Fans Gather and a Surprise Visitor
Ha-yeon had been a fan of the nine-member boy idol group Centaurus ever since university graduation.
She had originally been a so-called all-fan who loved every single member of Centaurus, but recent episodes of the popular drama Monthly Media had turned Satoshi into her ultimate bias.
The group Centaurus, of which he was a member, was currently in its break period.
Still, thanks to the drama, Satoshi had exploded in popularity to the point of shooting his own solo ad for the national coffee mix Max Moca Cream.
Leveraging that momentum, he had been cast as the special MC for the Punny Music Show despite his still-inexperienced Korean.
Ha-yeon had learned the information and applied for a backstage pass.
She arrived at STV Prime Tower without delay, yet the area was already packed with reporters snapping photos of idols heading in and other group fans participating in the event.
*Still, it’s lucky I’m MC.* If it had been a pre-recorded broadcast, she would have had to leave the house at dawn.
The entire Centaurus fan club, Archery Zodiac, who had joined today, were all Satoshi’s die-hard fans.
So when a man who looked similar to Satoshi appeared, heads had no choice but to turn sharply.
“Excuse me, isn’t that Satoshi?”
Ha-yeon tilted her head as she looked over.
He was tall and had similar facial features from a distance, but the outfit was completely different.
“Satoshi never wears a shirt with casual clothes.”
“He looks really built too.”
As fellow fans, they knew everything about Satoshi.
Satoshi never worked out.
When acting as MC, he changed clothes, but for the commute he usually just threw a sweater vest over a T-shirt.
To preserve his soft image, he preferred what fans called boyfriend-look.
Yet the man walking toward them now wore a crisp white shirt and gray slacks.
The neat attire only made the masculine scent from his subtle muscles stand out even more.
As the man got closer, Ha-yeon’s gaze locked onto him.
Before long, the presence of Satoshi in her mind faded away.
Even if he was younger, girls in their early twenties were naturally drawn more to the charm of someone older.
“Everyone, that’s not Satoshi! Calm down. He hasn’t arrived yet.”
At that moment, the fan manager appeared and quickly settled the confusion.
Everyone felt disappointed, yet their eyes stayed glued to him.
No, the closer the man came, the more frantically they scanned his entire body.
*Satoshi is probably not as handsome as this guy?*
*Look at those veins on his arms.*
*His face has that puppy-dog cut like Satoshi’s, but his thighs…*
The other fan clubs had already started whispering too.
He was clearly an entertainer, yet he wasn’t wearing any makeup.
In other words, he definitely wasn’t the singer performing on today’s live broadcast.
“He looks like an actor.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“Well… he doesn’t seem young. Maybe a rookie?”
Ha-yeon couldn’t stand curiosity.
But at twenty and beyond, she didn’t have the face to ask directly.
So she nudged the other student fan beside her.
*This is the first time I’ve done a backstage pass.*
“Doesn’t he look like an actor?”
“Yeah.”
“Can you find his name?”
“Got it, unnie.”
While waiting, Ha-yeon had shared her backstage pass application tips, so the students happily accepted the suggestion.
* * *
Staring at the crowds of fans in front of Prime Tower, Wonhyung remembered old days.
“Hey. Doesn’t that remind you of our blanket kids?”
“Yeah. Fan cafes are gone now, right?”
“Knuckle. You saw it too? The cafe owner sold the cafe and it turned into Granja Cafe.”
Even that Granja had been spherical for years.
“…Was that fan cafe? Somehow I joined the spherical Granja cafe that I had never actually signed up for and canceled.”
“Knuckle. Well, that kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. The agency now makes fan cafes and manages them.”
“But what is that?”
Namhun spotted people handing things out to the gathered fans and asked.
“Ah, fan manager. They’re also called supporters… Sometimes they hire staff, but they pick fans and make them work for free instead. In exchange they get perks. They get the best seats or something.”
“Was that even a thing back then?”
“It was worse back then. Now at least there’s a line. Back then you fought over who came first. People pitched tents and slept there the night before.”
“Ah, I remember.”
“Seong Yujin became a proper PD, but back then her nickname was Haenam Red Gloves, right? Probably because she fought a bunch with other group fans.”
“Did she really?”
“When you’re a fan-club regional branch leader, you’re not normal. Think of it as a regional mob boss. Well, our fan club wasn’t that big, so it wasn’t that extreme.”
Back then she had just been a chatty girl who loved signing fan photos.
Who could have guessed the scary side of her.
They kept walking toward Prime Tower while swapping old stories, when a few students suddenly sprinted over.
“Excuse me!”
One of the students who had caught up to the two of them asked Wonhyung.
“Hey, uncle. Is this oppa… an actor?”
“Pardon?”
“The celebrity oppa over there. What’s his name?”
At those words Wonhyung was baffled.
They clearly thought he was the manager and Namhun was an actor.
Well, sure.
“No, I’m the uncle. This guy is the oppa?”
Wonhyung snapped, and the students stepped back warily.
“Whoa. Go away.”
Annoyed, Wonhyung waved his hands, but the students who had received orders from their slightly older unnie stayed put.
“Just tell us his name.”
“Ah, it’s Jang-nam. I mean, Jang-nam.”
“Jang-nam? Like the name Jang-nam?”
“No. Jang-nam. With the hangul character.”
The strange name made the students glance at each other and burst into giggles.
“Oppa. Your real name is really Jang-nam?”
“Yes.”
“Ah. Pseudonym! So you’re an actor?”
“No, I’m not an actor.”
“Then a singer?”
The question “singer?” left Namhun momentarily speechless.
What was he supposed to say?
After thinking, he shook his head.
“No. I’m just a relationship person.”
He figured they would leave after that, but the students were relentless.
He had been talking to them because he had been so close to Jang-nam that he couldn’t help himself.
*Satoshi is way more handsome.*
*He doesn’t seem like just a relationship person.*
“Ah, really? Which group’s relationship person are you?”
The fans waiting right here would be watching the live broadcast that would start in a couple of hours.
*Probably a trot singer. There won’t be many fans… Should I ask for a favor?*
He wanted to help Jin Seryeon anyway.
“The group isn’t it. I’m a trot singer named Jin Seryeon.”
Everyone’s faces changed instantly.
“Huh. Trot singers appear on Punny Music Show too?”
“Jin Seryeon? Sounds like a middle-aged auntie’s name. Hehe!”
Wonhyung gave a bitter smile at the students’ reaction.
He could already tell they had zero interest in trot—just a pinch of rice.
*This is where trot really stands, huh, kid.*
Namhun was startled but quickly pulled himself together and began using his natural charm.
“Actually, I’m preparing to be a trot singer too. Don’t I look like an uncle?”
The students shouted together.
“No!”
“He looks just like Satoshi!”
*Satoshi?*
The name felt familiar.
Namhun tilted his head.
*Ah. The model who lost Belly Coffee… So they’re Satoshi fans.*
“Satoshi is on Punny Music Show?”
“Yes. Special MC today.”
“We came to see Satoshi.”
“Ah. I see. I’ve heard the ‘looks just like Satoshi’ line several times.”
Namhun’s eyes crinkled into a smile, and the students nodded vigorously.
“Yes! He does!”
“Really? Then I’ll go check later and see for myself if he really does.”
“Actually, oppa looks a little more handsome.”
At those words the other students showed slight hesitation.
They had seen Satoshi up close often.
They knew the difference wasn’t that big.
“Ha ha. No way. Satoshi shoots dramas and ads too, right? I’m just a trainee trot singer.”
The “trainee trot singer” remark made one student speak cautiously.
“Oppa could just be an idol, though…”
“That might be too much. I’m pretty old.”
“How old?”
“Me? Twenty-eight.”
“Wow. You don’t look it at all.”
Watching Namhun lower his voice, Wonhyung was baffled.
*Look at that. Old habits are coming back?*
The other three members of Elixer had been blunt.
But the maknae Elixer, Jang-nam, was different.
He used his natural charm and personality to train fans.
Once they fell for him, they never got out.
*That fan-service ability is in his blood.*
There was a reason.
Namhun had grown up surrounded by women since childhood, first in all-girls groups and later with his handsome looks.
He had natural personality, but that upbringing made dealing with women effortless.
With such training ability, the difference in group popularity had to be enormous.
*Thinking about it, we were the bigger culprits.*
He couldn’t tell someone skilled not to show it.
The ones who couldn’t should have improved.
Nowadays agencies even train idols on how to treat fans, but back then there was nothing.
Most of them were just male male-male crews dancing.
Meeting female fans for the first time, stumbling over words was normal.
Without proper communication, how could they gain popularity in fan clubs?
While Wonhyung pondered that, Namhun patted his side.
“Hyung. Go to the convenience store and buy a few cans of coffee. The cold ones.”
“Eh?”
“Quick. I’ll keep the kids here. Ah, ice cream too!”
“Eh.”
Namhun bought the coffee and ice cream on impulse and walked to the crowded area, then chatted happily.
“Come on, pay attention! I have one favor for all the senior fans here. As I said earlier, my younger sister Jin Seryeon is doing her first stage on Punny Music Show today. She’s probably super nervous, so please give her some energy. She’s a trot singer named Jin Seryeon.”
“Yes!”
The atmosphere was pleasantly warm the whole time.
“Hey, what the heck is he doing in someone else’s fan club?”
At that moment Wonhyung spotted the bag in Namhun’s hand and waved.
“Hyung!”
When Wonhyung approached, Namhun gestured to him.
“It’s hot. Take one each. Hyung, what are you doing. Hand them out quickly.”
The fans laughed at Wonhyung’s dumbfounded face.
“Oppa. Can I take just one photo?”
“Of course. I can take as many as you want.”
While Namhun posed for photos with the fans, Wonhyung hurriedly handed out the cans of coffee and thought.
*…What the hell is this doing?*
I spend the money, and he’s flirting with the girls.
*That guy must have been a fox in his previous life.*
Not a wolf.
Seeing him naturally charm people like that, there was no doubt.