The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 158

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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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158

“The Dun!”

The moment we arrived at tvK Broadcasting Station, the Production Staff came rushing out barefoot to greet us with unbridled enthusiasm.

“The viewership ratings for this first episode are through the roof! Absolutely through the roof!!”

Kang Yi-chae’s introduction scene had surpassed High Five and achieved the highest ratings.
It seemed they were ready to roll out an actual red carpet for Kang Yi-chae.
When the Assistant Director joked that if they were going to do that, he’d volunteer to use himself as a carpet instead, I felt like I was witnessing pure madness firsthand.

“Wow, you guys were absolutely incredible this time too!!”

In other words, their attitude was exactly the same as it had been ever since we became the broadcast’s sacrificial offering.
The Assistant Director continued chattering away as he guided us to the conference room.

“Ah, yes….”
“Wow, I knew Kang Yi-chae was no ordinary person, but this time was truly remarkable. Plus, the YouTube video that was released last time has had its view count skyrocket! So, um, could we possibly do one more interview with you? Ack!”
“Just one verse.”

Even after we arrived at the conference room, it didn’t end—we all wore awkward smiles and played along with the Assistant Director, but Kim Hee-young, who arrived late, pushed past the Assistant Director blocking the doorway and held up a proposal document.

“PD Kim!”
“Stop trembling and do your job! Stop harassing the talent!”
“But pestering them is literally our job?! We’re making a second season of this ridiculous competition!”
“Damn it! You’ve got a point there!”

It’s not ridiculous, though.
Thanks to Kim Hee-young’s arrival drawing the Staff’s attention away, the matter of Kang Yi-chae’s interview fizzled out.
Still apparently busy, Kim Hee-young blew at the long bangs falling in front of her eyes and waved the proposal document around.

“First, congratulations to The Dun on placing second in the first round. Thanks to the introduction segment, Shining Star’s viewership ratings came out incredibly well.”

Kim Sung-hyun and Sung Ji-won exchanged satisfied smiles, but Kim Hee-young’s lips curled into a sly grin.
Something felt off.

“But we can’t rest, can we? Our schedule ahead is packed to the brim.”
“Yes!”
“Good response. Now, let me guide you through the Second Round Competition preparations.”
“Yes, ma’am!”

All the members except me answered with enthusiasm.
Kim Hee-young glanced down at the planning document she was holding, her eyes narrowing.

“I’ll announce the theme for the Second Round Competition.”

Then she casually tossed the planning document over her shoulder.

“???”

And she broke into a bright smile.

“Do whatever you want.”
“…Pardon?”
“Original compositions, K-pop, overseas songs—perform whatever strikes your fancy. But! Only within the genre and concept we assign. Yoo Hyung-sun, please bring it out.”

The Assistant Director waiting in the back hurried out, then returned shortly with a spinning wheel.

“…”

I knew this would happen.
Kim Hee-young would never make things easy.

“Spin, spin~~ the wheel!!”
“…”

There were two wheels in total—one with genres listed, the other with concepts.

“We’ve heard so many complaints since Season 1. How can it be fair when each group and company has different songs in their arsenal?”

The prepared remarks flowed smoothly from Kim Hee-young’s lips.
Jung Da-jun trembled slightly as he watched her—her eyes sharp and merciless, yet her voice whimpering as if she were the wronged party.

“So this time! I thought we’d try to have some fun with it!”

‘…She’s being petty.’

Pressured by her boss, criticized by fans for bias issues.
She looked absolutely unhinged.
On the paper scattered across the floor labeled “Second Round Competition Concept,” I could see elegant handwriting that read: ‘If you’re so upset, why don’t you plan it yourselves, you bastards!!!!!’
Below that, a list of concepts was scrawled out with thick red lines through them.

Ding!

[It seems the agencies of TEW, Try, and High Five took turns having a go at her.]

Right.
The broadcasting station higher-ups must have said something too.
Kim Hee-young laughed like a madwoman, wa-ha-ha, scrutinizing each of us one by one.

“Alright, whoever’s good at darts, step forward.”
“….”
“….”
“Come on, let’s put our energy into this—spin, spin, spin~!”

Kim Hee-young was obsessed with variety shows, but I was hardly one to judge, remembering my PD days.
Kim Sung-hyun, blessed with exceptional athleticism, stepped forward and asked Kang Yi-chae, our team’s dedicated arranger.

“What do you want to do?”
“Hip-hop! Hip-hop! Hip-hop, let’s go~!!”

Ever since the face-to-face meeting, he’d been obsessed, shouting about hip-hop and throwing his hand up eagerly.
Kim Sung-hyun frowned but nodded in agreement.

‘But is it even possible? The odds are 1 in 15.’

“Ready~?”
“Yes.”

The Assistant Director grinned and spun the wheel.
Kim Sung-hyun stared intensely, then suddenly—whoosh! He threw the dart.

Thwack!

The dart landed with a satisfying sound, and when the Assistant Director caught the dartboard to stop it, the members’ eyes widened.

[Hip-Hop]

“Yesssss!!!”
“No way!!! Hyung!!!”
“Wow, Sung-hyun, that’s insane!”

‘Is he crazy??’

Kim Sung-hyun, who’d beaten the one-in-fifteen odds and landed on his first choice, turned around with a slightly proud expression.

“God Sung-hyun! God Sung-hyun!”
“Pretty cool, right?”
“Ugh~!! So cool~!!”

Chaos erupted. Especially from Kang Yi-chae.
At Kim Hee-young’s signal, the Assistant Director removed the genre wheel and brought the concept wheel, which had been pushed to the side, to the center.

“Alright, next is the concept. This time, someone else should spin it.”
“Concept? Anything’s fine~!”

Kang Yi-chae, already in high spirits from getting his desired genre, examined the concept wheel and spoke with a relaxed expression.

“Just no Oriental style. That’s a bit tricky to mix with hip-hop~.”
“Ho-yoon, do you want to do it?”
“Yeah, sure.”

It’s fine as long as it’s not Oriental style anyway.
I stepped forward without much concern, but I heard Jung Da-jun laughing behind me.

“Ho-yoon, you could probably spin it with your eyes closed!!”
“Throw it with your foot~!”
“Haha, yeah, I mean, as long as it’s not Oriental style.”
“Hey, what if that actually comes up?”
“Nah, Sung-hyun. No way~.”

The members were already burning through their happiness circuits with enthusiasm.
As I picked up the dart, the Assistant Director gave the spinning wheel a moderate spin.
Suddenly, an ominous feeling washed over me.

‘Wait, I feel like I’m forgetting something….’

“Here goes.”
“Go for it~!”

Even as I racked my brain trying to remember, I threw the dart anyway.

Whoosh—!

Thunk!

“Oh, nice sound!”
“That was satisfying~!”

Spin, spin, spin, spin….

“Huh…?”

Spin, spin….
Spin….

[Oriental Style]

“Uh….”
“….”

Everyone fell into silence.

“…Hmm.”

Cold sweat trickled down my face as I remained frozen in my throwing stance.

‘Now I remember.’

It was so long ago that I’d completely buried and forgotten about it, but when I was a rookie PD, my seniors would pull out a dartboard whenever anything came up.
And then 100% of the annoying work fell to me.
I was a legendary natural-born klutz with terrible luck.
I was decent at archery, so my athletic ability wasn’t bad, but my innate luck was just… well….

“Ho-yoon.”

Before I could even continue my escapist thoughts, Sung Ji-won stepped right up to me and looked down with gentle eyes.

“Why didn’t you just throw it with your foot?”
“I’m sorry….”

***

“Impressive odds, Hyung.”
“I’ll buy you a lottery ticket.”
“Sigh….”

I ignored Kang Yi-chae’s sarcasm about the probability of breaking through a 1-in-15 chance twice being 0.36%.
Even after filming ended and Kim Hee-young left, we couldn’t leave the Broadcasting Station Conference Room.

“…But.”

The situation was funny enough that the footage itself would cut well, but matching hip-hop with an Oriental aesthetic just wasn’t clicking for me.

“How are we going to pull this off?”
“The Oriental vibe is good, but wouldn’t it overlap too much with the last Shining Star competition?”
“Exactly. That’s the problem.”

Even when all the members put their heads together in discussion, no ideas came for how to blend the Oriental aesthetic into hip-hop without overlapping with the previous season’s stage.

“This is tough….”

Kang Yi-chae seemed slightly frustrated, tapping away at his laptop.

‘Is it really that difficult?’

“Can’t we just roughly throw in some gongs and drums for the sabi part?”
“Hyung, are you trying to get me worked up right now?”
“….”

I retreated from the sensitive Kang Yi-chae to Jung Da-jun’s side.

“Huh? What?”
“He’s being sensitive. I’m scared.”
“I get scared when Ho-yoon gets like this too….”

For a while, everyone sat there glumly without even speaking, when suddenly the conference room door swung open.

“Hey~.”
“Oh, hello.”

It was Joo Woo-sung, the kind of guy who wouldn’t surprise anyone even if he tumbled out of the dormitory bed.
He casually waved his hand, but then—

“Hello~!”

Black Call’s main vocalist, Chae Jung-woo, poked his head out from behind him.

“…???”
“???”
“Why would you come to such a humble place….”

Everyone jumped to their feet in surprise.
At their reaction, a vein bulged on Joo Woo-sung’s forehead.

“Hey, can’t I visit a humble place too??”
“If there are esteemed guests, we should go anywhere.”

Chae Jung-woo responded cheekily while patting Joo Woo-sung’s back and pushing him inside.
After settling the grumbling Joo Woo-sung into a chair, Chae Jung-woo brushed back his sleek black hair with a gentle sweep and took a seat next to Sung Ji-won.

‘…Hmm?’

“Seo Ho-yoon, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Chae Jung-woo, who had been watching me since I entered the conference room, suddenly struck up a conversation.

“Ah, yes. It seems like this is the first time since Victory is Mine.”
“Have you been well? I’ve heard so much about Seo Ho-yoon that it felt like we were meeting face-to-face almost every day, but seeing you in person is definitely better.”
“…Ahahaha?”
“I told you not to say useless things….”
“Woo-sung, who told you that?”

I listened to the exchange between Chae Jung-woo and Joo Woo-sung and reflected.
Joo Woo-sung—the guy who kept his distance from everyone and was glued to his phone—seemed close with Chae Jung-woo.
Even when he grumbled, his expression appeared relaxed.

‘So he does have a friend.’

Sung Ji-won tilted his head and asked.

“Seniors, what brings you here?”
“Just bored.”
“Sigh….”

Chae Jung-woo let out a long, exasperated sigh as he watched the evasive Joo Woo-sung, the kind that conveyed ‘what am I supposed to do with this guy?’

“Well, never mind him…. I came to see Sung Ji-won.”
“…Pardon?”

Watching Sung Ji-won’s flustered expression, Chae Jung-woo chuckled with his chin resting in his hand.

“Come on, you’re supposed to be the next god of K-pop, so I had to come see you.”
“….”

Even though Chae Jung-woo had said it in jest, Sung Ji-won could only gape silently, unable to respond further.

‘He really is Joo Woo-sung’s group member….’

Shameless, really.
If anyone else had called Sung Ji-won the god of the next generation of K-pop to his face, he probably wouldn’t have batted an eye.
But hearing it from Chae Jung-woo was apparently so embarrassing and mortifying that Sung Ji-won’s ears had turned bright red for the first time in a while.

“Hey, Chae Jung-woo.”

Joo Woo-sung clicked his tongue from beside me and draped an arm over Chae Jung-woo’s shoulder.

“Seriously, aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Why? I actually like this nickname.”
“Ji-won, ignore him. He just stopped by to say hello before becoming a special mentor.”
“Ah, yes….”

What’s this special mentor thing anyway?
Either way, since his claim about coming to see Sung Ji-won wasn’t entirely false, Chae Jung-woo naturally steered the conversation toward various vocal-related topics.

‘Still, he seems like a decent guy.’

Even though Joo Woo-sung was picky about people, he was the type who flirted easily, and since I didn’t sense any malice from him, I just let it slide.
Joo Woo-sung, who had been half-hanging off Chae Jung-woo, apparently got bored and started poking me with his leg.

“So what are you guys doing right now?”
“We were in a meeting about the second round competition.”
“About what?”
“Oriental-style hip-hop.”
“…Why on earth?”
“Senior! That’s exactly what we’re wondering!”

Kim Sung-hyun seized the moment and jumped in from the side, explaining the whole situation.

“Oh….”

Joo Woo-sung’s expression gradually shifted to one of disbelief as he listened.
This bastard Kim Sung-hyun wasn’t even trying to cover for his own group members—he was spilling everything to some playboy from another group.

“Seo Ho-yoon, can’t you even manage fourteen out of fifteen minutes?”
“Exactly….”
“Ugh….”
“I don’t know either, so let’s just keep quiet.”

Just then, Chae Jung-woo, who had been talking with Sung Ji-won, widened his eyes and raised his voice.

“That’s actually really good? It’s fresh.”
“…Huh? Do you have an idea?”

Kang Yi-chae, who had been drooping the entire time, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“Yes, there is. Kang Yi-chae will be producing it, right? I want to incorporate intense hip-hop, but the problem is I can’t find a suitable Oriental beat for it. If I force it in, the song’s flow becomes choppy, which I hate.”
“Wow! Yes, exactly!”
“Would it be okay if I suggested some reference tracks for you?”
“…!!”

Finally!
A true mentor who gave concrete guidance instead of just saying ‘just do it’ had arrived!

“Wow, that’s what a real mentor is.”
“Seo Ho-yoon, are you seriously messing with me right now??”

As I muttered in admiration, Joo Woo-sung whined about how I was treating him this way after he’d helped me so much.
I pressed down on Joo Woo-sung’s chair as he loudly tapped on the table, and stood up.

“Alright, forget it. Does anyone want something to drink?”
“No.”
“Don’t say no.”
“…Green tea latte.”

The other members seemed preoccupied listening to Chae Jung-woo’s words, and Joo Woo-sung was genuinely sulking and didn’t seem interested in coming along.
Since the meeting didn’t look like it would end soon, I figured the culprit who spun the wheel wrong should at least grab some coffee, so I quietly slipped out of the conference room.

“Huh?”

But I ended up running into someone I didn’t particularly want to see.
At the Broadcast Station 1st Floor Cafe, I encountered Kang Yeon-hu, the leader of High Five.
He greeted me first with a gentle smile.

“Looks like you lost the coffee bet.”
“Hello, senior. …Well, something like that.”

I’d really messed up spinning that wheel….

“To go.”

The broadcasting station was unusually crowded today.
Glancing around, I noticed that even the station staff—people accustomed to celebrities—kept stealing glances at Kang Yeon-hu as they passed, their eyes warm with admiration.
High Five must be quite popular these days. Damn.

“Are you staying for the meeting?”
“Yes.”

I placed my order while maintaining a comfortable distance, but Kang Yeon-hu continued to follow me.

“You must be pretty busy this time around?”
“Surely not busier than you, senior.”
“That’s true. The mission this time is so unusual that everyone’s on high alert.”

When his questions continued, I deliberately answered in ways that made further conversation difficult. Kang Yeon-hu smiled faintly and soon left his spot.
After gathering the drinks that came out, I was heading back up to the conference room when I spotted Kang Yeon-hu leaning against the wall near the cafe entrance.

“…?”
“We’re heading the same way anyway.”

When our eyes met, Kang Yeon-hu flashed a bright smile.

‘Yeah, I know.’

But why did he wait to leave with me?

“Sure….”

Standing alone together waiting for the elevator, Kang Yeon-hu finally spoke up properly.

“I watched Shining Star Season 1 and was genuinely impressed. It was amazing. The member balance was great, and their character was excellent.”
“The kids are good people.”
“That’s really important. It’s often overlooked, but in reality, that kind of thing plays a decisive role.”

When the elevator doors opened, Kang Yeon-hu let me in first and followed after.
Then he spoke in a humming, casual tone.

“So that’s why the Black Call seniors like them so much?”

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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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