The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

…I stopped myself from swearing after reading the mission’s content. We just finished The Showcase 2, but the mission’s content was for us to sell 500,000 copies this time. I quietly did my calculations. Today was April 8, 2022. There were about eight months left before 2022 ended…

‘…That’s crazy.’ The deadline was too tight. I first ran a simulation. The only data that most resembled our situation was from Only One before my regression.

‘Since they sold 300,000 copies for their debut album…’ The mission wasn’t impossible. If Only One could do it, we could also sell 300,000 copies of our debut album. Furthermore, if we continued our trend and kept increasing our popularity without it declining, it would be possible for us to reach around 500,000 sales by the beginning of this winter. Of course, we’d have to work like crazy for the remaining eight months.

‘…I have no choice.’ I had to do it without question. However, I lay down and thought about when the system would end. How far did we have to reach so that the system would leave my members and me alone?

Since I was given missions centered around big events like this, I thought, ‘Well, would the next mission be reaching 1,000,000 sales?’ It could be this or I thought, ‘World Tour?’

I thought the system might leave us alone if we reach that far. Then I stopped thinking more about this topic.

“Are we really not going to order a late-night meal today?” Just in time, Dong-Jun suggested eating a late-night meal.

“Hmm.

“A late-night meal.”

Normally, we would have instantly rejected his suggestion, but since we won today and we didn’t have schedules for the time being, everyone felt tempted. In the end—

“Let’s eat!”

“Yeah, let’s just eat for today.”

“I don’t think that’s a bad idea.”

The members were all in favor of eating.

“I really am going to order mala hot pot and guobaorou[1], ok?” Dong-Jun opened the delivery app with the brightest smile he had shown recently.

***

While Siren enjoyed their freedom after winning the championship by ordering a late-night snack and chatting until dawn, stories about Siren and The Showcase were posted on various social media platforms, including Bluebird. In the last season, the story of the final winning team was aired for eight episodes. However, it took only six episodes for the final winner to come out for season 2.

—But is The Showcase 2 really over in just 6 episodes??

—Why is it so short?

The viewers all knew that these types of survival shows did not go on for long and had a short term for each session. Nevertheless, even while considering this factor, most viewers thought the season was way too short this time.

—It’s not six episodes for The Showcase 2! If you go to the official broadcasting website, it says 10 episodes!

Reply: Oh, really?

Reply: Isn’t the competition over?

People wondered why The Showcase 2 was set for 10 episodes when the competition ended in 6 episodes. However, there was someone who answered that question.

—Isn’t it obvious that they’re doing a reality show?

One person made this post on Bluebird without much thought, and from this point on, reactions to Siren’s reality show began to get a lot of attention.

—Ah, that’s right

—Reality show for our sea fairies wooooow pls do a good job, production team plsssssss

—Wow, are they planning to do a reality show right away?

Reply: Park Soo-Chul…is a bastard when he edits but he sure is good at smelling where the money is

Perhaps the production team also predicted that these reactions would pour out during dawn and at 9 am the next day, Wnet made an ambiguous post on its official website and SNS.

—Episode 7 of The Showcase is scheduled to air normally next Tuesday. Thank you for your inquiries and interest.

Instead of telling them what content they would be covering, it only stated that episode 7 would be aired on a normal schedule.

—I’m not going to forgive them if they act like this and just patch together previous cuts for episode 7

—Ah, so is it a reality show? Why won’t they tell us?

—wooooow reality show for our sea fairies is going to be bomb yess

—Is there anyone…who would like to join me in…watching our precious babies’ daily life, which is guaranteed to be a full course, Michelin meal?

By this time, everyone knew about Siren’s reality show. However, some people remained unconcerned, not caring whether there was a reality show planned or not.

“What’s your plan today, Dong-Jun?”

“Today’s plan is to breathe to my fullest, sleep until I get sick of it, and eat delicious food until I’m full. What about you?”

They were Siren, the main characters of the reality show.

***

It was Sunday, and it felt unbelievable that just two days ago, we won The Showcase 2. Was it because we lived under extreme stress and pressure for a while? The members spent the past two days relaxing and lazing around.

“Ah, I love it. I’m so happy. This is what life is.” Dong-Jun was lying on the sofa and turning on the TV channel, just flicking through channels with the remote control.

“Do-Seung, you’re going to exercise so early in the morning?”

“…No. I already came back from exercising, and it’s not morning right now. It’s eleven o’clock in the afternoon.” Do-Seung was doing all of the workouts that he had pushed off until now.

Woon and Yeon-Hoon were lying down and watching dramas or reading novels. However, I was taken aback by the novels Woon read.

I said, “…Woon, isn’t this a web novel?”

“Oh! Yeah. Tae-Yoon, do you also read web novels?”

I didn’t just read them—I wrote them. The novel that Woon was reading was the most popular romance fantasy on Yellow Page.

I asked, “Woon, do you like romance fantasy?”

“Me? I read a lot of genres, but I’ve been reading this because I’m a little sick of fantasy these days.”

“Then this one might be more fun than that if you want something fresh.”

“Ah, yeah, that’s true.”

“Then rather a soft, healing genre like that, why don’t you try a hard…” I told Woon all the novels I liked. Frankly, it was also around this time I started reading web novels, so I knew all the works released during this period.

“Tae-Yoon, um, thanks for the recommendation, but I’ll read those after I read this one first.”

“Ah, yes.”

Was it because I was too excited? Woon, who rarely said no, refused this time. I felt awkward and turned my gaze away. Yeon-Hoon was watching a drama through the OTT application, and like always, he was too immersed in it and crying.

“Yeon-Hoon, are you crying?”

“…No, I’m not crying.”

“Your eyes are teary.”

“But…the main character is so cool and strong, and this is the last episode…”

I smirked seeing Yeon-Hoon. I received a mission to reach 500,000 sales two weeks ago, but since there was nothing we could do right now, I could only rest.

‘Yeah, I need to rest now.’ Furthermore, I needed to rest as much as possible to do my best in my future schedule.

‘But isn’t it about time to start?’ However, we couldn’t play like this forever. We would probably get a call around this time. Personally, I thought they would have contacted us by the end of today.

“Huh? What’s this?” Then Yeon-Hoon, who had been concentrating on his phone screen to watch his drama, suddenly exclaimed. We all reacted sensitively to Yeon-Hoon’s ‘Huh? What’s this?’ as there was a 100% probability that he was contacted by the production crew.

“…What is it?” Dong-Jun, who had been lying down on the sofa and flicking through the remote control, got up from his seat.

“Did something happen?” Woon also stopped reading his romance fantasy novel and looked at Yeon-Hoon.

Do-Seung approached him and asked, “What is it?”

“Well, I just got an address.”

“Address?”

“Yeah.”

“Did they say anything else?”

“Um, there’s a strange comment with it.”

“A strange comment?”

“Yeah, for us to be healthy.”

“…?”

We gathered in a circle around Yeon-Hoon and passed around the phone between us to look at the text. It was exactly as he said.

—978 XXX-ri, Hongcheon-eup, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do

—Be healthy

“Hongcheon-gun?”

“Hongcheon-eup?”

“XXX-ri?”

“Why did they say ‘be healthy’ out of the blue?”

While everyone was wondering about the text from the production team, Yeon-Hoon got a text from Ms. Seung-Yeon.

—Mr. Yeon-Hoon! Did you get the text message? We’ll go to the dorm right away, so please come out lightly prepared and wait for us!

This message must have also gone to the working-level staff.

“Well, should we get ready for now, right guys…?”

“Yeah, we should…?”

“Hmm…”

We started preparing separately while hiding our iffy, uncomfortable emotions. However, since we have been living like complete slobs for the past couple of days—

“Let’s take a shower first.” Taking a shower came first.

*

‘978 XXX-ri, Hongcheon-eup, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do’ was the address of a small rural house in a deep mountain in Gangwon-do. Frankly, it was an address that would not be strange if it didn’t come up on any internet search.

“Please be careful not to trip over the cable~”

“Where did you get the electricity from?”

“There’s no place to get it from here. We just turned on the generator.”

And there, the production team of The Showcase 2 gathered to build the filming site.

“Would children who grew up in Seoul be able to live here?”

“Why won’t they be able to? There’s a bathroom, kitchen, and two rooms in the living room in the yard.”

“Yes, that’s true, but the surrounding infrastructure…”

“It’s the forest world-pure nature.” Park Soo-Chul, who was leading the scene, looked around and puffed out smoke from his e-cigarette.

“We’ll definitely get healthy if they stay here.”

“Your health would get worse if you keep smoking like that.”

“It would at least be better to smoke here than with dust pollution,” Park Soo-Chul said and checked the proposal in his hand. The Showcase 2’s reality show plan. For now, the plan was <Siren, be healthy!> because they wanted Siren to eat well and become healthy.

‘But it would be no fun if they really became healthy.’

Park Soo-Chul planned to add additional flavors to a wholesome, wellness concept show.

***

After taking a shower, we packed our belongings and waited for Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna. Frankly, they hadn’t told us to pack, but we all felt like we just had to. Because when we typed the address on the GPS app…

“It’s a mountain…?”

“Mountain…?”

“Why on earth are they calling us over there?”

“I don’t know…” It was because the address was really in the middle of nowhere. I never imagined that there would be a house there. No, even if there was a house in this area, I didn’t think it would be possible for us to find it on the internet.

‘Korea is scary.’

While we waited for them with our suitcase like that—

Ding dong~!

We heard the bell ring, and we pressed the intercom to open the front door. Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came inside.

“Did everyone finish preparing?”

“Ah, yes, but what’s happening?”

At Woon’s question, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna looked flustered. “We also don’t know. They told us to arrive at this address today.”

“It’s probably because of the reality show…”

“We’re doing a reality show at a mountain?”

“Yes, that’s probably the case.”

The members’ faces looked conflicted, but there was no need for us to be scared just yet.

“But since it’s a reality show, there must be good parts to it as well,” I said to comfort my members.

However, after arriving at the set, I instantly regretted it.

“You said there would be good things, Tae-Yoon.”

“Is this…the right place?”

“Is this Korea…?”

The reality show that Only One filmed in my past life had definitely been luxurious and extravagant, but rather than luxurious, everything looked completely organic here.

“Siren, you’re here!”

“We’ll get ready for the shoot!”

With our arrival, the production crew began to move busily.

“Siren, please wear this first.”

“This?”

“Yes.”

We were each provided with a pair of clay-colored daily hanboks.

1. Chinese sticky sweet and sour pork. ☜