Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 232 Suspicion

“Whine-.”

For some reason, Pposili whined and groaned more than usual.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

I slipped my hand under his front leg and lifted his thick body with a thud. His heavy torso hugged me tightly in my arms.

“Whine-. Ouch, gurgle.”

The moment Pposili made a sound I couldn’t understand, my head started to hurt again, as if it was being pricked by needles.

And then Pposili did something strange that he had never done before.

“Growl, woof-! Thud, gurgle-!”

What’s going on? Why is he acting like this? He hardly ever barked, except when he was excited. But now he suddenly bared his teeth and went wild.

He jumped out of my arms with a thud, and I looked down at him with a dumbfounded expression, having lost my grip on him.

“Woof-! Snap, woof-!”

I was startled for a moment. But as the headache subsided, Pposili returned to normal. I wondered if there was a ghost behind me or something. It was ridiculous, but I turned around anyway.

Of course, there was no one else in the living room but me.

“Geez. Why did he do that all of a sudden?”

It would have been a problem if he had done that to someone else, but I had no way of knowing why he acted like that.

“What’s up with you? Are you tired too?”

I gently stroked Pposili’s head, who had calmed down, and said.

“Let’s go to bed. I don’t know if the system needs sleep or not…”

I carried Pposili in my arms again and took him to my room. I usually didn’t let him on my bed, but today he seemed off, so I thought it would be better to sleep with him.

“Let’s sleep.”

I made some room for Pposili to curl up next to the bed and covered him with a blanket. He was fluffy and smelled good, even though he was a dog.

“Good night.”

And as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard the birds chirping.

Is it morning already? That’s weird, I just blinked…

Was it because I overdid it yesterday? My throat was ticklish from the chilly morning temperature and the cold.

‘My stamina seems to be improving…’

But I couldn’t rest. I had to eat well, but there wasn’t much time left until Offbeat’s debut song ‘Between Us’ was released.

‘The MV shooting is next week.’

What should I do? As I was worrying, I remembered the title effect.

Was there a skill that could help me with my stamina? I checked the status window.

[Available Titles (16)]

While Shim Naru was still missing, there was only one thing that caught my eye.

[Name: Lee Ji-hyun – Age 31]

[Specialty]

[Buff: <Unbreakable Battery> – No fatigue until the set goal is achieved (up to 72 hours) – Use point 30pt]

That’s 300pt if it’s 10 times. Lately, I didn’t need to use points because I raised my stats to an average of A.

300pt wasn’t too much to spend… As I was pondering, a message popped up asking if I wanted to apply the chosen fate skill as a title.

[Do you want to apply the selected fate skill as a title?]

Lee Ji-hyun – ‘Unbreakable Battery’

[300pt to be used]

I felt like grabbing a straw right now, so 300pt seemed worth it.

[Yes/No]

Of course, ‘yes’.

I nodded and pressed the yes button. The message flashed and disappeared in an instant.

My body felt refreshed in no time.

“Wow.”

This is pretty good, isn’t it? My face brightened up as I saw the applied title effect, but I was also disappointed.

[Applied Title]

[‘Unbreakable Battery’]

[Half the fatigue during the application period]

It wasn’t that I couldn’t feel any fatigue at all. Some fate skills might not maintain their performance, as they had warned me beforehand. This was the case with the first title I chose.

‘But it’s better than nothing.’

The feeling of being chilly that I had a while ago was gone. Good. I have to get things done.

I had a lot of work to do, so I had to keep my mind clear. I made a short resolution and went to the office before my afternoon schedule.

‘They said I didn’t have to come, but… I have to be able to trust and leave it to them.’

Of course, the staff were mostly well-chosen and did their jobs well, but I was originally the type who couldn’t fully trust anyone.

‘If I had to add more, I would say I’m the type who can’t stand still and watch when someone else does something that makes me furious.’

I felt more comfortable checking how things were going myself.

As soon as I got to the office early in the morning to match the other employees’ working hours, as expected.

There was no major problem, but there were a lot of things that I could have done more neatly if I had done them myself.

In the end, I checked the sales status report for two hours and then came out with the final version of the concept poster and the MV script for the release tonight.

The MV direction was basically entrusted to a professional production company, but Hwijin’s ideas were heavily involved.

He had participated in it even when he was active as Floss, and he definitely had a good sense.

‘So far, everything is going well without any problems.’

Now all that was left was to wait quietly and see how the fans would react when the things we had prepared hard were released.

‘I hope you like it as much as we worked hard.’

From Floss’s disbandment to Offbeat’s formation. There had been so much going on that I honestly couldn’t gauge how much success we could achieve.

Three of the Floss members who had set new records in a row after the chart reform were in it, but…

The chart was basically a popularity contest. Unless the fandom was really overwhelmingly large, it was almost a miracle for a male idol to rank high on the music chart.

The reason why Climax’s last single was able to last long and make a hit on the chart was largely thanks to the sympathy of the public.

They work so hard, they do so well, but they still haven’t made it. People who listened out of curiosity and trend gathered and somehow succeeded in a reverse run(?). It was nothing but a fluke.

It was not desirable to hope for the same luck this time.

‘So I clenched my teeth and prepared to suit the public taste.’

The reason why I deliberately chose a concept that was good to play as background music in multi-use facilities was also because of this.

A moderately exciting beat. Bright and cheerful lyrics. A visual that was not burdensome and that even non-fans could think of as ‘exciting’.

We prepared everything, so all that was left was to float the water and rain.

If the other employees or members heard it, they would treat it as a joke, but it was a serious statement.

‘How important is luck.’

How much do you suffer if you don’t have the luck that follows your time and era. Didn’t Climax’s last five years prove that?

I didn’t believe in religion, but I always prayed for luck to follow me in the last step after doing my best.

Some said that the reason why Jo Young Food did so well was because of the child sponsorship business that started as soon as the company settled down.

Well… That doesn’t mean I did good deeds hoping for something to come back. Composition was also planning to follow the same steps after completely separating from Wiplanet, but it was still a distant future.

‘Anyway. I hope it goes well for everyone who works hard.’

With a short breeze and a blink of an eye, the release day of Holiday with Offbeat came.

“Last but not least, please check once more. If you need to go to the bathroom, please go now!”

The staff ran around busily, checking the audio and makeup of each member.

It was hard to find a place where eight people could come out at once, so we gathered at a party room near the company. It was supposed to accommodate more than 15 people, but it was quite cramped.

‘I thought it would be bigger.’

When I visited the site, I considered moving to another place, but I decided to keep it as it was because the interior matched well with the concept poster that was released yesterday.

“Okay, if you’re ready, please sit in your seats.”

The staff in charge of the camera operation for the live broadcast stood in the middle and adjusted the distance between the members’ chairs and started the countdown.

“Okay, we’ll open in a minute.”

Behind the screen, a large screen was installed so that we could read the chat that was coming up in real time.

Usually, they would check it on the spot with their phones or something, but they wanted to give an image of being professional and neat.

“5, 4, 3…”

Everyone was looking at the camera, waiting for the start, and my chest was throbbing.

“2… 1!”

As soon as the countdown ended, the chat started to flood in.

“Huh.”

Seon-woo gasped reflexively at the number of participants and the speed of the chat that he had never experienced before.

“Ahaha.”

“What are you so surprised about?”

Breaking the frozen atmosphere by Seon-woo’s unintentional reaction, everyone shouted out the greetings they had prepared.

“Two, three, Game start!”

“Hello, we are Offbeat!”

How much did we think about this to come up with it? Both Climax and Floss had activity names that were basically related to ‘speed’, so we wanted to keep a similar vibe.

But we couldn’t follow one side too much, and we wanted to give meaning to the number eight, so there was a limit to the ideas we could come up with.

‘8…? What can you get from 8?’

‘Eight lines?’

‘Octopus salad?’

‘If you want to say hello, we are octopus salad, go ahead and try it.’

I was feeling frustrated because I couldn’t come up with a good idea, when I started fiddling with the weird-looking sunglasses that Yu-geon had received as a gift from his fans.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, this. 8-bit sunglasses.”

“Huh?”

“But the bit is not the beat, you know?”

That’s how I came up with the idea of Off-bits, a combination of Off beat, meaning out of sync, and 8bits, a reference to retro games.

I also added a game concept inspired by 8-bit graphics, from the opening concept of Holiday with Off-bits to the use of game images.

I even put Game start in the greeting to evoke the image more strongly.

“I hope they like it.”

As I checked the chat that was popping up, I could see that some fans understood the connection.

[- game? oh i see it’s 8bit!]

[- yaaaaaaay I love it]

[- Love from Thailand~]

[- Wow, their faces are amazing]

[- Aww, look at them sitting together ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

[- imaoo so cute]

[- my adorable boys <3<3<3]

[- yes it’s game]

[- Ah, so cute ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

Why is there so much English? I mean, I knew there would be more English comments and chats as Climax gained popularity, but this was the first time I saw this many.

Unlike the last live broadcast that I turned on without any notice, expecting Swift members to show up, this one was announced in advance on the official account, so there were a lot of Swift fans.

“I hope this doesn’t discourage our kids.”

I smiled broadly and glanced around. Everyone seemed surprised by the difference in the proportion of Korean, but they didn’t look too down.

“This is the first time we’re officially greeting you as Off-bits. How about we start with a brief introduction?”

I kept smiling at the camera and continued with the show.