The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut Chapter 17

The Special Mercenary Recruitment Ticket can be used in order of the highest-ranking Guild Masters.

 

My current ranking was 13th, which meant I could choose a trainee sixth. 

 

Okada had achieved good results in the theme song evaluation, but his actual ranking itself wasn’t on the higher side, so fortunately no one had chosen him by my turn. 

 

“I will recruit Trainee Okada.”

 

“The Kim Chowol Guild has recruited Trainee Okada! Congratulations!”

 

Even before the MC finished speaking, Okada came running like crazy to where Yoo Sung and I were.

 

Okada bowed his head toward me and said.

 

“Hyung! Thank you!”

 

“There’s nothing to be thankful for.” 

 

“Hello, I am Okada Hiro!”

 

Okada bowed to Yoo Sung, who was standing a step back, looking into the air with an apathetic expression.

 

“…I’m Yoo Sung.”

 

Yoo Sung smiled awkwardly and greeted him.

 

Okada originally wasn’t this sociable, but his personality gradually brightened while hanging around me.

 

“You can speak comfortably to me!”

 

“Huh? Okay.”

 

That guy, surely he’s not… planning to do yobisute with Yoo Sung too, right?

 

Contrary to my worries, their conversation didn’t continue, and fortunately, there was no yobisute between Yoo Sung and Okada.

 

Wait, fortunately?

 

Why did I think fortunately?

 

Is there a reason they shouldn’t do yobisute?

 

Shaking my head, I decided to focus on the immediate situation.

 

“Even with Okada… there’s still only three of us.”

 

Yoo Sung said, looking at me and Okada in turn.

 

Now our guild, including Okada, consisted of three people. 

 

In order to fill the five-person slot, we had to pick two more. 

 

“Oh my, there isn’t a single guild that has filled five people yet! It can’t be helped. We will give you one more Special Mercenary Recruitment Ticket! Please choose a mercenary again starting from the highest ranking!”

 

“That’s convenient.”

 

Yoo Sung said with a smirk.

 

‘Is it really convenient?’

 

I looked around.

 

Trainees in guilds were arguing, saying they should pick that guy, why did they pick this guy, they absolutely shouldn’t pick that guy.

 

I looked at the highest-ranking Guild Master, the 2nd place trainee, and fell into thought.

 

‘Han Theo was taken by the 2nd place, and the remaining trainees are…’

 

When I didn’t say anything for a long while, an anxious Yoo Sung nudged my shoulder and spoke. 

 

“Hey, it’s our turn soon. You have a trainee in mind, right?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Pretending to ponder was a performance.

 

Even putting aside Okada since we’re close, if I unhesitatingly chose the second trainee right away, they would definitely think it’s weird.

 

“Kim Chowol Guild, please choose your second mercenary!”

 

“I will recruit Trainee Seo Yijae.”

 

“The Kim Chowol Guild has recruited Trainee Seo Yijae! Congratulations!”

 

“Seo Yijae…? Who is that guy.”

 

I covered Yoo Sung’s mouth as he muttered with a furrowed brow.

 

“Not ‘that guy,’ but ‘Hyung,’ Hyung.” 

 

“Mmph, mmph-mmph!”

 

“It would be good for you to have some interest in other trainees.” 

 

I shook my head at Yoo Sung, who was flailing his arms.

 

Shaking off my hand, Yoo Sung managed his expression.

 

Seo Yijae approached us with an unreadable expression.

 

Seo Yijae, twenty-three this year.

 

His lowest stat is C+, and his highest stat is B+; a decent trainee with nothing he’s bad at and nothing he’s great at.

 

His rank is quite high at 18th, but he’s expressionless and quiet, so most trainees find Seo Yijae difficult to approach.

 

“I’m Seo Yijae.”

 

“I’m Kim Chowol. I can call you hyung, right?”

 

I smiled brightly and held out my hand toward Seo Yijae.

 

“As you please…”

 

Seo Yijae, who took my hand and shook it lightly, trailed off and didn’t open his mouth again.

 

Knowing roughly what kind of person Seo Yijae is, I pointed at Yoo Sung and Okada in turn and said.

 

“This guy and this guy are also younger than you, Hyung.” 

 

“…”

 

“You can speak comfortably to them.”

 

Seo Yijae, who was staring at me blankly, greeted Yoo Sung and Okada in a mutter.

 

“…Okay.”

 

Yoo Sung, whose expression had been steadily rotting since I picked Seo Yijae, suddenly grabbed my arm and dragged me to the corner of the set.

 

“Hey, Kim Chowol. Let’s talk for a second.”

 

Arriving at the corner of the set, I looked around.

 

It was a camera blind spot, but if we dragged it out, a camera would definitely follow.

 

“If you have something to say, finish it in 1 minute.”

 

“Hey, you… Hah, forget it.”

 

Yoo Sung let out a deep sigh with an expression full of things to say.

 

“Seo Yijae… why on earth did you pick that hyung?”

 

Yoo Sung asked me, being careful not to let the microphone pick up his voice.

 

I tilted my head as if asking what the problem was and said.

 

“Why?”

 

“No, I mean, anyone can see… he’s not a cooperative person.” 

 

“Hearing those words from you, of all people, is kind of funny.” 

 

“Hey!”

 

Furrowing his brow, Yoo Sung glared at me threateningly.

 

Checking that a camera hadn’t followed yet, I snorted and thought.

 

What are you going to do by glaring?

 

“Oh, seriously…. Forget it. Why did you really choose him?” 

 

“You don’t know? I told you earlier.”

 

“What? When did you?”

 

I threw my arm over Yoo Sung’s shoulder.

 

Because I saw a camera filming us.

 

“A guy with decent skills who listens well.”

 

“What?”

 

“I picked him because he’s a trainee with decent skills who listens well.”

 

“That guy… I mean, that Hyung does?”

 

Yoo Sung looked at Seo Yijae with a suspicious gaze.

 

I shrugged and said lightly.

 

“He’ll probably listen better than you, at least?”

 

“You really…”

 

“Anyway, you don’t need to worry too much.”

 

His skills are decent, and he will listen well.

 

Because Seo Yijae is…

 

“That Hyung is experienced.”

 

Because he’s from a flopped idol group.

 

*    *    *

 

Experienced.

 

In vulgar terms, a failed idol. 

 

A failed idol for short.

 

The dream of being an idol was truly cruel.

 

If you succeed, you can rise higher than any other dream, but if you fail, it’s a bottomless dream.

 

Trainees admired and dreamed of being idols that shone like stars in the sky… and in the end, they failed. 

 

The trainees who crossed the threshold of debut were 5%, no, not even 1% of the total. 

 

You must have both skills and luck to debut.

 

Though the members of Winter Boys were currently called failed idols, they too must have been bursting with dreams and hope up until the moment the debut group was finalized. 

 

However, those dreams and hopes, swollen to their limit, began to lose air even before their debut. 

 

‘This is the group name I got for you guys by going around naming centers!’

 

‘Wow! What is it, CEO?’

 

‘You’ll be surprised when you hear it, kekeke… It’s, ‘Winter Boys’!’

 

Winter Boys?

 

Did you really get it from a naming center?

 

Did our CEO get scammed? 

 

The members kept their thoughts to themselves and managed their facial expressions. 

 

What does a name matter?

 

There are many idols who succeeded even with tacky names!

 

What’s important is the concept and the song!

 

But at the CEO’s ensuing words, the members couldn’t hide their fluster.

 

‘You know what our group’s concept is, right?’

 

‘Pardon?’

 

‘Our group’s concept is none other than Winter Men!’

 

Winter Men?

 

Though they didn’t know what kind of concept it was, first of all…. 

 

‘It’s tacky.’

 

One member blurted out the words everyone was thinking but couldn’t say.

 

Fortunately, the CEO didn’t hear.

 

‘So we plan to debut in the winter! Because we are Winter Men!’

 

‘A unique concept, sounds good! If we make a comeback in the summer, do we become Summer Boys?’

 

One member threw a joke to lighten the mood.

 

‘Huh? Of course not.’

 

But the CEO tilted his head and asked what he was talking about.

 

‘You have to promote only in the winter! How can Winter Boys promote in the summer?’

 

It was easy to guess the feelings of the members who sat quietly and listened to the CEO’s story, unable to say they hated it for fear of not debuting.

 

‘Ah, we’re screwed.’

 

Because of the damn concept the CEO set, Winter Boys made a comeback exactly three times, including their debut, over 7 years.

 

The songs and choreography weren’t bad, but there was no way they could succeed making a comeback only three times.

 

‘This is the story the eldest hyung of Winter Boys always tells like a repertoire whenever he appears on variety shows.’

 

Except for the eldest hyung, who was the leader, and the maknae, Seo Yijae, everyone in Winter Boys quit the entertainment industry.

 

The eldest hyung realized from his 3rd year that the team had no future and expanded his scope of activities as an actor.

 

Thanks to his talent and a bit of luck, the eldest hyung achieved ambiguous success as an actor, and thanks to that, he consistently showed his face in the media.

 

Because he talked about the past whenever he went on variety shows, the eldest hyung’s ‘story of debuting with a nonsensical concept and becoming a flopped idol’ was quite famous.

 

Thanks to that, Seo Yijae, who was promoting as a solo singer after Winter Boys disbanded, also became a little famous but…

 

‘They only mocked him, saying they knew why he became a failed idol, without even listening to his songs.’ 

 

Even if an opportunity comes, you can’t succeed if you don’t have luck.

 

Seo Yijae was terribly unlucky.

 

Debuted at 16 and promoted for 7 years, but disbanded just like that when the agency closed its entertainment business.

 

Unable to give up his dream of being a singer, he worked hard, releasing digital singles for a year, but didn’t achieve good results.

 

Appearing on EX-Class K-POP Idol to achieve his idol dream once again.

 

‘He must have worked truly desperately for those seven years, and for that one year after disbandment.’ 

 

Though people mocked Seo Yijae, I like desperate people. 

 

And Jang Hyuksoo also likes desperate people as much as me, no, more than me.

 

My choice was not wrong.

 

“Good! It seems most guilds have filled five people!”

 

The MC said after looking through the guilds.

 

Because 3-member guilds were the most common, almost all guilds recruited two special mercenaries to fill five people.

 

“Guilds that haven’t filled five people yet and trainees who weren’t chosen by any guild don’t need to worry!”

 

As the MC finished speaking, the screen above the podium changed.

 

The names of the guilds that hadn’t filled five people and the trainees who didn’t have a guild yet appeared in a list.

 

“We will decide the guilds of the remaining people in a very fair way!”

 

The fair way the MC spoke of is random, a draw, roulette… well, something like that.

 

‘I can’t tell what will happen from here on out either.’

 

The fifth team member I can’t choose.

 

It was the only variable in the second Main Quest, the Guild Battle.

 

“Alright, then we will decide right away!”

 

The guilds that hadn’t filled five people yet and the trainees without guilds looked at the screen with tense expressions.

 

—Whirrr.

 

The familiar sound effect was heard from the speakers.

 

The names on the screen appeared and disappeared repeatedly, then appeared again as the sound effect ended.

 

“The trainee in our team is… Joo Gilhyung?”

 

Checking the name, I was a little surprised.

 

‘What kind of coincidence is this?’

 

When I said nothing, Okada whispered quietly into my ear.

 

“誰ですか？知ってる人ですか？ (Who is it? Is it someone you know?)”

 

“No.”

 

Of course I know.

 

I’ve regressed how many times, of course I know.

 

But there is someone next to me who knows about Joo Gilhyung better than I do.

 

I glanced at Yoo Sung, who was blankly staring at the screen beside me.

 

“Joo Gilhyung…”

 

Joo Gilhyung, he was an LMH trainee like Yoo Sung.

 

That trainee who collided with Yoo Sung on the stat evaluation stage and tumbled on the stage.