Chapter 68

I took a sip of the drink Park Young-Ho gave me and immediately thought,

‘…This is a trap.’

This high-calorie drink was his secret ploy to make me gain weight so that I wouldn’t stand out on stage…

“Isn’t it good, Mr. Tae-Yoon? This is my favorite drink combination in Star Café!”

…But Park Young-Ho sounded way too bright for me to think he had any devious schemes. I sipped the chocolate chip whipping deluxe, whatever. Although it tasted super calorie-dense, it was difficult for me to stop drinking it.

‘It’s good…!’

I had continuously eaten diet meals like salad and chicken breast ever since I regressed, so my tongue was craving a more stimulating taste. I had been keeping my appetite in check until now, but…

Sigh…

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“It’s good.”

“…? What? Then why are you getting ang…”

“No, it’s nothing.”

My hard efforts all crumbled because of one drink. I thought I should just drink half of it and stop. I put down the drink in the corner of the practice room after drinking about half of it. Then I exchanged greetings with the other Only One members.

One of them asked, “Did you go home safely yesterday?”

“Yes, I did. Thank you for asking.”

“Did you have a hard time coming here?”

“No, I had no trouble.”

“Did you eat breakfast?”

“Yes, I just ate salad—”

“Whaaaat! You should eat well.”

“…?”

“Hahaha! Well, we all know that we always have to be on a diet, but I just said that to wish you well.”

I stared blankly at the Only One members. Honestly, I still wondered why they all seemed to like me. Even though it always felt like I was fighting a battle of nerves with their leader, the other members were always all smiles whenever they saw me. It felt like Park Young-Ho began hovering around me ever since I saved him, but the other Only One members were also nice to me for no reason. Since there was such a large character gap between the Only One members and their leader, it was hard for me to adjust to their group.

‘How on earth does Kang Hyun-Sung fit in with a group like this?’

In the future, Kang Hyun-Sung became quite attached to his team- at least, that was what his interviews or official activities in the future indicated, and he subtly expressed his affection for his group.

‘I can’t believe Kang Hyun-Sung and these golden retrievers are going to become friends.’

However, I couldn’t imagine it at the moment. I thought it would be faster for me to get closer to them than him. I continued chatting with the Only One members like this for a while, but honestly, it was more like they asked questions, and I just answered.

Then, the production crew entered the practice in the middle of our conversation. Since we all got a message that they were coming during practice yesterday night, nobody was too surprised. Since the team alliance was a mix of multiple groups, they said it was difficult to get separate practice videos, and they were going to place observation cameras instead. It seemed as if they were going to install the observation cameras now.

“We’ll take this back and change the battery on our own, so don’t worry about this.”

“I hope your practice goes well~”

The production crew said these words and quickly disappeared. They installed and left so quickly that it was hard to think they were here just a second ago.

“Wow! It’s following me.”

“The camera is really small.”

“It feels like we became a celebrity for real…?”

“Ah…I might have really become an idol…?”

The Only One members exchanged jokes while staring at the installed camera. I thought the members in our group were very energetic, but this group was not lacking in energy either.

When I wondered how I could adapt to this, Kang Hun-Sung said to the members who were playing in front of the camera, “Guys, stop the chit-chat and start stretching.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s stretch!”

“Let’s do it!”

Even though he spoke in a commanding way, everyone followed suit without complaining.

It felt like there was a clear hierarchy in Only One, and I could now understand the team’s structure.

‘They’re like a sports club style.’

If our team was like a noisy group of friends, this group felt more like a sports team with a clear hierarchy. The members of Only One stopped chatting at Kang Hyun-Sung’s words and began stretching.

I stared at them blankly in surprise when Park Young-Ho suddenly handed me something and said, “Mr. Tae-Yoon, this is…”

I lowered my head and looked at the object that Park Young-Ho handed me. It was a—

“…Foam roller.” It was a foam roller that I had desperately longed for in my declaration of war video.

“Oh! Finally!”

“Congratulations!”

“You should hurry up and use it now!”

If there were even a little bit of cynicism or mockery in their tone, I would have felt annoyed, but these people were really congratulating from the bottom of their hearts.

‘What? Why are they sincerely congratulating me for getting a foam roller?’

“Ah, yes…” I took the foam roller and began rolling my body with it. However, I hadn’t used it properly many times, so I awkwardly moved my body around.

They must have noticed my inexperience as another Only One member, Kim Ju-Hyun moved closer to me and said, “Hey, you can’t use the foam roller like that~”

He looked very fierce and scary, but his demonstration of using the foam roller was downright ridiculous. He sang out, “Softly~ Swoosh~ Swoosh~”

I tried using the foam roller by copying his movements.

“Now, try copying what I said. Softly~”

“…Excuse me?”

“It feels different from when you say that out loud and when you don’t.”

“…”

I thought he was a very unique person and wondered how a person like him worked under Kang Hyun-Sung.

“Kim Ju-Hyun, don’t make fun of Tae-Yoon.”

“Hehe, yes, sir!”

‘What the heck is this?’

With just a single sentence, Kim Ju-Hyun immediately stopped talking and returned to his place. I started warming up with the Only One members, and after warming up for about ten minutes—

“I’m sorry for being late!”

“There was so much traffic on the way.”

OnebyOne Kim Sang-Hoon and Choi Jin-Young arrived.

“I’m really sorry! I was confused with the room downstairs, so I spaced out for 10 minutes there…”

Then Bleshu Kang Jin-Kyu arrived.

“Shall we start the meeting?” We sat in a circle and started the meeting.

* * *

A total of nine people, including Only One, sat in a circle. Now that we were sitting in a circle like this, an image came to mind.

‘This feels like Select Your Idol.’

In Select Your Idol, which had now become a national survival audition, there were a lot of scenes where people sat around in a circle and had meetings.

The first person to speak up was Kang Hyun-Sung. “Did you all select some songs to perform?” Right before we all separated, Kang Hyun-Sung had told us to think about some possible song choices that matched the concept of a younger man and first love. Everyone smiled awkwardly at his question, and the first person who volunteered to showcase their song was Park Young-Ho.

Park Young-Ho said, “I just chose a standard song. Haha.”

We listened to the song that Park Young-Ho chose through the tablet PC that he connected to the speaker.

‘It’s a song that came out last spring.’

It was a song from a male idol group who were not up there with other first-tier idol groups but was also too famous to be called second-tier. It was a very standard spring song and fit both the concept of a younger man and first love.

“It’s good.”

“As expected, people think alike.”

Although people’s responses were good, I was a bit concerned. “Hmm.”

Kang Hyun-Sung seemed to share the same thoughts as me as he said, “The song is good and fits our concept, but let’s put it on hold for now and move on.”

I wondered if the reasoning behind his words was the same as mine, and his following words confirmed my suspicions.

“It’s too much of a recent song, and it’s such a hit song that it’s risky for us to perform it.”

…Our thoughts were unpleasantly similar. After that, we listened to the other team members’ selection, but no song made me think, ‘Wow, this is it!’ Then Kim Sang-Hoon from OnebyOne proposed a slightly different song than the others.

“It’s a theme song from an animation, right?”

“Yes! I thought it fit the image of the memories of first love pretty well, so I chose this song. What do you all think?”

It was a fresh approach as it was a nostalgic animation theme song. It was probably a song that people in a similar generation as us have heard at least once. However, there was one problem.

‘The lyrics and melody are too old-fashioned.’

It sounded good because of the nostalgia factor, but honestly, if I judged it by the melody and lyrics alone, it was lagging far behind the songs that were coming out now in terms of quality. The lyrics were in typical animation style without rhyme or flow, and the melody was also old-fashioned, containing verses that were popular at the time. However, I couldn’t say this all directly as there were probably a lot of viewers who had deep affection for that song.

I wondered how I could word my rejection softly when Kang Hyun-Sung smoothly said, “The approach is fresh, and the song selection is good, but it’s hard for me to think about rearranging the song to perform this on stage.” As expected, he had experience from coming out in

Select Your Idol.

After a few more members showcased their songs, it was finally my turn. Frankly, I hadn’t brought an amazing song either, and I just brought out a song without clear disadvantages. It was not a recent song, but it wasn’t too old. It also matched the younger man and first love concept.

It was not a hit song, but it was a song that was pretty well known for being a hidden masterpiece. I didn't have many possible choices to choose from after applying many filters. Among them, I chose a song that might appeal to the public the most.

“I chose Light’s .”

“Never Mind” was a song from Light, the group that sang the “Traitor” song we performed in the second round. It was a b-side track from Light’s first mini album, and it was a famous song only among fans. Since Light didn’t have many refreshing songs with innocent vibes like this, the fans considered this song to be a hidden treasure. The melody was easy to listen to, and the lyrics were also written in a general manner that made sense no matter how they were interpreted.

Overall, it was a song that was suitable for the concept of first love and a younger man. It seemed as if my song selection made a good impression too as the others gave positive responses.

“Hmm.” Kang Hyun-Sung flinched his eyebrows and looked quite surprised.

“Ah!”

“Yeah, there was this too.”

“This is good.”

Since this song was released a while ago, there was less risk of being compared to Light’s performance, and above all, there were few instances where Light performed this song on stage. Since this was a song that hasn’t been consumed by the public yet, this song could also feel fresh to the audience. Judging by the team member’s reactions, it seemed as if my song would be picked.

“It’s good. I don’t think there’s a need to listen to the song that I thought of.” Kang Hyun-Sung also said that he liked it, but I was surprised that he said there was no need for him to even listen to his song. He must have really liked it, but I was curious what kind of song a person like Kang Hyun-Sung picked.

Thus, I asked, “But I still want to hear the song that you chose, so can’t you tell us?”

Then Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me with a monotonous expression, “I actually chose the same song.” He indifferently showed his playlist on his phone screen, and there really was Light’s “Never Mind” at the very top.

“Then let’s go with this song and practice,” Kang Hyun-Sung said as he turned off his phone’s screen.

On the other hand, I thought,

‘…Damn it.’

I felt annoyed that my thought process kept overlapping with his.