# Chapter 31
Those who were eliminated from audition programs.
It was said that people could easily and comfortably empathize with their second chances and cheer them on.
In addition, the contestants’ handsome and glamorous appearances, along with their skills that improved unbelievably with each episode, provided endless entertainment.
And the “flex” that ordinary people couldn’t enjoy was also said to be an element that captured people’s attention.
However, it didn’t seem like I had asked to hear such obvious things that everyone already knew.
“Business gay performance, we call it ‘BL-per.’ It’s when agencies pair members together and emphasize their subtle chemistry. Fans imagine it sexually.”
Not understanding what noona was trying to say, I looked at her.
My face flushed hot.
Because I heard something I didn’t want to hear.
But noona calmly continued her explanation.
“I think Crop Five’s biggest success factor is their BL-per that doesn’t seem like BL-per. Usually, BL-per is intentionally directed by the agency, and members follow those guidelines calculatedly for popularity, which makes it obvious and creates backlash. It often backfires. But Crop Five isn’t like that. It’s incredibly… peculiar.”
Sexual chemistry between members?
I tried to understand what noona was saying.
Then noona looked at me with a smile.
“People watching Crop Five think it’s a familiar concept while also loving it as Crop Five’s unique setup. If they were simply curious at first, afterward they can’t escape and accept it as part of their lives.”
That part made some sense.
“Familiar concept. Unique setup. Do you know what that is? In Crop Five, the chemistry explodes. But it’s not discharged between members; it happens between the members and the manager. Almost one-sidedly. The pure members like their even more innocent manager, want to be with him, and try to make the manager feel closer to them than to the other members. It’s not obvious at first glance, but it consistently penetrates the members’ motivations.”
“…”
I wanted to say that wasn’t true, but somehow I couldn’t.
After hearing noona’s words, some things finally made sense.
“If you’re not sure, I can find and show you examples.”
“…”
When I couldn’t respond, noona took the initiative and brought up the screen on her tablet.
She showed me scenes where she had found completely different perspectives that I hadn’t noticed at all despite monitoring them several times.
And as I watched the members’ expressions and actions while listening to noona’s explanations, everything seemed to fit perfectly.
When I appeared, members who had been listlessly sprawled out suddenly became energetic and approached me all at once.
And to get even slightly closer to me, they engaged in a battle of nerves, though they couldn’t be too obvious about it. The expression of the member who kept getting pushed back each time wasn’t pleasant.
Noona pointed at that face with her finger and smiled at me as if asking if I understood.
“Chan was late here, right? So he was standing behind the others. He probably couldn’t see your face well and had difficulty making eye contact. Chan’s been in a bad mood ever since. Then you come in next, but before the door opens, Chan suddenly raises his head, right? He must have heard a sound from outside. Chan gets up first, right? And he goes toward the door? Look at his expression when you enter.”
The expression of someone who has everything in the world.
A face like a child meeting their long-awaited mother.
“It’s not just Chan; they all do something similar. All the members. You know what’s strange? Han Sijin seems like he would honestly show such feelings, right? But he’s the most careful. He seems to try not to let it show on the outside. It might be because of his experience of being eliminated once. His words and actions are much better trained to be careful than the other kids.”
At first, I didn’t think Crop Five would achieve such great success, so what was required of the members wasn’t extraordinary.
But now, as Crop Five has achieved tremendous success and gained huge popularity, their influence has grown, and their impact has become significant.
In this situation, if Han Sijin had repeated the words and actions he showed in the program he appeared in before, it would have been a blow not only to Han Sijin but to all of Crop Five.
So that’s what Han Sijin was worried about.
“Sijin seems more thoughtful than he appears. Want to see?”
Noona showed me several scenes.
Han Sijin couldn’t hide his pleased expression whenever I appeared.
Yet, he moved a little later than the others.
It seemed like he was deliberately doing so, thinking that he shouldn’t approach too quickly and openly, but he appeared to be wrapping his emotions in indifference, and it passed convincingly.
“But when he first realizes you’ve arrived, he can’t act. Look at his expressions at these moments. This is real.”
How much he liked me.
How happy he was to see me.
It was all clearly revealed.
Then there was a time when that changed.
After the incident in the fitness room.
From that point, Han Sijin’s expression looked complicated, and he seemed to have some complaints about me.
‘So he knew. Not because of what happened in the fitness room, but because I kissed Seo Irun…’
The expression he made when looking at Seo Irun.
The way he glared at him and then seemed to come to his senses and compose his expression only reinforced that thought.
“The kids like you a lot. This is inevitable. There’s a reason for the kids’ behavior. It must have been hard after being dropped from the audition program. Then you appeared. You must have been like a hero to them. Plus, you’re warm, handsome, and the type people want to get close to. The kids wanted to be special to you.”
Noona analyzed it very sharply, but she probably didn’t know that some members and I were having dangerous encounters.
“This is still so subtle that no one is talking about it, and even if they discovered it, many people would probably think it’s staged performance. But later, there might be people who will say malicious things about it. If you don’t like that, I don’t think it would be bad for you to leave at this point. I think you’ve already learned enough of what you wanted to learn at Grand Tamer, don’t you think?”
“…”
“Seomin. I was wondering if you might come to Seyoung Electronics. You have a special eye for reading trends. And you have the strength to push forward what you’re thinking. At Grand Tamer, you probably didn’t hear only good things from everyone. But to become a leader, you have to give up the desire to be well-evaluated by everyone. I wonder if you would come and join me.”
An invitation to Seyoung Electronics would be a dream story for countless office workers.
I didn’t need to explain to noona that I knew nothing about that field.
She would already know all that.
Noona’s calling me must be because she highly values the unexpectedness or unusual imagination I showed while making Crop Five successful.
It was a good opportunity.
If noona noticed it, there was no law saying others wouldn’t know either.
Noona seems to think of it as a special bond between the members and me and finds it cute, but what if I continue to lose control and my emotions go haywire?
And what if that gets discovered?
Even now, there are so many who want to grab the boys’ ankles and pull them down because of their popularity, but what if such an issue were to explode?
Then I would be the one dragging them into a quagmire just as they were trying to reach the top.
I didn’t want to do that.
‘I need to think carefully, Kang Seomin.’
“I’m not asking you to decide right away. You’ll do well there too. But you’ve done almost everything you can there. 23% viewership rating. If it goes up from there, it might touch the 30% range. Or maybe it will remain stagnant there. You’ve created a sufficiently eye-catching career. Don’t you think it would be nice to try playing in a new place now?”
Noona said this and smiled, brushing my hair up.
It was inappropriate to receive such treatment at my age, but noona seemed to be immersed in the role of caring for a sick younger brother.
“Please. Noona, I’m really looking forward to it.”
Noona would probably have wanted to work with me even if I hadn’t achieved results with Crop Five.
It wasn’t like noona to say she wasn’t asking me to decide right away and then immediately say something else.
I could tell how desperately she wanted it, so I just smiled.
“This is so nice. Not being too sick, just looking delicate from overwork. I can play the big sister role to my brother.”
From that point on, I decided not to think about anything else.
“You’ll need a place to stay if you move out of the dorm, right? It’ll be uncomfortable to stay with your aunt when you need to make career decisions. She might worry if she sees you contemplating, thinking you have concerns.”
If it were Mom, she really would.
