Conditions for Becoming a Kind Idol Leader - Episode 46
46
Normally, all he had to do was deal with Pyo Jae-ho. But this time, it was him too? The guy who should have just tossed out one or two ordinary lines and left it there was acting like this... Ah. The scene back at the dorm surfaced again in his mind, and his head started to pound.
He reflexively reined in the glance he’d been about to send toward the area offstage where the main camera and the staff were gathered.
"Since the DTD members each gave a comment one by one, Zero One should all say something too."
He hadn’t expected him to make it this obvious on air. And of all people, it had to be Kyeon In-woo.
"Ah. Talk? ...Sure, let’s talk."
With one hand propping up his chin and covering the lower half of his mouth, Kyeon In-woo lifted one corner of his lips and silently mouthed the words.
Yeah, right.
It had been aimed at him so blatantly that it was almost outside the camera angle.
That was definitely directed at me, wasn’t it...
As expected, it was not the kind of thing anyone should do during a broadcast.
It was just an extension of what had happened last time. From Kyeon In-woo’s point of view, he also knew he was the strange one. And fair enough, but still, damn... He had his own reasons he couldn’t talk about, so why did this keep happening?
Clause 3: A perfect idol must be able to pull themselves together quickly, even when their mental state wavers.
Slowly unclenching and reclenching the fist he’d hidden under the table, Go Young-in let his gaze drift away from Kyeon In-woo and naturally chose Lim Se-bin instead.
"Se-bin, what did you think?"
"I thought you rearranged it in a way that fit DTD while still preserving the original mood of the song. I also liked how you gave the choreography a fresh interpretation by using props."
After that, Cheon Sa-yoon naturally gave the textbook answer. By the time it was Kyeon In-woo’s turn, there was still no way to relax. That bastard was basically a wild ball of unpredictability today.
Sure enough, he kept needle-fighting with Go Young-in at the edge of every sentence, and this wasn’t even a place where they were alone together, so what exactly was he trying to do?
Deliberately acting like this in the middle of a broadcast was something none of the other members had ever done... Pyo Jae-ho spoke strangely too, but he never openly picked a fight with another member like this.
Go Young-in wasn’t even sure what he had answered. He’d probably just given the standard reply, trying to ignore the throbbing in his head as best he could.
While his vision narrowed under a fresh wave of pain, the other groups’ stages went on, along with the talk about what each side would be exchanging.
The Road side was a scene of utter menace thanks to Yoo In-hyeok’s indiscriminate provocation as Triple Shot’s blue-haired former leader.
Without even thinking twice, Yoo In-hyeok used the costume exchange voucher Triple Shot had drawn and immediately declared they’d take the ragged-looking outfits. Of course he would.
Jeong Hae’s expression seemed to stiffen for a moment, but he soon started smoothing things over with the rest of the members as if it were second nature.
Jeong Hae didn’t even register in Go Young-in’s sight anymore. No—he was consciously refusing to look.
Kyeon In-woo, damn it, Jeong Hae, too—if he looked at either of them, it felt like his head would split clean in half again.
Zero One and DTD’s evaluation comments ended on a somewhat bland note.
Both Go Young-in, Zero One’s leader, and Park Ha-un, DTD’s leader, had no real intention of tearing into each other, and they also knew that some kind of arrangement had already been made through their managers.
It didn’t mean the competition would be rigged or the judging would be false; it simply meant they’d reached a compromise to keep the contest fair.
Even the rearrangement rights would have to be used honestly, as long as nobody interfered.
Zero One asked DTD to make the verse—the song’s opening section—softer than it was now. In its own way, it was also a suggestion for a direction that would suit DTD better.
Since they’d asked DTD to revise the verse, it seemed likely DTD would ask them to change the structure in return. But to avoid comparisons, Go Young-in had thought they’d try to steer clear of using the same part...
"Then we’ll do the same. Zero One will also go with softening the verse, just like DTD."
Why were there so many people here who liked head-on collisions so much?
"There you go. You look tired."
Clause 4: A perfect idol must also devote serious attention to managing their condition.
"Ah. Thank you."
Manager Kwon Je-won pulled one of the supplements Go Young-in had stocked in the workroom and handed it over, so since the status window had popped up at just the right time, he accepted it gratefully.
"Where are the other members?"
"Two of them are already in the van, and the other two said they’d go say hello first."
For some reason, even though he hadn’t been told any names, he could tell who was in the van and who was still out saying hello.
Today’s recording was finally over, somehow. Now he had to stop by the dorm, then go to the workroom at night, revise the verse, and practice the choreography some more. Why did it feel like there was more to do when he wasn’t filming?
Following Manager Kwon Je-won, he returned his microphone, greeting everyone he passed on the way, and then he ran into Na Woo-ri.
From a distance, the guy came bounding over with all the enthusiasm of a dog that had finally been let out for a walk after being cooped up too long. It was almost impressive. Behind Na Woo-ri were a few others strolling along at a more leisurely pace, including DTD’s Kang Ji-ho and Kyeon In-woo. ...Why was he there?
Seeing Na Woo-ri, who clearly had business to discuss, Manager Kwon Je-won excused himself first and gave them some space.
Na Woo-ri, who had sprinted up with all that energy, stopped right in front of him and began firing off words like a machine gun.
"Hyung! You rearranged it with the maknae from your group too, right? That’s right, isn’t it? When I saw you, I figured there was no way you couldn’t arrange music, but I still wasn’t sure, you know? Turns out you really do arrange music too. How long have you been learning? You’re lucky, hyung! You’re good at so many things."
Why was this guy like this again? At this rate, it didn’t look like they were ever going to have a relaxed conversation.
"...I wouldn’t call it that good. I just work at it."
"Still, you’re better than me!"
On the surface, it sounded like harmless grumbling—just cute enough to be taken lightly—but from the listener’s point of view, it strangely felt like he was taking a jab.
You too, like Jeong Hae... damn it, Jeong Hae.
"I’m not specially good at anything. Mm, I don’t really have any talent either. No matter how hard I try, I can’t beat geniuses. In that sense, you must have been born lucky, hyung? I’m jealous."
So what exactly did he want him to say? What was with assuming, on his own, that he’d been born gifted? Did people think he didn’t work hard?
"I wasn’t born with it. I just kept practicing until I got better."
"Ah—really? You must work really hard, hyung."
"...I should. I can’t say I work harder than everyone else, but I do keep at it enough not to fall behind. That goes for our side too, doesn’t it?"
That reckless Zero One still practiced and worked on self-improvement regularly. That said enough. Na Woo-ri, who had been standing there blankly for a moment, laughed and shouted cheerfully.
"Of course!"
He really was... unexpectedly bright. In more ways than one.
Go Young-in had been trying to send him off with a perfunctory response, not wanting to have the life drained out of him any further, when Kang Ji-ho and Kyeon In-woo had already come up right in front of him. That made simply leaving feel awkward beyond belief.
He gave Kang Ji-ho a light bow. And since Kyeon In-woo was still irritating as hell but also a fellow member, he gave him a suitably casual wave too.
And yet Kyeon In-woo didn’t even bother with a greeting—he just wrinkled his face the moment he saw him.
Clause 32: A perfect idol must be skilled at keeping their expression under control.
Who’s happy to see him? Thanks to this guy, my head feels like it’s going to split in half the whole time.
"Na Woo-ri, stop bullying someone who didn’t do anything."
"I’m not doing that. We were in the middle of a really fun conversation."
Kang Ji-ho, who had come closer without anyone noticing, lightly chided him in a teasing tone. Na Woo-ri brushed it off without a care, which suggested they must joke around like this all the time.
"Fun for you, maybe?"
"Look at Young-in hyung’s face! If he weren’t having fun, would he be smiling like that?"
Kyeon In-woo, who had been listening silently until then, cut in.
"There’s no way you could have a real conversation with him."
"...Huh? Me?"
"No. Him."
As he said that, he jerked his chin toward Go Young-in. It was obvious it wasn’t meant kindly.
Clause 32: A perfect idol must be skilled at keeping their expression under control.
"Huh? Young-in hyung?"
"Hey, Kyeon In-woo. Are you crazy? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What."
No matter what Kang Ji-ho and Na Woo-ri said with their baffled expressions, Kyeon In-woo didn’t even blink. He didn’t take back a single word. Go Young-in’s own expression was probably about the same.
His brain wasn’t working properly, so for a moment he had no idea what had just happened.
...
Clause 3: A perfect idol must be able to pull themselves together quickly, even when their mental state wavers.
Clause 10: If you’re a kind idol leader, you should help keep your members from going off the rails.
Clause 11: A kind idol leader treats their members with broad-minded understanding.
Clause 13: A kind idol leader also has outstanding patience.
.
.
.
Only after seeing the status windows appear in a rush did he finally manage to make some rough sense of the situation.
As soon as Go Young-in got back to the dorm, he caught Kyeon In-woo just as he was trying to head into the room.
"Kyeon In-woo."
The other man, who had been about to walk past without stopping, looked him over for a moment, then met his eyes with the kind of stare that said, Go on, spit it out.
Go Young-in told himself he understood why the other man was angry, and that he also knew he’d been at fault. From Kyeon In-woo’s point of view, it had been a damn irritating thing to happen.
But he still couldn’t figure out how he was supposed to understand what had just happened in front of the cameras and other people.
The way it had played out in broadcast was subtly different from the things the other members did on a regular basis. Being a pain because that was just your personality was one thing; deliberately trying to screw someone over because you were holding a grudge was something else entirely.
As Go Young-in chose and rejected one sentence after another in his head, trying to untangle the mess, the headache pounding in again gave him no time to breathe. Damn it.
"I get that you’re angry, and I know I was wrong."
He shook his head lightly, trying to clear it, and took a slow breath. He didn’t care about anything else, but if he couldn’t even tell the difference between being with the members and being in front of outsiders, then maybe...
"Still, you need to learn to separate work from personal business properly."
Clause 10: A kind idol leader should help keep their members from going off the rails.