The commonality and difference between top-tier idols and flop idols.
Members of successful idol groups pursue solo activities after their group promotions end.
[***, formerly of 000, now launching solo career]
[@@@, formerly of ###, doing well on their own]
Members of flop idols survive on their own after their group activities end. There are no articles to show as examples. Former members of flop groups who made it never want to reveal their dark history.
Former members of flop groups who didn’t make it also don’t want to talk about the past. A teacher who was a mega-flop idol? Their dignity was already shot in front of pubescent, sensitive music major students.
“Hyoeun-ah. Did you look at the sheet music? Did you come to the lesson after looking at the sheet music?”
Three minutes after starting the lesson. Before even finishing a single line, Jion stopped playing the piano. Then, tapping the sheet music sharply, he sighed at the female student before him.
“What is this, right now? The notes in the first measure.”
“……Eighth notes.”
“Then why are you dragging them out like that from the beginning?”
“……You said to sing it with emotion……”
There it was. Emotion.
Seven years as a practical music academy vocal lesson entrance exam instructor. A formidable flop idol-turned-skilled entrance exam instructor who had no individual activities from his idol days to fear as dark history—no matter how much you searched, nothing came up except press releases distributed by the agency and dating articles about members—Seong Jion’s number one phrase he least wanted to hear from students’ mouths was “emotion.”
Emotion, right. Emotion is good. There are some genius types who sing well with emotion even without the basics. But that’s a story about geniuses.
“……Hyoeun-ah. Emotion is, after you’ve mastered all the basics and can sing this song according to the sheet music. Then you add emotion, use techniques, and add flair. Right now you don’t have a single thing right—not your vocalization, rhythm, or pitch.”
“……”
Standing in front of the music stand with her head deeply bowed, the student said nothing. Facing an insincere student who seemed unwilling to accept criticism, horrible memories he wanted to shake off began to creep up.
“What, idols don’t have emotions?”
The words he wanted to forget echoed in his head once again. Those defiant eyes that had glared at Jion with clenched fists and such an aggrieved expression, as if he were the sole victim.
“What, idols can’t even date?”
Ah. This is when I started to hate the word emotion.
As the terrible old memory surfaced, Jion trembled involuntarily.
“Idols are people too.”
Fuck…… That trashy bastard who couldn’t sing for shit, creaked when dancing, had given all his sincerity to the dogs, had nothing but his face, couldn’t distinguish between work and personal life, couldn’t control his emotions—that slutty son of a bitch who had the audacity to open his mouth when his face didn’t even have enough skin to cover the holes he’d pierced in it.
“Respect my emotions too.”
The moment he recalled those last words, spoken as if he’d done something right, pretending to be rational and whining—Jion’s fuse blew.
“Tell me honestly. Did you come to this lesson after looking at the sheet music? You didn’t look at it, did you? Look, right now. How many eighth notes are here?”
“……”
In front of the student whose lips were pressed shut as if in protest, Jion tapped the sheet music with his pencil, pouring out his nagging.
“Do you know how much an hour of lessons costs, yet you come without practicing? Did you sing this?”
“……I already knew this song.”
“No, I asked if you sang it. Did you practice even once before coming?”
“……”
“Do you plan to go to college this year? Will your mom let you take another year? You’ve already screwed up your school grades and scored an 8 on your mock exam, haven’t you?”
“……”
“Hey, answer me. Am I the one going to college? Huh? Is it my life? You’re the one going to college, Hyoeun-ah. Why is only the teacher getting angry and only the teacher feeling anxious?”
“……”
“You’re not crying, are you?”
Even after Jion poured it all out for a while, the student with long hair hanging like a curtain over her bowed head didn’t answer. Then suddenly she gathered her sheet music, grabbed her bag, and left the lesson room. Seeing this, Jion didn’t even think about following to stop her and just leaned back in his chair with a sigh.
“Yeah, go ahead, go. At least you’re only ruining your own life.”
Better a music major student who ruins only their own life than someone who ruins others’ lives like in an unlicensed drunk driving accident and then lives well on their own. As for the parents’ retirement, well. That was their choice.
After rubbing his face, Jion’s eyes caught sight of the takeout coffee the student had left behind. A very familiar face was printed on the cup holder.
“Ha, she’s drinking coffee advertised by such an inhuman bastard, no wonder her attitude is insincere.”
Character isn’t hand-foot-mouth disease, it couldn’t be contagious. But Jion vented his meaningless frustration by crumpling up the cup holder and shoving it in the trash.
BNCZ. BitNanuen ChungchunZ. In Korean, “Shining Youth Z.”
No matter how urgent the debut, he shouldn’t have joined a group whose name reeked of flop idol from the start. Jion, who had brainwashed himself thinking that even if it sounded shitty when written out, didn’t it look somewhat decent when abbreviated in capital letters using just the first letters, regretted his past foolish choice again today.
Now that he was over thirty, he wouldn’t even think about debuting with a group with such a name, and he wouldn’t have joined an agency focused primarily on trot singers in the first place. He regretted the words he’d said proudly to friends who worried it would be behind the trends.
“Don’t look down on trot. Do you know how big the adult music market is? These days, adult music is all about the fandom market, and do you know how much cash flows in?”
The words were all correct. The important thing was whether they invested that money in us. Moreover, the fact that the president who made all the decisions had his sense tuned to adult music was a major problem.
He should have known from the moment they said the president decided the group name.
Until finishing the last lesson, the memories of his flop idol days weren’t erased from Jion’s head. Probably because he’d seen that hateful face printed on the cup holder. Normally he forcibly looked away and tried to maintain composure, but when he let his guard down and saw it like this, the impact was no joke.
A group that was already a flop. They’d finally received one decent song and appeared on a public broadcast music show once, and there that crazy bastard had exchanged contact information with a top-tier female idol who was way out of his league.
A hopeless bastard whose dating scandal made it to the real-time search rankings when his group had never even reached 100th place on streaming sites, let alone gotten 1st place on public broadcasts.
A unprecedented bastard who, when the angry members said “What, idols don’t have emotions?”, “Idols are people too,” “Idols can date too,” got even angrier himself, stormed out of the dorm, and held his own press conference to leave the group.
A selfish bastard who said “Then do that” in front of the president who said he’d disband the group, found another agency on his own, and debuted as an actor.
A crazy bastard who ruined the lives of four members, acted like it was the love of the millennium, then released a breakup article after 3 months and started dating another woman.
But why did such a bastard achieve his dreams, make good money, and live happily while we, who lived diligently, ended up like this? The world is truly unfair.
Throughout the commute home, facing that fucking bastard’s face everywhere, Jion sighed.
Thinking positively, it might have been better to disband quickly and find ways to make a living rather than continuing that hopeless nugu idol life. Jion fiddled with his phone, checking up on the members.
Geon-i hyung, who had been the leader, enlisted voluntarily right after the group disbanded and stayed rooted in the military. Jinyeong, who was the same age, went to Australia on a working holiday and settled there. Eungi, who had been the youngest, inherited his parents’ business and was living the best among the members. The only one still remaining in this field, unable to give up on singing, was Jion.
The most foolish and most hopeless life.
Coming home and opening a bottle of soju, Jion filled his glass with a sigh. The memory of failure experienced at a young age had changed his personality.
Seong Jion during his flop idol days was too gentle, weak, and timid. That’s why he just shed tears listening to that kind of bullshit about “Can’t idols date?”
“If I’d had this personality back then, I would’ve just that fucking bastard’s jaw……”
Right. If he went back to that time.
Jion drank while imagining things that would never happen. Slapping that bastard who spouted such insane words, or knocking out his teeth. Too violent? But that bastard said things worth getting hit for first. Things that deserved a beating.
Actually, the best thing would be for such a thing not to happen at all. Jion filled his empty glass, moving a bit further back from that fucking memory that played on eternal repeat.
Was it when they were excited about appearing on public broadcast for the first time? When they went around to each waiting room bowing their heads in greeting… He did think they made eye contact with that woman for too long. He thought it was just because she was pretty.
Jion recalled that destructive first encounter. The way they exchanged glances was strangely unsettling……
Later he learned that female idol was notorious as a younger guy killer, a man-eater. The mistake was being too much of a flop to hear the entertainment industry gossip. A female slut and a male slut meeting—how fun that must have been.
Due to the aftereffects of that time, Jion still couldn’t date. However, the person who had gifted Jion this hell was still very actively dating even now……
On the celebrity cyber wrecker channel shorts he was watching instead of snacks, a familiar face was plastered there again.
『Actor Seonwoo Jin, Dating Scandal Again』
Dating scandals explode every three months, yet fans still remain—seeing that, this bastard must truly be one of those once-in-a-millennium idols, or his fortune must be so full of peach blossom luck that it’s bursting at the seams like a peach orchard.
“If you have a peach allergy, you can’t even make eye contact, fuck……”
📌Pinned Comment
@aBtdte3321se
Seriously, Seonwoo Jin needs to get a psychological evaluation or an STD test
└ 156 replies
@SeonJji422
Handsome actors and beautiful actresses filming romance dramas might develop feelings ^^
└ @Kwonju-xx9
Why do Seonwoo Jin’s fans all talk the same way, feelings my ass
└ @User-hglsknglw
If dating scandals explode every shoot, it’s not feelings but being in heat… Never mind, ahem
└ @0000-ckwlofe2d
@Kwonju-xx9 Take off your profile pic before you talk shit
(More)
Looking at the vicious comments, Jion momentarily felt fortunate that he’d ended his idol life as a flop. But on the other hand, he envied Seonwoo Jin for having fans who loved him so desperately.
“If I went back to the past……”
Face-down on the dining table before even finishing one bottle of soju, Jion let his imagination soar.
First of all, when that bastard goes around greeting waiting rooms, I’d have to blindfold him so he can’t make eye contact with women, even if it kills me.
Honestly, the song’s hook was too weak back then too. The chorus should have been more addictive.
The choreography too…… Right. I have nothing to say about the choreography. We should have practiced even if it meant staying up all night.
The vocals too…… Seonwoo Jin is truly an infuriating bastard just thinking about him, but that bastard was at least our visual, so we should have made him practice singing more……
Should’ve stripped Leader hyung more. Should’ve at least splashed some water on that hot body.
Jinyeong too…… Eungi too…….
Looking back now, there were only regrets. Right. If he went back to the past…….
Even though they were flop idols, they were still idols. Jion had his own goals as an idol. A dream more precious than beating up Seonwoo Jin and reforming his mind.
“……I want to perform at a year-end music festival too.”
Even if it meant wearing poison-filled thin clothes in below-zero weather, exhaling white breath like steam while dancing and singing, he wanted to be invited to a year-end music festival just once. He wanted that kind of warm experience—waving hands wrapped in scarves toward fans whose faces were red from the cold, shouting “Be careful not to catch a cold.”
Even if Seonwoo Jin hadn’t caused that dating disaster, with a streaming site daily peak ranking of 985th, they wouldn’t have stood on any broadcast station’s year-end stage, but still, if, if such a thing hadn’t happened.
Thinking such absurd thoughts, Jion’s eyes slowly closed as he lay face-down.
And when he opened his eyes again, Jion saw a familiar ceiling.
“……Huh?”
An excessively close ceiling. A narrow, dark room with yellowed, worn wallpaper and a musty smell. The smallest room in multi-family villa 302 on the 3rd floor—an address he still remembered vividly—the top bunk of a bunk bed.
“……A dream?”
Like a dream, Jion opened his eyes in a scene from the past. It was the restart of his flop idol life.
