fledged flop.

At first, they were diagnosed as a group that would make it if they came up with a good visual and concept.

But that was only until they released three titles. After that, they lost their freshness by ruining everything they released, becoming a common flop.

When they became affiliated with Floss, who debuted later, some people vaguely knew about Climax, but most of them thought that Floss was losing out because of Climax.

They wouldn’t even know who each individual member was. The members weren’t that old yet, wouldn’t it be better to disband and find their own way to re-debut? That was the realistic evaluation of Climax that Yi-jun had accepted.

‘Thanks to that, I got a lot of offers to transfer.’

You’ll be 100% successful if you just quit being an idol. I know a producer who will push you, so let’s go to the hip-hop survival. He was tired of rejecting countless offers, and he wondered if he really had to give up.

Cheon Ise, who seemed to stay at that level for the rest of his life, changed. And not only Cheon Ise, but also Climax, who seemed to collapse at any moment, changed.

‘I’m glad I stayed.’

The days when he looked forward to what he could do next continued. He wanted to try again with this member, and he got a satisfying result.

Of course, he didn’t want to stop here, as there was still a long way to go.

I wanted to test the limits of what we could do with our bodies, to collide with each other and feel everything.

But just as we were about to reach the peak of our twisted climax, the moment when we would defy the odds and turn the tables,

Isa collapsed like an electronic device that had been unplugged.

I couldn’t accept this.