Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 57

—————

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

—————

57. Various Methods of Dropping a Parachute (4)
Predicting the second mission wasn’t difficult.
‘Well, it’s the golden rule of survival shows, isn’t it?’
〜〚TO THE TOP〛〜
“Your second mission is a cover song.”
Chasing after the stellar hit songs of our illustrious seniors.
“The music industry today is filled with countless shining stars. Through this mission, you’ll reinterpret your seniors’ songs in your own unique style.”
“You can preserve 100% of the original’s charm, or completely transform it with your own style. What matters is how brightly you can shine within that framework.”
True to form, Seo Tae-il delivered that lengthy spiel without a single NG. In moments like this, staying too quiet wouldn’t work. I had to at least feign some surprise to squeeze out another take.
‘But honestly, I can already guess which songs will come up.’
Copyright is more complicated and expensive than most people think, so when producing programs like this, they typically choose songs with minimal copyright issues. And when an outsourced production company is involved, they’re not exactly rolling in money either, so they’d want to cut corners on licensing fees as much as possible.
So ultimately, the method these agency survival shows employ is―.
‘Using songs from the agency’s own senior artists.’
If you have a thriving idol senior like Miro, it’s practically mandatory.
The production company saves on licensing fees,
The broadcast station avoids the risk of controversial songs,
And the senior artists get their chance to appear as mentors.
It’s not just a win-win-win situation—it’s more like a seventeen-way win in terms of cost-effectiveness.
‘The question is which of those many hit songs actually got chosen….’
“Now then. We’ll first reveal the keywords for the mission songs you’ll be covering!”
As Seo Tae-il spoke, the scoreboard began to turn. Letters etched themselves onto the display with powerful sound effects.
〜〚TO THE TOP〛〜
BLUE SCANDAL (7)
CINDERELLA (6)
SAD ENDING (5)
“There are three mission songs in total. You’ll now select your songs in order of your rankings from the previous mission.”
“Each song has limited spots available on a first-come, first-served basis. Once a team’s quota is filled, please elect a leader and begin your discussion.”
‘Three songs.’
I studied the three keywords displayed on the scoreboard. Jeong Si-u, sitting beside me, leaned over and asked.
“Which one are you going for?”
“Me? Why—are you following my lead, hyung?”
“Well, wouldn’t I choose first before you?”
“…I can’t argue with that.”
Faced with the well-founded confidence of a true-blooded Wings celestial-tier member, I simply held my tongue. The atmosphere suggested this was a reaction-gathering moment. Well, exchanging some banter would help secure more takes anyway, so I answered while looking at the scoreboard.
“Well… BLUE SCANDAL is catching my eye.”
I had a rough idea what kind of song it was.
“I like that blue color.”
That’s definitely Upia’s debut song. The original title is Waves. Written and composed by Seo Tae-il.
And,
-That racing part needs more flowing pronunciation.
—it needs to sound like “Here and Now” matches with Lime.
—Yes, Kang Ha-jin. Thank you for your hard work.
It was also my audition song for Miro.
‘Why risk trying something new when I’ve already got a safe choice that the original artist has approved?’
Since the team size is seven, even if all those Wings bastards went crazy and picked the same song, it wouldn’t matter. This time, I was finally going to choose the song I wanted….
“Before we proceed with team selection, there’s an announcement.”
…or so I thought?
“Han Sung-woo and Lee Yu-gun, the trainees who won the last battle.”
“These two trainees will be granted the authority to designate the song of the trainee they defeated in battle.”
‘What the hell kind of nonsense is this?’
I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head.
What’s going on? There was no mention of this before.
I let out a bewildered laugh, and that’s when I saw Han Sung-woo sitting across from me. The moment I caught sight of that flattened lip balm of a face, smiling smugly without a trace of surprise, I was certain.
‘That bastard did this.’
Did I provoke him too harshly last time? I’d beaten him up hoping he’d snap and do something reckless, but I never expected feedback this quick and calculated.
“Now, Lee Yu-gun. Please select your song and Kim Won-ho’s song first.”
It seemed Lee Yu-gun had a higher ranking than Han Sung-woo, so he got first pick. Lee Yu-gun, who’d been sitting silently to my left the whole time, hesitantly stood up.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve never exchanged a single word with this guy.’
We just never had the chance. Since he was sitting right next to me anyway, I openly admired Lee Yu-gun’s appearance. Sharp eyes and clean-cut features. The vibe he gave off was somewhat similar to Lee Do-ha, just as people said.
Though if Lee Do-ha had the look of a mafia boss who’d wear a three-piece suit with a tie pin and gloves, this guy had more of a dawn-patrol vibe—like he’d go skateboarding and do graffiti. What people call a “dinosaur face.” Probably because his lower jaw was short.
‘And yet the guy dances with surprising delicacy.’
Lee Yu-gun scratched the back of his head and took the hand microphone from the assistant director. Kim Won-ho, sitting across from him, wore an expression much like mine—’where did this come from?’
“I’ll… choose Blue Scandal.”
With Lee Yu-gun’s selection, the name appeared on the scoreboard and the team count changed. Now it was time to pick Kim Won-ho’s stage.
“Hey.”
“Huh?”
Why is this guy suddenly calling me?
“Kim Won-ho, what do you think he’d like?”
“Huh?”
Lee Yu-gun suddenly lowered the microphone and turned to me, and I felt my eyes about to bulge out again. Why are you asking me that?
“If I know what he likes, should I pick something else to avoid it?”
“No, I’ll pick that one.”
“…?”
“Hurry. You’re close with him anyway, hyung.”
Now he’s even rushing me for an answer. I looked at Kim Won-ho across from us, who was staring at our side. His face was desperately crumpled as he stretched out two fingers and silently mouthed a desperate plea—it looked rather pathetic.
“…I guess. Cinderella?”
“I’ll choose Cinderella.”
I mentioned Cinderella, presumably a recent hit from Endway, the seniors one rank above us, and Lee Yu-gun made his decision without a second thought. Kim Won-ho, who’d been pleading so desperately, was so surprised he let out a yelp and jumped up.
Confused by the whole situation, I looked at Lee Yu-gun, but he simply returned the microphone and sat back down next to me without a word.
“You….”
“Alright then, next. Han Sung-woo?”
I wanted to ask something more, but I realized this wasn’t the time for it. I hurriedly turned my head away. Han Sung-woo, who looked like a dumpling wrapper that had burst at the seams, rose from his seat.
“I’ll… go with Blue Scandal.”
‘Damn, we’re done for.’
The way he chose without hesitation made it clear that he also knew what kind of song Blue Scandal was. Well, of course—his connection had the inside track.
Anyway, that wasn’t the real problem. There was no way Han Sung-woo would put me on his team, so Blue Scandal was off the table. And since he knew I was close with Kim Won-ho, the probability of him putting me on Cinderella with Kim Won-ho was zero.
So what was left…?
“Ha-jin gets Sad Ending. I’ll assign you that.”
In other words, the only remaining third candidate song—one I had no idea what it even was. Damn it!
* * *
The fortunate part was that my team luck wasn’t terrible.
“Dan Ha-ru, come here. You’ve got water on you.”
“Oh, yes!”
Seo Tae-hyun looked after Dan Ha-ru, who was bouncing around the practice room. The Sad Ending team had five members. Me, who ended up here because of Han Sung-woo, and the two Feather Class trainees who had no choice—I could accept those. But Seo Tae-hyun and Dan Ha-ru were definitely unexpected gains.
Especially Seo Tae-hyun.
‘I thought he’d naturally pick Cinderella.’
That song was likely Endway’s most recent hit, Mood Night. It was the only song among Endway’s dark fantasy-themed tracks that was (quite) charming and (rather) flashy.
‘That’s Seo Tae-hyun’s specialty, after all.’
Well, he must have had his reasons for the decision. Either way, it was nothing but a gain for me. The Feather Class trainees who’d been pushed into this weren’t problematic either.
“Park Jae-young, come over here and sit down too.”
“Yes.”
Park Jae-young, who I thought would drop out, fortunately recovered from his cold and rejoined the program. It seemed he’d earnestly persuaded his parents, who were absolutely opposed.
And regarding Park Jae-young’s return, the System that had reappeared made this assessment.
[System Notification: Actually, Park Jae-young’s dropout was a fixed future event.]
[System Notification: But for some reason, in this timeline, the process of him rejoining has been added.]
[System Notification: I suspect the introduction of ‘Survival’ might be the variable. The fixed event was satisfied just by his non-participation in the first mission.]
It was a concept I didn’t fully understand, but in any case, I felt some inner guilt toward this guy, so it was fortunate. The remaining member, Jayden, hadn’t caused any major issues during the last mission either.
“Now then, let’s reveal the song’s identity.”
The five of us huddled together in a circle. I picked up the cue card the production team handed me and earnestly prayed to the heavens.
‘Please. Just don’t let it be some bizarre selection with absurdly difficult difficulty.’
You penny-pinching production team who got fired anyway—I still trust your instincts.
If something like that overflowing full-band rock sound from the disbanded Project W suddenly comes pouring out (the former Executive Director’s work), I’m seriously going to punch Han Sung-woo once and regress right now.
[System Notification: Hey, constantly threatening regression like that is a very bad habit!]
Either punch Han Sung-woo for me or shut up.
“Open it? Should I open it? Really?”
“Oh, wait! Ugh! No! I can’t look!”
“What do I do! Tae-hyun, my heart’s racing!”
“If yours isn’t racing, you’re dead! Ugh, Ha-ru!”
“H-hyung! I-I can’t breathe!!”
This kind of thing needed a little teasing to be fun.
I flipped over the cue card with the song title written on it and started beatboxing, and Seo Tae-hyun, who knew the broadcast ecosystem well, pulled Dan Ha-ru’s head close and joined in. The commotion was so loud that even the Feather Class members, who had seemed indifferent, started clamping their mouths shut.
“Boom-boom-boom—.”
“One, two….”
“Wow, I’m losing it.”
“Three!”
What was written on that rectangular piece of paper wasn’t, fortunately, as unfamiliar a song as I’d worried.
〜〚TO THE TOP〛〜
SAD ENDING
【Sarin – Crying Out to You】
Still, it was an unexpected choice.
“Sarin?”
Sarin. Who was she?
In this insane K-pop market where everyone bands together to debut as idol groups, she boldly threw her hat in the ring as a solo artist—a female ballad vocalist. She was also the representative artist of Lime Entertainment, a solo artist-focused entertainment agency that had been one of my audition candidates before.
Her strength lay in breakup songs delivered with a deeply emotional voice, and every OST she sang became a massive hit, earning her the current title of OST Queen. That Sarin.
And among all those famous OST masterpieces, the song chosen as Sarin’s signature track was none other than this one: 【Crying Out to You】.
So then, why did this achingly sorrowful ballad—not an agency senior’s song, not an idol song—suddenly appear in the Miro survival show?
“Ah, this song…. Seo Tae-il composed it, didn’t he?”
That was exactly why.
‘The taste of god-tier cost-effectiveness: securing diversity while saving on royalties.’
“Still, I’m relieved it’s not a song I don’t know.”
“I love this song too! I’ve already memorized all the lyrics.”
Even though it had been out for quite a while, everyone seemed to know it well. Well, that was certainly fortunate.
“….”
I stood with my mouth shut in bewilderment when my eyes met Seo Tae-hyun’s. This bastard didn’t look surprised at all, so it seemed he’d figured out it was this song and deliberately chosen it.
Well, with someone that perceptive, there was nothing to be shocked about.
‘Setting aside why Seo Tae-hyun picked this song….’
I hummed the melody of this song that automatically popped into my head and let out a hollow laugh.
‘Why is nothing ever easy!’
These ruthless bastards recommending my resignation.
No matter how cost-effective it is, who puts such an ultra-high-difficulty deep ballad into an idol survival show?

—————

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

—————