Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 97

97.

On the way back to the backstage after the performance, Lucid Dream approaches us with an admiring expression.

“Wow… is this a self-composed song?”

It’s from the songwriting trip, so of course, senior.

“Looking at the concept and lyrics, it might be a bit much, but your ability to pull it off is amazing.”

Lucid Dream praises us like crazy, then sees Nesquick following behind and changes his expression slightly playfully before approaching.

“…You did well, Nesquick-ssi?”

Nesquick, who was drinking water, also makes a sour face.

“Oh, our senior’s skills are also X-level, aren’t they?”

“How about correcting your 말투 [manner of speaking], you’re a public figure now, aren’t you?”

“Don’t you know I decided to become a rapper because I didn’t want to hear that kind of 개소리 [bullshit] and wanted to do whatever the X I wanted?”

Lucid Dream’s brow furrows slightly at those words, but he immediately returns to a gentlemanly expression.

“Oh, I wonder whose daughter you are, you have the same personality as my father.”

This time, Nesquick’s expression completely sours. But like a warrior in a dress, she faces him with that expression.

“Hey, 씨 [Hey, you], there are things you can talk about and things you can’t. You and I are both in the same boat as runaways.”

“So I tried to start a conversation to form an alliance, but who was it that was so impudent?”

“What’s with you, you ignored me when I said I was going to rap.”

“Did you forget that your dream changes so often it changes once a day?”

Listening to their conversation, I felt my mental state weakening slightly. In other words, I wanted to drop everything, go home, and bury myself in bed.

“…Dong-hwa, do siblings usually fight like that?”

Reader Chae Ha-min asks me cautiously.

“No. I’ve only fought with Mok-hwa… a handful of times.”

Of course, the problem is that the handful of fights are excessively large in scale, but it’s not a lie.

Even in the midst of all this, their argument is reaching its peak.

“Wow… are you looking down on my willpower right now? You 개X끼 [son of a bitch]. I’m so X발 [fucking] dumbfounded, seriously.”

As Nesquick’s anger drenches the surroundings like a winter filled with resentment, Lucid Dream laughs in disbelief.

“Hoo… contact me when you calm down later. Let’s work together.”

“……What?”

“Seeing your performance this time… it seems like you’re sincere in your own way. Let’s release a song together, Chun-hee.”

“……Don’t call me by my real name, Chun-gwang.”

Wow, what is this 시대 [era]. I suddenly understood why Nesquick had been stubbornly hiding her real name.

Lucid Dream laughs again as if he finds it amusing, turns to us, and bows his head.

“I hope you’ll work with me later.”

Chun-gwang greets us with a respectful attitude that is the complete opposite of his attitude towards Chun-hee.

“If possible, it would be great if this stage does well and we can appear in a Kim family CF [commercial film] together.”

Chae Ha-min makes a short, bursting sound like ‘Ah!’ upon hearing those words.

Anyway, I’ve overcome a big mountain. Can I finally rest a bit now? I politely greeted them and quickly ran away to the waiting room.

I want to rest a little now.

* * *

…If I could achieve everything just by thinking that way, this world would have become meaningless long ago. Wishes can only have value because those who fulfill them are limited.

Company dinner.

Thanks to the stage filming being on Sunday night this time, I only had one schedule tomorrow, which was a music show recording. We arrived at a barbecue restaurant with the feeling of a farewell party with the songwriting trip team.

“Come to think of it… we’ve never come out for drinks before.”

Ryoo Iden mutters as if he’s just realized it.

…Ryoo Iden? That guy who doesn’t seem like he’d even touch alcohol?

“You drink?”

When I ask in a slightly surprised voice, Ryoo Iden clicks his tongue as if he’s even more dumbfounded.

“Dong-hwa, don’t you know that moderate 반주 [drinking with a meal] is actually good for the body?”

I know.

“…That’s about one shot of soju, though.”

The problem is that it’s too small of an amount.

“Dong-hwa, if you drink more than one shot of soju, you’re disqualified as a celebrity. Of course, I’ve never tried it myself, but you can’t get drunk from drinking just one shot, right?”

Wow, the standards are strict. Most celebrities would have to return to unemployment. And as expected, it’s also impressive that he’s never tried it.

We sat at a table with our members. Soon, the songwriting trip production team filled the places, and Chun-gwang-ssi and Chun-hee-ssi sat at the table next to us, happily cursing at each other.

“Come to think of it, we’ve been living too busy. The company people and us, we haven’t even thought about having a company dinner.”

No matter how I think about it, it seems like it’s because the company people and us were half-crazy about working.

“Dong-hwa, it’s been a while since we’ve had drinks!”

Chae Ha-min smiles brightly as he sits down and sets the table. It was definitely a time for us to hang out together after a long time.

“What, have you two had drinks before?”

Yeah, it’s not such a beautiful memory, it’s the only day I wanted to kill a rabbit.

“We had a beer together before entering Nietzsche Entertainment!”

Chae Ha-min was still cheerful, whether he had already forgotten the apologetic feelings and shameful memories from that time.

Wow, you have a convenient personality for living, Ha-min.

* * *

The drinking party continued strangely, and almost everyone got drunk. The drunken ramblings of drunk people are fun to observe and analyze in their own way, so I quietly watched everyone.

“Iden hyung [older brother], hyuuuung, why is your booody so goood……. I’m jealooous…….”

Chae Ha-min sways his head in all directions and chants as if he’s about to fall. Chae Ha-min’s drunken habit is to praise, praising every object in sight.

Earlier, he looked at a tissue placed on one side and said, ‘Whyyy are youuu so whiiiite. Amaaazing,’ He probably doesn’t realize in his brain that he himself has skin that is just as white.

On the other hand, Ryoo Iden, who only drank one shot of soju, was surprisingly drunk. He said he’s never tried it before, so he probably didn’t even know that his alcohol tolerance was less than one shot.

Well, how could anyone know that they were born with a gene where their alcohol分解 [decomposition] enzyme converges to 0.

“Ha-min-ah, hyung is, hyung is, heuk, euk, Ha-min-ah!”

Ryoo Iden’s drinking habit is a phenomenon accompanied by tears and expressions of gratitude.

He’s crying and shouting thank you to every object in sight.

……Thinking about it like this, it’s a crazy combination.

“……Hyung, is it okay to leave him like that?”

Lee Hyun-jae whispers to me cautiously. But unfortunately, Hyun-jae, I’m very tired right now, so I don’t want to get involved in everything.

“Well, it’s not like he has a drinking habit that causes accidents.”

I said that and poured the soju and beer in my hand into my mouth in one gulp. Hmm, it tastes like alcohol.

“But— hyung—nim [term of respect], aren’t you— getting drunk—?”

Seok-joon asks in surprise, as if he’s been watching how many glasses I’ve been drinking.

“Yeah.”

When I was young, my father and mother used to drink together. They would buy soju by the case and empty it all, and then go to work the next morning as if nothing had happened. The power of genetics is so amazing and profound.

“Wow, hyung’s mental strength must be top-notch. You sleep almost like you’re dead, too.”

I let out a hollow laugh at the absurd words.

“Actually, I do have a drinking habit, but I’d have to drink about 6 bottles of soju to get there.”

“Then— please tell me— when you drink that much—!”

Seok-joon says as he takes out his phone and takes pictures of Chae Ha-min and Ryoo Iden praising and thanking each other. Unfortunately, I don’t want to, Joon.

The table next to us was also a mess.

Because I saw Chun-gwang-ssi and Chun-hee-ssi crying and shaking hands, comforting each other and saying they were sorry.

“I’m, I’m sorry. We’re both treated like we’ve been abandoned. I am!”

Nesquick was still wearing her princess dress and was in that state after drinking a bottle of soju in one shot, and

“I’m, I’m sorry too, Chun-hee-ah. I didn’t realize you were serious about music.”

The general story is understandable. There’s a chaebol [conglomerate] family, probably with an eldest son, and Chun-gwang-ssi ran away from home to do music, and Chun-hee-ssi ran away later because she didn’t like her father’s imprisonment. That’s probably the story.

“I think I was too jealous that oppa [older brother] was succeeding in his own way and getting recognized. I’ve written several mixtapes, but I’m still an unknown 신세 [situation/position]!”

“No! With today’s stage, you too! You too will make a name for yourself now!”

That state continued, and after a long time, around 2 a.m., when the minors had returned home because it was too late.

“BlossomS, heueoo, thank you so much, really! It must have been hard to 맞춰주다 [accommodate] a person like me. Thank you, Joon-ssi, for talking about Wizney with me, and thank you, Dong-hwa-ssi, for helping me find my way in songwriting…….”

“No. Heueo, Nesquick-ssi, you rap so well, and thank you for rapping in our song, and thank you for bringing the program to life, which would have been bland if it was just us, heuk, and for bringing the character to life.”

Chun-hee-ssi came to us and cried and thanked us, and Ryoo Iden followed suit, crying and thanking us, saying that he was grateful instead.

Then Chun-gwang-ssi joined in, and

“I will! Tell my father! Definitely! I’ll ask him to put you in the CF!”

He shouted.

Really, I don’t want to say such vulgar words, even in my mind, but it’s a mess. These people or those people.

I clicked my tongue inwardly and recorded what Chun-gwang-ssi said with the recorder I always carry with me. It’s good to take as much advantage as possible in this chaos.

He said it was okay when I asked if it was okay to record, so there would be no complaints.

* * *

The next day, I woke up around 6 a.m., went out to the living room, and poured a glass of water.

And, feeling a strange sensation, I looked around the living room once.

……Ryoo Iden hasn’t woken up yet.

It’s a strange thing. It’s become a daily routine for me and Ryoo Iden to wake up in the morning and have a brief conversation with each other.

I made a cup of coffee, sat on the sofa, and took out a book. A study of orchestral instrumentation. As soon as I get paid for songwriting, I gather and buy songwriting-related books and read them one by one.

As I was reading the ‘Percussion Ensemble’ part, around 8 a.m.,

Squeak.

The door opened and Ryoo Iden appeared. It was funny because his face said it was unbelievable.

Ryoo Iden was even more flustered when he made eye contact with me, then quietly and stealthily sat down next to me on the sofa.

“…If you pass out after one shot, are you disqualified as an idol?”

I took a sip of coffee and asked quietly.

“I… I didn’t know this was possible.”

A man who passed out after one shot, Mr. One Shot One Kill.

“When my father told me to learn how to drink… I should have pretended to be crazy and learned.”

I don’t know why that’s something you have to pretend to be crazy to do.

“Seeing hyung, I think I should teach Mok-hwa how to drink myself.”

And I took out the laptop I had prepared in advance and played the video Seok-joon took yesterday in front of Ryoo Iden’s eyes.

‘Dong-hwa hyung! Hyuuuung! I, really, am so grateful, and I love you! You know that!’

“Wow! Wait! Hey! What is this! Hey!”

Ryoo Iden jumped up from his seat, then, like a devout believer who had witnessed with his own eyes that God does not exist, went to the kitchen table and writhed his body, screaming softly.

Yes, it has now been revealed that even dogs are a species that knows shame.

“Is it embarrassing?”

I smiled and turned up the volume on the laptop a little more.

At this moment, I recall a piece of writing that I read together while tutoring Lee Hyun-jae in literature.

A piece written by author Park Wan-seo.

‘I teach shame.’