Chapter 101

Confusion, bewilderment, and the faintest flicker of hope crossed Gowon’s face.

I had no intention of spilling every last detail, from Young Ace’s rise to success to the whole long story behind it.

“...Maybe someone crossed space and time because they wanted to give a talented junior a little extra push.”

“?! So I wasn’t imagining it? You and I really were together...!”

Once I admitted it without putting up a fight, Gowon looked like he’d just been handed an even harder assignment.

I could understand why his mind had frozen, unable to decide what to ask first.

It was hard enough for me, the person who had actually lived through it, to explain. Accepting it had to be even harder.

But the unmistakable joy on his face finally loosened the last knot in my tongue.

“Yeah. You weren’t imagining it.”

“!!!!!”

Quest window. I’m making this very clear: more than half the responsibility for this mess is yours, got it?

I decided to interpret its silence as agreement.

“...In a span of time erased from everyone else’s memories, I entered an audition program with you as a seventeen-year-old trainee.”

“H-How is something like that even possible...?”

“Just think of it as one of those miracles that happens once in a lifetime. A fairy godmother from a storybook, or a swallow bringing someone a magic seed... something like that. You’re a prince, aren’t you?”

“.......”

Gowon cautiously pointed at the empty air.

“That thing... that appeared in front of you earlier. I tried translating it again.”

“...Yeah.”

“‘The Senior Who Paves the Flower Road.’ That was on the letter in the bouquet you sent me... right?”

“Ah.”

I was wondering how he’d translated even the grammar exactly right. So I really did pull something like that.

Of course, back then I’d only done it because I thought Gowon would never have any reason to know about the quest window.

After hesitating for a while, Gowon finally asked,

“Did you... choose me as the junior you wanted to help?”

“No. I only found out who you were after I got stuck in a situation where I had to help you.”

“.......”

Disappointment flashed plainly through Gowon’s eyes.

“...Would you...”

His long lashes lowered, as though he were trying to hide how he felt.

“Would you have helped someone else this much too... if it hadn’t been me?”

“...Probably. If the situation had been the same.”

It was threatening me with the members’ lives. Even if I’d hated the person, I would’ve had no choice but to work with them.

“But there’s one thing I can tell you for sure.”

I reached across the table into his lowered field of vision.

“It’s true that I was forced into it at first. But somewhere along the way, I started enjoying it because it was you. And now I’m not helping you out of obligation.”

“.......”

“I stayed as your producer because I genuinely want to pave a flower road for Gowon. Because I want to see you succeed.”

And I was becoming more and more certain that Gowon was the muse Baek Hanje had been vaguely searching for all this time.

“I’ve still got quite a lot left to do with you.”

First of all, this winter I’m going to fill your arms with so many Rookie of the Year trophies you won’t know what to do with them.

The quest looked like it would clear as long as he won a rookie award at any ceremony.

But it never said he could only win one, and when it comes to awards, more is always better, right?

“...Then what happens when everything you have to do is finished?”

Your wish will come true.

I wanted to tell him exactly that.

But I still didn’t know what his wish actually was.

Still, I wanted to give him something more concrete than that, so I looked back on my own experience.

More than ten years ago, when every quest had finally ended.

Baek Hanje had been standing on a stage with the members of Young Ace, clutching that year’s Grand Prize trophy.

The members and I had stood beneath falling confetti in the most dazzling place imaginable, listening to the roar of our fans.

“You’ll have become the person you want to be.”

“......!”

Gowon’s eyes widened.

“Then...”

At that moment, the phone lying beside his hand lit up.

Given the circumstances, my eyes naturally went to it.

“Huh?”

I hadn’t meant to read the message itself.

But the instant I saw the first line, I grabbed Gowon by the shoulders.

“HEY!!!!!”

Just like that, our positions reversed.

Quest window, space-time bullshit, whatever.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

You little bastard!

***

That summer, K-Dom had plenty to celebrate.

First, blockbuster rookie Gowon made his comeback with <DEEP> and achieved a triple crown.

Then Girls’ Party’s unit, Argyle, came back as if taking the baton from him and swept through the summer festival season, proving exactly why they were called summer queens.

Those were both fairly predictable successes.

But then a huge piece of good news came from somewhere no one had expected.

The idol war, <The war of Crown>.

Already-debuted idol groups competed through round after round, presenting wildly different performances at every stage.

And the team that ultimately won the entire competition was...

K-Dom’s Newton.

“WAAAAAH!”

“We did it!!!”

“Ah...!”

The five members of Newton reacted in five different ways when the result was announced, but the greatest change came over their leader, Nam Jeongho.

Even when they had ranked dead last in one round.

Even when he had stepped onto the stage in place of main vocalist Hyeonsol, who had crumbled under the pressure of the Ace Battle.

Jeongho had remained calm at every moment as their leader, encouraging the others.

During the Vocal Ace Battle in particular, he had overwhelmed the main vocalists of other groups with singing so powerful that no one would have believed he was merely a substitute.

The voice that had always served to harmonize Newton’s songs transformed completely the moment it was placed in a head-to-head competition.

As though he were saying:

For these three minutes onstage, you will look at no one but me.

That battle became the turning point that carried Newton toward victory.

Even after Nam Jeongho became the center of public attention, he showed nothing outwardly and quietly led his members toward the next round.

And now, the same man finally let everything go and broke down sobbing as though collapsing where he stood.

The other members immediately followed their leader, crying so hard they could barely breathe.

“D-Don’t, hic, c-cry, huuuh....”

Yusang, who had grown not only in skill during the competition but physically as well and had now caught up to Jeongho in height, clung to him—in practice, nearly flattening him—and looked especially helpless.

<The war of Crown> not only rallied Newton’s existing fanbase, it also brought in huge numbers of new fans who had fallen for them during the show.

The war of Crown

Newton clearly knows how to put on fucking amazing stages, so why the hell were they like that before?

Not picking a fight, I’m genuinely asking.

Comments

Because that senile old fuck C■■■■ kept smearing shit all over everything, fuck

↳ Newton’s dark age was when that guy was division head ㅠㅠ

↳ What about now?

↳↳ They got moved under Young Ace’s Kwon Tae1young~!

At first the fans were bitching about the new division head too, but they shut up real quick once every competition stage started reeking of money lolol

↳ If you watch the behind-the-scenes cams, Kwon Taeyoung stayed at the company every single time Newton practiced overnight;

The guys really leveled up a ton too... especially Jeongho; it’s like some mountain spirit appeared in his dreams and bestowed divine singing powers on him

↳ I didn’t know a single Newton member, but I watched him sing like his life depended on it in the Ace Battle and started bawling

The stigma of being K-Dom’s only failure was now a thing of the past.

And then came the highlight that would serve as the grand finale of the summer.

Young Ace, princes of K-Dom’s shareholders and a group enjoying an endless golden age.

Their youngest member, Baek Hanje, appeared as a headliner at the country’s largest music event, the Han River Jazz Festival.

ButHanjeStartedIt @howeverHeIs

(Photo)

Han River Jazz Festival ❌

Hanje Jazz Festival ✅

Attendance confirmed

⤷ ButHanjeStartedIt @howeverHeIs

As of 2 PM it is PACKED, and the people who came before dawn already have picnic mats covering every spot directly against the barricade!

If you come now, you can probably still get somewhere with a view of the edge of the stage!

⤷ A B O @1123abo

What time did you get there?

⤷ ButHanjeStartedIt @howeverHeIs

9

⤷ A B O @1123abo

Oh, you got a surprisingly good spot for coming that late

⤷ ButHanjeStartedIt @howeverHeIs

The day before lol

It was a season when the nights stayed warm, and there were plenty of fellow fanatics in exactly the same situation.

It was the kind of day when sleeping outside for one night sounded downright delightful.

A fan born with an incurable youngest-member obsession and main-vocal obsession narrowed her eyes at the brilliant blue sky.

It’s been ten years already....

Ten years since Young Ace’s third album, when Hansel—with his mischievous concept, soft vocal tone, and ridiculous ability to devour high notes—had grabbed her by the hair and never let go.

But this really is Hanje’s fault.

If you want me to become a normal person with a real life, then cause some massive scandal that’ll actually make me quit being your fan!

He had the kind of face that looked like it belonged alternately on the entertainment pages and the crime section about a hundred times over, yet all he ever did was quietly hole up in his workroom and churn out one god-tier song after another.

There was nowhere for her devotion to escape.

“Haaah, six hours left.”

As though even the weather itself wanted to praise that genius idol, that Megaton Baby, the Saturday he was headlining had perfect temperature, perfect humidity, and perfect sunlight.

“Want to go buy something to eat?”

The fan asked her fandom friend, who had planted a huge golf umbrella like a parasol and was sprawled across their picnic mat as comfortably as if it were their own living room.

After staying together long enough for the landscape itself to change, calling each other fandom friends probably wasn’t accurate anymore.

At this point, they were simply best friends.

They had spent the previous night together too, successfully completing their mission to secure the absolute best spot directly against the barricade and further cementing their friendship.

Their social media handles were “ButHanjeStartedIt” and “Hazel.”

At this point, it honestly wouldn’t have been surprising if they had fought side by side as comrades in some previous life too.