Chapter 319
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 319
<Current Status of a Popular Male Idol—Ending Up with Dead Eyes?!>
A distorted, mechanical voice played from a Nutube video.
<…At the center of every controversy surrounding The Dawn is Seo Ho-yun.
It’s truly impressive how he manages to create so much trouble despite having debuted less than three years ago.
Even though there have been constant rumors about his personality, Seo Ho-yun has consistently responded with silence.
His fans have shamelessly shielded him every time, claiming he’s ‘consistently good to his fans.’ As proof, they pointed to the frequent messages he posts on Pop-Pop.>
Article photos and SNS reactions flashed across the screen.
<However, Seo Ho-yun has not checked into Pop-Pop for over two weeks now, even up to the moment this video is being produced. The other members of The Dawn are also remaining silent.>
<The group photos posted on their official SNS accounts lately have all been old ones taken in the past.>
I’m very curious to see how the fans will make excuses this time.>
The comment section below was filled with sarcasm directed at Seo Ho-yun.
Watching this, the fans of The Dawn only felt a sense of exhaustion at the tactics of cyber wreckers, who stitched together and inflated trivial details just to criticize him.
Of course, it wasn’t just criticism circulating.
In fact, the majority were worried that something had actually happened.
Just as the Noeuls were waiting for Seo Ho-yun with bated breath, trying their best not to let their anxiety show—
[Ho-yun: Hi]
[Ho-yun: What are you doing?]
Pop-Pop notifications arrived at the top of their phone screens.
As if he knew exactly how the fans were feeling, a photo of him eating appeared just as they were about to ask if he was sick, and a video was uploaded the moment they were about to say they missed him.
The fans were relieved to see him looking healthy and smiling brightly. Afterward, they exchanged small talk through Pop-Pop.
To one fan’s curious question, Seo Ho-yun’s answer was this:
[Ho-yun: Why am I contacting you at this hour?]
[Ho-yun: Because the weather is nice... just because.]
[Ho-yun: I just wanted to Talk to the Noeuls and see what you were up to.]
The fans burst out laughing at this rare glimpse of Seo Ho-yun’s clumsy side.
Messages teasing Seo Ho-yun continued endlessly.
.
.
.
“Oops.”
I should have read it one more time before sending.
I rubbed my forehead awkwardly.
As I sent a correction message and let out a sigh, the manager, who had been glancing at me through the rearview mirror, spoke up.
“Anyway, I’m glad the results were good, Ho-yun.”
“I guess. But getting a full checkup takes up way too much time….”
When I opened my eyes, a little over ten days had passed in this world’s time.
In that situation, the company insisted that health was the top priority. They scheduled every possible test I could take at the hospital and wouldn’t let me do anything but rest. Surprisingly, they were even more adamant than the members.
Between getting diagnosed by doctors, receiving reports from Lee Ji-hyeon, and getting my schedule from the manager—and then the album meeting immediately after being discharged—the days vanished in an instant. Only now did I finally have a moment to breathe and check Pop-Pop.
I was slowly scrolling through the mountain of playful messages from fans when my phone screen turned black and changed to a call display. It was Min Ji-heon.
“What.”
[…….]
“I’m busy.”
Last time I called, he just said he was busy and would call back later, then hung up immediately.
[The weather was so nice today… I wanted to call you.]
Hearing him bark nonsense in that smooth tone gave me the chills. I immediately pressed the end call button.
“Is this guy actually insane?”
As I rubbed the goosebumps on my arms, Min Ji-heon’s name popped up on the phone again. I didn’t really want to, but I had something to say as well, so I was forced to pick up.
[Hey, why’d you hang up so fast? You’re hurting my feelings.]
“Are you a stalker?”
[I’m a top fan.]
Don’t give me that crap.
Encountering the Min Ji-heon of ‘this place’ after a while, he was as relaxed and shameless as ever.
‘Your tone on Pop-Pop was so different that I had to check several times,’ ‘I guess you were good at it because acting is your daily life,’ and so on. I was about to hang up again at his string of idle chatter when Min Ji-heon finally brought up the main point.
[Don’t be too upset that I couldn’t visit you in the hospital. I’m abroad, and things were just so, so hectic~.]
I checked to make sure the manager was focused on driving before lowering my voice to ask.
“You, do you remember the kid who was with me when I collapsed?”
[Mhm.]
A rather unconvincing answer flowed through the speaker.
“Do you know where he went?”
[Well, I’m not sure… Honestly, I was out of it then too……. After I dropped you off at the hospital and looked for him again, he was gone. It felt like I’d seen a ghost….]
I had some doubts about whether Min Ji-heon truly knew nothing, but there was no way for me to verify it separately right now.
Do I have to dig into it myself?
As I organized my thoughts while tapping my finger on the phone, I heard Min Ji-heon’s laughter.
[Hey, don’t do it.]
“……Do what.”
[Whatever it is~. This is advice from someone who has at least some experience in this area… You should just treat it like you stepped in dog shit and ignore it. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself ruined before you know it.]
“My family’s been ruined for a long time.”
[That… sorry. Anyway, you’re not hurting anywhere, right? My brother was so worried about you that he couldn’t… well, he could still eat, but he was very, very concerned. For the record, I couldn’t sleep because of you~.]
The topic shifted abruptly.
This guy would probably abandon me and run the moment something happened, yet his tongue was so long.
“Whatever. Just tell your brother thanks for worrying.”
[Huh?]
Because he was a Noeul who had been my fan everywhere.
I ended the call before Min Ji-heon could react. The van was already pulling into the company parking lot anyway.
‘At this rate, I won’t be able to find Jeong Cheong-yeon.’
I was still going to look, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t see him again.
I let out a sigh and stepped out of the stopped vehicle.
Between catching up on delayed schedules and the comeback being only a few weeks away, I was beyond busy. I had stopped by the company during a brief gap in my schedule because Kang Yi-chae said he’d finished revising a B-side track.
‘Is that guy… doing okay?’
Leaving the manager behind as he headed toward the management team saying he’d see me in a bit, I walked toward Kang Yi-chae’s studio. Every staff member I ran into greeted me warmly.
“Oh, Ho-yun! It’s been so long. I heard you caught a cold?”
“I know, right? They say even dogs don’t catch colds in the summer.”
Just as I was responding with a practiced smile—
“Oof!”
A heavy impact hit my side.
“Ack!”
“Hyung!!!”
It was our maknae, the Elephant.
“Why aren’t you picking up your phone!! Seriously!”
Jeong Da-jun, who had tackled me, began pouring out words like bullets.
“Hyung, what did they say at the hospital?! Are you okay now? By the way, have you eaten?!”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a relief!! But you know what! I’m planning to film a Reel today—!”
The staff members, seeing me trapped in a flood of words, began to slink away. I gestured for them to get back to work and matched my pace with Jeong Da-jun.
Ding!
[Jeong Da-jun is, haha….]
[Incredibly talkative….]
Tell me about it.
To think the system window, which hadn’t shown its face once since I returned to ‘Unknown Idol Tycoon,’ would pop up now. It didn’t even show a hair of itself no matter how much I called it to check on the Kang Yi-chae situation.
Anyway, even though I thought Jeong Da-jun was noisy, a part of me felt proud and fond of him.
It was because I’d heard that over the past few days, all the members, including the maknae, had perfectly handled every schedule without showing any signs of struggle.
I quietly watched Jeong Da-jun as he babbled incessantly while we moved. Suddenly, his busy mouth snapped shut.
“…What is it?”
“What?”
“Your eyes look kind of…….”
“Do you like that they look affectionate?”
“It feels like dipping a Cheongyang chili pepper in honey, so my stomach feels a bit queasy… Ack!!”
Jeong Da-jun, who finally earned himself a flick to the forehead, rubbed his crown, looked around, and whispered softly.
“But Ho-yun hyung… when are you and Yi-chae hyung going to make up?”
I wondered when this would come up.
I brushed back my bangs, which had been left long for styling, and replied.
“Why? Did Kang Yi-chae say something?”
“It’s not that, but….”
I pinched Jeong Da-jun’s nose hard with my thumb and index finger and grinned.
“Our Elephant, don’t waste your time on useless worries.”
“…Can’t you just call me ‘Puppy’ instead? At least that’s cute.”
Shaking off my hand and covering his nose, Jeong Da-jun grumbled about being called an elephant before adding, “It’s just because Yi-chae hyung is being weird. He’ll be joking around just like usual, and then….”
“And then?”
“Suddenly his laughter stops, and when I look back, he’s just staring into space with a blank expression.”
That does sound a bit creepy….
“Thanks to him, I feel like I’m in a horror house every single day.”
Stopping in front of the studio, Jeong Da-jun looked at me and said, “Anyway! Please, somehow, resolve it amicably! You know Yi-chae hyung is a scary person by nature, hyung.”
“Our Da-jun, you even know the phrase ‘by nature’?”
“……Do you really want to see me get mad?!”
“Alright, alright. Let’s just go in.”
I planned to just brush off whatever happened and soothe him appropriately.
I picked at my ear and pushed the maknae’s back.
Jeong Da-jun took a deep breath, grabbed the knob, and swung the door open.
“Hyungs, we’re her—”
“Today feels like I got LASIK….”
The first thing that caught my eye was Kang Yi-chae tapping on the piano keys. He was even singing.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve seen the light~.”
“Please shut up… before I actually start swearing….”
“Including those washboard abs tooooo~.”
“Ah!!!”
The melody was the song Im Hyeon-su had recently worked on. Despite his sweet vocal tone, the lyrics were becoming increasingly bizarre, causing Seong Ji-won and Kim Seong-hyeon to cover their ears and grimace.
As I strode inside following Jeong Da-jun, Kang Yi-chae’s eyes met mine with a smirk.
“There walks that shameless man toward me.”
“…….”
“Pray, tell me thy nameeee~.”
As the volume of his voice rose, I clicked my tongue and raised my hands to my ears, but Kang Yi-chae acted cute and slapped his own forehead.
“Ho-u Ho… Oops, I got it wrong.”
“…….”
“U-ho U-ho~!”
This crazy bastard, seriously…….