The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut – Chapter 23

Author: rolypoly

LMH was a company that poured in massive amounts of capital to create the top-tier idols.

Yoo Sung had been a trainee at LMH.

He wasn’t just any trainee; he was the ace who ranked first in monthly evaluations as easily as breathing.

Everyone believed Yoo Sung would debut, and even Yoo Sung himself was certain he would debut under LMH.

That was, until three months before the debut lineup was finalized, when a certain trainee joined the company.

“This is the trainee who will be practicing with us starting today.”

The LMH management director introduced the new trainee.

With less than a year left until the debut, a new trainee?

The LMH trainees, including Yoo Sung, furrowed their brows.

“My name is Lee Hyunho. I’m twenty years old, and LMH is the first idol agency I’ve joined.”

The man who introduced himself as Lee Hyunho smiled brightly and greeted them despite the pouring hostility.

The trainees were anxious, thinking they might lose their chance to debut because of Lee Hyunho.

However, Yoo Sung simply practiced in silence.

He believed that no one could take his place.

“Hi. Your name was… Yoo Sung, right?”

Lee Hyunho, who hadn’t managed to fit in anywhere, approached Yoo Sung.

It seemed that even in Lee Hyunho’s eyes, Yoo Sung was the most likely candidate for debut.

“Yeah, why?”

“Just because you’re always alone. Wouldn’t it be nice for us to get close?”

At the time, Yoo Sung was drifting apart from the other trainees due to his unrivaled skill and aloof personality.

“Not particularly.”

“Are you going for some kind of lone-wolf concept or something?”

“What?”

“It’s not like you’re debuting solo. We might even debut together, so let’s get close.”

Lee Hyunho spoke as he extended his hand to Yoo Sung.

Yoo Sung thought about it for a moment and then took Lee Hyunho’s hand.

Yoo Sung wasn’t debuting as a solo artist.

There was no need to deliberately raise his thorns against someone approaching him.

“Well, whatever.”

“I’m looking forward to working with you.”

Lee Hyunho smiled brightly despite Yoo Sung’s blunt tone.

Lee Hyunho followed Yoo Sung around, practicing with him and sharing small moments of daily life, like eating meals together.

Yoo Sung’s tightly closed heart began to open bit by bit.

He thought that if he had to choose a member to debut with, Lee Hyunho would be a good choice.

However, Yoo Sung’s expectations and trust were shattered into pieces on the day the debut lineup was confirmed.

“The members of the new rookie boy group LMH will launch in the second half of this year are….”

The trainees’ names were called one by one.

One, two, three… Yoo Sung’s name was not called.

“…And finally, Lee Hyunho. That makes a total of six members.”

“Whoo!”

“We’re debuting! We’re debuting!”

The trainees who had achieved their dreams cheered, while those whose names hadn’t been called until the end hung their heads low.

Yoo Sung stared blankly into space.

I, I….

‘I failed to make the debut group?’

His vision blurred, and his hearing faded.

His head throbbed with a dull pain, and as he pressed his hand to his forehead, someone placed a hand on Yoo Sung’s shoulder.

“Sung, are you okay?”

“…Lee Hyunho.”

Lee Hyunho was looking at Yoo Sung with a pitying expression.

But Yoo Sung read the true feelings hidden beneath Lee Hyunho’s perfect mask.

“You… why are you smiling?”

“Huh?”

“You just smiled.”

“Oh… did I? You must have seen wrong.”

The identity of the dissonance Yoo Sung had felt since Lee Hyunho joined began to reveal itself.

Lee Hyunho’s skills were just mediocre.

He wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t good enough to overwhelm other trainees either.

His visuals were roughly average, too.

His personality was decent, but he was the type to hit a wall if you approached him first to get close.

Not only had a trainee whose everything was ambiguous joined LMH without prior experience, but he had also made the debut group in just three months.

Could this be, perhaps… by any chance….

“Are you a parachute?”

At Yoo Sung’s words, Lee Hyunho clamped his mouth shut.

The name of LMH’s CEO was Lee Myungho.

Lee Myungho and Lee Hyunho; even if he didn’t want to suspect it, it was a situation where he had no choice.

“I guess you’re not completely clueless.”

Lee Hyunho said with a chuckle.

Yoo Sung’s head went completely blank with rage.

“He’s my uncle, CEO Lee Myungho.”

Lee Hyunho shrugged.

His attitude suggested he didn’t care if it was revealed.

“I heard you were originally the center?”

“What?”

“That’s what my uncle and the director said. They said you were originally the center of the group to be launched.”

He hadn’t heard anything like that.

But looking at the trainees’ skills and faces, it was a matter of course.

There was no trainee who had the dance, vocals, and visuals all together as much as Yoo Sung.

“So I said I’d do it.”

But with a single sentence, Lee Hyunho trampled over Yoo Sung’s efforts and dreams.

“I said I’d be the center. And as for you, Sung… I told them to do whatever they wanted, whether they cut you or not.”

Lee Hyun-ho spoke with the same bright smile he had when he first approached Yoo Sung on his first day.

“It can’t be helped, Sung.”

Yoo Sung’s fists trembled.

He wanted to punch him, but he couldn’t.

If he caused a violent incident against the nephew of the LMH CEO… he would never be able to set foot in this industry again.

“What could you possibly do? You’re just a trainee, after all.”

He really didn’t want to admit it, but Lee Hyunho was right.

There was nothing Yoo Sung could do.

Yoo Sung (兪星).

It was a name his mother and father gave him with the meaning of becoming a star that shines everywhere.

Was it thanks to that sparkling name?

Yoo Sung’s dream was to become an idol who shone brighter than anyone else, and he had done his absolute best to achieve that dream.

But with one person’s word, Yoo Sung’s efforts became meaningless, and his dream that had shone like a star fell to the ground and lost its light.

‘I just… trusted you.’

Yoo Sung’s eyes snapped open.

Someone placed a hand on Yoo Sung’s shoulder.

“Sung-ah, are you okay?”

It was Kim Chowol, whom he had treated bluntly for no reason because he was reminded of Lee Hyunho when they first met.

That tone of his was still annoying, but… now Yoo Sung knew.

That Kim Chowol and Lee Hyunho were different people.

“It’s our turn now. Let’s go up.”

“…Yeah.”

Yoo Sung looked at Kim Chowol and thought.

That if he were with Kim Chowol… he might actually be able to debut.

The dream that had fallen to the ground began to shine once again.

* * *

The stage began, and Yoo Sung could be seen standing tall in the center of the stage.

Yoo Sung, standing alone in the darkness, looked like a lonely star floating in the night sky.

“A single star, that rose in the night sky.”

Yoo Sung slowly raised his head and reached one hand upward.

Above him, instead of a star in the sky, there was a shining spotlight, but perhaps because of Yoo Sung’s expression and atmosphere, it looked like a real star.

“Shining bright, just like my heart reaching out to you.”

“light, light, star light.”

As the other trainees on stage slowly stood up, they became small stars keeping watch beside the lonely star.

Seo Yijae, who had been standing in the back, came forward, and the rest of the trainees retreated in a V-formation.

The trainees’ movements were as smooth as flowing water yet disciplined.

“That moment I dreamed of every night, now approaches before me.”

“This heart that’s pounding, I can no longer hide it.”

Seo Yijae and Okada took turns coming forward and singing a line each.

Though not conspicuous, both their dance and vocals were stable.

They were small stars shining alongside the brilliant first-magnitude star, beautifully embroidering the night sky.

“One step, two steps toward you, the closer I get, the more I tremble.”

The pre-chorus, which was originally Yoo Sung’s part but had become Joo Gilhyung’s part.

However, Joo Gilhyung failed to even properly play the role of a small star.

“I’ll show you my everything.”

The pre-chorus is the part that builds tension for the chorus, and it was a part that was just as important—no, as important as the chorus itself.

It had been incredibly charming when Yoo Sung sang it, but when Joo Gilhyung sang it, it was boring enough to induce a yawn.

“light, light, star light.”

Yoo Sung’s deep and clear vocal tone resonated across the stage.

The clouds cleared, and the numerous stars that had been holding their breath revealed themselves.

“I will shine on you.”

The five trainees each took a point to form a star.

It wouldn’t be visible from below the stage, but the cameras installed above diligently captured the sparkling star the trainees were drawing.

“The starlight that burns, deep within my heart forever.”

But soon, the trainees’ formation changed.

The star shape vanished as if a supernova were exploding, and they returned to a V-formation, dancing to the melody of the chorus.

Starlight was a ballad-pop song, but the tempo was fast, so the choreography for the chorus was quite difficult.

Yoo Sung, Okada, and Kim Chowol took the lead, letting their energy explode.

Kim Junwoo’s fansite master, completely captivated by the performance, stared with her mouth hanging open.

“In…”

It was insane.

As someone who had liked second-generation idols for a long time, the woman had considerably high standards.

Even after seeing the stage of Han Theo, the center of the theme song, her evaluation had been, ‘He’s good, but something is missing,’ which said it all.

Han Theo was truly handsome, as expected of a center, and his skills were outstanding.

The stage was also worth watching, perhaps because there were many high-ranking trainees.

But something was missing.

If she had to put into words what that missing something was….

‘There’s no emotion, no emotion.’

Although they had let Han Theo be the center because he was the best, the other trainees seemed unable to let go of their greed for the center position.

The moment second-magnitude stars—who ought to help the first-magnitude star shine brighter—stepped up, demanding to shine brighter than the first-magnitude star, the stage became a battleground of showing off who was better.

However, the second one… that is, the stage of Kim Chowol’s guild, where Yoo Sung was the center, was different.

The small stars were working hard to help the brightest first-magnitude star shine even more.

‘Ph-photo! I have to take photos.’

The woman, who belatedly remembered that she had to take photos while being immersed in the stage, raised her camera.

Naturally, she should be taking photos of Yoo Sung, who was the most handsome and skilled, but strangely, the camera lens kept pointing toward Kim Chowol.

“There may be times when it’s difficult, but I’ll be okay if I’m with you.”

“Like this starlight, we will shine forever, too.”

“light, light, star light.”

Yoo Sung and Seo Yijae sang as if they were conversing.

The audience members, who had completely lost their hearts to Yoo Sung, muttered quietly.

“It feels like he’s glowing….”

Hearing the mutterings, the woman realized her mistake.

She was supposed to be taking photos, but she had missed the timing because she was looking at Kim Chowol.

‘Since it’s come to this, I’ll just take photos of Kim Chowol.’

Click, click!

The woman took photos of Kim Chowol.

But even as she took the photos, her chest felt tight.