The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 167
* * *
And so, a late Monday evening.
The ToZ members, including me, who had spent the short holiday earned during the promotional period entirely playing around, were each busy with their own reasons.
“Logan, did you read all the materials for tomorrow’s repackage promotion meeting? I’m not the only one who didn’t read it all, right? Everyone was focused on hanging out with Yongyong-hyung, right?!”
“Huh? Hwaseong, of course I read them all. The time spent playing with Chunyong-hyung was one hour each. You should play when you play, and study when you study.”
“No, what is this person even saying? Logan was with Chunyong-hyung for over three hours. But when on earth did you read it? Holy crap. I’m doomed. Judging by the atmosphere, it seems like I’m the only one who didn’t finish reading….”
“Oh, if you want, I can summarize it and tell you. But, in that case, Hwaseong has to do something I want as well. For example, buying my guitar strings for me instead!”
“Ah, you’re looking to recruit a slave? Go ahead, I said go ahead.”
Flustered for not finishing work properly, and laughing and teasing beside the flustered person.
“Ah, Siu. Are we monitoring our stage videos?”
“Um, Jaeha-hyung. Yes… this, the movements… feel a bit, scattered, so….”
“Hmm, come to think of it, Chunyong mentioned before that he wanted to run through the choreography once more. We should borrow some time after the meeting ends tomorrow and head to the practice room together.”
“Ah, then… while we’re at it, ‘Boyhood Ending’ too….”
Checking the stage to properly wrap up our debut song promotions, which would soon be ending, until the very end.
“Ah, yes. Manager-nim! Are you coming by later? Yes, yes. Then I’ll tell the kids in advance….”
Making necessary phone calls.
Should I say they were preparing for tomorrow, which would become busy again?
Yes. People who always do their best in their own work are ever like that.
I already felt sorry for having made them suffer so much due to the recent issues with Wiz and An Taei, and on top of that, they even cared about me.
The fact that I was blessed with good members was a truth I couldn’t deny even if I wanted to.
“…Hoo.”
My heart already warm with gratitude toward the members, I stretched out on the living room sofa, taking in each and every one of those faces with a pleased smile.
Ah, of course.
- X: Are you kidding me? Why are you going around without your phone???
- X: Hey, there are limits to going around with your head left behind
- X: For real, the more I talk the angrier I get
- X: Kim Chunyongyongguri, aren’t you reading this?? I can see you reading it through the preview??
While my phone was on silent, going off like crazy with notifications, I lightly ignored it.
- X: Look
- X: I said look?? Do you really want to get scolded??? You want to receive a super hard, difficult mission???
An unusual anger could be felt from X’s flood of messages.
The fact that I had gone around without my phone—the only means of communicating with it during this entire vacation—seemed to be quite a shock to the guy.
“…Tch.”
I lightly clicked my tongue at the cascade of messages filling the preview window.
No, it’s not like I particularly meant to leave it behind.
“No, Yuchan-hyung. I left my phone behind? If I just go grab that and come back out….”
“Tsk. No, no. It’s one hour per person, Chunyong. If it’s a call you need, it’ll come to me too, so let’s go!”
It’s just that from the moment Yuchan-hyung dragged me out without giving me a chance to refuse, I simply hadn’t thought much about my phone.
But….
Honestly, it felt nice going around without it.
- X: Hey hey Kim Chunyongyongguri look at this look at this
- X: (Photo) (Photo)
- X: It looks like you lol
- Kim Chunyong: I look like a crocodile? Are you out of your mind?
Using the contract as an excuse, always saying stuff just to tease me, and when I ask to do something about my skills and stats, it just passes the buck saying “that’s not my department, so you have to ask.” When I ask what the accumulated compendium is used for, it even evades by saying I’ll know everything later.…
Thinking like this, leaving my phone behind for a bit was nothing—I felt like changing it out immediately and saying goodbye to X forever.
“…Hoo.”
However, since I couldn’t turn my back forever on the guy who sent me back to the present like this, I slowly moved to my room and lightly skimmed through the earlier flood of messages.
When the “1” beside its sent messages disappeared, X began pouring out irritation at me more seriously.
- X: Kim Chunyongyongguri, when you couldn’t properly deal with weird guys like Liu Wei and An Taei and were whining, did I ever say anything? No, I didn’t -_-
- X: But!! This is a different case, I’m telling you
- X: Kim Chunyongyongguri totally neglected his benefactor, right? You acted like you didn’t need me, right?
- X: Wait, the more I organize this the more my anger rises, oh please
- X: I’m going to rub cold water on my face and come back, just wait
- X: (Angry) (Rage) (Fire-breathing emoticon)
“Can this guy even rub cold water on his face…?”
That curiosity of mine was also brief.
X, whether it had really rubbed cold water on its face or done so figuratively, soon displayed a sudden mission window that I hadn’t seen in a very long time.
[Sudden Mission (NEW!):
Lately, don’t you feel like you’re settling in the present and drifting away from your original goal? That’s troubling, troubling! For the greatest idol in K-pop history, there is a long road ahead.
Therefore, your kind supporter has prepared a special mission.
As this mission also carries a penalty, let’s do our best to achieve it!
Mission: Achieve #1 on music charts or win a music show once with the repackage album
Reward: Compendium –
Failure Penalty: All stats –5]
A penalty that didn’t exist before had suddenly appeared.
Moreover, that penalty was none other than a deduction of stats I had raised with so much effort.
And the reward isn’t even anything great—‘relationship recovery with supporter’?
Perhaps X itself felt this was quite absurd, as a supplementary explanation followed as if it were only natural.
- X: Hey, am I? Doing this? To torment you? No?
- X: The contractor and supporter are supposed to be one body and always together -_- but you left that means behind!! This is obviously a penalty that must be given!!
- X: And I’m especially? Putting in a reward like the compendium for you -_-
- X: Tch
- X: If I do this you won’t neglect me, right? You’ll take your phone everywhere you go, right? Answer me!!!
So many excuses.
“Hah….”
I couldn’t hide the burst of hollow laughter and buried my face in the pillow for a moment, giggling.
Ah, seriously.
Normally, I would definitely have grilled X, asking what the hell this was—why it was trying to torment me when it said it would help me. It makes no sense, honestly.
But today, thanks to our members, I was in a very good mood.
“…….”
I soon raised my head again with a resolute expression and typed my first message to X in two days.
- Kim Chunyong: Hey
- Kim Chunyong: If I pull this off, you’ll really cool off, right?
- Kim Chunyong: It’s a promise.
- Kim Chunyong: If I finish this well, cool off right away and give me a proper reward on top of it
X seemed quite flustered by my reply, which was concise, firm, and devoid of much irritation.
- X: Huh? What? What? What the hell?
- X: Why are you so confident? Why aren’t you acting shamelessly toward me????
- X: Waitwaitwaitwait
- X: Did you take your meds???
- X: Hey, even when you were lag trash you didn’t take meds. Get ahold of yourself, crazy!!!!!!!!!
I folded the phone, as further conversation was meaningless, and slowly ran my eyes over the repackage album meeting materials I had placed beside the bed.
Why am I so confident and not acting shamelessly?
Well, of course….
[ToZ - 1st mini album ‘Six-leaf Clover’ repackage album ‘W.O.W (Working Title)’ planning proposal]
Because I have something to count on, enough that I don’t need to act shamelessly.
The repackage album promotions that would soon follow the ‘Hide and Seek’ promotions, and ToZ’s second album.
I, who remembered what had happened while preparing the repackage album through Arrows, was confident that I could resolve this well.
* * *
Just as we ToZ were preparing a repackage, at that time Arrows had also released a repackage album around a similar period.
Their results were slightly below present ToZ, but good enough that AG could show the confidence that “we too have a grasp on the idol market.”
There are usually two things discussed when preparing a repackage album.
How much of the original album’s image to reflect.
And, to what extent to add songs.
Arrows had released their album in a way that was almost similar to the original album’s image, adding one song.
The intention was that if the preparation process took too long, fans might leave.
And more than anything….
“Since the ‘Hide and Seek’ album is already doing well, I don’t think there’s a need to experiment right away. Let’s go with a similar vibe and add just one song.”
Because of the person sitting firmly at the head seat of the office where the repackage album meeting was being held, speaking like that.
“Hmm….”
Jaeha-hyung, Hwaseong, and Siu exchanged glances and pressed their lips into straight lines.
Someone unfamiliar with AG might not know, but those three knew well enough what kind of person he was.
And I was also included among those who knew well enough.
“…….”
I looked at the man checking the meeting materials one by one with sharp eyes.
The person who had tried hard to put Liu Wei into this group back during
And the person who had eventually realized it wouldn’t work, admitted defeat, and left on a fairly long business trip.
“And, let’s just keep the working title as is. There’s no need to put more effort into it when we already have logo drafts. This is enough as it is.”
…Director Shin Giho.
“Did everyone understand?”
Though he had failed to achieve his goal through
The mindset that you are still idols I planned, and thus I can exert enormous influence.
Since he could pull himself together so quickly, I wondered if he had eaten and lived well in China with Liu Wei.
Well, I suppose that’s why he entered the repackage album meeting just like before.
“…….”
Though Director Shin Giho and I had been in a confrontational relationship since his return, strictly speaking, this was only the second time we were properly facing each other.
The previous time was when I had somehow persuaded Logan’s mother.
How I did it is distant, so distant.
“Hoo….”
Briefly recalling that time, I naturally rested my head against the headrest of the conference room chair and murmured.
Honestly, if we do as the director says now, ToZ’s repackage album won’t be much of a success.
Well, because I saw it all with Arrows.
“Ah, this week’s 15th to 10th place! Let’s meet them right on screen!”
It couldn’t be said to be that bad, but it was at the level of hovering between ranks 10~15 on music shows.
Not bad and good were different things.
Results are proportional to the effort put in.
So, for ToZ to produce different results this time and for me to succeed in the sudden mission X gave me, I had to break Director Shin Giho’s will. That was what it meant.
I slowly blinked my eyes and briefly covered my mouth with the meeting minutes.
Because otherwise, I felt like my smiling expression would be caught.
Now, it was time for the reason I had been so confident toward X to appear.
“Hm? I don’t like that.”
“…Yes?”
“No, I understand you taking the head seat of the meeting room right away. You’re a director. But don’t you know I’m in charge of the album visual, Director?”
Ah, with an aesthetics fanatic who is this reliable when on my side, and….
“Huh… Honestly, I have a song I prepared because I heard a repackage album was coming out! Can’t you at least listen to it once?”
On our team is the sensational genius boy from Liverpool, whom Director Shin is absolutely weak against right now.
And I was certain that this was the turning point.