Chapter 58

The moment their eyes met, something he had been desperately trying to ignore stirred inside him.

Back when he was a manager, Executive Director Choi had also once thrown his whole body in the way of people trying to drag the trot singer he managed—the woman who was now the CEO—into places she did not want to go.

Fragments of memory gnawed unpleasantly at his mind, as though condemning the man he had become.

The meeting dissolved on its own with Yang Okmi’s arrival. The CEO and Executive Director Choi faced each other alone in the CEO’s office, which had stood empty for some time.

“When I said I was stepping away from company affairs, you tried to stop me. You said it would be a waste. Remember?”

“......”

“I left back then because I was afraid I might turn into an ugly adult. I was worried I’d show an unsightly side of myself to the people who still thought of me as a star. And honestly, when Young Ace became so successful, greed would sometimes surge up in me too. But whenever it did, I always ended up disgusted with myself.”

“......”

Yang Okmi pushed a stack of documents toward him.

They contained evidence that Executive Director Choi had taken money by exploiting artists, just as he had this time.

“Hanje sent these to me.”

A trembling breath stretched out long and thin.

“What else have you... done? How much have you made by selling those kids...?”

The CEO lifted her head from where it had been buried in both hands.

“Let’s stop. If it has come this far, it’s time for you to leave too. I’ll personally see to the full investigation of this.”

“......”

“Get out now.”

The CEO was not trying to persuade Executive Director Choi.

She was telling him that unless he stepped down here, she would use every scrap of authority she still possessed to force him out. They had once rolled around at rock bottom together. He could read that much.

“Was what I did really so wrong?”

Executive Director Choi’s voice had lost all its strength.

“You can be greedy for money. People are like that. But...”

“......”

“When I was nineteen, I was singing <Echo of Love>.”

“......”

“The problem is that a child that young started looking like a tool to you.”

“......”

“Will you stop here? Or... do you really want to fight me all the way to the end?”

After their long conversation, Executive Director Choi headed to Division Four.

The entire division was in disarray. The atmosphere had sunk into gloom.

He could not help remembering the old K-Dom. It had been far smaller than it was now, but it had been loud and full of energy as everyone prepared for their artists’ promotions.

Executive Director Choi quietly resigned.

***

K-Dom underwent a startling transformation.

First, Division Four lost its head, and several executives and employees who had followed him left the company as well.

The rank-and-file employees were never told why. But as one senior executive after another was replaced, Division Four spent some time trembling in fear.

Then an even more shocking announcement was made.

Divisions Four and Five would be merged.

The two divisions were combined and given an entirely new name: Miracle Label.

Kwon Taeyoung, the figurehead division head who had spent years managing K-Dom’s long-term industry fixtures, had stepped onto the front lines in earnest by debuting Gowon that year. With the merger, he took another large step toward joining senior management.

Everyone at the company had the same thought when they saw him.

“Wow, Taeyoung. At this rate, aren’t you really going to become CEO?”

“No. Circumstances just happened to turn out this way. The day Young Ace retires, I’m quitting everything.”

Inside a private room at a restaurant, Kwon Taeyoung swallowed the strong liquor in his glass.

He always restrained himself at company dinners so that he would never get drunk, but now patches of his face were red, and several buttons of his shirt had been undone, leaving him dressed more comfortably.

“Drink up.”

The man seated directly across from him refilled his empty glass. His gentle smile was exactly the same as it had been more than ten years ago.

“Cha Yensu, what do you even do these days?”

“Me? Walk the dog twice a day. Go to the woodworking studio once a day.”

“......”

“I posted a photo yesterday too. Did you see it?”

He held out his social media account. At this point, even his fans thought it was practically the woodworking studio’s own account. Fortunately, he still barely maintained the pretense of it being a celebrity account by slipping a selfie or an everyday photo near the end of each post.

This post included a photo of him sitting in a handmade chair with his dog on his lap.

Even a picture he had taken carelessly looked believable as an advertising shoot.

Cha Yensu.

Young Ace’s center. During the group’s active years, he had been responsible for its androgynous image, styled with long hair and accessories. He had also possessed the largest individual fandom in the group.

The face sitting above whatever clothes he had casually thrown on felt like a sincere waste.

“Tell me if you need any furniture for the division head’s office. I’ll make it for you.”

And on top of that, this was the kind of thing he said.

“Do you have any intention of working again?”

“You really could become CEO. You’re even trying to recruit people who are enjoying their time off.”

“Haah...”

Judging by the way Yensu laughed and changed the subject, he had no interest at all. Kwon Taeyoung tilted his posture and knocked back another drink.

The Young Ace members who had shared every hardship with him were more comfortable to be around than anyone else in the world. But Cha Yensu, who had supported Young Ace beside him as part of the same-age eldest-member line, was someone around whom he could let himself go even more completely.

Cha Yensu refilled Kwon Taeyoung’s empty glass, clinked it against his own, and drank with him.

“If you’re ever in a situation where you need my help, of course I’ll do anything.”

Meaning that unless that happened, he intended to keep resting exactly as he was.

“Doesn’t it feel like a waste?”

“No. I don’t have any ambition for solo work. Unless Young Ace is promoting together.”

“Hanje’s been bringing that up a lot lately too.”

“Our youngest member loves us too much. Even though his older members never did much for him.”

Cha Yensu reached forward. His fingers touched Kwon Taeyoung’s forehead.

“It’s good that you can drink comfortably, but the others will be here soon. You should at least look like a leader until you’ve greeted them.”

Kwon Taeyoung naturally remained still as Yensu swept his fallen hair back.

With a gentle smile, Cha Yensu turned on his phone and checked the Young Ace group chat containing all six members.

“Oh, Yeban says he’s almost here.”

Less than five minutes later, the door opened. The man who strode in with great energy pulled off his sunglasses.

“Woooow, Mom and Dad got here first.”

“Welcome. Were you filming?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Kim Yeban, whose pronunciation became rounded whenever he was not reading a script, nodded with a hazy smile.

Despite his appearance, Yeban had been loved by fans for his sweet, absentminded personality and behavior.

And yet whenever that soft lump of clay played the lead in a romance or a psychopathic villain, he transformed completely. It was one of Young Ace’s countless mysteries.

The moment Yeban stepped inside, a hand reached out from behind and landed firmly on his shoulder.

“I’m not last!”

“Oh, Hanje. Hii.”

“Yeban, it’s been forever!”

“Mmm, it has...”

“...What is this? Are you in some kind of suspended state? Why are you even more out of it than usual?”

“You’re making fun of me as soon as you get here...?”

“Yeban was filming out of town.”

“Oh.”

The members knew well that Yeban’s speaking speed dropped dramatically whenever his fatigue rose, so they immediately accepted the explanation.

Behind them, a man dressed in black from head to toe gave Baek Hanje a light shove in the back.

“What’s the point of covering your face? You left the door open and started shouting, so everyone’s staring at us.”

“Oh.”

“Get inside, idiot.”

“Taeyoung, Bangwon’s insulting me.”

“Don’t do thaaat.”

The three entered noisily and filled the remaining seats. Whenever they made a reservation, they always booked for six, so one place held nothing but untouched tableware. It belonged to the owner of the permanent unread “1” in their group chat.

“Taeyoung, have you already had a few drinks?”

“The weight of the crown is heavy.”

“Woooow...”

The exclamation that spread through the room sounded closer to mockery. Kwon Taeyoung set his glass down sharply, his face flushed.

“If you’re all going to make fun of me, release one song each first.”

“I work hard, so let me off.”

Baek Hanje drained his first glass without pausing.

“What are you so busy doing, youngest?”

“...Protecting world peace.”

“Then you’re not very busyyy.”

“I’m seriously busy. Yensu, you haven’t scheduled something like a retirement press conference, have you?”

“Even I would discuss it with all of you before doing something like that.”

“Baek Hanje really is busy. He’s producing a junior artist.”

“A junior? Oh, the one who appeared with you on Under the Same Sky?”

“I saw it tooo. Hanje looked like he was having fun with his junior.”

“Tell him to come out if he’s home. Say we’ll buy him something good. He lives right nearby, doesn’t he?”

The atmosphere had turned into a group of department heads hearing that an interesting new employee had joined and summoning him so they could take a look at his face. In the end, Baek Hanje rescued Gowon from the crisis.

“He went to his family home today.”

“Oh, really?”

“He said he wants to see his family whenever he has time before promotions begin. He’ll be sleeping in the car for a while once they start.”

“That part hasn’t changed at all.”

“It’s worse now, if anything. To promote, you have to appear not only on television entertainment programs but on YouTube channels too. Filming challenges with other singers has become a given.”

“Woooow... That’s incredible. How do they do all of it...?”

“But if we went back to when we first debuted and were told to do it, wouldn’t we somehow manage?”

Cha Yensu gave a soft laugh at that.

“Right. At that age, at that stage of life, there’s nothing to hold back. Those are good times.”

He murmured with a strangely wistful expression, swirling the liquor in his glass. Baek Hanje rapped his chopsticks against the table.

“Young Ace should have some good times too. Let’s promote again. I can make something much better than the song I gave Gowon. I’ll put in every concept, instrument, and beat you want.”

“Maybe we never realize when we’re in danger because Hanje is so dependable.”

“......”

Cha Yensu, seated beside him, reached out and touched his cheek.

“All right. The next time Yunjin comes back to Korea, let’s kidnap him straight from the airport. Then we’ll immediately start preparing a comeback so he can’t go anywhere.”

“Oh, good idea. Tie him up in my studio. As long as his mouth is free to sing, that’s enough.”

“We can record everything there, take him straight to the practice room for choreography, and drag him onto the stage. Perfect.”

“Tell me when you successfully kidnap Yunjin. If Young Ace is promoting, I’ll have to clear my acting schedule tooo.”

Even as they laughed and talked, the lingering sadness of one person’s absence remained, and the drinking continued.

***

“Yes. That’s right. Starting the week after next, I’ll be back on television singing and dancing. I’m also appearing on a few programs where I cook or answer quizzes.”

After listening to Gowon’s explanation, Grandma and Grandpa slowly answered, “I see...”

“Once promotions begin, there’ll be a lot of times when I can’t check my phone. If something urgent happens and I don’t answer, you have to contact my manager.”

“Don’t you worry.”

Now that this was his second promotional cycle, Gowon carefully explained everything, including the length of the promotion period and the programs he was scheduled to appear on.

“They don’t make you uncomfortable in that house where you’re staying, do they?”

“What?”

After asking, Gowon suddenly realized something.

...Oh, right. I am staying in someone else’s house...

The house was so large that there were times when neither of them even knew the other was there.

That was why he sometimes—no, in truth, often—sat in the living room and used Boggle. To check whether Baek Hanje was home, and to let Hanje know that he was there too.

Baek Hanje had let Gowon begin handling the kitchen as though it were his own. He also shared the exercise equipment and the small soundproof booth inside the house, allowing Gowon to use them as much as he pleased.

That’s true. Far from feeling uncomfortable, at some point I even stopped thinking of it as someone else’s house.

“Not at all. It’s really comfortable living there... and I like it.”

Ah.

The moment he said that he liked it, his shoulders jerked upward without his realizing it.

He did not know why. But the ordinary word tingled inside his mouth, lingering like the sting of spicy food.

“...Anyway, can everyone come to Seoul next Saturday?”

“Huh? Me too?”

Sua, who had been studying with earphones in, turned her head and asked. No matter how she pretended otherwise, her concentration kept being stolen by the brother she had not seen in a long time.

Even though he was sitting inside the dim house, he seemed to be the only person illuminated. His expressions and the way he carried himself during conversation had changed slightly too.

He really is a celebrity now.

The fact that she could feel this way even about her own brother made it a truly fascinating profession.

“Yes. You and Suhyeon too.”

“Why?”

“Why? Why? Gowon, does that mean we get to visit the huge house in Seoul where you live, the one that was on TV?”

“No, that belongs to someone else, so you can’t go there...”

Gowon gave his family a shy smile. He had honestly never imagined that the day would come when he could say something like this to them.

“I’m holding a comeback showcase. ...It’s like a solo concert for me. They provide reserved seats for the families of the people involved.”

“...I want to go!”

Sua shouted first. Only afterward did her eyes widen, as though she had startled herself with the volume of her own voice.

“Huh? Huh? Me too! I want to go too!”

A faint smile spread across Gowon’s face.

“Okay. Then I’ll have to work even harder to prepare.”