The Most Effective Way to Defuse a Bomb (6)

"You can debut."

"……"

"As long as you pull your weight."

"Are you making fun of me right now?"

At my words — punctuated by a couple of taps on his shoulder — Seo Taehyun's eyes narrowed sharp. Guess his mild-looking face still had that sharp set to the eyes. There was real force in that glare — this kid was built to eat up a camera one-shot.

"Company people never told you my nickname? I'm Miro's Zhuge Liang."

"Wow, must be nice — having Zhuge Liang for a nickname."

"Zhuge Liang Hajin-hyung knows everything better than you, kid."

I delivered the line with a benevolent face and a heavy dose of teasing, and Seo Taehyun's glare softened a little. Not nearly enough for companion recruitment, though. The system window wasn't twitching either.

Which meant, at times like this — you lead with a big first punch.

"Taehyun-ah. Want me to show you something?"

"…What."

I pulled out the stack of documents and the USB I'd had crammed deep in my bag ever since coming down to Gangwon-do and held them out. The corners were worn and frayed from time, even though you could tell someone had been trying to keep them safe. Seo Taehyun recognized them in one shot.

"How did you — this—"

"You were going to take the Head of Department down with it, right? A few years back."

"You got these from Cha Minseok? That bastard — don't tell me he actually had them?"

'Seo Taehyun' is 'reacting' to you. (Reaction rate −23%)

Wow, look at that reaction.

"Knowing gets you hurt, kid. Trade secret."

He wasn't chewing his lip anymore, but the shoulder above his hard-clenched fist trembled in small tremors. Checking the envelope with careful hands, Seo Taehyun's breathing went uneven, his pupils visibly wavering.

'This early is bad news.'

I hadn't even started on what I'd come here to say.

"Cha Minseok's a piece of shit and whatever, we'll talk about that later. Taehyun-ah."

"……"

"I'm about to say something a little brutal."

"……"

"I hate that this is how reality works, but it is, and that's why I'm telling you — take it that way, no misreadings."

I clasped my hand over Seo Taehyun's fist — the one gripping that faded stack of documents with eyes on the verge of tears — and said it flat.

"You can't ever blow this open. Not back then, and not now."

I fished out the other stack of paper I'd been carrying and dumped it in front of him.

"Think about it. You really think you've been the only one lining up a shot at the Head of Department?"

From the day Ju Eunchan and Dan Haru had first told me the story, all the way through my last meeting with Ji Suho.

The first thing I'd done was dig into the trainees who'd left within the last two or three years. Once you rounded up everyone who'd been forced out or fired thanks to the Head of Department, the count wasn't small.

—But… honestly, none of this is going to work. I looked into it too — got legal advice a bunch of times, tried every route. In the end, none of it went anywhere.

—Don't drag me in any further, please. I still shake just thinking about what that man put me through.

Every last one had gotten cut down before it ever reached the Head of Department's ears.

"Inside Miro they treat him like a back-room old man, but outside he's a mid-tier industry heavyweight — people treat him like a director."

"……"

"PDs, reporters, media outlets — those people have shared a hundred more meals and drinks with him than they'll ever have with a trainee who hasn't even debuted."

"So what? Just shut up and take it? Don't do anything pointless? Is that what you came all the way to Gangwon-do to say?"

I watched Seo Taehyun for a moment — raging at the powerlessness he'd finally run up against.

Until not that long ago, whether this kid debuted or not, honestly, I hadn't cared. In every life I remembered, Seo Taehyun had either never debuted, or hadn't yet, or had and flopped and disappeared.

"Taehyun-ah."

Not anymore.

"Try trusting hyung, just once."

Turns out I have to get you to debut.

"You can debut. For real."

Seo Taehyun kept looking at me with a face that was half-believing at best.

To a guy about to quit being a trainee over years of failing to debut, it probably sounded like pie in the sky. But I wasn't the kind of person to make claims like this with nothing to back them.

I added one condition, face full of certainty.

"As long as you pull your weight."

"You messing with me right now?"

"Couldn't be more serious."

"It's actually impressive how little I want to believe you right now."

"Tch, kid. Just listen, punk."

Hyung's talking to you seriously — this brat, seriously.

"An in-house survival is happening."

I pulled out the next-boy-group survival proposal I'd brought along for the express purpose of talking Seo Taehyun down.

Right before coming down here, I'd checked with Ji Suho and confirmed that the proposal had gone up to company leadership and that groundwork with production companies and broadcast slots was quietly underway.

By now it had probably started reaching the Head of Department too.

"Sure, plenty of survivals have people locked in ahead of time — but not this one. Team Lead Ji Suho and Seo Taeil-sunbaenim are going to be involved from the planning phase to make sure of it."

Roping in Upia's Seo Taeil had been Ji Suho's idea. Given Seo Taeil's standing as a company director and his recent interest in developing new talent. And frankly, only someone at Seo Taeil's level would round out the picture, in a lot of ways.

…Having to face that pervert-tier directing again is going to be rough, though.

"Since it's a survival, judging matters, but viewer reactions and voting can't be brushed off either."

"……"

"This time you really can debut. As long as you pull your weight."

Honestly, the edge you got from being 'Boys of the World Cherry Boy' pretty much stopped at the early rush.

Once the other trainees got their reveals, they'd pull fans of their own, and if anything, a fresh newbie might get more buzz than a Seo Taehyun whose image had already been spent.

But this was that Seo Taehyun.

The Seo Taehyun who'd grabbed the noona fans by the collar with pure fresh-and-bubbly Cherry Boy energy and dragged himself all the way to the finals.

[Today's peak-viewership moment on Boys of the World .gif (fresh-and-bubbly Cherry Boy)]

[Boys of the World's youngest contestant: 17 expression changes in five seconds]

[Seo Taehyun's stage clip from Boys of the World — already at 30K RTs on Blue Bird]

A guy whose broadcasting presence was strong enough to trend real-time off three seconds of eating a dumpling in an entire episode where he'd been all but edited out — no way he was getting buried in a survival.

'Worry about myself instead of him — that's the better use of my time.'

"And above all, the Head of Department won't touch this survival. I'll make sure of it."

At my final line, the flicker of maybe finally started to bud on Seo Taehyun's face. He looked up at me as he flipped through the proposal. Then he asked:

"You really think so? That I can debut?"

'Seo Taehyun' is 'reacting' to you. From here on, his 'reaction rate' in the conversation will determine whether he can be recruited as a companion. Companion Recruitment Progress 1/??

"Why go this far for me? Honestly, we're… not exactly close."

A pretty crucial moment. One word from me, and Seo Taehyun's fate in this life shifted.

And it weighed more than showing Ji Suho a measured slice of what I was really thinking had.

After a beat of silence, I answered.

"I voted for you."

"……"

"You're good. I watched you and honestly, I envied you."

The last stage that kid had put out — the one that had actually shimmered a little — in my first life came back to me. The hours I'd spent in the practice room studying his expressions and gestures off his stage clips were still there, vivid.

I mean — even someone like me, on my fourth-ish life playing trainee, was here. Maybe a kid who'd worked harder than I ever had could change something too.

"Let's go together, Seo Taehyun."

"……"

"You love the stage."

'Seo Taehyun' is 'reacting' to you. (Reaction rate 89.7%) 'Seo Taehyun' is available for recruitment. Recruit? (Y/N)

Seo Taehyun's head dropped straight to the floor. I waited quietly, letting him take his time — until the proposal in his hand went soft and damp from all his tears.

---

"Come on, at least eat something before you go."

"Buses are running late. We'll grab something in Seoul. Thank you."

"Taehyun-ah, call your mom on the way, don't forget."

"…Yeah. I'll head out, uncle."

I would've loved to take Seo Taehyun's uncle up on the meal before heading out, but unfortunately tomorrow was a weekday.

If Seo Taehyun was going to make it onto that survival without getting cut from the trainee roster for attitude issues first, he had to show up tomorrow. Which meant the two of us had no choice but to clutch our empty stomachs and climb onto the bus to Seoul.

"……"

"……"

The ride back was quiet.

I was wiped, and he was probably a little embarrassed after crying earlier. I had no energy left for another round of bickering anyway, so — worked out fine.

"Hyung."

"Hyung's sleeping."

"If you're going to pretend, at least put some effort in and close your eyes."

"Hyung sleeps with his eyes open."

I'd been trying to breeze past it. But between the way this brat was glaring at me like what the hell is this guy, I ended up straightening up in my seat.

"Ah, fine, what. Got something to say?"

"…What were you going to do if I said I wasn't going back to Seoul?"

"You were planning not to?"

"I could've said I was sick of survivals."

Where the hell was this coming from? His face was actually pretty serious.

The problem was that I — hungry and exhausted — had no bandwidth left to receive that level of delicate feeling.

"Cha Minseok's debuting in June. You want to be stuck calling him hoobae, or would you rather ride second-time-around momentum on the survival and at least come at him as a peer?"

"……"

"…is what I was going to say."

"Hyung, are you actually the devil?"

"Hyung goes to church."

Seo Taehyun lost his words. What. Why.

"Taehyun-ah."

"……"

"Forget it. Give me back those documents I gave you earlier. I want to figure out how to use them on the way up."

"You said we couldn't blow it open."

"You can't."

"But hyung can?"

"Let me think about it. Ah, come on."

At my nagging, Seo Taehyun fished around and pulled the evidence stack out. He stared at something for a second, then started fidgeting — like a nervous sparrow reading my mood.

"What are you doing? Give it."

"Um… it got a little wet…"

"Yeah, I know. I'll put your tear-soaked evidence to good use, so hand it over."

"But it's all smeared… is that okay? Later, if there's any legal-force stuff…"

Soft-looking kid, but he actually had a fussy, careful side to him. Then why the hell had he been sitting there sobbing all over precious evidence?

'…Say that out loud and I'd be the textbook case of the mouth giveth and the mouth taketh away.'

I put on my professional social-life smile and answered in my most benevolent tone.

"Of course they're scans. As if I'd be lugging around the originals of something this valuable. What if I left them on a train?"

"Ah."

"Just going to read them over on the way up — don't worry about it, give them here."

At that, Seo Taehyun sheepishly let go. The paper had dried out enough by then to crackle.

'Contracts, and some other stuff… he really did put together a full spread.'

"But — how are you actually going to do it? You just said there was no way."

"You can't."

"But hyung can?"

"I can't either. What, you think I'm any different?"

"…What. Then what are you actually going to do?"

At my cryptic answer, Seo Taehyun's voice came out totally lost. I gathered up the papers I'd been skimming, tucked them deep into my bag, and looked over at him.

"You know what matters when you're hunting something a lot bigger than you?"

"Ah, what are you even saying now."

"First punch and numbers."

"……"

"You can't. I can't either. But when it's us — the picture changes a lot."

The thought of the Head of Department going down in flames was giving me an actual buzz, and a smile crept onto my face on its own. Belatedly getting where I was going, Seo Taehyun's already big eyes slowly went bigger and bigger.

The train for Seoul finally pulled out, and looking out the window in a light, breezy mood, I thought:

'Alright. Now — how do we take him down?'