Idol
Lily stared at the hand Yeon-woo held out, startled, and took it almost by reflex — but she still couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye. Her gaze stayed locked on Chrissy beside him instead.
"Uh, Mom. What is this all of a sudden…?"
"I told you last time, didn't I? That Jay said he'd come over if he ever visited the States."
"…Okay, I definitely heard that, but."
Her mother had worked as a music director on countless productions, and not once had a star been close enough to drop by the house. So Lily had written it off as empty talk and barely paid attention.
It made sense. A music director rarely met the actors face-to-face during a project anyway, and Hollywood talent almost never socialized with ordinary people outside their own inner circle.
Just then, Dong-ha and Han Byeol came out of the kitchen, where they'd been putting away the tteokbokki ingredients they'd bought.
"Oppa! All put away!"
"Yeon-woo hyung. The rice cakes were rock-hard — should I soak them a bit?"
And when Lily saw Ella and Akhenaton walking out of her own kitchen, her eyes went round all over again.
"What?!"
After the mild chaos at the front door, Yeon-woo headed into the kitchen and finished cooking in no time, whipping up a batch of tteokbokki that looked every bit as good as it smelled.
Everyone sat down to eat — everyone except Lily, who kept stabbing helplessly at a single rice cake with her fork. Her eyes darted left and right in a frantic blur.
It was the exact same kitchen where she'd eaten cereal that morning, and yet it felt like a completely different world.
"You scarfed it down last time I made it and said it was delicious. Why are you just torturing that poor rice cake?"
"Because there's a completely unreal situation unfolding right in front of me! How am I supposed to just sit here and eat?!"
It was the most shocking day of Lily's life.
Dong-ha laughed watching her.
"Come on, try some. First tteokbokki I've ever made in my life. Well — Yeon-woo hyung did most of it, but still."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
At Dong-ha's urging, Lily hurriedly speared a rice cake and popped it into her mouth.
"I've watched every single Axis music video! I even do K-pop cover dance club at school!"
Lily's eyes lit up as she spoke — and Dong-ha's lit up even brighter.
"Oh, yeah? So you know our choreography pretty well, then?"
"Of course!"
"Wanna do a dance challenge after we eat? I'll post it on TikTok!"
"For real?!"
Jeong Cheol-min, naturally, had zero interest in idols or dance — and neither did Yeon-woo or Jeong Su-yeon. The only one who ever reluctantly joined when Dong-ha asked was Han Byeol, and she was surprisingly bad at it, forever struggling to lock in the choreography.
Yeon-woo had assumed Chrissy's daughter would click better with Han Byeol, who was closer to her age. Watching her hit it off with Dong-ha instead, he let out a quiet snort of laughter.
Chrissy noticed and asked him,
"You said you came for a talk show this time. How did it go? Did you do well?"
Han Byeol answered for him.
"Totally! I honestly thought Oppa was the only one who had a script!"
"Is that so? Jay definitely has a sense of humor that lands in formal settings. He's the kind of guy who cracks jokes even in bleak old Germany."
Recognizing the reference to the Berlin Film Festival, Yeon-woo tilted his head.
"Chrissy. You were at the Berlin Film Festival?"
"I didn't go, but it was a film I worked on, so I looked it up online. Someone had posted the pre-screening interview."
"Ah…"
Yeon-woo nodded.
They chatted over tteokbokki about this and that, until Dong-ha took Han Byeol upstairs to Lily's room. The thumping and music that followed made it clear they were filming the dance video they'd talked about over dinner.
"Good thing we brought them."
"This is going to be an unforgettable memory for Lily. Thanks to you, I've already saved on her Christmas present."
Yeon-woo smiled faintly at Chrissy's words.
Come to think of it, Christmas is almost here.
And once Christmas was over, the new year would arrive. Early next year, they'd need to start rehearsing in earnest for the play.
I'll have to prep more than just the rehearsals. I wonder if the kids are doing what I told them to…
Meanwhile, back in Seoul, Jun-su and Seong-sik were working their way through every single play currently running in Daehangno.
"Hey, doesn't something feel kind of… off?"
The sentence had no subject and no object, but Jun-su nodded anyway.
"Right? The level is just…"
The plays were entertaining, no question. The stories were solid, and the actors poured everything into their performances. Even through an amateur's eyes, the Daehangno cast had strong vocal projection and moved with real confidence.
And yet something was missing.
"How do I put it. There's no vividness. Like, that… ugh, I can't even describe it."
"You don't have to. I know exactly what you mean."
"But if those actors from earlier heard us talking like this, they'd just laugh, right?"
Jun-su shook his head.
"Why? We may not know how to act, but we've got eyes. We're free to say what we think. It's not like you have to be a former pro to open your mouth while watching soccer."
"Fair enough. It's probably because our first play was Yeon-woo's performance, huh?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
Once you'd experienced Yeon-woo's acting — emotion pouring out as if it were alive and breathing — everything else felt washed-out by comparison.
"Anyway, I wonder how Yeon-woo's doing over in the States."
"Who are you even worrying about?"
"Yeah, fair."
The day after they returned from Chrissy's house, Yeon-woo and the expedition members attended a mini fan signing event arranged by Bernard Fenton's side.
Sitting through the two-hour session that started at lunch, the members looked less exhausted than energized — as if the fans had recharged them.
"Oh my gosh. Ella, you so cute!"
"Th-Thank you!"
At the next seat over, a Black woman with an afro held Han Byeol's hand and gushed over her like she'd just met an angel.
A fan approached Yeon-woo as well, shyly holding out a piece of paper.
"What's your name?"
"Mike!"
Yeon-woo signed Mike's name and spoke first.
"Thank you. For watching our series."
"Wow, not at all. I genuinely had so much fun with it. And you're really kind. It's so wild that I can actually meet a star and talk like this."
"Is that right? I can't come often, so when I do, I should meet the fans."
Yeon-woo smiled faintly at Mike.
In the States, outside of Comic-Con and a handful of other major events, fan meetings and signing sessions were a relatively unfamiliar culture. And those events were mostly held in New York or San Diego. Hollywood might be the city of stars, but open opportunities to meet actors like this were rare.
"Um, would a handshake be okay?"
"Of course, Mike."
Unlike Korean fans, who were veterans of countless signings and came armed with all kinds of requests, American fans mostly just wanted a signature and a quick handshake.
Honestly, I was braced to do the deer antler thing about a hundred times.
Not that he minded the cute little fan-service bits. Compared to the love he received, that kind of effort was nothing.
But this project was a little different.
Yeon-woo glanced at the members beside him.
One was his teacher. One was a friend. And the other two were like younger siblings.
Ugh. Doing the deer antler thing in front of them…
Yeon-woo gave a slight shake of his head.
Thank god it hasn't spread here yet. Phew.
Just as he was breathing a sigh of relief, the fan who'd finished shaking his hand moved on to Ella, and the next one stepped up to the table.
Looks like a Korean-American.
She was a young woman who appeared Korean. LA had the largest Koreatown and the biggest Korean-American population, after all.
"Nice to meet you. Are you Korean-American?"
"No! I'm Woo's! This is insane! I was just visiting LA and heard about the surprise signing, so I ran straight over!"
"Really? Great to meet you. I never expected to run into Woo's out here."
Yeon-woo smiled at the fan.
And then, out of nowhere, a single thought flashed through his mind.
Don't tell me…
And that kind of premonition was never wrong.
"Um, I've watched it on YouTube like a thousand times, but if it's not too much trouble, could I also…"
"Umm…"
The phrase Did I take care of it? was a magic spell you should never, ever allow yourself to think.
After wrapping up the fan signing and some sightseeing, Yeon-woo and the group boarded their flight back to Korea.
American fans still had no idea what "it" even was, so fewer people than expected had asked for the deer antler bit that day.
During the sightseeing that followed, multiple production companies tried to make contact with Yeon-woo — and every single time, James Choi attempted to insert himself into the conversation. For most of them, Yeon-woo stepped in personally and arranged one-on-ones that shut James Choi out. When that wasn't feasible, he tossed it to Team Leader Yoon Mi-yeon.
In the end, having failed to achieve any of his goals, James Choi sat in a rear seat on the return flight with a twisted expression, staring blankly out the window.
I still don't know if that guy reports directly to Baeksol, but once we're back, tracking him should clear that up.
Even if he did report, he could hardly say the job fell apart because he couldn't reel in one young actor. That would only advertise his own incompetence.
Well, even if he does report it that way, it doesn't matter. They're not the type to move for something that simple.
Without a solid economic motive behind them, they never made a reckless move. Yeon-woo would spend the first half of next year doing theater, so there was no chance of a business confrontation with them anyway.
He was sorting through these thoughts, watching the clouds drift past over the Pacific, when Dong-ha in the next seat called out to him.
"Yeon-woo hyung."
"Yeah?"
"Do you like futsal, by any chance?"
He'd always enjoyed ball sports, even in his previous life, and after reincarnating he'd played futsal often since high school.
"Somewhat? I used to play with friends a lot."
"Then do you know Achedae, hyung?"
Yeon-woo shook his head.
"Hmm, never heard of that university. Are they famous for futsal?"
"…Ah? Ahem, no. It's short for Idol Athletic Championships."
"Ah, got it."
Watching Yeon-woo nod so casually, Dong-ha broke into a cold sweat.
Idol Athletic Championships was a special program that aired every Lunar New Year and Chuseok, where idols competed against each other in various sports.
"So, uh, our team's participating in the Lunar New Year special this time, but every single member is hopeless at sports, so there's almost nobody who can play futsal. Relays and archery we can somehow manage, but these guys kick the ball forward and it flies sideways…"
Dong-ha checked Yeon-woo's expression, then carefully continued.
"So each team gets to bring in one ringer, and I was wondering if maybe you'd be interested…"
Yeon-woo considered it seriously.
I was already thinking about doing some variety for the fans anyway. And if it's a show with idols on it, that doesn't sound half bad.
He'd enjoyed futsal even back in high school, so it would probably be more fun than he expected. And if it was for Dong-ha, he wanted to help…
"Well, I'm fine with it? I'd have to check with the agency, but I don't see any real reason I couldn't appear."
"Oh, for real?!"
Dong-ha looked at him with eyes full of hope — but Yeon-woo tilted his head.
"There's just one problem, though."
"A problem?"
"I'm not an idol."
Dong-ha stared at him like he'd said something absurd.
"Hyung, you are an idol. Jay from the co-ed group Jaynari."
"Ah…"
Right.
He was an idol who'd even appeared on music shows, after all.