A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 605

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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 Original Intent Episode 605

It’s a well-known fact that when a normally gentle person gets angry, it’s scarier than when someone who usually gets angry ten times gets angry eleven times.

It had been truly a long time since I’d seen Yongcheol Hyung’s stern expression. For reference, I had experienced it myself before.

It wasn’t really my fault – it was a misunderstanding that arose when I was a minor and Gijeong Hyung had dumped an empty cigarette pack on me to throw away, but I didn’t throw it away immediately and was just holding it.

But thanks to that, I got to enjoy delicious food for a whole week from both Yongcheol Hyung, who misunderstood and thought I was smoking, and Gijeong Hyung, who didn’t throw away his own trash and dumped it on me, the youngest member, causing this whole mess – so it wasn’t bad in the end.

“Did the three of you practice together?”

“…Yes.”

The three who had been sneaking glances at Yongcheol Hyung as he rubbed his forehead nodded and gave their affirmative answer in crawling voices.

“Do you all realize that this is a stage where the three of you are performing?”

There was one thing I felt while watching the rehearsal.

‘We’ve been racking our brains to be considerate, but all three of them completely missed the point of the first main competition round?’

The most important thing in the first main round was ‘how well you follow the producer team’s style,’ not showing off your individual skills while putting down other competitors.

Moreover, the style we put forward was none other than ‘consideration and concession.’ But these three were currently trying to suppress each other and going solo.

They weren’t reading the team producers’ intentions at all and were just comfortably receiving our consideration with warm bellies.

They should respond when we give them cues and follow along. I don’t know about Bug Kim, who’s new to this, or clueless Hyeongjin, but even Yupi doing this is useless.

Or is this a big picture where they deliberately created this situation to aim for dramatic direction on stage?

I hoped it was a big picture. As a producer, I couldn’t tolerate a stage of this quality.

The audio track might sound fine since each person sings separately and adjustments are made during the mixing process, but on a stage where real-time chemistry is revealed, you can’t hide the feeling that everyone is performing separately.

“Before it’s a competition between the three of you, this is a stage to show our team’s color and style, but what are you going to do if it’s such a mess? All three of you are tarnishing the faces of me and Eden, the team producers, right now.”p>

“Good heavens, the people who came to my team because of me are tarnishing my face. I’m so disappointed-.”

Since Yongcheol Hyung had already pointed out with a stern face what I was trying to criticize, all I could do was nod beside him and earnestly agree in harmony.

It must have been my imagination that Bug Kim looked like he had a lot to say as his lips twitched.

I was trying to properly show my prowess as a tiger producer, but Yongcheol Hyung stole my role like this.

“We didn’t force you to follow our style, and we accommodated each of you to some extent, so you should also try to match this song. This is one song, but it looks like a stage where three solo performances are just connected.”

I initially thought Jiwon Hyung’s method of pretending to use honorifics at first and then abandoning even that formal politeness to crush people with casual speech would be scarier, but Yongcheol Hyung’s method of crushing people with honorifics from start to finish seemed pretty good too.

“Hey, Hyung. Don’t get so heated. They couldn’t have not known our intention, right? They just didn’t practice properly, right? We’ve shown this much ‘consideration,’ so there’s no way they’d intentionally ignore our team style and ruin the stage like this.”

I pretended to stop him from the side while actually egging him on more. Seeing them sneak glances at me even while keeping their heads deeply bowed, the saying that the sister-in-law who stops the fight is more hateful must be true.

“…I’d rather this was the result of the three of you never practicing together once, like Eden said.”

Yongcheol Hyung, who took a breath to compose himself, entered the second round of perfect sarcasm with a voice that suppressed his emotions.

“I don’t want to believe this is the result of practice. Is this a stage? Isn’t this a battlefield where you’re trying to crush each other? Why are you making the audience watching the stage unable to immerse themselves in the song and instead watch your reactions?”

Meanwhile, I swept over the expressions of the three who had bowed their heads again. Two faces listening humbly to the harsh words without understanding why, and one with downcast eyes and tightly bitten lips.

“Tomorrow is the final rehearsal, so I hope tomorrow will be somewhat better than today. That’s all for today.”

Yongcheol Hyung waved his hand dismissively as if there was no more value in watching and stood up first.

I followed Yongcheol Hyung out of the practice room while receiving the three’s greetings.

“But why were you so angry, Hyung?”

As soon as we came out, I asked what I was curious about, and Yongcheol Hyung frowned and answered.

“You refused the easy path and agonized over creating this song with all your heart and soul, but they’re presenting the stage like that – how could I not get angry? Those guys ruined the stage, but you’re going to take all the criticism.”

I nodded in understanding at first, but as it went on, I made a crooked face and objected to the incomprehensible words.

“Why are you subtly making it so only I get criticized? You participated too, didn’t you? You’re also a producer, aren’t you?”

“I don’t mind getting criticized, but I can’t stand seeing our youngest member get criticized – that’s my problem. If only I were getting that kind of talk, I wouldn’t have gotten this angry.”

I covered my mouth with my hand at the incredibly touching words and the rough hand that ruffled my hair.

It was a hearty, soup-like reliability that I could never feel from Seo Yehyeon, the eldest hyung at our house.

Of course, I had never wanted this kind of reliability from Seo Yehyeon either. There’s no need for two reliable heads of household under one sky.

Since filming was happening from multiple angles, cameras were placed not only at the back and front of the practice room but also through the crack in the practice room door, so I watched the filming that continued after we left through the door gap.

Choi Hyeongjin and Bug Kim still looked confused and complicated, unable to get their bearings, while Yupi was just sighing deeply. But the anxious emotions shown by the other two weren’t reflected in him at all.

As soon as Bug Kim went to the bathroom and the camera was briefly turned off, Yupi’s expression changed from a face full of worry and concern to a peaceful face.

Yupi, the expert who mastered survival shows, drew up another big picture. This person knew.

At any other time, I would have just passed it off as Yupi being Yupi again, but after seeing our Yongcheol Hyung get angry out of concern for me, I couldn’t just let things go according to Yupi’s plan.

No matter how much you have to take care of your own rice bowl, Choi Hyeongjin is even more clueless than me in this area, so hmm…

While Yupi was on a phone call in the practice room, I gestured for Choi Hyeongjin to come outside.

With a deathly pale face, Choi Hyeongjin immediately strode over to the camera’s blind spot. It was a bit funny how his expectation of getting some hint was clearly written all over his face.

“Wait, wasn’t this a competition? Isn’t it individual? The group audio mission is over, isn’t it?”

I waved my hand to cut off Choi Hyeongjin’s stream of questions. And without answering his questions separately, I only brought up what I wanted to say.

“Hey, Hyeongjin. If you keep doing that, Yupi will steal all the buzz.”

Choi Hyeongjin only rolled his eyes, still not catching on to my intention in bringing this up. Hyeongjin, please develop some sense. Do you want to become the second HYEQ who gets properly exploited by Yupi?

“When you practice later, be tactful and throw in some comments so it doesn’t feel like Yupi is leading the stage reorganization.”

This was the maximum advice I could give to Choi Hyeongjin.

“You heard the advice well, right? Come on, fighting!”

I also lightly winked at Bug Kim, who had returned from the bathroom and was standing behind us, blankly listening to our conversation. I deliberately started speaking after confirming Bug Kim was coming so he could hear too.

“Hey hey, Yoon Eden! Please tell me a bit more in detail!”

“Haha, our Hyeongjin is trying to coast through the broadcast?”

Even though Yupi is annoying, giving hints too openly wouldn’t be fair play.

I forcibly pushed Choi Hyeongjin, who was desperately trying to hold onto me, into the practice room and came out with light steps.

“Hyung, let’s go together!”

In just a few steps, I caught up with Yongcheol Hyung and walked alongside him.

“Sigh, your producing won’t be undervalued, will it? You’re already a rookie producer… You should have just pushed through with your style no matter what anyone said. Then at least you would have heard that those guys couldn’t follow your style due to lack of ability.”

“Don’t worry too much. Tomorrow they’ll show a perfectly proper stage like ghosts, you’ll see? I’ll bet our youngest member’s cuteness on ‘it will definitely happen.'”

“You’re not cute, man.”

“No, not our Over Level crew, but my group. Rev.”

“Umm… he’s not really cute either… rather than cute, he seemed mature.”

“He was cute in the old days.”

“What if you bet something that’s all gone?”

I casually brushed off Yongcheol Hyung’s worried, endless laments about what to do since tomorrow was the final rehearsal. I was just curious whether Choi Hyeongjin and Bug Kim had understood my advice.

* * *

The day of the first main stage.

“Did these guys plan this together? How did they get their direction so perfectly in just one day?”

Yongcheol Hyung narrowed his eyes as he watched the three members of our team performing on stage in front of the audience evaluation panel that filled the concert hall.

The feeling of everyone performing separately that we saw in rehearsal had disappeared, and they were showing perfect harmony.

Thanks to this, unlike other teams that were busy trying to match the producer’s style, our team’s first main stage not only maximized the harmony of the three but also maximized each individual’s strengths, making it more cohesive and higher in completion.

“I’ll have to watch the broadcast to know. Whether Hyeongjin’s backbone can survive until the end.”

I shrugged my shoulders, pretending not to know. At least there won’t be any reason for Yongcheol Hyung to be sad because I get criticized.

After carefully noting the three’s scores and with our team’s stage finished, I relaxed and watched the last team, Gongchul & BQ9’s stage.

Suddenly, an arm came from behind and loosely draped over my shoulder.

“Wow, is it okay to go all out like this from the first main round? You should start a bit loose at first. You’re just raising expectations higher for no reason.”

“Let them rise. No matter how high they get, I’m confident I can satisfy them all. You know that.”

I cheekily countered Jiwon Hyung’s playful advice. While having a silly conversation with Jiwon Hyung, who was closer than Yongcheol Hyung with his arm around my shoulder, and evaluating the last team’s stage.

“But Eden.”

Suddenly, all the laughter disappeared from Jiwon Hyung’s voice. In the concert hall that was still noisy with the lingering echoes of the beat, only the low voice pierced clearly into my ears.

“Why are you trying so hard to meet that drug addict?”

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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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