* * *
I was wondering when I should greet them, but there was no opening at all.
When their seemingly endless argument finally began to subside, I made eye contact with the man who had been shouting for a while.
“What the. Who are you?”
“-Hello!”
“Don’t tell me…… Ka Jerim?”
He must have heard about me beforehand. When I quickly stood up from my seat and bowed my head in greeting, the man looked at me with wary eyes. After staring at me intently for a moment, he opened his mouth with a somehow complicated-looking face.
“I’m Seon Hobeom. Twenty next year.”
“I’m Ka Jerim, and I’ll be nineteen next year.”
“Oh, I heard from Seol hyung. But you’re somehow different from the rumors.”
Seon Hobeom continued to look at me as if observing. In front of him like that, I was troubled because I didn’t know what expression to make, but due to the fierce glare from the man telling me to shut my mouth and eat the wild ginseng I was eating, I had no choice but to hurriedly close my mouth and chew.
The foreign-looking man who had been watching me contentedly as I chewed and finished the root in my mouth finally opened his mouth.
“I’m Park Eden. Twenty-two. Call me hyung.”
Both Park Eden and Seon Hobeom were older than me. What is this feeling that somehow I’d be the youngest here too?
“Please take care of me!”
“Eat and then talk.”
I greeted them ambitiously, but because Park Eden scolded me every time I opened my mouth, I couldn’t even finish my greeting and had no choice but to close my mouth right away. This damn wild ginseng root won’t go down even after chewing and chewing, like gum. And Seon Hobeom, who had been carefully observing the two of us, propped his chin with his hand and asked me.
“Wild ginseng in your mouth?”
Because Park Eden was monitoring whether I would open my mouth or not, I couldn’t open it, so I eventually nodded my head toward Seon Hobeom while trying hard to hide my bitter expression. Then Seon Hobeom looked back and forth between me and Park Eden as if surprised.
“Eden hyung doesn’t give that to just anyone, you must have really caught his fancy.”
Seon Hobeom looked at me with a dubious face as if this situation was a bit strange, then soon yawned and stretched fully. Overall, he was a man with a cat-like feeling. When my eyes met with Seon Hobeom, who was blinking with languid eyes, I blinked at Seon Hobeom’s suddenly sharp tone.
“Actually, I don’t know how you sweet-talked Seol hyung, but we’ve been living together as trainees for a long time. You know that, right?”
“Ah…… Yes.”
It somehow seems edgy, or is it just my imagination? Actually, I don’t know how long they’ve been training, but I nodded my head saying I understood. However, the moment I answered, Seon Hobeom’s expression completely changed.
“But you’re joining even though you know that?”
“……What?”
Only then did I feel clear hostility.
“When I looked into it, the rumors are considerably bad. If everything we’ve worked hard for until now crumbles because of you like those rumors say……”
Seon Hobeom, who added “I won’t let it slide,” was no longer smiling, and as if the playful appearance he had shown me until just now was a lie, his eyes were shining coldly. No matter how I think about it, it seems like he doesn’t just dislike me but abhors me…… what should I do?
However, looking at it from a third party’s perspective, it is a situation where he has reason to dislike me. I was lucky enough to catch Onseol’s eye and was suddenly confirmed to join the group, which could look like parachuting in. And as if that weren’t enough, I’m dragging around bad rumors too.
If a team that had been preparing to debut for a long time had a member with very bad rumors join when their debut was just around the corner, it would be understandable to dislike them.
While thinking such thoughts and being lost in thought about how to navigate this situation, I suddenly felt a hand tugging at my clothes, so I quickly turned my head. Park Eden was sitting in his seat, pulling at my clothes.
……Is this a wild ginseng root inspection?
“I finished eating it!”
I said I finished eating the wild ginseng, opened my mouth once, then closed it again and smiled brightly. But Park Eden’s expression was still strange. Was this not what he was asking about? When I waited for his next words, Park Eden hesitated for a long time as if he would speak or not, and finally asked me.
“Are you okay?”
Park Eden’s voice was very gentle. His eating habits were mature, and since even his voice was calm and low, the more I looked at him, the more he seemed like an elder. His voice was so low and neat that it reminded me of the radio before sleep or the calm narration of a documentary, and I, who had been listening as if enchanted, soon said brightly to Park Eden who was worried about me.
“Ah, yes! Where in the world is there an easy thing?”
“Are you really okay?”
‘You want me to make a team with this brat?’
‘What practice, you do it yourself.’
‘Stop whining! You’re annoying.’
“I’ve been through worse than this, so.”
These words were things I heard from my hyungs during the early trainee days before debuting with Fort. That’s even the toned-down version.
During my trainee days, the hyungs each had various issues and their respective wounds were so deep that their thorns were always standing stiffly erect. And that poured down on me like venting, as I was easy prey and the youngest. Actually, even for me, the process of understanding and accepting that was long and difficult.
“Originally, Hobeom wanted to go with a 4-member system, but the dance formations and positions…… I think you’re fine.”
“Eden hyung, I’m okay. Is it thanks to the wild ginseng you gave me? I’m really okay.”
“Hobeom isn’t a bad kid, so you’ll be able to get close quickly. He’s originally a bit simple so he loosens up quickly…… Just bear with it a little. He seems a bit twisted right now.”
But even if those processes took a long time, in the end everyone was able to accept each other, and that was enough. The hyungs also came to their senses and tried harder to treat me better. So even though our members had a hard time in the beginning, later we were able to remain as family to each other, as friends, as indispensable beings.
Actually, even now, when I recall the moment when the Fort members opened up their hearts to each other and then all hugged and cried together, I couldn’t help but smile. Because it was such a happy moment.
“I just need to work hard. And he’s not wrong.”
Let’s work hard.
When I smiled while making such a resolution, Park Eden looked at me strangely.
* * *
At that time, Onseol was walking through the agency corridor boldly while showing off his glamorous and angel-like appearance. And next to him was a man who wouldn’t be intimidated even next to Onseol’s superior height.
The two of them passed through the corridor together, and the trainees who happened to be passing by murmured while looking at them with eyes full of admiration.
“Wow, insane. Onseol’s visuals are working hard again today. Is that Doun next to him?”
“When did they say those guys are debuting?”
“Isn’t it next year? Anyway, Doun’s low notes are killer, so it’ll be amazing when he sings…… I hope the song comes out soon.”
“Hey, Doun’s position is rap, would he sing?”
Ma Doun had jet-black hair like ebony contrasted with pale skin. He had an impression like a vampire, particularly cold and chilly-looking. Even his personality was so cold that when a girl grabbed his wrist saying she was a fan, he wrinkled his expression as if touching something dirty and knocked her wrist away. Of course, there were many who went even crazier for such a iron wall.
“Hi, Seol-ah! Doun-ah!”
“Hello.”
“……”
While Onseol received the greetings of passing trainees with a smile every time, Ma Doun kept his mouth tightly shut and passed by the trainees. When the trainees’ gazes were drawn to the stark temperature difference between the two, they slipped into the conference room.
As soon as Ma Doun and Onseol entered the conference room, they bowed their heads toward the PD-nim who was sitting in a chair, waving his hand and smiling brightly.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
A man with a thick build wearing unique glasses sat in his seat and spoke cheerfully. He was active as Yak PD, his real name was Oh Shinwoo, and he had maintained a connection with Onseol since meeting as judge and participant on an audition program.
“PD-nim, it’s been a while!”
“Onseol- your face has really opened up?”
“I suppose.”
Yak PD had such great skill in producing songs that he mainly worked with large agencies, but due to his personal friendship with Onseol, he decided to help with the debut title track of the group Onseol belonged to this time. Seeing Yak PD still insisting on uniquely designed glasses, Onseol thought, ‘How many pairs of glasses does PD-nim have?’
“Seol-ah- are you still hiding that trashy personality? Doun, have you been well?”
As if those words were a signal, Ma Doun, who had been closing the conference room door and turning around, slid down and crouched in front of the door. Then he immediately covered his face, and Ma Doun’s ears, which were buried deep in his large palms, were bright red. Even though it was quite different from the cold appearance they had seen in the corridor, they laughed at Ma Doun as if familiar with it.
“PD-nim, as you can see, Doun is still a weakling.”
“……Hey.”
Ma Doun raised his head as if protesting and spoke in a low voice, but his bright red face instead became a source of teasing for the PD and Onseol.
“Wow, do you see? Earlier some kid grabbed Doun’s wrist and said she was a fan, and now he’s in that state.”
“Wow, that big guy is a weakling…… Seol-ah, well. You must have hidden that shitty personality well.”
“Actually, I’ve already been found out a lot?”
“Oh my, geez.”
Onseol and Yak PD made eye contact and giggled. Yak PD was one of the few people who knew Onseol’s personality.
“Don’t tease me……”
“Aigoo, Doun! Our tomato!”
Unlike his cold impression, Ma Doun had a personality that was very shy, extremely wary of strangers, and tender. But because of his build, and because he himself didn’t particularly like his personality, he hid his personality outside, but somehow Yak PD came to know Ma Doun’s personality at a private gathering Onseol had arranged. After that, Yak PD teased Ma Doun by calling him tomato and found him cute.
