“Right. How have you been? From what I heard from Director Gye and your hyung, you’re getting pretty good reviews.”
“Ah, no. We’re still rookies, so even if people might know our group, I alone don’t have much recognition.”
Saying that, I was about to eat when I flinched at her somehow sharp gaze.
“Well, the agency is… Well, I see. Do you keep in touch with Junjae these days?”
I closed my mouth at the nuance that seemed to blame the agency. However, that thought was brief, and when I couldn’t answer and made a flustered expression because I didn’t know who Junjae was, she sighed as if she expected this and reproached me.
“Your hyung might be a bit busy, so you as the younger brother should have kept in touch regularly. As you know, Junjae is at a big agency, and it’s not easy for him to contact you first because he’s busy. Junjae said he was upset that he couldn’t even contact you because you changed your number.”
“……Yes.”
“Jerim, you’re the younger brother. You should approach your hyung first.”
So the person named Junjae is Ka Jerim’s hyung. Seeing that Ka Jerim’s hyung told his mother that he was upset because he couldn’t contact Ka Jerim, it seems like he was somewhat close to Ka Jerim.
Just as I was thinking that, my heart pounded and churned.
‘Because I’m nervous? That’s not it.’
Even though I had no memory of Ka Jerim at all, it was strange that my heart was pounding as soon as I thought of his hyung, so I frowned.
Why was my heart already beating like this when I hadn’t even met him? It wasn’t nervousness, and it wasn’t anticipation either. It wasn’t a friendly feeling either, but a completely different, strange feeling.
“Jerim? Are you listening to me?”
“—Yes, yes. I’m listening.”
The pounding of my heart gradually subsided. Even when I thought of hyung again, my heart didn’t pound like before, but an uncomfortable feeling still remained.
‘By the way, how should I treat Ka Jerim’s hyung? Should I treat him like I treat the member hyungs?’
There were many hyungs around me who debuted at a young age. But since I didn’t have a real older brother, I didn’t know how to treat him. And if he was my hyung, he was probably close to Ka Jerim, so I became anxious thinking he might catch on that I wasn’t Ka Jerim.
‘Fortunately, I don’t need to meet him right away anyway…’
However, before my thoughts could finish, I almost spit out the food I was eating at Ka Jerim’s mother’s following words.
“Anyway, I figured that would be the case, so I already told Junjae to come.”
“Junjae, hyung?”
“Yeah. Junjae said he’d make time to come when he heard you were coming. Your hyung also just debuted not long ago and barely made time, so treat him warmly.”
This suddenly? I was going to go home and learn a bit more about what kind of person Ka Junjae was before coming, but now I was going to meet Ka Jerim’s hyung without any preparation. What should I do about this?
“Hey, Jerim. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“No.”
Obviously my face must be pale white. The food I was eating now was all stuck in my solar plexus because I was eating while watching their reactions, and it seemed even more stuck from what just happened.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-
“Oh my. Junjae must be here!”
With good timing, as soon as the sound of the front door lock keypad being pressed was heard, she jumped up.
Because of that, I, who was eating, also inadvertently jumped up from my seat and followed her toward the entrance, and when the front door opened, bright yellow hair popped in first.
“My son is here? It wasn’t too hard getting here, was it?”
“Oh, Mom. Let go for a moment. I bought this.”
“Why did you buy this when you’re having a hard time? Isn’t this expensive?”
Ka Junjae. I didn’t recognize him from photos, but when I saw him in person, it was a face I knew. Because I had seen that bright yellow hair on broadcasts several times.
“Hey, you bastard.”
After he handed the gift to his mother and raised his head, seeing me standing awkwardly, he waved his hand casually as if seeing someone he saw yesterday and put me in a headlock. But even in the moment I was caught in the headlock, my head was spinning quickly.
“Huh? You got really busy, didn’t you?”
Deep double eyelids and a slightly sharp impression, his characteristic laugh that came out while being cocky.
I knew that face, which looked completely different from Ka Jerim, too well. Not only his face, but also what kind of evaluation he was receiving recently among netizens and among singers.
“And if you changed your number, you should have told me.”
“Junjae, Jerim didn’t tell you his number either?”
“Yeah, of course. Jerim completely declared severance with me—”
While thinking such thoughts and staring at his face, he, who had no way of knowing my thoughts, spoke to me even more playfully.
“Didn’t you want to see me?”
Grace. A rookie male idol group that recently boldly launched from W Agency, a large agency. But contrary to the surrounding expectations that they would be a huge hit, they failed miserably.
The reason was that their debut song was too strange.
It was a group that became famous in a different sense, to the point where people said how could they come out with such a strange song, and whether it was a song aimed at noise marketing. Variety shows were all secured through the agency’s influence, and they put tremendous effort into media play, but.
“I wanted to see you though.”
Their music ranking was rock bottom, and they didn’t gather a proper fan base either.
Rather, because they brought all kinds of controversies, among celebrities, Grace was openly nicknamed W Agency’s most failed stock.
A member of such a group, Juni. He was Ka Jerim’s hyung.
Somehow it seemed like things were going to get complicated.
And so the uncomfortable meal began.
“Ah, I’m so busy these days, it’s tough.”
“Yeah, son. How often do you appear on broadcasts, Mom is so proud.”
“Anyway, I have to eat quickly and go to filming again. I’m so busy even though it’s not promotion period.”
“Eat your food quickly first. Son— what do we do when you’re having such a hard time?”
I already didn’t exist in their eyes.
Since I wasn’t the real Ka Jerim anyway, I didn’t feel envious, but seeing the clear difference in temperature in how she treated Ka Junjae and Ka Jerim made me feel strange.
‘She wasn’t like that to Ka Jerim.’
The gift I had brought was left alone next to the entrance, just as I had placed it. The gift that no one paid attention to was like a borrowed sack of barley, and it was very similar to my situation.
“Mom, you know. That, you know the singer Seo Yoon, right? I got her autograph for you yesterday at the radio station~ Because Mom likes her.”
“Oh my. The only one who thinks of Mom is Junjae, isn’t it?”
The two of them I saw from where I sat were a perfect family.
I tried to think it was an unnecessary thought, but after seeing that family photo with only three people earlier, my thoughts kept leaning in this direction.
“Jerim.”
“Yes?”
She suddenly called me.
“You finished eating, right? Since Junjae came, I’m going to reheat the stew.”
“Yes. I finished eating.”
Actually, I hadn’t finished, but I couldn’t tell her I hadn’t eaten as she was already lifting the pot.
I watched the back of her disappearing into the kitchen humming as if to make more food, then my eyes met Ka Jerim’s hyung, Ka Junjae, who was looking at me intently.
“Hey.”
“……Yes.”
“Why the sudden formal speech?”
Informal speech is difficult though.
Even though I lived in the dorm for a long time, I never fully dropped the formal speech with the hyungs. For me, who had become accustomed to formal speech, it wasn’t easy to speak informally to a biological hyung who was no different from a stranger I was seeing for the first time. When I smiled awkwardly, he looked at me with a strange face and tossed out words.
“Don’t you have a schedule today?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Why, you ask. If you’re an idol too, you would know that even if it’s a break period, it’s only a break in name and not a rest at all.
It was impossible to schedule anything because the practice schedule was full for the next month to prepare for the next comeback. The broadcasts that had been offered were all pushed to the next comeback period, so the next activity schedule was already full.
“We have to start preparing for the next mini-album comeback right away, so there’s no official schedule, just some practice schedules…”
Especially unlike the other members, I also had to film the <We Got Married> special, so I would probably be busy without a moment to spare.
Thud.
At that moment, she, who had come back at some point and placed food on the table, spoke in a tone that said she knew it would be like this.
“How can you compare Junjae and Jerim? Your agency size is different to begin with.”
“Ah, is that so? Hey, Ka Jerim. What was your agency again? I forgot.”
“O-All Entertainment.”
“Ah, crazy. Isn’t that not very good? It’s really small.”
Our agency isn’t that small though… It’s not one of the top agencies in Korea, but as the female idol group from the same agency grew, the male idol group Abyss also rode the growth trend together, so it wasn’t that small.
“Right? Mom heard of O-All for the first time too. I keep forgetting.”
“Yeah. It’s a bit small. But, it’s supposed to be a decent place. Right?”
“Ah, yes.”
I smiled awkwardly and nodded my head. I couldn’t defend my agency in this situation.
Honestly, since I wasn’t at an agency that adults know about, I agreed with Ka Junjae’s words, and Ka Junjae, unlike before, suddenly started praising me.
“But Mom. If you think about it, Jerim’s group is actually more famous than our group.”
“Junjae, even though your group debuted late, you’re more famous. You appear on broadcasts a lot too…”
Mother tilted her head saying it was strange. It seemed like she thought I became famous because I debuted early from a small agency.
The seat was uncomfortable. I hastily spoke in the atmosphere that flowed as if I shouldn’t do better than Ka Junjae.
“Of course. …Hyung is doing much better.”
Ka Jerim’s mother smiled as if that’s right, as if she had no bad intentions, and Ka Junjae, who had been looking at me strangely with an observing gaze from earlier. Between them, I tried to remain calm.
“Ka Jerim. Are you by any chance…”
♩♬~
Ka Junjae was about to say something to me when my phone’s ringtone rang loudly. The phone ringtone was more than welcome. I jumped up from my seat and said I would take the call for a moment, then left the seat and entered Ka Jerim’s room.
