Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 270 Side Story 01. If You Want to Repay Me (1)

“Ugh…”

It was a clear spring day with no clouds in the sky, warm and perfect for activities. In the Climax dorm, a low groan filled the air.

“What’s wrong with you? If you’re going to keep whining like that, why don’t you go to the office or something?”

Finally, after enduring for a long time, Kyunghwa lost his patience and stopped stroking Aeongi on his stomach. He got up and snapped.

It was understandable. He had gotten up early in the morning and worked hard on something…

The leader, who often took on too much work and caused problems, was not making a single proposal, but kept writing and erasing, only creating wrinkles on his forehead.

I said briefly and stretched my arms to the ceiling with a sigh.

It had been over a month since the status window disappeared. My only interest these days was the second season of Jacon, which I would open with the regular album release.

‘I have such high expectations that I don’t know what to prepare.’

I had been sketching ideas while thinking about what the fans wanted from our plan, but I couldn’t come up with any certainty.

Travel? We already did that with Offbeat. Rural life was so boring in the last season that if we did it again, we would get complaints about changing the name of Jacon to Wise Climax Life or Climsiky.

Most of the concepts that were popular these days were things we had already done once.

‘Is it because we tried everything to catch up with what we didn’t… or couldn’t do?’

If I had to find something to finish in 1-4 episodes, a photo shoot or a recording would be fine… But since the first season of Crisis was planned as a long story, the fans would surely expect a generous volume this time.

It was only fair to repay them for their expectations. It was also beneficial to have a long story that would create a synergy effect with the album activities. �

“Are you not into mission-based plots?”

As I hesitated and couldn’t decide, Kyunghwa asked me with a dissatisfied expression.

“Yeah, I think it would be better to stick to one concept and dig deeper into it.”

What Kyunghwa meant by mission-based plots was that instead of going with one project from start to finish, whether it was 12 or 24 episodes, we would film a different topic every time.

There were many groups that did that, and many successful cases as well. But in fact, that was a kind of idea that you would throw a lot and hope that one of them would hit. I didn’t really want to do that.

‘It’s better to show them one thing that we can really do well than to show them a bunch of things.’

As I shrugged and gave a negative opinion, Kyunghwa gave up and lay down on the sofa again.

It was annoying to have a person who was sighing and resting in the house on a rare holiday.

I glanced at Kyunghwa and gently scratched Aeongi’s forehead, who came to my side and rubbed his head.

“Purr

As Aeongi’s loud purring echoed, Kyunghwa seemed to sort out his thoughts for a while and suddenly got up again.

“Tell me everything you’ve thought of so far.”

“Huh…?”

“What do you mean, ‘huh’? You’ve used up all your confident ideas, and you keep rejecting everything by yourself, saying this is why, that is why.”

As I pouted my lips, feeling like he had read my mind, Kyunghwa put on a stern face like a teacher checking homework.

“Why don’t you just pick the best one out of what you’ve thought of and try to improve the shortcomings as much as possible?”

That was true. That might be the wisest choice.

‘Of course, it might not be.’

I was becoming too cautious, not knowing if I could rely on the system’s help anymore.

“Okay.”

I grunted and wrinkled my forehead, telling him the lineup I had been thinking about.

As he listened, tapping the table, Kyunghwa stopped his finger and looked at me when a certain sentence came out.

“Huh. That seems like the best one.”

“Really?”

“Didn’t you scrap it when it came up before, but now it’s mostly solved?”

“Is it?”

“Don’t you think the fans would be curious why you don’t use your cooking skills in Jacon, when they all know you’re good at it?”

That was a reasonable point. It was because the plan that Kyunghwa agreed with was the open restaurant plan that I had mentioned in the beginning, but scrapped because it seemed like it would be too much of a one-man show.

“Umm…”

I still couldn’t make a decision because of the same problem, and Kyunghwa finally pushed the search screen to me.

“Look at this. They’re making a fuss about why you don’t cook Jacon. And we’ve established our recognition now, so you don’t have to worry about being overshadowed by you. Even if they don’t know Climax, there are many people who only know the members, right?”

That was a reasonable point. Recently, Seong-won’s personal OST song, which he recorded as an external request, had achieved more than expected results on the chart. Not to mention, he had secured a steady position and was expected to earn a pension-like income like other famous OSTs.

“Then…”

As I nodded reluctantly, Seon-woo burst open the door.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Huh?”

I burst out laughing at the sight of him running out of his room with half-closed eyes and sleep crusts, wondering what he had heard in his sleep.

“That’s not what I meant. Go back to bed.”

I sent Seon-woo back to his room, who looked disappointed, and the peaceful holiday continued as usual.

There were about 60 days left until the release of our regular album.

The first shoot for our regular comeback self-content was two weeks later. We came up with one episode’s worth of ideas in a pre-production meeting, and two more from scouting and menu development.

We planned to start the main part from the fourth episode, after filming three episodes of trial runs with the staff.

“Wow, what is this? It looks so legit.”

Yi-jun exclaimed as he saw the ‘Cheon’s Restaurant’ logo that occupied a large space in the meeting room. He then added an unnecessary remark that made me quickly cover his mouth.

“It kind of looks like a knock-off of the Cheon Soo chain… Mmph!”

“Please add a disclaimer at the bottom that this is Yi-jun’s personal opinion.”

Actually, I did intend to create a similar effect with ‘Cheon Soo’ and ‘Cheon’s’ in terms of the sound. But it’s different if the viewers feel that way personally and if we blatantly advertise that.

I rubbed the palm that touched Yi-jun’s mouth with disinfectant tissue and looked at the camera.

“Hello, Rise fans! This is Climax, greeting you again after a long time! It’s the second season of Boys in Crisis!”

Technically, it wasn’t that long since we came back with an offbeat activity. But since it had been more than six months since the last season of Boys in Crisis, it felt like a long time.

After I finished my part of the greeting, I naturally looked at Kyunghwa, who took over the rest of the speech.

“Do you know why we all gathered in this meeting room today?”

And then Yi-jun smiled brightly and said as if he had been waiting.

“We’re here to brainstorm how we can show you more fun content for the preparation of Boys in Crisis season 2!”

“Wow~.”

Seon-woo clapped his hands with an excited expression next to me, while Seong-won looked like he was smiling faintly but was actually frowning.

The shooting went smoothly with the familiar appearance of Climax.

Since we had already written the script for what we were going to talk about and what we were going to film, the shooting itself was not that difficult or blocked.

The only trouble was when Yi-jun kept throwing unnecessary ad-libs that were not in the script, making Seon-woo laugh so hard that he cried.

“Stop making him laugh, he’s going to cry.”

“Why, I’m just making our youngest happy.”

When we finished filming the necessary amount of footage, it was earlier than expected.

Contrary to the worries that we had done too much, it was a very smooth and peaceful progress.

It was about time for something to go wrong… Why was nothing happening? I felt more anxious as Yi-jun dropped another bomb that was not in the script.

“With the thought of going back to our roots…”

It felt like we had just debuted not long ago, but we were already in our sixth year. That was the context of his remark. Then the PD asked with a smile.

“Going back to our roots… That’s a good idea. Do you have any ideas, Yi-jun?”

I mean, who knows what he would say if you ask him. I looked at Yi-jun’s mouth with a nervous expression as I realized.

He blurted out nonsense.

“Come to think of it, we were really picking corn and doing farm work just a year ago.”

“Oh.”

The PD’s eyes sparkled and a strange anxiety passed through my frontal lobe.

“Then how about we harvest the ingredients for Cheon’s Restaurant ourselves?”

That wasn’t in the script, was it? Before Kyunghwa and I could stop it, Seon-woo agreed with enthusiasm.

“Wow, that sounds fun! If we harvest a lot, we can share it with the elders like last time and help them out too…!”

Dude, why are you doing this for no reason. By the time the shooting was really over, it was decided that the members would participate in the harvesting of local agricultural products as well as the procurement of ingredients.

“Is this possible? Don’t we have enough time?”

I tried to oppose it subtly, but the PD seemed to have a lot of motivation since we had gotten a good response from ‘Today, My Hometown’.

In the end, with the strong insistence of the PD, the proposal was passed.

After finishing the shooting completely, I headed to the accommodation with the members.

“Hmm…”

It would be fun to film, but… I briefly thought that I didn’t want to do anything that would tire me out.

I had become a bit famous and lost the reason to cling to idol activities.

I quickly regained my will and started looking for seasonal ingredients and production areas.

What’s available now… Fruits are strawberries and melons. Vegetables are tomatoes and greens, seafood are webfoot octopus and shellfish.

The most dramatic scene would probably be filming on the mudflat.

The most visually pleasing ones would be strawberries and melons.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

‘Fruits would be good for desserts… Vegetables, seafood, and tomatoes could be made into main dishes.’

Before I started developing the menu, I salivated as I imagined the delicious taste and smell of seasonal ingredients.

“Let’s make something special for dinner tonight.”

As soon as I muttered to myself, Seon-woo cheered.

“Awesome!”

I knew you would say that. What ingredients do I have left in the fridge…? I was leisurely thinking about the dinner menu when.

Beep-

My phone notification rang.

“Uh-oh…”

[Emergency Broadcast 2 PD Juyeol Lee] Ise, I’ve arranged our filming schedule like this, please check it once. 6:08 PM

The harvest experience schedule was confirmed faster than I expected and was approaching quickly.