A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Regression Guide for Idols Who Lost Their Initial Intentions Episode 21

“Uhhh, good work everyoneee…”

“Eden hyung, Yehyeon hyung is completely out of it.”

“Leave him be. I’m about to lose my mind because of that guy too.”

The audio recording finally ended safely after I repeated “again” over a hundred times.

Having experience producing various idols before my regression, I expected our members, who had decent skills, would be much less burdensome, but unfortunately, Seo Yehyeon alone was worth a hundred.

Still wearing my headset, I leaned back against the chair and played the completed recording.

A cheerful dance melody flowed through the headset.

[Meet in dreams? Sorry, I have prior plans today

Unfortunately, today’s concept is all night]

The song I once could only hear with other people’s voices was being reproduced exactly as I had envisioned when writing it.

Unable to contain the dreamlike feeling, I burst into delighted laughter.

“Yehyeon hyung, what do we do? Eden hyung finally lost it too.”

“That’s because of me?”

Hearing the whispers that pierced through the music from beyond my headset, I stopped laughing abruptly and gritted my teeth.

Shouldn’t those guys also taste the pain of losing initial intentions for causing discord? Though it seems like they’re the ones causing discord right now, huh?

‘Sigh, this is how I live.’

Lamenting my pitiful situation, I immersed myself in the music again.

Even Seo Yehyeon’s part, which I had worried about, flowed quite naturally thanks to drilling him until he reached the desired level.

The overall quality of the finished product would be an A if compared to university grades. Not quite an A+ yet.

Still, considering my past evaluations that mercilessly gave B+ even to songs I produced, this was well done.

For reference, all of Reve’s songs before regression were D without exception. Oh, was the Mini Album 2 title track an F?

I returned to the dormitory in good spirits and lay down on the old mattress in my room, closing my eyes.

The title track turned out amazingly well, so now I just need to establish a concept that matches the song well…

[A multiverse where souls are split in two by the power of darkness… It makes sense… Yeah, it makes sense but…]

[No, there’s a limit to homage! This is straight-up plagiarism, just plagiarism! It’s a direct copy of Interstellar! We’re doomed! Now we’ll be called plagiarism idols!]

[Wow, I’d rather wear the costumes. At least those were simple, but this is, fuck.]

[My mom would be embarrassed… Should I just quit…?]

Breaking into a cold sweat at the past memories from around this time before regression flashing before my eyes like a revolving lantern, I bolted upright.

“Damn it!”

Intoxicated by the completed music, I had forgotten that we still had one big mountain to overcome.

The concept meeting.

Since the title track was already finished, creating a concept to match the song didn’t seem difficult, but our opponent was the CEO who had brought a multiverse concept even to a song crying out darkness black soul.

The Planning Director was a spineless person who just said “yes yes” to whatever the CEO said, so he’d be no help.

It was the harmful effect of the good-old-boy network combination.

After mentally cursing our damn agency thoroughly, I jumped up and pulled out a notebook and pen from my desk.

I flipped past the page that read [1st Reve Meeting] and scribbled with a computer marker.

[2nd Reve Meeting]

[Subtitle: Mini Album 2 Concept]

“Guys, let’s have a meeting!”

Bang!

I kicked open the door to Kim Dobin and Ryu Jaehee’s room while shouting.

Ryu Jaehee, who was lying on his mattress looking at his phone, grumbled without even turning around despite someone coming to talk to him.

“Aren’t we having meetings too often?”

“If you have eyes, look. Don’t you see it says 2nd meeting? Do you think twice is often? Or can’t you read numbers?”

[Discord-inciting remarks toward members detected.]

[Initial Intentions -1]

Yeah yeah, I get it. I’ll speak nicely.

“My beloved youngest, do you see this number 2? Wouldn’t it be inappropriate to consider twice as often?”

“Why are you being like this, hyung? It’s scary.”

Ryu Jaehee shuddered and looked disgusted at my extremely gentle tone.

If he acts like this even when I speak nicely, do I really have to speak softly?

Seo Yehyeon, who had arrived at Ryu Jaehee and Kim Dobin’s room and was leaning against the doorframe, said dryly.

“Just have the meeting. It’s better than Yoon Eden’s dictatorship days.”

“Hey, this hyung always says hurtful things? When did I ever act like a dictator?”

“Did you completely erase from your memory the cause of our previous shouting match?”

“Ha, hyung, logically speaking, once is oft… My beloved eldest hyung, wouldn’t it be difficult to consider once as often?”

“…Did you eat something wrong?”

Looking at Seo Yehyeon asking cautiously, I carved the character for patience .

Be patient, three patience characters avoid -1 initial intentions point.

Gyeon Hajun, who had rushed over worried we might fight again, pushed both me and Seo Yehyeon into the room.

With all five of us huddled together on the small mattress in the cramped room with a sketchbook in the middle, it felt like we were at some retreat.

Kim Dobin, reading the text written on the sketchbook, looked puzzled.

“But isn’t there a concept meeting soon? Is there really a need for us to do this among ourselves now?”

“Right, it would be better to hear the staff and CEO’s opinions and decide then.”

Gyeon Hajun nodded in agreement. Of course, I understand. That’s the logical procedure.

But unfortunately, logic and reality are different things.

“Do you guys want to shoot a plagiarized Interstellar music video with a multiverse concept?”

The memory of being anxious about being branded as plagiarism idols resurfaced from the deep sea where I had deliberately buried it.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, no one paid attention to a failed idol’s music video, so the music video didn’t become an issue and just quietly passed with 921 YouTube views.

After Reve became popular, even fans treated Mini Album 2 as a non-existent song and non-existent music video, so it was safely buried.

I don’t know if the music video content will change since the song is different, but the CEO’s obsession with the universe worldview was likely to remain unchanged.

Seeing how worldviews became a basic idol concept years later, he seems to have had foresight.

But seeing how all the concepts he insisted on were terrible, he’s definitely an unpredictable person with no sense.

“Why are you so certain? Better concept ideas might come up during the meeting.”

“Hajun, the world isn’t such a positive place. And thinking about the concept meetings so far-“

I stopped mid-sentence.

The experiences of failing to defend against terrible concepts because we couldn’t coordinate our opinions despite throwing out random ideas to block them during meetings.

All of that happened before regression, so the members couldn’t possibly know.

It was quite bitter that these were memories only I remembered.

The frustration of not being united when we urgently needed to block terrible concepts.

The days of wearing those terrible costumes on stage and singing dark chuunibyou lyrics.

The painful memory of eventually developing stomach ulcers from anxiety about being branded plagiarism idols.

The fact that I now have to remember all these fucking awful memories alone is so damn annoying and bitter I could die!

Barely suppressing the surging resentment and irritation, I opened my mouth.

“Can you all endure concepts and costumes even more terrible than ?”

“Could there be anything more terrible than that?”

“We’ve already been trained by sponge lab jumpsuits, so we’re confident we won’t be shocked by any costume.”

I thought so too. Until I saw the stage costumes in person.

“If you can pull off the combination of black feathered outerwear, tacky black shirts with chains hanging all over, gothic pants full of studs and straps, and dog collar chokers, then go with whatever concept comes up in the meeting.”

If was extremely simple, the next activity was extremely too much.

It wasn’t a buried dark history among fans for nothing.

“For a rough guess, that’s way too detailed? You’re talking like you actually saw it happen?”

“In my dream, my great-great-grandmother couldn’t bear to watch her great-great-grandson fail, so she gave me spoilers.”

Perhaps unable to call a dream featuring someone else’s great-great-grandmother a nonsense dream, Seo Yehyeon stopped questioning and shut his mouth.

Great-great-grandmother, I’m sorry for selling you out. I’ll definitely visit your grave this year.

“Since we don’t know what opinions will come up in the meeting, it’s not bad for us to decide among ourselves first and get our stories straight. You all saw the CEO’s judgment during our follow-up song activities.”

Perhaps remembering the CEO who had been pushing over , the members’ expressions darkened.

“That said, I don’t think our beloved members will agree with my opinion during the meeting. If I push only my opinion, you’ll call it dictatorship again. So let’s have a meeting, okay?”

When I shrugged my shoulders, Seo Yehyeon frowned and asked.

“Everything’s fine, but why do you keep adding that damn ‘beloved’ and making a fuss?”

“Why? Adding ‘beloved’ makes what I say sound a bit softer. Don’t you think?”

Looking at me with a reluctant expression but not particularly denying it, it seems to have some effect.

And so the 2nd Reve meeting began.

First, Ryu Jaehee raised his hand high and offered his opinion.

“How about a club concept?”

“Our youngest member, have you been to a club?”

“No. I’m a minor.”

Club concept. Not bad. The lyrics are all about partying all night, and the song genre is dance too.

Before my regression, the group that took this song also promoted with a club concept.

However, shooting a music video with a club concept is somewhat problematic since we have two minors on the team.

And club concepts are a fairly overused theme in the idol industry, so it’s low risk, low return.

“Or instead of a club, how about gathering people abroad and doing a street performance? Like this.”

Gyeon Hajun, who had brought his laptop and was searching for something earnestly, opened a window with a YouTube video.

It was a music video from a senior idol group that had promoted with rap/hip hop genre songs.

Colorful graffiti painted on brick walls and exotic street scenery.

The seniors dressed in street fashion and foreigners gathered in front of a makeshift stage enjoying the musical performance.

It matched our song’s atmosphere and the image was quite good. But the problem was…

“We were so cost-effective with our debut song music video, would we have the budget to go abroad for music video filming?”

I nodded in agreement with Seo Yehyeon’s doubtful question.

Even before my regression, until we made it to the second tier, music video filming was always low-budget domestic shooting, so overseas filming at this point would be impossible.

Abroad? We’d be lucky if we could book Paju English Village.

And domestic filming would be difficult to create that kind of atmosphere.

“Let’s hear the producer’s opinion. Yoon Eden, didn’t you think of any concept while making the song?”

With the speaking turn coming to me, I stroked my chin and opened my mouth.

“Well, I…”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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