WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

[ Translation - Aren ]

I'm a Reporter, Please let me get off the Stage

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Chapter 26

[Main Quest ‘Prevent Disbandment’ has been successfully completed. Congratulations!]

As soon as I returned to the dorm with Seo Haedun, a status window popped up.

It was the completion message I had been waiting for.

Nothing much, huh? I thought that it would at least light up some fireworks or something.

[Did you feel yourself grow a little through this quest? ٩(๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)*]

Growth…… could you even call it that?

It felt more like I had barely avoided falling into a state in which I would never be able to grow again on multiple occasions.

In other words, ‘brushes with death’.

If this damn program called those moments ‘growth’...... I think I would be fine without getting any more chances like that again.

[However, this system wasn’t made for the player’s growth, but for clearing your karma!]

Ah, right.

I was a criminal with tons of bad karma, wasn’t I?

Haha, what lazy nonsense had I been thinking?

Clearing my karma had only just begun!

[If you just live lazily, there’s no point to this, right? Check your next Main Quest now. (〜￣▽￣)〜]

[A new quest has arrived!]

No matter how much this thing insisted that I shouldn’t be lazy…

Giving me the next quest less than 5 minutes after I cleared the previous one felt a bit inhumane.

[Main Quest ‘WEEKANIZ for 1st Place!’ : Rise to the top spot on the show you’ll be appearing in!]

“Hah……. This time I’m going to die for real.”

My true feelings subconsciously slipped out of my mouth.

“……What did you say?”

Seo Haedun, who was sitting next to me, whipped around at an incredible speed.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

But despite my explanation, his glare was still incredibly intense……

Okay, fair enough. It was easy to misunderstand my words. I get it. I was the one who brought him here to be in this group again, but now the leader was muttering about dying or whatever so he got pissed, right? If anything, I should be cheering all of them on every morning and it still wouldn’t be enough.

But I mean, what the hell?

First place?

The only memory I had of ever placing first anywhere was during an elementary school spelling test, and now that thing was asking me to place first in the show all of a sudden?

“Can’t we just settle for third place instead…?”

I waited for three seconds, but there was no response from the system window.

Usually, it was throwing all those annoying emoticons and instructions at me whenever it could, but it seemed like it didn’t deem this question even worth answering, huh?

[We can’t ^^.]

Ah, that smug little……

Of course, this damn world would only ever acknowledge the ones that came first.

But! The ones in first place can only shine bright because of the second and third after all!

[I know ^^]

‘……What else can I say?’

Instead of wasting my time arguing, I decided that it would be better to figure out how to survive.

Once <Ultimate Idol> started filming, there wouldn’t be any time to practice the new song at all.

The show <Ultimate Idol> seemed to be a program that gathered washed-up idols and pitted them against each other, but it looked like it was made with quite some budget.

The fact that they made the idols live in a dormitory made that pretty clear.

The program made the bold move of bringing together idols who had already debuted successfully and already released several albums to live together in a dorm.

But then again, since KCN was a major broadcaster, it wasn’t something beyond their power.

For big networks, managing idols and even agencies was nothing.

Recently, there have been many opportunities to promote idols on platforms outside of music shows.

However, if an idol didn’t appear on traditional music programs, their position tends to weaken.

Occasionally, major networks used these programs to pressure idols and agencies into nearly forced deals.

For example they might have them placed on low-rating variety shows as fillers.

From the idols’ and agencies’ perspective, refusing these borderline coercive ‘proposals’ could mean being shut out from appearing on music shows.

So, they had no other choice but to begrudgingly spend 17 hour recording sessions for these variety shows.

It was very likely that some of the groups that were participating in <Ultimate Idol> have been pressured in similar ways.

Or, if that wasn’t the case, maybe some idiots who were desperate for network exposure willingly wagged their tails to the network and accepted the training camp dormitory arrangement.

No matter how many appearances they make on LiveJet or YouTube, was that fame really fame?

However, these so-called giants are actually nothing but toothless tigers, losing ground due to drama and malicious news……

……So, were they just taking it out on the idols?

Otherwise, why else would they make a show that they could manipulate however they pleased gathering idols in a training camp like thing?

“Who was the CEO of KCN again?”

“The CEO? Why?”

“……No, it’s nothing.”

I couldn’t really remember their name, but…… did something happen to their CEO to suddenly decide to harass some poor idols like this?

‘Hmm……’

Anyway, this should be enough venting.

I heard that the first recording would kick off the training camp.

In other words, they were planning on working us hard from day one.

‘There’s a reason why they’re locking us up like this……’

They were calling it a training camp, but……

From the perspective of an office worker, the only thing I could hear from that was ‘We won’t let you off work~’.

There were just three weeks left until the first recording now.

Even if Seo Haedun somehow managed to whip up the choreography in half a day, it still wouldn’t be enough.

There was no way that I, who had yet to officially perform on an idol stage, would be able to master the choreography Seo Haedun created within just three weeks.

Even if I poured every bit of my effort into practicing.

‘……Urgh, whatever. Whatever will be, will be.’

I shook my head. Even simple things would become immensely difficult if one thought of them as difficult after all.

I had a personal motto:

‘If a problem can be solved through hard work, it’s not a real problem.’

If I just practiced like crazy, as if my life depended on it, even if I wouldn’t get the center position, I would at least manage to blend in with the rest!

With that in mind, I immediately made an announcement to the members.

“The new song will be revealed during the broadcast.”

The members, lounging around in the living room, all looked puzzled at my words.

Baek Gyeom pushed up his glasses, and Tae Oh shrugged his shoulders.

“……Will that be okay?”

Yoon Sanho asked, looking at me with his deer-like eyes.

Seeing him look at me like that made me feel like we really would be in serious trouble, so I started to get a bit nervous.

“……What’s the worst that could happen?”

I tried to appear nonchalant.

……Well, it wasn’t like this wasn’t a big deal though.

I had realized far too late that releasing a single song wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Actually, releasing a song? Achieving that isn’t really all that hard if it was ‘only’ that.

Registering it on a streaming platform is no big deal. As long as one had the money.

But that was if one’s sole purpose was to simply ‘releasing a song’.

But in this day and age, who just dropped a track without any promotion? Even the members’ parents might not even find out they released something.

Being an idol wasn’t simply about ‘releasing songs’

It was all about making a proper ‘come-back’.

It wasn’t just “Release a song, done, disband!”

That was just the start. One needed to create a whole lineup of ‘content’.

Before releasing a new song, one had to decide whether to put out a full album, a mini-album, or a single.

Then, one needed to hold a concept meeting to decide on the title track.

The concept also had to be fully fleshed out.

Once props and costumes matching said concept were prepared, a schedule had to be set to shoot promotional photos at a studio or outdoor set.

To film the music video, one had to start with a storyboard and go through a whole pre-production process.

Then, one needed to secure a location……

At the same time, choreography for the stage had to be created and practiced thoroughly, vocal rehearsals had to be done, and stage movement routes needed to be coordinated.

After the music video shoot, professionals would have to do the editing and color grading. The finished video then needed to go through a reviewing process.

Meanwhile, one had to promote it by releasing photos or teaser videos at the best timing and even organize press events to introduce the song to the media……

‘……Just dropping the track like that is definitely not an option.’

This cold and rational judgment was inevitable.

Right now, <Totter> only had a rough concept in place.

But there were no concrete plans or budget to execute it.

I remembered hearing the host at some idol showcases I attended saying things like:

‘This music video is only a preliminary edit, so we ask you to be extra careful about leaks.’

Even back then I remembered having goosebumps hearing the phrase ‘preliminary edit’.

I mean, the release was in three hours, and they were saying that the edit was still in the ‘preliminary’ stage……?

And sometimes, when I checked the dates of music video reviews, it wasn’t uncommon to see them scheduled for the day before the comeback.

……Just imagining how much the video production team must have poured their heart and soul into it made me feel dizzy.

At the time, I was too busy dealing with my own deadlines, so I just brushed it off, half-heartedly saying things like ‘Korean office workers, fighting~’

But now that this had become my job, I felt kind of overwhelmed.

Currently, WEEKANIZ didn’t even have a dedicated PR team nor a planning team.

The CEO was ignoring all our texts and calls.

Naturally, there was no mention of the 20% investment capital he had promised me.

Frankly, I thought it might be better for that damn CEO to just disappear completely.

At least he wasn’t suddenly releasing articles about the group disbanding or something.

Incompetent people were nothing but burdens.

Keeping his mouth shut and staying out of the way was the most help that idiot could provide us, really.

Considering the current situation, I came to the conclusion that WEEKANIZ making a comeback on its own was nearly impossible.

Still, it would be such a waste to shelve this precious song.

As they say, Life was all about timing, but if one thought about it the other way around.

With WEEKANIZ fate depending on how well we did in <Ultimate Idol>, holding onto this god-tier song would be nothing but a loss for us.

Anyway, after running through countless scenarios in my head, I came to one conclusion.

We only had three weeks left!

And during that period we would have to choreograph something for the song, practice said choreography, learn the vocals and so on.

And the one step we could save the most time on was……

“……Haedun. I need a favor.”

“Woah.”

Someone let out a dumbfounded noise.

Of course, it didn’t come from Seo Haedun, but from Baek Gyeom.

“What?”

“This is the first time I’ve heard you call Haedun-hyung without his last name.”

Why was this kid so shocked by something trivial like that? Was he in middle school?

Feeling a bit awkward now because of his reaction, I turned to look at Seo Haedun.

Seo Haedun’s expression was……

……absolutely awful.

What the hell? Was there some unspoken rule in this group that Ahn Yuyoung wasn’t allowed to call Seo Haedun by just his first name?

What kind of elementary school level bullshit was this?

“What? You offended?”

“I never said that. Speak.”

So was that murderous glare just for decoration?

Your eyes were practically burning holes through my skull……

……I really wanted to let out these snarky comments, but wisely decided against it. Annoying Seo Haedun right now would practically be like courting death, so I politely kept my mouth shut.

“We have to perfectly master the <Totter> stage by the time we record the first episode of ‘Ultimate Idol’, but we’re seriously short on practice time, so……”

“You want to work me harder to squeeze out more practice time?”

“……Yeah! I won’t deny it. But please, I’m begging you. We all have unwavering faith in your abilities.”

Ah, maybe I shouldn’t have said that last part. That might have sounded a bit too sarcastic.

“……”

I wanted to carefully examine Seo Haedun’s expression.

But I felt like if I got too close……

I was sincerely scared that he might actually punch me, so I didn’t dare to.

Instead, I made my eyes dart to the side, sneaking some glances at him like a flounder peeking out of the sand it buried itself in.

And then……

‘……?’

……What was up with Seo Haedun?

That kid… Why did he look weirdly happy right now?!

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