A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 46

—————
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 46

Although we established our character concepts under Ryu Jaehee’s leadership, the work ahead of us wasn’t over.

There was still the big mountain of year-end award ceremonies from broadcasting stations right after our activities ended.

As rookies who debuted this year, we only needed to perform one song and leave the stage, but the problem was the special stages.

Thanks to being popular for rookies, we had a song swap stage with KICKS at the Music Big Match event held by M Broadcasting, and a collaboration stage with Adora at the other terrestrial event, Music Festival, thanks to Kim Dobin.

Music Awards prefers to organize special stages with groups that have some seniority and recognition rather than rookies, so we only need to perform our new song there.

Same goes for WAMA held in Hong Kong.

And on top of that, I had Seo Raon’s stage featuring added to my schedule.

Even though my part was only 25 seconds, I still had to coordinate some stage movement, so I was scheduled to be called in several times before the event.

Setting aside the featuring since I could just perform at my usual skill level…

“We absolutely can’t half-ass the song swap stage with KICKS. We’ll show them that we completely crush them in terms of skill.”

This was a matter of the group’s pride, and going further, my own pride.

“But thinking about those bastards performing our song on stage makes me weirdly pissed off? Of course they’ll get praise if they perform with a good song. Why should my effort be reduced to a tool for boosting those bastards up?”

As I spoke with a furrowed brow, Ryu Jaehee nodded vigorously beside me, expressing his agreement.

“That’s what I’m saying. Isn’t this way too disadvantageous for us? Honestly, Watch Out is much crappier compared to One Chance.”

“Yeah, I deliberately picked a crappy song. I’m going to completely rearrange and overhaul it anyway, so it’ll be compared to the original.”

I’ll make sure that when you search for on YouTube, the Rev version comes up first.

It would lead to comments on the original song saying “I came to the original after hearing the Rev version but it’s boring ㅠ The arrangement seems better.”

Just imagining the comments on their performance video saying “As expected, can’t beat the original artist lol” brought a happy smile to my face.

“At times like this, Eden hyung seems really reliable, so I feel much more at ease.”

“Oh, so you’re saying I wasn’t reliable normally?”

“No, no comment.”

Kim Dobin quickly made an X with his finger over his lips.

“But the problem is that all of KICKS’ choreography is knife-sharp choreography.”

At Gyeon Hajun’s cautious words, everyone’s gaze turned to one person.

Seo Yehyeon, receiving everyone’s attention, awkwardly scratched his head.

“Since Yoon Eden is doing the arrangement, maybe we could overhaul the choreography too…”

“Even if we change it bit by bit, we need to maintain the knife-sharp choreography foundation. If we want to avoid giving them any ammunition to criticize us.”

Gyeon Hajun spoke coldly and placed both hands on Seo Yehyeon’s shoulders.

“It’s okay, hyung. You can do it.”

“Uh, yeah…?”

“Since Eden is busy, I’ll help you. You don’t want to hear that we’re worse than KICKS, do you?”

“No, of course I have to do it…”

There was a sharp glint in his usually calm brown eyes.

His eyes went crazy because KICKS got involved, huh, Gyeon Hajun.

“That works out well. This is a good chance for you two to practice together and resolve the awkwardness between you.”

Since it wasn’t my problem, I just threw out some encouraging words.

Wait, he’s not going to completely abandon Gyeon Hajun’s personality while teaching him, is he?

If Rev’s only divine personality becomes a second Seo Yehyeon full of anger… Oh, that’s horrifying just to imagine.

“Jun, if you really can’t handle it, send an SOS. As someone with experience, I can help.”

“I know you’re the busiest, so how could I do that.”

“Could you guys not create such a heartwarming atmosphere with me in between you?”

Kim Dobin suddenly interrupted this warm and harmonious atmosphere.

“But besides the song swap stage with KICKS, isn’t there anything else we’re missing?”

“What else could be important besides this?”

“Don’t say such alarming things! We have to give our best for the collaboration with Adora seniors too!”

Since I had no doubt that Kim Dobin would appropriately modify the first verse choreography of that we had to perform so it wouldn’t be awkward for us, I didn’t bother adding anything.

When he’s doing his best and working hard, what could I possibly say about it?

“I guess I’ll have to work my body pretty hard.”

I was lamenting when I paused and looked back at Kim Dobin, adding:

“By the way, that’s not what I’m talking about, Doby. Don’t misunderstand.”

“I don’t misunderstand anymore!”

Then that’s fine.

* * *

[snow dream(Christmas commemorative song)_real_really_truly_final.mp3]

“Finally finished…”

As soon as I finished saving the work file, I slumped in my chair and muttered.

I didn’t even have the energy to celebrate freely just because the work was done.

Who would have thought there wouldn’t be a single Christmas commemorative song I composed in the ‘USB from Someday’ item I got from a random ticket?

If there had been one, I could have coasted like with this .

I was a bit disappointed in my past self for not even thinking to make a pension-worthy carol that would play every Christmas.

Yongcheol hyung, who was slurping cup noodles behind me, spoke to me as I sprawled limply in my chair like a deflated balloon.

“Congratulations. So can I get my studio back now?”

“No, now I have to arrange KICKS’ song.”

“Ugh, just buy the floor above and use it as a studio. How long are you going to squat here when you’re making money now?”

“I’m sorry, hyung. I’ll really only impose on you until this last project.”

As I waved the card between my fingers, Yongcheol hyung smiled kindly, saying he didn’t have any work to do for a while anyway, so I could stay as long as I wanted.

I gave up after weighing the deposit for a new studio against the cost of beef going into this guy’s stomach.

I need to hurry up and make my own studio and move out.

When I rubbed my stiff eyelids, Yongcheol hyung clicked his tongue and said:

“You’re going to drop dead from overwork at this rate. You know there’s an order to coming, but no order to going, right?”

“I actually started exercising because I was worried about dropping dead.”

Actually, that damn system forced me to. It added a body management category and stubbornly shoved exercise into the Weekly Quest.

If it really cared about my health, it would change that tasteless balsamic salad diet to proper home-cooked meals.

“Exercise? Sleep during that time instead, you crazy bastard. Look how dark the circles under your eyes are. Is your concept this time some ghost that died from lack of sleep?”

“It’s fresh high teen.”

“High teen? Did you get cast as a library nerd ghost who died studying for Harvard?”

“What kind of nerd would bleach their hair silver? And once I finish the arrangement, I’ll have time to sleep.”

“Just looking at you work, you’re absolutely world-class, world-class.”

Yongcheol hyung shook his head and threw me a cup of noodles, then caught it and asked:

“Hey, want to have some cup noodles as a late-night snack here? You said that guy older than you at the dorm throws a fit if you eat anything in the evening.”

“I’ll just take the thought. I have a schedule tomorrow too. If I eat noodles now and my face swells up, I’ll get cursed out tomorrow.”

I was yawning and responding when my cell phone on the desk vibrated briefly.

[Ryu Jaehee- Whoa whoa hyung]

[Ryu Jaehee- Did you see our first week sales?]

Only after seeing Ryu Jaehee’s text did I realize the first week album sales were out.

Come to think of it, it’s already been a week since we started activities. I’d been living so breathlessly that I didn’t even notice time passing.

[How many copies?]

[Ryu Jaehee- 60,000 copies!]

[Ryu Jaehee- Only 5,000 copies difference from KICKS!]

“Aaaahhh!”

I bolted up from my chair, but my legs gave out and I staggered back down into the seat.

“Ah, you scared me. What’s going on?”

“Our group’s first-week album sales are 60,000 copies.”

“It’s not even a million, why are you making such a fuss.”

“Does this look like a fuss to you? We’re screwed! Fuck, only 60,000 copies… Wait, what year is it right now?”

Only after checking the year on my phone did I calm down again. This was before the album inflation era when first-week sales weren’t considered that important, so this number was actually right.

At least we’re a boy group with core fans to get these numbers – girl groups would probably sell half this, maybe.

Seeing that we were only 5,000 copies behind those KICKS bastards completely put my mind at ease. This is normal for this era.

climbed to number 1 on all three major charts thanks to the empty chart period and music show buffs.

The addictive hook that caught the public’s attention probably played a part too.

KICKS’ hit number 1 for three days before falling back to 3rd place. It was literally a three-day reign.

The trajectory surpassed the junior group that promoted with this song before my regression, making me internally reevaluate Reve.

Even though I perfectly recreated the stage from my bucket list, the image of our group still lingering in my head was of a team that could barely demonstrate 50% of their skills – terrible teamwork, terrible singing, terrible dancing with no hope of proper group choreography.

That’s why I was so hard on Seo Yehyeon this time around, since he had a huge part in that terrible group image.

What was I doing around this time before my regression?

I was probably sitting on the practice room floor preparing for our next activity that was clearly doomed to fail, listening to incomprehensible songs that didn’t stick in your ears, vowing that someday I’d definitely promote with my own song.

What I’m certain of is that I wasn’t this busy. Since was a pretty big flop, Reve before my regression didn’t even get to perform at year-end music festivals.

I was so free and leisurely that even when I met friends and wandered around Hongdae Street, no one recognized me.

Later on, I could ride the subway and no one would pay me any attention.

Of course, the story changed after we made it to the second tier.

But I feel like something big happened around this time in winter…

Since it was 7 years ago from my perspective, I couldn’t remember what it was except for pulling my hair out and screaming about how fucked everything was.

‘Isn’t there a system somewhere that could throw me an item to restore my memories?’

Usually it pops up even when I tell it not to and puts all kinds of restrictions on me, but at times like this it goes mysteriously silent – I cursed that damn system internally a few times before reaching out toward Yongcheol Hyung.

“Hyung, give me some cup ramen.”

“You said you wouldn’t eat it because your face might swell up.”

“I’m suddenly hungry after all that yelling. I heard if you eat ramen with milk mixed in, it makes you swell less. Should I go buy some milk from the convenience store up front and mix it in?”

“Ugh, fuck. Just hearing about it makes me want to puke. Hey, just eat it normally and drink the milk separately.”

Unable to overcome Yongcheol Hyung’s disgust, I poured water into the cup ramen and after an agonizing wait, compromised with half the ramen soup instead of milk, shoving a chopstick-full of ramen into my mouth.

[Consumption of prohibited food during activity period detected.]

[Reason: High sodium content]

[Initial Intentions -1]

See, this bastard only shows up at the perfect moment when it’s time to deduct Initial Intentions points.

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