Chapter 34

34

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No…."

Seo Ji-won’s eyes widened as he practiced.

Upon closer inspection, this guy was too good to be in such a small, unheard-of agency. His face was as good as a popular idol’s, his singing was beyond question, and his dancing was exceptional.

It was obvious. He must have been kicked out of a major agency and ended up here after bouncing around.

'If I die from suffocation there, it’s better to suffer here.'

He must have thought that before.

Seo Ji-won clearly knew everything. He knew that if he was pushed out of here, there would be nowhere else to go. That’s why he said it was his last chance.

The world is truly despicable and dirty.

But there was no need to bring it up right now.

"...I don’t really understand this part of the pitch."

"Huh? Ho-yun, you? What’s up, pitch machine?"

"Teach me."

Seo Ji-won, who had quickly changed the subject, was now sprawled on the floor of the practice room, scribbling on a sheet of lyrics and explaining with great enthusiasm.

"Here, you need to hit the note precisely. It’s from La to Do sharp. It would be better if we had a piano, but... since we don’t, let’s just listen to it on an app."

'Is it even normal for an entertainment agency to not have a single electronic piano?'

The more he looked, the better he seemed. He was explaining so enthusiastically without any sign of annoyance...

'...I’m a bit annoyed for no reason.'

While reflecting on the conversation from yesterday, he rubbed his forehead. Suddenly, Kang Eun-chae burst into the room with a loud bang, with Kim Sung-hyun, who had a strangely proud expression, by his side.

"Senpais!!"

"Hey, you’re going to break the practice room door. Are you going to fix it?"

"If the practice room door is broken, we’ll just practice with it open. It’ll be refreshing and nice."

Kang Eun-chae approached where Seo Ji-won and I were, plopped down, and opened his laptop.

"I checked it out yesterday. I called and confirmed with composer Im Hyun-soo, and he said it was better than expected. Of course, he also said it was a bit rough... but in the end, he gave it the final okay!"

"Uh, really?"

Ding!

[What passion?]

Kang Eun-chae looked like he was working hard, but he also seemed relaxed and at ease. He always acted indifferent and aloof, but this was the first time he showed such enthusiasm.

"Listen to this. First, our debut single, Glow."

As Kang Eun-chae played the song, even Jeong Da-jun, who had been slumped in the corner, perked up and listened intently.

The song started with a creaking door sound followed by footsteps. The melody that followed was more refreshing and mature than the typical cheerful high school vibe, and the final part had a unique charm and a bit of a twist, which I liked.

"And the second one is our comeback song, Second Chance. No, it should be called Second Opportunity, right? Because of the concept."

Kang Eun-chae smiled and played the next song.

This one had a completely different concept. While keeping the beat that Im Hyun-soo had mastered, it added sound effects to create a more dreamy and nostalgic atmosphere.

The members who listened to the end fell silent.

"Why, why?"

Kang Eun-chae was greatly flustered by the silence in the practice room.

"You don’t like it? Should we make some adjustments? I thought it was good..."

"...Eun-chae."

Seo Ji-won, who had been lost in thought, called out, and Kang Eun-chae’s eyes darted around.

"You... are a genius?"

"Huh?"

"Wow, I didn’t know Eun-chae had this kind of talent."

"Eun-chae, you really did a great job. I can’t even believe it’s our song."

As the praise poured in, Kang Eun-chae slowly blinked and then smiled. He chuckled and put his hand on his chest.

"Phew, I’m scared of my own talent... Maybe I’ll end up composing a Billboard No. 1 hit someday?"

"Let’s ignore him."

"Eun-chae is sometimes like this, but then he stops."

Everyone joked about Kang Eun-chae, who was quickly getting cocky, but the songs were really impressive.

I thought about the stats that had appeared in the system window.

Maybe Kang Eun-chae’s trait is that.

"I listened to Kang Eun-chae’s arrangement first and thought about the choreography. The initial movement starts like this..."

Kim Sung-hyun drew lines on the paper, explaining. Jeong Da-jun, who had been watching silently, raised his hand.

"Senpai!"

"Yeah."

"Senpai, I can’t understand from the drawing."

"...Damn, then stand up. I’ll show you."

Kim Sung-hyun sighed deeply, put away the paper and pen, and started demonstrating the dance. We gradually followed his movements, and soon everyone was in sync.

And I kept getting scolded by Kim Sung-hyun.

"Seo Ho-yun!"

"Seo Ho-yun, your position is not there!"

"Seo Ho-yun!"

"...I know my name is Seo Ho-yun."

"If you know, come quickly when I call you."

"Ugh..."

Kim Sung-hyun seems to have caught Seo Ji-won’s practice bug. I answered silently and practiced diligently, but it didn’t seem to satisfy Kim Sung-hyun.

Well, my stats were like this.

[Viewing Seo Ho-yun’s stats.]

[Seo Ho-yun, a new idol in Shining Star, has recently gained some popularity.]

[Singing: A, Dancing: D+, Variety: B+, ???: ???

???: ???

Charisma: B+]

What changed?

It means it changed from D- to D+.

A very small improvement.

"Why can’t I do it?"

"Maybe it’s because Ho-yun doesn’t have much stage experience?"

"Huh?"

"Why, the feeling is different when you actually go on stage. Maybe it’s because you lack live experience and can’t get the feel of it."

"But that doesn’t mean you can go on stage right now."

"Well, that’s true, but..."

Hey, quest window... give me some help, please. Please...

Just as I was thinking that, a ding! sound was heard.

[Quest arrived!]

[Oh, how pitiful!

This is a surprise gift from the system window, which feels sorry for player Seo Ho-yun. Organize a surprise guerrilla performance and gather 500 audience members.

Success: Dancing D+ → C- Failure: Dancing D+ → F-]

I jumped up.

If I don’t accept this, I’ll be a Today member from now on.

"Guys."

"Huh?"

"Isn’t there a stage we can go on right now?"

Everyone looked at me with puzzled faces.

*** [Everyone, today at 7 PM, join The Dawn’s guerrilla performance at Hoshan Park in Sanghodong!

I’m looking forward to seeing you all!

#The_Dawn #TheDawn #GuerrillaPerformance]

"Let me check the microphone!"

"No, the costumes later! How many people are here? Huh?"

To promote the sudden guerrilla performance, we posted group photos and promotional messages on various SNS platforms, which spread at an incredible speed.

I kept mumbling the lyrics. Lee Ji-hyun approached with a nervous face.

"Mr. Seo Ho-yun, are you ready?"

"Ah, yes, Mr. Lee. Thank you for accommodating this sudden request."

"Haha, I hope it goes well today!"

'If I knew, I wouldn’t have said it' was written all over his face, but I ignored it lightly.

'Lee Ji-hyun is good at his job?'

When I burst into the office and brought it up, he didn’t flinch at all. He handled the SNS promotion and contacted all the relevant venues, securing a simple stage.

A large company wouldn’t operate this recklessly, but sometimes it’s better to be a small and medium-sized company.

"Really. If it goes well today, I’ll definitely tell the CEO and ask for a bonus."

"Mr. Seo Ho-yun... Do you really know how bad it is?"

The probability of an idol who has just started gaining recognition actually receiving a bonus from the CEO is very low. Lee Ji-hyun, who was also at the bottom, knew this. However, as the saying goes, a single word can repay a thousand debts. He didn’t seem to mind that I was trying to take care of him.

Lee Ji-hyun subtly smiled and focused on his work again. I chuckled and looked around. In the makeshift waiting room, everyone was busy checking their parts.

At that moment, a staff member rushed in and opened the tent.

"The Dawn, are you ready?"

"Yes."

As we gathered, Kim Sung-hyun glanced at me.

"I knew Seo Ho-yun was reckless, but I didn’t expect this much."

"Sometimes, you have to step in and take action."

"We’re happy to be on stage, anyway."

"Senpais, senpais."

Jeong Da-jun’s lips trembled. His face was pale.

"Will there be no one when we go out? At least ten people, right?"

"Um..."

"Why, we had a guerrilla performance after our debut single. Did ten people come then?"

"Well, half of them were passersby."

"But it was really touching that five people came."

Seo Ji-won smiled gently. The publicity team was busy filming his smile from the side.

Last time, Seo Ji-won was trembling with fear, but now he was already acting mature.

"Let’s put our hands together."

"Sure. ...But we still don’t have a slogan, right?"

"Let’s do it quickly, at least to get in the mood."

"I don’t like this slapdash management."

Jeong Da-jun pouted and grumbled. We were all surprised that he knew the word 'slapdash'.

Everyone chuckled, put their hands together, and raised them.

"Let’s do our best!"

"Then let’s go."

As we stepped out of the tent, hairspray followed the members.

When we came out, the atmosphere was bustling. The microphone was passed around, and the staff gave instructions to guide us to the stage.

The moment we stepped on stage, we... were honestly shocked.

"Wow!"

"Guys!"

"The Dawn! The Dawn!"

The park was filled with people. The staff, who had been hastily deployed, were sweating profusely trying to manage the crowd.

When they saw us, the cheers grew even louder.

This is...

More than 500 people.

It looked like at least a thousand. Some seemed to have joined out of curiosity, but at least half of them were our fans, waving slogans.

"..."

"Guys, greet them. Greet them."

Kim Sung-hyun quickly regained his composure and encouraged us. We hurriedly took the microphone and bowed.

"Hello, we are The Dawn!"

"Wow!"

After each of us finished our greetings, Kim Sung-hyun, who seemed nervous, licked his lips.

"Thank you for gathering here on such a cold day."

"To be honest, we didn’t expect so many of you to come. We were surprised."

"Earlier, Jeong Da-jun said maybe ten people would come..."

"Aaaah! No, no!"

Jeong Da-jun’s face turned pale, and he tried to stop Kang Eun-chae.

I glanced at the staff and started speaking to the audience.

"Thank you for coming in such large numbers... but we’re sorry that we don’t have many songs to show you today."

"It’s okay! It’s okay! Just seeing your faces is enough."

"Ho-yun! Have you eaten?"

I laughed at the words that burst from the audience.

"I have... As a Korean, I eat three meals a day."

"Ho-yun always nags. He says to eat properly."

"That’s right. Every time we meet, he says, 'Have you eaten?'"

Of course. You have to eat properly no matter what you do.

I shrugged nonchalantly, and then Seo Ji-won took the microphone.

"We eat properly. We hope our fans also eat well. Now, we’ll show you our comeback song, Second Chance."

As the mention of Second Chance was met with cheers, we bowed and got into position.

This beat, which we had heard thousands of times, was familiar. Although the audience couldn’t see it, Kim Sung-hyun smiled, mimicking the cheering method.

Kim Sung-hyun, Seo Ji-won, Seo Ho-yun, Kang Eun-chae, Jeong Da-jun.

Seo Ji-won, who saw this, chuckled and, as the first line of the song began, smiled and launched into it.

[Give me, Give me, Give me Second Chance]

"Seo Ji-won!"

[This feeling, buzzing in my head, say it again.]

I returned, and the cheers matched perfectly.

Seo Ji-won, who seemed to have forgotten all his nervousness, fueled the excitement of the guerrilla performance. He slowly folded his fingers and whispered, unlike on the music show stage.

[This opportunity, I can’t afford to miss]

Seo Ji-won returned, and it was my turn. The cheers were even more overwhelming than during the music show.

I added a gesture of shuffling cards and picked one.

[With low probability, you’re anxious, but you don’t need to be]

"No!"

[I’ll lead you]

It was time for the highlight. Suddenly, the sound that had been flowing crackled and cut off. Kim Sung-hyun’s face hardened.