Chapter 62

...Hmm. The younger brother doesn’t look like them at all.

Even the head of talent development, who had been actively trying to recruit the younger sister, merely smiled, exchanged greetings with the grandparents, and left.

The younger brother looked ordinary. It was simply that his older brother and sister were exceptionally attractive and looked so much alike.

Their temperaments were quite different too. Compared to the older siblings, who were so composed for their age that they even seemed a little gloomy, the younger brother was busy bouncing around in front of Gowon despite being surrounded by strangers.

“Gowon! Seriously! You were completely amazing!”

“Thanks.”

Gowon ruffled his younger brother’s hair, then guided Grandma and Grandpa toward the sofa. As he did, he moved beside Grandpa, who seemed to have some difficulty walking, and naturally supported his arm. To me, Gowon still looked like nothing but a kid, but I supposed he really was the head of the family. He turned next to his younger sister.

“What did you think, Sua?”

“When have I ever been somewhere like this in my life...? Everything was just fascinating. ...You looked cool.”

“Gowon!”

At that moment, Chief Manager Park called out loudly with a bright smile and thrust out his phone.

“You’re No. 1 on the HOT 100! <DEEP> went straight to No. 1 as soon as it was released!”

“...! Really?”

“I told you this comeback was going to do incredibly well!”

Gowon stared at the phone as though he might bury his face in it. His breathing gradually quickened. He did not even realize everyone in the room was watching him as his eyes trembled.

Wow. He had finished an incredible performance and gotten incredible results right afterward. Gowon was definitely not sleeping tonight.

Only after a long while did he finally manage to pull his eyes away from the screen. His gaze wandered around the waiting room before stopping on me.

At that moment, Gowon broke into a huge smile.

“Hanje!”

“......?”

“I-I...! It worked!”

I knew it had gone so well that he could barely speak, but his family and everyone else were right here. Why was he looking at me when he got excited?

“Gowon, what is it? What is it? Did you get first place? Gowon, what is it?”

His younger brother, who had followed right behind him, tugged at his clothes.

“Ah... it means a lot of people like my song. The one I sang at the end.”

“The one that went deep, deep, deep, deep?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“Gowon, I’ll take a photo for you. Make sure you post on Meverse and Boggle tonight.”

“Yes, I understa—”

“I saw people screaming too! Is that why you got first place?”

“Go Suhyeon, come to Grandma. Your brother is working.”

“He’s working? What kind of work?”

“Hey, Go Suhyeon...!”

Gowon’s family seemed worried that the boy might get in the way, but fortunately Division Five was an organization where twenty-year-old Gowon was by far the youngest. Everyone therefore found the energy of a ten-year-old child adorable.

Besides, they had just heard such good news that they were in a mood to laugh off almost anything.

“Gowon’s little brother, your brother is a celebrity. That means he takes pictures and uploads them where lots of people can see them. That’s part of his job.”

“Wow....”

Completely captivated, Suhyeon followed Gowon over to the white wall for the photo shoot and hovered beside him, fiddling with the ornament at his waist.

“Uh, um, little brother? How about going over to your sister for a moment?”

“Nooo... I’m just standing here.”

He was clearly lingering because he wanted to be in the photo too. Laughter and murmurs of how cute he was spread throughout the waiting room.

“Suhyeon. Just give me a minute.”

Gowon himself looked troubled as he tried to coax his younger brother away. But when did children ever do what you wanted? His sister over there even looked a little angry with him.

Still, Gowon is the star of the day. I shouldn’t let this spoil the ending for him.

I lightly tapped Chief Manager Park on the shoulder.

“Just take a family photo while they’re all here. And before he changes out of his stage outfit, get a group picture with everyone who performed with him too.”

“Oh, right. We should. A family photo sounds good. Gowon, go sit over there with your brother.”

“...Ah, understood.”

Gowon and his family took the picture with dazed expressions, as though they had fallen into a strange new world. His younger brother, of course, was the only one grinning excitedly with both arms stretched wide.

After that, Gowon took photos with the dancers and session musicians. While his brother was firmly restrained by his sister, they also finished taking all the solo shots that would be posted on social media.

“That should be everything.”

“Hanje, wait.”

Just when it seemed things were finally wrapping up, Gowon came over to me.

“Please take a picture with me too.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“My photos are expensive.”

“You took pictures with BigTree easily enough.”

“How long ago was that?”

“You did a challenge with them too. Please... do one with me.”

“No. Your choreography is too hard.”

Still, he had grown since his debut. The kid who once could not get a single word out was now asking another celebrity for a photo first.

Not that a photo or challenge with me will be much help when he already gave <DEEP> such an incredible start.

Gowon checked the picture we had taken and smiled.

“It came out well, Hanje.”

“Good. Use it well.”

“Yes. I’ll save it carefully.”

...Wasn’t the point supposed to be posting proof that we had taken it?

“What time are you coming home tonight?”

I asked because I assumed he would probably eat dinner with the staff before returning, but Gowon shook his head.

“Ah, well... I’m going to spend one last night with my family before promotions start.”

“...Ah.”

Right. Once promotions began, it would be hard for him to see them for at least a few weeks, perhaps even a month or two.

Still, I had assumed we would talk at home later about things like, “How dare you not know the century’s greatest masterpiece, <Steak>?” and, “Anyway, the performance was great. You did well.”

A thoroughly unreasonable sense of disappointment rose inside me. Why had I assumed that scene was a given?

“All right. See you when you get back.”

That was what I said, but I knew his murderous promotional schedule would begin next week, so I had no idea how often I would even see his face.

***

After Baek Hanje left, the waiting room somehow felt empty despite being packed with staff.

As Gowon stared blankly at his own hand, another guest arrived.

“Gowon, hi...?”

The person peeking around the door and giving a hesitant little wave was Yusang, Newton’s youngest member.

When Gowon moved closer, he saw that all five Newton members had come.

“Hello.”

Gowon bowed politely to Newton.

“We watched your performance. Your new song was insane!”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Ah, and it already hit No. 1 on the HOT 100. Did you see?”

“Yes....”

It was true that they had grown closer after going through a certain incident together, but Gowon did not think they were close enough for this.

He subtly leaned backward, but Jung Yusang noticed and paid no attention to it.

“Ah, we’re the newcomers who just rolled into the new label now, right? So we’re going to keep our mouths shut about what happened and suck up to you!”

Jung Yusang shouted with excessive honesty. Gowon decided he had not been imagining the resemblance when Yusang reminded him of Suhyeon.

And he was relieved that Yusang seemed to have recovered quickly.

“Congratulations on your comeback. And on the strong results.”

Nam Jeongho stepped forward while restraining Yusang’s unfiltered mouth.

“Thank you.”

“...It was much better than the demo I secretly overheard.”

“.......”

“So you did know.”

With a guilty expression, he soon let out a long breath.

“We’re preparing for a competition program now.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Mm... we’ve neglected domestic promotions for a while, and if we appear on a competition show, we’ll be able to show our fans plenty of performances. It should be a good opportunity.”

“I understand.”

Nam Jeongho gave a hollow laugh at himself after trying to deliver the words with such solemn determination.

Gowon did not appear to be thinking anything like, An idol group from K-Dom is going on a competition show? His ignorance was oddly moving at that moment, though it was also dispiriting to see just how little he understood about the entertainment industry’s ecosystem.

It made the time Jeongho had spent getting emotional and putting up his defenses alone feel even more pathetic and shameful.

“For an already debuted idol group to join a competition program, it can look like they’re admitting they’re just another mediocre group that never made it into the top tier.”

“...Ah.”

“That’s why I discussed it with Kwon Taeyoung too. I asked whether people might criticize him if we joined a competition show right after the divisions merged....”

Fans had already protested that the company was neglecting Newton compared to Gowon, and the complaints had escalated into a billboard-truck protest.

And now, of all times, they were going on a competition program. It was the perfect moment for people to accuse the newly merged division of treating them even worse.

Kwon Taeyoung’s answer had been brief.

‘If singers want to do it, they do it.’

‘The company exists to take the criticism for things like that.’

After hearing Nam Jeongho’s explanation, Gowon nodded.

“That sounds like something the division head would say.”

“.......”

Nam Jeongho stared at Gowon’s face for a long moment before letting out a heavy sigh.

“Ah, I’m so jealous I could lose my mind.”

“What?”

“I’m insanely jealous that this is only your first year since debut. That you met a good executive and a good senior, and after all your success, you’re still only six months into your career....”

“.......”

“But this is the last time I’m going to let myself be bitter like this. I’m incredibly jealous of you right now, but from now on, I’m going to work to stop being someone who only envies other people.”

Newton had now met management that actively listened to their voices too.

More importantly, it had only been two years since Newton debuted.

The members were young, and opportunities were everywhere. It would be ridiculous to lament their fate after debuting under a major agency like K-Dom. Once he pulled his gaze away from the unreachable heights above and stopped drowning in self-pity, he was finally able to see things objectively.

Every associate of Executive Director Choi, the former head of Division Four, had been demoted. But Kwon Taeyoung had chosen not to push Division Four beneath Division Five, instead taking both sides under his wing at once.

In other words, the working-level staff who had been with Newton were still intact.

All they had to do was start from what they could manage and climb upward with everything they had.

“I’m sorry for how I acted. I sincerely hope your promotions go well.”

Only then did a bright smile appear on Nam Jeongho’s face, stripped of all pretense.

After Newton left, the manager confirmed that backstage had mostly been cleared and drove Gowon home in the van with his family.

“What is this?”

Gowon picked up the bouquet placed beside the seat where he usually sat. It was filled with blue roses, matching the concept of his new album.

“Ah, Hanje brought that. It was in the waiting room, but you were too busy to notice, right? I put it aside for you.”

“.......”

“You know how much he’d tease you if you said you never saw the gift he brought. I did well, didn’t I?”

After laying the sleeping Suhyeon against a cushion, Gowon carefully examined the bouquet.

Everything Baek Hanje handed over so casually was always enormous. This bouquet too was large enough to fill Gowon’s arms.

Perhaps that was why its fragrance was so strong it seemed to envelop his entire body.

Gowon found a card tucked inside the flowers. He immediately illuminated it with his phone.

To the deepest light.

—From the senior paving your road to glory.

“.......”

Gowon kept staring at the two lines written on the card. Even after his phone screen went dark, he could still make out their shape in the faint light outside the window.

The handwriting on the card was the same as the handwriting in the occasional notes left on the lyric sheets Hanje gave him.