The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 193

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

193

[Jung Da-jun: Hehe~^^]

After madly repeating the cycle of eating, sleeping, and practicing in the Practice Room, then rushing off to scheduled events, we achieved it.

[Jung Da-jun: We’ve displayed the trophies~~~~~~!!!!!!]
[Kang Yi-chae: Clap~~clap~~ clap~~!!]

Five consecutive wins.
I scrolled past the selfie in our group chat—Jung Da-jun and Kang Yi-chae grinning widely in a V-pose in front of five trophies lined up in the Company Lobby.

[Ichae Kang: Dajun, why don’t you use this emoticon ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ these days ㅠ??]
[Jung Da-jun: Growing up]
[Kim Sung-hyun: Right..]

As if.

[Quest Complete!
Claim three consecutive Music Show Stage wins!
Congratulations! You’ve surpassed three wins and achieved five consecutive victories.
You’ve been awarded 3,000 points as your reward.]

I smiled with satisfaction, reading Jung Da-jun’s message—practically bouncing off the screen—and the Quest Window notification confirming completion.
Five consecutive wins in our second year, or third if you counted from the members’ debut.

‘Everything’s proceeding exactly as planned.’

I snapped my fingers, commanding the System Window to pull up Kim Sung-hyun’s stats.

[Displaying Kim Sung-hyun’s Stats.]
[Kim Sung-hyun
The light of this era, our hero!
Such an incredibly, incredibly, incredibly wonderful member to Seo Ho-yoon….]

Are you joking?

[Singing: B0
Dancing: S0
Entertainment: C0
Acting: D0
??: ???
Charm: A-]

Kim Sung-hyun’s dancing stat had risen to S0.

‘As expected, it gets harder to climb the higher you go.’

Bittersweet as it was, my own dancing stat still hadn’t improved.
Still, Kim Sung-hyun had made progress, and there were visible results to show for it, so I was reasonably satisfied.

“Ah~, we pulled off something good, we did.”
“Huh?”

I sprawled across the bed and picked up my phone, and Sung Ji-won beside me chuckled.

“Because of the five-crown achievement?”
“That too.”

I let out a quiet laugh and opened The Dun’s official SNS.

[It felt wasteful to keep it to ourselves, so here are the B-cuts!]

They were B-cuts from Sung Ji-won’s photoshoot that had graced the cover of a prestigious fashion magazine.
Explaining that this five-crown achievement was entirely thanks to the fans’ support, Lee Ji-hyun had contacted the magazine for permission and released the photos.
Comments flooded in—why are these B-cuts, you’re my spring Sung Ji-won, I want to lick the mole on your nose—in Korean and countless other languages.

‘The management’s doing well this time too.’

The title track? It’s doing great.
The B-sides? They’re getting incredibly high praise.

While we threw ourselves into dance practice, Sung Ji-won, who had been constantly with Chae Jung-woo, was bringing deeper nuance to his singing with each passing day.

This was the first time they’d performed a B-side track on stage, and with Kang Yi-chae solidifying the atmosphere from the beginning, Sung Ji-won’s heavenly vocals absolutely drove the final nail home.

The Dun’s popularity wasn’t hype—at this level of their career, no one could match their skill.

Every time they took first place, Yoon Hee-eon couldn’t even manage his expression properly, glaring so intensely.
While Kim Sung-hyun delivered his acceptance speech, Sung Ji-won remained composed, but the moment his gaze met Yoon Hee-eon’s, I caught him smiling softly from the side—and something about it felt strange.

‘Right, he’s an adult too.’

I turned my head to look at Sung Ji-won.
As our eyes met while he was turning a page, Sung Ji-won reflexively offered a gentle smile.

“What?”

‘But how does someone like him end up being disliked?’

I alternated between looking at the B-cut photos of Sung Ji-won filling my phone and the innocent face of Sung Ji-won right in front of me.

“…Well, that’s.”

They said Sung Ji-won had been in terrible shape when he first came to Dae Pa-sung. Bad enough to scare Kim Sung-hyun.
In other words, he must have struggled a lot at his previous agency.
I wanted to ask him directly and honestly what happened back then and how it connected to me, but——.
I chose a different approach instead.

‘Let it be.’

The way Sung Ji-won had done for me.

“What are you curious about?”

But Sung Ji-won, who’d already picked up on something, asked with his eyes narrowing.

“…What did you say to Yoon Hee-eon when you met him?”
“Hm?”
“He seemed terrified.”

It was more of a deflection question than genuine curiosity.
I asked because I remembered Yoon Hee-eon rambling about how he’d ‘stabbed himself in the tongue.’

“Ah…. That.”

Sung Ji-won took a long time choosing his words before flashing a wall-like smile.

“Do you really need to hear about it? Ho-yoon.”

Suddenly, the Ocean Train MV filming shoot came to mind. The staff had been caught gossiping by Sung Ji-won.
And that Sung Ji-won had been caught by me and Kang Yi-chae.
He’d worn that exact same smile back then too.
I raised my eyebrows slightly and shifted my gaze to my phone.

“No, there isn’t.”
“Right.”

Snap! The sound of Sung Ji-won closing his book reached my ears.

“There really are a lot of twisted, petty people in this world.”

Wait. Is he talking about me?
I lifted only my eyes to look at Sung Ji-won again.

“People who can’t stand to see others succeed, who enjoy watching them fall into misery.”

Damn it, he’s definitely talking about me, isn’t he?
Worried I’d misspeak next to this morally upright guy and get myself into trouble, I clamped my mouth shut.

“People like Yoon Hee-eon don’t deserve your attention, and listening to what they say is just a loss. People don’t really change anyway.”

Rising from the bed, Sung Ji-won continued speaking as he shelved his book.

“We don’t have nearly enough time to spend with the people we love and cherish.”

Sung Ji-won felt strangely unfamiliar to me.
I’d thought he would say that even bad things could change sufficiently with enough effort.

“….”
“Right now, I’m doing that with the members.”

Sung Ji-won turned his body and looked at me.
I deliberately averted my gaze.

“So the person you thought was good turned out to be a bastard?”
“Huh?”
“It’s wasted effort. According to what you said.”
“Aha, me?”

Sung Ji-won smiled slightly and tilted his head.
For some reason, he seemed to find this situation amusing.

“It’s fine since it’s an entirely subjective standard.”

Sung Ji-won stretched languidly, tapped my shoulder a couple of times, and began tidying up the bedroom.
As I watched him, I received a text from the Manager telling me to come downstairs for my personal schedule. I blew at my bangs that hung down and moved my body reluctantly.
At that moment, Sung Ji-won suddenly turned around with a serious expression.

“By the way, Ho-yoon, I’ve been troubled about something lately too.”
“What is it?”
“I’m getting ambitious about comedy.”
“Then rap.”

Sung Ji-won’s eyes filled with betrayal glared at me.
Instead of consoling him, I firmly pulled on a cap and slipped out of the dormitory, climbing into the van that was waiting outside.

‘So, is it my turn now?’

Regardless of how things started, thanks to all this, Kim Sung-hyun’s stats had risen and I’d secured five awards.
Now it was time to fulfill Chae Jung-woo’s request.

Honestly, it was unexpected.
I never thought Chae Jung-woo would care so much about his juniors.
High Five had already been referred to as a second-tier group even before appearing on Shining Star Season 2.
Though WH Entertainment didn’t achieve the first place they’d anticipated (because of me), if the agency had pushed them and solidified their domestic popularity a bit more, they could have naturally risen to first-tier status.

However, WH Entertainment chose to pursue High Five’s expansion into the United States rather than their domestic activities.
Recently, a hot female idol group had naturally gained overseas response through YouTube, entered the United States, and was earning tremendous foreign currency.
Though it’s impossible to know what actually happened behind the scenes, there were many opinions that the agency, having seen this, became greedy and hastily sent High Five abroad.

Well, while it wasn’t a tremendous success in the end, it certainly wasn’t a catastrophic failure either.
The foreign earnings were decent enough.
However, it seemed my domestic recognition was gradually declining, and my reputation was taking a hit.

The schedule I was heading toward was likely an image rehabilitation opportunity for Kang Yeon-hu and High Five.
A variety show they’d invested considerable money into producing—

“Would You Sing With Me?”

That was it.
The concept involved selecting several idol groups currently at the height of their popularity—not necessarily top-tier, but thriving—and organizing a song festival together.
What Chae Jung-woo had asked of me was to look after Kang Yeon-hu since this was his first time appearing solo on a public broadcast variety show.

‘That makes sense.’

It was quite—no, considerably—high difficulty to brush off as just a first public broadcast variety experience.
First, the initial peculiarity.

I pulled out my phone and accessed SNS.
Then I searched for the variety show’s name.

[Lmaooo what is “Would You Sing With Me?” about?]

This project had been leaked.
It had gotten out.

“Ha ha.”

Laughter escaped me involuntarily.
A leak—one of the most useful controversies, and one I actually enjoyed.
The existing fans seemed to have exploded in anger, and comments and retweets poured out in torrents despite the accounts not being private.

[Would You Sing With Me?
More like would you kill me]
[Seriously, kill me]
[Damn it, they really have no roots lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

Even this time, High Five fans seemed to be more angry with WH Entertainment than The Dawn’s fandom.
This time, High Five’s fans seemed even angrier at WH Entertainment than The Dun’s fanbase.

[WH Enter, can I kill you?]

Fans raised him with great care, but they made him appear in a program that wasn’t right for him. In the end, his overseas recognition increased, but he was hurriedly pushed back to the U.S. with only ambiguous results.
The fans had carefully nurtured us, and then they threw us into a program that didn’t fit at all. Sure, our international recognition rose, but we ended up with ambiguous results and got hastily shoved off to the United States like we were being pushed out the door.
Now, when the team barely had time to solidify, they sent only Kang Yeon-hu to a variety show.

[Just make a domestic comeback, you bastards]
[At least do a domestic comeback, you bastards]

Noeul, who had already had similar experiences several times, simply quietly blocked the other person.
Noeul, having experienced a similar string of incidents many times before, simply blocked them quietly.

[Title: The entertainment that was leaked this time

why?? Why shouldn’t I do it?

Answer: It’s similar to when we were playing the Korea-China-Japan Asian Games and suddenly picked a representative from the Korea, Japan, and China teams and told them to join the team.
Answer: It’s like if Korea, Japan, and China were holding an Asian Games, and they suddenly picked one representative from each country’s team and told them to eat the team

There is also a second peculiarity, but more on that later.

After roughly organizing the situation in my head, I arrived at the filming site. I nodded hello to the staff and moved to the waiting room to wait.

[Jeong Da-jun: Seong G-won… you are my “Spling” and “Lomance”.]
[Jung Da-jun: Sung Ji-won… you are my “Spling” and my “Romance”.]
[Kang Yi-chae: Your English is good]

It’s very oily.
Such intellectual brilliance flowing everywhere.

“how have you been doing?”

I raised the corner of my mouth, seeing that my insides were sore, but my face was clean.

“I know everything, but just get to the point.”
“We know everything about each other anyway—let’s just get to the point.”
“Let’s make sure we look out for each other and go out there.”

It’s straight away.
That’s a straight pitch if I’ve ever heard one.

“Do you have something in mind?”

It solidifies my image, boosts the personal charm of the members of The Dawn, calms controversies, and, as a bonus, even raises awareness after the lecture.

“It’s ambiguous. What should we do? Seo Ho-yoon, is there a way?”

I’ve thought about that method.
I had already devised such a method.
Toward Kang Yeon-hu, who watched me with arms crossed, I flashed my signature “bewitching contestant charmer’s smile” for the first time in a while.

“Oh my, Mr. Lecture.”
“My, Kang Yeon-hu.
“….”

[UNTRANSLATED LINE 291]
Of course, the vast majority of contestants, for various reasons, would show up the very next day after airing cursing, “You bastard, I was under your spell back then!” but that’s how it goes.

“Just trust me and follow me.”

It is the fault of the person who believed.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————