Chapter 7.2
Even before, I had made my decision to join R&M quickly. I didnāt accept on the spot, but while others spent months agonizing over it, I wrapped up my thoughts in two days. I think I came to a similar conclusion back then tooāthere wasnāt a job that would make me as much money as being an idol.Ā Ā
Isnāt the high average salary in your twenties mostly thanks to idols?Ā I was, then and now, a money-crazed bastard.Ā Ā
If my family had just had enough money, I wouldnāt have ended up on the 9 oāclock news.Ā Ā
That thought followed me my entire life. If I wanted to wear good clothes and sleep somewhere safe, getting a high-paying job was crucial. Of course, what really tempted me back then was the fact that R&M provided housing for trainees upon joining.Ā Ā
Sharing a dorm with strangers wasnāt all that bad. Half of the trainees staying there were foreigners anyway, and the other half packed up and left before long.Ā Ā
I think Cheon Tae Rim also stayed in the trainee dorms. I donāt remember exactly since we were in different rooms, but we ran into each other a few times in the communal showers.Ā Ā
When I first joined, Cheon Tae Rim was already in his second year as a trainee. Wasnāt he accepted after just one audition? With a face like that, it made sense. Even if he looked like a delinquent, his features were exactly the kind R&M went crazy for.Ā Ā
But being a second-year trainee put him in an ambiguous spotānot exactly a veteran, but not a rookie either.Ā Ā
Before my debut, the only person I really opened up to was Cheon Tae Rim, so as I thought back, a few memories of him resurfaced.Ā
Despite his tall height, handsome face, and well-built body, strangely enough, he never had any devoted āstans.ā Rather, heād been misunderstood for pushing a fan when heād just reached out to help up a fallen member, and ended up wearing the label āanti-fanā for the entire twelve years.
Nobody else worked as hard as he didā¦ Thinking back, Cheon Tae Rim really was unfortunate. Although we drifted apart completely from his third year after debut, the Tae Rim I knew was truly born to be an idol.
Iād never seen him have a mental breakdown. Or maybe he just never let it show. Perhaps thatās why, even when Reverb was down to two members including himself, he stubbornly remained until the end.
Only now did I start feeling guilty about how heād gotten injured by a knife-wielding sasaeng when he came to see me. I hadnāt easily remembered Tae Rim until now, mostly because Iād been too busy processing the disbelief of being nineteen again.
But still, I was glad time had turned back. I didnāt know how or why this happened, but because of returning to the past, Tae Rimās stabbing incident would now never occur. If heād died because of me, I wouldnāt have remained sane, even if I survived.
āHey guys, come over here for a sec! We have a new friend joining us!ā
My scattered thoughts abruptly ended as we arrived at R&Mās practice room on the third floor.
āThis is Sun Ye Jin, whoāll start training with us at R&M within this week. Ye Jin, say hi to everyone.ā
āHello, I look forward to working with you all.ā
āIf he officially becomes part of our R&M family, heāll move into the trainee dorm, so donāt act territorial, and get along nicely, alright?ā
With those last words, the casting manager who had stuck close to me until now disappeared, leaving me with instructions to mingle with the trainees until Grandma arrived to give guardian consent. She handed me off to Kim Sung Hoon, the senior trainee in charge.
I quickly scanned the trainees clustered around the practice room. A few of them debuted with Reverb, and others joined the junior group, Third Day. But since I couldnāt remember most of them, aside from a handful who eventually debuted, it seemed like the majority either quit midway or got eliminated in the companyās survival auditions.
āYou said your nameās Ye Jin, right? Iām Kim Sung Hoon.ā
āYes, Iām Sun Ye Jin.ā
āI manage the practice room, so if you need anything, just tell me. Letās get along from now on.ā
The Kim Sung Hoon standing in front of me right now was no different. He would fail the companyās survival audition, too. He was simply too old to debut as an idol. At twenty-three, heād still be a rookie in the outside world, but in the idol scene, he was already past prime age.
Pretending to be polite, I bowed slightly and fixed my gaze on the person standing behind Sung Hoon.
Cheon Tae Rim stood quietly behind him, staring straight at me. He couldnāt hide the complicated expression that was difficult to describe.
