The Evil Member Has Returned! Chapter 246
* * *
X, who single-handedly plotted an internal rebellion and half-succeeded, described himself as “a completely different person from before.”
Whether that was true or not, the only way I could tell directly was that the app, which used to be all black, had turned colorful, but well.
- X: No but like, why would the whole app be black, it’s not a funeral
- X: Isn’t the trend kitsch and pretty?
- X: Our company was seriously old, you gotta admit ㅡㅡ
- X: It should’ve been this way from the start !!
- X: You need to pursue change to develop, just like me
It would be a bit embarrassing to say I don’t see it at all when he’s insisting he’s changed this much.
Besides, that wasn’t the important part anyway.
[Guess What Guess What (??): When the skill caster finds themselves in a tricky situation, the versatile, capable, and genius X can directly provide quick-witted improvisation (Demerit possible)
Effect: X’s Help]
Among the colorful app UI, this weird skill stood out, plastered in the most eye-catching neon color.
- X: You finally saw it? You did!!
- X: Heheheheh, when I was unlocking the skill restrictions, I made it just in case it worked
- X: And it works, right??
- X: As expected, I’m really a genius… How did I even succeed in developing it…
- X: My masterpiece, my genius, my first personally created skill
- X: But I should’ve named it something else ㅡㅡ
- X: I didn’t know it would work so I just threw something in, and that’s what stuck, ugh
Ever since he first succeeded in hacking and unlocked all sorts of restrictions, X had been calling it his gift, and he was beyond proud—but to me, it was pure bewilderment.
What? Who’s versatile, capable, and genius?
What? Direct quick-witted improvisation?
The more I read the description, the more my face fell in a way unbefitting an idol. It was a ridiculous skill.
Honestly, while the skills were locked under the guise of disciplinary action, the ones I’d been longing for were the ‘Overlap’ skill that made it easy to distinguish ‘the others’, the ‘Idol’s Aura’ that directly helped on stage, and if I had to pick one more, maybe the ‘Fortune Cookie’ that foretold the day’s luck.
Not that the other skills aren’t helpful, but still.
They were only applicable in very specific situations.
But what the hell is this?
- Kim Chun-yong: What can you even help with?
- X: Hey you ungrateful bastard ㅁㅊ
- X: After all the skills, the guidebook, the stats I’ve laid out for you
- X: What can I help with?!!
- Kim Chun-yong: No, that’s what your company could offer and you just gave it to me…
- Kim Chun-yong: This weird skill says you’re helping me
- Kim Chun-yong: So what is it?
- Kim Chun-yong: It even says demerit possible
The guy who had been frantically flashing ‘X is typing’ to argue back suddenly claimed he was busy and ran off the moment I mentioned the demerit.
As if he didn’t know full well there was no way a company rebellion during a disciplinary period would land on his own plate. What an excuse.
Even if I didn’t know exactly how the disciplinary situation between me and X stood, I did think it was great that I could use my stats and skills again.
But, if I asked myself whether it was okay to go lawless like this… .
“Heo… .”
I did egg him on, but I have a strong feeling this might come back like a boomerang someday.
“Son, if you sigh, your luck runs away.”
“…
Hup.”
I closed my slightly gaping mouth with a click and nodded toward my dad.
I couldn’t let my problems spread to my family, no way.
“Is it because of work? Haha, you seem to be working the hardest in our family right now, yeah.”
“Sort of… something like that.”
“Still, hm? Relax a little, okay? How can you be that tense even when you’re with your dad? I’m your dad. You can tell me what’s hard, what’s tough. I still don’t really get this idol… thing. But I can still root for my son.”
“…
That’s more than enough.”
“Heo, son. You’re all grown up now. All grown up. Hm?”
My dad’s encouragement from the driver’s seat hit me much harder than he probably thought, and it really helped me forget about the skill and disciplinary issues laid out before me for a moment.
“It’s been a while since you’ve been in this car, right? Ever since I gave you a ride when you were preparing your second album… must’ve been about three, four months.”
“Haha, that’s right. I missed it… .”
Even though quite some time had passed since my return, this reality still felt like a desperate dream to me.
And that’s why I want to be more attentive to what my family and our members want, to treat them better.
I want to grovel so much that people might wonder if I’m a pushover.
And today, especially, those feelings were growing even stronger.
“…
We’re here. This is it.”
Dad’s car stopped in front of our dorm apartment building. He unbuckled his seatbelt, leaned over toward the passenger seat where I sat, and patted my shoulder firmly.
“Take care, son. If I see you this time, will it be another three months before we meet again?”
Right.
Today was the day our short, sweet Teoje first personal break came to an end.
“Did you say Logan went to Daegu with you? Are you two having fun?”
“Aang, of course. We bought a ton of presents too! Logan took his share with him, and if you want yours, Yong-yong hyung, you can head to the dorm first.”
“Huh? Logan went back to the dorm first?”
“Ah… um. Yes. He said he could’ve stayed longer, but he felt bad for intruding on our family time… .”
“Heo… .”
“Just so happened that, you know, my cousin on leave visited us. Ah, seriously, so clueless. I wanted to hang out with Logan more too.”
“Alright, got it. Thanks for telling me, Hwaseong. Get some good rest in Daegu.”
To be precise, since Logan couldn’t go to Liverpool, he went to Daegu with Hwaseong, and I ended up coming back two days early because I was worried about him being alone at the dorm.
Anyway, it was the end of a short vacation.
Once I returned to the dorm, I’d probably spend this hiatus with the members doing other variety schedules, radio, or practice and training.
So, even if we weren’t promoting, we weren’t exactly resting.
On top of that, the program I’d be joining as a mentor was a survival show, and I’d be doing it alongside Yeonwoo hyung, who was already uncomfortable enough, so it wasn’t something I could just brush off.
Things were going to get busy again.
Suddenly becoming a mentor on a survival show, X’s internal rebellion, and the first hiatus after winning a rookie award as Teoje.
From here on out, everything was a path I’d never walked before.
My past reputation as Rex Trash hadn’t been much help normally, and now it would be even less so.
I had to believe entirely in the me of now and move forward.
I’ve almost never done anything confidently on my own—most of the time I’d forced my way through—so when moments like this came, I always felt overwhelmed.
I’m doing it because I have to.
I’m trying because my mistakes are too big, too massive, and I’m working to make them even a little smaller.
With those thoughts, that mindset, somehow.
But now that the reality that I truly had to go down a completely unknown path was dumped right in front of me, honestly, I was a little scared.
Can I do well?
Can I see this through to the end?
“…….”
And so, as my silence stretched on for a moment,
“…
Son. You don’t want to go back to the dorm?”
“Uh, huh?”
“Turn this car around!”
Dad suddenly raised his voice, started the engine he’d turned off, and burst into a loud laugh.
“If you don’t want to, then don’t! Let’s go home, hm? Eat your mom’s cooking. Crawl under the covers and lie down. If your sister and little sister come to bother you, just play with them. Okay?”
Dad’s actions were a bit exaggerated, and his voice was all over the place, unlike his usual calm tone—anyone could tell it was an act.
Right.
“Let’s go home, home! Good. I didn’t want to send you off either. If you go, I’m the only guy left at home. I need to share the torment too, hm?”
Turning on the ignition of this old car and pretending to step on the accelerator—that was Dad’s acting.
A performance from my parents, letting me know that if I ever wanted to run away, they’d be a refuge anytime.
“Ha, haha… .”
I watched Dad act so playfully, so unlike himself, for a long moment, then I couldn’t help but laugh.
Right.
Because I have people like these by my side, I had to work even harder.
“Eohoo, he finally smiles. Son, I thought you were about to say you didn’t want to be an idol anymore. Well, then you could just take over my butcher shop, but… still, what would they say if you got cursed out?”
Our dad, who’s this kind, this good, this devoted to his family… .
He went through an absurd accident because of me—how could I not do my best to make it right?
Dad, Mom.
Noona, and Nari.
Our members who suffered because of me.
When I think of these people, I don’t have time to be scared.
“…
It’s not like that. I just thought, if I go now, I’d miss you.”
I wiped the corners of my eyes with my hands, then, just like Dad had, unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned toward the driver’s seat.
“Oh oh? What’s this. Son, what’s with the affection! Heo, these days you keep doing this whenever you leave… .”
Before I came back, except when I was very young, I had never hugged my dad like this.
I was the only son in the family, and neither Dad nor I ever thought we needed this kind of contact between us.
But back then, when I twisted the fate of our whole family.
How hard was a hug anyway, that I resented myself so much for not having done it before?
“…
I’ll be back.”
I should do this often from now on.
I’ve been doing it every chance I get since returning, but I should do it even more.
And I’ll do my absolute best to set right the things that got twisted because of me.
“Dad’s heading off, son. …
Stay strong!”
With that, Dad’s old car, which had been idling in front of the apartment building, pulled back onto the road.
“…
Hoo.”
Both hands full of the luggage Mom had forced on me with her insistence, I gazed at our dorm in the distance, its light flickering.
My mind felt clear.
And I felt like I could neatly organize what I had to do from now on.
I gripped the heavy bags tightly in my hands and slowly began walking toward the dorm.
Even if I don’t know much, even if the info I knew from my Rex Trash past was useless, there had to be some way to use it somehow.
And I’ll make full use of it, definitely.
This time, this knowledge of mine wasn’t just for me, either.
Beep, bo-beep, beep―
The dorm door opened, and someone approached with a tense expression, holding a frying pan.
“—Huh? Chun-yong hyung? Oh my god, I thought you were a burglar!”
The Liverpool boy who’d have to spend two days alone in the dorm because he couldn’t go to Liverpool—no.
The Liverpool boy who’d be spending two days alone with me in the dorm, Logan.
“A burglar, what are you talking about, man. Come help me with this. There’s a lot of luggage.”
“God, what’s all this? And why are you back already? You still had some vacation time left… .”
“Why do you think? I came back early because there’s stuff to prepare.”
“…
Prepare?”
“Yeah, prepare. You and me, and Jaeha hyung. We’re going out as survival mentors this time, right?”
I grinned toward Logan, whose eyes went round while his invisible tail seemed to be wagging furiously.
“…
I’m going to do a bit of advance study on the trainees who’ll be on that show.”
This time, Logan was also going to study up to some extent with me beforehand to deal with this situation.