Prince From Another Dimension Becomes An Idol [EN]: Chapter 63

#63.

In front of a practice room in Cheongdam-dong [a wealthy neighborhood in Seoul known for entertainment companies and upscale residences].

Stepping out of the car, Louis opened the practice room door with a confident stride.

“Hello!”

He greeted loudly, and the dance team, who had arrived earlier, greeted Louis back with pleasure.

It was his first meeting with the dance team, but Louis didn’t care and showed off his unique sociability.

“Please take good care of me on stage! I’ll work hard!”

At Louis’s words, the dance team members smiled more happily than Louis did.

The gathered female dancers looked at the beaming Louis and said,

“Didn’t you say you just turned twenty? You still look like a baby! So cute.”

“I know, I’d believe you if you said he was a high schooler!”

“His skin isn’t just good on screen, it’s great in person too!”

Louis smiled even brighter at the dancers’ compliments.

Then, his slightly visible dimples deepened completely.

“Oh my, he even has dimples!”

The dancers giggled.

The dance team leader told them off for being silly, but Louis said it was okay and rather enjoyed the compliments.

“Are the others not here yet?”

At Louis’s question, the dance team nodded.

Indeed, Louis had arrived earlier than the scheduled practice time.

The special performance Louis was participating in was a remake of a senior artist’s stage by the youngest members of popular male idol groups from the past year.

The youngest members of MOST, The Origin, Upside, and Infinite Boys were the main characters.

Upside’s youngest member was the youngest at nineteen, but MOST debuted the latest.

“MOST’s Kang Do-jae… is that member really that handsome in person?”

One of the female dancers who had been complimenting Louis suddenly asked.

It was a dance team that collaborated with many famous singers, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have singers they wanted to see.

The dancer next to her blushed and apologized to Louis instead.

“This *unnie* [older sister or female friend] is really something! Sorry. *Unnie* only recently watched Campfire, so……”

Even within the same team, they thought it wasn’t polite to show interest in other members.

Since celebrities were basically all ‘attention-seekers,’ they would get jealous and upset if others showed interest in members other than themselves.

In fact, there was a singer who got sulky after someone asked about another member’s recent activities.

However, Louis didn’t get upset at all and his eyes sparkled at the mention of Do-jae.

Louis was a fanboy of Do-jae before he was an attention-seeker.

“It’s okay! Do-jae *hyung* [older brother or male friend] is really handsome, right? He’s even more handsome up close! Totally!”

“Oh my, really?!”

“Yes! He was handsome to begin with, but he’s getting more and more handsome… His handsomeness is about to break through the screen.”

The dancers were so excited to hear Louis, who was proud as if it were his own story, that they clamored to meet Do-jae soon.

As they were talking, the main characters of the stage arrived one by one.

Young-jin from Infinite Boys and Eun-sang, the youngest of Upside.

Infinite Boys and Upside, who debuted around the same time, already seemed close, and Louis had once greeted Young-jin from Infinite Boys in the music show waiting room.

The three quickly became comfortable with each other.

While warming up, they waited for Chae-hyun, the youngest of The Origin.

“He’s a bit late.”

It was ten minutes past the scheduled time.

Young-jin, looking at his watch, said a word.

Young-jin of Infinite Boys had a high debut year and was the oldest.

“It must be Korean time, *hyung*,”

Louis, who had already become close with Young-jin, replied, and Young-jin laughed lightly.

“I guess so. Well, the road in front of here is really congested.”

It was a relief that everyone seemed to have a good personality.

Louis glanced at the door and warmed up diligently with the dance team.

***

It was 3:26 when Chae-hyun appeared, opening the door.

It was difficult to coordinate each other’s schedules, so they could only practice together twice before the special performance.

Even today, they could only practice for 3 hours, but he was almost 30 minutes late.

“Hello!”

However, there was no hint of apology on Chae-hyun’s face as he greeted.

The three greeted Chae-hyun, who came in confidently and greeted them, with bewildered expressions.

“Ah…. Hello.”

“Oh. Right. Louis was here too. Long time no see, hi?”

“Uh… hi.”

Louis and Eun-sang glanced at Young-jin.

Young-jin seemed to want to say something, but soon closed his mouth.

He clearly didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble from the first day they met.

Instead, the dance team leader shouted.

“You’re late. Let’s get ready quickly!”

Chae-hyun nodded his head once and handed the padding jumper he was wearing to his manager.

Then, he slowly began to loosen his wrists and ankles.

The atmosphere, which had been friendly, gradually hardened.

***

Still, everyone was a professional.

As soon as the practice began in earnest, the four quickly matched their moves based on the choreography they had learned from the video.

There were no major problems because they were members with some level of skill.

“But the angles are definitely not right. Let’s take a ten-minute break and readjust the angles.”

It was because they were from different teams and practiced separately.

However, it seemed like it would work out if they matched it a few more times.

At the words of the dance team leader, the people who were practicing scattered here and there.

The practice was quite intense because they had to match a lot of things in a short amount of time.

Wiping away the sweat that was pouring down like rain, Louis sat on a chair for a moment to catch his breath.

“Working hard, huh?”

Chae-hyun approached and sat next to Louis.

Louis glanced at Chae-hyun and gave an awkward smile.

Louis entered New Entertainment as a trainee around the same time as Chae-hyun.

At that time, Louis, with his unique sociability, got along very well with trainees of similar ages, including Chae-hyun, but there were times when Chae-hyun was uncomfortable.

‘I’m honest too, but… he’s a bit too much sometimes.’

It seemed like he didn’t care about others in a different sense from Louis.

It didn’t matter much when they were the same trainees, but it felt a little more uncomfortable after Chae-hyun became a member of The Origin.

‘He’s a dance member… He must have entered instead of Do-jae *hyung*. Probably.’

It was a bit strange, but even when he was at New Entertainment, Do-jae was a trainee whose main specialty was dance, not singing.

He was chosen as a debut member because he became good at singing as well…….

‘No. Chae-hyun isn’t bullying Do-jae *hyung*, unlike the other people in The Origin. Don’t be uncomfortable, Kim Louis!’

Just as Louis, who had made up his mind alone, was about to continue the conversation with Chae-hyun properly.

Chae-hyun spoke first again.

“Your team is on hiatus these days, right?”

“Yeah. We’re preparing for an album. Your team is…….”

“I toured New Entertainment concerts in Japan and came to Korea yesterday.”

“Wow. Japan.”

Louis, who had never been on an overseas stage, admired without hiding it.

New Entertainment held a large concert every year at the beginning of the year, gathering all of its affiliated entertainers.

“Did you perform at the Tokyo Dome by any chance?”

Chae-hyun smirked as if asking why he was even asking.

Performing at the Tokyo Dome in the first year of debut. It was amazing.

It must have been an amazing experience.

“I know, right. Why did you leave? If you had stayed at New Entertainment, you might have debuted in our team instead of me… Ah, is that a bit too much? Anyway, you would have debuted in the next team.”

“…Not really.”

“Kingdom is a bit… Isn’t it still too much of a small shop [a company with little resources or influence]?”

“Hey. Chae-hyun.”

“What. Isn’t it true? I’m saying it because I’m sorry. Even if it’s good for a moment now… It might fail in the long run? It doesn’t seem like you’re doing well in entertainment either. We’re going on TV soon.”

This wasn’t a conversation, it was a provocation.

Louis frowned and snapped.

“You should watch your mouth.”

“You’re still bad at speaking English. If you were on our team, Zeus *hyung* would have taught you English and it would have been great. Your team doesn’t have any foreign members and the member composition is bad.”

However, Chae-hyun looked down on MOST with an expression that was as bright as it was cheerful.

Chae-hyun wasn’t being honest, he was being rude.

Feeling his forehead getting hot, Louis sighed and cooled down.

“I like our team. I like the company too. I’ve never regretted leaving New Entertainment.”

He was serious.

At the debut announcement, the moment he saw Do-jae standing up to the bullies who were tormenting him.

Louis felt an intense destiny that he had to leave this place and follow Do-jae.

It was reckless, but there was nothing to be afraid of.

Louis followed Do-jae right away.

He was worried that Do-jae would be annoyed by him following him around and go to another company without saying anything.

Until he received a call to audition for Kingdom, he only felt anxiety instead of regret.

However, he had never thought that his choice was wrong.

“So, please don’t say unnecessary things about the company or the team in front of me.”

It was quite a firm tone for Louis.

Chae-hyun pouted his lips.

Louis, who seemed lighthearted when they were at New Entertainment, had quite a serious side to him now.

He also felt that he was incredibly sincere about his team.

“Not fun.”

Chae-hyun, who had been provoking Louis to his heart’s content, turned around as if he had lost interest.

Then, he took out his cell phone and started doing his own thing.

Just in time, Young-jin called Louis, so Louis lightly got up and went to Young-jin.

***

Jung Gil-ju came to pick up Louis again at the end of practice.

“Did you practice well?”

“Yep.”

Louis answered lightly as he got into the passenger seat.

He had a smiling face as usual, but Louis’s expression was subtly dark.

It was because he felt tired because of Chae-hyun, who had scratched his nerves in the middle of practice.

“Was practice very hard?”

“Yes. But even if it’s hard, it’s completely easy mode compared to the practice I used to do.”

At Louis’s words, Jung Gil-ju nodded his head, saying, “I guess so,” and started the engine.

“But I’m a little… hungry. I have to go quickly and have dinner with my *hyungs*.”

Muttering to himself, Louis hummed again.

He was excited at the thought of dinner, and he also wanted to see the members soon.

No matter how well he got along with people he met for the first time, it was natural that the members he had known for a long time were comfortable.

Louis turned on the group message room with the members on his cell phone and thought.

‘I miss Do-jae *hyung*.’

Even though he had seen Do-jae just a few hours ago, he felt that his hurt feelings from Chae-hyun would be okay after seeing Do-jae.

Do-jae had the power to make any problem seem like nothing.

Because he was always calm and never wavered at any negative words or events.

Thanks to that, the members, including Louis, were subtly relying on Do-jae.

Because Do-jae’s solidity made even the people around him comfortable.

[I’m on my way to the dorm after practice]

[I’m so hungry ㅠㅠ]

As soon as he sent the message, he received a reply from Heung-min.

[We’re not there yet either lol Come quickly so we can eat together lol]

After checking the message, Louis quickly said to Jung Gil-ju.

“*Hyung*. Please go quickly! I’m hungry!”

“Okay! Fasten your seatbelt tightly.”

***

However, even Jung Gil-ju couldn’t do anything about the congested roads during rush hour.

It took nearly an hour to arrive at a distance that would normally take twenty minutes.

Louis hurriedly climbed the stairs of the dorm.

“I’m here…!”

Thump. Louis was embarrassed when he opened the front door.

It was because the dorm was dark.

“Nobody?”

Louis was flustered and looked for the members, but there was really no one in the dorm.

[We’re going out to eat. You can order delivery or something. There’s *budae jjigae* [Korean army stew] left in the refrigerator.]

When he turned on his cell phone, there was only a message from Gi-jun.

“What. That’s too much……”

Maybe it was because he was hungry, but he felt strangely overwhelmed.

When he turned on the light, the empty living room was revealed.

Louis trudged towards the refrigerator.

It was a relief that there was *budae jjigae*, which he liked.

Louis, who was feeling drained, sighed and headed towards the refrigerator.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Louis screamed as if he was about to faint when he opened the refrigerator door.

As soon as he opened the door, something with an unpleasant texture poured down on Louis’s head from the ceiling.