Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 199

“What did you just say about my kid?”

“Hyung, you become strangely unobjective when it comes to your younger sibling, you know? I think he could stab someone. He has some kind of core belief, and if you ask him whether a person’s life or protecting that belief is more precious, I think he’d answer the latter…”

Lee Hyunjae, who was speaking up to that point, suddenly looked at me. Seeing the look in his eyes, a mix of realization and fear, broke my heart.

“…Okay, then.”

Lee Hyunjae, having grasped my answer and expression, let out a deep sigh of relief.

However, even if he is my tutoring student, there are things he shouldn’t say.

“You’ll have to get a draft of the lyrics done by today.”

“…Yes?”

“By the end of the day.”

I carefully took hold of Lee Hyunjae’s shoulders and smiled at him.

“You won’t be able to leave until you do.”

“Ah… but now there’s that piece of paper. Eun-Gwang hyung……”

Quiet, the sin of touching family is grave, Hyunjae.

* * *

Jinhan was half collapsed. Next to him, Hyunjin was laughing like crazy. And Mok-hwa, holding his phone, was seriously and solemnly writing something.

Inside Hoppipolla, the other members slowly exhaled, as the three were known as the Three Troublemakers—meaning they could create any kind of incident if they were together.

“…What, exactly, is happening?”

“Jinhan hyung, can’t even flirt with Mok-hwa… so weak……”

“Should we protect our leader? Or should we switch lines now?”

“No way, not Mok-hwa.”

“In my opinion, Jinhan hyung did something wrong. There’s no way Mok-hwa would act like that for no reason.”

“Then it must be hyung.”

“Right.”

Kim Hyunjin ran up to them and shouted.

“Ah! I love Hoppipolla so much!”

Saying that, unlike when he was the youngest in Blossoms, his head was full of thoughts of who to mess with. He was a natural-born prankster who loved playing jokes.

And next to such Hyunjin, Mok-hwa hyung stood firm like the ‘Mok(木)’ [wood] character in his name, blocking Hyunjin. If it weren’t for Mok-hwa, Hoppipolla’s youngest would have been fed up several times over.

But the only one who could shake Mok-hwa’s mentality was Jinhan. Since Jinhan knew every member’s personal affairs inside out, he sometimes unintentionally touched Mok-hwa’s sensitive side.

So when those three get together, most of the incidents and accidents within Hoppipolla are created.

Usually, when Hyunjin is about to play a prank, Jinhan bursts Mok-hwa’s mental state, and in the gap where Hyunjin runs wild with his restraints released, a one-on-one duel between Jinhan and Mok-hwa occurs.

So, the Three Troublemakers are worth observing like this because they are easy to use as material to talk about at fan signing events or X-lives or W-apps [Weverse live, a fan communication platform].

“…Uploaded.”

“Keuheuh. What, what did you upload, Mok-hwa!”

“‘Our hyung is Sinclair!’”

“…Huh?”

“If I’m not the only one who heard it, everyone needs to know.”

‘Then, conversely, if you’re the only one who heard it, no one should know, you crazy bastard!’ The words rose to the tip of my throat, but I endured with miraculous patience.

‘What, power! This doesn’t make sense!’ Jinhan complained inwardly, shedding tears of lamentation at this reality where fists are closer than knowledge.

* * *

[WTF is this]

(Hoppipolla’s official Twitter account, along with a photo of Mok-hwa, has a few short lines posted. The content is as follows: ‘Wish! Are you all doing well? I’m excited to think about seeing Wish [Hoppipolla’s fandom name]. I found out today that our hyung wrote this title track, so it feels even more special! See you soon, Mok-hwa.’)

Is this real?

Comments

―Wow WTF is this

―LOLOLOLOLOL This is right LOLOLOLOLOLOL ―No matter who Ji Dong-hwa chooses, he always picks a name like his LOLOLOLOLOLOL ―Hey, that’s why you shouldn’t fight with Hoppipolla. Hoppipolla is basically one with our kids?

└True true, Hyunjin being there is a plus, Mok-hwa being there is a plus, and the innocent-looking leader being close with Dong-hwa and Eden is perfect ㅇㅇ ―From now on, attacks on Hoppipolla will be taken as insults to Blossoms. Hoppipolla’s new title ‘Flower in me’ is so good.

Today, as usual, Soobin, a fan of Ji Dong-hwa, who was doing community stuff in the lecture hall, screamed out loud, not even noticing everyone’s attention on her, her hands trembling.

‘Ji Dong-hwa, you’re driving me crazy, WTF. Are you even human? How is your workload, your quality, why!’

Why is he working alone like a professional composer?

And then, Uhjin, a fan of Hoppipolla, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression, inadvertently read the text on the phone Soobin had thrown down.

And then, as usual, an exclamation burst out. Again, everyone’s attention was focused on the two people standing in the lecture hall 4 minutes before the start of class, but they didn’t care.

Like magnets attracting each other, their heads slowly turned. Soon, their eyes met.

“…You, Roommate Nut [a reference to their shared interest]?”

“…Yeah.”

The truth revealed.

The paragraph where the secret of all situations is solved.

The grand finale that the two people’s winter vacation class had reached.

This play, which is half comedy and half tragedy, is called a tragicomedy these days.

##$##

I pressed hard on my aching head and racked my brains. Starting with whether this should be revealed now, thinking about it one by one, my head couldn’t help but ache.

1. It’s too early to reveal it later when I have more opportunities to work as a composer, saying, ‘Oh my gosh, it was actually me!’

There are still so many activities to do with our members, and I don’t want to create the image that I’m paying attention to other things. Seeing that there’s even a term called ‘actor disease,’ it’s clear that idol fandoms like it when group activities take precedence.

2. Already, there’s an atmosphere where Hoppipolla fans don’t want to associate with us. Honestly, I have no idea whether it will lead to improved relations or worsen them, but since life usually flows in the worst direction, let’s assume the worst.

3. And frankly, what happens to Diony’s position? It’s normal to wonder, ‘What kind of company are they that they use a song written by another idol as their title track?’ What if our Mok-hwa is discriminated against?

I sent several texts out of worry, but since I didn’t receive a reply, the headache became more severe.

“Haha, well, I understand why Mok-hwa did that.”

“What do you understand?”

“A fact that everyone knows is better than a secret that only I didn’t know.”

“…Okay.”

I don’t understand at all.

“Everyone, can’t you see a soul who suddenly failed to leave work right in front of you?”

When I and Ryu Eden were chatting before the start of the meeting, Team Leader Jang Haejin came in, wiping his eyes.

“Ah…, this timing of the reveal…, we were actually discussing it with Diony Entertainment. After all, it’s too advantageous for us. So… um, well, honestly, we feel a little good about it?”

Team Leader Jang Haejin smiled while wiping away his dark circles.

“We naturally received a lot of interview requests, but it’s a bit difficult to promote this on a large scale……. It’s also funny to be at odds with Diony? We weren’t originally on bad terms.”

Surprisingly, it seems that was the case, even though there were frequent rivalries.

“It seems right to handle this a little on our end since this is too political. That’s what we’re here for.”

The concentration of the team leader’s dark circles is expected to increase continuously.

“But, this is outside of work, Dong-hwa.”

“Yes.”

“Mok-hwa…, why suddenly?”

I don’t know that either.

“Jealousy. I heard their leader knew.”

Team Leader Jang Haejin nodded at Ryu Eden’s firm words.

“Oh, that might be a little upsetting.”

Is this what Lee Hyunjae was talking about, ‘cases where common sense is divorced from the world’? I don’t know exactly why it’s upsetting, but let’s accept it for now.

“Give him a little more attention.”

“If I give him more than I do now, it’s surveillance.”

“Really? Oh, your brother is like that……”

* * *

“Mok-hwa! How could you post such a sensitive topic on social media without a second thought! You should have consulted me first!”

Mok-hwa lowered his head with the expression of a pitiful puppy. Unlike his hyung [older brother/male friend], he was a human with social skills, so he knew that he had to act meek in situations like this. If it were his hyung, he wouldn’t act as meekly as he is now, even if he lowered his head, unless he really thought he had done something wrong.

“No, I think I would have been so excited that I would have wanted to brag too……”

The manager looked at Jinhan with sharp eyes. A look of deep reproach that said, ‘What were you doing while he was going on a rampage without stopping him?’ That’s what a leader’s position is originally.

“I’m sorry……”

And of course, Jinhan also knew that he had to act meek in situations like this, so he lowered his head first, putting his unfair feelings aside. Of course, they were hitting each other’s hands under the table, bickering.

The manager blankly looked at the two of them before nodding. It’s strangely difficult to scold these two. Thinking to himself, he sighed deeply and wrapped up the situation.

“No, it’s not a privacy issue…, it’s a difficult thing for us, but it’s not something that will have an impact on you. Just refrain from mentioning it until we resolve it well. Got it?”

After the manager left, Jinhan put his arm around Mok-hwa’s shoulder and asked.

“Reason.”

“Rage.”

“…He wasn’t like this. The moment hyung’s story gets involved, he goes into berserker mode.”

“It would have been a happy ending if hyung had told me.”

“Me, or Dong-hwa sunbae [senior/mentor].”

“Both. No, how could you even think of keeping that a secret until my birthday. And why didn’t hyung tell me.”

Mok-hwa shook off Jinhan’s hand.

“But, I think it would have been better to tell me.”

“Really?”

“To our hyung.”

Jinhan couldn’t help but laugh. Did he forget that we are a different group from sunbae.

“Well, I guess so. It would be media play.”

“And us too.”

“Oh, I’m a little curious about that. Why?”

“Because this is the first time something like this has happened in the idol scene. It’s normal for attention to be drawn.”

Mok-hwa thought. If this kind of issue is revealed when we need to gain popularity right now, it will be helpful.

Later, after time has passed, if this fact is revealed about 3 years later as Dong-hwa hyung wants, there will be no benefit falling to us. In that case, it’s better to reveal it now and tarnish the company’s reputation a little, but for us to rise. It is entirely the right thing to do from the perspective of ‘Hoppipolla’.

“That’s right.”

“…Hyung calculated everything too. You could have stopped it if you wanted to.”

“Hahaha, no way.”

“Something you can’t do with your own hands. You let me blow it up under the pretext that I’m not easy to control, right? I know everything, hyung.”

“I hate you sometimes, Mok-hwa.”

“I hate hyung too, sometimes.”

At that moment, Kim Hyunjin burst into the room.

“Okay, I heard the execution ceremony is over, so I brought snacks!”

“I hate that the most.”

Jinhan’s cold assessment. He’s a great guy who has never been scolded by the manager or team leader, and at the same time, is involved in every incident.

“Me too.”