Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 275 Side Story 06. Always the Same (3)

“Ta-da!”

“Huh?”

I was startled by the unexpected faces that came out of the strawberry house.

“Wow! Why is Swift here?!”

I asked after Seon-woo, who was excited to see him.

“Don’t you have a schedule this afternoon?”

I doubted my memory and asked, and Hwijin answered with a sheepish expression.

“Didn’t you read the details? You could have noticed if you paid more attention.”

At Hwijin’s random remark, I searched my memory and exclaimed, “Ah!”

[<Event> We’re going to meet you right now (Rural visit program) – Return on the same day]n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“Oh…!”

He looked like he had written it in words, and I added briefly.

“No wonder. There was no clear information about the deposit date or the amount for the event, so I was going to say something.”

“Wow, you’re so picky.”

“It’s not picky, it’s obvious.”

Yu-geon joined in jokingly from the side, but I didn’t budge.

“Today, we’re here for support shooting. We have to harvest this whole section today, so we better hurry, right?”

Unlike the mudflat, we were supposed to capture only elegant and pretty scenes here. When did they decide to pick the whole section? I couldn’t stop my hands as I grumbled. �

I felt more compelled to hurry up when I saw Naru, who was just posing in front of the camera instead of doing what he was told.

“Aww, how can you be so cute~.”

I heard the PD’s flattering compliment with one ear, and felt a bit resentful inside. He had been forcing us to do hard work since yesterday, but he was so nice to him.

It was natural for a twenty-year-old kid to be praised for his cuteness.

Naru himself looked so young that even people in their thirties or late twenties would think he was just a kid.

He took pictures for a long time as if he was doing a photoshoot, and then the spotlight finally moved to the other members.

“Seon-woo, can you stand there and pose for a moment?”

The PD called Seon-woo, who was moving around with a basket of strawberries, and he nodded his head eagerly, not knowing what to do.

‘Our maknae is cuter.’

Seon-woo probably didn’t have any thoughts, but I shook my head with a strong conviction that Naru thought he was cuter.

“What are you doing, we’re short of hands and it’s a mess.”

Yu-geon came over and spoke to me as I was distracted by Naru and Seon-woo.

“Why are you picking a fight?”

I answered as I moved my hands diligently, and Yu-geon laughed with a deflated sound.

“I’m not picking a fight. I’m just urging you for efficiency.”

“Same thing.”

This kid had been thinking of me too closely since he borrowed my laptop. He was helpful, but he was also arrogant.

His attitude matched him very well, but it was annoying.

‘I don’t like this type of person anyway.’

I basically gave more points to people who worked hard and were sincere, even if they weren’t exceptionally talented.

Of course, sometimes I had to take care of people who were rude but good at their jobs, but that was something I had to do at work. I wanted to cheer for sincere people.

In that sense, people like Kyunghwa and Hwijin were like sore fingers to me.

And this guy, who was good at getting away with things and solving them with his talent…

‘He’s unlucky.’

It was a harsh evaluation, but I couldn’t help it.

He did his best on stage, and he was grateful for that, but that was different from his personal favor.

“If you have time to nag, why don’t you get some new baskets?”

“Okay, I’m going~.”

He casually took care of the annoying task and brought back a bunch of new baskets. Did I need to change my evaluation a bit?

I paused for a moment and saw Yu-geon joining Yejun to tease Naru.

‘What a mean guy.’

After returning to a peaceful life, the incidents that happened when I was nineteen-year-old Lim Hyun-seong became a secret between Yu-geon and me.

No one else would believe it anyway. Yu-geon was making a lot of nonsense when I was Lim Hyun-seong, saying why I didn’t tell them and that the members were pitiful. But when I came back to Cheon Ise, he didn’t say anything about it.

‘I guess he’s glad I came back.’

I didn’t expect him to care so much about me. He seemed to appreciate the help I gave him from the accident at Bobbyam to the disbandment of Floss.

I wasn’t very happy to be taken care of by a kid who was much younger than me, so I coughed awkwardly.

‘I returned the laptop, so that’s that.’

In the end, I didn’t tell Jinwoo the truth, so only Yu-geon and I knew what really happened.

Actually, I didn’t even explain everything to Yu-geon, so strictly speaking, that wasn’t true either.

I was a bit worried and uneasy, but I was relieved to see Yu-geon looking much more stable than when we first met.

What bothered me more was Jinwoo’s side…

‘Can I ask you how you got to know the former CEO?’

I remembered the question Jinwoo hesitated to ask me when I contacted him to get the laptop back.

I felt sorry for the person I had to send away without knowing anything, and I wanted to tell him everything.

But the longer the tail, the more likely it is to be stepped on. It wouldn’t be good for anyone to hear that the youngest son of Cheon Soo Group had a relationship with CEO Lim Hyun-seong.

Especially when the whole Jo Young Food was in a mess because of the family feud, I didn’t want to cause more trouble for Jinwoo, who was running around trying to fix it.

‘Well… he cooked for me when I left the house for a while…’

I made up a plausible excuse, but I didn’t know if Kang Jeonmu believed me or not.

I wasn’t guilt-free for not telling him the truth, so before I turned away, I added a useless remark.

‘The former CEO asked me to thank you. He said he wouldn’t be haunted by ghosts thanks to you.’

Jinwoo chuckled at my lame joke. That’s good. My eyes welled up at his fading voice, but luckily, I didn’t cry in front of him.

Just before we turned our backs and returned to our own lives. Maybe it was because I still had some lingering feelings for Lim Hyun-seong’s life.

I reached out to Kang Jeonmu, but then I quietly turned around and went back to my accommodation.

I was Lim Hyun-seong and Cheon Ise at the same time. But from now on, I had to live as Cheon Ise, so this was the right thing to do.

My steps were not light as I returned home, but my mind was eased when I saw the news of Kang Jeonmu’s activities as the acting CEO in the newspaper.

‘It’s all okay now.’

I muttered to myself as if to comfort myself, and I was no longer anxious. I couldn’t help but care a little, though.

While I was lost in thought, Yu-geon shouted at me.

“Hey, aren’t you slacking off too much?”

He was having fun teasing a twenty-year-old kid.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m working, okay~.”

I grumbled and diligently filled the basket with strawberries, and the fresh fruit smell tickled my nose.

Then the farm owner came into the greenhouse and talked to the PD.

“Do you have any friends who can drive and go to the market for me? I think I have something to pick up at Jongmyo Shrine…”

“Oh.”

Among the members, the only ones who were good at driving were me and Hwijin.

“Can I go alone and get it?”

The main PD asked for confirmation, and the old man nodded vaguely.

“Well, yeah. You can go by yourself, but…”

After a long discussion, it was decided that I would drive and Hwijin would film me as if he was making a vlog.

Without any other filming staff, we got into the car with a microphone and a selfie stick, and the dusty smell of the countryside rose up.

“We’re going to Jongmyo Shrine first to get some fertilizer, and then stop by the market to buy some lunch, okay?”

I checked the mini mission card that the main PD gave me and started the car towards the city, and Hwijin captured me and the scenery alternately on the screen.

‘Come on, the viewers are not watching this for the pretty scenery, why don’t you just take a selfie?’

I wanted to point out his slightly misguided angle, but I kept my mouth shut.

He looked so cute with his serious expression as he filmed diligently. Not like a thirty-year-old.

And that warm feeling was shattered soon after.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a celebrity before!”

“It’s Hwijin, awesome.”

“Can you please sign one more for me?”

“Hey, boy, sign this one too~.”

“Who is he? Is he famous?”

“Oh, come on, he’s very famous. He’s on TV all the time.”

Within 20 minutes, I was surrounded by a crowd of people and sighed as I signed the papers that were pushed at me from all sides.

“I told you to go quickly before people noticed us…”

I complained in a very low voice that only Hwijin could hear, and he laughed out loud.

“But they recognized you in this countryside, you should be sorry and grateful.”

Sorry and grateful, my ass. This wasn’t a rural market where only old people came and went, it was a young enough market with plenty of tourists and twenty-somethings. It would be strange if they didn’t recognize him.

There was no way to escape now that I had complained, so I obediently repeated the signatures.

“Boys, try this too! Can I take a picture with you?”

“No, no, it’s okay!”

I knew why they were pushing all kinds of snacks at me, from dried fish to pig’s feet to mung bean pancakes.

They wanted to hang a photo of me with the words “The house that Floss Hwijin and Offbeat Cheon Ise loved!” in the corner of the store.

I didn’t want to give them my name, since it wasn’t Swift Hwijin or Climax Cheon Ise that they would put on the sign.

“Thank you, I’ll enjoy it!”

I was furious as I watched Hwijin calmly eat whatever they gave him.

“Hey, stop eating already.”

“Wow. I’ve never heard you say that before, Ise.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you usually encourage me to eat more.”

“That’s different.”

I grumbled as I signed until my wrist hurt, and then we got back in the car. The fried snacks and tteokbokki we bought earlier had cooled down a bit.