Chapter 301

“Once our activities are over … what’s going to happen to us?”

I didn’t answer that question right away. I met Do Yuda’s eyes, then looked at each of the other members’ faces before slowly opening my mouth to speak.

“Pantheion is disbanding, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Yeah, no matter how hard I fought, this future was the one thing I couldn’t avoid.

I calmly acknowledged the truth I had been trying so hard not to mention.

“…It makes me so sad.”

Do Yuda couldn’t hide his disappointment and lowered his head with a crestfallen look. I gently tapped under his chin with the back of my fingers and spoke in a soft tone.

“You knew it from the moment you decided to join the program, didn’t you?”

I had no idea how much longer I could stay in this body. That’s why I had no intention of irresponsibly starting group activities with no set end date. I had already experienced firsthand through Prism just how much of an impact it had on a group when even one member dropped out.

“I’m sorry.”

As I quietly muttered my apology, the members, perhaps feeling even more hopeless than when they heard the answer of “ No “, just shed tears in silence. Watching their faces, my heart grew heavier, as if a lead weight had been placed on it.

“Even if I’m not there, the rest of you are free to stay together and do group activities without me. But…….”

I started to speak, mentioning other possibilities, but soon shut my mouth without properly finishing what I had to say.

The members probably already knew that most of the groups formed through survival programs, even if they said, ‘ Let’s meet again someday ‘, never actually reunite.

‘If, after several years, they managed to put together even one special stage, you’d have to say they’d really gone to great lengths.’

Talent alone wasn’t enough for a trainee to debut. A group was formed by selecting members who matched the concept the company was preparing, complemented each other’s weaknesses, fit the overall picture, and shared the same goal.

Just like it was with Prism.

‘If it had been a properly planned group formed by a typical company, members with such contrasting images like Lee Danbi and Woo Kangwon would never have been chosen together.’

In the idol industry, where everything was taken into account when selecting members—from personality and skill level to vocal tone and even body proportions—survival program groups, where the lineup was decided by popularity votes, had a fatal flaw. That was why some members in Pantheion had stood out too much, while others had failed to shine.

I led these seven members and brought out the maximum results they could achieve within the given framework of Pantheion. However, I always had doubts about whether that was truly the maximum potential of each individual member.

“There are definitely members who would be more successful if they left Pantheion.”

Due to his striking appearance, physical abilities, and low voice, Woo Kangwon seemed to have already caught the eye of several directors. Baek Kiryang, on the other hand, had a talent for ballads that allowed him to express delicate emotions, rather than performance-focused tracks.

‘During the second competition of the Legendary Singer, he was likely overshadowed by Do Yuda, and he must have noticed that himself.’

Also, Lee Hwayoung had such a knack for standing out that it made the other members almost invisible, making him more suited to succeed as a solo artist rather than in a group. Zen and Do Yuda listened to rock albums together every day and practiced their instruments until the sun came up. Lee Danbi, with his bold personality, excelled at anything he tried, but he especially seemed likely to thrive in variety shows. Since he was still young, it was hard to say when or how his passions might change.

“Each of us has different things we want to do.”

Each member of Pantheion had very different talents.

The limitations of reality were already so apparent, and we hadn’t even touched on the biggest obstacle: contracts.

There were members who had to return to the big agency they had desperately clung to since they were very young, and there were members who had come to Korea, leaving behind their home country and blood relatives, with only Pantheion’s short activity period in mind. There were also members who, realistically, needed a large signing bonus right away.

It was impossible to ignore this.

“Almost all project groups end this way. It’s not that those people made that decision because they cared less for each other or were more selfish than we were. It’s just the reality.”

The members’ hesitation right now was nothing more than a natural hope of ‘ wanting to stay together a little longer ‘, a vague and helpless wish with no concrete means to fulfill it.

Leaving loved ones behind and venturing out of the nest where they spent their childhood is truly a frightening thing, but life, from the start, is a series of farewells and meetings . Sometimes, they had to rise above sadness and regret and fly away … Those kids must have understood this too.

As I leaned back against the seat with those thoughts in mind, Lee Hwayoung broke the silence.

“…I’m going to a bigger world.”

The members’ eyes all turned to him, but Lee Hwayoung simply looked at me with a calm, composed expression. His bright blue eyes—like they had captured the color of the sky itself—still held a radiant light, as if a vivid dream too strong to contain was spilling out from within.

“Whether you stay in this group or not doesn’t matter to me. As soon as the contract ends, I’m leaving Korea and chasing my dream with everything I’ve learned from you. So that I can go even higher than where you’ve reached.”

“Y-You’re leaving Korea? So suddenly?”

Startled by Lee Hwayoung’s sudden bombshell, the members couldn’t hide their shock and jumped up from their seats. But even after seeing all their reactions, Lee Hwayoung only blinked once, his expression as cold as stone.

“To be precise, I’m not leaving. I’m going back.”

At those words, Do Yuda just opened and closed his mouth without being able to say, “ Don’t go ”. Lee Hwayoung glanced at him briefly, then continued in a slightly softer voice.

“Thanks to my family and my mother, my face was already known worldwide even before I debuted. I can’t say that all the achievements I’ll gain from now on will be purely mine, but I’ll embrace all of it and keep moving forward.”

“…….”

“If I stay in a familiar environment, it’d be comfortable and easy. But like I said before, that’s not what I want.”

Lee Hwayoung probably wouldn’t listen no matter what the other members said. He was the kind of guy who would do whatever he set his mind to, and the only ones who might’ve been able to stop him were me and Camila … but both of us genuinely cared about him, so we wouldn’t stand in the way of his dream.

Then, at last, Lee Danbi, who had been quietly observing the situation, finally spoke up.

“Kiryang-hyung, aren’t you going to say anything about that musical offer you received? Kangwon-hyung, you got offered a movie role too, didn’t you? Hyungs, you can’t keep hiding it forever. Since our individual futures are at stake, we need to be completely honest and lay everything out.”

When the two older members gaped at him in shock, completely stunned and asking how on earth he knew, Lee Danbi just shrugged with a nonchalant look and replied, “I just happened to overhear Manager-hyung talking on the phone.”. Then he let out a long sigh and muttered in a low voice.

“Realistically speaking, I also think it’s a bit difficult for me to continue with Pantheion activities. It’s just not turning out the way I hoped. Still, I wish I could perform on stage with the hyungs sometimes…….”

Bang!

As soon as he heard those words, thick with regret, Zen slammed his palm down on the table. Then, without hesitation, he clenched his hand into a fist and thrust it in front of me, spitting out these words.

“Take responsibility, Leada.”

While the others were busy discussing, he kept rustling around near the refrigerator by himself and seemed to have picked up something strange to eat. His skin had turned bright red, and the smell of alcohol was wafting from him. I frowned in disbelief, but Zen, completely unbothered, shook his fist in time with the beat and mumbled as if calling for an encore.

“Take responsibility. Take responsibility. Take responsibility. Take responsibility.”

“…What?”

Without answering my question, he walked straight up to Lee Hwayoung. Then, he collapsed on Lee Hwayoung’s lap and exhaled a breath that reeked of alcohol. Zen, wearing a peculiar expression that blended 80% unpleasantness and 20% cuteness, stared at Lee Hwayoung intently before whispering in a deliberately lowered tone.

“Beautiful, rich, man.”

The words he said with a wink were nothing more than an introduction to Lee Hwayoung.

‘Is that the only English you know how to speak?’

His vocabulary was so impressive that I wanted it to be something only I knew.

Please, come to your senses. Do you know what expression Lee Hwayoung has right now? He’s thinking of killing you.

‘I can’t tell if he’s acting like that because he’s drunk or if that’s just how he is. He’s a weird kid to begin with.’

“Mister Lee, since you have a lot of money, please start a company for us. Then, we’ll become the YT family.”

“No.”

‘It’s Lee Hwayoung who’s founding the company, so why YT?’

Completely ignoring Lee Hwayoung’s sharp “ No” just now, a very excited Do Yuda grabbed me and shouted, “Whoa, even if we can’t be in the same group, if we’re under the same agency, we can still perform together on stage sometimes! Wow, that fool actually used his brain for once. We should at least have a place to come back to and rest every now and then!”

Seeing the other members’ faces light up at his words, I hurriedly stepped in to stop him.

“Don’t put any strange ideas in his head. Someone like Lee Hwayoung can’t manage a company.”

“Then you can do it, hyung!”

“…I’m the same. I told you, I don’t know how to do anything other than this. These rascals are treating the company like it’s a joke!”

“Aaah, is there no one who can do it for you? Just lure them in by saying you’ll give them a bus ride. Ah, it’s cheap, so cheap 1 . The golden opportunity to take both Pantheion and Prism, the top-tier groups of the entertainment industry, all at once is right in front of them!”

“Who am I supposed to trust and leave it to? I’m sick and tired of getting stabbed in the back.”

“Hyung … have you really lived your whole life without making even one friend you could trust?”

“That’s how every scam in the world begins. Good thing I learned my lesson.”

“Ahh, our poor hyung … You really don’t have any friends…….”

“…I do have a friend.”

“Does that person not have any money?”

“…….”

No, he has a lot of money.

On the contrary, the problem is that he has too many.

“Are they bad at their job?”

No, he’s good at it.

On the contrary, he’s so good at it that it gives me goosebumps.

Perhaps seeing my silence as a glimmer of hope, Do Yuda eventually grabbed my pants and began to cling to me, crying out.

“Waaaaaaaaah, I can make a lot of money. Please tell that person I’ll work like a dog for them. Just once, please? Tell them just once!”

“Let go! My pants, my pants are slipping!”

.

.

.

After that, the dorm became a complete mess in an instant.

Two rough fools and a precarious belt, and Lee Hwayoung’s scornful gaze watching all of it.

This time, the hyung line and the youngest didn’t stop the fools…….

It was a situation I never wanted to experience again.

As I quietly recounted all those events, Choi Jeokhyeon’s voice came through the phone speaker.

“I see, that’s what happened.”

It was really infuriating how he replied in such a friendly tone, as if he already knew what I was going to say, with a hint of a smile.

“The kids kept crying ……. and coincidentally, Prism also need to leave RH now…….”

“Eung, they need to leave?”

Listening quietly to the voice that dragged out the end of the sentence, repeating my words, I felt a rush of heat to my face. It felt like willingly walking into the open jaws of a beast. But knowing I could never be in the superior position in this situation, I squeezed my eyes shut, then finally, with great effort, parted my dry lips.

“…Umh, have you thought about expanding your business into the entertainment industry?”

“…….”

“Uh, I’ll make sure you earn a lot of money, I definitely will.”

Damn it, whether in the past or now, I’m terrible at asking for favors.

How well could I possibly be at asking for favors when I’ve barely asked anyone for anything in my life?

“Hahahaha!”

I bit my tongue as I listened to the cheerful laughter coming through the speakers. He had always been one to laugh a lot, but why was he laughing that much?

‘…Just kill me!’

I didn’t make any sound, but as if he were watching my reaction, Choi Jeokhyeon chuckled again. Then, in a low voice, he said,

“Let’s do that, Director Seo.”

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Translator’s Corner:

The biggest of example of footnote 1 is, hmm … BPM Entertainment is famous for giving outrageous signing bonus fee (a signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee by a company as an incentive to join that company), which explains why you see a lot of idol groups move to their company. Idk where did those money come from, but it’s a good deal for the artists. A debut contract usually lasted up to 7 years, but moving-to-a-new-agency contract like that usually only lasted for 3 years. If you shift to the acting industry, recently Kim Seonho joined Fantagio instead of High Zium (Agency of Song Joongki, Kim Jiwoon). Fantagio offered him 2 billion KRW (approximately $1.4 million) for the signing fee. It seems Fantagio is desperate since the money-maker Cha Eunwoo is going to enlist soon (He’s 97 liners, so he’s predicted to go this year. His squadmate, Jaehyun, already go. And Jungkook, who enlisted early to match his group comeback, will finish this year I think?). But seriously, even when typing this, I’M FUMING. THAT COMPANY DUMB OR WHAT? THEY HAVE 2 IOI MEMBERS AND 1 WANNA ONE MEMBER UNDER THEM ?????????? AND THEY WERE THROWING CHA EUNWOO’S HARD-EARNED MONEY JUST FOR THAT???? Just burn to hell seriously. It’s such a shame because Fantagio used to be a decent company in my eyes.

Ugh, I just love how this story, despite not being heavy on the idol theme, always got the idol industry details right …. like the part about project group is really realistic.

Like, I’m saying this as someone who used to follow PD101 S2 even before episode 1 aired, then became a Wannable until disbandment, but personally, I think it would be better if they don’t reunite …. it’s unfortunate how most of the members went into thorny path (especially Daniel….), but after the whole Wanna One-IZ*ONE-X1 rigging got exposed, I’m just relieved that they disbanded …. the hate would be so crazy if they didn’t ….. I think a few months ago, an ex trainee of PDX101, who was supposed to debut in X1 but got rigged out, opened up that he almost ended his life because of the rigging … so yeah …. I really hate it everytime I see people on internet saying “I’m glad Mnet rigged XXX” … like, you’re ruining a real person’s life ….

Oh I got distracted, but rigging aside, it’s actually not fun if you went from Survival Show trainee fan to the debut group fandom … the fanwar is crazy as hell. Like if you just looking at the contents and achievements, it’s really fun, but during my Wannable days … the fandom fought for every single thing ………… my child is not problematic at all, and talented in every area, so I didn’t have to fight much, but the other members individual fandom ….. haha. It’s 100% better fighting with other fandoms than with your fandom mate, guys.

Talking about my W1 days, these days, I also saw a lot of ZB1 fandom internal fighting. Tbh, records wise, Pantheion would be like W1, but in some aspect, ZB1 would be a good fit for this situation too … like, I watched the show (laughed out loud in the opening where they said they’re not going to rig the votes. they didn’t rig it, but they weren’t hiding that they pushed some trainees as their picks either), and surprisingly a lot of them are really eye-catching. Like, I’m sorry for the fandom, but they really look like some members will be more succesful if they re-debut with a company that solely focused on them …… just look at An Yujin and Jang Wonyoung. I’m pretty sure their management company also actively sabotaging the members’ individual activities right now, in hope that they would sign with them as full group. But that kind of company definitely don’t have your best interest at heart ….. well, good luck for their fandom.

Okay, I got carried away and talked too much. So, don’t you just love this chapter? ^^

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