Chapter 54: Conditions for Becoming a Kind Idol Leader
"Jeong Hae?"
"I had a feeling it might be him. Ever since you asked me about it last time, I figured maybe that was what was going on. Looks like your memories are coming and going too."
No. No, that wasn’t it. It was the Jeong Hae in his memories and the Jeong Hae standing here now.
Ah… come to think of it, it wasn’t that hard to connect the trainee Son Jeong-hoon from the same high school with Jeong Hae being the same person.
They don’t even look remotely alike.
Noticing that Go Young-in was still lost, Kyeon In-woo, who seemed to have anticipated this, added with a smug look, "That bastard had work done."
"Work done?"
"He got his whole face redone."
So before debut, he’d had a total overhaul, and the impression he gave now was completely different from the one he’d had in school. Back then, his eyes had been less fierce and more gentle.
If you knew him already, he wouldn’t be unrecognizable—but if you were someone like you, who couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to anything, then I guess that made sense, Kyeon In-woo scoffed.
He and Jeong Hae had been close before the reset, and in the early days too, but they hadn’t really stayed that way as time went on. Was this timeline different, then?
"Do you actually remember anything properly?"
Kyeon In-woo stuffed a fresh candy into his mouth, chewing with a serious expression. The fact that he looked like that while noisily chewing candy made him sound serious in exactly zero percent of the ways that mattered.
Should he just throw out whatever came to mind?
Honestly, most of what he could say to Kyeon In-woo was useless information. Like how Kyeon In-woo loved mangoes so much that mangoes were the first thing that came to mind whenever he looked at him. Didn’t he keep choosing mango-flavored snacks at the convenience store every chance he got?
Reset and the status window were, of course, impossible to talk about, and as for everything else that had happened, for some reason the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth…
"I remember that you like mango."
At the crunch of the candy wrapper, Kyeon In-woo’s brow twisted hard.
Fuck. Was that a miss?
"That’s a great thing to eat if you want to die."
"...Huh?"
"I’ve got an allergy, you bastard. Picking only weird stuff like that is a talent in itself."
Holy shit. If he’d handed over something as a peace offering, it might’ve looked like an assassination attempt.
Apparently he’d eaten it fine as a kid. He just developed the allergy later. Kyeon In-woo glared at Go Young-in with an annoyed expression, then tossed a couple candies his way in a huff.
Had this changed too in this timeline? He remembered this one staying almost the same.
Looking at the candy that landed in his palm, it really wasn’t mango flavor. So it was true… another thing he’d known must’ve disappeared too.
"Damn it… you’re all remembering things so fucking arbitrarily."
Go Young-in, who’d flubbed his words and gotten slapped with a mental rebuke for it, could only give an awkward laugh and say nothing back.
Music familiar from the TV drifted out, and he turned his gaze to the screen again. The full version of the 90-second performance that had been previewed earlier was being broadcast.
If there was any good news, it was that the stage had been filmed and aired without any funny business. It didn’t seem like they’d made any glaring mistakes, but just in case, he’d have to go back and watch the stage separately later.
The fact that he had to count something that obvious as a relief was pathetic.
From Zero One’s turn through the third team, the stage performances continued, and then the broadcast ended with a preview for the next episode.
For now, after focusing only on the Zero One scenes, there didn’t seem to be any major problem unless it involved getting tangled up with Jeong Hae. Then again, Zero One’s screen time itself had been pretty sparse.
If he had to pick other memorable scenes, there was Kyeon In-woo talking with the DTD members, and the way they’d subtly emphasized the closeness between DTD and Zero One by showing the two sides together.
Wasn’t that a setup too? Those guys weren’t the type to give up their rival position that easily.
And as for Triple Shot, with the exception of Jeong Hae, most of the members had been edited out, making them look like a one-man group centered on Jeong Hae. It was almost a joke, showing so many people and only one of them.
Of course, in the previous timelines of Go Young-in’s memory, nothing involving Triple Shot had ever happened.
Honestly, even relying on the memories in his head at this point was ridiculous. Even what had just happened. Still, he wanted to believe they’d be useful somehow.
* * *
After finishing his recording prep, Go Young-in left and wandered lightly around the studio, greeting the staff as he went.
The fallout from yesterday’s broadcast had been bigger than expected. Not in a good way, naturally.
Most people had been furious at the manipulative broadcast format, saying that Knet was at it again, while a few were already coming out with, so are you not going to watch it now? Then why did you watch it in the first place?
Should he be glad about that? Because they kept doing devil’s edits every time they got the chance, the scene where Zero One seemed to ignore Jeong Hae’s greeting hadn’t caused nearly as much controversy as it might have otherwise.
Of course there were people who’d bash them no matter what, but the segment itself had been short, and more importantly, whenever anything aired, people started by suspecting an evil edit, so that had helped too.
Go Young-in thought this was not bad. At least they hadn’t directly caused the problem themselves.
It’s a relief, in a way…
Still, he had no idea what kind of picture would come out once they started crossing paths with Triple Shot. He was already struggling to keep track of Zero One and DTD; somehow it felt like the pile of problems was only growing.
Just as he was finishing a lap around the studio and looking around for where the PD might be, the PD himself spotted him and waved him over.
He had to greet him anyway, even if he didn’t want to see him.
"Oh~ Young-in! Good timing. Come here for a second."
"You called for me?"
"How was it? Did you monitor the broadcast? I still put some real care into Zero One’s appearance."
"Yes, thank you. You framed the parts the fans would like really well. I texted you that day too—did you not get it?"
"So you do know your stuff, huh? Ah, right! Right, I saw the text saying you watched it well. You could’ve just gone through the manager. Haha! You’re a young one with sense, huh?"
Well, that was because this guy had been thrilled after receiving Cheon Sa-yoon’s check-in text in the previous timeline, then spent the whole company dinner yammering about it, and had gone on and on in every corner of SNS and the studio about what a respectful, well-mannered kid today’s kids ought to emulate.
"Don’t worry so much. I’ll make everything work out just fine. If Young-in works harder than he is now, do you think I won’t help? And don’t speak like a textbook all the time! Why are you so lacking in spirit? Your answers too—say them with more energy! You’re still young, aren’t you!"
The PD laughed heartily and slapped his arm again and again. What exactly was socializing?
Article 32 | A perfect idol must be skilled at managing facial expressions.
"Yes…! I’ll work hard!"
Go Young-in imitated a vigorous voice that didn’t quite suit him, but was familiar enough, and tried his best to look energetic.
"People have to suffer a bit for the picture to come alive. Do you think I told you to get hated on on purpose? I’m not doing this for some bad reason, understand what I mean?"
"Ah! Yes, I understand what you mean…!"
Understand? How could he possibly understand this? He’d rather understand someone like Cheon Sa-yoon than this. At least then someone would understand that he was being forced to burn face muscles and energy listening to this worthless bullshit.
"Good, good. That’s better. These days, if you give people advice for their own good, they all get so sensitive I can’t even say a word. In broadcasting, if you want entertainment, you have to know how to let go of some image management."
Then the PD lowered his voice and added conspiratorially. It was obvious from the start that this wasn’t going to be a conversation with a clean aftertaste.
What nonsense was he about to start with now?
"Hmm. So, um… does your chairman not like drinking?"
Jesus Christ, seriously. He was already scraping the bottom of his brain for something to say, and now this man was making it even harder to say anything at all.
The PD continued as if nothing he’d said mattered.
"You should pass along my greetings sometime. Anyway, make sure he gets the message. Make sure he does! You understand?"
"Yes… I’ll pass it on…"
"Good, good. You catch on quickly—that’s nice. Let’s both work hard today too."
Hahaha. Right. Like he’d say that.
It was astonishing that not a single second of this conversation had been useful.
Still, it had at least served its purpose of relaying information. Thanks to that, he now knew the manager at Jeong Hae’s company really, really liked drinking. Right…
A favor? No, that’s too far. Maybe they’re just acquaintances.
At the very least, he was sure now that there was some connection between Jeong Hae’s company and the PD.
It wasn’t just that the PD personally liked the guy. There was something shadier underneath.
After sending the PD off, he figured he might as well head back to the waiting room and started to leave. He turned a corner to get to the hallway leading there—and of all people, there was Jeong Hae.
There was definitely something wrong with his luck. His stats had to be assigned weirdly. At this point, even if he fell backward, he was probably going to crack his nose on the way down.
He tried to slip past as if he hadn’t seen him, edging quickly back behind the wall, but Jeong Hae was faster.
"Go Young-in!"
Ha… I’m done for.
Jeong Hae’s greeting rang out far too loudly. A booming bastard. There was no way he was getting away cleanly now.
Go Young-in slowly tugged at the corners of his mouth and turned around.
Jeong Hae was another one he’d known through Kyeon In-woo, but he didn’t know why that familiarity never felt warm. If anything, it was uncomfortable.
Thinking calmly about it, maybe he was reacting too sensitively. Could it be that the awkwardness had started sometime in the middle of the resets?
"Go Young-in! Did you get any contact from the others?"
If it was an acquaintance overlapping with Jeong Hae, the only possibility was school.
"The school guys got in touch with me. They said it was wild that the three of us ended up on the same program. So—did you or didn’t you?"
Right.
Aside from Kyeon In-woo and Jeong Hae, did I even have any friends in school...?
In his scattered memories, Go Young-in didn’t seem particularly close to anyone except Kyeon In-woo and Jeong Hae.
No one came to mind immediately, and besides, Go Young-in himself had never really paid much attention to other people.
Why was he suddenly asking this?
"Why do you ask? Did something happen?"
Jeong Hae, who had seemed to be weighing something, soon gave an awkward smile and scratched the back of his neck.
"Never mind. If there isn’t, then there isn’t."
What was that about? Now he’d made it weird for no reason. Just as Go Young-in was about to ask again, a shoulder suddenly weighed down on him. His body tilted slightly before he could brace himself. Fuck.
"Hey, Go Young."
A familiar voice came from above his head. There was only one bastard who’d do this to Go Young-in in his current state. Kyeon In-woo, you asshole.
"Oh, Kyeon In-woo’s here?"
"Yeah. I’m here."
Kyeon In-woo, wearing a shameless expression, hooked one elbow over Go Young-in’s shoulder and then lazily flashed his palm at Jeong Hae before dropping his hand.
Was that a greeting? That was just a palm-reading performance.
For once, why was he wandering around instead of gaming in the waiting room?
Go Young-in stared at him in surprise, but the bastard didn’t even glance his way. Instead, he lifted the arm draped over his shoulder and tapped the top of his head with his palm. What, did he think his head was a drum?
"They were looking for you. Go on, hurry up."
"Really? You mean the manager?"
"Yeah."
Great. Again? Ever since he’d been dropped once as a penalty, Manager Kwon Je-won had been wearing him down every time there was a gap, so the mere mention of his name made Go Young-in tired.
He clearly hadn’t told him he’d fainted, so how did he know? Had he somehow let it show without even realizing?
Of course, Manager Kwon Je-won hadn’t said anything like a lecture or a complaint.
Instead, after that, he’d started handling even the smallest things before they could be mentioned, acting like a teacher giving special care to a problem child. Would it have killed him to be angry, or at least scold him? This was scarier than anger.
"I’ll go first. Um…"
It felt awkward to just leave. He’d also been in the middle of hearing something. As he hesitated, Kyeon In-woo looked impatient.
"Hey, why aren’t you going?"
"...Okay. I’ll go."
Unbelievable. He looked like a man desperate to get rid of him as quickly as possible.
Still, the baton had been passed, so that was fine, right? It was suspicious that he’d jumped in so abruptly, though. But since he was close with Jeong Hae, he’d probably handle it himself.
Go Young-in soon left the spot behind.
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