A Blank Slate Regression For The Idol That Lost His Original Intention

Posted by Ayaka, Released on August 30, 2024

I finally have my own workspace.

Although I had to spend most of my vacation organizing the studio and setting up equipment, I had no regrets.

No more having to endure the tension of using Yong-cheol hyung’s studio anymore.

Of course, when I muttered this, Yong-cheol hyung retorted, saying that if anyone had to feel pressured in his own studio, it would be him, not me. I felt quite unjustly accused, wondering if the beef I had been eating was actually a bowl of awkwardness.

While the group members who came to see my new workspace before my underground contacts had lukewarm reactions, these hyungs made such big reactions every time they saw a piece of equipment that it made me enjoy showing them around.

“Kid, I told you to just move into the floor above my studio, but you stubbornly got a different place. You’ve always been so stubborn.”

“Is there anyone whose stubbornness compares to Yoon Eden? That’s why, when everyone tried to stop him, he still insisted on becoming an idol. By the way, didn’t we make bets on when he would quit his trainee life and come back?”

“Lol, yeah, I remember that. I got so anxious when I heard he had a debut date, I started sending him links to boy group aegyo videos ten at a time.”

“The best was when he said he could do it too and sent us his own aegyo video. I still can’t forget that day; I got indigestion during lunch when he sent it.”

Oh, did I do that? I nodded as I listened to a story that didn’t exist in my memory.

I guess when I cut ties with the hyungs before I went back in time, I also erased these trivial memories from my mind.

“Ah, hyung’s studio is just too far from the dorms, so the taxi fare would have been no joke.”

“Didn’t you say you were moving soon?”

“Of course, I factored in the location of the new dorms when I got this place.”

Though this studio was far inferior to the one I had before going back in time, I decided to be satisfied with it for now since the amount of money I make now is different from back then.

“Hey, I’m hungry. Is there a Chinese restaurant around here?”

“I didn’t see any. Should we order some chicken?”

“We had chicken yesterday, so I don’t feel like it.”

“Then how about pizza? There’s a Pizza School nearby.”

“Pizza sounds good. Go pick it up, Eden.”

“Me? I’m the owner of this studio, hyungs.”

“Yeah, you idiots! You can’t just boss the owner around like that! At the very least, one of you should go with him!”

This was just them saying they wanted to make someone else do it while making sure I still had to do it. That’s why it’s tough being the youngest. Anyway, Ryu Jae-hee should be grateful for his fortune.

“Ah, shit…”

“Joo-sung, have a good trip!”

In the end, I had to accompany one of the hyungs who lost in a fierce game of rock-paper-scissors to Pizza School.

“By the way, when are you going to cut your hair, hyung? From behind, you definitely look like a woman who’d suit a bob cut.”

“Don’t even mention shoulders.”

“I wasn’t even talking about shoulders.”

Is it really right to assume and hit your junior before they even mention the body part you’re insecure about?

Seems like a narrow mind as well as narrow shoulders.

Well, maybe he went easy on me because it didn’t really hurt.

I pretended to rub my arm as if it was sore, and he pressed down on my head, saying this was no time to whine.

Fiddling with his rather long hair, which slightly went past a bob cut, I asked, “So, you can’t donate this length?”

“They say it needs to be at least 25 cm.”

“Wow, that’s strict. You’ll need to grow it for another two years.”

This hyung was carrying out a penalty of “donating hair” because he lost a useless bet with other crew members.

“Man, tell me about it. My mom’s been nagging, saying it’s embarrassing for a guy to have long hair, and she wants me to cut it because it’s a disgrace to the neighborhood.”

“How about you explain it’s a 3-million-won issue, and you need her understanding?”

“You don’t know my mom. I’d be kicked out and beaten for betting 3 million won on something like this before I’d get any understanding.”

“How would I know your mom’s personality, hyung? Then why don’t you just tell her you’ve switched from rap to rock? A lot of rockers have long hair.”

“Would she buy that?”

We picked up the pre-ordered pizza and headed back to the studio.

Let me say this again: since I was the youngest, setting everything up was my job.

While eating a slice of pizza, I cautiously brought it up.

“Anyone here planning to join DTB this season?”

DTB, short for ‘Drop The Beat,’ was a hip-hop survival show on the same cable network, Wnet. They aired it after their previous show had a spectacular run for two seasons.

Although they tried to improve on the shortcomings and issues from the last survival show and aired season 1 last year, it failed to attract public interest and ended as a niche show only for hip-hop enthusiasts.

Season 2 was scheduled to air this June. For the record, season 2 didn’t do particularly well either.

Thanks to this, before I went back in time, Yong-cheol hyung, who was almost at the end of his rope, was contemplating whether to join season 3 or not.

I pushed him to try, and he ended up participating, winning second place in the wildly successful season 3.

He continued to do well after that, even becoming a judge for season 4 and so on, even after we parted ways.

“Me. Why, though? Are you planning to join too? Doing some preliminary rival research?”

“No, Ji-won hyung asked me. He’s been invited as a judge and producer on DTB, and he wondered if I knew anyone who would be participating.”

Lee Ji-won had also asked me if I was interested in joining, but knowing that a failing season would only bring criticisms that I, as an idol rapper, was tainting the hip-hop scene, I politely declined.

If I were to join, I’d join season 3 or 4, where there’d be more buzz.

“Is the Ji-won hyung you’re talking about Producer G1 by any chance? Didn’t you say G1 gave you this synth?”

He tapped the synthesizer with his hand, and I nodded.

“He said he’s buying a new one, so he gave me this.”

“Isn’t that just an excuse for you not to feel burdened? This seems like a pretty new model.”

“Well, the successor model has been released, so. I was debating between buying the new one or this, and since he offered this, I gratefully took it.”

G1 was known for only using the latest equipment, even before my regression.

The same was true for me before my regression, but given my current financial situation, trying to keep up with that would only end with me tearing my pants trying to mimic a stork. So, I was trying to restrain myself.

Of course, it could really be, like the hyung said, that he handed it over to me while making an excuse, worried that I might feel burdened. But if that’s not the case, then I’m getting ahead of myself, drinking kimchi soup before even having the meal. So I decided not to get excited for no reason.

“Anyway, if you end up getting judged by G1, just drop my name. Who knows, you might get a free pass using connections?”

“In that case, you’ll get branded as a guy who got in using connections on TV.”

“And that connection is an idol rapper.”

“G1 might just ignore you and give you a fail.”

“Oh, a free pass to the way home and the path to being a job seeker.”

“Oh yeah, the TV executives would be thrilled at the skyrocketing ratings.”

I clicked my tongue at the hyungs who quickly jumped on my words, snickering and chiming in.

“Geez, you guys are perfectly in sync when it comes to teasing me.”

I decided not to mention that Season 2 would be a failure anyway. Going on during the dark times instead of the booming seasons is just one’s own luck, after all.

Yong-cheol hyung scratched his head, giving it some serious thought.

“But if G1’s been cast as a producer, it seems like the show is taking this season seriously. Maybe I should try going out for it?”

“Oh, come on, hyung, join the next season. And make sure to cut your hair before going.”

I gave some blood-boiling and body-nourishing advice so Yong-cheol hyung wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes with his insistence on that shaggy hairstyle.

They joked that if only he had appeared on TV with a neat haircut, he might have won.

“Is my hair that hard to look at? You keep telling me to cut it, just like before.”

“If you’re not careful, that hairstyle’s gonna be called the Yong-cheol Cut.”

Yongcheol hyung freaked out again, telling me not to call him Yong-cheol, but honestly, Yongcheol Cut rolled off the tongue better than D.I Cut.

***

The sweet vacation had come to an end. Although most of the time was spent setting up and organizing the studio.

Now, we were on our way to Sokcho for a reality show shoot, starting from the crack of dawn.

Seriously, whose idea was it to go to the beach?

Going to the beach in this weather? Dipping into the water was out of the question because we might get hypothermia; we’d just be walking along the shore at best. How could the shoot possibly turn out interesting?

Sitting next to me, Ryu Jaehee had been staring at his phone with a serious look on his face for a while now.

Given his habit of monitoring things, I wondered if something had happened. Just as I was about to ask, Jaehee turned to me with a dark expression and beat me to the punch with a question.

“Hyung, are you dating someone?”

Caught off guard by the out-of-the-blue question, I nodded calmly, giving an affirmative answer.

“Yeah, with—”

“Hyung, are you insane?”

Don’t you know you should listen to the end of a sentence?

Before I could even say I was dating real music, Jaehee cut me off with an angry tone.

Without warning, I had suddenly become the guy who’s been recklessly dating since debut. Talk about unfair.

Hey, kid, if I were actually dating, the system would’ve already deducted 90 points for being unfocused. I’d have already experienced another regression.

But Ryu Jaehee didn’t give me a chance to explain and just kept going.

“Do you even know what’s been posted? And you’re sitting there so nonchalantly—”

“Jaehee.”

“Hey, Ryu Jaehee.”

Gyeon Hajun’s voice overlapped with mine, cutting Jaehee off.

Being in the next seat, I pressed down on Jaehee’s head with my fingers to help him cool off and explained.

“You should let people finish talking. I’m dating music, with music.”

Realizing he had wrongly accused me, Jaehee’s face turned as red as if it was about to burst.

“I’m sorry…”

He apologized in a small voice, hanging his head low, then suddenly lifted his head again.

“Then you should’ve just said no! Why did you say yes!”

“Whoa, your voice is getting loud.”