I'M A GENIUS IDOL BUT MY PASSIVE IS SUNFISH: Chapter 66

 TL by Miru

I'm a Genius Idol but My Passive is Sunfish: Episode 66

* * *

 

At the same time, Boksoong’s “Peach”.

Baekya was attending the schedule for S station’s joint stage and found himself in another company’s practice room. He never imagined he would run into this guy here.

“We meet again. We've seen each other before, right?”

Standing before Baekya was Harang, who had been kicked out just before his debut due to an unfortunate accident, extending his hand.

'When did he even debut?'

With his activities and dance practice alone, Baekya barely had 24 hours in a day, and now, thanks to Daehwan's massive project, he had even less time. He didn’t have the luxury to monitor stages, let alone sleep, so he was completely unaware of Harang’s debut. Luckily, Baekya had a good sense for detecting trouble.

“Uh, I’m not sure...”

The only witness to the misdeed and the person caught in the act now faced each other. Harang's eyes, much sharper than before, confirmed that he still suspected Baekya.

‘Acting like I know him won't do me any good.’

Although Baekya was often treated as the weak link by his members due to his clumsy and trifling actions, he had decent situational awareness from living through life twice.

“Nice to meet you for the first time.”

However, his tone was awkward. Despite his situational awareness, his acting skills were terrible.

“You're pretending not to know me? Fine, then. But it seems you haven’t taken acting lessons yet. You probably should.”

Harang snorted mockingly at Baekya.

‘Did he just sneer at me?’

Even a fool could tell. The subtly belittling tone from earlier had him unsure but now it was clear that Harang didn’t like him.

'But why? What did I do?'

Alone without Namkyung or the other members, Baekya felt frustrated with no one to confide in.

‘This is why I didn’t want to do this. Damn you, adlay tea.’

*TN: Yulmu’s name means adlay and adlay can be made into tea, so he calls Yulmu adlay tea to kind of mock or insult him.

Naturally, the arrows of irritation pointed towards Yulmu.

Harang, having nothing more to say, turned his back, leaving Baekya unable to continue the conversation. Baekya pouted and took out his phone. There was a notification in the group chat.

 

[Yuyeon: How's it going, Baekdo?]

[Yulmu: Why aren’t you asking me?]

[Yuyeon: Because you’re good on your own~ Baekdo has no social skills, it’s a big problemㅠ]

[Yulmu: True, haha]

 

‘I have no social skills? These guys are really asking for it.'

Seething at their real-time gossip, Baekya angrily typed on his phone.

 

[Me: Want to die?]

[Yulmu: Wow~ what a temper ㅋㅋ]

[Jihan: Han Baekya, when are you coming back?]

[Me: I don't know... someone come get me out of here]

[Yuyeon: Why is this so funny? ㅋㅋ You said you wanted to participate so what’s with the attitude now?]

 

“Ha!”

I said I wanted to participate? Me?

Baekya trembled with anger at Yuyeon's outrageous claim. To clarify once more, Baekya absolutely did not want to be there.

One of Baekya’s worries was the upcoming recording session with Daehwan the next day. Now, thanks to Harang, who clearly disliked him, he had yet another concern added to the list.

 

[Minsung: Focus on your tasks ^^ That way, you’ll finish faster, haha]

 

The leader’s comment, full of boomer energy, caused a brief pause in the group chat. Baekya sometimes felt a disconnect between his first impression of Minsung and Minsung’s real personality.

As if coordinated, all three broadcasting companies scheduled their sessions on the same day.

Judging by his silence in the group chat, it seemed Chung had already started practising, while Yulmu responded with a slumped dog emoji from his corner.

‘What is this…’

Baekya fiddled with his phone, looking displeased. Meanwhile, Harang subtly peeked at Baekya’s phone, but the clueless sunfish didn’t notice at all.

Just then, a blond member from BB9 and another blond member from a rookie group that debuted during AIM’s promotional period approached.

“Hello.”

“Nice to meet you~ I see you’ve already introduced yourselves.”

Finally, another blond, the last participant for S Station’s joint stage, arrived, completing the group.

“For the song, we can decide among ourselves based on the theme.”

Harang, asking for suggestions, smoothly led the meeting, displaying the skills he had honed during his lengthy trainee period, despite having debuted only a month ago.

“Wow~ As expected of a leader, your organizational skills are no joke.”

Blond Two’s flattery made Harang chuckle.

“I’ve been a trainee for a long time, so I’m used to these group project meetings.”

“If you don’t mind, may I ask how many years you trained?”

“About six years.”

Everyone was astonished by his extensive experience.

‘How spiteful.’

Baekya was in disbelief at the sight of Harang. Just moments before he had spoken informally and acted dismissively towards Baekya, but now he was perfectly polite with the blonds? Baekya pouted his lips in annoyance.

‘Is he discriminating against people or what?’

Blond Three continued questioning, oblivious to Baekya’s discontent.

“Have you been with this company the whole time?”

Harang shook his head slightly, glancing at Baekya. The sudden eye contact made Baekya quickly retract his pursing lips.

“Ahem.”

The sunfish quickly cleared his throat, managing his expression.

“No, I was at ID for quite a while.”

“ID?! But why…”

Blond Three abruptly shut his mouth, but everyone understood what he meant.

“Yeah, I was in a hurry to debut and switched companies, but I didn’t expect DASE to debut first.”

That was complete bullshit. At first, Baekya couldn’t understand why Harang was looking at him while saying this, but being the person who knew the truth, he felt an unspoken threat in Harang’s gaze.

Was it a ‘speak and you’re dead’ kind of warning?

‘Yeah, I don’t want to get involved with you any further either.’

Already uncomfortable from witnessing Harang’s secret love affair, now Baekya found himself caught in Harang’s fabricated background story. Baekya felt uneasy to death.

‘I hope we pick a song soon and wrap this up.’

But the blonds still had plenty of questions.

“So, did you know each other before?”

“No, he joined after I left, so we never met.”

Contrary to his earlier familiarity, Harang’s statement left Baekya nodding along.

“Yes, we met today for the first time.”

Thinking the conversation was winding down, Baekya adjusted his posture. However, Harang continued to mention DASE.

“But I’m still close with the other members. I have friends in Rose Day.”

Harang began to flaunt his connections within ID in front of the blonds.

‘Is this supposed to be some kind of meet-up for newly debuted rookie boy groups with me representing DASE here?’

Expecting a practice-heavy session, Baekya had dressed comfortably, only to realize he might be wasting his day.

‘Are these other groups not busy? Is it only DASE that’s swamped and me being sleep-deprived?’

He started doubting the claim that idol groups were busiest at the year’s end.

“I still keep in touch. Minsung was my fellow trainee.”

I see~ So he’s the same age as our boomer, I mean, our leader~

Baekya gave a vague nod, offering minimal reactions. Given Harang’s longer time at ID compared to his own, there wasn’t much more to say.

‘Ah… I just want to go back to the dorm.’

After a half-hearted nod, the sunfish hoped the conversation would end soon, nervously picking at his nails.

“What about AIM sunbae-nims? How are they?”

Blond Three, please stop!

Even more relentless than Chung, the questioning from Blond Three drained the colour from Baekya’s face.

He didn't understand why they were asking Harang about ID when Baekya himself, an ID member, was sitting right there, but the sunfish was growing increasingly uncomfortable.

As the chatter showed no sign of ending, he impulsively opened his status window.

‘Let’s just do a gacha draw.’

You’ve come a long way, Han Baekya. Now, he boldly opened his status window in front of other people. Deciding on a draw, he mentally chanted for five attempts.

‘Please, give me a useful skill this time.’

Soon, the words Baekya dreaded most appeared.

 

[Skill Acquired!]

 

He had been burned so many times that even these words made his hands tremble. His heart pounded so loudly that Blond One next to him glanced his way.

“Haha.”

He forced a smile to reassure Blond One. Then, he slowly read the second line of the status window.

 

[<Hello! Cleopatra(S)>, <Concept Master(A)>, <Rustic Dance(C)>, <Spirit of a K-Pop Phantom(C)>]

 

“Gasp!”

Seeing an S-rank for the first time, the sunfish exclaimed. He quickly covered his mouth, but everyone was already looking at him.

“Uh, um, I got a cramp in my leg.”

Excusing himself to the bathroom, Baekya stood up.

“Are you sure you’re okay? A cramp in your leg…”

Oh right.

Trying to cover his tracks, Baekya limped on his left leg, patting his thigh.

“I think I was too tense. I’ll be fine. Please continue the discussion.”

He hobbled awkwardly out of the room, drawing suspicious looks from Harang. Harang seemed disgruntled, questioning how someone like Baekya could debut and thrive at ID.

Meanwhile, the sunfish that exited the practice room was excitedly hopping from foot to foot.

“An S-rank? For real?!”

Baekya was utterly thrilled by the rare S-rank skill he was seeing. The dance skills being downgraded last time must have been to gain momentum for today.

“Phew. Let’s calm down.”

Regaining composure, Baekya opened the skill details window.