Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 117:

“Sigh…”

I stared blankly at the screen after the video ended. Seon-woo came closer to me, sneaking a glance at my face.

[※‘Seon-woo’ is worried about you.]

I didn’t need Pposili to tell me that.

Seon-woo’s fair and delicate hand, which looked like he had never suffered, waved in front of my eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

I lightly pushed his hand away and moved his arm aside. But my vision was still dark. What should I do? There was one face that came to my mind.

“I’ll make a quick call and come back.”

I handed Pposili to Seon-woo, who was next to me, and went into the room. The air was heavy.

I needed someone to talk to. I searched for a contact on my phone messenger and pressed the call button.

“Our love falls like snowflakes~♪~ May it last forever~.”

The ringtone, which I guessed was a winter song by Floss, continued until someone picked up the phone after 30 seconds.

Hello, what’s up?

It was a voice that was familiar if familiar, and awkward if awkward.

“Hi, this is Cheon Ise. Is this Hwijin?”

Hwijin answered with a short exclamation, along with my concise greeting.

“You’re calling me after watching the teaser, right?”

He was right.

“Yes, I was quite surprised. The editing was different from what I expected. How are you feeling over there?”

I didn’t want to be misunderstood in a situation where only a third of the nine members agreed to the friendship operation.

“To be honest, I can’t say I’m happy.”

Aah. I figured. I clenched my fist at his response that didn’t betray my expectations. The only good thing was that there was a twist afterwards.

“Don’t worry too much, they all know it’s a manipulation.”

“Ah… Okay. I just wanted to check on you.”

“There will be some talk on the internet, I guess. Well, there’s nothing we can do. It’s not a day or two that we get edited in a provocative way by piecing things together.”

Maybe it was because of his experience in My Idol Stage.

He was described as a tyrant who was beaten by everyone, but his attitude was more resigned than angry.

“Be careful when you film the official episode. But anyway, if the production team decides to frame and edit it, whatever you say will change according to their intention, so don’t stress too much.”

Hwijin, who was older and a survival veteran, comforted me.

Should I thank him and nod? It was a situation where anyone would be angry, but he was more calm than I thought.

I took a short breath and replied.

“I’m okay, but what about you, Hwijin? You must have been upset.”

Then Hwijin laughed as if it was a surprising question.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Who else would it be if not you? I shivered as I remembered how awkwardly we acted friendly at the shooting site and rubbed my goosebumped arm.

“Well… I don’t know. I’ve never thought that I would cause someone to worry about this kind of problem. It’s refreshing, I guess. I’m fine, Naru is a bit upset, but Yu-geon really liked it.”

It was just the moment when I was curious about Kang Yu-geon and Shim Naru’s situation. Shim Naru was a jerk in everything, so let’s leave him aside…

“Yu-geon liked it?”

I asked back the one sentence that made me doubt my ears.

“Yes, he said to tell you welcome to the world of survival.”

There was a sound of something hitting hard, then I heard the sound of Hwijin rubbing somewhere on his body and whining. Then, suddenly, Yu-geon’s voice came out as if he had snatched the phone.

“I never said that.”

Yu-geon left a short word and went back to Hwijin right away.

“Ah, well… I think you can just understand it as something like that.”

Well… From Kang Yu-geon’s point of view, it might not be very pleasant that the situation didn’t go as I intended.

But as long as we had our own purpose, we needed a quick response to the first strike of the broadcasting station bastards.

“First of all, our main goal was to reduce the unnecessary war between the fandoms. If you have time next Wednesday, I think it would be better to move on to the thing I told you before.”

“Ah, yes. I told the manager, so I’ll let you know by tomorrow morning if I can definitely get some time.”

“Yes, please do your best.”

Call ended.

I looked at the phone that was hung up and my head started to hurt.

It was only moved up earlier than planned, but it wasn’t enough to call it a hitch.

‘I’ll win this.’

Manipulation and fabrication. Let’s see who wins. I had no intention of backing down after coming this far.

A few days later. The final approval from the company came down and the first guest appearance of Floss’s Boys in Crisis was confirmed.

It wasn’t the whole, but only the three that had been agreed upon in advance, but since the three were in the top ranks in terms of popularity, a considerable impact was expected.

I got the impression that the company was rather welcoming, not opposed.

‘Why? Is it because it doesn’t cost extra compared to hiring outside people?’

There seemed to be something fishy. I couldn’t confirm the reason clearly right away.

“Today is the day when the first guest joins us in the afternoon, so let’s finish cleaning the field by the morning.”

Floss was joining at 3 p.m.

Before then, we were asked to clean up the weeds that had grown again and prepare for the guests. All the members had a dumbfounded expression.

“Do we have to do this by ourselves?”

The field was dry and twisted because it was not harvested in time, and the crops that had returned to nature were tangled up and created a bizarre atmosphere.

“When the guests come later, there will be a mission to proceed separately! Let’s get ready to welcome them before it’s too late!”

What are you trying to make eight people do? Kyunghwa grumbled and picked up a sickle.

“Oh Yi-jun, you go with me to clean the field.”

“Huh? Just the two of us?”

Kyunghwa picked up a rake and handed it to Yi-jun and answered.

“That guy can’t even step in because of the bugs, and Ise and Seonwoo have to prepare the meal, so there’s only you and me.”

The one who was pointed out as ‘that guy’ was Seong-won, who was sitting blankly on the porch.

It was too cold to leave Aeongi alone, so he had to find a staff to take care of her separately, and it seemed to bother him a lot.

Well, I’m not lonely anymore, now that I have Pposili. Maybe the lonely one is Son Seong-won.

Yi-jun grumbled, “He’s always taking advantage of me.” He grabbed a hoe and disappeared into the field.

“Seong-won, don’t just sit there. Go and make a fire pit so we can roast some potatoes later.”

I pointed to a pile of bricks on one side of the yard and said to Seong-won, who still had a blank expression.

“Okay.”

Seong-won finally agreed and went to carry the bricks. Only Seon-woo and I were left on the porch.

“Shall we start by preparing the ingredients for today’s meal?”

It was practically impossible to whip up a meal for eight people in this old house, without a proper environment.

If we didn’t want to eat dinner at 9 o’clock, it would be wise to prepare the potatoes, sweet potatoes, meat, mushrooms, and vegetables that we would roast in advance.

“Yeah!”

Seon-woo’s eyes sparkled as he headed to the kitchen. Huh… Maybe it was because winter was right around the corner. The frost that had frozen on the kitchen window had melted and left clear marks.

‘I need to get ready to boil some hot water.’

There was a mountain of work to do. Alright, then let’s clean up the fireplace a bit before we start repairing the house! I pushed the scraper into the fireplace with a determined look.

“Hello, we’re here to visit!”

A little later. The three members of Floss arrived at the filming location of Boys in Crisis and looked around the deserted yard.

“Is anyone here?”

What’s going on? Why did they call us and then leave? They all entered the yard with bewildered expressions.

“What the…?”

Then, behind them came the sound of an engine, and the car that had brought them left the road.

“Hyung? Hello? Hello??”

Hwijin was confused by the situation and looked around, when he heard footsteps from the dark entrance of the warehouse.

“Is anyone there?”

Naru shrieked and hid his small body behind Hwijin, feeling the eerie atmosphere.

“What the hell? Why did they call us and then leave?”

Naru raised his voice angrily, and Yu-geon shushed him with his finger.

Why did he drag himself into this ridiculous plan? Naru’s face was so pale that Yu-geon’s ears were already burning.

“Ah, sorry. We had a little accident…”

The voice that came from the dark warehouse was fortunately familiar.

“Accident?”

Hwijin asked, stretching his voice, and at the same time, the owner of the voice opened the old warehouse door and showed himself.

“What accident… Aaaah!!!”

They were greeted by two pairs of bright eyes covered in black ash.

If we slept like this, it was obvious that all eight of us would be found with our mouths twisted the next day.

‘I’ve done this fireplace cleaning a few times when I was young, so it shouldn’t be too hard.’

It should be enough to just check if any wild animals or strange things got in since I scraped it once in the spring.

And why did my bad premonition never miss?

Ugh, Seon-woo panicked as he took out the acorns and nuts that filled the fireplace.

“We’re ruining the winter food of the squirrel friends…”

But that didn’t mean we could freeze to death.

“If we move them to the side of the warehouse where no one goes in and out, they’ll take them themselves. …Maybe.”

I didn’t know the truth, but it was better to convince myself that way. Then, a squirrel popped out of the fireplace.

“Chirp-, squeak-!”

The small rodent boasted an amazing spirit as it jumped out and ran straight for Seon-woo’s head.

“Ugh, sorry, sorry!”

And Seon-woo lost his balance and buried his face in the pile of acorns and ashes he had scraped out.

“Hey, hey! Wait!”

“Ow, it hurts! Save me, hyung!”

Seon-woo couldn’t bring himself to pull off the squirrel with full force and grabbed my arm. As the ashes flew everywhere, I also became covered in charcoal.

“Ugh, let go of your hand first…!”

As we struggled together, the squirrel squeaked and went into the warehouse with a warning.

“Ah, we can’t let it go in there!”

If we left the warehouse door open this season, everything inside would freeze.

“Ugh, wait a minute. We have to get the squirrel out first. Ouch!”

Unfortunately, this old house’s warehouse didn’t have a single light bulb. As I tried to get rid of the invisible squirrel with ashes all over me, Floss arrived.

“Ah, I’m sorry. We just had a little accident…”

“Accident?”

“What accident… Aaaah!!!”

And this would later be known as the ‘Attempted Assassination of Floss Leader by Climax’ among the idol fandoms.

The real relationship between Climax and Floss began with this assassination attempt.