Chapter 109

Cha Yensu tucked his lips inward to hold back his laughter and drew an X toward the staff with his fingers. They knew the conversation was hilarious, but they also knew airing it in self-produced content could spark pointless controversy.

“...I really am talking about... writing lyrics.”

—Hmm.

A faint metallic creak came through the speaker. It was the sound Hanje’s chair made when he turned around in his workroom.

—There are lots of different kinds of heart-pounding, you know. The easiest approach is a love song, but it could also be the excitement of some new beginning. Or the intensity of a fierce competition... there are all kinds. What exactly is the image you’re trying to express?

“Ah....”

—Right, you asked because that’s the part you’re struggling with. Then what made you want to write those lyrics in the first place?

Somehow, it had abruptly turned into a private lesson with Producer Hansel.

Gowon had only thrown the question out at random, but now that Hanje was responding with unexpected seriousness, he had to invent an actual problem to consult him about.

He searched his memory for the moment when his heart had pounded hardest recently.

A moment when it had beaten so violently it almost hurt.

A moment that still brought back the same trembling whenever he remembered it.

“...When you.”

Suddenly, the rich scent of blue roses seemed to brush past him again through the wind slicing across the summer air.

Every scene of Baek Hanje’s voice ringing out across that enormous festival crowd remained vivid.

But most of all—

“At the jazz festival... when you were singing.”

And then.

“When you... smiled.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Gowon froze without realizing it.

What did I just say...?

—...That’s because.

When Baek Hanje’s voice finally came through, Gowon realized he had forgotten to breathe.

—Your senior was just that incredible.

“.......”

Hanje sounded as though he had noticed nothing strange at all, but Gowon’s rigid shoulders did not loosen.

—If you’re going to write lyrics based on that emotion, then maybe something like wanting to stand on a bigger stage, or wanting to become someone greater. That direction would fit your career stage and the concepts you’ve done so far.

“Ah, I... I understand.... Thank... you.”

—It’s too vague for me to say much more either. Write something first and bring it to me.

“...Okay. Yes....”

Maybe I should just fail the mission.

Gowon concluded that he was not currently in a normal state of mind.

“Hanje, then I’ll—”

—Oh, right.

But Baek Hanje continued.

—I do like you quite a bit too, Gowon. Your songs, your performances, and the passion you put into them.

“.......”

Gowon stopped breathing again.

This time, it felt as though not only his breathing but every thought in his head had stopped as well.

“.......”

A finger tapped lightly against the back of his frozen hand.

Cha Yensu, who had called for his attention, smiled and pointed toward the staff.

Someone was holding up a sketchbook that read:

MISSION SUCCESS!

“...Thank... you....”

—Was that all you wanted to ask?

“Yes....”

—But Gowon, seriously, are you dating—

Cha Yensu gently stole the phone from Gowon’s hand and simply ended the call.

Gowon still could not move.

Heat rushed into his face until it burned.

Was he happy because he had barely managed to complete the mission?

Embarrassed because he had acted so awkwardly while filming?

No.

This was....

“All right, Gowon! Your total time was three minutes and thirty-six seconds!”

“Ah....”

He tried to pull himself together, but every thought scattered through his head like a mirage.

“Should Yensu chat for a while before calling, just to leave some time between the calls?”

“No. Why bother? I’ll call him now.”

The same ringback tone played again. This time, the call connected more quickly.

—Yensu?

“Hi, Hanje.”

—...Ah. Ohhh! Got it. Today’s the day you said you were filming with Gowon, right? You’re doing some kind of game and using me for it, aren’t you? No wonder that kid was spouting nonsense. You’re going to do it too?

As expected, receiving two calls in a row made Baek Hanje catch on immediately.

If he knew, then he obviously would not cooperate. So why had Cha Yensu willingly chosen to go second and then called him right away?

Cha Yensu still wore the same honey-sweet smile, without the slightest hint of panic.

“Mhm. Am I not allowed?”

—.......

“I want to tease our youngest a little. Is that not okay?”

—...N-no.... Of course you can....

“Right?”

—Yes....

Gowon’s eyes widened at a version of Baek Hanje’s voice he had never heard before.

This was not Hanje acting like the youngest member around Kwon Taeyoung, respecting him as the eldest while occasionally getting spoiled.

This sounded more like a terrified animal that had suddenly found itself face-to-face with the apex predator.

“Guess Mom really is the scariest person in the family....”

A staff member who was a Young Ace fan muttered it quietly enough that the cast could not hear.

“What does our Hanje think of me?”

“......?!!”

It was shocking enough that he could ask something like that so openly.

—You’re the best! A living legend not just of the music industry but of all Korean entertainment! The eternal center of Young Ace!

It was even stranger hearing Baek Hanje rattle off shameless flattery at machine-gun speed.

“No. I want to hear what Hanje normally feels about me.”

—...I respect you?

“And?”

—Thank you for raising me properly through my rebellious phase...?

“Hmm. That somehow sounds even less sincere.”

—If you want sincerity... stop hammering things all the damn time and pick up a microphone with those hands instead?

“.......”

—No, wait, I take that back. Take it back. Please.

“Haha. Oh dear... because of our youngest, I’m about to lose to my junior. What am I going to do? I’m so upset....”

Without realizing it, Gowon moved his hands from the table to his lap and clasped them politely together.

—What is this... I’m scared.... Hey, Gowon, you’re listening, right? Just tell me what I’m supposed to do....

Cha Yensu looked at Gowon with a pleasant smile, as though daring him to try something.

“Ha-Hanje. You have to say one specific expression. With all the feelings you have for Cha Yensu....”

—What is it?! Should I sing a Parents’ Day song or something?!

“Hanje... if I lose to my junior like this, even if you are my adorable youngest, I think I might hold a bit of a grudge.”

—A hint! Give me a hint before you demand something! You haven’t explained anything!

“The fact that you apparently need an explanation before you can express how you feel about me is already making me a little sad....”

—Gowon, hurry up and give me a hint....

Baek Hanje had now given up on getting anything out of Cha Yensu and was instead clinging to Gowon, his opponent in the game.

At this point, it would not have been inaccurate to say that the person responsible for completing the mission had changed from Cha Yensu to Baek Hanje.

“Hanje, the last thing you said to me was my mission phrase. It’s similar to that.”

—What did I say to you at the end?

“That.”

To Gowon, the instant his lips parted and every stage of his voice taking shape seemed to unfold like a panorama in slow motion.

Even the moment the answer finally left his mouth.

“You said... you liked me....”

...What’s wrong with me?

His awareness that he was filming somewhere unfamiliar disappeared, leaving Gowon suspended in a vacuum.

—Like you?

The words eventually pierced the silence, and his heart dropped with a thud.

—Is that the answer?

“.......”

Cha Yensu watched the speechless Gowon for a moment before speaking.

“No. You can’t possibly hold a member of Young Ace and your junior to the same standard when it comes to our youngest, can you?”

—Ohhh, I get it. I love you! That’s it, right? Yensu, I love you!

“That sounds forced.”

—...Director, you’re there, right? Does this segment require heartfelt desperation too? ...No, forget it. Yensu, I love you.

“Hmm....”

—...Yensuuuu. I love you.

“Yes. I love you too. That’s the answer.”

—Haaah....

Baek Hanje’s sigh coming through the speaker was extraordinarily deep.

—All right. Have fun filming.... ...And, Gowon. Good luck with the rest....

“Hanje, what about me?”

—Good luck to my beloved Yensu too....

Baek Hanje ended the call in a voice that sounded as though his soul had been sucked clean out of him.

“Oh, he’s so adorable I could die. Don’t you think?”

“...Yes....”

“The youngest can’t help being the youngest forever.”

White explosions kept going off inside Gowon’s head.

He needed to... answer. They were filming. And there was a legendary senior sitting right in front of him.

So why could he not pull himself together?

“So, who won?”

Cha Yensu turned toward the staff.

The staff answered as though the question itself were absurd.

“Yensu, you took almost five minutes.”

Even though he had deliberately dragged the conversation in circles until Baek Hanje was babbling incoherently.

“My goodness.”

Cha Yensu propped his chin on the table.

“Congratulations, Gowon.”

“...Thank you....”

Fortunately, the rest of the shoot consisted only of simple mini-games where they ran around the greenhouse.

Gowon was in no condition to keep up a conversation anymore.