A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 26

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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 26

“At least this time the music video won’t turn out like . If the stage costume is a high-teen concept, it won’t be at least the SpongeBob SquarePants white jumpsuit or that horrible gothic-goth hybrid look Eden hyung mentioned.”

Kim Dobin scoffed at Ryu Jaehee’s relieved words.

“Hey, we’re dealing with Kim No-dap here. Kim No-dap who dumped choreography direction on me! Kim No-dap who listened to that song and came up with multiverse dimensional thief tag!”

The CEO’s long-standing nickname that fans used came out of Kim Dobin’s mouth.

It was very high school student-like to give teachers nicknames first thing.

But such hostility. As expected, it only added fuel to my suspicion that this guy received a sponsorship offer.

When I stared at him intently, Kim Dobin visibly flinched and sprang up like a spring, then awkwardly smiled saying let’s practice choreography and hurriedly turned on the AR.

That bastard…

The choreography practice routine was the same as usual.

Kim Dobin learns the choreography first and corrects even the unnatural parts.

Then Ryu Jaehee, who learns the choreography second, shows off in front of Gyeon Hajun and me by following along with the parts we stumble on, until he gets hit with an empty water bottle and subdued.

And once Gyeon Hajun and I finish learning all the choreography, the four of us lean against the mirror and watch while giving advice here and there until Seo Yehyeon’s movements, somewhere between writhing and rhythmic motion, reach a level that could at least be called choreography.

“As expected, the creator of new choreography. There was no such choreography before, when did you create it?”

I clapped and uttered the nickname and exclamation that fans had given him.

Seo Yehyeon, who was cursing with his eyes since he didn’t have the energy to curse verbally, plopped down in his seat.

I clicked my tongue and threw a water bottle at him.

Seo Yehyeon gulped down the water from the bottle, finally caught his breath, and grumbled.

“Don’t be sarcastic and just tell me what I’m doing wrong.”

“Would you get upset again if I said it’s a total disaster?”

“You already said it’s a total disaster, damn bastard.”

Seo Yehyeon grumbled, but fortunately his initial intentions meter didn’t decrease.

It seems if I speak directly, the initial intentions meter decreases, but if I speak indirectly once and guide Seo Yehyeon to interpret it himself, it doesn’t decrease.

…Why do I have to analyze that person’s mood scale? Damn initial intentions meter. That fucking discord instigator.

* * *

YDC Entertainment contacted us.

When I was guided into the spacious studio’s work room, I saw equipment that was outdated by my standards but fairly cutting-edge for this era spread out everywhere.

It was incomparably better than Yongcheol hyung’s studio.

Of course, it couldn’t compare to my studio from before regression.

A man wearing yellow sunglasses spun his chair around at the sound.

His eyebrow piercing glinted silver in the light.

I immediately bowed politely toward the man getting up from his chair and approaching.

“Hello, I’m Rev’s Yoon Eden. Please take care of me.”

“Oh, right. So you’re Eden? I’ve heard a lot about you from Junbeom.”

I shook the extended hand and looked at him.

Producer G1. Real name Lee Jiwon.

He’s already a well-known producer now, but 7 years from now he’ll become a powerhouse who makes a name for himself as the success formula of the K-POP scene.

Seeing his younger face than in my memories made me feel strange as it reminded me anew that I had traveled back in time.

Following his guidance to sit in a chair, Lee Jiwon handed me a paper with lyrics and clicked his mouse before speaking.

“We didn’t send you the music source separately due to leak risks, so you haven’t heard it yet, right?”

“Yes.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a familiar melody rang out from the speakers.

As expected, expensive speakers had different sound quality. The crappy rental recording studio speakers were no match.

The music source was played twice in total.

Once with the featuring rap part processed as a guide, once with it left empty as MR.

“How is it, getting a feel for it?”

When I nodded, he gestured toward the recording booth.

“Then let’s go straight into recording.”

“What? Right now? I mean, aren’t there any particular points to be careful about…”

“Just sing however the fuck you want. It’s not like the song was written with rap in mind from the beginning anyway.”

The version with just MR without rap was definitely better.

Scratching my head, I recalled why rap featuring had to be included in this song.

I think Seo Raon revealed in an interview that she wanted to try putting rap featuring in her song once.

With Seo Raon’s level of experience, even if the producer was G1, he couldn’t help but accommodate her opinion.

“As you can see, the part isn’t very long, so let’s finish the work within three days.”

Seeing those indifferent eyes with no expectations whatsoever, I felt some inexplicable defiance rising up.

I opened the recording booth door, went in, put on headphones, and stood in front of the pop filter.

The part given to me was just a few short bars lasting 25 seconds.

25 seconds is plenty of time to grab people’s attention.

As soon as the MR started flowing, I immediately chopped up the beat and spat out the lyrics.

The lyrics proved it wasn’t a song written with rap in mind, as there were no rhymes or punch lines at all.

[Stupidly, habitually, I estimated

What kind of ending we would face]

As the last verse ended, the MR also cut off abruptly.

I smiled smugly at the gaze staring at me through the booth glass.

“I’ll definitely finish within three days.”

As soon as I came out of the recording booth, Lee Jiwon handed me water along with these words.

“I had zero expectations. I could really feel the fucking underground vibe in your group’s music sources and your underground era work. Still, you were the best among them so I picked you for now-“

Of course. Those two were work from before regression. I never expected this guy to look up recent music show videos anyway.

Lee Jiwon looked me up and down, adjusted his crooked sunglasses, and asked.

“Now all that vibe is completely gone? Did you get criticized somewhere and go into secluded training or something?”

“Ahaha, I did get criticized and tried to improve.”

“Ha, kid. You’ve got potential.”

Got criticized somewhere indeed. I got criticized by you.

There was a time when I worked with Lee Jiwon before regression.

That was probably featuring work too.

[Drop the pretentious act. Grooving like that doesn’t make your flow unique. It just sounds like shit.]

[Is it really that bad…?]

[Yeah, fucking terrible. The type who’s so full of pretense that they don’t even know their skills are shit and will rot in the underground forever praising themselves. Hey, quitting underground and becoming an idol was your best choice. At least you became a snake’s head instead of rotting as a dragon’s tail.]

I had never been criticized for my rap skills even when I was underground, and among idol rappers where Seo Yehyeon-level chanters were common, I was practically top-tier, so those harsh words were quite shocking to me.

For a while I couldn’t rap and could barely hum singing rap, which says it all.

Hip hop was the only pride left for me, who was just a bus-riding member back then.

After that painful advice (whether it was advice or sarcasm), I threw away all the shitty pretense and habits through blood-sweating effort.

That person will never know that thanks to that, I came to be evaluated as comparable to top-tier overground rappers.

Back then, it was possible because my venom and tenacious spirit peaked when combined with cutting ties with underground connections due to misunderstandings.

Lee Jiwon, who falls into the category of benefactor, seemed to view the current me quite favorably as he asked with a faint smile on his tired-looking face.

“Can you come at the same time tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure about that. We’re also preparing for our next activities right now, so I don’t know what our schedule will be like immediately…”

When I scratched my head, he took the phone from my hand, entered eleven digits, and chuckled.

“This doesn’t overlap with your comeback, right?”

“Oh, it shouldn’t. Ours is at the end of November.”

“Then it won’t overlap. Hey, but why are you guys making a comeback on such an ambiguous date? If it’s December, all the music shows will be cut due to award ceremonies.”

“Small company work is all like that.”

Lee Jiwon, who had even kindly entered the name G1, returned my cell phone to me and waved his hand.

“If you have any schedule changes, contact me. Even if you can come at the same time tomorrow, please let me know in advance.”

“Yes, of course. Then I’ll be going first!”

I greeted him energetically and left the Recording Studio.

My steps toward the Practice Room were light, as I had a feeling the remaining featuring work would go smoothly too.

As soon as I arrived at the Practice Room, I spoke a bit loudly about the life truth I had realized from this experience, making sure Seo Yehyeon and Kim Dobin could hear—those who had tried to kick away a good opportunity just because it was a little difficult.

“People really need to live with fierce determination. If you endure just a little hardship, you get it back several times over like this.”

“Get what back? Karma?”

Well, I did get karma back in the form of Initial Intentions.

But you can’t read the context, Youngest Member. If you endure hardship, would you get karma back or blessings back?

“Would it be karma?”

“Then what good thing happened? Don’t tell me it’s the Music Video?”

“Huh? Didn’t I tell you? This hyung got cast as a featuring for Seo Raon sunbaenim.”

“Gasp, Seo Raon? The Seo Raon I know? The Seo Raon who sang ‘Dawn Memory’?”

Ryu Jaehee jumped up and shook me down, asking when, how, why, and how much featuring work I had taken on.

It seemed his fear disappeared in the face of his fan heart.

The reason I remembered ‘Some Ending’ in such detail was largely thanks to Ryu Jaehee, who had set everything from his Cell Phone ringtone to his wake-up alarm to that Song.

I shrugged my raised nose proudly.

“It’s all thanks to me living diligently. Ah, it was tough trying to please him just for that one thing.”

Anyway, that bastard Kim Junbeom’s grudges are disgustingly long. I had to say sorry for not contacting him first so many times.

I looked disapprovingly at Kim Dobin, who was trembling and hiccupping at those words, and now was outright having hiccups.

Why does he tremble like a soaked puppy whenever I say anything?

* * *

The work ended in three days, just as Lee Jiwon had said.

Lee Jiwon, who seemed uninterested in whether the featuring part turned out to be porridge or rice, started adding various additional requirements from the second work session.

And seeing me perfectly catch those requirements and deliver exactly the results he wanted, Lee Jiwon’s obsession with the featuring part only grew stronger.

Since I had memories of working with him once before, it was easy to catch what kind of feeling that guy wanted.

Today was our third meeting.

“Okay, finished!”

The featuring part work was perfectly completed, and as soon as I came out of the Recording Booth, Lee Jiwon suddenly held out his phone to me.

I took the phone bewildered and looked at his face, and Lee Jiwon giggled.

“What, disappointed that the guy asking for your number isn’t a Girl Group member?”

“Hey, hyung. Why are you saying such disappointing things?”

I responded cheekily with a laugh. I’d bet all of Seo Yehyeon’s Chicken Breast filling the Refrigerator that giving my number to a Girl Group member would reduce my Initial Intentions.

I lightly tapped the eleven digits and even entered the three characters of Yoon Eden’s name before returning it, and Lee Jiwon held out his hand to me.

“Give me your phone too.”

Though puzzled, I obediently handed over my Cell Phone and asked.

“But didn’t you give me your number last time?”

“That was my Work Phone, this is my Personal Phone.”

Living long enough, I’ve even received a G1 Personal Phone number.

I bowed my head to Lee Jiwon, who jokingly added not to contact him too often since he gets tired, saying I look forward to working with him in the future.

A new big-shot connection had been added.

Wow, now I don’t have to please Kim Junbeom’s mood to contact or work with G1.

Is this the positive function of Regression?

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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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