Jion recalled the memory of receiving a call late at night from the police station saying they were holding one of his students. He was a kid who didn’t receive proper attention from his guardians and subtly showed his twisted side even during class.
His face was handsome enough that Jion had counseled him well not to cause trouble, but he suddenly quit the academy. And when he received a call from the police station half a year later saying “Please come pick up your student,” how absurd it had been.
Seeing that he’d given his contact number rather than his homeroom teacher’s, it seemed he wanted to rely on Jion, but despite Jion’s efforts, he ultimately couldn’t straighten that student out. After dropping out, the kid hung around with bad crowds and fell into a dark path, eventually causing a drunk motorcycle accident and dying. That painful memory always remained as deep regret for Jion.
If I had been just a little stricter then, or perhaps a little more affectionate, or if I’d persuaded him to keep taking lessons saying I wouldn’t charge tuition, would that kid not have gone astray?
Still, it’s fortunate I regressed. Jion was grateful that child was alive and healthy somewhere in this world right now. And at the same time, he felt a headache at the newly faced difficulty.
Seonwoo Jin too—surely he won’t go astray if I don’t give him attention and start drunk driving, doing drugs, getting into assault disputes and such.
Jion grabbed Seonwoo Jin’s chin in his rising anxiety and whipped it toward himself. And meeting eyes with the startled-faced Seonwoo Jin, he brainwashed him with hope in an affectionate yet powerful tone.
“If you stay with me, good things will definitely happen. The kind of thing that makes you want to thank everyone in the world!”
“……What are you talking about.”
“I’ll make it that way for you. Let’s work hard on activities together. Trust me. Okay?”
Let’s practice hard! If you just do what the teacher says, the teacher will definitely get you into college!
The persuasive power of a 7-year entrance exam specialist instructor was custom-made for the weak mentality of a 2-year failed idol. At Jion’s powerful hope brainwashing, Seonwoo Jin’s childish and twisted heart gradually loosened and the venom left his eyes. Seonwoo Jin’s face flushed red as he nodded shyly at Jion’s words.
“……Yeah, well. Anyway, we’re the same group…… Of course we’ll keep going together……”
“Right.”
Jion turned his head in relief, but Seonwoo Jin’s gaze still remained on Jion’s face, staring intently at his profile.
The Jion seen from Seonwoo Jin’s gaze was like a delicate European doll filled with soft lines and gorgeous details, unlike himself whose features were all large and sharply defined. His thick eyelashes and delicate-looking toes were also pretty.
“……Jion, you’re really pretty.”
“Huh?”
“Ah, no!”
Seonwoo Jin, who had been staring at his face mindlessly and accidentally spoke his true feelings, panicked and withdrew the arm he’d been resting on Jion’s neck. When his arm suddenly withdrew, Jion painfully banged his head on the bed headboard he’d been leaning against.
“Oww!”
“Gasp! Are you okay?”
Seonwoo Jin, frightened by the thud sound, hastily climbed on top of Jion to check his injury. And hugging Jion’s small head tightly to his chest, he blew on and stroked the soft hair dyed a light color.
“What do I do? Does it hurt? There doesn’t seem to be blood…… Or is there? Are you dizzy?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine…… Kek.”
More than that, I’d appreciate it if you’d let go.
Too shocked to control his strength, Seonwoo Jin hugged his head too tightly and he felt like he’d suffocate to death. Suffocating to death on Seonwoo Jin’s chest muscles—at the thought of a cause of death like fan gushing, Jion’s consciousness became slightly hazy.
“Gasp! Sorry!”
If Seonwoo Jin, who thought Jion’s speech ending hazily was strange, hadn’t checked his condition, he really would have almost suffocated to death being hotly embraced in a man’s arms. Jion coughed and caught his breath, then rubbed the corners of his eyes where tears had formed with his fingertips.
“I’m okay, I’m okay.”
And the moment he looked up at Seonwoo Jin with a light smile, Seonwoo Jin suddenly felt strange. Jion’s face looking up at him with messy hair from being hugged, cheeks reddened from breathlessness, eyelashes moistened with tears, and reddened eye corners looked too lewd.
Am I really okay?
His face flushed and his body heated up, Seonwoo Jin unconsciously muttered.
“……I think I caught a cold.”
Originally, parents’ nagging about studying and interfering with career paths only happens when the kid shows some promise. It’s the same with idol groups—once you become nobodies like BNCZ, even the agency doesn’t touch you much.
If you say you’ll try to do something yourself, all they show is a reaction like “Go ahead ㅇㅇ.” A touching true story like “You guys are trying so hard to make it on your own, how admirable. Okay, I’ll push hard for you” doesn’t unfold at this point.
Still, isn’t it better than “We don’t want to spend money on you, so we’d prefer if you held your breath until your contract period ends”? Jion strongly insisted to the members who hesitated saying they weren’t mentally prepared yet.
“We need to keep up activities when we’ve caught momentum like this.”
He didn’t know what momentum they’d caught with 2,500 fan cafe members, but there was a big difference between having visible numbers and not. Isn’t the mindset different between recording songs that give you reality-checking thoughts of “Is there even anyone listening to this?” every time you release them versus recording with the thought that “At least 2,000 people will listen”?
And to Jion’s thinking, right now was the best timing to release a digital single. Because this point was the period when the idol market was most empty while avoiding a head-on collision with Loopy Cupy, who’d had the first scandal with Seonwoo Jin.
Of course, whether the house was empty or full, season didn’t matter much to BNCZ, who couldn’t even enter the 999th rank on music charts. However, now when many idol groups weren’t active was the perfect time for Seonwoo Jin.
‘With no other girl groups, the probability of making eye contact in the waiting room, hallways, etc. is at minimum.’
Jion still harbored doubts about Seonwoo Jin’s reformation and didn’t expect his low concept of chastity and thin sense of responsibility to improve.
Just muzzle him well and tie the leash well…….
“What concept should we go with? Since we rose as topless guys, should it be sexy?”
Whether he’d made up his mind at Jion’s persuasion or suddenly became happy about making a comeback, Eungi asked while stroking Ryu Geon’s stomach. Ryu Geon also nodded with a determined face as if he’d steeled himself for that direction.
But continuing to strip just because you rose by stripping is an amateur’s strategy. Jion grinned and cupped his hand under Seonwoo Jin’s face to show off his flower.
“No. Let’s go with refreshing, healthy, and handsome.”
“Refreshing?”
“Healthy?”
Everyone made flustered expressions as if it wasn’t the direction they’d expected, but no one questioned the concept of ‘handsome’ presented while emphasizing Seonwoo Jin’s face. Jion persuaded the members who were still puzzled.
“We’re second year but practically like rookies. And I did market research recently, and other groups are all doing lots of power! Sexy! That kind of stuff. It’s hard for us to stand out among them, and I thought we should do a concept befitting rookies now that would be hard to do after this period passes.”
“Mm…… Well, that sounds reasonable.”
“I’m also in favor of not stripping.”
Having the best body among them, Ryu Geon shyly expressed his approval for the refreshing concept. Jion nodded, gladly accepting his approval. Ryu Geon didn’t seem to know yet, but even with a fresh and refreshing concept, they could strip as much as they wanted if they tried.
“But now the song and choreography…… How do we do that?”
“I looked into that too.”
Even at Jinyeong’s question, Jion had no hesitation. From right after realizing this life was a regression, Jion had scraped together all means he could use now utilizing his past memories. Among the means he found that way were a composer, Contemporary.
Contemporary was the most successful composer in 32-year-old Jion’s world. Working mainly on fast-tempo idol songs, every song he released settled into streaming site rankings, and “receiving Contemporary’s song” was enough to become marketing.
As successful and expensive as he was, he didn’t give songs to artists whose so-called ‘vibe’ didn’t match, but there was one exception.
“I try my best to give songs to places that reached out to me first during my unknown days.”
He was a loyal man who didn’t forget the difficulties of his unknown days. And Jion planned to create a bond of loyalty and trust with him at this point in his regression, at this point when Contemporary was as unknown as they were.
Hello, Contemporary-nim.
We are an idol group called BNCZ from Song Route. We were greatly impressed by the sound you’ve released and the musical direction you pursue……
—About two paragraphs of flattery—
—Self-introduction trying to seem as little-known as possible—
—Roughly begging words about wanting to negotiate price because there’s no budget—
—While subtly calling out about 20 more than the unit price Contemporary originally receives for songs—
Then we’ll await Contemporary-nim’s reply. Thank you.
As a result of unfailingly displaying the writing skills Jion used when correcting college applicants’ personal statements and sucking up to practical music department professors—a vulgar expression but true—a very positive reply came back from Contemporary. Not just positive but a wave of emotion.
Please come to my studio and listen to the songs together and choose. I have a lot of work done. If you tell me the direction you want, we can discuss together……
Artists thirsty for recognition are dangerous like this. Jion sighed while thinking of Seonwoo Jin. At least Seonwoo Jin wasn’t an art-obsessed person, fortunately. Of course, the possibility of falling into the path of an artist patient with one wrong step hadn’t disappeared yet…….
This worry of Jion’s wasn’t a byproduct of prejudice, anxiety, suspicion and doubt. In reality, even while receiving Jion’s hope brainwashing, shower of praise, and constant cuddling, Seonwoo Jin still showed no great motivation for group activities. Not only did he not offer a single opinion during the concept meeting, but when going to Contemporary’s studio, he alone showed signs of not really wanting to go.
“Then shall Jinyeong and I just go together?”
If not for this special technique of Jion’s, Seonwoo Jin probably would have held out until the end asking whether all members needed to go. Seonwoo Jin, who didn’t want his only friend stolen, immediately took the bait at Jion’s provocation.
If only he wasn’t so handsome, he’d be an endlessly troublesome member. Because this face was the group’s only otaku summoning formation, he’d drag him along to the end, but if he had no particular charm and his face was just so-so, Jion would have quickly made him withdraw with the skills he used when counseling talentless music majors and nipped all risk factors in the bud.
“You’re really so handsome……”
Too much to throw away…….
