The 1 million won I received today, and the 300,000 I’d scraped together bit by bit…
I got first place this month thanks to a sudden skill boost buff, but next month will be difficult.
Because that bastard Seon Doyu will work himself to death to reclaim the first place he lost.
This guy’s Esper trait manifested as ‘idol,’ so he’s serious enough about being an idol that it’s hard to beat him normally.
On the day when doomsday approached within two months, I booked two hot spring trip vouchers timed for doomsday.
* * *
“Lee Deobuk! Why are you grinning?”
“Father!”
Father, who had parked his truck outside the company, playfully ruffled Lee Yesol’s hair.
The fans of the agency’s idol group ‘Pangpang’ waiting in front of the agency didn’t miss that scene and pressed their shutters.
“Is Buk in a good mood? Why are you acting cute?”
“Did he get first place in the monthly evaluation? Let’s take it first.”
The sight of public trainee Lee Yesol acting cute toward his father was a rare and precious scene.
Lee Yesol following Father into the car, looking awkward at the camera baptism, appeared innocent.
‘He’s gained a bit more weight than before. He seems cute too…’
This user, active under the nickname ‘Pangdeok,’ selected two photos of Lee Yesol from the camera screen and posted them on the trainee gallery.
[Title: Monthly first place Lee Deobuk? (22)]
(Photo)
Just left bouncing excitedly
└Fucking cute
└Honestly, among the Big 3, Planet’s future seems brightest
└He gained weight though?
└Ffs kids like that need to be blocked from debut from the start; they become triple-chinned later because they can’t manage themselves
└Overflowing with Deobuk charm
I closed the gallery window I’d been checking out of habit.
Here, ‘Lee Deobuk’ is my name preserved in my elementary school album, and my name before the name change.
Before the regression, being called by that name was a trigger button.
Father called me ‘Deobuk-ah’ until the moment he passed away, and I fought with him every day because of that stubbornness during his lifetime.
The origin of the name is absurd too. It didn’t have any great meaning, and after I was born, I was named that because I had more hair than other babies.
It was a name Grandfather gave me, and he used to make excuses that in the old days, babies were given ugly names so they’d live long.
Thinking about it now that I’m grown, it’s a bit strange but it does seem like a name overflowing with star quality.
“Tired? Get some sleep.”
“Aren’t you tired, Father?”
“I slept a bit while waiting earlier.”
We were leaving the congested city and entering the highway. A yawn came out.
“Then I’ll sleep a bit.”
These days I’d been continuously bulking up, so my body was fresh but I was mentally fatigued.
I reclined the seat back and closed my eyes when my phone in my front pocket vibrated. Ah, who is it.
[Seohyeon] Busy?
Wow, what’s this?
There was a KakaoTalk from Kim Seohyeon.
[Seohyeon] Register as friend / Reject
I rubbed my eyes and looked again. [Seohyeon] wasn’t a saved name I’d set.
He’d set his own name like that… Pretty cute.
[Lee Yesol] no going home why????
[Seohyeon] Can you tell me about the nutritious rice you mentioned before?
[Lee Yesol] oh right forgot!!!! wait
[Lee Yesol] (Attachment)
[Lee Yesol] (Link)
[Lee Yesol] cheapest price is grandmother sick again??
[Seohyeon] No she’s fine thanks
[Lee Yesol] then that’s a relief ㅠ did she eat???
[Seohyeon] ㅇㅇ did you?
Does he come across well through text? Talking through keyboard, the kid himself feels softer. He even asks back if I ate?
[Lee Yesol] gonna eat at home jeomechu go go
[Seohyeon] Why
[Lee Yesol] ㅇㅇㅇcompany
[Seohyeon] Ah
[Seohyeon] What’s jeomechu
[Lee Yesol] dinner menu recommendation~~ you don’t even know that?
Whether he hadn’t left the chat window, the read receipt appeared immediately. But there was no reply.
It was about time for a read-and-ignore. Well, this much conversation was enough. I shoved the phone in my pocket and closed my eyes.
The time when Lee Yesol fell into a deep sleep.
Bzzzz, the phone precariously perched in his pocket lit up its screen and vibrated.
[ChickTalk Preview]
[Seohyeon] (Link)
[Seohyeon] (Photo) (Photo)
[Seohyeon] How about this?
[Seohyeon] They say this place is good
[Seohyeon] They give cheese balls if you write a review
The dinner menu Kim Seohyeon recommended after much deliberation was ‘Soy Sauce Braised Chicken with Soft-Boiled Egg.’
* * *
‘Wait, is this kid serious about dinner recommendations…’
I discovered Kim Seohyeon’s ChickTalk two more days later in the afternoon.
[Lee Yesol] (Thank you thank you meow~)
I roughly sent a sticker of a cat holding a heart and greeting, then came up to the practice room.
“Hyung’s here?”
“Yesol~”
While I was greeting the kids, the director came in. The moment our eyes met, it was a nagging bombardment.
“Lee Yesol, did I tell you to manage your weight or not?”
“Ah, I didn’t gain weight.”
When I took off my brown coat and pulled back my hood, muscles that were taking shape were revealed.
“Oh… biceps yum yum…”
Kim Jaei from behind exaggeratedly chimed in, but the director pressed his forehead.
“Why are you working out without permission? Do you think bulking up matches the debut group concept?”
“Isn’t this level of lean muscle just right?”
“No. This is a deduction factor for you, keep that in mind.”
I nodded. Anyway, early next month, once I got my allowance I was planning to run away quickly, so I could let it go in one ear and out the other.
“Hyuung… are you okay?”
Seon Doyu approached, gnawing on his lower lip.
He was like this before the regression too. A typical kind comforting robot.
* * *
As soon as the CSAT ended, Kim Seohyeon worked at an orchard. It was simple work picking out damaged apples in a trailer, but he did it because the daily wage was good.
“Your looks are too handsome. You shouldn’t be picking apples, you should be modeling, shouldn’t you?”
Those words felt awkward. Even though he’d heard them his whole life, he couldn’t seem to get used to them, so he just nodded.
How did Lee Yesol react when he heard words like that?
‘Lee Yesol sunbae is so handsome!’
During PE class, at a junior’s exclamation, Lee Yesol had cheekily responded by making a V with only his index finger and thumb under his chin. He really was a guy like a celebrity.
ChickTalk!
Just then, a talk notification arrived.
It was Lee Yesol, who’d left him on read for over two days after he’d gone to the trouble of recommending dinner.
[Lee Yesol] (Meow~ thank you thank you meow~)
On the screen, a cat holding a heart placard was wiggling its tail and acting cute.
“What is this?”
Kim Seohyeon stared down at the heart placard the cat was holding.
Even after turning off the screen, that image seemed to keep remaining like an afterimage.
* * *
Recently, trainee Lee Yesol’s attitude had been poor.
Really, it was to the point where you wondered if it was okay to debut him like this, but you also couldn’t not debut him.
“He got drunk on himself for getting first place once in a short period. Before re-signing, I’ll take responsibility and straighten out his head.”
The trainer came into the practice room with fire in his eyes.
The first person he called was Lee Yesol, who’d recently been steeped in narcissism.
“Lee Yesol, it seems like your body is getting bigger.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t stop bulking up?”
“Yes.”
“Lee Yesol! Answer sincerely!”
“What… what should I do? I just answered.”
“Lee Yesol.”
“Yes.”
“If you’re like this, you really won’t make the debut group. How can we work when the company and you don’t agree like this? Do you even intend to sit at the negotiation table?”
“Teacher.”
Lee Yesol’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, determination seemed to be there.
Getting petty threats with ‘debut’ held hostage was also getting tiresome.
Those in power are most annoying when they act like true power holders.
Anyway, I’d also acquired this month’s allowance, and the trainee contract would end in early January, so I decided not to have any regrets.
So while we’re on the subject.
“I’m not going to re-sign.”
“What?”
The trainer’s brow furrowed.
“What happened to you? What’s the problem?”
“……”
“Do you think the company will hold onto you if you do this? You really have a rotten head.”
The trainer seemed to see my words as something like a child’s tantrum who got upset at hearing unpleasant words.
“Yesol-ah, the debut group is right around the corner.”
“……”
“You poured all your dreams, your passion here. What about your father who picked you up every day? Your life? Are you going to throw all that away just because you got scolded a bit?”
But he was right. The company clearly knows I went all-in here, so it doesn’t make sense to quit right before the boy group launch.
“I don’t understand why you’re trying to catch me like catching a mouse.”
“……”
“All this stuff is suffocating, teacher.”
I imitated a burned-out trainee.
Actually, it wasn’t even imitation. Having been pulled out of a life where I was struggling after drinking all the dirty water at the bottom of the broadcasting industry, I was actually exhausted.
The trainer’s expression softened considerably.
“I understand Yesol’s feelings. For now, let’s practice and talk again later.”
But that ‘later’ never came. Because I really ran away as soon as the contract date expired.
The company watched my burned-out psychological state and kept testing the waters without hastily pushing a contract at me, but when they were about to season me, the food had disappeared.
Winter vacation began.
The company attacked our parents and pestered them constantly, and each time, our mother wore a worried expression.
I was so sorry too.
They were parents who had sacrificed together for my dream since middle school.
Father didn’t show it, but he’d gotten more wrinkles lately.
He couldn’t quite understand his son’s behavior of giving up right before fruition.
* * *
Kim Seohyeon, who was working a newly found convenience store part-time job, finished organizing the walk-in and sat down to turn on his cracked-screen phone.
[Planet Trainee Gallery]
He’d been entering here a lot lately.
Kim Seohyeon was a beginner gallery user, but he diligently scrolled through the top posts first.
With the boy group launch imminent, the Planet trainee gallery was more active than ever.
The screen Kim Seohyeon was looking at already had the majority of post titles turned gray, meaning ‘viewed.’
When he pressed refresh, a new post with a rich black title appeared. Kim Seohyeon quickly clicked on it.
[Title: Breaking) Lee Deobuk left Planet]
Looks like he didn’t make the debut group
“…Didn’t make it?”
It was surprising content, but Kim Seohyeon calmly did as he’d learned and clicked recommend and left a comment.
└Deobuk-chu
Soon comments piled up below it.
└Deobuk-chu (Edit/Delete)
└?
└Does that make sense?
└Who are they putting in after dropping him?
└Seriously where’s the proof?
They were all similar reactions.
Lee Yesol not becoming a celebrity… was a waste of the Republic of Korea’s talent.
