The Villainous Member Has Returned! Episode 234
* * *
Tioje wasn’t the only rookie idol for whom this year’s KPCA appearance was their first.
“Singers, please wait in the waiting rooms if at all possible! So we can check the arrival status of the performers, please wait in the waiting rooms if possible!”
“Especially, rookie idols, please familiarize yourselves with the notices posted on the waiting room tables!”
Music Days had put forth “fairness” as the KPCA’s selling point, and as such, they sought to give a wide array of people a chance to win awards, which meant the number of performers was greater than that of other broadcasts.
That is to say, the so-and-so team that had formed a heated rivalry with Tioje this year was, naturally, occupying a spot in the waiting room.
“An Taei. You really need to thank the shop noona. If it weren’t for her, your skin tone would be gray.”
“Mmhmm, I know… Ugh, I’m seriously dying. It’s been two days already, so why am I still like this?”
“Wow. I’ve seen someone like this before. A senior who drank twenty shots of tequila at a graduation party had this exact face.”
“Jaden, please. Just hearing the name of alcohol makes me queasy again.”
“Taei, it’s your karma. Why’d you drink booze you can’t handle during year-end stage season?”
That is, Wijeu.
Like Tioje, Wijeu had arrived at the KPCA venue and safely finished the red carpet photoshoot, and among them, An Taei occupied an entire waiting room sofa, groaning in pain.
“I told you, I got close with Chunyong and Yu. The vibe was good, so how was I supposed to leave?”
“Right. Because you didn’t leave, you ended up practicing while nauseous, still feeling terrible, and now you’ve come to the awards ceremony.”
“Could you be a little nicer…?”
The other Wijeu members, having thoroughly enjoyed their own drinking and merriment, relentlessly criticized their team’s seven-year-old man-child who was whining, and poured water and hangover cures down his throat.
He was suffering, yes, but they couldn’t let him ruin their awards ceremony stage.
Especially Han Danu, the leader, who showed absolutely no mercy in his gestures.
“Keo-heok, w-wait. Let me catch my breath…!”
“If you drank yourself to death, now drink yourself back to your senses.”
Would it be easy to understand if I said the sight resembled a scene from some old historical drama where they grab a character’s jaw and force poison down their throat?
“I… I think I’m okay now. I’m not dizzy anymore. Earlier, I was in the van and… ulp.”
“Then why are you trying to vomit now?”
“You poured four bottles of water into me, Danu…!”
Han Danu’s hands finally stopped, and quite a bit of time passed before a different topic arose in Wijeu’s waiting room.
“…Hoo. Anyway, about that.”
Han Danu, who had tossed the empty water bottle into the trash can in the corner of the waiting room, opened the conversation with the topic he had been more curious about than anyone, though he pretended otherwise.
“You said you got close with Kim Chunyong and Sagong Yu? It’s not your imagination, it’s real?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Ever since Taei hyung came back from that, unless we were practicing, he’s been constantly suffering from a hangover, so I couldn’t even ask about this….”
“Ahem, yeah. I told you it’s real. See, I told you Yu is just a little shy.”
“…….”
At An Taei’s words, the other Wijeu members exchanged glances and kept their mouths tightly shut.
Because if they didn’t, retorts like “You’re doing your absolute best to defend your friend, huh” seemed ready to burst out.
Those who observed Sagong Yu from one step back knew his sensitivity and brusqueness better than those who were close to him.
Moreover, Han Danu, who hadn’t seized the leader’s position for nothing, also knew exactly how to define that personality.
‘That Kim Chunyong brat… he definitely changed after leaving Queens, became more calculated and delicate. In a way that reads other people well. So, the story about them getting close and what An Taei said probably aren’t lies. But still….’
Han Danu glanced briefly at An Taei, who was now groaning on the waiting room sofa not from a hangover but from a stomach full of water, then slowly opened his mouth again.
“…Did the two of you, like, seem to be having fun talking about something?”
“Ugh… Hmm? Why do you ask?”
“No, just. I’m curious. About what kind of stories come out at drinking gatherings.”
Thirty percent of his curiosity was about what stories had actually come up at the drinking table, and seventy percent was about how those two had conversed.
Lastly, the question directed at An Taei contained a total of 110 percent curiosity, including an inexplicable 10 percent sense of wariness.
Han Danu hadn’t brought this up for any grand reason.
Simply….
‘…Sagong Yu, honestly, seems a bit paranoid.’
It was because of Sagong Yu’s personality that he couldn’t say this outright to An Taei, his closest friend.
Brusque and sensitive.
Truthfully, this alone couldn’t express all of Sagong Yu’s personality.
If one observed carefully from one step back, he could be described with different sentences.
A person constantly forced to be a professional because of his job.
A person who, due to some experience, doesn’t easily change his evaluation of someone once he’s judged them.
And, a person who divides the boundary between those he can trust and those he cannot too excessively.
To Han Danu, that was how Sagong Yu felt.
Of course, that didn’t mean it was bad.
Neither Han Danu nor the other Wijeu members had any idea what “bad things” had made Sagong Yu that way.
Still, the fact that such a Sagong Yu had gotten close to Kim Chunyong after just one drinking session provoked much thought.
‘Kim Chunyong… judging by how he’s been acting lately, he probably got close by listening to the other person.’
The stories shared at drinking gatherings among celebrities weren’t particularly special.
Sharing daily life, discussing impressions and problems about it, and shaking it all off with a glass of alcohol.
Moreover, the daily lives of celebrities were, naturally, the entertainment industry.
What did this mean?
Due to Sagong Yu’s paranoid tendencies and the atmosphere of the drinking table, it was quite possible that Kim Chunyong had misunderstood some fact.
Furthermore, Kim Chunyong had approached Sagong Yu wanting to be friends first, and was in a position where he wanted to be liked by him.
In a boisterous drinking gathering, could he really have listened to the words of the person he wanted to get close to with perfect discernment?
Of course, Han Danu couldn’t say this outright.
After all, Han Danu didn’t know everything about Sagong Yu either, nor could he know what stories had been exchanged at that drinking table.
Moreover, Kim Chunyong wasn’t from Wijeu; the other group was Tioje.
The very fact that Han Danu kept showing this interest because of what happened during their trainee days was, in itself, a rather messy affair.
“Um, umm… I went to the bathroom then, so I don’t really know. Well, when I came back out, Chunyong was telling a really amazing story of sweetness after bitterness. So isn’t it all fine?”
“…I see.”
“Ugh, I really need the bathroom. I drank too much water….”
Thus, unable to gain anything of value and feeling uneasy, Han Danu had no choice but to send An Taei—now somewhat back to normal—to the bathroom.
“Danu hyung. I think all the other seniors have arrived at the red carpet now. Want to watch the broadcast?”
“Yeah, yeah. Turn it on.”
Han Danu watched Leopold slowly walking out on the waiting room TV that Joeun turned on, striving to push aside his needless thoughts.
Kim Chunyong is Kim Chunyong, he’ll handle it somehow… he thought.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the same time.
“…Ah, then does Chunyong ssi’s sister like Senior Choe Gaon?”
“Uhhuh, yeah. It seems Yongyong hyung sends his noona signed albums from Senior Gaon sometimes. I overheard him talking with our manager.”
“I see. Siblings, siblings….”
“Shhh. Hwaseong. Wait… Chunyong hyung’s expression up ahead, his expression…!”
“Ah, wait. Was this something I shouldn’t say? No, why am I like this today?”
The three Tioje members and one 2OCD member who had run into each other in front of 2OCD’s waiting room were currently heading down to the underground parking lot in high spirits.
And Kim Chunyong, who was walking at the very front, had an expression that was very dynamic, unlike his usual self.
He would furrow his brows, then realize this and hurriedly smooth them out.
“Ah, I’m sorry. People tend to, um. Talk to me easily about this and that. Haha, so I often get caught up in other matters….”
“Huh, other matters? What kind, senior?”
“Well, for example… infighting in other teams?”
“OMG! We’ve had that too! What happened was, back when we were on our survival show….”
“Hwaseong, why are you so excited? Stop, stop! It’s embarrassing!”
“Oh, Logan. What’s embarrassing? Then Logan can give a brief summary!”
“Oh. W-well, if the senior says so….”
Then, at the chattering voices coming from behind, he became as fierce as a yaksha again.
‘That hyung, he’s using his skill on Hwaseong again. Now he’s putting his hand on Logan’s shoulder too. I’m going crazy. What, is it a skill that makes people loose-lipped?’
It had been quite difficult to stop Lee Hyojae, who had abruptly insisted on accompanying them to the family reunion.
“Was I too uncomfortable? I’m sorry. I find it hard to set boundaries between people….”
“Ah, no. There’s no way we would find you uncomfortable, senior.”
“I’ll really just take the album, say hello, and leave right away. So that Chunyong ssi won’t feel uncomfortable seeing his family!”
“Ahem, Yongyong hyung….”
“…Haha. L-let’s go together! It’ll just be a ‘moment’!”
There was the nuisance that Ji Hwaseong, Logan, and Kim Chunyong had caused in front of 2OCD’s waiting room, and Tioje and 2OCD were in a senior-junior relationship.
You could say they had been led by the nose in a completely unintended direction.
‘I feel like this happened before during Senior Jooyoung’s issue too. Are Logan and Hwaseong the types to attract trouble? No, no. Actually, the one who attracts trouble is me….’
Kim Chunyong chewed on the inside of his cheek, pouring all his mental energy into managing his expression.
Kim Chunyong couldn’t know what Lee Hyojae was thinking when he insisted on coming along.
His expression had been desperate, as if he truly couldn’t send Kim Chunyong off like this, and he had looked ready to grab his hand to ask if it came down to it.
He had said he would avoid a handshake by visiting separately later, but if his hand was grabbed, that evasion would be completely useless.
‘…I have to go quickly anyway for stage prep. Rather, I should just give it to him quickly and send him off.’
Even after roughly setting his course of action, Kim Chunyong had to soak the red hair on the back of his neck with cold sweat from anxiety and tension.
Because the worst-case scenario kept coming to mind.
‘…What if Hyojae hyung is the one who caused that accident?’
The chances of that were probably low.
No matter how shameless someone was, they wouldn’t be brazen enough to be drinking buddies with the person whose life they had personally ruined.
Someone like that would likely be a sociopath.
However, the Lee Hyojae in Kim Chunyong’s memory was not that kind of person.
Unlike his calm and kind appearance, his mouth was rough, his personality was hasty, and as such, he made frequent mistakes.
You could say he was exactly the kind of person to be drinking buddies with Kim Chunyong.
But still….
‘If, if this hyung is that person, then right now, in front of my sister and Nari… I’m bringing the person who caused that accident.’
How could his heart not sink?
Moreover, what Sagong Yu had said to Kim Chunyong while heavily drunk with a sad face was also weighing on his mind.
“At first, I wondered why he was so detached. He’s just smug and a bit… Ah, you’ll know when you meet him.”
“So it’s not that he’s loose-lipped or makes frequent small mistakes, but that he’s smug?”
“Huh? Oh. It wasn’t the feeling you mentioned earlier. Sigh. I just, didn’t feel good about him. You’ll know when you meet him.”
At the time, thanks to Kim Chunyong’s most useful skill, [Overlap], Sagong Yu had vividly felt what happened with Lee Hyojae as if he had just experienced it.
Moreover, there had been no lie in that expression and voice.
No matter what anyone said now, to Kim Chunyong, Lee Hyojae was a suspicious opponent, someone to be on guard against, and perhaps someone he wanted to avoid getting entangled with as much as Jeong Yeonu.
‘…I want to send him back even now.’
From the moment he spotted Tioje’s van in the distance, Kim Chunyong’s hands began to grow damp with sweat.
‘If Hyojae hyung really is that bastard….’
If Lee Hyojae was the one who had caused the accident that overturned the limousine carrying Kim Chunyong’s family.
If that person was the one who now indiscriminately overused skills while lending an ear to others’ stories.
“…Huh? Hey, hey! Kim Chunyong! Kim Chunyong’s here!”
“Yes? How did you—no. Nari ssi. Did you already contact him?”
“Huh? What. I haven’t called him to come yet… OMG, daebak. It’s Tioje! I-it’s really Tioje?”
…What would he think, looking at Kim Chunyong’s two sisters standing over there with such bright, innocent expressions?
“…Noona. Kim Nari!”
Kim Chunyong showed a smile filled with sincere joy to the two people he was meeting again after a long time, but his gaze quickly turned toward Lee Hyojae, who was following behind him.
“Uh….”
Having let out a short exclamation, he was looking at Kim Chunyong with an expression that defied description.