The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 203

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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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203

“I see.”

At least Jung Da-jun would become a better adult than me—certain of that much, I couldn’t add anything more and just shook the sparkler uselessly.

“But isn’t that illegal in foreign countries?”
“Sparklers? Some places ban them, some don’t. But who’s going to enforce that in the United States?”

So it must have been in the United States.

“My mom and I had a rule to watch movies together every Friday. But the opening credits with all those fireworks looked so fun that I kept begging and pestering her about it.”
“So was it fun?”

Kang Yi-chae lifted the corner of his lips slightly and shrugged.

“Not as fun as I thought? No… actually, it was total chaos. I was screaming in fear, throwing the sparkler on the ground. But my mom was cleaning it up while laughing at me crying. Pretty cruel, actually.”
“You’re just like your mother?”
“Let me correct that. My mom was incredibly kind, just like me.”

After tossing out that silly joke and chuckling to himself, Kang Yi-chae traced his gaze upward as if sifting through memories, then murmured quietly.

“Ah~. I miss her.”

Watching him, I asked the question that had been nagging at me since earlier.

“Why did you suddenly open up? You absolutely hate talking about your family.”
“…Can you not ruin my warm and fuzzy feelings?”

He was the type to stay silent even when everyone else was chatting casually.
Kang Yi-chae grumbled about me interrupting his memories, then fell quiet for a moment and rubbed the back of his neck.

“…Brother. Do you remember that lie I told back then?”
“When?”

I’ve never broken a promise, but I lie as casually as breathing, so I’m trying to figure out exactly when he’s referring to when Kang Yi-chae stares at me and speaks.

“When you went to Japan, it wasn’t your first time, but you lied and said it was.”
“….”

For a moment, Kang Yi-chae’s words don’t properly register in my mind, so I have to retrace my memories.
Tracing backward step by step like that, I recall the conversation from when we first went to Japan for our overseas debut.
One of the members definitely asked me if it was my first time in Japan, and I lied and said yes—,

“…That?”
“Yeah, that.”

I roll my eyes for a moment, genuinely shocked inside.

“Man… you still remember that?”
“I just happen to have an annoyingly good memory.”

Anyway, Kang Yi-chae continues after saying that.

“I figured out it was a lie pretty quick. You were definitely not someone visiting for the first time. The way you told Da-jun there was nothing in Shinjuku, and how you knew all the streets inside and out.”

I’m the same way.
With an annoyingly good memory, how could I have known that a family trip to Japan when I was young would come back so vividly?
Kang Yi-chae flicks a few more small sparks before finally setting the sparkler, now devoid of light, down on the ground.

“Why would you bother lying about something so trivial—whether you’d been to Japan before? You didn’t seem like you were hiding anything. I kept thinking the same thoughts over and over, but now I get it.”

The faint glow from the sparkler in my hand also gradually weakens and dims, casting a flickering light around us. In the wavering firelight, Kang Yi-chae suddenly feels unfamiliar.

“When something’s too precious, you don’t want to let others know about it.”
“….”

Eventually the sparkler burns out completely, and the only light comes from the Pension seeping through. It’s pitch black.

“That frustrates me sometimes, so I’m trying to fix it. Trying to be more honest.”

I tap the sparkler in my hand—now nothing more than a black stick—against the ground a few times before setting it down like Kang Yi-chae did.

“That’s unexpected.”

I couldn’t fully empathize with such an embarrassing word, but I understood what he meant by it.
Everyone has topics they don’t want to discuss with others.
In my case, most of them involve Seo Ho-jin.

“So you’re going to open up and talk to the members about it?”
“Watching someone else made me realize that being honest and straightforward isn’t so bad.”

I had no idea what sudden change of heart had come over him, but Kang Yi-chae, who had always evaded or brushed things off with jokes, seemed to have made up his mind quite firmly.

“Kang Yi-chae, haven’t you changed a bit?”

Suddenly, my earlier conversation with Kim Sung-hyun came to mind.

“You’ve changed.”

At my murmur, Kang Yi-chae’s eyes widened before he burst into laughter.

“Pfft, nah. Not really. I’ve always been like this.”
“….”
“You have a tendency to fixate on one thing and ignore everything else.”

Kang Yi-chae began counting on his fingers as he talked about the members.

“Look, Da-jun is more mature than you think, Ji-won is kind of… no, actually pretty cold. Hyun-sung has clear boundaries and can be strict sometimes.”
“So?”
“I have that ‘kind of’ aspect too. Do you get it?”

I couldn’t answer immediately and paused to choose my words.
In that moment, Kang Yi-chae lit another sparkler.

“…Then Yi-chae.”
“Huh?”
“If you haven’t changed, why are you being cautious?”

I was good at nitpicking and talking back, but I didn’t know how to soften my words or be gentle, so I threw it at him straight.

“Why aren’t you pushing forward in your own style? Not caring what others think is one of your strengths. Did you decide to compromise?”
“…Me?”

Kang Yi-chae’s expression shifted to surprise for a moment before he added something as if bewildered.

“What are you talking about? Why would I compromise?”
“Really? You even changed that composition style you loved so much.”

I had believed that Kang Yi-chae had abandoned his own desires and adapted to the public’s taste.
Just hearing that much seemed to make Kang Yi-chae understand the situation, and he laughed like a madman.

“Ah, what is it, hyung.”
“…”
“Since when did you become so perceptive?”

So what would you think if a stubborn guy like you abandoned something you’d held onto all this time?
Instead of answering, I rested my chin on my hand and sighed deeply, while the guy beside me chuckled, seeming to be in an excellent mood.

“You know one thing but not the other. I’m not giving up.”

With those words, Kang Yi-chae stood up from his seat.

“People sometimes misunderstand because of my genius, I think.”

The sparkler he was holding glimmered, bouncing light through the air.
A faint acrid smell of gunpowder brushing the tip of my nose and humid summer air. The soft sound of insects chirping near my ears. Subtle orange lights and the black sky.
And Kang Yi-chae looking down at me from within it all.

“—I’m actually overflowing with grit.”

He smiled brightly at me.
He looked like an innocent child at times, and at other times like an adult who had weathered countless storms and grown resolute.
Just as I was thinking how unusually unfamiliar Kang Yi-chae felt today, I sensed him drawing closer,

“Whoa!”

Splash!

My back was pushed and I fell into the swimming pool.
Cool water splashed against my skin.
I pushed off the pool floor and shot up above the water, spitting out the water that had entered my nose and mouth, then lifted my head.

“Hey!! Kang Yi-chae!”

Even as I shouted in anger, Kang Yi-chae laughed as if he found it amusing.
I brushed back the wet hair clinging to my face and let out an irritated groan.

“You dare push your hyung? Are you insane?”
“Now you know?”

He shot back with a smug chuckle, then tossed his already-dead sparkler over his shoulder and dove into the pool.

“What are you doing, you brat?”
“A little stress relief?”
“Want to die?”
“Nah, I just want to take some photos with hyung.”

I wasn’t sure what kind of stress relief he meant, but since I was annoyed too, I chuckled and grabbed the back of Kang Yi-chae’s neck as he moved toward getting the Polaroid camera, pushing him down into the water.
Even as he swallowed water, his face remained composed.

“Hey, what are you guys doing?”

Just then, Kim Sung-hyun, holding a black plastic bag, poked his face through the sliding door. It seemed he’d been dragged by the Maknae to the nearby convenience store.
Jung Da-jun, who appeared next with an ice cream in his mouth, saw me and Kang Yi-chae soaking wet in the pool and suddenly felt mischievous, pushing Kim Sung-hyun into the water.
Sung Ji-won, who arrived a step late, was no exception.
In the end, we all looked like drowned rats, and we didn’t manage to take even a single photo, let alone a hundred.

‘Lee Ji-hyun is going to say something about this.’

Thinking I’d have to take at least a few shots when it got bright, I climbed out of the water alone.

“Ho-yoon hyung!! Are you leaving first?! Are you scared?!”
“Yeah, scared. Damn it.”

I ignored the Maknae’s provocation and headed into the pension.

“Keeping up with these kids’ stamina is tough.”

Grumbling that if I played with them any longer I’d end up on the road to the afterlife, I found a towel and shook out my hair. Outside, I could still hear the splashing of water and the excited screams.
Just as I was about to take off my shirt to shower, my phone vibrated.

“Hello?”
[Why aren’t you picking up?]
“Yeah, well….”

I saw no reason to answer immediately, so I trailed off and waited for what came next, but Kim Jae-yeon seemed slightly puzzled.

[Huh… what’s up? You sound like you’re in a good mood.]
“Get to the point.”

I cut him off sharply, telling him to just say what he needed to say. Kim Jae-yeon cleared his throat awkwardly to mask his embarrassment before speaking.

[Ahem, well… I found it. Yoon Hee-eon’s weakness.]

As I listened to his explanation, I couldn’t help but laugh.
I thought to myself that Yoon Hee-eon was a complete idiot, but who could have known?
I had no idea I’d soon be in a pathetic state myself.

.
.
.

“—I really, really c-care about you.”

I conveyed my feelings while stumbling slightly over my words, but what came back was,

[…Did you make a bet?]

After a long silence, all I heard was his bewildered voice.

Ding!

[The other party does not acknowledge this.]
[This does not count toward your attempts.]

‘Damn it!!’

I couldn’t help myself and threw my phone onto the bed.
That’s right. I had been overconfident, not realizing I might suffer like this in the near future.

‘Should I just give up?’

I’d thought cuteness was nothing anymore, but there was an even bigger trap waiting for me.
Countless thoughts swirled through my mind, and I was hit with wave after wave of regret—wondering if I really had to go this far—but I had to endure it.
Finally calming myself, I picked up my phone again and lifted my gaze to the System Window.

[Quest Arrived:
‘Express affection toward a designated intimate acquaintance.’
Express affection to an intimate acquaintance in your vicinity and gain their trust to build a deeper bond.
Affection Expression Count: 0/5
Success: Obtain ‘Pandora’s Box’ item
Failure: Rumors regarding Sung Ji-won will be disclosed to the media
※The intimate acquaintance is one person from those around you.]

Damn it—I had to flirt with everyone I knew to figure out who the intimate acquaintance was.
The saving grace was that if someone wasn’t the ‘intimate’ acquaintance, a System Window would immediately pop up saying [This person does not match your designated ‘intimate acquaintance’], so I didn’t have to waste effort on blind attempts.
But,

“This one’s… not it either.”

I went limp and flopped onto my bed.
To explain how I’d ended up in this state, I’d need to go back a few days.

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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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