The Idol Obsessed Over by Her Uncle Fan Wants to Run Away (4)
"Ah, yes… Nice to… meet you."
I dipped my head in a slight bow.
Ugh. Even I could tell how awkward that sounded.
Uncomfortable… and so much pressure…!
"I imagine it must have been quite a shock, being asked to do something like this so suddenly."
Yes.
But I couldn't exactly say what I was really thinking.
"Oh, no. I'm… fine."
"I'm sorry. For putting Sarang through something like this."
If you're sorry, then why arrange this in the first place…
The words rose all the way to the back of my throat, but I swallowed them down with a gulp of spit.
"I know it's selfish, and I know it's improper, but I still wanted so badly to meet you like this, just once."
"Is… that so?"
"It's an honor to finally meet you."
An honor…
The word choice had a distinctly middle-aged-man ring to it.
"…Thank you. I heard you've been a fan of mine for a long time."
"Ah. Did General Manager Jeon Hogu tell you about me?"
"Hogu op— the General Manager didn't go into detail. Just that you've been a fan of mine for a while… He said you two must have met at a fan meeting before."
"Haha. So what you're saying is, Sarang doesn't actually remember me."
"Huh? Ah…! N-no. Th-that's not what I meant…!"
Ugh. Slip of the tongue. Seriously.
Great first impression — the idol who can't even remember her fans' faces.
"It's all right. Of course you wouldn't. You have more than one or two fans; you couldn't possibly remember every single one. I'm just another face in the crowd."
"I'm… sorry. He said you've come to a lot of fan meetings and events."
"I don't go to those hoping to stick in your memory. It's fine."
The man — this guy named Han Myeong-su — just kept smiling in that good-natured way.
There are always people who show up to fan meetings and events desperate to get noticed.
They come in costume, or prepare some special gift, trying every angle to build a sense of intimacy with their idol.
Especially with us at Sepia — our first-love girlfriend concept tends to attract fans who take that kind of thing very seriously.
Like that otaku who charged at us during a music show appearance… There are some real weirdos out there.
People who show up to two fan meetings and then throw a fit because you don't remember them.
…Well, that guy did manage to stick in my memory, so I guess he succeeded?
It's just part of being an idol.
Even when you don't feel like it, you smile at the fans' faces and say "I love you" when you don't mean it.
You make hearts together and take photos.
Of course, none of it is sincere — it's all business. We're used to that by now.
In that sense, what I was doing right now was just an extension of a fan meeting, if I thought about it that way.
Business, no sincerity required — just a slightly closer version of the usual fan interaction.
That should be enough… right?
"Still, I'd be happy if, starting today, I became the most memorable fan of your entire idol career."
"Ah… haha. I'm sure you will. Unc— um… What should I call you…?"
"Ah. Please, call me whatever feels comfortable."
The most uncomfortable answer possible.
Calling a fan by their personal name felt weird enough. And more than that — he was an uncle. Around the same age as my dad. I couldn't just casually use his first name either.
Aah~. Seriously. What am I supposed to say?
"You can call me Myeong-su, if you like."
"Th-that still feels a little… calling you by name right away…"
I'm the one who's uncomfortable here, mister.
But if I actually went ahead and casually called him "uncle"… that wouldn't work either, would it?
"…Personally, there is a particular title I'd like to be called, if I'm being honest."
"What is it?"
"Ahem…. This is a bit embarrassing."
What? Why is his face turning red all of a sudden?
I'd never seen a middle-aged man blush like that before.
Please don't let it be something weird.
"Would you call me 'Papa'?"
Pfft.
I barely managed to hold back the laugh that almost burst out.
"Sorry? ……'Papa'…?"
"Yes. Ah. Ahem. If you'd rather not, you don't have to."
"……."
Papa. Like I'm some little kid.
But the man behind the wheel, having put the request out there, was fidgeting restlessly.
He knew. He knew perfectly well how strange the title was.
"…It's a bit much, isn't it?"
"……."
Calling him that would be a little…
No. It wasn't that I hated the idea.
It was just about the vibe. The atmosphere.
A twenty-one-year-old idol calling a man in his fifties "Papa"… Anyone looking would think it was a little… you know?
"If you don't want to, please don't force yourself. This is purely my own selfish wish."
Ah…. When he put it like that, I was the one who looked like the bad guy for refusing.
"The truth is… people out in the world say I'm doing well for myself, but at home, I'm a failure."
Suddenly he was bringing up his family situation.
"I divorced my wife, and my daughter left with her…. Ahem. This isn't the kind of story I should be unloading the moment we meet."
"I-it's fine."
"Thank you. So I was feeling a bit lonely at home when I discovered Sepia. And then I fell for you, Sarang."
"Um… how old is your daughter this…"
"She'd be twenty-one this year."
Same age as me.
I'd had a bad feeling about this.
"So I'm… a substitute for your daughter?"
"Haha. I suppose it could look that way."
It doesn't just look that way — anyone can see that's exactly what this is, mister.
"I'm sorry. If you don't like it…. Just think of it as an uncle fan rambling and let it go."
"……."
…Ah. Seriously.
Dragging out the family history and then saying all that.
Now I really looked like the villain if I didn't call him that.
Fan service. This is fan service…!
"I-it's fine. ……Papa."
"Kh—!"
"Wh-what's wrong?"
"No. My heart…. Is this what they call an 'otaku traffic accident'?"
The meaning was a little off, but for a middle-aged guy, he sure knew every bit of slang out there.
"Thank you. It's been my lifelong wish."
"…Having me call you 'Papa'?"
"……Yes."
He was embarrassed.
I'd never seen a middle-aged man get flustered like that before.
…I kind of wanted to tease him.
"…Papa."
"Khnn—!"
"Papa. Where are we going to eat today?"
"Kh—…. T-today… there's a Western restaurant I know well…."
Wow. His ears had gone completely scarlet.
Cute. Just like Hogu opp—
…No. What am I thinking. Stop.
"We're headed to a Western restaurant."
Hmm.
The formal speech was getting on my nerves. Maybe I should get him to drop it.
"Papa. …Do you use formal speech with your daughter?"
"Khuh—!?"
"Hm? You don't, right? When Papa talks like that… it just feels kind of distant."
"Th…… Sarang. No. Nonono. Sara…ng-ah."
"You're dropping the formal speech, okay? Papa."
"Yes…. No. R-right. ………Sarang-ah."
Cute.
Mm.
Older guys really are fun to tease.
Hogu oppa was… fun to tease too. That was one of the good things about him.
Yesterday he was weirdly good at firing back, though.
Must be because he has a girlfriend now.
Ah. Even now, he keeps popping into my head.
By this point the two of them are probably…
So annoying. Seriously.
"H-hey, is something wrong? Ahem…. Sa-Sarang-ah. Your expression…."
"Hm? No. No, I'm fine. I just zoned out for a second."
"If anything's making you uncomfortable, you can tell me anytime."
……He was really treating me like his daughter.
…Had he wanted to do this with his actual daughter too? This guy.
Was that why he'd asked for a date?
I'd been sure he had some impure motive.
But looking at him now, he almost seemed pitiful.
And he seemed to be carefully keeping the line as a fan, too.
I'd expected him to sneak in some skinship, but there was none of that either.
Hmm……
At this level…
…I could play the daughter role for a day.
Really. Just for today, okay?
I let the tension ease out of my body a little.
I'd been ready to unbuckle and jump out of the car at any moment.
Now I rested my hands neatly on my knees.
I dropped the rigid posture and settled comfortably back into the seat.
…These chairs were seriously nice. Completely different from our van.
"Papa."
"Y-yes?"
"What are we doing after we eat?"
"Ahem…. I-I listened to the list of things you said you wanted to do on your day off during the last live stream, and I prepared a few…."
"Wow. You even caught that? That was really late at night."
"…I watch everything Sarang does."
A real fan was a real fan.
Well…… it didn't feel bad.
"So…. Just in case, I went ahead and reserved and prepared everything in the top five."
"……For real?"
"Of course. I already bought the amusement park tickets and everything. Number one on the list was eating ramyeon by the Han River, right? So I packed a tent and a picnic mat in the back…."
Wow….
I glanced at the back seat — there really was a camping tent bag sitting there.
He'd prepared all of this so carefully, just for me….
Honestly, I'd never felt quite like this before.
Hogu oppa was good at hanging out with us, but he wasn't exactly the meticulously prepared type.
No, why do I keep comparing him to Hogu oppa. Seriously.
Ah. That face of his — the one that looks at me so casually, so unbothered — just flashed through my mind again.
I need to erase it already.
…So annoying.
"Papa."
"Yeah?"
"…Nothing. I just felt like saying it."
"R-right…."
"I'm grateful for all the prep… but can we go somewhere else today?"
"Somewhere… else?"
"Sorry. You prepared all that for me. But we really can't be somewhere too visible. Us."
"Ah… right, of course."
"Let's figure out where to go while we eat."
"Okay. Ahem……."
Having him accommodate me was nice and all.
But… the other person here was a man in his fifties, basically dad-aged?
Hmm. Where would a man in his fifties actually want to go?
I'd never once in my life thought about that, so I had no idea.
Maybe I should just ask him directly?
…No, this guy would just put me first again.
That wasn't a bad thing, exactly, but today was strictly a business date, wasn't it?
Going somewhere the fan would enjoy made more sense, right?
While I was turning it over in my mind, the car pulled up to the restaurant.