Chapter 2: Professional Idols

“Should we just read comments and do a live stream to communicate?”

“That’s too predictable. We need some kind of segment, don’t we?”

Seo Ye-jun deliberately didn’t interrupt and just listened.

When Ji-gu asked if he had no opinion, he just nodded quietly.

What did we do for the first anniversary?

Ye-jun blinked slowly once, then naturally slipped in and sat among the members who seemed to have finally decided.

“Should we do a cooking stream? They’re popular these days.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Watching the members excitedly start the meeting, saying they’d make food to give to fans, Ye-jun slightly frowned.

He remembered.

That food that was like garbage.

And because he won the last rock-paper-scissors, he had been forced to receive it as a gift.

“Ah, it’s burning. What do I do? It’s burning!”

“What do you mean what do we do? Turn off the heat!”

Ha-hyeon, horrified, hurried over to Jun, who was asking brightly while holding a spatula.

In the end, they were really broadcasting from a restaurant kitchen the company had urgently arranged, and all hell broke loose.

This is why you shouldn’t hand kitchen tools to people who can’t cook.

Ye-jun, who didn’t want to do anything and had stayed far away just kneading dough, belatedly realized all of it was food he had to eat and scowled.

“Hyung. It’s good, right?”

How could even the rock-paper-scissors result not change?

Ye-jun forced a smile as he spooned rice into his mouth, then the moment the camera turned off, he opened Jun’s mouth and forced a bite into it.

“Ah…”

Watching Jun’s face crumple, Ye-jun smiled in satisfaction.

Ten years in the entertainment industry since debut, and unfortunately, he still hadn’t matured.

Ye-jun still couldn’t accept reality.

He thought he had finally returned to where he belonged, but now he was being told to do it again.

The urge to throw everything away crept up.

Thinking that no matter what he did, he was stuck in place, his chest felt tight, and he couldn’t bring himself to do schedules.

“Hello.”

But that was just a wish.

Like a ten-year idol, Ye-jun didn’t show it at all and silently went to do his schedule.

After bowing ninety degrees to the staff, he sat down with a tired expression.

“Hyung, why are you so out of it today?”

Ye-jun narrowed his eyes at Jun, who was scolding him for spacing out.

After all I did to raise you.

Jun was the gentle, kind youngest member of the group.

Even if his skills were a bit lacking, he worked hard, and he was always bright and lively, loved wherever he went.

He was the member closest to Ye-jun.

He was also the member with the biggest age gap from Ye-jun.

He had barely raised that endlessly cheerful kid into a twenty-three-year-old who knew how the world worked… and now Jun had become an innocent high school senior again.

Ye-jun looked him up and down, sighed, and turned his head.

What kind of joke was this?

‘Am I raising a child or being an idol?’

Ye-jun sighed and urgently pulled Jun’s arm.

A red-haired man passing by with two cups of coffee in each hand frowned with his made-up face, then quickly smoothed his expression.

Ye-jun had a good memory and immediately recognized the man in front of him.

He was the leader of a group that had briefly risen after one song became a hit around this time.

“Please be careful.”

Ha-hyeon, watching the painfully bright red hair move away, slightly furrowed his brow and spoke.

“He walked over here on purpose and then says that.”

“Leave him, hyung. Don’t get tired over nothing by getting angry.”

Senior artists’ abuse toward rookies was common.

Ji-gu, who knew this well, hugged the irritated Ha-hyeon from behind and gently calmed him.

In that seemingly ordinary action, Ye-jun noticed a hand slipping secretly inside clothes where no one would see, and clicked his tongue inwardly.

These two were the ones destroying REVE’s image as a clean group with no dating scandals.

The two, who had high stats and took important roles, were indispensable members of the group, but in Ye-jun’s eyes, they were just uneasy presences.

Main vocalist Ji-gu and main dancer Ha-hyeon started dating early after debut and kept their relationship going without breaking up until their fifth anniversary.

They liked each other to death but weren’t the type to openly show it, so Ye-jun, who had watched their relationship from the beginning, was on their side.

Ye-jun had watched Ji-gu’s physical affection, which had increased uncontrollably at some point, for a full ten years, and he had now reached the level where he could clap without a care.

“It’s not the first or second time. Just ignore them.”

REVE was not exactly welcomed among idols.

Years of trainee life, countless hours spent trying to gain recognition.

In a place full of unknown idols who never made a name for themselves despite those efforts, REVE had been successful from the start and received love from countless fans, so jealousy was unavoidable.

In fact, as they gained a bit more seniority and the members began socializing with other idols, they had been stabbed in the back.

Another group that had become close to them because it also had five members and similar ages had actually been badmouthing them behind their backs to other acquaintances, talking about their skills.

In his first life, he had let it slide, but after regressing once, Ye-jun personally badmouthed them back.

If they had nothing going for them, they should practice more.

The group they were filming with this time was the same.

Honestly, from the first greeting, the way they looked at them felt unpleasant.

It wasn’t a mere guess or hunch.

Ye-jun had already experienced it once.

As soon as they got a short break, they crowded over just as expected.

“Sorry, but could you be quiet during our turn?”

At the absurd request, Ye-jun barely held back a hollow laugh.

It’s a talk show, what do you mean our turn?

Maybe they didn’t notice the incredulous looks, because they added one more line like proper seniors.

“Anyway, REVE gets screen time even if you stay quiet.”

“Ah… okay.”

Just as Jun and Hwi-young bowed their heads almost simultaneously, Ye-jun grabbed their falling faces with both hands and lifted them up.

Why bow to such nonsense?

“Sorry, seniors. This is a talk show.”

“What?”

“A talk show. A talk show where we converse freely. It’s not a debate, and we don’t speak in order, do we?”

The other side seemed a bit flustered by Ye-jun’s casual smile and comeback, and they were left speechless.

Three years in doesn’t make them a great senior, and they’re trying to throw their weight around confidently.

In the eyes of Ye-jun, who had spent ten years in the entertainment industry, they were all rookies.

Even with four hopelessly kind members, the reason REVE had been able to endure and rise to the top of the entertainment industry was largely thanks to Ye-jun.

Whatever he looked like on the outside, Ye-jun was the leader and felt responsible for his position.

With quick judgment, he cut out anything that could harm the group, and he spoke up as their representative against wrongdoings.

If Ye-jun hadn’t been there, the rest of the members would clearly have been like stones scattered on the roadside, constantly kicked by others’ feet.

“Yeah. Whatever.”

Watching their retreating backs as they mumbled and walked away, Ye-jun leisurely stretched his arms.

And inwardly, he sharply badmouthed that group’s future.

‘After this promotion, they messed up the concept and failed, didn’t they? That guy should stop dating women. How is a bastard who gives away gifts from fans going to make it?’

Ye-jun had a very good memory and wasn’t an easygoing person.

For several months, Ye-jun stayed away from his phone and focused only on schedules.

Whenever his mind had even a moment to rest, memories of his life before returning kept surfacing.

If he searched now, he felt like he would find the acceptance speech from when they won the grand prize, and various concert videos.

[Search: ‘REVE concert’.

– I wish they’d hurry up with the REVE concertㅠㅠㅠㅠ When is it coming

– I’ve enshrined the ticket and am waiting for hundreds of days,,,,,

– It’s the first concert this timeㅜㅜ I’m dizzy and feel like I’ll die before the concert]

But in reality, they were about to have their first concert.

After their last promotion, they had entered full concert preparations, and almost the entire day was spent practicing.

Except when they occasionally went out for scheduled activities, all the members gathered in the practice room to coordinate their movements and choreography.

A popular group gathering on time to practice with not a single lazy member was a surprising sight to anyone.

“I haven’t been there yet so I’m not sure, but the stage is about this big. If you stand there, you’ll bump into him. It’s wide, so just adjust your movements, and even if the spacing is a bit wider, it won’t be noticeable.”

For Ye-jun, concert preparation was now more familiar than anyone else’s, so he was skillful even at preparing.

Roughly picturing the stage size in his head and adjusting their movements, he handled the choreography almost like a reflex.

No matter how bad someone was at dancing, if they danced almost every day for ten years, they couldn’t help but improve.

“Hyung, should we practice separately in secret?”

Ha-hyeon, the team’s main dancer, asked in surprise.

He knew Ye-jun had done a little bit of b-boying when he was a student, so he could follow along decently, but Ye-jun wasn’t someone with much expertise in dance.

At the question asked with those already big eyes opened even wider, Ye-jun stopped, caught his breath for a moment, then smiled leisurely as usual and shrugged.

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