Chapter 159: RE
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 159: RE
[Hey! Unnie! Give me a warning next time!]
After somehow managing to finish the stream, I complained to Clover unnie on our Voicecord channel.
[Sorry, sorry. Ah, but it’s not like I said anything weird~ I just said you were cute.]
[Ah~ Still~ Do you have any idea how shocked I was? I almost got the hiccups!]
If I had actually reacted strangely right then and there, it could have caused a needless misunderstanding.
[Thank you, Luka. For helping with the stream today.]
Her calm words of thanks flowed through my earphones.
I was about to start whining and blaming her, but her composed attitude made it hard to complain.
[It’s nothing... If there’s anything else I can do to help until you feel better, just let me know.]
[Mhm, mhm. You helped me so much back then, and today’s stream was so comfortable and fun, too.]
[I’m glad to hear that.]
[It would’ve been a disaster if I’d accidentally mentioned your handsome boyfriend, though.]
At her giggling words, I had to double-check that the stream was actually off.
If it had been on, it would’ve been an incident.
A massive disaster that would have completely ruined the group.
[Ugh! I should get going and sleep!]
[Didn’t you say your studio is far from your house, Luka?]
[Nope. It’s a five-minute walk.]
[Does Taemin-ssi walk you home?]
Good question.
Wondering if he’d contacted me, I fumbled for my phone.
[Oppa... he doesn’t come if he’s busy, but he picks me up sometimes.]
[I see. Well, call him and head home! It’s getting late.]
[Okay. Talk to you later, Unnie!]
[Bye-bye~]
Unnie said her goodbyes in her streaming voice and ended the call.
As expected, there was a message from Oppa.
[I’m in front of the studio now. Come out when you’re ready.]
What? When did he get here?
Seeing that ten minutes had already passed, I was startled and quickly opened the door to go outside.
“Oppa!”
A tall, handsome man was fiddling with his phone in front of the building’s entrance.
“Hey.”
“Ah! You should’ve called when you got here! I had no idea you were waiting.”
He chuckled and slipped his phone into his pocket.
“I figured you were late because you were messing with your stream setup.”
“I was just talking with Clover unnie for a bit.”
“Today’s stream was a blast.”
Oppa held his hand out to me.
I held it tightly and chattered on about the stream.
“Honestly, I’m better at the game than Unnie. Admit it.”
“You two seemed pretty evenly matched, if you ask me.”
“Hey! Why won’t you admit it? My score was higher today! You saw it!”
“You only won that one round.”
Tsk. And he calls himself my boyfriend, not even taking my side.
“What? I guess you started liking Clover unnie after taking the ‘red pill’?”
“What are you talking about now?”
“You could’ve just said I was good...”
“Luka is cuter when she’s bad at games.”
Even I had to admit that being bad at games but having an insanely competitive streak was a pretty tiring personality type.
“You were nervous too when she was about to tell the story of how we met, right, Oppa?”
“I was watching and choked. I coughed like crazy.”
“I was trying so hard not to get the hiccups.”
Before we knew it, we were in front of my house.
Once again, I found myself at a crossroads.
Should I be the one to ask him to stay the night?
It feels like a waste to just let him go here.
No. But when I think about it...
Why am I always the one agonizing over this?
Oppa naturally let go of my hand in front of my apartment building.
I looked up at him with wide, clear eyes.
“Go on in. Sleep well.”
He patted my head, seeming like he was in a hurry to send me off.
“...Is that all?”
Feeling a little resentful, I asked again.
“...Huh? Did I forget something?”
Ugh, that genuinely clueless face is so annoying.
I really do love Oppa, but there were still times when that dazed look of his drove me crazy.
“Ah...!”
My dear boyfriend finally let out a sound of realization, as if he’d remembered something at the last second.
Phew... Okay. If you say it now, I’ll forgive you.
I generously prepared myself, but what I got was...
A soft peck.
Oppa gave me a quick kiss on the forehead.
“I love you. Sleep well.”
My ears grew hot.
You’d think I’d be used to hearing it by now.
But the expiration date on my fluttering heart was nowhere in sight.
“Say it back to me.”
Oppa smiled, asking me to say it back to him.
Fine. I lose.
Giving in, I grabbed his wrist instead of answering.
“...I’ll tell you in my room.”
I should have cleaned up a bit beforehand.
I hated myself a little for leaving my room in a mess.
Why does time only fly by at moments like these?
The past week had slipped away like sand through an hourglass with a giant hole in it.
Before I knew it, there was only one day left until the music submission deadline.
“Oh... it’s here!”
The final revised version had finally arrived.
On Yoonje’s advice that it would be better to outsource the final mixing, I had commissioned a professional and was now downloading the finished file with a pounding heart.
“Is it finished now?”
Doah, who was lazing around in my room since it was a rare day with no recording, lifted her head like a puppy.
“Yep. This is the final, final version.”
“Let me hear it!”
“Well, the content is actually the same. It’s more like they polished the sound. Anyway, they just made it sound a little more natural, so...”
“So let me hear it.”
Lying on her stomach on the bed, Doah cupped her chin in her hands and looked at me with the eyes of a judge.
“Contestant number 12, Lucario-ssi. Are you nervous?”
Doah asked me in Luka’s voice.
I used to flinch every time she used that voice, but humans are, after all, creatures of adaptation.
I smiled and nodded my head vigorously.
“My heart is pounding so hard I think I’m going to go crazy.”
“Ahem... ahem...! Do you happen to know the total number of applicants this time?”
“I can’t see it, so I don’t know!”
How would I know if they never told me?
I had a vague guess that there would be a lot, but I had no way of finding out the actual number of applicants.
“That’s right. Because I don’t know either.”
Doah spouted nonsense with a solemn expression.
“Still, I heard some famous people are participating.”
“That’s right. I heard a composer who’s actually worked with idol groups is making a song for you guys.”
Like a pro showing up to a neighborhood soccer game.
It felt like a warning for commoner fans like us not to even dream, but I thought it was a good thing that such talented people were participating.
In the end, it meant that CLOSER would be able to present us with even better songs.
I hoped my song would be chosen, but I knew that was a huge long shot.
I thought there would be something wrong with the world if someone who was barely an amateur could beat a professional with a song made with a friend who just happened to do music.
“Still, I think your song is the best, Oppa.”
Thinking I was discouraged, Doah got up from the bed and hugged me.
“I’m fine.”
“And I’m just hugging you.”
Our eyes met, and we both burst out laughing in embarrassment.
“Ah, but even if your song doesn’t get picked, Oppa. I’ll record a full version and sing it for you.”
“...Really?”
“Of course. It’s a song you made for us, right? I might not be able to get all the members together, but I have to sing it for you.”
Han Taemin.
You ridiculously successful fanboy.
Of course, I knew that just dating Doah was the peak of fan success, but sometimes, I wondered if I was even allowed to be this happy.
Just like right now.
“I’m going to listen to it by myself all day long.”
“Okay. Don’t share it anywhere, just listen to it by yourself, Oppa.”
“I feel like if I leaked it, it would easily become a trending post on internet communities.”
“Do you want to see me get dragged to headquarters to write an official explanation again?”
Doah puffed out her cheeks, warning me not to.
“Aww~ Of course not! The YM headquarters is a no-no~”
I had never even been near the place, but one time I happened to pass by it, and I felt my body instinctively shrink.
“It really would be amazing if we all sang this together, though.”
As the melody I had heard at least a thousand times flowed from the speakers, Doah started humming along.
“And we could do a little dance here, like shuk, shoo-shuk.”
Doah-ssi, who, despite being an idol, had no talent for dancing, swung her arms around clumsily.
“You really wouldn’t make it as a regular idol.”
“Nyah nyah, I’m a metaverse idol. A temporary, contract-based one at that.”
Having achieved 100% self-awareness, Doah didn’t even blink at my diss.
She was now a master at dealing with haters.
“But you’ll be my full-time girlfriend, right?”
“That’s what I want to ask you, Oppa.”
She had been sitting on my lap, but she twisted her body and nibbled on my ear.
“Even if Luka gets fired, I can still be your girlfriend, right?”
What a question.
At her impish question, I playfully squeezed her tummy.
Luka-tan squirmed and giggled, saying it tickled.
Now in an awkward position, I simply tossed her onto the bed.
“You just try to hand in your resignation. Seriously.”
...I really didn’t think I’d be talking with YM again.