Save a Failed Idol's Life-Chapter 140:

Everyone suddenly snapped to attention and focused on me.

We were all shaken by the abrupt evacuation, but we couldn’t avoid talking about the filming that would take place tomorrow.

The results of the first mission were still being calculated, so we had to wait a few more days to find out our ranking.

But regardless of our current position, the fact that we had to do well in the second mission remained unchanged.

Our goal was to win at least two times. We didn’t want to abandon any unit.

“Tell me some candidates from your teams that you think we should be careful of.”

Kyunghwa was the first to speak.

“What do you mean by careful?”

“Various things. Like someone who might steal the scene, or someone who has amazing skills, or someone who might cause trouble, and so on.”

Everyone’s eyes briefly turned to Seon-woo, followed by a cough and a clearing of the throat.

Seon-woo looked nervous and asked.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Hmm… There wasn’t just one reason why everyone was looking at Seon-woo. There were many reasons.

Seon-woo wasn’t untalented, but he definitely couldn’t be called a fast learner.

That made the role of the coach who taught him very important, and his slightly awkward behavior contrasted with his unrivaled face that stood out.

So, to summarize it in one word…

‘If he falls behind the group and makes a mistake, he’ll be labeled as someone who relies on his face and causes trouble.’

That would be very unfair. Seon-woo wasn’t like that at all. He was just a bit… cute. I held back my words and looked at Kyunghwa.

“Take good care of him. There are a lot of young kids in the other groups, so Seon-woo might not be the youngest, but. Please make sure our baby doesn’t get discouraged wherever he goes.”

I was so relieved that Seon-woo wasn’t the one who was separated from the vocal trio. I sincerely wanted to thank the random god.

Then, Seong-won spoke with a hint of resentment.

“What about me? Don’t you worry about me?”

…? Was he jealous?

He wasn’t like the eldest child who got upset because the parents only cared for the youngest. I was a bit dumbfounded, but… Well. Seon-woo was 21, and he was only 22.

Sigh, these… young kids. How do I deal with them? I suppressed the urge to punch Seong-won and answered.

“Do you want to be a soldier of interest?”

This time, Seon-woo looked sad.

“Am I that bad?”

The atmosphere quickly changed from a serious meeting to a class meeting of the second grade, sixth class. Kyunghwa cut off the chatter and said.

“Stop talking nonsense. Seong-won, you’re the type who does well on your own, even if no one says anything. That’s why we don’t bother to worry about you. You’re the type who gets depressed all day thinking about the fight you had somewhere.”

He was right. If someone said to Seon-woo, ‘If you do that, everyone will hate you.’ Seon-woo would be scared and beg them not to hate him, crying in distress.

Seong-won, on the other hand…

‘So what? Do you think everyone will like you? I hate you too.’ He would say something like that.

He wouldn’t resort to violence (fists, physical) like someone from another group, but he would verbally lash out more harshly.

“So stop talking nonsense, both of you. We’re having a strategy meeting right now.”

Kyunghwa’s neat summary left me with nothing more to say. I nodded silently, agreeing with him.

“You too, don’t act like it’s someone else’s problem and speak up.”

Kyunghwa threw a spark at me too. I hesitated for a moment, then opened my mouth.

“I think… regardless of what our unit members are like, it would be better to reveal my accident history this time.”

“Accident?”

Yi-jun looked at me with his ears perked up, as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. He always had a keen interest in such words. I snorted in disbelief and answered.

“The traffic accident I had earlier this year. I did a lot of acrobatics in my previous choreography, so I think they’ll ask me to do it again this time.”

“Oh…”

We were a K-POP group that could handle any level of difficulty in dance, and among them, we were a group of members who excelled in dance.

We would be the first to think of captivating the audience with circus-like skills and techniques, and to do that, we would showcase moves that were either visually stunning like b-boying or eye-catching like acrobatics.

Acrobatics was a different category from just dancing well.

‘Don’t they expect me to do a backflip at least?’

Of course, I couldn’t do it. Even for the choreography we used for this comeback, I had asked them to exclude any moves that would put a strong impact on my waist.

I didn’t mind the difficulty or complexity, but I couldn’t do things like spinning in the air or hand-springing like I did before.

I also removed all the moves that involved bending my upper body back extremely and supporting it with my waist.

If I wanted to exclude those noticeable moves this time, I needed a valid reason to take that risk.

‘Honestly, who would want to expose their weakness…’

Regardless of how I felt, I couldn’t be a lunatic who refused to do it without saying anything.

Especially not among the people who shared the same pot with me, but among the others who were doing a group project with me. I had to avoid becoming a crazy bastard who was notorious for causing trouble.

If it was something I would eventually reveal to the fans anyway, I might as well use it to my advantage.

‘I’ll have to shoot a pitiful documentary for that bastard.’

People would sympathize with him, and if we could get some sympathy votes from that, it would be rather positive.

He didn’t collapse from the injury and persevered to complete the stage of the dance unit, which was composed of only the main dancers.

It was the best scenario that the broadcasting station would never refuse.

“We can’t hide the news of the injury forever. If we’re going to reveal it to the world someday, we might as well make the best use of it when we can.”

Then Yi-jun stared at me and blurted out something I never expected.

“You know, you’re the most cold-blooded person when it comes to your own business.”

“What?”

What nonsense. I frowned and asked.

“What do you mean? You try to hide and cover up others’ problems as much as you can, but you don’t seem to care much about your own.”

“How is that cold-blooded?”

I bit my tongue at the illogical leap.

“Don’t you have something you want to hide too? Is it really okay to use it so coolly, to do it?”

“Um…”

I didn’t expect him to think so seriously about me. I wondered what the original Cheon Ise would have done in this situation.

Would he have freaked out and made a fuss, saying he hated looking pitiful? Or would he have liked it, thinking it was a chance to get all the attention?

It was probably the former. He would have been a corpse without his pride. I scratched my cheek and answered.

“To be honest, I don’t care. I’ve already talked about it with another group.”

They all asked me with surprised expressions.

“Which group?”

“Who?”

“Do you have friends we don’t know about?”

Seon-woo asked me with pure eyes, without any malice.

Damn, I know you didn’t mean it in a bad way, but that’s too blunt.

“I do. But it wasn’t like I said it in a very serious and solemn atmosphere, so don’t worry too much.”

The serious and solemn one was Kang Yu-geon, not me, so it wasn’t a lie. Besides, the person in question had dropped out and disappeared in the second mission.

“Anyway, that’s why I could be a big variable in Dance Group A. That’s what I wanted to say. I’ve looked into the other members and none of them really stood out.”

Vesper was a performance-focused group, but unfortunately, none of the main dancers or sub dancers were the type to attract attention.

As for AtoX, they were originally… a ballad group, so their dance was relatively weak. From their perspective, the best choice was to sell me out to compensate for their weak impact and give a strong impression.

“How about the rap group? Are there any noticeable people there?”

“Hmm…”

Then, suddenly, Yi-jun took the baton and licked his lips for a moment before answering.

“A lot. Too many to be a problem… But I think I’ll stand out the most among them.”

What confidence is that? Kyunghwa and Seong-won briefly glared at Yi-jun with contempt.

“No, it’s true, okay?”

Yi-jun confidently rested his chin under his face and then tapped his abs, which were his most confident body part.

It was annoying, but he had a reason to be confident. As long as idols appeared, there wouldn’t be anyone who didn’t manage their body.

He was rare in that he had clear muscles and a tall height. Plus, he had great skills and producing abilities.

He was the reason why Climax, which had zero recognition and was unknown, was the only one who steadily built up his popularity.

“Anyway, don’t cause any trouble.”

Kyunghwa shook his head as if he was used to it.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

That’s how the noisy meeting went on, and to summarize, what we had to worry about was as follows:

As shown in the trailer, they would push Seong-won and Naru, who had achieved high scores in a famous vocal program, into a rival situation.

So we had to be careful not to get caught up in the bad side and appeal to our positive image while working hard on the group activities.

From the initial meeting of Dance Group A, we had to appeal to our injury history in a pitiful and noticeable way to get sympathy votes.

As long as it was going to be revealed, we had to make it as helpful as possible for the competition.

There wouldn’t be much to worry about in the rap group, but we shouldn’t miss the production work distribution to get the image of an all-around producer.

That was it. There were four groups we were participating in, but realistically, there were only three groups that could win.

Let’s just do two out of three.

We didn’t even hope for ACE to monopolize. Let’s just do our share. So that we don’t ruin the image we’ve been building up on the broadcast.

With such modest dreams, we finished the strategy meeting with enthusiasm.

“But where are we sleeping?”

As soon as the meeting was over, Yi-jun looked at the bed with sparkling eyes.

“I’m sleeping on the bed. It’s big enough for one more person, but you’re out of the question.”

“What? That’s not fair!”

As soon as I crushed Yi-jun’s hopes, he pouted his lips.

“Seon-woo, you too.”

“Uh…”

When I picked Seon-woo next, he nodded with a sullen face.

No way. I hated sharing the bed with those guys who had terrible sleeping habits.

So it came down to a rock-paper-scissors showdown between Kyunghwa and Seong-won for the other half of the king-sized bed.

The winner was Seong-won. I was worried that he would be annoyed if I tossed and turned in my sleep…

And so, the night fell at the place where I started my first day in the year 1023.

The next day, Seong-won looked surprisingly well-rested.

We hurriedly got ready and headed to the filming site.

“Let’s do our best, everyone. Don’t fight, just do your part.”

“Let’s go…”

We all suffered from low blood pressure in the morning, and another day began.