Chapter 113

......? What—what are they talking about?

That was what eighteen-year-old Gowon had thought when he heard the staff member’s instructions...

And he had absolutely no intention of following them.

Two guys hugging each other was gross enough to begin with. Worse, the other person was Baek Hanje—the guy who meddled in his business to a downright bizarre degree, yet somehow remained impossible to ignore.

Of course, Gowon knew now that an unaffiliated trainee with no one backing him had been unbelievably arrogant.

Anyway, Hanje had apparently been unable to stand watching Gowon remain that clueless and had charged in first.

Uh, uh...!

When they toppled over practically on top of each other, their faces had been less than a handspan apart.

What Gowon had seen there was a face much younger than Hanje’s current one, but with exactly the same fierce eyes and straight bridge of his nose leading down from them....

“Ah.”

The choreography he had been executing smoothly suddenly went wrong.

“.......”

“No, why... haa....”

Why had Gowon reacted like that afterward?

You—you go by yourself!

Why the hell had he said something like that...?

With the song still playing, Gowon grabbed his head and crouched down in one corner of the practice room.

He stayed curled up there, reviewing his own past, then eventually lifted his head.

I-I can just do better from now on. Like Hanje said, I’m still a rookie in my first year....

Among the things Gowon had learned from Baek Hanje was shamelessness.

He got back to his feet and started moving again.

Someday, when he could stand beside Baek Hanje as an equal, then....

Even after moving for a long time, Gowon did {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} not feel tired. If anything, his excited heart refused to settle down.

But evening was approaching, so he had to leave.

I should have dinner with Hanje.

He showered in the communal showers near the practice rooms, then headed home.

***

Strike while the iron was hot.

The saying applied in any world, but nowhere more strongly than the entertainment industry.

Gowon had shown everything he was capable of at Splash Night.

And he had come away with the nickname “Splash Night Elf.”

Miracle Label, competent as ever, did not merely start rowing while the current was strong. It slapped on a motor and a high-powered engine.

Until now, Gowon’s image had mostly involved things like the black leather jacket buttoned all the way to his throat for his debut album, or the flowing shirt and suit from his comeback.

This—this little punk...!

Hanje clenched the phone displaying the cover of an August fashion magazine.

Gowon stood in an old, rough-looking alley in front of a utility pole plastered with flyers, giving off a retro yet effortlessly hip atmosphere.

His outfit was...

A loose sleeveless top that showed off deep collarbones and the muscles of his arms.

The styling notes said it was meant to express the rebelliousness of a twenty-year-old and the unstable wandering unique to that age.

Fine. Hanje understood that part.

But why the hell...

does he keep showing his abs?!

It was not blatantly explicit, but in shots where Gowon reached toward a stray cat walking along an old wall, or swung a duffel bag back over his shoulder, a strip of sculpted muscle kept appearing between his shirt and waistband.

“Haa....”

Hanje had underestimated Gowon.

He had deliberately provoked him to work harder, but he had not expected this.

Gowon, currently moonlighting as the household cook, finished clearing the dinner table and naturally sat down across from him.

“...Hey.”

“Yes.”

...From Hanje’s perspective, he really ought to praise Gowon for returning as the god of Splash Night.

That normally well-behaved kid had probably done something so outrageous because of their bet.

It was not as if Hanje himself had never taken his shirt off during promotions.

So why the hell did he feel like this?

His insides twisted for no good reason, making him want to pick on the kid.

Eventually he realized exactly where all that irritation was pointing.

Who the hell were you stripping like that for?

People said you changed when you started liking someone.

Was this part of that quest too?

The process leading up to some confession or whatever it was.

“Gowon.”

“Yes.”

“...You know. That festival performance.”

“Oh. You were... really incredible.”

“Huh?”

“...Back during <Debut Chart! 100>, I think I finally understand why you said I’d have to work myself to death if I wanted to put on performances like yours.”

No, he had been talking about Gowon’s festival.

But when the conversation veered in this direction, Hanje suddenly had nothing to say.

And with Gowon saying it shyly while even his cheeks turned red, the cranky-old-man lecture that had been on the verge of escaping Hanje’s mouth went right back down.

“...Right. Thanks.... Oh, yeah. I heard you shook down our fans while you were there.”

“Shook them down...? Why would I do that? They just gave me those things.”

“Half the kids caught extorting money claim the victim handed it over voluntarily.”

“No, how could I possibly do something like that to Young Ace fans...?”

“Uh-huh. Bring me everything you got that day.”

Gowon protested by remaining seated and refusing to move for a moment, then finally rose with a mildly resentful expression.

Soon he returned with a bag and started taking things out.

A plush, keychains, photo cards, stationery...

There was a lot.

That was probably why he had resisted at first but eventually felt guilty enough to bring it all out.

Hanje pulled a photo card toward himself first.

There was no company logo, so it was not official merchandise, but the picture was better than most studio shots.

The background looked like an airport.

While Gowon had been away, Hanje had gone to his room and fetched a permanent marker.

He uncapped it.

Gowon watched nervously, clearly wondering what Hanje was about to do.

Hanje lifted the corner of his mouth into a broad grin.

“Your name?”

“...What?”

“What’s the name of our handsome Spade?”

He wrote “To.” in a spot that would not cover his own face on the card.

Sitting face-to-face like this, with the conversation taking this particular direction—

Gowon had experienced it before.

“...Gowon?”

To. Gowon

Underneath it, Hanje signed his name.

“Here you go.”

He turned the signed photo card toward Gowon.

Gowon’s lips twitched, and he quickly pulled it over to his side.

Next Hanje picked up a keychain.

The aggrieved look Gowon had worn earlier was completely gone now. Expectation had appeared in his eyes instead.

“Spade, are you older than me or younger?”

“I’m twenty.”

“Oh. You’re a baby?”

“.......”

On White Wolf Hansel’s left paw, Hanje wrote “To. Baby,” then signed the right paw.

Next, Gowon himself pushed a sticker toward him.

The shameless look on his face made Hanje snort before he had even started signing it.

“Gowon the Spade, is there anything you want to ask me? I even remember you coming to one of my fan events.”

Maybe it was because he was pretending this was a fan signing, but an absurdly sweet tone came out of Hanje naturally.

“...Something I want to ask?”

“Nothing?”

“N-No!”

Gowon had conducted fan signings himself and dealt with hundreds of fans, yet this little role-play session in their own home had him completely flustered.

At times like this, he really was still a rookie.

“Um... how can I become like you?”

“Spend another twelve years in this industry.”

“.......”

If Gowon was going to ask a mortifying question with that face, what else was Hanje supposed to say?

Besides, it really was a pointless question.

“Why are you asking something like that?”

“What?”

Hanje searched the sticker for somewhere to sign, gave up, flipped it over, and put the marker to the back.

“You’re already doing just fine as yourself.”

He added his signature and a short message.

“You don’t need to become anyone else.”

Then he held it out to Gowon.

Gowon accepted the sticker with a strangely dazed expression, only for his brows to draw together a moment later.

To. Baby Gowon (chick drawing)

(signature)

Practice hard ^^

And with that, the impromptu fan signing was over.

“I’ve marked everything now, so if you put any of this on a secondhand marketplace, you’re getting caught immediately. Just try selling something our fans gave you.”

Gowon’s brows knitted even harder than they had when he saw the teasing message.

“I would never sell them.”

Fine, then don’t.

Why was he hugging everything like Hanje was about to steal it?

Bending his huge body around the tiny pieces of merchandise, Gowon carefully carried them into his room.

Knowing that Hanje’s face and plush were among them, and seeing that Gowon’s face was still flushed, left Hanje feeling strangely unsettled.

***

“Cut! Great work!”

At the commercial director’s call, Gowon lowered the juice bottle from his lips.

He had been nervous because he had only taken a crash course in acting and had never filmed a food-and-beverage commercial before, but fortunately the director looked pleased.

“Wow. Been a while since I’ve seen an idol gulp something down that enthusiastically.”

“...Oh, really? Thank you.”

“Guess that time you drank milk on Same Sky really wasn’t scripted. You know you’ve gone through more than three of the big bottles today, right?”

In the direction the director pointed, empty containers were piled everywhere.

“There were so many different flavors that I didn’t realize I drank that much. And they were all good.”

The beverage-company employees on set brightened at that.

The director also seemed to have taken a liking to the rookie idol who had followed every difficult request without a single complaint.

“You seem to have one hell of an appetite, so I’ll edit this nicely enough that food commercials come rolling in for you.”

When the director patted Gowon on the back, his manager immediately hurried over with a bright smile.

“Director, thank you so much for taking such good care of our Gowon. As you can see, he’s extremely professional and passionate about his work.”

“I’m not treating him well. He just looks good.”

With the shoot going like this, the atmosphere on the drive back to the company could hardly have been anything but cheerful.

“Gowon seems like he was born to be an idol.”

“...N-No, not at all.”

“And compared to kids who cause trouble, a quiet personality is a hundred times better.”

“Seriously! My friend over at Garo Entertainment says they’re about to die of stress these days....”

“.......”

Listening to them, Gowon quietly tapped at his phone.

By now, he had learned how to search social media for reactions to himself.

There were, of course, some people saying unpleasant things, but he did not care. Seeing fans proudly celebrating every time he expanded his activities was far more satisfying.

As Gowon scrolled, his hand occasionally stopped whenever Baek Hanje’s face appeared among the related posts.

He had met someone who brought good things into his life.

And because of that person, one good thing after another seemed to keep happening.

That was how Gowon saw his life lately.

Everything had turned upside down in only half a year, and sometimes it still did not feel real.

But now Gowon worked to tend this new life that had come to him and make it even better.

For the first time in his life, he looked forward to tomorrow.

And the tomorrow after that.

Optimistic fantasies that everything would turn out well.

As those hopes swelled, only one person appeared in his mind.

An unbelievably accomplished, mischievous, kind senior.

Gowon almost felt guilty that lately, he thought of Hanje more often than he thought of his own family.

Hanje definitely feels different to me....

What word could explain this feeling?

Would he understand that too once he became the person he wanted to be?

Still deep in thought when they arrived at the company, Gowon suddenly stopped in the hallway.

Perhaps because the workday was nearly over, the office where Gowon’s team worked was unusually noisy.

I should probably say goodbye before I leave.

“—...! ...!”

“—!”

Huh?

But the closer he got, the less it sounded anything like cheerful conversation.

It almost sounded like an argument, voices raised in anger.

Did something happen?

“Um....”

Gowon cautiously poked his head into the office.

“!”

Inside, he found someone who absolutely should not have been there.

“Perfect timing! There he is!”

“Wait! Ah, of all times...! Gowon, why are you here?! Go somewhere else!”