Chapter 168

Contrary to Wonho's expectation, the place Ji Suho took Wonho to was a perfectly normal high-end Korean-set restaurant.

Wonho — who'd come by just to pick up his stuff and now found himself, with no idea why, being treated to a fancy Korean course meal — ate diligently, not really sure whether the food was going in through his nose or his throat. (For one thing, it was delicious. Even the ssamjang served on the side for the wraps had him thinking it was the best ssamjang he'd ever eaten.)

Making nonsense of how tense he'd been, Suho waited until Wonho had cleared every dish and even happily downed the sujeonggwa served for dessert before he opened his mouth about today's business.

And it was such a bombshell that Wonho wanted to spit that already-drunk sujeonggwa back out.

"…there's a company that wants to see me?"

"Yeah. I'd been wondering when to reach out to you about it anyway. Turned out you came into the office today, so it worked out to talk about it on short notice like this."

"Why me…?"

"Mm. They've got a debut group they're getting ready right now too, and it sounded like they want you, Wonho, to come in as the final member."

"……."

"They said they wanted to talk to you directly about the details…. It is a bit sudden, huh?"

"Yes, no…. I mean…. it's just not something I ever imagined."

The last member of a debut group.

It was an incredible opportunity, but the truth was he couldn't just nod along right away either.

There was way too much to think through — what kind of company it was, what the debut group's members were like, whether he'd fit in with them.

But….

"You don't have to decide right this second. If you're okay with it, though, I think it'd be good to head over with me today and just hear them out. What do you think?"

If he could grab hold of even that much of a chance, Wonho wanted to try anything.

"…yes. Okay. Thank you for the opportunity."

Watching Wonho nod with his eyes shining, Suho smiled faintly.

As if he'd known that was exactly the answer he'd give.

---

When asked what company it was that wanted him, Suho — like he was preparing some kind of surprise — only answered, "You'll know when you get there." The moment Wonho heard that, he fired off yet another update text to his parents and a handful of close people about the change in situation. (Not that it would happen, but there was no harm in also keeping in mind the terrifying possibility that he was being sold off to some shady company somewhere.)

"Alright, we're here. Let's get out."

"This is…."

But the place they'd arrived at was, just as Suho had said, a place Wonho already knew.

"Lime Ent…."

The soloist-specializing agency that had been the third finalist on Kang Hajin's audition list —

Lime Entertainment, the agency the singer Sarin was signed to.

"Hello, Bureau Chief."

"Ah, Team Lead."

"Ugh, hearing you call me that feels really weird."

"Same for me every time I get called Bureau Chief."

While Wonho was looking at the various artists' photos hanging in the company building, a middle-aged man with a warm-featured face came out from inside and shook hands with Ji Suho. When the man cast a sideways glance over toward Wonho standing off in the distance, Suho gave a wordless nod like a cue.

Then the man pulled a business card from his inside pocket, put on a good-natured smile, and walked over to Wonho.

"You're Wonho, right?"

"Ah, ah. Yes. Uh, hello. I'm Kim Wonho."

"Here — my card. I'm Kim Hanbyeol, Team Lead here at Lime Ent. Nice to meet you."

"Ah…. yes. Thank you."

"Well, shall we head inside first? I think it'd be good to give you a look around the building, and to fill you in on the details."

Wonho took the business card, still shuffling awkwardly. Noticing that Wonho was still a little stiff and clearly nervous, Hanbyeol smiled and led them into the office. Wonho followed Suho and Hanbyeol inside.

"So this here's the main lobby. If you go up, the 2nd and 3rd floors are the staff offices. Everything above that is artists-only floors. The dance practice rooms are in the basement — they're still a bit cramped, so we've got expansion work planned. Until then, we're renting the dance studio next door."

Lime Ent clearly had a different structure and feel from Miro.

Unlike Miro, which had been built around idol groups from the start, Lime was a company with a lot of skilled singer-songwriters and musicians focused on lyrics, composition, and producing. Because of that, you could feel the focus was less on facilities for idol groups and more on facilities designed to encourage individual music work.

"We put a lot of importance on exchange between our artists. Every quarter we put out an in-house artists' seasonal track, and we do a lot of featuring collaborations too. It's a little awkward to say this with the Bureau Chief right here, but…. honestly, I'm confident our company's vocal lessons are the best in the industry."

"Well, I can't really argue with that."

"Haha, and lately Sarin's been showing a lot of interest in developing the juniors too. She sometimes runs special lessons for the debut group kids."

"Sarin does?"

"Yes. Going to Miro Maze seems to have been a bigger turning point for her than I'd have expected."

Listening to the exchange between Ji Suho and Kim Hanbyeol, the three of them had at some point arrived at a small meeting room. Once they were inside, Hanbyeol pulled down the meeting room's blinds and brought out cups of water and some light snacks. And to Wonho he handed over a pamphlet with an introduction to the company.

Watching Wonho quietly read through the pamphlet, Hanbyeol said, as if letting him in on something:

"Actually, the one who recommended you, Wonho, was Sarin."

"…Sarin-sunbaenim recommended me?"

"Yes. This time at the finals I went along as Sarin's manager. On the way back after the finals, she said it out of the blue. What did I think of Wonho. She's not usually the kind of person who says things like that…."

Shaking his head as if it still struck him as remarkable to think back on, Hanbyeol went on.

"The articles are out now anyway so I can say this…. Sarin is actually prepping a comeback."

"Ah, yes. I saw the article. Our Taeil was itching to get a track to her, actually."

"Haha. Right, that's true. But this time Sarin wants to fill the whole album with her own self-composed tracks…. Anyway, that's why she's been coming into the office a lot lately. Because of the album prep."

Sarin had put her activities on pause after giving birth, saying she wanted to focus on family for a while — but Hanbyeol, who'd briefly served as her manager, knew.

That she'd felt a heavy strain from the change in her body after giving birth, and because of that had even been thinking about retirement.

But something must have shifted for her — after coming back from Miro Maze, Sarin actively made it known to the company that she wanted to prepare a new album. That meant coming into the office often, and one by one she'd caught up on all sorts of in-house happenings.

Including the news that Hanbyeol — who'd been her manager — was now in charge of the first idol group the company had ever put together.

"Honestly, we've been prepping this group for longer than you'd think. But no matter what we tried, that last piece just wouldn't fit right. I even thought about just putting them out as a four-member vocal group, but that seemed like a lousy thing to do to the kids who'd been training hard on dance and putting in the work…."

Hanbyeol had aired those worries over drinks with Sarin.

At the time he'd just vented as venting, but Sarin had listened carefully and kept it in mind, and this meeting was the result.

"So then when I heard about you, Wonho — wow, I really — I even thought, is this what fate feels like?"

Hanbyeol laughed heartily, looking like he'd won the lottery for real.

The way he was looking at him — as if Wonho were some kind of savior — was both bewildering and a lot to carry. It was a look he'd never once gotten during his trainee days.

This kind of thing…. wasn't this the sort of expectation and attention someone like Kang Hajin was supposed to get?

Wonho carefully spoke up.

"Um…."

"Yes, go ahead, Wonho."

"Sorry, but…. can I ask why you picked me?"

Behind that question — why me, of all people — there were a lot of tangled feelings mixed in. But Hanbyeol, who'd worked his way up as a manager and had a real knack for reading people, picked up on Wonho's state of mind fast.

Hanbyeol eased the good-natured smile off his face, laced his fingers loosely together, set his hands down, and answered Wonho in a serious voice.

"The biggest draw, first of all, was your choreography-creation ability, Wonho. Ah, of course we have a separate choreography trainer, and for things like the debut song's choreography we'll be commissioning proposals from professional dance teams. So I'm not saying we'll be putting choreography on your plate right off the bat, but…."

"Then…?"

"As you know, Wonho, since we're a vocalist-focused company, a lot of our trainees are stronger in vocals than in performance. They've all put in years of practice and their dance has come a long way, but we don't have anyone who can anchor the group as the main dancer."

"……."

"We think you're the right fit for that role. You could anchor the team's performance side and make the overall color much more idol-flavored, we think. And if you want, Wonho, you could take part in the choreography work for our activity tracks too."

Hanbyeol laid out objectively why they needed Wonho, and at the same time made a strong pitch about what they could give him in return.

"After Sarin told us about you, we did a lot of digging into you, Wonho. Watched what you did on Miro Maze, heard the assessments from the mentors who worked with you. The most common assessment was 'choreography ability is outstanding, but he lacks confidence in his vocals.'"

The moment Wonho's weakness — one Wonho himself knew perfectly well — was mentioned, Wonho nodded along, but you could see him shrink a little too. Meeting Wonho's eyes squarely, Hanbyeol said:

"And that's something we can solve for you."

Your weakness isn't a problem for us.

"Like I said, I can confidently say our company's vocal training system is the best in the industry. Right now we're targeting a debut in the first half of next year. That gives you, Wonho, about six months to a year of prep time to settle into the team and level up your skills."

"A year…."

"Uh, of course, since it means you wouldn't be debuting right away, it might feel a little unsettling, but — either way, taking time to build chemistry with the team matters too."

Maybe worried that the one-year buffer would feel too long to Wonho, Hanbyeol tacked on the follow-up in a slight rush.

At Hanbyeol's words, Wonho sank briefly into thought.

…a year.

For laying up a new wall, a stretch of time that was neither too long nor too short.

Done with his thinking, Wonho lifted his head and looked at Hanbyeol.

"Would it be possible to meet the debut group members?"

At that, Hanbyeol nodded with a huge, beaming smile.

Inside the small wind Hajin had set in motion, a new timeline was being born.