The Conditions for Becoming a Kind Idol Leader - Chapter 84

─Ding.

Dammit. I wasn't curious, but since I was wearing the hollow title of Zero One's leader, I figured I ought to know. Who would be the kind of person Gabriel could be talking about like that? I had no idea what Gabriel was up to these days, so guessing was hopeless. If anyone came to mind at all, it was Bae So-jin, the one he'd stuck close to for a while.

"Nothing serious, is it?"

"Haha, well."

Gabriel skimmed the text that had just been typed on his phone with a flat, indifferent expression.

"If anything, it's more of a nuisance."

"I have to deal with one lunatic."

Humphing to himself as his fingers moved lightly over the keys, Gabriel casually spat out something insane.

Go Young-in blinked blankly.

What the hell did I just hear?

"What do you mean...?"

"Ah, mistake."

Gabriel corrected himself a beat too late, but the look on his face made it obvious it hadn't been a mistake at all. That left the apology with exactly zero persuasive power.

After typing something else into his phone, Gabriel hit send, then looked up with a bright smile.

"You know them too, hyung."

There was no way any person shared a name with that bastard. I couldn't trust a word of it. He should at least have acted like a reliable human being once in his life.

After hearing Gabriel's words, Kyeon In-woo shot him an openly contemptuous look.

"That sly bastard."

"Ahahaha."

Gabriel laughed out loud, as if he'd just heard something genuinely funny. Before Kyeon In-woo could open his mouth again, Gabriel got there first.

"They say a bad case of the crazy is hard to cure. That's rough."

"What did you say, you bastard?"

"Didn't hear me? Want me to say it again?"

Dammit.... I had clearly only meant to check the prerelease video, so how had things ended up on the verge of becoming a full-blown verbal ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠battleground?

Can the ones who want to leave just leave, and the ones who want to stay and watch the video just watch it? You crazy bastards...

Go Young-in was furiously regretting having stopped Gabriel. Even though he hadn't stopped him because he wanted to.

"Anyway."

Gabriel's slow gaze drifted back and forth between Go Young-in and Kyeon In-woo.

"Looks like you've gotten pretty close."

That bastard Kyeon In-woo? This was... well. If anything, Kyeon In-woo had been unusually cooperative lately.

"Or maybe..."

Gabriel tilted his head like an innocent child, speaking nonsense with that same unreadable tone.

"Have you made up?"

"Hey, you fucking idiot. Why don't you get lost already?"

Kyeon In-woo barked at him, impatiently urging the bastard who had been hanging around and spouting crap all this time to leave. Gabriel was definitely doing this on purpose, just to turn the other person's insides over.

To calm Kyeon In-woo down, sending Gabriel away would be the right move. But somehow it felt wrong to actually send him off. It wasn't my place to interfere with his private life.

As much as I wanted to tell him not to start trouble...

"Go carefully."

"Don't worry."

Wouldn't you be worried if you were me? Sending someone like you out at this hour.

"And don't come back too late. Watch out for sasaengs or reporters near the dorm. Also..."

Maybe because I wasn't reassured. Once I started talking, there was a whole list of things to warn him about. I hadn't wanted to turn into one of those overbearing parents who fretted over their child going out the door.

"Go Young, why are you acting like this today? Forget that bastard and let's just keep monitoring the video."

"Ah... It's late, and I was worried. I wasn't trying to meddle."

Gabriel had been staring at the corners of Go Young-in's mouth as it kept moving nonstop, and now he said lightly, "Got it, Dad."

Dammit. Go Young-in shut his mouth.

"Nothing you’re worried about will happen, probably. There's no way I'd go out there and do something like, shit, I mean..."

"Have a safe trip!"

"Yesss."

Dragging the last syllable out, Gabriel curved his lips in a smiling arc.

That deranged bastard...

Watching a single video had become insanely difficult.

* * *

The moment the video started playing, mournful music straight out of a human-interest documentary began to flow, and the screen showed a crying child and Kyeon In-woo.

There was a single chair sitting forlornly in the studio. Kyeon In-woo appeared, carrying a dog costume head tucked under his arm.

Kyeon In-woo's solemn face stared straight into the camera as he opened his mouth with grave determination.

─Beeep.

His words were cut off halfway, and a transmission error image appeared with the beep. A moment later, the familiar music resumed, and the video moved on to the next scene.

The screen cut again, and the expressionless Pyo Jae-ho appeared in the interview room.

─Beeep.

This time, the mood was sharply different from the previous two.

The tragic background music from before transformed into something warm and familiar, the sort of tune you'd expect from a home-decorating show.

[Lalala~ lalalala~]

Gabriel's immaculate face appeared at the center of the screen.

The moment Gabriel's close-up face appeared with subtitles saying he was leaving because this had drifted out of genre, everything went quiet.

The scene changed again, back to the interview room. Gabriel sat obediently in the chair reserved for interviews, waiting for the questions.

Beeep─

Plastic balls were scattered all around Lim Se-bin, who was crouched down.

A child standing nearby kept laughing and tossing balls from the ball pit over and over again, and each time, Lim Se-bin dutifully picked them up and threw them back into the pit.

After that, the broadcast spent a while showing Lim Se-bin and the child throwing balls back and forth in quick cuts.

About thirty minutes later, Lim Se-bin finally got up from his seat and moved to another location first.

Arriving at the interview room, Lim Se-bin let out a sigh while staring into space.

Beeep─

Last, the first background music returned, along with the sight of Go Young-in and the child.

The calm background music suddenly grew urgent, and the screen began to shake.

The camera that had been focused on Go Young-in turned with the sound and caught the source. Something was running toward them from far away.

It was Kyeon In-woo, Pyo Jae-ho, and two crying children.

It felt as though tears of emotion were blurring his vision.

Young-in sat with his hands neatly folded.

I didn't know it then. That there was one more kid (named Se-bin) - excerpt from Young-in's memoir

Go Young-in gave an awkward smile, sitting with both hands folded neatly in his lap.

As if he'd realized something, Young-in hesitated.

...Could it be that the subject isn't the children?

His throat tightening with feeling, he swallowed hard.

─Beeep.

The preview ended.

"...."

Kyeon In-woo buried himself in the sofa and let out a hollow laugh.