The Owner of the Water Cup
She's among them.
The owner of that fallen water cup.
But who?
"Kids, come eat breakfast already~ You've got school! Eunho, you too—eat up."
"Yes, ma'am."
Han Jihyun?
No—she was far too unbothered for that. And if it had been her, there wouldn't have been any reason to panic so hard in the first place. She already knew Iseul and I were living together.
So it had to be one of the girls, then?
"May, where are Serin and Min-ju?"
"Serin's waking her up right now. Min-ju put her uniform on and fell right back asleep."
"......"
Suspect number one: May Jung.
Had May dropped the cup? No—she was the type who barely flinched no matter what happened. Still, she was only a kid. Hearing something like that might have rattled even her.
"......"
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
"Wait...."
What?
Was it actually you who heard us??
"Does my face look really puffy?"
"What..?"
"I said, does my face look super puffy!"
"....And why would you think your face is puffy? Did you eat ramen in the middle of the night or something?"
"Hup!"
Ramen at dawn?
If that was true, May might have to come off the suspect list entirely. Everyone had gone to bed around ten-thirty, and Iseul had come into my room around ten forty-five. She'd slipped out of the house before midnight. Anyone rattled enough to drop a water cup wouldn't have gotten up in the small hours to cook ramen. Or had she been so sleepless she got hungry and finally gave in?
"Min-ju, snap out of it..! Lee Min-ju!!"
"......"
Suspect number two: Yoo Serin.
Had Serin dropped the cup?
"Good morning."
"Oh, hey. Sleep well?"
"Yes."
She'd slept well?
Anyone shaken enough to drop a cup would have tossed and turned all night. And yet she looked as pretty as ever—no dark circles, no bloodshot eyes, not a hint of fatigue.
So not Serin?
There was a faint awkward distance between us, but that was normal for us. Pinning it on last night felt like a stretch.
"Auuuung.. uuung..."
Suspect number three: Lee Min-ju.
The way she was chewing her food with her eyes barely open screamed sleepless night. A very strong piece of circumstantial evidence that she might be the cup's owner.
The problem was she looked like this every single morning. Oversleeping was her specialty—her hobby, even.
"What did you do to be this out of it?"
"Auuung... huung..."
"What are you even saying..!"
Was she deliberately dodging the question? Normally Min-ju would at least glance up at me, but right now she wouldn't even look my way.
Suspicious.
She was the strongest suspect so far.
So which one of them was the real culprit?
I headed to work with the mystery still unresolved. All morning my head stayed a mess while I took meetings with companies angling for collaborations, and after lunch I walked straight into another conference.
Still—good thing we'd prepared so thoroughly. Without that groundwork, this would have cost a fortune and burned through months of time.
"Let's go with two hundred thousand units."
"Representative, two hundred thousand is far too many. An initial run of around fifty thousand each would be more appropriate."
Two hundred thousand, or fifty thousand.
We were talking about K-Sler character merchandise—figures, T-shirts, blankets, plushies, keyrings, badges, keychains, even the gat and dopo that were the signature look of the Jeoseung Boys.
While waiting for K-Sler to be finished, we'd prepared just as thoroughly on our end. Not that we'd expected this kind of reaction when we started.
OSMU—One Source Multi-Use strategy.
I'd dumped a mountain of work on Jeong Sora just to mess with her after she said she wanted to work on something that sounded that flashy—and she'd come back with a flawless proposal. She'd never put together a business plan like that before, so it took her over three months instead of the one I'd given her, but it still wasn't something you could just skim and toss aside.
So I'd brought in Head of Department Yoon Heejeong, who had plenty of experience producing idol goods, along with the Art Music team, and we'd developed it into something actually executable. The product designs were already done, samples had come in, and the production lines and sales channels were all locked down.
All that was left was to manufacture the stock and sell it.
"Just order two hundred thousand. If we end up with leftover inventory, we can throw it in as freebies with the physical albums for Slerix and the Jeoseung Boys. That said, Head of Department Yoon."
"Yes, Representative."
"Average daily views are already past three million. New countries keep climbing into the number-one spot. And you still think two hundred thousand is too many?"
"A work's popularity doesn't necessarily translate into merchandise purchase rates. Idol goods are the perfect example of that."
"That's because the quality is garbage while the prices are sky-high."
"......"
"We've set prices low enough that people will feel like they're getting a deal, and we've made high-quality products regardless of the price point—something consumers can actually be happy with, unlike idol merch. Which means our profit margins are extremely thin, of course."
If you sold good products at a price people could accept, there was no real reason not to buy. Especially overseas, where the series was a runaway hit with kids. Parents who'd already been forced to open their wallets would buy more the moment the products made them happy.
So two hundred thousand didn't feel like that big a number to me at all.
"Huuu...."
The second the meeting ended, I let out a breath and turned to Jeong Sora.
"How does it feel?"
"May I ask what kind of feeling you're referring to, sir?"
"This is the project you planned. How does it feel watching your ideas turn into a real business that costs tens of billions just to manufacture?"
"......"
"What—why are you looking at me like that??"
Jeong Sora stared at me with suddenly watery, emotional eyes—then bent at the waist in a perfect ninety-degree bow.
"Thank you, Representative!"
"Thank me for what??"
"Everything.. For entrusting me with a project like this... for making sure people recognized that these ideas were mine... for giving me the opportunity... thank you for all of it!!"
"Haha..."
I hadn't entrusted her with anything. I'd just been trying to mess with her, and even now she was mostly watching the process from her position as my secretary. Turning a bare idea into a workable business had been Head of Department Yoon Heejeong and the Art Music staff.
But there was no need to tell her that.
"You worked hard. And if you ever want to, I'll transfer you out of the secretary role into any other department."
"No!"
"Huh??"
"I like things the way they are! For the time being, I want to stay by your side and keep learning! I can get far more experience here than I would locked into a single department."
"Ah... then that's fine. Having you next to me is good for me too."
"Y-yes..? Ah! Yes, I'll work hard!"
"Then I'm clocking out early today~ I've been working myself to death lately."
That was the end of company business.
But I still had something left to do.
Find the culprit.
Though—once I found them, what was I even supposed to do? Figuring out who it was would probably just make me more embarrassed. Still, I had to put a lid on it. For Iseul's sake, if nothing else—her debut work hadn't even been released yet.
I left work early and drove straight to the high school Serin, Min-ju, and May attended. Of course I didn't go inside—I just parked by the roadside and waited. They'd be out any minute now.
Classes weren't over yet, but trainees signed to an agency sometimes left before lunch and sometimes stayed a little longer. Just like the kids walking this way from a distance.
"Whoa... are all those kids trainees??"
A whole crowd of them came pouring across the athletic field. Serin, Min-ju, and May were mixed in among them.
But something looked off. They seemed to be arguing.
"Who the hell is that kid?"
I was too far away to hear, but Min-ju and May had their faces twisted up saying something, and a boy kept stepping in front of them to block their path.
"Is he hitting on them? Don't tell me he's shaking them down for money??"
I waited it out—until the kids came out through the front gate.
"You guys are ridiculous. Am I asking for something impossible? I'm just saying we should swap numbers as friends~"
"I said no!"
"Get lost."
"Hey, Lee Min-ju. May. Did I ask you two for anything? I asked Serin. So why are you the ones flipping out?"
"What—flipping out?!"
"This crazy bastard..!!"
Wow. Min-ju and May really didn't hold back.
So the kid was chasing after Serin. At least he had decent taste for someone so young.
"Stop it. You too, Kim Iseung—enough."
"Give me your number and I'll stop."
"I already said I don't want to."
"Why not? You got a boyfriend?"
"No."
"Then you've gotta give me a shot too~"
"A shot at what?"
"A shot at winning you over."
"What is he even saying..!!"
"Ugh, gross."
"Haa..."
Was this how kids confessed these days? Extremely direct.
"I'm good-looking. I'm tall. I'm debuting soon. Honestly, if you pass this up, you're never getting another chance like this. Don't regret it later—quit playing hard to get and just give me your number."
"Serin, let's just go."
"Ignore guys like that."
"Yeah."
"Ha... unbelievable."
Watching them simply walk past him, the boy muttered under his breath, then spun around with an angry face and reached out.
"Hey, Yoo Serin!"
His hand never made it to her wrist, though.
"AAAAAAGH!!!!"
The scream that tore through the air pulled every pair of eyes among the students heading home. So I immediately let go of the hair I'd grabbed and apologized.
"Sorry about that, kid. I was aiming for your shoulder and my aim was a little off."
"Who the hell are you?!!"
"Hoo-"
Instead of answering, I blew the strands of hair still caught between my fingers off my hand—and Min-ju and May's voices rang out.
"Rep oppa!!"
"Representative!!"
"R-Representative..?"
"I'm Yoo Eunho, Representative of Art Company. I'm their guardian, and Serin's..."
"Oppa..."
Whoa—
That kind of physical contact between us was a little much, wasn't it?
"......"
"......"
For a moment I locked eyes with Serin, who had wrapped her arms around my waist and was looking up at me. Min-ju clapped a hand over her wide-open mouth, and May let out a tiny gasp of admiration and quietly applauded.
Was this something to clap for?! What if someone got the wrong idea...!!
"Are you two by any chance...."
"Tch!!"
"Huh...?"
"What kind of weird assumption are you making?!"
"It's not a weird assumption, right now..."
"Cousin. Her cousin. You got it?"
I pointed back and forth between the top of Serin's head and my own face, firmly clarifying the relationship—and the boy's eyes went round as saucers.
"Ah...! I-I was..!!"
"I don't care."
"Huh??"
"I don't give a single damn who a punk like you is. Just get lost. And don't bother my little sisters again."
"......"
"What? Do I need to go find your agency's representative? Should I go tell them you've been running around acting like this?"
"I-I'm sorry! I won't come anywhere near them again! I'm so sorry!!!"
"Haa... what kind of kid is that?!"
"What a coward."
Min-ju and May shook their heads as the boy kept bowing and then bolted. But how long was this one planning to stay glued to me?
"Serin, mind letting go?"
"Ah...! S-sorry....."
"Forget the apology—just get in the car. I'll give you a ride."
"Okay.."
"Rep oppa! Did you come to pick us up??"
"It's Representative, not rep oppa."
"Same difference..."
"Oh yeah~ I really didn't want to take the bus, so this is perfect~"
"Ah....."
My whole body went rigid.
I'd figured it out.
Who had dropped the water cup outside my door.
Hup—
That faint scent, like body lotion, drawing in through my nose. I'd smelled it yesterday too—right outside my bedroom door, where only the water cup had been left behind.
So you were the one who dropped it..?
"Yoo Serin..."
"Yes..?"
"....Never mind. Get in. I'll take you home."
"Okay..."
Ah, this was mortifying.
Why did it have to be Serin of all people!
Should I at least be grateful it wasn't Min-ju?
That aside—what was she doing outside my door at that hour in the first place? Had she come because she heard the noise? And if not... why had she been standing in front of my room at that time of night?