Chapter 80 - The Conditions for Becoming a Gentle Idol Leader - Episode 80
There, seated among a cluster of parents and chatting with them as though he’d been born to a neighborhood gossip circle, was Cheon Sa-yoon. It looked as if Dam-yul’s father had been pulled into the crowd as well.
"You’re from Zero One, right? My younger son likes you, so I know who you are. You’re all so tall and handsome. And kind, too."
"Haha, thank you. Please keep watching us kindly."
"So you must be filming right now? Could I get an autograph after you’re done?"
"Of course. I can give you one now if you’d like."
"Oh, that’d be great! Let me find some paper—"
Among a group of members trying their hardest to keep pace with preschoolers, Cheon Sa-yoon alone managed to raise the average age. For a moment, Go Young-in couldn’t decide what was more absurd: the situation itself, or the fact that Cheon Sa-yoon’s behavior somehow made it feel almost reasonable.
Damn. He really was something else.
While the parent asking for an autograph rummaged around for paper, Cheon Sa-yoon looked around the area.
Something about this feels off.
Ah. Their eyes met.
Before Go Young-in could even react, Cheon Sa-yoon broke into that polished public smile of his and lifted a hand in a wave.
"Young-in."
The parents’ attention all shifted after Cheon Sa-yoon and landed on Go Young-in. Beneath that strange pressure, Go Young-in found himself taking an involuntary step back.
He didn’t need an answer to understand what the other man was saying.
"Don’t stand there like an idiot and come over already." Roughly fifty percent of that sentence seemed to be floating over Cheon Sa-yoon’s face in translucent text. Right then, Dam-yul rushed in to join the attack.
"Teacher. We have to go see Dad."
"Hmm?"
"Need to talk."
Dam-yul chopped at the air with both little arms as he pestered him. Just a moment ago, he’d been clinging to Go Young-in of his own accord, and now he stretched both arms wide and planted himself in front of him.
He wants to be picked up, doesn’t he?
Go Young-in lifted Dam-yul into his arms and, deciding to pretend Cheon Sa-yoon didn’t exist, approached the table crowded with people.
As he got closer, the conversation became clearer.
"You lived in the U.S. when you were little? Then your speaking must be practically native-level. Do you have any secret for learning English so well? I worry a lot about my kid’s English education."
"Oh, no, I’m flattered. How old is your child? If there’s anything I can help with, I should tell you as much as I can."
"Our oldest is six this year. Other kids are already figuring out the sounds and reading on their own, but ours still can’t quite get the words out."
"Oh dear."
"I hear a lot of kids their age are moving to English kindergartens these days. I think it would be good to send mine, but I keep wondering if it’s really the right choice. It’s supposed to be a pretty famous place around here, with a long tradition and a well-organized curriculum, but I don’t know if my child would adapt. Everyone says to send them, but I trust what a professional says more."
Before long, Cheon Sa-yoon had become an expert in early childhood English education.
"If you don’t mind, would you like me to help with a simple level test?"
"Oh, yes, that would be wonderful!"
At Cheon Sa-yoon’s words, the other parents who had been listening began chiming in one by one, asking if he could assess their own children too.
Go Young-in, who had ended up joining the table half by accident while still holding the autograph paper, stared blankly at the scene unfolding before him.
In more ways than one, he really was impressive...
And Cheon Sa-yoon wasn’t going down alone. Once the parents started swarming him, asking him to look at their kids too, he immediately deployed the old “if I’m sinking, I’m dragging everyone down with me” strategy.
"Haha, rather than me, why don’t you ask Young-in here? Young-in’s fluent in foreign languages. Not just English, either—he’s good at second languages too."
"Really? Idol friends these days really can do everything, huh."
You bastard, you only act like the team matters at times like this.
"Hahaha..."
Even after that, Cheon Sa-yoon talked about everything under the sun with the parents. Stocks, real estate, studying abroad, tonight’s dinner menu, even advice about mother-in-law conflicts and marriage troubles.
It felt less like a children’s café and more like a neighborhood association meeting.
Cheon Sa-yoon fit right in among the parents and was adored for it.
He sympathized with everything he heard, responded with the perfect amount of enthusiasm, and even threw in a little charm whenever he could.
"I wish I had a child like Sa-yoon."
"My eldest is always asking me to feed him, wake him up, and he’s just games all day long, honestly."
"How does he speak so beautifully?"
"Sa-yoon’s parents must be so happy. To have such a kind, lovely child. He’s already out there in society at such a young age."
In just that short span of time, he had become everyone’s youngest son.
As expected, that bastard was the kind of child who could be thrown into the middle of nowhere and still somehow survive, eating well and living better than anyone else.
And Go Young-in...
"Do you know much about music? I heard you’re one of those friends who appears on TV."
"I don’t know a great deal, but I’m studying hard."
"Dad."
"Heh, a friend who makes his living with music sure is humble."
"It’s not quite like that. You’re too kind."
"I want to dye my hair."
"You must know instruments, then, and, uh... be able to listen to sound and all that?"
"If you mean sound..."
"Dad."
"Good heavens, let a father get a word in too!"
"I want to dye my hair."
"...I’m sorry. Dam-yul was staring at my hair and seemed fascinated by it."
Dam-yul kept cutting in throughout the entire conversation, chirping away like a little bird.
So that was his big thing he needed to say—apparently he’d been laying the groundwork for a plea to dye his hair.
Go Young-in had done nothing at all, but he still felt oddly embarrassed, as though he’d gone and put bizarre ideas into some other family’s precious little son.
"What’s wrong with the young fellow? He was born late in life, so we spoiled him rotten, and now I can’t tell who he takes after with that stubborn streak."
"Why are you speaking for Dam-yul?"
"Joo Dam-yul, if you dye your hair at your age, you’ll go bald when you grow up."
"Like Dad?"
"Hahaha, Dam-yul."
Go Young-in lifted Dam-yul up and set him down in the chair beside him. Dam-yul squirmed around, then climbed onto his lap and asked,
"Did you call me, Teacher?"
"Would you like some chocolate milk?"
"No."
Go Young-in hurried to the café counter, came back with a chocolate milk, and pressed it into Dam-yul’s mouth.
Only then did Dam-yul go quiet.
The father watched this with a broad, easy laugh, then casually continued, "Are you that sorry about it?"
"Pardon?"
"If you leave the brat alone, he’ll stop on his own, but you keep humoring him. He’s tiny as a bean, but his instincts are like a ghost’s. He knows you’ll give in, so he keeps doing it."
It wasn’t that serious. Go Young-in had only been being polite, and as for Dam-yul, he’d simply felt bad for unintentionally putting silly ideas in the child’s head.
Still, the father was radiating a strange, loaded energy, as if he were demanding an answer.
"If you’re feeling guilty, why don’t you recommend a speaker for me while you’re at it?"
"A speaker..."
"Recently, the only hobby I’ve really got is audio. Hah. I used to have terrible ears, but once they opened up, I couldn’t stop. I’m still just getting started, so I don’t know much yet, but since I happen to have an expert here, that’s worked out nicely."
As he said that, he rattled off model names that all belonged to high-end brands starting at several tens of millions of won.
"So I wasn’t imagining things, then?"
"That’s right. I used that model once before, and the mids were a little lacking. Still, when you’re outputting source audio, it’s the closest match."
"That company’s stuff is flat, sure. It’s high-end, but it’s not as if they don’t make large speakers either."
"If we’re talking low-end resolution..."
And just like that, Go Young-in became the willing accomplice to a dangerous hobby that might one day uproot an entire household.
He’d already spent so long feeling guilty about having accidentally filled an innocent little kid’s head with nonsense that, once things had reached this point, it was hard to extricate himself.
Dam-yul, who had been blissfully absorbed in his chocolate milk on Go Young-in’s lap, looked up at him.
"Teacher."
"Hmm?"
Go Young-in caught Dam-yul’s head with a hand as it started to tip backward.
"I’m bored."
"Dam-yul, I told you this isn’t kindergarten. Goodness, I’m sorry again. He seems to have taken a liking to you."
"It’s all right."
Thanks to Dam-yul, it doesn’t look like I’ll be edited out.Maybe he’ll even secure more screen time than some Zero One bastard with the emotional age of a small child.
"Dad, this is boring. Go away."
"They say raising kids is pointless after all."
Even after giving him something sweet to drink, Dam-yul was already bored, which meant the sugar high was probably wearing off.
How much time had passed, anyway? Right on cue, the camera director made a timely gesture.
"Young-in, this is your last interview slot."
"Yes. Understood."
This was it. Before the chance could slip away, he sprang up and quickly tidied the seat.
After saying goodbye to the parents and to Cheon Sa-yoon, Go Young-in peeled Dam-yul off his leg and left the café.
By the time they’d shot everything they needed, the variety show had wrapped up after the Zero One group interview and the individual interviews as well.
Just in case it became an issue, the members apologized to the children they’d made cry and made up with them properly. Unlike those petty Zero One bastards, the kids got over it quickly. Fortunately, their parents had also been cooperative with the filming and took it in stride, saying that much was fine.
"Wow, everyone, you worked so hard! Let’s give each other a round of applause to show how hard everyone’s worked!"
Clap, clap, clap.
"You’ve all worked hard!"
"Looks like Zero One is really popular these days. Starting from the middle, there were a ton of student-age kids coming in."
The variety-show writer laughed as she said she’d had a lot of fun thanks to them. It seemed the buzz had spread after someone posted online that Zero One was filming a variety show at the children’s café.
"You passed through the trampoline zone earlier, right? That place is basically a karaoke room for kids. When they go inside, they project idol music videos or theme songs from kids’ animations onto the walls with a beam projector. They go absolutely crazy for it."
"I had no idea."
Come to think of it, there had been those mirror-ball-style karaoke lights spinning on the ceiling of the trampoline zone. So that’s what that was for. There really were all sorts of things here.
"Thanks to Zero One, the owner says they’ve made a lot of sales today, so they’re going to play a Zero One MV medley here for a while. It’s surprisingly good for promotion. A lot of parents come in while they’re picking up their kids, too."
"I see."
A Zero One song medley. The music videos and lyrics probably contained plenty of inappropriate and violent material. Wouldn’t that be bad for the kids’ emotions? Still, if they were offering to promote them, there was no reason to refuse.
"Thank you."
They’d censor the rough edges themselves, anyway. Both the songs and the broadcast edit.
Since it usually took three to four weeks from recording to airing, by the time the episode actually aired...
It would be deep in award season.