So More People Would Recognize You (4)

“Are you crazy? Why would you even take that down?”

“Hey, hey, hey! Neoul! Even if you’re a chaebol, you can’t just do that! I mean, maybe you can’t…? Can you…?”

Startled by the mermaid’s bizarre behavior, Baek Yuri and Baek Gi-yeom, who had mistaken it for the eccentricity of a spoiled third-generation heir, hurriedly tried to stop Neoul.

Neoul, looking aggrieved, asked, “You said the fans made it for me, so why are the sticky notes fine but I can’t take the billboard?”

Song Bi-seo calmly tried to talk him down.

“Mr. Gal Neoul. You must not tear down or damage subway advertisements. And the current advertisements for you will be replaced once the agreed period has passed.”

“……”

“The only things you’re allowed to take are the sticky notes the fans left behind. If you want the giant billboard with your face on it, you can ask Representative Won for a wall-mounted LED light panel.”

Woo Cheong and Yeo Do-bin’s eyes widened ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at the “Gal Neoul is a chaebol” theory that had sprung from Baek Gi-yeom’s misunderstanding.

“Is Brother Guiri a chaebol?”

“O-oh, so that’s why…! I did think it might be something like that…!”

“That’s not it….”

It was a complete mess.

At first, Neoul had misunderstood the explanation about the advertisements changing after a set date, thinking it meant they would rip down the existing billboard and replace it with a new one. That only made him more indignant.

They said fans made it for me, so who gave them the right to throw it away?

But after repeated explanations, once he understood that the billboard itself would stay and only the image on the screen would change, he finally gave up on his plan to steal it, looking crestfallen.

* * *

Then, at 2 a.m. on the day of the second ranking announcement.

Before the recording, Neoul succeeded in leaving letters at every subway station he hadn’t been able to visit before. He also got to read as many sticky notes as he liked and take a few with him. He would have liked to take as many as possible, but at Won Hasin’s restraint, he limited himself to only some of them.

Unable to wake Song Bi-seo in the middle of the night, Won Hasin took the wheel himself and was in a foul mood.

“Seriously, why do you keep hauling so much stuff back…? Ugh, for real…. And then you ask me where and how you’re supposed to buy a wall-mounted LED light panel.”

If he were a squirrel gathering acorns and chestnuts, at least it would be cute. Acorns and chestnuts could be eaten, too.

But Neoul, out there hunting sticky notes, was infuriating. The fans’ messages did fill one’s heart to the brim, but there were so many that they became a nuisance to manage.

“And if you take them all, the fans won’t be able to see them! Fans like looking at what other fans wrote, too!”

Won Hasin offered Neoul a compromise.

“Why don’t you just write replies in the blank spaces? We don’t have time, so don’t try to answer every single one—just pick a few at random.”

So Neoul took up a pen and wandered the subway station. Being so tall, he could easily reach even the sticky notes posted all the way at the top.

[World’s Strongest Singing Whale, Please Stan Me (whale drawing)]

┗ What does “please stan me” mean?

[Neoul, remember when we went to the art museum? You fell asleep in a chair, and people thought you were a sculpture. Then when you opened your eyes and moved, they thought you were a living artwork and kept asking who the artist was, praising you to the heavens.]

┗ When was that…?

[You’re always number one to me! Don’t get hurt, don’t overdo it, and keep fighting until the end! Let’s go, go, go!]

┗ Thank you.

He couldn’t write long replies. They weren’t especially profound, either. And his handwriting was terrible. But Neoul pressed the pen down with earnest care anyway. The dark blue ink bled and pooled in places, leaving obvious smudges.

“Wow…. He’s a handsome giant.”

A fan who had been drinking and was staggering home in a zombie-like state mumbled nonsense at the sight of him, then suddenly snapped her eyes wide open.

“Huh. Neoul?”

“Shh.”

Neoul gave a faint smile and brought his index finger to his lips. The fan nodded with grave solemnity.

“Yep! Thank you! Do your best!”

She rambled on with no real sense of what she was thanking him for or what exactly she was telling him to do his best at, then watched him from a slight distance.

“Can I take a picture?”

“Yes. But if you plan to upload it online, I would ask that you do so after I have left.”

“Got it!”

The fan pinched her own cheek hard, forcing the alcohol haze back as she took his photo. Her hand shook, so she switched to burst mode—and, astonishingly, ended up with a good shot.

Then, by the time the sun was high in the sky, a post appeared on the community board.

He was writing replies in the tiny spaces below the sticky notes fans had left behind.

(Photo of Gal Neoul striking a V pose)

(Photo of Gal Neoul writing a reply on a sticky note)

His focused expression is insane, right? TT

I saw later that he was writing like crazy, and under “No matter how you look at it, he’s got the face of a king. KingNeoul,” he had written “King X Prince O” in the most ridiculous way lol

If he debuts, I feel like his fan service is going to be wild

I can see the makings of an idol with a filial-piety complex

┗ Nope. He’s just desperate right now. The moment someone gets popular, they all change.

┗ Uh… does your oppa happen to be a corpse?

┗ Damn.

┗ Fair enough.

Gal Neoul is just… different somehow. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something special about him.

It was only one of countless small accounts, but it was enough to stir a little ripple in people’s hearts.

In truth, even now, Gal Neoul and the ordinary contestants selected locally had never escaped remarks like, “Wasn’t he just there for fun?” or “He started on impulse, so there’s no way he’ll last long.”

Even if the program’s premise was travel, new encounters, and all that. The other contestants had thrown themselves into trainee life in pursuit of becoming idols, and had voluntarily submitted applications to take part in a survival show.

Compared to them, it was only natural that the ordinary contestants gave off a lighter, less serious air.

The producer had also made good use of the civilian contestants whenever he needed to ease the overheated, heavy competition atmosphere.

Since Gal Neoul was the only one among the civilian contestants to rank this high, people were watching him especially closely, eyes full of suspicion.

What if he debuts and then suddenly backs out, saying he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only joined for fun? Won’t he just half-ass the promotions and ruin the team dynamic? Won’t he coast on his looks? He’s handsome and talented too—how easy and ridiculous must the world seem to him?

There was a lingering fear that, if anyone among the final debut members ever caused a controversy, it would be Gal Neoul, the civilian contestant, who did it first.

He would probably keep tossing out “Really?” with those dead-fish eyes of his in front of the fans, people said, and many treated scandals that hadn’t even happened yet as fact, hurling abuse at him as though it were only a matter of time.

And yet here he was, coming out in the dead of night, making the rounds of all fourteen stations where his advertisements had been posted, and leaving handwritten replies to the fans’ messages.

He hadn’t answered every sticky note, because there were simply too many. He hadn’t written long, eloquent replies, either. But the number of words didn’t matter. The number of lines didn’t matter.

He could have simply walked by. Even if he’d only left proof that he’d seen them, the fans would have been happy just knowing that he’d come and looked.

And yet he had gone out of his way to return quietly, in secret, and write out replies with care. Even if the words were brief and unremarkable, they were filled to the brim with his sincerity.

Wow, I thought Gal Neoul was just a gag character… but maybe this kid is actually the real deal?

Good-looking guy. Great singer. Hilariously weird. In terms of talent, he’s absolutely not lacking, and no one can really tear him down. But is it really okay for him to debut?

The lump of unease sitting in the minds of those who had doubted him melted away like snow under the sun because of this one eyewitness account.

And that wasn’t all.

I gathered all the letters Gal Neoul left behind and took photos of them.

At first I thought he’d just stuck up one or two short lines, but there were numbers written at the ends.

I put them together in order right away. All fourteen of them were actually one single letter!

1. Hello. I am Gal Neoul. How do you do?

2. Before I knew it, I had finished the second competition.

3. I draw strength from the thunderous cheers you give me, as resounding as the sound of a ship’s horn, and continue my struggle for survival with even greater diligence.

4. This is my first time writing a letter, but is this how one does it?

5. Yeo Do-bin says it is all good. It seems I am writing rather well.

6. While taking part in the survival show, for the first time in my life I have felt what it means to be out of breath.

7. I only now learned that the heart can beat this quickly.

8. Through stage after stage, I am learning what an idol is.

9. I am still awkward and lacking in many ways, but someday, will there not come a day when I, too, can define it with confidence?

10. Gal Neoul will become someone who improves and works hard every day.

11. I will do my utmost until the end and surely debut, so please keep watching.

12. Please continue to give me much support and interest. Thank you.

13. P.S. Yeo Do-bin says letters are more fun when you write a postscript, so he insisted that I add one. It is not an important matter, but he says I should write what I want to say.

14. Hmm. Do you all like frozen fish-shaped bread?

(Photo of the letter)

So it turns out my bias was a spelling villain all along… lol

What country is “lack” a tribe in…?

Yeah… this really does look like a letter full of lack.

┗ lolololol

┗ His handwriting looks exactly like the diary I wrote in elementary school lol

Dobin, what were you doing beside him instead of correcting his spelling?

┗ Do-bin is a foreigner TT

With the spelling that stole everyone’s attention and the handwriting that was an absolute disaster, people kept chiming in one after another, tossing out “lol” after “lol,” but the content of the letter itself was enough to move their hearts.

Those who were still in the throes of denial about falling for him gave in, saying things like, “The sooner you stan, the better.”

The fans took it even further. He’s ridiculous, but cute. Even for Neoul, his spelling is kind of…. He must have lived overseas. They chuckled over responses like those, but for some reason their hearts kept tightening with emotion.

And to think this was his first time writing a letter!

It did make you wonder what kind of twenty-year-old had never written a letter before, what sort of concept-playing this was supposed to be. And then, just as quickly, the thought came crashing down: his very first letter was to fans, not to his mother, his father, or his friends! The emotion surged back in helplessly.

Even if it was a white lie, they wanted to believe it was true with all their hearts.

And some fans went beyond emotion and grief, voicing both at once.

Neoul said he’d debut. He said he’d do his best. A kid who didn’t know a thing about dancing practiced himself to death and gave us legend after legend, and you still won’t shut up with your armchair psychologizing about his so-called desperation, damn it. He said he wants to debut.

As they floated and played happily on a tube raft above ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the sea called Gal Neoul, at some point they looked up and realized they had sunk straight down beneath the water.

That was the moment the obsession deepened.

Neoul, unintentionally, was pulling people toward him like a violent wave—or like a treacherous downward current—dragging them into the depths of an inescapable fandom.

Oh, we’re done for. We’re so screwed. I think I love Gal Neoul.

Fans who found themselves in a position like a shipwreck sinking into the deep sea realized their lives were rolling into a place both wicked and sweet—a mire from which there was no easy escape.

In the “Gal Neoul Sea,” with no exit in sight in any direction, there was no way out until the seawater itself ran dry.

---