The Vicious Member Returns! Episode 129
Once everything was properly organized, time flew by so fast I barely had a moment to breathe.
With only three days left until the debut showcase, it got to the point where my family, who normally didn’t pry much into my daily life, started asking if I was even alive.[Kim Bomi: Hey bro][Kim Bomi: You alive?][Kim Bomi: I’ve seen the teasers and all that, you know? But you don’t look like yourself, more like some AI Kim Chunyong. No way my brother would look like that][Kim Bomi: Send a signal you’re alive. Mom and Dad are worried your brain and body got uploaded online and a fake Kim Chunyong is walking around]
“Haha….”
So maybe it was only natural I let out a hollow laugh when I saw the text after just getting out of the shower.
Yeah. Lately, I’ve been so busy scrambling to deal with the members’ thoughts and the tasks right in front of me that I haven’t been able to contact my family much…
This was one of the biggest reasons I came back like this.
I rubbed my gaunt cheeks a few times and then carefully typed out a message to send to my sister over the phone.
With gratitude, longing, love, and affection.[Kim Chunyong: That’s not AI, it’s really me. The real me.][Kim Chunyong: Haven’t seen me in a while so you forgot. Take a closer look, it’s definitely me.][Kim Chunyong: And insulting my face means insulting Dad, you, and Nari, so think carefully before you speak.][Kim Chunyong: We all have the same face.][Kim Chunyong: ㅗㅗ][Kim Bomi: Did you finally lose it? Wanna die?]
Just like always.
“Phew….”
A torrent of hostile texts poured in from my sister, but feeling the affection packed into that hostility, I tossed my phone aside carelessly and rubbed my face into the pillow.[Idol survival program
The schedule, now reaching its final stage, was incredibly smooth.
The music video teaser, which featured every member’s face at least once, had already far surpassed the mood sampler in views, and thanks to the AG PR team’s aggressive push, article reactions were positive.
The incompetent people had all stepped back or been pushed out to the sidelines, and only those passionate about this work remained… so maybe this much was to be expected.
Of course.
“Now, only the music video, track video, and album release on the showcase day remain. Everyone, great work.”
“Yes!”
“Alright, so from now on, there’s something to do.”
“…
Huh?”
“What do you mean, ‘Huh?’ Let’s all manage ourselves. This is where it really starts. You have to get on stage, eh? Being a little lacking as a trainee is fine. But as an idol, it’s not. Understand?”
However, there were tears of blood shed during that process.
“Ji Hwaseong and Logan, go see a dermatologist. Being young is good, but your fatigue is showing. The broadcast cameras will pick it all up. A single pimple is unacceptable.”
“Holy….”
“Jaeha and Siwoo, you two go too. You’ll get checked. We’ll see if you applied your cream properly in the end or not. If you don’t keep your promise, I won’t let it slide.”
“Ugh, yes….”
“And Bang Yuchan and Kim Chunyong. Their clothes have to really look good on their bodies, right? You know only you two have partially revealing outfits. So what do you need to do.”
“Um… di, diet management…?”
“Right. Yuchan is quick on the uptake. Let’s eat some chicken breast and brown rice for the remaining time. Yeah?”On top of the appearance management carried out under Director Moon Yunha’s command, based on her principle that ‘an idol must look perfect on stage’…
“Chunyong… ssi.”
“Huff, yes?”
“Right now, you’re perfect… but, when our crew uploads a cover video… maybe you could appear… as a guest member.”
“Ehei, Dasol-ssi! Please, no more personal agendas!”
And then the practice, practice, practice that followed!
“Keuheok….”
Was it because of the sudden rush of memories of hardship?
I roughly clutched my hair and let out a groan laced with pain.
Seeing my clearly defined muscles makes me feel good, but that doesn’t mean I’m not hungry.
“…
Chunyong. You okay?”
“Huh? Oh, of course, I’m fine.”
“…
You and Yuchan hyung are even on diet management. You guys seem really exhausted.”
“It’s all to debut, so….”
Jaeha hyung’s face, having visited the dermatologist, was also glowing, but his oddly sluggish movements clearly showed he was wiped out.
The members and I are all struggling one way or another.
As I was blinking listlessly like that,
Suddenly, a message arrived on the smartwatch I’d left on the nightstand.[Jeong Yeonu: The showcase is coming up soon ^^]
“…
What’s this.”
Faced with a message on the smartwatch I’d been ignoring throughout the debut prep period, my voice came out more listlessly than ever before.
For an idol with as much experience as Yeonu hyung to contact me again without forgetting, someone not even in the same agency, was quite unexpected.
Between us, the one with something resembling memories was me, not Yeonu hyung, and to him, I was just one trainee he met on a survival program.[Jeong Yeonu: Have you gotten a bit closer with the members?][Jeong Yeonu: Get along well with your members ^^]
And the message that followed immediately after the read receipt popped up was even more unexpected.
“Huh….”
No, more than unexpected, it was absurd.
Talking about getting close to the members, now?
After we’ve even done a whole survival show together?
He was always someone who acted like he knew everything himself and liked to tease others with things only he understood, so I couldn’t easily grasp the context of what he meant.
“…
Rex, you’re not going back to the dorm again today?”
“Well, I will go. But it doesn’t really matter if I don’t. They won’t care anyway. I have no schedule anyway.”
“I’m not so sure. That sounds like what you think.”
“Huh?”
“We’re living together, so we should get along well. Eh? I get along well with the kids even if I have to smack them around, haha….”
“Isn’t that just beating them up?”
He’d said something similar before, but it didn’t fit the current situation perfectly.
Seeing him suddenly send a message like this, he probably has some idea about something again and is talking in circles.
I put the smartwatch on and mulled over Yeonu hyung’s message.
The members and me.
Aren’t we… close now?
No, well.
“Chunyong. Can you teach me this choreography one more time? It’s a bit awkward to ask Dasol-ssi!”
“Ah, of course. Which part is hard?”
“Um, it’s a bit hard to explain exactly. If we have a drink and try again….”
“You have to do it quickly while your body still remembers. Let’s do this first, then drink!”
“Huh? Oh….”
Yuchan hyung, since the survival show days, has been treating me really comfortably like it’s the most natural thing.
“God, Chunyong hyung. You woke up super early again today….”
“Yeah. Haven’t been sleeping well lately. I turned off your alarms in advance again.”
“What? Wha, was it Chunyong hyung who’s been turning off my alarms every day until now?”
“Uh… apart from the times you accidentally turned them off half-asleep, it was mostly me.”
“Holy, I seriously thought there was a ghost in the dorm this whole time! Oh my god….”
Not to mention Logan.
“Uh, Chunyong… hyung. Ha, have you eaten?”
“Huh? Siwoo, what’s up. Are you hungry?”
“That too, but, um….”
“Ah, sit down. I was just saying Hwaseong is hungry too. You two can eat together. I’ll set it out. I can’t eat, you know. Because of the diet management.”
“…
Okay.”
Siwoo’s the type who needs a bit of time to observe, so it’s fine even if he seems a little shy still.
“Ugh, so tired….”
And those two, Jaeha hyung and Hwaseong, who are sprawled on the bed just like me, we’ve talked a lot while bumping heads over this and that, so….
Things are really good right now?
There’s absolutely no reason for this hyung to send such a random, vague message?
But at this point, I had to quickly realize something.
The reason Yeonu hyung sent that message ahead of ToZ’s debut showcase.
What the leader, someone who debuted first and leads a multi-member group, meant by ‘get along with your members’.
To be precise.
“Uh, is everyone asleep?”
If only I had known before Hobin hyung showed up at the dorm late at night.* * *
Hobin hyung, holding convenience store bags full in both hands, wore a solemn expression.
The members, who greeted him in a disheveled state, looked bewildered.
“You all must be surprised I came suddenly after saying I was off work, but I visited the dorm again because I have something to tell you.”
“Um… is there a schedule change? Something like we need to go out right now, or….”
“No, no. The showcase is in three days, and you ToZ members will have to run hard without time to rest. There are no separate schedules until then. Unless it’s a rehearsal.”
That was true.
After the showcase, things were expected to get insanely busy: full-scale album promotions, variety show appearances to promote us, fan signings, preparing a repackaged album, and so on.
As if all the busyness until now was just a preliminary skirmish.
“Whew, I need to build up some stamina.”
“That’s why I planned to just laze around and sleep until tomorrow! Maybe play some games with Logan when I wake up?”
“I was… going to sleep a lot, too.”
“I understand. So….”
As each member, including me, chimed in and nodded quietly, Hobin hyung slammed the convenience store bags in his hands down onto the table and spoke with a determined face.
“―Let’s party tonight.”
What’s this?
Is today destined to be a string of absurdities?
As if our somewhat dumbfounded expressions didn’t matter, Hobin hyung remained resolute.
“If you don’t let loose with each other now, you’ll genuinely have no time later. As it is, you probably haven’t had a chance to bond properly because of the survival show… You have to do it now at least. For those on diet management, let’s just call this a cheat day.”
It wasn’t a completely unreasonable thing to say.
Even though we’ve had time to get to know each other, most of it was in front of cameras, and the times we all gathered together just to talk could be counted on one hand.
So I roughly get Hobin hyung’s intention: ‘Before they get so genuinely busy they can’t have a single proper conversation, I should let the kids talk amongst themselves.’
But now?
No, we’re exhausted?
“Huh….”
I discreetly pushed away one bag filled with beer and soju and stuck my tongue out.
He had bought sparkling water, cola, and drinks for the minors, but having drinking going on right next to them was a different story.
My Rex Trash days are still vivid in my head, and he wants me to drink?
Absolutely not, I said.
“Um, Hobin hyung. I appreciate the thought. But we’re really tired right now, and the adult members aren’t exactly the type to drink….”
Just at that moment, as I tried to gently and politely decline.
“…….”
The members’ gazes instantly fixed on me.
How could people who looked ready to collapse from exhaustion just moments ago, their faces glowing from the dermatologist visit, suddenly have such a sharp glint in their eyes?…
What’s wrong with these people?
Just as I was rolling my eyes at the strange sense of unease,
The first to speak was Yuchan hyung.
“―No, Chunyong. I did go to college for a bit, right? Yeah. I don’t hate or avoid alcohol. I just didn’t drink because we were outside. I was even called a soju-beer mix master in the applied music department. Just once though. I like having fun. Sounds good. I think it’s good.”
“Huh? Is… that so?”
“Yeah, me too. I just couldn’t find a reason to drink until now… but this is different.”
“Wow, will I finally get to see Chunyong hyung get drunk today? No, it feels like he’s just unbreakable, you know!”
“I’ve never… seen it even once… Chunyong hyung getting messed up….”
“Okey. Finally the time has come. I can’t drink, but I can at least assist, you know? Leave it to me. Totally possible, super possible.”
The expressions on the members’ faces as they spoke were strangely filled with a sense of purpose.
How should I put it, they looked like a party just before a boss monster raid?
Hold on. So, in this situation, the boss monster is….
“…
Ah?”
Me.
I had to tremble involuntarily as goosebumps shot up from my feet to my head.
So this is what Yeonu hyung meant!
Right, the current situation is that I know the members one-sidedly.
So the members might find me more intimidating than I thought, and might want to get to know me better.
“…
Ugh.”
Sirens blared in my head.
I knew better than anyone what my drinking habits were like, and how I ended up when I drank.
“I’d rather die than live like this! I’m going to die!”
“Uh, uhm, please calm down….”
“What, do you know me? Uweeegh, hold on. Give me a bag, like….”
Drinking, throwing up. Talking nonsense, saying all kinds of things.
Now that I’ve solemnly sworn never to drink this time, to avoid walking the path of Rex Trash,
“First, shall we go to the living room? Let’s spread things out and all party together!”
“Good. I’ll get things ready….”
“Logan, Siwoo. Get the cards. And the camera too. So we can film Yongyong hyung a bit!”
How can I persuade the members, who seem determined to see me fall apart before our debut?