Chapter 81: Level Up (1)

Lying sprawled out in the living room of the dorm, I was staring blankly at the ceiling when a thought suddenly occurred to me, and I picked up my phone.

'I need to delete them.'

After having sex with Joanna and Mei, I looked at the photos mei took.

Those photos were all saved on my phone, and the rest were deleted.

Joanna begged to keep at least one, but I had to coldly refuse because the photos May took of me were incredibly sexy.

I never thought I'd find a man's face sexy, but damn, the face that fucking pony gave me was too powerful.

'If these photos get out, it'll be chaos. I have to delete them, but I can't bring myself to do it.'

Maybe it's because I admit that losing these photos would be such a shame.

Even though the person who took the photos handed them all over to me so coolly.

The fact that my face is handsome is a very objective truth.

But when that face becomes sexy, it creates more than twice the impact of its usual handsomeness.

I can understand why Mei wanted to take photos of my face so badly that she even offered to have sex.

'Was it because I wasn't born with this face from the beginning? Damn, I'm so handsome. I might even become a narcissist.'

These photos are handled with care.

"Hyung~! Have you been well?"

"Yeah. Did you have fun?"

At that moment, the front door opened, and a familiar voice entered.

It was Woo-yeon, still more of a boy than a man.

"Yes."

"What's wrong? Your greeting was lively, but your response is so lifeless."

"It's because the vacation is over."

"Wow, you must have eaten a lot. Look at you, you've gained weight."

I only lifted my head to look at Woo-yeon, and he was chubby.

"Ugh! The manager sister will tell me to lose weight."

"If you train hard, you'll lose it quickly."

"By the way, what are you doing, Hyung? Lying on the floor."

"I'm enjoying the end of my vacation."

[Do you want to delete this photo?]

[Yes]

With this, I cut off all regrets from the dream-like 2-week vacation.

After deleting all the photos of Mei that were saved on my phone, I tossed the phone aside and sprawled out again.

"Hyung, did you rest well?"

After leaving Joo-ah house, the days were filled with so much skin that they should be rated 19+.

Of course, even when I was staying at her house, I didn't behave very modestly, but the 3P sex with Joanna and Mei, the sex after the date with Ahyeon, and the sex with Bok-soon were all intense.

'The stamina bag was very useful.'

I was sucked dry to the point where I thought there was nothing left to come out.

Thanks to that, I was able to earn many coins besides the store coins.

"I had a good time. Thanks to that, the post-vacation blues are no joke."

"Ugh, I wish this was a dream. I want to go back to the first day of vacation~"

After Woo-yeon arrived, Eungyu, Jackie, Kang Jun, and Gyeong-tae followed, each sharing what they did during their vacation, making the dorm noisy.

"Everyone gained weight during the vacation, but why does Hae-sol look like he lost more weight?"

"Really? I think I'm the same. Maybe it's because you all gained weight that you think that?"

Idols are human too.

Except for a few chosen ones with special constitutions, people gain weight when they eat.

And our team didn't have anyone with a special constitution.

We just gain weight when we eat and lose weight when we don't, like normal people.

The kids all came back chubby from eating well at home, and naturally, that turned into worry.

"Ugh! That hurts."

"But Woo-yeon didn't gain that much weight."

"Ah, why me…?"

"Because you came back with a face like a dumpling. I can see your future. The trainer might give you 1:1 lessons."

"Th-that much? Do I look that fat?"

"Yes."

"Aaaah! I shouldn't have eaten so much!! I should have resisted! My mom said it would all go to my height!"

"In the end, it all went to fat."

"Ugh! Stop the fact attacks!"

"Hahaha."

All the members were suffering from post-vacation blues, so no one went to their rooms, and we all lay around in the living room.

Our conversation, which had been about the 2-week vacation, turned to the future.

"Anyway, we'll be busy preparing for the next activity."

"Probably."

"I hope it goes well this time too. I'm a bit scared. Will the fans like it? What if we don't meet their expectations? I'm worried about that."

"We haven't even started yet, and you're already worried?"

"The reaction was too good the first time. Unbelievably good."

Our debut was unusually popular.

It was a rare success for a new idol group to gain so much attention right after debuting.

It was thanks to the company's support and the focus on our visuals in the promotion.

"We still have a long way to go to catch up with other idol groups' popularity."

"That's true. Our fandom is still weak."

Listening to our conversation, Jecky interjected.

"Our current problem is exactly that. Because our fandom isn't properly formed, there are many people who look at us unfavorably even though we've gained popularity. If we don't prove our skills this time, we'll get a lot of criticism. Woo-Yeon, you're worried about that too, right?"

Jackie explanation meant that we were in a situation where a lot of attention was on us.

Gaining popularity in this industry is very difficult, but maintaining it is even harder.

That's why, like us, when a situation arises where excessive popularity is gained right after debut, criticism is inevitable.

"Yes, that's right. Throughout the activity, the manager sister took good care of us, thankfully. We got a lot of criticism, and this time it will be even worse. I don't know how we'll handle it…."

"Woo-yeon was really scared back then too."

"Especially after the bathroom incident."

The bathroom incident.

It refers to when Woo-yeon went to the broadcast studio bathroom and overheard people talking badly about our group, then came back crying.

After that, Woo-yeon didn't go anywhere alone.

He always moved with at least one member, and even now, he fears criticism from other groups.

"We'll protect you, so don't worry, Woo-yeon."

"That's right. And let's prepare hard so we don't disappoint the fans. If we work hard, they'll see us in a good light. The company is supporting us too."

Besides, I had something to rely on.

The coins I earned during the 2-week vacation!!

With these coins, I'll be able to have much better skills.

I think I can appeal to the fans more with my skills this time.

I decided to ask the members about their thoughts on the upcoming activities since we were all together.

"What do you all think about the next activity?"

"The next activity?"

"Like what kind of songs you want to sing or anything like that."

"The company decides that."

"It's our album, so should we leave everything to the company? We couldn't give our opinions for the debut, but for the second activity, we should give some opinions for the future. Besides, we have Jackie. If we give our opinions, they'll definitely listen."

"Uh…."

The members' gazes turned to me and then to Jackie.

Among us, Jackie is the most musical achievement and fame.

"Actually, I also think we need to show our skills from the second activity onwards. Right now, it's not a big problem, but I think our skills weren't properly showcased in the last song. To go to bigger places and endure criticism from other groups, we need to show our skills."

And Jackie shared his thoughts with the members.

He wanted more challenging songs and dances.

The last activity's dance and song were very difficult for me to learn, but it seemed to be just my situation.

The members also started to share their grievances.

"There were parts I thought could have been better."

"The singing had a lot of shortcomings."

Nodding…

"But it was successful."

"…That's true."

"What if we say what we want and it fails?"

Gloomy…

I realized that success doesn't come just from having a good song.

Even now, countless songs are being consumed, and only a tiny fraction of them are chosen by people.

The irony is that a good song doesn't necessarily get chosen.

"The company does a good job, but I think it's okay to at least say what we want. They're competent, so they'll reflect our opinions and make it a success."

"Then, Jacky Hyung, open your treasure trove first!! Jackie Hyung has a lot of good songs when you listen to them briefly."

"Hey, why mine all of a sudden?"

The dorm became noisy again.

With six people, each with their own preferences, gathering opinions was like a marketplace.

Some wanted to sing hip-hop style songs, others had dances they really wanted to show the fans.

Most of the opinions seemed impossible to realize.

Still, Jackie skillfully summarized the members' opinions and took notes.

"Hip-hop!! Powerful!!"

"Intense dance!!"

"A song with a high note that explodes!"

"It needs to be well-balanced. And if the mood is too different from the debut album, the fans might find it jarring."

"I want a song that showcases my vocal tone."

And those opinions were to be conveyed to the manager.

I was going to do it, but Jackie insisted on doing it himself since he was the leader.

"It's time. Let's go to the company."

Since the 2-week vacation was over, we headed to the company to discuss our future schedule.

We had a great vacation, but the company staff had to work hard because of us.

They had to plan the next activity.

"Hello."

"Hello!!"

"Oh~ Long time no see~?"

"Is your vacation already over? Wow, time flies. I feel like I haven't done anything."

"Look at these kids, all fresh. They must have rested well. Hahaha!"

"Time to manage strictly again."

When we arrived at the Airplane dedicated team office, everyone gathered around us, checking this and that.

Especially our body management trainer brought a scale and checked our weight, screaming when she saw how much weight the members had gained.

"Aaaah~! Woo-yeon wht did you eat at home?? Wow, you gained 4kg!"

"Hehe, my mom said everything I eat now will go to my height…."

"Do you know how hard it will be to lose that weight??"

"Ugh, please just let me live."

When it was my turn, the trainer was surprised.

"Hae-sol lost weight? Did you really rest well?"

"Ah, I thought so too."

With all that squeezing, it's no wonder I lost weight.

"Hae-sol usually manages his weight well, so he could have rested comfortably. Did you restrain yourself this time too?"

"No. I played really hard for 2 weeks."

"Ugh~ Hae-sol Hyung, you're a total fraud. We played the same way, but why did we gain weight and you lost weight?"

Well, the way we 'played' was different.

If these guys did what I did for 2 weeks, they would have come back to the company skinny too.

The trainer was busy planning new workout routines and diets for the members who gained weight.

In the meantime, we could hear the new practice schedule from the manager.

* * *