Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 230 Unidentified

I felt the floor coming up to my nose in an instant. Thud. I hit the ground face-first, but I couldn’t move a muscle.

‘What the hell…!’

My head hurt like it was going to explode. Transparent status windows popped up in front of my eyes, followed by error messages that repeated themselves.

[&@#Blocking access to the unknown program%^^&$#.]

[ER&*ORCO&&E &%$&]

What are you talking about? The others had gone to their rooms. Kyunghwa on the sofa was asleep in various colors.

I couldn’t budge, but I managed to turn my head and look in the direction where Kyunghwa was lying. Pposili, who had been cuddled in Kyunghwa’s arms, was also gone.

‘Where did he go…!?’

In the blink of an eye, I felt a terrible pain and my body twisted again.

“Ugh…!”

[2&*(34,46$%%

#@3rd external attack attempt&*& blocked ((#@#%]

[Security*&( temporarily shutting down power for @#$*.]

With an incomprehensible message, my eyes were forced shut.

“Umm…”

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a ceiling I had never seen before.

“Huh…?”

Why wasn’t it the living room or the bedroom ceiling? I jumped up in surprise and something jingled on my wrist.

What is this? I followed the transparent liquid going into my wrist and saw what looked like vitamin drips hanging down.

Am I hospitalized? I looked around in shock and the new manager came in through the door.

“Ah, please lie down a little longer. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard lately… I thought there might be some rumors, so I brought you here.”

What do you mean you brought me here? I checked the clothes I was wearing and they were patient clothes from a hospital that had a joint venture with Cheon Soo Group.

“These are the clothes you can change into. Do you want to rest a little more, or go straight to the recording studio?”

I glanced at the drips hooked to the device and saw that they were almost empty.

“I’ll go straight to the recording studio.”

I wasn’t that tired. I felt embarrassed and went to the bathroom next to the door to change.

“Did you contact your mother?”

I asked in a panic and the manager answered calmly.

“Ah, yes. I told her you were just getting some fluids because I thought she might worry…”

As the manager trailed off, the door leading outside opened and Vice Chairman Ahn barged in.

“Oh, my, his face is half gone. Are you really okay?”

Ah… I knew it. It wasn’t a partitioned emergency room, but a private room. There was no way Cheon Soo Group’s influence wouldn’t be there.

I half expected it, but it was still embarrassing.

“I’m sorry. I was a little tired and dozed off, but the members thought I fainted or something and were very surprised. I’m fine, so don’t worry.”

I laughed and reached out my hand, pretending to be a good son. Vice Chairman Ahn still looked worried.

“I got a call that my son collapsed. How can I not worry? You’re so careless, kid. Mom’s sad.”

Ahh. I had never received this kind of worry before, so I was embarrassed and wanted to hide in a mouse hole.

“Is it because of the salad business that you’ve been staying up all night? It’s good to try new things, but the most important thing is your health. Don’t overdo it and take it easy.”

It wasn’t wrong, but I really didn’t push myself that hard. I frowned as I recalled the situation before I collapsed.

Something… I saw a lot of red letters. But I couldn’t remember what they said.

What was it… E…R…D… Something like that. What is ERD? Not EDR. I was confused for a moment and Vice Chairman Ahn’s worry poured out again.

“Oh, look at him. Are you really okay? Don’t you need to rest more?”

I shook my head hastily.

“No, I was just thinking about the schedule for a moment… I’ll try to make it more flexible next time. Thank you for your concern.”

Let’s deal with the situation first. I coaxed and calmed Vice Chairman Ahn and sent him away. Then I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

“Let’s stop by the dorm for a bit and then go to the recording studio.”

“Okay, I’ll get the car ready.”

I had a mountain of work to do. I didn’t have time to waste on unnecessary worries.

I couldn’t say I was late for the behind-the-scenes filming because I was sick. The filming probably hadn’t started yet.

‘No way. That’s all content.’

I had to shoot a lot so I could pick out more funny scenes from it. I hurried to the dorm, grabbed the materials, and headed to the studio.

Knock knock. I lightly tapped on the recording studio door and went inside. Huh? Contrary to what I had expected, that the recording would be in full swing, the lights were off.

‘What the hell?’

Wasn’t today the day we were supposed to record here? I looked around in confusion, when suddenly, pop, the ceiling lights came on.

“Surprise!”

“Wow!”

“Woah~.”

And at the same time, seven people who were hiding behind various studio equipment jumped out.

“What is this?”

I stared at them with a bewildered expression, as Seon-woo winked at me with a cake in his hand, as if he was trying to convey something without saying a word.

On top of the cake, a number ‘5’ candle was lit and shining cutely.

“Happy 5th anniversary of Climax’s debut!”

“Huh?”

Today was the 5th anniversary of Climax’s debut? I had already counted last year as the 5th year, but I didn’t know that today was the exact day we debuted.

Yu-geon, who was wearing a cone hat and paper glasses, even though he wasn’t the anniversary group member, set off some fireworks.

Next to him, Yi-jun, who looked the same, blew a whistle that made a sound, and his soul seemed to have flown away.

“Ah, today was the 5th anniversary.”

Then, Kyunghwa answered with a snicker.

“It was supposed to be tomorrow, but since we all got together today, and we’re filming the behind-the-scenes, I thought it would be nice to celebrate.”

“You’ve been working too hard lately, so I thought you could use some sugar. It’s good to work hard, but take it easy sometimes.”

Ah. That’s when I noticed the camera behind us that was filming us. I couldn’t say that I had been to the hospital on the video that would be released to the public. It seemed like they had prepared some kind of cheer for me.

He had collapsed and fallen asleep almost fainting yesterday, but when did he think of this? I chuckled and replied.

“Yeah. You guys did a great job. Thank you to the Swifts for congratulating us too. Let’s try to keep going together for the 6th and 7th anniversary and beyond.”

I unwittingly spoke like a representative, and I covered my mouth with my hand, feeling embarrassed.

And at the same time, we all burst into laughter.

“What was that? A lecture from the principal?”

“Teacher, please end the school year ceremony quickly.”

As they joked around, Yi-jun threw out a serious question.

“We signed a 5-year contract extension, right? For the next 5 years, we’re all slaves to I-se. How many years are you a slave, hyung?”

Hwijin, who was carefully tearing the wrapper of the knife to cut the cake, coughed violently as the arrow suddenly turned to him.

“Cough, inhale, cough.”

As Hwijin calmed his cough, Yu-geon answered nonchalantly.

“I’m 3 years. Naru, you’re 3 years too, right?”

“Yeah. Me too.”

They both preferred shorter contracts, and they didn’t know how the future issues would turn out, so they chose a shorter period than the usual contract.

Of course, there was a clause that said that if there was no separate termination reason during the first period, it would automatically extend for 3 years.

So, on the surface, it was 3 years, but in reality, it was 6 years.

“Uh… I’m 5 years.”

Hwijin unwittingly blurted out his contract details and looked at me with a startled expression.

“Ah. This is confidential, right?”

He had already said it all in front of the camera, and what was ‘this is confidential, right?’ If I was a strict and evil boss, I would have penalized them all for violating the confidentiality clause.

I laughed incredulously.

“You guys are so friendly, violating the confidentiality clause in front of the camera. It makes me laugh at your unique friendship.”

As I laughed without a soul, Seon-woo became thoughtful.

“Ah, really? Are we all at fault? Aren’t we going to get scolded by I-se hyung for that?”

I answered by stroking Seon-woo’s head instead of answering.

“Just know that you all failed to become executives.”

These bastards, really. They messed up the recording too. We started the recording work seriously, along with some playful jokes.

Thanks to the veterans who had years of experience, the only sound that echoed in the quiet studio was Yi-jun’s directing.

“Can you try to put a little more force there? Like you’re scratching your throat. Ah, yes. Good.”

“I’ll try to raise the tone a little more.”

“Ah, that’s perfect. I’ll play it for you, so you can check if it’s okay.”

This time, too, Kyunghwa took 1.5 times longer than the others, and he looked full of complaints, but he didn’t say anything and shut his mouth.

While Yi-jun was recording each member, the rest of them filled out the questionnaire I had written last night.

As I glanced at the early questions, I laughed at how they didn’t differ much from what I expected.

“Why are you laughing?”

Seong-won looked at me curiously and asked. I didn’t need to lie, so I answered honestly.

“Just. It seems like I got the same thing as you.”

Seong-won raised his eyebrows.

“Me?”

It wasn’t just him. The others were the same. Seong-won seemed embarrassed and covered the ISTJ on his result sheet.

But I felt strangely annoyed. He and I had the same personality? No way. This was pseudoscience. I quickly changed what I had said before.

As for Yi-jun and Yu-geon… I couldn’t even imagine them being anything other than ENTP.

Kyunghwa was ISFJ, Seon-woo was INFP, and Naru was ESFP.

And Hwijin, the eldest son of Flos, was also ISFJ like Kyunghwa. How could there be so many attention-seekers with E among eight people? I swallowed my rude impression and glanced at the camera.

The filming was going well… Should I suggest playing a simple game after finishing the survey? Just then, Yu-geon suddenly asked.

“Oh, right. Do you know what’s trending these days?”

I knew what he meant by that. As I fiddled with the survey sheet with the tip of my pen, I looked at Yu-geon and he smiled slyly.