Top Girl Group Scenario Rewritten with My Own Hands - Chapter 70

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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 70
“Hello~! I’m Shin Ji-yun, the PD in charge of Evergreat’s self-produced content. Nice to meet you all!”
We bowed in greeting to the PD who introduced herself cheerfully.
Though some things remained unchanged, a lot shifted in May after entering this cycle. One of those changes was outsourcing the self-produced content.
Last cycle, I’d wondered if we could spend more money, and what I discovered was Lim Gyeong-taek’s investment prowess. Somehow I managed to sweet-talk him into securing even the self-produced content budget. I’d say I’m doing a decent job as a returnee so far.
“I think it might be nice to start with something more conceptual. We could borrow the high school club concept from the debut album and the meaning from the group name—something like ‘Youngwon High School Band Club.'”
“Oh, and in the summer I was thinking of doing some mystery content with a school urban legend concept. Are there any members who really can’t handle that sort of thing?”
“Before the meeting, I went through all the content from your Proof Rookies days. Your members speak really well, don’t they? I think a discussion-based content would be fun too.”
Shin Ji-yun was an idea factory. She’d already thought about connecting the album concept with the self-produced content, watched all the uploaded videos, and grasped each member’s characteristics.
What this PD strongly asked of us was one thing.
“For the content to be fun, you members have to participate fully. Really, you have to promise me this! You need to maintain the kind of energy you had during consistently. If you approach the shoot with that determination, I’ll be grateful!”
The members seemed to tense up at those words, but I didn’t feel particularly nervous. The confidence came from knowing we could pull it off.
Our members were naturally talented at variety entertainment. Whether intentional or not.
***
【Live Controversy Just Ten Days After Debut? #shorts】
– Regardless of good or bad, they don’t even seem willing to sing. Why are they singers?…
👍4.2K
– The girl soloing is so pitiful ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Do the rest even want to sing??
👍3.8K
So this was… still unchanged.
The shorts that greeted me the moment I opened YouTube weren’t pleasant.
No wonder they were flustered doing a live they hadn’t prepared for. Kids mumbling without finding their voice, looking lost—no matter how many times I see it, it’s never a good sight.
My chest… it doesn’t feel good.
And I’m the one who has to exploit this.
They’re still under twenty in Korean age, and I’m mentally 25-plus. I can’t just tell them to take responsibility for a failed live…
Is it really okay to make kids who still have so much growing to do get criticized more by the public just because they messed up a live performance? Of course it’s not okay, damn it.
So I should’ve taught them how to do lives properly from the start. Performance matters, but they don’t accept idols who can’t dance, yet they absolutely won’t accept idols who can’t sing. Don’t they get that?
I found myself resenting the agency. In my first life they just muddied the waters saying everyone was the same, dragging down other kids who were working hard. Everything.
I was irritated again.
The system that (though not stated outright) basically says you’ll die if you don’t win the VMA Rookie Award, the agency trying to force their group to get that award somehow.
And the public that doesn’t forgive mistakes either.
***
One of the things that changed in May was…
“Ah, I’m freezing…”
“Do you want to go sit in the car for a bit, unnie?”
“No, I have to wait here anyway since we’re shooting next.”
“Ah…”
Go Hyun-seo nodded in understanding.
We had to shoot the music video and concept photos in summer clothes on a windy coast in May, which was still a bit chilly. Since this was the Gangwon Province Coast, it was really cold. When we were filming the music video earlier in early May with spring-like weather, I thought I’d freeze to death. The fact that now is only slightly better is ridiculous.
Originally we’d delayed outdoor shooting as much as possible and didn’t film until mid-June, so we were completely unaware of spring’s cruelty until now.
My body’s low durability becomes clear at times like this—feeling cold that pierces to the bone, something I never felt back at twenty-five. Must be a system issue.

At this rate I’ll actually catch a cold. I actually went to the practice room with a cold after some work, got a nosebleed during vocal directing, and it was chaos.
Everyone just vaguely brushed it off saying we were all tired preparing for the comeback.
That excuse about skipping the comeback tended to work pretty well. Everyone understood that with the concept set as singer-songwriter, I had to carry significant weight in the song production.
Though…
– Shim Yoo-jung: Tell her in person to pass on the Music City Japan arrangement
– Shim Yoo-jung: I heard everything from Su-ah
It didn’t work on everyone.
Check your email –
Already sent ㅋ –
Honestly, I don’t take on things I don’t really need to do. If there’s something I can hand over, I actively pass it to Shim Yoo-jung.
– Shim Yoo-jung: I’m the one who told you to pass things
– Shim Yoo-jung: Why am I annoyed about this? ㅋㅋ
– Shim Yoo-jung: Anyway ㅇㅋ
– Shim Yoo-jung: You also wrote a ton of orders;;*
I said pass it over ㅠㅠ –
– Shim Yoo-jung: ㅋ…
– Shim Yoo-jung: Whatever
– Shim Yoo-jung: Just do well on your shoot and come back
ㅎㅎ –
Yep –
Teasing Shim Yoo-jung a bit made me feel like myself again. So… like I was before coming here.
Honestly at this point I don’t even know what “normal” is anymore, and I can’t even distinguish what my ordinary life is, so it’s probably meaningless.
But at least busying myself cuts down on useless thoughts. When your body’s exhausted, you stop thinking—so these past few weeks following a packed schedule have definitely reduced the spinning thoughts.
I’m basically dodging or burying things and running toward the goal in front of me. That’s right.
That approach seems like it’ll help me navigate this unrealistic situation better.
One task at a time, step by step.
“Ji-on, let’s touch up your makeup! We’re going straight into shooting!”
“Yes!”
What I need to focus on right now is the concept photo shoot for the new album .
***
If things change, then things also remain unchanged.
“Hello, seniors! We’re Ashcode. We’re honored to work with you!”
For instance, these polite juniors who are the reason my body’s durability went to hell and forced me to debut for three cycles in one year as a rookie.
Every time I meet these guys at Music City Japan, they’re so respectful it feels strange. I’ve received three perfectly formal greetings with full intensity, not just once.
After exchanging appropriate greetings and albums, I watched Hyun Jae-yi, who was taking the lead in the conversation, blinking.
“Jo Eun-bin, it’s been a while! Sorry for not contacting you. Ever since we started preparing for the debut, I’ve had no time to think. It’s not that I disliked you!”
“Oh, um…! I was busy too. Oh right, I saw that—that song you did! It was so cool.”
“Really?! Actually, we worked really hard preparing that…”
Once Hyun Jae-yi started chatting and eased the mood, the other members hesitated before starting to talk among themselves. Ju Hye-rin and Lee Han-byul, meeting same-aged peers for the first time in the entertainment industry, seemed genuinely excited and got along pretty easily with Ashcode’s youngest members.
I’d made the right call giving Hyun Jae-yi advance instructions. She was sharp enough to catch on.
– Even if the others don’t, you need to look friendly with the Ashcode kids. You know how there are actually a lot of rumors online about trainees at the agency not getting along?
– Do you believe those rumors, unnie?
– It’s not about believing the rumors. It’s more like preempting the source of rumors. You know as well as I do how people like to bully successful groups.
– ……
– For those people, truth and lies don’t matter. They just need material to tear apart. I don’t want to give any opening to people who’ll spread lies online if they find the slightest overlap. Understand?
– Yes…
– I looked into it. Even if everything doesn’t match up perfectly, it seems you had overlapping trainee periods with that group’s leader, Noah. That right?
– …Yeah, that’s true. But we weren’t really close.
– Then just pretend to be friendly for business. Not a dying-for-each-other act, but just the level of having some connection as peers—that they see each other around and talk. We suggested a challenge, right? You and that friend do their challenge. Our youngest members will do the challenge with their youngest.
Before flying out, I’d told Hyun Jae-yi to manage their business relationship well enough to look friendly during the challenge.
But sharp Hyun Jae-yi had grasped exactly what I was worried about. She’d even approached Jo Eun-bin, who’d said it was uncomfortable, looking friendly. That was impressive.
“We’ll step back since we’re not doing the challenge.”
“No Vocal Challenge?”
“That’s arranger abuse. If we did it now, I’d have to rack my brain over a short timeframe and get exhausted.”
“Pfft, haha, ha! Then why did you suggest it in the first place?!”
“We needed controversy material back then… And besides, we don’t even have a guitar right now.”
I couldn’t hit Kang Su-ah for giggling like that.
I was in a position where I had to use these kids, so my conscience wasn’t at ease either.
Right, life is tough. Everyone has their own struggles, but this kind of struggle is… really a novel type.
***
The cover stage went off without a hitch this time too.
Actually, it went better than just fine. Really well. Especially Hyun Jae-yi. Out of all three Music City Japan events I’ve been through, this felt like our best cover stage.
I knew Hyun Jae-yi got more excited with more of a crowd, but something about doing the challenge with Jo Eun-bin and chatting for a bit seemed to shift something. Today she was flying.
I was really glad I gave her the center position.
“Unnie.”
“What.”
“I did well today, right?”
“…Do you need praise? Or do you need honest feedback?”
“Aw, you’re just going to say I did well either way.”
“Wow, you really have good self-awareness? You seemed even better than during practice today.”
“Hehe.”
Hyun Jae-yi, with her hair styled in pigtails, smiled bashfully.
After that, I had to quickly change clothes at the stylists’ urgent direction, but…
Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever be a good person.
The attitude that others’ suffering is fine as long as I survive—that’s not how a good person thinks.
What makes it worse is that I have just enough conscience to feel uncomfortable about it. If I had no conscience at all, maybe it would’ve been easier.
Ashcode would be lip-syncing again today.
We’d originally avoided getting entangled with Ashcode, but this time we acted like we didn’t mind being connected, even proposing the challenge ourselves.
Now getting entangled wouldn’t mean we got dragged down together—it would become ammunition for us to attack Ashcode.
Same rookie year, so what are you guys doing? They can just sing well, but what’s your excuse?
We definitely had reason to avoid entanglement to not draw that kind of aggro. Because when you get entangled that way, both Evergreat and Ashcode take a bit of a hit.
But if I’m being honest, we benefit from the aggro that comes with that entanglement.
Evergreat may not be a flawless group, but it’s undeniable that we’re a group with actual skill. Isn’t that already proven by April’s ?
In these public opinion battles, the side without skill is disadvantaged. “If you’re so upset, why don’t you learn to sing?” becomes an all-purpose shield.
I need to accept fandom clashes. I feel a bit sorry for putting stress on the fanbase.
But this is what I need right now.
Evergreat has to be above Ashcode. Evergreat needs to win the Rookie Award. That’s how it should be. Public opinion to that exact effect.
The kind of public opinion that the VMA, which needs credibility, absolutely can’t ignore.
…Well, of course our performance has to back it up too, and I don’t think public opinion forms from just a few shallow controversies.
That’s why this comeback and what comes after matter. Today’s just laying groundwork.
May the luck I want find its way to me,
May the wishes I’ve always held come true—
Ah——!
I really hope it does.
That’s what my heart felt singing today.
I wrapped up the third Music City Japan stage successfully.
And June has come—time to make my final move.
Rewriting the top girl group scenario with my own hands
Author
: Nam Seo-rang
Published Date
: March 6, 2026
Publisher
: ACESMEDIA
Editor
: ACESMEDIA Editorial Team
Address
: 4F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam District, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by ACESMEDIA in accordance with the copyright holder’s contract.
The contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260102083

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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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