Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 144

144.

“Wow, it’s nice seeing your face after only talking through texts. How have you been?”

Why ask again when he already asked in the texts? I nod. Yoon Seong-ho offers me some strawberry jam cookies and sits down in front of me. It’s been a while since we talked in the cafeteria.

“What happened?”

“Straight to the point?”

Yoon Seong-ho lets out a hearty laugh. I had somewhat expected this since Yoon Seong-ho took power, but I didn’t anticipate such a rapid change.

“Um… where should I start?”

Yoon Seong-ho looks up at the ceiling, reminiscing about the past.

“Torture.”

But the answer actually comes from Ho-yeon, who suddenly appears from behind.

“He tortured them. All of them.”

I see. A reign of terror was the solution. And since Yoon Seong-ho is the type to easily offer rewards, he could have effectively established a one-man dictatorship if he had managed the balance well. Politically impressive. I’d give him extra points for faithfully adhering to the basics of dictatorship.

“Ho-yeon! Please! Don’t say things that can be misunderstood!”

I quietly stare at Yoon Seong-ho.

“Don’t look at me with suspicious eyes, you too!”

No, it sounds too plausible.

“That’s not it… I just called them in one by one and talked to them. Not like I was actually torturing them. I’m a very peaceful person!”

“For six hours each.”

Good heavens.

“Please, just be quiet, Yeon.”

“Every time they did something wrong, for six hours each.”

Oh my god.

“Sometimes, when they wouldn’t listen, he’d just sit them down and make them listen for 14 hours straight.”

That’s appalling. How can anyone talk for 14 hours straight?

“I’ve been through it too.”

Ho-yeon, what on earth did you do?

“Even if I didn’t say anything, I just had to sit there and listen. Couldn’t do anything else. Had to listen to what I did wrong, how much it hurt him, and how he hoped I wouldn’t do it again, constantly, endlessly.”

Ho-yeon furrows his brow as if recalling a terrible memory. Judging by the longest sentence I’ve ever heard from him, it must have been a truly awful memory.

“I only talked to you for an hour!”

Yoon Seong-ho, who was listening, shouts with a slightly flushed face. So, he used human rights education sessions, where you have to concentrate or the time increases, as a form of torture. The pinnacle of non-violence.

“…You’ve been through a lot, Seong-ho.”

Yoon Seong-ho seems embarrassed for some reason and lowers his head. When he raises it again, he has his usual smiling expression.

“I’m happy these days.”

I’m not sure if that’s the right way for the conversation to flow. I should just go along with it since he seems to want to pretend the story never happened.

“…Really?”

“It’s all thanks to you.”

What is, you jerk? No matter how I hear it, it’s happiness you earned through your own hardship. Yoon Seong-ho wouldn’t know the full story, and even if he did, this is Yoon Seong-ho’s success story.

“Honestly, there were times when I really thought, ‘Ah… I just want to go out and do a duet with Yeon.'”

“I’m still up for it.”

Yoon Seong-ho neatly ignores Ho-yeon’s interjection.

“Every time, you would send me texts, and they were so… comforting.”

“Seong-ho, I.”

“You too, of course, Yeon. Anyway, thank you. I made it this far thanks to you! If it weren’t for you two, I probably wouldn’t have been able to.”

Why do good people always attribute their accomplishments to others? Evil people act in the exact opposite way. Yoon Seong-ho needs to change his way of thinking. That is, he needs to praise his own greatness before expressing gratitude to others.

I hand a bottle of rice-flavored drink to Yoon Seong-ho. I bought it for myself, but it’s all I have to give right now.

“You did well, and you’re amazing, Seong-ho.”

“That’s right. Amazing.”

Yoon Seong-ho quietly stares at the rice-flavored drink in front of him.

“No matter who helped you, you did it. I would have quit a long time ago.”

“I didn’t quit because of you.”

“It’s nice that you’re grateful to me, but I want to praise you instead.”

“That’s right.”

I chuckle at Ho-yeon, who keeps adding a word here and there. I thought he didn’t talk much.

“Seong-ho, I hope you do too.”

Yoon Seong-ho slowly lowers his head and takes a few deep breaths. Then, he looks at me with slightly teary eyes and smiles.

“Ah… I really want to kidnap you into our group.”

Even in moments like this, Yoon Seong-ho doesn’t say that he shouldn’t have been eliminated from the survival show. It’s a subconscious expression of how much he cares about his group. Or maybe it’s affection for Ho-yeon.

“I’m against it.”

Why, you damn tiger? I’d be a good member.

“Seong-ho leader good.”

…Hmm, hard to understand. I haven’t fully adapted to Ho-yeon’s way of speaking yet.

“Even if Dong-hwa joins, I can still be the leader, Yeon.”

“I do it.”

What is he saying this time? I naturally look towards Yoon Seong-ho.

“Hey, of course, you’re already a big help. It’s not that you’re lacking, it’s just that it would be nice to have Dong-hwa too, that’s all.”

What are you doing, you crazy guys? I feel like a foolish human listening to the conversation between Hwanung [a mythical figure in Korean history] and a tiger. Why am I the only one who doesn’t understand? It’s an experience I’ve rarely had in my life, so I’m quite flustered.

As I’m blankly listening to their conversation—or code—someone suddenly pulls me back.

“Ta-da, sadly, Dong-hwa is ours!”

It was that puppy.

“Industrial spy Yoon Seong-ho, please give up now!”

“You should hear Dong-hwa’s opinion too, hyung [older brother/male friend]. Our God’s Eye isn’t bad these days, right? The fans are saying the kids are working really hard on stage these days?”

I take Ryu Iden’s hand off my neck, which is wrapped tightly around it, and ask Yoon Seong-ho.

“…Seong-ho, can we trade you for Iden hyung?”

“No way!”

“No way!”

Then Ryu Iden and Ho-yeon scream in unison.

“Sorry, Yeon hates it too much. I’ve also grown attached to our group.”

“…I understand.”

I can hear Ryu Iden’s scream next to me, but let’s ignore it for now.

* * *

On the way back to the waiting room after parting with Yoon Seong-ho, Ryu Iden opens his mouth.

“Dong-hwa hyung, you weren’t serious just now, were you?”

Ryu Iden says playfully, dragging out the end of his words. I quietly stare at Ryu Iden’s face.

“Of course, I wasn’t serious.”

“Oh, you scared me.”

Ryu Iden wipes away imaginary sweat with his hand and lets out a sigh of relief.

Come to think of it, wasn’t it wrong to say something like that, even as a joke? We should be more careful with close friends. …Let’s atone by being punished to speak my true feelings. So I don’t make this mistake again.

“…I’m proud to be in the same group as hyung.”

Ryu Iden grabs my shoulder, turns me around, and examines my face closely.

“…Why are you saying such touching things to me so often these days? Are you sick somewhere?”

I neatly push his hand away and continue walking.

“Shut up, Iden hyung.”

“I have to go with my proud member, Dong-hwa—”

“Stop it, hyung.”

I can’t allow anyone to act cute and drag out the end of their words except for Mok-hwa.

I keep Ryu Iden at a distance and head back to the waiting room.

“Ah, that’s right. Come to think of it, Dong-hwa.”

I glance at Ryu Iden.

“The company was talking about reforming your 말투 [mal-tu, way of speaking], you know?”

…Hmm? What does that mean? I’m not Yoon Seong-ho, so I’m not good at reforming.

“I didn’t say anything and just came out, but they were saying it would be better to lower it a bit rather than being too formal.”

I see.

“Honestly, I don’t know if we have to fix even that. Anyway, that kind of suggestion was floating around.”

I nodded. It would be too difficult to fix a way of speaking that’s been with me for thirty years, so if the company wants it, it would be a very long-term project.

“Come to think of it, why do you use such honorifics?”

“…I didn’t want to be told I was rude when I was young, so it became a habit.”

Originally, children who grow up without parents are bound to be criticized for their parents unless they properly manage every single word and action, and I didn’t want that.

Ryu Iden, as if understanding the past history condensed into a single word without saying it in detail, purses his lips as if embarrassed.

Oh dear, he’s caught it from Chae Ha-min.

“Uh, that’s, um.”

Why does Ryu Iden’s social skills stop working in situations like this? I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“It’s okay.”

Really, as long as I have the book written by my father and the sheet music written by my mother in my hands, it’s okay. What I can say is that it can no longer be a trauma.

* * *

The surprise release of the fan song became a central topic in the Blossoms fandom. Honestly, it was something close to an idol’s ritual or custom, but if it’s a song sung by your own 최애 [choeae, bias], the story changes.

“No, is this legal?”

Chae Ha-min’s fan, who ran into the 지동화 [Ji Dong-hwa] fan at a cafe after they both finished 음방 [eumbang, music show] duties, sighs deeply while listening to the song.

“Can they just distribute such a dangerous weapon of mass destruction like this? Isn’t the government going to confiscate it?”

Chae Ha-min’s fan agrees, even though she feels her eardrums hurting from the 육성 [yukseong, live] 주접 [joo-jeop, fangirling]. That’s how powerful the song is.

“I asked a friend who’s learning composition, and they said it’s based on classical music. Does Dong-hwa study classical composition too?”

It became classical-based because Ji Dong-hwa took the motif from a short melody that his mother had never released, but no one but Ji Dong-hwa knew that.

“…For sure, Dong-hwa must be crazy.”

There’s nothing more satisfying in a 덕질 [deokjil, fandom] life than seeing your 돌 [dol, idol] being faithful to their main job.

“…Wait, what the X, what is this.”

She unconsciously mutters a curse while looking at the fan community and SNS [social networking services].

“…Why, what exploded?”

Has a 병크 [byeongkeu, scandal] that can’t be left out of an idol 덕질 [deokjil, fandom] life exploded? Chae Ha-min’s fan freezes for a moment.

“No… it’s just that something so 개소리 [gae-sori, bullshit] is written like it’s true?”

She turns the laptop she was looking at to the other side. There was a video titled [Hot Group Blossoms, Circumstances of Internal Discord Revealed?!] uploaded.

“What, it’s a 찌라시 [jji-ra-si, rumor mill]. You 망할 것 [manghal geot, jerk]! You scared me, really.”

The content of the video was simple. It said that Ji Dong-hwa and Ryu Iden were having a great power struggle over internal power. And one of the pieces of evidence presented was a photo of Ji Dong-hwa grabbing Ryu Iden by the collar backstage. Judging from the composition of the camera, it seemed to have been secretly filmed.

“But Dong-hwa grabbing and shaking Iden is something that happens sometimes, right?”

“It’s 겁나 [geopna, very] 흔한 [heunhan, common]. Although he doesn’t even get shaken.”

Ji Dong-hwa’s fan, who spits out cruel facts without a care, examines the screen with a serious expression.

“…Ah, 씨 [ssi, shit], more 해충 [hae-chung, pests] are going to 몰리겠네 [molli-gettne, gather].”

“Originally, grabbing the heads of kids who are 뜨는 [tteu-neun, rising] is the rule of this 판 [pan, scene], right?”

If sales are slightly sluggish, it’s ‘declining’, and if they’re doing even a little well, it’s ‘rigged’. It’s a long-standing cultural heritage of the 돌판 [dol-pan, idol scene] created by some malicious people.

“…In the end, we’re the ones who suffer, 망할 [manghal, damn].”

“You’ve caught her 말투 [mal-tu, way of speaking].”

The sound of sipping coffee. The development of new media, like all technologies, has two sides. 망할 [Manghal, Damn] X-tube.

* * *

What a coincidence. Ryu Iden and I are sitting at the same table, looking at the comment section where 분탕종자 [bun-tang-jong-ja, trolls] are rampant today.

Today is a regular W-app [a live streaming app]. A time for Ryu Iden and I to have a conversation. And it just so happens that today our rumor of discord has surfaced.

Ryu Iden and I exchange conversations with our eyes and hand signals under the table, as always.

‘Turn it off?’

‘No way. They’ll misunderstand it as admitting the rumor.’

The company employee sitting in front of us quickly raises a sketchbook.

— Please show a lot of friendly 모습 [mo-seup, image] today! Please!

…With this 강아지 [gang-a-ji, puppy]? I struggle to suppress the sigh that’s rising. 망할 [Manghal, Damn], internet. Perhaps because it was originally developed as a military machine, its attack performance is truly amazing.