Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Belittling
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“Sing it quick. Memorize it.”
“Got it. Dowon’s got the low part, huh.”
Kang Minje sang a few lines of the song.
“Psychopath. Psychopath. You can’t do a thing to me~”
I immediately followed along with the part he sang. Kang Minje jumped right in with feedback.
“A bit faster. Try again.”
I did as he said. Kang Minje shook his head.
“Half step off in the middle. It grates when you do it.”
Fucking picky bastard.
‘A cappella’s tough to begin with.’
But right now, I had to nail it. I quietly adjusted my breathing. That’s when Kang Minje placed a hand on my stomach.
“You’re doing good.”
Damn it. His touch pissed me off, but I methodically fixed the issues he pointed out.
“You can’t do a thing to me~”
“Good.”
The fox bastard smiled with his eyes.
“Let’s try it together. Don’t mess up the pitch, okay?”
I nodded.
“Psychopath. Psychopath. You can’t do a thing to me~ When I turn around~”
The a cappella sounded decent enough. But the moment I heard the finished track, I couldn’t help clicking my tongue.
‘I had it easy.’
Kang Minje’s high notes had tons of variations. Major key or minor, I couldn’t tell, but he definitely brought it all to life.
‘Genius bastard.’
How does someone even become that good?
As I stuck out my tongue in awe, Kang Minje grinned widely.
“As expected of Dowon. You pick it up so fast.”
“You basically set the table for me, hyung. No big deal.”
Kang Minje glanced at Ki Jaeyoon and whispered.
“Hmm, plenty of people still suck even after practice.”
Oh.
“You get it right away! And fix it on the spot! It’s touching.”
What, touching? Come on.
“Now that I think about it, Dowon’s always been like that. Ah…”
Kang Minje’s eyes grew misty.
‘This guy’s been through a lot.’
Yeah, teaching Ki Jaeyoon couldn’t be easy.
‘Damn. Feeling sorry for Kang Minje of all people.’
Must be tough, but Ki Jaeyoon just sitting there made him seem impressive in his own way.
Just then, a staffer opened the door while we waited.
“Zenith, your behind-the-scenes is in V2. I’ll show you.”
Shit. No time left.
“Manager, you brought the Gyu umbrella, right?”
“Yeah. Handed it off to staff already.”
“Good call.”
I tapped the smartphone on the table. Quickly switched back to cheat mode.
No time.
[cheat mode 0/3]
[Zenith members feel no pain for 2 hours.]
[Changed. Side effect: neck prickles for 25 minutes starting in 5 seconds.]
[cheat mode 1/3]
Huh.
Similar side effect, but the duration was way longer.
‘Because more people?’
Side effects were still unpredictable as ever.
“Dowon! Hurry!”
“Coming!”
I bolted out. Soon my neck started prickling.
***
‘Shitty setup.’
The behind-the-scenes set was utterly barren. Honestly, it was less a set and more an empty office.
‘Well, it’s just a corner for random chit-chat.’
We waited patiently like good juniors. Sure enough, our esteemed seniors showed up a solid ten minutes late.
Zenith bowed and straightened up at the sight of them.
“Hello. Zenith, climax to you.”
“Leader Yoo Hajin.”
“Vocal Kang Minje.”
“Dancer Ki Jaeyoon.”
“Rap Lee Seungjun.”
“Maknae Cha Dowon.”
I flashed a bright smile. Perfect greetings, as always.
‘Now, how’ll they play this?’
Their reaction blew me away. As expected of our revered VIP—they didn’t even look at us.
‘Impressive.’
To snub us so blatantly. Seniors really were on another level.
The mood turned ice-cold. Then Lee Seungjun grabbed my shoulder.
“Don’t forget. We do this together.”
“I could handle it solo…”
“Together.”
Sounds pissed?
I glanced back—the rest of the members looked the same. Kang Minje smiled softly, and Ki Jaeyoon unusually kept his mouth shut.
Only one person sighed.
I patted Leader hyung’s back.
“Don’t worry too much.”
“Dowon…”
“Like always, I’ll handle it.”
Hajin hyung’s sigh dragged on. Then he thumped his chest.
“Stomach’s killing me. For real.”
Damn, hadn’t even started yet.
“Stomachache? You need antacids. Got any?”
“Can’t we just avoid situations where I need them?”
“I’ll tell the manager to pack them ahead next time.”
Hajin hyung rubbed his forehead.
“And situations just happen. I can’t control them.”
I scanned the seniors. They were clearly focused on us without saying a word.
‘They look so pathetic.’
Only Leader Jeremy glared at me.
‘Get praised by the director twice and I’m screwed.’
I’d already ghosted once, though.
‘No, I want to cause a scene, but they won’t let me?’
Even if it’s a shady company with gang ties, there’s CCTV and cops in the world.
‘Maybe they got caught somehow?’
Anything that worked in our favor was fine.
The mood was so frosty the staffer stammered awkwardly.
“Uh, we need to shoot. Just stand over there for now, please.”
Zenith moved to the spot the staffer indicated. But our beloved seniors had no intention of budging.
“Uh, VIP! We need to start shooting, so stand here please!”
They just stared blankly.
“VIP! Please!”
Wow. Impressive.
‘Station staff suck anyway, but treating crew like this? Come on.’
These guys were probably low-level station grunts earning a paycheck too. Not even proper complaints.
Then Jeremy said to his members.
“Let’s go.”
Wow. It was godfather-level majestic. Though the psychopath outfits were a bit torn, making them look like post-apocalyptic thugs.
‘Even more pathetic.’
Ah, we had one guy who’d crack a laugh.
I hurriedly checked Ki Jaeyoon. Thankfully, he wasn’t smiling.
“Standby.”
I nodded. Per the cue sheet, the segment started with receiving a mission.
‘Gotta follow the script.’
The two groups’ leaders stepped up and got a piece of paper.
“Use each other’s props.”
Hajin hyung and Jeremy didn’t even make eye contact. Staff handed VIP our Gyu umbrella.
“Oh, it’s an umbrella.”
“Heavier than it looks.”
Of course they manhandled it.
“No article about it? Like ‘the beauty of Korea’ or whatever.”
“Doesn’t look like Korean beauty to me.”
Naturally, it was meticulously handmade in some foreign factory.
“These kids dance with this? Like this!”
Jeremy opened the umbrella and hopped up. That’s when dance expert Ki Jaeyoon spoke up.
“That’s not it!”
Huh, what’s up with him?
VIP looked at Ki Jaeyoon. He even pointed.
“You need to stay airborne longer. Tense your ankles.”
Is he turning into Kang Minje? Teaching just like him.
‘Three years with a monk and even a dog recites poetry, huh?’
All that hands-on training paid off in fun ways.
Jeremy furrowed his brow immediately. Ah, not enough. Time to poke harder.
“Tensing ankles does that??”
“Well, for air time, ankles aren’t enough. Pull your chest in like this when you turn?”
Ki Jaeyoon stepped forward and demoed right in front of VIP. He nailed our choreography on the spot.
Monkey boy floated in the air. Now I saw it clearly.
‘Right. The key to that aerial move is pulling the chest in.’
And it was pretty dangerous too. That’s why Coach Kay drilled safety into us.
‘Still, everyone picked it up fast.’
Plus, that choreo involved opening the umbrella mid-air.
Yoo Hajin chimed in cautiously.
“It’s riskier than it looks. Mess up and your ankle’s toast.”
Ki Jaeyoon nodded.
“We’re careful every time too.”
“So?”
Jeremy scowled.
“You bragging about tough choreo?”
“In front of us?”
That’s how it lands?
Tension spiked again. I smiled brightly.
“No way. It’s dangerous, but any idol could do it. Right, Jaeyoon?”
Monkey boy blinked.
“Uh, not really? Not just anyone.”
Honest as ever. Fire properly lit.
I could feel Jeremy burning up. He grabbed our Gyu umbrella and leaped into the air.
‘Huh, pretty close?’
But air time was weirdly short. He thudded down.
‘Ankle’s gotta hurt.’
Rough landing. Still, he huffed.
“Hey, anyone can do this.”
Ki Jaeyoon shot back.
“No. Too short. Weird. Felt like you hit the aerial right—why so short?”
He questioned and answered himself.
“Ah,前辈. You heavy?”
Wow. Ki Jaeyoon.
‘I couldn’t pull that off. Impressive.’
Leader hyung quickly intervened.
“Jaeyoon. What’re you saying.”
“Last time Dowon ate a burger, it was like that. Nailed the move, but air time shortened. Scary as hell.”
Then don’t eat that much.
I looked at Ki Jaeyoon.
“You’re fine now, right?”
“Yeah! Went to the bathroom once and back to normal!”
Damn. Ki Jaeyoon. You’re a genius.
I quietly covered my mouth. Zenith did the same—everyone turned away, bodies shaking.
‘So Jeremy’s current state is like Ki Jaeyoon after five burgers?’
Wow. Impressive. Yeah, he looked heavy during underwater shooting too.
“前辈 should hit the bathroom… Up!”
Fed up, Leader hyung clamped Ki Jaeyoon’s mouth.
“Enough, Jaeyoon!”
Damage control failed. I forced down my laugh and eyed the seniors. Then spotted something unexpected.
‘Only Jeremy’s taking the heat?’
The other members were holding back laughs like us. Only Kao fidgeted with Jeremy’s anger.
‘Ah, leader’s reign of terror.’
Who manages a group like that these days?
“You saying I’m heavy right now?”
Well, my turn to step up.
“No way. Ignore Jaeyoon.”
“I’m not jok… Mmph!”
Hajin hyung clamped his mouth again. Good work, Leader hyung. I continued.
“We’re still rookies with just our second album. Young too. So our ankles are stronger, that’s all.”
Kang Minje backed me up.
“Even we struggled to learn it. Messed up opening it a ton, right?”
“Hajin hyung cut his hand.”
Jeremy got fired up and snatched our umbrella. He tried the aerial again, roughly popping it open mid-air.
Thwack—
Damn.
I clicked my tongue. Our Gyu umbrella, lovingly handmade stitch by stitch in a foreign factory, shattered under brute force.
‘As expected, but different method.’
I feigned regret.
“Ah! Our umbrella!”
Sounded too scripted with the sincerity. But Kang Minje said smoothly beside me.
“That was expensive.”
Lee Seungjun added.
“Tough to replace too.”
I hammed up the distress script-style.
“Now what for our stage? Disaster.”
“Right? Spares?”
“Might be in the car.”
Cameras still rolled. That enough? I’d done my part?
No MC, so I filled in.
“Then we’ll use your prop this time.”
Kang Minje said awkwardly.
“Wow, cool prop.”
Why copy my scripted lines, fox bastard.
Anyway, had to use it. I quietly inspected their prop.
Just a lone black mask. Kinda like a gas mask.
‘SF vibe if generous, post-apoc if not.’
Post-apoc era passed ages ago, though.