“He also said that it’s dark under the lamp. What does that mean?”
Choi Jeokhyeon, shut up.
Don’t say weird things to a child.
“…Well, if there’s an object, there will be a shadow.”
As I gritted my teeth and tried to salvage what Choi Jeokhyeon had said, one of his sharply arched eyebrows crookedly shot up, and he spoke in a voice that clearly revealed his disdain.
“Don’t you understand Korean?”
‘Of all the things, I’m being asked if I don’t understand Korean by a British young master.’
For a moment, I felt dizzy from Lee Hwayoung’s words, but it wasn’t the time to lose my focus.
Choi Jeokhyeon had made it too obvious, so pretending not to know wouldn’t work. This was exactly why I had wanted to avoid my true identity being exposed to him, and now, things were turning out exactly as I feared. I quickly began to change my approach in order to handle the situation.
“No, I’m the leader of the team you’re in, aren’t I? He seemed really worried about his nephew, so he just occasionally asks me how you’re doing. That’s all it was.”
“That person doesn’t worry about others.”
“…….”
Come on, please. Please live like a decent human being
The only nephew he looked after was Lee Hwayoung, and to hear that even from him, I felt like Choi Jeokhyeon was really living his life in the wrong way.
“And no one should be worried about me. I don’t need it.”
The nephew was already showing extraordinary tendencies too, it was clear as day that he would grow up to be an abnormal adult just like his uncle. Anyway, there must have been some kind of genetic problem running in their family.
‘Ah, I’m going crazy.’
Every excuse I came up with kept getting shut down. I had no idea what to say next.
As I stared blankly into space, Lee Hwayoung must have assumed that he had won the argument and began questioning me.
“Lies require a certain level of sincerity to be believed. The reason you could confidently reassure Lee Danbi like that is because you already knew this situation was going to happen, isn’t it?”
“…….”
It was a very logical and valid suspicion.
However, in this situation, I couldn’t just say, “
Actually, I’m your Uncle Yutae who used to take care of you
”, nor could I make up some other false relationship, so I ultimately decided to take a different course of action.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. No matter how much you go on about it, I can’t hear you.”
‘I don’t know. Rainbow shield.
1
‘
I just pretended not to hear.
I covered my ears and closed my eyes, putting on a very refreshing expression.
If he suspects me, so what. I’m not going to entertain him.
“…Don’t be ridiculous, Han Seungbeom!”
Lee Hwayoung who was extremely angry at my attitude, shouted in a voice filled with fury. The sound reached my ears, despite my hands covering them, but I looked up at him with an innocent ‘
I have no idea what you’re talking about
‘ look on my face.
“I know you can hear me!”
I didn’t know.
My JackJack doesn’t talk like that. A big guy who says things that put his uncle in a difficult situation is not my JackJack.
“Hahaha.”
It felt very familiar. It was similar to the time when I teased young Lee Hwayoung about whether or not I should give him yogurt, and I felt like I wasn’t acting my age. It would be extremely embarrassing if the people who knew my true identity found out about my actions now, but since we were at the Pantheion dormitory, I didn’t have to worry about that.
Boo?
Imitating Do Yuda, I tilted my head and met Lee Hwayoung’s gaze with such a naturally innocent look, the kind that I would definitely find irritating if it were directed at my own self.
‘Keep holding out like that for a hundred days. I’ll tell you.’
“…….”
Lee Hwayoung, who seemed to be furious, clenched his fist and left with a scowl. I watched his angry back and smirked.
‘I won.’
I’m Seo Yutae.
Despite being in my thirties, I always gave my best when dealing with someone who was more than 12 years younger than me.
The fact that one ‘suspicious’ stamp was earned didn’t change, but whatever. While I was basking in my meaningless victory, Do Yuda, who had been watching me, spoke up with a worried expression.
“Hyung, what are you going to do if Nicholas-hyung actually gets angry after you tease him like that?”
“He’s always angry for about half the time he’s awake. And he was really angry just now too.”
When I replied in a very calm tone, Do Yuda patted his chest and started overreacting.
“Seriously, you’re the only one who treats Nicholas-hyung like that! Every time he acts like that, my heart pounds like I’m going to die!”
“Are you scared of getting scratched by the house cat you used to raise?”
“This hyung is doing that again….”
As soon as Do Yuda heard my words, he turned his head away with a deadpan look in his eyes, as if he was fed up with me, and then abruptly left the room.
I was left alone in the spacious living room, wondering in silence.
What on earth is the matter with him?
Before I could figure out the answer to that question, I saw Woo Kangwon walk through the door after finishing his morning workout.
It was finally time to head out to practice.
***
After that, we spent busy days with things like the personal content filming and stage rehearsals, and now that the music video shoot was finished, we were starting to gradually take on variety show schedules.
“I didn’t expect to have such a busy schedule even before our debut. I thought we would just be practicing during our debut preparation period.”
As Do Yuda spoke in the van on the way to the schedule, Baek Kiryang, who was sitting next to him, nodded eagerly. It seemed like they found it surprising that we were already appearing on variety program even before the music release.
“Not everything is done live. If we want the broadcast to air at the same time as our promotion schedule, the filming has to be done earlier than that.”
Broadcasting was mostly about promoting the album and increasing publicity, so it wouldn’t make sense to wait until after the activity was over to lazily air the show. Since the production team also couldn’t just edit everything in a day, most of the filming had to happen much earlier than the day it aired.
And the reason why there were so many early broadcast schedules wasn’t just that.
‘Because of the broadcasting station’s broadcast scores, we’re going to have more appearances on TV shows in the future.’
It was to earn the broadcast score, the deep-rooted evil of music shows.
“The schedule we’re going to today is for an ABS broadcasting station’s variety show. The broadcast score percentage there is really high.”
“…….”
Broadcast score was a metric that awarded points based on the number of times an artist appeared on the broadcasting station’s own programs. In the recent years, it had become a major factor in determining a group’s ranking on music shows.
In cases where a broadcasting station had a high broadcast score percentage, even if the digital and album sales scores were significantly high, the group could still lose the top spot simply for not appearing on the station’s own programs. So, groups aiming for the top position were forced to pay attention to broadcast activities.
‘The broadcasting stations may have their own position, but it’s becoming more and more blatant as time goes on.’
I couldn’t help but wonder what the point was in deciding the rankings based on prioritizing singers who were beneficial to the broadcasting stations, even when there were clearly songs that people liked more and listened to more. However, the title of “
Music Show’s First Place
” still held symbolic meaning, and turning against the broadcasting stations was like a death sentence for entertainers, so in reality, most entertainers followed that system.
“Still, the program we’re appearing on today is ABS’s most popular program. Won’t the fans like it?”
I gave Woo Kangwon a subtle look without answering his wishful question.
‘That’s ridiculous. There’s no way our fans would like that program. The only ones who would like it are the general viewers.’
The program we were going to appear on today was called “
Agent War
“. Its viewership ratings were fairly high compared to other ABS broadcasts, but fans would often freak out when they heard the news that their idol was going to appear on it, regardless of the program’s popularity.
Since the name of the program was “
Agent War
“, its main content involved regular cast members and guests competing in challenges based on an agent concept. At first glance, it might seem like an ordinary program, but the real issue laid in one of its segments, “
Agent, Keep Your Composure
“.
The segment was pretty similar to the typical truth game, where participants would wear a heart rate monitor and then attack each other with a set number of bullets, asking a series of so-called “
trigger
” questions, and the first one whose heart rate rose above a certain level would lose.
“Does your boyfriend cause you a lot of stress? Why has your personality become so grumpy?”
“Why do you keep doing dramas when you can’t act?”
“Did you get dumped, or were you the one who dumped them? Just tell me.”
The only difference was that the panelists asked much tougher questions.
‘They constantly try to make smoking jokes about female celebrities, pester idol groups for love stories, and go to great lengths to provoke the guests into making mistakes. There’s no way the fans would like that.’
That program was filled with cast members who, despite constantly stirring up controversies with every careless remark, were completely unaffected by public criticism. Their rudeness was masqueraded as honesty.
It was truly baffling, but the public consumed the program with justifications such as, ‘
Honestly, everyone was curious anyway
‘, ‘
It’s just the program concept, just watch it
‘, ‘
As long as it’s entertaining, it’s fine
‘, and ‘
If you’re uncomfortable, don’t watch it
‘. In this way,
Agent War
became the station’s most popular program.
‘What the hell is so entertaining about that…….’
Once in a blue moon, it was actually fun when a guest with a stronger personality than the regular cast appeared and turned the situation around. For example, people like Prism.
“Agent Chise, when comparing the income of a rapper and the income of Prism, which one is more satisfying? Wouldn’t it be better to just choose one and focus on it?”
“Whichever it is, I make dozens of times more than you do, so why are you curious about it?”
However, it was realistically very difficult for rookie or celebrities with soft personalities to respond like Prism. So, unless someone was pretty confident in their verbal skills or mentality, it would have been better not to appear on this program. Unfortunately, the reality was far from that easy.
‘Our agency probably couldn’t refuse for practical reasons. There are the broadcast scores to consider, as well as maintaining good relationships with the station and the panelists. Plus, The viewership and NeoTube views are much higher than most recent entertainment shows, so they can’t ignore the great publicity that comes with it.’
In short, it’s all due to the adults’ circumstances.
Just as I was recalling the faces of the staff who looked troubled when the initial proposal to appear on the program came in, the van came to a stop.
We had already arrived at the broadcasting station.
“Ugh, my stomach is starting to hurt.”
“Yuda-ya, are you okay? Do you want to go to the bathroom?”
“I’m not talking about that kind of stomachache. It feels like my stomach is twisting and turning from being nervous. They’re all our seniors, after all.”
As soon as we got out of the car and entered the broadcasting station, I heard Do Yuda groaning while clutching his stomach and Woo Kangwon’s concerned voice. I handed the hot pack I was holding to Do Yuda and said,
“The whole concept is to forget about social ranks and just compete on equal footing, so don’t be nervous. Just stick to the concept.”
“My heart doesn’t work like pressing a button like that! If I had that kind of mental strength, my stomach wouldn’t hurt in the first place!”
That’s true.
Too bad. Blame yourself for being so weak.
“Yu-chan, you have a weak stomach. Too bad.”
As I was nodding my head at Zen’s words, which seemed to come straight from my mind, Baek Kiryang, who had been following me with his head buried against my back, suddenly raised his head and spoke.
“Yuda-ya, do you want to drink my plum water? It might help you feel better. I had some and it made me feel a lot better.”
I quietly stared at Baek Kiryang, and then furrowed my brow.
For some reason, this child seemed a bit off today.
Normally, he would be suffering from a stomachache alongside Do Yuda, so it was strange that he was being so clingy and speaking normally today. Did he add something like a
Cheongsimhwan
2
to that plum extract?
“Yes, I’d like to drink…….”
Before I could think of an answer to that question, Do Yuda took the tumbler from Baek Kiryang, opened the lid, and screamed. Then, he turned to me with a pale face.
“…Hyung, is this alcohol?”
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Translator’s Corner:
Rainbow shield (무지개 방패)
. OMG I THOUGHT ABOUT IT FOR AN HOUR NOT BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW BUT I JUST CAN’T REMEMBER!!!! I REALLY FELT LIKE I KNOW IT BUT MY MEMORY IS LIKE FISH, SO IT’S SO FRUSTRATING anyway I remember after staring at my ceiling while listening to Wendy If It Is You cover for an hour.
So, there’s this phrase that used in children game/elementary school student fight, a lot. For example, when someone say you’re stupid (idiot actually, you know how vicious children are), instead of arguing, you’ll just say “
반사
“, which means “Reflection”. So, whatever they say is reflected back to them. Like “Same with you” / “Back at you”. The thing is, this kind of game has no end because everyone would just say “reflect back”.
So they upgraded it, and there comes the term
“무지개 반사” (Rainbow reflection
) which means it reflects back at the person who said the word and they can’t say 반사 back.
The thing is, those children later make up new skills called 미라클 반사 (Miracle Reflection) that can even reflect the rainbow reflection.
There’s also 피라미드 반사 (Pyramid Reflection) that’s more trendy, and has a much greater power than rainbow reflection
Then, 무한반사 (Infinite Reflection) is supposed to be the greatest final last reflection.
But then there’s 우주반사 (Cosmic Reflection) that’s supposed to be stronger than all reflections in the world.
Also there’s 블랙홀반사 (Black hole reflection) that can absorbs all of the opponent’s skills and neutralizes them. Actually there’s a lot more but it’s too much to write everything. But anyway.
What you read above is the “attack skill”. Just like other game, if there’s an attack, there’s defense.
The defense skill equivalent of “Rainbow Reflection” is “Rainbow shield”
. It can neutralize all curses that thrown at you. (But also, in the game rule, if you use “Rainbow Shield” to block “Rainbow Reflection”, their powers will collide and causing all the things in the world to shake and the cosmic order breaking apart. It’s just a silly child game, you see. Since Nicholas keeps being persistent, MC basically using “rainbow skill” to just block everything. That’s the gist. ↩︎
Cheongsimhwan
(우황청심원,
lit. ’clear-mind pill’) , is a pill formulated with thirty odd herbs and other medicinal ingredients, including calculus bovis, ginseng, musk, and Chinese yam root. It is used to treat various symptoms, such as numb limbs and fit of apoplexy, epilepsy, and others in traditional Korean medicine. The medicine was originally named
Cheongsimhwan
because
it relieves heat in the heart and cools the mind
. Some CSAT takers usually took this pill too because it is said to help increase last-minute concentration. ↩︎
OMG I REALLY LIKE THIS ARC. I was pretty anxious about something right now (I need to ask my mom’s relative to help me move out since I have too many things so I can’t just go with bus) (The problem is, I don’t even remember when was the last time I asked someone for help) (I can relate to MC in a way I would rather die than asking people I knew for help) (Now that I think about, I have too many near actually-dying experience because of this but since I’m still survived, it seems like it only makes my tendency worse….) (omg guys when you have kids, please teach them that it’s okay to ask the elders for help, having anxiety just because you need to do something that others normally do with ease is not fun sdjhfdjkfjv), so I’m really happy that we’re currently in this arc now.
But tbh, I think I have too many arcs that I would say I like … I like everything about this novel … Even the 3.5 rating on NU when I first picked up this novel won’t stop me from loving it … (My reason for picking this up is mainly because I personally was offended by the previous rating, like WDYM GUYS YOU’RE RATING MY BABY THAT LOW??????). Okay I need to stop ranting.