Little Brother, You're a Baby
The evening after the fan meeting ended.
"The first thing you need to fix is that sense of responsibility of yours."
That was what Noh Bihyeok said out of nowhere when I told him about what had happened today.
"You're way too hard on yourself. Meanwhile, you let everyone else get away with absolutely anything."
Didn't I tell you to get your quills under control?
I plucked his finger away from my cheek, where it kept poking me.
"If you're going to talk about my quills again, leave."
"I'm not bringing up your quills for nothing. Drop the idea that you have to handle everything yourself. It's not even your problem half the time — it's other people's."
"Fans aren't other people. How can you say that?"
Not exactly the kind of thing that should come out of the mouth of someone about to debut.
"Hey. Even I'm an outsider to you. Jinbae-hyung is an outsider too. If it's not you, it's all outsiders. Take care of yourself first, and then you can take care of everyone else."
"I know that."
"What's the point of saying you know it if it's just words every single time?"
Noh Bihyeok clicked his tongue.
"I know your fans matter to you too. But your fanbase is only going to keep growing. Are you going to be able to shield every single one of those people from every bad thing that comes their way? You really think that's realistic?"
He had a point.
With nothing to say in rebuttal, I pressed my lips shut, and Noh Bihyeok only grew more smug about it.
"Noh Bihyeok. Just leave him alone."
That was when a bored-sounding voice cut in.
It was Lee Euntaek, doing push-ups in the corner of my room.
"You think he's going to listen just because you lecture him? You're just wearing out your own mouth."
"Fair point, hyung."
He really had no shame, swearing at someone right in front of a person's face.
No matter how fiercely I glared at him, Lee Euntaek kept right on with his push-ups.
"He's only like this because he's scared. Keep staying by his side and it'll sort itself out. With kids who get scared like that, love is the surefire fix."
"I told you to stop calling me a baby."
"You act like a baby, so I call you a baby," Lee Euntaek said with a shrug.
The funny thing was, Noh Bihyeok actually got convinced by Lee Euntaek's ridiculous argument.
"Yeah, hyung's got a point. He's not the type to listen to lectures anyway."
"That's what I've been saying."
These punks, honestly.
When I frowned, Noh Bihyeok pressed down hard on the spot between my brows, muttering something about wrinkles forming.
For a moment I was tempted to knit my brow even harder out of pure spite, but I held back — it felt like the kind of childish thing a real baby would do.
Being around these two kept loosening me up, that was the problem.
Fine. *I'll* be the mature one here.
That resolution lasted all of five seconds before Noh Bihyeok shattered it.
"Still, thinking back to when we first met you, I have to say — you've gotten kind of adorable lately."
"Are you my hyung or something? What's this 'adorable' nonsense?"
Who did this guy think he was, talking down to me when his birthday comes *after* mine?
When my voice shot up in indignation, Lee Euntaek told us to quiet down, which only made the room even noisier.
I wish they'd both just get out of my room.
I was working on my patience with my eyes closed when Lee Euntaek asked Noh Bihyeok a question.
"So what's this 'adorable' stuff about?"
"When we first met him, I honestly thought, what is with this kid. He'd answer everything with this bored face and a 'guess it can't be helped,' and watching from the sidelines just sucked the life right out of me."
"I can picture it."
"But lately he actually seems proactive, and it's nice to see. Honestly, him getting worked up like now beats him not reacting to anything at all. The problem is just that he treats everything like it's somebody else's business."
Noh Bihyeok said it with a look of utter exasperation, but if anyone was exasperated, it was me.
By that logic, I'm an outsider to *him* too, aren't I?
He was plenty invested in other people's business himself — why did only I get grief for it?
I felt wronged, but there was no one in this room who'd take my side, so I swallowed it.
It's my birthday that they all gathered for, and I'm the only one getting scolded.
I missed An-gae. Or even Han Haram would do.
With these overgrown giants roughhousing around, even the spacious room felt cramped, and I was on the verge of losing my temper when the topic changed.
"You know what, this kid would've blown up as an idol too. What kind of actor has pink hair that suits him this well?"
"Tell me about it. Isn't the world way too unfair? Hyung, this kid can even dance."
At some point, the two of them had moved on to discussing my hair color.
Having decided I wouldn't dignify any of it, I kept my eyes closed as I had been for a while now.
Click. Click.
The sound of a camera reached my ears.
Taking pictures again.
I didn't need to open my eyes to know it was Lee Euntaek snapping photos of me.
Ever since the Christmas party, he'd been taking my picture every chance he got, and once I'd actually blown up at him and asked why he kept doing it.
Lee Euntaek had answered with a perfectly indifferent face.
'Do you have any idea how frustrated I've been with no pictures of you all these years? Just let it slide.'
'What?'
'I told you, didn't I? Your parents never told anyone where you were. And when they found out I'd taken photos with you, they threw every single one away behind my back. We had a massive fight over that.'
He'd also mentioned how annoyed he used to be that he couldn't remember my face clearly — right up until I appeared on TV as the extra in the Yellow Hat scene.
He said he wanted to take as many pictures as he could while he still could, and his face looked so sincere when he said it that I couldn't bring myself to tell him to stop.
He swore he wasn't going to post them anywhere — just keep them for himself — so I'd told him to do as he liked.
After hearing that shutter click for days on end, I'd gotten used to it.
Click, click, click, click.
"……"
Still, wasn't this a bit much?
Afraid the sound would never end, I opened my eyes in exasperation.
"Finally awake, huh."
"Were you taking all those photos just to see me open my eyes?"
He could've just told me to open them. What was so hard about saying one word?
When I asked him that, Lee Euntaek snickered.
"I was just snapping a few pictures while I was at it. Man, whose kid is this? Good looks run deep in the family."
"……Your speech sounds like some middle-aged uncle."
"What'd you say, rascal?"
Ignoring Lee Euntaek's scowl, I touched my ear.
The word family felt strange against my skin.
"Let's take a selfie, the three of us."
"Hyung, at this point you're addicted to taking pictures."
"You have to take tons while you still can. Once we debut, it'll be hard to get together like this. And our baby here's got a drama to shoot now, too."
"I — told — you — to — stop — calling — me — a baby!"
I'd held back as long as I could.
I lunged straight at Lee Euntaek, and he caught my arm with practiced ease.
While Lee Euntaek and I grappled, Noh Bihyeok calmly extracted himself from the melee and snapped the selfie.
In the photo: Noh Bihyeok striking a handsome pose all by himself, me baring my teeth as I charged in, and Lee Euntaek grinning as he held me back.
It was, by every definition, a chaotic birthday.
The fan meeting incident turned out to be a much bigger deal than I'd expected.
The agency seemed to want it kept out of the press, but honestly, from the moment I'd reported it to the police myself, keeping it out of the papers was close to impossible.
Reporters who'd caught the scent swarmed in, and articles kept pouring out nonstop.
Biyeon seemed upset that my birthday had been ruined, but I considered it a good thing.
Society had a strong tendency to treat sexual assault as if it were nothing much, far beneath the severity of the crime itself.
If articles were going to come out either way, the more buzz, the better.
And the next day, the perpetrator's personal information spread across the internet.
The moment his identity became known, a flood of posts poured in from countless victims saying he had assaulted them too.
What might have slid by as attempted assault had grown into something that could no longer be ignored.
With the press covering it so hotly, the police were apparently proceeding with the investigation very carefully.
"Actor-nim. The CEO is asking for you."
Once things escalated, I got summoned to the agency as well.
I didn't regret reporting it, but I understood it was a headache from the agency's standpoint, so I braced myself for a scolding.
But when CEO Jang saw my face, he let out a single sigh and said this instead:
"Yeonjae, next time something like this happens, at least tell us first."
He explained that he understood my position perfectly well, but that if we shared information with each other, responding to the media would be that much easier.
I told him I was sorry for going straight to the police without saying a word to the agency.
After all, I'd called them because I'd been afraid the agency might try to bury it quietly.
CEO Jang looked sheepish, as if he knew exactly what was going through my head.
"Yeah, honestly speaking… if you hadn't reported it, we probably would've wanted to handle it as quietly as possible too. I'm sorry we're trash like that, but if it blows up, nothing good comes of it."
"I understand."
"Just — next time something like this happens, tell us first… no, forget it. At least tell us right after you report it. So we can prepare, at the very least."
His half-muttered words carried a tone close to resignation.
After leaving the CEO's office, I apologized to Jinbae-hyung too.
No matter how I thought about it, I didn't regret reporting it — but I was worried he'd end up in trouble for failing to stop me at the time.
When he heard me out, Jinbae-hyung smiled.
"Don't apologize for something like that. If you hadn't done it, I would have."
"What if the company penalizes you for it?"
"Then I'd quit, I suppose."
Jinbae-hyung's large hand patted my back.
"In exchange, you'll have to hire me privately. I want to stay your manager, you see."
"Even if you wanted to quit, you can't run away anymore. I'm not letting you go."
"Haha. Yes, that's good to hear."
Jinbae-hyung laughed heartily.
I wasn't joking, though.
As I hesitated over whether to tell him I meant it, those gentle eyes looked straight into mine.
"You did well, Actor-nim."
"……"
"The perpetrator will be dealt with thoroughly, just as you asked, so don't worry. There won't be any retaliation from him — not against you, not against the chairman."
What on earth had he done to speak with such certainty?
I'd been planning to ask An-gae about it, but once again, An-gae didn't tell me.
Hearing him say, just like back with Oh Seunghyun, "It all worked out, so that's all you need to know!" only made me more suspicious.
Anyway, with Wooyeon Entertainment releasing an official statement, the matter was wrapped up for the time being.
He'd been nothing more than a day laborer, but he'd been hired through Wooyeon Entertainment, so the company could hardly dodge responsibility.
Separate from apologizing to the chairman, the victim, the agency announced that it would proactively safeguard the safety of all staff going forward.
It wasn't a few perfunctory lines — it laid out in detail exactly what changes would be made — and some of the criticism aimed at the agency quieted down as a result.
And so, after those hectic few days, the first day of filming for the Korean sign-language drama arrived before I knew it.
"Yeonjae, hey."
When I arrived at the set, Seo Jio came over to me.
He'd apparently finished his makeup already, because he looked every bit the celebrity.
"You dyed your hair black."
"Yeah."
"The pink was pretty, but I think black suits you best. Maybe it's because of your eyes."
I see. Now would you kindly take your hands off my hair?
Every time we'd met to run lines, he'd kept touching my hair, and it was getting on my nerves.
"So, Seo Jio. How are you feeling?"
"I think I'm fine."
Seo Jio smiled lazily.
He certainly seemed far more relaxed than during the Killing Horn shoot.
What a relief.
I'd assumed he'd be a bundle of nerves for his first lead role, but apparently talent just ran in his blood.
"Let's do well today."
"Yeah."
"Shall we head in? And take your hands off my hair already."
"Yeah."
Seo Jio answered obediently — but his hand was still buried in my hair.
I wondered if he was messing with me, but the moment I looked into his eyes, something felt off.
"……You can't hear a word I'm saying right now, can you."
"Yeah."
Damn it. He wasn't in his right mind.