The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Chapter 66

I rubbed my eyes and checked the percentages again. I wondered if I was seeing hallucinations and checked for the second time, but whether I looked at it twice or three times, the percentage was still 51%.

“Did something get into your eye?” Kang Hyun-Sung asked, seeing me rub my eyes.

“Ah, no,” I shook my head and finally accepted my shocking reality.

‘…I guess we really have to go with the younger man concept.’ I didn’t know what was so great about this concept, but it was helpful in increasing the probability of winning first place.

‘But why is this going to increase the chances of winning first place?’ I was not convinced by this concept yet.

“Do you not like the concept?” Kang Hyun-Sung asked.

Even before I said anything, Park Young-Ho spoke on my behalf, “E-even then, I, um, think it would be good to do a performance with narrative elements like Mr. Tae-Yoon said…”

I didn’t know whether Park Young-Ho actually liked my idea or was unconditionally siding with me.

‘What’s up with him.’ It felt like he had given me infinite trust and support ever since I saved him from the vaulting incident. I felt bad that I had to betray his trust, but looking at the percentages right now, I had no choice but to push forward with the younger man concept.

“…I think the concept of a younger man…is good.” Despite fierce opposition from my whole heart, I said I liked this concept.

[Probability of winning first place: 52%]

As expected, the probability increased. I guessed that the faster I accepted this concept, the higher the probability would rise. Kang Hyun-Sung smiled as if he was satisfied, and Park Young-Ho looked betrayed by my words. I quickly checked the other team members’ reactions.

“Younger man concept, I’m all for it!”

“Haha! I think the fans will really like it.”

Everyone said it was good, but they weren’t sincerely saying it from their heart.

‘They sound awkward.’ Everyone only agreed because Kang Hyun-Sung said it, but it seemed like they felt reluctant about going with the younger man concept. It was understandable as most men around this age wanted to be treated older and not like a younger brother. However, they were working hard to follow along because they knew this concept worked well with the public, and above all, Kang Hyun-Sung was the one who made the suggestion. But—

[Probability of winning first place: 50%]

Was it because they weren’t sincere about this concept? The percentage dropped. In order for the percentage to increase, it seemed as if everyone had to support this concept from the bottom of their heart and do their best.

“If you don’t like the concept, we can look for a different concept together.” Kang Hyun-Sung noticed the discomfort in the air and was about to take a step back, but I quickly stopped him.

“No, I think we have to go with this concept.” If we don’t go along with this concept, the probability of winning first place decreased. I also didn’t really want to do this conceptbut getting first place was more important than my personal preference.

Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me as if he was surprised by my firm answer, but I steadfastly argued and said anything on my mind. “Wouldn’t we be able to incorporate narrative elements we talked about earlier with the younger man concept?”

I began to improvise a story. This was my specialty; to make a living as a web novel writer, I needed to have the skill of making even utter nonsense sound reasonable.

I continued, “Rather than a younger man concept that just focuses on ‘oh we’re cute~’ cause we’re younger, we can utilize the emotions and keywords that are tied with a younger man.”

At this point, I had no idea what I was talking about, but I blabbered on, “Some keywords that come up with a younger man are first, innocence, and items like a school uniform. And I don’t know if it’s only me, but early summer also comes to my mind. Overall, wouldn’t it be okay if we make a story of a younger man’s overwhelming and clumsy first love in a refined way?”

After I eloquently delivered my speech, I scanned the audience’s reaction.

“Oh, that sounds good?”

“If we’re performing a story of a younger man instead of just a concept then…”

“Yeah, I think the performance would be good if we make good use of those emotions.”

It seemed as if I was able to persuade them somewhat, as their expressions looked much better than before. They looked as if they really believed this might work, rather than just blindly following what Kang Hyun-Sung was saying.

[Probability of winning first place: 55%]

The percentage soared again. It didn’t rise as high as when Kang Hyun-Sung first suggested the concept of a younger man, but this was a pretty high increase. Was it because I also persuaded myself while making my speech?

‘It might really not be that bad?’ I also became a bit serious about pulling off this concept. It seemed as if the system also noticed the change as—

[Probability of winning first place: 56%]

The percentage went up one more time. …I didn’t know why, but I felt a little bit of shame. Kang Hyun-Sung smiled strangely at me, and Park Young-Ho’s eyes were wide open as if he were surprised.

“Then let’s finalize our decision to go with the younger man concept.” Kang Hyun-Sung finished talking about the concept.

“Yes~”

“That sounds good!”

It was a satisfactory result for all the team members.

“Then we have to choose a song now…,” Kang Hyun-Sung stopped in the middle and then said, “Shall we meet tomorrow to discuss that? Let’s each select a possible song and meet again tomorrow.”

After saying this, he glanced at the production crew. Just in time, the production crew were gathering and talking amongst themselves and it seemed as if they were ready to wrap up the shooting now.

Sure enough, a staff member from the production crew shouted, “Let’s wrap up today’s shoot!”

With this, the team meeting ended. It seemed as if they got all the cuts they wanted.

“Except for Only One, who won first place, all of you can leave and go home!”

We stood up at the production crew’s shout.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

“Thank you!”

“Great job today!”

We bowed to the staff, and after finishing our greeting, we quickly talked about plans we hadn’t finalized yet.

“Then where are we meeting tomorrow?”

Kang Hyun-Sung replied, “Let’s meet at our company’s practice room by 9 a.m.”

“With possible song choices?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Tomorrow at 9 a.m. Only One’s practice room. Possible song choices. I quickly jotted the necessary information in my head. After saying goodbye to the team members like that, we separated. When I glanced to the side, I saw my members also parting after saying goodbye to their team members. When I approached my members, they coldly mocked me.

“What? Is the traitor back?”

“Bong Tae-Yoon, who abandoned his team!”

“Team Tae-Yoon without Tae-Yoon~”

“What do you mean traitor? I didn’t even want to go because I wanted to.” Of course, I knew they were joking, but it still felt unfair.

“We’re just joking~” Dong-Jun smiled and tickled me on the waist. When I instinctively moved away, he tried to tickle me even more. It was only when I went back as if I was going to run away, he finally stopped playing around. We finished our conversation as we moved to the waiting room.

“Tae-Yoon, how was your team?” Yeon-Hoon was worried about how I would adjust to the new team.

“Don’t lose confidence and crush them all.” Do-Seung seemed to be worried that I would feel discouraged.

“You don’t feel like you’re being left out, do you?” Woon was worried that I would feel like an outcast in my team. As for Dong-Jun…

“Ah, I think this joint mission will be fun.” He didn’t seem to be thinking about anything much.

* * *

After arriving in the waiting room, we changed our outfits into our normal clothes.

“This outfit really played a big role today.”

“I don't think I can throw this away.”

The members each voiced their thoughts while looking at our outfits. The outfits must have left quite an impression on everyone as we all struggled together to revive this messy costume.

I said to the members, “From now on, let’s only wear better outfits than this.”

“Yeah, we definitely will.”

“Let’s work harder.”

The older members seem to be quite impressed by my remark. After that, we went down to the underground parking lot and moved by car. Since it was a joint mission involving multiple members from different groups, there was nothing to practice between us. Thus, we didn’t go to the practice room but headed straight to our dorm.

“I can’t get used to this place no matter how many times I come here.” I couldn’t get used to Dong-Jun’s premium apartment in Gangnam no matter how many times I came here. Everyone felt frazzled due to living in a luxurious environment for weeks after living for a long time in a very shabby dorm.

After everyone took their turns using the bathroom and taking a shower, we all gathered in the living room. I naturally tried to lay a blanket in the middle of the living room. Since the marble floor felt a bit hard on my back, I went to the mart and bought some blankets to put on the floor.

While I was looking at the thick blankets and feeling pleased, Dong-Jun, who sat on the sofa, suddenly said indifferently, “But are we going to keep sleeping all together in the living room like before?”

At his remark, everyone, including me, flinched. Woon, who was hanging a towel around his neck after taking a shower, smiled awkwardly and said, “Yeah, we should decide our rooms now.”

Yeon-Hoon, who was sitting on the sofa and fiddling with the TV remote control, carefully turned off the TV and came down to the floor and sat down. He murmured, “I…I liked sleeping all together like a sleepover…” Yeon-Hoon seemed to enjoy sleeping all together.

“Well, me too.” Unexpectedly, Do-Seung seemed to also like it.

On the other hand, Dong-Jun preferred sleeping separately and said, “Come on~ Since there are so many rooms, we should at least use them.”

“I also think the same. Since there are three rooms, why don’t two people take two rooms and one person take a room by himself?” Woon was also on the side of sleeping separately.

Then, the members’ eyes moved toward me. Since the opinions were tied, it was now up to me to make the final decision.

‘Honestly, it’s nice sleeping with all the members, but…’ Personally, I liked sleeping all together after being separated from them for so long. I wanted to keep them close, but I thought a problem would arise in the long run.

‘Since everyone’s lifestyle and biorhythms are different, I’m sure they’re feeling stressed in some way.’ Thus, the smartest method was—

“Since there’s a lot of rooms, let’s divide them between us.”

“Yes!” Dong-Jun punched the air in joy.

“Hmm.”

“That’s too bad.”

Do-Seung and Yeon-Hoon seemed to be somewhat disappointed.

“Then shall we decide on who will use which room?” Dong-Jun suggested, and judging by how he was being so proactive, it seemed as if he wanted a room by himself.

And as expected, he asked, “Can I use a room by myself?”

On second thought, it must have been difficult for a guy like Dong-Jun, who grew up rich, to keep sleeping with everyone in such a cramped space. Furthermore, Dong-Jun’s request was very reasonable.

“Of course you can.”

“Dong-Jun, this is your house.”

“What are you getting permission for? We wouldn’t have said anything even if you just told us and used a room by yourself.”

This house was under Dong-Jun’s name, and we were living in Dong-Jun’s house thanks to his generosity.

Dong-Jun replied, “Then I’ll use the smallest room alone. Thanks guys.”

The members withdrew with a satisfied smile, and it was now time for us to decide which room to use in pairs.

“Shall we decide by dedenchi[1]?”

“Yeah, let’s decide by flip over or under.”

“Yeah, let’s go with side up or side down.”

“Let’s go with dedenchi dedenchi.”

All kinds of expressions for dedenchi came out from each member. Even though the original one was dedenchi, it was annoying that everyone was so stubborn about keeping their local way of saying dedenchi till the very end. Anyway, we decided to divide the rooms with dedenchi. As a result—

“Do-Seung and I share one room, and Woon and Tae-Yoon share one room.”

Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung became a pair, and Woon and I became a pair.

“Then shall we divide the rooms from today onwards?”

“Yep.”

“Let’s do that.”

“I’ve just laid out all the blankets…” I pointed my finger at the blanket that I had worked hard to set up.

“Then I’ll take two.”

“I’ll also take two.”

“I only need one~”

The members ignored my fingers and quickly took apart the blankets and disappeared into their respective rooms.

Woon also looked at me with two blankets in his arms to put on the floor and said, “Tae-Yoon, bring your blanket and come to the room.”

I replied, “…Yes.” The members were extremely clear-cut at times like this.

1. Game where you flip your palms up or down, and you team up with those who flip their palms in the same direction. ☜

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