A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 297
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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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Regression Manual for Idols Who Lost Their Original Intent Chapter 297
“Why do you keep staying awake at this scary hour when people come in at dawn?”
“You’re scared of a lot of things. Why are you making such a fuss when you’re usually so fearless?”
Seo Yehyeon looked at me like he was seeing some strange creature and scolded me.
“The person who used to strictly keep his sleep schedule saying staying up late makes your skin rough is now chugging 5-shot iced americanos and staying awake – don’t I look scary right now?”
This guy just gave up his greatest strength, his looks! Of course, staying up just one night wouldn’t downgrade those looks, but still.
“Are you trying to share in my song production struggles? Just sleep, Hyung. This makes me more uncomfortable.”
As I grumbled while taking off my shirt, Seo Yehyeon replied in a voice that sounded like I was talking nonsense.
“I figured that might be the case, so I never even thought about staying up for that reason.”
“Then why exactly are you awake?”
“Both you and I barely have time to talk because of our schedules. And you come in at dawn working on songs, so I have to stay awake or what else can I do.”
“What talk? Does it have to be now? In the middle of the night?”
“There aren’t many days left until the song production D-Day. So it has to be now. It’s also related to this comeback’s songs.”
By my standards, this was completely out of the blue. To think I’d end up having music-related conversations with Seo Yehyeon.
“Why would you…?”
At my question that implied ‘why you and not Gyeon Hajun,’ Seo Yehyeon fidgeted and pulled the blanket over his head, then wrapped himself tightly in it.
Anyone could see he looked like he was preparing for imminent violence, which was just absurd to watch.
Anyone would think I beat up members.
“Hajun and you have this thing called consideration for each other, so it would be hard to directly discuss what the problem is, but you and I don’t have that.”
I wished this guy would realize that smirking while wrapped tightly in a blanket just made him look pathetic.
“To put it bluntly, we never had consideration between us from the start, right?”
“Ah, so you’re going to return those harsh words I heard back then, now that I’m failing at my role and groveling?”
I was already tired and stressed because the song production process and schedule weren’t going as I thought, and with Seo Yehyeon picking a fight too, my words came out sharper without realizing it.
At least it was fortunate that my original intent score didn’t decrease for causing discord? As expected, the answer wasn’t for me to watch my words but to make the members’ mentals stronger.
Despite my sarcasm, Seo Yehyeon didn’t even twitch an eyebrow and asked from within the pile of blankets.
“What is your role?”
“Obviously, it’s music.”
“Then let me ask one thing. Aren’t the rest of us people who gathered to do music too?”
“So you’re all going to participate in the song-making process? Don’t you know the saying ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’? Even with just one opinion each, that’s already five different directions.”
There was no guarantee those opinions would be helpful, and I didn’t have the time or leisure to collect and consider each opinion one by one.
When irritation crept into my voice, Seo Yehyeon’s voice softened slightly.
“The right answer might be among those five directions. Why are you so sure there’s no right answer in the other four paths?”
“Oh, that’s really textbook logic right there.”
Seo Yehyeon’s words, like strolling through a flower garden, didn’t really resonate with me. If only the world were that logical and orthodox.
At my indifferent response, Seo Yehyeon raised his eyebrows.
“Then what do you want to do? Do you have another way to break through this situation?”
“Like Jun said, we could give up this time and get an outsourced song…”
My words trailed off as I mentioned the option I least wanted to choose.
“Of course, getting an outsourced song like Hajun said could be one way to break through this situation right now. But from what I see, if we succeed with an outsourced song this comeback, your slump will only deepen.”
The answer I couldn’t even give myself was flowing out of Seo Yehyeon’s mouth with conviction.
“How can you be so sure about that, Hyung?”
It was a question filled with pure curiosity, completely stripped of the sarcasm I’d been carrying.
While wondering how Seo Yehyeon could know something even Gyeon Hajun didn’t, I was curious if the reason he thought of might really be the answer, given those confident eyes that matched his voice.
“Wouldn’t it be like proving you can be replaced?”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
“…That’s the right answer.”
I didn’t want to repeat the past of not being able to give my songs to my own group, and I didn’t want to remain a member who, even if I left like before my regression, wouldn’t be particularly missed and had no reason to be held back except for the loyalty of having carried the team together this far.
“How did you know something even Jun doesn’t know?”
“Hey, how could I not know that? I went through the same thing. No, I’m still going through it.”
“What are you doing, Hyung…?”
What exactly could Seo Yehyeon be replaced in, and what was he doing for that? Could it be the sub rapper position? So that’s why he closed his door and practiced rap intensively?
Of course, it was true that Ryu Jaehee showed more promise in rap than Seo Yehyeon. Kim Dobin… seemed similar to Seo Yehyeon.
But since Ryu Jaehee was the main vocalist, if the youngest member also handled sub rapper, we’d become Ryu Jaehee and Friends instead of Rev, so before I could tell him not to worry, Seo Yehyeon beat me to it and opened his mouth.
“You think I do intense appearance management for no reason? The only thing I can show off in this team is my looks, so if I lose even this visual member position, I’d be nothing.”
I really wished Seo Yehyeon would get some perspective. How could those looks ever be replaceable?
Even if Seo Yehyeon gained about 10kg from his current state and stayed up for about ten straight nights, replacing the visual member would still be impossible.
The saying ‘those who have more want even more’ was never wrong.
“Maybe in our early debut days, but now songs become boring without your parts, Hyung. So it’s not like you don’t have a role.”
Still, I didn’t know Seo Yehyeon carried such anxiety, so I offered comfort in a much softer voice.
“You’re the same way if you think about it. Not just producing but also rap… hmm, there are some groups without rap parts. Songs were fine even without rap parts. Your leader role… what was that again.”
“Haha, funny. I don’t know if you’re trying to comfort me or telling me to go to hell in a roundabout way. Your part is sub rapper, mister.”
“It might make sense if Jaehee called me mister, but isn’t it a bit shameless for you to call me that?”
As always, when the conversation went off on a tangent, Seo Yehyeon brought it back to the original path.
“Anyway, that’s your problem. This isn’t the 1980s, so why are you trying to recreate the patriarchal myth of shouldering the family alone in the group?”
“From what I see, the problem is dining table etiquette. That etiquette seems to make you feel more burdened, so now correcting it by age order would be-“
“Hmm, that’s nonsense. Can I sleep now?”
Where do you think you’re going trying to stage a coup for the head of household position? I cut off Seo Yehyeon’s words and lay down on the bed, but he forcibly sat me up, saying he hadn’t said the really important thing yet.
“You said it yourself. If all the members participate in the song production process, if there are too many cooks, the ship will go to the mountains.”
“Yeah, I did say that.”
“Too many cooks make the ship go to the mountains, but without any cooks, the ship can’t move. Wouldn’t it be better to go somewhere rather than stop in the middle of the vast ocean?”
For the first time, it was somewhat… resonating words.
“Rev’s musicality is you yourself. Without you, we can’t even play the role of cooks.”
So Seo Yehyeon was saying this wasn’t about stealing my role or my position.
Why wasn’t there any burden when preparing the second round song with BQ9? Me giving opinions and matching the direction of the competition song together wasn’t stealing BQ9’s producer role, was it?
The already confirmed second round victory, the competition song direction where I threw in everything I wanted to do – was it going to the mountains like I was worrying about now? The answer was obviously ‘no.’
‘Is this what Jiwon hyung wanted to tell me?’
Is that why he recommended I try DTB to overcome my slump?
It felt like a signpost had appeared in the directionless wasteland, if not a single path leading to the right answer.
I burst into refreshing laughter and said.
“Yeah, let’s try going somewhere at least once.”
Even if I take all the responsibility, maybe, just maybe, like Seo Yehyeon said, the right answer might come from those five different paths.
Because while it’s my music, it’s also Rev’s music that can only be completed when all five of us are together.
“Hyung, thank you.”
I let out a short word of thanks while lying on the bed.
“If you’re grateful, please reestablish the dining etiquette.”
“That’s a bit much.”
The conversation ended on that warm note, and barely five minutes after lying down.
“Hey, Yoon Eden.”
I opened my eyes and responded to the voice calling me.
“What.”
“I can’t sleep.”
“Of course you can’t sleep after consuming that much caffeine.”
I yawned lazily and closed my eyes again.
“Hey, Yoon Eden.”
My eyes automatically snapped open reflexively at another call of my name.
“Ah, what.”
When I responded with slight irritation, Seo Yehyeon rambled incoherently in a voice anyone could hear was full of worry.
“I don’t want to stay up all night, what should I do? Won’t my skin become completely rough and coarse? Won’t dark circles come down under my eyes? Won’t I really look like the mister you called me? Could the reason you called me that earlier be…”
“Hyung, you must have been really frustrated watching me just digging around when the answer to how to overcome this was obvious.”
Seo Yehyeon nodded his head.
“That’s what I’m doing right now. Even if Hyung stays up for ten nights straight, you’ll never escape being the visual member, so put your worries aside and count sheep until morning.”
Since I needed to sleep, I pulled the blanket up to the top of my head as a silent expression that I wouldn’t respond to him anymore.
Just as my drowsy mind was about to fall into sleep, Seo Yehyeon’s voice was heard again.
“Hey, Yoon Eden.”
Why was Kim Dobin’s useless fuss about ghosts dragging you away if they call your name three times suddenly coming to mind?
Well, a ghost and Seo Yehyeon being awake at this hour were equally supernatural.
“Ah, seriously why!”
I couldn’t wake up all the members just to deal with one Seo Yehyeon at this dawn, so I lowered my voice and growled as I yanked down the blanket.
My vision, accustomed to the darkness, inevitably captured Seo Yehyeon’s hopelessly wide-awake eyes. Looking at the state of his eyes, that guy was 100% not sleeping tonight.
“Can’t you stay up all night with me?”
“What, are you keeping me in check, Hyung? Are you keeping me in check because you’re worried I’ll rise to visual member if I sleep well while Hyung stays up all night?”
My goodness, I’m Seo Yehyeon’s acknowledged visual member threat pick?
“Tsk.”
At my sincere question, Seo Yehyeon clicked his tongue and pulled the blanket up to the top of his head.
Why is he reacting like that? Does he know how great he is now?
Just before I completely closed my eyes, a blue status window appeared before my eyes for the first time in a while.
[You have achieved 100 relationship improvement with member ‘Seo Yehyeon’.]
[▶Relationship improvement with members
-Seo Yehyeon(100%)
-Gyeon Hajun(99%)
-Kim Dobin(100%)
-Ryu Jaehee(99%)]
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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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