# Chapter 37
During the time we finished paying and came out, Han Sijin had already flagged down a taxi, so we rode side by side, and many thoughts came to mind.
“Have you ever thought of me?”
Han Sijin asked as we got out of the taxi early despite having a lot of bags and walked together.
With no one around to hear, he seemed to think he could speak now.
“Yes. A lot.”
“How could someone like that not contact me even once?”
“Hey. That’s just how it turned out. You guys suddenly became top stars. So I wondered if it was okay for me to contact you.”
“It’s not like we’re living in different worlds, why would that matter? And others don’t think that way and contact me frequently to the point of being annoying. You’re such a strange person.”
He grumbled without stopping.
“Doesn’t your throat hurt from talking so much? I heard you were going to the hospital because of your throat, is that better now?”
“Yes. Fortunately, it was discovered early, so I received good treatment and it’s fine now. They said it happened because my vocal cords were overworked from practicing too hard. I got beaten up by Teacher Sarah. She told others to increase their practice time, but she secretly told me not to practice. I practiced anyway without listening to her, so I had nothing to say when this happened.”
I could guess what happened and smiled.
When Han Sijin spoke, I could vividly picture the scene.
I liked that I knew all the people who appeared in what he was saying.
But if we continued to live such different lives, later I would have to ask questions multiple times about what he was talking about.
While I was thinking this, he looked at me.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing. Just…”
I told him what I was thinking, and he just listened without answering.
“Hyung. Can’t you come back? Isn’t it possible? We can pay you more than you’re getting there and give you much better conditions.”
“Looks like you’re really making a lot of money now.”
I said it because he was cute, but Han Sijin seemed to think I was scolding him.
Seeing him flinch, I thought this isn’t right and patted his shoulder with one hand.
“I’m joking. Joking. I know you weren’t saying that to look down on me.”
“Come to think of it, hyung.”
“Yes?”
“Did you only bring one bag? I’m carrying two bags in each hand right now.”
“Yes. There are five bags in total, you’re carrying four, so I’m carrying one. The math checks out, right?”
“No, how did this…!!”
Han Sijin immediately looked aggrieved and had a fuming expression.
At times like this, I really thought he was exactly like he used to be.
“You’re so cute.”
“Huh! Who’s cute? Do you not know who was voted as the number one singer with the most manly sexiness in the world?”
“What? Say that again. The world’s most what?”
“The number one singer with the most manly sexiness in the world.”
“That’s awful. Is that a title? And as the holder of that title, you’re going around memorizing it and proudly boasting about it?”
“That’s… right.”
Han Sijin made a face as if he was being warned about something, then smirked.
“I’m glad. You look comfortable. Sijin.”
“…”
He looked at me silently.
Then he smiled again.
“Why?”
“I think it’s because it’s you, hyung. Who else would say something like that if not you? Who would say they’re glad about something like that? Who would check our expressions to see if we look comfortable or not? Team Leader checks too, but still. It’s different from you, hyung.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Team Leader is, how should I put it… If he feels like checking us when we’re lying down and just scanning us to confirm there’s no problem, you feel like you keep looking at us again and again even after confirming, checking if anyone has kicked off their blanket, and tucking us in again.”
We had many memories between us.
Enough to talk non-stop for hours.
“When we heard that Seyoung Electronics made an advertising contract inquiry, I was really happy. Everyone went crazy. But we decided to play hard to get a little. I was a bit annoyed that you never came to see us even once.”
“If I had gone, would you have had time to meet me leisurely?”
“Well, no, but still.”
Even now, they were only able to make time like this because they were wrapping up their activities, and Han Sijin didn’t pretend otherwise.
“Is this the place? The dorm is really nice. Did the CEO splurge on this?”
“It’s a duplex. A duplex. There are three toilets and one large bathroom separately.”
When we entered, the inside was already filled with food smells.
Seo Irun trudged out and took what I was carrying, making Han Sijin give an incredulous look.
“Hyung. You should take what I’m carrying.”
“You can just bring that yourself.”
“Hyung!”
“Hey. My ears hurt. Oh right, hyung. Did I not tell you about that yet? My ears have gotten really bad, they say. So I need to be careful. My eardrums.”
Seo Irun’s chatter went on and on.
When I asked what condition he was in now, a weak reply came that he was getting better with treatment.
Why he said it so weakly.
I smiled remembering the days when he would proudly show his mother whenever he got hurt and cry loudly.
While Crop Five’s song was playing, I helped set the table.
Team Leader Hyun, who was there with us, got up early saying it would be better if we were alone today.
I did ask him to stay, but since he had a family, it seemed better for him if we let him go, so I didn’t hold him back strongly.
After Team Leader Hyun left, everyone started talking freely without worrying about anyone’s reactions.
“This song is really good. The CEO really paid a lot of attention to it. Well, the program was already doing well, so you were already generating revenue.”
“Still, there’s a lot to be thankful for to the CEO. If he hadn’t given us the settlement money first, waiting for the money to come in would have been hard and miserable.”
Everyone nodded at Seo Irun’s words.
“Other people seem to talk about our case often. When we went on broadcasts, we occasionally mentioned that because of that, we could focus on practicing. But then we got scolded by the CEO. He said we were a special case, and how could we make it sound like everyone who enters Grand Tamer would get treated the same way?”
Jeong Chan said and laughed.
Hearing that, I thought hyung must have been really flustered.
The guys still didn’t know why they received such special treatment.
Debuting an idol group, especially with exactly these current members, was an important matter to me.
And it was possible because hyung had made up his mind from the beginning to unconditionally grant my request.
In the end, since ‘Crop Five’ had achieved great success, all that money was recovered, but if things had gone wrong, Grand Tamer could have started with a big loss.
However, I had no intention of telling the members about that yet.
“Isn’t this song good, hyung? Chan participated in working on this song.”
When Seo Irun proudly looked at Jeong Chan and said this, Jeong Chan smiled shyly.
“Really? But this is the first time I’m hearing about it. Why didn’t you actively promote it?”
“I really only helped a little. What I contributed could hardly be called a song, and the company’s A&R team practically created it anew. Claiming I have a share in that would be almost like fraud.”
Many people would promote a song as if they had created it entirely, but Jeong Chan was definitely different.
“But I’m learning hard, so later I might be able to have my name on something. Composing turns out to be surprisingly fun. And it seems even more fun when people next to me tell me I’m doing well.”
“Yes. You’ve got talent. I thought this song felt different, so that must be why, because you worked on it.”
Jeong Chan seemed even more pleased by my words.
The members wanted to hear my evaluation of the parts they sang.
Seeing the members express regret that I should have been there when they released their debut album, I felt genuinely sorry.
“I’m sorry. But I couldn’t help it then. We also had an urgent internal situation. Now that everything has worked out well, I can talk about it comfortably, but back then I really had all sorts of thoughts. I kept thinking maybe I should have just stayed there taking care of you guys, why did I come to a place I’m not even good at and create unnecessary trouble.”
The members listened to me intently with sparkling eyes.
“Tell us more, hyung. We’ve never experienced anything like that.”
Seeing their reactions, I thought I’d share some stories and told them all the details, and the members listened with fascination.
“I can’t believe hyung did such work. It doesn’t seem like something hyung could do. You don’t know how much we worried after you went to Seyoung Electronics. We thought you wouldn’t get along with others and all. We thought you wouldn’t last long there. So we thought you would come back on your own before long.”
So that seemed to be the reason why they let me go so willingly.
