Chapter 78 - The Conditions for Becoming a Kind Idol Leader - Chapter 78
"I grabbed it first!"
"No, I did! I got it first!"
Pyo Jae-ho, assigned to the block room, watched the two little kids fighting over a toy robot in front of him with complete indifference.
The round-headed kid had clearly lined up first and taken it, but the runny-nosed brat who arrived late had cut in line and was insisting that it was his first.
Pyo Jae-ho snatched the toy robot from the child who had cut in and said flatly, "Wait your turn."
The child, robbed of the robot, glared at him. Pyo Jae-ho met the glare with a steady look of his own.
"Who are you to tell me? You're just a part-timer! It's mine! Give it back!"
The child yanked at the robot in Pyo Jae-ho's hand, but Pyo Jae-ho never loosened his grip. He simply watched until the child tired himself out.
Eventually, the child puffed up in frustration. "I'm telling my mom!"
"I have a mom too."
"...I-I came here with mine!"
"I can call mine too."
"Grr... Give it!"
The moment the child seized the robot's head and pulled hard.
Crack. Something broke, and the robot's head tore halfway off.
"....."
The child, now staring straight at the robot neck dangling by a thread, sniffled and began to cry.
"Waaaah!"
If Go Young-in had seen this, he would have been clutching the back of his neck and asking what kind of kindergarten argument this was. That was the kind of scene it was.
Only after the child burst into tears did Pyo Jae-ho finally react in a meaningful way.
Even then, it was only a slight furrow in his brow. Whatever he felt inside, his face showed no sign of panic or regret.
"Hey, maknae. Why are you making the kid cry?"
Pyo Jae-ho turned his gaze.
Standing nearby was a pink dog costume with a huge head.
It was Kyeon In-woo, who had been assigned to the doll room and was doing labor in a mascot suit, blowing up balloons.
Kyeon In-woo, suddenly living up to his name, strode over to Pyo Jae-ho.
That thing was definitely going to make Go Young-in faint if he didn't fix it. Kyeon In-woo remembered very well what Go Young-in had told him, under the guise of a favor, to keep an eye on Pyo Jae-ho.
Kyeon In-woo replayed that conversation for a moment.
"So, is this what you meant?"
"Huh?"
"You're asking me for a favor."
"...Does it count if it's like that?"
"It does, right?"
"........"
"It does, doesn't it?"
"...Yeah. Please."
Go Young-in, actually asking for a favor. A guy with no concept of asking other people for anything at all. As far as Kyeon In-woo knew, this was the first time in his life. It wasn't even a hard job, and he was more than willing to help with something like this.
"You don't disappoint, do you? I thought you were going to make the kid cry."
"I didn't make him cry."
"Whatever. Hey, kids. Look at this. I'll fix it for you."
Kyeon In-woo quickly crouched in front of the robot.
He tried to force the dangling neck back into place, but the oversized mascot head and thick gloves made it much harder than expected.
"What the hell? Why won't it go in?"
Dammit. Kyeon In-woo yanked off the mascot head in annoyance, set it roughly on his knee, and took off the gloves. Then he grabbed the robot's head again and put more force into it.
"Come on, get in already!"
Thud. Roll.
The robot head, which had been hanging on for dear life, could not withstand Kyeon In-woo's brute strength and finally perished.
"....."
Shit. Kyeon In-woo cursed inwardly.
"Mommyyyyy!"
The child, who had just witnessed the final scene of a robot's life in real time, burst into tears. Then the other nearby children, as if connected by Bluetooth, all started sniffling too.
Pyo Jae-ho said, utterly deadpan, "This is helping?"
"...Why are kids' toys so fragile these days?"
Meanwhile, four-year-old Lee Ye-seo, who had been having fun in the doll room with Kyeon In-woo in his dog costume until a moment ago, was toddling her way toward the block room to look for the dog that had suddenly vanished.
"Where's doggie...."
Then she spotted the back of the dog's head as it crouched inside the block room.
Lee Ye-seo's doggie looked a little frantic, but to a child, that was close enough.
The sulky look on Lee Ye-seo's face brightened at once.
"Doggie!!"
At the child's shout, Kyeon In-woo grimaced and looked up. He was already dying trying to clean up this mess, so what now?
He turned around and made eye contact with the child.
"Huh?"
The smile vanished from the child's bright face, leaving only confusion. Lee Ye-seo looked at Kyeon In-woo. He was doggie... and he even had a tail....
Lee Ye-seo extended the second cheese stick dangling from her tiny hand and pointed it at Kyeon In-woo's face.
"Doggie... face...."
Kyeon In-woo sensed it instinctively. He was fucked. Somehow, it felt like there was about to be one more crying child.
"Waa...."
"Hey, wait a sec."
Kyeon In-woo panicked and straightened up. But it was the wrong choice.
The dog mascot head that had been sitting obediently on his knees until now rolled off.
Roll- the dog head rolled right up to the child.
The dead eyes of the dog mascot met Lee Ye-seo's bright, round eyes.
"...Doggie."
Tears began to well in Lee Ye-seo's eyes.
Kyeon In-woo, flustered, shoved Lee Ye-seo and the two crying robot victims under his arms and shouted, "Hey! Go Young!!"
We're fucked! Kyeon In-woo swallowed the curse with effort and took off at a sprint.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Hyah! Die!"
One of the children kicked out in a Superman pose and launched himself at Go Young-in.
Go Young-in reflexively flinched and leaned back, then caught the child's head as it crashed into his chest.
He's a kid, so I can't exactly dodge.
Thud. Pain shot through his chest, and his body toppled backward. Go Young-in was buried in the sand as if swallowed alive.
"I won!"
"I admit defeat....."
Go Young-in raised a hand to signal surrender.
He had been told that he only had to clean and tidy up things, but the kids talked much more than he expected and were far more mischievous too.
"I won!"
The future pro wrestler in the making shouted in triumph, jumped to his feet, and ran happily around the sand room.
Fine, you won.
Leaving aside how cute they were, he was running out of stamina. This was nothing like dance practice or vocal practice.
How many kicks to the chest had he taken now? He thought he had decent durability, but...
One more hit and it wouldn't be strange if his chest had a hole punched through it. He was going to turn into Iron Man at this rate.
Go Young-in, assigned to the sand room, was buried in the sand until almost only his face remained. That was the result of the children piling sand over him, insisting it would keep him from getting hurt.
The faint scent of cypress wood made his body go slack.
He had thought the sand room would really be full of beach sand, but it wasn't.
Instead, the room was filled with tiny round-cube blocks made of wood.
He was supposed to be filming, but the sand was too comfortable. Had he lost his mind?
It was about time he checked what the other members were doing. He had been delayed playing with the kids when he should have cleaned up quickly and moved around to the other spots.
Pyo Jae-ho was in the block room, and Kyeon In-woo was in the doll room... Lim Se-bin and Cheon Sa-yoon were at the ball pit and the parents' cafeteria, right?
"Sunsaengnim. Does it hurt?"
A child who had been kneading Go Young-in's cheek like slime asked the question. He would have been a perfect fit for the slime room instead of the sand room.
"No, Dam-yul. It doesn't hurt."
"Then why are you lyin' there?"
At some point, they had even introduced themselves. After he had tried to peel the child off earlier and ended up having his hair yanked out in handfuls, he had simply let the child stay attached.
Just as Go Young-in was about to slowly sit up, an all-too-familiar voice rang out from far away.
"Go Young!!"
That sounds like a tiger if I ever heard one.
Go Young-in sprang upright and looked toward the sound.
Kyeon In-woo, still wearing the mascot suit, was approaching at a brisk pace with one crying child tucked under each arm, while Pyo Jae-ho trailed behind him dragging what looked like the dog mascot head, and the camera staff were following them too... excuse me?
Shit. What the hell is that.
Go Young-in looked at the children crying miserably and started running calculations in his head. Just how far was the line of what viewers found cute?
When this aired, wouldn't the parents of the children who were crying now be horrified? What if they lodged a complaint? If an adult suddenly started crying here, wouldn't that look ridiculous? This was insane....
"Hey, what about the kids crying? And what on earth is with your face?"
Who was talking.
Kyeon In-woo and Go Young-in let out matching sighs at the sight of each other's condition.
Go Young-in stood up with a child still hanging off him and patted the sand out of the clothes he'd gotten full of it.
"Did the kids tear you apart? Now's not the time to shake off your clothes. Your head is the real disaster."
"...Yeah, fair."
Honestly, your own face isn't exactly looking great either. Why are you carrying your head around separately? And what are the two kids on your sides supposed to be?
Article 2. A kind idol leader talks to members often, even if only briefly.
"...You’re the one who should explain what situation this is."
He desperately needed an explanation for whatever this was. Dam-yul, who had been silently kneading Go Young-in's face like clay, said, "Doggie's head is gone."
"Ah...."
Only then did he notice the mascot head in Pyo Jae-ho's hand and the child hanging off Kyeon In-woo's arm holding the robot with its head torn off.
What are you, the Guillotine Brothers? One of you brought a mascot head, and the other brought a toy head right off. There were two heads rolling around here now.
For all the effort he had gone to in order to secure cooperation, Kyeon In-woo was proving remarkably useless. Shit.