A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 528

—————
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 Original Intent Episode 528

“Whenever we have a slightly intense concept, Eunseo noona classifies just our styling as emergency level. She says our faces are the kind that spit out all the styling. This time, I just roughly borrowed Yoon Eden’s clothes and accessories. That’s why it’s like this.”

In the end, Seo Yehyeon, who took charge, even pulled out the stylist noona card to gently coax Gyeon Hajun.

The Youngest Line and I nodded our heads enthusiastically from the side in agreement, silently cheering for Seo Yehyeon.

And while those words were meant to appease Gyeon Hajun, they were also true.

When activities had intense concepts, Kim Dobin and I were rated as the lowest difficulty since we looked good in anything, Ryu Jaehee was not the lowest but somewhere between low and medium, while Gyeon Hajun and Seo Yehyeon were emergency level above the highest.

Gyeon Hajun seemed convinced as he obediently nodded his head.

“But KICKS is also making a comeback in April?”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard. From what I heard from Choi Hyeonmin, Jung Iseo’s current Company Director is starting his own agency and taking some trainees and singers with him, so Newbon doesn’t view that favorably either.”

Choi Hyeonmin was better at picking up this kind of information from somewhere than Kwon Yunseong. Maybe it was because he was thick-skinned and shameless.

Anyway, it was confirmed that a three-way battle between those connected to the past would unfold in April.

I wasn’t directly involved, but I played the most important role behind the scenes. Write songs for Gyeon Hajun and Parachute, insert KICKS, adjust transmission royalty distribution rates. If this wasn’t an important role, then what was?

It was practically a situation I had orchestrated. Of course, I did receive a little help from Ryu Jaehee. But who told them to keep threatening people to give them songs?

Kim Dobin, who glanced at me grinning, let out an exclamation.

“Wow, hyung, when you smile like that, you look like a villain who’s set up a trap that the protagonist will never fall for and is waiting.”

That guy always compared me to a villain rather than a protagonist. I was a dark knight back in the day, so why is he changing the dark knight to the Joker and making a fuss?

I thought everyone would just ignore it and move on as usual, but unexpectedly, Gyeon Hajun, who wasn’t even the person who heard it, objected to Kim Dobin’s words.

“Dobin, then are you saying Jung Iseo is the protagonist?”

That must have bothered him.

“So what, punk? Are you saying I’m making meaningless trouble right now?”

Not to be outdone, I added to Gyeon Hajun’s provocation. Kim Dobin opened his mouth wide with a shocked expression.

“The Hajun hyung I’ve seen for 5 years wasn’t like this. He was the type who would just glance with eyes that said ‘he’s talking nonsense again’ and not say much…!”

“Dobin, what have you been watching for 5 years? Hajun has been like this since debut whenever he meets KICKS, or more precisely, just Parachute.”

Kim Dobin seemed to be trying to express his shocked feelings in his own way, but due to Seo Yehyeon’s intervention, who acknowledged his insight, he just became a guy who wasn’t interested in his members.

For a while, Kim Dobin probably won’t compare me to a villain rather than a protagonist.

* * *

-Nah, it’s gotta be an April Fool’s joke lol If their solo activities actually turn out like that, I’m seriously gonna lose my mind

-Don’t underestimate LnL, it wasn’t a shitty company for nothing

-Newbies who don’t know about the corner store shitty company days praising LnL makes me want to make them experience those times… The fandom fought hard to make the agency at least function properly, but attributing it to LnL is fucking annoying

-I wasn’t really interested in solo activities, but now I’m curious so I’ll have to check it out on April 1st ㅋㅋ

The April Fool’s concept photo served its promotional purpose well by making even people uninterested in member solo activities look at the date at least once and wonder whether it was an April Fool’s joke or real.

-Fuck, Hajun is sacrificing his body to promote solo activities right now, so why are people making a fuss about LnL pushing him? Can you say that after seeing that metal bat hip-hop warrior Gyeon Hajun?

-I’m genuinely curious, does this really look like LnL is obviously pushing him…? Promotion that’s dismissed with just one Schrödinger’s April Fool’s concept photo that isn’t even confirmed, 2 weeks before comeback…?

-Those haters whining that only Gyeon Hajun is being obviously pushed are fucking ridiculous. Merry-go-round was a drama OST and he didn’t even promote with it, and the only stage he performed it on was at concerts, so what do you mean Gyeon Hajun’s songs kept coming out?

└Honestly, why don’t those haters count Yoon Eden’s solo song from DTB?

└Don’t drag other members into this

It also served well to quell the complaints about individual activity frequency that Gyeon Hajun was worried about.

If it were ambiguous, people would just laugh and move on, but since the released concept photo was quite extreme and shocking, it seemed people were confused about whether it was really an April Fool’s concept to laugh off or an actual solo activity concept.

The trap was that we hadn’t aimed for this level of effect and just shot an April Fool’s concept photo targeting B-grade sensibilities. Who knew Gyeon Hajun’s face could spit out hip-hop spirit like that?

The second concept photo and 10-second short teaser released a week after the hip-hop warrior concept photo was released didn’t calm such reactions but was like pouring oil on fire.

The second concept photo captured hip-hop vibes with a snapback worn under a flipped hood, wired earphones, DJ equipment, and a single-line chain necklace.

The large decorative chain necklace covering his mouth was flipped backwards, but anyone could see it was a DTB acceptance necklace.

-Guys who think of DTB acceptance necklaces as hip-hop vibe accessories like that seem to contribute to lowering the level of Korean hip-hop

-Why is someone who didn’t even appear on DTB wearing an acceptance necklace and acting up?

-If you want the acceptance necklace that badly, appear on DTB and pass the second preliminary round to get it

It somehow flowed to DTB fans and got some negative reactions, but when Ryu Jaehee subtly redirected the flow, it was quickly suppressed.

Originally I was going to do it, but remembering how I almost got backlash before, I obediently handed it over to Ryu Jaehee.

-We’re already in a ratings crisis, so let’s not make unnecessary noise before Season 6 even starts

-Please stop being ridiculous. If you search DTB acceptance necklace on the internet, there are tons selling for around 10,000 won on 12th Street. Is there any reason to get the show criticized before DTB Season 6 even starts? Fuck

-Even neighborhood dogs wear them on walks

-If you put it that way, he appeared in Season 4

└And they’ve even descended upon the ‘Final Round’ no less lol *shudders*

-We don’t even know if that’s an April Fool’s fake or real;; Let’s talk after it’s confirmed

Of course, that acceptance necklace wasn’t a fake bought from 12th Street but the real one I received from Season 4.

“Everyone’s confused. At first, I wondered how an April Fool’s concept photo would help with promotion, but it’s promoting in this way.”

Gyeon Hajun also seemed amazed that a photo shot with my phone camera in just 10 minutes had such impact.

If the intense hip-hop warrior concept had been maintained for two full weeks, people would have immediately realized ‘Ah, this is an April Fool’s joke,’ but since what came after that amazing photo was a relatively normal photo full of hip-hop vibes, everyone was confused and uncertain.

What put the finishing touch on it was the briefly released 10-second teaser.

It was a video that slowly scanned DJ equipment, a chain necklace draped on the desk, headphones, an mp3 connected to wired earphones, a notebook, and a pen, ending with Gyeon Hajun’s hands tapping the desk like piano keys.

And the sound overlaid on that video was a rap verse with heavy pitch modulation. That part was actually taken from Gyeon Hajun’s solo song.

“They say the video aesthetics are good?”

Gyeon Hajun read out a comment on the teaser video. I replied with a grin at his proudly rising shoulders.

“Of course. Who do you think shot it?”

This teaser was also shot with my phone. It really took exactly 10 seconds to film. Since we’re really running on an extremely low budget, saying we received LnL’s full support is a bit…

Since my regular solo album already had three videos scheduled, the budget for Gyeon Hajun’s hastily arranged solo activity wasn’t much.

It was fortunate that our junior group Nitens was finishing their activities, otherwise I might have been drawing Gyeon Hajun’s diss album cover too.

Anyway, the teaser with rap sung in modulated voice had the comment section buzzing with ‘This is also an April Fool’s teaser vs No, this seems like a real teaser.’

Of course, the truth would be revealed on April 1st.

Of course, during that short time, Ryu Jaehee was also showing his performance.

Ryu Jaehee was under a lot of stress during the preparation for the duet mission, which was supposed to be a breather mission. He needed to win 1st place here to get bonus points for the 3rd round mission in advance, but he had quite a tense disagreement with his duet partner.

It happened to be a male-female duet, so the partner wanted a mixed-gender song, but Ryu Jaehee wanted to handle one song with two different pitches.

The partner’s opinion was ‘There are mixed-gender songs that can utilize the advantage of being mixed-gender well, so why try to take the difficult path?’ while Ryu Jaehee’s opinion was ‘Having mixed-gender performers do mixed-gender songs is too obvious. That’s not what viewers want.’

They couldn’t reach any agreement, and the problem was that the partner was much older and much more senior.

This was a situation where Ryu Jaehee would naturally have to give in.

But since this was his first solo variety show and his first experience being noticed purely as a vocalist, Ryu Jaehee had considerable desire and passion for the competition stage.

“Hyung, what should I do? I have a stage I imagined in my head, but not being able to implement it just because it’s a duet stage is so…”

“What can you do? That person also has a stage they want like you do right now.”

When I pointed out something important to Ryu Jaehee, who could be seen as being stubborn on broadcast, Ryu Jaehee opened his mouth slightly with an ‘oh’ expression. No matter how much he was the guy we outsourced intelligence to, he was still young.

“Dude, a duet is two people and our group is five people. Getting two people to agree is easier than matching five people’s opinions. We five didn’t always agree either. Think about that and try to persuade them. How we always handled it.”

I gave serious advice to that Ryu Jaehee. The things I realized even through regression.

So Ryu Jaehee tried to persuade his partner again, and that process was broadcast in full.

And it caused quite a good response.

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