WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

[ Translation - Aren ]

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

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Chapter 75

My chest felt so tight to the point that I was barely able to breathe.

I gulped down my saliva, wheezing.

My decision to hide in the bathroom and monitor the broadcast alone had been truly brilliant.

It had been very clear to me since the last pre-released interview that the production team had already ‘marked’ me as their scapegoat all based on my relationship with Haedun and my alleged rude attitude.

Honestly, since I had secured our appearance on this show by blackmailing the Producer, I had no right to complain.

I had practically signed away my dignity with that ‘use our narrative’ thing I told him.

“What the hell do you want me to do……? Whatever. Let them kill me if they want.”

I muttered irritably, shaking my head anxiously.

“……”

But then, something felt strange.

Where the hell was this reckless confidence coming from?

Even though I kept getting torn apart on air.

Even though I kept seeing all those nasty comments.

Even though everything was stacking against me……

“These people seriously make me want to see all of this through.”

Was I…… a masochist?

I wasn’t exactly enjoying this, but the more they tried to break me, the more stubborn I became.

Maybe I was just sick of losing.

[Meanwhile]

[Tae Oh heads back after practice]

The broadcast cut to another dance group member, Tae Oh, as he was leaving the practice room, walking down the hall.

[Just then, Yuyoung appears around the corner]

Ah, I remembered this.

We had bumped into each other in the hallway.

I was pretty sure we had just greeted each other and moved on. So why did the editing department put this in?

[Tae Oh: Oh, Hyung!]

[Tae Oh looks happy to see him]

[Yuyoung : Oh……Hey.]

[Yuyoung looks tired]

[Tae Oh: Where are you headed? Practice going okay?]

[Yuyoung: Hmm, yeah…… I guess so.]

[Tae Oh: Ah…… got it~.]

[After a brief chat, the two part ways]

[Somehow, the atmosphere feels awkward]

Should I just go and hunt down whoever wrote these captions?

I seriously considered it.

Both Tae Oh and I looked damn tired.

The conversation was short because we were exhausted. Were the editors trying to make it look like there was some sort of tension between the WEEKANIZ members?

That was it, right?

I mean, if we had stopped to talk for too long, they would have edited it in a way that made it seem as if we were slacking off……

“……Let’s Calm down. At least it's better than leaving it out completely.”

[Q. Have you ever thought about leaving the team?]

[Haedun : No. Never.]

[Q. Leader Yuyoung said that you were completely out of contact at one point.]

[Haedun : ……Is that so?]

I saw it.

I clearly saw it.

The moment Haedun heard that question, his pupils shifted.

The light in his eyes completely vanished, like someone had just flipped a switch.

……Shit, forget negotiating with the producers, having gotten that guy to come back to normal would be a thousand times harder.

Cold sweat was running down my back from all the pain and concern.

But what could I do? I had no one to blame but myself.

[A hesitant Haedun]

Captions flashed across the screen.

Of course, the editors wouldn’t miss that moment.

[Q. Yuyoung mentioned that you had long-standing conflicts over disbandment and your depature.]

[Haedun : ……Yes. That’s true. But it’s fine now.]

Seo Haedun, you’re a legend, man!

Even while staring at the camera as if he wanted to kill me, he was still trying to clean up this mess.

I saw him in a new light once more.

[Q. The leader explained that you joined <Dance Off> because you wanted to showcase your solo potential.]

[Haedun : ……]

Haedun tilted his head, his face still blank.

“I never phrased it like that though.”

I muttered to no one in particular.

I never said something that could be interpreted as ‘Haedun’s personal ambitions caused all this’.

But, oh well, I had zero expectations left for the production team, so I wasn’t even mad anymore.

[Haedun: That’s not incorrect.]

Haedun admitted to it without any hesitation.

[Haedun: But…… I like team activities as well.]

And after that he kept his mouth completely shut, the interview ending like that.

“Wow, hold on……”

Did Seo Haedun just actually say he liked working as a team?

Was that real? Was he doing this now to lay a destructive strike later or something?

I had been so sure that Haedun, past, present, and future, always wanted to go solo.

I thought that this was the reason why I almost died in the <Dance Off> waiting room to persuade him.

And now he says he likes team activities? All of a sudden?

Then what the hell did I suffer so much for?

[Your online mentions have decrease. Notoriety has dropped.]

[Notoriety : 89

Nototriety Keywords : Sellout, Incompetent, Weak-willed, Bootlicker]

The Keywords were still horrific, but at least my notoriety went down.

It looked like Haedun’s personal fandom backed off for now because of what he said.

Well, made sense, since they couldn't exactly shit on the team their idol said he liked. Doing so would be the same as disrespecting him.

If they were human, even they would hesitate at least long enough to make them stop typing hate comments.

[Day 3 of Practice]

[Yuyoung’s Dance Team Practice Room]

[Members are enthusiastically engaged in practice]

I didn’t even register the other teams’ interviews and clips.

Before I knew it, our team was getting screen time again.

[Chanyoung : Hyung, where are you going?]

[Yuyoung: Ah, just getting water……]

[Yuyoung suddenly leaves the room]

[Saemi : Erm……what do we do about Yuyoung-hyung’s spot?]

[Iho : Just keep going. We’ll adjust when he gets back.]

[But Yuyoung, who said he was just getting water, didn’t come back for a long time.]

[Saemi : To be honest, when Yuyoung-hyung leaves, he’s usually gone for a while, Hmm…… So I just thought that his stomach hurts a lot or something.]

[Chanyoung : We just practiced by ourselves. Hyung is always able to catch up really quickly, so it wasn’t that huge a deal……]

[Meanwhile, Yuyoung]

[Is seen filling his cup at the water dispenser]

[And then sitting down right there]

The surveillance camera near the dispenser perfectly captured me just sitting there.

[Yuyoung appears deep in thought]

Yeah, I had a lot to think about back then.

I had spent the whole night replaying that damn Chenstin performance over 100 times trying to memorize the choreography.

Hmm, just as expected.

[Notoriety : 90

Notoriety Keywords : Rude, Insolent]

Before I knew it, my image as an idol who wouldn’t even practice properly in basic practice, a distrustful teammate and money-obsessed sellout who only did this for ‘profit’ had been solidified.

I guess I had briefly forgotten that I was the perfect prey to PD Kim.

Oh well, it didn’t really matter anymore.

Even negative publicity was still publicity.

This was a world where bad press was better than no press at all.

As long as I didn’t die from this, I could handle some hate comments…… Hell, at this point, even that humiliating nickname ‘Slipper’ was something that I could just equate with ‘attention’.

<@ Why did Slipper even cry during the audition reenactment? He’s acting so half-assed now>

└ Classic victim mentality…… He probably thinks he’s the most tragic person in the whole world

└ Bruh, I have to go to work tomorrow. I’m the most tragic here

└ Same lol

Even on forum threads, the moment my name came up, a flood of insults followed.

The only contestant competing with me for the most hate comments was probably IONER’s Yeeun.

But even Yeeun was only shown a few times acting bratty on the show.

Most of the hate he received actually was because of his actual behavior not because of the show.

<@ Does anyone actually know what’s wrong with Yeeun? Like, what’s his deal?>

└ He’s just a rude bastard…… no brain, no manners …… his fandom’s the same, but if you enjoy toxic environments like that, you’ll probably have fun stanning him

└ The anti-fan heaven

└ Antis are still fans

└ LOOOOOOL]

Antis are still fans. Now that was an incredible statement.

I found myself impressed once again by how savage these forum posts could get.

Currently, on DukDuk Forest’s <Ultimate Idol> discussion threads, there were various types of posts.

And right now, I was reading the worst of them.

There were also positive posts around as well, but I had no interest in those.

Sure, they might make me feel better…… but I didn’t have the luxury for that.

The target audience I needed to win over were exactly these kinds of people.

After careful monitoring, I discovered there were two main threats to my survival.

First, the ones who had been relentlessly on my ass since day one.

Seo Haedun’s fans.

They rarely showed up in real-time discussions, which meant they were hard to track.

If I had more time, I would infiltrate their spaces myself. But right now, even using my phone freely was difficult, so I had no way to actively engage with them.

Second, the chaotic gremlins addicted to the drama of idol survival shows.

They locked themselves in this forum like a cult and ran their mouths nonstop conveniently right where I could see it all.

Their main traits were that they weren’t dedicated fans of any contestants (even if they were, they would immediately get exiled) and they seemed to have developed the iron-clad mentality of veterans who had seen all the idol world had to offer.

While they mocked me ruthlessly by calming me Slipper, honestly they shat on everyone equally.

If I paid a bit more attention to them, there was a goldmine of useful insights hidden in their trash talk.

Before I knew it, the episode was wrapping up.

There were no performances in this week’s broadcast.

Next week, we would finally be meeting the fans in person for our first live competition.

“Haah……”

I let out a sigh, sinking onto the toilet seat to catch my breath.

My notoriety was still stuck at 90.

I could feel muscle aches creeping in like a cold. I might even be running a fever.

“How the hell is this body twenty five when it's so weak?”

I muttered, shifting my heavy limbs.

Even my original body, which was about to turn thirty, wasn’t this fragile.

At this point, ever since the broadcasts started, it felt like the status window had put a permanent 60% stun debuff on me.

Now that the broadcast was over, it was probably time to go back to practice now.

While the audience had already thought I was a lazy, deadbeat idol who barely trained, if my own teammates started thinking that too, that would be a real problem.

‘By the way, why the hell did they vote for me?’

From their interviews alone I could tell that Chanyoung, Saemi, and Kiwoong obviously favored Iho a lot more over me.

No matter whether it was genuine or just brown-nosing.

But that was exactly why I didn’t understand why they voted for me in that decisive, even ‘political’ vote for the center battle.

Were they messing with me on purpose?

‘……Nah, I don’t think they’re that smart.’

I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. I was completely serious.

Compared to them, I had way more experience dealing with people. These early twenty-something idols? They were like open books to me.

They weren’t that ambitious. Not about winning, or even about being sidelined.

This seemed to be a mentality shared among VOV, Loop7 and IONER.

‘So in the end, Chenstin seemed like they would naturally take first place.’

Without anyone desperate to win, that was the obvious outcome.

As I thought that to myself, I got up.

I wondered whether I should go to practice and mess around with Chanyoung, Saemi and Kiwoong or just take a nap and go later.

There was still about an hour left before practice.

But if I fell asleep now, waking up wouldn’t be easy.

“I should just head out……”

I opened the door and froze.

“……Huh?”

“What were you doing?”

A completely unexpected person was standing right in front of me.

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