The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 113

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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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113

“Did you manage to reach the Japanese management?”

October had arrived, and Dae Pa-sung Planning was swamped with work. Min Ji-heon, already a Korean Wave Star and a trending actor, had skyrocketed even further in popularity thanks to Please Camera’s overseas OTT expansion. And now Seo Ho-yoon had gained recognition as a supporting actor at the same time, adding fuel to the fire.
On top of that, Shining Star had spread across the ocean, and The Dun’s popularity was creating massive waves in Japan. So Lee Ji-hyun was typing frantically in preparation for next year.

“I’d seriously borrow a cat’s paws if I could.”
“If you have time to say things like that, why don’t you just bring a cat first and then talk about it.”

Lee Ji-hyun, suffering through another day at Dae Pa-sung Planning, let out a sigh with dark circles hanging down to her chin. Just looking at the Dae Pa-sung logo on her computer wallpaper made her hands tremble with frustration.

‘Small company director… this is killing me….’

Still, Lee Ji-hyun endured. Just when the exhaustion became so overwhelming she wanted to scream, a bonus notification appeared before her eyes. When she saw the amount, she quietly decided to accept it.
It was far too much money to refuse….

Unaware that Seo Ho-yoon was busily cleaning the floor behind her, Lee Ji-hyun muttered while looking at his fan merchandise scattered across her desk.

“Ugh… when am I getting my battle back… when will I see our rolling editor and the three golden princes… no, when is the ungrateful son event coming….”
“Lee Ji-hyun, what are you talking about?”
“When you’re exhausted, that’s what happens. Just leave her be.”

Lee Ji-hyun gritted her teeth and pounded the keyboard. It had been a mistake to highlight Japanese proficiency as a selling point on her resume. Because of that, everything related to the Japanese expansion had fallen into her lap.

‘If they don’t give me a promotion, I’m done with this place.’

Just a year ago, Lee Ji-hyun had been the type to nod gracefully at everything her senior said with sparkling eyes. But she couldn’t endure the exploitation of a small company any longer, and she had finally become corrupted.

“I just handed over The Dun’s Japan debut paperwork.”
“Oh~, you’re the best, Ji-hyun.”

‘Just shut up….’

By now, it had become Lee Ji-hyun’s default passive skill—the moment her Senior Colleague opened her mouth, curses would rise straight to her throat. As her Senior Colleague clicked away enthusiastically, another employee beside her looked at Lee Ji-hyun with a pitying expression.
Lee Ji-hyun let out a deep sigh and opened a new document window to handle the next agenda item.

“The Dun is really popular, isn’t it? With this much popularity, wouldn’t a tour actually be possible?”
“We won’t know until we see. Well, maybe a small hall in the provinces could work, but…”
“That’s a shame. Should we have tried planning even a small concert?”

‘Are you insane??’

Because her Senior Colleague only handled talent management and was completely clueless about this side of things, anger surged up inside Lee Ji-hyun.

“We haven’t even done a domestic concert and you’re talking about an overseas tour?! Are you joking? That’s exactly like screaming for Dae Pa-sung to get cursed out!! What?! There are so many concert halls and sports stadiums in Korea—why! Why can’t we do that first?!”
“Uh, ah, um….”

As she ranted like a madwoman, recalling her past agency, people averted their eyes and quietly avoided Lee Ji-hyun.
In a world where you already get criticized if you hold even slightly more concerts overseas than domestically, what would happen if you debuted with a concert overseas first?

[Dae Pa-sung is trash]
[I thought their work improved but nope still the same lol Dae Pa-sung we’re literally offering money and they can’t even take it and just keep messing around like these (beep-) (beep-) (beep-) (beep-)]
[Dae Pa-sung (beep) bastards (beep-) (beep) they’re treating domestic fans like idiots lol lol hey come back lol]

What came after were curses too vile to write out. Thinking of Dae Pa-sung’s slander that she didn’t even need to search for, Lee Ji-hyun rubbed the goosebumps rising on her arms.

‘God, just thinking about it terrifies me….’

In truth, Lee Ji-hyun thought even the Japan debut was slightly awkward as a fan, but there was no helping it. She was sorry to the fans, but from a long-term perspective, an overseas debut was ultimately the right path for the artist.
As she sent the proposal, Lee Ji-hyun squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Even if I get cursed out, there’s nothing I can do about it!’

.
.
.

And at that moment, Seo Ho-yoon was thinking something similar to Lee Ji-hyun.

‘What am I going to do about this….’

A K-POP wave is sweeping across the globe, and these days it’s easier for content to spread overseas through YouTube and SNS, so the timing for international expansion has accelerated compared to before. Plus, there are groups that were formed with the explicit purpose of going international.
Of course, there’s still the widespread narrative that if you only promote a singer overseas, it’s because they lack domestic popularity, and domestic fans can drift away, so we needed to strike the right balance between domestic and international activities.
Currently, Dae Pa-sung was busy celebrating the influx of overseas opportunities.
My brow furrowed involuntarily when I heard about international expansion plans from Lee Ji-hyun.
International activities were ultimately a matter of timing, but we’d just started establishing ourselves domestically and the offers were finally coming in—if we went abroad now, it was obvious we’d face criticism from domestic fans.
In Korean, the difference between ‘a’ and ‘eo’ matters; the same words can sound beautiful or ugly depending on how you deliver them.

‘Even if it’s next year… how the hell do I even bring this up?’

I was stuck in thought without an answer, having never faced this situation before, when Jung Da-jun, who’d been scribbling something in a Japanese language exam prep book to my left, suddenly collapsed face-first onto the table.

“…I can’t do this.”

Did he even solve a single problem?

“Quiet. Keep working.”

Kim Sung-hyun pulled ice cream from the refrigerator and handed it to me, then glanced at Jung Da-jun’s problem set and shook his head in disbelief.

“You didn’t solve even one problem?”
“Ah… should we just skip studying? Just do the college entrance exam entrance performance and leave?”
“What nonsense is that?”

You have to study to take the college entrance exam. This guy was trying to slip by somehow. Just when I thought it would end with that sharp retort, Kang Yi-chae slid down beneath the sofa and threw his arm around Jung Da-jun’s shoulder, grinning mischievously.

“Maknae, just study half-heartedly, guess on the rest, and come back. Life’s happiness matters more than success, right?”
“Of course success matters….”
“So typical of Seo Ho-yoon….”

Kim Sung-hyun muttered from beside me when I replied quietly. I stretched my arm out and poked Kang Yi-chae on the crown of his head repeatedly.

“Hey, be honest with me. You don’t think that way too?”
“Think what?”
“You don’t care about money, so fine. But if you worked your ass off composing and the result flopped, what would you do?”
“Doesn’t matter to me?”
“…Weren’t you talking about box office performance or something last time?”
“That was because it mattered to us.”

Kang Yi-chae laughed softly.

“It doesn’t have to be precious to everyone else—just to me is enough.”

…Right, what was I even thinking trying to reason with someone whose mental fortitude was this absurd? Kim Sung-hyun rested his chin on his hand and asked.

“Kang Yi-chae, you really mean that?”
“Huh?”
“You’re actually hoping Jung Da-jun bombs the college entrance exam.”
“Wh-what!? Seriously!?”

Jung Da-jun suddenly hurled his pencil. It was obviously just his hypersensitive reaction to not wanting to study, but surprisingly, Kang Yi-chae actually flinched.

“…??”

We all froze in shock.
…Was it actually true?

“Come on, hyung. What are you saying~ I’m rooting for our maknae.”
“Hey, yeah… surely not. Why would Kang Yi-chae do that?”

Kang Yi-chae laughed belatedly and began scooping up the spilled water, and even I—someone not easily fooled—chimed in that it couldn’t be that way. But Kim Sung-hyun stretched his legs out in front of him and shot back.

“He thinks watching something fail is more entertaining than watching it succeed.”

What kind of devil was this?

“Uh… haha.”
“H-hyung. Really?”
“Mm….”

That shameless Kang Yi-chae couldn’t say a word, just blinked rapidly, then gently covered Jung Da-jun’s ears with both hands as he stared in disbelief at the corners of his own eyes wrinkling.

“Of course….”
“….”

What was I going to do with our main rapper?
Jung Da-jun, who heard everything regardless of whether his ears were covered, trembled like his phone was vibrating from the sheer sense of betrayal.

“Hyung is sometimes… not as good as Ho-yoon.”
“What?! How can you say something so harsh?”
“Want me to go even harder? Yi-chae is exactly the same as Ho-yoon, except he doesn’t curse!!”
“Oh no, Yi-chae…”
“I think I’m the one who should be upset here…”

Sung Ji-won, who had been typing away at his laptop at the dining table, quietly approached the noisy members.

“Ho-yoon, by the way, do you have a separate schedule today?”
“Yeah.”

Right.
I tilted my head slightly.

“With Joo Woo-sung.”
“Hey, where did the senior go?!”

Kim Sung-hyun erupted in protest, but I had zero interest in Joo Woo-sung. It was just a YouTube best friends special that Yoo Ji-a was doing with him.
I didn’t really need to rush into it, but when I saw the two-week time limit pop up in the Quest window last time, I accepted the offer without hesitation.

“Haha, have a good time.”

‘Actually, I’m a bit concerned.’

Using Joo Woo-sung for the Quest was fine, but I was worried that I’d been going out alone too much since the last Hyperfocus Master appearance, and it bothered me.
The members didn’t seem to mind much, but with each member’s screen time being so closely watched, I was anxious that discord might arise in the fandom and fatigue would accumulate.

“Senior Joo Woo-sung has been really active lately, hasn’t he?”
“The new song was so popular last time…”
“That’s true. The response was incredible.”

While I was pondering how to handle this, a text notification chimed.
It was from Lee Ji-hyun.

[Planning Team Lee Ji-hyun: Ho-yoon]
[Planning Team Lee Ji-hyun: You’re filming with Joo Woo-sung soon, right?]
[Planning Team Lee Ji-hyun: It’s live today]
[Planning Team Lee Ji-hyun: Before you go on the variety show, can you do this?]

“…?”

[Planning Team Lee Ji-hyun: (Video)]

I played the video with a puzzled expression and let out a hollow laugh.

“Wow, Lee Ji-hyun really is amazing….”
“Huh?”

***

[Yo, apparently Ho-yoon and Woo-sung are filming tomorrow]
[Huh?? The Dun all together?]
[Nah, it’s a solo variety show. Heard it’s a Yoo Ji-a YouTube special]

Fans stirred on SNS, but I didn’t add any particular opinion. Joo Woo-sung appeared with me on Hyperfocus Master last time too, but this time the reaction felt oddly different.

[Ahhh… hmm]

Everyone held their tongues. The reason was that last time Kill the Lights’ activities overlapped directly with Black Call Kings’ activities, which was a major factor in why The Dun didn’t perform as well as expected.

[Yeah well… we’re not in a position to compete with Black Call anyway lol (then that’s shameless) Of course Kill the Lights back then was frustrating, but what can you do
It’s not Joo Woo-sung’s fault—it’s because Dae Pa-sung is absolutely terrible at their job…
└Please stop crying and speak slowly…]
[Well… going out there just raises awareness anyway..]

Everyone felt somewhat bitter about it, but they tried to move past it. Seo Ho-yoon did go out occasionally, but he seemed genuinely close with Joo Woo-sung, and we figured he’d handle it well on his own, so we left it alone.
Individual activities were an unavoidable area anyway, so we wanted to let it slide as quietly as possible, but as expected, this kind of timing was never missed—the trolling started immediately.

[Lol Seo Ho-yoon really has no sense of timing, right after Kill the Lights..?
└lol for real…]

When comments like this started flowing in from somewhere, the fans just let out hollow laughs.
Seo Ho-yoon has no sense of timing…?

[If Noel lacks social awareness, then… damn… what about half the world?
And what about you?]
[Ho-yoon doesn’t lack social awareness—he just doesn’t see it
└That’s what I’m saying
I want to play the clip pointing out Shining Star’s army rumors right in front of them.

Even if I’d grown accustomed to being teased, it didn’t mean the irritation didn’t accumulate in my bones.

[Ugh, this is so annoying
└Don’t get mad, just find a hobby
└└OK]

Eventually, Noel’s fans, who had been holding back their frustration, finally exploded and clashed with anonymous haters cursing Seo Ho-yoon in a heated argument.

[Seo Ho-yoon’s fans really know how to squeeze every last drop,,
└Yep, planning to squeeze down to the marrow♡]

[I guess my personality is dirty ㅜ I’m a bit… sucked in energy
└You don’t get it—that’s exactly what makes him good]

They didn’t forget to screenshot the most egregious hate comments and send them to Dae Pa-sung. And they laughed while doing it.

[If I could lose interest in Seo Ho-yoon like this, wouldn’t that be… a happy life, you know,,,
└Isn’t it kind of thrilling, right?
Hahahahahaha oh my god this is so funny, look at all their personalities hahahahahaha

There’s a saying that if you stan someone long enough, you start to resemble them—and Seo Ho-yoon’s fans were indeed growing more and more like him.
The fans, who had been replying to hate comments with unwavering mental fortitude and giggling in the shadows, suddenly widened their eyes at a video that had just appeared.

[Whoa]

And they quickly followed the link.

[Excited Salad – The Dun Cover]

A short 30-second video had been uploaded to The Dun’s official account.

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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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