Chapter 85 - The Conditions for Becoming a Kind Idol Leader - Chapter 85
"That scene is still ridiculous when I think about it. Why the hell was he crying?"
Was that the problem? The destroyer of childhood innocence looked wronged. He didn’t seem especially bothered by the idea of ruining himself, so the damage there appeared to be negligible.
Come to think of it… from everything Go Young-in had seen so far, the idiots in Zero One were all pretty much the same. Cheon Sa-yoon seemed to have been born without shame to begin with, Lim Se-bin was the type who only disliked things because they were dirty, not because he cared what people thought of him, and Kyeon In-woo probably wouldn’t be hurt even if he made a complete fool of himself, since his entire worldview was basically, I’m amazing no matter what. Pyo Jae-ho just looked like he didn’t have a single thought in his head.
This is still better than them chickening out and saying they can’t do it.
He wasn’t worried about the members’ reactions, but he was a little concerned about the fans.
There had been so many crying kids during filming that he’d worried it might backfire, but the production team had somehow managed to turn it into comedy.
They really busted their asses in the edit...
For a bunch of members who were only old in body but still complete brats, this was probably a decent showing. Kids were cute, at least. These ones weren’t even cute, and they still never listened.
As a variety segment, though, it is funny.
Something was off. Especially the posts about Pyo Jae-ho.
It feels like one person is especially obsessed and spamming the board.
Pyo Jae-ho hadn’t even done anything that obnoxious. He’d just seemed like his usual self.
When you watched it as text, it was easy to think, What the hell is wrong with him? But when you actually saw the video, it wasn’t all that strange. If he had openly started a fight, then fine, that would have been one thing. But this?
He wasn’t going to let this blow up any further, right?
What he feared becoming true did, in fact, become true. A week after the teaser dropped, on the day of the broadcast itself, they joined the last promotional radio schedule before airtime.
"Yes… that was Zero One's LAWLESS. All right, this is the second half of Sung Chan-hee's Music Opening, and Zero One is here with us as our guests."
DJ Sung Chan-hee, having tossed out the opening line for the second half, smoothly picked up the conversation.
They talked lightly about the music and what they’d been up to lately, and before long the subject naturally shifted to the kids café, the reason they were on the show in the first place.
"The kids café episode is airing tonight, right? I definitely need to watch it. Listeners, you’ll all tune in live too, won’t you? I’m already excited."
"Thank you. It was just a part-time job, but we ended up enjoying it like we’d gone back to childhood."
"If you put it that way, I can’t not ask about Zero One’s childhood. Let’s see... who’s the youngest member here?"
"Jae-ho is the youngest."
"So Jae-ho is the maknae~ He’s bigger than the older members, isn’t he?"
He already knew the members’ basic profiles, but Sung Chan-hee stressed it anyway, partly to make the information stick with listeners.
"Then let’s read a message from our maknae. 'User 0868 asks: Jae-ho oppa, please tell us your secret for growing tall.' So Jae-ho, were you actually short before?"
"Yes."
"That’s impossible to imagine looking at you now. How tall were you originally?"
"At the beginning of last year, I was in the late 160s in centimeters."
"Wow. So you grew about twenty centimeters? Can you even grow that much in such a short time? Now I’m curious too. Give us the secret to getting taller."
"Ge-"
"Don’t give me some boring answer like genetics."
Pyo Jae-ho shut his mouth with a click.
In the meantime, Go Young-in was praying earnestly that something resembling a normal answer would come out of Pyo Jae-ho’s mouth. Apparently sensing his desperation, Sung Chan-hee’s target shifted for a moment.
"Young-in, I didn’t ask anything that weird. Why are you focusing so hard?"
"Ah... I was curious too. Jae-ho is the tallest among us."
"And Young-in is the shortest?"
"Is it obvious while I’m sitting down?"
Fuck...
He didn’t even get the last laugh back. He just took a psychological fracture to the face.
Instead of the quiet Pyo Jae-ho, Go Young-in kept the audio from going dead by making light conversation with Sung Chan-hee.
After staring off into space for a while, Pyo Jae-ho finally answered.
"I thought that would happen."
"Pardon?"
"I thought I’d grow."
"How?"
"They said I would."
"No, who said that?"
Pyo Jae-ho didn’t answer any further.
Even though the silence dragged on, Sung Chan-hee didn’t get flustered and simply carried the conversation on naturally.
"So you believe in that kind of thing, even though you don’t look like it~ You’re still a kid, huh?"
Please apologize to all the children of this country, Go Young-in grumbled inwardly.
"All right, next question! In your opinion, what kind of child was Jae-ho when he was younger? What word would you put in that blank?"
Go Young-in was curious too. Apparently Kyeon In-woo was as well, because he was staring at Pyo Jae-ho with a look of fascinated expectation.
Lim Se-bin still looked uninterested, and Cheon Sa-yoon was smiling in that eerie way of his, as though he already knew the answer.
Go Young-in expected Pyo Jae-ho to take his time again, but surprisingly, the answer came quickly.
"A good kid."
"Pffft!"
The unexpected answer sent both the booth and the live chat into chaos.
"Hey! Pyo Jae-ho, have you lost your mind?"
"......"
"Ha... wow."
"Wahahaha! Seriously? Sorry to say this on our first meeting, but that doesn’t suit you at all!"
Starting with Kyeon In-woo bursting out laughing, the others followed one after another: Lim Se-bin, who hid his shock under a cool stare; Go Young-in, who let out a quiet gasp; Cheon Sa-yoon, still smiling; and finally Sung Chan-hee, who had to bend forward because he was laughing so hard.
Even while everyone was losing their minds, Pyo Jae-ho kept sitting there with an utterly brazen expression, not moving an inch. Crazy bastard. How was he so shameless?
"Maknae, were you trying to get praised? You do know what 'good' means, right?"
Even with Kyeon In-woo teasing him, Pyo Jae-ho remained impassive.
"You said when I was little."
He meant it. So because he’d specifically said when I was little, was he implying that he himself didn’t count anymore? He was still a kid now, and yet he was drawing lines like that.
Sung Chan-hee fanned his face with the cue sheet he was holding, trying to cool himself down.
"No... ah, that’s so funny... This kid is seriously something else... You’re really being serious, right?"
"So it seems."
Pyo Jae-ho still sat there with the same shameless face. Once he’d finally gotten himself under control, Sung Chan-hee asked him again.
"Again? Who said it this time?"
As expected, Pyo Jae-ho said nothing more.
"All right, all right. Sorry for laughing too much. Your standard for 'good' was stricter than I thought. Next question, then, the older Se-bin can—"
Pyo Jae-ho had managed to be funny with a completely unexpected line. In the end, by the time the radio schedule was over, the identity of whoever had planted those strange ideas in Pyo Jae-ho’s head still hadn’t been revealed.
After exchanging numbers with Sung Chan-hee and promising to meet again sometime, they headed toward the van while waving to the fans gathered beyond the booth’s glass wall.
The path to the parking lot, where the van was waiting, was packed with people, making it impossible to pass through properly.
The manager and security were clearing the way, but there were simply too many bodies pressing in, so they couldn’t move fast. Then someone in the crowd got shoved between the others, stumbled, and fell straight toward the front of Pyo Jae-ho.
Normally, if someone fell in front of you, you’d catch or steady them. Pyo Jae-ho didn’t.
He had reflexively reached out to grab the person before they hit the ground, but then he saw their face, raised an eyebrow, and froze where he was.
"Agh!"
In the end, the person who’d been shoved went down right in front of Pyo Jae-ho.
Pyo Jae-ho stared at the fallen person for a moment, then muttered, "Autograph?"
This was insane. Why the hell was an autograph suddenly coming up now? Leaving the motionless Pyo Jae-ho behind, Go Young-in shoved his way forward through the crowd.
"Hold on. Someone’s fallen here. Please make a little space."
He reached out to help the security staff lift the person back to their feet.
Apparently the fall had hurt more than expected. The person who’d fallen let out a small curse and lifted their head slightly.
Then their eyes met Go Young-in’s.
...I know that face.
Only after realizing they’d been seen did the familiar face in front of him jolt in alarm and yank the cap they were wearing low over their head.
If it hadn’t been for Pyo Jae-ho’s words, Go Young-in would have let this pass by with only a vague sense of suspicion.
Autograph...?
It was the same person who had asked Pyo Jae-ho for an autograph at the kids café shoot and been turned down.