A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 61

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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 Initial Intentions Episode 61

I hesitated after blurting out those words.

Should I really spill something I’d never even told Gyeon Hajun here? And in front of Seo Yehyeon, who I was most awkward with and distant from?

“Right, I’m curious. You said you’re from the underground scene, so why did you debut as an idol?”

Since Seo Yehyeon had already spilled his own story, I couldn’t back out now.

Right. Why did I choose the idol path anyway?

I recalled the resolve and determination from back then, now somewhat faded since it was from even before those 7 years I’d let slip away.

“I wanted to get away from MuCle.”

“MuCle?”

“Music Cloud. One Chance was originally a self-composed song I was going to upload there as a mixtape, but really… you never know how life will turn out.”

If you asked whether those days were happy, I suppose they were.

At least back then I could make my music freely.

“I didn’t want to rot in the underground. But the path to overground was like a needle’s eye – not something I could reach just by wanting to. My skills weren’t overground level back then either.”

Now, well, I have top-tier overground skills that even Sangyeol Hyung acknowledges.

Korean hip hop back then was, frankly speaking, barren land, treated as minor.

Hip hop only rose to major status after Wnet’s hip hop survival Season 3 hit big and opened the golden age.

D.I, that is, Yongcheol Hyung, was a case who went on that Season 3, took second place, and immediately entered the overground scene.

That was our third year after debut, so about two and a half years left until the hip hop golden age arrives.

Seventeen-year-old Yoon Eden had high self-esteem and ideals, but neither the skills nor timing were on his side.

Back then I was a cocky brat, and I made the kind of choice a cocky brat would make.

“There was something I always heard there. ‘You’ve got the height, you’ve got the face, you could even be an idol.'”

“So you became an idol because of that? You gained confidence from those words?”

Confidence. I burst out laughing at such naive words.

“That sounds like a compliment, right? It was sarcasm.”

In the hip hop underground that looked down on idol rappers, telling someone to debut as an idol was hardly words of encouragement and praise. Underground hip hop pride runs that deep.

I still haven’t broken that habit either.

“So I quit and started auditioning and trainee life. With the mindset that I’d debut as an idol, blow up, then release a solo album and crush all you guys uploading mixtapes to MuCle.”

And I couldn’t release a solo album for 7 years.

Maybe one solo song or once included in a Rev album at most.

My only consolation was that none of the guys who told me to just be an idol back then made it big.

Since it was the path I chose, there was no one to resent.

Sometimes I used to imagine.

If I had stayed like the hyungs who endured and caught their timing to shine. Could I have lived the life I wanted, making the music I wanted there?

‘No way that would’ve happened.’

I wouldn’t have had the chance to work with G1 and receive criticism, and even if I had, I wouldn’t have thought to completely overhaul my rap style with venom since there would’ve been no falling out with the hyungs due to manipulation and misunderstandings.

I would’ve lived my whole life thinking I was so great, content as a frog in a well, as a dragon’s tail.

I thought I’d lived walking only paths toward the worst, but looking back now, not every path I’d walked was the worst.

As I closed my eyes and rested my head against the practice room mirror, Seo Yehyeon suddenly thanked me out of nowhere.

“Hey, Yoon Eden. Thanks.”

“For what? Comforting you?”

“No. Thanks to you, the reason I chose this path is starting to not feel pathetic.”

I frowned and looked to the side. Seeing the clear emotion of ‘at least I’m better than him’ in Seo Yehyeon’s eyes, I let out a deep sigh.

“Can’t we… be heartwarming until the very end?”

Seo Yehyeon and I were bound to clash terribly.

With such opposite personalities from birth, it’d be stranger if we didn’t clash.

Seo Yehyeon shrugged and got up. I also rose from my spot and stood next to Seo Yehyeon.

“Turn on the music. I’ll watch from the side.”

“Are you paying 100,000 won per harsh comment?”

“How long are you going to keep extorting my money?”

“If you just don’t make harsh comments, there’d be nothing to extort, right? Even so, telling them to go learn from kids preparing for kindergarten talent shows was too much.”

I moved my body lightly to the playing music.

Watching Seo Yehyeon’s dance moves in the mirror, which had gotten considerably better than before, I let out a sigh of relief.

Today there won’t be more than 100,000 won to extort. Thank goodness.

* * *

In a dark room with only one stand light on.

Kim Dobin stuck his face close to the camera on the cluttered desk, pushed up his horn-rimmed glasses, and whispered.

“Hello, this is Doby.”

On the desk were two 500ml water bottles and white powder.

To express it in Yoon Eden’s language, Kim Dobin’s expression while preparing for something utterly pointless was pointlessly solemn.

“Do you viewers know? They say if you mix salt, sugar, and water, you get an ion drink.”

Kim Dobin carefully poured the powder from the paper into each of the two water bottles, then held them in both hands and shook them vigorously.

“Ion drinks are supposed to replenish the moisture and electrolytes lost through sweating. So tomorrow I’m planning to make two ion drinks and bring them to the practice room. Only lucky people will get to drink the ion drinks.”

After shaking for a while, he checked the water bottles and tilted his head at the powder still remaining at the bottom.

“Why won’t it dissolve? Should I microwave it?”

As Kim Dobin pondered seriously, the door burst open behind him.

Startled, Kim Dobin reflexively put the water bottles down on the desk hastily.

Ryu Jaehee entered the room toweling his wet hair and immediately reached for the water bottles.

“Wow, I was thirsty, perfect timing.”

“Hey, no! This isn’t for drinking right now!”

The one trying to snatch and the one trying not to be snatched from. Their fierce battle ended with a clap! sound from behind.

“Guys, it’s midnight, midnight. Is it okay to be noisy when the hyungs are trying to sleep?”

Yoon Eden, with ‘I’m tired’ written on his face, leaned crookedly against the doorframe and let out a sigh-mixed scolding.

Noticing the water bottle in Kim Dobin’s hand, Yoon Eden added.

“Put the bottled water in the refrigerator. I need to take the 500ml ones to the practice room, so drink the 1L ones at the dormitory like I said.”

“Yes, I’ll put them in right away.”

When Yoon Eden returned to his room, Kim Dobin sighed in relief and started shaking the water bottles vigorously again.

“Hyung, you put something in the water.”

“Can’t you tell from watching me shake it?”

“What did you put in? It’s completely clear though?”

Confirming the powder had completely dissolved, Kim Dobin shook the bottled water that looked like clear water and smiled mischievously.

“Find out tomorrow. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to drink this.”

“If you’re lucky? Not ‘if you’re unlucky’?”

* * *

“Do we really have to do this…?”

Seo Yehyeon said with a quite tired face, loosely unwrapping the cashmere scarf I’d given him as a Christmas gift.

Comfortable sweatsuit with a long padding coat and cashmere scarf was clearly a mismatched combination.

But as they say, fashion completes the face – since the wearer was Seo Yehyeon, it did look quite good on him.

To be honest, it would be more accurate to say the irony of fashion stuck to his face rather than it suiting him.

At those words, Gyeon Hajun holding a tumbler smiled awkwardly. Since it was just a tumbler, there was no chance of fashion terrorism.

Kim Dobin was smiling annoyingly while tucking a card wallet into his back pocket, and Ryu Jaehee was nodding his head with earphones in his ears.

So, the biggest victim was me.

Piercings and a snapback far from my preferred style, and a negative ion bracelet with zero health benefits.

“…Damn, I feel like a red carpet worst dresser.”

I grumbled while fixing the backwards snapback, flipping my bangs over and putting it back on properly.

This was all because of Ryu Jaehee’s damn suggestion.

Kim Dobin was bringing the camera to film us practicing in the practice room.

And I should have somehow stopped Ryu Jaehee, who was stubbornly insisting we do a mission to wear our Christmas gifts for the entire day.

“But if we don’t do it this way, Eden Hyung will never wear my gift. I understand Hyung’s heart wanting to cherish the gift from his cute and adorable youngest member, but gifts are meant to show their true value when worn.”

“Don’t you break out in hives when you call yourself cute and adorable?”

And I don’t particularly want to cherish it either, damn it. It’s just not my style.

Setting aside the childishly gaudy snapback with its garish primary color combinations and a yellow smiley face plastered on it.

The cross piercing with its long dangling chain was incredibly annoying, with the chain and cross swaying together with every step.

For someone like me who only wears piercings that sit flush against the ear because I hate annoying things, this piercing was torture.

Anyway, of course he’d buy something that suited his own taste.

When we arrived at the practice room, Seo Yehyeon took off his padding and was tugging at his scarf when he hesitated and asked.

“I don’t have to keep the scarf on during practice too, right…?”

“You can take it off during practice. But there’s a condition! You have to wear it during all break times!”

I immediately started taking off my snapback but was stopped by Ryu Jaehee.

“Are you discriminating? Why does someone get to take theirs off while someone else has to keep wearing theirs?”

“Hyung, you usually practice fine wearing snapbacks anyway. I told Yehyeon Hyung to take off his scarf because he gets sweaty and hot.”

“Hey, my head gets hot too.”

“Hyung, don’t tell me you don’t like the gift…?”

If I said yes here, how many points would my Initial Intentions drop?

Having to consider whether my Initial Intentions would drop with every word I say. Ah, how I miss the old days.

“Of course not. How could I not like a gift our youngest member bought for me?”

I adjusted the snapback forward as I replied.

Kim Dobin, who had set down eight bottles of water in the corner of the practice room, grinned like some petty villain.

I have no idea what he’s plotting. Did he put vinegar in the water bottles? But I can’t not drink water, and there’s no convenience store near the practice room.

Judging by how he whined about bringing the camera to film, he’s definitely plotting something useless.

Just try mixing something inedible in the water. I’ll make you take a taxi to buy bottled water.

After practicing choreography for a while, when the members started showing signs of fatigue, I called for a 10-minute break.

And then…

“Agh! What is this! Hey, Kim Dobin!”

“Could it be because of this?”

“That makes no sense.”

“Well, nothing to lose, try taking it off once.”

“What, it really is because of this?”

“Whoa, what? Hyung, let me try once too.”

“This isn’t something Doby Hyung and Eden Hyung planned together, is it?”

“I’m starting to get a little scared now…”

The terrible incident that happened in the practice room was captured entirely on camera and aired as is on the reality show.

[Check out the full details on My Idol Camera!]

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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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