“COMA-1 is still holding its spot on the charts. It’s not a high position, but it’s hard for a rookie boy group to enter the charts with their debut song these days, so I think it’s amazing!”
“In my eyes, Pantheion, who reached #1 on the charts with their debut song, is more amazing. Your songs are still holding strong in the upper ranks of the TOP100 chart too.”
While getting my makeup done at the shop and heading to the next schedule in the car, I could hear Do Yuda and the manager chatting noisily.
“Eii, hush! Please don’t praise us so much, manager-nim! Hahaha! Ah, I shouldn’t be this obvious about liking it.”
“It’s good to laugh….”
At first, the conversation went smoothly, but as time passed, it seemed like the poor office worker was struggling to keep up with Do Yuda’s energy, and I could see him slowly becoming drained. However, I pretended not to notice and quietly put my earphones in.
Ah, of course, there was no music.
I just put them in so they wouldn’t talk to me.
I looked at the still-dark sky with a peaceful heart, leaving the members completely unsuspecting.
‘Time really flies.’
Seeing COMA-1 debut just a few days after the chaos of the sasaeng issue, I couldn’t help but feel like my life was just one crazy event after another.
But the overlap in our promotion periods meant that I would have the opportunity to directly interact with people from RH Entertainment at the broadcasting stations, something I had been looking forward to all along.
‘Kang Hyukwoo himself wouldn’t follow a group of rookies around, but he’s always got a bunch of minions to control the members, so I’m sure it’s possible to make contact with them. I’ll make sure to extract every bit of information from them.’
Rather than feeling just plain annoyed and angry, I felt more like I was sharpening my knife, waiting for the inevitable moment.
“Manager-nim, our next schedule is a music show, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. We’re on our way to the station.”
While I was thinking about that, I heard those two talking again through my silent earphones.
“Did you see how our Myumyus united to make us win first place on the music show? I’m so touched.”
“Yes, I saw that. Since Pantheion is a group that debuted through a survival program, it seems like the fans are all very active in getting votes and points.”
“Myumyu is the best. Awesome.”
Seeing Do Yuda flexing about something impolite
1
, Zen suddenly raised his thumb, as if his chest swelling with pride. The other members, though not as noisy, nodded enthusiastically, showing that they shared the same sentiment.
‘They’re really excited.’
The reason why the members’ eyes were sparkling, unable to hide their excitement, was simple.
The time had finally come for Pantheion to aim for the first place on a music show.
‘It’s the first time in their lives that they’re attempting to get the first place … it’s obvious that they’re looking forward to it.’
Watching that scene, I was reminded of Prism’s rookie days.
“Thank you for the first place. Huhuheu … Thank you so much, Seras. Yutae-hyung, thank you too … I love all the members a lot … I’ll really work hard. I’m so happy today, sniff! Ugh, I should stop crying, it’s embarrassing.…”.
“Take the mic away.”
“Isn’t it okay to let him be? It’s adorable.”
The sight of Jo Inchan, who had yet to lose his childishness, rambling incoherently with tears streaming down his face, next to him was Seo Yuseong, who spoke realistically with an expressionless face, and Lee Chise, who wiped away the members’ tears with a hearty laugh.
“…….”
While I was reminiscing about the past, I noticed Do Yuda pointing at my earphones and mouthing something. Realizing that he seemed to have something to say, I took out my earphones, and Do Yuda cautiously opened his mouth.
“Hyung, starting today, COMA-1 is also promoting. We might run into each other later on the music show.”
“Of course we’ll run into each other.”
As soon as the members heard my blunt answer, they let out a collective sigh.
Apparently, they were worried about meeting COMA-1 in person after such a bad first impression.
“We just need to focus on our own stage. What we have to do is the same as before, so don’t waste your time worrying about it.”
When I spoke casually as if it wasn’t a big deal, the members seemed to relax a bit, nodding in reassurance.
“That’s so true, isn’t it? I was already thinking the same too, but strangely, hearing you say it makes me feel reassured, hyung.”
“Yeah, Seungbeom is right. It’s not like we did anything wrong.”
The corners of my mouth curled up in satisfaction at the sight, and I found myself smiling contentedly.
The emergence of a new competitor to challenge Pantheion?
None of my business. Whether they come or not, they can do as they please.
‘If I just keep looking forward and going my own path, my competitors will naturally fall behind.’
My life had always been like that. Throughout my career, how many competitors did you think I had passed by while maintaining my position at the top? There was nothing thrilling about it now.
COMA-1 and RH Entertainment had long given up on the concept of copying me, and that was enough for me. As long as they didn’t imitate me and stir up the wounds of the members of Prism, I would accept any challenge from those chicks.
‘I’m not sure if they’ll be a match for us.’
My honest impression of their debut song was this.
‘It’s not a bad song, but it’s not good enough to enter the first tier.’
[COMA-1 ‘Panic’ Official MV]
‘They even tried to steal Cha Woon’s song, so I wondered how much effort they were trying to put into it…….’
The quality of the songs was quite good, as expected from a company that was constantly publishing articles about collaborating with a composer who had created several songs for famous international pop artists. However, the good quality of the songs did not necessarily mean that they would be popular with the public.
‘Just because they’re a hit composer doesn’t mean that every song they work on becomes a hit.’
Everyone had their ups and downs, and it was only natural that the songs created when they were at their best would go to a singer with an outstanding career and popularity. It wasn’t realistic to expect a star composer to hand over a song they poured their soul into to a group that was neither Prism nor Raize—especially a brand-new group with no guarantee of success.
No matter how good the song was, if the person singing it couldn’t bring it to life perfectly, it was all meaningless.
‘Where did the self-producing go again?’
I was really curious about the nerve to hand over the composition to someone else for a project that was initially conceptualized to imitate me and Prism.
I wasn’t saying that it was bad to entrust the composition to a professional composer.
I just didn’t understand why they were trying to imitate me when they weren’t ready for it, because you couldn’t really describe me without mentioning my composing skills.
‘Other than that they were pretty good.’
Aside from composing skills, it seemed that all the members of COMA-1 were quite impressive in other areas. It was even to the point where Kim Saemyeong, who had received high praise for his skills on
Survive IDOL
, seemed to be overshadowed. These were the members chosen by Kang Hyukwoo, who had a knack for spotting talented kids and luring them in, so this outcome didn’t surprise me.
‘But they’re not as good as the members of Pantheion or Prism.’
The members of Prism were a group I carefully selected from a pool of talented trainees, and I didn’t hesitate to completely reshape them from start to finish before presenting them to the public. As for the members of Pantheion, they were the ones I picked up after watching them fight fiercely in survival, and then I taught them personally.
What’s the point of just finding many talented individuals? You have to find the real gem among them and know how to nurture them properly. Even a precious gemstone would lose its luster in the hands of an amateur craftsman.
‘It’s a given that the level is different from the start. Who do you think picked them?’
I could hear people saying I was wearing rose-colored glasses.
But I didn’t care, because if I just buried everyone who made such noises, no one would say anything like that to me.
As I was thinking about that, I felt a cold sensation behind me.
“…….”
It was Lee Danbi, looking at his phone.
“…Are you out of your mind?”
Our well-mannered Lee Danbi would never behave disrespectfully in front of his hyungs, except for Lee Hwayoung, so it was undoubtedly just a mutter to himself. However, the ferocity, which seemed as if it was enough to kill a person, made the gentle members of our team so intimidated they were nearly on the verge of fainting.
Look, Woo Kangwon was fidgeting and reaching out his arm toward Lee Danbi, while Do Yuda, like a dog that ate something bad, was rolling his eyes around. Baek Kiryang, the one who was the most timid, had turned pale and was practically blending in with the air.
“…….”
And Lee Hwayoung, who was anything but gentle, was sitting there with earmuffs on, reading a book. No, that brat, how could he be that indifferent when his teammate was going wild like that?
“A wild Lee Danbi has appeared.”
2
Zen … was just Zen.
“Ha … this can’t be happening unless they collectively returned their brains and replaced them with udon noodles.”
“Dan, Danbi-ya……”
It was easy to figure out why Lee Danbi’s anger reached the top of his head.
‘He saw people’s reactions.’
It was obvious from the phone in his hand. He was angry because he saw the public’s reaction to COMA-1’s song.
I had already checked the reactions on SNS and community posts when the song was first released, so I completely understood why he was reacting like this.
— Isn’t the song good? Contrary to what people said, they didn’t seem like they’d be easily overlooked. I thought they’d be really bad since they’ve been getting called a failure, but they were actually pretty good.
└ They’re only considered bad when compared to Prism … RH is actually famous for finding talents, we really have to give them credit for that
— As expected of the trustworthy Kim Saemyeong >< The best!
— The COMA-1 kids are better than I expected … They would have made it on their own with their skills without all that excessive mediaplay. RH forced them into doing pointless things and now they’re getting unnecessary hate. These kids are really the only ones who suffer ㅜㅜ
└ But it’s also a fact that if it hadn’t been for the mediaplay, people wouldn’t have bothered to search and listen to their song like this
└ Anyway, the fans don’t curse the members, but only curse the company lolol. The company makes money off the members, so they can endure that much criticism. Smart move.
The public, who once criticized them as if they would never support the group, quickly changed their stance and began showing positive reactions when the results turned out relatively well. It was only natural that Lee Danbi, who had a hard time because of RH Entertainment’s mediaplay, couldn’t comprehend such a shift in public opinion.
“What exactly were they forced to do? It’s not like anyone was held hostage. There’s no way fully grown adults couldn’t have judged for themselves that what they did was disrespectful to Prism-sunbaenims. I also find it unpleasant that they used our group for mediaplay. It’s really weird that people are making excuses for them. They went along with it, pretending to be dumb because they wanted to debut and become successful. Kim Saemyeong-hyung wasn’t an ordinary trainee. He could’ve refused properly if he wanted to.”
Even after turning off his phone, Lee Danbi still seemed furious. He exhaled sharply, then spoke at breakneck speed. Baek Kiryang, sitting beside him, was so shocked by the torrent of brutal truths that he couldn’t even breathe. Just then, Do Yuda calmly spoke up.
“To be honest, I feel uncomfortable with Kim Saemyeong-hyung. I don’t understand why people see him as a sweet, naive angel
3
. In my eyes, he’s just someone who was being mean to Kangwon-hyung.”
“….Was being mean?”
At those words, I tilted my head slightly and quietly turned around to look back at them. All the color instantly drained from Woo Kangwon’s face. Fixing my sharp gaze on his ever-so-gentle expression, I opened my mouth to speak.
“This is the first time I’m hearing this…..”
Then, Do Yuda also looked at my expression and let out a gasp. He quickly covered his mouth. It seemed that Do Yuda had accidentally talked about something in front of me without any prior agreement with Woo Kangwon.
I smiled brightly.
“You’re not seriously hiding something from me, are you?”
Tell me the truth.
I’ll give you 10 seconds.
10, 1.
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Translator’s Corner:
Impolite is not quite right. I just don’t know the english word for it. It is 팔불출, ‘
eight things that should not be shown off
‘ in order to get along well with others. It’s the type of bragging that will make others compliment you abou it, but actually they’re probably feeling uncomfortable inside.
It consisted of bragging about:
1. Yourself.
2. Your spouse.
3. Your children.
4. Your academic background.
5. Your family background.
6. Your wealth.
7. Your sibling.
8. Your friend. ↩︎
Idk if I need to point this reference out. But a phrase “A wild (name) has appeared” is a general phrase used in Pokemon game where a new pokemon appears and you need to catch them. ↩︎
The expression that Do Yuda used 착해 빠진 + 천사 (angel). The 착해 빠진 means a kind person … but in stupid way. Like someone who’s really really kind, they’re too good for this world. Like a kindness that’s overly naive. The kind personality you used to see as otome game MC in 2010s era. ↩︎
Pantheion on danger of becoming a 5-members group
And wow, I guess I already say this a lot, but the author is really good at playing with people’s emotions … just last chapter I was crying with MC monologue, but now I’m giggling watching Pantheion hyung line in crisis because of the maknae …
Anyway my landlady came back just in time to fix the wifi asdfghjkl but now I’m torn on how to tell her I’m going to quit starting next week …. my landlady is such a good person, she took care of me for the past three years and treated me like her own grandchild … T_T I really don’t want to leave, sighs … the college phase really felt like a midsummer dream now
But now that I think about it, I guess I don’t have it in me to become a landlady … like how do you cope with people keeps leaving you .. imagine seeing someone everyday for 3 years at minimum then watching them leave when they graduated … me and my overly attached personality could never …