Kinda hope someone will explain here what is happening in this story because I have no idea.

I think this is mtl? Sentences are not sentencing.

MC used to participate in some idol survival Program? Then dropped out or not? Something about girl idol group? He tried to be CEO of entertainment company? Like what?

This is story about an Idol who get evil editing in Idol Survival show. Think of it like Produce series. I always see Jung Haewon like cumulation of several idols with a dream of debuting but got burned by the PD's evil editing. I don't need to name names, but people who follow Produce series might know several names. Some even got death threats and his family members also got harassed.

That's what happened to Jung Haewon.

He got traumatized. Then become a shut-in for two years. Then become a manager, after... more>> that he built his own girl group which failed, and some members even died. Then he woke up, we can interpret it as that was his last life.

With the help of system, he decided to stop being coward, and then tried to debut anyway. Facing his traumas. <<less

Similar vibes to Debut or Die, in that the MC is suffering while living as both an idol and their producer behind the scenes, and also they have some kind of knowledge of the future and a system that gives them a boost. MC's issues here are distinct though - he has significant trauma from intense bullying after being treated wrong by the idol survival show he was on. Cyberbullying online, bullying from fellow participants, and harassment towards him and his family irl led to severe mental health issues.

The establishing... more>> chapters show his life as a road manager who takes care of other idols, showcasing his character and the current state of the industry. Eventually, an ultimatum from above basically says "join this failing idol group because the buzz from the controversy it would cause and your legitimate skills could be their last chance to make it big, your other option is to resign entirely."

The meat of the plot is the MC trying to get back into the idol groove for the sake of his former teammates' future careers. MC has to power through his mental illness (for better or worse), find a new niche for himself, improve himself as an idol, become a producer that can both make subtle moves to improve his tarnished image and control the image and direction of his new idol group, and pour all his energy into working to ignore his impending mental breakdown. All the while his dedication and caring nature, the genuine friendships has, and his talent and hard work, lead to the character development of both himself and his group mates.

Series is a good balance of the normal idol stuff but has key differences. It's social media lite, and while it occasionally shows reactions for the reader's sake, the MC himself mostly doesn't see them because staying online for too long will give him a panic attack. MC is talented but has legit PTSD which impacts his ability to do normal idol activities. At the same time, everyone around him knows his situation and is sympathetic and supportive. It's shown that the MC's mental health and his past experiences have impacted the operations of the entertainment producers who work with them now.

All and all, a solid idol series. Be prepared to develop anxiety for the MC, however. 5/5 for me <<less

Dropped it after I realized I can't differentiate the protagonist's group members from each other after reading a whooping 211 chapters since they often appear as a set. I can't put their names to their assigned traits. The other representative members of friendly groups had more personality than Haewoon's members combined.

My biggest pet peeve as it often happens in idol/celebrity novels is how public reactions from netizens and fans tend to overwhelm the actual content of the novel, there's even a perspective dedicated to the stalker's warped obsession of the... more>> protagonist ffs. That's insane.

Wish things like this was keep to the bare minimum since it's only to check up on public perception and the poor dude is already traumatized by being used as a scapegoat to raise ratings of the survival show.

The stage concepts and songs aren't really memorable either. I liked the idea of a guy who is a victim of evil editing and then used as a black sheep add on member to unite the dwindling fandom of a nugu group together though.

Another thing I enjoyed is that the members apart from mister shut in, are all foodies so I'm mercifully not exposed to another round of starvation diet. Also the industry seniors are friendly. <<less

The translation is really bad and hard to understand, though it really isn't helped by how the writing seems to be pretty bad as well. It feels like there's a bunch of bits and pieces important to the story that are either very briefly mentioned or skipped over completely, leading to confusion.

For example, the MC has some sort of premonitions or has experienced some kind of time travel shenanigans (it's really not explained well) which provide the MC with a ton of information that almost feel like plot armor or... more>> some way to give the MC a shallow reason to have changed. It would have been much better and easier to understand/enjoy if the writing was clearer about the premonitions/regression or if this was skipped entirely.

A system roulette thing also got thrown in that seems really unnecessary and doesn't feel connected to the rest of the story - it's almost like the author just wanted to have a system in there as an excuse for the MC's improvement and reason for the MC to be able to do inhuman acts. This system gives the MC huge rewards with very little effort on his part and makes the story boring and predictable. The system in Debut or Die (which people seem to be comparing this to) at least had a bit of a reason to exist and didn't just give the MC a bunch of insane abilities.

These are only two example of problems in this story, and I've encountered a lot more despite only having read up to chapter 10. I really tried to work my way through it since I didn't have anything else to read but I just couldn't. I don’t recommend this unless you have literally nothing else. <<less