Chapter 69
"Hwaaaaah!"
Seonwoo Rin's younger sister Seonwoo Min stretched widely, conscious of her stiff back from sitting for too long.
The life of a high school senior was a repetition of the same daily routine.
School, study room, home.
Every day, the same routine repeated.
On weekends like today, she would catch up on delayed sleep, wake up late, and sit at her desk to review the week's schedule—that was her only real rest.
'Should I take it a little easier next week?'
Whenever she opened her diary to plan her studies, such temptations always lingered in her mind.
But.
'Rest? If I rest now, I'll suffer more when I'm older.'
She steadied her mind and instead wrote down an even more intense study schedule than last week.
This would make next week a bit harder than this week.
Still, once she set a goal, she had no choice but to keep it. She had never failed to keep one so far. And she never would.
'For some reason, I feel like I'm becoming more and more like my brother...'
The image of her brother she used to watch as if observing a monster when she was young.
The image of her brother who never gave up once he set a goal came to mind anew.
When she was young, she thought it was natural just because he was her brother.
Looking back now, she felt she could somewhat understand why her brother had no choice but to be like that back then.
Right after being discharged from the military, with the absurd declaration that he would become an idol.
And actually becoming an idol in one go.
Watching her brother like that, Seonwoo Min was also gradually filling in the blank space she had left for her future self.
Of course, she hadn't told anyone yet.
Bzzzt-
She heard the vibration sound from her phone.
'When did I change it to vibration?'
Seonwoo Min looked at the screen to change her phone back to silent mode, but ended up checking the messages her friends had sent her and let out a sigh.
[Wereus overturns the K-pop concert. Imprinting the monster rookie's presence once again.]
[Wereus fever even in Japan? Local fans who came to the K-pop concert. "It was the best stage!"]
[A spectacular finale! What's Wereus's next plan after wrapping up debut promotions?]
Articles about Wereus that her friends kept sending.
And Seonwoo Min knew very well what these articles meant.
'Fine. I'll just get the autographs for you...!'
After sending her declaration of surrender to the group chat, she saw the phone screen go quiet.
Seonwoo Min took out a bundle of sign boards printed with her brother's stage photos that she had hidden in the corner of her desk.
'When on earth did they even make these.'
When rumors spread that Wereus was ending their activities and taking a short break, the mission given to Seonwoo Min was this.
Get 50 of her brother's autographs.
At first, she tried to resist her friends over the ridiculous number.
But when they said, 'Have you forgotten all the grace we bestowed during the national idol era? Then you are a beast who knows no gratitude,' Seonwoo Min quickly surrendered to her friends.
And after wrapping up activities in Japan, her brother returned home yesterday with a 5-day vacation.
Since her friends already knew that fact, she could no longer put off the mission they had given her.
Seonwoo Min first opened her door and surveyed the living room.
Not seeing her brother anywhere, he was probably resting in his room.
Steel her resolve, she gathered the sign boards and slowly walked toward her brother's room.
'I... have to do this.'
It wasn't like she was asking her brother to meet her friends directly—friends who supported her brother even more passionately than she did. Getting some autographs wasn't a difficult request.
It was just that asking her brother for a favor after not seeing him for so long was what made it difficult.
'Whatever, forget it.'
Just as Seonwoo Min stopped hesitating and was about to knock on her brother's door.
With a sliding sound, the door opened.
"Gasp!"
"Hm? What are you doing there?"
When she saw her brother's face, the prepared remarks she had planned to ask for an autograph instantly vanished from her mind.
"Where are you going?"
She saw Seonwoo Rin with a hat pulled down low, looking ready to go out.
"I rested yesterday, so I should go out and do something today. Staying home makes me restless."
Was that something a person who worked non-stop for months and returned just yesterday would say?
Seonwoo Min was momentarily speechless.
At that moment.
"But what's that you're holding?"
"Nothing."
When Seonwoo Rin immediately noticed the sign boards she was holding and spoke, Seonwoo Min flusteredly hid the sign boards behind her back.
"Is that paper? Don't tell me... you want my autograph?"
"..."
As expected, she couldn't escape Seonwoo Rin's sharp radar.
Looking at Seonwoo Min who was carefully observing her brother's reaction, Seonwoo Rin spoke with a smile.
"Looks like quite a lot. How many?"
"Fifty..."
"Really? That's less than I expected. Go put them on the desk in my room. I'll do it when I get back."
"Really?"
Just as Seonwoo Min answered bewilderedly at the unexpectedly easily completed mission.
"But just asking empty-handed is a bit much."
"Huh...?"
"Please, brother. Oh, wait. I beg of you, elder brother! Try saying it like this—"
"Get lost!"
Seonwoo Min felt her anger rising even more at her brother easily dodging her decisive low kick.
"Then I'm heading out! Don't worry, I'll give you the autographs."
She had no choice but to quietly watch her brother casually speak to her and leave the house.
"When will you be back?"
"Who knows? I'll be back not too late."
Seonwoo Min listened to Seonwoo Rin's words and sighed as she watched her brother leave.
Seonwoo Rin's words about not being too late.
Were essentially synonymous with saying he'd come back after practicing to his own satisfaction.
Whether he became a famous idol or whatever, her brother was still her brother.
'Whatever. I should... just do what I need to do.'
Seonwoo Rin was truly a consistent fool without a doubt.
***
The 5-day break given for the first time after finishing debut album promotions.
At first when the vacation was given, she thought she would really rest and do nothing during this break.
'But there's nothing to do at home.'
In the end, she couldn't even last a full day and came outside.
After coming out, she considered going to a practice room near her home she had visited a few times.
But then she thought the company's location wasn't too far from home either, so she was taking the subway to head to the company.
'It's been a while since I used public transportation.'
Even though the years she lived taking public transportation were much longer than the time since she debuted as an idol.
To think the subway felt unfamiliar after not riding it for a few months.
It was a strange feeling.
A lazy weekend afternoon.
There weren't many people on the subway.
That was extremely fortunate for me.
Because even now, I could feel people glancing at me.
At least I was wearing a hat pulled down low, so no one was coming up to me directly.
But the group of high school girls who had been fiddling with their phones while looking at me was a bit concerning.
'It's going to be hard to take public transportation from now on.'
If it's like this even now shortly after debut, I imagined groups more famous than us couldn't properly go anywhere because of the attention.
While having such thoughts, I arrived at the station near the company and quickly slipped out of the train.
And the moment I was about to walk out of the station.
From afar, I saw a billboard with a familiar face appearing on it.
[0523 Happy Birthday Jungwoo! Our hero who will be with us forever!]
It was a birthday congratulatory billboard for Woo Jungwoo whose birthday was coming soon.
'Now that I think about it, his birthday isn't far away.'
May 23rd was the last day of our vacation.
I was thinking I should go to the dorm early that day to celebrate Woo Jungwoo's birthday.
When I saw a man with a familiar physique standing in front of the birthday billboard.
'Huh?'
A back I couldn't possibly not recognize.
Although he was also wearing a hat pulled down low like me, I immediately knew who that person was.
I quickly approached the man taking selfies alone in front of the billboard and said.
"Jungwoo!"
"Gasp!"
Woo Jungwoo, who was startled even more than I expected, looked at me and spoke.
"Rin... Rin hyung?"
"Who else would it be."
Only then did Woo Jungwoo calm down a bit and spoke to me with a bewildered expression.
"By any chance, did you come to see me?"
"No, I'm on my way to the company. How would I know you'd be here?"
"Th-that's true. Anyway, since we met, let's take a verification shot together."
At Woo Jungwoo's suggestion to take a verification shot together, I casually stood next to Woo Jungwoo and took the photo without much thought.
But that was a big mistake.
"Hyung... it seems like people are starting to gather around us."
Not long after meeting Woo Jungwoo, the number of people whispering while looking at us started to increase exponentially.
Hey, it's Wereus.
Huh, where? Really?
Kyaaaah- Wereus!
Both of us were covering up as much as we could.
But with the person from the billboard photo standing right there, there was no way people wouldn't recognize him.
Moreover, with me standing right next to Woo Jungwoo.
The atmosphere had now become almost like a mini fan meeting.
In the end, Woo Jungwoo and I were surrounded by people.
And watching even more people gathering, I had an ominous feeling that if not now, we wouldn't be able to escape from here.
"Jungwoo."
"Yes?"
"Run!"
I grabbed Woo Jungwoo and slipped through the gaps between people, heading toward the stairs.
Cold sweat ran down my back at the thought that if there had been just a few more people, we definitely wouldn't have been able to get out.
After finally making it out of the subway station with difficulty and quickly moving to the company, we both let out sighs of relief.
"Wow... that was really close to being a disaster."
As Woo Jungwoo said, if we had gotten trapped there, it would have been a massive incident.
To think the subway was such a scary place...
After calming my racing heart for a while, I recalled the purpose of coming to the company and spoke to Woo Jungwoo.
"But Jungwoo, where are you going now? I dragged you to the company for no reason."
At my words, Woo Jungwoo looked at me and said.
"I was originally coming to the company too."
"Really?"
"Yes, if not at times like this, there's no time for individual practice. Didn't hyung come to practice too?"
"Right. Let's go to the practice room then."
Entering the nearly empty company since it was the weekend, I glanced at Woo Jungwoo.
To think there was someone else who came to the company to practice during their vacation.
Arriving at the practice room with Woo Jungwoo.
"I'll practice here."
Woo Jungwoo pointed to the vocal practice room and said to me.
"Did you come yesterday too?"
I asked while looking at what appeared to be Woo Jungwoo's belongings—sheet music and miscellaneous items—in the practice room.
"Yes, practicing after a long time felt good. I have to work hard. So I don't fall behind."
'So I don't fall behind?'
Looking at Woo Jungwoo speaking as if it was nothing special, many thoughts crossed my mind.
Why is he practicing like this, even giving up his vacation?
Of course, practicing itself wasn't strange, but Woo Jungwoo's current appearance was somewhat...
It felt like he was being chased by something.
'Could it be because of Yujin?'
The first thing that came to mind was Yujin Kim.
It wasn't that there was any bad blood between the two.
However.
'Jungwoo considers Yujin as a rival.'
That probably started from the audition.
Both had always occupied the main vocal position. Naturally, they couldn't help but be compared to each other.
It was difficult to compare the two people's singing abilities.
Woo Jungwoo had overwhelming high notes, while Yujin Kim had greater strengths in tone.
The two people's skills were impossible to rank against each other like that.
'But probably Jungwoo thinks he falls short of Yujin.'
Yujin Kim had not only singing ability but also composing and producing skills.
That was sufficiently proven through 'Our Spring' in this first album.
The same age, the common point of being main vocals.
But looking at Yujin Kim who showed overwhelmingly high achievements in another field, Woo Jungwoo probably thought he was falling behind.
Recognizing his own shortcomings and trying to solve it through practice to develop further—the approach itself was really good.
But.
'Vocal ability doesn't suddenly improve.'
It wasn't like he had a status window like me, and Woo Jungwoo's skills were already top level, so the probability of sudden improvement here was low.
Because of that, I worried that Woo Jungwoo might quickly burn out alone.
'What he needs now doesn't seem to be practice.'
When I thought about it, what Woo Jungwoo needed wasn't practice, but the acknowledgment of the members.
Now, with Woo Jungwoo's birthday only a few days away.
Several plans quickly flashed through my mind.