Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 11

#11.

Louie couldn’t help but admire the satisfying *thwack* as the palm connected with the back of the head.

Dojai wasn’t just surprised; he was utterly flabbergasted.

‘To hit someone on the back of the head…’

In the world Dojai came from—well, in the Daehan Empire—it might have been conceivable amongst commoners, but it was absolutely unheard of within the palace walls where Dojai lived.

It wasn’t simply that no one dared to lay a hand on a member of the Imperial Family.

Even the Emperor used a switch when disciplining his children, never his bare hands.

Of course, the switch was a last resort, only employed when kneeling in repentance or copying the *Analects of Confucius* [a collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius] proved ineffective.

Parents never physically struck their children, so it went without saying that siblings didn’t either.

‘I’ve heard commoners say that brothers and friends sometimes exchange punches when they’re young, but…’

It was the first time he’d witnessed someone actually hit someone, outside of a TV screen.

It was a truly novel shock.

At the same time, he felt a pang of worry.

‘Is Woo-cheol being bullied like Kang Do-jae?’

If that were the case, it would be problematic.

Especially if the violence was being carried out so openly in front of others…

“Ah! Crap! Hyung [older brother or older male friend]! Why did you hit me!”

‘So it’s not that.’

It didn’t seem like one-sided bullying at all.

If it were, Woo-cheol wouldn’t have been able to yell back at the other person in such a loud voice.

“This punk is talking nonsense to the Deputy Manager in front of everyone… I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon seemed a little embarrassed in front of Dojai and Louie, but she wasn’t too surprised, as if she was used to it.

However, she added with concern.

“But before you debut… it would be good to curb that. No matter how close you are, it doesn’t look good to others.”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I’ll be careful. I just lost my temper for a moment… Ah, I mean, why are you saying weird things?”

Fortunately, he apologized for his actions (though not directly to the person he hit) and seemed to regret them.

Nothing can justify violence, but frankly, it was also true that Woo-cheol had offered a rather bizarre greeting.

“It’s all my fault! Huh?! It is hell, isn’t it! You dragged me through hell all day today. Without even feeding me.”

“Is the practice room hell? You did eat. What was that sandwich you ate earlier?”

“That was bread. And how much more do we have to practice… We’re already set to debut, do we really have to go this far?”

“We have to do this *because* we’re set to debut.”

“So Hee-min also ran away to America…….”

“You, you!”

The two of them bickered noisily, as if they had forgotten about Dojai and Louie.

Listening to their conversation, Dojai thought Woo-cheol was the kind of person who deserved a flick on the forehead.

Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon barely managed to stop them.

“Both of you calm down… Let’s at least introduce Heung-min….”

“Ah, you’ve only seen the worst of me from the start… Hello. I’m Lee Heung-min.”

Heung-min scratched the back of his head and greeted them.

He seemed a little more embarrassed when he said his name.

It was understandable, since he shared the same name as South Korea’s star soccer player, Son Heung-min.

Louie, who was standing next to Dojai, immediately reacted to Heung-min’s name with an “Ooh.”

Dojai was more relieved by Heung-min’s attitude.

He didn’t show any signs of the seniority that he might have displayed.

He seemed as honest and straightforward as his quick temper.

Another fortunate thing was that he was able to accurately understand the reason for the vacancy from Heung-min and Woo-cheol’s conversation.

‘I was a little worried about that… So it’s not another problem, he really did emigrate. And it seems he couldn’t handle the amount of practice…….’

Dojai wondered just how much practice that was.

‘If there’s that much practice, I have high expectations for their skills.’

It was a new person and a new environment that were not in ‘Kang Do-jae’s’ memories.

Not an Imperial Prince of the Daehan Empire, but a trainee in South Korea.

Curiosity about new things welled up.

“Come to think of it, everyone is a year apart in age. Heung-min here is twenty-one, Do-jae is twenty, Woo-cheol is nineteen, and Louie is eighteen…….”

After the introductions were roughly over, Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon told them their ages in order.

“Louie… eighteen…….”

“Ah! Why are you swearing, hyung?”

Louie, 18.

The moment Dojai heard Louie’s name, he thought of that character, and Heung-min also seemed to think of him and muttered.

“Nice to meet you! Hyungs! Just so you know, I’m completely Korean.”

Louie, who had a great affinity, immediately called the two of them “hyung” to prevent any possible misunderstandings.

Heung-min looked relieved, as if his curiosity had been satisfied.

Meanwhile, Woo-cheol was staring intently at Dojai.

He seemed conscious of the fact that Dojai was a year older than him, and opened his mouth in an unusually cautious tone.

“But this person…….”

Dojai didn’t know what he was going to say, so he just looked down at Woo-cheol.

‘I didn’t really notice because I was so out of it, but looking at him closely…….’

“He’s handsome…….”

“He’s handsome.”

The words that flowed out of both of their mouths at the same time plunged the hallway into silence.

Woo-cheol scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed.

“You both are being so obnoxious… Hmm. Is this a case of handsome people recognizing each other?”

Heung-min tried to choose his words carefully, but what he really wanted to say was that they were being obnoxious.

That was the situation.

Both Dojai and Woo-cheol were indeed handsome.

Louie wasn’t lacking in looks either, but he was more pretty than handsome, a beautiful boy.

In contrast, Dojai and Woo-cheol had the ‘handsome faces’ that people commonly think of, but their vibes were completely different.

Dojai’s face had a neat and refined feel, while Woo-cheol’s had bold and distinct features.

If Dojai was winter, Woo-cheol was summer.

Of course, to Heung-min, who covered up his ordinary face with fashion sense, they were all just handsome faces that were worthy of admiration.

“I’m so glad.”

Woo-cheol muttered, not caring what Heung-min said.

Dojai tilted his head, not knowing the relationship between being handsome and being glad, so Woo-cheol explained.

“It’s because our team’s average face score is going to go up thanks to you two.”

“This punk!”

“Why, why! It’s true. Honestly, everyone except me is too young-”

Heung-min’s hand twitched as if he wanted to punch Woo-cheol.

“Anyway, now Ki-jun hyung will be less worried…….”

Woo-cheol’s muttering voice grew quieter and quieter, as if he was conscious of Heung-min.

Because of that, he couldn’t be heard well after “anyway.”

Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon didn’t miss the opportunity and led the four of them.

“It seems like the office introduction is over now… You two were on your way to the conference room, right? It would be better to continue the conversation in the conference room.”

“Yes!”

Heung-min answered immediately and walked towards the conference room with Woo-cheol.

He seemed to follow the staff’s instructions well.

Woo-cheol and Heung-min.

Both of them seemed to have a reckless side, but considering that they were at the height of their youthful energy, it wasn’t too excessive.

Because he had grown up as an Imperial Prince, Dojai was rather too refined.

‘Rather, it seems like it would be easier to deal with them because they’re honest and have no ulterior motives.’

It wasn’t the kind of rough and sinister feeling that Song-hwan or Yoo Myung-woo’s gang had.

He was a little surprised by the intense first impression, but Dojai headed to the conference room with Louie, giving them a fairly positive review.

***

Perhaps they had arrived a little early, as the conference room had a disorganized atmosphere.

“Oh? How did you all come together?”

“Hello, Team Leader!”

“Hello!”

Team Leader Jung Hee-young greeted Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon and the four of them, her eyes widening.

“We met in the hallway.”

Team Leader Jung Hee-young nodded at Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon’s explanation and arranged the seats.

“Everyone can sit in a row on that side. We’ll start as soon as the Vice President comes down.”

Dojai, Louie, Heung-min, and Woo-cheol sat side by side on the left side of the large round table.

The trainees who would become a team would sit on the left, and the Kingdom employees, including the Vice President, would sit on the opposite side.

The reason for gathering in the conference room was simple.

Louie and Dojai would be given a one-month grace period, but since all six members who would become a team had gathered, it was to announce the future schedule and plans.

“…Hello.”

While they were waiting for everyone to gather.

The door opened and someone came in.

“Gyu-sung hyung, hurry up. Sit here.”

Woo-cheol greeted him and pointed to an empty chair.

There were two empty chairs on the left.

Deputy Manager Lee Jung-yeon, who was watching, introduced Gyu-sung to Dojai and Louie.

His name was Kim Gyu-sung.

He was twenty years old, the same age as Dojai.

Following him, Management Team Leader Kim Seok-cheol and the Vice President entered, filling the conference room.

“Heung-min-ah. Has Ki-jun not arrived yet?”

Team Leader Jung Hee-young, who had been addressing Dojai and Louie with formal honorifics, asked Heung-min in a friendly tone.

“Uh… I don’t know. Why isn’t he here yet?”

It was already five minutes past the agreed time, but one trainee was missing.

Dowook looked at the one remaining empty seat.

“Isn’t hyung still in the studio? Should I go get him?”

“No. He’ll be here in a bit. If he doesn’t come, I’ll have Deputy Manager Lee go look for him.”

“Yes.”

Woo-cheol answered obediently.

Team Leader Jung Hee-young’s presentation began with the seat left empty.

There was an important external meeting related to investment after the meeting, so they couldn’t delay the meeting time.

The conference room lights dimmed and the screen lit up.

“The next group is aiming to debut in October of next year. As an idol production company, Kingdom Entertainment will establish itself as a group, and the ultimate goal is to become a global group that can go out into the world, not just remain a domestic group.”

Team Leader Jung Hee-young’s clear voice echoed in the conference room.

Dojai listened to her words and focused on the screen displaying the PPT slides.

Kingdom Entertainment, debut, ultimate goal, global group…….

These words were nicely diagrammed.

Having only been within the framework of the Imperial Family, the words group and team themselves were new to Dojai, who had never been on a team with anyone.

Dojai’s eyes shone deeply as he focused on the screen.

His heart was pounding.

“Internally, the primary goal is to establish ourselves as a rival group to the next group of New Entertainment, which will debut in August of next year.”

That was Kingdom’s goal, which Dojai hadn’t even thought of.

However, for Kingdom Entertainment, which had tasted the possibility through Big Boyz and had the ambition to raise a global group, it was a natural goal to catch the rookie group of the Big 3 agencies [the top three entertainment agencies in South Korea: SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment].

‘That’s a suitable goal for me.’

Dojai thought quietly.

Team Leader Jung Hee-young, who had conveyed the goal, then displayed the profiles of the six members who would form the next group on the screen.

Reading through each profile one by one, Dojai quietly raised the corners of his lips.

It was a good enough profile to understand why they had difficulty forming the members and why they had set such a big goal.

Following Louie, Dojai’s profile was the last to appear on the screen.

[Kang Do-jae (20)

183cm

Vocal

Fluent in English, Japanese, Chinese, French, and Russian

Can play piano and guitar….]

When Dojai’s profile with various talents appeared, the other trainees who had been watching with interest were surprised.

“Wow. He’s not just handsome.”

Woo-cheol admired in a small voice, and Louie, who was sitting next to him, shrugged his shoulders for no reason.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

With a small knock, light streamed in through the crack in the conference room door.

The protagonist of the empty seat was the one who came in, bowing deeply with a quiet voice.

“Why are you so late, hyung. Sit here quickly.”

“That’s because there was a problem with the work-”

Ki-jun was about to sit down in the chair, answering Heung-min’s words.

A dull sound rang out, followed by a scream.

“Hyung!”

The conference room became a scene of chaos in an instant.

Surprisingly, Ki-jun had lost consciousness and collapsed to the floor.