Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 223 Do it well

“What’s the problem?”

I asked, looking down at Yi-jun, who had his eyes narrowed and his lips pouted. He didn’t answer.

It had been five days since we started working on the eight-member single song. Yi-jun had been holed up in the studio and showed no signs of coming back to the dorm.

The other members also had busy schedules with auditions and personal activities, so we barely kept in touch through the Y app. Even then, we only chatted for about ten minutes about our daily lives and hung up.

Anyway, I wasn’t comfortable with him staying in a building without heating in this freezing weather.

I thought I should bring him some food, so I packed a lunch box and went to the studio, but he hadn’t even prepared the basic beat yet.

“Hmm… Usually, I just look at the concept and bam, I get an idea and snap, it clicks…”

“Speak clearly.”

“Should I say I have no inspiration?”

“Do you need some kind of trigger to get inspiration?”

Unlike me or Kyunghwa, who did basic market research and selected a target and planned concretely, Yi-jun tended to rely on spontaneity.

Sometimes he made amazing leaps from nothing to something, and I wondered if he was a genius.

But when he didn’t have a striking idea, he suffered a lot.

“Since we have our own concepts, why don’t we try to match them with similar images?”

I showed him the image concept made by the content team, but he still made a dissatisfied sound and shook his head.

“I still don’t get it.”

“You’re so picky.”

The image concept I showed Yi-jun was a collage of synthetic images based on the information we had researched, one for each member, a total of eight.

‘Imagine you’re an ordinary student and you’re looking for a part-time job to prepare a gift for your long-time crush on graduation day.’

When I asked them to choose an image concept according to the given concept, the answers were very diverse.

‘A shopping mall model?’

That was Naru. He made a cute face, puffing up his cheeks as he answered, but no one reacted.

‘An office job would be the best, I think…’

That was Hwijin. He was older, so it was hard to fit him into a part-time job that late teens or early twenties would do.

‘Me, I wanted to try working at a bakery!’

That was obviously Seon-woo. He suited it well… He would look cute with an apron and a beret. But it would be a bit troublesome for the employer if he hoped that his favorite bread wouldn’t sell and be left over.

‘A bookstore or… a library work-study student?’

Kyunghwa also chose something that matched him well. He had the vibe of a school library senior, as people often said.

Maybe he knew that and chose it. He was a diligent researcher, so he wouldn’t be unaware of his image among the fans.

‘I wanted to try working at an amusement park.’

And that was Yu-geon.

‘The most thrilling vertical drop in Korea, Y Express! Come on, experience the most exhilarating drop right now! The exit is over there~.’

He imitated it quite well, and I thought he would be a good guest for a job experience show later.

Seong-won wondered why he had to work part-time. Couldn’t he just manage with his allowance? He had a strange question, like someone who had never thought about dating.

I tried to make Seong-won understand why we had to date, but he gave me an absurd answer that he didn’t see the point of dating at all.

“You should just live alone for the rest of your life.”

Everyone gave up on trying to persuade him and turned away. That’s when Hwijin made one last attempt.

“Um… what if you had someone you wanted to impress because they helped you a lot. And the favor you owed them was so big that you had to work part-time to pay them back somehow?”

The topic of dating was dropped, so it was already off the concept, but anyway, Seong-won seemed to feel the need to work part-time.

“Um…”

He stopped answering and started staring at me blankly.

“…?”

I didn’t know what he meant or what he was planning, so I just looked back at him. Then he suddenly asked me.

“You don’t seem to need much…”

“Huh…?”

Hwijin, who was next to me, frowned as if he was disappointed that this also failed.

What? Did he have some intention?

Seong-won scratched his head and opened his mouth as if he wanted to end this quickly.

“I’ll be a shopping mall model too.”

It didn’t seem to suit his personality, but he had such a superior face, height, and proportions that he looked good in anything.

“Then you’ll overlap with Naru.”

Because of Kyunghwa’s remark, we went back to square one and decided to go with the majority opinion. Seong-won ended up working at a flower shop.

“Why a flower shop of all places?”

Seong-won asked as if he didn’t understand, and everyone answered at the same time.

“Because it suits you the best.”

And the only one left was… Yi-jun, who chose to work as a quick delivery part-timer with his strong will.

“Do you have a motorcycle license?”

“Yeah. I don’t ride it these days because my grandma worries about me.”

His rebellious image matched well with the job, so everyone agreed without much objection.

“So what are you going to do, hyung?”

It was my turn last. Well… I wondered if it didn’t fit my Thousand Age image, but if I had to choose, I’d say working at a barbecue restaurant was the best.

The hourly wage was higher than other food service jobs, and I could work hard in the evening after going to school during the day. It was the best option, wasn’t it?

I cautiously voiced my opinion, but the members were divided.

“Wouldn’t it be better to have something cleaner for the concept photoshoot?”

That was Kyunghwa and Hwijin’s opinion.

“But there might be a lot of people who have a fantasy about working at a barbecue restaurant. As long as you have a good body and a handsome face, that is.”

That was Yi-jun’s opinion. Well… I did get some attention, so I wasn’t unpopular, but…

For the sake of harmony with the other members, I reluctantly changed it to a cafe part-timer.

That’s how we made eight concept images. We hadn’t started shooting yet, but the images that were made by simple editing based on our previous works looked pretty realistic.

“Ugh…”

I felt frustrated as I looked at Yi-jun’s expressionless face.

“Why don’t you go out and get some fresh air? You won’t be able to write any songs if you stay cooped up like this.”

We were making good progress on everything except the music, and the concept poster shooting day was just around the corner.

“Should I? Maybe some cat treats would cheer me up.”

Yi-jun sprang up and quickly dressed in his thief-like fashion. Then he took out a bunch of vacuum-packed chicken breast snacks from the cupboard.

“Do you have to give them so much?”

I asked, surprised by the amount, and Yi-jun looked at me with a matter-of-fact expression.

“Yeah. You’re coming too, right?”

“Huh? Me too?”

I tilted my head in confusion and Yi-jun nodded.

“You have to come with me. We’re a team, after all.”

“What nonsense.”

I floundered like a fish out of water, but soon I found myself shivering and wandering the streets at night.

“Let’s hurry up and feed them and go back.”

Yi-jun had a bag full of hot packs and a water bottle in his hand. He patrolled the area like he did when he first came to the studio, breaking the frozen water and refilling it with fresh water.

“Wait a minute. I need to change the hot pack below.”

He cleaned up the feeding station that he had set up in a secluded place so as not to bother the other residents. Then some cats appeared from somewhere and meowed from a distance.

“Okay, I’ll give it to you soon…”

Yi-jun quickly opened the packages and tossed the contents in front of them. The cats each grabbed a bite and disappeared somewhere.

It seemed that even the cats had a hard time eating chicken breast on the street in this winter.

“Huh, what’s that? A new face. I’ll have to take him to eat pork cutlet sometime.”

Yi-jun checked the newly arrived cat and continued to distribute the snacks.

As I watched the furballs regain their appetite, I thought of the ones at home.

“Give me one of those.”

I reached out to Yi-jun and indicated that I wanted to take one separately. Yi-jun chuckled.

“What, why are you laughing?”

I frowned as if I was annoyed and Yi-jun casually answered.

“Aeongi will take care of his own snacks. He won’t let you feed him that.”

I could easily guess who he was talking about without him specifying.

“Aeongi has enough food, so just play with him when you have time.”

I felt embarrassed by Yi-jun’s words and turned my head away. After finishing our night walk, we returned to the studio. Yi-jun seemed to have cleared his mind and started to work on his program again.

“Do you have any ideas now?”

I asked him as I turned on another heater. Yi-jun hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

“A little?”

Soon, the program that had been blank before started to fill up.

“Don’t think too hard. Just make something that suits your concept and what you wanted to do.”

I wondered if I had given him a bad topic by throwing him something random that came to my mind. But then Yi-jun nodded as if he understood.

“Okay, okay. I’ll try. You should go back first. They’ll be worried if you’re late. I’ll go to the dorm tomorrow.”

He said he would go tomorrow, not today, so he probably planned to spend the night at the studio. There was no need to bother him when he was on a roll. I quietly closed the studio door and left.

And the next morning at 5 a.m.

[YJ] Done. 5:01 a.m.

[YJ] (Attached file) 5:03 a.m.

I woke up groggily around six o’clock for my schedule and checked my phone. There was a file sent by Yi-jun in the group chat.

Only three people had read it, probably because it was still early.

One was Yi-jun, one was me… Who was the other one? I wondered briefly.

I went to the living room and saw that everyone else was still asleep.

Then it must have been a Swift member who saw it. As I stared at the screen, Hwijin sent an emoticon.

[H] (emoticon) 6:21 AM

It was a yellow bear giving thumbs up with both hands.

Yi-jun replied with another emoticon as he opened the door and entered the dorm.

It was a fluffy sheep that looked like an alpaca, also giving thumbs up.

[YJ] (emoticon) 6:23 AM

“Are you back?”

He casually patted Pposili, who was wagging his tail and panting quietly at the entrance, with the back of his hand and quickly went to the bathroom to wash his hands.

“Hey, I made a rough draft, so listen to it and give me your feedback. I’ll finish it by tomorrow.”

“That fast?”

“It’s not like the quality improves by holding on to it for too long, you know?”

He had worked hard for a week and brought it back in a few hours. I was amazed by his brain structure, but the song was pretty good.

“I’ll record new sound effects later and change them all. For now, I just used what I had.”

The intro started with a signature sound that reminded me of the old 8-bit game era, followed by a knock-knock sound. It was quite impressive.

The balance was well done overall, and it was exciting without being too overwhelming.

“Nice.”

As soon as the short comment came out of my mouth, Yi-jun collapsed on the sofa.