The Ideal Type

"What's wrong? You okay?"

Oh Hyeju, self-appointed romance expert of the group, was the one who asked.

The sudden hitch dragged every eye in the room onto Lim Sarang.

"Ah—no. Sorry. I'm sorry. It just went down the wrong pipe..."

"Huh? That doesn't look like choking. You look exactly like someone who got startled after an indirect kiss off another guy's glass while she was drunk, and then the drink—"

"Hyeju!"

"Yeah?"

"What are you even saying. Hahaha..."

Lim Sarang hurried to clap a hand over Oh Hyeju's mouth. Hyeju was sitting on her left, and the Lovely members were all just tipsy enough that there was nothing they wouldn't say. A murmur ran around the table. I kept my eyes on Lim Sarang and, without making a show of it, drew the glass in front of her over to my side.

"Why? It kind of felt like that, though. There's a glass in front of you too... huh? It's gone?"

"Huh? See? It's not there. What are you talking about. Why would I drink someone else's glass?"

"Tch. What a waste."

"..."

Unable to let it go, Oh Hyeju looked past Lim Sarang and straight at me.

"Siwoo. Isn't that Sarang's glass? I poured her a mango highball."

"Huh? No, it's not."

The moment I'd signed on as an accomplice to hide the embarrassment, I had to deny it all the way to the end. I insisted it wasn't hers and looked down at the glass.

"..."

A faint smear of red lipstick clung to the rim. If anyone spotted that, things would only get stranger.

Screw it.

I picked up the glass and knocked it back in one shot, setting my mouth over the stretch I was pretty sure belonged to Lim Sarang.

"..."

"Whoa? Destroying the evidence?"

"Kh. The drink's good."

I had no idea what I was doing. Even so, the thought of how mortified Lim Sarang would be made me want to see the childish mess all the way through.

"Pfft."

A secret just between the two of us, maybe. Lim Sarang laughed.

"Hehe."

I laughed too.

"..."

"..."

"What are you two, seriously? I'm starting to feel a little left out."

"Unnie. He's really not your brother-in-law?"

Of course it was a wavelength only the two of us were on, so it didn't seem to land as funny for anyone else.

I'd always thought of myself as a T. The sort of person who can't empathize with things that don't matter, who only feels at ease once the facts have been said out loud. That was why, when Lim Sarang picked up my glass and drank, the words had come out of me with nothing behind them.

But maybe I was an F dressed up as a T. How else had I fallen this sincerely into a situation so childish?

Fortunately, the moment passed.

"Ugh. We'll head out first. We can't overstay when we can't read the room."

"Me too. The holy knights are waiting on me... I actually carved this out of a busy stretch to be here. Training can't be skipped."

"It's two in the morning?"

"...Dawn training is an essential virtue of a knight."

Around two a.m., Seobsam and GoldenHolyKnight were the first to leave. They looked sorry to go, but the stream was on, so there was nothing for it.

The men in their thirties made their exit in tears, and only the Lovely members and I were left. I'd expected it to turn awkward. It wasn't awkward at all.

"So? You really hit it big on stocks?"

"Ah. Yeah, well. You could put it that way."

"Whoa... how big of a hit would it have to be... ah. Sorry. That was way too rude a question, wasn't it."

"It's fine. People get curious."

Extremely extroverted Kim Yeoul kept firing off questions with no end in sight, and Yoon Hyeyoung and Oh Hyeju were no slouches either. One from the right, one from in front, one from the front-right — the questions alone were enough to make my head spin.

"So how far have you and unnie gone?"

"No! Stop!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

It got bad enough that Lim Sarang had to step in and shut it down herself.

On variety shows, Lim Sarang was a born leader — decisive, with a mind of her own. Kim Yeoul had a ditzy streak. Yoon Hyeyoung leaned timid. Oh Hyeju called herself a romance guru and still came off cynical, and the firm way Sarang kept all of them in hand had stuck with fans even harder for it. I'd seen it myself in the variety clips I'd saved, so this was fresh. So she can be like this off-camera.

It wasn't so much that the Lovely members were being mean. With me in the mix, she was taking the hits so the mood wouldn't turn strange.

"I'm gonna run to the bathroom."

She'd endured it for as long as she could stand, and the moment Lim Sarang finally went on the counterattack, squeals rose around the table. I fled to the restroom. Giving them a little time to sort things out was just manners.

"Ah. I'll cover the screen for a second."

I stepped into the bathroom, stood in front of the toilet, and then it hit me. I slapped a hand over the feed, and only then did the chat explode.

For a second, genuine chills ran through me.

"Whoa. Don't tell me all of you were holding the chat?"

With more than a hundred and fifty thousand viewers, the chat never fully stopped. But I'd shoved it to the edge of my vision, so unless it shot up fast, it was hard for me to notice. They'd been aiming for exactly that. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠One slip, and I would have livestreamed myself taking a piss to a hundred and fifty thousand people.

I'd thought of one thing and failed to think of the second.

"Ah... fuck... I didn't mute the sound..."

I cut the audio a beat too late. There was no taking it back.

"Sigh."

Only after I'd washed my hands and come back out did I put the video up again and turn the sound on. The Lovely members were talking quietly among themselves.

"Oh, you're back."

"Sit, quick. We were playing truth."

"...What?"

"We only just started, though. Hehe."

"Come on, everyone. We're idols, you know! Please spare us King's Game!"

"Sarang unnie is at the age where she ought to try dating anyway. And Siwoo seems like a really great guy. The Lovely members are fully in favor of this pai—mmph."

In the end, Lim Sarang resorted to force. Kim Yeoul flailed with her mouth covered, and Oh Hyeju seized the opening, using a bottle for a microphone and thrusting it in front of me.

"All right! First question! What's Siwoo's ideal type? It might be too broad, so you'll have to pick one of us Lovely members~"

"Uh..."

Silence dropped for a beat, and I felt every gaze in the room lock onto me.

"Hmm."

I didn't panic. I met the eyes aimed at me, one pair at a time.

First, Oh Hyeju, right in front ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of me. A bit of a cat face — a bob, a sharp, cynical image. The kind of look that made the self-proclaimed romance manager title make sense. If you wanted the slightly older unnie who takes the lead, she would lock that role down without question. Similar to Lee Yeonju, but more of a successful older-sister air.

I moved on. Yoon Hyeyoung. Of the Lovely members, she had the least presence — in the way she spoke, and in what I'd heard of her actual personality. A homebody, timid, someone who liked being alone. Of course, there were men who lost their minds over exactly that type. And Yoon Hyeyoung was a Lovely member. Not just any homebody, either: a homebody with a soft, round face that anyone would call pretty. That only made it more so.

Next was Kim Yeoul. She was simply a classic puppy face, the Lovely fandom's textbook specimen of cute-and-dumb. The things she said, as if they'd never once passed through her brain, sometimes made you want to smack her — and yet that cute face, that petite height, and a chest that had clearly done its absolute best for the size, pulled a faint smile out of you anyway. After Lim Sarang, she had the most fans in Lovely.

Last was Lim Sarang.

Did it even need saying?

"Sarang."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Her face won outright, from the very start. The Lovely members were all so pretty it felt rude to compare them, but she had something past even that — nobility, with cute mixed in, and sexy sitting somewhere between the two. And her figure. Did that need saying either? Photo spreads shot in clothes that showed no skin at all still sold out every single time they went out under Lim Sarang's name.

"Tch."

Kim Yeoul pouted even though the result had been decided before the question was asked. Oh Hyeju, though, didn't lose her nerve. A veteran who knew her timing went for the opening instead.

"All right! Then what's the ideal type of our chosen one, Lim Sarang?!"

Lim Sarang, wearing a proud and thoroughly satisfied smile, froze for an instant. I looked at Oh Hyeju. She was winking at Lim Sarang.

What?

"I..."

At the same time, Lim Sarang's slightly trembling voice reached me from the side.

"Recently, I met the looks I'd only ever, really, really, really pictured in my imagination. My ideal face."

"Eh? For real?"

The viewers were curious. So was I. A part of me wondered if it might be me, but honestly, I didn't hang much hope on a story that unrealistic — the kind of thing you'd only find in a novel. If getting close after meeting someone a few times were enough to fall for them, the world would already have been couple heaven.

"Kyaa!"

"She said it!"

"Ahem. So that's how it is?"

The members fussed like they'd been waiting for exactly this. I started to react on reflex, and then my brain short-circuited.

"Whoa... no way... what?"

Lim Sarang didn't say another word. She ducked her head, face burning red, and thanks to that every arrow in the room landed on me.

"..."

First thing I did was bail.