Before long, he let out a derisive sigh.
“You probably think you’re being very clever, but honestly, you’re far too easy to read. Everyone here has at least ten snakes coiled up inside them, so it’s best for a rookie to act like a rookie. Even the most venomous snake won’t bite a newly hatched chick.”
“......”
“You can start scheming later. Wouldn’t that be easier on you too?”
Baek Hanje lightly kicked the toe of Gowon’s shoe with his own.
“Your amazing senior has once again given you advice that’ll nourish your bones and flesh. Let’s go.”
“...Ah....”
“What? You want me to keep waiting here while you fool around with your friend?”
“No, sir.”
“That’s right. Come on, Gowon, you’re so pathetic even a snake wouldn’t bother biting you.”
Gowon turned to follow Baek Hanje, who looked unusually displeased for some reason, then glanced back at Kim Eumyul.
“Kim Eumyul, I sincerely hope everyone I went through that survival competition with succeeds. That includes you... and me too.”
Kim Eumyul could not answer. Whether he was unable to or simply chose not to, Gowon could not tell.
When Gowon faced forward again, Baek Hanje was staring at him with even greater irritation.
Baek Hanje returned to the waiting room with him and even got into the van. As he sat with his chin propped on one hand, staring out the window, everyone inside the vehicle watched him cautiously.
“Ha ha, good work today, Gowon. Your schedule starts before dawn again tomorrow, so go back to the accommodations and get plenty of sleep.”
“Yes, I understand....”
Gowon was also intensely conscious of Baek Hanje’s mood. Then Baek Hanje finally broke the silence.
“What was that guy’s deal?”
“...His name is Kim Eumyul. He’s a trainee under Maybe Entertainment.”
“He came out with Dearune. Why would I ask something I could figure out myself? I’m asking why he was acting like that toward you.”
“He ranked second on <Debut Chart>. He asked me to come to Maybe Entertainment and debut with him, but I turned him down.”
“<Debut Chart> sure was full of wonderful friends.”
Baek Hanje muttered abruptly.
“Was that what all the red warning text was screaming about? I guess when you’re a rookie, even something small can feel like a crisis....”
Gowon had no idea what he was talking about, but he found it difficult to raise his bowed head. His fingertips prickled.
Baek Hanje had been like that from the beginning. He acted indifferent toward Gowon, yet whenever Gowon came to his senses, Hanje had somehow placed so much in his arms that they felt ready to burst.
When they first met, he had lounged around the meeting room and harshly pushed Gowon, then handed him a song. Today, he had made Gowon feel as though he were being scolded throughout their entire time in the waiting room, only to take his side in the end.
...What exactly is this feeling?
Guilt over failing to manage his own affairs, nervousness around a superior—none of those descriptions fit quite right.
“Senior, you really don’t have to worry about me that much.”
“If you’re about to say, ‘My friend isn’t usually like that, he’s actually nice,’ then just keep your mouth shut.”
“No. That isn’t it. I genuinely don’t care.”
“What do you mean you don’t care? You just stood there listening while he said whatever he wanted to your face.”
“It just... doesn’t matter.”
Kim Eumyul had not cursed him outright. Something like that was only unpleasant for a moment. Gowon could endure it and move on.
His family circumstances had caused all kinds of trouble since his school days. To be honest, what he was not used to was someone appearing and taking his side.
Baek Hanje’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Realizing his mistake, Gowon hurriedly changed the subject.
“That’s just how audition programs are. The longer the show went on, the more people cursed at me too.”
“...Good grief.”
Baek Hanje folded his arms and closed his eyes. After turning his head away, a quiet mutter drifted from the back of his head.
“Whatever. I did everything I needed to do. ...Why the hell am I acting like this? No, I think I’m coddling him even more than I did when I was seventeen.”
His voice was so low that only Gowon, sitting beside him, could hear, and even Gowon could not make out every word.
A moment later, Baek Hanje whipped his head back around.
“What did you say his name was? Music? Melody?”
“Kim Eumyul.”
“Oh, how pretty. His parents gave him the perfect stage name from birth.”
Then why is his personality like that?
Still muttering, Baek Hanje held out his hand to Gowon. Gowon blinked, unable to understand.
“Give me your phone. I want to look at his account. You do have a Stargram account, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
“I wouldn’t have expected you to use something like that.”
“They told me to make one during <Debut Chart> so I could encourage voting and promote the live broadcasts.”
“Of course they did.”
But why use mine...?
Baek Hanje had seen through Kim Eumyul in seconds. Reading Gowon’s thoughts was hardly beyond him.
“I don’t want to log in with my account and leave a record that I viewed his story.”
“......”
Gowon obediently surrendered his phone.
Baek Hanje opened the Stargram app, then stared at the blank white screen that still had not loaded after more than ten seconds and the blinking “3G” symbol in the top-right corner. He let out the kind of sigh only a Korean could produce.
Gowon followed only twenty-five accounts. A handful seemed to belong to people who had appeared with him on <Debut Chart>, along with K-Dom Entertainment, and then—
“Why are you following Young Ace’s official account?”
Before Gowon could answer, Baek Hanje spotted an account with a username beginning with yulyul directly beneath Young Ace’s official account.
He tapped it.
“...You need a better phone plan—no, never mind.”
Wearing the expression of a man enduring eternity itself, he waited for a full minute. At last, a photo that had seemed destined never to appear finally loaded.
“Hm. He has the classic face designed to attract obsessive fans.”
The stylist, who had been listening to their exchange with interest, leaned forward from behind and examined the feed with them. Pale skin, lingering baby fat, and no hesitation about acting cute.
“I can see why Maybe Entertainment wanted Gowon. Their audiences wouldn’t overlap at all, and the contrast between them would probably create good synergy if they stood together.”
“Maybe.”
Baek Hanje sounded indifferent as he dragged his thumb down the screen a few times.
“Oh, he already posted something new.”
How diligent.
The photo that had been first in the feed shifted aside, and a new post appeared in the upper-left corner.
Assuming it was something taken at <Music Sea>, they waited for it to load, but the first image remained nothing more than a pitch-black square no matter how long they waited.
“Hey, tell Brother Taeyoung to buy you a new phone. How many minutes does refreshing one page take—huh?”
Frustrated, Baek Hanje tapped the black image. The post opened immediately.
Apparently, it really was just a completely black photo.
The caption consisted of two lines.
yulyul.kyl
All by my self .
Only, on my own .
“...Oh.”
Baek Hanje drew his neck back and held the phone away from himself by the tips of his fingers.
“My God. How indecent....”
“Why? What is it?”
The stylist leaned in close to the screen, then made almost the exact same face as Baek Hanje. Meanwhile, the number of comments was rapidly increasing.
What happened to our little Yul squirrel?ㅠㅠ
↳ yulyul.kyl I met so many senior artists today, and it made me realize I need to work harder!
You were the coolest, sweetest, cutest person in the whole world onstage today! I’m waiting desperately for Yudi’s debut♥ Shake off whatever upset you, and next time, perform with Gowon!
↳ yulyul.kyl He’s Senior Gowon now. Thank you..
Sigh, seeing Gowon must have made you feel complicated...
↳ yulyul.kyl (smiling emoji)...
He had even reacted to the final comment with a wistful heart.
“Wow. Look at this. He’s already started feeding his fans hints so they’ll attack for him.”
“Exactly. With a face like this, I suppose it’ll work well....”
“Did something happen?”
With even the people in the back seats murmuring over his phone, Gowon asked anxiously. Baek Hanje tossed the phone back to him.
“What are you going to do?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s a quiz. Answer it.”
Gowon caught the phone in confusion. His expression gradually stiffened as he looked at the screen.
Baek Hanje folded his arms and waited for his reaction.
At last, Gowon gripped the phone in both hands and looked up.
“...Should I post something too?”
“That’s such a terrible answer it wouldn’t even appear among the choices on a multiple-choice test.”
“<Debut Chart>’s first- and second-place contestants taking shots at each other through vague Stargram posts.... Wow. Incredible.... I just saw a vision of the PR team working overtime....”
“It would be incredibly entertaining if one of them weren’t our artist.”
Gowon soon realized just how absurdly wrong his answer had been.
“Then should I ignore it and not respond at all?”
“No.”
“......”
“Try again.”
“...I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
At Gowon’s hopelessly clumsy response, Baek Hanje pressed a hand firmly to his forehead.
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