I'M A GENIUS IDOL BUT MY PASSIVE IS SUNFISH: Chapter 68

 TL by Miru

I'm a Genius Idol but My Passive is Sunfish: Episode 68

Baekya approached Blond One, who was sprawled out in the middle of the practice room. Among the team members, BB9's Geumil was the most tolerable. They were the same age, had debuted around the same time at Imjingak, and generally got along well.

“Want some water?”

“Ah, thanks.”

Geumil got up and accepted the glass of water.

"Do you always practice in places like this? So why is your dancing...?"

“Do you want to die?”

The indignant sunfish quietly clenched his fist.

“Just kidding, just kidding.”

Geumil stuck out his tongue, noting that Baekya had a tougher personality than his gentle appearance suggested.

“Are you getting any sleep?”

“I don't know. I feel like I'm dying.”

He had been practising “Walking Dead” so much that zombies started appearing in Baekya's dreams. This was a common experience among all the DASE members. Despite the exhaustion and discomfort with Daehwan, the project itself was quite fun. Daehwan, known as a genius composer, had perfectly reinterpreted the 20-year-old song in a modern style. Only Jihan's rap part was added, preserving the original feel, which even received a standing ovation from PD Myung, ID's leading producer.

“I heard you're doing something with AIM sunbae-nim.”

“How did you know?”

“It's all over the place.”

Geumil waved his phone.

“There's even an article saying we're doing a special stage.”

Geumil excitedly showed the article to Baekya.

 

[Winter Fairies' Winter Song Hot Rookie Collab! Announcing a Legendary Visual Stage]

 

“...What's with the title?”

“Why? I like it.”

Baekya turned his eyes away quietly, thinking he'd seen something he shouldn't have. Just then, a shadow fell over Baekya and Geumil. It was Harang.

“Let's start practising again.”

From the first meeting, Harang had taken the lead and was now the de facto leader of the project team. Baekya didn't mind Harang's assertiveness, as he preferred to go with the flow and avoid being in the spotlight. It was actually convenient to have someone take charge. However, this thought didn't last long.

“Hold on. Your arm angle is wrong.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Do you know how many times we've had to redo this because of you?”

Harang would often stop the song and humiliate Baekya for mistakes while letting the same mistakes slide when the blond members made them. Unlike the DASE members, who would encourage Baekya even if he made a mistake, Harang was always looking for ways to undermine him. This lack of understanding and consideration in the project group was stressful. Everyone seemed more focused on securing their own parts than working as a team.

Although Baekya had anticipated this, experiencing it firsthand was far more stressful than expected.

“Ehey~ Harang hyung. Didn’t we agree not to stress too much about the choreography?”

Geumil tried to defend Baekya, but Harang was unyielding.

“That's the problem. Isn't it embarrassing not to be able to handle even simple choreography? I'd be ashamed.”

“...What did you say?”

The other members knew well that the sunfish sometimes had a temper, thanks to previous incidents. And just now, the last comment had hit his quick-trigger switch.

“The next practice will be the last one so how do you expect to get the moves right if you still can’t remember them?”

It was obvious Harang intended for Baekya to hear his snappy remark, and Baekya’s expression grew darker.

“Isn’t that a bit too much?”

The performance was supposed to focus on singing rather than choreography. Yet, Harang nitpicked every little thing Baekya did, from the division of parts to the tiniest movements. Even the recent criticism was over a trivial mistake.

What kind of enmity did he have with Baekya in their past life for Harang to have such a grudge against him? Because of this, they had only managed to run through the full song a handful of times in over two hours.

“You don’t seem to realise that we can’t make progress because someone keeps interrupting.”

Invisible sparks flew between Harang and Baekya.

“H-Hyungs, why are you like this…?”

Geumil and Geumsam nervously tried to calm Harang down. Baekya roughly pushed his bangs back and spoke to Geumil.

“Let me go.”

“...I’m not even holding you, Baekya.”

Geumil was just standing next to Baekya, unlike the others who were holding Harang back.

“A-anyway!”

A bead of cold sweat trickled down his neck, but Baekya strengthened his resolve, determined to say what he needed to.

“Just because this is a project group doesn’t mean I’m doing this half-heartedly. I’m naturally slow at memorizing moves. I’m not proud of it, but it feels unfair that you’re only holding me to such strict standards.”

His rapid delivery and perfect diction rivalled that of their main rapper, Jihan. Geumil mentally applauded the sunfish’s unexpected outburst.

“Once we get through this, we won’t have to perform together again, right? So even if you don’t like me, just deal with it. I’m putting up with it too.”

Baekya grumbled quietly, saying that he hadn’t been keeping quiet out of enjoyment. Harang, stunned into silence by the speeding sunfish locomotive, could only glare at Baekya with his mouth agape.

“Got something more to say?”

Since the atmosphere was already a mess, the brave hamster didn’t hesitate to provoke further, daring Harang to speak his mind.

Kids these days must be eating something special to grow so tall; Baekya was the shortest even here. With his small stature, Baekya stood defiantly, challenging Harang. Even the blonds were taken aback.

“You’ve got nothing to say? Then let’s get back to practice.”

Baekya had inadvertently taken control. The already tense atmosphere completely collapsed. It was a relief there were no cameras for behind-the-scenes filming. If there had been, perhaps things wouldn’t have escalated this far. Geumil, closing his eyes tightly, foresaw their bleak future. This special stage seemed doomed.

 

* * *

 

D-DAY.

Today was the day of S Broadcasting Stations’ end-of-the-year music festival, the first of the three major broadcasting companies to hold their award ceremony.

“Ugh!”

Baekya experienced a terrible incident of falling out of bed first thing in the morning. He had heard the alarm while sleeping, but upon waking up, he was so shocked by the status window in front of him.

“Are you okay?”

Jihan, with a towel over his head, came over to help him up.

“No, what— what is this…!”

Baekya, clearly in pain, rubbed his tailbone while pointing furiously at the air. Jihan, finding it strange, clicked his tongue.

“Wake up already.”

Jihan, having tidied out his hair that was the nest the magpies had built overnight, went to wake up Yuyeon. The sky was still dark in the early dawn. Baekya rubbed his eyes and read the quest in front of him slowly once more.

 

[A new quest has arrived!]

[Q. Genius Idol(1): Win more than three Rookie of the Year awards]

 

“Damn it…”

The game about surviving as a genius idol had thrown up a genius idol quest. The quest names were always playful, and although there was no penalty listed for failure, Baekya instinctively knew.

‘…Am I going to die?’

This was the first time the main quest of the shitty game had appeared.

‘But win more than three Rookie of the Year awards?’

Where's your conscience, damn it.

The already irritable sunfish, whose temperament had become more scathing due to the special stage, began counting on his fingers with a serious expression.

‘Let's see. The award shows DASE is scheduled to attend are…’

With half-closed eyes, the hamster suddenly started behaving strangely. Jihan, who approached again, waved a hand in front of Baekya’s face to disrupt his actions.

“Are you asleep?”

Recently, Baekya had been grinding his teeth in his sleep a lot, indicating he was frequently angry even in his sleep. Jihan suspected this might be another form of sleep-talking.

“…I’m not sleeping.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Calculating my survival odds.”

He’s definitely still sleeping, then.

That was what happened in the morning.

 

“Why is he trembling like that?”

“I don’t know. He’s not in a good state.”

Minsung asked Jihan quietly. Since morning, they could hear the commotion between the two through the bedroom door. Even on the way to the broadcasting station after stopping by the salon, Baekya couldn't stay still, worrying Minsung.

“It’s probably because of the special stage. We’re rookies, so it’s natural to be nervous!”

Yulmu took it lightly, wrapping a blue ribbon around Baekya’s wrist.

“We can’t lose our house hamster, so we need to mark him~”

Normally, Baekya would have strongly objected, baring his teeth, but today he was strangely calm. Even as Yulmu tied the ribbon around his neck, the sunfish's mind was elsewhere.

“What’s up with him? Why is he acting like this?”

Finally sensing something was wrong, Yulmu stepped back in fear.

“He is acting strange for sure.”

“Our hamster is sleeping with his eyes open. His face looks dumb.”

Yuyeon and Chung also chimed in.

“I can hear you,” Baekya warned, fumbling with the ribbon tied around his neck.

After much contemplation, he concluded that ‘things are fortunate, for now.’ S Station’s music festival was the only one of the three major stations that didn’t present awards. Instead, it focused on the theme 'Music Bringing Us Together,' where participants were divided into Blue and White teams, competing in real-time popularity votes. Both AIM and DASE were assigned to the Blue team, and the blue ribbon each member wore around their body was a mandatory accessory for all Blue team participants.

“Adlay tea, stop doing weird things.”

Baekya tugged at the ribbon awkwardly tied around his neck. Instead of loosening, it seemed to tighten even more.

“Keugh, why isn't it coming off?”

Panicking, Baekya pulled the other end of the ribbon, only to make it tighter around his neck.

“Cough, cough!”

Choking and clutching his neck, Baekya caused Chung to scream.

“Oh my god! Yulmu killed the hamster!”

“N-no, I didn't mean to…!”

A panicked Yulmu rushed over to check the ribbon he had tied. “Wh-what the heck? What did you do to yourself?”

“Look who's talking!”

With his neck constricted, Baekya tried to create some space by slipping his fingers between his neck and the ribbon. His face turned red as the members quickly gathered around him.

“Aah! Is our hamster going to die?!”

“Don’t say such unlucky things!”

Baekya snapped back at Chung’s dramatic outburst, saying it was bad luck.

“Move aside.”

Yuyeon, pushing Yulmu away, was only making the knot worse. Meanwhile, Minsung suggested cutting the ribbon with a knife, calling out for a scalper.