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Chapter 14
The Trainee Who Refused to Debut (5)
“I… why am I already tired…?”
“Because you wasted all your energy teasing Eun-chan hyung.”
“……”
We only started the real “bomb disposal” meeting about two hours after arriving home. I hadn’t realized it before since we’d been practicing nonstop ever since we first met, but it turned out I got along surprisingly well with these guys who were about ten years younger than me.
‘Is that a good thing?’
Ever since my first regression, I hadn’t had many moments where I could laugh without thinking. Even though I knew I shouldn’t be getting comfortable, my body seemed to instinctively gravitate toward this bright, cheerful energy.
“Alright, let’s get to the real topic.”
“Yes.”
“First, we need criteria.”
“Criteria?”
“Yeah. Criteria. Who we’re going to take down first, and how far we’re going to go.”
At my sudden, no-warning statement, Ju Eun-chan and Dan Haru, who had been picking at chicken, both went silent like they’d bitten their tongues.
“You guys either want the removal of the executive director and the nepotism hire, or you want fair debut opportunities without nepotism, right?”
“……”
“Those might not sound very different, but they are. Depending on the goal, the means and methods change. So think carefully before you answer.”
I watched them quietly as they considered it. Whatever their answer was, I was going to get rid of the executive director anyway—that was the quest.
‘But finding the nepotism hire is a different matter.’
So I needed their opinions first. They were the ones now riding this together with me in the executive director removal project.
“I…”
In the silence, someone finally spoke. It was Ju Eun-chan, who had been absentmindedly fiddling with his cola glass.
“I just… want people with real qualifications to be treated properly.”
“If someone doesn’t debut because they’re not good enough or not the kind of talent the company wants, I think that’s fine.”
“But it’s not okay for someone’s dream to be crushed for unrelated reasons.”
“…Even Taehyun hyung… even Taehyun hyung is like that. He really works hard.”
“Seo Taehyun?”
“Hyung’s nickname is ‘Switch.’ He’s the one who always turns the special practice room lights on and off. But he’s always the only one excluded from special class benefits.”
“……”
“That’s just because the executive director dislikes him. It doesn’t make sense that he can’t even get opportunities.”
Ha-jin had once thought that way too. That good defeated evil, justice prevailed, and karma came around—that the world was a place where values changed reality and effort was rewarded.
But reality wasn’t always like that, and twenty-nine-year-old Kang Ha-jin couldn’t easily agree with Eun-chan’s idealistic words. In fact, Ha-jin used to dislike people like him—idealists who didn’t see reality and only chased dreams felt frustrating, even foolish.
But.
“I just want people who are qualified to debut to actually debut. I want to be evaluated purely on my abilities.”
Still, Ha-jin—who was twenty in this moment—somewhere understood that such “ideals” were sometimes what kept the world from collapsing into injustice.
“…Alright. I understand what you mean.”
“……”
“So you’re saying your own debut doesn’t have to be guaranteed?”
“Yes. If the opportunity is fair, I’m confident.”
After confirming again, I roughly did the calculations in my head and grabbed another piece of chicken. Expensive neighborhood chicken really does taste good even when cold. Dan Haru looked at me like I was insane for casually eating wings in the middle of a serious conversation, but honestly, that was all I had planned to say for today.
“…So, what are you going to do?”
“Not sure yet. I’ll tell you once I’ve thought it through more. For now, just give me more information.”
“Information?”
“War is all about information. That’s the most important thing in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era.”
“I understand you’re innovatively joking.”
What I meant was: spill the gossip.
I didn’t expect these two, who were in a somewhat awkward position among trainees, to know everything going on in the company. The real stories I wanted were somewhere else anyway.
“Why did Cha Min-seok go to Rene?”
“Oh.”
For example, rumors about Cha Min-seok’s transfer, publicly said to be due to injury.
“We’re all on the same boat now, right? You need to tell me everything. I need information to plan.”
“…The full details are probably best from Taehyun hyung. We only heard it secondhand.”
Seo Taehyun again. A key figure reappeared.
“Taehyun hyung came to Miro because of Min-seok hyung. Min-seok hyung called him.”
“They knew each other?”
“They trained at the same academy for a long time. Then Taehyun hyung went on Sonyeon Cheonha, and Min-seok hyung joined Miro.”
So how did one end up as Rene’s next center, while the other stayed in Miro without even debuting?
“Min-seok hyung was originally in the debut lineup for EndeWay. But he got moved to backup because of a back injury… So he called Taehyun hyung to debut together…”
“And then a nepotism hire entered, the debut lineup got reshuffled, and Cha Min-seok ended up moving to Rene?”
“There are even rumors the executive director was the one who connected Min-seok hyung to Rene, but we don’t know the details.”
“Dan Haru, go brush your teeth if you’re going to sleep.”
“Yes…”
Dan Haru, already nodding off like a sick chicken, was handed a toothbrush and sent off.
This drama is more interesting than I thought.
“After Sonyeon Cheonha ended, Taehyun hyung did all kinds of things. Events, performances…”
“Yeah.”
“But after Min-seok hyung went to Rene, he just trains nonstop. He’s in the special class but gets none of the benefits. Something must’ve happened with the executive director, but he doesn’t like talking about it.”
Even Ju Eun-chan, rubbing his eyes, was getting slower and slower as exhaustion set in. Thinking about Seo Taehyun seemed to make him even more downcast.
“Hey, don’t cry. I don’t have energy to comfort you. Go wash up too.”
“…Hyung was the one who took care of me the most when I first joined Miro.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get that you’re attached.”
“But after that concert incident, things got awkward between us. He says he’s fine, but I’m just embarrassed and annoyed.”
“Yeah, I get it. Dan Haru, brush your teeth and lie down. You go wash your face with cold water.”
“Okay.”
After sending them off, I pressed Eun-chan down onto the futon in the living room and nudged Dan Haru, who was burrowing like a mole, into position.
“You’re really mean,” Eun-chan shot me a resentful look.
“What, what do you want me to do?”
“You don’t have emotions?”
“He said he’s fine, didn’t he?”
“That’s…”
“Don’t apologize carelessly.”
“……”
“If you keep apologizing, Seo Taehyun can only keep saying he’s fine.”
I hated that the most.
I didn’t say it out loud, just pushed Eun-chan again and made sure Dan Haru was lying down. Eun-chan fell silent, deep in thought. Once they were gone, the spacious living room—big enough for three grown guys to lie comfortably—finally sank into silence.
“…Hyung.”
“What.”
“…You feel like a real adult.”
Dan Haru, who I thought was asleep, mumbled like a sleep talker.
“Are you insulting me for being old?”
“I want to be like you, hyung.”
“Like me how?”
“…Just… you seem solid.”
A voice not even fully through puberty calling me “hyung” brought back memories from all my past lives, and something in my conscience stung a little.
‘Technically, he’d be my nephew’s age. No, wait—it’s not like I went back in time alone. I went back ten years… so we’re technically the same age…’
I stopped that line of thought.
Remember, Kang Ha-jin. You are twenty. Not twenty-nine. Not twenty-nine plus anything. Just twenty, burning with youth.
“…I’m glad I told you, hyung.”
“Stop sleep-talking and sleep.”
“Okay…”
With Ju Eun-chan finally back in place as well, the lights in the living room went out. Watching them choose to sleep in the living room instead of their own beds, I closed my eyes too.
Exhausted from practice and the unfamiliar space, sleep came quickly.
‘These idiots…’
On a rainy afternoon, Executive Director Son Hyung-gu walked toward the smoking area, swallowing curses.
At today’s planning meeting, they had anonymously submitted ideas for the next debut lineup and received feedback. It was a method suggested by the CEO for more horizontal brainstorming—everyone submitted proposals in the same format, then reviewed them together for honest feedback.
And today, Son’s proposal received a staggering 13 “disapprovals” out of 15 votes.
‘Do they even understand artist planning? A&R, whatever they call it. Unlike me, they’ve never even built an album from the ground up.’
Recently, nothing had been going his way. According to the original plan, he should already have established his own company by now and be called “CEO Son.” Instead, this treatment?
‘We need to finish everything before debut preparations really begin… damn it.’
Frustrated beyond limit, he kicked the ground.
And on days like this, anyone would do to vent his anger.
“…Hello, Director.”
“You smoke?”
“…No, I came to throw away trash.”
“Tch. Whatever. It doesn’t matter now if you smoke anyway, right?”
Seo Taehyun stood there with a stiff face, unable to respond, biting his lip. Son Hyung-gu smiled in satisfaction, brushing his wet bangs back with a finger.
“I’m here, you’ll never debut. Got it?”
“……”
“You should’ve just listened to me. If you had, you wouldn’t be suffering.”
“…I’ll be going.”
“Cha Min-seok did the smart thing and escaped. You, on the other hand, are just stupid.”
The moment Min-seok’s name was mentioned, Taehyun flinched. Son felt a small sense of victory. He had once gone to great lengths to control that kid.
Seo Taehyun, who had done nothing for three years in Miro, was nothing more than a washed-up survival show star who once shone briefly.
“Anyway. Good luck.”
He patted Taehyun’s shoulder a bit too hard and walked toward his private smoking spot, feeling lighter.
Only Taehyun remained, enduring the humiliation, biting his lip until it was almost bleeding.
Memories replayed automatically in his head.
- Hey, Cha Min-seok. What are you doing?
- ……
- Answer me. Are you really going to Rene?
- We’ll talk later.
- Hey!
When he closed his eyes, those memories became even sharper.
Three years ago, his first survival show. The dazzling spotlight, the roaring crowd. Maybe that was the last time he truly shined.
“I still need to go to practice…”
I don’t want to go in.
I don’t want to.
…I want to run away.
Just as he bit his lip—
“Hey.”
“Huh?”
Someone called him. Startled, he looked up.
The new trainee he’d been introduced to last time stood there, drenched from the rain.
Why is he here?
Before Taehyun could even process it—
“Do you have any money?”
“Pardon?”
He got mugged?
