The Sunbae Who Paves a Flower Path

“Sit on the sofa. Just push whatever's there to the side.”

“Ah... yes.”

Another deeply polite bow.

Then Gowon sat down in the seat I had gone out of my way to offer him, taking up only the absolute minimum amount of space.

“Did you buy that for me to drink?”

“Ah, yes.”

Why was every answer “ah, yes”?

“Give it here. I'll drink it well.”

Instead of handing it to me directly, Gowon set the coffee down on the table in front of me.

But because there was only one cup, it felt awkward to drink alone, so I glanced toward the mini fridge.

“There are drinks here too. Want me to get you something?”

“No.”

...That answer sure came fast.

He looked like a kid who had been thoroughly taught never to accept food from strangers.

Silence settled for a while.

He had about as much softness as his clean face had blemishes. This kid was hopeless if he wanted to succeed on variety shows.

“Um.”

After a long wait, he finally spoke.

“...About earlier. I wasn't glaring because I was upset.”

“Hm?”

“My eyes. I wasn't glaring because I was upset. That's just how my face looks.”

Ah.

The coffee in my hand grew slightly heavier.

Yeah, yeah. You're glaring at me like you want to kill me, but I get exactly how you feel.

...Looks like the stone I threw without thinking hit the rookie several times.

But I did not feel pure guilt, because while his actions were humble, his eyes were still very much insolent.

Who did not know the sorrow of being born with a nasty-looking face?

I was built on the larger side too, with strong features. Because I committed the sin of debuting at fourteen, I was always the youngest by age wherever I went, but with a face like this, I heard plenty of unpleasant things.

Of course, they were not all misunderstandings.

Baek Hanje back then really did have a filthy temper.

That was why I could also find the sharpness lodged inside Gowon without much difficulty.

Distrust, suspicion, and despite all that, a desperate need to grab hold of something...

A pessimistic kind of flailing, maybe?

“Did Brother Taeyoung tell you to come here and explain yourself?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“......”

His gaze dropped.

For someone so young, he was surprisingly good at creating a heavy atmosphere that said, I don't want to answer, so move on.

But.

“Are you ignoring me?”

At my polite tone and blatantly rude words, Gowon's eyes widened.

“...You might be working on my song, so if I seemed disg—no, if my impression was bad, that wouldn't be good...”

Well now.

Hearing the answer actually made me feel better.

At the same time, the strange sense of wrongness I had felt since we first met began to take a clear shape.

I had sensed it vaguely in the meeting room too, but Gowon's behavior did not match the specs he had.

First place on an audition survival program.

Looks far superior to most celebrities.

A fandom of considerable size.

And twenty years of age, when he was more than young enough to believe he could do anything.

Wasn't this exactly the age when a person should be drunk on himself and flying around?

And yet, beneath him lay low posture and resignation.

Baek Hanje at twenty?

If a situation like earlier had happened, I would have finished wiping out the few strands of hair Executive Director Choi had left.

But Gowon only swallowed his emotions.

What made it even stranger was that the Gowon in front of me did not seem to be showing his real personality either.

It would be a problem if someone who had not even debuted yet was too arrogant, but honestly, as problems went, this was more serious.

To put it nicely, he was composed.

To put it badly, he was suppressed.

He gave the impression of a kid who had been forced to grow up too early, and it pointlessly dragged down the mood of anyone watching him.

“Anyway, Brother Taeyoung didn't make you come here, right?”

“...No. I thought I should clear up the misunderstanding first...”

“Then don't do that from now on.”

Gowon looked a little startled.

“You make a living off your image. It's not a good look to start crushing your own pride already. It's not like bowing and scraping to other people is your hobby, is it? Being polite and lowering yourself are definitely different things.”

“......”

“Ah... while I'm already sounding like an old man, I'll speak casually if that's okay.”

“...You were already speaking casually to me in the meeting room, so I didn't realize I was supposed to say anything.”

Oh.

Maybe the sarcasm had slipped out without him meaning to, because his face belatedly flashed with alarm.

But for me, this was better.

“In the meeting room, I was saying that for everyone else to hear. You know that much, don't you?”

“...Yes.”

Unfortunately, the backtalk ended after that one line, and he lowered his eyes again, answering in short replies.

For some reason, the sight put me in a worse and worse mood.

Just lose your temper instead, damn it. It's obvious you're the same type as me, but you're forcing it all down.

In any case, I would do my best to break through the current situation.

Not only my own future as an artist, but the fucking penalty of Kwon Taeyoung's life was hanging on it.

But the thing shaking the survival of both of us was nothing more than a kid who looked like he had no confidence at all.

“You don't need to be grateful, and you don't need to be sorry. I'm not taking this on because I'm some incredibly kind senior who feels bad for his junior.”

I swallowed my irritation and turned my head away.

Unfortunately, in that direction, the photos of Gowon I had been looking at earlier were spread across the monitor.

I froze for a split second, and Gowon turned his head in the same direction, catching me.

“...I was going through the materials before working on the song.”

After spouting such curt words, I felt pretty awkward.

Luckily, he did not seem to think much of it.

“I haven't heard the song yet. I'll play it.”

“Yes.”

I played the track through the studio speakers.

In the mist unknown,

Even a road with no road is fine.

Even if it's an endless illusion.

Expressionless Gowon looked up at the massive speakers as the sound boomed through them.

At last, a reddish emotion colored the face that had been hiding everything until now.

He must have listened to the file recorded in his own voice hundreds of times already.

Having something that was his taken away from him would be something he would hate even if it killed him.

For a little over three minutes, Gowon and I listened to the song without saying a word.

At last, the speakers fell silent.

Gowon waited for me to speak, then opened his mouth first.

“...What did you think?”

“Yeah, it's good.”

“Ah...”

“Perfect for getting lumped in with the kid who drove drunk. How'd you end up with a friend like that?”

Yes, the song was good.

I admitted that much.

But seriously, haah...

I understood that it was supposed to have a bold, fearless mood.

Maybe it would have been a little better if it had been a love song comparing love to drifting.

But this was...

Racing toward the darkness, moving forward endlessly, being so intoxicated by the goal that you could not come to your senses... It blurred the object stylishly, making it unclear whether it was a lover or an ambition.

It was a confident song perfectly suited to a rookie. But with that drunk-driving bastard splashing the smell of alcohol over every line, it was a miracle Gowon had not gone and slit his throat.

On the other hand, I was honestly surprised because Gowon's vocal color was quite good.

Maybe it was because he had been mumbling with his head lowered. It was completely different from the voice he had used while talking until now.

In particular, he had a natural feel for rapping like he was driving each line straight down into the track.

Pitch could be plastered over with tuning, but the atmosphere that seeped into a song was never something a machine could create.

I sank deep into the back of my chair.

“Good grief. Where the hell do we even start with this? First, what do you want to do?”

“I want to revise the song in a direction where drunk driving doesn't come to mind at all...”

“That won't work.”

Gowon's eyes widened as if he did not understand.

“Saying I'd try revising it was a lie from the start. The A&R team must've agonized until they were tearing their hair out before choosing those lyrics and that mix as the final version. Which means there is no better best. No matter what we change, it'll feel unsatisfying compared to the current version. Especially to you.”

I had considered arrangement changes and lyric rewrites too, but after hearing the song just now, I gave up.

In the most literal sense, this debut song had Kwon Taeyoung and the A&R team's blood and tears melted into it.

This song was at its best right now.

This was the peak of its completion.

This judgment, too, was part of the creative ability stat I had built through the quest window.

The one I was about to have completely stripped from me if I could not overcome this garbage situation.

...What the hell am I supposed to do?

It had been a long time since I had faced a situation this hopeless.

“Gowon.”

“Yes, Senior.”

“I bought us some time, but honestly, I don't really know whether this will work or not. What are you going to do if we can't find a solution?”

A brief ripple passed across his expression.

It was the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) despair I had expected.

And resignation, too. I knew it would be like this.

But his answer came out calm.

“...I still want to debut, even like this.”

“Doesn't it feel unfair?”

Just as he had in the meeting room, he clasped both hands tightly together.

But the change in his face was minimal.

“If it's not something I can solve, then feeling wronged about it has no meaning.”

“......”

But when he said that with fire lit in his eyes, it looked like he was making a vow never to suffer, no matter what happened.

Seeing that made me curious about one thing for no reason.

Then what exactly was the “Gowon: ■■” penalty if his debut fell through?

Gowon's worries? Or concerns? About what he would do from now on...

“Insight” decreases by 10 pt.

How very kind of it to scold me for talking bullshit.

I let out a long sigh at the quest window's ridiculous behavior, and Gowon, seeing me like that, bit down hard on the corner of his lip.

“You don't have to concern yourself with me so much.”

Hm?

“...This must have come out of nowhere for you too, Senior, and it has nothing to do with you.”

“......”

A huge wall, full of wariness, came down in front of me and grew even thicker.

Ah.

I understood.

Why this kid was so pessimistic, and why he was squeezing his emotions down so tightly.

He doesn't expect anything from adults.

Well, of course.

He was only twenty years old.

He had been living an ordinary life, working part-time, then got abruptly thrown into a survival show and suffered like hell, only for everything to collapse.

And even the company he barely managed to enter after that was operating like this...

“Hm. So?”

“I'm just saying... I'll handle it myself.”

On top of that, I had suddenly barged in, claiming I would try to do something.

He was wary that I might ruin even what little he still had left.

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