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Chapter 5

‘100,000 copies sold in the first week?’ After seeing the message’s content, I barely stopped myself from yelling and waking up all my teammates who just lay down to get to bed. This was an unbelievable mission.

‘100,000 my ass.’ It was true that first-tier idols sold a million copies in their first week, but for us, selling even 10,000 copies after our debut was a reach. The whole company might throw a party and celebrate if we achieved just that; and at most, we could strive to sell 1,000 albums. It didn’t matter how good at dancing or singing we were or how handsome we were.

People would only buy our albums and become our fans after we catch the public’s attention. Yet, we were idols who weren’t offered even the minimum opportunities to catch people’s eyes. In my past life, all this company could offer to their idol group was a performing spot in a music show for a couple of weeks.

That was the maximum amount of support this company could offer because the company had no money. And they didn’t only lack funds, but they also had very limited connections with people in the entertainment industry. This company was originally made up of song producers who decided to build their own company instead of writing songs for other companies and didn’t know much about the business.

‘Why did these guys with terrible business sense decide to build their own company?’ The owners of these companies were only producers by name and had never produced a song for a famous idol group. They simply lived off of royalties from songs that had moderately succeeded in the past.

‘They have no talent and only greed.’ The WD entertainment agency was the manifestation of these bosses’ greed. Yet, the real problem was our hopeless head manager who constantly shirked his duties and neglected the trainees. This person was the greatest evil to the company. However, the head manager wasn’t a problem that I could yet solve, and I needed to focus on the current mission right now.

‘How will we be able to sell so many albums in a company like this? This is insane,’ I sighed. There was even a time limit, where we needed to record 100,000 sales in the first week after a year of our debut. Since it was currently 2022 January and we needed to debut before 2023 January, there was still some leeway before the time limit. Yet, the biggest concern was, of course, the condition of making these sales in ‘one week’. And if we didn’t fulfill this goal, Do-Seung would die.

I tilted my head slightly and stared at where Do-Seung was sleeping. His chest heaved up and down quietly, and he appeared to be fast asleep. My head felt like it was a mess seeing him. What kind of existence was giving me a mission like this? They gave me terrible trials in my past life and made me play a death game in this current life. If my mentality had been any weaker, I would’ve already crumbled in hopelessness by now.

‘Will there be a way for me to save him like how I helped Yeon-Hoon just before?’ Since the mission sounded simply impossible, I kept trying to find another way around this problem. Perhaps, like how I saved Yeon-Hoon from the falling flower pot, I could prevent the cause of Do-Seung’s death before it happened.

‘But that time, my decision only increased the likelihood of Yeon-Hoon dying while this time, Do-Seung’s death is supposedly definite.’ There was a difference between the texts, and I didn’t want to gamble when someone’s life was on the line.

‘And it’s not like I can constantly be near Do-Seung’s side.’ I didn’t know when and where his cause of death would occur. There were too many complicated variables to think of. I knew that making 100,000 sales would solve everything, but that just seemed like an unreachable goal.

‘What am I supposed to do when they give me an impossible mission?’ I didn’t know where to even begin with this issue. Feeling conflicted, I lay on my back again and stared at the wall. I finally managed to see my teammates alive again, but fear that I would lose them once more filled my heart.

‘This is driving me crazy.’ My time with them ended abruptly before, and I couldn’t let that happen in this life too. Fortunately, I had the memory of what would happen in the next five years. Yet, my memories of the entertainment industry were a bit disconnected and fuzzy.

At some point, I knew what was going on in the industry better than anyone else while in other periods, I was completely ignorant of ongoing events. This was because I had poured my all into writing web novels in those periods. Then, when I heard that someone I knew debuted, I did my research and kept up with the events happening in the entertainment industry only in those periods.

For now, it appeared I needed to organize the big events that would happen this year, 2022.

‘Where’s my phone?’ I thought if I wrote something down and planned things, an idea would come to my mind. I placed my phone’s brightness setting to its lowest and sneaked inside my blankets to not wake up my teammates. Then, after placing my phone right in front of my face, I began to write everything I remembered about the events that occurred this year.

***

Do-Seung pushed himself up as soon as he heard his phone’s alarm. Then, he swiftly turned it off before the other members woke up.

“Haaa,” he sighed. The current time was 6am. Since he went to sleep past 1am yesterday, he slept only about 5 hours. Though he didn’t get a full rest, he thought it was necessary for one to know how to live with fatigue.

‘You can’t succeed if you sleep too much,’ he thought and snuck out of the blankets. All the others were still sleeping. He needed to quickly get up, wash himself, and cook breakfast. Since his teammates would have to dance and sing all day, they needed to have at least one good meal. And since they were on a diet, that one good meal naturally had to be for breakfast.

Do-Seung thought about what ingredients were remaining in the fridge and was about to open the bathroom’s doors when he saw the doorknob turn on its own.

“What?” He thought he was seeing a ghost for a moment when the youngest of the team, Bong Tae-Yoon popped out.

“Oh, you are already awake?” Tae-Yoon asked.

“...When did you wake up?”

“Well, like thirty minutes ago?”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Do-Seung stared at Tae-Yoon in a daze. Tae-Yoon was the sleepy head of the group and was always the last one to get up from his bed. This was the first time he saw Tae-Yoon awake this early. Do-Seung thought it was strange but went inside the bathroom. Then, after taking a shower, he got outside and found Tae-Yoon cooking.

“Are you cooking something?”

Tae-Yoon was making stew with the ingredients from the fridge. Though it was a soybean paste stew in its base, the ingredients were a bit different from the standard.

‘It’s the same as the one that I was planning to make.’ This was a meal that Do-Seung made from time to time.

“You guys! Wake up!” After Tae-Yoon finished setting up the table, he woke up the rest of the members.

“Ugggh.” The team’s leader, Yeon-Hoon got up while rubbing his eyes.

“Just five more minutes...five more...” Dong-Jun rubbed his face on the pillow.

“Ahhh...I don’t want to get up.” Woon frowned but still got up. Eventually, everyone dragged themselves to the dining table. Do-Seung sat in front of the table on the ground.

“Eat up guys,” Tae-Yoon said and each of the members picked up their spoons and began to taste their stews. Do-Seung also grabbed his share and took a spoonful.

“...?”

“What’s this?”

“Why is this so tasty?”

“What did you put in here?”

It had been a while since he ate something this good.

***

I prepared a nameless stew using soybean paste as its base for my members. This was a dish that Do-Seung often made in my past life and was one that I tried to replicate after I was on my own. But because I couldn’t exactly copy the taste, I ended up making my own version after many trials. And it appeared everyone liked the fruit of my efforts very much.

“Good thing it suits you guys’ tastes,” I said.

Do-Seung stared at me suspiciously then, so I replied, “I saw you make this dish a couple of times before. I memorized the recipe then.”

“When?”

“Well, I just happened to see it once.”

Though Do-Seung continued to stare at me suspiciously, he continued to scoop his own servings into his bowl. Soon, the dining table became quiet except for the sound of utensils moving. My teammates gradually awakened from their sleep while eating their meals and I thought it was time for me to begin.

“I have something to tell you guys,” I said after placing my spoon down.

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

“Is it something strange again?”

They all looked wary of what I would say after the trouble I caused last night.

“You know how we’ll have to debut this year or next year?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean, we can’t be in a pre-debut group forever.”

“Of course.”

“Then, do you want to try coming out in this show?” I took my phone out and showed them a poster of a program.

<The Showcase 2- First Chance>

As soon as my teammates saw the poster, their eyes turned wide.

“The Showcase?”

“They are doing season 2 of this?”

“What does it mean that this is the ‘First Chance’?”

The Showcase was a survival program that was a great hit at one point in time. It had been a year since the first season garnered massive success and brought many idol fans to tears. And now, this program was looking for contestants for their second season.

“You want us to come out on this show?”

“Isn’t it impossible for us?”

“It’s not like anyone can go on it because they want to.”

All the members had a positive response to the program but were doubtful whether they could really come out in the show.

“They said they are changing the format in season 2.” In the first season, they gathered already debuted failed girl groups. Though they were said to have performed poorly, this was certainly not true. They were all at the end of second-tiers and began to build up their careers when they came on the show.

Thus, most people knew it was a program that not anybody could enter. Furthermore, the contestants all needed to have made their debut and have a bit of recognition from the public in order to appear.

“But see how it’s written, ’First Chance’ here?”

“Yeah?”

“They are choosing not only already debuted groups but groups that haven\'t even debuted yet.”

“Huh?”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I showed them the article and my group members gathered in front of my phone and read through the page. The main point of this show’s season 2 was to gather flopped idol groups who had never stood on a broadcasting music show or pre-debut groups who had a confirmed debuting date. There was even a written condition that a pre-debuting group couldn’t come from a publicly listed company.

In other words, they were planning to make a show not with idols whose successes were guaranteed but with only groups who had already flopped or who seemed like they would flop. Furthermore, they were going to produce an album for the show’s final winning team, and the broadcasting station would make enterprise-wide promotions for the album.

In short, the show was calling for all failed or potentially failed groups for another chance of success. In my past life, the group who won this show overturned their lives and continued on the road to success, easily passing over 100,000 sales in the first week.

“It’s true.”

“It says pre-debuting groups can also join.”

“But can’t only trainees from established agencies join?”

Though they confirmed that we fit the conditions to apply, my group members were still doubtful whether they could really join the show. Even they were aware of what a mess this WD entertainment agency was.

“Don’t you see the last clause here?”

“Hm?”

I pointed at the small writing on the bottom of the poster.

—The final winning group will have to form a new joint contract with the Jaeil Company.

It was a type of poison pill contract that struck hard the companies that sent their idol groups to this program. Forming a new contract would mean that they were planning to steal the debuting group from their original companies. Though this was a good opportunity for us to leave WD Entertainment, it was a huge setback for WD. And though Jaeil Company was saying it was going to be a joint contract, it was clear that they would personally manage the group on their own.

“So, idols from good companies won’t come. They will probably gather only those from mid-sized and small companies.” This was a show for truly small companies, and the broadcasting station was probably aiming to center its show around this aspect. Among the idol world, coming from small to mid-sized companies garnered sympathy from the start. And when such a group of people were gathered in one place and competing, the show was inevitably going to be a tear-jerker.

“Don’t you think it’s worth doing?”

“Hm.”

“I wonder if we can do it?”

My group members still appeared uncertain and worried about whether they would be able to gain the right to appear. But there was no need for them to be worried about this part.

“I have an idea. Do you guys want to hear it?” In my past life, I watched this whole program in sadness that my group dismantled right before their debut. I had deep, lingering feelings about the idol scene, and I watched this show thinking that it could’ve been me and my group members who were competing if everyone was alive.

In other words, I knew the development and script of this show, the final winning group, and their future moves. It was possible for us to win the right to appear on this show with all that.

“If we utilize what we have to our best capabilities, I think it’s definitely possible.”

“What do we have?” Yeon-Hoon asked.

“Let’s use our visuals.”