Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 260:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 260 The Brilliant Thing (3)

I wouldn’t have had these thoughts if Cheon Ise had managed to keep his place somehow.

But what can I do now, when there’s no way out and I’m feeling greedy?

“…”

I watched the spot where Yu-geon and Yi-jun had left for a long time without saying a word, and then I pressed the doorbell again without realizing it.

“What is it?”

The person working inside asked me with a puzzled tone, and I reflexively lied smoothly.

“Ah, okay. I’ll open the door for you.”

How deeply asleep he was. He didn’t even notice me looking down at him in front of his nose, let alone toss and turn.

“What are you doing?”

If I had made up my mind to try again, I should have followed through with it. I was angry to see him lying like a corpse without a twitch, even though Yi-jun had made a song and played it for him. Why?

I came back ready to scold him a lot, but I didn’t have the strength to get angry when I saw Cheon Ise lying lifelessly.

I looked down at Cheon Ise silently and bent down in front of the head of the bed.

Swoosh, I touched his forehead with my palm. He didn’t have a fever. Rather, he was cold as if he wasn’t alive.

‘At this rate… I’m worried that something will happen to him before me.’

I couldn’t vent my anger at him, who couldn’t even take care of his own body. I pulled up the messy blanket and covered him up to his neck.

He wouldn’t have been so twisted if he had set his direction right from the start.

I felt sorry for him, but I still thought he was a spoiled brat from a rich family.

What do I want to do? With a bitter thought, I stroked Cheon Ise’s forehead and got up from my seat.

“…!”

Cheon Ise grabbed my hand very weakly, without even opening his eyes. With a very faint strength that I could easily shake off.

He flinched his brow as if he was afraid of something. Why do I have to put up with this when I’m not even his guardian?

Especially when he threw away his body and died, and I lived for him instead, only to be kicked out again.

But even then, I wasn’t cruel enough to shake off his feeble gesture.

“Geez. You’re really a weirdo.”

I obediently let Cheon Ise hold my hand until his brow relaxed a little.

He might think I’m trying to steal something or snoop around.

I grumbled to myself when Cheon Ise’s eyelids opened like threads.

“…!”

Cheon Ise looked up at me with great difficulty and shuddered as if he was surprised. But this time, I didn’t let go of Cheon Ise’s hand.

“I mean it when I say I want to help you if you want to try.”

I muttered with a subdued anger.

“So stop disappointing the members and get up. They’re important to you, aren’t they?”

Then his eyes seemed to fill with tears, and he closed his eyelids again without energy.

I waited for another 10 minutes, wondering if he would wake up, but he didn’t move at all, as if he had used up all his strength. I finally got up from my seat.

I only had three days left.

My half-brother’s return was postponed to the last day, and I felt like I would run out of time by the time the general meeting was in full swing.

‘Sigh… Why does he keep delaying his return and make the time so tight?’

Maybe I should be grateful rather than think it’s a coincidence. I sighed heavily as I went outside, where the snowflakes were flying, making it seem like winter wasn’t over yet.

“Hoo…”

As I breathed a long sigh, my white breath rose high into the sky and scattered. But I had to do whatever I could do now, so I wouldn’t regret it.

Even if Cheon Ise couldn’t get up and I couldn’t finish my revenge.

The data I left behind would be used by the next person in charge to make Climax and Offbeat shine more. And even if my family escaped from the charges again like mudfish, they would be shaken by the spread of the killer label by the generation they couldn’t control.

‘There’s nothing meaningless.’

That’s the self-justification of someone who gave up on doing their best. So I have to keep moving until the end.

I tried to erase Yi-jun’s bitter expression from my mind and walked to the bus stop.

When everyone was scolding Cheon Ise to stop playing dead and get up, he himself was desperately holding on to his intermittent consciousness.

He succeeded in breaking into the system’s blind spot and absorbing the dummy data. But defending against the system’s recovery attempt was another level of problem.

He didn’t know how long he could last. He knew he couldn’t just lie down like this.

‘I want to keep working with my brother. We have so much to do.’

His heart sank again as the melody and voice forced into his ears.

The one Yi-jun was looking for was not him. Someone else. Even if he barely regained his strength and got up from his seat, he couldn’t join the work as Yi-jun wanted.

Even if you join us, you were never like this before. We know that your skills are not at this level.

You will wonder why you can’t do it like you did back then, as you push someone else’s traces into yourself.

‘Whether you are more stubborn or not. I can handle the problems that you can’t solve.’

‘Don’t get me wrong. I’m not here to take your body back.’

I would have felt better if you had treated me like a villain, asking why you are trying to take it back after you abandoned it once.

It was painful to admit that I was the one who was holding on to something impossible and being stubborn.

If I, who had already finished my role, stay and want a future, it will make others suffer.

Ise blinked his eyes faintly and barely held back his tears.

‘But I’m still scared.’

The moment he deviated from the path he had to take, he was afraid of what he would become, unable to even guess.

If he had just gone straight to the light cluster, everything would have ended as it should.

If there is hell, I will surely go there, right? I’m scared to endure like this, and I’m scared to let go.

What if everyone hates me? What if no one remembers me? What if they think it was better for someone like me to disappear?

The moment fear started to gnaw at his feet, he felt someone’s warmth on his fingertips.

He clutched the barely caught hand as if it was the only lifeline he could hold.

‘…It’s warm.’

The hand that he thought he would push away stayed with him for a long time. Who the hell are you, not pushing me away? When he barely lifted his eyelids to check, he saw the face he least wanted to see looking down at him.

‘Heek…!’

He tried to pull his hand away, but this time Hyun-seong didn’t let go. Was he stronger or did he not have the strength to push his hand away?

He cried at the tenderness of someone who comforted him and pulled up the blanket.

‘I mean it when I say I want to help you if I can.’

If he meant it, it meant that there was one more person who was disappointed in him.

Everyone tells me that I can’t go on like this. But I don’t have the courage to stretch my legs, or the will to run away.

His eyelids closed again and the surroundings turned dark, and someone’s memories flowed in.

He barely cooled his arm on the stove with cold water, and wiped the greasy iron plate while being scolded. The scene where the company he had barely settled in collapsed due to his partner’s betrayal and he lost all his assets.

The scene where he was constantly pressured by his family to send money.

He was the opposite of himself, who had always spent the money that others had earned hard.

And finally, the moment he was killed by his family.

‘How can life be so miserable?’

Ise thought. This person never looked back. He didn’t cling to failure, but went on without stopping, using what he learned from it. He didn’t blame others for his energy, but dusted off his knees and got up, and looked for what he could do again.

He felt more sad at the thought that he was different from him from the beginning.

The scenes that flickered in front of his eyes disappeared and Ise was left in the darkness again.

He could feel that there was not much time left.

[Remaining quest duration: 11 hours]

It was already the last day of becoming  a 19-year-old Lim Hyun-seong. The noise around Cheon Ise did not stop after the salad accusation scandal.

Most of the agency was responding, but the fact that Cheon Ise himself did not show his face anywhere was a good opportunity for the antis to catch him.

If it was an ordinary fan or a general netizen, they would have something to talk about all day long, not just Cheon Ise, and it would soon attract attention.

‘Why do they have so much time? Are they kids or do they have no jobs?’

There were too many people in the world who had not only time but also malice.

And not only this side, but Jo Young Food was also not easy.

The employees of Jo Young Food kept asking for attention in the online community for office workers that Jinwoo lent his ID to.

The main point was that the owner’s family took over the management rights after the death of the founder last year and tried to sell the company.

‘The employees must have a lot of thoughts.’

The key to the food industry is how often you can get customers to revisit. It was natural for customers to stop coming if they were in a hurry to reduce costs, save on ingredients, or reduce the number of employees and lower the quality of service.

They fired employees and reduced part-timers as if it was natural because they didn’t make any profit, and eventually closed down stores that were not one or two.

‘How can they ruin such a well-known brand in a year.’

He sighed heavily. The comments showed that people who worked for other companies also stopped going to Jo Young Food chains because the taste had changed, and they were angry that it was because the owner had changed.

Moreover, at this week’s general meeting, they were planning to decide on a plan to sell the main business unit, which seemed to have a bigger impact.

‘The nominal reason is… to increase profitability through business unit restructuring…’

It was like cutting open the belly of a goose that lays golden eggs and selling it. How could that work?

In fact, it was an EXIT declaration of the owner’s family. We’re going to sell here, get the money and get out, so you guys take care of the rest of the company, it was close to that.

He sweated at the tip of his fingers as the purpose changed from when he received the proxy from the shareholders in advance.

[Time left to complete the quest: 11 hours]

My brother still had no news of his return, and I didn’t have much time left. I had prepared everything so that it wouldn’t be a waste even if I disappeared like this.

But I had done my best, and now all I could do was rely on luck.