The Malicious Member Has Returned! Chapter 106
Anyway, the fact that Jihwaseong raised his voice at Jaeha hyung for the first time in his life was all out of his affection and respect, so it was an effective method…
I was just glad the kid didn’t grill me with, “It’s not some other agency, so how does Yong-yong hyung know company work as well as Jaeha hyung?”
If he had asked that, I really wouldn’t have had a way to answer.
Would I say there’s a terrible counselor named X, or that I’m your awful member hyung who came back from the future?
If I said that, what would Jihwaseong really reply?
“Sorry, Rex hyung… but are you in your right mind?”
I could almost hear Jihwaseong’s voice from when he used to treat me like Rex trash ringing in my ears…
Anyway.
I lightly licked my lips and secretly gave a thumbs-up to the kid who was acting normally around Jaeha hyung.
You’re doing well, man.
Instead of giving him the information he wanted, I demanded three things from Jihwaseong.
The first.
“Hey, Siu. Who do you think you’ll room with? It’s me, right?”
“Uh… I don’t know.”
“Yeah, yeah, there are too many people for you to be honest. But it’s definitely me, not Logan.”
“Hwaseong, what did you just say? Is that a challenge?”
“What, did I say something wrong? No matter how much Logan sucks up to Siu, I’m still his favorite hyung. Bleh.”
“No, no! Siu, choose me. My pride is at stake!”
“P-please don’t fight…”
He would resume the role of mood maker, which he was best at and enjoyed most.
Even if they’d grown closer by grocery shopping together, Siu still found Yuchan hyung and Logan a bit intimidating.
It was obvious that things would improve if the good-natured Jihwaseong acted as a lubricant between them.
“It’s not a fight. This is a battle of pride, Siu. My pride as someone who came all the way from Liverpool to Korea is on the line.”
“If that’s the case… then I have to choose Logan hyung…”
“Wait, Siu. You’re making hyung sad!”
The effect was easy to see just from the current situation.
And the second.
“…
Oh, right. I noticed when I left the dorm last, it looked like they were putting cameras in our storage room, too. Yuchan hyung, don’t you sometimes take your clothes off there and throw them straight into the washer?”
“Huh? Whoa, that’s right! That was close. Thanks, Hwaseong. Why on earth are they putting cameras in places like that… Reality shows are tough.”
“Be careful, Yuchan hyung. Unless you want to show off your abs to the fans too early? Shouldn’t you save them as a secret weapon and use them later?”
“Haha, what abs? They’re all gone during the break!”
Rather than just focusing on listening to me, he needed to observe his surroundings more carefully.
Honestly, it wasn’t much in the way of information.
The smoking area the PDs frequented, the break room the writers used. Near the vending machine by the editorial office where rumors spread easily.
The real information was the stuff you casually picked up in places like that.
So, Hwaseong, who tended to see the trees rather than the forest, just needed to pay a little more attention in that regard.
He was already perceptive and quick to read the room. If his observation skills improved, what he saw would change.
And this was something Jihwaseong could do very well.
How could I be so sure?
“Rex hyung, there are a ton of cameras outside, you know? If you don’t want your hungover face caught, take the emergency exit.”
“Uh, uh…”
“Ah, seriously… you still smell like alcohol. What am I going to do with you? Are you even taking hangover medicine?”
Because he was the one who told me.
As he gained experience, Jihwaseong naturally picked up on that, and once he did, he became more alert than anyone else in Arrowz.
“…
Not the emergency exit, the outdoor stairs would be better. That door is always open.”
“Huh? Jaeha hyung?”
“Rex. If you’re going, go now. I’ll say you went in early because you weren’t feeling well.”
Ah, I guess I should say he’s second only to Jaeha hyung.
Jaeha hyung is a person of exceptional character, so you have to count him as an exception, but… anyway.
And finally, the third.
“Yong-yong hyung?”
“…
Huh?”
“Who do you want to room with? I’m kind of curious.”
He was supposed to not let on that he’d talked with me about this…
But, hmm.
Should I consider this letting on or not?
“Haha…”
“I’ve asked everyone now! Like you heard, Logan and Siu are mutual. Jaeha hyung said Yuchan hyung, and Yuchan hyeung said Yong-yong hyung! Now I’m the one without a match, you know? Will you please pick me?”
Whether I laughed hollowly or not, Jihwaseong’s mouth was a rapid-fire cannon that wouldn’t stop.
His bleached blonde hair fluttered softly, and his eyes sparkled like twin suns…
But since he was in much better shape than before, it didn’t really matter anyway.
“Oh, I’m curious who Chunyong hyung will pick, too. We’ve shared a room before, so I must be more comfortable for him.”
“Hey, Logan, you and Siu are already mutual. To make it work, he has to choose between Jaeha and Hwaseong.”
As Logan and Yuchan hyung exchanged opinions, I brushed the hair completely covering the back of my neck and slowly surveyed our members.
It wasn’t with the intention of picking a roommate candidate, just a little…
Lost in sentiment.
“…….”
Now that we were going back up to the dorm, our T.O.Je would officially begin filming as an idol group.
There were still some creaky parts, and even I, on my second debut, was surrounded by things I didn’t know…
But I truly wanted to become the greatest idols in K-pop history with these members.
Because they were people who deserved it.
“Talk more with your fellow Arrowz members you live with, and tell us when things are hard for you. That’s what I want.”
This time, because we had to.
“…
Yong-yong hyung? I’m asking who you’ll pick?”
At Jihwaseong’s urging, I smiled and slowly opened my mouth.
“…
Secret. I absolutely won’t tell you now.”
“Wow, amazing! What secret? We’ll all find out once we go upstairs anyway!”
“Shut up, you punk.”
As I roughly rubbed my palm over Jihwaseong’s fussy face, I looked at Jaeha hyung, with his usual handsome face.
Should I call him the Jaeha hyung from my dreams? Well.
Anyway…
This time, I’ll properly solve what I couldn’t look back on because I was drenched in self-pity.
“Xenon members! You’ll be moving to the dorm! Please bring your hand cams!”
Please, let’s do well together.
Jaeha hyung.
* * *
The reality show I’d heard about before filming was a 5-episode series, quite long for recent idol reality shows.
Natural dorm life and time for the members to get to know each other.
The process of preparing for debut, inner thoughts on going through the transition from trainee to idol.
And finally, a pre-debut trip with the members.
The program was so meticulously planned it could be called a documentary rather than a reality show, and you could deeply feel the love of the person who designed it.
To be honest…
It was kind of creepy.
Someone might call me ungrateful for saying that about the person who put so much work into planning the program, but that was how I felt.
I mean, really.
The PD Ju Cheolyeong, who had slammed me so viciously with articles and programs before I returned, was doing this much for our team…
It felt like there had to be an ulterior motive.
But regardless of my thoughts, the reactions of the members facing a camera as idols for the first time were very positive.
“Whoa, it’s really been a long time since I’ve seen a camera.”
“Wow! They’re set up in every room! Wait, how do we change clothes? Go to the bathroom like during
“Guys, we should greet the camera first. Hello? I’m T.O.Je’s Son Jaeha.”
“I’m Hwaseong! Hello, hello!”
“Xenon’s Jang Siu…”
Even without a script, naturally, and with jokes mixed in well.
Seriously, whose members were these?
“…
Whew.”
I watched my members proudly for a moment, then quickly made eye contact with the living room camera.
“Ahem, hello? Spring Chun, Dragon Yong. I’m T.O.Je’s Chunyong.”
Well, even if PD Ju Cheolyeong was suspicious, I couldn’t ruin our first reality show.
Might as well give it my best.
And among the skills X had given me, the one I’d been using most usefully lately.
[If you don’t try, you’ll gain nothing! How about approaching things a little more proactively?]
The [Fortune Cookie] skill said so, so there was nothing more to say.
“Wait, wait. Why is everyone sitting on the floor again? There’s a sofa!”
“Forget it, Logan. Come down. When in Korea, you do as Koreans do.”
“Yeah. It’s time for you to adapt, Logan. This kind of thing is majority rule.”
“No! Everyone come up. It’s my wish!”
At the moment they’d secured a decent amount of footage by pulling Logan, who wasn’t used to sitting on the floor leaning against the sofa, down to the ground.
Siu, who had been tipped off by the production team earlier, carefully opened his mouth.
“Hyungs. Um… I think there’s a letter… under the TV?”
A perfectly set script, or rather.
Given how popular this kind of idol reality show was, there was absolutely no one who didn’t know what was inside the letter Siu was cautiously bringing over.
After all, we’d talked about it in the van on the way here.
“…It says ‘Choosing Roommates.’ It says there’s a draw box in the cabinet under the TV. We pick roommates first, then play a game to decide which room we go into.”
As soon as leader Jaeha hyung finished reading the letter, Jihwaseong jumped up from his spot, threw an arm around Logan’s neck, and smirked.
“Logan. Let’s have a warm-up round of rock-paper-scissors. Loser brings the draw box.”
“Um, Hwaseong. That’s something that won’t happen if I just don’t play, you know?”
“Geez, you don’t know variety shows!”
“Haha, the eldest hyung who’s learning about variety shows will get the draw box, guys. You fill the footage by bickering.”
Yuchan hyung showed off his long legs as he fetched the draw box, and we began to draw slips of paper from it one by one in age order.
“On the count of three, let’s all open them. How about that?”
“Good. Then one, two…”
“Wait! Why are you using English? Ah, I opened it by accident!”
“Wow! Yuchan hyung and I both have the same bow shape!”
“Mine is an apple!”
“Ugh…”
Amid the chaos created by Logan’s use of English trolling, I also couldn’t hide my hollow laugh and carefully unfolded my slip.
And inside it was…
“Wait. This is…”
“Huh? Yong-yong hyung!”
The same arrow symbol that the person I was vaguely unsure about was holding.