Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2.

A week had already passed since this inexplicable event unfolded.
After making a deal with the Cotton Ball Entity, I opened my eyes to find myself in a shabby Gosiwon.

Ding!
An odd alarm chimed, and then—

Congratulations! You have become Yun Chung.
From this moment forward, you must save the doomed girl group, StillBlue!
This place is slightly different from your world.
To explain simply, you could call it a parallel world.
Everything is identical to your world, except for one crucial detail.
In this world, a person named Baek Nok-ha has never existed. And never will exist.

A window like something from a game materialized before my eyes.

You have entered the body of a person named Yun Chung—ten years prior to your original timeline.
Your task is to fulfill two wishes of this Yun Chung.
Yun Chung’s first wish is—
[Win first place in the agency’s debut survival program, Make a New Color, and debut]
That’s it!

…?
What?
Setting aside my bewilderment, I searched my memory for the name Yun Chung.

“Yun Chung, Yun Chung…”

Ah, I remember now.
Around the time I debuted, there was a debut survival program on cable television.
A debut survival program conducted by Colors, one of Korea’s five major entertainment agencies, to launch a new girl group.
In that survival program, all of Colors’ female trainees competed for their debut.
And Yun Chung was one of the trainees who participated in the survival program.
I was too busy back then to watch the program properly, but it was quite the topic of discussion—I knew the general outline.

“But I thought she debuted.”

…What kind of wish is this?

[Debut as 1st place from the agency’s debut survival program ‘Make a New Color’]

Debut as 1st place?
I furrowed my brow.
Back then, what rank did she debut at?
The trainees whose debut was confirmed on the program debuted as a girl group called StillBlue a year later.
There were five of them total, right?
I’d seen them once when our active periods overlapped.
One of them sang so well that I vaguely thought she must be the main vocalist.

“Back then, did she even debut as 5th place? No, isn’t just debuting enough to be grateful for? Does it have to be 1st place?”

I didn’t realize I was sitting up in bed, bewildered.
Then,
Zzzzzzzing.
My phone rang from beside me.
But something felt off.

“This phone… it’s my phone.”

What? I hadn’t entered someone else’s body?
Then why do I have my phone?
And my phone from ten years ago at that?
Unable to make sense of the situation and frightened, I couldn’t bring myself to pick it up,
Zzzzzzzing-
The phone rang more insistently.
I reluctantly picked it up and saw a notification on the screen.
…A news alert?

[Yun Chung selected as final member of ‘Make a New Color’.]

This… is an article from my world.
I tapped on the article as if entranced.

The fifth member of Make a New Color had been confirmed.
It was Yun Chung, a trainee who had been embroiled in controversies about lacking confidence and poor social skills throughout the program.
Although Yun Chung ranked last at 12th place in the viewer popularity vote, she became the final member through the judges’ selection, the “Color’s Choice.”
Do Hee-young, a judge and member of the 12-year-old girl group Greysh as well as a senior from the same agency, cited “the necessity of a main vocalist” as the reason for choosing Yun Chung.

Ding!
As I was reading the article in a daze, another notification popped up as if it had been waiting.

[Yun Chung, Controversy Over Final Member Selection?]

“Every time something happens, there’s always some controversy.”

I clicked on the article despite my exhaustion.
I needed to understand what was going on first.

Kim Mo-gyeong, an executive director at Colors, explained the reason for selecting Yun Chung as the final member, saying: “A voice that can anchor the group. She’s like the final puzzle piece that can complete the technical aspects of the still-immature StillBlue.”
However, netizens responded to the judges’ selection as a choice that ignored viewer opinions.

So that’s why she asked to debut in first place.
…She must have felt hurt. Being at the center of such controversy.
Of course, every trainee dreams of debuting. Debuting alone is something to be grateful for.
But hurt is still hurt.
She’s human, after all.
How could she not feel hurt when malicious comments are already piling up before she even debuts?
It must have felt like the entire world hated her.

“By the way, what exactly is this phone?”

I unlocked the phone and examined various things. But nothing worked.
The only things that functioned were opening the news notifications that came in and….
The contacts app.

“Why can I only open the contacts app out of nowhere?”

Nothing made sense.
Fortunately, it seemed I could open the news notification repeatedly once I’d opened it once.
I wanted to check other news articles, but there was no internet connection at all.
Truly, this phone did whatever it pleased.

“Still, I suppose I should be grateful to have even this much.”

…I have a feeling… I’ve made a contract with a demon?
That Cotton Ball Entity must be a demon, right?
Otherwise, none of this makes any sense.

“Right. It would actually be better if it were a real demon. At least then it would have the ability to grant wishes.”

I looked at the mirror on the desk, at Yun Chung’s face—now my face.
That was right. I hadn’t noticed before since I’d never looked closely, but Yun Chung was quite beautiful.
Even in the entertainment industry where beautiful people were a dime a dozen, this level of beauty would turn heads more than once.

“She seems much prettier than when I debuted.”

Well, Baek Nok-ha hadn’t become famous just for being beautiful in the first place.
Rather, for an idol, my face had been fairly ordinary.
Of course, my fans said I was the most beautiful person in the world….
But that was something I wanted to say to my fans.
When I first debuted, the styling, hair, and makeup that didn’t suit me somewhat overshadowed my appearance.
Though things improved considerably thanks to styling that worked for me and camera angles.

“Hmm. If the original was this beautiful, she should have been popular.”

She had talent too.
If her agency was large, she would have gotten decent promotion.
Then why… wasn’t she popular?
As confusion accumulated,
Ding!
Another notification came through on my phone.

[Make a New Color Episode 1 Updated!]

[Would you like to watch now?]

…Does it read my mind?

***

“No wonder she’s unpopular.”

I felt sorry for Yun Chung, but this was the cold truth.
It was a conclusion I’d reached the moment I finished watching the first episode.
In just fifty-five minutes, Yun Chung appeared for maybe three minutes total.
And even that wasn’t a solo three minutes—it was three minutes shared with other trainees.
And the only emotion I felt during those three minutes was frustration.
My body’s owner, Yun Chung.
She really.
Had no charm whatsoever.
If it were just a lack of charm, that would be one thing. But she lacked confidence, social skills, and even entertainment value.
Both on stage and off—perfectly wooden.
In survival shows like this, chemistry with other trainees is crucial, yet Yun Chung had none of that either.
Actually, she barely spoke at all.
Even when others tried to talk to her, all she managed was “Um, yeah…”

“No wonder she has no screen time and nothing interesting happens.”

And the scenes set in the Practice Room were equally dismal.
The girl could sing well, but her dancing and expressions were absolutely catastrophic.
She couldn’t even match the formations—she practically collided with other trainees.
Yet watching Yun Chung, I didn’t feel contempt.
Because I thought I understood why she was like this.
It’s just a guess, but the “original” Yun Chung…
Has camera phobia.
Stage fright too, for that matter.

***

Ten years.
That’s how long I’ve been rolling around in this entertainment industry.
If you count my trainee days, it’s twenty years. I may not be the person who knows this industry best, but I’ve earned enough seniority that I won’t be disrespected anywhere.
When you’re in this business long enough, you see all types of people.
The types who survive generally fall into these categories.
People with extraordinary talent, people who lack talent but compensate through effort, people with strong mental fortitude who endure longer, and so on.
And the types who struggle to survive are like this.
People who cause scandals, people who lose their original passion, and… people with tender hearts.
It’s a harsh place.
People with tender hearts can’t endure in a place like this. It’s not the fault of those who couldn’t endure.
The fault lies with a place that grinds people down to the point they can’t survive.
Anyway, Yun Chung was the third type.
Someone with an extraordinarily tender heart.
Looking at her, she lacks backbone.

“…At least her popularity issues weren’t caused by a rotten personality. That’s a relief.”

That type would be difficult to help otherwise.
People with rotten personalities likely had their character flaws showing long before debut.
Debut itself can be arranged with enough maneuvering.
What comes after is the problem.
From the moment debut is confirmed, no matter how much you manage, the past already exists.
If character controversies or past scandals erupt after debut, there’s no containing that.
Having a tender heart and lacking charisma is naturally not a sin.
At this age, having strong mental fortitude is what’s remarkable.
She’s only twenty. Barely born into the world.
Well, I can fix the tender part myself.

“When it comes to other things, I’m not sure, but…”

When it comes to mental fortitude and charisma, I’m an expert.

Ding!

[Tutorial Complete!]
[Calculating tutorial rewards…]
[~Yun Chung’s memories up to age nineteen~ have arrived!]
[Would you like to check? (Yes/No)]

“…Was that all just a tutorial?”

There’s a reward too.
And it comes with this body’s memories.
There’s no reason to refuse. I have to live as this body now, after all.
I pressed ‘Yes’.
And then,
I couldn’t open my mouth for a long while.

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