Chapter 21.2
Tae Rim shared Ye Jinâs belief that Reverb absolutely couldnât debut as a nine-member group. R&M currently had twenty-two trainees between Class A and B combined, but realistically, selecting nine decent trainees from that group was simply impossible.
If their skills were good, their mental strength was weak; if their mental health was fine, their dancing was utterly terrible. Finding a trainee who was well-rounded was extremely rare. Even Tae Rim himself had decent singing and dancing skills but lacked that particular charisma that drove fans wild.
Nevertheless, Tae Rim wanted members who, despite having flaws, at least had their heads screwed on straight. It was a simple enough condition, yet aside from Go Ha Ram and Choi Hyun Hee, he couldn’t even guess who else might qualify. Thus, the fewer members they debuted with, the better. Fewer members meant lower chances of recruiting potential troublemakers.
Even seven were too many. It had to be five members at most. With this decision, Tae Rim successfully pulled Hwang Eui Jae,formerly of Heaven Souls, into R&M. Fans who supported him in his past life would naturally sabotage voting on the number of debut members.
âHave you heard about the trainee trading system?â
âTrading system?â
âLooks like they didn’t explain it to you, In Woo.â
To achieve this, Tae Rim deliberately dropped bits of information, acting as though he was sharing some great secret with the unsuspecting Myeong In Woo.
The trainee trading system was officially a secret to R&M trainees. The only reason Sun Ye Jin and Cheon Tae Rim knew about it was because they’d already spent twelve years at R&M before regressing.
But Tae Rim twisted things around, pretending as if R&M deliberately withheld the information only from In Woo. And when In Woo inevitably asked him what the system was, Tae Rim feigned reluctance:
âForget it if you didn’t already know. Donât bother thinking about it. I can’t just tell you something the staff haven’t shared.â
Predictably, In Woo took the bait, nagging at Tae Rim relentlessly. He repeatedly complained that Tae Rim was being unfair by sparking his curiosity and refusing to explain.
After playing push and pull for a while, Tae Rim finally pretended to give in just before In Woo declared he wouldn’t ask anymore. He whispered as if reluctant: You can’t tell anyone I told you this, okay? Keep this strictly to yourselfâŠ.
This was how Myeong In Woo learned about the partnership between R&M and Ciel Entertainment, and the existence of the trainee trading system. Given that his girlfriend was at Ciel, this system became highly attractive to In Woo.
If he stayed at R&M, he’d have to endure the debut survival show, but if he transferred to Ciel, couldn’t he debut immediately?
Tae Rim enthusiastically played along, pushing In Wooâs misunderstanding. He casually mentioned things like how Ciel would debut groups without survival shows, that a boy group debut from a company famous for girl groups would attract massive attention, and how surely someone like In Woo could debut straight away at Ciel.
Myeong In Woo eagerly swallowed every emotionless lie Tae Rim fed him. After all, eighteen-year-old idol trainees were naĂŻve and unaware of how the world really worked. Meanwhile, Tae Rim was weathered, having experienced every dirty trick imaginable during his twelve years with Reverb. Manipulating the clueless Myeong In Woo was childâs play.
On top of that, though unintended, In Wooâs recent insults toward Sun Ye Jin had even caused a minor confrontation in the practice room. Now that In Woo had fought with Tae Rim, whom he’d considered relatively trustworthy, he was likely to apply for trading out of sheer spite.
Just as expected, In Woo applied for a trainee transfer the very next day after their argument. Despite R&M staff desperately trying to convince him otherwise, his transfer couldn’t be stopped.
Thanks to Tae Rim reaching out early through other staff, it was already too late for R&M to retain him without losing face.
Connecting In Woo to a former R&M employee who’d moved to Ciel was an inspired choice. Once a trainee directly requested a trade and Ciel was aware of it, R&M had only one option left:
Finding a Ciel trainee of comparable value to Myeong In Woo to trade.
Tae Rim casually hinted to Assistant Manager Min Ji An, who was departing for Ciel headquarters, with feigned indifference. Isn’t there a former Heaven Souls member there? What was his name again⊠Hwang Eui Jae?
Assistant Manager Min Ji An immediately jumped at the bait Tae Rim tossed. Ah, right! Hwang Eui Jae! If we’re giving them In Woo, we have to get Eui Jae in return! That’s the only way this trade makes sense!
Thus, Cheon Tae Rimâs plan to recruit Hwang Eui Jae proceeded smoothly, falling neatly into place.
Though Tae Rim remained utterly clueless about how to handle Sun Ye Jin, that didnât mean he was stupid.
Rather, he was someone whoâd exploit anything to reach his goals. For the people he cared about, heâd gladly tear out someone else’s pancreas or heart, not just offer up his own liver and gallbladder.
Two ruthless regressors, neither of them righteous, had finally come to share the same conclusion in the same space.
The final debut lineup for Pick Your Romeo absolutely must not be nine peopleâŠ.
To repeat, this world was filled with trainees who absolutely should never debut.
caffeinecat
So Taerim is actually really sharp, he’s just a fool for Yejin