Chapter 173
Chapter 173
Translator: Penny
Chapter 173
August 1st.
My birthday arrived without fail this year.
As soon as midnight struck, a flood of birthday messages poured in. Among them, the ones that moved me the most were the greetings from my underground connections.
[ Yongcheol Hyung - Happy birthday, you bastard ] 12:08 AM
[ Yongcheol Hyung - Can you believe you're already the same age I was when we first met? ] 12:09 AM
[ Yongcheol Hyung - Time flies... ] 12:10 AM
[ Gijeong Hyung - ㅅㅊ ] 1:35 AM
[ Taehoon Hyung - Come get your birthday beating, you punk! ] 1:13 AM
[ Sangeol Hyung - Are we meeting up today? If so, give us a sneak peek of the semifinal stage! ] 2:35 AM
[ Juseong Hyung - I saw Yongcheol and Eden practicing their routine once. They absolutely killed it! ] 2:46 AM
I never received birthday wishes when I was twenty-two before the regression. It was in these small moments that I truly felt how much the future had changed.
Happy birthday. The gift I sent should arrive this afternoon, so make sure you receive it personally. Your studio address is still the same as before, right?
"Y-yes, but... really, it's fine. Why another gift...?"
The call ended abruptly after he delivered his birthday wishes and said his piece. I scratched my cheek, wondering what scale this year's gift would be. Now that I was earning a decent income, I could comfortably reciprocate whatever Jiwon Hyung sent me on his birthday.
Of course, whether Jiwon Hyung would accept it was another matter. I'd have to haggle the price down as much as possible, just like last year.
Yawning, I sat down at the dining table for breakfast.
"No seaweed soup...?"
Well, it's not like I have to eat seaweed soup on my birthday. Maybe Jun just didn't feel like making it. And I definitely wouldn't want to eat any of the other guys' seaweed soup—it'd probably taste awful.
I'm not the kind of petty person who'd get upset over something like this.
But even if I could let the morning slide, the members hadn't said a single word about my birthday all day.
Ryu Jaehee, who's always monitoring everything and even has all the members' birthdays marked in his calendar app, couldn't possibly have forgotten mine. And Gyeon Hajun definitely knows my birthday too.
Though I'm still not sure if those two actually forgot or if they're just pretending.
They must be planning a surprise prank.
Do they really think I wouldn't notice something this obvious? Well, I appreciate the effort, so I'll play along and act surprised.
Lost in thought, I snapped 인증샷 with subway ads, met up with friends, and fully enjoyed my birthday, living my life as usual.
And right up until the live broadcast celebrating my birthday, my beloved members hadn't done a thing.
Thanks to Seo Yehyeon, who acted like eating cake after 6 PM would kill him, our usual routine was for the members to gather for a small birthday party before the live broadcast. This time, it was clear they'd simply forgotten.
Even the disgustingly tasteless lettering cakes the agency always prepared for 기념일 live broadcasts contributed to our mini birthday parties.
In our very early debut days, we used to skip birthdays altogether.
But after celebrating one member's birthday, we'd consistently celebrated everyone's birthdays ever since. Considering we'd even celebrated Kim Dobin's birthday just three months prior, my mood began to sour.
But with the cameras rolling, I couldn't show my true feelings. Any hint of discord would damage our reputation and, more importantly, our Original Intent Score.
Midway through our birthday live stream, the studio lights suddenly flickered off.
"Huh? What's going on? Why did the lights go out?"
Seo Yehyeon's desperate attempt to feign surprise immediately revealed the setup.
If you're going to pull a surprise prank, at least work on your acting first, Yehyeon. Tsk tsk. That was worse than reading from a textbook.
"Maybe it's a power outage? Let's just stay calm and wait for the lights to come back on..."
Gyeon Hajun's acting was at least somewhat convincing. But as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I quickly spotted the Maknae Line slipping out the studio door.
"Happy birthday, Eden Hyung!"
"Happy birthday, Eden!"
"Happy birthday, Yoon Eden!"
"Happy birthday, our Leader!"
As the lights came back on, fireworks exploded on both sides, and a cream cake with candles was thrust in front of me. I couldn't help but smile, a look of resignation on my face.
Thank goodness that damn lettering cake wasn't my only birthday cake.
"Eden Hyung wouldn't even blink if we fought or forgot his birthday, so we had to resort to extreme measures," Dobin said, ruffling my hair with a grin.
"Hyung, were you really not upset? Didn't you suspect a hidden camera prank?"
"Do I look like you, Dobin?" I retorted, chuckling. If it hadn't been for Seo Yehyeon, I might not have caught on at all. Who would expect a hidden camera prank during a live broadcast?
I had planned to make the high notes in our next song impossible for everyone but me to sing, but since they remembered my birthday, I'll let them off the hook.
The day after my birthday, while practicing our stage performance with Yongcheol Hyung, he nudged me and asked, "Hey, didn't G1 get you anything this year?"
"They replaced my digital mixing console with the latest model in my studio."
Yongcheol Hyung was shocked when I mentioned the brand name.
"Holy shit, that thing costs over 4 million won, right? It's like twice as extravagant as last year's gift! You should resent this Hyung who only got you a 300,000 won audio interface."
"It's okay, Hyung. Are Jiwon Hyung's earnings the same as yours? I still have a conscience—I wouldn't squeeze blood from a flea."
I chuckled, which made Yongcheol Hyung bristle. "Hey! If you add up all the fight money I've won on Drop The Beat...!"
"Uh-huh, that money isn't yours until you win, right? You only get it if you win, right?"
I teased Yongcheol Hyung, who was sputtering in frustration, before lowering my voice seriously.
"So win, Hyung. You need to claim all that fight money you've earned so far."
As I've proven, the future can definitely be changed.
Exactly one week after my birthday, on August 8th, was Reve's debut anniversary.
"Can you believe it's already our second debut anniversary?"
"Yeah, it feels like just yesterday we were rookies. Time really flies."
Having just celebrated my seventh anniversary, I wasn't particularly moved by the second anniversary.
Today's live broadcast concept for Reve's second anniversary was a potluck party, so the dorm kitchen had been bustling since morning.
Gyeon Hajun and Seo Yehyeon, who were relatively better cooks than us, graciously yielded the kitchen to the "Hopeless Cooking Trio" first.
"I've been binge-watching cooking YouTube for a whole week just for today!" Kim Dobin declared confidently, slamming the groceries onto the table with a flourish.
A quick glance revealed a variety of ingredients: red wine, bacon, beef chuck, bay leaves, vegetables, mushrooms, butter, flour, tomato paste, and even curry blocks.
"You spent a whole week watching YouTube just to make curry? Looks like you had way too much free time, Dobin. Why don't you study songwriting with Hyung instead?"
"It's not curry! It's this! Boeuf Bourguignon!"
Despite its fancy name, the dish in the YouTube thumbnail looked suspiciously like Korean braised short ribs.
"What's this? Isn't it just braised short ribs?"
"They say it's the most delicious beef dish humans can make! And it's not braised short ribs. It's French-style beef stew with wine... Wait a minute..."
"Well, it's still braised short ribs. But can you actually pull this off? It looks ridiculously difficult."
Seo Yehyeon bet his acting skills on whether he'd have to call Gyeon Hajun for help midway.
"I'll perfect this dish and present it to the fans. By today, I'll finally escape the 'Hopeless Trio' of Reve's official cooking disasters. You and Jaehee can stay the Hopeless Duo."
"Nah, I already escaped. You and Jaehee are the Hopeless Duo now."
Gyeon Hajun effortlessly whipped up the kimchi fried rice he'd been practicing. He poured the egg mixture into the oiled pan, secured both sides with chopsticks, and pulled them taut.
In that position, he swiftly and precisely rotated the chopsticks, shaping the egg into its final form.
"Wow, it's still amazing no matter how many times I see it. Eden Hyung's sole culinary talent."
Ryu Jaehee marveled at the perfectly crafted Tornado Omelet. He grumbled as he carelessly dumped it over the kimchi fried rice in a Lock & Lock container.
"Hey, what's so 'Sole' about Sole? He can even cook ramen well."
"Honestly, Hyung, your ramen is always overcooked and tastes awful."
"Says the jerk who eats raw noodles!"
Having finished my dish first, I placed the Lock & Lock container on the table and leaned back on the living room sofa.
Only the Maknae Line remained in the kitchen. The clanging and banging noises coming from inside made me wonder what they were up to. Gyeon Hajun kept glancing nervously at the kitchen, clearly anxious.
A decent aroma wafted from the kitchen, but the noise and screams persisted.
Why isn't Kim Dobin calling for Gyeon Hajun...?
"Done!"
A cheerful shout rang out from the kitchen. In the end, Kim Dobin had finished cooking without asking Gyeon Hajun for help.
Ah, Seo Yehyeon's acting skills, already nonexistent, have completely vanished. No, wait—since he hadn't tasted the final product yet, there was still a chance for his acting skills to recover.
Gyeon Hajun and Seo Yehyeon also finished cooking. They packed the dishes into shopping bags and headed to the studio where the 2nd-anniversary live broadcast would be held.
While we were arranging the food on plates, I scanned the charmingly decorated table and noticed a conspicuously empty spot in the center. "No cake this time?" I asked.
"Ah... there was a miscommunication. Another staff member went to pick up the cake. It should arrive before the live broadcast starts."
His visibly uncomfortable expression made me immediately sense something was wrong with the cake.
Four minutes before the live broadcast, a staff member rushed in, panting, carrying the cake box. He quickly took the cake out and placed it in the center of the table.
The moment I saw the cake, a curse nearly escaped my lips. Kim Dobin already had his hand on Ryu Jaehee's shoulder, and Seo Yehyeon and Gyeon Hajun's expressions had frozen into stiff masks.
The lettering was even more crooked and uneven than the one Ryu Jaehee had written for Reve's first anniversary live broadcast last year. But that was the least of my concerns.
A pink cream cake decorated with cherries? This was just too much.
I roughly swept my bangs back and let out a hollow laugh.
"Wow, what are they trying to pull right now?"
📝 Translator’s Note:
You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.
This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.
To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.
but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny