I’m a Genius Idol but my Passive is Sunfish – Chapter 15

Author: LyraDhani

Meanwhile, Boksoong’s bias.

Baekya, who had returned to the dorm, was lying in bed, looking up the music video reactions. And just then, a comment caught his eye.

– These guys probably had a feeling the moment they saw each other’s faces: “We’re definitely going to make it”

└ They’re a visual that can’t be a flop-idol

But the person involved thought a little differently.

‘Well. It did happen. They flopped.’

Because he had seen it with his own eyes.

Baekya clearly remembered the days when DASE was a flop-idol. On top of that, the name of the new quest was strangely bothering him.

‘I’m going to make it big!’

He was already a rare-grade sunfish. The fact that it could be strengthened even further was absurd.

‘If I can’t make it big… does that mean I’ll get a death ending for being a flop-idol?’

In the first place, just because he succeeded in the quest didn’t mean DASE would succeed. The fact that there was only a penalty for failure—and no extraordinary reward for success—made that obvious.

The quest was just an oxygen respirator that prolonged his terminally ill body. Even now, his stress level was steadily accumulating.

The sunfish was dying.

‘In that case, there must be a standard for success. What could it be?’

As soon as he had the question, one thing flashed through his mind. The so-called idol success formula.

‘An idol group’s success is decided in a year.’

That meant if DASE didn’t get a music show win within a year, they’d become a flop group again. And then…

“No!”

Baekya kicked off his blanket and sat up. Unlike Jihan, who was already asleep, Yooyeon just came into the room and looked at him with startled eyes.

“You scared me. Did you have a dream?”

Yooyeon quietly closed the door and approached. The closer he got, the clearer Baekya’s pale face became. It had been too dark to notice before, but his complexion wasn’t good.

‘I knew he was overdoing it.’

Letting out a small sigh, Yooyeon placed a hand on Baekya’s forehead.

“Are you not feeling well? You don’t seem to have a fever.”

After watching the music video together, DASE had carried out their schedule as planned. Though it was just being trapped in a practice hell.

But for some reason, Baekya seemed to be working particularly hard today. He was always a hard worker, but today felt a little different.

He was noticeably more anxious than usual.

‘Is he nervous?’

For a moment, he remembered how Baekya had been trembling before the music video was released. Yooyeon tilted his head slightly and examined his face.

On the other hand, the flustered Baekya’s bodily functions had all stopped. His small, pale head was thinking something a little different from Yooyeon.

‘When did he get here? Did I say it out loud? Since when?’

Death ending, flop-diol. The more he thought about it, the more he thought of words that Yooyeon shouldn’t hear.

“Did… did you hear anything by any chance?”

“What. That you screamed?”

Yooyeon, who had taken his hand away, smiled teasingly.

“Yeah, I heard it. You think that was loud enough to wake the others? You gotta scream louder.”

“It’s not like that. I was just thinking about something else for a moment…”

Baekya avoided his gaze and scratched the back of his neck.

‘This hyung definitely thought about something useless again. He’s the type to overthink.’

Yooyeon, who had come to his own conclusion, placed his hand on Baekya’s forehead again.

Thwack!

But this time, the texture was a little different. With a sharp slapping sound, Baekya’s body toppled backward. Now lying flat on his back, he stared up at Yooyeon with wide eyes.

“Hey! That hurts!”

“You’re such a baby. How does this hurt? Stop with the useless thoughts and just sleep. You worry too much.”

“What did even I worry about…!”

“I bet you were worrying about the stage.”

As if he had hit the nail on the head, Baekya’s mouth snapped shut.

“See? I told you to just do as you always do, didn’t I? You really don’t listen. And there are still two days left. There’s plenty of time.”

“What kind of way is that to talk to your hyung,”

“Ugh, you’re such a boomer. Just sleep.”

Sensing a lecture coming, Yooyeon quickly straightened up. He didn’t forget to pull the blanket all the way over Baekya’s head so he couldn’t move.

“Ugh! You little…!”

“Yooyeon is going to sleep~”

Baekya, who was thoroughly annoyed, glared at Yooyeon’s back and fumed.

* * *

[Kim Yookyung: Morning has come. Everyone, please open your eyes]

[Kim Yookyung: (Photo)]

[Kim Yookyung: Currently kneeling and on standby]

[Shin Jaehyun: Isn’t it at 8 PM?]

[Shin Jaehyun: There are 20 hours left, you crazy bastard.]

[Shin Jaehyun: (Photo)]

Two photos, sent as soon as it passed midnight.

“What’s this…?”

Current time: 4 AM.

As soon as he woke up, Baekya checked his phone and stared blankly at the piled-up messages. Selfies of Yookyung and Jaehyun kneeling in front of the TV were posted.

“This is insane, seriously.”

Judging by the time, they must have sent them right after midnight. At the sight of his friends, who seemed more excited than he was, Baekya secretly chuckled.

“Are you up?”

Just then, a presence was heard nearby. Jihan was coming in, drying his wet hair.

“Ah, Jihan. You’ve already washed up? You’re up early.”

“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep.”

Jihan stopped and shrugged.

When Jihan asked if he could turn on the light, Baekya nodded quickly. As the room brightened, both of them squinted slightly.

“Did you sleep well?”

“I think I slept, but I also think I didn’t…”

At the ambiguous answer, Jihan laughed, saying, ‘What on earth?’ In fact, Baekya hadn’t slept well either, so it seemed there was only one person in this room who had gotten a good night’s sleep.

“Han Yooyeon. Wake up.”

Yooyeon was still deep in the night. Jihan pulled back the blanket and started poking his cheek with his finger.

“Ughhh….”

Yooyeon groaned without opening his eyes. Baekya lifted one corner of his mouth in smug satisfaction.

“…What’s with that evil face?”

“Me? No. Ha-have the others in the next room all woken up?”

Baekya suddenly stuttered. At the question that was clearly a change of subject, the strength in Jihan’s hand, which was poking Yooyeon’s cheek, slightly lessened.

“I don’t think they’re up yet. Can you go wake them up?”

“Okay!”

But just as Baekya was about to leave the room, Namkyung’s voice echoed throughout the house. Very resoundingly.

“Now, let’s goooo! Minseong, Jihan, Yulmu, Baekya, Cheong, Yooyeon!”

It was a booming sound, enough to startle even those who were already awake.

“Let’s go debut!”

The day to show DASE to the public for the first time had come.

***

– Today’s weather summary (Frozen.jpg)

– It’s the coldest ever. My mouth twisted from the cold as soon as I left the house

– Finally, the debut stage♡♡♡ #DASE #Baekya #Minseong

There were several posts about the cold on the social media she had habitually entered.

Boksoong, who had made a few friends and gained a decent number of followers in the past few days, was waiting for 8 o’clock to come, peeling a tangerine in her warm dorm.

The tablet PC she had begged her parents for was also fully charged.

‘Wasn’t all of this a sign from the heavens to watch Baekya’s debut stage live?’

Boksoong, who had perfectly prepared for the gayo daejeon food, went to look at her friend’s timeline to kill time.

Shiyoon-bin was especially active, as if signaling how close the event was. Her last retweet was three minutes ago.

– I’m suddenly obsessed with Shiyoon from last year’s white-and-black gayo hapjeonㅠ He was a legend (Shiyoon stage.gif)

– 2X1231 White-and-black gayo hapjeon (1) #AIM (Stage video)

– M Company’s gayo daejeon Part 1 & 2 cue sheet (Cue sheet.jpg)

And there, Boksoong found some useful information. It was the broadcast cue sheet.

The quality was a bit poor, as if a staff member had secretly taken it, but it was legible.

“DASE is 16th.”

Almost the latter half of Part 1. It was an unexpected order for a complete rookie who hadn’t even had a debut stage yet.

‘Could this be the power of ID…!’

Agencies all pretended otherwise, but each one had a broadcast station they were especially close to. You could tell when a company’s artists appeared frequently on a certain network, or when screen time and performance order subtly favored them.

DASE’s case seemed to fit this.

‘As expected. This is the class of debuting on a year-end stage that the whole nation watches.’

She had a feeling that they would definitely make a strong impression. But then she noticed a small word Imjingak written on the right side.

“What’s Imjingak?”

Boksoong had only ever watched the actors’ awards ceremonies every year and was new to the year-end gayo stages. She decided to search for the word, which she felt she had heard somewhere before.

[Imjingak]

And then the posts poured in.

– Paju is minus 21 degrees today. M Company’s Imjingak exile list has been released (Cue sheet.jpg)

└ BB9, DASE, Flower Moon, Blossom

└ They say it feels like minus 30 degrees, I’m going to freeze to death (black ribbon emoji)

– An idol whose ★debut stage★ is at Imjingak? lol #DASE

– M Company’s army winter camp winners announced #Imjingak #GayoDaejeon (Imjingak stage.jpg)

Boksoong couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

‘Winter camp? Exile list? What does all this mean?’

Boksoong quickly clicked on the attached photo. They were all pictures of singers shivering outdoors.

Even just breathing caused thick white clouds to puff from their mouths. Just looking at the photos made her feel cold.

“The f*ck?”