Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Translator: Penny
Chapter 26
"At least this time the music video won't turn out like Come to My Universe. If the stage outfits are high-teen themed, they'll be better than those white sponge-experiment jumpsuits or that godawful gothic-goth hybrid look Eden Hyung mentioned."
Ryu Jaehee's relieved words made Kim Dobin bristle.
"Hey, we're dealing with Kim Nodap here! The same Kim Nodap who dumped the choreography direction on me? The Kim Nodap who listened to the song and came up with a multiverse-hopping thief-catching plot!"
The CEO's long-standing nickname, coined by fans, slipped from Kim Dobin's lips.
Typical high schooler, giving nicknames to teachers first and foremost.
Still, such animosity... It only fueled my suspicions that he'd received a sponsorship offer.
Kim Dobin visibly flinched under my intense gaze, springing to his feet as if jolted. With an awkward smile, he hurriedly turned on the AR system, urging us to start practicing the choreography.
That bastard...
The choreography practice routine remained unchanged.
First, Kim Dobin mastered the choreography, refining even the most unnatural movements.
Next, Ryu Jaehee learned the steps. He would then mock Gyeon Hajun and me, mimicking our stumbles until a stray water bottle struck him, subduing his antics.
Finally, once Gyeon Hajun and I had mastered the choreography, the four of us would lean against the mirror, offering critiques and watching Seo Yehyeon's movements—a chaotic blend of flailing and rhythm—until they resembled something vaguely resembling dance.
"As expected of the originator of this new choreography," Ryu Jaehee remarked. "I've never seen anything like it. When did he even create this?"
The fans clapped and cheered, chanting nicknames they had given him and exclaiming in admiration.
Seo Yehyeon, who seemed too exhausted to even curse aloud, sank heavily into his seat, glaring daggers with his eyes.
Tsk-tsking, he tossed a water bottle aside.
After gulping down the water and catching his breath, Seo Yehyeon grumbled, "Stop being sarcastic and just tell me what's wrong."
"If I say it's a complete disaster, you'll sulk again, won't you?"
"You already called it a complete disaster, you bastard!"
Despite Seo Yehyeon's grumbling, his Original Intent Score remained unchanged.
It seemed that direct criticism would lower his score, but if the feedback was phrased indirectly, forcing Seo Yehyeon to interpret it himself, the score remained unaffected.
Why the hell do I have to analyze this guy's mood swings? Damn Original Intent Score. That goddamn discord-inducing system.
YDC Entertainment contacted me.
I was led into a spacious studio workspace. Though the equipment looked outdated by my standards, it was considered state-of-the-art for this era.
It was almost embarrassing to compare it to Yongcheol Hyung's studio.
Of course, it couldn't hold a candle to my studio before the regression.
A man wearing yellow sunglasses swiveled his chair around at the sound of my approach.
The piercing in his eyebrow glinted silver under the studio lights.
As he rose from his chair and approached, I immediately bowed deeply and offered a polite greeting.
"Hello, I'm Reve Yoon Eden. It's a pleasure to work with you."
"Ah, so you're Eden? Junbeom's told me a lot about you."
I shook the hand he extended and met his gaze.
Producer G1, real name Lee Jiwon.
Already a respected producer, in seven years he would become renowned as a master of K-pop's success formula.
Seeing his younger face, even younger than I remembered, made the reality of traveling back in time sink in again, leaving me with a strange mix of emotions.
Guided by his hand, I sat down. Lee Jiwon handed me a sheet of lyrics and clicked the mouse, breaking the silence.
"I didn't send you the audio file separately due to leak risks. You haven't heard it yet, right?"
"Yes."
Before I could finish speaking, a familiar melody began to play from the speakers.
As expected, the sound quality of these high-end speakers was in a different league. The tinny speakers in the cheap rental studio couldn't even compare.
The track played twice in total.
Once with the featured rap section as a guide track, and once with the instrumental version.
"How's it sound? Getting a feel for it?"
I nodded, and he gestured toward the recording booth.
"Then let's get straight to recording."
"Huh? Right now? Wait, aren't there any specific instructions or..."
"Just sing it however the hell you want. This song wasn't written with rap in mind anyway."
He was right. The instrumental version without the rap definitely sounded better.
Scratching my head, I recalled the reason why a rap feature had been added to this song in the first place.
Seo Raon had mentioned in an interview that she wanted to try a rap feature on one of her songs, or something like that.
With Seo Raon's level of experience, even if the producer was G1, he couldn't ignore her request.
"As you can see, my part is short, so let's finish recording within three days."
Seeing his indifferent gaze, devoid of any expectation, an inexplicable stubbornness welled up within me.
I opened the recording booth door, put on the headphones, and stood before the pop filter.
My part consisted of just a few lines, totaling a mere 25 seconds.
But 25 seconds was more than enough time to capture someone's attention.
As the backing track began to play, I immediately started breaking down the beat and spitting out the lyrics.
The lyrics contained no rhymes or punchlines, clearly indicating that the song wasn't originally written with rapping in mind.
Foolishly, I habitually estimated
What kind of ending we would face
As the final line ended, the backing track abruptly cut off.
Through the booth's glass, I caught the intense gaze fixed on me and grinned.
"I'll definitely finish within three days."
The moment I stepped out of the recording booth, Lee Jiwon handed me a bottle of water and said, "I wasn't expecting much. Your group's music and your underground work reeked of that amateurish underground vibe. Still, you were the least bad of the bunch, so I picked you."
That makes sense. Those tracks were from before my regression. I never expected him to bother checking out my recent music show performances anyway.
Lee Jiwon scanned me up and down, adjusted his crooked sunglasses, and asked, "That amateurish vibe's completely gone now? Did someone call you out on it first, or did you go into seclusion to train?"
"Ahahaha, I did get some criticism and tried to improve," I replied.
"Ha, you little bastard. You've got potential."
Where did I get criticized? From you, of course.
Before my regression, I had worked with Lee Jiwon once.
It was probably another feature collaboration back then.
"Drop the pretentiousness. Just because you're grooving doesn't make your flow unique. It just makes it sound like shit."
"Is it really that bad...?"
"Yeah, fucking awful. All style, no substance. You're so full of yourself you can't even see how shit your skills are. You'll rot in the underground forever with that attitude. Hey, quitting the underground and becoming an idol was the best decision you ever made. At least now you're the head of a snake instead of the tail of a dragon."
I'd never been criticized for my rapping skills, even in the underground. Among idol rappers—a scene overflowing with Seo Yehyeon-level pretenders who just recited Buddhist scriptures—I was practically top-tier. That brutal assessment hit me hard.
For a while, I couldn't even rap properly, barely managing to hum a few lines of sing-rap. That says it all.
Back then, hip-hop was the only source of pride left for me, a mere bus passenger in life.
After that stinging advice (or was it mockery?), I shed every trace of superficial swagger and bad habits through relentless effort.
This man will never know that his words helped me reach a level where I'm now considered on par with the top-tier rappers in the mainstream scene.
It was only possible because that was when my resentment and tenacity had reached their peak, compounded by cutting ties with my underground connections due to misunderstandings.
Lee Jiwon, who I consider a benefactor, seemed to have a favorable impression of my current self. A faint smile touched his weary face as he asked,
"Can you come back at the same time tomorrow?"
"I'm not sure. We're preparing for our next project, so I don't know what my schedule will be like..."
Lee Jiwon chuckled as he scratched his head, snatched my phone, and typed in an eleven-digit number.
"Your comeback isn't overlapping with ours, right?"
"Ah, I don't think so. We're aiming for late November."
"No overlap then. Hey, why are you guys coming back on such an awkward date? All the music shows will be cut off in December because of the awards ceremonies."
"That's just how things go at a small agency, you know?"
After personally typing in "G1" as the contact name, Lee Jiwon handed my phone back and waved.
"If any schedules come up, let me know. Even if you can make it at the same time tomorrow, give me a heads-up."
"Yes, of course! I'll be going now!"
I gave a loud bow and left the studio.
Feeling confident that the remaining feature work would go smoothly, I walked back to the practice room with light steps.
As soon as I arrived at the practice room, I loudly proclaimed the life lesson I'd learned from this experience, making sure Seo Yehyeon and Kim Dobin, who had almost thrown away a great opportunity just because it was tough, could hear me.
"People really need to live with fierce determination. Just endure a little hardship, and you'll get back several times what you put in."
"What, like karma?"
Well, I did get karma back in the form of the Original Intent Score.
Can't you read the context, youngest member? If you endure hardship, do you get karma back, or do you get blessings back?
"Karma, you think?"
"Then what good news is there? Don't tell me it's the music video?"
"Huh? Didn't I mention it? This Hyung here got a feature with Seo Raon-sunbaenim."
"Gasp! Seo Raon? The Seo Raon I know? The one who sang 'Dawn Memory'?"
Ryu Jaehee jumped up and grilled me relentlessly, demanding to know when, how, why, and how much I'd been featured on the track.
His fanboy instincts had completely overridden his usual timidity.
The reason I knew What Kind of Ending so well was largely thanks to Ryu Jaehee, who had set it as his phone ringtone and even his morning alarm.
I puffed out my chest, lifting my nose a little higher.
"It's all thanks to my hard work. Ha, it was exhausting having to cater to his whims just for that one thing."
Kim Junbeom was such a petty, vindictive jerk. How many times did I have to apologize for not contacting him first?
I glared at Kim Dobin, who was now trembling and hiccuping uncontrollably.
Why does he shake like a wet stray puppy every time I say something?
As Lee Jiwon had predicted, the work was completed in just three days.
Initially indifferent to whether the featured artist's part turned out well or not, Lee Jiwon began adding more and more specific requests during the second session.
Seeing how perfectly I grasped his demands and delivered exactly what he wanted, Lee Jiwon's obsession with the featured artist's part only intensified.
Having worked with him once before, it was easy to understand the exact feeling he was trying to capture.
Today marked our third meeting.
"Okay, that's a wrap!"
As soon as the featured artist's part was perfectly finalized and I stepped out of the recording booth, Lee Jiwon abruptly thrust his phone at me.
Startled, I took the phone and looked up at him. Lee Jiwon chuckled.
"What, disappointed I'm not a girl group member trying to get your number?"
"Come on, Hyung. Why are you being so cold?"
I countered with a cheerful retort, laughing. "If you give your number to a girl group member, it'll ruin your Original Intent Score. I'll bet all the chicken breasts Seo Yehyeon has in his fridge on it."
I lightly tapped in the eleven-digit number, added "Yoon Eden," and handed the phone back. Lee Jiwon held out his hand to me.
"Give me your phone too."
Confused but compliant, I handed over my phone and asked, "Didn't you give me your number last time?"
"That was my work phone. This is my personal one."
I can't believe I'm actually getting G1's personal number.
"Don't contact me too often, I'm tired," Lee Jiwon added jokingly. I bowed my head respectfully, saying, "Please continue to take good care of me in the future."
Another major connection added to my network.
Wow, now I don't have to suck up to Kim Junbeom to contact or work with G1.
Is this the upside of regression?
📝 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