A Failed Idol’s Rise to Bottom

Sizzle–

Fresh Korean beef were being cooked to a mouth-watering grayish-brown color. Sugyeom bit the ends of his chopsticks as he waited for the meat to cook.

Soon, an employee put one of the carefully cooked meat in front of his plate. Pink juices seeped out when Sugyeom poked it with his chopsticks.

“Heuk, delicious.”

Sugyeom exclaimed, chewing the piece of meat. His expression was filled with bliss.

Visible by his appetite, the pace of his chopsticks also quickened. The few pieces of meat disappeared quickly. As he looked down at his empty plate in vain like a raccoon seeing cotton candy dissolved in water, a sizzling piece of meat magically appeared.

“Eat it.”

“Hyuuung…!”

Sugyeom tearfully called out to Taewon as he alternated between the piece of beef and his face. He was genuinely moved by his words.

Where else could he find such a good person in the world that would share Korean beef.

Overwhelmed with emotions, he picked up the piece of meat and ate it. Perhaps because he was so moved, but this piece of meat felt particularly delicious in his stomach.

“Help yourself.”

“Yes!”

Sugyeom nodded his head enthusiastically.

Just in time, when the employee was about to hand out the newly cooked meat, Taewon motioned to Sugyeom’s plate. Sugyeom was so touched by Taewon’s actions that his eyes became filled with emotions as he looked at him.

“Haha, Sugyeom is still doted on as ever.”

Seonuk laughed, seemingly to have found it funny.

Sugyeom was his favorite.

In the early days of U-PITE every member candidate had a well-built physique. As such, the original member in Sugyeom’s place was a rapper with a big physique.

While other executives wanted U-PITE to debut as was, Seonuk ultimately wanted to change the direction he wanted to take the group, which was to emphasize the vocals. As a result, the main vocalist was replaced with Sugyeom in the final selection.

If not Sugyeom, Yuchan who had a fair and relatively even contour or Hansol with the charming impression would have played the role of ‘bottom’ even though there would be a sense of disparity due to their physiques.

In fact, there were many objections when Seonuk first suggested adding Sugyeom to U-PITE.

Since U-PITE was named after the Roman mythology Jupiter, namely, after the supreme God, Zeus, U-PITE had pursued a masculin image at first.
(Note: U-PITE is written in English. It sounds similar to Jupiter, the representation of Zeus.)

Discussions had reached the final stages where Sugyeom would become the final member, but in the end it fell through.

Seonuk, agonizing over the matter until the very end, eventually added Sugyeom as the final member despite the dissuasion of others.

If it was originally planned, Igyeom would have been the main vocalist. However, because Sugyeom had come in as the main vocalist, Igyeom’s part was reduced to a lead vocalist.

There were many concerns that there might be disagreements due to Sugyeom having joined later.

However, thanks to Taewon who was close to Sugyeom since his days as a trainee, and Hansol who had a friendly personality, Sugyeom quickly melted in as a member of U-PITE.

“Listen while you eat. I called you here today because I have something to say. Oh, just to let you know, it’s good news, so you can relax.”

Seonuk began to speak in a straightforward manner. Except for Sugyeom who knew what he was going to say because of the memories of his previous life, the other members had stiffened until Seonuk elaborated that it was good news.

“We’ll talk more about it later anyway, but we’ll be shooting a reality show on cable. It’s cable, but it’s a good opportunity since the time slot is good and the ratings were good when other idols did it. Minseong will tell you the rest of the details, so you can hear it from him then.”

The members were seemingly surprised by Seonuk’s words. It was because they had no experience appearing on entertainment shows.

In Sugyeom’s previous life there wasn’t much of a reception to them participating in this reality show. It was U-PITE’s first main entertainment show, so it had spread among fans, while non-fans didn’t even know it existed.

And at that time Sugyeom was still sensitive to the couplings, so he had done his best not to involve himself with the other members. As a result, there wasn’t even what was commonly called ‘Tteokbap.’
(Note: Tteokbap means things to discuss.)

For those reasons, what had returned was a disappointing result. However, this time it could actually be a very good opportunity.

Although it was a cable broadcast, the fact that a rookie idol group was filming a solo reality broadcast could be a good start for their entertainment activities in the future.

Even if the ratings were low now, it was an opportunity in the long run to impress people who produced entertainment programs.

“And secondly, I’m sure you’ve expected it, but I think we’ll have to start thinking about establishing our fanclub. Before releasing our 2nd mini album, I hope to release a digital track soon. I thought that would be good timing to make a fanclub. That way, we can have a concert at the end of the year too.”

“Concert?”

“Then as idols you didn’t want to have a concert?”

Seonuk replied calmly when Hansol asked in surprise. Hansol’s bright brown eyes sparkled with anticipation.

When Sugyeom looked back on the memories of his previous life, Hansol had always been the ambitious musician among the members.

Everyone did their best to prepare for the stage, but among them, Hansol was different. Even as a trainee he would practice to the ridiculous point of getting nosebleeds.

As such, he would have been very excited to hear the word concert.

“We’re going to do a fanclub naming contest through the fancafe. I’m thinking of advertising the official fanclub as soon as the name is decided. The draft for our light sticks will be around then too.”
(Note: Fancafe and fanclub are two different things.)

Sugyeom soothed his bitter feelings as he listened to Seonuk silently.

Thinking about it, even though DP Entertainment was an SME, their workflow was faster and more straightforward than larger companies. It had only been 3 months since their debut, but they were already preparing for their reality show and official fanclub.

If U-PITE had done sufficiently well in his previous life, he would have been able to stand at the top as a successful idol, which made him heartbroken.

It would have ended in regret for others, but fortunately now he had a chance to correct his mistakes. He made a deep commitment again to do well in this life.

* * *

A few days later, a notice was posted on U-PITE’s official fancafe.

[Announcement: Official Fanclub Naming Contest
Author: DP Entertainment

Hello. It’s DP Entertainment. Thanks to our fans who love U-PITE.

At our fans’ requests, we would like to establish an official fanclub. Before that, we’re going to open a naming contest. For more information, please refer to the [Fanclub Naming Contest] bulletin board. We ask for your participation.

Welcoming 2022, we wish everyone success and well being.

Thank you.]

Just as Seonuk had said three days ago, an article was posted to name U-PITE’s fanclub. Fans reacted immediately. Discussions on the official fancafe and various sites to name the fanclub were heated.

After several days of voting, the three most mentioned candidates were Juno, Io, and Orbis.

Although Sugyeom already knew what it would be, he found fans arguing with each other about the naming of their fanclub to be cute.

[Title: Frankly, Shouldn’t Our Fanclub Be Called Juno?
Author: Anonymous
U-PITE represents Zeus, so we should go with Juno for Hera. Zeus and Hera are cool.
└ Juno? It’s boringㅠ
└ Do you know?
└ What do you knowㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋI was pushing for Juno, but it’s hard to like it now…ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ I like the meaning, but I don’t like the name Juno
└ Author: What, you guys are so picky, please leave my comment;;]

[Title: I Like Io
Author: Cha2gyeom
Io…the woman Jupiter loved, and it’s the closest moon to Jupiter…Isn’t it romantic?
└ It’s just like yogurtㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ Io becomes a cow later…Hera in a fit of anger;;;;Turned it into a cowㅠㅠㅠㅠIf we fight with other fans later they will call us baby cowsㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ Author: What’s wrong with cows..if enemy comes, we’ll hit them like a bull! We’re baby cows!
└ Let’s make nose ring merchandise if Io wins.
└ Are you crazy?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Title: I’m Against Io
Author: MossOne
I just saw that someone wanted to make nose ring merchandise if Io winsㅜAre you crazy…?ㅠ
└ Are you targeting me..? It’s not bad to have a nose ring as baby cows. We’ll look strong. It’s good to have a strong nose ring.
└ It’s too strong;;;;;;;; If we’re shown with nose rings on air, kids will run away.
└ Nose ring is hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋIt’s uniqueㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Title: Isn’t Orbis Pretty?
Author: HansolsToothbrush
The word Orbis itself is so pretty and has a good meaning..It’s space…The universe that embraces U-PITE…Isn’t it perfect?
└ It reminds me of orgasmㅠ
└ ? Take a walk. Really…
└ Nim, how do you live every day?
└ What’s wrong with orgasm? It’s so nice.
└ It’s still broad daylight…Let’s not do this.]

[Title: People Just Want to Say No to Everything
Author: YuchansATM
You don’t like this or that. You guys don’t like anything. Let’s come up with our own name and promote our own songs.
└ 222222222222222 I agree
└ 3333333333333
└ 44444
└ 55555555555
└ 66666666666666666
└ 777777
└ 8888888888
└ I agree
└ I agree 22222
└ I’m sorry, but what?
└ Numbering break
└ Aha, thank you!]