Jion’s appearance as he emphasized his point several times made him look exactly like a victim who’d been backstabbed by his girlfriend, but with two potential perpetrators right in front of him, Jion couldn’t afford to worry about how he looked.
“Haha…… Jion-ssi, you’re being too serious. Shall we listen to the next story then?”
And so they listened to two more hopeless stories. One was from a guy who wanted to steal his friend’s boyfriend, and another was about someone who couldn’t forget a man he met for a one-night stand and kept hanging around the hunting pocha where they met, continuing their one-night stands.
The latter felt like the writer had added a lot of MSG for broadcast purposes, but the members all diligently reacted to and gave advice for every story.
“Wow…… I heard so many shocking stories today that I don’t think I’ll be able to date for a while.”
When filming ended, Eungi shuddered as if disgusted.
“You’re not supposed to date during idol activities anyway.”
Jion said pointedly to Eungi with a laugh. His eyes were fixed on Seonwoo Jin. As soon as filming ended, Sollin and Seonwoo Jin started having some conversation together, and Ryu Geon patted the shoulder of Jion, who was glaring fiercely at those two.
“You don’t think there’s something between Woojin and Sollin-sunbae, do you?”
“Ah, just. I’m just worried.”
“It’s okay. We all made a promise, didn’t we?”
Ryu Geon smiled and held up his pinky finger. It was about the meeting Ryu Geon had urgently called the day before filming this program at Jion’s suggestion.
“Let’s not fall pathetically after we’ve only just gotten attention.”
Thanks to Jion wildly inflating Ryu Geon’s imagination based on Seonwoo Jin’s past exploits (Negative), Ryu Geon appealed to everyone throughout the meeting in a tone that was beyond serious—almost tragically despairing.
“Let’s promise that at least until we get first place on a public broadcast, we won’t exchange private messages with the opposite sex on SNS and stuff. And I know it’s a bit much to call it surveillance between us…… but let’s cooperate so we can check if something seems suspicious or weird. How about it?”
In other words, it was a kind of mutual surveillance pact.
Originally, with failed idols, there’s no guarantee the group will succeed just because one member does well, but if one member fails, the structure is such that the whole group inevitably fails.
So it was a proposal for a kind of personal information, privacy, and rights violation treaty—to avoid ruining each other’s lives through thorough surveillance and supervision. Surprisingly, everyone readily agreed to the leader’s appeal.
“I think it’s a good idea.”
“I can show you too!”
And Seonwoo Jin, who they’d been most worried about, accepted it without much complaint.
“Should I close my accounts too?”
“No, there’s no need to go that far…… I just hope you won’t do anything that would make fans suspicious or anything like that.”
Jion, dissatisfied with Ryu Geon’s cautious request, cut in.
“Don’t exchange private contact with female celebrities. Don’t meet them privately. Don’t fraternize with other celebrities, especially those who do hip-hop, models, influencers, those kinds of people. When meeting anyone, bring Manager-hyung along. Never get photographed together.”
The members laughed at the overly specific prohibitions.
“Isn’t On-hyung being too serious?”
“Seong Jion is meticulous, so meticulous.”
“Would famous people even meet with us?”
But Jion was serious. Based on his experience so far, Jion emphasized his puppy-dog eyes that had been undefeated against Seonwoo Jin and held out his pinky.
“Let’s promise, all of us.”
“……Sure, whatever.”
He’d clearly promised readily back then…….
Jion glared with a scary expression at Seonwoo Jin, who was talking with Sollin. The conversation between the two seemed quite friendly, so he couldn’t let his guard down. But the next moment, when Sollin smiled and held out her phone, Seonwoo Jin immediately bowed his head.
He refused!
Jion was deeply moved by Seonwoo Jin’s sensible behavior.
That’s right, Woojin. You’re also an adult man who can be reasoned with, who has common sense, principles, and a sense of responsibility!
“Now, to celebrate BNCZ’s first variety show filming, cheers!”
“Cheers!”
And for BNCZ, who had landed a variety show on their own without even being cast, the company card came out for the first time in a while. Even so, it wasn’t beef but pork belly—a modest company dinner of buying it and grilling it at the dorm. Still, it was a meal with some oil after a long time.
“We don’t have any members with bad drinking habits, right?”
Ryu Geon, who’d become a worry doll thanks to Jion overstimulating his imagination, looked around at the members before pouring beer.
“We don’t!”
“Not really, I guess……”
As for bad drinking habits, maybe Jinyeong saying cringey things when drunk and Eungi’s voice getting a bit louder? Everyone was on the quiet side and didn’t particularly enjoy drinking, so there were no concerns.
“I don’t really have any either.”
Only after hearing Seonwoo Jin’s answer did Jion realize there was a lot he didn’t know about him—his alcohol tolerance, drinking habits, how often he drank, and so on.
Well. I only found out today that he’s Seonwoo-ssi, not Seon-ssi, so how would I know about his drinking habits?
Jion deeply reflected. He’d resolved to do his absolute best to change the future, yet he hadn’t taken care of the most important thing.
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated. He needed to understand everything about Seonwoo Jin, his greatest future enemy. Jion naturally switched seats to sit next to Seonwoo Jin.
“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever drunk with you until we’re drunk, Woojin.”
He was a guy in his early twenties who didn’t go to college, didn’t go to the military, and had little social experience—easy prey for Jion.
Jion planned to stick by Woojin’s side all evening and extract every bit of personal information he could sell.
But unexpectedly, Seonwoo Jin was an opponent who seemed easy but wasn’t so simple.
“We’re in the same room but our beds are on different levels, so maybe that’s why. I feel like we don’t really see each other’s faces.”
“Yeah.”
“We don’t really have time to talk together or anything.”
“Yeah.”
And silence.
One thing became clear from this. Seonwoo Jin doesn’t show sociability first with guys. Jion suppressed his irritation and continued his efforts.
“You’ve really improved a lot. Next time, how about sharing the rap parts with Geon-hyung or Eungi a bit? And you could sing more. Your voice is so good too, it’s a waste.”
It’s absolutely not because I’m reluctant to give you parts since your sense of rhythm and diction are ambiguous. Just take it as a compliment.
Jion smiled with his eyes to avoid revealing his true feelings. And Seonwoo Jin, whose sociability with the same sex had gone to hell, really loved it when someone showed interest in him first or complimented him.
“Ah, really? But parts are, well…… we won’t know until we get the song……”
“That’s true.”
Silence again. Still not easy. Jion naturally filled Seonwoo Jin’s glass as if the conversation had simply run its course.
“Drink up, drink up. Cheers.”
And so the glasses kept emptying, and when Seonwoo Jin’s ears had turned reddish, Jion gradually brought up the main topic.
“Earlier after filming…… what were you talking about with Sollin-sunbaenim?”
“Ah, just…… that filming was fun today…… Oh, right. Our variety appearance today was something sunbaenim suggested first. After seeing us on YouTube’s trending videos.”
“……I knew it.”
“Huh?”
“No, no, I mean we’ve been pretty hot recently. YouTube variety shows have to respond quickly to trends, you know.”
While waving his hand with a smile, Jion was keeping a straight face inside.
As expected, Sollin made the first move. It was good that I controlled the members in advance to prevent them from exchanging contact info. And as if reading Jion’s thoughts, Seonwoo Jin quickly added.
“She asked to exchange contact info too, but I politely declined. I said we’re being careful not to get involved with female celebrities as much as possible, even professionally, until we establish ourselves.”
“Good job. You’re such a good boy, our Woojin.”
Still, I thought the dog couldn’t quit shit, but somehow he did quit it.
Jion, feeling good from the alcohol, patted Woojin’s back as if handling Eungi. And Seonwoo Jin, his face even redder from Jion’s affectionate skinship, looked around and then lowered his voice to whisper in Jion’s ear.
“……I told Sollin-sunbaenim that you’re a Loopy Cupy fan. So she said to say thanks, and she’ll contact you separately later.”
……CancelcancelcancelallgoodwordstowardSeonwooJintotallycanceled. Case of dog that couldn’t quit shit right here.
Jion screamed internally.
A week later, Sollin’s Sol’s Dating Advice was released. And Sollin promptly followed all of BNCZ members’ SNS accounts.
At first, the fandom was abuzz asking what’s up with our unnie, but once the broadcast was released, the atmosphere shifted to understanding it was business. Of course, among the core sasaeng fans who knew their unnie’s dating history, there seemed to be some talk going around.
But that wasn’t what was important. The episode featuring BNCZ heated up communities with screenshot captures of the absolutely hopeless stories.
[Sol’s Dating Advice Epic Guy-Stealer]
The post with captures of the first story that shocked the members, along with the members’ extreme facial expressions and individual comments, gathered many replies.
Leaf-fan 1
ㅋㅋㅋㅋLeader’s lamentㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Look at him not managing his expression, so honest
Leaf-fan 2
Crazy, is he really a ninja? How do you secretly meet a guy from the same guild while playing the same game with your live-in boyfriend?;
└ Leaf-fan 5
If you go to game meetups there’s nothing but gross nerdy acne-glasses orcs, my stomach turned
└ Leaf-fan 8
Among girls who game there’s a shitload of abyss-level guy-stealers ㄹㅇ
Leaf-fan 3
“Huh? They’re meeting through a game, how do you know she’s a girl?” <Doesn’t game, pass
Leaf-fan 4
Ayyㅋㅋㅋbut has French Onion Soup bachelor been two-timed beforeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋblood boiling
└ Leaf-fan 6
22222 look at the veins on his neckㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Leaf-fan 7
33333333 definitely been cheated onㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Leaf-fan 9
Seems to have sad dating experience in many waysㅠㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Leaf-fan 10
Ah ㅈㄴ laugh-sadㅋㅋㅋㅋ no wonder his songs are so emotionally complexㅇㅇ
└└ Leaf-fan 32
Complex ㅇㅈㄹㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ it’s the composition
└└ Leaf-fan 42
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“Jion-hyung. Did you really get two-timed, branch-swinged, or something like that by a girlfriend?”
Eungi, more sensitive to internet reactions than anyone, was the first to see that post and ask.
As if. Thanks to a certain someone who was faithful to their emotions, didn’t want to hide their feelings, and firmly protected idol human rights, I’ve been afflicted with an incurable disease where I can’t see anyone’s romance, whether mine or others’, whether branch-swinging or not.
Jion shook his head with a smile.
“I just got over-immersed. Like Woojin did.”
Right. Like Woojin did.
In the aired portion, what Woojin said was lightly edited as if it were just a springboard for Jion’s outburst, but from that day until now, Jion had been mulling over what Woojin said.
“Since there’s already someone who stably likes me, of course I don’t want to lose them. But also wanting to confirm my popularity with the opposite sex like this…… I feel like that’s natural……”
What kind of psychology makes someone say such things so naturally? It was a psychology Jion couldn’t understand.
If there’s someone who likes you, of course you shouldn’t let them go and should date them well.
He understood up to here.
But if there’s someone who likes you, why do you want to confirm your popularity with other people?
What are you going to use that confirmation for? Do they stamp it for you or something?
If you have a lover but collect ten or fifty stamps certifying you’re popular with the opposite sex, does the district office give you a guy-stealer allowance or something?
It was truly a way of thinking that a normal person couldn’t understand, and now Jion was gradually becoming humanly curious about this empty-headed guy named Seonwoo Jin.
What exactly are you?
