The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 329

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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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329

Why Kang Yeon-hu?
He certainly had the qualifications to participate in the talent show since he was also under WH Entertainment. However, High Five was in the midst of their active period right now.
They were busy themselves, so they probably came because attendance was mandatory rather than because they wanted to attend the workshop, but to perform in the talent show too?

‘They wouldn’t have had time to prepare properly.’

My brow furrowed.
He was absolutely not an easy opponent.

“Kang Yeon-hu, come over here.”

Chae Jung-woo shifted his position to the center of the stage so that all eyes would focus on Kang Yeon-hu, flashing a smile.

“I’m even more delighted and excited to see my beloved junior Yeon-hu here. Now that I think about it, you participated enthusiastically during Halloween too, didn’t you?”
“…Haha.”

As if he had raised Kang Yeon-hu himself, Chae Jung-woo gazed at him with eyes dripping with honey, like a hedgehog looking at its own offspring.

“Then, Yeon-hu. Could you tell us the reason you came out today?”
“Of course.”

Kang Yeon-hu smiled gently.
Looking at that expression alone, one might mistake him for being confident and composed.
Though his ears were still red.

“Our maknae has been very interested in composition lately.”

With his eyes squeezed shut, Kang Yeon-hu extended three fingers forward.

“I want to claim third place and win a MIDI controller.”

Then a MIDI controller from a famous brand—the third-place prize—appeared on the beam projector screen hanging behind the stage.
Now that I thought about it, I’d heard that High Five also had a member who composed.
Kang Yeon-hu had mentioned he was somewhat interested too.

“Ah~! A MIDI controller! That’s really a wonderful gift for people who make music!”

But why did he have to come all the way here instead of just buying it with his own money?
Feeling dampened by the unexpected competitor’s appearance, Kim Sung-hyun leaned over and whispered in my ear.

“Don’t you think Kang Yeon-hu is going to be really good at this? That prize looks amazing… wouldn’t Kang Yi-chae want it too?”
“Why would Kang Yi-chae?”

He’d probably already decked out his work studio with the latest equipment.
I didn’t know much about composition equipment myself, but I was certain of one thing: Kang Yi-chae would want obscure band CDs that money couldn’t buy before he’d want something like that.
I turned my head in displeasure, then noticed that I couldn’t see the other members.

“Where are the guys?”
“The maknae is over there getting food, and I don’t know where Sung Ji-won and Kang Yi-chae are. I haven’t seen them since earlier.”

Kim Sung-hyun shrugged his shoulders and poured wine into my empty glass, saying they were probably nearby and nothing was wrong. I drained it in one gulp, frustrated, and Kim Sung-hyun teased me about drinking it like soju.

“Then, let’s start the first talent show! Kang Yeon-hu will perform! From Lia Purple——.”

Yeah, Yeon-hu. Let’s see what you’ve got.
Let’s see how good you really are.

“—If You’re Pretty, It’s Hard!!”
“Woooow!!”

A roar erupted from the WH Entertainment executives and employees.

“What’s with that, seriously?”

Genuinely fed up, Kim Sung-hyun—who had been pouring wine into his own glass—stopped mid-motion and muttered.

“Wow, Yeon-hu really sharpened his skills.”

I’d expected Kang Yeon-hu to choose either the bright, refreshing beat songs that High Five frequently performed or a mid-tempo ballad that suited his vocal color well, but surprisingly, he’d chosen a song from a female idol group.

It was Lia Purple’s “If You’re Pretty, Life’s Hard.”
Back when Lia Purple wasn’t yet popular, it was the song that made their name known to the public, and it had become a huge hit, especially among military personnel.
The lyrics themselves were, as the title suggested, about how life becomes exhausting if you’re beautiful—utterly mediocre content, but….

‘This song is dangerous.’

I learned this firsthand through the year-end stage performance.
When male idols performed Lia Purple’s song, the reaction was incredibly intense.

As the intro played, Kang Yeon-hu pulled an angel headband from his back pocket and fastened it with deliberate care, managing his expression shamelessly.
Of course, even then his ears and neck were flushed crimson.

“Wow….”

A beat late in noticing Kang Yeon-hu’s embarrassment, Kim Sung-hyun spoke in a sympathetic tone.

“Kang Yeon-hu… why… did you… go out there yourself… and dig your own grave….”
“He’s similar to you, isn’t he?”
“…Me, similar to me?!”

Ignoring the guy’s protest, I turned my gaze back to the stage.
Kang Yeon-hu, who had been biting his lower lip with grim determination, suddenly winked with a bright smile the moment the spotlight fell away, as if nothing had happened.

【Ah, I looked in the mirror and I’m so pretty, ta-da
You know I’m beautiful too (pretty)
Your eyes keep meeting mine from before
You’re deliberately passing by me (woo)】

Tsk, I couldn’t help but click my tongue.
With a soft yet distinctive vocal tone, he wove in nasalization to elevate the song’s charm, while simultaneously showcasing the key choreography to build momentum in the performance.
He truly was a formidable rival.

【You say you don’t like me
I don’t care, it’s hard to play coy
Come a little closer to me】

‘Hmm.’

However, being coldly objective, our team—more precisely, we were below Joo Woo-sung.
Since I was aiming for second place, I sipped my wine while deliberating whether I should hold back appropriately or gauge the situation by observing the performers who would come later….

【If you’re pretty, it’s exhausting (pretty)
Really, so incredibly tiring (tired)】

“Kang! Yeon! Hu!”
“Kang! Yeon! Hu!”

…As time passed, the atmosphere in the hall grew increasingly strange.

‘…Wait a minute!’

I’d thought it was only Chae Jung-woo, but all the WH Entertainment staff members wore warm expressions on their faces and applauded enthusiastically from all directions, as if they’d come to their grandson’s hundredth-day celebration.

“Senior Kang Yeon-hu sure is popular. Is it because he trained for so long?”

Kim Sung-hyun’s comment, added while eating canapés as wine appetizers, was quite accurate.
If Joo Woo-sung and Chae Jung-woo were WH Entertainment’s proud sons, then Kang Yeon-hu occupied a position like their beloved first grandchild, no matter how you looked at it.
He was the idol who debuted from WH Entertainment with the longest trainee period, and he was the type who managed himself meticulously without anyone having to tell him. Naturally, most of the people sitting here knew him.
Even Jung Sun-ui, who’d been wearing “Why are we doing this workshop when I’m busy, dammit” all over his body all day, now gazed at Kang Yeon-hu with a proud expression.

【If you’re pretty, you get tired (pretty)
Really, so very tired (tired)】

Cold sweat dripped down my back.
New variables were being added to my plan in real time.

“Kang! Yeon! Hu!”

Damn it.
How much influence does the audience’s evaluation actually have?
I still didn’t think his performance was first-place material, but it was difficult to gauge how much I should adjust my own performance.
Just as I was pressing my temples and spinning my head in circles, Kang Yeon-hu, who’d packed four minutes full of substance, threw candy he’d prepared as a finale into the audience seating.

“Wow! Candy!”

I wanted to mock whether this was some middle school retreat, but I clamped my mouth shut when I saw our youngest member, Jung Da-jun, snatch the candy first from the front row.
Kang Yeon-hu, having finished his entire stage, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and bowed deeply.

“Thank you so much! I really want to place third! Please look kindly on us!”

Third place? At this rate, we’ll take first.
Kang Yeon-hu’s eyes met mine as he descended the staircase. Knowing his own performance had gone well, he wore an unmistakably smug expression.

“Kang Yeon-hu, people really are wonderful, aren’t they? Wow, man, that startled me.”
“….”
“Hey, Seo Ho-yoon. Lighten up that face.”

Kim Sung-hyun, who’d been cheering, covered my face with one hand while pressing a glass of wine into the other.
But the moment he saw the next talent show selection, he gasped in horror.

“Next up, ‘I am Manager Jang, Manager Jang even backwards’, Manager Jang from the Planning Team! Joo Woo-sung’s ‘Myth’!”
“Woooooow!”

Manager Jang from the Planning Team took the stage, performing Joo Woo-sung’s solo track, ‘Myth’.

【Can I stare your eyes】

“J-Joo W-Woo-sung, s-senior, is singing?”

Kim Sung-hyun beside me coughed repeatedly in shock.

【I want to be simple in front of you
Can I hold you tight…】

If Joo Woo-sung himself had seen it, he would have made an uproar, saying he saw something he shouldn’t have seen.

‘I’m going crazy.’

“Yeok! Si! Woo! Lee! Gi! Heok! Team! Jang! Boo! Jang! Ju! Woo! Seong! Bo! Da! Well! Saeng! Gi…Jin! Not! Gu! Me!”
“Simply!! I want to be!!”

For a moment, Joo Woo-sung’s face, laughing and making a sound like the wind is falling, comes to mind.
Just as he’d said, this competition was fiercer than I’d anticipated.
Now sweat dripped not just down my back but from my palms.
At a mere men’s workshop, the tension pouring down was greater than when I’d first launched my program as a rookie PD with my name on the line.

“…I’ll bring some more wine.”
“…I’ll just grab some more wine.”

Kim Seong-hyun, who was staring blankly at Director Jang’s performance, shook the wine bottle and stood up, saying he would bring a new one.
Kim Sung-hyun, who had been staring blankly at Manager Jang’s performance, shook the wine bottle and stood up, saying he’d bring a fresh one.
After that, several more impressive talent show acts followed one after another.

“Why are you shaking your leg like this?”

I heard a voice that I didn’t really want to face.
A voice I didn’t particularly want to hear reached my ears.

“Hello.”

It was Min Ji-heon.
It was Min Ji-heon.

“what?”
“What?”

I heard that you are very busy these days filming the fantasy historical drama ‘On the Day Daffodils Bloom’.
I’d heard he was incredibly busy lately with the fantasy historical drama “When Daffodils Bloom” production.
He was playing Jung Hwan, a fictional illegitimate royal from the Joseon era, and apparently he was breaking viewership records every day.

“Why are you here?”

Min Ji-heon, who was fluttering his T-shirt on a chair as if it was a bit hot, picked up any glass that caught his eye and poured wine.

“First of all, I am a member of Daepa Castle. Should I say WH now?”

Even though he had all kinds of adjectives, such as a Korean Wave star or the king of K-drama, he still seemed to be full of greed for work, so he filmed dramas, movies, and commercials without much rest.
Despite carrying all sorts of titles like Korean Wave Star and K-drama royalty, he still had an insatiable appetite for work, consistently taking on dramas, films, and commercials without pause.

“Well, it would be nice to meet Seo Ho-yoon too.”

Min Ji-heon’s joking eyes looked at me.
With that quip, Min Ji-heon’s eyes looked at me.

“……however.”

Then, with an expression of loss of appetite, he put down his wine glass and asked, resting his chin.

“Has anything changed these days?”

I looked at Min Ji-heon with wide-open eyes.
I studied Min Ji-heon with narrowed eyes.
What does he mean by that?
The System? The frequency of his messages? Quests?
Or Kang Yi-chae?

“I don’t have any.”
“Nothing at all.”
“Have you been sick lately?”
“I collapsed in front of you before, didn’t I?”
“No, not that. Recently.”
“I’m in perfect health.”

Min Ji-heon’s head tilted, and his fingers tapped the table as if he was upset about something.

“Is that strange?”

But after a while, the guy scratched his head and blurted out something indifferent.

“I guess I saw something wrong.”
“I guess I must have misread something.”
“…Is that all?”
“I’m not entirely certain about it….”

Whenever Min Ji-heon showed signs like this, something would always happen.
Whenever Min Ji-heon showed signs like this, something always erupted.

“Seo Ho-yoon, do you remember last year?”
“Seo Ho-yoon, do you remember last year?”
“We’ll take a brief break now! But we should still have fun, right?! You don’t need to sign up separately for talent acts. Who would like to participate?! …Ah, no one?”
“We were at that broadcasting station——.”

Just as the story was about to begin, a pin light fell on Min Ji-heon.

“-oh.”

Along with that, Min Ji-heon’s awkward face appeared on the beam project screen.

“Min Ji-heon has been chosen!! Can you come up on stage?”
“Min Ji-heon has been selected!! Would you be able to come up on stage?”

Min Ji-heon, who was standing up while brushing his hair, bent down for a moment and whispered to me.

“Talk to me again later. It won’t be anything serious… maybe.”

Then, he went up to the stage, focusing his gaze on each and every person who cheered for him.

“Hello, this is Min Ji-heon.”

He accepted the microphone handed to him by Chae Jeong-woo and said hello.

“Personally, as a fan of Min Ji-heon, I would like to see a talent show out of my heart. Would that be okay?”
“Personally, as a fan of Min Ji-heon, I’d love to see a talent show with some personal bias. Would that be alright?”

Where had his usual harsh and slow speaking style gone? Min Ji-heon answered with the correct pronunciation, just like when he was acting.
Gone was his usual blunt and slow manner of speech—Min Ji-heon answered with crisp, precise pronunciation like he did when acting.

“Yes, of course. What song is it?”
“Yes, of course. What song will it be?”

As soon as we got out of words, all the executives and employees went crazy and started waving their arms.

“Aaaaa!! I love you for the rest of my life!!”
“Kyaaaah!! We love ‘When Daffodils Bloom’ forever and ever!!”

Of course, our youngest was included in that.
Our maknae was naturally among them.

“But I’m a bit embarrassed to do it alone.”
“But I feel a bit shy doing it alone.”
“Ah, yes!”

Then, with his lips slightly drawn, he began to sing.

“―May I join Seo Ho-yoon?”

I hate it, fuck.
I hate this, damn it.

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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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