Chapter 343
Chapter 343
Gold 2. Kwon Hee-seung.
I’ve been keeping a rough track of the activities of his group, ‘Spacer.’
It’s only natural. If there’s a latecomer in the same company and under the same label, I have to keep an eye out for any anomalies.
Besides, he’s someone who knows at least a little bit about the future. There’s no telling what kind of advantage he might be trying to take.
Of course, that wasn’t the primary reason I was keeping tabs on him.
‘It’s because he’s a hand I can play.’
I recalled meeting him at the company a few months ago, while he was preparing for his first year-end awards ceremony.
—Hello, sunbae-nim!
To be precise, I recalled his status window.
Based on the timeline, his status effect should have been nearing its expiration, yet a status effect was still hovering over him.
However, the content had changed.
[!Status Effect: Make It Work]
—Is teamwork really the answer for idols?
Failure occurs if the team does not release a collaborative work within the time limit.
A new status effect had taken the place of the old one.
—The team atmosphere got really good after Chae Seo-dam hyung quit on his own! If we keep going like this, the mission will be a success… Huh? I already succeeded?
—Eeeek! There’s another one? What else do I have to do? What is this??
In other words, he had already cleared the first status effect, only for a second one to pop up.
It seemed the system judged eleven months to be close enough to a year, seeing as he received a second status effect.
‘…Have the conditions become harsher?’
Since I wasn't sure, I set that thought aside.
Regardless, having one person consistently hold the system rather than having to find a new user was not a bad situation for me. it required less effort.
‘In this context, “collaborative work” likely refers to self-producing.’
Since we were under the same agency, I could ensure he cleared it within a year with a little intervention. He was easy to manage. Thanks to that, I thought I had been monitoring his trends well through occasional contact.
…At least, that’s what I thought until the VTIC leader bastard in front of me held out an audio file.
“What’s wrong? You should check it.”
If he weren't a dog, I wouldn't have left that mouth of his alone, but I let it slide for now.
I looked down at the audio file from the radio show Gold 2 had appeared on.
‘This radio program.’
I remembered Future’s Midday Radio. It was a long-running program that we had appeared on back when we were rookies.
It was hosted by a broadcaster with the stage name ‘Mi-rae,’ and it was famous for a ‘future skit’ where they would jokingly guess what things would be like ten years later.
—Kim Rae-bin gave me 100 songs!
—Cha Yu-jin, no matter how much time has passed, giving 100 songs to the same person is difficult—
—He gave me 200!
—I can’t!
—Kids… I mean, you thirty-year-old ajusshis, calm down.
I briefly recalled the disastrous mess of a skit Kim Rae-bin and Cha Yu-jin had performed before shaking it off.
Then, I naturally stared at the smartphone screen with suspicious eyes.
‘Don’t tell me this guy too…’
I played the file, keeping the volume as low as possible.
The host’s voice came through first.
[…Your special friendship has been a hot topic. Rumor has it that our Kwon Hee-seung’s friendship with VTIC’s Cheong-ryeo and TeSTAR’s Park Moon-dae is as strong as ever.]
Damn it.
[I heard you recently went on a 10th-anniversary friendship trip? How did you all become close?]
[Yes… We became close because we all know the future.]
[Pardon?]
[…! I mean, because we know Future’s Radio~ Because we know our host, Mi-rae-nim! We’re close through that common connection!]
[Aha~ It seems Hee-seung-ssi’s first appearance on our radio ten years ago left a very deep impression.]
[T-That’s right! Hahaha!]
“…….”
He probably tried to do a skit to promote the program by rhyming with the host’s name on the fly, but the words slipped out.
And after saying it, he probably froze, thinking, ‘Wait, that’s actually true.’
‘This careless bastard…’
Should I have crushed him when he picked the two of us as ‘sunbae-nims I’m close with’ in the early part of the interview?
I suppressed a sigh.
‘…It’s not a huge deal.’
It was the kind of mistake that could easily happen when someone was sleep-deprived from a frantic rookie schedule.
Kwon Hee-seung’s fans probably just cursed out the host for asking useless questions about other groups during his first radio appearance and let it bury itself.
However, I could see why Cheong-ryeo went out of his way to show me this.
I gripped the smartphone.
‘Is this a warning?’
Or advice, if I looked at it kindly. About the risks of sharing secrets with others.
“I thought this needed some management. I could do it myself, but… I don’t think you’d particularly like that, Junior.”
The bastard smirked.
“It seems the person we’re ‘partnering’ with isn’t exactly the attentive type. Um… I thought it would be good to let you know. What do you think?”
“…….”
“Managing people is always the hardest part, after all.”
He wasn't just talking about Gold 2.
He was also including the fact that I had blabbed the secret to the guy standing right next to me.
“Park Moon-dae.”
Just then, Keun Se-jin spoke up. Having guessed the gist of what was happening, he muttered quietly with a hardened expression.
“Is this guy… Kwon Hee-seung, also involved?”
“Hmm?”
But it wasn't me who responded first.
It was Cheong-ryeo.
He looked back and forth between me and Keun Se-jin with a slightly puzzled look, then nodded as if he understood.
“Ah, you don’t know. My apologies.”
“…….”
“Since he told me he’d talked about my situation, I assumed he’d told you everything. So it only went this far.”
Then, he turned his face toward me with a look of slight admiration.
“You keep your boundaries well, Junior.”
This bastard, seriously.
I suppressed the urge to swear and replied calmly.
“If you were so worried that my actions would cross the line and ruin everything, you should have said so sooner.”
It seemed he was unhappy that I had explained this godforsaken, unrealistic situation to Keun Se-jin.
However, Cheong-ryeo simply tilted his head.
“Hmm… I think there’s a misunderstanding.”
Misunderstanding?
“Junior. I don’t lose anything from things like this.”
“…!”
“It’s not like I don’t have a dozen good excuses to use when caught up in such rumors.”
Cheong-ryeo smiled brightly.
“I’ve verified which words and expressions work. It’s hard for me to be affected by someone else’s slip of the tongue at this point.”
“…….”
“You couldn’t have thought I’d never experienced something like this before. You’re smart.”
I stared at him.
“So you’ve told other people too.”
“Of course. I thought it might be useful. But I stopped because the utility was lacking after I tried it.”
Cheong-ryeo stared into space for a moment, perhaps lost in reminiscence, but soon regained his focus.
“So, I’m saying this out of concern for you, not me. Like I said, it’s an apology.”
Fuck.
I pressed my thumb against the bridge of my nose.
The most irritating part was… that he seemed to be sincere.
“Is that so? Then listen. First, regarding Gold 2… I’ll set aside some time to manage him.”
I looked at Keun Se-jin, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, and spoke.
“You don’t need to worry about this one. He’s not the type to go blabbing around.”
“Of course not.”
Keun Se-jin held out his fist.
‘Do you really have to do this right now?’
Still, it would be even weirder if I didn't respond. I bumped my fist against his.
However, Cheong-ryeo’s expression remained indifferent.
“Yes. Well… I’m sure you said you’d believe your junior’s words. That’s how it usually goes.”
What?
“But I think there’s another misunderstanding here… ‘Believing’ doesn’t mean ‘understanding.’”
“…!”
Cheong-ryeo muttered fluently, as if relaying someone else’s words.
“Because we’re close, because we’ve known each other for a long time, because we’re in the same group… people want to say they ‘believe’ for various reasons. It makes sense. If you don’t believe, it means your member is a lunatic, and you don’t want to believe that.”
“…….”
“But that’s where it ends. After that, they aren’t very cooperative, so… I discarded them. It just became a nuisance.”
He continued smoothly.
“Unless they’ve had the same experience, there’s no way they can empathize with such an unrealistic situation. So, Junior, don’t have too high of expectations.”
“…….”
‘Is this why?’
The reason he acted as if he felt no human connection even to his own members, whom he had spent so much time with, must have stemmed from this.
‘It’s almost like… he’s dealing with a different species.’
It was a judgment that felt almost chilling. Even more so because he was saying it right in front of Keun Se-jin.
“Hmm.”
I crossed my arms and was about to speak.
That was when it happened.
A slick voice spoke up from beside me first.
“But Sunbae-nim, I’m actually very~ cooperative with Moon-dae.”
“…!”
It was Keun Se-jin. What was with him now?
“Aha, is that so?”
“Of course. Hey~ how can everyone grow up having only the exact same experiences? We’re friends. It’s good for friends to have similarities and differences~”
“So that’s what you say.”
“Yes. If you can’t really empathize, there’s nothing I can do about it! Everyone’s circumstances are different. It’s really okay~”
It was impressive how he could insult someone by saying, ‘You might not know because you don’t have friends,’ in such a roundabout way.
The problem was that the target was Cheong-ryeo, who was currently ruminating on his messed-up past memories.
‘I hope he doesn’t lose it.’
I checked Cheong-ryeo, who was staring at Keun Se-jin with a blank expression.
“…….”
“…….”
Hey, you too, stop glaring back with that fake smile.
I suppressed a sigh and wrapped up the situation.
“Right. Well… everyone has their own thoughts. Anyway, I listened to the radio file, and as for the dog… I hope he makes a full recovery.”
“Sure. Contact me whenever you have something to talk about, Junior.”
“Yes~”
Keun Se-jin cheekily answered in my stead. What is he, the right-hand man of a bandit chief?
‘The atmosphere is fantastic.’
At that moment, the front door opened with perfect timing.
Ding.
Honestly, I was almost glad to hear it.
The person who entered was… a slightly nervous-looking Seon A-hyun.
“U-Um… the meeting for the camp was supposed to start already.”
“…!”
“Ah, I’m sorry. You were working.”
Cheong-ryeo smiled and gave a slight nod.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“Right.”
“Y-Yes!”
Finally, the party was breaking up. Get out of here, quick.
However, instead of turning away immediately, Cheong-ryeo hesitated for a moment before adding one more thing.
“I’ll contact you when Kong-i returns.”
“…Sure.”
I nodded to the bastard as he put on his mask.
Hoping that his dog would at least be okay.
Cheong-ryeo turned around, got on the elevator, and disappeared.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yeah.”
We finally stepped back inside the foyer.
Keun Se-jin checked to make sure Seon A-hyun, who was heading to the living room ahead of us, couldn't hear, and then whispered softly.
“Wow, that big sunbae-nim really knows how to talk in an annoying way. Ugh, Moon-dae-Moon-dae. How have you put up with him until now?”
“…….”
I felt embarrassed that I almost shouted, ‘Exactly!’ for a split second.
“Just managed.”
“Mmm~ right. You were even using informal speech with him, so did that help relieve some stress?”
“…….”
Now that I thought about it, I had started doing that at some point.
I looked at the guy who was chuckling and patting my back before speaking.
Starting with the part he must have been curious about throughout the entire conversation.
“About the Kwon Hee-seung thing…”
“Ah~ I know, you couldn’t say anything because it’s someone else’s business. I can tell that much just by listening~”
Having already understood from the context that Kwon Hee-seung was the next person like me, Keun Se-jin didn't seem particularly dissatisfied with that.
“But since I already know, should I make sure Hee-seung keeps his mouth shut? I’m pretty good at that kind of thing~”
“Let’s wait and see for now.”
I hadn't intended to involve him, but now it seemed I was on the verge of spilling everything, even the goal of destroying the system. I sighed and followed him back to the living room.
“Did that guy leave?”
“Yes. He went inside.”
Keun Se-jin spoke playfully.
“Ugh~ he was acting way too close to Moon-dae~”
He sure could lie with a straight face.
“…! And you just let that happen?”
“No, I just spent the whole time arguing with him, didn’t I?”
“…Right. Then next time, I’ll…….”
“If you do it, Hyung, it’ll turn into a real fight, so you can’t.”
“Hey!”
I left the two namesakes to bicker comfortably and went to sit in my spot.
Then, Seon A-hyun, who was already sitting next to it, spoke up.
“M-Moon-dae-ya. Did something happen…? The conversation seemed to go on longer than expected….”
“…Hmm.”
I hesitated for a moment but decided to tell him the core truth.
“It was nothing major. The conversation just got a bit long because of a difference in opinion.”
“Ah….”
Seon A-hyun hesitated, then struggled to speak again.
“W-What kind of opinion was it….”
“…….”
“A-Ah, never mind. Sorry…!”
He still had that habit of apologizing first for things that didn't require an apology. I suppressed a sigh.
‘…Is this the second time?’
That Seon A-hyun had asked me to tell him what was going on.
He hadn't explicitly asked if I had any secrets, but it felt uncomfortable. It seemed he had guessed that Keun Se-jin had heard something.
Instead of saying, ‘There’s absolutely no need to be sorry, it was just a personal matter,’ I kept my mouth shut. I felt like saying that would have the opposite effect.
‘Seon A-hyun’s expression isn’t bad right now, so let’s just watch the situation for a bit.’
It seemed the situation was wrapping up like that.
However, that evening.
Seon A-hyun’s attitude toward participating in the camp suddenly changed.
In a bad way? No.
With a level of proactive enthusiasm he had never shown before.