Became The Leader of a Girl Group Destined To Fail - Chapter 56

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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 56.

The guerrilla concert would consist of one full-group stage and one stage per room.
The full-group stage would be our first ensemble song, “Rainbow”.
The remaining stage had to be prepared by our own room.

“But what about Ju-hong’s room then?”
“Right…? Are they doing it with just two people?”

Yeon Ju-hong’s room originally had Jo Hee-on and Kim Ryeo-yu, making three of them.
But since Jo Hee-on dropped out and left, that room was automatically down to two.
I tilted my head in doubt, wondering if it was even possible,
when there came a knock.

“Come in.”

Someone was knocking on the door.
It was Kang Writer.

“I came to set up the camera and deliver some information.”
“Information?”

We exchanged glances with one another.
What was this about?

“Well… as you all know, Kim Ryeo-yu’s and Yeon Ju-hong’s rooms are currently down to just two members each.”
“Right.”
“So Yeon Ju-hong’s room thought it might be difficult with just two people, so….”

No way.
A chill of premonition ran through all three of us.

“What if you merged with another room and performed as five?”
“I refuse.”

Kim Geum rejected it outright.
Ruthless as thorns, that one.

“…Well, just hear me out first….”
“I’ll listen, but I’m very much against this.”

Kim Geum took an extremely firm stance.
I couldn’t say I didn’t understand her feelings.
Kim Geum had grown quite resentful toward Kim Ryeo-yu because of the Lee Ju-seon situation.
I didn’t know all the details, but one thing was certain—Kim Ryeo-yu had driven a wedge between Lee Ju-seon and us.

“But we also think it would be better for us to perform on the Stage with five or six people rather than three. That would be less of a burden on you all. Besides, the guerrilla concert is in two days.”
“I’d rather carry the burden! Or pair us with another room! I want to do it with Baek-young’s room!”

When Kim Geum showed no willingness to negotiate, Kang Writer looked toward me.
Why are you looking at me instead of Ryu Bora?

“Yeon Ju-hong said she really wanted to perform with your room, so I came personally to ask.”
“…Ju-hong?”

I didn’t know that.
Why would she go that far…?

“As you know, Yeon Ju-hong is quite young… and she has a delicate heart.”

That much was true.
She probably had the weakest mental fortitude among all the trainees.
She laughed easily and cried easily.
Sometimes she acted sharp to hide her vulnerable side, but she was also the one with the most affection in her heart.
She was the first to approach me without any hesitation.
The harsh version of Yeon Ju-hong from my past life—had her heart changed after her debut failed? Looking at her now, I couldn’t recall that Yeon Ju-hong at all.

“Yeon Ju-hong is quite exhausted right now… She said she’d feel much more at ease performing with your room.”

I looked at Kang Writer anew.
She didn’t seem like someone who would care about the trainees’ emotional well-being.
After all, she was practically Oh PD’s right hand.
Kang Writer seemed to catch the meaning in my gaze, clearing her throat with a soft hum.

“Since Oh PD can’t attend to these things, I have to look after them.”
“…I see.”

Someone needs to look after her, or there’ll be trouble.
I found that reasoning acceptable enough.
This is a real dilemma.
Being on the same team as Kim Ryeo-yu was something I’d rather die than endure, yet I couldn’t bring myself to ignore Yeon Ju-hong’s circumstances.
Kim Geum seemed to share my sentiment, her expression equally conflicted.
After all, Yeon Ju-hong had been holding her own in that room for quite some time now.

“What do you think, Bora?”
“I don’t have any thoughts about it. Do whatever you want.”

Ryu Bora wore the expression of someone utterly indifferent to everything in this world.
…What on earth do you care about anyway?
Not about debuting, not about your teammates.
I thought we’d grown closer after performing the Fingertips stage together, but was that just my imagination?

“Geum, what do you think? Don’t you think it would be better if we looked after Ju-hong?”
“…Ugh.”

Just as Kim Geum was wrestling with her final decision, the door opened again.
And there, peeking through, was a head of pink hair.

“Unnie….”

She’d been listening to everything outside.

“I’ll really do my best….”

…She looked like a dejected rabbit.
I deliberately averted my gaze.
I’m innocent. The blame lies with Kim Geum.

“Hey, why were you eavesdropping on us!”

Kim Geum, embarrassed, lashed out irritably.
At that, tears began to well up in Yeon Ju-hong’s large eyes.

“Unnie….”
“Stop that right now!”
“I struggled during the last stage too…. Can’t we do this together? I’ve missed you unnies so much!”

Was she always like that?
Watching Yeon Ju-hong transform completely into the youngest member, we were left speechless.

“Come on, come on. Let’s do this together. Ugh.”

Eventually, Kim Geum, who couldn’t stand this situation, threw up her hands.

“You just whine during practice.”
“When have I ever whined during practice!”
“All the time.”
“Kim Geum, you’re seriously spreading false rumors about me.”
“False rumors? You whiner. You’re always saying ‘What if I can’t debut? What if I mess up my vocals?’ all day!”
“I’m anxious, so that’s how it is!”
“That’s exactly why you won’t believe me when I say you’re skilled enough not to be anxious!”
“Then stop picking on me, Kim Geum!”
“What do you want me to do, pinky,”

…Do they have any idea how they look right now?
A safari would probably be more peaceful than this.

“Anyway, that’s settled.”

I offered an awkward smile to Kang Writer, who looked somewhat exhausted.
But Kang Writer simply patted my shoulder with a pitying gaze.
This is oddly irritating.

“Where is Ryeo-yu, by the way?”
“Kim Ryeo-yu is… absent from today’s filming due to personal circumstances. For now, please discuss the stage arrangement among the four of you. And Kim Ryeo-yu will join tomorrow and practice with you from then on.”

She’s probably off doing whatever she wants again.

“So we’re deciding the parts without Ryeo-yu, setting the concept ourselves, and choosing the song ourselves?”
“Yes. I’ll relay that to Kim Ryeo-yu.”

Kim Geum’s reaction was skeptical.
It was understandable.

“Do you think she’ll… accept that?”
“…I’ll at least… try to tell her.”

Lee.

***

In the end, we decided to choose a song without Kim Ryeo-yu.
Kang Writer thanked us for our cooperation, set up the camera, and left.

“We don’t have much practice time, so let’s keep it simple and skip the dance.”
“Sounds good.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with my suggestion.

“We’re performing at… the Han River.”

The Han River Park, no less.
There would be so many people there.

“Since it’s a guerrilla concert, there will be far more people who don’t know us than those who do, right?”
“Yeah. Our recognition is still pretty limited.”
“Ugh.”

At Kim Geum’s blunt words, Yeon Ju-hong’s shoulders sagged.
But it was true, after all.
Sure, Make a New Color was popular for an idol survival show, but our highest viewership rating was still only 2.1%.
We were building a core fanbase, but we couldn’t claim to have mainstream appeal yet.

“We should be grateful we’ve come this far without even debuting.”
“Won’t people recognize Ryu Bora?”

At Yeon Ju-hong’s words, our attention shifted to Ryu Bora.
Ryu Bora, seemingly unhappy with the sudden spotlight, turned her head away.

“Anyway, let’s perform a song everyone can relate to.”
“Right. We can make up for the mainstream appeal we lack with the song itself.”
“A song everyone can sing along to!”

We were reaching some consensus.

“I think it would be even better if it’s a song everyone enjoys, regardless of age.”
“Right. Something bright that would lift the spirits of people out for a stroll.”
“Since it’s summer, a refreshing song that fits a summer night!”

Without me adding anything, opinions naturally aligned one after another.
Had things ever unfolded this smoothly before?

“What about ‘Blue Starlight Night’?!”
“That’s too recent. More people wouldn’t know it.”
“How about ‘Bye Bye Dream’?”
“Without choreography, that could actually kill the mood… You haven’t sung it at karaoke, have you? It’s surprisingly difficult to pull off.”
“Then what about this one?”
“That’s…”

I recalled those difficult days of the past.
Group projects really do depend on finding good teammates.
At the same time, I found it remarkable how close the trainees had become.
When Make a New Color first started, everyone was so distant.
When did we all become this close?
Thinking that Make a New Color’s end wasn’t far away, I felt an inexplicable wistfulness.

“Yun Chung, you suddenly got sentimental.”
“Why did you suddenly get all nostalgic like an old person?”

Ryu Bora, you see things quite perceptively, don’t you?
I pinched Ryu Bora’s cheek.
Then Kim Geum and Yeon Ju-hong looked even more surprised.
Was that really something to be so shocked about?

“What about this song?”

I turned on my phone to change the subject and played a song.

“Oh, this song…!”
“Everyone knows it, right?”

It wasn’t a recent release.
It came out around when I was born, so roughly twenty years ago.
But it was still a song that everyone knew.

“How does it sound?”

I asked when we were about halfway through the song.

“Well, it’s definitely a song everyone knows.”
“But isn’t it… really old? It’s been out for almost….”
“That might actually make it better.”

I left the choice to the other three.
Deliberately stepping back without inserting myself.

“It definitely has that summer night vibe…. Should we rearrange it a bit? Make it suit us better?”
“Unnie, you can arrange it in just one day?!”
“Don’t underestimate me. Of course I can.”
“Kim Geum, stop bragging….”

So this is what a team really is.
Whenever I performed at one-off stages like year-end shows, I had to conceptualize everything alone.
Of course, the Agency helped, and there was a producer….
But it wasn’t like this.
This camaraderie of performing on stage together with the same people.

“You should take this part, Yeon Ju-hong. Your tone is perfect for it.”
“Really?! Really?! I can do this?”
“Why are you making such a fuss? Of course you can.”
“But there’s no rap in this song—are you okay with that, Kim Geum?”

I’d been wondering about that too.
At Ryu Bora’s straightforward question, we all turned to look at Kim Geum simultaneously.

“I’m good at rapping, but I’m not only good at rapping. I’m a true all-rounder with perfectly balanced abilities.”
“….”
“…”

The problem was solved, but….
It wasn’t that Kim Geum couldn’t sing.
Whenever she hummed along, changing the lyrics on a whim, she actually sang surprisingly well, which always caught me off guard.
But it seemed like I’d never really heard her sing properly before.

“Then Geum, would you sing this part for us?”
“Seriously? You don’t trust me. This unnie is unbelievable.”

Kim Geum, her pride wounded, snatched the phone and studied the lyrics.

Let’s leave together
Without a single worry or care

Just one verse.
But.
We all reached the same conclusion.

‘We have to do this song, if only for Kim Geum.’

If only one problem remained—

“But do you think Ryeo-yu unnie will be okay with this song?”

That was it.

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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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