Idol of the Heavenly One - vanish into fiction

Seong-hyun. He is a member of the boy group DIFFER, who debuted five years ago under CZ. I already knew that he had debuted after only six months as a trainee. In fact, I knew all the idols who debuted after a short trainee period. Some agencies even had idols debut after only three months. This was all information I had looked up when I wondered if I could debut quickly myself.

“It’s been about two months since you joined, right?”

“Yes. This month makes it two months.”

“Ha, just two months.”

“……”

The director stood with his arms crossed, still staring straight at me, and I felt cold sweat running down my back. So, two months of practice wasn’t nearly enough, huh. When we had recorded our practice before the evaluation and gone over it to fix things, I thought I had reached a level where I blended in with the others, but maybe that had been just my own illusion.

“I knew from the camera test that you could sing a little. But this much……”

“……”

“Your dance teacher said you moved kind of awkwardly too……”

“……”

Ah, so I really had been bad. I had thought I was working hard at practice, but maybe my singing and dancing weren’t anywhere near good enough. I guess it was obvious that I had only been training for two months.

Looking at the way the director trailed off, I realized that my strategy had probably been a plus for the others but a minus for me. Even if I performed something as cool as possible, at best I would get, “Oh, you’ve improved,” because my skill was still that of a beginner. And now, on top of that, I had performed a bright, youthful song that only made me seem even less polished, so it might have made them feel like I still had a long way to go.

I had made a mistake. My basic skill should have been at the same level as the others so I could blend in and push that 70 percent chance to 100 percent. Instead, I had just given them confirmation that 70 percent was indeed all we had.

“I heard you’re good at studying.”

“……I do my best.”

Ha…… So this was his way of telling me not to waste my time as a trainee and to just go back to studying. Well, honestly, that was probably what suited me better anyway. Idol? What had gotten into me? What kind of whim had I been following? Maybe, after being given a new life, I had started to think I was some special person.

And maybe I had thought that because I had lived 69 years, something like this would be easy. Just because young people challenge themselves with something doesn’t mean it’s simple. I had been too arrogant.

“You must have been practicing hard too.”

“……Sorry?”

Huh? Cognitive dissonance hit me. What was that supposed to mean?

“I didn’t expect your singing to improve this quickly after the camera test.”

“……”

“Your dance teacher said you moved awkwardly, but you must have been practicing hard too. You’re not exactly good yet, but you don’t stand out for being bad either. That’s not easy to achieve in just two months.”

So…… he wasn’t saying I had done badly?

“Congratulations.”

I just stood there blankly, not fully understanding, as the director uncrossed his arms and grinned. His expression even looked like he was wondering where this lucky gem had come from.

“You’re going to break Seong-hyun’s record.”

Only then did I understand what he was saying.

“How do you blend in so well without anyone looking out of place? You could debut just like this and it wouldn’t be lacking. Really.”

He had put this team together with exactly that picture in mind. A group where no one stood out in a bad way and everyone matched.

“The six of you, come with me. We need to take your photos.”

The six of us. In the end, I had become part of “the six of us.” I had done it.

I had really…… done it.

“Myeong-hyeon isn’t coming?”

“What’s wrong, did you see Medusa or something?”

“M-Myeong-hyeon! C-come on!”

“Hyung! Hurry up!”

I just stood there, unable to believe it was real, until I heard the kids calling to me from the entrance. I was supposed to respond and go to them, but my feet wouldn’t move, as if I still couldn’t believe what was happening.

“……”

I was the one who had drawn up the strategy and plan to debut with YEARZ, but now that it was actually happening, it felt strangely emotional. Maybe, after fifty years of living a monotonous life, I couldn’t believe that in this life I was challenging myself to something so far from monotony, to something so dazzling, and that was why my body felt frozen.

“Huh……?”

Suddenly, I felt a push on my back. When I turned my head, I saw that at some point Baek Jae-heon had come up and gently pushed me forward.

“Let’s go.”

“……Yeah.”

At that single word, my legs moved as if by magic. I walked forward together with Baek Jae-heon. Toward where the others were waiting. No, toward where our members were waiting.