The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 198

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

198

As I habitually rushed to exit the stage, the MC caught us with a laugh.

“Tell us your thoughts!”

I’d been so absorbed that I nearly missed the segment where we were supposed to share our impressions.
The MC extended the microphone toward Kang Yi-chae, who was closest, but he chuckled and stepped back to join the dancers instead.

‘This is my second life, after all.’

If the featured artist stole too much attention, it would diminish the broadcast’s appeal—so he gracefully removed himself from the spotlight.

“Ho-fu-ho-fu Team! How did you feel preparing for this stage?”
“…Excuse me? Ho-fu-ho-fu Team?”

Ho-fu-ho-fu?
What even was that? What was he talking about?

Kang Yeon-hu, bewildered at being called by a team name we’d never given ourselves and never would, turned to question the MC before glancing sideways at me.
When I nodded once, Kang Yeon-hu paused briefly before picking up the microphone again.

“Well… honestly, I’m the type who worries a lot.”

His unexpected candor caught me slightly off guard.

“When Ho-yoon and I formed this unit, I was really anxious about it….”
“Wahaha!”

The audience and MC burst into laughter, thinking he was joking, but I knew better.
That was pure, undiluted sincerity from Kang Yeon-hu.

“But looking back, it turned out to be completely unnecessary. Everything was just… fun.”

Kang Yeon-hu ended his remarks with a word of gratitude, waving toward the audience members who appeared to be High Five fans.
As the microphone was passed to me, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Well, I’m aiming for the best couple award at year-end with Yeon-hu hyung.”
“Ahahaha!!”
“Sigh….”

Even though he should have been getting used to it by now, Kang Yeon-hu let out a deep sigh as always.
Judging by how he always came back with a sharp retort whenever I teased him, he was definitely cut from the same cloth as Kim Sung-hyun.

“It was an honor to work alongside someone I have so much respect for. Going forward, we’ll each do our best in our respective positions.”

I glanced over at Kang Yeon-hu and smiled softly.

“Just this once more as the finale—from next time on, I’ll call you senior again.”

It was something I said with a slight consideration for script leaks.

“Hyung, I had fun too.”

Everyone sent enthusiastic cheers as if moved by the passionate friendship between the two rivals.
Even though we hadn’t won first place, I came down from the stage with Kang Yeon-hu, holding an armful of flowers.
After that, more stages from other units and special event performances were scheduled, and Kang Yeon-hu and I could simply sit back and enjoy them.

We moved to a location where cameras were set up to capture reactions, and then we simply focused on giving our best reactions without much conversation. Throughout it all, Kang Yeon-hu still seemed to be lingering in the afterglow of the stage.
After a few more performances, the special music festival came to an end.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

Hearing the staff’s closing remarks, I dropped my business smile and stood up from my chair.

“Thanks.”

Just as I was about to leave with a mere nod, Kang Yeon-hu grabbed my arm and whispered softly.

“It’s really confusing. Seo Ho-yoon seems like a good person.”
“Senior, you’re surprisingly naive, you know.”
“…Yeah, I was mistaken again.”

I shrugged my shoulders, and Kang Yeon-hu let out a soft chuckle.

“See you again.”

With a face full of laughter, he waved his hand and disappeared first.
Just as the Dae Pa-sung managers seemed a bit oblivious and purely kind-hearted, it appeared to be a species characteristic of celebrities under WH Entertainment.
They were subtly soft-hearted.

‘I won’t see much of them from now on.’

I’d already repaid my debt to Chae Jung-woo sufficiently, so now I planned to focus on securing my own rice bowl again.
As I stepped into the hallway, I spotted Kang Yi-chae conversing with the Marz Main Vocalist in a separate area.
I was about to head back to the waiting room to change clothes when the Lia Purple Junior Member came running toward me.

“Ho-yoon!”
“Yes?”

Contrary to her usual meticulous distance-keeping as a Lia Purple member, she approached closely, which startled me slightly, but I decided to wait and see what was going on.
Besides, the filming had ended, and the atmosphere was chaotic with cast and staff exchanging pleasantries about their hard work. A brief conversation didn’t seem like it would cause any trouble.

“Ah, well, I wanted to express my gratitude….”
“Haha, what is it?”
“It’s everything, really. Thanks to you, we were able to finish filming safely. Thank you. …And, well, I know this might be overstepping, but….”

As if nervous, she swallowed hard and glanced around before lowering her voice.

“…Be careful.”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, not about you, Ho-yoon! Um… there are some bad rumors circulating about Sung Ji-won behind the scenes. It’s about his former agency. There’s no evidence and it’s just hearsay, so it died down quickly, but….”

The Lia Purple Junior Member tried to speak in roundabout terms, but it seemed to be about sponsorship after all.
She rolled her eyes and spoke carefully.

“…I’m not certain, but it seems like Yoon Hee-eon from P.O.B is deliberately spreading the rumors.”

Only then did I understand why the Lia Purple Junior Member had gone out of her way to tell me this.
Since her group had suffered at Yoon Hee-eon’s hands, she seemed concerned that another victim might emerge.

“I heard that Yoon Hee-eon has already contacted Sung Ji-won several times.”
“Contacted him?”
“Yes. Sigh, he should focus on his own work… He causes so many problems.”

I’d sent what I thought was a cute warning, but apparently he didn’t realize it came from me and was still playfully poking at Sung Ji-won.

“….”

My lips twitched involuntarily, and the Lia Purple Junior Member who saw it quietly gauged my reaction.

“Thank you for telling me.”
“…No, I should be the one thanking you. I was truly grateful for everything this time.”

I quickly composed my expression and offered my thanks.
She awkwardly scratched her head, bowed deeply, and hurried away.
As I processed the complicated information that had come my way, Kang Yi-chae approached me with a bright expression, apparently finished with his conversation with the Marz Main Vocalist.

“Hyung!”

The grinning guy paused when he saw my expression up close, then tilted his head.

“What.”
“Are you angry?”

He was annoyingly perceptive.

“I’m not.”

I’d considered asking Kang Yi-chae about Sung Ji-won but decided against it, thinking it would only make me more anxious.
But Kang Yi-chae seemed to have other ideas.

“Tell me.”
“….”
“I’m worried.”

The guy who would normally pretend not to notice threw a direct pitch at me.
I hesitated for a moment, then decided there was nothing particularly secret about it, and quietly spoke while pressing my throbbing temples.

“I just heard some weird stuff. There are strange rumors going around about Sung Ji-won.”
“Ah.”
“What is it? Do you know?”
“Well, um….”

Kang Yi-chae shrugged his shoulders, scratched his neck, and glanced sideways at me.

“I do know, but there’s nothing for you to worry about, hyung.”
“Why?”
“I saw it while spinning through a game event on Sung Ji-won hyung’s phone.”

The corners of Kang Yi-chae’s mouth rose considerably.

“It looked like they were trying every trick in the book to drag him outside. But have you ever seen Sung Ji-won hyung go anywhere outside the dormitory besides schedules or practice?”
“No, never.”
“He was read-receipting everything, but then the other day? He replied for the first time.”

Even as we reached the waiting room entrance, Kang Yi-chae turned his body around instead of opening the door, his expression full of mischief.

“He said his curfew is five in the afternoon, so he can’t go out.”
“….”

Even elementary school kids these days don’t have a five o’clock curfew.

“When they asked if a five o’clock curfew makes sense for an idol, he said it’s because his roommate is strict.”

Me?

“…And then?”
“That was it?”

Without realizing it, I’d become a strict person, but the result was satisfying nonetheless. The easiest way to block aggression is to ignore it consistently. Though I figured I couldn’t completely ignore them since P.O.B is technically a senior group, so I did send a reply.
The easiest way to block aggression is to just ignore it consistently.
Even though P.O.B judged they couldn’t completely ignore the Group as their senior, they still sent a response.
I pushed Kang Yi-chae to the side and opened the waiting room door, stepping inside.

“Did anyone contact you?”
“…Oh, me? No one contacted me. I blocked everyone except The Dun and the Composer.”
“Good call.”

I’d thought there was absolutely no chance of getting entangled in pointless matters, but I found myself hesitating slightly—was it really right to encourage Kang Yi-chae’s closed-off attitude?
I brushed off Kang Yi-chae, who immediately clung to me with concern, and racked my brain for a solution.

‘The place could use some cleaning.’

I’d been too busy and saw no real benefit in tidying up, so I’d left it alone—but Yoon Hee-eon kept overstepping boundaries. At this rate, it might be better to quickly cut down that budding problem before it grew.
I had a rough sense of where to start, but—

‘I’m conflicted.’

Maybe if I didn’t step in and just let things be, it would work itself out naturally.
I gripped a fresh shirt in my hand and changed the subject.

“Anyway, thanks to you, the stage went great.”
“Yeah? I had fun too.”

He laughed as he undid his shirt buttons one by one.

“Oh, Gu Chan was saying you’re a real troublemaker. He said you probably would’ve done well even if you’d gone into a major group from the start.”
“He said that?”
“Yeah.”

I pulled a black short-sleeved t-shirt over my head and slipped my arms through smoothly.
Honestly, I was the one curious—why had Kang Yi-chae come to Dae Pa-sung?
As I swept back my disheveled hair, Kang Yi-chae tilted his head.

“It’s strange though. You know you’re talented—so why did you join Dae Pa-sung?”
“To do The Dun.”
“…Why?”

The System left me no choice.

“I can’t do it without you guys.”

Otherwise the Quest won’t progress.
His eyebrows twitched at my words.
Pretending not to notice, I opened the waiting room door.

“Let’s head home.”

Kang Yi-chae, arriving half a beat late, made a fuss about wanting to share this with Jung Da-jun as well.
The guy who’d been cheerfully matching my pace and chattering away asked me a question.

“How much training does it take to deliver lines like that so smoothly?”
“It’s just natural talent.”

He seemed to think I was being modest, but I couldn’t be bothered to clarify, so I let it slide.

***

[Would You Sing With Me?
What a god-tier program, no arguments accepted]
That was a great Program, no rebuttals accepted.
[Kang Yi-chae is absolutely insane, how does he create songs like that]

‘Would you like to sing with me?’ received favorable reviews even after the program ended. The number of views of the stage, which was released exclusively through YouTube, was also very high.
“Would You Sing With Me?” continued to receive praise even after the program ended. The view count for the stage performance released exclusively on YouTube was remarkably high.

[UNTRANSLATED LINE 252]
[1:41 Why does Seo Ho-yoon laugh so excitedly…]
[1:41 Why does Seo Ho-yoon make people’s hearts flutter with that smile…]

In addition, it was true that Seo Ho-yoon was brought in with the judgment that if Kang Yi-chae appeared, he would gain a certain level of popularity, but much more attention was paid to it.

[2:52 Kang Yi-chae, seriously, I’m a bastard lol.

└Loses it when the feature comes in]
Yes.. Surprisingly, it is the same person..]
[The guy chewing gum going ‘Huh~ Whew~ Yeah Hehehe’ = The same guy spitting ‘The naivety to think it’s coincidence remains’ on the rap

Yes… surprisingly, it’s the same person.

And, this was the same for Seo Ho-yoon.
The massive gap between his usual demeanor and his stage presence drew tremendous affection.

And the same was true for Seo Ho-yoon.
Acting thoughtlessly as I always did, with a smile brimming across my face, the guilty remarks that followed struck straight into people’s hearts.
No eye smile
[Seo Ho-yoon Forbidden List
No smirking
No eye-smiling
No guilty confessions
No wearing black clothes and acting cool
No calling the junior member “Bouncy”
No teasing people in a way that makes their hearts flutter

No looking like you only drink Americanos while actually liking sweet things

At first, the fans were just giggling and having fun playing with Seo Ho-yoon’s actions and tone of voice.

[What is Seo Ho-yoon wearing at this time??]
At first, it was just fans playfully joking around among themselves about Seo Ho-yoon’s mannerisms and speech patterns.
[UNTRANSLATED LINE 288]

[Where are their training clothes from?]

[for a moment]

In particular, the words, gestures, and way of smiling were particularly similar to what Seo Ho-yoon said during the special broadcast of the song festival.

[Please wait a moment]

If I had known his true humanity, something like this would not have happened easily.

[Have you developed ‘Seo Ho-yun disease’?….]

A small disaster occurred in Korea.

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