Chapter 206
This was a sensation I had felt before.
“——!”
A stuffiness as if cotton balls had been shoved into my ears, and a voice that wouldn’t come out, as though something was caught in my throat.
“——?”
So, to make it go away….
“…Whew.”
I think I just needed to take one deep breath.
And I was right.
As the white glare that had covered my vision slowly receded, the sounds, which had seemed like a fish gulping for air, gradually sharpened into clarity.
“…yong, Trainee Kim Chunyong!”
“H-huh, y-yes!”
Choi Gaon had somehow closed the distance to stand right before me, and wore a beaming smile and pressed a bouquet of flowers into my arms.
“—Congratulations on your debut! You’re sixth place!”
And in that moment…
The sensations that had been suppressed, teetering between settling and bursting. They flung wide open, and vivid reality rushed in to greet me.
…Ah, it’s me.
In my second run through Targeting Star, I had once again debuted in sixth place.
“Ha, haha….”
In the end, I had achieved the first Objective of the contract I’d made with X.
Once I fully processed that it was reality, my surroundings came into sharp focus.
“Jin Woo. You really worked hard, truly….”
The trainees consoling Jin Woo, who had been standing beside me to hear the result.
“Come on. Let’s go congratulate Chunyong already!”
And Jin Woo himself, flashing a clean grin as if a weight had been lifted, waving at me.
WAAAAAAH!
The fans in the standing section below the stage, holding up my cheering slogan banners, waving them with faces full of joy.
“Chunyong! Over here, look over here!”
And at the very front of them all, addressing me with a camera lens trained my way… it was Shooting_REX noona.
“Uh….”
Every stimulus was so pleasant it sent a jolt through me. Amid that cascade of sensations, I blinked slowly and struggled to form words.
This was bad.
My expression had to look absolutely ridiculous right now. A guy who just debuted shouldn’t be making a face like this.
At the very least, I should be showing the slightly cocky, slightly impudent face that Shooting_REX loved most.
“WAAAH!”
And then, as if to stop me from even thinking that, arms piled onto me from all directions in a rushing wave.
“Seriously, congratulations, Chunyong!”
“Congratulations. You’d better work hard enough for my share too!”
“Chunyong anikiii!”
“See! Gao Yan was right again! Of course, Gao Yan is never wrong! The laws of the universe follow Gao Yan!”
“Holy, Chunyong! Jesus, really, I’m so happy!”
Ryota, Gao Yan, Logan who came charging down from the podium as if he’d trip at any moment. Won Hyeop, Li Ming Shen.
“Yo, dude!”
“Whoa, Chunyong! We’re actually a real team now!”
And the members I’d now be promoting with, not as Arrows, but as ToZ, as… Zenon.
“So….”
I wanted to say something back, but the words wouldn’t come.
I felt happiness, bewilderment, dizziness all at once.
Ah, damn it.
What the hell was wrong with this body all of a sudden? I couldn’t be doing this. After this, I had to….
“Everyone! I understand you want to congratulate him, but before that, shall we hear Trainee Kim Chunyong’s debut speech first?!”
I had to give my speech about debuting in sixth place.
“Oh, yes. Uh, hello, Star Shooters. I’m Kim… Chunyong!”
Flustered, I brought the microphone I’d been handed to my lips and offered a quick greeting first.
“Wh-what I want to say is….”
After that, I couldn’t string together sentences easily.
I’d prepared something resembling a speech, just in case a moment like this came, but not a single word surfaced.
A pleasant sort of mortification flooded my mind like a rising tide.
What did I say last time?
Back then… I think I’d been convinced I wouldn’t debut, and then I did, so I cried my eyes out.
Today, the tears wouldn’t come. I was just acting like a fool, like a robot with a screw loose.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on me, waiting for me to open my mouth again.
“…Ah.”
A warm hand touched my shoulder.
I turned my head toward it, and there was Yu Chan, his face filled with that easygoing smile of his, pointing somewhere with his finger.
‘Look over there, Chunyong.’
At the end of that long finger of his was the VIP section.
Having looked that way throughout every stage performance, I already knew who was there.
[Congrats!! Our family’s second child (Kim Chunyong, 20) debuted!! Yay][1]
Mom and Dad holding the top, my older sister and Nari holding the bottom.
A small paper banner undoubtedly made by Nari from the materials at her art academy. It was so vivid in my eyes.
From that moment, my mouth began to move on its own.
“…First of all, I want to express my gratitude to all the Star Shooters who made it possible for me to stand here. Thank you so, so much!”
The instant my first words left my lips, Shooting_REX’s shutter clicked rapidly.
I gave a small wave in that direction and let a natural smile settle on my face.
This is your first time seeing my red hair, isn’t it, noona?
Oh, and come to think of it, Shooting_REX changed her handle too.
I was still more used to the name Shooting_REX, but as I began promotions under the new group name, I’d need to get accustomed to her new one as well.
Just as Shooting_REX had wished, we could start over from scratch.
From there, speaking was no longer difficult.
They say the first step is always the hardest, don’t they? Whatever the process had been, this was my second time debuting.
“Being able to take one more step toward my dream like this… I’m beyond happy.”
The terms of my contract with X required me to become the greatest idol in K-pop history, no matter what.
Compared to that destination, this was truly just one small step.
Well.
If X could talk to me right now, he’d probably scoff in text: ‘One step forward? More like not even half a step, tsk tsk.’
But the little punk wasn’t here right now.
What was here wasn’t the one who’d cackled in text about choosing me because I had the highest chance of failure. It was…
Translation Notes
[1] ↩
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