WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

[ Translation - Aren ]

I'm a Reporter, Please let me get off the Stage

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Chapter 39

“What do you mean by ‘That’s not true’, Ire-ssi?”

Lee Kyubin looked at Chae Ire with eyes sparkling with curiosity.

At that moment, it felt like the two of them belonged to the same species.

These stimulation addicts, do their eyes light up like that just at the thought of stirring up some trouble?

‘Not that I’m one to talk, considering I’ve made a living off dragging people through the mud.’

While my eyes darted nervously, Chae Ire confidently held the mic handed to him by a staff member.

“Honestly, Yuyoung-hyung wrote all the lyrics!”

“……?”

Our eyes met.

Chae Ire deliberately leaned forward to make sure that I would notice him.

In that state, he wore a grin with his eyes curved upwards as if to say ‘I did good, right?’

It was the exact same expression Baek Gyeom had earlier……

I couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh at his honesty.

“Ah, really? Is that true, Yuyoung-ssi?”

“Erm…… Yes. That’s correct. I wrote the lyrics.”

“After all that praise you gave your members, you’re being incredibly modest about your own achievements.”

“Haha…… Well, as long as my members acknowledge it like this, I don’t see a problem.”

“Wow, you can really tell how close you all are as a team.”

……What exactly are you picking up on, Lee Kyubin?

And just like that, the first title track recording wrapped up.

* * *

“Just go, sit there for a while, and then leave.”

“Well. I doubt the reporters will leave you alone.”

Two days after the recording, they announced a press conference for <Ultimate Idol>.

The attendees would be the PD, CP, writers, and each group’s leader.

As the leader of WEEKANIZ, I had to attend.

Of course, the other members would have to stay at the dormitory.

“With KCN backing the event, what could reporters possibly ask?”

Kim Kihun, our manager, brushed it off casually.

“……Even this feels like a ‘visitation’ though.”

Baek Gyeom chimed in with a dry comment.

It seemed like he had already decided to see this place as a prison.

Press conferences, showcases, and similar weren’t unfamiliar to me. I had attended so many that I didn’t feel tense.

The only thing that felt unfamiliar was my role this time.

Sitting in the majority, bored and taking notes or sitting in the minority, bored and spouting rehearsed answers. That was the real difference.

At this point, Baek Gyeom’s comment about this being a glorified ‘visitation’ might not be so far off.

However, I couldn’t afford to be completely indifferent about my part.

“Here’s the cue sheet. Take a look. It’s nothing complicated.”

“Hmm……”

On the morning of the press conference, I climbed into the van to get ready, and the manager handed me the cue sheet.

Highlight reel viewing, photo session, introductions, program overview, Q&A……

Yeah, nothing particularly special there.

With the cue sheet resting on my lap and my seatbelt fastened, I heard a knock on the window.

It was Yoon Sanho.

I rolled down the window.

“Yuyoung-hyung.”

“Yeah?.”

“Erm……I want some Whale Crackers.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Yes!”

Yoon Sanho celebrated for some reason before looking at me again.

“Ah, and.”

“Hm?”

“Haram-hyung says you should buy him some orange underwear.”

“……”

“Hyung?”

Whirrrr

Instead of answering, I simply rolled up the window again.

“The press conference for KCN’s new variety program <Ultimate Idol> will start shortly. Please take your seats if you’re in the venue.”

The announcer’s clear voice echoed through the room.

“Okay, just come out in order based on seniority like this.”

A small voice from one of the staff members directed at me and the other cast members also reached my ears.

I followed their instructions, taking my place as the second in line among the five of us.

It seemed like the leader of VOV was the oldest of us.

“Ah, I’m so sorry.”

An urgent apology accompanied the feeling of my foot being slightly stepped on.

When I looked up, I saw a young woman looking utterly flustered, clearly a junior staff member.

“Oh, no, it’s fine. I didn’t even notice that I was stepped on.”

“But your shoes might have gotten dirty…… Just a moment.”

The staff member frantically looked around as if she was looking for something.

“Really, it’s okay. These aren’t even my shoes, anyway.”

“Oh, erm…… Thank you so much……”

I found myself feeling even more flustered by her bowing to me so deeply while apologizing.

I quickly bowed back at her while glancing at my shoes. They weren’t dirty at all.

Even though I didn’t do anything wrong, I felt strangely uncomfortable.

“As expected of the Anti-Power-Tripping Committee.”

“……What?”

At that moment, a voice came from behind me.

This time feeling really surprised, I turned around.

A guy with hair cut shorter than mine was standing there, looking straight at me.

Wait, what was his name again?

“……Hello?”

Since this was probably our first proper interaction, I greeted him.

“Yes. Hello. Aren’t you doing wonderfully well?”

What the hell was with this brat?

I could sense subtle hints of sarcasm in his tone.

[You have detected ‘Hostility’ from the other party. Failure to respond will result in stamina depletion.]

Hostility could actually cause physical harm to me in this world?

How was I supposed to respond to that? Could I just hit him once?

[Violence can temporarily stun all emotions, but it may result in heightened hostility as a side effect!]

My dear status window started its lecture again.

Sorry,but this whole ‘stun all emotions’ thing part sounds way too appealing to me to just ignore, you know?

That said, this was a press conference. If I threw the first punch here, I wouldn’t just get hate comments, I would be escorted to the police station first.

As much as I had started to think of the filming dorm as a cozy prison, I’d rather head back there where all my members were than be sent to a real one and have the system instantly shut down.

Anway, I didn’t get why this status window would tell me about every trivial detail but completely skip to tell me anything about this guy.

I could vaguely remember the name of this rude bastard that was obviously giving me the ‘stink-eye’.

Seriously, it’s on the tip of my tongue……

‘Yeeun.’

I remembered. He was the leader of IONER.

Even though he was pretty short, he had a rather strong presence.

The song his team performed during the first recording session was very bold and aggressive as well.

His appearance and vibe more or less screamed intensity, too.

His eyes were practically glowing like lasers with those yellow colored contact lenses he was wearing.

Yeah, cool, I get it. You've got some presence, whatever. But what was with this random attitude and picking a fight with me all of a sudden?

“Erm…… Yeah, sure. I’m doing fine?”

“Figured. You seem really nice. Just like I’ve heard.”

‘Just like you’ve heard……?’

……What kind of online communities did this guy hang out on to make him so hostile towards the entire world?

Honestly, moments like this made me want to interview him as a reporter.

“Ah…… Where did you hear such glowing stories about me? I feel like I should thank them personally.”

“Where? You’re the kinda guy whose news reaches people even if they’re just sitting still.”

“Hmm. So, in other words……”

I paused for a moment and decided to speak quietly.

In a voice just loud enough for Yeeun to hear me clearly.

“It sounds like you wanted to sit still but couldn’t help but overhear anyway.”

“Yeah, exactly. Like just now.”

Just now? Did he mean the thing with the staff member earlier?

I stared back at Yeeun’s face as he looked at me with his sharp, cat-like eyes, his head tilted up, and a crooked smile hanging on his lips. His whole body radiated ‘I don’t like you’ vibes.

“Feeling like a hero, aren’t you?”

“Yeeun-nim, if you have something to say, just say it directly. No need to beat around the bush.”

“Wow, ‘Yeeun-nim’, seriously?”

Yeeun laughed out loud which drew the attention of some staff members nearby.

Crap, that was a problem. If we drew everyone’s attention now, it would look like we were about to get into a fight, which was the last thing I wanted.

“Stop playing hero. It’s so noisy that I can’t even get a wink of sleep because of it.”

He spoke slowly, deliberately, emphasizing each syllable, while snickering, thinking that this was the most perfect attack.

“……Ah.”

So the reason he hated me was because of how I acted toward the staff member earlier?

Let’s think about this more. Earlier, the staff member had been overly apologetic, and I tried to calm her down and send her on her way……

Right after that, Yeeun started muttering something under his breath……

Wait, what was it again?

‘Anti-power-tripping committee’

What the heck was that nickname?

And then, at that moment, a certain person flashed through my mind.

‘Hyun Jiwoo……?’

Seemingly having noticed that things just clicked for me, Yeeun started to laugh again, clearly mocking me.

“You must be such a righteous person, huh? Doing so many good deeds you even start to forget some?”

With that all the pieces started to fall into place.

So Yeeun probably thought that I was some kind of hypocrite, huh?

Fake, self-serving, the kind of person who climbs to moral high grounds by stomping on others faces. Some annoying, holier-than-thou guy you’d just want to beat up.

And……

“Ah, sorry. Are you…… close to him?”

Bullseye.

So you were friends with Jiwoo, huh?

He really, really, really didn’t like that I publicly put the ‘devil’ Hyun Jiwoo ‘in his place’ and was started to be called ‘hero of justice’ by others.

As I realized that, I nodded slowly.

Yeeun furrowed his eyebrows.

It seemed that his hostility intensified.

But he was the one who threw the first punch though, right? A little provocation like this was only fair to avoid getting completely steamrolled.

“Hah…… you’re insane.”

Yeeun muttered.

It was only a small cuss, but loud enough that the people nearby probably heard it.

Hmm, things suddenly felt oddly quiet.

It seemed like everyone was minding their own business, but, well, it was one of those situations.

You know, like at a hotel buffet when a middle-aged woman takes out an envelope full of cash and suddenly the only thing you can hear is the squeaky sound of plates being scrubbed nearby……

In other words, everyone was pretending to work while secretly cranking up their hearing to eavesdrop!

One wrong word now, and this could turn into a massive disaster.

The staff might not have eyes, ears, and  mouths that could travel a thousand miles, but whatever they pick up within a hundred miles could end up haunting you for the rest of your life.

No way around it, I had to change tactics. Unfortunately.

“……I’m sorry. Please calm down.”

“What?”

“If you feel it’s necessary, I’ll compensate you. Let me know the cost, and I’ll take care of it. We’re about to go on, so… Should I contact you afterward?”

“What are you saying?”

“Ah, it’s smudged.”

“Erm, your front tooth. There’s some tint on it, on your front tooth.”

“Oh, seriously, are you doing this on purpose……?”

“Oh! You’re the staff member of IONER, right? I think the leader here needs a bit of makeup touch-up. Yes, yes. His face looks a bit like he’s not feeling well.”

“Erm. Okay.”

The IONER staff member approached, fiddling with the makeup kit strapped to their side.

As they approached, Yeeun had no other choice but reluctantly show them his face.

Finally, it felt like those 100x amplified ears around us had shrunk back down to about 40x.

I smiled brightly at Yeeun before giving him a short bow, and then stepped away.

He stared at me for a moment with his lips tightly closed, before turning his gaze away.

It seemed like he had given up after I politely but firmly pushed him away.

Right, no matter how much of a punk he was, as an idol he probably noticed those highly tuned ears flapping around as well.

“……Didn’t know you were so good at reading the room~”

Yeeun’s snide mutter was probably loud enough for everyone to hear, but I, of course, pretended I hadn’t heard a thing and stared straight ahead.

[Stamina -5]

A loss of 5 points wasn’t that hard a hit, but honestly, my pride was seriously hurt.

It wasn’t like I had taken any emotional damage or anything.

[Moisture detected on your back!]

‘That’s just because the situation was so difficult and I got really flustered, okay?!’

How much did that system window even know? Was that creepy or what?

As I grumbled inwardly about something completely different, a staff member wearing a headset approached us.

They grabbed the curtain before us and flung it wide open.

“It’s time to go in!”

Aah.

I never thought I’d be so glad to hear those words.

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