I stood facing Gowon in silence.
Perhaps because of the commotion, people were murmuring outside the building. It was not an easy situation for having the kind of conversation needed to persuade someone who had his guard up so sharply.
“......”
After thinking for a moment, I changed my tone.
Relaxed, as usual.
“Well, fine. The police already came and went, so there shouldn’t be any more problems.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Gowon seemed surprised that I had agreed so easily, then quickly nodded as though he did not want to miss the opportunity.
“But will you even be able to sleep after that scare? Ah, now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ll be able to either. Since things turned out this way, want to have another round and drink something? You might as well drink and forget about it.”
“Drink...?”
The edge of Gowon’s wariness gradually shifted into curiosity.
“Come to think of it, you’ve only been an adult for about three months. Have you ever had alcohol?”
“No, never....”
“Perfect. You’re supposed to learn how to drink from an adult.”
When I lightly patted his back, he obediently began walking.
“I keep telling you, you’re not that old....”
I put the muttering Gowon into the passenger seat and took him to my house.
When I said there was nothing good about being caught drinking outside, he quickly agreed.
Gowon was still wary of me, but only when personal matters were involved. In other words, when it came to public matters and his career, he at least seemed to have concluded that I was on his side.
Then again, if he had watched me stay up for several nights straight to get him debuted and still kept his claws out in suspicion, I would have been too wronged to sleep at night.
“What’s so fascinating, baby?”
Gowon lowered the eyes he had been darting around the house while pretending not to look.
“It’s my first time visiting... another celebrity’s house.”
“It had better be. Otherwise, that would mean you’re seeing someone privately. Is there anyone?”
“No.”
The answer came out instantly, like a toy that responded when you pressed a button, before I had even finished asking.
Good.
“That’s how it should be. Dating is illegal for idols. Especially if you’ve been active for fewer than five years. That’s punishable by death.”
“...Yes.”
“And I’ll be the executioner.”
If I failed the quest for such a pathetic reason, that would not be a joke.
“I’m not dating anyone.”
“Even if your ideal type appeared and asked you out?”
“I don’t have an ideal type.”
“What if someone incredibly successful offered to make your career easier if you dated them?”
“......”
Gowon let out a brief sigh.
“I still haven’t met anyone more impressive than you.”
“Oh.”
That was a rather adorable and correct answer.
“Sit wherever.”
I took a bottle with a moderate alcohol content from the wine cellar and pulled out snacks I did not remember buying, then set them on the table. Wine poured steadily into two glasses.
Gowon hesitantly took his first sip of alcohol.
The moment he did, his expression became subtly strange.
“Bear with it even if it tastes odd. This is something you need to practice.”
“Um... yes.”
A little more alcohol entered his mouth.
I felt like an older brother teaching a child something bad.
That was why I had deliberately chosen something expensive and good.
“Has your stomach settled down after the scare?”
“Yes.”
“Good job. The first time I encountered an obsessive fan, I cried and made a complete scene.”
Gowon’s eyes widened.
His round pupils practically had You did? written across them.
“Isn’t that obvious? Who goes through something like that and stays perfectly fine?”
Having your family circumstances exposed without permission, fabricated scandals, obsessive fans invading every boundary without knowing when to stop....
I had only become numb after enduring one ordeal after another. Of course it had been terrifying.
“...I’m still a little scared too.”
Only then did Gowon cautiously admit it, as though he had finally earned the right to say something weak.
It was not as though he had torn down the wall, but it felt like he had made a small hole in it and was peeking through from the other side.
That alone was admirable enough that I refilled his empty glass.
By the time we finished one bottle, a tipsy flush had spread across Gowon’s face.
Without a word, I brought out another bottle of wine.
“...This one is sweeter.”
The amount he swallowed in a single gulp had grown noticeably larger than when he had been sipping cautiously.
I absolutely had to tell him later.
He should learn how to drink again from an adult like Kwon Taeyoung.
“So, no other worries or anything?”
Hoping alcohol might loosen his tongue, I subtly tested him.
Gowon’s long eyelashes fluttered.
“Hmm....”
His gaze looked hazy.
Soon, as though reaching a decision, he opened his mouth.
“Hanzel. I have a question.”
His normally stiff voice had softened slightly.
“What is it?”
“The nickname my fans call me.”
“Yeah.”
“Can it be changed?”
A nickname?
Why was he suddenly talking about nicknames?
“It’s usually better not to interfere in something that belongs to the fans, but if there’s a problem, you can bring it up with the company. What’s the nickname?”
“......”
Gowon hesitated, then drained the half glass of wine remaining in front of him.
Only then did the answer come.
“Baby Demon King....”
“Oh....”
Now that was a nickname embodying the very essence of K-pop.
With one hand, I refilled Gowon’s glass. With the other, I searched social media on my phone.
“Baby Demon King. Our baby is only two years old, but his aura is that of a pitch-black demon king.... He’s a tiny baby, but his voice is the mighty final boss....”
“Ah!”
As I read every word aloud in front of him, his already flushed face turned twice as red.
“It suits you.”
“How am I... that?”
“Why not? You are a baby. A baby whose knees hurt because he’s still growing.”
“That was a special situation only you saw.... Please don’t call me a baby....”
Gowon scrubbed both hands over his reddened face.
He had only ever acted like an old man trapped in a young body, but now he finally looked his age.
“So why don’t you like the nickname? Because it’s embarrassing?”
“It’s not that I dislike it. I know they gave me the nickname because they like me, but I’m worried that if they call a fully grown person like me that... people might think my fans are strange.”
“Because they’ll ask where anyone has ever seen a six-foot baby?”
“...Yes.”
For a moment, I had suspected he was pointlessly trying to act cool without appreciating a nickname his fans had given him.
Apparently there had been no need.
“Give up. I’ve been Megaton Baby for twelve years, and I’ll probably be called that until I retire as an idol.”
“Megaton Baby?”
“They came up with it because I was the big youngest member.”
“Oh....”
That was why “MegaBaby” was the most common keyword fans used to hide posts about me....
Even when an idol over six-foot-three was nicknamed a dinosaur, the dinosaur in the fans’ heads still went squeak?
That was the idol ecosystem.
“I didn’t know you paid attention to things like nicknames.”
“I’m currently accepting submissions for my fandom name. They said I have to make the final choice.... I wanted to choose something the fans would like, so I was looking through what they say, and that’s how I found out.”
“Oh, right. You’re such a brand-new rookie that you don’t even have a fandom name yet.”
“I’d like it to be something meaningful and impressive, like Spades.”
Spades was Young Ace’s fandom name.
It referred to the people who made the six members into the strongest cards in the deck: aces of spades.
I smiled faintly, as though I had just heard the name of a neighborhood friend I had known for a very long time.
“Our fans are more famous by another name, though.”
Once a group had been around long enough, even the fandom acquired nicknames.
Thinking about that made Gowon seem even more impossibly new.
“By the way, you can really hold your liquor.”
Had he not said this was his first time drinking?
It had taken two whole bottles of wine to make him this soft and pliable.
He was overflowing with talent, and apparently even this was included.
There was no disadvantage to having a high alcohol tolerance in the entertainment industry.
“...You’re not drunk at all?”
“No. I’m just better than you at pretending I’m not.”
“Oh....”
For some reason, his nod of agreement was quite vigorous.
“Hey, Gowon. We’ve sat face-to-face and finished alcohol together, so stop with the stiff title already.”
“What?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t understand. Stop calling me Hanzel so formally and call me brother instead. Save your energy.”
“Brother...?”
Gowon moved his lips as though breaking the word apart and repeating each piece, then assembled it again and spoke.
“Brother.”
“Yeah.”
“...Thank you.”
Junior’s respect (+5)
Well, would you look at that.
Cute.
Q Emergency. Detect HBN’s Crisis
Cleared
Rewards are being calculated.
You helped him overcome the crisis in an excellent manner.
Emergency quest completion reward granted.
Reward: Unlock HBN’s slot selection
Apparently, getting Gowon to relax completely enough to forget the stalker incident had also been part of the quest.
He had a drink inside the home of a senior who clearly had strong security, and as that senior showed him affection, the terrifying memory seemed to fade gradually from his mind.
As expected, the reward offered two choices.
[Recognition], [Mental Strength]
Originally, Mental Strength was what I had wanted to see.
Despite pretending to be unfazed on the outside, the kid seemed somewhat unstable inside. I thought reinforcing it would help him tremendously in succeeding as a singer.
But now....
Unlock Recognition.
Gowon
Recognition ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♥
(Domestic only; overseas excluded)
Current Status: Drun■ ■■■■.
The display format had changed completely, so I could not really tell what it meant. I decided it was probably about the level of recognition a rookie might have.
Whatever.
I had checked it, and that was enough.
I chose it specifically to avoid Mental Strength anyway.
“Gowon. I have something to ask.”
“Yes, Brother.”
“I, of all people, have laid this much groundwork before asking, so you can probably guess that it’s going to be an extremely rude question.”
“......You would never do that.”
Even after hearing such an admirable answer, I did not smile.
I merely studied Gowon’s face for a moment before opening my mouth.
The mood had been good.
Until now.
It was time to smash that Mental Strength all at once.
“Are you in debt?”
Gowon’s expression froze solid.
Gowon
???: ??? (▼1)(▼1)(▼1)(▼1)(▼1)(▼1)(▼1)(▼1)(▼1)(▼1).......
Current Status: ■? ■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■? ■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■? ■■? ■■? ■■? ■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■■■■■■.......
Yeah.
Good thing I did not unlock Mental Strength.
His face alone told me perfectly well that it had been shattered. There was no need to open the stat.
The wariness I had thought had dulled shot up several times sharper than when we first met.
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