The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 195

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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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195

[Yeon-ri (Lia Purple): I’ve always wanted to perform on stage together!]

“Yeon-hoo, you said before that you wanted to perform with me, didn’t you?”
“Me? When did I say that?”

[Gu Chan (Mars): We haven’t had many opportunities. Thinking about performing together before the stage makes me so excited….]

“We haven’t had many chances until now.”
“No, but when did you start feeling that way…?”
“Aren’t you excited?”

[Yeon-ri (Lia Purple): I’m thrilled and my heart is racing!]

“I’m excited too.”
“….”
“….”
“….”

I intercepted all the lines written in the script.
The cast and staff stared at me with startled eyes, but I had long forgotten what shame or embarrassment even felt like.
Yet there was one person.

“Whoa~! Wow, what’s with this energy~?”
“Haha, should we do it again?”

Only the PD clapped enthusiastically.
When I smoothly tried to deflect, he waved his hand dismissively.

“No, no. I love it just like this!! Absolutely perfect!! The friendship between rivals! This feeling of acknowledging each other!”

Then he tapped his megaphone and ordered everyone to wrap up, saying the restaurant rental time was running out.
The PD was the main producer, and while I’d never worked with him before, I’d heard plenty of stories about him, so I knew the gist of his reputation.
Apparently, after botching several programs in a row and then collaborating with a screenwriter who wrote meticulously detailed scripts only to achieve mediocre results, he’d become a strict adherent to the script.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Setting aside my personal reservations, work methods naturally differed from person to person, and ultimately all PDs shared the same essence.
If it’s entertaining, that’s what matters.
So my unilateral ad-lib was overlooked as well.
As I stood up to head back to the van, Lia Purple Junior Member—who had been rolling her eyes from a few steps away—suddenly bent into a deep bow.

“Ho-yoon! Thank you so much for your hard work today!”
“Thank you for your hard work, senior.”

Even after greeting me, Lia Purple continued hovering around my vicinity before calling out to me again cautiously from several meters away.

“Seriously! Today too! Thank you so much!!”

She gave me a thumbs up, and seeing that the distance still wasn’t enough, she scurried even farther away, which made me smile slightly.

‘I’ve got insurance in place.’

The Marz Vocalist, witnessing this, looked slightly fed up, rubbed his tired eyes, mentioned he had another schedule and left with a wave.
Then the Assistant Director approached and checked the schedule once more.

“——So I’ll relay the additional filming schedule with Kang Yeon-hu through your Manager! Thank you for your hard work.”
“Yes, thank you.”

The Assistant Director, pleased to have secured usable footage, left with a grin.
A short distance away, the High Five Manager and Kang Yeon-hu were conversing.
I greeted the staff members and headed toward the Underground Parking Lot. The Manager had already gone down ahead to start the van and pull it out.
I opened the Item Shop almost habitually.
As I scrolled down past the more than half-empty slots, a product I’d been eyeing before gleamed brilliantly.

[Good Deeds Travel by Word of Mouth~!
You can have your good deeds toward others spread externally as if others are spreading the word.
Seo Ho-yoon, let’s do good deeds and create a positive image together!
※The target of good deeds is limited to third parties unrelated to the player, and the standard of goodness follows universal norms.
※Designated good deeds will automatically be exposed to random individuals in different formats.
Usage Points: 1,000 Points]

My image is already decent enough as is.

‘This should wrap up cleanly.’

I read through the System Window message one more time carefully before stepping into the elevator. As I waited without pressing the close button, a hand slipped through the gap just before the doors shut.

“Excuse me, Seo Ho-yoon.”

It was Kang Yeon-hu.
I straightened up from where I’d been leaning against the elevator wall and smiled at the person I’d been expecting.

“Hey.”
“Not particularly well, actually.”

Kang Yeon-hu strode into the elevator and closed the doors.

“What are you thinking?”

During filming, he’d stammered and fumbled whenever talking to me, but the moment it ended, he’d regained his composure.

“Come on, hyung. What are you saying?”
“Stop it—it’s creepy. Since when were we close enough for that?”

I felt a strange satisfaction watching him bristle like a puffed-up cat, but Kang Yeon-hu furrowed his brow and continued.

“Someone as sharp as you, Seo Ho-yoon, surely knows that if you’re not careful, you’ll face backlash from the fandom.”

He was referring to the Shining Star Season 2 days.
We’d been rivals competing for first and second place, after all.
I scratched my neck indifferently and kept my gaze forward.

“Seo Ho-yoon, this feels familiar to me.”
“Where from?”
“From Shining Star. I know you deliberately hyped up Jung Won-ha and then cut him down because of Jung Da-jun.”
“Is that so?”

I’d even made a joke about a hearing in front of Sung Ji-won, so it would’ve been stranger if he didn’t know.

[Basement Level 4.]

Kang Yeon-hu pressed the close button again and turned his body completely to face me directly.

“I can tell what you’re really up to behind closed doors, no matter how smoothly you talk in front of others.”
“Mm.”
“I don’t care what you do to other people, but don’t think about using me.”

Watching Kang Yeon-hu’s disgusted expression, I found myself oddly amused.
His words weren’t wrong, after all.

‘Kang Yeon-hu really is sharp.’

I caught his arm just as he was about to leave the elevator after saying his piece.

“It’s a favor for Chae Jung-woo.”
“…!”

At my honest words, Kang Yeon-hu stopped in his tracks and turned his head.

“Why would Jung Woo ask?”
“Well, I owe him something, so I’m trying to repay the debt.”

I released his arm and stepped back, and Kang Yeon-hu seemed lost in thought for a moment.
I wasn’t sure what kind of relationship they had, but it was clear that Chae Jung-woo looked out for Kang Yeon-hu’s wellbeing, and Kang Yeon-hu trusted him quite a bit.

“Yeon-hu, I’m not good at lying. You can trust me.”
“Even after what you did to Jung Won-ha?”
“Probably?”
“….”
“I’m joking.”

As I chuckled, Kang Yeon-hu’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“Sure, there might be some backlash. But isn’t it better than wasting time being stiff, following some boring senior-junior script concept, and filming something tedious because we’re too timid to try?”
“….”
“And once this program ends, let’s see the reaction. We’ll find out just how much your image changes.”

I recalled the item I’d purchased earlier and let a smile play at my lips.

“I’ll pick something especially delicious for you, so just sit back and enjoy it.”
“…sigh.”

Kang Yeon-hu swept his hair back with a deep sigh, his expression clouded with confusion.
He’d spent years in training and had rolled through enough experiences to maintain composure in any situation, but now that he was entangled with someone like me, everything seemed to be falling apart, and his emotions were clearly in turmoil.

‘Well, it’s not really my concern.’

High Five was doing well.
They’d stumbled recently, but since the major entertainment company hadn’t discarded them yet, this minor misstep would be corrected within a few broadcast appearances.
It was Kang Yeon-hu himself who was growing impatient, anxious, and uneasy.
His senior group happened to be Black Call, and after riding a wave of success before this brief setback, his past haunted him—he seemed terrified of regressing back to the beginning.

‘The plight of a long-term trainee.’

That label of a failure, etched deep into his bones.
For a moment, I recalled that Sung Ji-won had experienced something similar, and my mood soured, but I immediately erased the thought.

“Senior.”

When I called his name to interrupt the endless cycle of unpleasant thoughts consuming Kang Yeon-hu, his slightly wavering eyes met mine.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

I’m meticulous with my calculations. If I suffer a loss, I inflict greater damage in return; if I owe a debt, I repay it by any means necessary.
However, as adults, responsibility is each person’s own burden.

“But you know what to do when the cameras roll, right?”

Whether Kang Yeon-hu wore a vacant expression or not, I smirked and stepped out of the elevator first.
I’d bet the banana I ate this morning on it—before that guy spends ten years grinding away at a major company, he’ll definitely end up in Kim Sung-hyun’s class.

.
.
.

“Wow! So this is Dae Pa-sung!”
“Yes.”
“I heard there’s been talk lately about changing the name to DPS!”

It seems Dae Pa-sung has finally realized their company name is terrible.
After two additional filming sessions with Kang Yeon-hu over the course of a week, we moved on to film at Dae Pa-sung for song production work.
I was briefly discussing today’s schedule with the Assistant Director when Kang Yeon-hu stepped out of the van.

“You’re here?”

Ever since our conversation in the elevator, Kang Yeon-hu’s lips would twitch ever so slightly into a frown whenever our eyes met.
I suppressed the urge to burst out laughing and simply waved my hand gently.

“Ah…”
“…”
“H-h-h… uh…”
“Hm?”

Kang Yeon-hu muttered with an expression of profound internal conflict.

“…Hello, Ho-yoon.”

Who would believe we were close with this kind of act?
His acting was absolutely terrible.

Ding!

[He’s really pitiful…]

Well, was it because I was his scene partner?
Either way, it wasn’t particularly important, so I brushed past it and guided the staff members into the building.

“Let’s start with the song production.”
“Oh! Will you be working with Kang Yi-chae? Didn’t Kang Yi-chae write and compose most of The Dun’s songs?”
“Now that you mention it, he’s incredibly famous!”
“Our kid is famous?”

As I opened the door and stepped into the lobby, I felt my shoulders tense at the staff’s words.

“Of course! He’s been turning down love calls left and right.”

That’s just because Kang Yi-chae does whatever he wants anyway.

I also held Kang Yi-chae’s genius in high regard.
His charm rating was even S-rank.
Since he was on par with Joo Woo-sung, that said everything.
I was confident that if he produced just a few songs, we could dramatically increase the buzz for this program.

‘Throw Kang Yi-chae out first, then showcase Sung Ji-won’s vocals next.’

“Aha, is that so?”

Pondering how to weave each member’s individual charm into the content, I led everyone to the Recording Studio.
I opened the Recording Studio door, thinking that if we captured Kang Yi-chae working as usual with his headset on, the scene would look quite impressive.

“…Eek?”

Instead, I found Kang Yi-chae spinning slowly in his chair, feet propped up on the seat, crouched down while wearing the Pineapple hat I’d worn at the concert.

“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”

All the staff members fell silent.
I quietly closed the door.
To resist the urge to storm in, grab him by the collar, and shake him while demanding ‘Didn’t I tell you I was coming today?!’, I had to burn through an entire day’s worth of patience.

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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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