Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 226 I can’t help but be nervous

“What’s with that… unpleasant expression?”

When I asked him with a twitch of my eyebrows, Kyunghwa tried to fix his thoughtful face and answered.

“I’m just a bit nervous.”

I didn’t know if it was because of the audition he got in a hurry. The gap between the role confirmation and the first shooting was so short that it made me wonder if it was okay.

When I looked into it, I found out that he filled in for someone who dropped out. To be honest, I could say he was lucky, but…

I didn’t tell him because he would feel like digging a hole and hiding if I told him everything he did was like that.

There’s no guarantee that luck will always follow, but when luck is on your side, it’s best to take your place confidently and stay there.

I patted Kyunghwa’s shoulder and cheered him on.

“You’ve always been interested in acting, right? It’s not a big role from the start, so do your best.”

As I said, the role Kyunghwa played in the early episodes was about a neighbor1 near the house where the female protagonist lived.

At first, the story progressed around the main male protagonist, and when the male and female leads became close enough, his role became an obstacle, so to speak.

In the original work, he was famous as a puppy-like younger man, and there were quite a lot of requests to change the ending for him.

‘It’s a web drama… I guess it’s hard to get as much attention as a regular drama.’

Basically, since the target overlaps with the idol fandom, he could hope for a good publicity effect. Kyunghwa was a guy who did his best whatever he was given, so I cheered him on from the side, hoping that luck would follow him.

“I’ll, do well…”

He seemed to think that he owed me more since his father’s incident, so I didn’t want to pressure him more.

“Let’s eat first.”

At times like this, it’s best to turn your attention elsewhere.

As soon as I got home, I sliced the salmon I had prepared in advance thinly like a poached egg and put a lot of vegetables and cream cheese on top of the bagel.

The salad I ate with it was also different from usual, and I changed it to ranch dressing for a change of mood. I added potato soup to make it more impressive.

“What, you didn’t order chicken?”

When Yi-jun made a big fuss about the fact that it wasn’t meat, I had no choice but to cut the chicken tenders that I had fried in the air fryer until the oil was gone.

“Chicken and tenders are different.”

“If you want to lose that too, say more.”

“Thank you.”

I sat Yi-jun down with Seongwon and chewed on my share of the bagel.

It was delicious as always. It would be nice to wash up and rest like this, but…

“Whoever finishes eating first, go wash up and come out. We have to continue our talk about the song.”

I couldn’t just rest until the day was over.

We took turns using the bathroom and gathered around the sofa, and Yi-jun brought his laptop and played the first draft.

We all listened to it once in the morning, but it would feel different when we woke up from sleeping and when we were clear-headed.

We all listened quietly for a while, and Seon-woo raised his hand first.

“Oh.”

When Yi-jun gave him the floor as if to ask him to speak, Seon-woo smiled brightly.

“I think it’s good to confirm it as it is!”

“No, that’s a meaningless comment.”

Yi-jun smiled, not hiding the fact that he was grateful but it wasn’t helpful at all.

“Ah… do I have to point out something?”

“It’s not that, but now is the time to talk about the improvements, right?”

As we talked among ourselves for a while, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten something important.

“Guys, we didn’t care about Swift.”

We were an eight-member group, so it wasn’t a big deal to reflect only our opinions. I hurriedly sent the song to the group chat where the three of them were.

“I should have asked before we parted.”

It was the first time for us to work with a member who didn’t share the same accommodation, so we weren’t used to it yet.

“Ah, there’s a reply.”

“What did they say?”

Yi-jun stuck out his lips as if he didn’t like something and showed us the content on the TV screen connected to the living room.

[H] It’s good overall, but the balance is a bit unstable and the heavy beat is too jarring after 2:03. I think it would be better to press it with vocals or trim it more neatly. 9:17 PM

[YOU] Oh… nice. 9:19 PM

[YOU] But there seems to be a high-pitched part, is this a part you put in thinking about the distribution? 9:20 PM

[□] It seems okay? 9:21 PM

“But they’re all okay with it, right?”

As I opened my mouth to summarize the overall opinion, Yi-jun stared at the instrument version he had printed out on the score as if he was lost in thought.

“What… what’s the problem?”

Kyunghwa seemed to have noticed that something was off with me and whispered in my ear.

I also answered him in a low voice that only he could hear.

“I don’t know. Is it such a bad thing to say that the balance is unstable and that he should think about the parts?”

Hmm… Maybe he would understand if I said it was not composing but developing a new menu. But since his advice was not unreasonable, I didn’t understand his reaction at that moment. Yi-jun suddenly lifted up the sheet music that he had diligently marked with a sharpie to the ceiling.

“It’s done!”

“Wow.”

Yi-jun, who made a loud noise that surprised Seon-woo, who was sitting next to him, pushed the sheet music toward the rest of the members.

“It’s done!”

So what’s done? As everyone was confused and checked the sheet music that Yi-jun handed out, the names of the members were marked on each measure.

“Did you already divide the parts?”

Don’t you usually decide the parts after the lyrics are all done? I asked in a slightly puzzled state and Yi-jun nodded vigorously.

“Yeah. Some parts I wrote thinking that someone’s voice would suit better from the beginning. You noticed right away.”

He was thinking, not feeling bad. I nodded with relief.

“Then how about we write the lyrics ourselves like last time and narrow down a few candidates for each part and vote and polish them?”

We had to share it on the group chat and get Swift’s opinion, but if we agreed on our side, it would be more than half.

“Okay~.”

I thought Yi-jun, who composed the song from the beginning, would be eager to write the lyrics himself, but he agreed easily and the agreement ended quickly.

The guys from Floss must have agreed too. If we do well, we can start recording from next week. As it was resolved in a flash, I wanted to finalize the schedule right away.

“Then when can you give me the final Inst version?”

Then Yi-jun smiled and answered.

“Tomorrow morning?”

And he immediately started to prepare to go to the studio. Everyone was stunned and doubted their ears, and Kyunghwa, who came to his senses first, grabbed Yi-jun and asked urgently.

“Are you serious? Not kidding?”

“Yeah. I got the direction, so I just need to fix it. Tomorrow morning is enough.”

Anyway, he had a weird quirk.

“Leave him alone, he’ll do what he can.”

Yi-jun made an OK sign with his hand and immediately hailed a taxi and left for the studio. The living room was silent.

“Let’s finish the rough draft of the lyrics today and go to bed.”

At Kyunghwa’s suggestion, everyone picked up their pens enthusiastically and Swift also replied that he would try to prepare as soon as possible despite the late hour.

It was crazy every day, but compared to when we had nothing to do and were lying around, everyone was full of energy.

‘Let’s adjust well so we don’t get burned out from being too busy.’

I shared the lyrics I wrote as a draft on the group chat and went to bed, and I had a lot of thoughts again.

‘Kyunghwa got his personal schedule, and Seon-woo and Seong-won have room to put in one more personal schedule.’

Neither of them had a direction that came to mind.

‘Solo… A single wouldn’t be bad, but the release timing is messed up, so not yet.’

As I thought about this and that, it was quite late to fall asleep again.

‘Let’s go to sleep quickly.’

Hoo, as I sighed deeply, I heard Seon-woo’s sleep talk.

“Hmm…”

That’s right, maknae. I’m glad you look happy. I swallowed a chuckle and closed my eyes.

“Is Ise hyung coming with us today?”

As I stood in front of the entrance and adjusted my clothes, which were dressed in a simple semi-formal outfit, Seon-woo followed me to the entrance and asked.

“Yeah. I was curious about the drama set, and I’m going with him on a field trip.”

“You don’t have to come.”

Kyunghwa spat out a sentence with ‘I’m not a kid.’ omitted and grumbled.

“I’m worried about you, and I’m just curious about it.”

Today, I acted as if I would be his daily manager and got in the driver’s seat and drove the car.

The filming site was not far from Seoul.

‘Well… It’s better than a local location, if it’s a general office or a residential area.’

We arrived at the professional filming area where the indoor shooting studios were gathered, parked the car in the parking lot, and entered the set. Most of the staff were already on standby.

“Hello, I’m Ryu Kyunghwa!”

Kyunghwa went in first and bowed his head and greeted the woman who looked like the director. The middle-aged director with glasses smiled warmly and welcomed him.

“Welcome. There’s a waiting room over there, so get ready. Ye-rim is over there too.”

“Thank you!”

I also followed suit and greeted briefly and moved to a place where the actors above the supporting role seemed to be waiting. There were a few chairs spread out.

“Kyunghwa, did you get your hair and makeup done at the salon?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Then come this way and change into your costume.”

As Kyunghwa was dragged to the dressing room by a staff member, holding a pajama-like outfit, I looked around the set.

The main cast for today’s shoot were the female lead, the male lead, and Kyunghwa.

The scene scheduled for today was Kyunghwa’s first appearance and the start of the misunderstanding.

The male lead, who was worried about the female lead who didn’t answer his calls after working late and having a dinner meeting the night before, came to her house early in the morning.

The sub-male lead, who came out of her house in a clearly slept-in outfit.

The two who ran into each other by chance. The misunderstanding that began.

Of course, the role that Kyunghwa played, the sub-male lead, was just a neighbor who had known her for a long time and came to shower at her place in the morning because his boiler was broken…

I finished my thoughts and started to look around.

‘Then… there must be some lead actors around here.’

They were both idols. I couldn’t remember their names properly… I was checking the synopsis I received when I signed the contract when one side of the set became noisy.

“Don’t touch my body, I told you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Do you think I like saying mean things to others? It’s not like I asked for something difficult. Ugh… really.”

What was that? It looked like an actor who was barely in his twenties snatched the coat that a staff member was holding and stomped towards the waiting room.

“…?”

Don’t bother me when I’m in a bad mood. The actor who seemed to radiate energy from his whole body was the main actor and the female protagonist of this drama…

‘Was her name Jeon Hye-na?’

Her stage name was Henny. No wonder she had a siren-like aura. I quietly moved aside.