Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 209

#209.

“I’m home~!”

Just as Woochul was fiddling with his phone and lounging on the sofa,

Lui entered through the dorm’s front door.

He sounded excited, as if he had a great time going out after a long while.

“Oh, Lui, you’re home early?”

“Seongchan said he had a schedule, so we parted ways early.”

Lui had been out for a late lunch with Infinite Boys’ Seongchan and Illusion’s Yoon Jeonghoon, who co-hosts a show with him.

The three of them got along well and made sure to see each other whenever they had time.

‘Gyuseong is going to be jealous again.’

Woochul chuckled inwardly, knowing that Gyuseong subtly envied Lui hanging out with his older friends.

Then, he sniffed, catching a scent from Lui’s clothes.

“What, what’s this beef smell?! Don’t tell me lunch was beef?!

“Yeah~! Jeonghoon recommended this place, and it was so good! The server grilled it perfectly, and it just melted in my mouth!”

Lui smacked his lips again, clearly savoring the memory.

Woochul sat up straight on the sofa, frowning.

“What, if you were eating beef, you should have taken me!”

“I asked you to come along, but you said you were too lazy…….”

“Hey, Kim Lui! You didn’t say it was beef!”

Lui played innocent at Woochul’s scolding, saying, “Did I not?”

“You totally did that on purpose, didn’t you!”

“Just kidding. Let’s go together next time. Oh, do you want to go tomorrow?”

“Oh, tomorrow?! Sounds good! But can you eat it again tomorrow?”

“It was tasty enough to eat again! Totally possible!”

“Wow. That good? Awesome. Let’s get Gijun to buy it for us!”

“Oooooh! Great! My wallet is crying a little because I paid today.”

The two of them were a great match and quickly got excited.

They were a perfect example of counting their chickens before they hatched.

“So, did you just eat meat and come back?”

“No. We also had coffee nearby and talked a bit.”

Since they had the same profession, they had things in common.

At the same time, they were in different situations, so they could open up, share their stories, listen, and relieve stress.

For example, Seongchan was worried that Infinite Boys wasn’t growing anymore.

He felt satisfied that they had reached a certain level, but he also felt like they had reached their limit, which worried him.

Yoon Jeonghoon, who had started with the limitation of being in a ‘band,’ had been feeling a sense of routine lately.

He wanted to quit being an MC [Master of Ceremonies] on music shows, but he felt like he would be wasting his time if he didn’t do at least that, so he was holding on to it.

Listening to his older friends, Lui sensed that he would have similar concerns someday.

In fact, if you were to pick the most ‘successful’ of the three right now, it would be Lui, both as a team and in terms of individual fandom.

However, the two older friends didn’t envy Lui but rather understood and worried about him.

After all, being a celebrity was a job with many ups and downs.

When the public’s attention was focused on you, it was overwhelming, but when it disappeared, you felt regretful and thirsty for it.

So, knowing better than anyone how easy it was to suffer mentally, they gave Lui, who was still young, a lot of advice in advance so that he wouldn’t get hurt too much.

It was all thanks to Lui being so friendly to his older friends, but it was also possible because Seongchan and Jeonghoon were better people than he thought.

Of course, Lui, who had such a strong support system within his team, wasn’t likely to have a hard time in the first place, but it was still valuable for him to hear various stories from colleagues outside the team.

“…Seongchan has more concerts in Japan than in Korea these days, so it seems like he’s having a hard time being abroad all the time. Korean fans are also complaining a lot…….”

“I guess so. We had a hard time even though we were abroad for less than a month.”

Lui briefly shared his conversation with Woochul.

Woochul nodded as if he understood Seongchan’s difficulties.

“But Japanese concerts make more money, so the company keeps making him do it.”

Woochul muttered, pointing out the realistic aspects like an adult.

He didn’t seem like the same Woochul who had been thoughtlessly planning to mooch off his older brother’s wallet just a moment ago.

“That’s right…. There are Japanese fans too…….”

It wasn’t a problem with an easy answer anyway.

Seongchan probably didn’t tell Lui and Jeonghoon to find an answer.

He just said it because sometimes things get resolved when you talk about them.

“So, were you just in the dorm the whole time, hyung [older brother or male friend]?”

“Huh? Yeah…. I guess I’m getting old; I like resting inside now?”

Lui chuckled in disbelief at Woochul’s teasing, even though they were only a year apart.

“Kim Lui, what’s with that rebellious smile?”

“I was smiling instead of Gijun, hyung?”

“Oh…. Then I have nothing to say.”

As Woochul giggled, Lui accurately pointed out why Woochul had been in the dorm.

“Hyung, you were just trying to watch the edited version of again.”

“That’s right. You know me too well now. I’ll have to kill you.”

Bang, bang. Woochul pretended to shoot a gun, and Lui got up to change his clothes.

Woochul clicked his tongue in disappointment when Lui didn’t play along.

And then, as Lui had said, he watched the edited version of , which he had been focusing on.

To be honest, itself didn’t become a ‘smash hit’ compared to the initial expectations.

Han Seokwoo’s lack of ability, who was the center of the play, was painful.

However, Woochul personally received a fairly satisfactory report card.

The role of ‘tsundere [a character who is initially cold but later shows a warmer side] childhood friend who has a crush on the female lead,’ which Woochul played, was perfect for capturing women’s hearts, even though he wasn’t the main character.

His screen time increased, and his charm became more apparent as the story progressed.

Woochul perfectly embodied the role with his decent acting skills and personal charm, and the viewers of reached the point where they wanted the female lead to end up with Woochul, the sub-male lead, instead of the male lead.

If this was just fans who liked MOST member Woochul acting this way, there would have been a lot of backlash from web drama viewers, but the majority of web drama fans were hardcore sub-male lead supporters in the first place.

The fans even created ‘female lead-sub male lead’ edited versions and enthusiastically promoted , and everyone watched the edited versions as if they were possessed, as the story was one that anyone could be excited about, and the visuals and acting were a perfect match.

As a result, the number of views of the edited version exceeded the number of views of the original video.

Woochul made a definite impression as an actor, even though it was a web drama…….

The bigger effect was that Woochul gained a lot of enthusiastic teenage fans.

He always had some, but the number of teenage fans among Woochul’s fans had recently increased exponentially, all thanks to the web drama.

Recently, Woochul was a ‘celebrity that teenagers want as a male friend’ and a ‘boyfriend idol’ among teenagers.

The numerous selfies that Woochul had posted on Tweety [a fictional social media platform, similar to Twitter] were shining as the phone backgrounds of countless teenagers.

“Hehehe…….”

Woochul happily watched the edited version, which he had already seen about ten times, one more time.

The lacking acting was noticeable the more he watched it, but at the same time, he always felt good.

Thanks to this, he was also receiving offers to appear in other dramas from time to time.

“Handsome, this guy. Really.”

It was when Woochul was praising himself with satisfaction.

Beep, beep, beep, beep. The sound of the digital door lock being pressed was heard once more.

Lui, who had changed his clothes, came out of the room in a hurry, saying, “Is it the hyungs?”

Gijun and Dojae were the ones who opened the door and came in.

“Hyungs!!”

“Oh! How did it go?!”

Woochul jumped up and greeted the two, asking.

Lui’s face also showed twice as much joy as usual.

“How did it go?!”

Dojae chuckled as he watched Lui ask the same question as Woochul.

It was impossible to figure out the answer just by looking at Gijun’s stiff face.

Dojae was smiling, but he was always smiling at the members anyway.

“Lui, you need to study English harder?”

“Oh my gosh!”

“Wow! So, we’re really doing it?”

Lui and Woochul, who immediately understood Dojae’s words, jumped up and down in joy.

Dojae, who was wearing a loose checkered shirt over a white short-sleeved shirt and horn-rimmed glasses for eye protection, raised the corners of his mouth and smiled a little more brightly.

“Yeah.”

Gijun and Dojae were on their way back from the office after having a video conference with Perriot and his team in the United States.

It was a few days ago that Perriot, who composed , had made a new offer.

It was a very good offer that MOST didn’t want to miss, even if it meant postponing their existing plans.

In fact, it didn’t interfere with existing plans.

It would only shorten the members’ vacation a little.

The members wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity, even if it meant resting a little less.

When MOST immediately sent an OK sign, Perriot rushed to get things done.

Today was the day when the company-level agreement was reached, and Gijun and Dojae attended as representatives of the members.

“We’re really…. Featuring on Justin Junior’s song…. Crazy.”

Woochul muttered, overwhelmed with emotion.

Justin Junior was a global pop star in the United States and around the world.

Although it was only a participation in a B-side track, it would be a huge deal if things worked out properly.

It was clear what kind of assessment Perriot had made of the MOST members’ skills while working on .

It wasn’t just about skills, but also about recognizing MOST’s value in business terms.

Justin wanted to expand his music world and fan base a little more through this album, and MOST was rapidly growing into an artist representing Asia beyond Korea.

Not only in Asia, but also in the Americas and Europe, the reaction after was unusual.

If MOST collaborated with Justin at this time, the synergy effect would be tremendous.

Gijun sighed as if the tension from the meeting was finally relieved, and he headed straight to the bathroom.

He was happy, but at the same time, he felt burdened.

Although he knew the burden that Gijun would feel, it was exciting for his younger brothers.

“So, did you talk to Justin today too?!”

“Is Justin handsome? Well, if you saw him on a laptop, it would be the same as seeing him on TV, right?”

Dojae took off his horn-rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes as he was bombarded with questions from the two.

Dojae, who had actively participated in the meeting conducted in English, was also feeling tired.

However, he didn’t forget to calmly answer his younger brothers.

“Justin didn’t come separately. I think we’ll only see him during the recording. If we work separately in Korea, we may not even see him during the recording.”

“Wow…….”

Lui and Woochul nodded.

It was a little disappointing if they couldn’t see him, but the more important fact than meeting Justin Junior was that they were participating in his album.

“Let’s tell Heungmin and Gyuseong hyung quickly too!”

Woochul said that and hurriedly opened the group message room on his phone.

Dojae smiled as he watched Woochul and Lui, who were excited.

***

And some time later.

The members, who thought they were going to the United States, were in a small rural town in a county they had never heard of before.