The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut - Chapter 23

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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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The Gate Burst Open on My Debut Day (23)
LMH poured tremendous capital into crafting the finest idols in the industry.
Yoo Sung was a trainee at LMH.
Not just any trainee—an ace trainee who consistently ranked first in monthly evaluations as naturally as breathing.
Everyone believed Yoo Sung would debut, and Yoo Sung himself was certain he would debut from LMH.
That certainty lasted until three months before the debut lineup was finalized, when a new trainee joined LMH.
“Starting today, you’ll be training together with a new trainee.”
The LMH management director introduced the newcomer.
A new trainee? With less than a year until debut?
Yoo Sung and the other LMH trainees furrowed their brows.
“My name is Lee Hyun-ho. I’m twenty years old, and this is my first time at an idol entertainment agency.”
The man who introduced himself as Lee Hyun-ho smiled brightly and greeted them, even under the weight of their obvious hostility.
The trainees grew anxious, fearing Lee Hyun-ho might cost them their spot in the debut lineup.
But Yoo Sung simply trained in silence.
He believed no one could take his place.
“Hey, your name was Yoo Sung, right?”
Lee Hyun-ho, unable to fit in anywhere else, approached Yoo Sung.
It seemed Lee Hyun-ho also recognized Yoo Sung as the most likely debut candidate.
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, you’re always alone. It’d be nice if we got along.”
At that time, Yoo Sung stood apart from the other trainees—his exceptional talent combined with his aloof personality kept him isolated.
“Not really.”
“Are you going for some kind of lonely wolf concept or something?”
“What?”
“You’re not debuting solo, right? We might debut together, so let’s be friends.”
Lee Hyun-ho extended his hand to Yoo Sung as he spoke.
Yoo Sung thought for a moment, then took Lee Hyun-ho’s hand.
Yoo Sung wasn’t debuting as a solo artist.
There was no need to put up thorns against someone approaching him.
“Sure, whatever.”
“Thanks for having me.”
Despite Yoo Sung’s gruff tone, Lee Hyun-ho laughed brightly.
Lee Hyun-ho followed Yoo Sung around during practice, trained together, shared meals, and built a small everyday life together.
Yoo Sung’s tightly closed heart gradually opened.
If he had to choose a member to debut with, Lee Hyun-ho seemed like the right choice.
But Yoo Sung’s expectations and trust shattered completely on the day the debut lineup was finalized.
“The members of LMH’s new boy idol group launching in the second half of this year are….”
The trainees’ names were called one by one.
One, two, three… Yoo Sung’s name was never called.
“…and finally, Lee Hyun-ho. That makes six members total.”
“Ahhhhh!”
“We’re debuting, we’re debuting!”
The trainees who had achieved their dreams cheered, while those whose names were never called hung their heads in defeat.
Yoo Sung stared blankly into the void.
Me, I….
‘I didn’t make the debut lineup?’
My vision blurred and my ears felt muffled.
A throbbing pain spread across my head as I pressed my forehead with my hand, when someone placed a hand on Yoo Sung’s shoulder.
“Sung, are you okay?”
“…Lee Hyun-ho.”
Lee Hyun-ho was looking at Yoo Sung with a sympathetic expression.
But Yoo Sung could read the truth hidden beneath Lee Hyun-ho’s perfect mask.
“You… why are you smiling?”
“Huh?”
“You just smiled.”
“Oh… me? You must have seen wrong.”
The source of the discomfort I’d felt since Lee Hyun-ho joined began to reveal itself.
Lee Hyun-ho’s skills were just average.
Not terrible, but not good enough to overshadow the other trainees either.
His appearance was mediocre at best.
He had a good personality, but if you tried to get close, he’d put up walls.
This trainee with nothing special about him joined LMH without any prior experience, and became part of the debut lineup in just three months.
This was… could it be….
“Are you a nepotism hire?”
At Yoo Sung’s words, Lee Hyun-ho clamped his mouth shut.
The representative of LMH was named Lee Myung-ho.
Lee Myung-ho and Lee Hyun-ho—it was impossible not to suspect.
“You’re not completely oblivious, are you?”
Lee Hyun-ho chuckled and spoke.
Rage turned my head white-hot.
“He’s my uncle, Representative Lee Myung-ho.”
Lee Hyun-ho shrugged his shoulders.
His attitude was that it didn’t matter if it was exposed.
“Weren’t you originally the center?”
“What?”
“My uncle and the director said so—that you were originally supposed to be the center of the group we’re launching.”
I’d never heard such a thing.
But looking at all the trainees’ skills and faces, it was obvious.
There wasn’t a single trainee besides Yoo Sung who excelled in dance, vocals, and visuals all at once.
“So I said I’d do it instead.”
But Lee Hyun-ho crushed Yoo Sung’s efforts and dreams with a single sentence.
“I’ll be the center. Yoo Sung, you just do whatever—whether you participate or not, figure it out yourself.”
Lee Hyun-ho spoke with the same bright smile he’d worn when he first approached Yoo Sung on his first day at the company.
“There’s nothing you can do about it, Yoo Sung.”
Yoo Sung’s fists trembled violently.
I wanted to throw a punch, but I couldn’t.
If I caused a violent incident with the LMH representative’s nephew, I’d never set foot in this industry again.
“What could you possibly do? You’re just a trainee.”
Much as I hated to admit it, Lee Hyun-ho was right.
There was nothing I could do.
Yoo Sung.
It was a name my mother and father had given me, meaning to be a star that shines brightly wherever I go.
Perhaps it was because of that glittering name.
My dream was to become an idol who shined brighter than anyone else, and I did my best to achieve it.
But with a single word from someone else, my efforts became meaningless, and my dream—which had shone like a star—fell to the ground and lost its light.
‘I just… trusted you.’
Yoo Sung’s eyes snapped open.
Someone placed a hand on Yoo Sung’s shoulder.
“Yoo Sung, are you okay?”
It was Kim Chowol, the one I’d been curt with for no reason, remembering Lee Hyun-ho from our first meeting.
His manner of speaking still irritated me, but… now I understood.
Kim Chowol and Lee Hyun-ho were different people.
“It’s our turn now. Let’s go up.”
“…Yeah.”
Yoo Sung looked at Kim Chowol and thought.
Maybe with Kim Chowol, I could debut.
The dream that had fallen to the ground began to shine again.
* * *
The stage began, and Yoo Sung stood tall in the center of it.
Standing alone in the darkness, Yoo Sung looked like a lonely star floating in the night sky.
“A single star rising in the night sky.”
Yoo Sung slowly lifted his head and stretched one hand upward.
Above was a brilliant spotlight instead of a star in the heavens, but because of Yoo Sung’s expression and atmosphere, it looked like a real star.
“Shining like my heart for you.”
“Light, light, star light.”
As the other trainees on stage slowly rose, they became small stars guarding the lonely star’s side.
Seo Ijae, who had been standing in back, stepped forward, and the remaining trainees retreated in a V formation.
The trainees’ movements were fluid and graceful, yet precise.
“That moment I’ve dreamed of every night is now approaching me.”
“This racing heart—I can’t hide it anymore.”
Seo Ijae and Okada stepped forward in turn, each singing a verse.
Though they didn’t stand out, both their dancing and singing were steady and reliable.
They were small stars shining alongside the brilliant first-magnitude star, beautifully adorning the night sky.
“One step, two steps toward you, the closer I get, the more my heart trembles.”
Originally Yoo Sung’s part, but now the pre-chorus belonged to Ju Gilhyung.
Yet Ju Gilhyung couldn’t even properly fill the role of a small star.
“I’ll show you everything I have.”
The pre-chorus was a section that built tension leading into the chorus—a part as crucial as the chorus itself, if not more so.
When Yoo Sung sang it, it was incredibly captivating, but hearing Ju Gilhyung perform it was so tedious I nearly yawned.
“light, light, star light.”
Yoo Sung’s deep, crystalline voice resonated across the stage.
The clouds parted, and countless stars that had been holding their breath revealed themselves.
“I’ll illuminate you.”
Five trainees each took a vertex, forming a star together.
It wouldn’t be visible from below the stage, but the camera mounted above was diligently capturing the glittering star the trainees were creating.
“Forever burning in the deepest depths of my heart, this starlight.”
But soon the trainees’ formation shifted.
The star shape vanished as if a supernova had exploded, reforming into a V-shape that danced in sync with the chorus melody.
Starlight was a ballad pop song, but with its rapid tempo, the chorus choreography was quite challenging.
Yoo Sung, Okada, and Kim Chowol took center stage, unleashing explosive energy.
Kim Junwoo’s mother, completely absorbed in the performance, dropped her jaw.
“Cra—”
Crazy.
Having been a fan of second-generation idols for so long, her standards were exceptionally high.
Even after watching Han Theo’s stage as the theme song’s center, she’d evaluated it as “he’s good, but something’s missing,” which said everything.
Han Theo was genuinely handsome as befitted a center, and his skills were excellent.
The stage was enjoyable to watch, probably because there were many high-ranking trainees.
But something was missing.
If she had to put into words what that missing something was…
“There’s no emotion, no emotion at all.”
Though Han Theo was given the center position because he performed best, the other trainees seemed unable to let go of their desire for the center.
The moment the second-magnitude stars, who should have helped the first-magnitude star shine brighter, stepped forward trying to outshine it, the stage became a competition ground showcasing who was better.
But the second stage—the Kim Chowol Guild’s stage with Yoo Sung as center—was different.
The small stars were earnestly helping the brightest first-magnitude star shine even more brilliantly.
“P-photos! I need to take photos.”
Belatedly remembering that she needed to photograph the stage, the female fan picked up her camera.
Naturally, she should have been filming Yoo Sung, the most handsome and skilled, but strangely, her camera lens kept turning toward Kim Chowol.
“There will be difficult times sometimes, but with you, it’s all right.”
“Like this starlight, we too will shine forever.”
“light, light, star light.”
Yoo Sung and Seo Ijae exchanged verses as they sang, their voices weaving together in perfect harmony.
The audience members, utterly captivated by Yoo Sung, murmured softly among themselves.
“He’s practically glowing….”
The Female Fan caught herself at the sound of the murmur.
She should have been taking photos, but she’d missed the timing while watching Kim Chowol.
‘Well, since I’m already here, I might as well just photograph Kim Chowol.’
Click, click!
The Female Fan snapped photos of Kim Chowol.
Yet even as she photographed him, her chest remained unsettled.
‘Why does he have so few lines?’
Kim Chowol barely had any vocal parts at all.
He stayed hidden in the back, dancing only—it was impossible to capture him well on camera.
During the second chorus, Yoo Sung stepped forward into the spotlight.
The Female Fan briefly considered whether she should photograph Yoo Sung instead, but her camera refused to obey her intentions.
No—she had to admit it now.
The Female Fan was drawn to Kim Chowol.
Yet her pride rebelled against the truth, insisting: ‘Am I really letting my heart waver for a mere trainee?’
“Huh…?”
She’d expected it to be Yoo Sung’s part again since it was originally the center section, but Kim Chowol suddenly emerged from behind Yoo Sung.
And then, looking directly at her, he sang.
“I’ll show you everything I have.”
Click.
It wasn’t a conscious action.
Her finger simply moved of its own accord, pressing the shutter.
Just as it had when she captured Kim Junwoo’s ‘miraculous shot’.
The Female Fan watched Kim Chowol smile gently at her and murmured softly.
“Ah… I’m a fan now….”

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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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