The Reincarnated Idol Hard Carries an Indie Band - Chapter 68

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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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Former Idol, Hard-Carrying an Indie Band
Episode 68
The story Kang Min told me was more shocking than I’d expected.
He’d been deliberately ostracized during Ensemble Performance prep, and in the bathroom before starting the performance, he said Im Hyun Taek had hit him.
“And you just took it?”
“No, I said something, but just lightly…….”
What came next from Kang Min’s mouth was even more shocking.
How a hundred people would listen to the album anyway, how ten people would show up to a concert anyway.
How he should practice more instead of wasting time gossiping about others….
The previous life.
Kang Min grabbed me by the collar the moment he saw me at Lee Do Young’s funeral.
And this time around, the moment we met, he immediately wanted to do an Ensemble Performance.
At Band Slam, he didn’t hold back—he talked back to Im Hyun Taek.
I knew he had this kind of unrestrained side, but it was more than I’d thought.
“That’s not in the ‘lightly’ category, you bastard.”
“But still, how can you just hit someone in the face? Shouldn’t you go beat him up, Seo Ha? You work out.”
“Hey, Heo Jun Sung. If I hit someone, that’s aggravated assault.”
“Oh, right.”
Kang Min continued telling the story.
“And earlier, I got Sheet Music, but it was a mess. I think that guy was messing with me again.”
“Wow…… The guy’s completely insane.”
Heo Jun Sung didn’t hold back with his words.
Kim Ji Hu’s startled reaction followed next.
“Wait, so you memorized all that and played it without Sheet Music?”
Kang Min’s Outro Performance was incredibly difficult.
Six hours was an impossible timeframe—at least a competent player would need a month of practice to perform at that level.
“Oh, that was Freestyle. So that’s why the team members were so shocked and the Ensemble Performance didn’t go right.”
“Wow…… ”
“Man…… ”

“A monster…… ”
I was bothered by how Kang Min’s tone suggested he wasn’t likely to come back anytime soon.
“Hey, Kang Min.”
“Yeah?”
“You remember what I told you?”
“What you told me?”
“To act like yourself and go up there.”
“Oh, of course I remember.”
“Why do you think I said that?”
Kang Min just tilted his head.
“From the moment I saw the lineup, I knew it’d be like this. The Ensemble Performance wasn’t going to go well—even without the fighting, that Unity you value so much would’ve fallen apart no matter what.”
“You knew the result would be like this?”
“Obviously. You should be grateful you didn’t place dead last.”
“Well, if that’s the case, that puts my mind at ease somewhat…… ”
“And another thing.”
“Another thing?”
The truth was, there were two meanings behind what I told Kang Min about acting like himself.
One was that if Im Hyun Taek harassed him, he shouldn’t worry about the broadcast or anything else and should just say what he wanted.
And the other was…… ”
“Haven’t you been feeling a bit cooped up, doing all this mainstream stuff with us?”
“Wow…… ”
Kang Min let out an exclamation instead of answering.
He understood my meaning instantly.
“I meant you should go up there, blow off all that stress, and come back. Well, it looks like you did that anyway. How was it? Did you have fun?”
Kang Min bit his lip hard and stared at the ceiling for a moment.
“You really are…… ”
I didn’t catch what came next.
But seeing Kang Min’s radiant smile, it felt like I’d already heard the answer.
We didn’t get a high ranking, but this wasn’t an elimination Round anyway.
The judges didn’t matter no matter who we faced.
Because I was going to be the one driving things forward.
And the reason we came on this broadcast was solely for Lee Do Young.
In the end, it was all for a friend.
Being able to help another member work through something that’d been bothering him in that process was far more valuable than receiving a lower ranking.
* * *
The four judges transition to producers starting today.
Shin Myung Chul of Bad Onion.
Kim Hyung Tae of Phoenix.
Park Chul Hwan of Matryoshka.
Jung Hyuk of Seoul 1977.
The top four teams each selected their preferred producer.
Among them, Maruru Band chose producer Park Chul Hwan, and Park Chul Hwan broke into a pleased smile.
The strongest team had come to his side.
And then the eight mid-tier teams.
While those teams were selecting their producers, there were several rejections.
Teams that were rejected were pushed to the back of the mid-tier band order and had to choose again.
The least popular producer among them was Park Chul Hwan.
Not for any other reason than he had the reputation of being the most exacting and intimidating.
Oktatop chose judge Park Chul Hwan, and there was no rejection.
Destruction paired with Bad Onion’s producer Shin Myung Chul.
Bad Onion was a pioneer of Joseon Punk, and Destruction, which wielded punk as its main weapon, had every reason to align with them.
After finishing the matchups, the production team ran interviews as always.
* * *
Before the cast headed home for the day.
As always, a team group interview took place.
In front of Oktatop were the now-familiar camera and lead writer Kim Da Young.
“How did the other members feel about Kang Min’s performance today?”
Kim Ji Hu was the first to answer.
“The technician was excellent. There was no breakdown whatsoever in a situation where you had to manage speed, rhythm, and the subtlety of velocity all at once. What he showed was seasoned skill born of the time he’s invested. I thought it was very impressive.”
Kim Ji Hu answered as if he were the judge himself.
Then Heo Jun Sung continued.
“It was absolutely the best. This is actually the first time we’ve seen Min play at this level.”
“I see. Kang Min, you showed a great performance. Did you have any difficulties while preparing?”
A direct question.
The other members were startled by the production team’s question.
But Kang Min didn’t care.
Seo Ha had told him to act like himself.
He chose an honest answer without lies.
“No, I didn’t.”
At Kang Min’s answer, writer Kim Da Young tilted her head slightly.
This probably wasn’t the answer she was hoping for.
But Kang Min simply answered honestly.
What had bothered him was the memories that came to mind on stage afterward—Im Hyun Taek’s provocation was barely a buzzing mosquito to him.
“I see. Then there were no communication problems among team members, or anything like that?”
“Hmm, not really…… There wasn’t.”
“Hmm…. Well then, you did a lot of Arrangement, and while doing that, did your opinions differ at all?”
“Not at all. The Arrangement went the smoothest.”
“Ah, I see. All right, let’s leave it at that.”
And so the production team had to wrap up the interview without hearing the sensational answers they’d wanted.
But writer Kim Da Young made a resolution.
This was definitely an incident she had to use.
She firmly decided that no matter what, she would extract something from this seemingly unremarkable interview.
* * *
Exactly two weeks remained until the Main Broadcast of Who’s The Real.
Who’s The Real, airing on K-Net every Thursday night at 10 p.m., had entered full promotional mode.
When you turned on K-Net, the logo and broadcast information appeared small in the top-left corner during other time slots.
YouTube and various SNS sites, plus ads on K-Net’s channel, began heavily promoting the official videos.
But this level of firepower had its limits in promotion.
In Seo Ha’s previous life, the power of TV broadcasting had nearly disappeared, but in this period of 2018, it was transitional.
This was the year when a celebrity formally began a YouTube channel with interview content, giving meaning to celebrity YouTube activity.
At the same time, it was a period when mainstream SNS was shifting and the user base was exploding.
In other words, this was the timing when Viral momentum was needed from platforms other than legacy media.
A post like this appeared on an SNS account.
-K-Net is starting a band audition program called Who’s the Real, but what’s with the lineup?
And with it came several photos.
They contained photos of cast members not yet officially released.
Starting from the first photo in order: Min Hyun Ah of Maruru Band, Choi Si Hyun, Seo Ha of Oktatop, Kang Min, and Kim Ji Hu.
And in the last photo, there was only this text on a white background.
-Wait, isn’t this an idol audition? The visuals are insane. I absolutely have to watch the Main Broadcast live. ㅋㅋ
The post had decent engagement with numerous comments.
-Wow, what? There are people like this in Korean bands? These guys are seriously good-looking.
-Wow, I didn’t think Oktatop would appear on a show like this. Surprising.
-Guys, Heo Jun Sung didn’t make it into the photos, but he seriously drives people crazy. Check him out. No joke……
└Oh man, seriously. People need to know Heo Jun Sung is a deranged, handsome guy.
-Wow, finally getting to see Oktatop on broadcast ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ㅇㅈ Not a one-off show so I can see them for longer, which is even better.
└I heard they did a separate interview at Banwol Park earlier, so there’s probably a decent amount of footage.
└Oh really? What kind of questions did they ask?
└I didn’t hear about that.
└ㄲㅂ
-Wow, Min Hyun Ah’s visuals, what’s going on? How is she 29?
└??????????? Isn’t she 19?
└What? 29 years old? She’s not in high school?
└Wow, that’s crazy. She’s incredibly cute.
└But the “aunt” part is a bit……
└That’s a nickname fans call her. Min Hyun Ah-imo. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└Oh ㅋㅋㅋ okay
-Does Seo Ha get some kind of special management? His visuals are seriously insane.
└Seo Ha’s in high school now but once his looks are fully developed, how much more handsome will he get……
└Wow, I just imagined it for a moment and it doesn’t even make sense.
└Seriously, the band scene lost a major talent.
Official released advertisements and SNS Viral promotion each have their own advantages.
The biggest effect of SNS promotion was that those who heard the news immediately communicated with each other.
The public’s active communication was steadily heightening anticipation for the broadcast.
And that interest grew day by day.
* * *
K-Net was delivering effective promotional results.
Official teaser videos and commercials.
And reactions to posts scattered across various SNS and YouTube were quite hot.
Of course, the power of the main subject matter—bands and rock—and dramatic editing contributed significantly.
But the leaked Viral about cast members with outstanding visuals was the most effective.
“After all, the program is just a vehicle. You need the characters to come alive for it to be worth watching.”
PD Lee Jong Myung smiled contentedly as he watched the footage shot so far and roughly edited clips.
“Da Young. But don’t the Oktatop kids have, like, no material?”
“Yes. These kids don’t really do much in their daily lives.”
In-broadcast story is good, but when you add personal narrative to it, it becomes excellent.
And PD Lee Jong Myung needed such personal narrative, so he had his staff investigate Oktatop’s usual daily activities.
“What does Seo Ha do to spend his time?”
“He only does music and exercise. Doesn’t even pay attention in classes at school.”
“Hmm, that’s weak. What about Heo Jun Sung? He looked a bit like a delinquent, but he hasn’t caused any trouble at school?”
“I heard he hit a student once…… ”
“Hit someone? Is he a school bully? School violence?”
“No, not exactly. He got angry watching school bullies pick on weaker kids and beat them up.”
“Hmm, it’s acceptable but a bit awkward. Kang Min is a school dropout, but does he have anything usable?”
“That guy’s also just music and exercise, but aside from that…… Oh, he drops by a figurine shop?”
“What does that even mean?”
PD Lee Jong Myung was growing annoyed.
“Kim Ji Hu is the student body president.”
“Stop, just stop. Student body president, what’s that.”
At the stuffy phrase “student body president,” PD Lee Jong Myung almost wanted to give up on personal narratives.
That guy Lee Do Young looked like he had nothing conventional about him at first glance.
“Wait a minute.”
Suddenly someone flashed through Lee Jong Myung’s mind.
“Writer Kim. Doesn’t this guy look like someone I’ve seen before somewhere?”

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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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