Save a Failed Idol's Life

Chapter 124:

To negotiate properly with the company, I needed one thing first: confidence.

The belief that Chairman Cheon would support me, beyond Vice-Chairman An.

WePlanet was moving based on Chairman Cheon’s backing, so it was hard to try anything without his approval.

‘I’ve never met Chairman Cheon face to face before.’

He had asked me to visit his house once recently.

He wasn’t someone I had a good impression of before I died, but as Cheon Ise, he was still family.

Even though he had treated Cheon Ise like a failure and kicked him out…

The fact that he contacted me again meant that he was interested in the results I had achieved for the first time.

Cheon Ise had messed up too many things for him to invest more, but…

‘Considering our last phone call, it shouldn’t be too hard to talk to him.’

It was true that I was still lacking in popularity, but I had successfully finished my last activity and risen to the level of a 2.5-tier group in Mangdol.

‘Of course, the fandoms of huge groups like Floss still treat us like Mangdol.’

But we had hit the real-time first place. And our TOP 200 ranking wasn’t bad either.

Now, we just had to promote Boys Be Ambitious and make our faces known, and expand our activities to acting, musicals, or whatever, for each member, while preparing for our next regular album.

‘Once I finish this…’

My strongest point was cooking, so I had a desire to join one of the many cooking shows that were popping up.

To widen my range to personal activities, I needed more support than I had now.

It wasn’t just about money, but the current WePlanet staff couldn’t handle even one Floss activity period, so we had to gather people from this team and that team.

I needed a team of at least six or seven people who could support Climax exclusively.

Even if I used the savings that Cheon Ise had, for the personnel expenses…

If I wanted to separate the operation into a single team and proceed, I had to consult with the company.

‘I guess I have no choice but to meet Chairman Cheon.’

As soon as the day broke tomorrow, I decided to call him and set up a specific schedule, and returned to my accommodation for now.

“Hyung, you’re here~. Did you have fun today?”

Seong-won opened the door and ran to Aeongi with a bright smile on his face.

I couldn’t get used to it no matter how many times I saw it.

He looked like he was about to hug Aeongi right away, but he stopped and sniffed his hand, then went to the bathroom to wash it.

Aeongi wrapped his tail around Seong-won’s leg and purred.

“Ugh, what is this? You’re so clingy, huh? Don’t be greedy with your eyes and go to your room.”

Yi-jun saw that and made a gesture of vomiting, then naturally picked up Pposili and went to his room.

“…?”

I felt a strange feeling as I watched them. Pposili ’s user…? No, his guardian was me.

“Don’t put Pposili on my bed.”

Kyunghwa also hurriedly went into his room, leaving me and Seon-woo alone.

“Go in and wash up quickly.”

“Okay!”

For now, I had to prepare for the legendary cover stage next week. I stretched and went to my room to start getting ready.

The next afternoon, a small team of three production staff visited our accommodation.

The other groups had split their filming days and were shooting two groups per day.

‘Doesn’t that mean we have more time to polish our performance if we do it later? Isn’t that an advantage?’

I felt a bit unfair, but that’s why we were the first ones to go… Sadly, I had to accept it.

To sum up the filming results, I succeeded in pushing for the song I suggested.

The main keywords were ski resort, snow, summer, and sea.

It was a dreamlike concept of two contrasting seasons mixed together. Blue waves rolling over the snow-white sand, snow falling under the dazzling summer sun. A world of imagination that no one had ever seen before. A place where summer and winter, snow and sea coexisted.

It might seem like a far-fetched setting, but it wasn’t bad timing-wise.

“The stage will air at the end of November, right? Then we should definitely take the Christmas vibe as well.”

Since the airing period was the end of the year, someone out of the four stages would surely take the Christmas concept at least once.

Everyone else would be too hesitant to do it for the first stage. And since they would release the songs as digital singles from first to third place for each stage…

‘If we can make it to the top three, maybe we can push for a carol song this year.’

That was only if we did well, of course. We were still chicks who had a lot of things we hadn’t experienced yet…

But I didn’t feel any fear that it wouldn’t work out. I had already figured out how to best use the members.

As soon as we finished discussing the specifics of the stage concept, the backup dancers’ number, and the choreography, the filming time was over.

“That’s a wrap, thank you for your hard work!”

When the production staff left, the tension eased.

I live a busy life. I thought as I tried to relax. That’s when I saw a message that I hadn’t checked while filming.

[Mom] Your brother and sister are both free today, what about you? 4:47 PM

[Mom] Let’s have dinner together with the whole family for once. 4:50 PM

It was a family gathering proposal from Mrs. An Jung-hee.

So suddenly?

She did call me in the morning and said she wanted to see me when she had time and asked me to contact her…

I didn’t expect that there would be a place to meet the whole family, so I was flustered.

‘Well. Maybe it’s a good thing.’

After a brief hesitation, I decided to take it as an opportunity.

Before I started the formal negotiations with the company after next week’s stage, I needed to meet Mr. Cheon at least once.

It was better to take the chance when it came, since I didn’t know if I would be able to see him or not.

[Me] Yes. I just finished filming, so I don’t think there’s a big problem. I’ll head home right away. 6:07 PM

I quickly replied to Mrs. An Jung-hee and turned to the members who were sprawled on the sofa.

“I have a sudden dinner appointment with my family, so I’ll be back in a bit. I might come back late, so please take care of Pposili for me.”

I packed up quickly and headed for the front door. Pposili followed me to the entrance as if to see me off.

“Don’t just order anything for delivery while I’m gone. I’ve put the recipes in the kitchen, so help yourselves.”

I didn’t know if anyone heard me, but I casually said it and closed the front door.

I would have to check if they ate well when I came back at night.

‘They won’t hold me back and tell me to stay for a day since I haven’t been here for a long time… right?’

I worried for nothing as I reached the parking lot in no time.

‘I still can’t get used to this car…’

The cover was thick with dust from being parked for so long.

I had memorized the number plate several times to convince myself that it was mine, but I still hesitated to drive the shiny foreign car.

‘Maybe I should have taken a taxi… But then again, what if the driver recognizes me…’

After much deliberation, I finally grabbed the steering wheel.

‘It’s not like this is the first time I’m driving it.’

I took a short breath and started the engine. The sound was incomparable to the old domestic sedan I used to drive, but instead of feeling proud, I felt embarrassed.

Quick… Let’s go to the address the system gave me. My hands were sweaty from holding the wheel, which was a first for such a trivial thing.

‘Here it is.’

It was a famous area where the chairman’s mansion was located. Just a bit further and I could see the matchbox-like multi-family houses crammed together.

I thought I wouldn’t want to live here even if I had a lot of money, and this was the exact neighborhood I had in mind.

The mansion occupied a large plot of land, so I had to circle around the alley stupidly twice to find the entrance to the parking lot.

‘Who would have lived in a house like this?’

I briefly parked the car in front of the garage that looked like it cost a fortune to build and pressed the call bell. The huge iron gate opened up and the garage door opened.

As I entered the garage, I saw a collection of supercars that was hard to afford with ordinary wealth. I wondered whose hobby it was.

‘If I grew up seeing these, I would naturally choose a car like this too.’

From classic cars to sports cars. They seemed to have collected everything that was expensive and shiny, even things that couldn’t be driven on the road.

As I passed by the dazzling collection and went further inside, I saw the entrance to the basement floor.

A personal house parking lot that was two stories underground. I felt a slight disgust at the wealth of the Cheon Soo Group and wanted to go back to my place as soon as possible.

‘Is it because I grew up with nothing since I was young?’

Or was it because I felt more alienated from this environment, as if I wasn’t really Cheon Ise. I couldn’t clearly distinguish the unpleasant feeling and went down to the second basement floor. That’s when I saw an empty spot.

‘He told me to come by seven… I still have some time.’

I finished parking and checked the time. It was 6:45.

It was a bit late for someone who ate dinner at six, but it was a good time for office workers to leave work and gather at home.

From what I knew, Cheon Ise’s family members were mostly the type that Cheon Ise had a hard time getting along with.

That was understandable, since his sister Cheon Jisu, who was the president and the chairman’s right-hand man, was already forty-two.

His brother Cheon Osu, who was known as the youngest executive among Koreans in the electronics division, was thirty-six.

They were the only two children born between their parents who had passed away, and Cheon Ise was the child of An Jung-hee, the vice-chairman, who remarried later.

‘My family was not a pushover either, but this side was like the half-siblings you see in chaebol dramas.’

He was a latecomer born after his father remarried after his mother’s death, and he was a brat with a twenty-year age gap.

I wouldn’t have liked him either. He made a fuss about becoming a celebrity, but he didn’t even have good results. He ended up making such an extreme choice that he became twisted.

His sister and brother were each in charge of one seat and were producing results as the parents’ right and left arms, but he was treated as a loser who was neither here nor there.

The more the vice-chairman protected him, the more miserable he must have felt about his situation.

‘Why am I talking like I’m talking about someone else? This is the situation I have to deal with now.’

It would have been easier if I had a one-on-one meeting with the chairman – I could try to talk my way out of it – whether it would work or not was another matter – but it was more awkward when the half-siblings joined the meal.

Did Cheon Ise get along well with his sister or brother? I doubted it.

Would he have made such an extreme choice if that was the case?

I checked the time once more in the car and then called the system.

‘System.’

[Do you want to purchase the replay service?]

[Yes/No]

Of course yes. I tapped the screen with my fingertip.

Then, in an instant, the surroundings turned gray and the space changed.

“What’s with him wanting to be an idol? Can’t he see how hard his father works? Does he have no sense?”

A man who looked like he was in his late twenties was complaining and mocking someone.

“Don’t be like that. Even if he looks pathetic, wouldn’t it be better if he did that? If he starts making a fuss about the management rights without knowing anything, it would be more trouble.”

From the conversation, I guessed that the woman who looked like she was in her mid-thirties was his sister Cheon Jisu, and the man was his brother Cheon Osu.

“If he wants to do something, he should do dance or classical, or something else or exercise. What’s so great about being an idol? He’s not even an actor, he’s an idol.”

I don’t know what he thinks about idols, but… anyway, listening to them made me angry.

“All he has to do is not covet the management rights. Don’t try to stop him for no reason, just pretend to support him. He’s so clueless that he’ll think you’re doing it for his sake if you tell him to cheer up.”

“How did he end up being my brother when half of his blood is mixed like that?”

“Stop saying that. How disgusting. How can he be my brother? You have to be at a certain level to accept someone as family.”

Tsk, with a light click of the tongue, the surroundings brightened again.

[Replay service – 16 years old, February 18th, end]

I expected it, but… 𝓯𝑟𝓮ℯ𝘸ℯ𝘣𝑛ℴ𝘷ℯ𝓵.𝘤𝑜𝑚

‘I really walked into the tiger’s den.’

How am I going to get out of this? The more I’m in a pinch, the more my brain secretes a hormone of mental victory. I didn’t mind the cold feeling in my stomach.

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