Save a Failed Idol's Life

“Okay.”

With a short reply, Yu-geon pushed himself up from the wall. He had been crouching for a long time, so his legs felt numb. He didn’t seem to notice as he staggered, so I grabbed his arm and helped him stand.

“Be careful, and let me know if your ankle hurts or swells.”

His ankle looked much better than when he had the accident, as he leaned on the wall with some strength.

“Yes.”

Yu-geon nodded slowly and looked down at the scenery outside the window on the stairs.

“By the way, how did you know to come here?”

I flinched at his sudden and important question and avoided his gaze.

“I looked for places that your leader and manager didn’t check.”

Yu-geon hmm… gave me a suspicious look and then wrapped it up as if he had nothing else to say.

“Alright. You go down first. I’ll go to the waiting room soon.”

We were in different groups anyway, so we wouldn’t run into each other until the main stage.

“Okay. And… if you have anything that bothers or worries you, call me. Don’t run away. I can at least listen to you.”

“Yes.”

I glared at Yu-geon with a displeased look and turned the handle of the iron door that led to the hallway.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

“Huh?”

What’s this? The handle didn’t turn smoothly, but something was wrong. It kept getting stuck as if it was broken and didn’t work properly.

“What’s wrong with this?”

Clank. Clank.

“Why won’t it open?”

I panicked and tried to turn it the other way, but it was useless. To make matters worse,

Ring-

Our manager called me. I didn’t want to show him this situation.

Yu-geon, who suddenly disappeared. And me, who followed him and vanished, found together in the restricted area on the top floor of the broadcasting station.

No matter what I said, it would look strange. My head started to throb in an instant.

“Ah, just open, please!”

Cold sweat ran down my back. Why couldn’t anything go smoothly? It was a day full of incidents and accidents.

“Hyung, I was worried about where you went.”

As soon as I was rescued from the stairs and returned to the waiting room, Seon-woo was pouting with a rare angry expression on his lips.

“Where would I go? I was helping someone find someone, so I was late.”

“Couldn’t you at least contact me?”

Kyunghwa also joined in and nagged me, so I had nothing to say.

It was bad enough that I wasted over an hour helping the rival team.

“Sorry. Next time, I’ll text you in advance.”

I had lectured Yu-geon that the other person wouldn’t know if you didn’t say anything, but I was scolded for the same reason and sweat dripped from my forehead.

“Anyway, it’s all settled, right?”

The other members seemed to be curious about what happened to Floss, too. As soon as the nagging was over, they casually asked me.

“Hey, I heard one of them broke a bone and had to drop out, but Yu-geon is just slightly sprained and will still perform on stage.”

“Broke a bone?”

Yi-jun, who was quietly listening, let out a strange exclamation.

“Yeah, was it Ih Chanhyung? He’s been walking around with a crutch because of the fracture.”

“It’s Oh Chanhyung, not Ih Chanhyung.”

“Whatever.”

I would have loved it if Ih Chanhyung had punched Yu-geon’s smug face.

But I didn’t want to make a fuss, so I kept my mouth shut.

“I wonder how easy it is to change from a nine-person formation to an eight-person one.”

Yi-jun drew a nine-person formation on the pad he brought to kill time, then erased one with a swipe.

“I don’t know, I’ve never done it. They’ll have to rehearse again, but I guess they’ll figure it out.”

Kyunghwa tilted his head and answered gloomily.

“We shouldn’t worry about them. Let’s check our own performance one last time.”

Kyunghwa gathered everyone with a determined look in his eyes.

“Okay~.”

I wondered if they had managed to fix the problem. I was worried, but we weren’t in a situation where we could sit back and relax.

We had prepared our best, even if it wasn’t a comeback single. It would be great if we could get into the top three and shine once more.

I took a long breath and got up from the sofa.

And about six hours later, the recording began.

“Hello, I’m Yuchae PD, and I’ll be helping you with the waiting room filming today!”

As we moved to the space prepared for the viewing in the waiting room, there was a large TV panel on one wall for monitoring.

It felt like a small movie booth, with a sofa attached, similar to the team meeting rooms we used for the first filming.

“There are cameras that I’m filming with, as well as fixed ones, so please check the locations!”

As the staff finished the final mic check and left, the lights on the stage went off, signaling the start of Floss’s performance.

“They said there was a lighting problem earlier, is it okay now?”

Everyone watched in silence, worried. Soon, blue and red indirect lights came on, like lanterns.

Eight dim lights walked toward the center of the stage in the dark.

“It looks like will-o’-the-wisps.”

The person who directed it must have intended that. It wasn’t there during the pre-rehearsal, did they add it?

The blue flames that flickered like fireflies disappeared in an instant, and a huge blue fire burned on the rear LED panel, then the intro started.

“Wow.”

Before I knew it, Yi-jun had brought a bag of popcorn from a convenience store and was munching on it, wearing fake glasses made of paper.

“Ugh.”

Seongwon looked at Yi-jun with a disdainful eye and moved to the side, next to me. Seonwoo’s eyes lit up.

“No.”

I blocked him in advance, in case Yi-jun would share with him. Seon-woo made a noticeably sullen expression.

“Why did you bring that again?”

“Eating while watching is the most fun, right?”

Before I could scold him for risking spilling food on his changed outfit, Yi-jun quickly wrapped himself in a blanket.

Did he really have to eat that so badly? He seemed to have a huge appetite, just like Seonwoo.

‘At least he’s active enough to manage his own weight.’

I was already worried about Seon-woo, but if I had to take care of him too, they would force me to go on a diet as well.

While we were busy with something else, the stage for Floss began in earnest.

[The first frost that fell at dawn, the sound of breaking ice echoes-.]

[The flowing river, my heart freezes in sorrow, where is my beloved again-.]

The music was the same as the final version that we played back then. No major changes, just as I remembered. They started with eight people instead of the original nine.

Yu-geon didn’t stand out much when he wore it alone, but when Hwijin, the leader, wore black and the rest of the members wore blue military uniforms, they performed a dignified dance that was spectacular.

Was it because they made the hem of their clothes longer? Every time they swung their arms, the flaps of their cloaks fluttered gracefully, creating a wind effect.

[My face reflected in the moonlight, I call your name in misery-.]

The beginning was mostly vocal parts. There was hardly any rap in the rehearsal. I think Naru and another main vocalist took over Chanhyung’s part.

[Ah, this pitiful heart, I have nowhere to leave it, please take it back-.]

Naru looked like he was possessed by a tragic opera singer, his expression full of anguish.

People who saw him perform the dance that seemed to fall like petals and then firmly hold on, exclaimed in admiration.

“He’s really good at acting on stage.”

Kyunghwa, on the opposite team, had to admit it. Seong-won turned his head with a displeased look.

Would he say it’s okay because you sing better? I felt a pang of jealousy, but we were filming right now.

There was no need to give the production team a reason to cause trouble.

“That’s right. He’s amazing.”

The people who liked him must have liked him for those aspects, and for the effort he showed underneath. He might look a bit mean, but considering his age, he wasn’t too bad.

As soon as I passed Naru, who had perfectly digested someone else’s part without any discomfort, the highlight of Ye’s performance, the dance part, came out.

[This cold winter, where are you going again, my feet are numb, what should I do-.]

The lights flickered like meteors falling from the sky. Behind them, the wall of the palace and the blue flames and black sky in the distance were reflected.

Hwijin, who came to the front, stood in the center and drew a silver-bladed sword that flashed. The other members surrounded him and held their swords horizontally.

“Oh… Is this a rebellion?”

The members who had been escorting Hwijin until then suddenly changed to a 1:7 formation.

And in between, Yu-geon came to the center and faced Hwijin.

Chanhyung must have been furious to miss out on this scene. Everyone was speechless at the much more majestic atmosphere than what we saw in the rehearsal.

[Ah, my beloved, promise me tomorrow with a scream-like cry, let’s meet again-.]

Before I knew it, the members retreated and only Yu-geon and Hwijin remained on the stage, showing a 1:1 sword fight. I glanced down at my ankle and saw a splint tightly wrapped around it.

Without any lyrics, they matched their swords for a while to the instrumental. The battle between the two ended soon.

The result was Yu-geon’s victory. Hwijin knelt down, supporting his body with his sword, and Yu-geon took off his cloak and draped it over his shoulder, turning it black like Hwijin’s.

Behind him, a thunderbolt effect struck with a bang, and Yu-geon stabbed his sword vertically into the ground.

“Wow, the directing was really good.”

At the same time, the members who had backed away rejoined and the stage ended with a bow.

[The first frost of dawn, the sound of breaking asrai echoes-.]

[The flowing river, my heart freezes in despair, where is my beloved again-.]

I said I wouldn’t do this, I wouldn’t. Just a while ago, I thought that if I wasn’t feeling well, then fine, I didn’t need to push myself too hard… But that changed in an instant.

How can I have a conscience if I don’t do this after taking on such a weighty role!

I was suddenly so annoyed that I wanted to send a message to Yu-geon without thinking and looked for my phone.

Fortunately, I succeeded in recognizing the camera before I put that into action.

“I see why Floss is Floss.”

That team had experienced this kind of planned stage three times before their debut.

They had an advantage in the survival show, of course. They were in the position where they were better than anyone else.

And they proved it very easily.

Was it because I witnessed such a huge gap in skills? I felt my blood boil rather than being jealous.

This was the level they fixed in half a day after the lights broke. Could we ever do that kind of production?

No, we have to. I wanted to make the audience and the other teams feel this overwhelmed feeling.

We wanted to challenge and show them that we could do this much of a stage.

“I wish it was our turn soon.”

Yi-jun seemed to have the same thought as he couldn’t sit still and changed his posture.

There was only one group left until our stage, P2CK. Yu-geon didn’t avoid it and faced it coolly, so now it was our turn to show them.

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