Episode 135: The Crazy Bastard of This Area Is Me (6)
I still couldn’t let my guard down.
I had managed to force Isabella, M2K, and Kim Gun to bleed massive amounts of points, but Heo Yul-bok was still in play.
‘I wonder how that man is going to come out.’
The time when I started building some kind of rapport with Heo Yul-bok—through all the bickering—was only after entering the 2030s.
By then, Trinity had already been buried by the passage of time, and for Heo Yul-bok—who had finished no higher than fourth—it was black-history-level stuff, so it wasn’t exactly a topic we brought up.
Tap tap tap tap.
Watching his index finger rhythmically drumming on the table, it was clear he was calculating something deeply, but I had absolutely no read on what direction he would take.
‘I should’ve asked about him more if I’d known this would happen.’
I never imagined I would end up participating in Project Trinity after regressing.
Regretting it now was meaningless, but it was still a little unfortunate.
While those thoughts drifted through my mind, the auction continued.
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Unfortunately, no producer has shown interest in Trainee Jin Ro-a, so we move to the second recruitment opportunity for position 1.”
The fourth turn, Jin Ro-a, passed without a bid.
‘I wonder if Jin Ro-a even imagined this would happen?’
Her class was B.
Not top-tier, but solidly mid-range—surely she never dreamed she’d be passed over.
It must sting, but there was nothing to be done.
‘The earliest A-Class is at 12.’
With A-Class trainees clustered in the mid-to-late positions, at least up to turn 11, passes were inevitable.
In the meantime, seeing two B-Class trainees from major agencies get passed over one after another… was that supposed to be some consolation?
Well, who knows about Jin Ro-a, but at least one small mercy for her was that she would never have to walk the same tragic path she did in the previous timeline.
‘At the very least, she won’t end up on the same team as Moon Esther.’
[Second Recruitment Order]
[1. Jin Ro-a (Pressure Ent) – 20 years old, B-Class, Lead Dancer]
Two people assigned to the exact same Lead Dancer position would never be on the same team in this Project Trinity.
I didn’t know whose part had changed, but with the trainee lineup altered, this kind of butterfly effect had occurred.
‘Jin Ro-a wouldn’t be bad, honestly.’
My thoughts had wandered off again when the second passed trainee was decided.
[2. Jung Hye-in (Sunshine Ent) – 19 years old, D-Class, Rapper]
“Aigoo… no one’s taking Hye-in…”
At the same time, Isabella’s voice flew in.
It sounded full of pity, but when our eyes met, her gaze carried a faint, subtle mockery.
Interpreting that look, it was probably something like:
“You were having so much fun racing earlier, but now you’ve gone quiet all of a sudden?”
Not just Isabella—Kim Gun and M2K were also sending me similar glances, though the intensity varied.
Without the experience of regression, I probably wouldn’t even have noticed it was mockery—so subtle were those looks.
I simply shrugged inwardly.
I understood.
‘This industry is exactly like this.’
Anyone who couldn’t figure out they’d just been hit hard by me would have already sunk to the bottom of the sea without a trace long ago.
The people who survived in this industry had pride to match.
Getting hit hard in the back of the head by some green kid—how could their stomachs not twist?
But so what?
‘Do I look like an easy pushover to you?’
A classic line from an old masterpiece movie came to mind right on cue.
Thinking about how much they must have underestimated both me and Heo Yul-bok to attempt such a half-baked collusion made any feeling of guilt disappear completely.
If I had played nice and let those three take the S-Class trainees at low points in the spirit of sharing, they would definitely have jacked the prices sky-high when Nari and Airi’s turns came.
Instead, they tried to pull a fast one, got hit back even harder, and were still looking at me—and Heo Yul-bok—like we were beneath them.
‘I’m actually grateful.’
They still aren’t tense even after this counterattack?
Then I should be thanking them.
The auction moved forward.
The gap that opens up early will only get bigger.
In that case, it might actually be better to pretend I didn’t notice their subtle mockery—so I deliberately put on a bright, cheerful smile.
“Tch.”
Isabella clicked her tongue so softly it might not have even picked up on the mic, then turned her gaze toward the auctioneer. I caught a glimpse of her expression from the corner of my eye.
With that outwardly peaceful atmosphere maintained, the parade of passes continued—until the moment the mood shifted in an instant.
“Next is the 11th member, Baek So-young. 18 years old, MyWay Entertainment, Class: D-Class, Desired Part: Main Vocal.”
It was So-young’s turn.
“This kid is Main Vocal…?”
“Ha!”
Looks that said “Isn’t this going too far?” poured toward me.
Not just the fox, raccoon, and weasel—even Heo Yul-bok, who had been lost in his own thoughts until now, joined in.
Of course, I just kept my iron face on and smiled brightly.
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Unfortunately, no producer has shown interest in Baek So-young, so we move to the second recruitment opportunity. Position 8.”
Fortunately, So-young’s name was smoothly added to the pass list.
And then,
‘This is the halfway point.’
Amid the good fortune of no one showing interest in So-young, the second major turning point of this auction arrived.
“Next is the 12th member, Lee Soo-jung. 19 years old, Yuyeop Media, Class: A-Class, Desired Part: Main Vocal.”
Right after the previous D-Class Main Vocal, the contrast with this A-Class Main Vocal, Lee Soo-jung, stood out starkly.
“I’ll start.”
In the loosened atmosphere after the long string of passes, M2K smiled, while Kim Gun bit his lip slightly.
It made sense—M2K had 10 more points than him.
But M2K’s smile didn’t last long.
“210 points.”
The one who declared the full remaining amount of M2K’s points was none other than Heo Yul-bok, who had been quietly tapping the table until now.
***
‘Ah… Yul-bok hyung just landed a solid hit on him…’
In the atmosphere flipped by Heo Yul-bok’s sudden participation, that thought couldn’t help but come to mind.
M2K—who had been taking it easy—got blindsided by Heo Yul-bok. Then, in the next turn, the 13th member—a B-Class Main Vocal from Overwhelm, Non (20 years old, Thailand)—was snatched away by Kim Gun, who bid 200 points first. M2K had no choice but to spend 1 extra point in the end.
The only consolation for M2K was probably that the Main Vocal was someone he had raised himself, and that he managed to keep single-digit points in reserve for recruitment rights.
The 14th member, D-Class Main Dancer Fujita Karen (21 years old, JWY, Japan), passed.
After that, Isabella managed to bid her remaining 150 points first on the 15th member, A-Class Sub Vocal Hong Ye-seul (16 years old, Sunshine), with reflexes surprisingly quick for her age—
“151 points.”
—but Heo Yul-bok simply raised it by exactly 1 point and crushed her effortlessly.
While Isabella glared at Heo Yul-bok—who had toyed with her—lips tightly pressed,
Heo Yul-bok looked at me with an expression that said he wasn’t entirely satisfied, but this was the best he could do.
By this point, no one here didn’t understand what Heo Yul-bok was thinking.
He was planning to hand over the remaining two S-Class trainees to me in exchange for building his own team entirely with A-Class members.
An extreme strategy: giving up a guaranteed S-Class center in order to completely eliminate any holes below C-Class.
“Chris Lee has no producer showing interest, so we move to the second recruitment opportunity. Position 10.”
[11. Chris Lee (Overwhelm Ent) – 17 years old, C-Class, Rapper]
Meanwhile, the 16th member was added to the pass list as position 11,
“And now, the 17th member: Seol Nari. 19 years old, MyWay Entertainment, Class: S-Class, Desired Part: Main Dancer.”
Nari’s turn had arrived.
“200 points.”
“500 points.”
Nari’s turn had arrived.
Completely ignoring Kim Gun’s desperate flailing, I threw out half my points just in case—
“569 points.”
Heo Yul-bok immediately countered.
The point where I thought I had landed a solid hit on him was exactly here: that awkward 570-point threshold he forced on me.
Heo Yul-bok had bitten down hard on the exact number I had anticipated.
The next turn after this was Park Yu-rim (19 years old, Overwhelm), whose specialty was dance—and her skill level was extremely high, as already confirmed from the pre-introduction video.
‘Park Yu-rim is definitely A-Class Main Dancer, or at worst Lead Dancer.’
From Heo Yul-bok’s perspective, it was a simple three-way choice.
If Park Yu-rim was Main Dancer,
‘If I bid 570 on Nari and Yul-bok hyung throws 200 or 201 on Park Yu-rim…’
I’d be left with 430 points.
Heo Yul-bok would have 438 remaining.
Excluding Nari and Park Yu-rim, the only remaining trainees A-Class or higher were S-Class Rapper Airi, plus one A-Class Rapper and one Lead Dancer—three in total.
Since I’d already taken Nari, I couldn’t recruit Main Dancer Park Yu-rim anyway. So by picking up the two Rappers for 200 or 201 points each, Heo Yul-bok would guarantee a full five A-Class-or-higher team.
If Park Yu-rim turned out to be Lead Dancer, Heo Yul-bok would only need to add 30 more points for her.
If I spent any more than that, I could still grab Airi, the remaining A-Class Main Dancer, and even the first name on the pass list—B-Class Lead Dancer Jin Ro-a.
Either way, the biggest beneficiary of this auction would be Heo Yul-bok. The only way to flip that structure was for me to give up Nari.
‘Which I obviously can’t do.’
Even if I did give up Nari, from Heo Yul-bok’s perspective it would still be the worst of the three scenarios—A-Class vocal line completed plus an S-Class Main Dancer—but still not a real loss.
‘Ah… he really got me good.’
For now, there was no choice but to follow his lead.
“5, 4, 3…”
The count was already racing down.
“570 points.”
No matter what, giving up Nari wasn’t an option.
As I expected, Heo Yul-bok immediately dropped out of the race.
“18th member: Park Yu-rim. 18 years old, Overwhelm Entertainment, Class: A-Class, Desired Part: Main Dancer.”
“200 points.”
“19th member: Kim Soo-jin. 18 years old, Starlight Entertainment, Class: S-Class, Desired Part: Rapper.”
“200 points.”
After that, Park Yu-rim and Airi were split between us.
Airi wasn’t something I particularly minded.
She was someone I’d already polished in the past, so she knew me well too.
‘She’s not the type to troll anyway.’
Even if Lee Hee-kyung ordered her to, Airi—whose face might look like a fox but whose heart was pure bear—would never properly carry out such an order. I knew that very well.
By the time Trinity activities ended, Airi might even transfer to MyWay.
Whether Lee Hee-kyung would let her go easily was another question for later, but right now there was no need to compare an A-Class Rapper with Airi.
It did sting a little that Heo Yul-bok took the A-Class Rapper at turn 21 and the A-Class Lead Dancer at the final turn,
‘But what can you do.’
Strictly speaking, this was a Win-Win between me and Heo Yul-bok.
From the beginning, I had targeted Main Vocal, Sub Vocal, and Main Dancer positions for the auction. My plan was to use up all 1,000 points by taking Nari and Airi.
On top of that, securing B-Class Lead Dancer Jin Ro-a as the first pass-list name meant the goal was 120% achieved.
‘Well, it’s still better than those annoying old-timers winning.’
Let’s lend the winner’s crown to Heo Yul-bok for just a little while.
No matter what anyone says, the final victor will be me—the one who snagged an S-Class vocal line through passes.
“Proceeding to second recruitment. First in order is B-Class Lead Dancer Jin Ro-a…”
“230 points.”
I dumped every remaining point on Jin Ro-a like I’d lost my mind.
There was no need to describe the looks I got from the other producers after planting a bomb on someone else only to end up carrying double the explosives myself.
This truly was the perfect ending for becoming the crazy bastard of this entire program.
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TL Note:
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[This series is in the “Regressed Idol” collection]
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