The Villainous Member Has Returned! Episode 247
* * *
Back when I appeared on
Since it was AG’s in-house survival program, the trainee pool was small to begin with, and more than anything, I was dead set on debuting with the Arrows members again.
Well, in the end, I barely managed to debut at 6th place after a hellish back-and-forth with that Ryu Wei bastard, but anyway.
Still, things were a bit different with
[Flick It Boys Final Debut Lineup Decided Under Dazzling Spotlights… An Unexpected Member Composition]
[Controversial
[PD Ju Cheolyoung, “I never manipulated anything, not during Targeting Star and not during Flick It Boys.”]
[Rumors of Discord Among
I remembered a few major incidents here and there, but that was about it.
Honestly, I couldn’t even properly remember the faces of those members who had come to our Arrows waiting room as our juniors.
The reason was nothing special.
Because Flick It Boys was a group of juniors who debuted after the accident that happened to me and my family.
“Rex hyung? Rex hyung, wake up. Some juniors came to greet you.”
“Ugh, mmm… Ah, Hwaseong. I need sikhye….”
“Ah, come on. Rex hyung! How can you be so embarrassing in front of the juniors….”
“…
Haha, our Rex isn’t feeling very well right now! I’m sorry, sorry. Whew, shall we just greet each other for now? Congratulations on your debut, yes.”
By the time Flick It Boys debuted, I was already following my manager hyung around, hopping between clubs and private bars, and I didn’t particularly remember anyone unless I ran into them there.
If they had had some noticeable scandal or issue like others, maybe I would have, but Flick It Boys never showed up at the bars I visited—guess they managed their private lives well as individuals.
So, I needed to do some preliminary research.
To prepare for any possible situation where Logan might get attached to a problematic trainee, or I might get entangled with them, or it might cause trouble for Jaeha hyung.
And actually, that wasn’t the only reason.
X had clearly warned me before.
- X: You! Don’t get close to Jeong Yeonu ㅡㅡ got it?
- X: If you’re with him! You’ll end up meeting them too soon!
- X: It’s not good, I said it’s not good
Getting involved with Jeong Yeonu meant getting closer to ‘the others.’
At the time, I had avoided it as much as possible because of the disciplinary action I’d face for getting involved with ‘the others’ prematurely and my own discomfort regarding Yeonu hyung, but now the situation was different.
I had already been disciplined for personally digging into the ‘others’ while avoiding Yeonu hyung; X had ended up inciting a company union uprising because of that; and it was set in stone that I’d get entangled with Yeonu hyung through this survival show…
So what.
Didn’t that mean I could search even harder?
X was currently excited by the fact that he could tweak the app UI and was tinkering with this and that, and I wasn’t getting harmed in the process either.
Right now, enjoying temporary freedom from that disciplinary matter.
This also meant I could put more effort into finding ‘the others’ a bit more freely now.
The saying “if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it” wasn’t just empty words.
Since things had already come to this, I might as well try to find the culprit who caused the accident to my family among ‘the others’ who might be lurking around Yeonu hyung.
“…
Hoo.”
I sat Logan down beside me, turned on the laptop, and let out a short, heavy sigh.
This prep work on the
Of course, it was more likely that the person would be among the seniors rather than this lot, but still.
I guess you could say I was killing two birds with one stone.
Besides….
“…Logan. Have you searched your name on the internet a lot since debuting?”
“Of course. Not often, but I looked myself up quite a lot especially during the survival show.”
“Oh, how so?”
“On WTube, Rogan Lee, Rogan Lee Singing, Rogan Lee Perform….”
“That’s enough, enough.”
Before we knew it, our ToZ had debuted and about half a year had passed.
Logan probably felt it in his bones by now, but he also needed someone by his side to point out what it really meant to have become an idol.
[I like British guys @logaaaanUKUK(photo)(photo)
Seo Jewon W.
o.
W Logan cut♡ Take a look at our Liverpool genius♡ #Logan #ToZ #Rogan]
[I’m not even a Jenia but I listen to ToZ’s songs so freaking much… Why are their songs so my style]
[⎿I don’t think it’s ToZ songs that are my style, it’s Logan’s lyrics and composition. Yeah, I heard he touched a lot of ToZ’s songs]
[⎿Seriously? He’s a crazy genius, insane]
[ToZ < Their individual images are so distinct they’re easy to remember? I like that kid from Liverpool the most]
The boy genius from England, the sensational Liverpool boy, the one handling everything from lyrics to composition—a one-man wrecking crew carrying ToZ’s album production on his back.
Logan had many nicknames scattered across SNS and community boards, but Logan himself was practically ignorant of them.
Our ToZ had been running such a breathlessly busy schedule, and Logan preferred strumming the guitar or looking over songs in advance instead of searching himself on the internet. On top of that, Logan had debuted before he could get used to Korean fandom culture.
I felt a certain sense of responsibility about this.
“…Here, Logan. Look. When you search your name, use this Korean portal site.”
“Huh? There was a browser like this? I don’t have it on my laptop….”
“Install it, you punk. …And look at articles here. Comments are disabled on this side, so it’s easier to read.”
If I had to briefly sum up my feelings toward Logan, the first things that came to mind were guilt and gratitude.
Logan had wanted to debut in ToZ as much as I had, or perhaps even more than I knew, but truthfully, he would have succeeded even without ToZ.
Since Logan’s joining was decided right around when we got rid of Ryu Wei, who had been harboring dirty intentions, my share definitely existed in the behind-the-scenes of his ToZ debut.
“…What? There are so many articles about me? I was wondering where Hwaseong had been capturing all these from.”
“Yeah. Hwaseong probably checks communities too… but you don’t need to go that far. It’s enough to just look here.”
“U-uhhh… Wait a minute. There are so many compliments, I’m getting dizzy. And all the text is in Korean so it’s still hard—wait! I’ll read slowly!”
A genius who would have found his own way back to England even if left alone.
Now, a giant retriever who came to our team and would lead us to a higher place….
I had to take responsibility.
“Hoo.”
While Logan’s eyes sparkled as he searched his name on the portal, I stretched out straight ahead and cracked my fingers.
The tension felt before starting something new was creeping up my spine, gnawing at it.
“Chunyong hyung, look at this. The stage improvisation from when we did ‘Hide and Seek’! They’ve collected things like this too. It’s amazing….”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah.”
There were only two days, including today, when Logan and I would be alone together in the dorm.
“…Now, Logan. Let’s do what we were originally going to do.”
“Oh, th-that thing where we look up the
“Yeah. I’ll teach you, so just try a little bit at a time. Got it? Since you’re a mentor too, it’s better to look at their faces in advance.”
“That makes sense. So….”
“First, search ‘What’s up with this Flick It Boys trainee.’”
“…Huh?”
From now on, I planned to teach Logan about the sweetness and the ugliness of ego surfing while slowly gathering information that would become my weapons.
* * *
The fact that Logan, who had been unable to go to Liverpool, went to Daegu with Ji Hwaseong and came back a little early reached both Yu Hobin and Son Jaeha’s ears.
One was the manager and the other was the group leader, so it was only natural that they quickly organized their upcoming schedules and headed to the ToZ dorm in Seoul.
Being alone was a lonelier thing than one might think.
Especially if he thought the people who were always around him had left him behind to meet someone precious.
“…Ah, Hobin hyung. Thank you. I could have just taken a taxi.”
“Not at all. Taking the express bus alone was more than enough to draw attention; I should have gone down to get you.”
“Haha, no. It was the first bus, so no one recognized me.”
Yu Hobin, who had naturally picked up Son Jaeha, turned the wheel toward the dorm, and they began sharing what had happened during their short vacation in quiet murmurs.
“Ah, so we’re opening a branch at Smeji too? I’m more nervous than I thought. Haha….”
“We should have applied earlier, so there was a bit of a delay. This won’t happen next time.”
“It’s because you, Hobin hyung, always work so hard managing our team. …You must be very tired. Wouldn’t it be better to have one more road manager looking after us?”
“Ah, I’ll bring that up once. Certainly, having one or two more people from the next promotion onward…”
The van stopped in front of the dorm, and until they went upstairs, they maintained a comfortably even temperature in their calm conversation.
“…So Logan is the only one in the dorm right now? I bought some breakfast just in case.”
“Ah, yes. Since it’s early, we should arrive right in time for breakfast.”
When Yu Hobin and Son Jaeha were together, they could talk with a more comfortable feeling than when they were with others.
Should you call it being kindred spirits?
Calculating, thorough, not crossing lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
A relationship where you could stay close while maintaining a suitable acquaintance without revealing too much of yourself.
Both of them felt that well, and they sometimes thought they might have grown close even if they hadn’t met as manager and idol group leader.
The kind of pretty good friends you could be, despite the age gap.
However, what was important was that both of them knew exactly how far the ‘pretty good friend’ position went.
Exactly, up to there.
Going beyond that was when you inevitably crossed the line set by the other person.
Someone who approaches me and gives me a great resonance even when I don’t want it.
Someone who helps when I’m trying to make a big decision in my life and says, “If it doesn’t work out, blame me.”
Well.
Both of them knew one such person.
Beep, beep-beep, beep—and both of them, knowingly or unknowingly, had secretly wondered, “Could it be that he’s in the dorm with Logan right now?”
There was a good chance of it.
Because he cared so much about the people around him and threw himself into things with all his might, so maybe he’d done the same this time too.
And the moment the two stepped into the dorm, the first sight greeting them was the backs of two men with their noses buried in a laptop.
“My god, he had four girlfriends? T-then isn’t that not allowed? He’s a trainee!”
The one with slightly curly brown hair, dark circles under both eyes, muttering like crazy, was Logan Lee—who should have been depressed about not being able to go to Liverpool.
And the other was.
“…See, Logan. This is what you shouldn’t do. If you use SNS, everything leaves a trace. The internet is really scary. No matter how much you delete, it comes out endlessly.”
…Kim Chunyong, with faded red hair, whom Yu Hobin and Son Jaeha had each thought might have arrived early.
Yeah.
They had thought that Kim Chunyong might have come early and was taking care of Logan.
“Got it? Remember that thing before, that? The parking lot?”
“I remember! Oh my god, that’s absolutely not something that should happen. I don’t want to be eternally archived on the internet like this…!”
“Good. That’s a great mindset. Now, let’s look at the next trainee too… huh? Jaeha hyung? Hobin hyung?”
But that wasn’t exactly the scene they had pictured.