A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 270

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

A Regression Guide for Idols Who Lost Their Initial Intentions Episode 270

The day of using the producer’s mid-check authority chance.

“Good morning!”

Perfectly formal greetings poured out toward Jiwon hyung as he strode into our team’s studio where cameras were installed.

It was understandable to be nervous since he was a judge and producer who had been giving us sharp evaluations until now.

Of course, I wasn’t particularly nervous since we had met alone just yesterday.

After shaking hands with each team member one by one, Jiwon hyung plopped down in the chair I had pulled out for him and asked, pretending not to know.

“How far along is the work?”

“We’ve just finished the part order and hook, and we have the first recording version ready.”

“Oh, fast work pace. Teams capable of producing are definitely different.”

Jiwon hyung, who had praised me highly, gestured with his hand.

“Then let’s listen to the first recording version.”

The mouse clicked a few times, and the first recording version played.

As expected, it was still a mess when I heard it again. If this had been a Rev song, we never would have let something like this come out as a first recording.

Still, it was sufficient to lower viewers’ expectations considerably before the music source was released.

The song ended, but Jiwon hyung didn’t think to open his mouth to say anything and continued maintaining silence.

As the silence lengthened, the studio atmosphere also gradually sank.

“Haah…”

At the deep sigh that echoed through the quiet studio without a single breath, the team members’ shoulders stiffened.

A chilly gaze swept over us.

“Is this your best effort?”

Even though it was clearly midsummer with everyone wearing short sleeves, that one sentence made the atmosphere freeze cold as if a bitter wind had blown.

Gulp, the sound of swallowing saliva was particularly loud.

Jiwon hyung pressed his fingers firmly against his forehead and spoke in a tone devoid of any humor.

“I don’t know where to start pointing out problems. It’s a total disaster right now.”

The four of us standing in a row glanced at each other nervously. Everyone seemed flustered by the unexpected reaction.

That was understandable since when the first recording was completed, three out of four had been celebrating saying we totally nailed it.

Right, three people excluding me.

There was a reason I had risked my life to get that mid-check authority. Since everyone lacked this sense of crisis, they needed to get hit with some harsh truth to come to their senses.

But if I did it, it could become a source of team conflict, so I outsourced it to Jiwon hyung.

Originally, you outsource this kind of thing. I can repay him with music later.

“Who’s the first verse?”

At Jiwon hyung’s question, Toohyeok, who had been hesitating, quietly raised his hand.

“Don’t you feel anything listening to your own part?”

As the question hit directly, Toohyeok himself seemed to sense that his part was the problem and flinched.

Toohyeok moved his lips as if trying to say something, then clamped his mouth shut, apparently deciding it wasn’t something he should say.

“It seems you’ve been lucky enough to only get beats that match your style while making it through the preliminars, but you need to adapt your style to the beat. Why are you trying to make the beat fit your style?”

At the pouring harsh criticism, Toohyeok bit his lips tightly.

“If you weren’t confident about that, you shouldn’t have chosen this team. Didn’t you listen to the beat and choose it yourself?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

Under Jiwon hyung’s sharp gaze, Toohyeok hung his head and obediently admitted it.

Good, with this I’ve gained sufficient justification to demand changing the rap style.

Whether I clenched my fists behind my back or not, Jiwon hyung’s sharp harsh words continued.

“And I almost turned it off in the middle. It was too boring. If you’re going to connect straight to the verse without a hook, there should at least be some variation. Eden, haven’t you done producing for your group? No, you have. Is this because you think you can be sloppy since it’s a one-time team?”

Oh wow, Jiwon hyung. Really extracting great broadcast material, isn’t he?

I desperately lowered the corners of my mouth to avoid smiling at the arrow directed at me and bowed my head. If I smile now, it becomes irreversible.

“The hook is good, but that’s all. And Eden’s potential explosion in the last minute was good, but do we have to endure the first 2 minutes to hear that? Eden, you’re the group leader. This is teamwork. You need to pull everyone along together, what’s the point of killing all the team members and only making yourself stand out.”

Ah, to even go so far as to specifically target me so the team members would feel some guilt toward me. It didn’t even feel like acting and seemed quite sincere.

I deliberately made a troubled face and nodded while sending infinite gratitude to Jiwon hyung.

As expected, that hyung really knows broadcasting. The experience of being a DTB producer through the years doesn’t go anywhere, does it?

“If you submit this as the final version, this team is guaranteed last place. It’s obvious. This should have been the level of something you recorded once for fun. Not a first recording to be checked by me.”

Now only suppressed breathing and Jiwon hyung’s voice echoed in the studio.

The team members finally became aware of reality from the cold assessment and looked anxious.

Especially Toohyeok’s face, who had been thoroughly beaten with harsh truth early on, was almost black with despair.

“You know this is a music source evaluation mission, right? I listened to the end because I have to give you a mid-work check, but the public has no reason to endure boredom and listen to the end. You need to keep that in mind.”

Jiwon hyung, who gave advice to the end, finished the mid-check. I was very satisfied since I heard everything I wanted to hear.

Of course, only me out of the four.

* * *

“Hyungs, did you hear? Skoen’s team is going to Jeju Island. Yupi’s team is going to the East Sea.”

Skoen’s team had formidable rappers who all had over 500,000 won in fight money, and Yupi’s team had five members so they would have sufficient fight money.

“Oh, Jeju Island.”

“Wow, sounds nice.”

Raizo and I responded in turn with rather unimpressed tones. Toohyeok didn’t even respond.

“We should also decide where to go for our team bonding trip soon. Do you all have any opinions?”

The team bonding trip was quite an important event.

You could create a warm team atmosphere to get favorable points from viewers, or create exotic experiences or luxurious trips to get your face on screen for a long time so people remember your name and face.

But since Jeju Island and the East Sea were taken, unless it was something like marine boot camp level, we were doomed to fail at catching attention with any ordinary place.

The team that went to a glamping site in Season 3 got completely edited out after showing 10 seconds of them grilling barbecue, so glamping was out. Amusement park? Four guys together? Immediately out.

Raizo offered an opinion.

“Let’s just go somewhere as cheap as possible. Like hiking, for example.”

Don’t tell me the reason Raizo chose me on group leader selection day when I was wearing hiking clothes wasn’t because he was moved by my leadership look, but simply because he likes hiking?

This is kind of shocking?

“We’d only need to buy water and snacks with fight money, so it wouldn’t cost much. How about it?”

Seeing him seriously planning the budget, it seems he’s really sincere about going hiking for the team bonding trip. Sorry to Raizo, but I didn’t particularly like hiking.

“Hiking? I’m absolutely against it. If four guys are just silently climbing a mountain, even if I were the PD I’d completely edit out our team.”

Nijeous shook his head vigorously with a genuinely disgusted expression.

“Do you have any separate opinion, Toohyeok?”

“Anywhere is fine.”

Toohyeok spat out curtly. Ever since hearing harsh criticism about his part from Jiwon hyung, Toohyeok hadn’t been cooperating with the team at all.

I could tell it was quite a shock for him in his own way, but I hoped he’d keep it to a level I could clean up.

“Then is it okay if we decide among ourselves?”

“Yes.”

A short answer came back. To have to clean that up so it doesn’t become unlikeable too. The path of a group leader is truly long and rough.

* * *

The day of the team bonding trip.

“Karaoke room…”

When the team bonding location was revealed, Toohyeok muttered with a displeased expression.

“Yes, it was decided to be a karaoke room. With our current team atmosphere, even if we got accommodations to hang out, we’d probably just be depressed anyway.”

Still, I mobilized even the last resort to avoid being completely edited out.

We entered the karaoke room with the cameraman, got a room, and started selecting songs.

Whether they were being considerate of each other or didn’t want to rap even at a karaoke room during a rap survival, everyone only selected ballads.

If I didn’t have my secret weapon, we definitely would have appeared for about 5 seconds and been completely edited out.

If there was no team that spent less money than us, we would have at least gotten the ‘lowest budget’ title, and if there happened to be a team that spent less money than us, we would have been buried without receiving even that much attention.

While we had been sitting awkwardly for a while, each only singing the songs we selected, Nijeous, who had selected a heartfelt confession song, grabbed the microphone as his turn approached and winked at me.

I walked forward to the monitor, carrying the sketchbook I had brought.

Toohyeok, who had been dragged out by Raizo’s hand, stood in front of me with a bewildered expression. I flipped to the first page of the sketchbook.

[Toohyeok, I have something to tell you]

A question mark appeared on Toohyeok’s face as he saw his name written in the sketchbook.

[I kept putting it off and putting it off, but I’m finally conveying my feelings like this]

[I worried a lot about whether these feelings might hurt you, Toohyeok, but it became clear after the mid-check]

It was a sketchbook letter I had carefully written with a marker at the dormitory yesterday.

Page by page, my feelings toward Toohyeok were written there. Nijeous’s passionate singing confession song played as background music.

As the sketchbook pages turned, Toohyeok let out a dazed, hollow laugh.

Fortunately, whether he liked this sketchbook letter, the sensitive aura that Toohyeok had been carrying around lately softened considerably.

[Toohyeok, won’t you try changing your rap style and tone to match the beat just this once?

It would be unfair to ask only you to change, so I’ll change together with you.

Let’s work together for just a moment to create a perfect song]

The final words I really wanted to say were packed densely on one page of the sketchbook to avoid any potential malicious editing.

“The lighting too, and the letters are too small to see.”

At Toohyeok’s words as he leaned forward and squinted to read the letters, I grabbed and led him.

“Come on, over here.”

I placed the sketchbook in front of the camera where the letters could be seen clearly, grabbed the microphone, and began reading each letter carefully and sincerely.

Go ahead and try to edit this maliciously. I’ve filmed every single page of the sketchbook, so I can just post it on my Inbyeol.

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