Save a Failed Idol's Life C.216:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 216 A Vacation That’s Not a Vacation

“I packed everything I needed. This should be enough, right, hyung?”

As I came out of the bathroom after washing my hands, I saw Seon-woo petting Pposili and Aeongi. He came over to me and asked.

“Yeah, you did well. It’s not a long trip, so that should do.”

I patted Seon-woo’s shoulder and praised him, then started to pack my own bag.

The travel schedule was six days in total. Three days in Okinawa, three days in Hokkaido, and then back home.

On the surface, it was a reward trip for the Composition artists who had gone through a lot in 2021…! But…

‘Yeah, right.’

It was actually a promotional activity for our self-made content that we were going to release before our eight-member unit single debut.

It was not easy to gather all eight of us together, so even during the trip, we had to work on our concept meetings and producing preparations whenever the camera was off. We planned to move without wasting any time.

That’s why I was more worried than excited about this group’s overseas trip, which was the first one since I turned 1200.

‘What if someone gets hurt…’

I was haunted by the nightmare of the Bobbyam shooting, but seeing the members who were looking forward to having fun, I felt a bit relieved.

‘They seemed to enjoy the hotel stay too.’

Since we were going with the company’s money, we didn’t skimp on the expenses at the various facilities we visited along the way. They all seemed quite excited.

“Do I need to bring a swimsuit!?”

Yi-jun was pressing his body against his bag, which was about to burst if he stuffed any more, and asked. Kyunghwa sighed.

“We’ll wear special equipment when we go into the sea, but there’s a pool at the hotel. Don’t rush to buy one there, just pack one in advance.”

“Ah, do I have to bring another bag? There’s no room for it.”

“Give it to me.”

Kyunghwa reluctantly took some of Yi-jun’s clothes and put them in his own bag, then neatly zipped it up and put it under the bed.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah. I think Seong-won and I are done… And he’s almost done too.”

“Check one more time. I’ll pack and cross-check too.”

“Okay.”

After I finished packing, it was already late at night. It was an early morning flight, but I wanted to get some sleep, so I headed to bed. On the way, I saw Seon-woo standing in front of the mirror.

I felt sorry for him, but I had to tell him the cruel truth.

“No matter how much you say it’s Okinawa, it’s too cold to wear that kind of short sleeve in winter.”

I knew that from my previous business trip experience. Seon-woo immediately frowned and rolled his eyes, making an excuse.

“Then I’ll just wear it as pajamas…!”

“Fine. Do whatever you want.”

I chuckled lightly and lay down on the bed. I felt a bit sad to part with the soft pillow that touched my back, thinking that I wouldn’t see it for a while.

I closed my eyes and looked at the ceiling quietly. When I opened them, it was 5:30 a.m. It was time to get ready for the morning flight.

“Before we check in, please check your passports one more time.”

Early morning at Incheon Airport. Eight of us gathered at the platform to board the plane to Okinawa. It was quite crowded.

We all booked business class seats, so we could be relatively free from the eyes of the regular passengers once we got on the plane. But it was only a two-hour flight, so I wondered how much of a difference it would make.

I wouldn’t have taken business class if I was alone. I decided to think of it as a treat that I enjoyed with the members.

“Ah, where did I put my passport?”

Yi-jun rummaged through all his luggage as if he was going to pull everything out. Kyunghwa sighed as if he was pathetic.

“I told you to take good care of it.”

He looked like a real brother, sighing and nagging, but he also helped him look for it. Hwijin smiled enviously.

Yu-geon, who was standing next to him, poked Hwijin’s side and asked.

“Can you lose my passport too?”

Hwijin shook his head and refused.

“No thanks. I’ll just take your heart.”

Among the relatively peaceful Climax and the somewhat calm Yu-geon & Hwijin, Naru, the shortest one in the group, looked unhappy.

“What’s wrong?”

I approached him and asked. He hid behind Yu-geon’s back like a wild animal that met a stranger.

“What is this?”

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Naru behind Yu-geon. Naru glared at me with a strange expression that I couldn’t understand.

“I don’t know either.”

Yu-geon, who had become quite friendly with me since joining Composition, shrugged his shoulders.

As if to tell him to speak for himself, Yu-geon moved aside and revealed Naru. Naru flustered and snapped.

“Not yet! Don’t act so smug, I haven’t admitted that I’m grateful!”

I wondered what he wanted to say. It seemed like he wanted to tell me not to mistake him for helping him by recruiting him.

‘I didn’t really want to bring him along that badly.’

Before I could even frown, Hwijin grabbed Naru’s shoulder with a thud.

‘You don’t have to be so formal with the CEO, but you should at least call him hyung.’

It looked like he was just pressing down on him like a massage, but he must have been using quite some force, because Naru screamed and quickly changed his words.

‘Okay, okay! Stop being so scary! Humph!’

‘Geez, this guy.’

Hwijin seemed to feel responsible for asking me to bring him along. I chuckled at his efforts.

‘It’s fine. We’ll check in soon and go inside, so get your passports ready.’

Former Floss. Current Swift. They all brought their stuff well. I thought Climax would be fine too, as I joined the others with Kyunghwa.

My eyes widened at the unexpected commotion.

‘Huh? Look carefully. Isn’t that what you brought earlier? You had it with you, right?’

Someone forgot their passport again. I thought it would be Seon-woo with a high probability, but when I approached the source of the noise, it turned out to be someone else.

‘What?’

‘Wait, I’m sure I brought it. Who was driving the van earlier?’

Kyunghwa, who had never made such a mistake before with his meticulous attention, was rummaging through his bag with a bewildered expression.

‘What? Who left their passport?’

I asked as I got closer, and Kyunghwa put his bag down on the floor with a flushed face.

‘…I think I either left it at home or in the car.’

He looked quite embarrassed, after nagging Yi-jun to take care of his stuff earlier.

‘Call Manager Park quickly. He hasn’t arrived yet.’

‘Yeah, I’ll do that right now.’

Luckily, the manager who was returning to the terminal after parking confirmed that he left his cross bag in the car.

The manager soon joined us with the bag, and Kyunghwa still looked out of it even after finding his bag.

‘I’m glad you found your bag.’

He couldn’t let go of his phone even while we were waiting in the lounge after checking in our luggage.

‘Something feels wrong about this…’

He wasn’t usually like that, so I was worried. It was hard to say anything because the camera was rolling as the manager joined us.

‘Come to think of it, I’m the CEO now, right?’

I could just edit out anything weird later. I confidently approached Kyunghwa and asked.

‘Did you sleep badly yesterday? Why do you look so tired?’

He shook his head as I put it mildly.

‘Me?’

‘Yeah.’

He denied it as if he had no idea.

‘I’m not tired at all.’

‘Then why can’t you focus?’

‘Me?’

I narrowed my eyes and asked.

‘Are you uncomfortable going with the three of them?’

The other members were still a bit awkward, but they had filmed together a few times, so they gathered in groups and chatted about the tourist courses they were looking forward to.

Only Kyunghwa was restless like this, and I couldn’t help but care.

‘No? Not at all. Do you think I’m still holding a grudge over that?’

He glared at me with a resentful expression, and I shrugged.

‘Well, that’s good then. But let me know if anything’s wrong. You look like you’re prone to making mistakes right now, and I’m worried.’

He nodded with his phone still clenched in his hand.

‘The bag thing was just because I was out of it. I won’t do that again, so don’t worry too much and mind your own business.’

He brushed me off like that, and I couldn’t interrogate him further. I nodded reluctantly and rejoined the others.

‘Wow, we’re boarding now!’

‘Oh, front seats, front seats!’

They all got excited and split into groups of two. Yi-jun and Kyunghwa, Seong-won and Seon-woo, me and Hwijin, Naru and Yu-geon.

‘Okay, everyone, check if your self-cams are installed properly.’

They all installed their cameras, but they were too early for the morning flight, and they soon dozed off.

‘Krrr… Krrr…’

Seon-woo snored faintly enough to be recorded. Seong-won grimaced and pressed his body against the window. I laughed at the sight.

Yu-geon also sneaked away from Naru, who was leaning on him, and fell into a deep sleep against the wall.

Hwijin was also asleep, or at least had his eyes closed, while Kyunghwa was the only one who couldn’t sleep.

‘What’s really going on with him?’

I started to worry about how he would react if I just threw a curveball at him. He was so full of pride.

‘He’s not the type to quit in the middle of a job just because he feels bad.’

But still, he was one of the few precious… staff members I had. I didn’t want to provoke him unnecessarily.

I decided to be courteous to him and closed my eyes for a moment. Soon, the announcement of landing came out.

I opened the window shield that was blocking the view outside and looked down. A scenery that was hard to believe it was winter unfolded.

“Wow.”

I had come here once on a business trip before, but this was the first time I saw the view properly.

I couldn’t help but open my mouth wide.

“Pfft.”

He must have seen my reaction, because he opened his eyes and turned his head to laugh.

“Wouldn’t you be surprised too, Mr. Hwijin?”

He didn’t stop smiling as if he was sorry.

“My family did a working holiday in Okinawa, so I came here several times to visit.”

I didn’t expect that TMI, so I said as if I was embarrassed.

“Oh, so that’s why you asked me to put Okinawa in your group when we drew lots? Isn’t that cheating?”

He dodged my question and acted dumb.

“Hey. It’s already decided, why are you bringing it up now?”

He had a point. It was boring to follow the same course with eight people, so we added a bit of a variety show system.

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Okinawa team. Hwijin, Naru, Seon-woo, Kyunghwa. Four people. Hokkaido team. Ise, Yu-geon, Seong-won, Yi-jun. Four people.

I couldn’t help but think that my team had too many bombs, but anyway, we prepared a balanced team battle.

Each group made their own sightseeing course, and the winning team would get to go on another vacation. Honestly, it didn’t matter which team won.

‘Even if we go on a vacation, we won’t be able to relax because of the single preparations.’

But still, I wanted to win since it was a competition. He was so sneaky… I glared at him with a stingy expression. He drew a V sign towards the camera.

He didn’t seem like he was just enduring the entertainment industry innocently.

I swallowed a silly sigh as the plane began to land at the airport.