Chapter 24.1
It’s honestly fucking terrifying.
Just looking at Cheon Tae Rimās face sends chills down my spine. He’s undeniably handsome, but his appearance screams “school bully.” If he suddenly strode over and said, “Here’s 5,000 won, go buy some bread at the store and bring back 10,000,” it wouldn’t even feel weird.
Even though I know logically that heās not that kind of guy, the gangster vibes he gives off are just overwhelmingly effective visually. If I ran into him in a dark alley, I’d instantly drop to my knees without thinking.
Yet no one besides me seemed to care about Cheon Tae Rimās piercing stare. Even Go Ha Ram, who was somewhat aware of his gaze, would only smile brightly, saying nonsense like, “Wow, hyung, you and Tae Rim hyung really are close!”
Even funnier was how Tae Rim immediately turned his eyes away whenever I caught his gaze. Every time our eyes met, my heart racedānot because I liked him, but because I was terrified of what method heād use to get rid of me.
If he came at me openly, at least I could figure out how to respond. Unlike how directly he’d approached Myeong In Woo or Shin Ji Oh, Cheon Tae Rim seemed determined not to interact with me at all.
It was obvious he kept lingering around me, but whenever I tried to approach first, he’d practically flee in panic. I wasn’t sure if he was setting me up for a trap or if he disliked me so much that even talking to me was unbearable.
I knew it was natural for him to avoid me since heād literally died because of me, yet it still felt awful. Considering how tightly Choi Hyun Hee and Jang Hye Joon stuck by me these days, I couldnāt possibly be that repulsive anymore. Despite all my efforts to change, Tae Rim probably hadn’t even realized I’d changed at all.
Initially, Iād planned on revealing my regressor status to Tae Rim before Pick Your Romeo began, hoping we could work together. With all these unexpected changes happening around us, there was no guarantee Pick Your Romeo would play out exactly like it had in the past.
Right now, due to the addition of Hwang Eui Jae, Pick Your Romeo’s filming schedule had already been pushed back by three weeks. Shin Ji Oh, originally a participant, had also left, and even the pre-debut popularity polls were moving in a completely different direction compared to before.
[Hwang Eui Jae???]
[Is “HUJ” on Pick Your Romeo’s lineup the same person or someone else with the same name?]
ā [Apparently itās him for real, wtf]
ā [Why is Eui Jae suddenly here?!]
[Finished one survival show, debuted, group exploded because of vote-rigging, and now another survival. My boy might fail at everything else but he sure knows how to break his momās heart]
ā [Legendary unfilial child]
ā [Hey, shit, he’s probably having the hardest time here, stop writing these so-called supportive comments]
[Whyās he on R&Mās survival instead of Cielās? When did Eui Jae move companies? Ciel wouldnāt have let our Eui Jae go willingly]
ā [Maybe they figured heās already too image-consumed, so R&M cleverly picked him up from the discard pile lol]
[But seriously isnāt this way too unfair? Eui Jaeās not called the eternal second place for nothing, came second on a major survival and now theyāre throwing him into a small agency competition? It’ll be total slaughter lmao]
ā [Finally gonna take first place now after always ranking second lmaooo]
Before Pick Your Romeo started filming, the lineup of participating trainees was first announced online. Even though it was a small agency survival rather than a large-scale broadcast station production, interest was unexpectedly high.
Pick Your Romeo had always been popular for an in-house agency survival program. Trainees had visuals above average, and with foreign trainees like Tiki and Zhang Zi Yi participating, overseas viewership was high too.
But regular trainees and someone who had already debuted from a large-scale idol survival show (ranked second no less), whose group then fell apart due to vote manipulation scandals, weren’t on the same level of public attention.
Iād also watched Boys Heaven, the show where Hwang Eui Jae appeared. Not during its initial airing, but before Pick Your Romeo in my past life, I checked it out as reference material for survival shows.
Boys Heaven held online voting throughout its entire airing period and announced rankings every two episodes. Assigning rankings to human beings, calculating their debut chancesāit was precisely that harshness that made survival shows entertaining.
It was basically a modern, capitalistic twist on an ancient slave gladiator colosseum. And in that elegant, capitalistic gladiator arena, Hwang Eui Jae consistently maintained second place except once.
First place changed frequently, but second was always him. Although in the final episode, fansā carelessness allowed other fandomsā strategic voting to push him down to fifth, he still managed to debut comfortably in a high-ranking position.
After his group Heaven Souls imploded, Eui Jae debuted again with Daycrushābut when that group also disbanded, he calmly transitioned into a solo career. Unlike me, this guy actually succeeded as a solo artist.
Of course, Eui Jae’s success came after numerous struggles. Iāve said it before, and Iāll say it againāmale solo artists rarely make it big compared to their female counterparts.
The core of boy group business lies in “relationships,” so going solo rarely packs a strong punch. Unless an idol can pull off fanservice flawlessly, casual fans may come and go, but a deeply devoted fandom rarely forms.
Hwang Eui Jae, however, was exceptionally skilled at fanservice. If 80% of boy group success comes from RPS and 20% from romantic fanservice, Eui Jaeās talents shone brightest in the latter category.
