The Malicious Member Has Returned! Chapter 226
* * *
The night of BNS Sound Stage The Final raced on to its acclaimed end.
—Let us enjoy this shining youth, this present
Beyond that wide field, the wind
Welcomes us—let us enjoy this present
Beautiful person
Beautiful person….
Though times had changed, all the performers gathered to sing an old song by a great senior artist that still moved people’s hearts, and they greeted the fans who had stayed with them on-site until the late hour.
And on top of that….
“Sound Stage The Final, bringing Sound Stage’s year to a close! To commemorate today, we’ve invited a very special guest to present the Song Award for the second half of the year!”
“They say that these days, if you don’t know this person, you can’t even join the conversation, right? Recently, in
“…
Please welcome actor Sagong Yu!”
One of the main-event figures of the day, still not over yet, once again came onto the stage.
“…
Who did they say the presenter was?”
“Whoa, they really called in a proper presenter? Until now, they just had last year’s winner present it!”
At the year-end stage venue filled entirely with idols, the name of an actor caused no small ripple.
“Sagong Yu? Really, Sagong Yu?”
“What do I do? I watched ‘Hwasubun’ five times…!”
“Wow, that guy… was kind of scary in the movie.”
Some flushed with anticipation, while others, remembering his appearance in the film, awkwardly scratched their cheeks.
In the midst of that, the Tioze members did not react greatly to the fact.
“Mmm, as expected… So he came because he was presenting the Song Award this time.”
“Right. No, is it because I was so shocked earlier? Right now, it’s not really all that surprising….”
It was only natural.
Because they had already seen the person now walking splendidly through that beautifully decorated stage entrance passage….
“…
Hello. This is Tioze’s waiting room, right?”
“Uh, yes. This is it….”
“I’m Sagong Yu. That punk Taei told me to come here first… just once.”
Earlier.
“Hey, Chunyong-hyung. Then later, you’re going to… with that person?”
“Yeah. That’s right. This was also something I promised Taei.”
“Oh, I see. I’m getting nervous too. To think he might become your new friend, hyung.”
“…….”
Kim Chunyong lightly nodded at Logan’s question, then carefully looked over Sagong Yu as he headed toward the center of the now-neatly cleared stage.
A good proportion, though he was not conspicuously tall like Ji Hwaseong, Logan, or An Taei.
A black suit that wrapped around that body as if he was used to it, and his neck, coolly exposed without a tie.
And above that, a somewhat angular, sharp-looking, masculine face.
It was a different kind of sharpness from Kim Chunyong’s face.
Unlike Kim Chunyong’s delinquent look, optimized for receiving the love of idol fans, Sagong Yu had the image of a finely honed blade.
If one of them looked like he would have a bandage stuck to his face while acting cocky, the other looked like he would have droplets of blood splattered on his face.
In any case, they were a little different.
“…
Hello, I’m actor Sagong Yu.”
Waaaaah!
With just one greeting, applause and cheers burst out from the audience seats.
It could be seen as the audience’s courtesy toward a presenter, but that was simply a cheer born of pure goodwill.
Because the presenter was Sagong Yu, the hottest actor in his twenties these days.
[The film
[“Not a child actor, just an actor.” Sagong Yu’s first challenge at adult acting, “120 points out of 100.”]
[Digging into Sagong Yu’s psychology in
A person who had debuted on the silver screen at the age of sixteen and stirred anticipation in the film industry with his growth every year.
On top of that, in the thriller film
He was certainly, one might say, the trendiest actor around this time.
That Sagong Yu was one of the people who, in the past, had no reason whatsoever to associate with Kim Chunyong’s side.
For there to be no reason to associate with Kim Chunyong’s side back then meant one thing.
He didn’t drink, and he didn’t enjoy nightlife.
His private life was clean.
Whenever Kim Chunyong always sat around killing time at clubs, he naturally ended up running into people who moved between tables and rooms, and there were often people he newly met as well.
“Wow, damn. What kind of person drinks whiskey like water? Keep doing that and you’ll ruin your insides!”
“Hey, it’s fine. Do you know how much we drink in the film and theater department? This is nothing. This much is just enjoying it.”
“…
Uuugh.”
“No, damn it. Someone else drank it, so why are you the one doing that, Rex? Bag, bag!”
“Watching someone else drink makes me want to puke….”
Among them were actors too, but no matter how he looked back on those faces, Sagong Yu had not been there.
Not then, and not now.
To think today was their first meeting.
“…
I’m truly happy to have been able to come here to brighten such an occasion. If not for this, I wouldn’t have had the chance to stand on the BNS Live Hall stage.”
Before the award presentation was fully prepared, Sagong Yu continued some light small talk, and in contrast to the cold scenes in the film, he looked fairly friendly.
He wore a smile from time to time on his sharp-looking face and even waved to people.
“Haha, I listen to K-pop really often too. Seeing the celebrities who exist inside my mind makes me feel very strange.”
Even so, he spoke kindly to people with well-chosen words.
Those appearances looked distinctly different from when he had spoken with Kim Chunyong earlier.
“Haha, nice to meet you. Then what should I call you, Sagong Yu-ssi….”
“Just call me Sagong Yu, by my full name. That will do.”
“Ah, yes. Um, since you came in, would you like to have something before you go? We have this and that.”
“No, I’m fine. An Taei, that bas….”
“Yes?”
“…
An Taei was making such a fuss that I just came to see your face first. I’ve greeted you, so that’s enough. I’ll see you later.”
Sagong Yu, when he briefly spoke with Kim Chunyong, had been unbelievably blunt.
“Eh? P-please don’t be like that! I mean, you came all the way to our waiting room. Here, snacks! At least take some snacks with you!”
“That’s what I’m saying. I mean, you came looking for our member, so there’s no need for you to leave right away like this….”
“…
He’s already gone, though? His footsteps are super fast!”
“Huh….”
“Mmm, it doesn’t seem like he exchanged many words with Chunyong either. Well, this is something.”
He had left the front of Tioze’s waiting room door as soon as he finished speaking, before the other members had any time to stop him, so there was nothing more to add.
This unfriendliness, this bluntness.
“Now, I will announce the honorable winner of Sound Stage’s Song Award for the second half of the year. Whew, my hands are trembling again….”
And yet now, he was pushing an extremely friendly image.
Putting this and that together, Kim Chunyong still could not quite get a sense of what kind of person Sagong Yu was.
He seemed sensitive, and he seemed blunt.
Seeing him do his best to smile on stage, he also seemed like a hard worker who cared, to some extent, about his own image.
‘…
Unless we seriously talk, or unless some issue comes up that can show his personality, I don’t think it’ll be easy to tell.’
For now, the biggest reason Kim Chunyong wanted to meet An Taei’s friend was to obtain hints about the “other guys.”
With Kim Chunyong’s extremely narrow entertainment-world connections, limited to drinking buddies, it was obvious it would be difficult to find those bastards.
But how was it supposed to work if the person who would give him those hints was that ambiguous?
‘Taei, even when choosing someone to introduce me to, did you have to pick someone like that….’
Just then, as Kim Chunyong wore a bitter smile while thinking of WIZ’s innocently pure seven-year-old male center.
“The winner of the Song Award for the second half of the year is….”
Sagong Yu’s voice trembled lightly as he announced the winner….
“…
Sledix.”
And his expression crumpled very briefly.
So briefly that it would be difficult for anyone to say anything about it.
A fleeting moment that even the camera would pass over as, “Maybe he was nervous.”
But to Kim Chunyong, who had been scrutinizing Sagong Yu the entire time with members on either side of him, it was a change that was clearly visible.
‘…
What was that?’
Even while applauding like mad for the seniors who would soon come in behind him, Kim Chunyong rolled his eyes around, trying to figure out what that subtle thing he had just confirmed was.
Suddenly, something about it gave him the strong feeling that, at the after-party later where he would have An Taei with him, he might become friends with Sagong Yu.
However, Kim Chunyong had to set that feeling aside for a very short while.
Because the person who, throughout the entire time Kim Chunyong had been holed up in the waiting room earlier, had made him writhe with worry thinking, “What if he suddenly comes looking for me?” was also coming onto the stage.
The man standing at the head of the group, wearing a suit jacket that had been lengthened and remodeled like a durumagi.
The leader of a top-tier male idol group who had not shown even the tip of his nose throughout today’s Sound Stage The Final stage.
“…
We’ll greet you. One, two, three.”
Before accepting the award, he led the group greeting….
“—Hello, we are Sledix!”
Jeong Yeonu, greeting the fans and the other fellow singers.
“…….”
The moment Kim Chunyong’s eyes met his, he was swept up in an indescribable emotion.
Well, perhaps it was because so much had happened today.
But that perfectionist Jeong Yeonu had a more satisfied smile on his face than usual today, and that made him uneasy.
“…
First, please receive the trophy.”
“Ah, yes.”
A meeting that would take up half of SNS and community boards’ shares regarding today’s Sound Stage The Final had abruptly arrived.
A conversation between the leader of a male idol group that boasted an indomitable tier-one status, and the first person who came to mind these days when talking about male actors in their twenties.
SNS and the communities were already regenerating madly with posts taking over the boards, saying things like, “Just standing there makes a picture,” and, “I approve of this friendship.”
However, as they said, people always ended up focusing only on what was visible on the outside.
As for what the substance inside was like, only those who could peer into it from up close would know.
“Thank you.”
“Ah, yes. Then I’ll be….”
“Yes. Thank you once again, Yu-ssi. Haha… Maybe because it’s an award given by Yu-ssi, it feels even more special.”
“…….”
It was a conversation with nothing wrong in it.
Jeong Yeonu treated Sagong Yu with the professional and sly attitude that suited his public image, and Sagong Yu gave him a light nod in return.
However, thanks to Sagong Yu suddenly gripping the bottom of the trophy tightly, as though he did not want to hand it over, Kim Chunyong was able to realize it.
The reason why, when he saw Sagong Yu hesitating to announce the winner earlier, he had felt that they might be able to become friends.
And the atmosphere between those two, who seemed somehow to already know each other.
“Just call me Sagong Yu, by my full name. That will do.”
Everything pointed to exactly one thing.
…
Sagong Yu was uncomfortable with Jeong Yeonu.
Perhaps as much as Kim Chunyong, who wanted to avoid Jeong Yeonu with all his might for the sake of his contract terms with X and a comfortable future ahead.
Or even more than that.
“…….”
At the same time as Sledix’s final stage began, Kim Chunyong’s eyes moved rapidly.
How should he use this situation?
What kind of effect could it bring about?
“…
Haha.”
And soon, at last, a satisfied smile rose to Kim Chunyong’s lips.
It felt as if he had found the exact matching pair to a cogwheel that had been oddly spinning out of place.