Non-BL Reading List (BG novels, Non-Romance)

160. Entertainment Life With A Camera

Translator: Maroon Maru

Other Title: My Second Life as an Idol

Chapters: 340

Tags: entertainment circle, idol groups, rebirth, perfect MC, character growth

Synopsis:

He almost became a Hallyu star and his biggest career in entertainment was placing 12th in an idol survival program.

The works he rejected were enormously successful, but every work he went into was destroyed one after another.

This frigging damn unfortunate life played around by false hope actually saved a country in his previous life.

So when he came back to his original body, there was a face genius standing in the mirror.

*Face genius: a Korean slang term for someone who is very good looking

Impressions: Same with Debut or Die, I read the manwha first before catching up on the novel. I'm in my idol phase right now~

So our MC wanted to be an idol, but he's so unlucky, his opportunities keeps getting cut. Just when he finally caught a big break, he gets run over by a car and dies. He meets the God of Death which told him that he should be a very lucky soul cos he saved a country in the previous life, the reason for the bad luck is because he was put in the wrong body. So the God of Death sends him back to the past and puts him back in the correct body. He even gives him a ghost guide (a floating camera) to assist him to stardom.

MC's new and 'correct' body is rich, handsome, talented, just a Mr. Perfect overall. Despite the new life, MC still wants to be an idol so he left America (his parents works in a US Law Firm) and went back alone to Korea. The Ghost Guide points him to a good company with a soon-to-debut idol group called AWY. The kids are all good and kind and they welcome him to the group. There are some smol conflicts which gets fixed right away as soon as they talk it out. MC is just soo....OP / Perfect that he stands out in the group, but the reaction of the other kids is to improve themselves more, they feel pressured, they feel envy, but no ugly jealousy.

Of course, not everything is bright and shiny, our MC's group also experienced the dark side(?) of being an idol. Lots of sasaeng fans, cyber bullying, malicious editing, bullying by large broadcast stations, someone offering to 'sponsor' them etc. MC also discovers his ghost guide's identity which is probably a trashy reporter / paparazzi when he was alive. MC noticed the ghost guide's intention to influence him to make things more...explosive/controversial so after that, he always takes his advice with a grain of salt.

Laters, the God of Death revealed the Ghost Guide's real name when he was alive. And #SPOILER it was the reporter who tried to pimp MC. Despite causing many deaths, and destroying lives by covering up drugs and corruption cases, the ghost guide lived a long and wealthy life so he didn't feel any remorse for his actions. The God of Death decided to stick him to MC, hoping that he might change after being exposed to 'goodness' but he never regretted his actions so the God of Death took him away from MC, leaving only his future knowledge. MC can only punish him in 'real life' to make him regret it. MC tried to become not just famous, but also rich in Korea to increase his influence. He also exposes the crimes that the trashy reporter covers up so that his 'backers' would lose trust in him.

Ending is....#SPOILER #SPOILER #SPOILER their group activities put on hold because all the other members would be enlisting in the military (MC is an American citizen) and a promise to continue their idol group after they are discharged.

I like it, unlike Debut or Die, this one went straight to debut with no audition / idol draft show. Their company is also a relatively large and competent company. The members are all good and interesting with a clear division of labor. Our MC is mostly smooth sailing along the way. They have a comparison group though, MyKit, an idol group from a small agency. Their idol groups are friendly to each other, but the other group is more...unlucky. Their agency is small, wants to earn money from them but does not invest in them, shady etc. Anyways, their members are really close that when something happened to MyKit, our MC is very affected. This is also the part when MC realized that his ghost guide is the pimp reporter...and he begins to retaliate. (Lol. Bromance!). The novel has lots of idol group activities, but it's mostly focused on MC's individual activities. Nearest reco is still Debut or Die, but this has less fantasy/sci fi elements.