The S-Rank Paparazzi Reincarnates as an Idol - Chapter 63

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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 63
I boldly pushed open the door and began running down the Corridor.
My heart pounded wildly against my ribs.
My palms grew slick with sweat, each step feeling as heavy as stone.
‘Once I turn this corner, the Vending Machine should be there.’
As I approached the corner, faint voices began to drift toward me.
“You’re really amazing.”
“Me?”
It was Yoo Ho-seung’s voice.
“Yeah. Honestly, with your level of recognition, you could debut without even being here, right? Why would you need to steal someone’s spot?”
‘I don’t know who this is, but the intent behind asking such a question before the competition is painfully obvious.’
“And how does it feel having that face?”
“…”
“You get first place thanks to your face, and you must feel so comfortable, right? The whole world is beautiful for you?”
I quickened my pace as the trainee’s sarcastic voice continued.
“Haha!”
At Yoo Ho-seung’s bright, refreshing laughter, I stopped in my tracks, startled.
‘…?’
“Why are you laughing?”
“You’re really good at telling jokes, hyung.”
“It’s not a joke.”
“Really? So you’re genuinely jealous because I’m handsome?”
“…What?”
“You asked if the world is beautiful, didn’t you?”
Yoo Ho-seung’s voice suddenly turned cold.
“Yes. It’s truly beautiful.”
“You…!”
“Is it because people like you ask so often? I’m getting tired of this question now.”
“What did you just say?!”
As the voice grew louder, I deliberately made my footsteps heavy.
Tap. Tap. Tap!
“…!”
As I rounded the corner, two silhouettes appeared before the Vending Machine.
Yoo Ho-seung and another team leader trainee turned their heads simultaneously.
“Si-woo hyung?”
“…!”
‘So it was you.’
The one who deliberately provoked Yoo Ho-seung right before the competition.
“Ho-seung, you took so long that I came looking for you myself.”
“Really?”
Yoo Ho-seung held drinks in both hands, his expression surprisingly serene despite my concerns.
“Right. It’s heavy carrying all those drinks by yourself. Want to give some to me?”
“Thank you.”
As I accepted the drinks from Yoo Ho-seung, I deliberately glared at the trainee beside us.
‘Was his name Bae Woo-hyun?’
He was an exemplary trainee who always maintained a safe ranking at the position announcements, consistently placing in the top seven.
And for some reason, he felt oddly familiar.
‘Where have I seen him before? Where was it?’
“Cha Si-woo, hello? Your outfit today looks really cool.”
The trainee flashed an awkward smile and began showering me with compliments.
“Yes.”
“Ha, well then, I should get going to prepare for the stage.”
“Wait a moment.”
“Yes?”
“You should answer before you leave.”
“…Answer what?”
“Are you jealous that our Ho-seung is so handsome?”
“…!”
Bae Woo-hyun’s face froze for a moment, then gradually flushed crimson.
“I mean, our Ho-seung really is handsome from my perspective too. Personally, I’d say he’s so handsome I wouldn’t mind keeping him in my eyes forever.”
“…Cha Si-woo, did you overhear our conversation?”
Bae Woo-hyun’s expression visibly stiffened.
“I wasn’t deliberately eavesdropping, but your voice was so loud I heard everything on my way over.”
“…I’ll be going now.”
Seeing Bae Woo-hyun’s lips tremble slightly, it seemed each word I spoke only further provoked his anger.
“So, what’s your answer?”
“…Sigh.”
Watching Bae Woo-hyun hurry away as if fleeing, I turned my gaze elsewhere.
“He’s leaving without answering after all. Ho-seung, you okay?”
When I turned to look at Yoo Ho-seung, a smile was spreading across his eyes.
‘He’s smiling right now?’
“Of course.”
‘His expression looks oddly thrilled somehow?’
“Um… Si-woo hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
“No, what did I even do?”
“Thanks to you, I’ve become someone who doesn’t get hurt even in situations like this anymore.”
His expression looked quite refreshed.
‘He did well, just as I taught him.’
I raised my free arm and gently stroked Yoo Ho-seung’s head.
As my fingertips brushed through his hair, a subtle warmth and soft texture transmitted through my touch.
“That’s right. You did well.”
“…hyung!”
“You don’t need to be hurt by people who harbor inferiority complexes about you. Keep pushing forward just like you have been.”
“Yes!”
As we talked, we soon arrived at the entrance to the Waiting Room.
I pushed the door open boldly, and Kang Chan, who had been lingering by the entrance, flinched and looked at us.
“Did you find the star?”
‘Was he worried too?’
“Yeah.”
“Alright.”
Watching Kang Chan leave, Yoo Ho-seung’s eyes widened noticeably.
“Huh…? When did you two start speaking casually?”
“Since last night.”
“What? How did you become close with Kang Chan hyung?”
“Rather than saying we became close, it’s more like….”
‘How should I describe this?’
“It feels like coworkers? Maybe we share the same goal?”
“What goal is that?”
“That’s something adults have between them. Anyway, Ho-seung, if you’re not going to drink that chocolate beverage, I’ll have it.”
“Ah… Si-woo hyung! That’s mine! Your drink is the Heart Ping strawberry flavor.”
“Right. No.”
While barely dodging the pursuing Yoo Ho-seung and drinking the chocolate beverage, the Practice Room door swung open once more.
“Royal Team, you’ll be starting the Competition Stage soon. Please prepare to take the stage.”
“Yes!”
Now it was time to begin the final preparations.
‘System.’
Ding.
Along with the familiar notification sound, a translucent blue window appeared before my eyes.
[Yes?]
‘Invest all remaining stats into dance.’
[Understood. Applying immediately.]
[Stat Window]
Cha Si-woo (20)
Appearance: A-
Singing: B
Dance: B- (UP)
Charisma: B+
Stamina: B+
Ability: ???
Status: Paparazzi who regressed five years into the past.
Fatigue: 30
‘Looking at it this way, my stats have increased considerably.’
Compared to when my dance was initially E-rank, the current grade was absurd.
‘It’s practically a complete transformation.’
☆☆☆
‘Sigh… I expected this to some degree, but why is it harder to get audience seating as a trainee than as an active idol?’
The popularity of the rapidly ascending Star picking5 continued to soar endlessly.
As a result, obtaining audience seating had already reached an extremely competitive ratio.
‘This time really wasn’t easy either.’
As Park Mo recalled the two weeks of effort spent obtaining audience seating, a sigh escaped her lips unbidden.
‘If I want to watch the next finals stage in person, I might as well buy a lucky charm at this point.’
Normally, Park Mo would have dismissed lucky charms as complete nonsense, but desperation makes people willing to grasp at anything.
Having steeled her resolve, Park Mo clutched her slogan tightly in both hands and waited endlessly for the stage to begin.
“Audience members, recording is prohibited during this stage!”
“Please put away all cameras!”
“If we catch you recording, we will remove you from the venue without hesitation.”
The Staff Members’ warnings continued, and the standoff between audience and staff dragged on for quite some time.
As the atmosphere intensified, the familiar opening music finally began to play.
“Welcome, National Directors, to the third competition of Star picking5!”
‘Huh? That voice is…?’
The audience members, startled by the unfamiliar female voice, quickly looked up.
On stage, the silhouette of Park Chae-young holding a microphone was visible.
‘So Yu Hae-in isn’t appearing this time?’
Those around her seemed flustered by this development and began whispering quite loudly.
“What?”
“Why is that ajumma appearing instead of our Hae-in oppa?”
That was it.
After witnessing the massive influx of Yu Hae-in’s fans at the previous competition, the Production Team had made a new strategic move.
They had changed the competition MC.
Watching the disappointed reactions of Yu Hae-in’s fans, Park Chae-young smiled and picked up the microphone.
“I’m Park Chae-young, serving as today’s guest MC in place of Yu Hae-in. By the way, does anyone know what this competition’s theme is?”
“Concept!”
“That’s correct. For reference, this competition features five different concepts.”
‘What concept will our Si-woo get?’
“Each team will showcase their stage according to the concept assigned to them: Fairy Tale, Fresh, Royal, Boy Crush, or Wild.”
“Wooooow!”
“So among these five concepts, which concept did your favorite prepare for?”
‘Experience really does make a difference.’
Park Chae-young swiftly shifted the atmosphere, rapidly capturing the audience’s attention.
Yesterday’s broadcast of Star picking5 Episode 9 had ended with scenes of preparing for the Flea Market.
As a result, there was currently no information about which trainees were preparing performances with which concepts.
‘Whatever it is, please let our Si-woo do something cool.’
In Episode 9’s live broadcast, Cha Si-woo had unintentionally drawn the Heart Ping bread, which was quite amusing.
‘He’s cute, but why does he talk so much?’
Fans who had been laughing and enjoying it were caught in the crossfire of rival fans’ chat attacks, calling it another Heart Ping moment and complaining it was ridiculous.
‘No, honestly Si-woo didn’t intentionally draw it—anyone can see it was the machine’s fault—but they’re pushing this narrative?’
Thinking of the rival fans’ sarcasm, questioning whether he was deliberately going for something that didn’t suit him but was cute, made my heart ache.
‘This time, let’s do something completely cool and charismatic!’
My bias looked good and cool doing anything, but as a fan, I wanted to firmly prove the point now that it had been brought up.
“Then before we start the first performance, let me explain the on-site voting system.”
The moment voting was mentioned, the surrounding noise gradually subsided as if someone had flipped a switch.
The audience’s gaze turned uniformly toward Park Chae-young on the stage.
“You all received buttons when you came in, right?”
“Yes.”
“This on-site voting can only be conducted exactly once.”
“…!”
“You can press the button whenever you’d like, and vote for the team that delivered the most outstanding performance.”
“Yes!”
“However, if you accidentally press it wrong, that’s it, so please press carefully.”
‘I absolutely won’t press it until our Si-woo comes out!’
“Then let’s officially begin the concept competition stage. The first performance is the Wild Team concept!”
“Kyaaaaaaaa!”
The audience screamed frantically at the bold raw concept from the start.
“Wild Team, please come up on stage right now!”
Six men wearing boldly designed outfits that left their arms and chest lines exposed quickly took the stage.
“Aaaahhh!”
“Insane!!”
“Sun-yu!!!”
The jackets with widely spaced shoulder lines exposed skin with every movement, creating a genuinely wild feeling.
‘Wow, these guys really committed to it.’
Though it was called wild, the concept was nearly sexy, and the audience seating area became a cauldron of heat.
A few fans who had lost their composure were frantically pressing buttons before the performance even started.
The numbers in the upper right corner of the screen were rising at a speed too fast to follow with the eye before they’d even begun.
Though not her bias, Park Mo somehow felt her heart swell just looking at the outfit.
☆☆☆
‘Now that we’ve reached the third competition, the stage quality has definitely improved a lot.’
While it was partly because only talented trainees had survived, the trainees’ skills were rising day by day due to the relentless succession of fierce competitions.
“Royal Team, we’re standing by.”
“Yes!”
‘Finally, it’s our turn?’
Remembering all the practice we’d done, I felt an overwhelming urge to showcase it right away.
‘I’ll need to rest once the performance is over.’
In the Backstage Waiting Area, the sound of the previous team’s performance came through distinctly to my ears.
As the preceding team’s performance drew toward its climax, the cheers grew louder, and my teammates’ expressions grew increasingly tense.
‘They’re really nervous.’
Yoo Ho-seung in particular looked restless, like a dog desperate for a bathroom break.

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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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