Chapter 90 of "The Techniques of an Idol Who Never Fails"

"I want to be number one."

As Minjiho suddenly spoke near the end of the meeting, 304 became momentarily quiet.

If we had been lucky, we might have been able to take the top spot in the regular rankings, but with so many strong digital music artists active, we didn't even make it into the top candidates.

It's been a year and a half since our debut. Among the six teams that started with us in The Rising, we are the only team that has never been number one.

Minjiho grabbed my arm and shook it, saying, "Bro, make us number one."

"How can I do that?"

"If you try hard, you can."

Oh, what a headache.

I calmed Minjiho down by saying I understood.

Then, I absentmindedly looked out the window and noticed the clear blue sky, which reminded me of something.

"I've thought of a name for the fan meeting. This time, it's really good."

Hanseok reluctantly asked, "What is it?"

"Pilot."

Seeing no reaction from the members, I quickly added, "You know, like when they throw out the first episode of a drama, they call it a pilot. It also means pilot as in a pilot of an airplane."

Bak Seonjae, looking confused, said, "Why is it good?"

"Exactly. There's no way it is."

As Shin Jiwoon agreed, Minjiho suddenly stood up, ran to the whiteboard, grabbed Hanseok's marker, and said, "When the fan meeting starts, there should be an announcement like when you board a plane. We need someone to record it!"

"Let's record all of them and use the best one."

After Hanseok answered, An Juwon said, "The stage will change during the fan meeting. We'll take off on a night flight, see the sunrise, and land during the day."

Shin Jiwoon added, "There will also be lightning and turbulence in between."

"Jiho, give the pen to Hanseok."

When Hwang Saegil, who had taken the fan from Minjiho who was drawing a plane, said this, Minjiho replied, "Yes," and handed the marker back to Hanseok.

Just as she was about to return to her seat, Minjiho hurriedly turned back and said, "The fan meeting tickets should be in the shape of a plane ticket! For takeoff, it should say 'First Light,' and for landing, 'Sunrise' or 'Sunshine.'"

The title decides a lot. After deciding on the name of the fan meeting, ideas started pouring in from the members.

* * *

Right after Park Joonwoon changed jobs, VMC asked specific questions about First Light's schedule and albums for this year.

However, since the First Light members usually hold closed meetings and only inform the staff after reaching a conclusion, most of the questions couldn't be answered.

Even after joining VVV Entertainment's management department, no one taught him anything or assigned him any tasks. When he asked about the work, he was only told to wait.

Within less than a week, Park Joonwoon accepted that he would never be in charge of an artist at VVV. This was confirmed when a VVV manager said, almost as if speaking to him, "No, if they had sold the kid, at least the higher-ups would acknowledge it, but to steal songs? What artist would trust such a manager?"

He had regretted the leak from the moment it was exposed, but after joining VVV, the regret became even more intense.

Jeong Haeoneun, despite his appearance, was always smiling, kind, and endlessly flattering those he believed were on his side. Being next to such a person and then finding myself alone made the emptiness feel even more severe. Physically, I was comfortable, but mentally, I couldn't bear it.

Thinking that I wouldn't be able to work here for long, it wasn't difficult to decide to pass on the information about schedules and plans from VMC headquarters to Jeong Haeoneun.

The VMC building had strict entry security, but once inside with an employee card, the annual plans were often posted on the walls of the meeting rooms.

I simply took pictures of what was visible and sent them to Jeong Haeoneun, who then called me.

- ...Are you the master of leaks?

"Ah, I feel so guilty..."

- Bro, I'm asking because you feel guilty. By any chance, do you have the CCTV footage from BVM Music? If you have anything the staff member suggested, it would be great.

"Haeoneun, I'm not a spy."

- Still, try. You never know. Since it was a busy day, they probably backed up all the CCTV footage from that day. Anyway, I have to work, so good luck.

"Haeoneun."

- Yeah?

"I'm really sorry."

- Yeah.

And the call ended.

* * *

The comeback date was set for the last week of March, but I still hadn't created a title track.

I had to admit one of two things: I was in a slump, or I lacked talent. Naturally, I decided to call my current stagnation a slump.

The cause of the slump was clear. Since the day I found out that Manager Park Joonwoon was the leaker, my monitor had been empty. Even after the leak, I had still tried to create something, albeit of low quality, but now, for almost two weeks, I had been stuck.

I wished my status window would help me, but it seemed to become inactive unless I achieved something or had an idea.

Fortunately, the A&R team had prepared for the possibility of no songs being produced. The problem was that, as usual, the members were reluctant to accept the songs the A&R team suggested. To me, they sounded much higher quality than what I could produce, but apparently, the members didn't think so.

I put aside the song I couldn't figure out and checked the materials Manager Park Joonwoon had sent me from VMC.

"I chose the wrong career. I should have become a spy."

I muttered to myself. Park Joonwoon had sent me photos of the annual plans for all the channels VMC owned.

To pass the time, I enlarged and checked the materials Park Joonwoon had sent.

"Wow, this plan sounds interesting."

There were some interesting plans and some that seemed like they would cost a lot of money. While browsing, I found a variety show scheduled for October.

'From the Boys (working title)'

At first glance, it was a variety show TRV planned to produce after the acquisition, focusing on boys.

However, since the photo was taken outside the meeting room, the title was blurry, and the details were not visible. I sent a message to Manager Park Joonwoon.

"Bro, can you take a detailed shot of 'From the Boys'?"

"It's hard to take a shot inside the meeting room."

Less than an hour later, a more detailed, high-resolution photo arrived. This reinforced my belief that I had chosen the wrong career.

I enlarged the new photo.

"'The Boys' members will go through a process of overcoming their past pains and forming a team, shown in a mockumentary style."

I checked the detailed proposal and, as I read each line, I felt more and more frustrated.

It was completely designed to attract viewers. The proposal included editing strategies to create suspense by making viewers guess which member was the manipulated one. They seemed to think it didn't matter since the involved parties were either in litigation or detained.

Initially, VMC had framed the manipulation as a personal indiscretion of the PD and themselves as victims.

"No... Damn, what are these guys thinking?"

I realized they weren't even trying to create a good image for the First Light members.

I couldn't understand why they were going to such lengths for ratings. The channel where the program was scheduled to air had recently announced a major relaunch in 2024, which had caused quite a stir. It seemed they needed something controversial to draw attention to the relaunch.

Were they planning to draw as much attention as possible, hoping for the best and not caring if it failed?

At the very least, I had thought that if First Light ended up under VMC, they would take good care of the boys.

But now I realized that wasn't the case.

I looked at the empty monitor again.

I had always thought that while VMC was the antagonist for me, they were at least a necessary evil for the other members. But now I realized that wasn't necessarily true.

To prove otherwise, we needed to reach at least the top candidate position, if not number one. Number one was symbolic. Given the significant influx of new fans during the hiatus, this album was more important than any previous one.

I recalled Shin Jiwoon's words about placing one's will in a place that wouldn't collapse. He had advised against relying on songwriting.

In fact, I hadn't relied on songwriting; I had relied on my willpower. Even though I knew my willpower was half-gone, I hadn't realized how insufficient it was until I saw the empty monitor for two weeks.

I finally called the support team and went to the counseling center for the first time on my own.

* * *

The doctor said I needed strong medication to control my anxiety symptoms, but I couldn't just be a patient, so I only took the minimum prescribed.

Strangely, from the moment I acknowledged that I had a problem, my mind, which had felt like it was filled with rocks, started to feel lighter.

And at some point, a topline came to me. As soon as I arrived at the studio,