The Production Showcase (1)
After the Korean lesson ended, Won Hasin gave Neoul a quick tour of the house.
"You can use the bathroom next to your room. If you get hungry at night, help yourself to whatever's in the fridge. If you're thirsty, use the water purifier. Oh, I'll show you how to use it."
Only after learning how to use the purifier and drinking a full liter of water in one go did Neoul return to his room.
Left alone at last, he finished his familiar self-torture with shampoo and body wash, then flung his now pleasantly fragrant body onto the bed.
"Ugh."
The bed in Neoul's quarters in the East Annex of the Dragon Palace had been woven from seaweed. When he leaped into it, it would ripple softly and cradle him in its embrace. Human beds, on the other hand, kept trying to throw his body back out again, and he still hadn't gotten used to them.
Still, compared to the bed at the Jeju Island lodging, Won Hasin's bed was much larger, softer, and more comfortable. The blanket was warm and light, with a pleasant feel to it.
Neoul fell asleep in an instant.
* * *
As someone who values vocals most, Baek Yuri, GalNeoul, and Yeo Do-bin are the real deal! But the three of them are all good in different ways, and my heart can’t handle it T_T Clean and solid vs. dreamy vs. husky... Baek Yuri and GalNeoul are obviously main-vocal material, so it’s practically setting up a battle, but whatever, just let all of them debut already T_T
I was the woman who cried her eyes out when my favorite got eliminated.... Somehow I have a bad feeling I’m going to be bawling again this time too..
Negative reactions and positive reactions swirled together wildly, flooding the comments.
In truth, the negative comments outnumbered the positive ones, but as the saying went, bad press was better than no press. The steady rise in views and the growing flood of comments were unmistakably good signs.
Amid the restless, excited mood and the light but mounting curiosity, all eyes turned toward the production presentation, the event where the contestants would finally appear in person.
* * *
By now, Neoul had grown so fond of Korean lessons that he repeated his pre-study and review exercises all day long, even outside class, and had progressed to the point where he could read picture books, and even required elementary-school readers, aloud with confidence.
He was still weak on spelling in dictation, but he had somehow caught up to Dong-dong’s pace.
Though he still typed with one finger like an eagle pecking at a keyboard, he had also learned how to send text messages on a smartphone and how to search the internet.
[Hyung!! Hyung!! Emergency!!! You don't have a Ttottok account?!]
He had even managed to find and read the text message Woo Cheong had sent two days earlier.
After asking Won Hasin what Ttottok was, he had even replied to it with his own hand.
[He says he'll make one for me now.]
[Who will?]
[Representative Won Hasin.]
[Who’s Representative Won Hasin?]
[Huuuuhhh?! No way, H.A.D Entertainment’s Won Hasin?]
[Correct.]
[? So that means yes, right? Why would he make you a Ttottok account?]
[He says if he makes it, I will use it often?]
[No, no!! That’s not what I’m curious about! Raccoon Hyung, what the heck are you?! How do you act so casually with him? Are you friends? Relatives?]
[Auntie’s acquaintance.]
[Whoa, insane.]
Neoul felt wronged that he had to call a two-thousand-year-old sea shaman "Auntie" instead of ancestor or old crone, but in any case he had done his best to write down in human terms that Won Hasin was acquainted with the sea shaman.
Anyway, he had installed the message app and made an ID, and since he had also learned Arabic numerals, he could now read a digital clock as well.
At first Neoul’s smartphone had held only the sea shaman’s number, but before long the list of stored contacts had gradually grown to include Woo Cheong, Dong-dong, Won Hasin, Baek Gi-yeom, and Baek Yuri.
"..."
Neoul stared intently at the moving pictures on the screen, then ran to Won Hasin and showed him.
"I want this too."
"Huh?"
"Please teach me how to do this too."
"What? Why would you need emoticons?"
Though he looked reluctant, Won Hasin still paid for an emoticon subscription. Once he showed Neoul how to download and use them, Neoul went back to his room, satisfied.
Then, as a writing exercise, Neoul sent a text to Baek Yuri too.
[Baek Yuri, seonsaeng.]
He stared at the screen blankly for a moment, and then a reply arrived.
[Neoul-ssi? You learned Hangul?]
Oh? So quick on the uptake. He’d noticed immediately.
Neoul puffed up with pride and replied as if boasting.
[Yes.]
[I see. Was Representative Won a trustworthy man? If you were dragged into a laboratory or forcibly injected with something, please wave a carrot.]
Laboratory? Injection? Carrot?
There were too many unfamiliar words for him to fully understand, but Neoul wrote back as best he could.
[I was not dragged anywhere and am lying in a comfortable room, kicking my feet on the bed.]
[No one took your blood or held a knife to you, did they]
[They did take out the potatoes from the yard and cut them with a knife to make food for me.]
[Then I'm relieved.]
After finishing his texts with Baek Yuri, Neoul played with the search function next. In particular, looking up all the words he had heard before but never managed to understand from context had become a tremendous help in his studies.
And then, a little later—
Woo Cheong had sent something strange to the group chat. Neoul once again dashed to Won Hasin’s room and showed him.
"Woo Cheong says he gifted me food. How do I eat it? My hand won’t go in, and I can’t take it out."
"Shake the phone and it’ll come out."
"Like this?"
"Harder."
"Like this?"
"Do you think jelly will come out like that? You have to shake it much harder to—"
Crash!
Neoul had been shaking the smartphone with all his might when he accidentally let go of it. The flying device smashed the window and fell somewhere into the garden.
"Ah...?"
Won Hasin, who had been snickering at Neoul while he diligently shook the phone, fell silent in a hurry.
Beside the window stood a display cabinet filled with expensive Gundam robots Won Hasin had bought overseas. Every one of them was a rare item.
The thought that the display case and his carefully collected treasures might have been smashed made a chill run down Won Hasin’s spine.
For a moment, silence hung in the air.
"Th-this window isn't the kind that breaks that easily... is it?"
Won Hasin muttered in a daze.
Neoul, flustered, opened and closed his mouth before bowing his head in apology.
"I am sorry for breaking the window."
"No, no. Thank you for breaking the window."
"Pardon?"
"It was cold because of the air conditioner, but thanks to you it's warm and nice now. Ha-ha. Hahaha. Ha...."
Looking at the display case, still intact, Won Hasin swore never to tease Neoul again. Then he took Neoul out and showed him how to buy jelly at a convenience store using a gift certificate.
With the feeling that he had somehow acquired one troublesome and inconvenient nephew, Won Hasin let out a quiet sigh to himself.
* * *
On the day of the production presentation, Neoul had raided the fridge at dawn, eaten his fill, and was just about to head out wearing whatever clothes he liked when Won Hasin grabbed him by the back of the neck.
"You're seriously going out dressed like that?"
"...? Yes!"
Neoul answered proudly. He was wearing the practice clothes he’d mostly lived in during the entire Jeju shoot.
"No! You might get photographed on the way there and back, and that's not it at all!"
Won Hasin raised an uproar, insisting that he should at least wear a white T-shirt and jeans. In the end, Neoul dressed in whatever Won Hasin picked out for him, then rode in the car of Secretary Song, who had come in from dawn to chauffeur him around.
As soon as he arrived, he had to get a simple hair styling and makeup touch-up, then change clothes again. It was the stewardess uniform he’d worn while filming the group performance video.
If it was going to be like this, why had they made such a fuss over clothes from the very start of the morning?
As he wandered around blankly, dragged along exactly as he was told, a few of the other contestants who were similarly being hauled this way and that passed by and called out greetings. With 81 contestants in all, the place was packed, and the whole thing was a dizzying mess.
"Neoul~ Good morning~"
"Hello...!"
Ha On-ha and Yeo Do-bin came over together to greet him, then moved on, each returning later after their own makeup and wardrobe changes.
Ha On-ha said, "Neoul~ Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"They’re not making us come to the set on our first broadcast day. If we want to watch together, we have to apply for a self-cam ourselves, pick it up, and film our own reactions."
"I see."
"So we’re currently wandering around looking for a kind angel to provide us with a house to watch the broadcast in. Won’t you lend a helping hand to these homeless little lambs?"