The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

I immediately got a reply. Because of how quick it was, it almost made me afraid to click my phone. I thought I wouldn’t be able to take things back once I opened this device and decided to focus my eyes on the table with my phone overturned for now. My members continued to talk about a potential collab.

“Is there anyone we can ask?”

“But will it be right to feature someone with this song?”

“Hm…Yeah, I wonder if it’s even right to pull someone into our song…”

The direction of the conversation was flowing whether or not it was even right for us to bring someone else to feature our song. This was a reasonable concern. If we couldn’t get Willy Freedman to feature our song, there was no point doing it anyway. This was a meaningful song that was on our debut album’s tracklist. There was no need for us to bring someone else’s voice on top of it.

“It was Tae-Yoon who suggested doing a feature. What do you think?” Yeon-Hoon asked me. “Do you think it’s really the right choice to do a feature?”

“Hm.” I couldn’t answer right away, but after organizing my thoughts, I spoke. “I think it won’t be too late to decide after seeing who can feature our song…Can we think about this for a bit longer?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, you don’t know whether or not an American popstar could suddenly approach us and say, ‘Wow! I like Siren! Let’s do a song together!’ or something like that.”

My members seemed to agree with my suggestion.

“Let’s stop talking about work for now and eat. The food is going to get cold at this rate.” Then, with Yeon-Hoon’s lead, we began to focus on the meal again. Yet, the surprising thing was that the mala hotpot and mala xiang guo were almost half-gone by then. Somebody must have continued to shove food in their mouths while we were talking… and as expected, it was Dong-Jun, the mala addict.

“I’m so full. I don’t think I can eat anymore.”

Seeing Dong-Jun lay on the ground with his arms and legs spread out, Do-Seung remarked, “Of course you are after eating all that.”

Soon afterward, we continued our meal while talking about more enjoyable, light-hearted topics.

***

After our meal, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna left. Each of my members also got up from their spots and began to do their individual work. Do-Seung went to the studio, saying that he had a couple of ideas in his head and wanted to do some remixes. Yeon-Hoon said he thought he ate too much and headed to the gym to run. Woon left to do some dance practice and Dong-Jun also followed him. I was left alone in the house again.

The current time was 8 pm. It was an ambiguous time to say it was night or dinner time. Yet, it was enough time to start something new and I cautiously opened my phone. It was time for me to confront what sort of message Kang Hyun-Sung sent me.

—Yes, I have enough time. Also, congratulations on achieving Triple Crown All-Kill.

Yet, in contrast to what I expected, the content of his message was nothing special.

“Yeah, I mean…” It appeared I had been way too dramatic. Because Kang Hyun-Sung was someone who always acted out of my expectations, it seemed I had been too nervous.

—You just read the message.

“…?”

Before I even replied, another message came.

“…What? Why is he obsessed with me?” The moment the messenger showed that I read his message, he sent me this sort of reply. It was clear he didn’t get out of the chat group till I read his message. Two hours had passed since he sent me his first message, so this seemed to mean that he had been staring at this chatroom for the last two hours…

‘…It’s clear he isn’t normal,’ I thought.

—I couldn’t look at my phone because of some matters. I’m sorry for contacting you first and disappearing.

I apologized first to begin the conversation. I planned to bring up the main topic afterward. If I brought up Willy Freedman without any warning, the addressee could run away so I thought I should begin with small talk.

—How are you doing these days? Are you busy preparing for your next album?

—Yes. We are in the middle of preparing for it.

—Is it going well?

—Yes, it is.

—Oh…how nice.

—Yes, it’s nice.

I refrained myself from almost throwing my phone. What was this? Was he doing this on purpose to anger me? It felt like I was talking to a chat AI that had no previous information or connection with me prior. No, even a conversation with a chat AI these days would sound more like a human conversation than this. I wondered why he even bothered to wait two hours to talk like this. Didn’t he wait because he also had something he wanted to say?

I didn’t expect him to reply in this manner. Kang Hyun-Sung was truly someone who always betrayed my expectations.

—…..

Because I had nothing to say, I sent a couple of dots to Kang Hyun-Sung. I was trying to make it a bit obvious that he shouldn’t bother replying if he was going to keep sending these types of texts. Kang Hyun-Sung didn’t reply for a bit after receiving my series of dots. It seemed he was also realizing how baffling his responses had been. Yet, his reply was even more unsettling.

—Who’s the one who contacted first but ignored the other person for two hours?

I understood it then. He had been portraying his dissatisfaction and annoyance with his succinct and awkward replies.

—Didn’t I already apologize for that?

—It doesn’t change what you did.

—Then, let me apologize to you once more.

—Will things change just because you apologize two times instead of one?

—Then, wouldn’t the third time do the charm?

—Stop it. How is this even an apology?

A cold atmosphere swept the chat room for a while after that. I wondered what I was even doing with this guy. I hadn’t even bickered with my members about this kind of thing. I was sure that Kang Hyun-Sung was just upset that we got Triple Crown All-Kill instead of him. Yet, since I wanted something from him, I decided to gain his favor.

—I’m genuinely sorry. I couldn’t look at my phone because something urgent happened.

Though Kang Hyun-Sung said nothing would change even if I apologized, it wasn’t like I could do anything else.

—Why don’t you try one more time? Didn’t you say the third time was the charm?

‘Is this guy really crazy…?’ I wondered, but in the end, I apologized one more time. But after that, Kang Hyun-Sung seemed like he hadn’t expected me to really apologize one more time and didn’t obsess about apologies.

—So why did you suddenly contact me? You aren’t the type to contact first. Do you have a request to make from me?

“...He gives me the chills,” I murmured. I felt goosebumps from Kang Hyun-Sung’s text. He had acted harder and more aggressively towards me, knowing that I contacted him because I had a request to make. He knew that before he granted my request, he was the superior. I felt my annoyance multiply twofold upon realizing how I had been played, but I repressed my anger while thinking of the team and Willy Freedman.

—Well, after all that joking around, I will try to do what you ask for if I can.

It was fortunate that Kang Hyun-Sung wrote this first since I might have really cursed at him otherwise.

‘But can I really just bring up his name?’ It was hard for me to mention Willy Freedman since the request could burden Kang Hyun-Sung. It was always difficult to ask someone to borrow their connections. Thus, I decided to prepare him for the question first.

—Do you remember the time I asked you to pick me up somewhere in Gangwon-do?

—Yes.

—Will it be all right…if I make a request bigger than that?

—I got a car recently.

“…?” Why was he suddenly boasting about his car?

—Is it Jeolla-do this time?

“Ah.” It seemed like I misspoke. Because I brought up Gangwon-do, it seemed Kang Hyun-Sung thought I was lost somewhere far away again. Though I tried to clear up the misunderstanding, Kang Hyun-Sung sent me another message.

—What do you have to do to travel all over the nation like this? Give me your address. I will go there.

Kang Hyun-Sung appeared certain that I was strolling somewhere in Jeolla-do this time.

—I don’t need to be picked up anywhere. I’m sitting on my dorm’s sofa. Turn off your car engine.

—Ah yes.

I quickly wrote in case he was already starting his car to leave.

—Then what’s your request?

Kang Hyun-Sung asked. This was a request bigger than picking me up in Gangwon-do. It probably worried him a bit. I hesitated for a long time before sending my message but in the end, I sent it.

—Will it be possible for you to connect us with Willy Freedman?

Willy Freedman was someone who had been stalling around the vicinity of Billboard Hot 100 and stood between the lines of ‘famous’ and ‘not famous’ just a year ago. But in that one year, he met a skilled producer, pumped out legends at every release, and became the hottest R’n’B singer in America right now. Furthermore, he was someone who had built a connection with Kang Hyun-Sung during Kang Hyun-Sung’s Yours’ activities.

The opportunity arose when a famous DJ was looking for singers to release his song, and the singers he called were Kang Hyun-Sung and Willy Freedman. The song in question was the one that made Yours known in America and made Willy Freedman catch his current producer’s eyes. Since their relationship was one that developed in what could be considered the most crucial moments in their lives, they appeared to be quite close.

Yet, the question was whether or not their relationship was close enough for Kang Hyun-Sung to introduce me to him. If they really were close, it wouldn't be too hard to make the introduction. However, Kang Hyun-Sung’s response was a bit unexpected.

—It could be difficult.

He didn’t say no or yet but that it would be difficult. It was hard to understand since it wasn’t clear whether he could do it or not.

—Is that a no?

I asked in frustration, but he took a while to reply.

—I can’t give a clear-cut no.

This made me more confused. What was he saying then exactly?

—What do you mean?

A cold breeze seemed to pass the chatroom again then and Kang Hyun-Sung didn’t reply for a while. After five minutes, Kang Hyun-Sung replied.

—There was a time when I said a load of insults about you to Willy so I don’t know if Willy would have a positive opinion of you.

…His response made me seriously ponder whether I should regress again after punching him.