I’m a Genius Idol but my Passive is Sunfish Chapter 50

“Baekya, why did you write down your strengths, erase them, and then write them again?”

 

“…Did I?”

 

Baekya looked back with a face that said he had no idea what they were talking about.

 

Hodin turned the entrance application form around to show him. Over the strength Baekya had originally written, someone had crossed it out with a ballpoint pen and written something new.

 

“I’ll read both for now.”

 

[The strength Baekya first wrote: Singing]

[Baekya is the Main Vocal of DASE]

 

“I don’t know who the culprit is, but what they wrote after erasing it is: ‘Heart Machine.’”

 

At the last word, Baekya vaguely figured out the culprit and glanced toward the far right. Yulmu, pointed out as the prime suspect, waved his hands frantically, pleading his innocence.

 

“It wasn’t me! It really wasn’t. Han Baekya, you don’t trust me?”

 

“I don’t.”

 

“Oh, dear….”

 

Yulmu’s face was filled with sorrow. Yeongsam teased him, asking how much he must usually tease the kid for such an immediate answer to come out.

 

“Why don’t you just come to our team, Sparrow? Hyung will treat you well.”

 

A flirtatious comment out of nowhere. Baekya, who wasn’t good at saying no, just laughed awkwardly with a troubled face.

 

“Then who wrote ‘Heart Machine’?”

 

Hodin continued to search for the culprit on Baekya’s behalf. While everyone suspected Yulmu, the real culprit unexpectedly emerged from the opposite side.

 

“Me! I wrote it!”

 

Cheong answered brightly. Baekya turned his head in shock.

 

“Exactly what kind of strength is a ‘Heart Machine’?”

 

To Daeyoon’s question, Cheong replied that Baekya was incredibly good at making hearts. Sujae chimed in.

 

“Then let’s do that. The heart bite. It’s trendy these days.”

 

He said fans love that kind of thing, suggesting they make Baekya do heart aegyo, and Minseong chipped in with a proud face.

 

“Our Baekya actually created that.”

 

“Created what?”

 

“The Bite Heart.”

 

Just when it seemed like it was finally being forgotten…

 

The reaction to Minseong’s words was explosive. The power of the Bite Heart was still formidable.

 

“The person who made that was him?!”

 

The panelists seemed genuinely surprised.

 

[The popular ‘Bite Heart’ among idols]

[The person responsible for putting several transfer students at Jeti School in a bind is right here!]

 

“We used to make guests do that all the time. So, can we see the original heart here today?”

 

“That’s right. I’ll show you!”

 

As Hodin made a fuss, Cheong answered in Baekya’s behalf.

 

“Why are you answering for him?”

 

“Because I want to!”

 

No one could stop Cheong’s stubbornness.

 

“Alright! One, two, three!”

 

At Sujae’s count, Baekya, having ‘loaded’ his heart, took a big bite.

 

[Ang! ♡]

 

“Waaaah! So cute~”

 

At the exaggerated reactions of the members and panelists, Baekya collapsed onto the podium. Perhaps because it had been a long time since he’d shown it, the Heart Machine couldn’t seem to lift his head.

 

“Our kid is quite shy.”

 

Minseong spoke for him, gently patting Baekya’s hunched back.

 

“But if he’s a Heart Machine, shouldn’t he show another heart?”

 

Yeongsam revved things up, saying one wasn’t enough. Hearing that, Sujae and Daeyoon agreed.

 

“Show us one more, Baekya~”

 

Baekya, barely having recovered, looked at the MCs with a face of despair.

 

“…One more?”

 

With his lips slightly parted and the corners of his eyebrows drooping, it was a face that made people want to tease him.

 

“Just a regular heart is fine.”

 

The determination to squeeze out more aegyo screentime was palpable. After some thought, Baekya asked which camera he should look at.

 

“He’s really an idol. Look at him finding the camera first.”

 

Daeyoon laughed, saying he was cute.

 

In the meantime, Baekya found the camera. A staff member in a blue hoodie was giving an indulgent smile while zooming in on Baekya’s face.

 

“I-I’ll do it.”

 

Taking a small breath in and out, Baekya winked and made a finger heart. The heart rose above his plump, rounded cheeks.

 

“Aaagh, cute! He’s too cute!”

 

Yeongsam shouted while shaking Daeyoon’s shoulders. Baekya, his face turning red as if it might explode, hid under the podium.

 

“How’s that? Our heart! Totally the best, right?”

 

Cheong lifted his chin and bragged with a very arrogant expression.

 

“The original is indeed different~”

 

Hodin acknowledged the Heart Machine. He then moved things along, saying they should also hear him sing.

 

“I did the heart, and now more…?”

 

Baekya, who had peeked back up over the podium, looked at Hodin with a pale face.

 

“We haven’t verified the strength you wrote yourself yet~”

 

Baekya fanned himself with his hands, looking overheated. The mic Minseong had used during the opening was passed to him.

 

“Just one short and powerful part!”

 

Hodin offered a deal.

 

‘Short and powerful…’

 

Suddenly thinking that this might be the chance to succeed in the <Celebrity of Celebrities> quest, Baekya quickly shouted that he would do it.

 

“Then… I’ll sing a part from our upcoming comeback song.”

 

At Baekya’s answer, the members realized what he was about to sing. DASE wore meaningful smiles. Their faces seemed certain that this would be a hit.

 

On the other hand, Baekya put down the microphone he was holding.

 

“Oh? You’re not using the mic?”

 

“Yeah. I don’t think I’ll need it.”

 

Baekya nodded with a clear face.

 

“I’ll start.”

 

Leaving the puzzled panelists behind, he took a deep breath and immediately belted out the climax of ‘WANT ME’—the 4-octave high note part—without any warm-up.

 

— I wa-a-a-ant!

 

His index finger rose higher along with the notes. The volume echoed through the studio, and not just the panelists, but even the staff filming seemed surprised.

 

At the same time, status windows popped up in front of Baekya’s eyes. And not just one.

 

[<Celebrity of Celebrities (1)> Completed!]

[<Celebrity of Celebrities (2)> Completed!]

[<Celebrity of Celebrities (3)> Completed!]

[Level Up! Lv.10 → Lv.11]

 

It was a massive haul.

 

With each quest completion, the next stage activated, conditions were met again, and completion alerts popped up repeatedly.

 

By the end, even a level-up notification appeared, flooding Baekya’s vision with status windows like a screen frozen by lag.

 

“Whoaaa! What was that?!”

 

Ho-din shouted with a flushed face, asking what he had just witnessed. Yeongsam and Daeyoon were speechless. Sujae also couldn’t close his gaping mouth.

 

[Next, Baekya’s weakness: Bad selfies]

 

“Is it that? A selfie-goza.” (TL note: someone who is terrible at taking selfies)

 

“Yeah. I’m really bad at taking photos.”

 

However, the panelists, who had already discovered Baekya’s charms, didn’t think of this as a weakness.

 

“It’s okay. You’re cute.”

 

Thus, they skipped over Baekya’s weakness as if it were nothing. Next was Yooyeon’s turn.

 

[Yooyeon’s strength is DASE]

 

When Yeongsam asked why ‘DASE’ was a strength, Yooyeon replied with a sly smile.

 

“You’ve seen them, so you know.”

 

He said their team had lots of handsome members who sang and danced well. He added that he was very proud of his group and members.

 

“Personally, I want to walk around with ‘DASE’ written on my forehead.”

 

“Then you can just do that.”

 

Sujae brought over a marker from the variety show writer. While Yooyeon was flustered, the pen had already been handed to Baekya.

 

“I’m writing it?”

 

“Yeah. A sparrow writing letters is rare.”

 

He was just blurting out jokes now.

 

“Puhaha!”

 

Cheong burst out laughing and leaned over, slapping Yooyeon’s back.

 

“Alright then. I’ll try writing it.”

 

In the meantime, Baekya approached Yooyeon. When he opened the pen cap, Yooyeon grabbed his wrist to stop him.

 

“Are you really going to write it?”

 

“Ahem. Do you think variety shows are a joke?”

 

The panelists cheered at Baekya’s firm retort. Cheong held Yooyeon from behind so he couldn’t struggle, and Minseong held back his bangs so Baekya could write easily.

 

“I’ll write it prettily.”

 

Baekya, holding Yooyeon’s chin with one hand, actually started writing characters on his forehead. Yooyeon had unwillingly entered punishment mode.

 

[DASE’ Property]

 

“Let’s see~”

 

“…That’s an erasable pen, right?”

 

“Who knows. Pass!”

 

Baekya, who had been turning Yooyeon’s chin this way and that to inspect his work, lightly tapped his forehead and returned to his seat.

 

[Continuing to Yooyeon’s weakness]

 

“It’s blank?”

 

“Yeah. I didn’t know what to write, so I just left it empty.”

 

At that, Sujae teased Yooyeon, asking if he had so many weaknesses that he couldn’t choose.

 

“It’s not like that, I just couldn’t think of anything right away.”

 

Sujae suggested that the members fill in the blank for him this time too. At this, Cheong raised his hand high.

 

“Me! Me!”

 

“Hey, Cheongcheong. You’re really doing this?”

 

Yooyeon wore a betrayed expression at Cheong’s enthusiasm.

 

“When I first came to Korea, this person scammed me!”

 

Scammed.

 

The panelists took interest in the provocative word.

 

“Scammed? What kind of scam!”

 

“We’re the same age, but he made me use formal language! He said it was Korean manners!”

 

In fact, it is polite to use formal language when meeting for the first time regardless of age. However, this was Jeti School. The MCs took Cheong’s side, saying Yooyeon was mean.

 

“I was trying to help Cheong.”

 

Yooyeon excused himself, saying Cheong’s first impression was so intense that he couldn’t help but give him ‘special honorifics training’.

 

On the day Cheong first came to the practice room after passing auditions, he ran into the CEO and greeted him like this:

 

“Hey! Mister ID~”

 

[An explosive greeting at their first meeting]

 

[That really is shocking…]

 

“So, did the CEO accept it?”

 

“Yeah! CEO is a very Nice Guy~”

 

As Cheong gave a thumbs-up to the camera, Yooyeon shook his head helplessly.

 

The last turn was Cheong.

 

[Cheong’s strength is English]

 

“But you’re American. Aren’t you?”

 

“That’s right. That’s why I’m good at English.”

 

Sujae scratched his head at the conversation that seemed to be oddly off-track.

 

“Strangely, whenever I talk to him, I feel like I’m being dragged into his pace.”

 

“That’s normal.”

 

Minseong said that was Cheong’s charm.

 

“Alright then. Since you said you’re good at English, try introducing our program to overseas audiences in English.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Cheong found the camera and introduced ‘I’ve Transferred’ with fluent pronunciation.

 

To wrap it up, he even squeezed in some promo, asking everyone to give lots of love to DASE’s new song, WANT ME, which they were returning with.

 

Though they only understood a few basic words, all the panelists pretended to understand, making American gestures and interjecting.

 

“Uh Hu.”

 

Yeongsam said it was a very good speech and gave him a high-five.

 

“It’s definitely a strength!”

 

After praising Cheong, Hodin read the weakness.

 

“The weakness is… Can I say this?”

 

Hodin asked back with a bewildered face. The members started to feel uneasy at his unusual reaction.

 

“Of course!”

 

“No, wait!”

 

Cheong shouted confidently, but his mouth was quickly covered by Yooyeon’s hand. In the brief moment that created, Minseong cautiously asked,

 

“…What is it?”

 

“Baby.”

 

Baby [Noun]: An infant, a young animal.

 

The members looked at Cheong with horrified faces.