The Malicious Member Returns! Episode 138
By nature, the pre-recording waiting area for an idol’s music show was another word for waiting and agony.
“Please, fan manager. When are we really going in? We already did the head count earlier!”
“Uh, they said there’s a bit of a delay inside. I’m sorry, but I’m just a temp fan manager, so I don’t know exactly…”
“No, we’ve been waiting for three hours now! Everyone here is about to starve to death?!”
“Ugh, I don’t know either!”
You get a number ticket, wait, do the head count, wait some more, and just when you’re so hungry you think about grabbing a bite and glance toward the entrance of a 24-hour fast food place—you enter amid the shouts of a staff member who can’t tell why they’re angry.
“Wow, this is my first time, so I had no idea we’d have to wait this long. Seriously.”
“If you want to see the kids’ rehearsal and their faces, you’ve got to suffer at least this much. I’m dying. We haven’t even done our head count yet…”
Whether a veteran fan, or a fan for whom T.O.Je was their very first idol.
The scene of Genias wandering along the street, voicing their exhaustion, at T.O.Je’s first pre-recording was going to be no different.
If you love, you have to suffer a little.
Even the waiting is love!
They repeated the mantra-like saying that always works when your heart is burning hot.
“…
Huh? What’s that?”
But.
“—Genias entering for the pre-recording! Come get your coffee and snacks! Everyone can take one per person!”
Due to the sudden appearance of a massive coffee truck, a small ripple of excitement spread through the exhausted area around the Sangam Music Days Live Hall.
“Whoa. A coffee truck. …
Two of them? Not one, but two?”
“No way, there’s already a named fan sending something like this? Not even lunchboxes or snacks for the kids, but a coffee truck just for fans at the pre-recording site?”
“Is it a reverse tribute from the kids…? They must’ve been crazy busy preparing for debut!”
“Looking at the banners, it’s for Siwoo. Their fans are really young. Where would they get the money to send something like this?”
There was.
A fan of Jang Siwoo, wearing a T.O.Je name tag, more excited than anyone for his first music show, and who had been ready to send a coffee truck for every upcoming schedule since the day the debut teaser dropped, clapping along.
“Hey, look. Over there…!”
When one of the whispering fans pointed something out, people’s gazes locked onto the sentence written next to the huge banners of Jang Siwoo attached to either side of the coffee truck.
[Congratulations on T.O.Je’s debut♡ Please take good care of our Siwoo!]
Between fans and idols, who is most familiar with tribute culture?
A veteran fan who has long loved idols and is a pre-recording expert?
Or a recording staff member who has coordinated situations between them and the idols?
Or a fan manager who shouts their throat raw, preventing unauthorized cameras and filming in advance?
No.
[Big bro’s treating you to this coffee truck ㅎㅎ –M
-XY Jang Siwon–]
It was an idol who had been living in the broadcast station since such tribute culture began, and who had virtually reigned over the second generation.
“Crazy, Jang Siwon…! He’s buying a coffee truck because his little brother is debuting? Is this real?”
“Let’s just go, first things first! I want an iced americano!”
“Look at the menu names. Jang Siwon’s pick: the green tea frappe that Siwoo likes, and the iced americano that T.O.Je will be drinking too…”
“Whoa, insane. I’ve never seen a coffee truck with this many snacks before.”
“As expected, someone who’s received these things before knows how it’s done. Crazy, for real.”
Thus, while smiles bloomed on the faces of the Genias waiting for the pre-recording due to the sudden event.
“…….”
At the same time, someone was only bowing their head to the floor with an expression mixed with a strange sense of defeat and shame.
* * *
Even though they’re in the same group, the reactions of their families toward the first music show pre-recording varied greatly.
Someone’s family sent a playful message disguised as an argument, and someone sent a large coffee truck.
Well, in this case…
Without even needing to point out who did what, the former was me and the latter was Siwoo, but still.
“Tch.”
I took a long sip of my iced americano with four extra pumps of syrup and scanned the atmosphere in the waiting room.
“Ah, ah, mm….”
Yuchan hyung was taking propolis as usual to warm up his throat. Jaeha hyung was catching a quick nap.
“Huh….”
“This, the snack that Siwon hyung gave us earlier! If no one eats it, I’ll eat it, right? There’s no one who’ll eat it?”
Logan was subtly reading the room, and Jihwaseong was lively as always.
And, the person of concern, Siwoo.
Siwoo was… well.
“…
Ha.”
With intermittent sighs and a frown that didn’t suit his pretty face.
It was easy to tell that Siwoo didn’t like the current situation.
No, how could I not know?
Since back at the salon, the kid’s reaction had been like that.
“…
Hyung. Why did you come here? You said you’re busy right now because of the year-end anniversary album, even though…”
“I am working hard on that too. But I’m not so busy that I can’t spare time for this. But hey, I’m hurt? Siwoo, didn’t you want to see your hyung?”
“Ah, no. If you put it that way…!”
“Oh, if that’s not it, then okay! Now, T.O.Je members, and all other related staff? It’s really, really nice to meet you. I’m Siwoo’s brother, Jang Siwon. This is a bribe to ask you to take good care of my little brother! Please, really take good care of our maknae.”
“Oh, this bakery… isn’t this the place that sells out by 2 PM?”
“Ah, I got close to the owner there! So I asked a favor along with it. Please enjoy, and as I said, our Siwoo…”
“Stop, hyung. Please stop!”
Always quiet, gentle, and soft-spoken.
Even when something not so good happens to him, Siwoo’s maximum expression of intent is just to turn his face pale, so to see such a reaction…
It wasn’t the very first time I’d seen it, but the impact was still just as big.
I, who know all the inside story, am like this, so what about someone who doesn’t know?
As expected.
“Um, Chunyong hyung.”
Logan, who had been reading the room for something, sneakily came up to me and spoke.
“…
Uh, Logan. What’s up?”
“Umm, you know.”
As he said that, he looked at me once, and then at Siwoo sitting next to him.
No, what a puppy-like look that needs a snack.
“Pfft…!”
“You know, you know what I want to say, right? Don’t just laugh!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I nodded, tucking away the laughter that had burst out involuntarily.
Wearing the same Boy Scout uniform as during the showcase and music video shoot, with his permed fluffy hair, I could tell without asking what the guy wanted to say.
The kid who can’t stand this kind of situation had been saying it with his eyes since earlier.
‘Why is Siwoo’s reaction like that when his own brother looked after him that way?’
Well, it’s not that I don’t want to resolve our big dog’s curiosity, but…
“Right, Logan. Hobin hyung was calling you earlier.”
“What? Hobin hyung? He seemed to step outside briefly earlier…”
“Yeah. You go take a bathroom break while you’re at it. And don’t say you’re nervous on stage again.”
“…
Huh. Got it. And I’ve never said that on stage!”
Because Hobin hyung really did call for Logan, and I can’t just casually talk about Siwoo’s matters.
“Hwaseong, come with me. I don’t want to go alone.”
“Huh? No, Logan, you can’t even go to the bathroom alone? This is really like a dog with separation anxiety…!”
“No, No, No! It’s because the broadcast station is still unfamiliar!”
I gave a brief glance at Logan’s back as he dragged Jihwaseong out, then quietly scanned the waiting room where silence lingered.
“…….”
There was one reason why Siwoo showed such a large emotional disturbance.
“Hyung, I said you didn’t have to come to a place like this.”
“Hm? Why? I came because I want to cheer you on!”
“Oh my! Siwon-ssi, you’re such a fan! Just by looking at Siwoo, I’ve thought a lot about how much you resemble him. How can siblings be so different yet similar? It’s fascinating.”
“Oh, hello! Haha, yes. Siwoo and I do look quite a bit alike. Siwoo takes after our mom so he’s prettier, but…”
“…….”
‘Again’ his brother was being mentioned.
A CF he shot in his childhood that he hardly remembers now trails behind his name like a shadow, so what would it be like when his brother descends on the scene in person?
“Tsk…!”
I also grew my idol dream listening to M
-XY’s songs, so of course I really respect and think Jang Siwon sunbaenim is cool.
“……”
But still, I don’t want to see our maknae unable to take a single sip until the green tea frappe is all melted like that.
[AM 2:47]
Now, in about an hour, it’ll be time to go on stage for rehearsal preparation.
“…
Hoo.”
I sucked up the syrup settled at the bottom of my iced americano, felt the sugar high hit my head, and sprang up from my seat.
Normally, it would be right to let him overcome it on his own, like Jaeha hyung who is pretending to sleep while sneakily checking on Siwoo, but…
“Even you, Rex hyung, if you do this, then I… what am I, really…!”
“I don’t understand what you mean, Siwoo. Hyung’s going to lose his mind, go to your room…”
“Listen, please!”
“……”
“I want to be known… by my own name. Do you understand? Not as Jang Siwon’s little brother, not as Rex’s pitiful teammate… Please, hyung… stop it now. It’s time to stop, isn’t it…?”
I owe a very, very big debt to our members, to the maknae.
Since I regressed like a novel protagonist, what’s wrong with using a little trick to help the kid at times like this?
“Siwoo.”
“…
Ah, Chunyong hyung.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Huh?”
I grinned at Siwoo, who was bewildered by suddenly being called, and pointed at the baked pastries scattered all over the waiting room table.
“You don’t seem like you’re in the mood to eat those. Right?”
“That’s… just, a little…!”
“I know, I know.”
I approached Siwoo casually, grabbed his sleeve, and pulled him up.
The best approach for Jang Siwoo, who guards against others like a cat and always keeps his distance.
“Wanna go out with hyung for a bit? We still have some time before rehearsal.”
“Uh…”
“Yuchan hyung and Jaeha hyung, come with us. I heard something before AG came.”
“Huh? Chunyong, what…?”
“Hurry, hurry! That thing might sell out anytime.”
The questioning eyes of the two hyungs following behind me and Siwoo were fixed on me, but I didn’t care at all.
Riding the elevator, walking down the stairs.
And further down, down.
“Um, Chunyong. Where are we going now? This is my first time coming down to the Music Days basement.”
“Right. No, is there something here? Even Siwoo seems a bit confused…”
“Chunyong, hyung…!”
“Nope. This is the place.”
Though I haven’t properly helped with anything until now…
This one thing, I know well from my long broadcast experience.
“Ugh, Rex. You really smell like alcohol…!”
“Ah, this is driving me crazy. Rex hyung, go down to the basement or something! Pull yourself together while you’re at it! No, you drank right before going to the salon? What were you thinking? Ah, look at the makeup caking…!”
“Alright, alright….”
In my days as Rex the Trash, the number of times I went on stage hungover was more than I could count on ten fingers.
“Just… wait. Just let me cut it for a moment…!”
“What do you mean cut it here, ah, no! Crazy, for real!”
“Huk…!”
Even so, the time I actually went up and threw up was, uh, only once.
Then, how did I handle my hangovers during those times?
Hangover cures? Or prescription drugs?
I can say for certain, what solved my hangovers wasn’t anything so professional.
It was more of a folk remedy.
“Here it is.”
“Hm? This, I think I’ve heard of it, no. Was it down here…?”
“Haha, I also heard it from word of mouth…!”
I led Siwoo, Yuchan hyung, and Jaeha hyung to a corner of the parking lot on the 4th basement floor of the Sangam Music Days Live Hall, and smiled with nostalgia and pride.
[Music Days Pre-rec One-Day Store]
Just as I used to forget a day’s hangover here, our maknae also deserved to briefly escape from his brother’s shadow and enjoy something sweet.
“…
That, is that sikhye?”
Through something that’s effective for hangovers and that Siwoo likes, at that.