Conditions for Becoming a Kind Idol Leader - Chapter 36
"Guys! Take this! Come on, take it!"
No matter how much the world had changed, there were still people who loitered in front of dorms and company buildings, even if they were only a tiny minority. The type who wanted nothing more than to stand out somehow, to leave a mark.
There were even those who seemed to show up every single time, no matter how sick of the sight everyone else got. The person just now shouting for them to take it and thrusting out a pink shopping bag was one of them.
By now, it wasn’t even a strange enough sight to be worth reacting to. Everyone had gotten used to treating them like background noise and brushing past.
When Young-in unfastened his seat belt and got out of the van, the clamorous voices outside only grew louder.
He made his way through the crowd at a measured pace and headed into the building. So far, nothing was out of the ordinary.
Lim Se-bin, who had seemed to be in a low mood ever since the comeback, had been acting like that for a while now, but today it looked especially bad.
Even so, he seemed aware that people around him were paying attention.
In the short time they’d been there, he’d kept walking back and forth near the staff members and other employees who were filming B-roll for internal content, clearly trying not to start some kind of scene.
He probably thought that if he made eye contact with anyone, he’d say something, so instead he chose to go off to a corner, close his eyes, fold his arms, and stand there without moving, as if his body had been switched off.
The manager, on the other hand, seemed unsettled by Se-bin acting differently again and never left his side, trying to strike up conversation the whole time. It was just like watching my own past self.
Se-bin made it painfully obvious from the start that he didn’t want to deal with him. He told the manager to leave him alone and let him handle it himself, making things awkward; then, when the manager put a hand to his forehead to check whether he was sick, he slapped it away hard and told him he’d appreciate it if he didn’t touch him.
That insane bastard. He’s doing that even to the manager.
The manager looked utterly flustered. He’d always avoided and ignored people before, but this was the first time Young-in had seen him react with outright disgust like that.
Seeing Se-bin like that, Young-in had worried something might happen during today’s shoot, but it turned out to be needless concern. When the actual filming started, he performed without a problem. What exactly was the standard for deciding who he exploded at?
The shoot itself wasn’t especially difficult.
They made one phone call to a member of DTD, held an idea meeting about how the song should be rearranged, and settled on a direction. It was all very straightforward, with nothing discussed beyond topics related to the competition.
The station’s camera director wanted more variety—wanted to capture more of Zero One’s usual dynamic—so they had talked a bit more than planned.
In the end, they finished the shoot somehow.
The moment filming ended, the extremely self-reliant members of Zero One scattered to go about their own business.
Pyo Jae-ho headed up to the company’s studio. Kyeon In-woo said he had someone to meet and took off. As for Cheon Sa-yoon, he apparently had plans with staff from the agency, because that café from before—the one with the familiar female employee—came to pick him up, and he left with her.
Normally, Young-in would have stopped by the practice room now that filming was over and worked out a bit before heading home.
"Se-bin, you’re going up too, right? You’ve got to do the live broadcast today."
"I’m in too bad a condition. Sorry, but I’m going back to the dorm now and pushing it to tomorrow."
"Uh... already? You’re leaving right away?"
"Yes."
"Do you really have to go down now? If you wait just a little... no, it’s fine, but then..."
"I don’t need to go to the hospital. I’m just tired. I think I’ll be fine after I sleep."
"Right... then do you want to sit and wait for a bit? I’ll at least go mention it."
"There wasn’t anyone I was supposed to do it with anyway, and no staff were called in."
"Huh? Well... actually, I did tell Director Dong-yoon ahead of time. I thought it might be best to have one or two staff members with you during the live."
"Do what you want. I’m just going down first."
"Wait a second, Se-bin."
Before he knew it, Young-in had ended up overhearing the conversation between Se-bin and the manager. Dong-yoon—that weird staff member, then. Fine.
Was he close with the manager? Come to think of it, hadn’t he called him something like Director last time too?
When had he done that again? Young-in had definitely heard it before, but he couldn’t remember the details. It must have been one of those days when he was too busy to think straight. He should’ve written it down. At this rate, was he basically a goldfish...?
The manager, having said his piece, was now flustered and telling Se-bin not to go alone as Se-bin had already wandered off that far.
Why wasn’t he following him? Did he have something to do? For now, Young-in tried to calm the manager down.
"Should I go with him instead?"
"Huh? Young-in, is that you? Ah, there’s no need for that... ...then would you? Here, take the car keys. I have to go up for a moment because Sa-yoon asked me for something earlier. I’ll catch up quickly."
The manager hesitated with an awkward expression before giving a reluctant nod and handing him the keys. What was with that halfhearted reaction?
Young-in took the keys and followed after Se-bin. The manager still seemed like someone with a thorn in his side, fussing about restlessly. It wasn’t like that man only acted like that once or twice, but something about him felt off today.
If he was that uneasy, shouldn’t he be following right now?
As much as he wanted to ignore whether that bastard Se-bin went alone or not, what the manager had just said, combined with a vague sense of foreboding, left Young-in uneasy.
More than anything, the damn status window kept doing that.
In the blink of an eye, Se-bin had already gotten into the elevator and was on his way down. The doors were closing. For a second, he thought Se-bin might have met his eyes through the narrowing gap.
Shit. Young-in sprinted.
"Wait, Se-bin-hyung!"
He ran hard before the elevator doors could shut completely. Taking long strides, he lunged forward and barely managed to hit the button in time. Catching his breath lightly, he looked up at the elevator.
The nearly closed doors slid open again. Se-bin glared at him silently, but Young-in pretended not to notice and stepped inside. He didn’t usually use elevators if he could help it, but this couldn’t be helped.
He’d expected it, but he hadn’t expected Se-bin to see him running over and still refuse to press the open button. What a petty bastard.
He was annoying as hell, but Young-in just smiled. He probably looked unbelievably stupid, but whatever. He was already doomed.
"...What is it."
"I left something in the van. Let’s go together. We’re already here, and there’s no point just standing around anyway. I’ve got the car keys too."
He gave the keys a little shake on his finger to show them. Se-bin looked at him for a moment, then rubbed his forehead like he had a headache.
"Ha... you’re doing this again."
With an exaggerated sigh, Se-bin snatched the keys away, flicked Young-in’s hand off, and looked away. So rude he could peel paint.
They went down to the underground parking garage together. Of all things, the elevator today didn’t stop halfway and kept going straight down. At least there was that.
When Se-bin had been in the elevator with him, he’d looked miserable, but at some point his expression had smoothed out, and now he was standing there blank-faced as if nothing at all had happened.
The moment they reached the basement and the doors opened, Young-in hurried out and took a deep breath. He’d thought he was going to suffocate.
Se-bin passed right by him and walked toward the van parked in the underground lot.
He wasn’t their parent, so did he really have to come all the way down like this and see Se-bin off to the van the way he usually headed back to the dorm? Especially when the person himself looked so disgusted by it and didn’t even want the attention. Of course, he only thought that for a second before stopping because he didn’t want to see the status window.
And hadn’t his bad premonitions always turned out to be right so far?
Se-bin grabbed the van’s door handle and opened it. Young-in naturally assumed he would just climb in and shut the door, but instead Se-bin stood there holding the handle, not moving at all.
Why’s he just standing there like that?
Finding Se-bin strange, Young-in walked over to his side. Before he even had a chance to check what was going on, Se-bin lowered his voice coldly the moment he approached.
"That fucking... disgusting smell."
"Huh?"
What’s with him, saying that kind of thing just because I got close?
Young-in inhaled quietly. At first he hadn’t noticed, but as his nose caught up with it, he could detect a faint, unfamiliar scent—something like perfume, so weak it would’ve been easy to miss if he’d walked by. Ah, shit. Young-in looked over Se-bin’s shoulder at the seat.
A strange item was neatly placed on the seat: a rectangular box and a pink shopping bag. Obviously, they weren’t anything the members had brought.
"Hey."
"......"
"Go Young-in."
"Yes......"
"That thing you left behind—don’t tell me it’s this?"
"No......"
There was no way, you bastard. With how suspicious it looked, Se-bin’s expression gradually darkened. Young-in’s own face probably wasn’t any better.
Then, from nearby, came the rustling of something moving, followed by an artificially made noise.
[Clause 65│A perfect idol must always be wary of watching eyes.]
Young-in and Se-bin both turned toward the source of the sound. Behind another vehicle parked near Zero One’s van, someone wearing a black cap and a mask was staring this way.
The moment their eyes met over the brim of that cap, Young-in knew. It was that bastard. Instinct told him he was the one who’d left the suspicious item inside the van. So I was right not to trust the manager. He said there weren’t any suspicious people.
Young-in started to move, thinking he should catch the guy before he ran, but the crazy part was exactly what people meant when they said you could never predict a lunatic.
"Heeeyyyy!"
Instead of running away, the suspicious bastard lit up as if he’d only been waiting for them to notice him and let out a bizarre yell, then started sprinting toward Young-in and Se-bin.