The Reason a Soul Rots (1)
Woo Cheong’s eyes went wide as he looked at Neoul.
“What kind of alliance is it?”
“A debut alliance. We promised to debut together. Right?” Neoul said brazenly, seeking Baek Yuri’s agreement.
Baek Yuri met Neoul’s gaze, watching the mermaid prince stare back so straight-faced, and narrowed his eyes.
Huh…
It feels like that mermaid prince is lying more and more these days…?
There was something oddly slippery about him. And maybe a little too good at smiling as if to say, Hurry up and say it for me already….
No, wait. He’s only left out the details. It’s true that they agreed to debut together, so it’s not really a lie, is it?
He’s getting better at dealing with people. He really does look like he’s learned to imitate a human. At least now.
With that thought, Baek Yuri answered, “That’s right.”
“Me too, me too! I want to join the alliance too!”
“Ohhh—count me in too!”
Woo Cheong and Ha On-ha asked to join their alliance. Becoming a member of the alliance did not guarantee debut; everything still depended on the viewers’ votes. But sometimes, even a hollow promise was something people wanted to cling to.
“C-can I join too…?”
“Of course.”
Yeo Do-bin joined as well, and Neoul generously accepted everyone into the alliance.
Watching that, Baek Yuri thought it looked rather like a cult disguising itself as Christianity and quietly recruiting believers.
And so the three young lambs became members, never once suspecting the true nature of the alliance. Logan shook his head with total disinterest, as if to say that it was useless and why bother with something so pointless?
As Neoul caught his breath, his eyes landed on a small window that had been left slightly open. A lukewarm breeze drifted in through the gap, tousling his hair and cooling the sweat on his skin. Outside, the sunset was sinking into the horizon.
At that moment, someone came looking for them in the practice room.
“Galneoul! I heard the writer wanted to see you? Is it an interview?”
Damn. To have to waste even a minute of precious rest time on an interview.
Still, Neoul pushed his heavy body to its feet at once.
“Where must I go?”
“They said to come around to the back of the building?”
“…?”
An interview at the back of the building? That had never happened before.
Besides, whenever there had been an interview, some staff member or the youngest writer had always come personally to fetch him. Unease prickled at Neoul, and he asked,
“Who?”
“Ji-rok hyung. He said his stomach hurt and asked me to tell you he was going to the bathroom instead.”
Ah. What the hell.
Neoul lay back down on the floor again.
“Please tell him I won’t be going.”
“Huh…? But the writer asked for you… Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Yes. If it’s necessary, they’ll call for me again.”
Neoul ignored it and threw himself back into practice. Luckily, Ha On-ha’s correction parade seemed to have finally come to an end. He appeared to have polished everything to a level he found satisfactory.
It feels like his feet are almost never touching the ground?
Neoul marveled at how humans had built airplanes and helicopters because they wanted to fly, and now were somehow managing to levitate without even wings. Then he broke into a cold sweat at the realization that he, too, was expected to accomplish this levitation.
The one small relief was that for Baek Yuri, Neoul, and Yeo Do-bin, all strong vocalists, the fierce choreography had been arranged with tiny breathing gaps in between. It was Woo Cheong’s small kindness toward Neoul, who looked as if he might expire from lack of air at any moment.
Time passed, and night fell. Only after they’d run through the choreography several more times with Ha On-ha leading the way did they finally reach a break.
And this time, Kim Ji-rok came in person.
“Hey, Neoul. Why didn’t you go when the writer called for you? The main writer’s been waiting forever and she’s pissed off now.”
His expression looked quite serious.
“Go quickly.”
“Hurry back~”
With the team waving him off, Neoul had no choice but to follow Kim Ji-rok out, reluctant though he was.
“Do you know how hard it was for me to calm the writer down? Honestly, you…”
Kim Ji-rok muttered on ahead. Neoul stared at the back of his head, unable to shake his suspicion.
The man always stank of something bad, but now the reek was severe. There was no doubt this too was a lie, the part about the writer calling for him.
What on earth is he plotting?
Neoul kept walking, not listening to Kim Ji-rok even a little.
* * *
A little earlier, Kim Ji-rok had called Galneoul out and waited two hours in the dark behind the building.
He hadn’t meant to do anything bad. He wasn’t a student anymore, back when a little irritation meant his fists flew first. He’d done his military service, and he was already twenty-three. He’d quit fighting long ago.
Though last time, Ha On-ha kept needling me and I almost lost my temper.
Still, Kim Ji-rok praised himself for enduring it.
“See? I really have mellowed out a lot. Haha.”
The reason he’d called Galneoul out wasn’t anything special. He’d just wanted to give him a few pieces of advice—something useful, something that would do him good in the long run.
And, while he was at it, he’d planned to smoke a cigarette in secret and even teach the rude brat a lesson by letting him have a drag of an adult’s cigarette.
If we smoke together and chat a little, maybe we’ll get friendly enough that he’ll stop putting me down in front of the cameras.
Kim Ji-rok fidgeted with the lighter and cigarette pack in his pocket. He’d been off cigarettes for a while, and his hand trembled around the lighter.
Besides, who knew how things would turn out in life? Who could say what kind of relationship he might have with that insolent little bastard in the future?
“Ahem. Galneoul could even become my brother-in-law, I guess…”
Kim Ji-rok thought of the face of the woman who had delivered one of the biggest shocks of his life. A moon-white face, lovely and fragile as a single magnolia blossom. She was so beautiful she stole your eyes at a glance, like a fairy descending from heaven.
She said Sister Sari, so is her name Gal Sari?
Galneoul’s older sister, Gal Sari.
The moment he had seen her appear in the middle of the most boring video-letter viewing session imaginable, radiating light as if she had come from nowhere, bells had pealed in Kim Ji-rok’s head and a wedding march had begun playing on its own.
He had not been able to forget her for even a single moment since that day. His hatred for Galneoul had not vanished entirely, but because of her, half of it had melted away like snow.
Wanting to tease Galneoul a little for how much water he drank, Kim Ji-rok had once filled a water bottle with ethylene glycol solution and brought it along, but after the video-letter session he had hidden the bottle deep in his bag again.
I nearly made my brother-in-law useless.
But no matter how long he waited, Galneoul never came out. Irritation scratched at Kim Ji-rok’s insides, and he spat onto the ground.
Did that messenger bastard forget and run off? Damn, what a waste. I swear, not one of these punks is likable.
In the end, Kim Ji-rok had to go in person and drag Galneoul out himself.
When they reached the back of the building, Galneoul looked around to confirm no one else was there, then frowned. He let out a sigh and looked down at Kim Ji-rok.
“What is it?”
Fuck. No matter how many times I look at him, this bastard’s eyes are fucking disgusting.
That gaze, as if he were looking at something filthy and worthless. Kim Ji-rok was certain Galneoul was looking down on him, sneering at him.
Still, he forced a smile and opened his mouth.
“Have you ever smoked before? Want to try one?”
“No.”
“Why not? Aren’t you curious what it tastes like?”
“Not at all.”
“R-right.”
So firm. That brat really wasn’t easy.
In the end, Kim Ji-rok put a cigarette in his own mouth alone. After lighting it and exhaling a long plume of smoke, he asked in a smooth, calm tone he was trying hard to imitate,
“If I did something that made you uncomfortable, could you tell me? No matter how I think about it, I honestly don’t know. Why you hate me so much.”
“……”
“If you’ve got a reason that makes sense, I’ll accept it. But if you just hate me for no reason at all… that kind of hurts, man.”
Kim Ji-rok put on his most bitter, troubled expression. It wasn’t a face he made often, and it felt like the muscles around his cheek might cramp, but he tried not to let it show.
“People I meet in life can’t always be kind to me, sure, but this is the first time I’ve met someone I couldn’t even understand why they were treating me like this. So I called you out because I was curious. If I lied and upset you, I’m sorry. It’s just… being hated is something I never seem to get used to, no matter how many times it happens.”
Kim Ji-rok stared at Neoul with a pitiable look on his face.
Neoul did not answer. He only glared unpleasantly at the cigarette, whose length was shrinking in an instant.
Then he pinched his nose and took two steps back.
“I told you before, didn’t I?”
“Huh?”
“You stink.”
“Don’t joke around.”
“I’m serious.”
Whoa, you little bastard….
Kim Ji-rok clenched his molars tight. The anger he’d been keeping under control was starting to rise again.
“I don’t stink, damn it! I scrub behind my ears every day! Do you know how clean I keep myself?”
“Is your heart clean as well?”
“What?”
“Just because you can’t smell it yourself doesn’t mean the odor disappears. Once a soul rots, it can never be restored. You can’t take it out to wash it and put it back in again.”
What the hell is this crazy bastard talking about? What soul and all that bullshit… Is he some kind of shaman? A cultist?
Kim Ji-rok could not understand how some strange, ridiculous nutcase like this could be related to such a fairy-like woman. Still, thinking of her, he clenched his fist and endured it.
“Fine. Sorry. I honestly don’t know what smell you’re talking about, but if you’re that sure, maybe there really is some faint odor there.”
“It’s not faint at all.”
“Ah, hell! Fine! It’s bad! Happy now?”
“Yes. It is bad.”
Kim Ji-rok ground his teeth. No matter how hard he tried to smooth things over, it wasn’t going anywhere.
“Hey, don’t be like that, all right? Huh? What did I do to hurt you? What did I do at all? And people’s lives are unpredictable, right? So don’t go around openly discriminating against people like that. Hell, for all you know, I could end up marrying your sister someday. I might become your brother-in-law, and you’re really going to treat me like this?”
“Brother-in-law…?”
Galneoul’s jaw dropped. He looked as if he’d just heard something he should never have heard.
After giving Kim Ji-rok a once-over, Galneoul asked in a very strange voice, “Could you handle that……?”
To Kim Ji-rok, that sounded like nothing but a sneer—someone like you?
Fuck. He thinks I’m not good enough?
That bastard. He’d been getting uppity more and more every time I saw him. Fucking infuriating.
“Ha. Fine. Maybe I look lacking to you now. I’m just a no-name trainee, right? But I’ve got a hell of a lot of confidence I’ll succeed.”
“……”
“Let’s see if you’re still saying that after I’m earning billions per performance.”
As Kim Ji-rok, now fully fired up, burned with anger, Galneoul fanned the flames with an expression of utter disbelief.
“Even if you became rich beyond measure, it would still be difficult with my older sister.”
Enraged, Kim Ji-rok’s eyes went bloodshot as he grabbed Galneoul by the collar.
“Just wait and see, damn it.”
“Even if you wait and see, what cannot happen will not happen.”
“Hah.”
Kim Ji-rok shoved Galneoul hard and tried to leave. But the harder he pushed, the more he himself was pushed back. Galneoul did not budge an inch, like a rock rooted deep into the earth.
Damn it! He’s disgustingly tall and disgustingly strong too!
Kim Ji-rok, even more furious now, stomped away with a twisted expression and a huff of rage.