A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 22

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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 22

I deliberately took my time to create tension, and Seo Yehyeon waved his hands dismissively.

“What, you really don’t have one? Then who’s the next person to give an opinion.”

Geez, he’s really impatient.

“High teen house party.”

Positive reactions came back to my casually thrown suggestion.

“Oh, that’s not bad? Since it’s high teen, we could insist it’s refreshing too.”

“Yeah, that’s good. It’d be great for shooting a music video and establishing a stage concept.”

“As expected, the original creator should give the opinion…”

Kim Dobin, who had been sitting quietly without agreeing like the others, flinched the moment our eyes met and nodded his head frantically.

Why does he keep acting like that? Should I really grab him and drag him to the agency?

“But among us, only Dobin and I are actually teens, right?”

“If you’re going to say that, then why did you, a minor, suggest a club concept?”

I easily shut down the cheeky Ryu Jaehee with one sentence and continued the meeting.

Using Gyeon Hajun’s laptop, we looked up high teen movies, idol music videos shot with high teen concepts, and pop song music videos.

As we searched through various references and shared opinions one by one, a rough framework was established.

“So now we just need to organize this and present it at the concept meeting?”

“Let’s make a PPT. There’s no way the CEO will be convinced by words alone.”

“PPT?”

“We just need to put in all the opinions we’ve shared and the references we found. How hard could that be?”

“Oh, will you do it, hyung?”

“What kind of bull… shit is that?”

I raised an eyebrow looking at Ryu Jaehee, who was already clapping as if he’d assumed I would make it.

“With my seniority, would I do it?”

[Speech promoting discord among members has been detected.]

[Initial Intentions –1]

“But saying that is a bit much, right? Let’s do rock-paper-scissors fairly.”

I quickly changed my words due to the decreased Initial Intentions again.

My body hurts and my heart hurts too. When will I stop seeing that discord promotion message?

If you don’t throw, you lose, rock-paper-scissors!

As soon as the loud chant ended, I threw rock. And I cheered with my fist still clenched.

“Yes!”

Because all the other guys had thrown scissors.

I leisurely lay back on the mattress and watched the fierce battle that continued like watching a fire across the street.

Kim Dobin was the final loser of rock-paper-scissors.

Kim Dobin, who was staring blankly down at his hand that had thrown paper, muttered with a dumb expression.

“How do you make a PPT?”

“Well, make it as eye-catching as possible…?”

I haven’t made one since my first year of high school either, so I don’t know. The guy who has to make it will figure it out.

“We don’t know when the concept meeting will be scheduled, so finish it by tomorrow at the latest.”

Worried it might have sounded too commanding, I added one more thing just in case.

“Fighting.”

[Speech promoting discord among members has been detected.]

[Initial Intentions –1]

Damn it. Even encouragement is a problem.

I returned to our room with Gyeon Hajun, who had willingly given up his laptop for PPT making.

Seo Yehyeon, who had returned to the room first, was sprawled out comfortably with a face mask on.

As soon as I lay on the bed, my stomach growled, making me aware of my hunger and I licked my lips.

“Jun, aren’t you hungry? Should we eat a bag of snacks?”

The answer came not from Gyeon Hajun but from Seo Yehyeon.

“Don’t eat, just sleep. What snacks at this hour?”

“Ah, hyung, you don’t have to eat. That works, doesn’t it?”

“Do I have a snout instead of a mouth? If you guys are eating next to me, do you think I won’t want to eat?”

The words ‘Do I care? Use your brain and endure it’ rose to my throat, but I held back for the sake of my precious Initial Intentions.

“And if you eat at this hour, you’ll gain weight, you know? Do you have any awareness that you’re an idol?”

“It’s fine. Growing period, growing period.”

“Growing period my ass.”

“Ah, they say men keep growing even after twenty.”

I replied casually and slipped out to the kitchen where the old refrigerator was.

Opening the freezer door wide, I faced a freezer with only a few water bottles and side dish containers rolling around.

The Banana Kick that I had put in the freezer after hearing it tastes good when frozen had disappeared.

Those snacks that had been sitting quietly in one corner of the freezer just a few hours ago.

Seo Yehyeon wouldn’t have eaten snacks after 6 PM, and Gyeon Hajun had been with me the whole time.

Then the remaining culprits are…

I immediately flung open the door to Ryu Jaehee and Kim Dobin’s room.

“Wow, this is proper sugar recharging.”

“Hyung, but is it okay to just eat this without permission?”

I answered Ryu Jaehee’s question as he picked up a snack.

“Of course not.”

At the voice from the doorway, both guys paused with their hands halfway to their mouths.

“Is it tasty?”

When I asked with a crooked smile, Ryu Jaehee quickly stuffed the snack in his mouth and shook his head.

Kim Dobin, who still seemed out of it and was nodding blankly with a snack in his mouth, hurriedly shook his head when the youngest member nudged him.

Since it would look pathetic for me to directly scold them over a bag of snacks, I decided to outsource to someone who could scold them more effectively.

“Yehyeon hyung! These guys are eating snacks at this hour!”

“What? I thought Yoon Eden was the only crazy bastard who would eat snacks at this hour!”

As soon as my shout ended, Seo Yehyeon came running in one stride.

“Hey guys, does that stuff go down at this hour? Can’t you see the calories written on the nutrition label? If you ate a bowl of rice at this hour, people would say you’re crazy, but snacks with more calories than a bowl of rice go down just fine, right?”

He raps pretty well. If only he had done this well during recording, it would have been okay in one take, right?

I took one last look at the youngest line pushing away their snack bags with pale faces and Seo Yehyeon nagging in front of them about reading how many calories it was, then returned with a refreshed face.

This is what they call blowing your nose without using your hands, something like that.

“Anyway, he’s harsh, so harsh. If he’s making that fuss when it’s not even promotion period, how much is he going to torment people during promotion period?”

Listening to the nagging flowing through the wide open door, I clicked my tongue while lying sprawled on the mattress.

“We don’t know when schedules will be set. Like Yehyeon hyung said, we need to manage our bodies consistently.”

“Right, won’t we get solo variety shows or photo shoot offers? Are we too ambiguously popular for that kind of thing to come in?”

When I giggled with a bit of joke in it, Gyeon Hajun chuckled.

“Still, it’s not the worst compared to what we thought, right?”

“Right, we avoided the failed idol path.”

I hope everyone knows that my contribution to that is significant, even if I don’t say it myself.

“When do you think we’ll make a comeback?”

“Since it’s September now, they’ll probably set a relaxed schedule and do it in January.”

I remember making a comeback at the beginning of the year before regression, so it would probably be January like before regression if there were no major variables.

Wait. Before regression, beginning of the year…

[Fuck! They set the debut date like shit and now they’ve set the comeback date like crap too!]

Why did I say this before my regression…?

I bit my lips at the overwhelming sense of dread and anxiety. It seemed like some really fucked up shit had happened.

Seo Yehyeon returned to the room with a satisfied smile, apparently having thoroughly fleeced the youngest members to his heart’s content, still wearing a face mask.

When I turned off the lights, the room was soon engulfed in darkness.

As the time changed to 12:00 and it became Monday midnight, the now-familiar status window appeared.

[☀Starting Weekly Quest settlement.]

[Since all Quests were completed, an additional 3 Initial Intention points will be awarded.]

[Having achieved 80 Initial Intention points, the usage restriction for ‘Item Selection Ticket’ has been lifted.]

Finally, I had met the condition of 80 or more Initial Intention points.

You have no idea how much annoying shit I endured and suffered through to raise it to 80.

They’re saying I actually completed all the Weekly Quests.

This damn Initial Intention stat gets cut down after I raise it, then gets cut down again after I raise it again. What am I, Sisyphus rolling a boulder?

Feeling this again, the youngest kid who did all this diligently without receiving any rewards was truly an amazing crazy bastard.

Since raising Initial Intention points is difficult but losing them is easy, I decided to quickly use the Item Selection Ticket before my Initial Intention points dropped below 80 again.

Couldn’t Initial Intention points drop in just one minute?

[Would you like to use the Item Selection Ticket? Yes/No]

When I selected Yes, four windows appeared.

『 Item 1. 100 Ways to Win Arguments

Description: You will be equipped with dazzling eloquence that can bewitch your opponent.

Limitation: 3 hours/1-time use 』

『 Item 2. Penalty Exemption Ticket

Description: Removes penalties for incomplete Weekly Quests and Sudden Quests.

Limitation: 1-time use 』

『 Item 3. God of Sports

Description: Maximizes stamina, athletic ability, and performance in all sports.

Limitation: 1 day/1-time use 』

『 Item 4. Monthly Music Chart (TOP100)

Description: You can view monthly music charts from the 7 years before regression.

Limitation: Only one month can be selected 』

Wow, not a single piece of trash among them.

100 Ways to Win Arguments would be a huge help for tomorrow’s concept meeting.

The Penalty Exemption Ticket goes without saying.

God of Sports would be perfect for attracting attention at the Idol Sports Championship, not to mention winning MVP.

And lastly, the monthly music charts from the 7 years before regression.

The 7 years before regression would be the future from this current point in time.

It’s an item that could help avoid fierce comeback competition periods and gauge when the quiet seasons are.

At this point before the concept meeting, Item 1 was most needed, but for some reason my eyes kept being drawn to Item 4.

[10 seconds remaining until selection time.]

[10, 9, 8, 7…]

‘What the hell is this time limit for?’

With the rapidly decreasing countdown, I selected number 4.

Since it was an item I had been considering anyway, while I had some lingering attachment to Item 1, I had no regrets about my choice.

I immediately selected the January chart for next year, which was expected to be Reve’s comeback period.

And as soon as I saw the chart, memories came flooding back and I clutched my head and shouted.

“January won’t work!”

Seo Yehyeon tossed and turned, then spoke in a voice thick with drowsiness and irritation.

“Let’s get some sleep!”

This isn’t the time to sleep! I’m the only one getting stressed out again, again!

* * *

The day of the concept meeting.

I let out a short sigh watching Kim Dobin throw a USB to Ryu Jaehee with an extremely confident face, and Ryu Jaehee catch the USB while wearing round glasses as if he had taken on the presenter role.

Maybe because they had a PPT, everyone seemed to be without a care in the world.

Only I, who had taken on yet another worry, was gloomy.

‘Should I have chosen Item 1…?’

I was confident about music since it was my field, but I couldn’t figure out how to persuade them about the comeback schedule.

“Korea is still into shamanism, right?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

I shook my head, habitually ignoring the CEO’s rambling about that damn multiverse concept.

“It’s nothing.”

But what the hell is this detective concept about crossing time and space to catch a criminal, unable to give up on an unsolved murder case that happened at a party?

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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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