Chapter 181
Chapter 181
Translator: Penny
Chapter 181
"Eden Hyung, I love you! I love you! I love you!"
"What mission are you on now?"
"No mission. I just realized how stingy I've been with expressing my love while listening to your reaction. I'm going to say it a lot more from now on. Ryu Jaehee, I love you!"
"Ugh, what's wrong with him?"
Ryu Jaehee, who had only come out for a drink of water, was suddenly ambushed with a confession. He made a gagging gesture and walked away.
Watching Ryu Jaehee's retreating figure, Kim Dobin pondered seriously.
"Why is he starting to resemble Hyung more and more? I grew up watching Hyung during my formative years as a teenager, when one's sense of self is supposed to solidify, yet I turned out fine without mimicking him. Is a one-year age difference really that significant?"
"What the hell, you little brat? Are you saying I turned out wrong because I look like him? Huh?"
I casually applied a headlock—or rather, a neck massage—and Kim Dobin immediately tapped out.
Rubbing his now-relaxed neck muscles, Kim Dobin began recounting what happened after the radio broadcast.
"By the way, Senior Cha Yeonho asked which of us has the loudest voice. Do you think he's planning some kind of collaboration?"
Collaboration? More likely he's trying to sniff out if any of us are Regressors.
I'd assumed he'd keep barking up the wrong tree after settling on Gyeon Hajun, but it seems he caught on surprisingly quickly that Hajun isn't a Regressor.
"So I told him it was Eden Hyung for the musical parts... Hajun Hyung, I love you! Yehyeon Hyung, I love you too!"
Before he could finish speaking, Kim Dobin launched a fervent confession attack at the two members who had just emerged from the room.
"Okay, sure. Dobin, why don't you grab some side dishes from the fridge for dinner?"
"Why are you suddenly acting like a love evangelist? Did you lose a bet or something?"
Ignoring him almost completely, Kim Dobin clutched his head and shouted, "No! This isn't just my problem! It's a problem for all of us! Eden Hyung, after hearing about Altair succeeding in 29 seconds and Syndrome in 38 seconds, don't you realize something?"
"KJ and Cha Yeonho were the ones who did those missions, right? If Jun had been the one doing it instead of you... well, even then, I doubt he would have gotten the answer."
Knowing it was a mission would have made it easier to say, but if you heard "I love you" from a friend without realizing it was a mission, "I love you too" would never come out as a response.
"It's all because our group lacks love. So, how about we change our greetings to 'I love you'? Like, when we wake up in the morning, we say, 'I love you—'"
"Hey, you're talking nonsense again. If I heard that kind of greeting first thing in the morning, I'd choke on my breakfast. Stop talking nonsense and go set out the side dishes in the kitchen."
I grumbled, pressing down on Kim Dobin's head. Why don't you just make him a bear doll that says "I love you, I love you" every time I squeeze it?
"A reality show? Again?"
The schedule, announced to us as we were preparing for our overseas activities, wasn't exactly welcome news.
Having cameras installed in our most comfortable accommodations and having to constantly monitor our behavior and appearance was hardly ideal.
Still, with our upcoming overseas activities, we wouldn't have to force content this time, which was a small consolation.
After our meeting with the production team, we gathered to reminisce about our previous reality show experiences. We pulled up My Idol Observation Camera - Reve Edition, filmed during our early debut days, on my laptop.
"Wow, who are these people?"
"This is so fake! Ugh, I'm so embarrassed! This actually aired? Hyungs, was I really like this? Seriously?"
"Now that I see it, everyone except Jun is so obviously faking it. It's painful to watch, seriously."
"I, I look so awkward! Why didn't anyone point out how stiff I was? Why?"
"Don't take it too hard, Hyung. Everyone was probably too focused on the cameras. This was right after our debut, after all."
Gyeon Hajun, the sole member who survived the concept-driven chaos with his acting skills, comforted Seo Yehyeon, who was stuttering in shock before burying his face in his hands and wailing. Hajun gently patted Yehyeon's back.
The other members were clearly self-conscious of the cameras, their awkwardness glaringly obvious. Among them, I, with my relatively longer idol experience, was less camera-conscious, but I still struggled to maintain the System-mandated "tough exterior, soft interior" persona, resulting in unnatural movements and stilted speech.
"Should we call the broadcasting station and ask them to take it down...? Even though we're celebrities, we still have the right to be forgotten..."
"Wow, I thought I was acting naturally and not paying attention to the camera."
"Why has this been watched 550,000 times? It's been played 550,000 times? Wow... I feel like I'm going to lose my mind..."
I said to the members, who were still reeling from the shock of My Idol Observation Camera:
"Let's just film our real daily lives. No more acting. Let's be a little more resilient for our future selves."
"Hyung, we're still idols. We need some filters."
"What are you worried about? We don't swear in our daily lives, we don't fight with each other, and we certainly don't exploit each other."
Before I could finish speaking, all eyes turned to me in unison.
"What? Why?"
"Did you feel even a twinge of guilt when you said that last part?"
"No, not at all."
What kind of exploitation could I possibly have done to warrant guilt?
Ryu Jaehee desperately avoided looking at the laptop screen displaying My Idol Observation Camera as he spoke.
"This reality show isn't like My Idol, where they force us to complete missions. If we just film whatever, it'll be boring as hell, right?"
The reality show we were filming, Reve Time, was supposedly about respecting our autonomy, but it was essentially just dumping the responsibility for creating content onto the participants.
Since the fans will watch anyway, the minimum viewership is guaranteed, right?
As I sneered inwardly, Ryu Jaehee continued his explanation.
"That's why we're incorporating documentaries. The most famous ones, like Human Theater and National Geographic."
Right, combining those two...
"...We're going to experience life on a deserted island?" I asked awkwardly. Gyeon Hajun, who was next to me, nudged me, indicating I'd guessed wrong.
"Don't you think the fans would rather see us than nature, Kid? And isn't Human Theater essentially reality TV, broadly speaking?"
I nudged Kim Dobin, who was spouting nonsense. Even I could tell he was completely wrong.
"That's not what I meant! Let's create our own fun content! Instead of just showing our raw selves and shattering fans' illusions while getting called boring!" Ryu Jaehee slammed his fist on the floor, his voice rising.
"Why can't you guys just understand what I'm saying?! At least Eden Hyung tried to combine my two ideas, but Dobin Hyung didn't even consider mixing them!"
I spoke calmly to the youngest member, who was stomping his feet and nearly roaring in frustration.
"Alright, Kid. Calm down. We'll get noise complaints from the neighbors."
Now the biggest jerk of them all is threatening his hyungs. Tsk.
"For the first day, we'll shoot in the style of a National Geographic observation camera. From the second day onward, we'll switch to filming a five-part Human Theater series. What should the subtitle be?"
Seo Yehyeon was the first to raise his hand and suggest, "Five Brothers Under One Roof."
"Oh, that actually sounds like a Human Theater subtitle! They definitely need that cheesy, old-fashioned vibe."
"What is this, a drama title from the 1980s?" Seo Yehyeon scoffed, clicking his tongue at the terrible naming sense.
"Then why don't you come up with an idea, Yoon Eden?"
After a moment's hesitation, Yoon Eden blurted out the subtitle he'd been pondering for thirty seconds: "Run, Reve!"
Beside Seo Yehyeon, who wore a sour expression, Ryu Jaehee exclaimed in admiration, "Oh, this sounds just like a subtitle from 'Human Theater'! So cheesy!"
Is that a compliment or an insult?
"You're not exactly in a position to mock my ideas, are you? But more importantly, isn't this just plagiarism of 'Run, Hani'?"
"It's not plagiarism, it's an homage," Kim Dobin retorted, raising his hand dramatically.
"How about this? 'Re: Starting Idol Life from Zero: From the Most Natural Self—'"
"Aaaaargh! What kind of awful title is that?! Starting over from what?!"
The title triggered my PTSD so badly that I instinctively cut him off with a shout. Kim Dobin protested with an indignant expression.
"Awful? It's not even that weeb-y! Don't you know 'Re:Zero'?"
"Oh, is that an anime title? Is the main character an idol?"
"So, my current situation is a reference to some otaku anime?"
I asked, forcing down my shock. Kim Dobin shook his head.
"You don't know? The original title was Life in Another World, but I changed it to My Idol to match our reality show's theme."
"Uh-huh, okay. But starting over from zero sounds awful. Rejected."
Relieved that my situation with the Regression Penalty wasn't exactly like the anime, I waved my hand dismissively.
"Let's just go with Run, Reve!"
"How about Five Brothers Under One Roof? At least it's better than Run, Reve!" Seo Yehyeon countered, not wanting to lose.
"What are you talking about?! Run, Reve! is way better than Five Brothers Under One Roof!"
"What about Reve's Full House?"
"Attack on Reve!"
"Dobin Hyung, isn't that getting flak online for being right-wing? Let's avoid anything controversial."
"Alright then, we can't stop Reve!"
Various suggestions were offered, but none truly resonated with everyone. Each member stubbornly clung to their own proposed subtitle.
Finally, Gyeon Hajun, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:
"How about 'Dream of a Daydream'? It combines our fandom name with the meaning of our group name."
"Oh, that's good."
Without hesitation, I abandoned "Run, Reve!" and cast my vote for Gyeon Hajun's suggestion.
"But isn't a daydream already a dream? Wouldn't that make it a 'dream of a dream'?"
"Just overlook that minor detail, okay?"
In the show of hands vote, "Run, Reve!" received 0 votes, "Five Brothers Under One Roof" 1 vote, "Reve's Full House" 1 vote, "We Can't Stop Reve" 1 vote, and "Dream of a Daydream" 2 votes. Thus, the subtitle was officially decided as "Dream of a Daydream."
Everyone except me stubbornly voted for their own suggestions.
Anything was fine with me, as long as it wasn't Run, Reve! or Five Brothers Under One Roof.
The former sounded like the title of a track and field documentary, while the latter felt like something straight out of an 80s daily drama.
"Dream of a Daydream? It's a bit vague. Do you have any other titles in mind?"
But during the meeting with the production team, the subtitle that had been democratically chosen was rejected.
As if they'd been waiting for this moment, the members immediately began pushing their own preferred titles. After some deliberation, the writer finally chose one.
"Five Brothers Under One Roof. This one's the best. It's intuitive and sounds like a subtitle for a human interest documentary."
And just like that, the subtitle for Reve's Human Theater became Five Brothers Under One Roof. If I'd known it would end up like this, I would have just kept pushing for Run, Reve!
📝 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