# Chapter 13
I hadn’t known Lee Dagyeong would leave so suddenly, so I hurried along with him.
“Lee Dagyeong-ssi.”
Lee Dagyeong turned around at my voice.
“Me? Do you know me?”
Even as he asked, he glanced at his watch again, suggesting he was indeed in a hurry.
“Are you heading somewhere? I have something I’d like to discuss with Lee Dagyeong-ssi. How about we talk in my car on the way?”
“It’s quite far though?”
“That’s even better. I parked over there.”
Lee Dagyeong tilted his head curiously, then let out a small exclamation of “Ah!”
“I’ve seen you on the internet. You’re the Grand Tamer manager, right? Wow!! I thought it was a joke. No, it’s so funny. How can a manager look better than an aspiring celebrity? Han Sijin hyung isn’t someone who’s normally outshined in looks, but when your photo was posted, people joked that it was magic that turned Han Sijin into a squid.”
Had something else happened without my knowledge?
I thought I had been monitoring things well, but it seemed I’d missed quite a bit.
“Woooow!! No way. Is that your car, hyung?”
Hyung had strongly insisted that I take this expensive foreign sports car because young people go crazy for them. It might not work on everyone, but it definitely seemed to work on Lee Dagyeong.
“Wow. That’s insane, hyung. Can I take a picture of this?”
When I told him he could, he started taking photos and couldn’t stop exclaiming in admiration.
“Wow, hyung! Who are you really? Are you a second-generation chaebol? How are people like us supposed to live with our confidence intact when someone your age is driving a car like this? Wow. The wealth gap is intense!”
Once he started talking, he seemed unlikely to stop anytime soon.
Then he sat quietly in the passenger seat and suddenly looked at me with wide eyes, as if something had just occurred to him.
“Hyung! Are you here to scout me by any chance?”
Since that was indeed correct and also the most important business at hand, I quickly nodded.
If I didn’t speak now, I didn’t know how long I’d have to wait for another opportunity.
“That’s right. I want to sign a contract with Lee Dagyeong-ssi. On behalf of Grand Tamer.”
“Whaaaat…!!”
He seemed to freeze for a moment.
His surprised expression looked just like a squirrel that had forgotten where it hid its acorns.
“Me… why? Sijin hyung honestly deserves it. But I’m not good at anything. My ranking was consistently low during the show. I really don’t have any special talents…”
“But you’re not against it, right?”
“Of course not. But is this real? Do you really want to sign a contract with me? You’re not joking, right? If this is a joke, I really…”
Suddenly, tears welled up in his eyes.
I had thought he seemed bright and energetic, but now I realized he had been making an effort to maintain that appearance.
“Why would I joke about something like this?”
“Thank you. Thank you so much. I’ll really do my best. I don’t know why you came looking for me, but I won’t disappoint you. I have a clean past and good character. I don’t know if you noticed earlier, but people all like me.”
Watching Lee Dagyeong boast about himself while on the verge of tears made me smile.
“Hyung, just a moment. Let me call my boss. He might tell me not to come in today.”
“Sure, go ahead and call.”
“Yes!”
Lee Dagyeong cleared his throat and made the call.
Then he started shouting loudly as if he’d swallowed a megaphone.
“Boss, it’s Dagyeong. *Sob* Boss, I… *sob* I… I think I’m going to get a contract. No, they’re not scammers. Boss, it’s a famous company. Grand Tamer. They’re not a major company, but they’re affiliated with Seyoung Group, so there’s potential for growth. Yes. No, boss. You shouldn’t say that. They must be offering a contract because they see a future in me. I’m telling the truth! Anyway, can I take the day off today?”
Just from hearing his side of the conversation, I could guess what they were discussing.
While still on the call, Lee Dagyeong looked at me.
The conversation didn’t seem likely to end at his level.
“Hyung, could you maybe talk to him?”
“Then let’s go there and talk in person rather than over the phone.”
“Oh! You would do that? That’s great.”
Lee Dagyeong continued his call with a rather proud tone.
Then he glanced at me with a pleased expression.
“It feels like a dream. When I was eliminated, I felt like the world had ended. I seem to have a lot of ups and downs. Did you see when I was eliminated and then got another chance?”
“Of course. My heart sank when that happened.”
“Yeah, at that time… it felt like I was going between heaven and hell…”
“I’m sure it did.”
“At the time, I thought I was lucky to get another chance, but maybe it would have been better if it had ended quickly. I thought participating there was just a waste of time, but I guess it was worth it since I got to join Grand Tamer because of it.”
Thinking about it, his journey really had been turbulent.
“I hope this is the last time. I hope this isn’t just false hope again.”
“That’s up to Lee Dagyeong-ssi to make sure. Later, all of this will become a story to tell. Journalists might like that you have a lot to talk about in interviews. You might never run out of stories if you appear on variety shows frequently.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way. That’s interesting.”
Lee Dagyeong was definitely energetic and bright.
He had mentioned growing taller during the broadcast, and up close, I could see he had good proportions with a smooth silhouette from his waist to his legs.
“But may I ask why you chose me?”
Every trainee I had met was curious about that reason.
I told him what I had been thinking, and Lee Dagyeong smiled as if finding it strange.
The idea that I naturally found myself cheering for him probably didn’t immediately resonate with him.
“Ha! What is happening, really? How is this happening to me?”
He repeated that phrase several times during the journey.
He called various people to share the news.
He still didn’t seem to have calmed down from the excitement when we arrived at his workplace.
When I went to Lee Dagyeong’s workplace and explained that I was indeed an employee of Grand Tamer and wanted to sign a contract with him, his boss repeatedly made earnest requests to me.
The boss, who insisted that Lee Dagyeong wasn’t just getting carried away but had real talent, was sincerely supporting him.
“Please take good care of our Dagyeong. I hope Dagyeong won’t be disappointed this time. Dagyeong can do it.”
“I believe so too.”
Throughout our conversation, Lee Dagyeong couldn’t hide his pleased expression, and he went around greeting everyone he worked with.
He received congratulations as they realized he probably wouldn’t be coming back.
Watching how people treated him, I felt a bit reassured, thinking he wouldn’t cause problems with his personality.
After leaving there together, Lee Dagyeong asked about the other members, and when I mentioned Seo Irun, Cha Yeonwoo, and Jeong Chan, he nodded.
“I know Irun hyung a little since we were in the same group at first… He won’t be easy to deal with. And he won’t be comfortable to be around. But what made you decide to recruit Irun hyung? Irun hyung is especially… Well, he’s good-looking, but seeing as you recruited me, it doesn’t seem like you’re only looking at appearances.”
“Why do you say that? I think you should have confidence in your looks.”
“I guess I could. Even Sijin hyung was treated like an ordinary person in front of you. So I think when we’re with you, everyone becomes equal. That’s really nice.”
What an interesting thing to be happy about.
“But why do you call me hyung?”
Now that I thought about it, Han Sijin did it too, and Lee Dagyeong had been calling me hyung from the beginning.
“Because you are hyung.”
I was expecting an answer, but that was it.
To my question of why he called me hyung, he simply replied, “Because you are hyung.”
But he seemed to think that was sufficient, as he had a satisfied expression on his face.
Why did that feel so characteristic of Lee Dagyeong?
I just chuckled and nodded.
* * *
When I went to meet Seo Irun, I was rejected for the first time during scouting.
Since both Han Sijin and Lee Dagyeong had readily accepted, I had been thinking, ‘This isn’t even difficult, why did hyung make it sound like it would be?’ I even started to think hyung had just been trying to intimidate me unnecessarily.
Then I met Seo Irun and realized that until then, I had just been lucky.
Seo Irun was preparing for the civil service exam, going between academy and study hall. To meet him, I waited outside the academy, timing it with his class schedule.
When Seo Irun came out with shoulder-length hair tied back tightly, leaving his bangs to fall naturally, walking with an indifferent gait, he was surrounded by many people.
There, Seo Irun seemed to exist not as a contestant who had appeared on “Tomorrow’s Perfect All-kill,” but as a student preparing for the civil service exam.
Wondering if he had completely given up on that dream, but still wanting to talk to him since I had come all this way, I approached him.
That’s when the others noticed my approach first and nudged Seo Irun, jerking their chins in my direction.
