Chapter 15 - The Conditions for Becoming a Kind Idol Leader - Episode 15

Before long, the staff member’s attention shifted to Cheon Sa-yoon.

Go Young-in decided to quietly watch the two of them talk. Cheon Sa-yoon’s social skills, witnessed from the front row. Honestly, he was a little curious.

“Oh? Hello, Sa-yoon? This is the first time we’ve spoken directly, isn’t it? We were just having a quick little chat. Why aren’t you heading inside? Do you need something in particular from me? Zero One doesn’t have any more schedules after this, right? I thought you were off duty.”

Startled by the sudden appearance, the staff member quickly composed their expression and began fawning over Cheon Sa-yoon with exaggerated familiarity. Anyone could see how desperate they were to strike up a conversation.

What was this, the Question Mark Murderer? They really must have been curious.

Cheon Sa-yoon merely stared at the staff member, who was acting all slick and sweet as if he were a tongue in someone’s mouth, then let out a small laugh and flashed that infuriatingly bright smile of his.

“Yesss. Everyone’s worked hard, so I thought it’d only be polite to stop by and greet you one by one. I was just making the rounds.”

Up until a moment ago, the staff member had clearly been desperate to get rid of him before anything embarrassing came up, but now they kept talking nonstop, not even giving Cheon Sa-yoon room to look anywhere else.

If he falls for that outer shell, he’s in trouble…

Unless Cheon Sa-yoon had lost his mind, he wasn’t suddenly going to do anything to the man.

Still, unlike the way he treated Go Young-in, there was a subtle difference here. It was obvious the staff member was trying very hard to win Cheon Sa-yoon over. Which, somehow, made sense.

Listen, that’s one hell of a bastard. He’s hiding nasty intentions and a snake’s tongue behind that smile.

Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud. If he could, he’d have done it long ago.

“Is that so! Wow, this is something. I’ve heard so often that Sa-yoon is kind, and it seems the rumors are true after all! People around here talk about you all the time. They all really adore you, did you know that?”

“That’s far too much for me to deserve. I do know everyone helps out even where I can’t see it, though. I’m always grateful.”

“Oh, please! It’s all thanks to our artists being so wonderful. Because of you, we can work comfortably too. Ah, come to think of it, I haven’t properly introduced myself yet. My name is—”

“Haha. You’re Dong-yun, right? You don’t need to introduce yourself. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Cheon Sa-yoon really did seem to know everyone. Did he memorize every staff member’s name too? That was a little impressive.

The staff member called Dong-yun seemed to have the same thought, because he looked at Cheon Sa-yoon with a deeply moved expression.

“Ahem, yes. I’m Ju Dong-yun. If I’d known that, I should’ve introduced myself sooner. Then, if you’re not busy—”

“I’m sorry.”

Cheon Sa-yoon, who had been speaking kindly and with a smile the entire time, cut him off gently but decisively. Even so, his expression was so apologetic it was almost pitiful.

I saw a face just like that right after the reset. …Still ridiculous when I think about it.

“Pardon?”

The staff member had been cut off mid-sentence, but perhaps because of Cheon Sa-yoon’s behavior, he didn’t even seem to realize it properly.

Cheon Sa-yoon’s damned face came in handy at times like this.

He was young, and if you judged only by his appearance, he looked harmless and soft, so whatever came out of that mouth could make you think, for a second, that maybe you’d misheard him.

And Cheon Sa-yoon knows better than anyone exactly what he looks like.

“I have to stop by the CEO’s office with Young-in-hyung for a minute. Sorry, but would it be all right if I head in first?”

Sure enough, Cheon Sa-yoon had only said he’d been making the rounds to greet people; he’d never said he was doing it because he had time to spare. Maybe the staff member realized that too, because he looked rather disappointed and promised to catch up again later.

But that wasn’t the important part right now.

…No, what the hell?

What do you mean, you’re just going to wrap things up on your own? When the hell was that ever scheduled?

Go Young-in was about to argue, but at that moment their eyes met. Cheon Sa-yoon gave a slight tilt of his head toward the door. It seemed he wanted them to leave first.

In the end, Go Young-in had no choice but to leave the studio room, leaving the staff member behind in a daze.

* * *

“Sa-yoon, I need to talk to that staff member for a second.”

He had to ask about the hidden cake. Damn it.

“About what? Don’t tell me it’s that shitty cake?”

The instant he heard Cheon Sa-yoon’s reply, Go Young-in panicked, thinking he’d blurted out his inner thoughts without meaning to. What the hell, how did you know again? Cheon Sa-yoon looked at him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“You look like you’re wondering how I knew, but you think I’d miss something you know about too? You hid it so badly. If I couldn’t find it, I’d question your intelligence.”

That was right. Cheon Sa-yoon was the type who would backstab his own team. No, come to think of it, he was the type who put even more effort into backstabbing his own team. Go Young-in had been on the receiving end of it all this time and still hadn’t fully realized it; he had nothing to say if someone called him stupid.

“If you know, that makes it easier to explain. It probably isn’t anything major, but I thought I should know about it.”

“No need. That was used to promote the shop his own younger sibling just opened.”

What? No, where the hell did he even hear that? So that weirdly hastily made whatever-it-was pie had come from that staff member’s sibling’s shop?

Come to think of it, Cheon Sa-yoon had said he’d been going around greeting the staff earlier. Maybe he’d learned about it then? If it was Cheon Sa-yoon, he absolutely could have.

Given the nature of being an entertainer, if you had even a little recognition, you were basically a walking billboard. Merely wearing, eating, or mentioning something could turn into promotion and affect sales.

Ah. So that was it? Hmm… The conclusion felt a little too clean. Had he overreacted? It wasn’t something worth getting that worked up over, was it?

Now he felt awkward. It didn’t exactly feel resolved, though.

Then the cake I saw was the one that had been prepared originally?

Maybe that staff member had more influence among the employees than he’d thought.

Double D Entertainment was a company that had started from almost nothing, back when people still called places like this a tiny shit company, and had slowly grown over time.

Because of that, it had a few major problems, and the most famous one was that it was the ultimate company of connections and old hands.

Even so, it was awkward to bring up directly. His position in the industry only made things more restrictive.

Meanwhile, Cheon Sa-yoon had gone quiet, apparently thinking about something. The silence felt strangely uncomfortable. Just as Go Young-in wondered if he should leave this bastard here and go on without him, Cheon Sa-yoon finally reacted.

“Honestly, it’s not serious enough to get someone fired. But I’m too irritated to let it slide, so that’s not happening either.”

Was that really the issue, you bastard?

It was the kind of thing that would be hard to get someone fired over. Most likely it would end with a scolding. To put it bluntly, unless one of the members ate it and collapsed or something went wrong, there was a good chance it would just be treated as a minor screw-up.

“I’ll handle it myself, so don’t get in my way.”

…The way Cheon Sa-yoon says that makes me incredibly uneasy.

Did he really need to do something? Go Young-in couldn’t even begin to imagine what might come out of that mouth. Was he going to torment the guy or something?

Am I just seeing that bastard as evil no matter what?

Surely not. Not when he cared so much about image management. But Cheon Sa-yoon really was the sort of person who could go anywhere and do anything, in a way that felt different even from Pyo Jae-ho.

“What are you going to do…?”

“Huh? Nothing. It’s nothing serious.”

Cheon Sa-yoon looked downright innocent when he said it. That was exactly how people acted in thriller movies right before they suddenly went dead-eyed and stabbed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠someone in the back.

“Nothing dangerous, right?”

You’re the dangerous one, not the other guy.

“Do I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠look insane? Of course not.”

You talk like you’d absolutely be capable of it, though… Honestly, Go Young-in didn’t even want to know. He was sure Cheon Sa-yoon would take care of it his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠own way. Did he really need to know the details?

Right, you little status-window bastard. I said it was unusually quiet, and now you’re glitching too? Why are you popping up the same line three times in a row? What kind of nonsense is he supposed to be encouraging before doing whatever it is he’s about to do? Was the encouragement going to kill someone if he didn’t provide it?

“F-fighting.”

Even as he said it, Go Young-in realized he was already shouting encouragement. The slave of a damned status window. What was this, “fighting” for?

Cheon Sa-yoon seemed to think the same thing, because he was staring at Go Young-in with an expression that said, What kind of new kind of bullshit is this?

“Have you lost your mind?”

Before Go Young-in could even make a halfhearted excuse, Cheon Sa-yoon ended it with that one line and went off on his own.

Go Young-in laughed helplessly as he watched his back disappear into the distance.

No, damn it. He even throws a fit when you cheer him on.

* * *

After sending Cheon Sa-yoon off, Go Young-in texted the group chat, wondering what the other members were up to, only to find that two of them had left him on read and one hadn’t even checked the message.

Bastards.

If the manager hadn’t told him they’d all gone back to the dorm, he would have been worried sick, wondering what kind of trouble they were off causing.

He wondered if he should head back to the dorm too, checked the time, and found it awkwardly inconvenient, so since he was already here, he stopped by the practice room, stretched out, and killed time there. Before that, he’d also been called in by the CEO again and had talked a bit about spoilers.

He’d expected to get scolded, but the CEO had surprisingly said it was fine, which caught him off guard.

After that, nothing much happened.

They’d told him to rest up until today, so he lingered a little longer before heading back to the dorm. Naturally, no one even came out to see who had arrived. Just as he thought.

When he got to the room, Cheon Sa-yoon still hadn’t come home.

What on earth had he gone out to do?

After showering, he lay down on his bed and checked social media. The reaction to the pie thing was, as expected, exactly what he’d imagined. It was the sort of thing that would normally just leave people irritated, but today of all days—when they’d already had enough uplifting things to get through—something like that had happened. It made sense.

As for Cheon Sa-yoon… thinking ahead, he was obviously worrying him, but it didn’t seem like he’d pull anything tonight.

So why am I this uneasy?

In the end, Go Young-in sent Cheon Sa-yoon a message.

Right. He’d already expected it not to be read right away.

He isn’t seriously causing trouble, is he?

There wasn’t anything he could do if Cheon Sa-yoon wasn’t even answering his phone.

Go Young-in sighed and dug through his gallery. Since he might as well secure an alibi for Cheon Sa-yoon, he planned to upload a photo that had never been posted before.

Fine, fine, I’ll do it. There’s nothing more willing than this, damn it… Anyway, I was planning to post something tonight as a final check-in before the day ended.

Still, there wasn’t a single photo of the two of them together, and as for solo photos… there were even fewer.

Go Young-in took a selfie somewhere in the room, then used the fact that they were roommates to write a post that implied they were together and uploaded it.

Come to think of it, they hadn’t done anything special, and only one day had passed. And yet it was already on a completely different level from the days when he only had to worry about himself.

So I really do have to keep doing this, huh? Haha…

Having finished what needed doing and not wanting to think about it anymore, Go Young-in decided to turn in early for the comeback schedule that would begin in earnest tomorrow.

---

By then, Go Young-in had sent a message to Cheon Sa-yoon, but the response still hadn’t come. Since he had already posted the picture, it seemed like a harmless little accident had turned into a different kind of nuisance.

But why am I still this uneasy?

He still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.