Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 194 His Way (1)

I swallowed the saliva that filled my mouth and immediately looked at the explanation that filled the screen behind the stage.

[From Today On, We]

[Dream HOT]

[Next]

[Endlessly]

[First Love]

[D.I.Y]

Was this the cover song list? They were all hit songs released within the last three years.

[Each song will have two teams, A and B, competing in a cover battle. Out of the total 12 teams, only 6 will be the winners! The losers will receive a minus score in the upcoming first re-evaluation.]

[The team composition will be done on a first-come, first-served basis, and as soon as it’s done, the thrilling snack war will follow, so let’s quickly get into the formation!]

“Wow, chicken!”

If it was their usual tension, they would have widened their eyes to snatch the song they wanted.

But they were not in their right mind because of the chicken in front of them. The chicken thrown in front of the hungry 1020 boys was like a delicacy sold at a street stall in front of the station.

“Come on, decide quickly, don’t waste time!”

They all held their stomachs that made rumbling noises and looked at the flag boxes that the production staff had set up.

[There are up to 14 flags in each box. Please pick the flag of the song you want in the order of arrival, and then gather in the A group if the decoration at the bottom of the flag is blue, or the B group if it is red.]

They didn’t seem to listen to the explanation. Just let us pick the flags and eat the chicken quickly! They looked like they had written that on their faces with a pen.

[Well then, I’ll count to three, and when you hear the whistle sound, please come up to the stage and pick a flag!]

They all got ready to jump onto the stage as soon as possible.

‘They’re not possessed by hungry ghosts or anything…’

Sunwoo couldn’t even get into the top ranks among them.

While they were distracted by the food, I thought about which songs among the seven would show off my dance skills.

‘Among those, the dance songs are Dream HOT, Next, and D.I.Y, I guess.’

Hwijin would probably go for a song that would highlight his vocals. Yu-geon was well-balanced in vocals, rap, and dance, so he wouldn’t make a bad choice anywhere.

‘I don’t want to be in the same group as Yu-geon if possible.’

I didn’t want to be his competitor, even though he was hated by the production staff. His skills hadn’t gone anywhere.

If I was going to perform anyway. I might as well win.

I didn’t want to go back to the days when we were used to losing, thinking that we deserved this kind of treatment, like when we had just reached the climax.

Competing was fun by default. Winning was also indispensable.

‘I can’t see where he’s looking from this far away.’

I wanted to ask him casually, but the distance between A and F grades was too big to give him a hint.

[Well then, I’ll count to three!]

While I was choosing a song, the MC picked up the whistle and stood in the center, as the flag box preparation was all done.

[One, two, three! Whoo-!]

And at the same time, I saw it.

People… could fly without wings.

‘…?’

Like a slow motion, the trainees who were far away broke through the crowd and jumped to help, climbing up the stage that almost reached chest height without stepping on the stairs.

[Please come up the stairs, everyone, it’s dangerous… Eek!]

The MC shouted almost pleadingly to tidy up the venue, but no one paid attention.

I’ll be pushed back by the vocals if I’m late. I hurriedly pushed through the trainees and jumped onto the stage, where I saw the trainees who had already pulled out the flags.

‘Let’s see… Next is already full, and the only ones left are Dream Hot and DIY?’

Dream Hot had a sexy impression of point choreography with both arms raised and hips bouncing, which was quite difficult, and DIY had a group tap dance included in the choreography.

‘Sexy or tap dance, I have to choose one of them…’

But before I could think about it, Yu-geon reached out for Dream Hot first.

‘Then I automatically go for DIY.’

I’m going to lose DIY too. I quickly headed for the barrel with four flags left.

[Now, if you’ve pulled out a flag, please gather by group!]

Before I knew it, the floor below the podium was marked so that we could sit by group according to the song.

The flag I pulled out was… DIY red. For convenience, it was group B.

As I stood in front of the panel that said DIY B, I saw the faces, names, and grades of the other five.

[B]

[Lee Wonsang]

[C]

[Kim Junwoong]

[B]

[Seo Taeryun]

[F]

[Kim Jaewan]

[D]

[Hong Seokho]

There could be up to seven people in a group, but there were not even 90 trainees left, so there were quite a few empty seats.

Of course, the songs that looked easy to cover were full without dividing into A and B.

There were also groups that had only five or six people besides us.

‘Six people… That’s just right.’

Seven is too many, and four is too few. I had done the stage with five people several times, so I thought it wouldn’t be bad to try it with six people for experience.

“Wow, there’s an A!”

As soon as we checked each other’s faces, the most excited-looking guy exclaimed.

“Hey, don’t say that so loud.”

The guy next to me, who looked flustered and timid, apologized to me hastily.

“I’m sorry. He’s not good at filtering his words…”

“What did I do!”

They both looked like they were from the same unknown agency, judging by their D and F grades.

“Isn’t it good to have an A grade? I didn’t say anything bad. Did you feel bad?”

Jaewan, the F grade who looked amazed at me, smiled playfully.

I didn’t want to ruin the mood, so I nodded cheerfully.

“No, it’s okay.”

They looked like kids who had just entered high school. They were either the same age as Naru or slightly younger.

I calmly scanned the trainees who were grouped with me, and then I saw Yu-geon’s group at the end.

‘Wow… How did they end up in such a group…’

I couldn’t see their names clearly, but there were two A-rank, three B-rank, one C-rank, and one F-rank.

The C-rank was actually ranked 33rd, so he was one of the top trainees in his rank.

‘Most of them are in the top 20, except for Kang Yu-geon.’

The production team must have failed to adjust this, because the expressions of Dream Hot B group, who had to compete with Yu-geon’s group, Dream Hot A, were gloomy as hell.

‘Yu-geon… Did he rise to A-rank from here?’

I couldn’t remember how he became an A-rank, because I didn’t watch the show properly after the beginning.

I only remembered that he became a star from hell, who got cursed by the devil’s editing and appealed to his charisma.

I had no choice but to watch quietly for now.

“It would be nice to introduce ourselves briefly…”

A B-rank trainee, who couldn’t stand the awkward atmosphere, opened his mouth cautiously.

But unfortunately, we didn’t have time to get to know each other calmly, as he wanted.

“Chicken time!”

“Chicken!”

“Please start the mini game quickly!”

The zombie horde started to protest, saying that they wanted to eat chicken first, since they had finished grouping.

“Oh, I want chicken too!”

Jaewan’s eyes sparkled and he shouted along with them, heading for the stage. Seokho, who was stuck next to him, shook his head with a dry smile.

“Geez, you call him a friend.”

I didn’t know what their relationship was. But judging by their attitudes, they seemed to know each other before the shooting started.

“Let’s focus on the mini game first, and introduce ourselves later.”

I smiled politely and looked up at the stage.

Three hours later. After finishing the chicken party and the first group meeting, everyone was exhausted.

“You have 30 minutes to rest and then move to the group practice room!”

We were already worn out from the games that required a lot of effort.

“Wow… You were really surprising, hyung.”

As I lay down on the floor in my training suit, barely able to move a finger, Jaewan exclaimed as if he had taken some drugs.

“What do you mean?”

I asked, opening my eyes slightly with fatigue.

“Your arm strength was no joke.”

Well, of course. Unlike those guys who only cared about dieting for their body management, I had trained my muscles by carrying dozens of kilograms of food ingredients for the restaurant.

There were two games that involved side dishes.

Arm wrestling and thigh wrestling.

‘Why do we have to do this…’

Do the viewers like this kind of thing…? The trainees were running around like a pack of dogs, trying to get one more dish for themselves, and biting each other.

Why did they make such a fuss over food, as if it was something funny or worth fighting for? It looked so pathetic to me. I couldn’t understand their taste at all.

But since they had no intention of sharing the side dishes, I had no choice but to do my best.

In the end, I managed to hold my own in the arm wrestling and got some fried shrimp and potato wedges.

In the thigh wrestling, a B-grade member went out and almost got injured, but sadly slipped and fell.

But at least we got something extra. After being treated like heroes by the guys who never even properly introduced themselves, we finished our snacks and it was time to talk about the mission.

‘The atmosphere isn’t bad…’

There was one A-grade and one B-grade member, but overall our team wasn’t very skilled.

Maybe it was lucky that the other team wasn’t a top-grade lineup like Dream Hot A team.

This was a competition where I had a decent chance of winning if I could just lead the D-grade and F-grade members well.

‘What about the other teams… How’s the mood?’

I looked around and saw Hwijin surrounded by D-to-F grades.

‘Well…’

It was unfortunate, but there was nothing I could do. At least he would debut eventually, which was a relief.

As I was trying to focus on our team and forget about the others, I heard a squabbling noise from somewhere.

“Why do we have to decide the center by majority vote?”

It was none other than the direction where Kang Yu-geon’s Dream Hot A team was.

“You seem to be the only one who’s against it. This is not a solo stage, it’s a group stage. You should follow the opinions of your teammates, right?”

“No. I think I can do better… It’s better to raise the stage quality and get more attention than to leave it to the center who was chosen by politics and make it vague, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“So, to summarize your words, you’re saying that you’re unhappy that I’m the center when you’re worse than me, right?”

From the side, I could hear a fierce battle going on.

“Let’s think more objectively, shall we?”

A guy with a sneering expression poured oil on the fire.

‘What the hell is he doing?’

They were supposed to cooperate, but they were setting off a nuclear bomb.

With an expression that showed no sign of the first day’s discouragement, Kang Yu-geon was at the center of the conflict.

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