The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 21

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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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21

“Haha, Seo Ho-yoon always radiates such energy.”

‘Sung Ji-won, thank you!’

Before I could even speak, Sung Ji-won stepped in first. Thanks to him, my earlier reckless behavior was reframed as the passionate expression of an energetic personality.
And he didn’t stop there—the genuinely thoughtful Sung Ji-won added a sincere comment.

“Ever since Seo Ho-yoon joined, the team has come alive. He suddenly brought us a song from Blue Tiger’s composer.”
“Ah, so you’re saying Seo Ho-yoon brought this single?”
“Yes. Everyone was shocked. We had no connection with the composer at all.”
“Interesting… how do you know Blue Tiger’s composer, Seo Ho-yoon?”

All eyes turned toward me. I decided to keep my answer vague enough to prevent any unnecessary complications.

“I was fortunate.”

I’d end it with that.
Before I could even finish, the sound of keyboards clacking and camera flashes erupted in rapid succession, but I kept my lips sealed.
If they’re curious, they can keep watching.
Kang Yi-chae sensed the awkward atmosphere and quickly added something.

“Hyung was really cool. He said ‘trust me and follow,’ and I was just in awe the whole time.”
“You certainly have a wide network, Seo Ho-yoon. You’re close with Joo Woo-sung too, aren’t you?”
“Yes, he’s a senior I’ve known for a while.”
“This time as well, Senior Joo Woo-sung came and shared his secrets with us.”
“Seo Ho-yoon, would you mind sharing your secret to networking with me later?”

The MC winked playfully and flipped to the next cue card.
We’d gone through the stage concept, the music video interpretation, and various behind-the-scenes details about the album, and now we’d finally reached this question.

“You’re also famous for catching a robber a few weeks ago, aren’t you? Could we hear about that?”

As the question was asked, camera flashes erupted once more. They were hunting for anything that might drive up views.
Kim Sung-hyun carefully took the microphone.

“We were on our way to the Convenience Store to take a quick break during practice.”
“Seo Ho-yoon noticed right away.”
“And then Sung-hyun just bolted out like a madman. I seriously thought he was an action movie star.”

Jung Da-jun and Kang Yi-chae laughed at Kim Sung-hyun’s matter-of-fact delivery. The journalists typed furiously on their laptops.
I could already imagine the headline.

[★The Dun Won’t Stand for Injustice… Full Story of the Robbery Incident]
MC: Weren’t you scared?
Kim Sung-hyun: Well, I was scared, but… when I came to my senses, I was already holding him. (laughs)
MC: That’s impressive.

I didn’t need to see the interview transcript to know where this was going. As Kim Sung-hyun continued, suddenly the spotlight shifted to me.

“I heard you almost got seriously hurt…”
“Yes, if Seo Ho-yoon hadn’t caught me, I could have been badly injured.”

‘What’s this? He knows how to work broadcast.’

“I’m just glad it wasn’t serious.”

The MC laughed at my careful response.

“But Seo Ho-yoon, why are you so composed? Listening to you, I’d think you were just deciding what to have for dinner.”
“Ho-yoon is always so calm—you’d need something massive to surprise him.”
“Right, he’s got nerves of steel.”
“Why… are you all suddenly ganging up on me?”

Feeling the focus shift entirely to me, I grabbed the microphone and fired back. The Showcase Venue erupted in laughter.
Kim Sung-hyun suddenly grinned mischievously.

“But you were really surprised when you saw the fans today, weren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Apparently you didn’t know you had fans.”

The fans who had been laughing along with the members erupted in protest. I never expected Kim Sung-hyun to pull this move.

“Jung Da-jun is in the same boat.”

I couldn’t go down alone. Like a vengeful spirit dragging him into the water, I pulled Jung Da-jun into the chaos, and he looked genuinely flustered.

“Right, he kept asking if we were fans, over and over.”
“N-no, everyone was just surprised. Why are you like this?”
“Haha, The Dun’s popularity these days is really something else.”

As the MC guided the interview with witty remarks, I felt a stir rippling through one section of the audience seating.

‘What’s going on?’

I narrowed my eyes slightly to get a better look, and from the staircase leading up to the stage in the back, I could see a staff member frantically waving a sketchbook.
A sudden intuition struck me. Wait, could it be…?
The MC pretended to be startled after hearing something through his earpiece.

“—We just received some wonderful news.”
“Yes?”

Sung Ji-won’s eyes widened. The MC swept his gaze across the audience seating.

“It seems the fans already know?”
“Know what?”
“Everyone, wait—shh! Please keep it a secret!”

As the members tilted their heads in confusion and looked toward the audience, the MC tried to stop them, but words spilled out anyway.
From what I could catch, keywords like chart, Mango, ranking… tumbled out.
A sense of anticipation rippled through the members.

“You’ll be amazed when you hear this!”

The MC, aiming for maximum surprise, quickly shifted gears and broke into a grin.

“Our Second Chance song just charted on Mango!”
“….”

I looked at the members’ faces. They all wore expressions of disbelief.

“It entered all three charts—Mango, Tinkerbell, and Tap! For Tinkerbell and Tap, it’s a re-entry. On Tinkerbell’s real-time chart, it’s at rank 56, on Tap it’s at 71, and on Mango it’s at 89!”

I never expected to hear such wonderful news on the Showcase stage.
It’s nearly impossible for unknown rookies to chart. Even if a group had a member who made a name for themselves in a Competition Program, it was commonplace for them to remain at the bottom and disappear from the charts entirely.
Yet here we were—a Small Entertainment Company Unknown Idol with a long hiatus and no variety show appearances whatsoever—charting on the music distribution platform.
Objectively speaking, it was absurd.

‘At least I won’t need to file for bankruptcy.’

Still, it was something I’d anticipated.
An unknown idol becoming a righteous figure, making a comeback with a good song, and charting during the Showcase itself—such things weren’t common.
Journalists who’d found excellent material flashed their cameras like madmen.
Later, I’d need to analyze which aspect contributed most to this result. As I was thinking this, a hand suddenly landed on my shoulder with such force I nearly toppled from my chair.

“It hurts, you bastards.”
“We charted!”
“Are we dreaming right now? Is this real?”
“Seo Ho-yoon, what are you doing? Say something!”

My thoughts scattered as the overjoyed fools swarmed around me.
The people who appeared to be core fans were already crying rivers, shouting at us.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry!”

I turned around wondering who I was telling not to cry, only to see Sung Ji-won and Jung Da-jun in tears.

“We really… we actually….”
….

Jung Da-jun was sobbing uncontrollably, while Sung Ji-won’s tears flowed like a faucet turned on full blast.
In contrast, Kang Yi-chae and Kim Sung-hyun wore the brightest smiles I’d ever seen from them.

‘Ugh, these idiots….’

Normally I would’ve ignored it, but Jung Da-jun suddenly clung to me and bowed.

“Hyung, it’s all thanks to you. Thank you, really.”

I couldn’t ignore a response to that. Jung Da-jun’s tears soaked my shoulder, but even the Stylist wouldn’t lecture me about it this time.

“You’re all wet, you bastards.”
“Brother, but… damn, it’s embarrassing though….”
“We didn’t even get first place and everyone’s going crazy over charting.”
“You know how desperately we needed this.”

The long trainee years, and the short one year that followed, had clearly taken their emotional toll. Just from charting, they were falling apart like this….
I pressed down on Jung Da-jun and comforted the members, throwing jokes that only they could hear.

“Next time when we get first place, you’ll have to cry like this again. Make sure it looks good on camera.”
“Seo Ho-yoon, seriously….”
“Let’s greet them.”
“Oh, right. The greeting.”

Sung Ji-won nodded, and Kim Sung-hyun took the lead. We bowed ninety degrees toward the crying fans.

“Thank you so much!”

The MC looked at us warmly. Yet with good sense, he tapped the watch on his wrist. It seemed to signal that it was time to show the next cover song.
Sung Ji-won, catching on, took the microphone and spoke.

“Th-thank you so much. We really couldn’t have done this without our fans.”
“….”
“W-we have so much more we want to say… but we’re truly grateful. For now, we have a lot prepared. We’ve worked hard on the next stage and will show it to you.”

I gently took the microphone from the flustered Sung Ji-won. I made eye contact with each fan in the audience seating.

“It seems it’s time for the next stage. We’ve prepared it with hearts full of gratitude for our fans. Please look forward to it.”

When I smiled brightly, the fans laughed through their tears and nodded eagerly. The fans—no matter how many times I see them, they’re adorable.
Together with Kim Sung-hyun, I comforted the members and prepared the formation for the next cover song.

“Can you guys sing?”
“This is the stage of a charting artist—let’s be nervous.”

Kang Yi-chae giggled. I spoke with false bravado, but I was just as pumped up. Looking at the members with their puffy eyes, I clicked my tongue.
I told you it would work out, you idiots.
Even though it was an obvious result, seeing their pathetic faces made me smile involuntarily.

***

[Title: Today…. Today The Dun Showcase…. We killed it.

Why are these kids so salty??????? ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

I cried too when I went there and saw Sung Ji-won cry.
I’m crying so hard.
└Why??? What happened???
└It entered the charts during today’s showcase!! The kids found out on stage ㅠㅠ The fans also cried and went crazy..
Looks like there are some muggle picks too lol, since it was a hot topic in the community.
└There’s some genuine otaku pick too.. It got crazy retweets on SNS]

[Title: I cried too ㅠ

Oh, I’m so glad… Honestly, the kids went through a lot of hard work ㅠㅠ In the robbery and leak incident…

└But the noise marketing became so great haha. In the end, we made a fuss and even got on the charts, so we thought well.
└What’s this comment? Are you being sarcastic?
└Don’t feed the troll]

[Title: Meanwhile, Seo Ho-yoon

“So composed lolol ‘I’m glad I didn’t get hurt’ ‘I prepared hard'”
I thought I was going to some shareholders’ meeting, lol

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ But the point is that Seo Ho-yoon is not used to fans… It’s a bit like Gap Moe ㅠ It’s cute ㅠㅠ
“Anyway, in a few years they’ll treat me like an ATM and I’ll end up with dead fish eyes… lol”
└Why does this guy always start shit on every post?]

[Title: Sung Ji-won just lucked out

Crying over charting? What’s that about? Anyone would think he won first place. They’re still nobodies anyway.. I heard they trained at a major agency for years but their skills are mediocre.. Riding on Joo Woo-sung and Lim Hyun-sung’s carry, Seo Ho-yoon’s bus got lucky

└Joo.. Woo-sung… Lim Hyun-soo… Seo Ho-yoon receiving carry.. on the bus.. uh.. Tam.. (Ah, I am calm and cool.. objective haha)
Tap tap tap tap! Tap!!
Hahahahahahaha what’s with this image lol hahahahahaha
└Enjoyed the meltdown lolol Jiwon is a charting artist right now~]

After the Showcase ended and everyone else headed back to rest, I alone received a summons from the CEO. I made some excuse to the members and searched for Showcase reactions while riding in the car with my Manager. But….

‘The fans’ mental fortitude is quite… resilient?’

I had expected the fans to struggle with the sudden surge in recognition, but reality defied my predictions.
Of course, there were moments when negative comments appeared and people fell for the bait, but overall it was manageable.
Thinking it through, the answer came quickly. The Dun had debuted about a year ago, so while small in number, a core fanbase existed—and they had rapidly grasped the initial momentum, practically seizing control and hard-carrying the entire situation.
Moreover, since the concept leaned more toward otaku appeal than mainstream taste, it naturally attracted people with some experience in K-pop fandom culture.

…I’m grateful.
Devising a plan with confidence in its success felt entirely different from confirming that fans existed who actually supported me.
Wrapped in this peculiar sensation, I lowered my phone and checked the Quest completion.

[Quest Success!
Support Sung Ji-won 1/1
Complete Showcase safely 1/1
Succeeded. Charm +30, Dance +10, Vocal +10 added.]
[A special reward is granted for your first stage performance.]
[You can now view other people’s stats.]

“Hey, you should’ve told me about this sooner.”
“What’s wrong?”

I mean, you should’ve informed me about something like this. Damn it….
Suspecting they were just trying to mess with me, I stared blankly at the empty air and muttered under my breath. The Manager glanced back at me. I shook my head.

“It’s nothing serious.”

Every time I completed a Quest, my Charm or Dance stats increased, and while I couldn’t pinpoint exactly how, I felt the changes reflected in reality. Therefore, I reasoned there must be some evaluation standard for assessing others’ abilities as well.
But if I could display it, I should’ve shown them immediately!
I made a mental note to test this feature with The Dun members and Joo Woo-sung as I asked.

‘This is the reward for my first stage? Does that mean there are more rewards coming?’

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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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