The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 124

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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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124

I entered the Company with a vaguely unsettling feeling, only to find the members clustered together in the space they frequently used for B Live. The moment I opened the door, Jung Da-jun sprang to his feet, backpack slung over his shoulder.

“Hyung! Why are you so late? That’s so mean!!”
“Traffic was backed up.”
“And here everyone was waiting in front of the School Gate, and you just kept spouting off like that…!”
“Haha, you actually believed that?”
…!!”

At Sung Ji-won’s words, Jung Da-jun’s eyes wavered left and right in shock.
When I thought back to Seo Ho-jin taking the College Entrance Exam, he’d paced around the bedroom chain-smoking and eventually couldn’t help himself—he’d waited outside the School Gate. But how could we possibly go there now?
I asked Jung Da-jun, whose cheeks were already puffed out like balloons, with a flat tone.

“So, how did it go?”
“The vibe felt really good!”
“Is that so.”
“What’s with that look! I’m not exaggerating—it really did feel good!”

Well, that’s fortunate. Rather than being depressed, he was brimming with confidence.
I walked leisurely inside, but something felt off about the atmosphere.

…?

I had a hunch about something.
In the space they frequently used for B Live, the members were lined up in a row, and there was even a tablet fixed in front of them.

“A live broadcast? A recording?”
“Ha~, this hyung really got burned last time.”

Kang Yi-chae giggled. I still hadn’t forgotten the faces of the members and Manager who had walked in cheerfully holding a cake and popping paper poppers.
When I gave them a look to speak up quickly, the answer came from Kim Sung-hyun.

“A recording.”
“Haha~.”

Then Kang Yi-chae flashed me a slow, peculiar smile and gestured for me to look at Jung Da-jun.
The moment I narrowed my eyes slightly, Jung Da-jun chuckled and rotated his bag forward, fumbling to pull out some papers.

“Alright then! Since Ho-yoon’s brother is here too~.”

…He came?

“I will now begin my very first college entrance exam preliminary scoring!!”
“Woooow!”
“Waaah~.”

‘Is he serious?’

What idol in their right mind films themselves doing a preliminary scoring of their college entrance exam??
I was about to blame the members for not stopping him, but as I quickly scanned the group, Kang Yi-chae was nearly doubled over with his face buried in his knees, convulsing with laughter and completely unable to explain himself.
Ignoring our eternally cheerful main rapper, I turned my gaze to the older members instead, and surprisingly, they all seemed unbothered. Noticing my confusion, Jung Da-jun let out a snort.

“Look at Ho-yoon’s brother being so reluctant. Don’t misunderstand! This is just a personal keepsake and a video to send to my mom and dad.”
“…Oh, really?”
“Da-jun’s family always records or photographs major events to keep them.”

As Sung Ji-won chimed in from beside me, Jung Da-jun thrust his thumb up decisively.

“My parents have been busy lately, and I’m living in the dormitory. I wanted to send them a video showing how hard I studied! Right, hyungs?!”
“Of course, Da-jun did great~.”

Kang Yi-chae subtly chimed in and urged us to smile at the camera. Since we weren’t releasing it publicly anyway, the idea was just to have fun among ourselves and keep it as a personal record.

‘Wow, Jung Da-jun….’

He’s grown so much.
If this were a live broadcast, I would have stopped him in shock. I thought Jung Da-jun would have whined and complained, saying “hyung, how could you let this happen, this is the event of my lifetime,” but instead.
Watching Jung Da-jun hum to himself as he’d already neatly printed the publicly released exam papers and prepared to score them, I retracted my own judgment of thinking of him as a child.
Kids really do grow up so fast.
I had sensed from the moment I heard about the savings account he’d been collecting since childhood that he’d been raised with plenty of love, but hearing that he was going to send a video to his parents made me feel it anew.

‘Well, at least he has a good relationship with his parents.’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine Jung Da-jun getting such impressively good scores that he’d want to brag about them to someone. More than that—I couldn’t even picture such a scene existing in the first place.
From what I’d observed during all these tutoring sessions, Jung Da-jun simply couldn’t have “good scores.”

“What, what is it? Why do you look upset?”
“Hurry up and grade it.”
“…Yes!”

Since he was doing a preliminary self-check, it meant he’d actually gone to the College Entrance Exam Hall and solved the problems himself without sleeping. He’d studied fairly diligently these past few days, so I decided to let it slide without commenting.
Jung Da-jun, now ready, gripped a pen tightly in one hand.

“Alright, I’m ready! Please play the song!”
“What’s so good about this?”
“I’d like Kill the Lights to pump me up.”
“Oh, wow~!!”

…Hey, isn’t that a bit much?? He said he was sending this to his parents?
Jung Da-jun, fully aware of what he was doing, clenched his fist tightly.

“Mom, Dad!! If you’re watching me, tell me the answers!!
1)
”
“….”

Well, then.
Before I could even stop him, Kang Yi-chae, his face brimming with mischief, quickly clicked the mouse. The beat of a song I’d heard hundreds, thousands of times before began to play.

[Okay, Here we go.
I see the timing,
We caught our breath together
Now we have to go again]

“Okay! Let’s go!!”
“Starting with Korean! Call them out!”
“32412!”
“Ooh, he got three right!”

[Ooh Yes
We can definitely kill this light
Flip everything and change the game]

“Hyun-sung! Your part! Sing it for us, quick!”
“My… my part?”
“Yes!! We need the energy!”
“Uh, uh…”

Watching Jung Da-jun stare at me with sparkling eyes, I realized there was no escape. I gave up and sang.

“My trembling fingertips turn blue… how much do you know, let me calculate~.”

He’s singing that song again?

“43111! Okay, Ji-won!”
“I know this is a losing game for me. But I have to see it through to the end!”
“53211!”
“…I’m not imagining things, right? There have been a lot of ‘1’s since earlier?”

I never expected Kill the Lights lyrics to fit so perfectly with the college entrance exam. Watching Jung Da-jun tremble and fidget at the absurd string of numbers, I took another sip of my frappuccino. The results were devastating.
The outcome was disastrous.

‘Still, he really finished everything and did well.’

“Man, this is like the rainy season here.”
“Aaaah… no, let me get my energy back! Hyung, quick!”

Looking at the preliminary score sheet marked with rain, Kang Yi-chae cracked a joke, and my turn came around.

“Just like it was for you someday~ for me, it only happens once.”
“Huh?? You’re really singing?”
“What… what is this… since when does Seo Ho-yoon do this?”

The youngest wants encouragement from his college entrance exam preliminary scores—this much is nothing.
Ignoring the murmuring of the members around me, I watched without much expectation, and Jung Da-jun’s scores were revealed. Korean and math were complete disasters anyway, but Classical Chinese turned out better than expected.
Actually, it came out unbelievably well.
Though it’s a mystery why he took Classical Chinese when he was studying Japanese for his second foreign language.
Jung Da-jun tilted his head in confusion as well.

“Huh? Did I really do this well?”
“What, Da-jun, you’re good at Chinese characters?”
“No. Whenever I turn on any lecture video, I just fall asleep.”

The members around me, seemingly thinking the same thing, all widened their eyes as they passed around the preliminary answer sheet and the answer key.

“What is it?”
“I mean, he did well, right?”
“Let me see.”
“Now our sub-vocalist number one is finally paying attention.”

I was skeptical that Jung Da-jun could do this well, but I patted his head in praise anyway. Behind us, Kim Sung-hyun and Sung Ji-won were celebrating as if they’d aced the exam themselves, clasping hands and spinning around in circles, doing the traditional circle dance.

‘I didn’t know Jung Da-jun could do this well either… Did he actually excel at studying? Or is he some kind of Chinese character genius?’

“Hyung! I haven’t finished grading yet, please give it back.”

I hadn’t finished reviewing all the answers and preliminary score sheet when Jung Da-jun said something slyly and quickly extended his hand. Despite bombing every other subject, he was acting quite confident about doing well in this one.

“Fine, take it. Read out the rest of the answers.”
“Um~, 32113.”
“Hmm…?”

I was thinking I’d turn off the camera and wrap up soon, but Jung Da-jun, who had been diligently grading with a red pen, tilted his head and clicked his ballpoint pen.

“…Yeah. But why is there no number at the end?”
“Why?”
“No… huh? Wait a moment.”

Jung Da-jun flipped through the paper with the scores again. Then he muttered blankly.

“Wait, did I write the preliminary answer sheet wrong??”
“…!!”

We all stared in shock. My mind went completely blank for a moment, and Sung Ji-won blinked before barely managing to speak.

“…So you did well because you wrote the Chinese characters section wrong?”
“Then what about the OMR card?”
“?? Back then… the numbers weren’t short? It’s different from the preliminary answer sheet…”

Jung Da-jun opened and closed his mouth, then spoke hesitantly.

“…What?”
“Ahahahahaha!”

Whether Kang Yi-chae’s Chinese literature score was actually good or just a phantom number that appeared because it got recorded under the preliminary answer sheet—regardless of whether the real score could be known—he collapsed onto the table as if he were dying of laughter. Jung Da-jun even covered his ears and said “of course,” so he must have found the situation absolutely hilarious.
Scary kid….

“N-no way… It can’t be!”
“Hey, hey, it’s fine, it’s fine.”
“Even if this one turned out well, you bombed everything else anyway.”
“Hyun-sung hyung!!”

I, a one-hit wonder instructor who’d already given up long ago (though unintentionally), abandoned the college entrance exam and seized laughter instead, speaking gently to our youngest member as he tore at his own hair.

“Da-jun, it’s okay if you didn’t do well on the exam.”
“Wow, Ho-yoon hyung….”

Jung Da-jun’s head snapped up, moved by my words. I responded while biting on a straw.

“At least you were born with a silver spoon, right?”
“….”

Jung Da-jun glared at me with blazing eyes, but I ignored him.

***

[Hey guys
Jung Da-jun bombed the college entrance exam
└Not really surprising tbh
└└Huh?? Wasn’t it fine since Da-jun went to school for the performance anyway?
Hahahahahaha oh my god hahahaha

[Thanks for taking the fall for us Da-jun
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
└└We really appreciate it Da-jun!!]

[In the meantime, Jiwon turned on B Live and told me a little about the behind-the-scenes details of Jeong Da-jun’s college entrance exam.. ㅠ
He said that regardless of Da-jun’s results, he was so incredibly proud that he tried his hardest until the very end
And everyone said you worked hard ㅜㅜ You worked hard… It’s really cool… ㅠㅠ
└Ji-won is really… an angel…
I’m so curious where his wings are…
└└Lee Jung-hoon PD: I snapped them off
Oh my god, seriously hahahahahahahaha

The true idol Jung Da-jun had sacrificed his college entrance exam for Noeul, and the preliminary scoring video couldn’t be sent to Da-jun’s parents, so it became a personal keepsake for the members.

Meanwhile, Noeul, a high school senior who had just finished the college entrance exam, sat in front of the television in an excited state.

“Da-jun!!! I finished the college entrance exam too!!”

I hadn’t exactly studied fueled by subtle competitive spirit while watching Jung Da-jun, but still, as a high school senior who had studied hard by my own standards, I was wrapping up the year with a sense of accomplishment.
I’d already taken the essay exam, so now there was nothing left but to have fun.
Because of that, my anticipation and excitement for the year-end stage naturally reached its peak. I hugged my cushion and punched it with my fist, my heart racing as I waited for The Dun on television.

“Is it really true that The Dun is on this year’s lineup.”

Since the stage lineup naturally became a measure of popularity for that year, naturally only groups with high recognition could be featured. Of course, the later in the performance order, the more popular the group was.
The first thing I did after turning on my phone right after finishing the college entrance exam was to search for The Dun.

[Is The Dun really on the year-end stage
I’m really popular as an idol, you know.
[Ah I love this so much I’m so excited to see how they’ll perform]

Looking at the main feed, there were only good comments and gifs since they were trending by popularity, but when I scrolled to the latest posts, an unexpected post caught my eye.

[Ah, I hope the collaboration stage passes without controversy…ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

‘Right. They said there’s a collaboration stage?’

Since it hadn’t been long since I returned to the real world, I didn’t know what that tweet meant, so I tilted my head and clicked on the account.
Depending on the artist’s image, it seemed like a clear fact that on the Stone Board, if even one sticky choreography sequence was included in a mixed-gender pairing, no matter how beautifully the overall picture turned out, both fandoms would have nothing good to say about it.
While another band performed on stage ahead, I rapidly scrolled through the posts with the highest concentration I’d ever had.

[The moment that sticky choreography kicks in..
We’re… done for
I believe in you, Sung Ji-won
You’ve been doing well lately anyway (laughs)]

No matter how much I think about this collaboration, it’s so frustrating… our kids have been living good lives, you know?
“Even the thugs lived decent lives, damn it lol”
└LOL?]

‘What, what is this. Why is it so intense??’

The sheer criticism and hostility made my head spin dizzily for a moment. I quickly exited that account and returned to my own comfortable timeline that I’d created anew.

[Looking forward to the collab >_<]
[Haha, I really like Lia Purple. I’m excited about what concept they have]

Unaware that this was merely the flailing of those who already knew about all the hostility, Noel found stability in those beautiful words.

'How am I supposed to handle this…. No, whatever. It should be fine.'

As the band's stage ended, all the lights went out. Perhaps because the previous stage had been decorated with brilliant lighting, it appeared relatively darker by comparison.
Through the pitch-black darkness, only the words 'The Dawn' appeared on the display screen.

[The Dawn]

The Dun's first year-end stage had begun.

1) Show Me The Money 4(2015.06.26.-2015.08.28.) Episode 9, lyrics from 'Fear (Feat. Taeyang)' performed by Song Min-ho.

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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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