Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 45 Heading to the First Stage (3)

By the time the one-hour video was over, everyone was more or less familiar with it. Seon-woo wiped the sweat that was dripping from his forehead.

They were all better than most of the cast members who appeared in the first episode of My Doll Stage.

“Isn’t this good enough?”

Ye-jun let out a weird scream and grabbed the water bottle that he had left next to the mirror.

He didn’t care about the eyes around him and gulped down the water. He looked like a kid.

“Don’t make that noise anywhere else. It’ll go viral as a clip.”

“Then it’s good publicity. It’s not like I did anything wrong.”

He was an idol, but he had no sense of distance. The more I looked at him, the more he seemed similar but different from Kang Yugeon.

Kang Yugeon was clearly a troublemaker, but he had a charm that made people like him. But he also had a cheap side to him…

‘This guy doesn’t seem to have a shadow of a sinister scheme.’

He was like a moth that followed his impulses, just wagging his tail at anything fun or anyone he liked.

If he only had a good face, he would have been hard to use. But he also had talent, so he naturally attracted people.

‘The kids these days call this a big dog syndrome.’

I hummed and narrowed my eyes as I looked down at him. He was lying on the floor and blinked his eyes.

“What, why are you looking at me like that?”

Ye-jun tilted his head as if he was puzzled. It looked like his invisible ears were twitching on his messy hair.

“Hand.”

I held out my hand with my palm up and he obediently put his hand on it.

“Ah, me too.”

Seon-woo, who was watching from the side, put his hand on the remaining gap on my palm.

“Because I feel energetic.”

“I’m always energetic.”

Ye-jun smiled and nodded quietly. Kyunghwa, who was watching with me, shook his head.

“Yeah, if that’s something to be proud of, then be proud of it.”

“Yeah! It’s totally something to be proud of!”

If you look closely, this guy wasn’t bad at understanding what people said. He just had an excellent ability to let go of any harsh words without getting hurt.

On the other hand…

‘This guy has no tact.’

I saw Seong-won, who was sweating profusely like the other members.

Seon-woo was trying to find the right timing to hand him a sports towel.

‘Just talk to him.’

He was only a year older than him. I couldn’t stand the frustration and called Seong-won.

“Hey.”

Seong-won, who was leaning against the mirror and staring blankly at the wall, turned to me.

“Why.”

“Over there.”

I pointed to Seong-won’s right with my finger and he looked puzzled. But he obediently moved his eyes to the side.

“Oh, I think I sweated a lot!”

Seon-woo handed him the towel with a shy smile. Seong-won took the towel with a nervous expression.

“Why are you so scared of me?”

You don’t know why he’s asking that? You always look at him like you’re going to catch him. I closed my mouth instead of speaking.

“I’m not… scared…”

“Then what.”

He frowned as if he was scared to say he wasn’t scared.

“I feel like you’re frustrated with me, Seong-won hyung, so I’m a bit careful.”

Do you really need to worry about that? Seong-won was a guy who was frustrated with most people except himself, not just Seon-woo.

“Don’t worry too much.”

I finally intervened and cut off his words. Seong-won twitched his eyebrows. Well, what are you going to do if you’re unhappy?

“Why are you saying that, hyung?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

I sat down for a while to cool down my heated body. 

Grrr, was it because I moved too much? Someone’s stomach, I didn’t know whose, demanded energy and growled.

“Ahaha, I’m hungry too.”

Seon-woo laughed and fixed his disheveled hair. I glanced at the time and answered.

“Let’s go over everything we learned today and then head home.”

“Ugh…”

Kyunghwa stretched out from his seat.

“Get up already. I want to wash up quickly.”

There was no bathroom attached to the practice room, so they had to endure being soaked in sweat until they got home.

At Kyunghwa’s urging, Ye-jun, who had been slouching on his butt, sprang up from the floor of the practice room.

That was good enough. Seon-woo almost made a mistake once, but it wasn’t a big deal.

‘I should tell him to keep practicing by himself at home. The living room is not too small.’

They somehow managed to get through the day.

After splitting into groups of two or three and taking a taxi back, they ate their meals with a sigh of relief.

There was no time to feel excited about their first stage, as time flew by.

“Hyung, look at this!”

Ye-jun, who was sitting in the inner seat of the plane, ran around and shoved his phone camera at me.

“People would think we’re going on an overseas location shoot.”

“I’m just trying to have some fun. It’s still a plane, even if it’s a domestic flight!”

The destination, Goseong in Gyeongnam, was too far away from Seoul. It would take at least 10 to 12 hours round trip by car. There was no way they could avoid being exhausted if they were stuck in a minivan for that long.

I, who didn’t have many local trips, came up with an idea.

‘How about we take a domestic flight to Busan airport and move from there?’

It might seem unnecessary, but it only took about 40 minutes from Gimpo airport to Busan airport.

Of course, they couldn’t ignore the time it took to get from the accommodation to Gimpo. But it was incomparable to going straight from Seoul to Gyeongnam.

The problem was that there was no separate business class and they had to sit among the general public.

‘No one will recognize us if we just cover our faces a bit.’

‘You mean ugly.’

‘Even if someone recognizes us, they won’t act like they do, honestly.’

As Ye-jun pointed out painfully, we didn’t have much recognition.

The buzz had increased a little bit after the broadcast of School Kitchen Attack.

[Title: School Kitchen Attack Audience Review]

[Body]

I got lucky and got to go to the audience with my friends from school.

This was the first episode, and if there are any anonymous people who are thinking of applying for the audience, I wrote this for reference.

(Application link)

You can submit a form here, and I got a phone call about two weeks after I submitted the form.

They told me the guest by text a week before the shooting, butㅜㅜ it changed suddenly on the day and I was a bit disappointed.

Everyone was a bit disappointed because it was different from the original guest, but as soon as the black-haired member stood in front of the counter and got ready, their minds changed.

He was just like a professionalㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Na Hye-hee chef was also stunned and stared at him.

He made 20 servings and gave one to the judge and the rest to the audience for judging.

There were a lot of people who were on a diet among the friends I went with, but no one left anythingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

It was funny how the blonde member kept tinkering with the whole thing, but when he came over to take a picture with us later, I thought I was going to stop breathing;;;

His face was really small and unrealistically pretty… But he was also tall… He looked like he was over 180 and in his mid-twenties.

Anyway, the program was fun and I got to eat something delicious and get paid for it. It was a good experience.

[Photo]

[Photo]

[Comments]

[- Today’s broadcast reviewㅋㅋㅋ It seemed like some unknown? idol group came out, but it was fun. I’m curious about the next guest.]

[- Wow… He was too good to just make a salad.]

[- I’m going crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why did the member who came out with him keep tinkering?]

[- Is he Latta○ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He only does what he’s told.]

[- I’m laughing so hard at how he keeps looking around with that face. It’s so unrealistic.]

Fortunately, when I looked up the community reaction, it seemed like it wasn’t too bad for the kids to see.

Was he that unrealistically good-looking? I lifted my head and looked at Seong-won in the front seat.

Seong-won was tall and had a thin frame, but he wasn’t skinny. He had a delicate but solid impression.

His lean and handsome body line matched well with his exquisite beauty.

‘If you only see ordinary high school boys around, you wouldn’t feel real when you see something like this.’

I snorted lightly and turned my head before Seong-won felt my gaze.

Maybe it was because it was an early morning flight that left before sunrise. Through the window, I could see the sun peeking out from under the vast clouds.

“Hyung, are you really not going to take a picture?”

Ye-jun kept whining, sandwiching Seon-woo in the middle. I pretended to give in and turned my body away from the window, making a V sign with my hand.

“Ahaha, what’s that? You’re so stiff. Lean in closer and tilt your head a bit. Seon-woo, you too, move closer to hyung. That way, you’ll fit better in the screen.”

I don’t know when he got it, but Ye-jun held a long selfie stick like a pole and clicked the button several times.

“Done~.”

Ye-jun detached his phone from the selfie stick and looked at the pictures with satisfaction.

Seong-won and Kyunghwa, who were sitting in the front seats, buried their faces in their hats, as if they had nothing to do with the commotion behind them.

It was a short distance that we could arrive in a blink of an eye, but we had a busy day ahead of us and we had to come back in the evening.

We had to sleep whenever we could.

At first, I thought we were just going to sleep for a day and come back…

‘I’m sorry, but I have a schedule to go to the next day, so you guys have to come back by yourselves. Is that okay? Or I can get you another assistant manager who’s available.’

The manager frowned. We were already not in the best shape, and we didn’t know what kind of disaster would happen if we added a newbie.

The manager seemed more nervous than the idols.

‘Well, we’re all confident in our stamina, so we won’t collapse in the middle.’

I thought it wasn’t a big deal and leaned back on the seat. The plane was so empty that I wondered if the price was right.

‘Well, it’s natural that there aren’t many people moving at this early hour.’

I read the materials that the PD in charge, who was introduced to me by the main PD, sent me for the last time.

Our job was to help with the corn harvest.

We had to pick the ears from the corn that grew as tall as an adult man, sort them out, and cut down the corn that was left with only the stalks.

‘Today, I’ll be able to fall asleep as soon as I touch the pillow.’

I looked out the window, preparing for a long day, and saw the sun rising. The red sun licked its tongue through the dark blue darkness.

I can do this. 

I steeled myself and blinked.

***

As soon as we got off the airport, the manager quickly picked up the rental car.

“It’ll take about an hour and a half from here. Try to get some sleep in the meantime. You’ll be exhausted today.”

That would be the same for him. Thanks to the flight, the manager reduced the 5-6 hour drive to an hour and a half.

He started the car slowly.

The minivan, which smelled like a new car, moved slowly and headed for the highway.

When we arrived at the filming location, the sun was starting to shine brightly. It wasn’t too hot yet, since it was still early in the morning.

“What are we going to do as soon as we get there?”

I told him yesterday.

He had to act like he heard it through the back of his ears.

“We’re going to greet the owner and go to the harvest with the elders. You can expect to work in the cornfield until lunch.”

That’s right. It was supposed to be a visit by singers to comfort the elders’ loneliness, but they had a different purpose for wanting us.

[Helping hands]

In other words, labor.