Chapter 55: Various Ways to Drop a Nepo Baby (2)
55. Various Ways to Drop a Nepo Baby (2)
To be fair, Kang Hajin had his excuses.
'I was always the one behind the camera, not in front of it.'
It had been over ten years since he quit being a trainee and properly stood before a camera. During his job-seeking days, his slightly bulkier physique from lazing around made him dislike even taking selfies.
Dancing and singing? He never stopped doing those, so he wasn't awkward with them.
'But posing for photos where I have to flaunt my looks? That's a whole different story.'
And now, he had a double handicap.
[System Notification: Mental Care System is active.]
[System Notification: Skill usage is currently disabled due to system updates.]
※Affected Skills: <As You Say> (LV.6), <Dragon's Eye> (LV.3)
Thanks to this damn Mental Care system, he couldn't even express his emotions properly, and the <As You Say> skill that could compensate for that was also unusable.
'What's the point of leveling it up if I can't even use it?!'
Because of this, Hajin was currently trapped in the nightmare of retaking his high school graduation photo about six hundred times, creating an irreversible black mark in his life.
"Wow... This hyung is seriously bad at this."
"Shh, he'll hear you."
He did hear you, you little brats.
Hajin didn't even have the energy to glare at Kim Won-ho and Seo Tae-hyun, who were openly gawking at the monitor in amazement.
"Come on, Hajin-ssi. Don't overthink it. Just relax and smile naturally. Keep it natural."
Photoshoots were ultimately battles of stamina and time. But since he alone was hogging the session for who knows how long, there was no way he could relax.
'Guess my old assistant director mindset is still ingrained.'
He forced a natural smile at the photographer's coaxing, but it wasn't like that would suddenly make things work. Hajin glanced at the other trainees loitering around, waiting for their turn, and finally shook his head.
"Photographer-nim, I'll just pick from what we have so far."
"Huh? No, Hajin-ssi, you can do it!"
"There are a lot of others waiting behind me, and I feel like I'm taking too much time."
His awkward plea made the photographer check the schedule with the staff, clearly concerned about the time.
Truthfully, Hajin wasn't causing a massive delay compared to the allotted time. It was just that the shoot was so simple that the others finished quickly, making him look bad in comparison.
So even if he threw a tantrum now and demanded fifty more shots, it wouldn't be technically wrong, but—
'It's not like my face will magically improve.'
He never liked being photographed by others to begin with. Of course, it'd be nice if his pre-release photos turned out handsome, but the real visual magnets were elsewhere anyway.
"Wow, Si-woo hyung looks like a model even in random shots."
"Look at Joo Eun-chan, he's insane."
"Still can't beat the veterans. Seo Tae-hyun, the staff noona was taking pics of him earlier."
Those guys would draw enough attention before the first broadcast, so Hajin's profile photos could just be glossed over.
"Hmm, I think we could've gotten a better shot with a little more time."
"Ah, if it weren't for you, photographer-nim, I wouldn't have even gotten this much. You're my savior."
"...Tch. Alright then. Good work!"
After showering the photographer—who had struggled to oil up a broken robot—with compliments, Hajin finally escaped the prison-like photo zone. As he headed to the monitor to select his photos, he noticed the crowd of onlookers had grown.
"Kang Ha-hyung, seriously, think again. Is this really the best? This is practically fraud."
"Hey, you can't say that to someone's face."
"Can both of you just disappear? Lee Do-ha, why are you even here?"
"I finished early."
Do-ha, who habitually tried to sweep his hair back, awkwardly lowered his hand upon remembering his hair was perfectly styled with spray. Already done with his profile shoot, Do-ha was dressed in his personal concept outfit—likely aiming to showcase his athletic physique. From head to toe in sporty attire, he even had a basketball tucked under his arm.
'Well, this guy does have decent reflexes.'
But why the hell couldn't he dance? As Hajin pondered the inexplicable mystery of Do-ha's body, their eyes met again.
"Uh, what? Why do you keep staring?"
"...I thought you might've changed your mind."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you decide to be greedy?"
The pure curiosity in Do-ha's voice left Hajin speechless. This brat never gave him time to raise his guard before striking right at his weak spot.
"What? I can't hog the shoot and make everyone wait just for my perfect shot. It's just a profile photo, why—"
"......."
"Ah, it's not like I gave up. I didn't half-ass it, seriously."
"Then it's fine."
Do-ha nodded as if satisfied. Why the hell did this kid like him so much?
Baffled, Hajin shook his head just as the staff called the next trainee.
"Next, Seo Tae-hyun-ssi?"
"Yes!"
"Oh come on, how is he after me? That's just unfair."
Save the slaughter for the weaklings, you cherry-eyed brat with 82% visual appeal. Who the hell arranged this order?
The moment Tae-hyun entered the photo zone, he smoothly greeted everyone and lightened the mood. His meticulous checks of the lighting and props were unnervingly professional. Rumor had it he did a lot of child modeling—veteran experience at work.
'How the hell did this guy fail to debut in his past life?'
The world was full of incomprehensible people. After watching Tae-hyun receive praise from the first shot, Hajin turned away.
"I'm heading back."
"What, you're not picking your photos?"
"Whatever I pick will be trash anyway."
Out of ten shots, all ten were disasters. What was there to choose?
"Kang Hajin."
"......?"
"Let's talk for a sec."
Han Seong-woo stopped Hajin in the hallway as he tried to return to the waiting room. For him to seek Hajin out first—he must be really rattled.
Hajin nodded obediently and followed. Seong-woo, having already scouted a location, guided him through the set corridors and shoved him into an empty waiting room.
"How much do you know?"
"Hmm, a lot. Want me to list everything?"
"You—fuck. Don't get smart with me before I crush you."
"Oho, so defensive~ What sarcasm, hyung?"
Hajin deliberately acted obnoxious. Seong-woo exhaled in frustration and crossed his arms—a very defensive stance.
Hajin pushed off the wall. Seong-woo, a head shorter, stepped back.
"...What do you want?"
Finally, the main point. Hajin looked down at Seong-woo with a deliberately infuriating smirk.
"But hyung, do you really have connections?"
"What?"
"I mean, with good connections, why haven't you debuted yet?"
Hajin shrugged, laughing like he genuinely didn't understand.
"They're not that great, are they? I mean, if they were, I'd ask for a ride too..."
"......."
"Guess not."
"Don't push it. You wanna get cut like the others?"
"Haha, how? Hyung, you hate Joo Eun-chan, but even you couldn't cut him. His family's too powerful."
"......."
"This isn't some broadcast survival show. Having a PD as a connection won't change much. Better editing? Well, every time you appear, I'll appear too. We're total rivals."
How's that for a hit to your pride?
"Sure, losing the battle was unfair... but we won the team battle. Ah, but hyung, you were really dirty."
Getting angry yet?
"You gave us the team battle because if we won, the top ranks would stay the same. You'd rather let lower-ranked trainees climb than let Joo Eun-chan reach Wings tier."
Don't you just want to stomp me? Annoying, isn't it?
"Well, whatever..."
Don't you want to crush me no matter what?
"If that's what it takes to win. Guess there's no choice."
Hajin beamed down at Seong-woo, whose face was twisted in frustration, then casually brushed past him, patting his shoulder.
"Do your best, hyung. I'll pretend not to notice."
He desperately hoped his taunts would make Seong-woo's eyes roll back in fury.
Left alone in the waiting room after Hajin left, Seong-woo couldn't contain his rising anger.
"Ah, fuck!"
He kicked a nearby chair over, but it did nothing to quell his rage.
"That worthless bastard!"
Everything was that guy's fault. Since Kang Hajin showed up, nothing had gone right!
"First, that bastard department head gets fired, forcing me into this shitty survival show..."
Originally, Seong-woo was supposed to debut smoothly with a few selected trainees under the department head at a new agency.
'Sure, having Joo Eun-chan in the debut team was annoying, but I could've just milked him dry and dumped him after debut!'
When Seong-woo begged his father to send him to another agency, he was flatly refused.
—Do you have any idea how much I've lost because of that bastard Son Hyung-gu?!
—Lay low for now. If you really want to play idol, make something happen there.
—What's so great about struggling while being worse than others?
That's when everything went to hell. He just wanted to debut with a decent excuse and live comfortably as a popular idol, but nothing was easy. And Seong-woo hated this situation.
Fuming, he made a call.
"PD-nim, are you messing with me?"
—Hey! Don't call me like this out of nowhere!
"That's not the issue. You should've dropped Kang Hajin already!"
Seong-woo vented mercilessly, but Yoon CP, much older and on the receiving end, couldn't retort—he was being paid handsomely by Seong-woo's father to look after him.
—I barely got you that win. It was the best I could do! You won anyway.
"Whatever. Find out what the next mission is."
—What?
"You can't even do that? You screwed me over by not leaking the title track in advance."
—That's because Seo Tae-il tightened security...
"So you can't do it? Then what exactly can you do, PD-nim?"
—Ah, alright, alright. There's a script meeting this week. I'll check then.
Yoon CP finally caved under the young master's pressure. Seong-woo hung up without another word—no regard for the other's feelings.
"That bastard Kang Hajin..."
—Do your best, hyung. I'll pretend not to notice.
Hajin's mocking voice echoed in his head.
'Do my best to win?'
Who says I can't? Seong-woo gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.