Chapter 38

“Brother, please. Could you not call me that today?”

Baek Hanje teased him for quite a while, then stubbornly insisted that he was incapable of making partial revisions and told Gowon to choose between “baby” and “junior.”

“That—there’s no such rule.”

After suffering over it, Gowon ultimately chose “junior.” ℴℴ𝘮

Lonely Hanzel Chat

So that’s why he was speaking formally? Damn, so that’s why he looked uncomfortable lol because his brother suddenly started calling him junior over and over lol

He just blocked every troll across the entire area. Refreshing

lololol Hanje had just woken up and come out of his room this morning, but I wondered why all the lights were already on. Gowon had turned them on earlier sob

Damn sob sob sob Mr. Gowon, I’m sorry. You were practically homeless, and we criticized a rookie for living in a nice house...

Even if he won <Debut Chart> and his debut album did well, he still hadn’t made enough to live in a place like that sob

Brother I drank all the milkㅇㅅㅇ ← so that “Brother” was Hanje all along lololol

Messages raced past so quickly after the enormous twist that they were almost impossible to read.

More than anything, what shocked the fans was that Baek Hanje had allowed someone else into his home.

The notoriously particular artist was famous for not even inviting anyone besides family and members into his home.

But he had given someone a room? And Baek Hanje had even offered first?

The final segment of the program had the two of them watch each other’s daily routines. Normally, they did this separately from their own homes after leaving the same sky behind, but for the special episode, they watched it together again.

“Oh my, our baby is good at dancing too.”

“You said you wouldn’t call me that....”

“As expected of our junior. It seems you’ll overturn the world with your dancing and conquer the entire globe.”

“...Just call me baby....”

At first, people had wondered what {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} this strange combination was.

But the more they watched, the more they began to understand why Baek Hanje had accepted Gowon so easily compared to other people.

A blunt teenage younger brother who gave wonderfully satisfying reactions whenever someone poked at him.

And yet he also liked his brother tremendously, so whenever Baek Hanje seemed to ignore him, he kept sneaking glances in his direction.

It was even exposed that the videos he watched on his phone whenever he had a spare moment were from Young Ace’s past promotions.

“Oh dear, was that so?”

“No. It was just edited to look like that...!”

Then, when the footage showed Baek Hanje working alone, Gowon stared at the screen with such intense focus that he looked as though he might be pulled inside.

“The song is really good.”

“.......”

“I have no idea how you make songs like that.”

Baek Hanje watched Gowon’s reaction, then released a short breath somewhere between a laugh and a sigh.

“Hmm.”

Of course, the embarrassed expression only flickered across his face briefly before he went right back to teasing him for a long while.

After watching every detail of each other’s lives, the two tried to end the day by returning to their respective rooms.

However.

“Gowon.”

“Yes?”

“Could you come here for a moment?”

“......!”

A gentle voice came from the room deeper inside. Gowon, who had been completely absorbed in Boggle, froze.

Then he headed toward the source of the voice with wide eyes.

“Brother, what is it?”

Q. Why did you fall for it again after everything he did?

Gowon: It was the first time he had called me like that.“Turn off the light and close the door.”

“.......”

Lonely Hanzel Chat

Oh God, I can feel my second-child instincts kicking in

Isn’t Baek Hanje enjoying his surprise younger brother a little too much? lololol

Baek Hanje and Gowon’s <Under the Same Sky> Episode 105 ended that way, and the landlord appeared once more in an interview clip at the very end.

Hanzel: Gowon? Hmm... He’s a junior I’m grateful to for helping me remember something I had forgotten.Hanzel: I don’t know how long we’ll live together, but since we’re already doing it, I hope he grows rapidly and becomes independent. As the shining version of himself he has always wanted to be.Hanzel: Then I’ll feel a little relieved too.Hanzel: Got it, baby?After the interview ended, the screen moved on to the preview for next week.

***

“Got it, baby?”

“.......”

Instead of reacting violently, Gowon merely stared fixedly at the television screen.

Gowon

Recognition ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♥♥ (Domestic only; overseas excluded)

Current Status: ■ ■■■■....

As expected, the power of a terrestrial television entertainment program in a prime-time slot was considerable.

Another heart had been added to Recognition. The road ahead still looked long when viewed as a whole, but considering that it had doubled, it was significant progress.

There was one more thing.

This entertainment-show appearance also served as an answer to the occasional trolls asking, “Why won’t he produce for Newton when they’re in the same company?”

Baek Hanje had not produced for Gowon because he was connected to the company.

It had simply been a pure act of goodwill based on personal friendship. Therefore, he had no reason to treat Newton equally.

It should have been the perfect answer.

Producer Oh

The live ratings were incredible, thank you so much sob sob sob sob

The editing was good too, right? Ahem.

Watch all the way to the end. There’s one more gift! Haha

And after the entire program had finished.

“Aha.”

“...Oh.”

Gowon’s <Unlimited(∞)> appeared in the final short music-video slot.

As far as I knew, the company had not made any separate request, so this was genuinely an extremely generous favor.

As I watched, the face in the music video seemed far sharper than it did now.

Well, he was under tremendous pressure back then.

I turned to look at Gowon, who had at least softened somewhat, when a window suddenly appeared before my eyes.

Goodwill does not always lead to good results.

An increase in Recognition is not always entirely positive.

What the hell are you talking about?

Why are you suddenly throwing ominous messages at me?

“Brother?”

At that moment, the highlight section of <Unlimited(∞)> ended and the next music video began.

Eight boys smiled brightly on the screen as they performed synchronized choreography.

There was one familiar face among them.

Kim Eumyul of Maybe Entertainment.

Boyholic – Jump Up!

Looks like he debuted.

It had the refreshing atmosphere of a textbook boy-group debut song.

But something besides the song made a hollow laugh escape me.

Their debut outfits were brightly colored jumpsuits. At a gas station on a colorful road, the boys fired soap bubbles from fuel nozzles.

The outfit Gowon had worn for his final <Unlimited(∞)> stage—the one that had drawn the most attention through fancams—had also been a dark-colored jumpsuit.

Gowon’s signature feature in both <Unlimited(∞)> and <DRIFT> had been a slow singing-rap delivered in a low register. His heavy voice unleashed madness and sexiness in those parts.

It was not strange for a refreshing song, especially one performed by a large group, to include variations here and there....

But in the slowed-down bridge, the most mature-looking of the eight members stepped forward and continued with a deep singing-rap. The intention behind it was painfully obvious.

“...Hmm....”

And the problem was that most Boyholic fans, not just Gowon’s fans, had also watched <Debut Chart>.

I opened social media and searched through a few reactions. In the trends, my name and Gowon’s were still present from the aftermath of <Under the Same Sky> airing. And then—

“Huh.”

There was also an edited composite image that had cut Gowon out of his final <Unlimited(∞)> stage and pasted him beside the eight members.

Lena @kpopdebutchart111

This is what I waaaaaaaant!!!!!! Fucking Rnet

International fans were already cheering and showing interest.

Korean fans understood the delicacy of the situation now that their agencies were different, so they did not react quite that strongly.

Original @poiuu

I don’t know if I should say this, but honestly, add Gowon to these members and they’d be a legendary thousand-year group I’d stan until my deathbed. Agreed?

(RPS Warning) Cute @zxcvhh

#GowonEumyul

Instant storyline where a couple who lived in a shantytown doing construction work and relying only on each other were forced to separate, then reunited

“Wow. They used their heads.”

“...Could that possibly be copying me?”

“It isn’t plagiarism.”

“Ah....”

“But it is a concept that wouldn’t have existed without you.”

“...Is there nothing we can do?”

“Yeah. There’s nothing we can do.”

The faces of Division Five’s staff flashed through my mind. They had spent the entire promotional cycle staying up all night and clinging to the project, from devising a new concept under extreme circumstances at the start of the year to finally putting together that last performance.

And exploiting all of that was... this easy.

Most ordinary members of the public would not understand why this was something to be upset about. It was exactly the kind of thing that would make people say, “Aren’t you being too sensitive by taking issue with something like that?”

“But I happen to make my living from copyright, so I really hate subtle violations of basic professional ethics like this....”