Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 289

Wasn't Planning to Be an Idol - 289

After finishing the personal interview shoot, Mok-hwa greeted me in comfortable attire.

Since the content was a joint creation by both companies, we had no further schedules, allowing us time for a leisurely conversation.

“Lee-deun *hyung* [older brother or male friend] complained to me.”

*Don’t you dare hang around my little brother, you traitor.*

“What did he say?”

“He kept pretending to cry, saying I shouldn’t keep secrets. What did you do to make him like that?”

“Nothing.”

I really haven’t done anything *yet*.

I want to think about it a bit. How to screw him over. The saying that anger should be expressed when you can be most rational is always right.

“Shall we go eat?”

“I’ll pay today.”

“If I use my wish ticket, will you let me pay?”

I paused while slinging my bag over my shoulder, my hand frozen.

As if wondering what I had heard. As if questioning whether I could use the wish ticket, earned after completing that difficult game, like that.

“…Are you just going to use it like that? You said you needed help with a project.”

I only said that to threaten Ryu Lee-deun; I don’t expect that much from you.

Just one thing: I hope you won’t be surprised by the story you’re about to hear today.

“I’ll do the project alone.”

“Looks like it’s not difficult then.”

“It’s the easiest project in the world.”

“Raise your expectations of me a little. Anyone would think I’m incompetent.”

Mok-hwa looked wronged, as if wondering if the thing I was going to ask him to do, even using a wish ticket for, was something trivial.

If we weren’t in such an open space, I would have liked to tell him everything here in detail.

“Let’s go now.”

He looked at me displeased, then muttered sullenly.

“I’ll freeload today, so cherish your wish ticket a little more. You never know. There might be something you need my help with.”

“No matter what happens, you’re going to help me anyway, right?”

What reason would I have to make a wish to you in my life, and what reason would I have to be dissatisfied?

Even if you committed a crime, I wouldn’t make a wish. I would persuade you, wait for you to come to your senses on your own, and watch you take full responsibility for everything.

My little brother, whom I raised, would never commit a crime, and he’s not the kind of person who doesn’t have the strength to return to the right path on his own.

The trust I have in my brother will remain with me even after being betrayed dozens of times.

“…Then use it to stop me when I try to hit *hyung* later.”

“Wouldn’t I have done something to deserve it?”

Really, the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the wish ticket is meaningless. Mok-hwa seemed to agree, wearing a convinced expression.

“So, where’s the restaurant?”

Ah, that’s right.

“A place where it’s safe to talk about secrets.”

And a place where the conversation we just had becomes completely useless.

* * *

A low, detached house. A quiet and secluded place.

The house our mother and father bought with all the money they could scrape together, making a big decision.

I don’t have time to manage it, so I maintain its security and cleanliness through a company, making it the most reassuring place in the world.

Thanks to that, it’s stopped in time, maintaining its old appearance.

I’m managing it like a cultural heritage. It would be nice to build a silver town [retirement community] near this house in my later years.

Mok-hwa, holding a shopping basket in one hand, looked around the house with excitement. His expression was so similar to the one he had at the dining table when he was young.

Just like this house, there are things about Mok-hwa that haven’t changed.

“I like *hyung’s* food more than expensive food.”

“Because you grew up eating it.”

They say the food that reminds you of old memories is the most delicious.

Is it any wonder that the thing you want to eat most when you return to your hometown after living away for ten years is home-cooked food?

I went into the house and turned on the lights, and it was exactly as it had been when I last left.

“So, what’s on the menu today?”

“Spicy braised chicken.”

“I knew it. I could tell from the ingredients.”

Just like sometime in the past. I put the shopping basket down in the kitchen and took out the ingredients, making the dining table look like a home where people live.

In about three hours, not only will the appearance change, but the cold atmosphere flowing through the house will also disappear.

“What can I do?”

“Be my companion.”

“Ah, I feel guilty. We both came after working.”

“That’s the best thing for old people.”

“You’re still holding that against me!”

He sounded annoyed, but his face didn’t show it at all. He just looked happy.

I took out the chicken to prepare it and asked.

“So, what’s your motive for telling me about Ryu Lee-deun?”

I’m grateful, but you can’t break the terms of a deal.

Mok-hwa didn’t just sit still; he took out a cutting board and knife and handed them to me.

“Well, *hyung* might not like me using this word.”

“What is it?”

“Because I was annoyed.”

Mok-hwa, that’s a slang word.

“…Why?”

“I told you.”

Mok-hwa smiled as he took out the vegetables and washed them in water.

“A secret should either be known only to me or to no one.”

Mok-hwa also took a cutting board and a knife and cut an onion in half.

“Lee-deun *hyung* seemed to know, so I wanted him to suffer a bit.”

Saying that while holding a knife and smiling, well, that’s something.

“I was going to tell you too.”

“The order was wrong.”

“Ryu Lee-deun happened to be right in front of me when I made up my mind.”

Let’s not mention that I revealed it to Chae Ha-min while drunk. That was something I could say because I was half-prepared to forget it.

“Ah, we should have been in the same group. Do Ha-min *hyung* and the others know too?”

I have to be honest.

“…Yes.”

The knife stopped abruptly; the onions going into the spicy braised chicken should be cut into appropriate sizes, but he was almost dicing them.

Diced onions, a revolution in spicy braised chicken.

“Then, I’ll have to listen while we eat, me too.”

With a thud, the knife work ended, and Mok-hwa looked at me with a refreshing smile.

“Why *hyung* became an idol, and what it was that you hid from me so much.”

You noticed a long time ago that I was going to tell you, my little brother.

You’ve really grown up. Enough that it doesn’t matter even if you know how pathetic I am and how stupid my choices have been.

[Pathetic? Your words are harsh.]

You just wait a little. There will be a chance for a trial version soon.

* * *

When we were about halfway through the meal, *hyung* opened his mouth.

“There weren’t usually days like this, Mok-hwa.”

Ji Mok-hwa, who was stuffing his mouth with spicy braised chicken because it was delicious (or rather, trying his best to look like he was enjoying it), had a look that said, ‘What nonsense are you talking about?’ with the spoon still in his mouth.

“It’s a pretty long story, so listen slowly. Don’t be too surprised.”

Still with the spoon in his mouth, Ji Mok-hwa nodded.

Has *hyung* ever started a story so seriously? Well, it’s a story he had to hide, so maybe that’s why.

He swallowed, took out the spoon, and shouted confidently.

“I won’t be surprised at all. Why would I be surprised to hear a story I wanted to hear?”

*Hyung* nodded with a look that said, ‘There’s absolutely no way.’ Just what is it that makes him so sure?

“*Hyung*, just wait. Depending on whether the matter is important or not, something big could happen.”

So, I absolutely won’t be surprised.

Seeing *hyung* so sure, Ji Mok-hwa, who was subtly asserting his pride because he was reminded of the fact that he had lost to *hyung* today.

But what pride? Ji Mok-hwa was momentarily stunned by the story pouring out of *hyung’s* mouth.

“…So.”

*Hyung* couldn’t be crazy, and he couldn’t be losing his mind, and he must be telling the truth.

“Then.”

That we were originally separated for life, and that he probably ran away, *hyung* said.

“*Hyung*.”

If he was going to run away and live like that, he should have lived well, but instead, he regretted it his whole life and became a *폐인* [wasted person] addicted to research, he said.

“To me.”

And then he was dragged to some bizarre place and sent his twenty-nine-year-old self here, he said.

“That was really bad.”

Believe it?

Ji Mok-hwa couldn’t easily do that.

Because he had always believed that *hyung* was someone who would be a support for him, even during the short time they had been apart.

“Sorry.”

*Hyung* just looked at me with sincere eyes, without uttering any denial.

“…There are two *hyungs*?”

“Yeah. They live different lives, but.”

“Really, what to do. I want to go punch that *hyung* in the solar plexus.”

*Hyung*, slightly relieved.

“I want to punch the *hyung* in front of me in the solar plexus too.”

*Hyung’s* face immediately hardened.

“Use your wish ticket?”

“…Wait a little.”

Ji Mok-hwa knew himself well. He wasn’t the type to give up easily just because *hyung* ran away.

To be exact, he would have searched for him his whole life, and cried when he found out that *hyung* had died.

In the end, he couldn’t win even once in his life.

He would have used all means to search for him, but he lost to *hyung*, who had lived avoiding him with the simple purpose of ‘not wanting to become attached to a home or place to live.’

“I will, definitely, someday, beat *hyung*.”

Ji Mok-hwa spat out each word as if chewing it.

“I’ll follow the other *hyung* too and punch him in the solar plexus.”

He’s still dumbfounded, but if his *hyung* makes a stupid choice, Ji Mok-hwa is ready to hit him without hesitation.

“…Okay.”

“Should I start studying science from today?”

*Hyung* pondered for a moment.

“Why don’t you ask directly?”

“…Directly? With the *hyung* far away?”

He said something strange.

“I’ll just convey it.”

“Is that okay? You said there were rules or something.”

“He said he would handle it.”

Even there, *hyung* is like that. He handles everything himself.

Ji Mok-hwa couldn’t easily open his mouth. He didn’t know what to say to the *hyung* who had lived alone his whole life, an event he had never experienced.

It’s unfamiliar. He’s afraid that it won’t be the *hyung* he knows.

But he’s the *hyung* who dedicated his whole life, and even after death, lived only for one goal. That goal is himself.

Ji Mok-hwa felt a lump in his chest.

He doesn’t even remember the taste of the spicy braised chicken he ate today, and after worrying about how to open his mouth, he nodded for now.

He wants to say something.

That’s the only thought he had.

“Then, I’ll read from now on.”

*Hyung* moved his eyes to the air. He moved his eyes as if reading a book, then hesitated and moved his lips. And after a long time of deliberation, he finally said one word.

“My beloved brother.”

Eyes that said he was dying of cringe.

*Hyung’s* eyes strongly expressed that it wasn’t his will.

“It’s been a while.”

Ji Mok-hwa suddenly teared up.

Because Ji Mok-hwa couldn’t know how much volume that short word, ‘It’s been a while,’ had.

“Now, is it *hyung*, I mean, the old *hyung*?”

The *hyung* in front of him smiled as if the word choice was funny.

“Yeah.”

“…Is there anyone next to you?”

“There’s a robot fox, a dog, a rabbit, and a dinosaur. I made them myself.”

He must be lonely.

The *hyung* in front of him, and the *hyung* in the text that *hyung* is looking at, must have been so lonely while he was gone, Ji Mok-hwa cried.

“But Mok-hwa.”

“…Yeah.”

*Hyung* tilted his head once as if the text in front of him was strange.

“It’s not you who lost, it’s me who lost.”

Only then did it feel real. How else could he read his mind?

“My dream was to hear your vivid voice with my own two ears one more time.”

Ji Mok-hwa couldn’t answer.

“I wanted to talk to you one more time, and I wanted to cook for you too. I was the one who whined for you to make that spicy braised chicken.”

*Hyung* didn’t open his mouth for a long time.

Ji Mok-hwa blankly stared at *hyung’s* lips, waiting for the words to follow.

“So, I lost. I won and lost at the same time, me.”

The *hyung* who said that looked so bitter.

Something that even *hyung* doesn’t know. Something that the old *hyung* knows at the same time.

The very act of deciding victory and defeat is like a dream to that *hyung*.

“And you damn brother.”

*Hyung* covering his mouth.

It was in a nuance that he hated the words ‘damn brother’ coming out of his mouth, but as promised, he didn’t add any words and just read.

“This is not a place for people to live. Don’t even think about coming.”

Until the end, that *hyung*, really. He tries to handle everything himself. While he’s living there himself, is he saying he’s not even human?

“Shut up, I’ll follow you no matter what.”

He was filled with venom. How can I leave him there to live alone?

“…No, will you wait for me?”

And for a moment, there was silence again.

“The human in front of you promised.”

*Hyung* smiled brightly and continued the rest of his words.

“To send you to my side. Just wait. I’ll punch you in the solar plexus as soon as I get there.”

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

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

아이돌이 될 계획은 아니었다
Status: Completed Author: Native Language: Korean
Bookmark
Followed 1 people
[English Translation] Imagine waking up one day, not in your familiar present, but a decade in the past! That's the reality for 29-year-old novelist Ji Donghwa, who inexplicably finds himself back in his younger body. Haunted by the mystery of his time-bending journey, a cryptic notification window appears, offering a bizarre solution: debut as an idol! Thrust into a world of dazzling lights, relentless training, and cutthroat competition, Donghwa must navigate the treacherous path to stardom, all while unraveling the secrets of his temporal displacement. He never planned for this, but destiny has a funny way of rewriting the script. Will he embrace the stage, or will the past consume him? Prepare for a captivating tale of second chances, unexpected dreams, and the electrifying world of K-Pop in 'Becoming An Idol Wasn’t On My Plan!'

Read Settings

not work with dark mode
Reset