Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 24

Crisis as an opportunity

Translated by tam

When I woke up the next day, my whole body hurt. It was a little uncomfortable, but it was not too much to move if I stretched properly.

‘Let’s look at the draft again before going to bed.’

When I took the mouse from Kyunghwa’s hand, who was sleeping in front of the table, and moved it, the monitor screen that was in sleep mode turned on. 

I was worried about what to do if there were a lot of things to fix because we were both works made in situations where sleepiness was pushed to the limit.

It was a pretty plausible plan, perhaps because I hadn’t reviewed it alone.

It would have to be a little more specific by combining the keywords and lyrics that the other members chose during the night. 

‘The key keyword is Rescue.’

A dystopia with a near-future atmosphere contains a situation in which a lover is trapped in ruins.

The lyrics for the sample recording seemed more blatant and decadent than saying that they made me feel sweet pain or that I wasn’t satisfied with just one shot—.

Wait. If Chen Yise was 18, isn’t Son Seongwon 16? Can they make a kid sing those lyrics?

Aside from the part where my forehead frowns.

It was reckless because Climax had already failed once when they came out with a decadent concept at this time. 

‘To be ruined is to be ruined. It must look like we’re trying to do some unconventional noise marketing to attract attention.’ 

It’s not that I don’t understand the desperate feeling of choosing such a method, but I didn’t want to do it.

Climax’s goal this time is to attract a small number of loyal customers and increase the unfavourable impression to a favorable impression.

There was no point in making noise marketing a hot topic. It wasn’t even a strategy that could work as a male idol strategy. 

‘The theme of ‘Drink me’ itself goes well with the sample song, so I want to take it as it is….’

While I was fiddling with the page where I had scrapped the data beforehand, Sunwoo rubbed his eyes and walked out. 

“You woke up so early?”

It’s been a long time since the sun came out—it was only nine o’clock, but I glanced out the window as if it were noon.

“Because we don’t have time. Have you add the lyrics?”

When I held out his hand as if I was checking my homework, Sunwoo hurried into the room, brought a notebook, and answered.

“Yes, I’m not confident, but…I tried it. Did you sleep well last night? I don’t think you came into the room.” 

I worked through the night in my 40s, but can’t I do it at 24?

I answered lightly and accepted the notebook Sunwoo held out.

“I slept on the sofa for a while. Can you move Kyunghwa to his room?”

I peeked at him and saw that he was in a deep sleep, as if he had almost passed out because he had never worked so hard without sleep.

“Yes!” 

Sunwoo nodded happily.

I was amazed when I saw Kyunghwa’s body lifted out of Sunwoo’s arms as if it were being carried on a stretcher.

‘He’s also tall, so he’s probably over mid-60s, but he’s just holding it as if it was nothing.’

Sunwoo, who supported Kyunghwa’s weight with only one arm, pulled the room knob with his right hand. 

And a scream followed immediately.

“Argh!!” 

“U, ugh!” 

What else? I stuck my head out and looked around to see what was happening.

Yejun, who seemed to have not slept since last night until now, was glaring at Sunwoo with wide eyes. 

“I, I mean knock when you come in!”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were sleeping, uh…I was worried that I might wake you….” 

It was not unreasonable for Sunwoo to think so.

Because Oh Yejun was someone I had never seen woke up at this time on days when he didn’t have a schedule. 

“Ah…I thought I would have to do a little more, so I kept working on it, but the time was like this….” 

“Close your eyes. Hyung’s face really looks like a panda….” 

Sunwoo mumbled in a low voice as if he was worried. 

“I want to go to the studio right away and touch the equipment while it’s bright….”

While Sunwoo carefully moved the Kyunghwa and put him down on the bed, Yejun talked to himself and organized the computer.

“Go to sleep. I don’t want to hear the leader who abused the members without sleeping.”

As I turned off my laptop to give a break after working hard all night and leaned against the doorframe, Yejun looked up at me with sleepy eyes.

“Then…I’ll just sleep for an hour and go to the studio.”

Yejun slipped out of his chair and headed for the bed. It was faster for me to snatch Yejun’s wrist than for Yejun’s butt to touch the seat.

“Before that, give some of the files you’ve edited so far.”

“Ah, right.” 

Yejun nodded and uploaded an MP3 file to the group chat room.

“Play it. The keywords and lyrics I’ve compiled are there, so you can refer to them if necessary.”

When I let go of his wrist, Yejun took a small breath and lay down on the bed. 

“Wake me up in an hour, by all means.”

“Ung!” 

Sunwoo nodded furiously and covered him with a blanket over the sleeping Kyunghwa.

‘Is Son Seongwon all that’s left?’

I didn’t feel comfortable yesterday because I didn’t finish it in a very pleasant way.

What do I do if he feels complicated and upset? What do you think would make me feel good? 

Standing in front of the door that Seongwon uses alone with a twisted mind, it was already hurt. 

“Are you awake?”

I lightly knocked on the door with the back of my hand, and there was the sound of a chair turning inside.

Then, with the sound of footsteps, the lock opened.

“Lyrics. Just select the parts that are usable and discard the parts that are not.”

Did you wake up? Did you sleep well? How are the preparations going? It was natural to say this kind of greeting. 

However, Son Seongwon just put down the sheet of paper that he said was lyrics. 

Fortunately, I could reach out quickly and not drop it on the floor.

‘Anyway, with this guy’s personality.’

“Yeah. Yejunie posted a temporary arrangement on the chat room, so listen to that too.’

Instead of answering in words, Seongwon nodded once. Then, he closed the door as if he were in a hurry.

‘What do I expect from him? It’s just a relief that I don’t have chores.’

As I lightly caught my breath and opened the note in my hand, keywords similar to what Kyunghwa and I were thinking overlapped quite a bit.

[You hurt me again]

[We’re going to get further away]

[I can’t stop]

[I keep lingering in the same spot for you]

What kind of unrequited love? The stone-hearted bully didn’t deserve to write such desperate lyrics.

However, apart from the fact that it didn’t suit him, it looked sophisticated even to my eyes, who had no sense in this area yet.

“Can I see it, too?”

“Yeah.”

When I showed the lyrics written by Seongwon to Sunwoo, who was snooping around, Sunwoo panicked. 

“What is it? What’s wrong with you?” 

When I stepped back in surprise, Sunwoo rushed for the notebook in my hand. 

“What are you doing!”

“G, give me back what I wrote!”

“What again!” 

Let’s run away and open the notebook before it’s taken away, rather than lyrics—.

‘Hmm…’

I’ll save my words to protect Sunwoo’s human rights. In many ways, I was convinced that he had no talent as a lyricist.

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Unmute

“No, putting yours together would be helpful.”

I took a picture of the notebook with a cell phone camera with soulless encouragement.

“It’s totally a public execution!”

Well, that’s true. Because it’s cute in its own way. I was certain that some of his fans would want to see something like this.

‘I’m going to keep it on record in advance.’

Do you call this black history?

“I hope that the fact that you are better at being an idol than a poet or lyricist will make you feel better.” 

Sunwoo complained for a long time about how my words were close to turning around, but it didn’t matter.

I completely ignored Seonwoo and sat down at the table again to play the music edited by Yejun.

 ♬-♪~♩♪

Seongwon’s vocals disappeared, so I couldn’t feel what he was singing about, but it was much cleaner.

The old feeling was removed, and it was definitely closer to the latest trend. It was a sophisticated arrangement comparable to most idol hit songs. 

‘With this level of skill, it’s definitely worth trying to recruit here and there.’

This is enough for me to briefly touch at a safe point.

“Wow… Yejun Hyung is really amazing….” 

Sunwoo must have had the same thought, and his expression turned sullen. 

“Why do you look like that again?”

Where are you disappointed? When I asked directly, Sunwoo answered without looking at me. 

“Everyone is capable, but only me…I seems useless.”

What nonsense. I grabbed Sunwoo’s cheeks at once with my right hand. 

“U, ugh what are you doing!” 

Sunwoo struggled and tried to escape, but it was useless.

“Because you show off your best abilities just by being there, so just work hard to control your weight before filming begins.”

You are already doing your part with that face alone. 

I couldn’t bear to say that the face was enough, so I said it back.

Sunwoo nodded his head while holding his lips like a crucian carp. 

“Don’t cry because your face will be ruined. You can cry only when you win first place on a music show.”

Sunwoo’s head shook up and down once again.

“Yeah, good boy.” 

There was no more time to waste comforting him. After lightly stroking his hair, I returned to the laptop again. 

Now it was time to add lyrics to the arranged song.

The combination of what Kyunghwa wrote before going to bed, what Yejun wrote, and what Seongwon wrote was worth using several people’s heads. 

‘Before picking out the 1st finished version, I should refer to the atmosphere of other hit songs.’ 

When I entered the music charts, I saw Floss, who was still holding the number one spot even though it had already been 3 weeks since their comeback.

I pressed the play button with a disapproving look.

[Spark, I burn more]

[Blow away all the heat, Burn it!]

[Hey there, as if it’s just you and me this summer]

English is in every line. All the other songs felt the same.

Is it because the beat is cut short when a short English word is entered, and it seems to be moderate?

When I clicked on the album art one more time to end the playback, a guy with a refreshing smile caught my eye in the pictorial. 

‘Is this guy Kang Yoogun?’ 

Looking back, the kids in my house were better. I snorted lightly and divided the verse and chorus, making three candidates for each section.

Whoo—.

After taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door and went in just as Yejun said an hour had passed.

Yejun suddenly came to his senses after being startled like a fish pulled out of the water.

“I sent you the concept material via personal chat, so go to the studio and check it out before you work on it.”

“Okay. I’ll open it on my phone and look at it as I go.”

Yejun, who barely regained consciousness, started preparing to leave.

Time passed in an instant as I sent Yejun to the studio and prepared breakfast and lunch.

“I’m going to go work out!”

Compared to the first time I saw him, Sunwoo, who had become slimmer, greeted me with a bright voice and left the door. 

‘How did I get past the crisis with this?’

It wasn’t a positive situation, but it wasn’t a time to despair either.

If I had followed what the company told me to do like before, I wouldn’t have been able to check what everyone was capable of.

Real baseball starts with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Driven to the cliff, now was the turn to show a twist to those who ignored Climax.

Even though we had strengthened our will, an unexpected disaster was still waiting for us.