13. The Trainee Who Refuses to Debut (4)

I wanted to hear more, but walls have ears in the daytime, and the person you're talking about tends to hear it at night.

We agreed to save the real conversation for somewhere more private and headed back to the practice room for now. Dan Haru, whose eyes had gotten a little red in the meantime, said he needed to splash some water on his face and dashed off. Left alone with Ju Eunchan, I slung an arm over his shoulder and thought it over.

"Where are we meeting up tonight? Restaurants and stuff have too many people, that's kind of a no."

Honestly, with this kind of talk, you can't be too careful. Truthfully, even talking as much as we had at the company was already a little risky. Ju Eunchan mulled it over for a moment, then answered hesitantly.

"…You want to just come to my place?"

"Your place? I don't mind, but aren't your parents there?"

"I live on my own near the company. My parents live out by the airport since they travel for work a lot."

Ah, right. You said you were a rich kid.

"Alright, then. Actually, that's probably better. But the last train's going to be gone by the time practice ends."

"You can sleep at my place and we'll head into the practice room together tomorrow. There's an extra room, and the living room's big too."

…richer than I thought, apparently?

I gave Ju Eunchan a dubious look, and he scratched the back of his neck, looking a little embarrassed himself, and dropped his eyes.

"That's why I didn't tell anyone at work either. The Head of Department found out somehow… Please don't tell the others."

"Tell them what. That you're a young master living on his own in a two-bedroom place with a big living room on prime Seoul real estate?"

"Stop teasing."

"You caught on. Tch. Not fun."

"How is that fun?"

Apparently one confided secret was enough to make him feel closer to me — Ju Eunchan stuck his lips out a good five centimeters and grumbled at my joke. Beat the twig-shaped kid with a tragic-backstory face, at least.

"Ah, so is the whole thing with you being awkward around the Class B kids because of that rumor? That you're the leading candidate for the plant?"

"…That obvious?"

"Wouldn't you have to be an idiot not to notice?"

"……"

"God, I don't know. So immature. Ugh. Immature. Immature. Immature."

I was pushing thirty in two days, and having to sit around watching a bunch of kids in their teens run their spectacularly petty little nerve games was pure torture. If I started digging into the Han Seongwoo thing on top of it, it felt like we'd be crossing a river with no way back, so I let it drop.

Why isn't Dan Haru back yet? Should I just head to the practice room first? Right as I was thinking it, an unfamiliar voice from down the corridor called out toward us.

"Huh? Eunchan!"

"…Taehyun-hyung!"

A boy with pink-bleached hair and an easygoing look about him came over cheerfully, dabbing his face with a wet wipe. He seemed weirdly familiar and I was still trying to place him, when Dan Haru — freshly out of the bathroom — came flying over just as excited and threw himself into a hug without a second thought.

'Looks like a trainee. Not Class B, so must be Class A?'

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Ah, just talking about something with Hajin-hyung for a sec. First time seeing him, right? He's the new hyung. Kang Hajin-hyung. Twenty."

"Ah, right. The teachers mentioned. Hello. I'm Seo Taehyun."

"Yeah, hi. I'm Kang Hajin."

"Your voice is really nice. Ah, I'm nineteen. Feel free to be casual with me, hyung."

Leaving a warm first impression with zero effort — he was no ordinary kid. The bright voice, the easy smile — something about him nagged at me as familiar…

"…Boys of the World?"

At the words I'd blurted on instinct, Seo Taehyun's beaming face froze in real time. The more I looked at that expression — practically begging me not to bring it up — the sharper my memory got of that survival show that had once set the whole scene on fire. What was its catchphrase again?

—Under the sky, no two boys are the same. Hello! Your boy, Seo {Taehyun!}(#tbfeiywetcf6)

"Ah. Cherry Boy?"

"Oh my god."

"Hyung, just give up. Life gets easier when you give up."

"That's depressing, seriously. When am I ever going to shake it."

Boys of the World was a boy-idol survival show that had aired about three years back from where we were now, and Seo Taehyun was a contestant who'd made himself an unforgettable impression on fans with his clear, delicate vocals and fresh smile. The final debut group ended up going for a dreamy, wistful sexy-between-boy-and-man concept, though, so he'd been eliminated in the finals.

'This kid pulled in a solid noona-fan base and did some solo activities even after the show wrapped.'

In my first life he'd had an agency too, but it wasn't Miro. He'd actually gone through a few near-debuts that all fell through, agency to agency, and if I remembered right, only ended up going solo after he became an adult. Was Miro one of the companies he'd cycled through?

'Getting more info is what matters most right now.'

Ah, damn it. Other web novel protagonists know everything about the future and get to pull off all kinds of stuff — why did I have to get {channeled}(#da0d1qlbsw25) into an idol story I gave up on ages ago.

Channeled? What kind of tacky metaphor is that!

Shut it, you.

"Ah, I watched that. Eunchan, when you went up as backup. Your dancing's gotten better."

I was looking for a clean way to wrap the conversation and go, but one line from Seo Taehyun, and Ju Eunchan's face went stony again. A subtly awkward current started running through the air.

Seo Taehyun, who'd said it, clearly hadn't meant to land it like that either — he hurried to pair his fresh smile with a light tap on Ju Eunchan.

"Hey, come on. I keep telling you I'm really fine, Eunchan. Even if it hadn't been you, I wouldn't have made that stage. You know that."

"…Still, I'm sorry, hyung."

"Ah, forget it. I brought it up for no reason. Don't worry about it — you've got enough going on just with people misunderstanding you."

"Hyung."

"You apologize one more time, I'm actually going to get mad."

For someone talking about getting mad, his face was still all smile. Reading the room, it sounded like the Class A kid Ju Eunchan had been slotted in over for the concert was Seo Taehyun — and if that was his reaction, were the two of them pretty close?

"It's not your fault. I'll just take another chance when I'm good at something else."

"……"

"I'm going to start crying if I stay any longer. Haru-yah, hyung, I'll head off first. See you around. See you."

As Ju Eunchan's expression got harder by the second, Seo Taehyun cut his losses fast. I filed him away as a person of interest and watched him disappear looking flustered, when a familiar and even more troublesome sound started up right next to me.

"…hnk."

"I'm losing it. He picks now to cry? What am I supposed to do?"

With a face made to be Miro's resident thug and a heart this soft every time I looked, Miro really had been swindled by his looks.

"Eunchan-hyung… don't cry…"

"Losing my mind."

I was about to just pat his shoulder, and then Dan Haru — patting along with me — started sniffling too. Before I knew it, I was the guy with two grown boys tucked into his arms trying to soothe them, and the sheer 'what am I doing with my life' of it all hit hard.

'Yeah. It's not like it's your fault, kids.'

The one who needs taking down is that Head of Department bastard…

---

"Eunchan."

"Yes."

"You really are a rich kid, huh?"

Marveling at the flashy, brand-new luxury townhouse in front of me, the words came out like I was in a trance, and sure enough Ju Eunchan scratched his cheek looking a bit self-conscious. Yes, hyung. Not even bothering to deny it anymore actually made him seem cooler.

"Let's just get up there. I don't even have the energy to talk."

After crying his eyes out, before he could even properly stew in the awkwardness, all three of us had been ground down to the bone in practice, and rest was desperate. Even the elevator had a different sheen in a nice building.

'Young and handsome and tall and rich. Top priority.'

Thinking of my family, still starting their days in a semi-basement, lit a small fire in me. I have to succeed. I have to succeed and live the kind of life where the morning light stops you from sleeping in.

"This is it. Come on in."

"Hi…"

Ju Eunchan's place had a big living room, just like he'd said, and was way too nice for an 18-year-old living alone. However rich his family was, this much? At my surprised look, he told me that up until a little while ago he'd been living with his older brother.

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah. Big age gap, though. Once he got married, I ended up living alone."

Something about how meticulous he was with older guys had struck me as odd, and I guess that was why. Nodding, I set my bag and stuff down in a corner of the living room.

"H-have a seat."

"Yeah, sure. Let's sit."

"……"

"Look, me and Haru, sure, but why are you the stiff one? If you're the one being awkward here, the picture doesn't work, Eunchan."

"You're not going to make fun of me?"

"Let's hear it first."

"…This is my first time having someone over."

What. What kind of teen-drama-heartthrob answer is that.

Ju Eunchan getting bashful in a way that didn't fit him at all after coughing that up was funny enough that a laugh actually broke out of me. He must've thought I was making fun of him, though, because he huffed and turned this wounded, resentful glare on me.

"You said you weren't going to!"

"I said 'let's hear it first.' That's all I said."

"You're actually mean."

"That the strongest cussing you can do?"

"I can do other stuff too!"

"Let's hear it. Go on."

"You…! Why would I curse at you!?"

"Ah. Not taking the bait."

I tilted my head like it was a shame, and he got even redder in the face and huffed harder — yeah, that was satisfying.

"Eunchan. Heard from Haru you've got a nickname."

"…A nickname? For me?"

"Yeah. Ju-Dun-No."

"What's that."

"Ju Eunchan Doesn't Know."

"Why would that be a nickname?"

If I could see my own face in a mirror right now, it'd be brimming with mischief. Even so, Ju Eunchan — who really did seem out of his depth with this kind of banter — kept looking at me with nothing but honest curiosity, no clue he was the one being teased. Those — those wide, innocent eyes — such a Miro face.

"Right now. All of this. The air and the humidity and the temperature that add up to Ju Eunchan right now…"

"Hyung, you're making fun of me right now, right?"

"Right. And you only realizing that now — all of it, together — is what completes the whole 'Ju Eunchan Doesn't Know' worldview, y'know?"

Ju Eunchan's face said he vaguely felt like he'd been had, but he didn't know how, so he couldn't decide if he was supposed to be pissed off — his expression was somewhere in the middle, going sour. If I teased him one more time here he'd probably actually get mad, so I was fighting for my life not to laugh, when Dan Haru — who'd been told to wash his hands and had apparently taken practically a full shower — came trotting back in and butted into the conversation.

"What're you guys talking about?"

"Nothing, Haru. Keep it down. Eunchan still doesn't know."

"What do I still not know!"

"Eunchan-hyung, you didn't know again?"

Dan Haru, blinking those big round eyes and landing an uppercut on Ju Eunchan, made Ju Eunchan freeze for three solid seconds with a face full of disgust. Actually getting to trade dumb little jokes with real teenagers for once, it felt like the breath I'd been running with — regressions and everything else — was finally slowing down a little.

'A friend's affection' is stabilizing the Fixed Regressor's state. 'Drift and Wander' mode is being reduced by 5%… (Loading…)

Apparently it actually was helping, because system windows popped up one after the other. I skimmed them, decided none of it looked bad, marked them read, and dismissed them. When you're resting, rest.

Ju Eunchan was still wearing that fine-tuned, mildly-pissed-off face, so I said okay, okay, and held out my hand like a peace offering. He looked up at me with a face that clearly said, what's this hyung thinking now — full of suspicion.

"What."

"Handshake to end hostilities?"

"……"

Watching Ju Eunchan reach out warily, suspicion still not gone, I silently switched my outstretched hand into scissors. It took him about five seconds — my index and middle fingers pinching his hand — to figure out what had happened and realize he'd been had {again.}(#a6x4uuvdrpwd)

"Hey!"

"You're really slow to react."

"Why would you even do that, seriously!?"

"Because of this. Because you react like this."

"Oh, come on!"

Sorry, Eunchan.

I'm not scared of your blank face anymore.