Chapter 173

[Title: Small animals beget small animals]

(Lee Junyong photo.jpg)

(Go Jina photo.jpg)

Among the Lees who appeared on Star Hero, find the ones with rabbit or hamster vibes.

They say the firstborn looks like the mother, so focus on rabbit-type faces.

└ The closest rabbit type is Lee Joyeon? But he posted photos with his parents at In Heart.

└ Why is Big Roy even in this list, lol

└ His hyung Gong is definitely not it. Look at that face... no way a rabbit or hamster produces that visual (Lee Roy photo.jpg)

└ [laughs] Would be a wild twist if it’s Lee Roy

└ Yeah right, no way [laughs]

Luckily (?) the early public mood naturally excluded Roy from the pool of Jun Dragon’s baby rabbit candidates.

With his current cool, severe look, no one could picture Jun Dragon when they looked at him.

But a post from one netizen rekindled suspicion among the masses.

[Title: But what about Lee Roy (+added school photos)]

Rewatch the early Star Hero interview and he does look a bit rabbit-like when he smiles... And isn’t this photo a total copy of Go Jina? Is it just me?

(Lee Roy interview capture.jpg)

(Go Jina photo.jpg)

So I edited long hair onto him.

(Roy with long hair edit.jpg)

(Chubby middle school Roy.jpg)

└ Fuck, isn’t it supposed to be the other way around [laughs]

└ How can a herbivore give birth to a carnivore...

└ Never thought he’d be this cold-blooded

[Title: God Gong feels like an over-tuned chuuni character from a web novel by a first-time wannabe writer]

Looks, elemental S-rank, youngest team leader, and even the family background—just piled everything on.

It should be too much and annoying, but this hyung is insanely cool.

└ Nod

└ Honestly it does feel like the species changed in the middle...

The truth is, Roy had never planned to reveal himself so abruptly.

He was worried his family might be inconvenienced because of him.

But then a wrong rumor spread at the worst timing, and in the blink of an eye his identity was out.

[Maru Chairman’s Son Was S-rank Lee Roy]

[Netizens Explode at Lee Roy’s Identity Reveal]

[Shooting Star’s Lee Roy: Old Photos Released — “Adorable Looks That Steal Hearts”]

[“Maru Third Generation” Lee Roy: Firstborn of a Chaebol Family Devouring the Trends]

At this point it was awkward to keep denying it.

He had no idea which child had uploaded his old photos without permission... but Roy decided to acknowledge it cleanly.

Star Hero was over anyway; he figured this was as good a time as any to make his people known clearly.

He did, however, decide they would have to beef up security now that his parents’ information was out.

"So that’s how it happened. But, I mean, it’s not that important, right?"

Before he knew it, Roy was surrounded by his hyungs, forced into an impromptu explanation.

He’d never intended to deceive them, but that was how it had turned out.

"You...! You hid a birth secret that terrifying and say it’s not important?!"

Yeonwoo, face full of betrayal, grabbed the back of his own neck and swayed,

"Roy, I didn’t take you for that kind of person. You’re honestly scary...."

Han Gyeol, wearing a similar look, slipped back into formal speech and began keeping a subtle distance.

By contrast, Taeeon—who had already been through it with Roy—and Hojin, who believed in Roy’s innocence, reacted relatively calmly.

"Please tell us important things like this in advance."

"So that’s why you said your house was close by...."

Hojin remembered the day he ran into Roy in front of Han Gyeol’s place.

Back then he’d looked shabby, and he’d shown up on a kickboard, which had been baffling. Looking back now, it all made sense.

"Yeonwoo, I don’t think Roy tried to deceive us on purpose... Come to think of it, he invited us to his place multiple times—"

"He invited you? What about me! You never once told me to come hang out!"

When Yeonwoo shouted, Roy snapped right back.

"I did?! I asked you three times, and you said supervisors need a healthy distance!"

Remembering his own words at last, Yeonwoo scratched out an awkward smile.

"Right. I might have said that...?"

"Not might. You did!"

"Fine, fine. Brat, you’re prickly."

With that, the misunderstanding that Roy had set out to fool everyone was cleared up.

"Enough. Focus on the meeting. I told you to write it properly the first time."

"Write what?"

Muttering under his breath, Roy flinched at Taeeon’s voice and looked up.

"Huh?"

"Didn’t you just tell us to write something down?"

"Ah, no. It’s nothing."

Avoiding Taeeon’s gaze, Roy hurried to the lectern and rapped the table.

"So, everyone brought what I told you to look into, right?"

At the last meeting, Roy had ordered them to research “the hottest clubs in Seoul.”

After sharing what each of them had found, they had decided to identify the most suspicious spot and visit it on site over the weekend.

The team split the map and dug in.

First, Hojin checked the areas around Hongdae and Konkuk University Station, where the early-twenties crowd tends to gather.

Because popularity varies clearly by age and taste, they couldn’t confine their search to one neighborhood.

And with that, the meeting started in earnest.

"Strictly speaking, what I found isn’t a club, but a novelty cafe that’s become trendy around Hongdae."

"A cafe?"

Roy nearly let disappointment show, but he tightened his face and kept his expression under control.

Sure enough, Hojin, glancing at his face, seemed to gain confidence and continued.

What he had investigated was a butler cafe called “Kasumi Manor.”

"Ah, I did look into clubs too. But this cafe felt more suspicious to me than the clubs... People are talking about it lately."

"Good work."

Just that one word of praise from Roy noticeably brightened Hojin’s face.

"A butler cafe—that’s a spinoff of maid cafes, right?"

"Yeah. That’s right."

Roy had seen a news piece saying it was similar to the host bars popular in Japan, drawing controversy for excessive physical contact and reckless spending.

And because they were registered as general restaurants under the Food Sanitation Act, they weren’t even restricted to adults only.

It was a structure with obvious loopholes.

"Is it my turn now?"

Next was Yeonwoo.

He had taken Itaewon, which late-twenties and thirty-somethings frequent, and his report was quite different from Hojin’s.

"Like you said, I tried to focus on places that recently got a renewal, but apparently Hwangcheon gil or whatever all died out, so it’s tumbleweeds now."

As he shrugged that there wasn’t much to check, the music room rustled.

"Hwangcheon gil...?"

"I think he means there was a club in Itaewon called Hwangcheon gil and it closed."

"Ah—"

Han Gyeol, Taeeon, and Hojin traded looks and tried to parse Yeonwoo’s words.

Roy let out a quiet sigh and spoke through clenched teeth.

"Not Hwangcheon gil. Hwangridan gil."

"Ahh— right. That one! You got the gist anyway. Close enough."

At that instant, everyone except Yeonwoo shouted in perfect unison.

"Not close at all!"

"...!"

Not expecting that reaction, Yeonwoo flinched and thought:

These Seoul bumpkins—if nothing else, they sure love to make a fuss.