Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 288

“Next, Mok-hwa, please answer.”

“Of course.”

“Like dismounting a tiger mid-ride only to be eaten, what four-character idiom describes a desperate situation where one cannot quit halfway?”

Gihojise (騎虎之勢 – [literally, ‘riding the tiger’s back,’ meaning being in a situation where you can’t stop halfway]).

I pondered deeply. Did Mok-hwa really know this, or not?

Common sense quiz—what is common sense anyway?

In fact, the word ‘common sense’ has become a roundabout way of saying, ‘You’re dumber than me!’ But these days, who really knows four-character idioms?

“I’ve written it down.”

Mok-hwa was expressionless.

I carefully moved my gaze between her eyes and cheeks, asking,

“Do you know it?”

“Well, you know, I don’t really know four-character idioms these days.”

Truth.

“What about you?”

“I’m one point ahead, so how about I give you a hint? I’m feeling generous!”

Truth.

“I don’t know.”

Lie.

The time I’ve spent raising you hasn’t been in vain, Mok-hwa. From the moment you hid that you ate the candy, I saw through everything.

“Then, did you write it down correctly, as you knew it?”

A fleeting look of bewilderment crossed Mok-hwa’s face.

As soon as I saw it, I pressed the button without giving her a chance to answer.

“Yes! Correct answer and successful prediction! Everyone gets 1 point!”

Mok-hwa pouted.

“I even acted flustered, why didn’t it work?”

“There’s no downside to getting it right.”

There’s no need for Mok-hwa to gamble in a situation where she knows the answer, as she doesn’t need to make a comeback and can’t predict when she’ll know or not know the answer.

Mok-hwa gave me the information that ‘she deliberately hid the fact that she knew it,’ and even acted ‘flustered after being caught,’ hoping for my mistake.

“Why don’t you make a mistake? What’s the point of beating your younger sibling?”

“I’m thinking of getting a wish ticket and exchanging it for ten shoulder massage coupons.”

“Old man.”

“Sorry to interrupt your chat, but I need to proceed….”

“Yes.”

I smiled and glared at Ryu Iden.

How dare you, traitor, interfere? Ryu Iden, seeing my gaze, took a deep breath into the depths of his lungs.

“Dong-hwa, you’re currently losing by one point, what are your thoughts?”

“I want to win quickly and go back to the dorm to brag to our team leader.”

“…Yes, okay. Next question, Dong-hwa. According to statistics released by the World Health Organization, this creature kills the most humans. What is it?”

It must be a mosquito.

The story flow of this broadcast goes from Go—arm wrestling—quiz show, in that order, and it’s a scene to show me how much Mok-hwa has grown on his own.

So, it would be polite to do my best.

* * *

Ji Mok-hwa thought about the choices his brother could make.

Since hyung [older brother] wants to win, he’ll try to close the one-point gap and further increase the score.

Then, strategically, it’s more rational to aim for a question that Ji Mok-hwa doesn’t know, rather than deliberately getting it wrong. Because it’s a situation where he can definitely get 1 point.

The hunch that he threw the first move as a gamble was right, and the available options would have narrowed even further.

There’s no way he doesn’t know the answer to that question. He seems like he’ll get it right, and I think it’s rational, but…….

“I’ve written it all down.”

Apart from the fact that there’s no way he doesn’t know the answer to the question, he was bothered by the fact that there’s no way hyung wouldn’t think what he could think.

What if he predicted that I would think this way and gave the wrong answer?

“Would you like to ask a question before predicting?”

“Yes.”

He cleared his throat.

“Hyung, I hate secrets.”

“I guess so.”

A look that said, ‘Otherwise, would you have made such a big deal out of it?’

As expected, he also knows. He knows why I’m making such a fuss.

“If there are any secrets, I wish I didn’t know anything I don’t know, and I wish I was the only one who knew what I know.”

Ji Mok-hwa nudged at his brother’s conscience. It’s clear that Iden hyung told him.

“How come Iden hyung knows something I don’t know? It’s so unfair.”

“…That’s true.”

“So give me just one more point. I didn’t say anything during the Go game, I just played.”

Ji Mok-hwa knows. Ji Dong-hwa’s biggest weakness is that he’s weak to him. If he whines, he’ll usually give in, and he’ll put up with it even if he loses out.

Ji Dong-hwa was silent for a long time at Ji Mok-hwa’s grumbling. He chuckled and then nodded.

Oh yeah! Ji Mok-hwa cheered. Because he’s sure that if he gets one more point, he can definitely win.

“Then, please answer yes or no to the next question.”

Nod. The promise was made.

“Did you write it down correctly?”

“No.”

He immediately pressed the prediction button.

One of the strategies he had been thinking about in advance, whining.

Since he was young, if he said he wanted to eat just one more candy in a cute voice, hyung would eventually take out one more. Of course, not a second time.

Silence flowed, and the moment Ryu Iden shouted the announcement, the words ‘Mosquito, X’ appeared on the screen.

“Correct answer, and prediction failed, Dong-hwa gets 2 points.”

Ji Mok-hwa was dumbfounded. He had no idea what he had just been through.

Since he wrote down the correct answer anyway, he thought there was nothing he could lose, but now he lied to his younger brother…….

“…Oh my god.”

Turning his head, which was so stiff it creaked, he saw his brother smiling gently.

“You’ve grown up, Mok-hwa.”

Where did the hyung who used to accept him when he acted spoiled go, and only the hyung who looked at him coldly remained?

Ji Mok-hwa felt some kind of emotion rising from deep within his chest.

Ah, what is this, it feels good. I never imagined that there would be a time when being betrayed would feel good.

Because that betrayal is an expression of his intention not to forgive him at all, and literally means ‘you’ve grown up.’

Because a human who gets serious when arguing with a child is not a real human.

The expressionless face he had been maintaining collapsed, and a real smile popped out.

Our hyung knows that the purpose of this broadcast isn’t just to reveal secrets.

“Hyung, I’m so touched right now.”

Then Ji Dong-hwa also erased his expressionless face and smiled brightly.

Really, it’s a mysterious thing that a cold face can become so warm when it smiles.

“Me too.”

An emotion achieved through a single betrayal.

Everyone here, except for the brothers, just thought, ‘What the hell are they talking about?’

* * *

With rational calculations, suspicions, and expectations and failures going back and forth, only one last question remained.

“Currently tied at 12 to 12!”

When Ryu Iden clapped, Ji Mok-hwa also cheered and clapped along.

He was exhausted from dragging it this far, but he couldn’t be tired in front of the camera.

On the other hand, Ji Dong-hwa was clapping in the same way, but he didn’t seem tired at all. It was a game where he just had to live as he usually does.

In an exciting situation, Ryu Iden smiled as he looked at the last question.

“Mok-hwa-ssi! You’re on the verge of victory!”

“If I get a wish ticket, I plan to use hyung as my slave for about a week.”

“It’s quite different from Dong-hwa-ssi, who said he would exchange it for massage coupons.”

“Still, I’m his younger brother, after all.”

“Yes, I often use that excuse when I’m rude to my older sister. Then, Dong-hwa-ssi, have you had a change of heart?”

“Yes. If I win, I have work left to do at the dorm, and I plan to ask him to help me.”

“…Oh, I see.”

Ahem, a dry cough came out involuntarily.

Ryu Iden cautiously suspected that ‘work’ might be cleaning up his corpse and took out the last question.

“Mok-hwa-ssi, here’s the question.”

Ji Mok-hwa was nervous. Because he could tell what was coming soon.

“What is the name of the country where the Renaissance first began in Europe?”

In the final situation, it’s a tie, and the answer is Italy.

You can’t choose an option to deliberately get it wrong. You have to get it right to at least end in a tie, and if you deliberately get it wrong, you could lose.

Between the choices of ‘a draw is break-even’ and ‘you might lose if you’re wrong,’ it’s obvious what to choose.

“…I’ve written it all down.”

Then, without the usual conversation, Ji Dong-hwa immediately pressed the screen.

“Prediction is over.”

“Yes, great! Shall we check!”

And the words ‘Italy, X’ appear on the screen.

Oh dear, oh my god, Ji Mok-hwa sighed. He read everything. Even the psychology of wanting to avoid at least a draw.

“Incorrect, prediction successful, Dong-hwa gets 1 point!”

Whether it was because the budget was insufficient (he actually overinvested in the set), Ryu Iden directly held a confetti basket and threw it at Ji Dong-hwa.

In front of the shabby platform, under the shabby confetti, Ji Dong-hwa was rubbing his cheeks and soothing his stiff muscles.

“He’s my brother, but he’s really ruthless.”

To have read that far meant that the outcome of this game was entirely in Ji Dong-hwa’s hands.

“That was fun.”

Whether his cheeks were all relaxed, Ji Dong-hwa looked at Ji Mok-hwa and smiled brightly.

With a bright smile and even saying it was fun, had he ever said he genuinely enjoyed any of the games he played with Dong-hwa hyung in his life?

Yes, the fact that he lost by 1 point is precious.

Next time, Ji Mok-hwa vowed, he would bring a slightly more certain game and win in Mok-dong’s play [Mok-dong is likely a reference to their hometown or a place they frequent], and smiled back.

* * *

At the point when Mok-hwa went to film the interview, I stood in front of Ryu Iden, who had business left to do.

I grabbed Ryu Iden, who was slowly backing away, and put him in an empty waiting room.

“Ryu Iden.”

“Hyung, it hurts Iden’s feelings when you call me by my last name…….”

“Third-person perspective isn’t for times like this.”

Ryu Iden’s body shrank at the contemptuous gaze.

The price of trust is heavy, didn’t I say that before? But how? I wouldn’t have been so disgusted if you had revealed that you were a double spy.

“I was crazy to choose to betray hyung, but there’s a reason!”

“Tell me.”

“First of all, I feel a sense of kinship with Mok-hwa-ssi’s suffering, and I know how much he must have suffered…….”

I sat on the sofa and crossed my legs.

On the other hand, Ryu Iden had a look in his eyes that wondered if he was allowed to sit down, but I didn’t say a word, ‘You can sit down.’ I didn’t tell him to stand, so what do I care?

“And, well, he said he’d give me Dong-hwa hyung’s past photos! I’m also a human who’s famous in the industry for liking Dong-hwa hyung, right? How can I just ignore it!”

Since it’s come to this, Ryu Iden straightened his shrunken body and came forward in a ‘do your worst’ manner, as if he had decided to be confident.

Kinship is the underlying emotion, and that was the main purpose of the betrayal.

“If you had told me, I would have given it to you.”

“…Really?”

Ryu Iden had a look of disbelief mixed with anticipation.

If you had asked, I would have given it to you. It wasn’t a relationship of trust that couldn’t even share this much.

“Not anymore, though.”

This kind of betrayal is really not right. It’s a betrayal that has no emotion or fun, and is only for personal gain. It can be seen as the cause of society’s ills.

Even Hobbes would have come and shaken his head, saying, ‘I never assumed they would be so selfish…….’

“…Not anymore?”

I smiled at him. My right corner of my mouth may have been twitching because I had been holding onto my cheek muscles for so long, so it might have looked like I was sneering.

“I had one wish ticket left to use on you, hyung.”

“Wow, Dong-hwa hyung, wait a minute, I’m really sorry. I’m so anxious because I don’t know what you’re going to make me do.”

That’s right, the price of trust is heavy, you damn dog.