The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 230

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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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230

“PD, are you feeling unwell?”
“No… I’m fine.”

I answered hastily, my fingers still fidgeting with my phone.
Pushing aside the nagging unease, I changed the wallpaper back to default.
The Assistant Director looked at me with concern, but I ignored him and turned on the computer to check the situation once more.
The file I’d been working on was still there, intact.
And the date remained January 14th, 20XX.

“…This is really strange. What’s going on?”
“Just a moment.”

Next, I opened a portal website and searched for my name.
Next to the three characters ‘Seo Ho-yoon’ appeared a familiar profile photo.
A picture of me holding a microphone at the production press conference, along with the caption “PD at QBS”.

“…Wow.”

I felt my heart pounding wildly as I typed in the name The Dun.
Only unfamiliar book titles and song names came up.
I searched the members’ names one by one in the search bar, but only found people with the same names.
The Idol group The Dun that I knew had vanished without a trace.

‘I’m going insane.’

I ran my hand roughly through my hair, messing it up further, then stood from my seat.

“Wait, where are you going? Surely not to see Director Kook?”
“No. Don’t worry about it and get back to work.”
“…Yes.”

I grabbed only my phone and stepped out of the office.
Everything was exactly as I remembered it.
Weaving quickly through the exhausted broadcasting staff, a few familiar faces greeted me.

‘…Have I come back?’

Yet the memory of coughing up blood just moments ago and rolling around in Min Ji-heon’s House was far too vivid for that to be true.
Even looking at my face reflected in the black screen of my phone, it wasn’t the face of a 24-year-old idol.
Dark circles from consecutive sleepless nights had descended to my jaw, my skin had lost its vitality and felt rough, and my lips were cracked with blood beading at the edges.
Rather than glossy, my sharp, angular face was unmistakably that of my PD days.

“PD Seo, hello!”
“…Ah, yes, hello.”

I gave a half-hearted nod, but my gaze remained fixed on my phone.
I found Seo Ho-jin’s contact but hesitated before calling, then carefully pressed the call button.
The dial tone rang for a long time, but the call didn’t connect.
I picked at the rough skin on my lips, lost in thought.
This place was likely the unconscious world and memory that Min Ji-heon had spoken of.

If I could find what was tangled within me and understand what it was, I could escape this world….
Standing anxiously in the same spot like an idiot, Lee Ji-seok, a screenwriter I’d worked with on a program before, came into the broadcasting station chattering loudly with staff, holding coffee in one hand. Upon spotting me, he smiled brightly and struck up a conversation.

“PD Seo, let’s go have a smoke.”
“Oh, PD. You in?”
“….”

Those around me chimed in, egging me on.

“I quit smoking….”

As I said this, I patted my chest and felt the hard, rectangular shape of a cigarette pack. I opened my jacket, reached into the inner pocket, and pulled it out—there was even a lighter.
Whether this unconscious realm was showing me what I desired, or whether it was simply manifesting what I’d carried back then as a fragment of memory.
Keeping my mouth shut, I tried to make sense of the situation, and the screenwriter looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“Right, you quit so well.”
“….”

I clicked my tongue inwardly but said nothing, simply following the others toward the Smoking Room.
As I stepped outside, the sharp, dry scent of winter air washed over me.
Despite the crisp chill, I glanced up briefly at the clear sky.

‘How am I supposed to get out of here?’

Min Ji-heon’s words had registered, but boiled down to their essence, it seemed to mean: don’t get attached, finish your business quickly, and leave.
There was no reason for me to get caught up in anything at the Broadcasting Station.
I’d always wanted to leave early and distance myself from this place.
I had no idea how much time had actually passed in reality, but all I’d mentioned to Sung Ji-won was that I was going to see my manager. After that, I’d collapsed and ended up sprawled in Min Ji-heon’s house, so I needed to wrap this up quickly before things became impossible to clean up.

“…Wow!”

I held a cigarette and instead of smoking it, I spun it between my fingers while organizing my thoughts on what to do next. The chatter of the people around me gradually quieted, and their gazes began to focus on me.

“…PD, we’ll leave you to your conversation.”
“We’re heading out first!”

Watching them hurry away, I raised my eyebrows, and when I saw who appeared next, I understood why.
A sharp bob cut that ended precisely at her chin, a small and lean frame. Yet there was an unmistakable aura of formidability about her.

“You punk.”

It was Kim Hee-young.

“….”

Please let this just be a memory.
If this was a manifestation of my subconscious, it was far too pathetic.
I suppressed the corners of my mouth that were trying to twitch upward.

“I knew I’d find you here.”

Kim Hee-young’s familiar tone, meeting me for the first time since we’d parted ways, felt strange.

“…Why are you here?”
“I used to work here too—what’s stopping me from coming? I came because I have something to say. And why aren’t you answering your phone?”

If my memory serves me right, it had been quite some time since Kim Hee-young and I parted ways.
Yet suddenly Kim Hee-young came looking for me? Even coming to a different broadcasting station?

Kim Hee-young let out a sigh, then naturally pulled a cigarette from her back pocket and lit one. Her expression seemed somehow melancholic.

“…PD.”
“Ugh, what’s with that tone? What?”

Sensing an odd undercurrent, I asked hesitantly.

“What are we to each other right now?”

With everything that had been happening, I figured I might as well ask just in case.
However, the moment my words left my mouth, Kim Hee-young kicked my shin. It shouldn’t have hurt this much in reality, yet it absolutely did.

“You bastard! Don’t be sarcastic! You’re unhappy that I showed up after we broke up?”
“No, I wasn’t being sarcastic….”
“Do you know you’re really awful?!”

Ah, so we really did break up.
Same as always.
I gently rubbed the spot where I’d been hit.
Kim Hee-young’s face had flushed red as if she were genuinely furious, and she huffed indignantly for a long moment.

“Damn it. I came out of concern for someone I know, and you—you have a truly exceptional talent for dismissing people’s feelings and putting them through hardship. You cut everything off so cleanly.”
“…Anyone listening would think I was the one who suggested breaking up.”
“What’s the difference? When you think about it, it was you who kicked, not me!!”

Her words were severely flawed in logic.
She was the one who’d suggested breaking up, and I was the one who’d nearly gotten slapped.
But there was no point in stirring up trouble, so I kept my mouth shut.
She let out a long sigh, then waved her hand dismissively as if she didn’t want to think about it anymore.

“Anyway, that’s not why I came here. You finished a program recently, right?”
“Yeah.”

That’s right.
A survival program for trainees debuting as idols.
The broadcast where I tried to eliminate Sung Ji-won but failed.
As I nodded, Kim Hee-young continued.

“Our broadcasting station is planning to make a very similar program this time too. …I watched a bit of it, and it’s basically a copy of your program.”
“Ah.”

I’d heard rumors about that back then.
Copying hit programs in similar ways was commonplace in this industry.
I shrugged at what seemed like trivial news.

“I already heard about it.”
“You knew? Did you see the proposal?”
“A little?”
“And you’re not upset?!”

It was a bit irritating, but whatever.

“It’ll probably be less popular than mine anyway.”

At my indifferent response, Kim Hee-young—despite it not being her own affair—grew even more indignant and snapped the cigarette she’d been about to light in half.

“Hey, you… don’t you care what people say about you?”
“About what?”
“They’re calling you a devil’s editor and all that—aren’t you upset about it?”

I paused for a moment, thinking it over.
The devil’s editing was true.
It was a means to boost the broadcast’s ratings.
I didn’t think there was anything particularly unfair about it.

“…Not really? Hah!”

This time, Kim Hee-young struck my back.

“You! Seriously! Because you won’t explain anything, everyone’s blood is boiling! Everyone thinks you’re a bad person!!”
“So what. Did I do it with some grand intention? I just did it for the ratings.”
“Stop messing around! And it’s not like you do this to just anyone! Because of the editing you gave them, the guys who were buried so spectacularly have become so successful…!”

Suddenly, Kim Hee-young stopped mid-sentence and brushed back the strands of hair that had been partially obscuring her eyes.

“…Never mind. Yeah. That’s not something I should be saying anyway.”

I had far too much unnecessary sentimentality for my own good.

“Noona.”

I spoke aloud the title I would have only called her in my mind if I were still Seo Ho-yoon of The Dun.
Kim Hee-young showed little reaction, merely lifting her gaze to look at me.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m eating well and living well.”

Then I broke eye contact and shifted my gaze, when suddenly I caught sight of someone staring directly at me from far beyond Kim Hee-young’s shoulder.

“What? What’s wrong?”

She asked, watching me freeze with my eyes wide open.
But her words barely registered in my ears.
I brushed past Kim Hee-young and took a step or two forward. The figure flinched and vanished swiftly behind the building.

“…!”
“Hey, hey. Where are you going?!”
“Wait!”

I shook off Kim Hee-young’s grip on my shoulder and sprinted toward where In-young had disappeared.

Crack—crack—crack!

Then something strange happened.
The brown pavement that had been flat just moments before began to fracture and undulate.

“…What the—?!”
“…!”

I caught myself before stumbling and lifted my head, spotting a small figure in the distance looking back at me before slipping into the emergency exit.

“Hey!!”

A deep rumbling sound….
Crash, crash, crash, crash!

I called out to him and quickly rushed toward the emergency exit.
At that moment, with a tremendous boom, the adjacent building folded in half.
No—not just the building, but the entire ground swelled upward, covering the sky and stacking in neat squares.

“This is insane….”

Faced with this abnormal spectacle, I froze mid-step, my mind blank, simply staring—yet the people around me conversed casually, sipped their drinks, and moved about as if nothing were amiss.
That’s when it became unmistakably clear.
This couldn’t be reality.

‘I’m not going back to that!’

After hesitating, I caught sight of my reflection in the building’s window and snapped back to my senses. I threw open the emergency exit again and bolted down the hallway.
Familiar faces widened their eyes and called out my name, but I had no time to acknowledge them.

“Hey! You’re dead if I catch you!”

I vowed to catch that bastard who kept his distance, taunting me as he fled.
When I shouted, he flinched in surprise and stumbled. Seeing him round the corner to the right at the far end of the hallway, I pivoted my body—I needed to reach his destination first.
I knew the Broadcasting Station’s layout like the back of my hand.
Bang! I threw open the door connecting to the Emergency Stairs and descended several steps before opening the third door.

Crash!

Simultaneously, boxes brimming with documents came tumbling down. Some floated through the air as if unaffected by gravity, bouncing and making the path impassable.
As if the world itself were conspiring to keep me from reaching him, blocking my every move.
Papers sliced sharply against my skin; boxes collided with my body.
Ignoring the pain, I accelerated, chasing after him as he climbed the stairs.
Though I could only see his silhouette and the back of his head, I was certain.

“Seo Ho-jin!”

Startled by my call, he stumbled, his foot slipping. I seized the opportunity, closed the distance, and grabbed him before he could fall.
He was impossibly light.

“Are you okay?!”
“…Yeah,”

I turned him around by his shoulders and cradled his face in both my hands, lifting it toward me.
I’d already suspected as much, but confronting it head-on made my heart plummet.
Soft, downy cheeks full and round, a perfectly spherical head, a frame small for his age….

“It’s… it’s okay….”
“…!”

It was ten-year-old Seo Ho-jin.
In that instant, Min Ji-heon’s words echoed in my mind.

“No matter what appears, don’t be bewitched.”

‘Damn it….’

A sigh escaped me.
Fine lashes slowly rising trembled delicately, and eyes glistening with moisture turned toward me.

“…I’m okay, hyung.”

How could anyone not be enchanted by this.

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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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