Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Translator: Penny
Chapter 43
One Chance: A Regression Guide for Idols Who've Lost Their Original Intent
Current Time: 1:28 AM
Two minutes until wake-up time. Gyeon Hajun, Seo Yehyeon, and I, who had managed to catch a brief nap from 11 PM to 1 AM, were all awake.
Even after such a short sleep, Seo Yehyeon was frantically washing his face with cold water, worried about puffiness. He grumbled about trying to look presentable as he fussed with his appearance. I watched him for a while before burying my face back in my pillow.
"Wonder if the youngest member is awake yet..."
"Send him a text. If he's not asleep, he's probably on his phone."
I replied to Gyeon Hajun's mutter in a voice hoarse from lack of sleep. Normally, I would have set an alarm, but I had turned it off in advance.
The script called for someone with a camcorder to wake up the members and capture their "just-woke-up" looks.
Knock, knock.
At the sound of the knock, the three of us immediately pretended to be asleep.
"Yes, this is the room shared by the three Hyungs. It's twice the size of our room. Only those over 180cm tall can use it."
The door burst open, and Ryu Jaehee strode in.
"Everyone's sound asleep. Dobin Hyung and I each have our own small mattresses, but here they have one big mattress, forcing them to share a bed... Oh, 'share a bed' is short for 'sharing the same bed.'"
Ryu Jaehee, whispering and chattering to the camcorder, targeted Seo Yehyeon first.
"This is Reve's visual eldest Hyung, Yehyeon Hyung. Even his sleeping face is handsome. The world really is unfair."
Remembering Seo Yehyeon's earlier fuss about not wanting to look ugly on camera, Jaehee's words only earned a snort of derision.
Of course, Yehyeon Hyung usually looked decent even when he was sleeping, but this meticulously styled appearance was on another level entirely.
"Yehyeon Hyung, wake up."
Following the advice of acting prodigy Gyeon Hajun, Seo Yehyeon remained silent, his lips sealed, and simply sat up.
This was the "still half-asleep in the morning" concept.
"Since you're up, why not greet our fans?"
"Good morning, Daydream."
Starting the day with Seo Yehyeon's morning greeting instead of an alarm? I couldn't honestly call it a refreshing start.
"Next up is our Reve's leader, Eden Hyung. Doesn't he look a bit softer when he's sleeping?"
Having apparently designated me as his next target, Ryu Jaehee pressed his fingers firmly between my eyebrows and shook me.
"Eden Hyung, it's morning."
"...I'm awake."
I rolled over, burying my face in the pillow as I mumbled a reply.
My concept was to pretend I was still half-asleep, insisting I was awake while trying to drift back to sleep.
"You're not even awake yet! Wake up properly!"
"Uh-huh."
I gave a perfunctory response and pulled my hood over my head. I heard a rustling sound beside me as someone sat up.
"Oh, Hajun Hyung! You woke up on your own without me having to wake you?"
"Did Jaehee sleep well too? What's with you waking up so early?"
"What do you mean 'what's with me'? I'm the most diligent morning person in Reve!"
Ryu Jaehee delivered this blatant lie without a single waver in his voice.
Perhaps the true acting genius wasn't Gyeon Hajun, but Ryu Jaehee.
"You're the type who'd sleep until 10 AM if no one woke you up. What kind of morning person are you, youngest member? Do you even know what 'morning person' means?"
Unable to ignore his nonsense, I grumbled and sat up. Ryu Jaehee immediately shoved a camcorder in my face, demanding I greet the camera.
"Good morning," I mumbled.
Technically, it was closer to dawn than morning, but I waved at the camcorder with half-closed eyes.
After seven years as an idol, maintaining the perfect "sleepy-but-not-ugly eye size" was practically second nature.
On a normal day, Seo Yehyeon would have been the first to wake up for his morning workout, followed by Gyeon Hajun, who would start preparing breakfast. I would have hit snooze twice, then lie on the mattress in a half-awake daze, scribbling down lyrics that flashed through my mind in my phone's notepad.
If Gyeon Hajun had told us to wake the others for breakfast, we would have gone to the Maknae Line's room, blasted the loudest song at full volume through the speakers, and woken them up that way.
From the moment Ryu Jaehee woke up first, this broadcast was destined to be staged.
Having successfully completed the staged wake-up scene, we followed Ryu Jaehee to the Maknae Line's room.
"Now, let's wake up Dobin Hyung for the last time."
"Dobin's still asleep?"
"He said to wake him up after waking all the Hyungs."
The moment I saw Kim Dobin sprawled comfortably on the bed, I knew:
This guy is really asleep.
It looked like he was about to show us his real morning routine, not just pretend to wake up like we usually did.
He was sacrificing himself to bring genuine authenticity to our fabricated reality.
"Dobin Hyung! Wake up!"
"I told you to wake up all the Hyungs first..."
The three of us watched Kim Dobin mumble in heavily slurred speech from behind Ryu Jaehee, our eyes sparkling with amusement.
"Everyone else is already up. You're the only one still sleeping!"
"Ah, don't lie..."
"I'm not lying. Stop dawdling and get up already."
At my voice, Kim Dobin squirmed under the covers, pulling them over his head before slowly lowering them and propping himself up.
"Huh, it's true. Hyungs, did you sleep well...? Yaaawn."
The sight of him yawning widely with his unkempt face was captured perfectly by the camcorder in Ryu Jaehee's hand.
Still, he's an idol. How can they broadcast a face like that?
His face, squinting and frowning, looked so pitiful that I personally covered him with a blanket.
Anyway, thanks to this morning's little spectacle, the tension about our comeback performance on the music show had long since dissipated.
After showering and leaving the dorm, we got our makeup and hair done at the salon and arrived at the broadcasting station at 4 AM for the pre-recording of the music show.
"I heard KICKS is a candidate for first place this week. Why aren't we?"
"You can't be a candidate for first place on a music show during your comeback week. You don't have any accumulated points yet."
Even if we were nominated for first place, our album sales and digital rankings were significantly lower. Our chances of winning this week were about as likely as winning the lottery.
Still, the thought of today's first-place contenders made my blood boil.
Thank God the reality cameras aren't following us to the waiting room today.
That was the first thought that flashed through my mind as I opened the door to the group waiting room and saw those familiar faces.
These were the guys we'd be competing against in earnest next week. I didn't care whether they won this week or not, but I couldn't stand the thought of having to watch them celebrate. I just hoped another nominee would take the top spot.
I wasn't worried about the music charts. I had no doubt KICKS would fall while we climbed.
"Oh, so you were really sick but still managed to avoid delaying your comeback?"
As soon as our eyes met, the usual sarcastic remark was spat out. I plastered a friendly smile on my face.
"I couldn't delay it, you know, in case some people might misunderstand and think we were scared to compete with them."
KICKS exchanged confused glances, clearly not expecting this response. It took them a moment to realize I was mocking them, and their expressions twisted into scowls.
"Have you already forgotten? What did you say when I tried to talk to you before?"
My smile vanished as I stared them down. The KICKS Leader, his face contorted in a grimace, waved his hand dismissively.
"Hey, hey, just ignore them. Don't even talk to them. Just ignore them."
"Typical of a group that talks behind people's backs without any sense of decency. Starting a fight and then telling us to ignore them? What kind of twisted logic is that?"
Before I could open my mouth, Seo Yehyeon struck first.
Overjoyed to see his signature ability to get under people's skin being used on someone other than me for the first time in ages, I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter.
Finally, this Hyung is earning his keep.
"Just ignore him. He probably got scared."
He scoffed, stretching casually as if making sure we heard him.
Knowing my Original Intent Score would definitely be docked, I felt a pang of regret that I couldn't settle this with a fistfight like I would have before my regression.
No need to get worked up first.
KICKS' activities will end at the same time as ours.
That means we'll have to keep seeing their faces until our promotions are over.
It's infuriating, but we can't even complain. It's not that they're extending their promotions; it's that we had to shorten ours due to the year-end award shows.
When it was our turn, we were guided onto the stage by a staff member.
Our fans, who had come to watch the pre-recording, cheered as we stepped onto the stage.
There seemed to be even more of them than before.
Perhaps it was because the memory of the eerily empty space beneath the stage during our "Come to My Universe" performance still lingered so vividly.
For Yoon Eden, now in his seventh year and slowly forgetting his flop idol days, this scene was familiar. So why did it feel so foreign to me?
I fidgeted with the collar of my stage outfit, which resembled the one I wore in the music video. My costume was a bulky rider jacket.
"Our Ilmongs! How have you all been?" Ryu Jaehee's greeting was met with a roar of cheers.
"It's been a while, Daydream. We're sorry for unintentionally making you worry."
As Gyeon Hajun, my co-star in the emergency room saga, and I bowed deeply in apology, the fans erupted in shouts:
"Noooo!"
"It's okay! It's okay!"
"Don't get sick! Let's stay together for a long, long time!"
Overwhelmed by the outpouring of concern and encouragement, my stomach churned again. I turned away with an awkward smile, but quickly returned to my position when someone yelled, "Don't cry!"
"I'm not crying," I mumbled.
Just then, the signal came to start the pre-recording. We broke off our interaction with the fans and took our positions on stage.
A lively melody filled the air. As Gyeon Hajun's powerful, clear voice soared through the opening verse, I thought to myself:
I'm so glad I didn't take that Panacea Potion and gave it to Gyeon Hajun instead. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to deliver a performance like today's, where we tore through the stage from the very first note.
This was the first song I wrote, envisioning Reve performing it.
Before my regression, I had handed it over to another group, leaving me to watch a performance that deviated from my vision with lingering regret.
The song had earned me substantial royalties, solidified my position as a producer, and propelled a newly debuted junior group to stardom. Yet it remained the song that haunted me with the deepest regret.
And now, Reve—my group—was performing it on stage.
The voice I had imagined. The stage exactly as I had envisioned it.
All night long, surrender to this music.
Until this night is over, let's party time!
"Let's party time!"
I chuckled, hearing the fans' thunderous chants from below, their voices echoing like a cheer.
For the first time, I felt that this regression wasn't just atonement, but an opportunity granted to me.
If this was a dream, I wished it wouldn't end until after this performance was over.
The moment a checkmark appeared next to one of the items on my mental bucket list—something I had never believed possible—was a moment I would never forget.
📝 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