Chapter 62
“Oh, I got it with great difficulty. Really wanted to dress you up, no, wanted you to wear it.”
Taeri spoke with a resentful voice while glancing at Juha with a glare. That look seemed to be scolding him like ‘I went through all the trouble of dressing you up in pretty clothes and you’re going to play with other guys?’
Juha quietly shifted his gaze to his plate. He felt like he should apologize even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. Juha’s chopsticks poked at the innocent empty plate.
Then Na Junho served food and placed it on Juha’s plate.
Since he had eaten maratang with too much effort at lunch, Juha had no appetite and was deliberately not eating.
“Eat up properly. If you’re too skinny, you won’t look pretty on TV either.”
Na Junho’s indifferent tone and subtly caring actions were the same as usual, but with Taeri in front of him, Juha felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
‘Hyung. Please……’
Juha looked at Na Junho while pleading inwardly.
He could feel Taeri’s blazing gaze from beside him. And another pair of eyes – Yoo Youngin was also glaring at Juha with burning eyes.
Regardless, Na Junho put down the ladle without much thought as always.
Na Junho’s first impression was that he seemed to have no tender feelings, but he took care of Juha the most among the team members. It seemed to be because he was grateful to Juha who had worried about Na Junho and Jo Munseok’s relationship early on. Juha was also comfortable forming a team with Na Junho, who had simple emotions, good skills, and even leadership.
However, Na Junho’s problem was that he was receiving Yoo Youngin’s attention. After Taeri, now Na Junho too. Juha didn’t want to be associated with whoever Yoo Youngin had set his sights on this time either.
“Th-thank you. Youngin hyung, you should eat some too.”
Juha hurriedly served food and placed it on Youngin’s plate.
‘Are you kidding me?’
Youngin smiled while keeping his mouth tightly shut and cursed through ventriloquism. His look said ‘Are you feeding me because I was a pig?’
“Oh, our team gets along so well. Are you becoming sworn brothers?”
Jang Chaemyeong didn’t miss the timing and filmed them serving food to each other.
“Ahahaha.”
“Hahaha.”
Juha and Youngin forced smiles and waved at the camera.
Ugh. Juha naturally sighed inwardly.
The competition was hard enough as it was, and the relationships were difficult in every way too.
* * *
They were about to greet each other briefly and part ways when people began gathering around them frighteningly. With twelve handsome men standing in formation, plus the popular Choi Taeri, Yoo Youngin, Na Junho, Seo Eunwon, and Lee Juha, they couldn’t help but stand out.
Moreover, while they were eating, word spread on SNS that they were together, and people gathered to an unmanageable degree. Every step they took moved a huge crowd like bringing storm clouds with them.
Na Junho, whose hometown was Busan, said it was time for his flight and hurriedly called a taxi to head to the airport. Seo Eunwon, who had been having fun earlier, was now a bit scared and trembled while hugging his skateboard close, standing next to Jang Chaemyeong. Fortunately, Seo Eunwon’s mother arrived just in time to pick them up, and the two left in her car. It was certainly frightening attention for kids who were still young.
Just as Juha was timing his departure, a taxi arrived in front of them.
“We’re leaving now too. Today was fun.”
Taeri grabbed Juha’s wrist and pulled him into the taxi.
“G-goodbye.”
Juha couldn’t finish his greeting and was sucked into the taxi while tilting.
“Kyaa!”
“Taeri! Look at us just once!”
“Lee Juhaaaa! Lee Juhaaaaaa!”
Right until departure, fans screamed and held up their phones to take pictures.
As the taxi door closed, the noise subsided.
It was surreal enough to doubt whether the gazes of the people gathered outside were really directed at him. If he debuted, would this become daily life? Juha gazed wistfully at the fans through the glass window.
‘My fan club name was ‘Lee Juha-da’.’
Recalling his fan club name ‘Lee Juha-da’, Juha’s heart swelled anew.
He had witnessed their support on stage and seen the wrapped bus they sent, but facing them directly like this made the existence of fans feel real. The only way Juha could repay them was by debuting and showing them good things.
The fans who liked him, the elation on stage, and the time spent with Taeri. The reasons he absolutely had to debut kept increasing.
While Juha was lost in sentiment, Taeri told the taxi driver Juha’s home address.
“You must be very famous people, students.”
The taxi driver said while glancing at the rearview mirror as he started the car.
“Not yet, so please say we’re people who will become famous.”
Taeri answered warmly with a grin.
“Jeez, straight-going cars have priority at intersections, you bastards.”
The taxi driver stopped talking and cursed at the driver in front while concentrating on driving. Meanwhile, when Juha glanced around nervously, Taeri secretly held Juha’s hand tightly.
“Are you taking me home?”
“You worked hard coming to see me from early morning.”
While the content was tender, Taeri spoke as if grumbling.
Ignoring Juha’s gaze, Taeri looked out the window with a reluctant expression. Perhaps because it had gotten much hotter, their clasped hands were lightly damp with sweat. Juha playfully scratched Taeri’s palm lightly with his index finger. Taeri flinched and gripped Juha’s hand tighter.
Pretending to be angry while keeping his mouth tightly shut, yet unable to hide his feelings like that, he was like a puppy sulking at his owner.
Obviously, it wasn’t just that he had gotten close with Na Junho, but he was upset because they had put their arms around each other’s waists and danced and played happily.
Of course Juha, and Na Junho as well, had absolutely no feelings beyond colleagues for each other. They had just gotten close while doing this team stage. He was about to try to appease him saying it wasn’t like that, but finding Taeri’s sulking cute, Juha decided to tease him.
Just then, the taxi driver hummed a song. He was in a state of having absolutely no interest in his backseat passengers.
“When men live in society, sometimes you have to give your waist to other guys and stuff like that. Are you going to sulk over that?”
Juha whispered while lightly rubbing his shoulder against Taeri’s.
“Who’s sulking, who?”
Taeri kept his gaze fixed out the window while pouting his eyebrows.
Right. He’s sulking because of that.
“I was going to be careful if you were sulking, but I guess it’s fine.”
Juha moved away from Taeri and returned to his original position.
“Damn it……”
Taeri glared at Juha with a sudden frown.
“Just try doing that kind of choreography with other guys again.”
“Hey now, you shouldn’t tell an outsider how to do their work.”
Juha sternly criticized Taeri jokingly. Hearing it, Taeri unconsciously nodded as if it made sense.
“Still, a little, you know? Conduct yourself properly.”
Taeri still couldn’t let go of his lingering attachment and grumbled.
“More policing? You’re really the king of policing.”
“Look in the mirror. Do I look like I shouldn’t be policing?”
Taeri’s resentment-filled tone was so cute that Juha’s cheeks kept twitching.
“If you have a dangerously charming man, you have to endure this much.”
Juha said the words while gripping Taeri’s hand tightly.
“I’m really going to be on the same team as you in the 3rd round no matter what.”
Taeri growled while glaring at Juha. He had thought that being jealous or policing someone was a very tiring emotion, but it seemed he could accept it from Taeri as much as needed.
Behind their sweet conversation, Taeri’s phone rang.
“Yes, Manager. Yes. Tomorrow at 11? Yes, understood.”
Taeri briefly talked and hung up.
“The company?”
Juha asked casually.
“Yeah. They want me to come in briefly tomorrow.”
“Mm……”
Juha nodded and fell into thought.
No matter how much commotion there had been, Taeri was still the most attention-getting trainee, so his agency would definitely take intensive care of him during his break period too.
Among the remaining 43 people so far, there were 3 independent trainees without agencies.
No matter how good the fan reaction was, Juha had only placed 15th in the first competition, which could hardly be called a good result.
So receiving casting offers was wishful thinking.
Fandom Entertainment, Taeri’s agency, was somewhere every trainee wanted to enter. Juha wanted to enter Fandom too.
There was something called ‘Fandom power’ where once you debuted, fans of Fandom’s other celebrities would support you, making it easy to climb the rankings.
Moreover, the basic visuals of their celebrities greatly exceeded other companies’ standards, and education for trainees was almost at private school level. If any controversy arose, the legal and PR teams would immediately operate at full capacity, and most importantly, they were serious about mental care for their celebrities. Finally, even settlement was transparent, so even current celebrities wanted to enter Fandom.
Getting to this point, Fandom had made tremendous sacrifices. Not to mention legal disputes, they had lost affiliated celebrities twice due to unfortunate incidents.
What they had realized over time was that ‘good products’ needed to be made to maintain lasting value.
In short, caring for the goose that lays golden eggs so it could lay eggs for as long as possible. At least from what Juha could see on the surface, that’s what Fandom was like.
“What are you thinking about?”
Taeri, whose anger had subsided, asked Juha.
“Nothing.”
Juha shook his head and cleared his thoughts. It hurt his pride to say in front of Taeri that he also wanted to enter Fandom.
“Tell me. I’m curious.”
Unable to contain himself, Taeri gradually moved closer.
“Your company…… how is it?”
Juha asked carefully.
“Fandom?”
“Yeah.”
At Juha’s question, Taeri showed unexpected cynicism.
“No matter how good a place is, a company is a place that handles products, so it’s bearable as long as I acknowledge that I’m a product.”
“……”
Juha quickly understood his meaning.
Even Fandom, the domestic top company, had made Taeri write an apology for his trivial mistake. In My Idol he was worshipped as ‘Eoltae’, but within Fandom, Choi Taeri was just a trainee. So from the company’s perspective, making him write an apology wasn’t a big deal, but even for cool Taeri, it would leave resentment.
However, that was still better compared to other agencies that treated people like slaves, didn’t settle accounts properly, or didn’t hesitate to engage in team killing.
“It would be the same wherever I go, so to prevent them from treating me carelessly, I have no choice but to do well. So, Lee Juha.”
Taeri stopped speaking and gripped Juha’s hand tightly again.
“Let’s debut together. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Juha answered with a faint smile. Even Taeri, who had been grumbling with jealousy, became serious whenever they talked about their future together.
Soon the taxi arrived in front of Juha’s house. Since the camp filming had ended yesterday and they had been together since dawn doing big things, both Juha and Taeri needed to rest at home.
“Thanks. Get home safely.”
Juha said as he got out of the taxi. Before closing the door, Taeri grabbed and pulled Juha’s wrist.
“I love you.”
As if still reluctant, Taeri whispered in Juha’s ear.
“Me too. I love you too.”
Juha said in a voice small enough not to be heard by the taxi driver while smiling.
“The driver is waiting. Get home safely.”
“Okay.”
They reluctantly waved and parted.
Only after Taeri’s taxi had disappeared far away did Juha turn around.
“……”
‘So Lee Juha, let’s debut together, okay?’
Taeri’s words kept coming to mind.
According to My Idol’s regulations, if both of them made it into the debut group from this audition, they could work together for 5 years. For Lee Juha, who had slipped once in the debut group and still had no agency, even 5 years of activity would be a blessing.
He would have to wait for the 2nd round results to know, but judging from the fans’ reactions, Juha had inner expectations that he could pass this competition. However, considering that fan reactions and rankings had been separate issues last time, he couldn’t be entirely optimistic.
‘I’ll have to wait for the results.’
Juha smiled bitterly and turned around. Then he heard someone calling him.
“Juha!”
It was his mother.
“Oh, Mom……”
Yunha was with his mother.
“Hey, what are you doing standing there alone like an idiot? What if people recognize you?”
“Yunha, people will hear, stop it!”
Mother grabbed Yunha’s arm and stopped her.
“Huh? Didn’t you go out in training clothes this morning? This is clothing I haven’t seen before.”
Yunha, who had walked over energetically, scanned Juha’s pretty clothes like a detective. It was a style that wasn’t in Juha’s wardrobe, who liked plain, calm designs and achromatic colors. At Yunha’s words, even mother showed interest in Juha’s clothes.
“A f-friend gave it to me. The size doesn’t fit but he said it was too bothersome to exchange, so he told me to wear it.”
Juha made up an excuse roughly. If he said he received it as a gift, he would definitely get nagged about why he received a gift, and that receiving gifts wasn’t everything.
“It looks expensive……”
Yunha still looked at Juha up and down suspiciously. Beside her, mother seemed to believe Juha’s words and said nothing. No, mother seemed lost in some thought.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
