The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 119

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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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119

On the surface, Sung Ji-won appeared surprisingly composed.
Whether at fan sign events or other appearances, he smiled brightly as if nothing was wrong and conversed easily with the other members.
However,

“Sung Ji-won, could I take a quick look at this…?”
“Huh?”
“…Whoa!”

The staff member recoiled a step back in shock.

“W-what’s wrong? Ji-won, is something the matter?”
“…Hm?”
“Your face, or rather… never mind.”

When Sung Ji-won, unable to comprehend the staff member’s reaction, tilted his head while maintaining his smile, the staff member laughed awkwardly—ha, ha, ha—before quietly slipping away.
Something was off about Sung Ji-won’s state. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say things weren’t good.
While working, he brimmed with energy, but the moment it ended, dark clouds gathered overhead.
That wasn’t all.

“…What did you say?”
“No, it’s not that….”
“Oh, should I return the card key? Wait, my phone battery’s running low…. Did Yi-chae take it?”

His mind seemed to be elsewhere, causing him to ramble incoherently.
He was clearly trying to hold himself together, but from any distance, it was painfully obvious: ‘his mental state has completely shattered.’

‘When my lead vocalist is like this, what am I supposed to do?’

I only knew how to break people’s minds, not how to fix them. As I stood there with my arms crossed, watching him, Kim Sung-hyun sidled up beside me.

“Why don’t you relax your expression a bit?”
“What?”

Kim Sung-hyun didn’t answer. Instead, he jabbed my ribs and shot me a meaningful glance. Following his gaze, I spotted the Staff Members stealing glances in our direction.
Only then did I realize my composure had completely crumbled, and I hastily pulled my cap down low over my face.

“…I can’t breathe, man.”
…
“Did something happen?”

Kim Sung-hyun deliberately turned his head away from where I and Sung Ji-won stood. I casually lowered my gaze and gave a vague response.

“Does it look that way?”

At my answer, Kim Sung-hyun’s eyes fixed on me.

“If it looks that way, then it probably is.”
“…You really scare me when you’re like this.”

With an Acting stat of E-, Kim Sung-hyun’s panic was written all over his face.
I laughed.

“Pfft, what are you talking about?”

On the contrary, I trusted my improved acting ability.

‘Thanks, Min Ji-heon.’

I never thought I’d have reason to be grateful to Min Ji-heon, but I spoke with a hint of laughter in my voice.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
…

Whether he was truly fooled or not, Kim Sung-hyun pressed his lips into a firm line, nodded, and soon moved away to greet the other Staff Members.
I exhaled deeply, and while my mind replayed yesterday’s events, my head automatically bobbed in repeated bows.
Then,

“Heyyyy~.”

At the sound of Kang Yi-chae’s voice calling out, I turned around and felt a sharp poke on my right cheek.

“….”
“Pfft! You fell for it too, Hyung!”

My mouth hung open at this childish game, and Kang Yi-chae turned to look back at Jung Da-jun, whose expression was one of shock.

“Da-jun, I won! You’re buying ice cream for everyone tonight~!”
“No way!! Ho-yoon, that’s so unlike you—why were you so gullible?!”
“Our little rabbit is more innocent than we thought~.”

It seemed they’d made a bet on whether I’d fall for it or not when I turned around.
I was utterly speechless.

“Hey.”
“Huh? What, what?”
“Why are you being so tactless?”

Seeing my frown, Kang Yi-chae’s eyes widened before he broke into a slow grin.

“Cheek poke!”

He jabbed both my cheeks.
Twice.

“….”
“Haha! You fell for it again~?”
“…Kang Yi-chae.”
“Eek~.”

I quickly grabbed the back of his neck and extended my hand in front of him.

“If you used me as bait, you owe me my share.”
“There’s no Babam O.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to eat that?”
“So you don’t want it?”
“I never said I didn’t want it.”

As I exchanged this ridiculous banter with Kang Yi-chae, the staff members watching us chuckled and passed by.
Feeling the atmosphere soften considerably, I released Kang Yi-chae and instead pulled a candy from my pocket, popping it into my mouth.

‘That Kang Yi-chae is terrifying….’

That was his way of showing he cared.
And as a bonus, he was also signaling that I should stop clouding the team’s atmosphere and reconcile appropriately.
But I felt a bit wronged nonetheless.

‘I’m the one who got blindsided yesterday, damn it.’

Honestly, yesterday I’d been on the receiving end of a one-sided attack. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have dragged it out this long or left such an unpleasant aftertaste.
…But with Sung Ji-won, I didn’t want to do that.

‘Yeah, Ho-yoon. Calm down.’

Why would I create conflict?
I collected my thoughts and rolled the candy around in my mouth before exhaling again. Then I walked briskly toward Sung Ji-won.

“Sung Ji-won.”
“Huh? What?”

After greeting the props staff member, I approached the dazed Sung Ji-won from behind and called his name. He startled and turned around. I took one of his hands and pulled a handful of candies from my pocket with the other, dumping them into his palm.

“Here.”
“…Huh?”
“Did your blood sugar drop? Why do you look so out of it?”

Sung Ji-won accepted them and blinked. I adjusted my cap by pressing the front down and looked away.

“What, do you want me to unwrap them for you too?”
“…No, no?”
“Then eat them quickly.”

When I remained standing in front of him, Sung Ji-won obediently unwrapped a candy and popped it into his mouth. With one cheek puffed out, he looked as young as his actual age.

‘…What am I doing to a ten-year-old kid like this.’

I waited for Sung Ji-won’s response.
He’d said he wouldn’t contact me or take my calls again anyway, and he promised to tell me himself—so all I had to do was wait quietly and let him eat his candy. There was no need to rush.

“…It’s delicious.”
“Really?”

Catching the faint smile playing at the corners of Sung Ji-won’s lips, I turned and walked toward where the van was parked, sensing him trailing behind me like a puppy.

“…Ho-yoon, are you heading straight to the company?”
“Why do you care?”
“….”

One jab and he immediately deflated, pressing his lips shut. Watching Sung Ji-won’s dejected expression, I burst out laughing.
He’s really ridiculous.

“Sung Ji-won.”
“…Yeah?”
“Come here.”

If anything happens to Sung Ji-won, I can handle it then.
It won’t be too late, and I’ll make sure it isn’t.
And….

“We need to practice for the year-end stage.”

Right now was the time to focus on what mattered most—our craft.
Watching Sung Ji-won nod carefully, I seized the moment to throw out a joke laced with sincerity.

“Ji-won, if you’re really sorry, cut our practice time by two hours.”
“…That’s not happening.”
“One hour.”
“That’s also, um….”
“Are you actually sorry?”

This affectionate practice fanatic.

***

[Title: Guys, The Dun’s year-end stage appearance is confirmed]

(Lineup list.jpg)

Oh my gosh.
Ah… my heart is so full…
I swore I’d never love another man again
K-pop addiction treatment failed lol

└Wow, they’re seriously popular
└The Cabu effect was bigger than expected
└└Cabu is a syndrome, and thanks to it Yoo Ji-a and Min Ji-heon’s popularity is insane—way beyond the viewership ratings lol
└└Did you see Yoo Ji-a’s online fan meeting revenue? lololol It’s crazy]

[Title: Wait lol Is the lineup order really at that level

The Dun isn’t at that tier

Shining Star was genuinely on fire back then
And the title they released after that hit consecutively with good reactions too..
Except for Cabu’s Seo Ho-yoon, Shining Star’s Kim Sung-hyun, the rest don’t really have that level of public recognition yet..?

Plus they’re not even rookies, so it’s awkward for them to win awards anyway lol I don’t see why they need to be included here..

└No, this is right. There are seriously a lot of people who like The Dun these days
└└Huh.. really? That much?
└└Yeah, they’re sweeping it up on the domestic charts. Honestly, their concept this time was killer
Especially for people who know K-pop, the Kang Yi-chae and Jung Da-jun line is addictive (Sung Ji-won is just an angel..)
└Random passerby here, but why is Kang Yi-chae so popular??
└└Bright energy + shamelessness + mental fortitude…
No
Do I really need to explain?
Just look at his face
Hahahahahahaha sorry about that
└└He does have a stunning face though,,
└Don’t The Dun’s songs come up a lot on TikTok these days?]

[Title: I’ll admit they haven’t had a breakout hit yet

But they’re acting all worried about it
They’ve only been debuted for a year
Of course, before the second chance doesn’t count (hey you bastards, look at Dae Pa-sung)

Some kids really don’t know that The Dun is an empty house robbery spot..lol
└└Especially the ones leaving hate comments)
Pretending to understand everything about K-pop,,
Acting all cool,,
Acting like they’re somebody,,
Can you even take down Yeolhwa with some random burglars lol
They’re doing well so they’re getting a ton of hate, ugh,,
Since Ho-yoon joined, The Dun has been around for 10 months lol. Of course, the other members might have relatively low public recognition, but don’t stir up drama with posts like this and don’t show that you’re an empty-headed troll, damn it.

“…Wow.”

The Internet… no matter how many times I see it, it’s always fascinating.
Watching fans leave comments on behalf of The Dun and get angry for them, I found it remarkable how passionately people threw themselves into others’ affairs.
I turned off my phone screen as I watched the heated responses.

“It’s pretty brutal….”
“What is?”
“Nothing.”

Kim Sung-hyun, who was sucking on an ice cream beside me, shrugged his shoulders. I’d searched online to see if anything had surfaced about Sung Ji-won’s private life, but there was nothing like that—instead, controversy was brewing in unexpected places.

‘Hmm, it’s about time we started getting some pushback.’

Actually, it was a good sign. The more opposition we faced, the more it meant we’d made it.
It’s true that I’d been working hard behind the scenes, sweeping and polishing the floor, but our recognition was rising faster than expected, and the influx from outside had grown chaotic.
Strangely, The Dun’s fans always maintained strong mental fortitude, but with things being complicated both internally and externally, it seemed like we needed something big to happen.
In other words.

‘We need a hit.’

The next comeback was earliest early next year, or mid-year at the latest. Since we’d released three title tracks in one year, the company’s internal consensus was to take things easier next year and focus on quality—and I agreed with that.
If things stayed like this until then, it would be too late. When it came to the biggest event…

‘The year-end stage, right?’

I couldn’t afford to miss this hard-won opportunity.
After finishing my thoughts, I put my phone in my pocket and was about to stand up when Jung Da-jun, in his school uniform, was entering through the foyer.

“What are you doing, Hyung?”
“What about you?”
“Ah~oh… wow, just a second.”

Jung Da-jun walked in with shopping bags overflowing from both hands, his speech slurred as he chewed on whatever snack he’d picked up along the way.

“Why do you eat so much?”
“Do you want some too, Hyung?”
“No thanks.”

I wondered where he managed to produce an endless supply of snacks from, whether he was eating something questionable, and if I should seriously consider inspecting Jung Da-jun’s mouth from time to time.
I almost thought of puppies before realizing I’d gone too far, so I quickly backtracked.

“…For some reason, I’m getting a bad feeling?”
“You’re imagining things.”

Jung Da-jun’s perceptiveness had sharpened lately.
I cut him off sharply and played dumb, and he hummed to himself while swallowing what was in his mouth, then set the shopping bags down on the floor.

“I got a birthday present!!”

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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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