Save a Failed Idol's Life

Chapter 168:

Hwijin’s impression of Cheon Ise, who got along well with the members, was simple.

‘He was jealous.’

People would ask him what he was talking about, having achieved most of the goals that others would dream of as an idol in his first year of re-debut.

But he was honestly jealous. Not just pretending to be allies or friends when the camera was on, but being able to open up and mingle with each other.

When was the last time he had a peer like that?

He had received countless contacts after appearing on the My Idol stage, but none of them lasted long and ended.

At first, he answered ‘I just came out to raise my awareness.’ to the contacts that came with half-mockery and half-curiosity, saying ‘You still haven’t given up on being an idol.’ until the middle of the broadcast.

Surviving the first elimination, surviving the second elimination, and surviving the third elimination, his rank gradually rose to the debut group, and the eyes of the people around him changed.

He’s the only one who’s done his military service.

Aren’t you too old to be an idol?

At that age, shouldn’t you be a mentor rather than a challenger?

He’s happy to get attention by being an uncle among the kids.

You said you were going to be an actor, what are you doing with that mentality? Do you think it will work out if you do idol again?

When he found out how the people who had said all kinds of good words in front of him without changing their expressions had talked behind him, Hwijin realized what kind of place the entertainment industry was.

The only time you can purely support someone else’s dream is when it seems impossible to achieve.

The former members, who he once thought were his most precious friends, also drifted away as Hwijin’s debut became more and more certain.

They were unable to reach the top of the pyramid, which had a fixed structure, even though they struggled so hard.

Finally, from the moment Hwijin secured his debut spot on the live broadcast. All contact was cut off as a joke.

During the broadcast period, they wished that he would suffer some kind of natural disaster and his rank would plummet, or that he would have a school violence controversy and it would explode. It was already too late to ask each other after they had already set the date.

‘…’

No matter how hard the senior tried to mediate the atmosphere, Hwijin felt a wall that he couldn’t overcome with the other members.

What would it feel like to write a thrilling diary of a comeback with the colleagues who had overcome the hard times together? He felt unworthy as a leader who made Floss like this, but he laughed absurdly when he talked to the master who had become a completely different person.

He didn’t know what had happened to make him change so much. But the more he got to know him, the more he realized that this person had a charm that attracted people around him.

He had no choice but to accept the person named Cheon Ise. He wanted to fit in with them without any hesitation.

On the day when the shooting of Boys Be Ambitious started and the internal cracks of Floss reached their peak.

Hwijin unwittingly blurted out as a joke.

Would you accept me if I went to the climax?

‘I’m crazy…’

He knew it was impossible and shameless. But it’s okay to dream and envy the impossible.

If Floss disbanded, he would probably go back to acting as he originally intended.

He had a decent vocal skill, so he was getting steady love calls from the musical side.

It was a pity, but there was nothing in the world that could be done as he wished, so he had to give up.

Hwijin sighed deeply and flopped down on the bed.

He had been in a room that was almost like a single room for a few weeks, and when he came back, the bed smelled more like a hotel with new sheets than a person living there.

‘Let’s not worry about anything and just do our best for the shooting tomorrow.’

I couldn’t afford to sound weak, being the oldest member of the group. I had to put aside my anger for now and focus on what I had to do as a leader to maintain our flow.

‘That thing appeared in my dream again.’

As I opened my eyes to the alarm that I had set at dawn, the vivid dreams that I had last night flashed before me.

‘The deer… it was like this…’

The deer with the huge antlers that glared at me as if it was about to charge at me was still fresh in my mind.

‘I hid it well here…’

As soon as I got up in the morning, I went to the sofa and checked between the cushions. Luckily, Kyunghwa hadn’t found it, and it was still in the spot where I had hidden it.

‘Phew…’

Just as I was relieved and rubbed my chest, a voice came from behind me.

“What are you doing there?”

“Ah!”

Seumkyeong… no, the real Kyunghwa had just woken up and was about to go to the bathroom to wash his face, and he was looking down at me.

“Uh, I was feeling a bit dizzy after waking up, so…”

I tried to make a lame excuse, but Kyunghwa seemed to be suspicious, though he nodded and went into the bathroom.

‘That was close…’

I covered Seumkyeong more carefully and went back to my room to get ready to go out. I felt awkward, so I slapped Seon-woo’s calf that was sticking out of the blanket as a bonus.

“Get up. You have to get ready too, or we’ll be late.”

“Ugh…”

Seon-woo groaned and wriggled like a worm from the sting.

“Stay awake until I come back from washing my face.”

I quickly finished my basic care with the products that Favorite Lab had given me and went to the living room. Kyunghwa was staring at the cabinet with a suspicious expression.

“What’s wrong?”

I asked calmly, with a natural expression.

“No, it’s just that I had a gift that I think I left in the living room for a moment, but it’s gone.”

“A gift?”

Yi-jun, who was already in the living room, perked up his ears and approached, as if he heard something exciting. Kyunghwa shot a contemptuous look at Yi-jun.

“It’s just a doll. I got one that was made with me as a motif.”

“When?”

What is this, twenty questions? Yi-jun pestered him, and Kyunghwa’s forehead creased in an instant.

“What do you mean… It was when we were leaving the Boys Be Ambitious broadcasting station last time.”

The really famous groups had guards who helped control the crowd, so it was hard to get close to their cars, but we weren’t at that level yet, so we had a chance to receive some gifts or letters from time to time.

I had received some snacks and letters before, but never a doll.

“Wow, I’m jealous.”

A sentence that didn’t suit Yi-jun at all came out of his mouth, and Kyunghwa snickered and replied.

“You probably have one too.”

“Really? I didn’t see any last year.”

It was obvious. Unless I paid a hefty price for a custom-made order, there would be a minimum production quantity.

And to meet that minimum production quantity, I would need people to join me in a group purchase.

A year ago, Climax’s fandom wasn’t even that big. But now it was.

At Kyunghwa’s words, Yi-jun searched for something and exclaimed.

“Wow? Really? This is so cute.”

Yi-jun excitedly posted a picture on the group chat and it was a squirrel-like doll with facial features that resembled Yi-jun.

“How is that you?”

Seong-won squinted his eyes and glared at the screen for a while before shaking his head.

“Come on, it looks like me! If you say it doesn’t, go get some glasses.”

“What are you talking about? Do you even know the topic?”

“Stop fighting. We have to move soon.”

Just as Seong-won and Yi-jun were about to growl at each other, luckily the intercom call arrived from downstairs.

“The car is waiting, so let’s go down quickly.”

That’s how the doll argument ended and today’s schedule began.

Hwijin would arrive at 1 p.m. When Hwijin and the ‘Bravo Solo Life’ filming crew arrived, I would show them around the house and cook some food for them. Then we would go for a walk in the neighborhood park with Pposili.

For normal housewarming, I would order some delivery food or prepare some food in advance. But in our case, I was too famous for being good at cooking, so they decided to make a script where they would learn from me.

‘Do I have to…?’

Couldn’t they just come and eat? I thought, but I also felt motivated to do it properly since we agreed to do it. I prepared the ingredients for the dishes that were called the flowers of the housewarming.

They said I could bring one or two members with me, so I prepared enough for anything.

If Yu-geon was in a normal state, he would have come. But now, even Floss didn’t seem to know where he was, so maybe another member would come.

I didn’t know who it was, but I could only hope that it was a member who wouldn’t provoke Kyunghwa.

As I waited with a small breeze, ding dong, the doorbell rang.

Climax’s concept was lively and friendly siblings.

In the preview, they only hinted at Climax and said that Hwijin was going to meet his close siblings.

Because of the schedule we announced, the fans would know anyway and there would be speculative articles on the entertainment news, like [Who are Floss Hwijin’s close siblings?].

It would be better for us to get more attention by playing coy. Surprise, Hwijin’s close siblings were Climax! We couldn’t miss the chance to shock them.

“When I count to three, open the door.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah…!”

After checking each other’s expressions, I opened the door with relief.

“Hello!”

The five voices of us, including Seong-won for once, greeted them with enthusiasm. In front of us were…

“Huh?”

“Hi!”

“Hello.”

Hwijin, who was smiling brightly like a friendly brother for the broadcast, and…

“…”

Shim Naru, who had a slightly dissatisfied expression on his face.