I’m a Genius Idol but my Passive is Sunfish Chapter 58

“Wow~ It’s a masterpiece~”

 

DASE gathered in front of the camera.

 

Yulmu, looking satisfied as he gazed at the members who were a mess with stickers, was annoyingly smug.

 

“Humanely speaking, isn’t your face too clean?”

 

The only stickers on Yulmu were a leaf on his head and a single butterfly on his face.

 

If one had to find where else stickers were attached, it was his forearm. Even that was just a cake that transferred when Minseong was struggling, Jihan’s lemon, and two of Yooyeon’s butterflies.

 

Baekya looked at him with a disgruntled face.

 

“You should have done better then~”

 

“What did you say?”

 

Yulmu lifted his upper lip, showing his front teeth.

 

He burst out laughing at the sight of Baekya snapping like a nipping Maltese. He found Baekya’s reactions especially entertaining.

 

– Kids, next time I’ll make sure you can do this on stage ㅠㅠ

– Baekya needs to keep the peach on his head.

– No, I can’t let them go even if I die… If ‘Want Me’ doesn’t work out, please re-comeback with ‘Want You’ ㅜㅜ

– Jihan, I’m going to KCON!!! See you at KCON ♥

 

The other members were watching the chat window scroll up in real-time. Most were asking them to turn on U-App often or talking about the upcoming KCON.

 

Amidst that, a short English sentence caught Cheong’s eye.

 

“Fan club?”

 

It was asking when DASE’s official fan club would be created.

 

Idols and fans were inseparable. A fan club gave fans a sense of belonging and also strengthened bonds among them.

 

DASE didn’t yet have an official fan club. These days, many groups announced theirs right at debut, so by comparison, DASE was quite late.

 

“Uh…….”

 

Minseong glanced across.

 

Namkyung, apparently having received no prior notice either, made an awkward face and gestured to brush it off.

 

“There’s nothing finalized yet. Once things are confirmed, we’ll let you know again.”

 

The leader smoothed things over neatly, promising not to keep fans waiting too long.

 

Namkyung, nodding his head in approval, immediately took out his phone and sent a message. It seemed he was looking into matters related to the fan club.

 

Even at that moment, the chat window kept scrolling up. Fans begged them not to end the stream yet, and the soft-hearted members hesitated.

 

“9th place?”

 

Jihan’s low voice rang out. At that, DASE members thrust their faces forward, checking the chat window one after another.

 

– Guys, Want Me is 9th on the real-time chart!

– Baekya, practice your dancing a bit. You stand out alone like sh*t. Please hide in the back like during ‘No Game’~ It was nice when I couldn’t see you, but why do you keep crawling out and ruining the stage in ‘Want Me’? Today it looked like you were dancing to a different song too.

– Amazing, our babies are superstars!!!

– Crazy, finally entered single digits!

 

Good news was seen that DASE’s WANT ME had climbed up to 9th on the real-time chart.

 

Deokjin, who immediately turned on a streaming app, checked the chart and passed the phone to Cheong.

 

However, amidst the fans’ congratulatory messages, a nasty comment stood out. Unfortunately, because someone touched the chat window, it didn’t scroll up and remained fixed there.

 

Of course, Baekya read that comment too.

 

‘Oh. That’s harsh.’

 

His expression hardened slightly.

 

Yooyeon and Yulmu, who were next to him, were caught on screen glancing sideways.

 

“We’re really 9th!”

Cheong, apparently not having seen it, held up the phone and shouted excitedly. Minseong pretended to check comments and quickly scrolled so the comment disappeared.

“Wow! Thank you so much~ We’ll work even harder as DASE~”

Yulmu, conscious of Baekya, naturally applauded to lighten the mood. Yooyeon took that opportunity to bring up the regrettable news.

 

“But everyone, I think we really have to go practice now.”

 

He deliberately glanced sideways, pretending to exchange looks with staff. He used Namkyung as an excuse to announce the end of the broadcast. With the addition of quick-witted Minseong and Yulmu’s support fire, the fans couldn’t hold them back any longer.

 

“We’ll come again next time.”

 

With Jihan’s farewell, the notice that the broadcast had ended popped up. As soon as the screen turned off, Minseong turned around.

 

“What is it?”

 

Baekya, trying to look nonchalant, asked back as if he didn’t know. But Minseong wasn’t fooled.

 

“You saw it. You definitely saw it.”

 

Is he asking for an answer he already knows?

 

With a sour expression, Baekya answered reluctantly.

 

“Yeah, I saw it. They only said the truth anyway.”

 

Embarrassed, Baekya avoided his gaze and fiddled with his earlobe. Let alone surviving as a genius idol, he felt like he was harming the group, so he couldn’t face the members.

 

‘Damn system window.’

 

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

 

Jihan tried to say there was no need to worry about it, but Cheong was a bit faster. The maknae-on-top grabbed Baekya’s face, forcing him to meet his eyes.

 

“Baekya! I’ll help you!”

 

The sunfish’s face was squashed flat. He seemed to call him hyung properly for a while, but had he decided to just treat him as an equal now?

 

‘Well, since we were born in the same year, maybe it doesn’t matter.’

 

Baekya briefly thought he was being a bit of a boomer just now.

 

No, but I wish he would let go before speaking….

 

“W-w-won’t y-you l-let g-go?”

 

With lips turned into a carp’s due to the merciless grip, Baekya could only move his lips.

 

“W-what a-are y-you s-saying!”

 

What on earth was he going to help with? The carp struggled to escape the grasp.

 

“I’ll help with dance!”

 

Despite appearances, Cheong, along with Yooyeon, was in charge of DASE’s main dancer position.

 

Cheong had seemed carefree earlier, so Baekya thought he hadn’t noticed—but apparently, he had.

 

Resigned, Baekya closed his mouth that had been flapping open.

 

“If you practice, your dance will improve! Guaranteed!”

 

Thus, the after-school class was decided. The homeroom teacher would be Spartan Cheongcheong. The guest instructor would be Han Yooyeon.

 

* * *

 

[<Only Practice Maniacs Survive (7)> Completed!]

[Quest reward granted: 1 Star Point]

 

It was the practice maniac quest he hadn’t seen in a while. The number attached to the end was a whopping 7.

 

‘Was that the one for completing choreography practice 2,000 times…?’

 

At the dizzying number, Baekya absentmindedly chewed on his lips.

 

“Hey! No biting your lips.”

 

“…I’m not biting them.”

 

“No making that wronged face!”

 

“I’m not!”

 

“No yelling, Baekya!”

 

No this! No that! No everything!

 

Just combining the prohibitions coming out of Cheong’s mouth could easily make up 20 commandments.

 

“Come here. Today, either you die or I die.”

 

K-Concert was just two days away.

 

Practice had started early in the morning and only ended with one hour left before midnight. This meant they had been trapped in the practice room all day.

 

Naturally, meals were also resolved within the practice room. For a debuted group, the rule prohibiting eating in the practice room was not an issue at all.

 

“Waaah! The hamster’s trying to kill someone!”

 

Just moments ago, Baekya had been sprawled on the floor, but now he was chasing Cheong at an unbelievable speed.

 

“As expected… youth really is something else.”

 

Minseong blinked slowly, his eyes half-closed.

 

As soon as the choreographer finished his duty for the day and left work, Cheong took that spot. The wolf cub, volunteering for the after-school class for the dance underachiever, was acting as the teacher in place of the tiger.

 

“Aack! So tired.”

 

Even Cheong, who’d been running away, finally ran out of stamina and rolled onto the floor as if he’d collapsed. Startled by Cheong suddenly falling, Baekya nearly stepped on him. The sunfish, stopping by a hair’s breadth, swept his chest in relief.

 

“You scared me!”

 

However, the mischievous Cheong grabbed his leg pretending to be stepped on and started rolling around.

 

“Oww~ My leg!”

 

“A-are you okay?!”

 

Baekya, turning pale, examined Cheong’s leg asking where it hurt. The moment he feigned pain, Cheong’s eyes met Yooyeon’s.

 

“Baekdo. You didn’t step on him. He’s joking right now.”

 

“You little…!”

 

“…What?”

 

Baekya’s eyes snapped sharply toward Cheong. This time, he genuinely looked angry. Sensing danger, Cheong put on an innocent face and lowered his brows.

 

“I’m sorry, hyung.”

 

An instant change of attitude.

 

Cheong only called Baekya hyung at times like this. Indeed, the maknae’s skill in taming the older brothers was developing day by day.

 

“Sigh, seriously this guy.”

 

Clenching his fist, Baekya lightly knuckle-rapped Cheong’s head.

 

“I just wasted energy because of you.”

 

So, declaring he wouldn’t practice choreography anymore today, the sunfish went on strike. The sunfish flopped down next to Cheong. Spartan Cheong seemed to want to stop for today too, agreeing without much protest.

 

However, Baekya had one more teacher….

 

“What do you mean?”

 

It was the devil instructor Yooyeon.

 

“Rest too long and you’ll get tired again.”

 

Yooyeon approached and stood like a totem pole in front of Baekya.

 

“You said you wanted to dance well.”

 

“No, well that’s true, but….”

 

The instructor pulled on Baekya’s clothes, urging him to get up quickly. As his skin was exposed by the merciless touch, Baekya freaked out and got up from his seat.

 

“Don’t pull!”

 

“For someone who said he had no energy, you look fine. Let’s do just five more times. Deal?”

 

Deal my foot!

 

Baekya felt aggrieved, saying that while Yooyeon said ‘let’s’, he would probably just watch.

 

“Tsk. No making that wronged face.”

 

Using Cheong’s words, Yooyeon teased him.

 

“Ha…….”

 

This guy and that guy were all the same.

 

Resigned, Baekya was led by Yooyeon’s hand and stood in front of the mirror.

 

Meanwhile, Yulmu and Jihan were watching him from behind. Both were shaking their heads with pitying faces.

 

“The tiger is better.”

 

At Jihan’s words, Yulmu nodded in agreement.

 

“When I was a trainee, I once asked those guys to teach me dancing and ended up losing like five kilos…”

 

Yulmu insisted they needed to feed Baekya well.

 

“The kid is already tiny; he might disappear at this rate.”

 

Baekya-mom’s worries were endless. Yulmu was chattering away with mom-like comments from the side.

 

“But one person is missing?”

 

Jihan looked around for the person who hadn’t been seen for a while.

 

Under the padding jackets piled like a tower on the sofa—when did he go up there?—beige socks were sticking out. Minseong, camouflaged in a black sweatshirt, was passed out there.

 

“Tsk tsk. He’s gone, he’s gone.”

 

Yulmu’s pitying face didn’t ease for a long time.