Episode 143: Pleasant Misjudgment (2)
“Hyung.”
Su-hyuk’s voice dragged my mind back up to the surface.
“We’re here.”
“Already?”
“Already? Traffic was insane—we barely made it on time.”
I checked the time. He was right.
What should’ve left me with about thirty minutes to spare was now cutting it dangerously close.
“As long as I’m not late, it’s fine.”
Su-hyuk bowed his head as if taking my words as empty courtesy and apologized, but I genuinely didn’t mind.
As long as I didn’t end up being the embarrassing producer who strolls in fashionably late after all the kids had already gathered, that was enough.
If someone with driving skills that didn’t match his age ended up running late, there had to be a real reason for it.
Above all,
‘I was completely lost in my own head.’
If I’d actually paid attention to how slowly the car was crawling through traffic, even I would’ve felt irritated or anxious.
But my mind had been so buried in the thin pages of the 1 Hit Lover script that—until Su-hyuk said something—I hadn’t even realized how much time had passed.
“Drop me off here first.”
“Yes, hyung. I’ll park and come in.”
I stepped out of the car and walked into the building, letting out a small chuckle.
‘Guess I have to admit it.’
To be honest…
My subjective judgment that my acting skills are terrible is closer to a lie.
More precisely,
‘It’s a lie even I’m trying to tell myself.’
Something like that.
Once you’ve been in this industry long enough, there are certain facts you can’t avoid knowing—no matter how much you try.
One of them is that anyone who has to stand in front of a camera inevitably ends up acting to some degree.
‘Showing the fans the “idol” version of yourself they want is acting too, in its own way.’
In that sense, I’ve spent sixteen years perfectly catering to the desires of who-knows-how-many people.
If the role wasn’t something completely outside my understanding, I might’ve at least gotten comments like “For an idol, he actually did pretty well.”
Of course, I also know there’s a world of difference between wearing a mask and hiding your true feelings versus fully embodying someone else’s life.
But the person who learned firsthand from Starlight’s dance trainers that there aren’t that many things you absolutely cannot do once you hammer them into your body… is me.
If I’d properly trained in acting too, maybe I could’ve avoided becoming the meme senior idol famous for the line “Are you okay? Were you really surprised?”
The only reason I didn’t was simple.
Unlike dance, acting wasn’t an absolutely necessary skill for singing.
There was never any charm in acting strong enough to make me want to put in that kind of bone-deep effort.
And yet now here I am—completely absorbed, to the point that nothing else enters my eyes.
There’s no need to spell out why I’ve changed like this.
“Ha…”
The fact remains: right now, I’m actually enjoying acting.
When I think about the reason, even amid the fresh realization, a small sigh escapes me.
‘What am I going to do later…?’
Maybe it was a mistake to encourage Zia to pursue acting.
It was absolutely something she needed to do for her future—but for Han Yujin personally, it might’ve been something I should’ve desperately tried to stop.
‘I didn’t expect it to be this bad.’
It’s not even a confirmed love line—just a light implication—and yet my jealousy is already flaring up enough to take the bait.
At first I thought I could just laugh it off as no big deal, but now that it’s right in front of me, I can’t confidently say I’ll be able to do that.
The problem is that this is Korea.
Thanks to OTT platforms like Netflix opening up more windows for content beyond traditional TV broadcasters, the proportion of romance has definitely decreased—but has romance completely disappeared as something that tickles people’s hearts? Absolutely not.
Whether it’s broadcast networks, OTT, or theaters, more than half of the projects still have some degree of romance woven in.
‘Right now I can brush it off casually, but…’
What if more and more people start looking for actress Woo Zia?
When that time comes… will I really be able to watch her with clear eyes?
Looking back now, I wonder if the fact that I kept rejecting every casting offer—even lying to myself—was something similar in context.
In other words, the feeling that I absolutely didn’t want Zia—who’s living somewhere out there—to ever see me hugging someone, kissing someone, exchanging loving glances with someone else?
‘If I’d known it would turn out like this, I should’ve sent her to Hollywood… What nonsense am I even saying.’
Of course I know it’s nonsense.
Putting aside the language barrier or whether she’d even succeed.
Hollywood isn’t exactly free of romance works either.
“Tch.”
I roughly scratched through my hair, clicked my tongue once, and resumed the steps I’d briefly paused.
Thinking about it more won’t give me any answers anyway.
What’s important right now isn’t my cameo appearance, my jealousy, or Zia’s potential Hollywood debut—it’s the five kids who are probably warming up in that practice room over there.
‘Still… this side is more fun for now.’
Even though carrying other people’s futures on my back should weigh heavily on my heart, strangely enough I feel a little lighter.
Is it because I’m a born singer and producer at heart? Or because I’m a coward who isn’t ashamed to run away?
I don’t know which one is correct, but fortunately I wasn’t given time to dwell on it.
Because in the corridor leading to the practice room, I ran into people bowing toward me.
“Ah! Producer-nim! Hello!”
The cheerful greeting came from Jin Ro-a.
“…”
Quietly bowing her head after her was Kim Soo-jin.
“Good morning.”
After returning a moderate morning greeting and continuing to walk, last night’s events suddenly came to mind.
These two were the duo among Team Y’s members who hadn’t received a good evaluation from Zia.
First, about Jin Ro-a,
“Doesn’t her voice sound way too ordinary?”
That’s what she said.
And she’s right.
Compared to the MyWay trio, Jin Ro-a’s vocal is honestly quite ordinary.
‘Zia put it nicely by calling it ordinary.’
There’s no particularly striking or unique timbre that grabs the ear, and her singing style lacks any distinct characteristics—frankly speaking, it’s a rather bland voice.
As a solo singer, it would be hard for her to achieve great success with those traits, but there’s something Zia still doesn’t know.
‘In an idol group, this kind of voice is also necessary.’
Having a strong color means it can easily divide opinions.
For idols who need to receive as much attention and love as possible from the widest audience, strong likes-and-dislikes can actually be a disadvantage.
No matter how much people say idols aren’t properly recognized as singers, the fact remains that their essence is still being a singer.
That’s exactly where a voice like Jin Ro-a’s—nicely put, ordinary; harshly put, bland—shines in its role.
It serves as the baseline and average point for members with much more distinctive vocals.
It’s hard for her to stand in the spotlight herself, but if she’s truly needed, then this role is absolutely necessary.
In that sense, Jin Ro-a—who is purely Chinese yet has perfectly natural pronunciation with zero accent—is the perfect fit for that position.
Originally, I had planned to give that role to Nari.
But thanks to Jin Ro-a’s appearance, Nari’s clear and pure vocal can now be properly colored as well—so this too counts as one of the pleasant misjudgments.
Of course, since it’s a supporting role that doesn’t stand out on the surface, it might seem like I’m sacrificing Jin Ro-a—but it’s not quite like that either.
Jin Ro-a herself must already know very well that her vocal ability as a proper singer falls short.
If she wants to secure more parts, ironically, taking on this kind of role is actually the surer path.
Above all, Jin Ro-a is the type who shines more offstage than on it.
“You’re a little late today, huh?”
“Yeah. Traffic was a bit heavy.”
“Ahh. No wonder.”
“I’m not late, though.”
“What a shame. If you’d been late, I could’ve asked you to buy us something delicious.”
“I can still buy it for you now. But there’ll be a price to pay.”
“Ah… that’s a bit…”
Even though the age gap isn’t that big, the way she casually acts friendly toward me—a producer—and naturally draws out the conversation.
It’s the kind of skill that variety show producers can’t help but love.
If Project Trinity goes according to my plan, then among the team that will eventually receive the name Trinity, the variety show representatives will probably end up being Soyoung and Jin Ro-a.
On the other hand, in Kim Soo-jin’s case,
‘She completely shut her mouth…’
Her agency is Starlight, after all.
I had lightly said something like “it feels like she’s being carried on Polaris’s back just by looking at the Polaris members,” but even now, the name Starlight seems to weigh heavily on Zia.
‘No matter how much it’s Lee Hee-kyung, she wouldn’t do that to the kids.’
At least when it comes to the artists she manages, she’s sincere.
In reality, while she was with Polaris, she never once got involved in anything dirty.
To me, that woman is someone who makes my blood boil, but I have to give credit where it’s due.
‘At the very least, she won’t do anything that harms Kim Soo-jin.’
Especially since the kid is set to become the core of a new girl group once Trinity’s activities are over.
Her scheme was probably something like making the team that includes Soo-jin surpass the one I’m leading.
But since that’s already fallen apart from the start, right now Lee Hee-kyung is probably just hoping Soo-jin can squeeze out as much as possible from being around me.
‘Of course, I couldn’t say that honestly to Zia.’
Last night, when Zia went quiet, I also didn’t say anything about Kim Soo-jin.
I didn’t want to say a single word in front of Zia that could possibly sound like praise for Lee Hee-kyung.
“Soo-jin, your energy’s way too low. Gotta pump it up a bit?”
“Y-Yes…!”
After leaving that light morning greeting for Kim Soo-jin, we arrived at the practice room.
The two who had followed behind me lined up side by side next to the MyWay trio, who were already there waiting.
“You all watched the first broadcast yesterday, right?”
““Yes!””
The kids answered in perfect unison.
Even without meeting eyes, their unity as a team was impressive.
The confidence was the same.
But the words that would come next were bound to make them wilt a little—no helping it.
The content being what it is.
“Yesterday, the first impression voting opened too.”
Project Trinity doesn’t have separate judges.
The people qualified to sit in the judge seats are already down here as participants.
What judges the kids is the public’s gaze.
The unprecedented method of leaving all judgment entirely to the public definitely succeeded in drawing massive attention, but the drawbacks are also clear.
“We’re probably going to have the lowest first impression vote score.”
There’s no avoiding it.
Even though we have two S-Class members, two of our vocal line are D-Class.
And even those S-Class members aren’t from one of the three major families—they’re from MyWay and Starlight.
Above all, the producer’s name value inevitably falls a little short.
“”…””
As expected, no reply came back.
But their momentum wasn’t broken.
“You’re not planning to stay at the bottom until the very end, right?”
The MyWay trio, brimming with trust in me.
Jin Ro-a, who usually never stops chattering.
Even Kim Soo-jin, who suffers from low blood pressure and is weak in the mornings.
No one answered verbally, but there was no need to press them for one.
Their brightly shining eyes were already showing the fire of determination burning inside them.
“Alright. Not much time left. Let’s push a little harder until we go crush their egos.”
The fuel to keep that fire blazing—self-confidence—had already been sufficiently filled in the short time we’d spent together.
That meant preparations for Project Trinity’s first stage were more or less complete.
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TL Note:
This novel has been completed.
Want to read ahead?
Chapters 144–178 are available on My Patreon (Premium Tier) together with 5 other novels.
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
[This series is in the “Regressed Idol” collection]
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