The Villainous Member Has Returned! Episode 96
This was a sensation I had felt before.
“――!”
My ears felt muffled as if cotton balls had been shoved inside them, and my voice wouldn’t come out properly, as if something were caught in my throat. Like that.
“――?”
So, to get better from this….
“…
Huu.”
I think I just needed to take one big deep breath.
And my thought was right.
As my vision, which had been obscured by white light, slowly returned, the sounds that had seemed like fish gasping out of water gradually began to come through clearly.
“…Trainee Yong, Trainee Gim Chunyong!”
“Hurk, y-yes!”
The MC, Senior Choe Gaon, who had suddenly stepped up to me before I knew it, smiled brightly and handed me a bouquet.
“―Congratulations on your debut! You’re 6th place!”
And in that moment.
As if I were about to feel better but not quite. The suppressed senses burst wide open, and a vivid sense of reality welcomed me.
…Ah, it’s me.
In
“Ha, haha….”
In the end, I had achieved the first goal of the contract I made with X.
Once I recognized reality, my surroundings came clearly into view.
“Jinu. You worked really hard….”
Trainees comforting Jinu, who had been standing beside me to hear the results together.
“What do you mean. Quick, let’s congratulate Chunyong hyeong!”
And Jinu smiling refreshingly and waving his hand at me.
Waaaaah!!
Fans in the standing section below the stage, waving my slogan furiously with happy faces.
“Chunyong! Look here, look over here!”
And standing at the very front among them, Shooting Rex nuna talking to me along with her camera lens.
“Uh….”
They were thrillingly pleasant stimuli. Amidst that feast of stimulation, I slowly blinked my eyes and struggled to produce my voice properly.
I was in trouble.
Surely, my expression must look really stupid right now. Someone who had just debuted shouldn’t be making this kind of face.
At the very least, I had to show the slightly pouty, cocky face that Shooting Rex nuna liked the most.
“Waaah!”
And as if to block those thoughts, arms poured in from all around, hugging me all at once.
“Seriously, congrats, Chunyong!”
“Hyeong, congratulations. You’ll have to promote hard on my behalf too!”
“Chunyong, you idiottt!”
“See! Gaoyan was right again! Yep, Gaoyan is never wrong! The laws of the world follow Gaoyan!”
“Holy, Chunyong hyeong! Jesus, really— I’m so happy!”
Ryota, Gaoyan, Logan who had run over as if he would tumble off the platform. Wonhyeop hyeong, Li Mingshen.
“Wow, shit, Yongyong hyeong!”
“Uwaa, Chunyong! We’re really a team now!”
And even my members who would now promote not as Arrowz, but as T.O.J—that is, as Xenon.
“So….”
I wanted to say something in response, but the words wouldn’t come out.
I was happy, bewildered, and dizzy.
Ah, dammit.
Why the hell was this body suddenly acting like this? This wasn’t right. Up next was….
“Everyone! I know you want to congratulate him, but before that, shall we hear the debut remarks from Gim Chunyong!?”
I had to talk about how it felt to debut at 6th place.
“Uh, yes. Ah, hello, Star Shooters. I’m Gim… Chunyong…!”
I first conveyed a short greeting into the microphone I had blankly received.
“Wh-what I want to say is….”
After that, I couldn’t string sentences together easily.
I had prepared something like a speech just in case a moment like this came, but not a single word came to mind.
A pleasant sense of helplessness surged into my head like a rising tide.
What had the previous me said?
Probably back then… since I debuted while thinking I wouldn’t, I think I cried a lot.
Today, tears didn’t come out. I was just acting like an idiot over and over, like a robot with a screw loose.
When everyone’s gaze was fixed on me, waiting for me to open my mouth again.
“…
Ah.”
There was a warm touch on my shoulder.
When I turned my head in that direction, Yuchan hyeong, wearing that same gentle smile all over his face, was pointing somewhere.
‘Look over there, Chunyong.’
At the end of hyeong’s long finger hung the staff seats.
Since I had been looking in that direction throughout the performance, I already knew who was there.
[Congrats!! Our family’s second child (Gim Chunyong, 20) debuted !! Cheers]
Mom and Dad on top, Nuna and Nari on the bottom.
That small paper slogan, which had clearly been made by Nari using materials from an art prep school, came into my eyes so vividly.
From then on, my mouth began to move on its own.
“…First, I want to express my gratitude to the Star Shooters who allowed me to be here like this. Truly, thank you!”
As soon as the words I first uttered ended, Shooting Rex nuna quickly pressed the shutter.
I gently waved my hand toward her and put on a natural smile.
It’s your first time seeing my red hair, right, Nuna?
Ah, come to think of it, Shooting Rex nuna had changed her nickname too.
Until now, the name Shooting Rex was still more familiar, but from promoting with the new group name, I would have to get used to Nuna’s new name as well.
Because just as Shooting Rex nuna had wished, I was able to start over from the beginning.
After that, it wasn’t hard to talk.
They say the first step is the hardest for anything. Whatever the process, this was my second time debuting like this.
“Being able to take one more step toward my dream like this… I am so happy.”
The condition of my contract with X was that no matter what, I become the greatest idol in K-pop history.
To get there, right now it was truly nothing more than one step.
Well.
If X could talk to me right now, he would probably snicker in text, saying, “One step? It’s not even half a step, pfft.”
But since that guy isn’t here right now.
The one at this scene wasn’t the guy who giggled that the reason he chose me via text was because I had the highest chance of failing, but rather….
“And, to my family who always supported and cheered for me!”
It was my family members, still waving the handmade slogan.
Mom and Dad, who supported the absurd dream of their second child who was no good at studying.
And Bomi Nuna, who had set me straight with sharp words so I could continue that dream.
Even my younger sibling, Nari, who helped me endure daily life by trading silly jokes and banter with me.
Sacrificing and suffering because of me. I don’t know how to convey my gratitude to those people who went through so much, but one thing was certain….
“…
I love you.”
In this moment, I had really wanted to say these words.
Waaaaah!!
The camera holding the audience seats turned toward my family, and a small laugh circulated through the venue because Nari made a gagging gesture.
Nevertheless, that brightly smiling face showed that Gim Nari’s action was a joke.
I went on to string together words similar to what the debuting members before me had mentioned.
The
The mentors who kept directing us, and even further, the director from Queens who helped me appear on this program.
Listing everyone like that, only one thing remained.
I took one big deep breath and slowly opened my mouth again.
Lastly.
“…To my trainee friends who came this far with me on
As I said those words, I took in the trainees who would be leaving after today, one by one.
The fact that I looked a little longer at my multinational roommates who had slept, chatted, eaten snacks, and played card games with me was something I didn’t need to hide.
Because I had already seen all the days when you shined brighter than me.
“…I’ll be waiting.”
Let’s meet again.
“…With trainee Gim Chunyong’s moving remarks as the finale! As of today! The long journey of
Along with the final remark announcing the end of the live broadcast final stage, our original song, ‘Aiming,’ flowed out in an arranged version.
To that familiar beat, I turned around and headed toward the people waiting for me.
Jaeha hyeong, Yuchan hyeong. Hwaseong, Siu. And Logan.
“Whoa, so we’re a team now? Wow, I never imagined I’d debut, so I’m nervous….”
“Is there any need to imagine it? It’s already reality.”
“…Y-yes. Now, we’re the same team.”
“Mate, let’s hug! I learned that you have to hug at times like this—huh, Chunyong hyeong?!”
“…Chunyong must have had it really hard. Me too.”
Along with Jaeha hyeong’s gentle voice.
I hugged my steadfast yet new members tightly and slowly closed my eyes.
It was the moment my train of atonement finally reached its first stop.
* * *
There had been no small amount of noise, but even so, it was the night they successfully wrapped up the program.
The place the production crew headed after the long shoot was, of course, already decided.
Since it was a day they could swipe the corporate card without looking at the price, what else would it be.
“The fire is going in, please be careful.”
How could broadcast industry workers, who were crazy about alcohol, get away with not having a company dinner?
“Over here, one more green onion salad for table 8!”
“Order only beef. Not American, but Hanwoo. Today our table is going to devour one expensive thing and go home.”
“Alcohol! It’s alcohol! Mix soju and beer! Who cares about a hangover! Drink and die!”
The filming team, editing team, directing team, and production team of
Sitting all mixed together without regard for rank, their eyes burned with the thought that today they would tear through all the meat in the restaurant.
“Hey, Junmin hyeong. It’s empty here, want to just sit?”
“Hey, you bastard. Read the room. This is the main PD-nim’s table. PD-nim doesn’t eat appetizers and only drinks. We’re here to eat meat today.”
“I know that too. Anyway… if we leave just this spot empty, it looks weird. Let’s rock-paper-scissors and the loser sits here.”
“Yeah, you sit there. I’m going to eat so much meat today I could starve for three days.”
Smack!
“Gack!”
“Junmin, you always ask for a beating, you punk. Live with some sense in your head.”
He was one of the parties who had worked hardest to make this company dinner happen.
Ju Cheolyeong smacked the head of Junmin from the editing team, who was running his mouth again today, and clicked his tongue.
“I don’t even want you guys eating at my table. Go far away, you bastards.”
“Oh, thanks, but then who will PD-nim be dining with…?”
“Unfortunately, me, of course.”
Lee Hyeonjeong, who had approached at some point, pushed Junmin and the editing team maknae on the backs with a complicated expression.
“Go sit at another table quickly. There are already people who will sit here.”
“So who is going to—…ah.”
Junmin, who had been complaining while rubbing the back of his head that Ju Cheolyeong had smacked, raised his eyebrows at the restaurant blinds that had been lowered at some point.
There was no reason to lower blinds in a place with only ordinary people.
Meaning, non-ordinary people were coming too.
“…Are the kids who debuted coming too?”
“Well, I said all the adults could come… but none of them came. Instead, only the mentors are coming.”
“Ugh, I’m going to avoid that. I don’t like drinking with Director Mun Yunha.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get lost now. Looking at your face annoys me too, punk.”
“Tch!”
Watching the backs of the editing team members scurrying away, Lee Hyeonjeong muttered under her breath.
“…Do those kids need alcohol right now? They’ll be having sweet dreams even without drinking.”
Isn’t that what debuting is like.
Of course, they probably still don’t know the song or concept yet, but….
Since that cruel survival show had finally ended, they should be happy enough.
“Hmm, well….”
Toward Lee Hyeonjeong, Ju Cheolyeong shrugged his shoulders with his usual smile.
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“What nonsense are you spewing again, PD-nim?”
“No, you writer. Listen. It’s not nonsense. On the day my debut work was first revealed. I….”
Had a nightmare.