Top Girl Group Scenario Rewritten with My Own Hands - Chapter 67

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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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Episode 67
“Look, I don’t want to just push ahead without asking, but your comeback’s in June, right? Should we nail down the date?”
“Pin down the date for what? Publicity…?”
“Well, more than that—establishing a Rivalry Structure. Or burying the buzz around the PN rookie group.”
“It’s not bad for me, but….”
Han Jeong-yeon’s expression shifted to something like ‘Is this even allowed?’
She probably remembered, too—how many opportunities Ashcode would get, how much hype they’d generate.
“Your live performances don’t fall short either. I’m thinking we slip the date within about ten days, dodge a direct 1st place battle, keep it precarious. If you rack up consecutive encores, that’ll light a fire on its own.”
“…A controversy over encores? You’d exploit that?”
“Right on. I’m going to use everything I can.”
Honestly, I don’t want to go this far, but what can I do about the situation as it is. This is how I survive.
“There’s really nothing I need to advise you on at this point.”
“Is that a compliment or a dig…. This was your idea. You told Jeong-yeon here that if there’s a ‘next time,’ pull aggro any way you can.”
“…Oh.”
Somehow our thoughts really do align well…. Han Jeong-yeon’s face flushed in an instant. The look on her face said she had no idea what her past self—her future self—had actually said.
“I got a lot of different advice, but I wanted to go the ethical route, you know?”
“Ethical.”
“Yeah. Keep things as peaceful as possible, not exhausting, wrap it up without badmouthing anyone. But it turns out that’s not so easy, does it?”
“You figured it out early. I wandered around for a long time because of that, I think….”
Though I barely remember it now. Han Jeong-yeon smiled faintly.
A forced Regression for a single goal is really…, not easy. In many ways.
It crushes the heart of someone who wants to live by maintaining some minimum moral or ethical line—or it buries a distaste for not wanting to sell someone out through politics, drowning it under the instinct to survive.
Ashcode will get a tremendous number of opportunities ahead. Whether from corporate capital or ones they create themselves.
I’m not saying it’s unfair. In this industry, it’s the default that everyone starts from different positions. Why do trainees kill themselves trying to join the major agencies? The word ‘fairness’ in this game is nothing but fool’s gold.
So when I slip up once, when it means immediate failure and loss of opportunity—as someone from a scrappy agency with a System—I’ve stopped feeling any qualms about trampling on one of their chances.
Sometimes waves of thought crash over me, something like ‘Do I really have to live this way to survive?’…, but yes. Living this way was the right call.
It’s irresponsible to say, but those kids will get new chances someday and survive one way or another. So I had to make plans to survive this way.
“If you figure it out early, that’s good. You’re sticking around because you feel something like guilt toward your members, aren’t you?”
“The members thing—that crossed a line. Let’s stop there.”
“No, you said that too.”
“…How much did I actually tell you? Where did I stop?”
“Who knows. When you got bored sometimes, you’d call and spill everything from DragonGirlfriend gossip to Regression stories. I let you, too.”
“Why…?”
“The details might differ, but if you can’t achieve the goal, you have to go back—that part’s the same, right? I thought there might be some hints to pick up from it.”
And actually, I did pick up a few things. Thinking back on conversations with Han Jeong-yeon from the last run, there were some things to infer about the System. The basic framework is similar but the operating principles are different, or the Sub-quests and shops that pop up are similar….
The biggest commonality between Han Jeong-yeon’s past System and mine was fluidity. You get Sub-quests and rewards tailored to the situation, and if you use them well, you can see solutions to fixed quests or missions. That sort of thing.
In Han Jeong-yeon’s case, she had to solve things by throwing herself directly into them, but the System didn’t spare hints, she said. It didn’t seem like it wanted her to fail or get trapped in a loop.
Still, I can’t know the System’s purpose….
[CLEAR! ☆ ▷ Sub-quest: Win the championship in “Back Then, That Song”! ☆]
[Please receive your reward.]
It doesn’t seem like it wants me to fail my mission and wash out completely. That was true before, and the fact that a Sub-quest I didn’t even know existed Cleared after “Back Then, That Song” ended and gave me a reward—it all points that way.
“…Even if that is something I said, I’d rather you didn’t talk casually about the members. I’m…, I’m earnest about it too.”
“Ha, you’re saying exactly the same thing. You said something similar before you came back.”
“Of course I did—we’re the same person.”
“You talk like you’ve lived through it.”
“I have. So many times I can’t even remember. I heard similar things so much that sometimes I’d bring it up myself before anyone else could say it.”
“I’m glad it won’t get that bad for me.”
“…That’s really irritating. Did you call me just to pick at me?”
“No. I’m saying I think I’ll die before it gets that bad. You said this is my last chance, after all.”
“……. You’re good at leaving people speechless.”
“Yeah, I hear that a lot.”
Looking at Han Jeong-yeon, who seemed to have no idea how to respond, I just laughed.
There’s something satisfying about getting back at her for all the teasing from the last run, but what does it matter. She’s the same person, after all. (Even if she doesn’t remember it.)
“I don’t know exactly what you’re trying to do, but I’ll cooperate either way. I won’t move the comeback date.”
“Not won’t—can’t, right? I heard you don’t have that kind of pull.”
“…I really want to hit past me.”
“Technically, future you.”
“Stop teasing….”
“Ha, I’ll keep it reasonable. You dragged me through the wringer plenty.”
“But I don’t even remember….”
“Doesn’t that make it better? You get something I don’t get to have.”
“…Is this something we’ve talked about before too?”
“No, just a guess.”
“Ugh….”
Finally, Han Jeong-yeon couldn’t help but get exasperated.
Well, what can you do—I’m right. And I wanted to tease her a little.
Revenge from the last run. Though Han Jeong-yeon will never know.
***
About a week after my meeting with Han Jeong-yeon, I threw myself into serious schedule adjustments.
“Okay, Ji-on. So?”
“I’d like to request a meeting. I think we should move up the comeback date.”
“Can I ask why? You were on board with the original plan.”
“A variable…. Well, the new girl group from PN.”
“Ah….”
“I don’t want to get buried under the corporate hype. I’m thinking we tighten up the schedule a bit…, more aggressively. Honestly, I also want to take a shot at a Rookie Award.”
It started with Lee Su-bin. Since Lee Su-bin is heading the dedicated team for Evergreat, if I can convince her, the team’s internal meeting is practically a given.
“I want to look at the broader industry flow and reset the activity framework. To put it bluntly…, our plan seems pretty loose to me.”
The meeting was held just like that.
The topic: revising the activity plan.
“I understand the capital and time constraints. I know it’s not something that just happens overnight. But it seems like we have fewer opportunities than we might think.”
I arranged my face into an expression of mock seriousness, paused to collect myself, and continued. Probably no one in this room doesn’t already know this, but still.
“Next month, PN’s debuting a new group. If we’re not careful, all the publicity strategy we’ve thought through, all our activity, could get buried under PN’s brand name alone.”
Silence fell over the meeting room. Lee Su-bin didn’t push back. Kim Yoon-joo didn’t push back either.
In reality, a mid-sized agency group with a fanbase that isn’t solid can lose all their buzz to a major label rookie. Especially right after debut.
That’s why mid-sized agency rookies have to throw everything at it when the response comes. You’ve got to row when the tide flows in.
“It’s lucky that ‘Lucky Days’ got a decent response, but if we don’t capitalize properly right now, people might say we missed the timing or fumbled the opportunity. Audiences these days are so sensitive to these windows and moments—if we don’t come out swinging when the momentum’s there, they just write you off as a ‘failed group.'”
Of course, a July comeback isn’t late. I’ve never actually heard it called late…. This is just spin to raise the sense of urgency.
“How about this: move up our schedule, drop a Single in June, and do a Mini Album comeback in October. If possible, let’s focus on Self-produced Content starting in May, at the latest June. I think we should find an outsourcing company.”
Obviously that’s going to cost a lot of money.
To solve that….
“We…, we don’t have the budget to outsource self-produced content. Of course we know it’s important….”
Right on cue, an employee in the meeting brought up the budget issue. The tone was like soothing someone clueless.
I nodded and pressed on.
“I’m thinking I should brief the CEO.”
“Pardon?”
“The final decision-maker is the CEO, right? If we can convince him, wouldn’t that be the best option?”
Everyone in the meeting room looked startled. I didn’t think I’d said anything especially shocking, though.
Im Gyeong-taek’s third strength: an ability to attract investment. But only when he’s interested and thinks something’s worth pushing.
The reason Music Proof has kept limping along and surviving in the first place is (hard to believe, but) the CEO’s eye for artists and his knack for landing investment.
It’s not that he wants to do business for business’s sake—he wants to make music, and the business just came along with it. That’s why it takes conditions for that ability to show itself….
In short: this guy pushes when he’s interested. His standards are high and his thinking is archaic—old man caveman cliché—but he’s not the type to abandon a talented Artist with good instincts.
“I’m not sure myself, but I heard our company’s receiving investment from VC E&M. The CEO doesn’t want to spend a lot on Idols, but if we appeal to the necessity…, wouldn’t his thinking shift a bit?”
In this timeline, I’m supposed to know nothing.
Even if in the last run I went through all this—investment issues, money problems, budget shortfalls—that doesn’t matter. This run, I never experienced any of that.
Except watching team members stay late to save money during the debut prep. Anyway, the point is I have to pretend not to know as much as possible.
“I…, I have a question. Even if we manage to convince him, we’re branding ourselves as Singer-Songwriter Idols right now—what about the songs? Changing our concept from debut carries real risk.”
Oh, nice question. That was Kim Yoon-joo.
I nodded lightly and pulled out my answer to her question.
“Ah, I was about to mention that anyway. I compiled Demo Track candidates for the title track. About three songs?”
Ha. Their expressions are hilarious.
They’re so shocked they can’t say anything—clearly didn’t expect this. When I played them the sampled highlights of the tracks, they had pretty much the same look, just staring straight at me. It was a little funny.
Of course. This is the result of building up—over several days—a few songs that only exist in the lost time, mixed with demos I was preparing for future comebacks.
“I figured the CEO likes proof through music more than just fancy words, so I went ahead and got ready. What do you think?”
If I tell them I’m planning to do a PowerPoint for the CEO and I’ve already prepped songs for the album, what else is there for them to do?
I smiled my professional smile and looked at the employees.
Rewriting the Top Girl Group Scenario with My Own Hands
Author
: Nam Seo-rang
Date of Manufacture
: March 4, 2026
Publisher
: AcesMedia, Ltd.
Editor
: AcesMedia Editorial Division
Address
: 4F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam District, Seoul
Email
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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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