The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 192

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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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192

“Sigh…”

After I exaggerated and fumbled through the moves a few times, Joo Woo-sung just sighed heavily, tapped his foot anxiously, and finally stepped forward.

“Seo Ho-yoon, are you deliberately messing up right now?”
“Talk to Ho-oh and Ho-oh about it.”

Watching me snicker, Joo Woo-sung threw a fit. Then he clung to Kim Sung-hyun, who would take his side no matter what, and whined.

“Sung-hyun, please show this fumbler what real dancing looks like.”
“Show me what a human can actually do.”

Joo Woo-sung was irritated by my fumbling ability, yet he demonstrated the choreography in detailed sections, and every time Kim Sung-hyun absorbed it perfectly, his stats climbed steadily.

[Kim Sung-hyun’s dance stat increases!
So that’s what a model student looks like?]
[Kim Sung-hyun (unlike someone) understands Joo Woo-sung’s instructions. +2]
[Joo Woo-sung was annoyed but executed flawlessly right away. +3]
[Joo Woo-sung feels jealous. +2]

The player was clearly me, and the same 5% proficiency bonus applied, yet the rate of increase was drastically different.
If Kim Sung-hyun was scooping it up with a ladle, I was sipping it with a teaspoon—that seemed to be the difference.
In any case, after dancing through the routine fifteen times straight, I was absolutely exhausted.

“Wow.”

By then, as if he’d never been upset in the first place, Joo Woo-sung looked at Kim Sung-hyun with satisfaction and stroked his chin.

‘Such a simple guy…’

“I think I have a talent for teaching.”
“Woo-sung, please. Where did your conscience go?”

At first, Chae Jung-woo had merely watched from a distance, but growing bored, he turned his head sharply away from coaching Sung Ji-won’s vocals at that ridiculous statement.

“No, I’m serious. Look at Kim Sung-hyun.”
“Hey, look over there. I taught him too, but look at the state he’s in.”

Even with his coaching, Kim Sung-hyun’s progress lagged far behind the other members.
Then Joo Woo-sung stared directly at me and spoke.

“No, Ho-yoon. You’ve improved a lot.”
“…??”

Was he insane?
Hearing such words from Joo Woo-sung sent chills down my spine.
He rested his chin on Jung Da-jun’s crown, where his sparse hair stuck out in all directions.

“Compared to the beginning, anyway. You were so hopeless—not even at a civilian level—that I couldn’t even evaluate you.”

Thinking back to those days, the progress had been remarkable.
Now I didn’t hear that clunky, clunky sound no matter what I did.
But the old me had always believed I was good at everything except character. Only after becoming an idol did I have to forcibly accept that I lacked not just character, but also talent in dancing.

“But improving halfway like this just pisses me off more. You know that feeling?”
“….”
“Ah, you wouldn’t understand, man….”

Annoyed at Joo Woo-sung’s pitying expression, I grabbed Jung Da-jun and yanked him over.
Chae Jung-woo kicked Joo Woo-sung’s shin from the side, telling him to stop bullying the junior.

“Anyway, everyone was fine except Seo Ho-yoon.”
“Have you ever taught your junior—I mean, Yeon-hoo—even once?”
“…Ah, him.”

He brushed off his shin with an indifferent expression.

“Why would I? He’s actually my senior anyway.”
“Huh? Yeon-hoo is your senior?”

Jung Da-jun’s eyes widened as he asked, and Chae Jung-woo added an explanation.

“Well, you’re half right and half wrong. If we’re counting from trainee days, Yeon-hoo has more seniority than anyone else in Black Call, but in this industry, we go by debut order anyway.”

‘The hierarchy here is completely tangled.’

“Wow, really? What’s the order?”
“Let’s see. Yeon-hoo, me, and Woo-sung came in last.”
“Right. He was a trainee for about two months.”

Two months as a trainee at a major agency?
Joo Woo-sung added sheepishly, noticing my incredulous expression.

“I didn’t really have any intention of becoming an entertainer.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!!”

Then who the hell becomes an entertainer? Kim Sung-hyun practically bounced out of his seat. Chae Jung-woo nodded in agreement with that sentiment.

“Right? People who already have everything lack that desperation.”
“That desperation again….”

Ignoring Joo Woo-sung’s grumbling, Chae Jung-woo continued his explanation.

“The casting director kept pestering me relentlessly, so I figured I’d just come once to get him off my back. But then I thought, ‘Huh? I could probably do this too,’ and just like that, I ended up in Black Call.”
“That’s seriously so cool!!”
“Of course it is. I’m Joo Woo-sung.”
“Ugh.”

Is that cool?
I felt like I was going to die from sheer frustration.
Some people could fly and soar and leap, yet still I had to break down every movement into microsecond increments, calculating with surgical precision just to avoid a single misplaced sound, and yet here he was saying, ‘Huh? I could probably do this too?’ Two months as a trainee.

As I ground my teeth internally, Chae Jung-woo, who had been laughing heartily, changed the subject.

“What was The Dun like during their trainee days?”

Now that he mentioned it, I’d never heard about that either.

“I came in first, then Sung Ji-won. The two of us trained for quite a while before Kang Yi-chae joined, and then Jung Da-jun came after.”
“Oh, Hyun-sung and Ji-won? Both of them have such gentle personalities, you must have gotten along from the start.”
“…Ah, yeah. Mm.”

Kim Sung-hyun didn’t answer, just rolling his eyes. Then Sung Ji-won, who had been wearing a subtle smile, spoke on his behalf.

“We didn’t mesh well from the start.”
“Huh? Really?! Why?”

Jung Da-jun, hearing this for the first time, looked genuinely surprised.

“I was a mess back then.”

Sung Ji-won was a mess?
The verb didn’t align with the subject, and I lifted my head abruptly.

“After leaving my previous agency, things weren’t going well. I felt sorry for making Hyun-sung uncomfortable for no reason.”
“No, well, it was fine…”
“Haha, sorry. For being difficult.”

Kim Sung-hyun trembled slightly before quietly confessing that he’d actually been a bit scared.

“Hyun-sung took good care of me, so things got better.”

Sung Ji-won, wearing a bashful smile, shifted the conversation toward Kang Yi-chae, who had been quietly scribbling something on paper in the corner without participating much.

“By the way, it seems we didn’t see much of Yi-chae in the beginning.”
“Kang Yi-chae didn’t practice much. I was honestly wondering if he even wanted to be an idol.”
“Come on, how sincere was I?”

However, Kang Yi-chae also seemed reluctant to discuss his own joining story, deflecting with a sly grin.

I was just quietly listening to this aimless conversation when Jung Da-jun, who had been grumbling about me touching his head, suddenly threw both arms up.

“Then it was my turn!! I got introduced and joined!!”
“Oh! Now that you mention it, Yi-chae started showing up to practice every day around that time, right? Da-jun’s hilarious.”
“If I didn’t see him for even a day, my head would be filled with thoughts of Da-jun.”
“Ugh, gross.”

Kang Yi-chae, giggling at Jung Da-jun’s horrified reaction, began rattling off stories about the youngest member’s exploits.
Not long after Jung Da-jun had joined as a trainee, he happened to spot a partial hairpiece that had fallen from the CEO’s head, rushed over and snatched it, then loudly shouted for everyone in the hallway to hear: “CEO! Your hairpiece! Your hairpiece fell!!” and politely returned it; there was also the time he had a water gun fight with Kang Yi-chae all over the company during the height of summer, leaving the Planning Team Lead looking like a drowned rat and earning him punishment—and so on.
Joo Woo-sung, who had been resting his chin in his hand and staying quiet, asked a question.

“What about Seo Ho-yoon?”
“Huh?”
“You said he even recorded. Why hasn’t he debuted?”
“How did you even know that?”

My senior, who pretended not to care yet showed such keen interest in me, acted smug as if knowing such details was nothing. Of course, I let it go in one ear and out the other.

“He did record, but… hmm, how was it again?”

I didn’t fully understand how the basic settings of this game were structured.
Before the members who were starting to grow suspicious caught on, I decided to quickly sort out the situation.

“Chae Jung-woo, didn’t you say you had to leave soon?”
“Oh… right. The conversation was just too interesting.”

Chae Jung-woo checked the time by raising his wrist and tapped Joo Woo-sung. Joo Woo-sung grabbed his bag and left the practice room, saying he’d come back tomorrow.

Kim Sung-hyun, who had been embroiled in school violence allegations,
Sung Ji-won, who escaped his former agency over sponsorship issues,
Kang Yi-chae, still shrouded in mystery,
Jung Da-jun, who was scammed by a double contract with his agency,
and me—a former PD with a specialty in “demonic editing” and the current company’s biggest headache…

‘What a combination for the ages.’

“I’m stopping by the convenience store too!”
“And pick up the CEO’s wig again if you spot it.”
“That was really an accident, I’m telling you?!”
“Roll on, keep making those accidents for us.”

A lucky spoon.
Now I vaguely understood what it meant that even the fastidious Kang Yi-chae attended Dae Pa-sung every single day just to see Jung Da-jun.

***

[Music show attendance recap:
Asked if I’d eaten again today, same as always
Even my grandmother doesn’t ask that much, Ho-yoon]

Exhausted from work, the office worker Noeul checked SNS late and giggled at the posts rolling in.

“Ha, this is hilarious??”

[Black-haired Kang Yi-chae just reading those words makes me so nervous… I’ll cherish your stage presence forever…]

Look at the difference between how Sung Ji-won and Kang Yi-chae put on their shoes lolololol
Sung Ji-won’s shoes: (Still pristine and pretty like new) Hehe Ji-won’s the best ^0^
Kang Yi-chae’s shoes: (Heels completely scuffed) Kill… me…]

└I still can’t believe they’re in the same group… this is the best..
The two of them are getting along really well these days, but lol

A problem had erupted with a partner company, so I’d been pulling all-nighters and working for days straight.
Because of that, I hadn’t been able to keep up with SNS, Pop Pop, music broadcasts, or anything else lately, and now I was finally going through everything thoroughly.

[Haven’t seen this yet??!!?
https://www.neotube.com/watch?v=suNGhyunBokkEun
Buying a brain! Buy a brain! First come, first served!!]

‘Hmm?’

Drawn by the eye-catching comment, the office worker Noeul tilted her head and clicked the link.
And out of habit, I checked the view count and momentarily doubted my own eyes.

“What, the view count??!”

Even though The Dun had been getting a lot of attention, there was no way a personal fancam of a song that had only just been released could have this many views.
Unable to figure out why, I quickly scrolled down to check the comments, but I was still in the dark.

[Kim Sung-hyun’s possession country
That’s “South Korea”…

└I’ll be patriotic]

The best comments were plastered with posts along those lines.

‘Well, let me just watch it for now….’

I hit play, and The Dun’s members appeared on screen.
A moment later, the beat dropped, and Kim Sung-hyun’s eyes transformed instantly.

‘What? Why is he so good?’

Kim Sung-hyun’s dancing prowess was already legendary on the online community. Among his peers, no one could match him.
Some even claimed he ranked in the top five idols overall, but until recently, I hadn’t fully agreed with that assessment—even as a Noeul fan.

‘Wow….’

But now, watching this, I was beginning to think they might be right.
Every movement was controlled with meticulous precision—the strength, the release—and even to my untrained eye, the difference between him and ordinary dancers was starkly apparent.
As the highlight approached, Kim Sung-hyun transitioned into a wave, his silk shirt rippling with the motion before he lifted it.
Glimpses of smooth skin and rippling abs flashed between the fabric.

“Ohhhhhhh!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!”

【Truth is, I’m a little scared
That you’ll grow tired of me】

“There’s no way you could tire of him, you bastard!!!”

As the speakers erupted with deafening screams, I found myself shrieking along—a salaryman fan of Noeul, caught up in the moment.

【But right now, that’s not the case
Do it, baby love me】

Kim Sung-hyun executed every detail down to his fingertips while snapping his hips, then exited toward the back with Seo Ho-yoon. It seemed that in a live broadcast, this section wouldn’t be visible to the main camera.
Seo Ho-yoon glanced at Kim Sung-hyun and let out a quiet chuckle, then quickly composed his expression as the main camera’s light came on.

【When I try to stop, you block my way ahead
(So I smile a little)
The beginning is always the most thrilling】

“Wow, that was incredible….”

Why could YouTube only be liked once?
After rewatching it several more times, I liked and shared the video, then added it to my playlist titled “Watch When Life Gets Hard.”

“Ah, this is truly healing.”

The stress from work seemed to melt away effortlessly.
Once she had calmed down somewhat, she scrolled through the comments once more.

[02:34 Noeul was so transparent back then…]
[Hyun-sung… he’s really kind
At least he’s kind]
Well, he/she seems nice.

Even though I worked out my abs, I received more compliments and opinions about my dancing, which made me feel happy.

[The kids say that they just take care of all the room and board in the practice room during their fall promotions hahaha. They say they never even see a shadow in the dorms hahaha.

└There is a story that he brought a sleeping bag to the practice room and even put a blanket in it…
└There’s a story that they brought sleeping bags to the practice room and even added blankets..
“That’s right, according to Yi-chae, Sung Ji-won put it in.”

When I read that Seong Ji-won, who has a reputation among fans as a practice machine, is very satisfied these days, I was both touched and happy because it seemed like The Dawn was really trying their best in everything they did.
Seeing a post that Ji-won, who had already earned a reputation among fans as a practice machine, was very satisfied these days, made her feel both touched and happy that The Dun really gave their all in everything.

[UNTRANSLATED LINE 296]

At that time, one comment caught my eye.
Then, one comment caught her eye.

‘hmm?’

Seo Ho-yoon, who was staring at the camera, suddenly tapped Kim Seong-hyun on the back.
Seo Ho-yoon, who had been staring directly at the camera, suddenly tapped Kim Sung-hyun’s back.
When Kim Sung-hyun turned his head back, Seo Ho-yoon, who had stepped closer, pulled his lips into a grin and whispered softly.
Kim Sung-hyun’s mouth opened slightly as his gaze wandered around, and then he took a deep breath.

‘What did you really say?!’

They may not know for the rest of their lives, but Seo Ho-yoon, who had eaten about 99 snakes, whispered to Kim Seong-hyeon:

‘Joo Woo-sung is watching your fancam.’

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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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