I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 

Someone once said, “If you’re frustrated, then you guys should go out there and do it yourselves.”

Yeah. Now I really wanted to shout.

I’ll do it. I’ll do it myself.

So…

“Stop giving them shitty songs like this!”

[IMPACTOR “Boom-Shot!” M/V]

Today was the day the sixth single from the five-member boy group IMPACTOR was being released.

The reason they were bothering to release an album with only two songs was obvious. It was a declaration of war that they were going to run themselves ragged with fansigns again.

The music video, which was supposed to go up the moment the clock struck six, was uploaded a whopping 27 minutes late.

“……Wow.”

Was I really the only person waiting for it? The comment section was eerily quiet.

There wasn’t even a single person getting angry. Still, at least until the previous album, I had been grateful just to see them make a comeback.

 

♪ My heart goes boom boom boom

♪ Thumping toward you, shot shot shot

♪ I throw my heart at you

 

At this point, I was practically moved to tears because I felt so sorry for the members who had to sing this shitty excuse for lyrics.

If this is how you were going to do things, you should’ve at least read my emails, you damn agency. I practically begged you to let me give you a song, and you ignored every single one just to make them come back with this garbage?

 

[‘IMPACTOR’ Collaboration Proposal_Composer SW (Demo Attached)]

[‘IMPACTOR’ Title Track Proposal_Composer SW (Demo Attached)]

 

My emails had started out perfectly normally.

 

[‘IMPACTOR’ Free Music Giveaway_Composer SW (Demo Attached)]

 

But within a few months, I had changed the subject line all the way to “free giveaway.”

 

[♨Which Zodiac Sign Will Have the Best Luck This Week?♨]

[※Starting Salary Over 40 Million Won? If You Dream of Changing Jobs ☆CL☆ICK☆]

 

Eventually, they were equipped with more clickbait than actual spam emails.

“…Are they fucking insane?”

What was even more ridiculous was that they had opened the last two. Of course, it seemed they hadn’t even bothered to open the attached demo files.

“If they had, they wouldn’t have released a song like this.”

I pushed my chair back and leaned against it.

 

[‘Sorijun’ Title Track Request_SJ Entertainment]

[‘Genie’ Title Track Commission_K Entertainment]

.

.

.

 

[Request for Debut Album Production for New Idol Group_Starit Entertainment A&R]

 

On the other hand, my inbox was overflowing with requests from entertainment agencies. I had become so successful as a composer, SW, that I could practically pick and choose which jobs I wanted to take.

They say that what you like and what you’re talented at rarely coincide, but I was lucky. I was good at the things I enjoyed doing.

Not only had I reached number one on the music charts, but I had also worked on OSTs for movies and games I loved, and even had songs make comebacks on the charts long after their release. The results were always good, too.

But there was one thing even I had failed to accomplish… Giving a song to IMPACTOR.

IMPACTOR. A five-member boy group that debuted three years ago. Their name came from adding “-or” to “Impact,” reflecting their ambition to become a group that would have a powerful impact on the music industry.

They had debuted through their agency’s own survival show, and apparently had considerable buzz in the beginning. Good-looking faces, the boldness of rookies, and even the narrative they had built through the survival show. IMPACTOR had made a decent debut in the entertainment industry.

Their downfall, however, happened in an instant.

 

♪ A position as a rapper because you’re tone-deaf

♪ A two-line part that ends after mumbling through it

 

Go Jae-seong, the member in charge of producing their music, had a mixtape unearthed in which he dissed a famous male idol. As a result, IMPACTOR was subjected to indiscriminate attacks from that idol’s fandom.

The bigger problem was that this crazy bastard hadn’t only dissed one group.

That’s right.

Go Jae-seong was an equal-opportunity punching bag.

When targeting another famous female idol, he even wrote lyrics full of arrogance, as though he could pick any member he wanted and date her. In reality, he hadn’t even met any of them.

On top of that, he made ignorant remarks that were practically indistinguishable from racism, causing even international K-pop fans to turn against him.

They say one loach can muddy an entire pond.

One Go Jae-seong had ruined IMPACTOR.

If they had been complete nobodies, they might at least have been forgotten. But thanks to the survival show, they had gained just enough buzz to be awkwardly famous. Meanwhile, their fandom hadn’t even had the chance to properly establish itself, so IMPACTOR’s fans scattered in every direction.

Then a plagiarism controversy involving their debut song surfaced belatedly, and they instantly began walking the path of a failed idol group. Of course, there were still fans who remained, but even those fans were completely driven away by the agency’s ridiculous behavior of protecting the problem member.

As though deliberately picking a fight with the fans, the agency made Go Jae-seong the center for their next album.

That was when IMPACTOR truly went down the drain.

 

<Go Jae-seong Retirement Bot @OUT_GO 2 minutes ago?>

Did Go Jae-seong leave the group?

No.

[Shares 30 · Quotes 20 · Likes 3]

 

<Get Your Shit Together @seeballoma 1 minute ago>

We’re not even down to a handful anymore; we’re down to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction, and these crazy bastards are doing the “dusting-off-the-floor” dance again. Fucking hell.

[Shares 25 · Quotes 30 · Likes 10]

 

<IMPACTOR Is Finished @mangpacter 3 minutes ago>

IMPACTOR is finished. I really thought they’d make it big once, but they went down the drain in an instant.

[Shares 30 · Quotes 0 · Likes 27]

 

And I was a male fan who had belatedly stepped into the ruins everyone else had already abandoned.

 

***

 

Did this damn agency not know how to make money except through fansigns?

They only promoted for two weeks, yet they were still holding fansigns for an album that had come out two months ago.

Would you believe me if I told you today was already their twentieth fansign?

Sounds like a lie, right?

What was even more unbelievable was that I had attended all twenty of them.

“You’re here again?”

“I saw you yesterday too, didn’t I?”

Only the most devoted fans remained now.

They had become so stagnant they were practically rotting.

I casually set up my camera. The moment I pointed the lens at my bias, Kang I-yul, he smiled brightly and waved at me.

‘A failed idol group with a face like that.’

That guy really had a miserable life.

Despite coming here so often, there was one thought I had every single time.

‘There’s no way a group like this should be failing.’

“Seongwoo hyung, you came again today?”

“I feel like I see you every day, hyung.”

“Thank you for supporting us so much during this promotion!”

“Wow, I’m really touched.”

All four members had great looks, personalities, and skills…

“Hello.”

“…….”

Except for this incompetent one who merely gave me a little nod instead of saying anything.

“…….”

“…….”

The second thought I had every time I came was this:

Why did fansigns make you spend the same amount of time with every member?

‘I seriously have nothing to talk about with this bastard.’

Apparently, Go Jae-seong, sitting across from me, felt the same way.

‘Why would a man spend money to come see another man?’

I could practically hear this bastard’s inner thoughts just by looking at his eyes.

“Seonghun? Seongho? Seongwoon?”

As someone infamous for being obsessed with women, he had seen me dozens of times at the very least, yet still hadn’t memorized my name.

At this point, I seriously wondered whether it was a matter of sincerity or simply a matter of intelligence.

“……Seongwoo.”

The security guard standing behind him quietly said my name.

It seemed he had blurted it out because even he couldn’t stand how ridiculous the situation was.

“Ah~ Sunwoo? Nice to meet you, Sunwoo hyung!”

The staff member even squeezed their eyes shut and turned their head away.

‘Whatever. Forget it.’

I really had nothing to say, but I managed to squeeze something out.

“I listened to the demo song you uploaded on SNS this time.”

“Oh, really?”

“…….”

“……Well, what did you think?”

What did I think?

It was fucking terrible, so I turned it off halfway through.

“Um, how about reducing the autotune a little?”

The bastard, who had been wearing an expression like he had something unpleasant in his mouth the entire time, now snorted.

“Come on, you really don’t know anything. That’s what makes it appealing.”

It wasn’t appealing. You had just drowned your lack of singing ability in autotune.

I never knew you were such a futuristic person, you bastard.

The song was so full of robotic effects that I wouldn’t have been surprised if AI had made it.

“You really have no sense-”

He was subtly dropping honorifics now.

What an asshole.

“Well, what would Seonho know about composing?”

‘It’s Seongwoo, you goldfish-brained bastard.’

“You seem to listen to SW’s songs a lot these days.”

“Keugh–our SW hyung is a god.”

My insides twisted.

I wanted nothing more than to tell him I was SW and shut that blabbering mouth of his.

“It’d be great if SW-nim gave IMPACTOR a song.”

“Ah, SW-nim’s songs would be wasted on us.”

‘Only wasted on you.’

I barely managed to swallow the words.

“Someone like SW hyung should be making my solo song.”

‘……Should I kill him?’

Being this incapable of objectively evaluating himself was a sin in itself.

“Ah, ha, ha. That’s really true. See you next time.”

I hadn’t actually heard anyone tell me to move yet, but surely a minute must have passed by now, so I stood up.

But the staff member grabbed me.

“Your time isn’t over yet.”

……You’ve got to be kidding me.

The one minute hadn’t even passed?

It felt like I’d endured an entire hour.

Only after I reluctantly stared him down until I could hear, “We’ll have you move now,” was I finally able to leave.

“Oh, it’s Seongwoo hyung!”

Who said there was no paradise after escaping hell? Heaven was waiting for me.

This guy was my bias, Kang I-yul.

The first thing that caught my eye, even before his radiant smile, was his hair.

Repeated dye jobs had turned it into something resembling a dog’s fur, and the lighting only made it look more tragic.

Strangely enough, the agency seemed to have lost all sense of style and only ever experimented with I-yul’s hair.

‘I should put some hair essence in his birthday present, too.’

What on earth had he done to the CEO to receive a life sentence of cheap hair dye?

Was being handsome a crime?

It was the first fluorescent hair color I’d seen since Ppoppi, the Maltese my childhood friend used to raise.

“Hyung, you honestly trained to become an idol, didn’t you?”

“Huh? How old do you think I am–”

“Every time I see you, it’s amazing. You look like you should be standing on stage with us.”

To think he was kind, on top of having that face.

“Oh, right. There’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“How did you become our fan?”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

Well, it was understandable that he was curious. It was unusual for a male fan to come to every fansign like this. Even I never imagined that I would end up liking an idol, let alone a male idol.

I had never even been interested in female idols in my entire life.

“Hmm…… I’ll tell you next week.”

“What? Now I’m curious–”

I had already entered the raffle for next week’s fansign anyway.

The fansign happened to fall on I-yul’s birthday, so I would give him his birthday present and tell him then.

‘That it was thanks to you that I could write songs again.’

***

 

“Wow, the weather is fucking insane.”

Even standing still made sweat pour down my body.

This damn agency apparently didn’t even mind filling in empty schedules at the last minute, because they had suddenly booked a local event on the day before Kang I-yul’s birthday.

Bzzzt

“What is it?”

It was Moon Ho, my friend and work partner, producer Moon Geon-ho.

“Why?”

[Can you send over the work file today?]

“No? I’m outside right now.”

[Why? Wait, don’t tell me. You went to see our I-yul?]

“Yeah. I’m fucking busy, so get lost.”

Click.

After spending so much time running around to see IMPACTOR, I had given up on pretending I wasn’t a fan a long time ago.

“Fuck, it’s hot…”

The heat combined with exhaustion pushed my irritation to its limit.

If I ran into some asshole giving me shit about my seat today, I was going straight to the police station with him. One hundred percent.

A trot singer, a children’s choir, a dance team I had never even heard of…

After waiting for what felt like forever, the emcee finally shouted.

“A global boy group leading the Korean Wave! IMPACTOR!”

The only part of that statement that was actually true was “boy group.”

“Hello, we’re IMPACTOR!”

…Astonishingly, nobody reacted at all.

Unable to just stand there and watch them suffer through that silence, I swallowed my embarrassment and shouted at the top of my lungs.

“We have lyrics in one of our songs that go, ‘Boom boom boom, shot shot shot!’ Shall we do it together?”

Leader Han Sang-yoon refused to give up and tried to get the crowd involved.

“Boom boom boom, my heart is beating, shot shot shot toward you!”

I didn’t care about anything else.

I couldn’t stand seeing my boys lose confidence.

“Boom boom boom! Shot shot shot!”

I felt like a parent screaming their lungs out at a kindergarten talent show. Still, smiles spread across the members’ faces.

Kang I-yul gave a thumbs-up toward the camera.

As time passed, this would all become something we could laugh about.

‘Because things are going to get better from here.’

Even though it was just an event, they danced and sang as passionately as they did on music shows.

Though there was one loach-like bastard ruining all their formations.

“It’d be fine if only that guy weren’t there.”

It was only one stage.

I had spent a good seven hours just getting here and waiting for IMPACTOR, and it was over in a mere three minutes.

Still, I didn’t regret it.

Every single stage was precious.

“Thank you! This has been IMPACTOR!”

The members bowed so deeply it looked like their backs might break before leaving the stage.

I also packed up without lingering and returned to my car.

Now I had to drive four hours back to my studio, finish my song as soon as I got there, sleep for an hour or two, and then head to IMPACTOR’s fansign.

“Somehow, I feel busier than IMPACTOR.”

As I was leaving the event venue, I heard raindrops falling onto the roof of my car.

Tap, tap-tap.

“What? Is it raining?”

The rain suddenly came pouring down.

It was coming down so hard that the windshield wipers could barely keep up.

“Ah, shit. I just washed the car yesterday…”

Across the road, headlights were flashing frantically.

“A beginner driver–”

I slowly turned the steering wheel to give the car room to pass.

At that moment, the headlights flashed.

The glare was so intense it nearly blinded me.

It happened in an instant.

“……Huh?”

Beyond the headlights, I saw Kang I-yul’s face.

HOOONK!

It happened in an instant.

With an enormous crash, the airbag deployed.

My entire body twisted, and I couldn’t breathe.

I didn’t even know what had broken.

The thing that kept me clinging to my fading consciousness was the face I had seen last.

There was only one thought in my head.

Please, let that not be IMPACTOR’s car.

‘Please–’

Clutching my shoulder, which felt like it had been broken, I barely managed to crawl out of the car.

The scene was horrific.

The car had been crushed beyond recognition, and shards of broken glass were scattered across the ground.

“Ah, ah…”

Amid the wreckage, I saw a limp hand.

I could tell who it belonged to just by looking at the hand.

The realization was horrifying.

“No……”

My legs finally gave out beneath me.

The pouring rain felt unbearably heavy.

It wouldn’t have been strange if the rain had crushed me into the ground right then and there.

I hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell you why I became your fan.

As my consciousness faded, I had no choice but to admit it.

Today, I had killed my bias.