The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 27

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

The Former Idol Does Hard Carry for an Indie Band
Episode 27
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“It’s over!”
Band Slam had wrapped up successfully once again this year.
For fans of the Indie Scene, it was like the closing event of the year.
They took photos with the band members who’d been invited to the lineup and got autographs.
Just as the venue was being cleared and the performers were about to leave the hall.
“Hey, Im Hyeon-taek, how are you going to talk like that on stage?”
In the end, Kang Min couldn’t hold back his anger and confronted Im Hyeon-taek, the vocalist of Destruction.
“Huh? What did I do?”
Im Hyeon-taek replied as if he had no idea what was being said.
“An idol trainee? How can you speak like that when you don’t know anything?”
“Ah, isn’t that right?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Oh, it wasn’t? Well, never mind then.”
“Never mind?”
Kang Min bristled.
“Yeah, so what if we’re not right or wrong—why are you getting so worked up about it?”
Kang Min’s expression was one of pure disbelief.
“Regardless of whether you’re an idol or not, learn to conduct yourself properly. You’re getting absolutely trashed online right now, aren’t you?”
Im Hyeon-taek pressed his advantage, building on the momentum.
“You have no foundation, you went on variety shows cosplaying as geniuses—that’s why people hate you. Like you said, you’re not entertainers. But you’re not a real band either. For a high school band you’re passable, but that’s all there is to it, right? Just half-baked mediocrity.”
“What’s wrong with getting a good opportunity and appearing on broadcast?”
“It’s wrong because you’re getting hated! People aren’t cursing you out for no reason.”
Kang Min’s clenched fists trembled.
“Min, let’s go.”
“It’s Cha Seo-ha.”
The way Im Hyeon-taek wielded judgment based solely on public opinion without any real foundation seemed juvenile.
And I hated seeing Kang Min argue with someone of such a low caliber.
“I see. So you don’t like that we foundation-less people showed up here.”
Im Hyeon-taek’s expression twisted.
A look that said, ‘What’s this now?’
I’d been watching from the start, and it wasn’t just him.
There were quite a few people standing behind him who harbored similar feelings.
“Understood. So all we have to do is not show our faces here anymore, right?”
“Take your friends and leave.”
“Yes, understood. We’ll do our own thing. You keep working hard too.”
“Friends? Kid, how dare you be so rude.”
“Ah, my apologies. You’re older than me, right? You must have worked hard holding onto something that doesn’t work out for all this time.”
“What?”
“That perseverance is something I should learn from. Real musicians with foundation truly are different.”
Eventually Im Hyeon-taek started spewing curses too foul to repeat.
Unable to watch anymore, the organizer stepped in and stopped him.
“Let’s go. I don’t think there’s any reason to stay here longer.”
“Yeah.”
So I led Kang Min and the others out of the Main Hall.
* * *
Our dream of Band Slam had ended in complete disaster.
We performed well, but left with an unsatisfying aftertaste.
I’d wanted to give my friends a good memory, but things never go the way your heart wishes.
My heart was sad, but I couldn’t dwell on it.
I needed to see further ahead.
We’ll do well in the future.
-Fuck you Idol Band
The next day, Im Hyeon-taek posted a short message with a photo on his SNS.
“Man, this guy’s a lost cause.”
“What?”
“Look at this.”
Kang Min showed me the post that had gone up.
To be honest, that person barely crossed my mind.
A mosquito buzzing is annoying, sure, but it’s not like it ruins my entire life, right?
“Ugh, annoying…….”
Kang Min grumbled into the empty air.
“You really upset about it?”
“It’s not just Im Hyeon-taek. Did you notice the atmosphere when he and I were arguing yesterday?”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
Just as I’d discovered, it wasn’t only Im Hyeon-taek and Destruction who looked at us with disdain.
It wasn’t everyone, but except for one or two teams, all the others either nodded along with Im Hyeon-taek or frowned at what Kang Min and I said.
“It’s rotten, absolutely rotten. When did things get so twisted that even good music gets dismissed?”
“I was pretty disappointed too.”
Kim Ji-hu chimed in.
Heo Jun-seong naturally felt indignant and said he wished he’d cursed out Im Hyeon-taek or whoever, and Lee Do-yeong didn’t add anything but clearly looked hurt.
Lee Do-yeong didn’t say anything but looked quite upset.
“Cha Seo-ha, you’re really not bothered at all?”
“Not bothered? How could I not be?”
Heo Jun-seong looks surprised at my answer.
“Huh? That’s unexpected. I thought you’d say something like, ‘Actually, I find it fascinating,’ in that irritating tone of yours.”
……Yeah, I was planning to say exactly that. Damn.
“Well, sort of. Did you guys not notice something weird yesterday?”
“Something weird?”
I didn’t expect much from Kang Min and Heo Jun-seong anyway.
But even Lee Do-yeong and Kim Ji-hu didn’t grasp what I was getting at.
“Were there any unfamiliar people at our performance yesterday?”
“I don’t think so……?”
“Why do you think?”
“Oh, because we were on broadcast?”
“Exactly.”
“Oh right! Im Hyeon-taek definitely mentioned the broadcast.”
“And what happened after we appeared on broadcast? We got absolutely trashed. You all saw the community reactions, right?”
“Oh yeah! That’s right!”
“Kang Min, answer this: normally at a band festival, how many people actually recognize a rookie band?”
“Almost none.”
“And us?”
“Everyone recognized us.”
“That’s exactly what I was going for. We’re already quite famous for how little experience we have.”
“Wow…….”
Everyone stared at me like I was some kind of seer.
“They didn’t just watch the broadcast. These little fish wanted to see how well we actually played music, so they probably listened to our songs too. And that’s not all—they probably came to Banwol Park as well.”
“That makes sense.”
“Wow, this guy’s not ordinary.”
Just moments before, these guys had been furious about yesterday’s incident.
But the moment they heard what I said, their attitudes began to shift.
“Right! When we become successful later, all those people are going to regret every curse word they said.”
“Yeah! Let’s get cursed out more! Let’s become so famous that we make them all feel ashamed!”
“That’s right—since it’s come to this, let’s follow Seo-ha’s lead and get trashed and flip this whole scene on its head.”
“Hey, Cha Seo-ha, you know anywhere else we can go to get cursed out more?”
When Heo Jun-seong asked me this, I felt dopamine surging through my brain.
“Oh……. So you really want to get cursed out more?”
Good. Let’s properly raise the stakes then.
* * *
Hearing the guys say they wanted to get cursed out more, my mind started working overtime.
We could just prepare another solid album right now and prove our skills, but like the guys said, I decided to sink lower first.
The more dramatic the reversal, the better the effect.
I have several plans.
There are audition shows, or we could go on variety again like we did with Moon Ga-yeong.
There’s a singer who blows up this summer—I could connect with him.
There’s also the option of getting a song from a producer who’s unknown now but will blow up soon.
But none of that sounds fun.
I think it’d be best if we appeared on ‘a certain broadcast.’
I was obviously planning to leverage the media.
‘That broadcast’—to appear on it…
I’d need to contact the producer first, and that process won’t be easy.
Do I need to use Moon Ga-yeong again?
I have several plans, so let me think carefully about which contact point would be fastest.
As the year-end indie event Band Slam drew its curtain, the year itself came to a close.
The news that Okktop had performed at Band Slam spread through the entire band scene in a single day.
Naturally, the criticism directed at us would only grow.
The sun of the new year rose between the buildings, indifferent to the world’s noise.
As the stage lights illuminated the audience, the silhouettes of the world became clear.
And that radiance seemed to herald the beginning of someone’s brilliant stage.
As the new year dawned, we all became serious students.
Naturally, Kang Min’s life didn’t change much, and Heo Jun-seong and I weren’t much different.
Lee Do-yeong resolved to pursue music seriously.
But still, the thought of abandoning everything he’d built so far left him with some regret.
His grades had always been excellent, after all.
Kim Ji-hu hadn’t yet stated his position clearly.
Uncertainty breeds worry, after all.
Though our individual circumstances differed, we all shared the same resolve to continue with Okktop.
Thanks to everyone’s cooperative attitude, we never ran short on days when all of us gathered in the Practice Room.
Oh, and today’s gathering had a special guest.
“Can I come in?”
Moon Ga-yeong had come to the Practice Room.
“Oh, come on in. But what’s all this?”
She came in with her hands completely full of things.
“Oh, I brought some chicken and pizza and various other stuff. You like hamburgers, right? This one’s for you.”
“Wow, insane! Thanks!”
She’d let me know beforehand that she was coming to visit, but I hadn’t expected her to bring so much.
So we spread out all the food in the middle of the Practice Room and sat down.
“Thank you for the meal!”
“Thanks for this.”
“Go ahead, eat lots. If there’s not enough, I’ll order more.”
She’s been working in society since childhood, so she knows how to repay kindness, and she seemed more mature than the rest of us.
“Hey, why did you bring so much?”
Six of us couldn’t even finish all of this, so why did she bring so much?
Was she that grateful?
We already paid her enough for the song.
“Well, I’m just sorry about everything.”
“Sorry? About what?”
The rest of us, including me, looked at Moon Ga-yeong with puzzled expressions.
“Your responses lately haven’t been great, and I felt like maybe I was having a bad influence on you because of me.”
“Hey, I’m the one who asked you to do that in the first place. Don’t worry about it.”
“No, it all started because I asked for a song in the first place.”
Actually, it was me who first asked Lee Do-yeong to bring Yu Yeong-eun and Moon Ga-yeong to that busking spot.
She wouldn’t have known that, of course, but the girl really is kind.
“Don’t worry about it. We like getting cursed out.”
“You like it?”
“Yeah, a band needs some of that flavor.”
Moon Ga-yeong looked quite surprised at Lee Do-yeong’s unexpected answer.
“Right! We like getting cursed out? This is the kind of trial that makes us grow! Isn’t that right, Kim Ji-hu?”
“Shut up, keep your voice down.”
“Anyway, don’t worry about us. We’re all fine.”
“You guys really are amazing. It can’t be easy to endure. Still, I can’t help but feel sorry.”
“Yeah? If you feel sorry, why don’t you appear in our music video later.”
“Oh, that would be really great actually.”
“Well, if we make it big later, that is.”
“Then I’ll definitely do it for you. I need to do at least that much to feel at peace.”
“For free?”
“I’ll have to talk to the company about that…….”
So we just talked as friends, discussing broadcast stories, music, and how we’d all been doing.
“By the way, shouldn’t we be the ones apologizing? Our segment took up way too much in Studio Campus/Broadcast Content Episode 2.”
Kim Ji-hu, as sharp as ever, asked Moon Ga-yeong about it.
Taking up the main character’s airtime could definitely be rude to her.
“Oh, that’s not your fault at all. I heard from my manager before that something happened between our company and the broadcast station.”
“Huh? What happened? Is it serious?”
Unable to contain his curiosity, Heo Jun-seong asked.
“No, nothing major. The broadcast station apparently thought you guys were under our company.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Dude, why do you think, you idiot?”
“Huh?”
Kim Ji-hu scolded him, but Heo Jun-seong’s understanding didn’t seem to extend that far.
Does he even realize what kind of criticism we’re getting right now?
Moon Ga-yeong explained roughly how the broadcast went that way.
It seemed she didn’t know the finer details.
“So? How are things between your company and the broadcast station now?”
“It’s sort of fizzled out. My company doesn’t care since you’re not affiliated with us, so they just moved on. The broadcast station seems to be waiting. I think they’re convinced you’ll debut under our company eventually.”
That’s right—if we eventually debut under TM, only then will they make their move.
But that’s never going to happen, right?
Well, anyway, it seems like there are no major issues on that end.
“Oh, and actually, there’s another reason I came here today.”
“What is it?”
“We were talking about broadcast, so it just came to mind.”
“Yeah?”

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