Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 285

The last music show was over, and although there were event schedules, a fairly relaxed week began.

Although this peace would disappear in a week due to the concert, Lee Hyun-jae tried to enjoy this week to the fullest.

It was thanks to realizing that enjoying when you can and working when you have to is one way to live life happily.

But even though these days should have been comfortable, why was he so frustrated today?

“…I keep losing by just one move.”

“Me too.”

“Me too, Hyun-jae!”

Lee Hyun-jae, Chae Ha-min, and Ryu Iden, who were sitting in front of the Janggi [Korean chess] board, felt something strange. They were all losing by a narrow margin of one or two moves.

It’s not that their Janggi skills were similar.

Clearly, Lee Hyun-jae was much better, and among Chae Ha-min and Ryu Iden, Ryu Iden was slightly better.

This became clear when they held the ‘Blossom Janggi Tournament’ before Dong-hwa *hyung* [older brother or male friend] returned from the studio.

But how could it be so close like this? He wanted to quietly ask, ‘Are you guys toying with me right now?’

How did this tournament come about? The incident always started with something trivial.

Thanks to Dong-hwa *hyung* telling them all the secrets (Lee Hyun-jae still couldn’t believe it), they blurted out the facts they had been hiding.

What Mok-hwa *hyung’s* plans were, what kind of schedule sharing was happening between the two companies, and so on.

In the midst of this, when Lee Hyun-jae took out the Janggi board, saying it was a gift from Ji Dong-hwa, Chae Ha-min patted his chest and said, ‘I’m good at Janggi!’

‘*Hyung*… Janggi?’

‘Hyun-jae-yah, I’m hurt too!’

‘That’s not what I meant, I just didn’t know you’d like something like that.’

‘I was the Janggi champion in elementary school.’

Ryu Iden, who had just finished exercising and came out refreshed from the shower, joined the conversation between Chae Ha-min and Lee Hyun-jae, and the game grew bigger.

‘Wow, I think I only played it when I was in elementary school.’

‘I only know the rules.’

Ryu Iden smiled brightly at this and shouted, ‘Finally, it’s time for revenge!’

‘The winner gets to make one wish! Let’s have a Janggi match! I’ll call Dong-hwa and get permission to use it!’

Thus began the Blossom Janggi Tournament. Ryu Iden, who was used to losing to Lee Hyun-jae in board games, sharpened his knife for revenge.

Still, he wanted to win at least once since he was the older brother.

And by the middle of the tournament, Chae Ha-min, who had been confident as an elementary school champion, slowly revealed his weaknesses, and Ryu Iden, who had been trying to beat his younger brother who only knew the rules, was shedding bitter tears.

‘Ah! Ah! You said you’ve never played Janggi before!’

‘…Well, I have experience with board games, *hyung*. It’s abstract strategy.’

It was fun.

Not because he was winning, but because it had been a while since he had played board games like this.

While Lee Hyun-jae was absorbed in victory and wondering what to extort from Ryu Iden, the front door opened.

‘Still playing?’

Ji Dong-hwa, who had returned to the dorm after finishing work, boasted dark circles under his eyes. He asked lazily, as if he was a little tired.

‘The hierarchy is settled. I’m in first place.’

‘What’s the prize?’

‘Iden *hyung* said he’ll grant a wish.’

Then Ji Dong-hwa naturally sat on the opposite chair and smiled slyly.

For some reason, with darker dark circles than during the promotion period, Ji Dong-hwa placed a piece on the Janggi board.

‘Then, I’ll participate too.’

And back to the present, Ji Dong-hwa, who had climbed up by gradually trampling on the last place, had taken victory from Lee Hyun-jae.

“…*Hyung*, I was being played, wasn’t I?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

How could he be so sober?

Ha-min *hyung* had made a fuss about him coming back today, but he knew that he had been living in the studio for two days.

Even so, his eyes looking down at the Janggi board were sharp. How could he concentrate so much on Janggi?

“I wondered when I saw you completely focused when you were playing Janggi with Ha-min *hyung*, but I guess I can’t do it.”

He wanted to slap his past self, who was excited because he thought he could win when he was playing so close against the weakest player.

“It’s a game you can easily lose if you don’t concentrate.”

Ji Dong-hwa rubbed his eyes once.

“So, *hyung*, are there any restrictions on the wish ticket?”

“…It’s unfair, you’re over thirty!”

Shouldn’t you raise your honorifics first, *hyung*? Lee Hyun-jae thought so and patted Chae Ha-min’s shoulder, who had become gloomy.

‘Everyone is good at different things, *hyung*. There’s nothing to lose in the world if you’re not good at Janggi.’

“I would have won even if I played it in elementary school.”

His attitude seemed to be stating an obvious truth without any intention of humiliating others, and Lee Hyun-jae was quite impressed.

Did that *hyung* get experimented on in a research lab or something? Since he has such an unrealistic past, it wouldn’t be bad to add one more thing like that.

“That’s even more unfair. Why is the world like this, it’s unfair.”

“But, doesn’t Mok-hwa *hyung* know that *hyung* is good at Janggi?”

Otherwise, there’s no way he would have chosen this as a competition. The only people who are better than that *hyung* are probably not ordinary people.

“He probably knows.”

“Yes?”

* * *

Ji Mok-hwa smiled contentedly as he looked at his phone’s memo pad.

Purpose: To open the mouth of the *hyung* who keeps secrets.

Point of attack 1: He always keeps promises he makes with himself.

Point of attack 2: He has strong opinions, but if it doesn’t seem like he’ll die from doing it, he doesn’t really want to do it, but he goes along with the atmosphere.

Ji Mok-hwa turned off his phone.

To achieve his goal, he needed two things: an assurance that he would grant anything if he lost the game, and the creation of an atmosphere that made it seem like he had to fight.

The moment he received the offer to shoot a pictorial with Dong-hwa *hyung*, Ji Mok-hwa quickly put all his plans into action.

Just like Ji Dong-hwa thought, who said that even though his face resembled his mother, his personality was exactly like his father’s, his actions were amazing.

He strongly appealed to the company for the opinion that he wanted to do other content together while shooting the pictorial, and politely asked the other *hyungs* to help him fight, making the war in the family a foregone conclusion.

*Hyung* will hear about the content and pictorial with me a little later, but by then, it will feel more reasonable to just do it than to put in the effort to refuse.

The atmosphere has already been created, so it’s enough to win.

To do that, he has to give the impression that *hyung* can win whenever he wants.

“*Hyung*, what are you worried about?”

“I’m worried about how to beat Dong-hwa *hyung*.”

Ji Mok-hwa never trusts Kim Hyun-jin.

He pretends to be a supporter, saying he will help him, but in reality, he is like a war merchant, and it is obvious that he won’t care who wins as long as he has fun.

“Did you properly deliver the Janggi board to Hyun-jae?”

“Of course. You know I’m diligent.”

“You didn’t make a mistake, did you?”

“Oh, come on. What do you think of me? Hyun-jae didn’t say anything even when I messed with him!”

It must be a lie. His subtly flushed eyebrows explain everything.

Furthermore, he didn’t even believe that the members of Blossom were cooperating with him.

With Dong-hwa *hyung’s* personality, he would have used any means to bring them to his side.

His younger brother was angry that he wasn’t even talking to him, but he would try to find out all the information he could.

So, he just needs to mix in some lies and spread them around. In war, deceiving the person the opponent trusts is always the best policy.

Ji Mok-hwa felt like he was going crazy with curiosity about what secret he was trying to hide that he had to do this.

If it’s really important, I’ll hit him. If anyone else knew about it besides me, I’ll hit him without hesitation.

“But *hyung*, are you good at Janggi? I think Dong-hwa *hyung* will be good at it.”

No, I’m going to get completely destroyed by Dong-hwa *hyung*, I’m terrible at it.

However, Ji Mok-hwa did not say what was on his mind.

“Of course. I won every time when I played with Dong-hwa *hyung* in the past.”

*Hyung* let me win every time. I thought I was really good when I was young.

So, let’s just pretend that the cute younger brother is recklessly showing off this time. Let’s pretend that he’s a cute younger brother who overestimates his skills.

Ji Mok-hwa wanted his *hyung* to come with a light heart and mistakenly believe that he could win.

He has to look like someone who can win if he puts his mind to it.

Originally, if you were going to fight, you had to pretend to be weak. There’s a reason why Sun Tzu’s Art of War, ‘War is deception,’ is a classic.

“*Hyung* will win easily. If you get the wish ticket, give me half.”

“Absolutely not. I’ll give it to you in money.”

How dare you try to make a wish to my *hyung*. That’s outrageous. That’s only allowed for family.

* * *

I organized the Janggi pieces.

I guess it’s custom-made, it’s very antique, too.

After being shocked by the last long johns incident, he said he would give a proper gift, so he prepared this. I’m proud of you, my brother.

“Then why did he choose Janggi? Something else would have been much better.”

“To make me lower my guard.”

For two days, I carefully thought about what my brother was thinking in the studio.

He deliberately put the Janggi board in Lee Hyun-jae’s care, and deliberately released information in a way that it would flow to me.

It can only be seen as trying to make me lower my guard in any way possible.

If he really chose Janggi because he was confident in it, it would have been better to take out the Janggi board right before, there’s no way he would have asked Hyun-jae to keep it like this.

He probably didn’t tell everything to Kim Hyun-jin, who is helping him.

It’s a bad idea to hope for luck in war, pretending to be clumsy and hoping that the other person will make a mistake. If he played Janggi like that, he would obviously lose to Chae Ha-min.

I was a little excited.

Why did our Mok-hwa forget that I was the one who personally broke down every plan he made because he didn’t want to go to the hospital since he was young? I feel like I’m back in my childhood.

First, should I mess with Jin *hyung*?

He can’t avoid my call, and he’s the closest person to Mok-hwa. We’re good senior and junior colleagues, so it’s okay to tell me some company secrets.

* * *

“Nice to see you, *hyung*.”

“It’s been a long time, indeed.”

Faces looking at each other with smiles, dressed up to the nines.

Mok-hwa and I are now standing face to face on a set decorated like a boxing gym.

It must have cost a lot of money, a place that looks like robots would fight in a sci-fi movie, with two pin spotlights shining on Mok-hwa and me.

“You must have been busy, I couldn’t reach you.”

“Yeah, a lot. I was also worried about this broadcast’s name. Revolution, the tree wins winter.”

“It’s a little different from what I know.”

This broadcast is titled ‘Reversal Brothers: Winter and Tree’.

“This project is irregular, but it will continue steadily in the future, *hyung*.”

“I’m hearing the program’s planning intentions for the first time today.”

Even the people in our company didn’t explain it to me, wow.

According to the information I found out by grabbing Jin *hyung* by the collar, team leader Jang Hae-jin and one of the collaborating PDs [Production Directors] were very enthusiastic, and the PD is probably that guy.

“This is a project to resolve when either I or *hyung* has complaints about each other!”

Following explanation. I finally heard the intention and direction of this program for the first time today.

Mok-hwa’s explanation can be summarized as follows.

This project, which started with the crazy idea of ​​turning domestic discord into content (provided by Mok-hwa), has the same meaning as a medieval nobleman throwing a glove.

Fortunately, this doesn’t risk your life, but it’s a format for resolving incidents through one-on-one duels.

Mok-hwa finished his explanation and gave a kind smile.

Come to think of it, our father had a quirky personality, how could he be so similar?

As someone whose personality resembles my mother, I couldn’t help but think he was crazy.

“Applicant, Ji Mok-hwa, reason, I want to resolve my accumulated complaints against *hyung*.”

As Mok-hwa finished speaking, lights came on above the boxing ring, and a futuristic arena sparkled.

What the heck are you doing, Mok-hwa? Why are you spending company money on this?

Mok-hwa, with a visual like a god descending as white light came in backlight, shouted.

“A custom where incidents must be resolved according to the wishes of the person who wins a non-violent game, isn’t it good? Let’s pass it down as our family tradition, to future generations.”

Saying that, our crazy brother smiled.