Chapter 77
Chapter 77
I had started feeling that something was off from the moment Jeong Sowol joined.
<Even a Blank Sheet...> Achievement Unlocked!
―First comrade obtained. Let's find a task two can do.
Anyone could see it was suspicious.
We had Kim Sanho, who proudly took charge of the dorm dishes, so why in the world was the first comrade Jeong Sowol?
Why not three, but two?
......This was a bit sudden, but I needed to mount a brief defense for myself.
Back then I was in a complicated situation in many ways. Enough that even after discovering some suspicious points, I could just go, 'Well, that could happen,' and wave them away.
That's right. It means I forgot about it just like that.
But now, I had gained quite a bit of leeway.
It was finally time to settle into a corner of the practice room and examine one by one what the System's phrases actually meant.
And the first thing that caught my eye was that.
[Objective: Recruit colleagues and achieve debut. (4/N)]
'4.......'
Up until now, I naturally assumed it referred to everyone besides myself.
But as I overlaid it with the various suspicions I mentioned earlier, I started to think maybe that wasn't the case.
At that moment, past events flickered by like film slides, click, click, click.
Me, Jeong Sowol, Han Neuti, Kim Yuri.
'All of them saw the number go up after signing the contract.'
But there was exactly one guy who didn't trigger any change.
Kim Sanho.
Well, wouldn't it be natural since he would have signed the contract before me?
That's what I thought too.
But what if that wasn't the case?
If that count of '4' simply meant the number of trainees who had signed with Sorasum.......
'Kim Sanho, didn't you not sign the contract?'
I wasn't certain of it.
Really, I just asked on the off chance.
"......."
But at my question, Kim Sanho shut his mouth.
The fact that a guy who always answered faithfully shut his mouth, the meaning was obvious.
"San-ho."
"Yes."
'You really are something else.......'
Fortunately, I succeeded in swallowing my words.
Suddenly, I remembered.
A long time ago, when I expressed my intention to participate in <MAKE100%>.
Kim Sanho had immediately replied that he couldn't go on it.
Back then, I brushed it off thinking it saved me the trouble of persuading him, but now that I thought about it, I was really thoughtless.
"Hoo......."
When I let out a sigh, Kim Sanho hung his head.
It was shocking that he'd been living as a trainee without a contract, but I thought I knew the reason why.
"It's because of your parents, right?"
"......Yes."
It was obvious.
Even a quick internet search showed countless posts from aspiring idols agonizing over not getting their parents' permission.
Trainees who secretly practiced behind their parents' backs probably existed. I felt like I'd encountered a similar anecdote somewhere online once.
......Still, I thought that was only possible at those disorganized, shady companies that looked like they'd run a scam and disappear at any moment.
'Yeah, let's admit what needs to be admitted.'
Our company was indeed a disorganized, shady company.
But.......
"You said you were in the debut team at your previous company. So, back then."
EO Entertainment, where Kim Sanho had been in the debut team, was a pretty sizable place.
It was a company that ran on major corporate capital; there was no way a place like that would handle a minor's contract carelessly.
"......Back then, I got my parents' permission and signed formally."
"But now they suddenly won't give permission?"
Kim Sanho clamped his mouth shut again like a clam.
I let out a sigh and said,
"There may be things you don't want to talk about, but you still have to say what's necessary. We can't go on like this until debut."
"......."
His mouth still wouldn't open.
I decided to ask one last time.
"You're not going to talk?"
Only then did Kim Sanho speak in a creeping voice.
"My parents are strongly opposed......."
I'd expected that.
"That time, just once... they gave permission so I signed. They said it was just that one time."
"Okay."
"So... they don't know I was eliminated."
"......."
Okay. I understood.
To sum it up, this was it.
"After being eliminated from EO, you figured they wouldn't give permission for the Sorasum contract, so you haven't told them yet. That's correct, right?"
"......Yes."
"So your parents don't even know that Sorasum exists right now."
"Yes."
"And what does the President know about this situation?"
"She said she'd wait......."
President.......
So she was running a shelter for runaway teens.
My eyes were going dry. It felt like every time one issue got resolved, a new one immediately blew up.
'Still, this was something that could be resolved relatively simply.'
Rubbing my parched eyes, I spoke solemnly, in contrast to the action.
"Then let's go get permission."
If they'd outright said no it might be different, but if they'd given permission once, they'd give it a second time too.
"That's......."
"I'll go with you."
Wouldn't it be enough to just appeal that Sorasum was a better company than EO?
And right now, Sorasum had me and Han Neuti.
I didn't know how things would turn out later, but for now, Sorasum was advantageous.
Because the internet would be plastered with posts cheering us on.
"Uh, no. I'll go alone."
"......Really?"
Honestly, I wanted to ask if he could handle something he'd been putting off for months by himself now.
But then again, for a third party like me to insist on meddling in someone else's family affairs was... beyond common sense.
I decided to go along with it for now and encourage him, hoping it would be resolved well.
"Instead, just promise me one thing."
"What?"
Head hanging, Kim Sanho fiddled with his knuckles as he spoke.
"Please wait for me, no matter what......."
* * *
And three days later.
A lot had happened in the meantime.
First, we contacted a reporter and published an article previewing Sorasum's next steps.
The content was that we'd focus on debut preparations and strive to meet fans' expectations as much as possible.
It was pretty hard to believe, though.
Probably because of that, every time an article went out asking fans to look forward to a debut with Sorasum, an explosion of emails poured in asking us to consider joining a project group.......
Not just emails, but social media was plastered with similar content.
―No, don't work hard, please just stay still and just join a project group
―Hey Chagi stans, please snap out of your delusion that your current popularity will last until debut
―Why can't these x-so bastards ever know their place?
―Yoos, fuck, if they don't do a project group they'll just stash Gyeon-woo away and debut him as an actor or some shit, but I want to see idol Baek Gyeonwooㅠㅠ
'......No, maybe it's not even a company issue.'
Because Yoos, where Baek Gyeonwoo belonged, was in the exact same situation.
It seemed like the deeper the relationships trainees had within <MAKE100%>, the more fans wanted a project group.
Especially since so many people had sworn that Baek Gyeonwoo and I would debut together, the regret was bound to be even greater.
Of course, not everyone shared the same opinion.
―Chateebaek is regrettable but,,ㅜㅜ I'm satisfied with Kkamgyeom!!
―A project group only lasts a few years anyway, then what, they want us to debut properly when we're older? Your image would be all used up by then. If you're fans in it for a year or two, fine, but I'm going to stan Cha-gyeom and Neuti for 10 years so I'm against it.
―No, the Pasaeng stans are going crazy telling only Sorasum to agree more. Keep that among yourselves. From now on, if you're pushing a project group, post proof you voted for Neuti and Cha-gyeom before you talk, this is really pissing me off.
―Stop the downplaying lol lol lol No.. Honestly, with Rei and Seo Cha-gyeom there, how can they fail...? Plus they have Kim Ha-rok's son... maybe they really want to take them to their own team, trying to downplay them with all sorts of reasons...
―Sorasum's building is a whole 2 floors damn why so extravagant
└It even has a basement
└Isn't that insanely good? That's like X-so top 1% ㅠ
It was true that just recruiting Han Neuti had skyrocketed Sorasum's expectations.
On top of that, the sasaeng-sourced sighting photos of Kim Sanho and Jeong Sowol also played a part in raising expectations. I was just keeping my mouth shut because I didn't feel good personally making a positive mention of sasaeng fans.
Anyway, it was good that expectations had risen, but.......
Thanks to that, the balance between fans pushing for Pasaeng and fans pushing for Chagi had evened out, and the power struggle between them was getting fiercer and fiercer.
Especially with the fans of Baek Gyeonwoo, who used to be grouped under the name Chateebaek... hm.
―Chateebaek is old news now, they're going their separate ways so just let it go
―Ah stop it, it's already over, what can you doㅠㅠ Even if Sorasum agreed, Yoos would never do it... As if Yoos would be crazy enough to do a project group...?
―It's just sad now, seeing them unable to let go of relationships and clinging to illusions
―No but if Yoos and Sorasum join hands, obviously Yoos is at a loss, what are they on about? Aren't the X-so bugs just trying to leech off a big bus~?
―Toxic fans for real. When can we get rid of these bastards, clinging on like this even after the show ended, fuck.
―If Gyeon-woo goes to Sorasum, solved
└Stop making shit up
'If it goes on like this, it seemed like there'd be no turning back.'
This... wasn't something I could do anything about.
The only way was to just do our best from our respective positions.
Right, if the reason they wanted a project group was a lack of trust in the company, we just had to fill that trust.
So that was why the four of us were putting our heads together like this.
"Neuti hyung becoming our trainee, we haven't officially announced it yet, right?"
"No, we haven't."
"So... I think we can reveal it with our first video. It should come out before the pictorial we shot yesterday, so it'll definitely grab attention on our Neotube channel."
We were currently discussing the Neotube channel that would be opening soon.
After the program ended, the pictorials scheduled for Han Neuti and me totaled seven.
One of them we shot yesterday and it was set to be published next month.
Probably for the next two months, content derived from the pictorials—previews, interviews, behind-the-scenes videos, etc.—would be uploaded steadily.
But all the same... that alone wouldn't be enough.
"How about a more full-scale profile film video?"
"But right now, only Neuti hyung and I can be revealed for that, and if it ends up disconnected from the later debut concept......."
"So it could end up with just the two of us standing out. Okay, okay."
"Ah, Neuti hyung's fans were really disappointed they couldn't see his fancams, so I think a long cover video medley would be nice."
"Sure, well. I was already preparing that."
"And you have to film it in this practice room."
"......I was planning to, but why?"
"Because our practice room is nice."
Our practice room was genuinely decent.
Spacious, clean, and all the sound equipment was expensive. So much so that people in the know would recognize it at a glance.
......Right. Challenges were challenges, and at the same time, we were aiming for reactions like, 'I saw Sorasum's practice room and it's not bad, huh?'
While the meeting continued smoothly from there, Jeong Sowol suddenly raised his hand.
"I want to shoot a video too."
"You?"
I had been planning to keep the other members private, aside from Han Neuti and me.
But there was no reason they couldn't film. Nowadays, it was a trend to use even footage from long before debut as content.
"Do as you like."
"What, tell me to do this and that too."
"......Pick a song yourself, get an MR yourself, and film well yourself."
"MR? Ah, San-ho hyung's not here."
I nodded, summarizing.
"So today, Neuti hyung looks for a cover song, Yuri hyung meets with the producer, and So-wol... just do your best on your own, I guess."
"......."
"And."
I got up from my seat.
"I'll look into Kim Sanho's whereabouts."
Today was the third day since contact with Kim Sanho had been lost.