Chapter 21
[Title: At This Point, Lee Juha]
‘Does it make sense that Lee Juha doesn’t have a country?
His name is also Juha
It’s short for Your Majesty.’
â””That makes sense
â””Now that I think about it, you’re right
â””Why wouldn’t he have one? He must have ruined a whole country, that’s why he doesn’t have one
â””This also makes sense
â””He already ruined it. Please take down the post.
â””What kind of state affairs would he discuss with that face? He’d probably just seduce good-looking ministers.
â””He really looks like he’d ruin a country well, right?
â””Oh, I know this one – a beauty that topples nations
â””Isn’t it more like conqueror’s haki than beauty that topples nations?
└This is more accurate ㅇㅇ
â””Here’s another case of over-immersion
Below that, sexually harassing comments about Juha continued in a long line. This level didn’t particularly bother him.
It wasn’t like he didn’t know fans played around like this, though it was a bit strange that Lee Juha himself had become the subject.
Juha sneakily searched for Choi Taeri’s name.
**[Title: God Taeri has arrived.**
‘Remember this
Eoltae
Either way, first place is Taeri
Got any complaints?’
â””Fuck ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ I love it when guys like this get all cocky and then cry later
â””We’ll see when we tear him down. Making prophecies after watching episode 1 ㅈㅈ
â””I’m a Yoo Youngin fan but isn’t Choi Taeri the real deal?
â””So you like Choi Taeri more…
â””Ah, look here. I’m a Yoo Youngin fan for real, you want me to show you that I followed his individual account?
└Sure sure, okay 🙂
**[Title: Wow fuck, what’s with Choi Taeri?**
‘I don’t know shit about YouTube and stuff, just watched My Idol’s first episode because I was bored
Isn’t Choi Taeri like a muggle vacuum cleaner?
He’s just sucking everyone in completely.’
â””Please take good care of our Taeri *^^*
â””Taeri YouTube preview and review thoroughly. Then you can dedicate your life to Choi Taeri.
â””The views on Teri Us exploded right after yesterday’s live broadcast ended
â””Taeri… how is it that even your name is Taeri… This grandmother is desperately searching for her lost grandchild…
**[Title: Is Choi Taeri’s limb length for real?**
‘Is that a gorilla or a person?
When he dances and stretches his arms, I thought they’d touch the ceiling.’
â””Thanks for looking after our Taeri well *^^*
â””What do you mean gorilla
â””Yeah our Taeri’s head is also good *^^*
â””Excuse me, sorry to bother you on first meeting, but please get a grip
Choi Taeri’s posts were literally full of praise. Since he was already popular, it was natural. Even among all the posts, Choi Taeri’s share was overwhelmingly large.
Juha looked at a few other posts but closed the tablet because his eyes were getting strained.
Actually, it was because he got upset while looking at posts about Yoo Youngin.
The interest in Lee Juha was likely just one-time curiosity about a suddenly fallen decadent king, so it would probably be short-lived.
But Choi Taeri and Yoo Youngin’s fans were different. Their cores were already consolidated, and they began full-scale “my baby” marketing. Moreover, Taeri and Youngin already had plenty of YouTube and Instagram content, so fans were excitedly digging into it.
“Haah.”
Juha stretched long and got up from bed.
Even though he napped for 4 hours, his body wasn’t refreshed. Filming would start again tomorrow, and he was in terrible shape.
After waking up, his eyes were even more swollen from last night’s events.
His phone was turned off. It had died because he hadn’t charged it from when he went to Taeri’s house until now. After plugging in the charger and coming out to the living room, he found the house empty since everyone had gone out on Friday.
Several packets of pumpkin juice were on the dining table.
‘Did mom leave these?’
Juha’s sharp-eyed mother had already noticed her son’s swollen eyes and face.
Juha sucked down the pumpkin juice while packing for the dorm. After gathering the same daily necessities as last time and folding the hung laundry into his suitcase, he gradually got hungry.
Opening the refrigerator, he noticed a pot with a memo attached.
[Don’t cook ramen, heat up rice in the microwave and eat it together.]
It was his mother’s neat handwriting, just like her personality. Inside the pot was kimchi stew with plenty of pork.
He was about to cook ramen out of laziness, but just heated up the kimchi stew and sat at the dining table.
Before eating, he flipped through TV channels and found a rerun of ‘My Job is Idol.’ His own face on screen felt awkward, so he was about to change the channel when Choi Taeri appeared, and Juha stopped the remote.
‘I’m trainee Lee Juha.’
‘Hmm, huk!’
The image of Taeri answering properly on screen overlapped with Taeri from last night on the bed. Juha hurriedly shook his head.
‘Damn…’
Suddenly he lost his appetite.
Juha forced himself to finish the rice and stew he’d served and went back to bed. When he turned on his phone, several alarms went off.
Most were messages from Han Jaewan and other hyungs and friends he’d trained with. Juha felt strangely moved by the encouragement from those who knew the 6 years of hardship he’d endured.
After replying to everyone, one person remained.
Choi Taeri.
7 text messages, 5 missed calls.
Juha closed his phone without checking the contents.
* * *
He had to be at the dorm by 7 AM, so he had to wake up at dawn again.
Since he fell asleep before 10 PM last night, even waking up at 5 AM didn’t feel too tiring. Juha’s condition wasn’t optimal, but it wasn’t bad enough to limp around.
It was still too early for his family to be awake. Juha carefully lifted his suitcase to avoid making wheel noise. But suddenly the master bedroom door opened, and Juha dropped his suitcase.
“Ah!”
He slightly hurt his foot but it didn’t really hurt.
“Leaving now?”
It was his mother, disheveled from sleep.
“Yes. Please go back to sleep.”
“Wait. Let me just change and come out.”
“Why?”
“I’ll drive you. Taxis are hard to catch at dawn.”
His mother finished speaking while grabbing car keys and a jacket.
“……”
Juha fidgeted and bit his lip.
Since he started as a trainee at 14, his mother had taken Juha to and picked him up from the practice room just like other kids went to academy.
But after his debut fell through and he challenged ‘My Job is Idol,’ Juha resolved to never rely on his parents’ help.
He hadn’t expected his parents to help with this audition either. So his mother’s kindness was unexpected.
“What about dad’s breakfast?”
Juha asked casually.
“Dad’s not a child. Without mom, he’ll figure it out and cook ramen or something. Hurry up. If we’re even a little late, we’ll hit traffic.”
His mother hurriedly fastened her clothes and opened the front door.
This was different from his mother who always did her best for his father’s breakfast.
* * *
During the drive to the filming location, his mother didn’t say much. Only when getting out did she say “take care of yourself.”
“I’ll go. Drive safely.”
Juha tried hard to treat his mother calmly. He didn’t want to give his parents, who had waited 6 years, false hope again.
“Juha.”
His mother called his name as if she already knew his heart.
“Yes.”
“When you want to quit, you can quit anytime.”
His mother’s voice trembled slightly.
It wasn’t telling him to quit and study for college entrance exams. His mother was worried her son might struggle being thrust into competition watched by the public.
“I just started, what are you talking about. I’ll go.”
Juha indifferently took out his luggage.
“Juha, be careful.”
Leaving his mother’s words behind, Juha hurriedly entered the hotel. His phone rang inconsiderately, matching his hurried steps.
[Missed call: Choi Taeri (17 calls)]
“Haah, shit…”
Juha stood in the lobby looking at his phone.
Since yesterday, quite a few missed calls had accumulated because he wasn’t answering. Choi Taeri had sent countless texts, but he hadn’t checked them.
‘Why does he contact me so much?’
The more frequently Taeri contacted him, the more irritated Juha became.
He could just think “oh well” if calls went unanswered, but Choi Taeri contacted Juha with almost obsessive persistence.
Suddenly, Choi Taeri’s low voice echoing in his ears came to mind.
‘I’m going crazy.’
Even Taeri’s languid smile when he said that was stimulating enough to give him goosebumps all over his body when he thought about it again. Thinking about it made Juha’s expression scrunch up involuntarily.
That night, Taeri was so skilled and relaxed that Juha couldn’t move. Taeri had none of the awkwardness of a twenty-year-old. This kind of casual relationship probably meant nothing to him.
There would be a truckload of people, men and women, who wanted to sleep with him.
But Juha was different.
Not just because it was his first time, but Juha’s feelings for Taeri were sincere. He cared about Taeri’s every gesture, was bothered when he was with other people, and even though he told himself to give up and not care, he spent all day thinking about Taeri, which was annoying enough.
He’d been so careful, but in one night, Juha was swept away by Taeri like throwing himself into rapids.
Even for Juha, who had crushed on a man before, this experience was like riding a roller coaster without safety equipment.
‘Too dangerous.’
There would be only one reason why Choi Taeri would be obsessed with Juha.
He would need someone to satisfy his lust until the program ended – specifically, a man, and Lee Juha was just an easy target.
Anyway, he just wanted to distance himself from Choi Taeri if possible. He absolutely had to distance himself.
As soon as he thought that, he saw Choi Taeri in the distance. Although there were several people bigger than Taeri around, only Taeri entered Juha’s vision.
Just as Taeri was about to turn his head, Juha hurriedly hid behind a sculpture.
‘Here we go again…’
Juha clutched his pounding left chest.
It was still the same.
He’d composed himself hundreds of times at home, but seeing Choi Taeri right in front of him, his heart reacted first.
Lee Juha had always prided himself on excellent emotional control. But what he felt toward Choi Taeri was completely different. Lee Juha wasn’t excellent at emotional control – he just didn’t know how to face his own emotions.
He was already afraid of how long he could sustain this hide-and-seek.
* * *
When gathering time came, 80 trainees assembled in the main hall.
He could feel Choi Taeri’s gaze from far away, but Juha looked away. Next to Taeri were Yoo Youngin and others, just like last time.
Since he was no longer Choi Taeri’s roommate, he could just avoid him appropriately. He’d just need to act friendly when on camera, so it wouldn’t be difficult, he told himself.
Now that filming was starting, where Juha needed to focus wasn’t Choi Taeri but the audition. Remembering this audition was his last chance, Juha steeled his resolve once again.
“Hyung, your photo came out really well?”
Seo Eunwon, who had quietly approached from the side, said.
“Yours came out well too, you know.”
“If it wasn’t for hyung, I would’ve been screwed. Hehe.”
Unaware of Juha’s troubled heart, Eunwon smiled brightly.
Seo Eunwon, who was 29th in the first ranking, also received quite a few hearts in this concept photo. The sight of a 15-year-old boy wearing baggy 90s-style clothes and sunglasses on his head – a style from long before he was born – was both mischievous and heart-stirring for fans.
Silver coin.
That was Seo Eunwon’s nickname.
At first he was called Silver1, a direct translation of his name, but it gradually evolved until it became “silver coin.” Under Seo Eunwon’s photos were full of so-called “granny comments.”
Seeing our coin debut, this granny could die without regrets.
Thank you for making granny feel young again.
Granny will make sure our coin debuts.
Thinking of that trivial yet perfect nickname while looking at Eunwon in front of him, Juha couldn’t help but smile.
Staff took attendance and the main hall was organized. After equipment checks finished, Park Jusung appeared on stage.
“Did everyone watch episode 1?”
“Yes!”
“Our trainees haven’t been assigned rooms yet. This room assignment will be based on the results of the last mission – the heart count that came out until midnight yesterday.”
“Waaa.”
Lee Juha recalled the heart count of the photos he saw yesterday.
Choi Taeri and Lee Juha were competing for 1st and 2nd place, but the gap with 3rd place Yoo Youngin wasn’t very large.
“1st and 2nd place get the penthouse. 3rd to 20th place get double rooms, and 21st to 80th place get quad rooms. Rankings will be announced starting from 20th place. Other rankings will be posted at the back of the hall after all announcements are finished.”
The trainees murmured anxiously hearing Park Jusung’s comments.
Since those after 20th place wouldn’t even have their names called, it meant their faces wouldn’t be caught on camera either. Some already looked dejected as if they’d given up.
‘This is worrying.’
Juha pressed his thumbnail hard and steeled himself.
If the photo heart count results showed Choi Taeri and Lee Juha as 1st and 2nd place respectively, Juha would end up sharing the penthouse with Taeri again. If Yoo Youngin, who was 3rd in heart rankings, somehow became a candidate for 1st or 2nd place, the problem would become more complicated.
While trying to avoid being Taeri’s roommate, the disaster of Juha sharing a room with Yoo Youngin could occur. Imagining the worst case where Juha came in 3rd and Choi Taeri and Yoo Youngin, who came in 1st and 2nd, shared a room, Juha suddenly became anxious.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
