Chapter 11 - The Conditions for Becoming a Gentle Idol Leader - Episode 11

Fifteen minutes passed like that.

It had already been half an hour since they’d come down to the lobby, and those lunatics were still at it in the back, trading insults neither of them had probably ever heard in their lives, with not a shred of fatigue in sight.

Was this that famous thing people called a mutual dogfight? He didn’t care what it was called; he just wished they’d stop.

What did being gentle have to do with patience? Young-in ignored the system’s incessant ringing as best he could and pressed a hand to his forehead, drawing in a quiet breath. Ugh…

"Both of you are loud as hell and a pain in the ass, so just shut the fuck up already. Either leave or be quiet—pick one."

In the end, Lim Se-bin, thoroughly fed up, finally cut in. At least Young-in could take some comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the only one among the members who found their behavior disgusting. Shit.

Pyo Jae-ho, for his part, simply watched the two of them fight with his usual impassive face. Young-in tried speaking to him on the side, but—

"I don’t care whether they fight or not."

Pyo Jae-ho’s indifferent eyes flicked toward Young-in for a brief moment.

"Just don’t let it interfere with my music."

After saying that, he fell silent again. It sounded as though he could have been talking to the two of them—or maybe directly to Young-in.

In the middle of all this, it was almost impressive, in a ridiculous sort of way, that nobody was raising their voice. So they did care about their public image after all, huh?

You bastards, is there really no way to just not fight? Do you have to go this far?

Was this really the kind of situation where the word understanding applied? System, you crazy bastard… how the hell am I supposed to understand this? Fine… thank you, I guess, for at least checking the surroundings before you fight…….

How the hell was he supposed to stop this?

Yeah. Fine, I’ll do it. …It’s not like I’d end up fighting too, right?

Young-in steeled himself and pushed his upper body upright.

From the beginning, those two had been sitting far apart, insisting they didn’t even want to be in the same orbit, so Young-in was currently wedged between them like a breakwater. He spread his hands over the table and tried to pull their attention.

"Both of you, hold on a second. Can you at least tell me why you’re fighting before you start? We were clearly just having a conversation with me and Se-bin hyung, so why—"

He’d tried to sound bold, but attention? What attention. The two of them were so deep ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in their staring contest they didn’t even glance his way. Cheon Sa-yoon, who had apparently not thought twice about what he’d said and was now wearing a flowerlike smile, kept his gaze fixed and said brazenly,

"I was just telling the truth. They’re the one who got angry. I had no intention of fighting."

The corner of Cheon Sa-yoon’s mouth curved a fraction. That tiny sneer was definitely a face he made on purpose, just so someone would notice it.

Kyeon In-woo, who had been glaring at him like he wanted to kill him, did not answer. Instead, for some reason, he rubbed the back of his neck and let out a deep sigh.

"Haa… I’m the idiot for even dealing with that."

"In-woo, calm down."

Just this once, hold it in. Come on, huh? If they started up again here, they were completely done for. Young-in tried to send them desperate telepathy the way he had once seen on some animal program years ago.

Honestly, isn’t the fighting dog here Cheon Sa-yoon, not Kyeon In-woo?

"I wasn’t the one picking a fight first. You know Young-in hyung secretly takes their side, don’t you? Is it because you went to school together?"

"……"

Kyeon In-woo opened his mouth as if he had something to say, then shut it again. He was plainly trying to rein in a rising fury.

Why was he suddenly spouting some rotten old-school garbage about cliques and personal connections?

And yes, they had gone to the same school, but they hadn’t had enough contact to even realize they were from the same place. Why was that coming up now?

Just as Young-in was about to say he hadn’t taken anyone’s side in the first place—

"Ah…"

Cheon Sa-yoon suddenly lowered his eyes and dipped his head slightly, putting on a fragile, pitiful expression.

Shit, what the hell is this now.

The shift in Cheon Sa-yoon’s atmosphere was so abrupt that it was almost enough to make him choke.

"I’m sorry. Thinking about it, I really was being rude. I’ll stop talking about this now."

Every time he spoke, his lashes trembled faintly, proving he really wasn’t just some guy who’d gotten lucky with acting. Damn… he was amazing, every single time.

Seeing that display, Kyeon In-woo let out a dry laugh and turned his head away altogether. It felt like he was avoiding looking any longer because if he did, more curses would come out.

"Anyway, I think Young-in hyung’s suggestion is fine. Change is good. If we can use this chance to create the image that we’re directly involved in producing the album, it’ll be good for us and not bad for the company either."

Cheon Sa-yoon smiled softly.

"Right, Manager?"

Righ… huh?

Young-in’s face turned toward the direction of Cheon Sa-yoon’s gaze. Slowly looking back, he saw Manager Do Sa-jin approaching, and it seemed he had only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just arrived, because he clearly hadn’t caught the details of whatever conversation had just happened.

"Huh? Ah, yes, that’s right. I just came from talking with the director, and everyone seems positive about it. They said they’d accommodate your wishes as much as possible. Congratulations, guys. Think of this as practice and do your best."

So that was it. There had been a reason he’d suddenly donned such a pitiful expression. Cheon Sa-yoon really was something else, in more ways than one. The guy was so skilled that even when he contradicted himself, nobody could bring themselves to curse him out.

"The director said it’s fine if you don’t come back to the conference room. You’ve got a live broadcast soon anyway, so let’s head up now. We’ve got the studio booked."

Well, if it got resolved somehow, I should just take it as a good thing…….

Everyone obediently followed Manager Do Sa-jin to the studio. It seemed they all wanted out of this place as quickly as possible.

And the broadcast hadn’t even started yet, but thanks to them, he was already drained.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

What was this now.

On the table where the cake for the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠broadcast should have been waiting, there was food instead. It looked somewhat like a cake, but it wasn’t one.

Judging by the layers, it looked like some kind of pie, though it was a type he’d never seen before. Heavy dollops of whipped cream had been slapped on top. No, “slapped” was almost too kind. It was more like a lump of whipped cream had been carelessly plopped down, and a cheap cake topper reading ZER01’S 2ND BIRTHDAY in cursive English was stuck in it. From start to finish, it was shoddy in both finish and appearance. Anyone could tell it had been thrown together in a hurry.

Why does it look like this?

Young-in blinked slowly. It felt like something like this had happened before. He hadn’t paid much attention to it then, but now that ridiculous clause about being a gentle leader had him keeping his nerves on edge, always watching ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for when the members might cause trouble, so things like this had started catching his eye one by one.

Wondering if he was just being oversensitive, he glanced at the members, but though they were keeping their faces blank because staff were present, all of them looked irritated.

"Its quality keeps getting worse and worse," Cheon Sa-yoon muttered under his breath. Young-in had been about to pretend he hadn’t heard, but just in case, he nudged him in the side. Cheon Sa-yoon, cut it out.

Beside him, Lim Se-bin, who had been frowning almost invisibly, said in a low voice,

"I can’t eat whipped cream……. Is that a problem?"

"Ah…! I’m sorry! Um, what should I do…? The cake we’d originally prepared got ruined, so we had to put this together in a hurry……. There wasn’t a proper bakery nearby. I’m really sorry. You don’t have to eat it—we’re only cutting it, so please don’t worry about that."

Lim Se-bin had probably been speaking to the staff member in charge of the live broadcast, but perhaps because this had all been so sudden, the employee’s expression was far from bright. Young-in didn’t know what the person was thinking, but since saying anything would not change the situation anyway, Se-bin merely accepted it quietly and stepped back.

Watching the whole thing unfold, Young-in understood one thing for certain.

They’d managed to muddle through the earlier chaos somehow, but there didn’t seem to be any proper way to handle unexpected incidents like this. When they got back to the dorm later, he’d probably have to start writing things down again after all.

I should organize as much as I can remember in a notes app or something. This time, writing it down will actually mean something.

For now, the most important thing was the 2nd anniversary live broadcast that was about to begin.

Young-in first reviewed today’s goal in his head.

Get through the 2nd anniversary comeback live without incident.

Since he’d decided to start writing things down again, he figured he might as well try to cling to whatever motivation he could by focusing on the members for the time being.

Thinking of the fans to steady himself would probably work best… but if he remembered the last timeline, it felt like something his conscience couldn’t quite justify.

The goal was vague, and in some ways almost sloppy. Maybe later it would become something more elaborate. For now, though, he was already too busy just keeping up with what would happen next.

And as for those member bastards…

He couldn’t think of a clear solution just yet.

Damn idiots… can they even be fixed?

At a glance, this looked like a long-term project. Maybe not even a project—maybe an impossible mission. It was obvious enough that these were not the sort of people who’d obediently listen.

Still, perhaps because this was the first time in a while he’d be meeting fans live, he was more nervous right now than at any point today. Hah, haha… why was he shaking so much? Shit. Calm down, Go Young-in. You’re not an amateur. What are you doing?

Encouragement my ass. I’m the one who looks most nervous here right now, so what the hell are you talking about?

This lousy life: if the status window says do it, you do it. Swallowing hard, Young-in forced his expression as calm as he could.

"Let’s really try not to make any mistakes."

Of course there was no answer, but that didn’t matter. He could just think of it as self-hypnosis.

Standing in front of the long table, they lined up from left to right as Kyeon In-woo, Lim Se-bin, Go Young-in, Pyo Jae-ho, and Cheon Sa-yoon.

Even if it looked like they’d just been placed there at random, Young-in had his own reasoning. Perhaps because there were eyes watching, the members fortunately didn’t object.

Thinking back to what happened in the lobby, Kyeon In-woo and Cheon Sa-yoon looked like they’d start fighting just from seeing each other’s faces, so he’d put them as far apart as possible. Thankfully, both of them could talk a bit on their own, so maybe they’d each handle their own share of the broadcast. In that case, being far apart was fine.

Pyo Jae-ho might explode with words in ways no one could predict, so Young-in wasn’t sure he could stop him, but he’d at least placed him beside him. As for Lim Se-bin, he barely spoke at all, so he’d put him next to him. If they were close enough, maybe he could coax some screen time out of him.

It was a seating arrangement born of Young-in’s tearful efforts to prevent a broadcast disaster. Whether it would matter was another question.

No broadcast disaster. No mistakes. Absolutely no mistakes. Please let the members get through this safely too. Let’s finish this without trouble, please.

And so, the Zero One 2nd anniversary live broadcast—full of more noise and trouble than anyone could count—began.

***