Chapter 386

chatd by cabinfourtranslations.

Side Story (3)

Doom doom chit doom chit doom chit .

Nam Yihwon’s flashy dance—stretching his arms forward, kneeling, ruffling his hair, and doing all sorts of crazy moves—was directed straight at me. Seriously, what the hell is he doing?

“Come back, come back, come back, come back, come back”

‘I got it.’

“Come back, come back, come back, come back, come back”

‘I said I got it.’

“Hwoooaah, oh my heart ,

Right, ‘ dorawa ‘ in English is ‘ come back ‘. 1

I get it, so stop saying it already. This is starting to get scary.

If I remember right, the original choreography was meant to portray someone trying to hold on to a lover who’s leaving them. But seeing Nam Yihwon dance it just made me furious.

Yeah, as kids these days would say, it’s freaking infuriating.

I couldn’t even begin to describe how I felt watching the Prism members move forward to the doom-chit doom-chit beat, as if they were covering for that guy. To make it worse, they were ridiculously good at dancing, which only pissed me off more.

Nam Yihwon finally arrived in front of me, and started dancing in circles around me. Then he pulled a single red rose out of the inner pocket of his jacket and held it up to my face.

‘Ah, come on.’

I recoiled, making a face of extreme disgust to signal that he should get that thing away from me, but he wouldn’t back down and pushed the stem of the rose between my lips. When I tried to spit out the rose that had been forced into my mouth, he covered my lips with his palm. Then, tsk tsk tsk , he clicked his tongue in a steady rhythm, wiggled his index finger, and whispered with a ridiculously cheesy look on his face.

“Even that little tantrum of yours … is charming.”

Isn’t this guy completely out of his mind?

He’s only acting this bold because there’s a camera around.

“Ahahahaha!”

“I’m losing it. Ah, this is too funny!”

Everyone except me was laughing.

The juniors and staff were laughing so hard they were clutching their stomachs, and even the very ones who had set me up, the Prism members, couldn’t hold back their laughter; they bowed their heads, trying to stifle their giggles. To top it all off, even Choi Jeokhyeon had his hand partly covering the corner of his mouth as he smiled faintly.

‘You dare laugh?’

Oh, right. That bastard, Nam Yihwon, wasn’t laughing.

He was too immersed in his role as the male lead. So, this is what they call method acting, huh?

I really hate you guys…….

I hate you…….

I don’t hate you, f**k.

‘How annoying.’

Even in the middle of all this, I hated myself for not hating those idiots.

Why the hell are they being so earnest about this?

The Prism members beside him were starting to go pale, but that guy didn’t seem like he had any intention of stopping. He’s acting like a truck with broken brakes.

As the song neared its end and the mood reached its peak, he took my hand with one hand and supported my waist with the other, then suddenly bent me backward. Yeah, just like an ending pose from a ballroom dance.

“…….”

For the record, I’m over 190 centimeters tall. I’ve got a muscular build, a low voice, and a pretty intimidating face.

Taking all that into account, how do you think I must look to everyone right now?

‘I knew it, I have to kill him.’

Regardless of how I felt, the moment the performance ended, a roar of cheers erupted, far louder than anything the previous teams had received.

“Waaah! That was insane!”

“As expected, Prism sunbaenims are on another level…….”

“How can they be this funny and still look so cool?”

I truly, desperately hoped this whole spectacle was simply because the Prism members were the most arrogant bastards around, and everyone felt forced to flatter them. If there was any silver lining, it was that this whole ridiculous act was finally over.

With a fierce expression completely unfitting for a female lead, I stared intently,solely and exclusively, at Nam Yihwon. The hand that had been tightly gripping mine suddenly grew damp. Cold sweat was seeping from his palm.

“Put me down.”

When I said that in a low voice, short and curt, my upper body was carefully lifted back upright. Finally facing the world in a normal position again, I rubbed the back of my neck with my palm and gave a small flick of my fingers.

It meant, get over here right now before I kill you.

How many seconds had passed? Before I knew it, the Prism members, all tense as could be, were lined up in front of me. Strange. I wasn’t about to kill anyone, but they all looked pretty scared. Jo In-chan even had his eyes squeezed shut.

Ah, right. I am actually just one step away from killing someone right now.

Haha, you kids sure have good instincts. I wonder who you got that from?

“I kept telling my cubs how cute they were, and now it looks like they’re acting cute without knowing any limits.”

“…….”

“Who came up with this idea? I should give them some praise.”

“…….”

“Not answering?”

“It was Nam Yihwon.”

“Hwon was the one who insisted on it.”

“Nam Yihwon … was the one who suggested it. I tried to stop him…….”

“It was Hwon-hyung.”

“Wow, that’s low. Chise-hyung! Lee Chise! You were the first one to agree, saying it sounded fun, and now you’re throwing me under the bus?”

“At least one more person needs to survive. That’s how the world works.”

“Wow, I didn’t think you were that kind of person, hyung. This really hurts. And what about you, Cha Woon-hyung? I saw you laughing the whole time I was getting ready!”

“When did I ever do that?”

“Ha … this is so unfair. Jo Inchan … you did try to stop us, but since we are one, come get punished with us.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

In the middle of all this, you guys … really don’t have even an ounce of loyalty.

My kids were truly an embarrassment to bring out in public. Sure, some of that might’ve been them trying to make the variety show a little more entertaining by putting on a skit, but I knew those guys too well to believe it was all just acting.

‘The Seras probably already know, but when it’s just us, this is what Prism is really like, everyone.’

We’d long since learned that there was no point in trying to act all cool in front of our members, who were basically family, or our fans. That’s why we often showed this kind of side of ourselves in our own content or when interacting with fans. The general public might only remember Prism for our polished, impressive image, though. Still, showing this kind of behavior in front of the camera wasn’t much of a problem.

The real problem was that these crazy bastards grabbed my waist and bent me backward.

I watched the Prism members bickering amongst themselves in silence for a moment, and then I crossed my arms, tilted my head slightly, and spoke, “Everyone else, shut your mouths. Nam Yihwon, step forward.”

Seo Yuseong must’ve picked up on the sharpness in my voice, because he groggily sat up, lifted his eye mask a little, and glanced in my direction. Then he let out a long yawn, pulled the mask back down, curled up like a pill bug, and drifted right back to sleep.

“Phew…….”

Seeing that, the Prism members seemed to relax a little, the tension easing from their stiff shoulders. hey had good reason to; if I had truly been angry, Seo Yuseong wouldn’t have just stayed still.

For instance, when Nam Yihwon drank past his limit and nearly fell down the stairs, or when someone made a critical mistake right before going on stage, or when reporters got too close and a member’s safety was at risk. In those moments, I would completely lose my temper and things would start to spiral out of control, so Seo Yuseong or Choi Jeokhyeon would usually step in to calm me down.

But since they didn’t, it meant that, for now at least, the situation was relatively safe.

‘What should I do with these guys?’

It’s not like I’d actually get mad over an event that was set up just for fun.

Sure, I was a bit dumbfounded and irritated, but since the kids had done something worth getting angry about, I was just giving the kind of reaction people would expect. You know, for the sake of the broadcast. Really.

I grabbed Nam Yihwon’s chin firmly with one hand and spoke in a low voice, “Go on. Let’s hear your excuse.”

At that, Nam Yihwon’s eyes darted around in fear, and he let out an awkward, sheepish grin.

“I have no regrets. I only did what I had to do.”

That solemn line and expression of his were so absurd, like something a shonen 2 manga character would utter in his final moment. The guy was even sweating from fear of what was coming, and yet he was basically saying he’d do the exact same thing if time were turned back.

‘What on earth is making you go that far…….’

As I looked down at him with dull, lifeless eyes that plainly showed what I was thinking, he widened his eyes and replied clearly, word by word.

“It’s fun.”

“…….”

Do you know this?

Humans sometimes lose their lives in pursuit of excessive pleasure…….

Today, I’m going to teach you that.

I gave a faint smirk, pulled Nam Yihwon’s chin toward me, and whispered with a smile.

“Stay behind today.”

“M-me?”

“You’ll leave in my car. We’re heading straight to the gym. You’ve taken too long of a break, haven’t you? That’s why your brain’s gotten rusty, isn’t it?”

When I said I’d legally take care of him, all the color drained from Nam Yihwon’s face.

“Hyung, please spare me…….”

I mercilessly cut off Nam Yihwon’s belated plea for his life and turned to the Pantheion members, “Pantheion, cancel the stay-behind plan. Just head straight back to the dorm and rest. Looks like I’m going to be pretty busy today.”

“Yihwon-hyung, fighting! We’ll be clocking out right on time, hehe.”

“Hyung, you’re tired because of your schedule, aren’t you? How about we just go back to our own homes and rest?”

“After that, let’s stop by the practice room, then head straight to my place. It’s been ages since you’ve been over to my house.”

“…No, what? No, no. What do you mean, practice room? You said we were going to the gym. Going to the gym is the end of the day, right? Am I the weird one here?”

After giving Nam Yihwon’s back a push as he desperately denied reality, I held up the scoreboard toward the camera.

[9 points.]

Upon spotting it, a banana clutched his head and collapsed face-first onto the floor with a thud.

“The quality was excellent, but I deducted one point because there was a member who did not participate on the performance.”

“How did we lose? They’re getting scolded more by the Director-nim.”

Perhaps because of the severe scolding I gave them just before, some people seemed to think I was going to give Prism a very low score. However, I was simply evaluating fairly, based on the performance, the quality of the costumes, the reaction on site, and the amount of footage that could be used for broadcast.

I calmly picked up the microphone and spoke toward the bulky yellow figure, “Although their actions were outrageous, the quality of their dance and performance was good. Don’t even think about bringing back that Banana song again.”

“Cruel stage scoring machine. Personal feelings don’t exist. I worked hard, painted my face yellow. But it was a predetermined defeat.”

“Human bananas get no extra points.”

“Why?”

“Are you a comedian or an idol?”

“I’m an idol, but I can’t say I don’t have ambitions in other fields too.”

“…Just go in, you.”

“Yes.”

‘Please, give me an answer within the expected range.’

I’ll say it again: this is an idol company, not a gathering place for lunatics.

I don’t know why, but I felt like I had to clarify that.

Pressing my throbbing head with my hand, I gestured toward Gong Seonghwa to continue. He must have been watching only me, because he caught on immediately and began hosting with a lively tone.

“Now that we’ve finished the parade, let’s move on to the main event. The first challenge is something so dreadful that none of you have ever experienced anything like it in your entire lives. I’ve heard that police academies abroad actually use this for training purposes, though whether that’s true or not is of no concern to me.”

After dropping a hint about the first event, we stalled for a bit to film the reactions of our agency’s artists. Sure enough, the most talkative of them all, Do Yuda, tilted his head and spoke to Han Seungbeom.

“Wait, what? I heard Hyung even canceled the relay race because he didn’t want us to get hurt, but we’re doing police academy training? Isn’t that weird?”

“There’s no way Dad would ever approve of something like that…….”

Amid the rising confusion in the venue, I silently rose from my seat, following the script.

Then, with a solemn expression, I pulled out the heinous Squeaky Chicken from my pocket.

Squeeeaaak.

The hollow cry of the squeaky chicken echoed through the speakers.

“The first game is ‘ If You Laugh, You Die ‘.”

“…….”

And then, silence descended.

You can support this translation through Buy Me a Coffee -`♡´-

Translator’s Corner:

SORRY AGAIN FOR THE LATE UPDATE I swear it wasn’t intentional … I tried to live again but these days, it’s been raining nonstop in my place … I cant open my laptop when it’s rain due to roof issues, so yeah ….. maturing is really hating rainy days omg. I walked in the rain today too, let’s see if i’ll get a fever tomorrow.

Oh you will love the next chapters (I actually love re-reading this sports day arc)

Also, I really need to start reading comments …I felt like I haven’t read any comments for the last two months … this habit of detaching myself from other humans is really scary when I started ghosting everything it’s hard to get back asdfghjkl (this is why I have 999 unreplied chats from my friends)

If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.