Different Dreams in the Same Bed (15)
People holding cannon cameras stood in line. At the slightest sign of movement, shutter sounds rolled in like waves. A signing event at a department store for a certain sports brand. The homma fans were fixing their tripods and adjusting angles, aiming for when AETHER would enter. Weighty music played under the bright lights.
“You can’t come any closer.”
The security personnel in black suits standing on both sides of the event hall moved in unison. Securing routes, checking lines, controlling the crowd. Among them, one person particularly stood out.
“Who’s that person…? Is he on the security team?”
“No way, his build is insane….”
A large-framed man in a black suit and sunglasses surveyed the surroundings with an expressionless face. The prominent nose bridge and angular jawline showing beneath the sunglasses. His sharp lips were firmly pressed in a straight line.
It was Sejin, who’d come out for a security part-time job through an introduction from a judo dojo senior.
‘My living expenses just ran out… I was lucky. I definitely need to buy hyung something delicious.’
Security part-time work was a so-called ‘honey gig’ where positions didn’t open up easily. The initial manual was a bit complicated and there was occasionally physical fighting, but the pay was generous accordingly. The senior thankfully called Sejin whenever a spot opened up on weekends.
Sejin calmly parted through the people, looked around the stage, checked blind spots behind pillars, and when homma fans stepped outside the line, he naturally restrained them with a single gesture. Movements without exaggeration or pretense. Professionalism that moved only as much as necessary and removed risk factors without excess. The muscles of his back and arms naturally visible under his shirt couldn’t help but catch the eye. People’s gazes naturally gravitated toward him.
“Wow, he must be a former athlete.”
Camera shutters flashed toward him several times.
‘Did I do something wrong? Why are they taking pictures of me? I really hate photos….’
Sejin frowned slightly in disgust. However, even that expression was captured as-is in the hommas’ lenses.
“Even his frowning face is nice. Manly….”
“Today’s security has some visuals.”
“The chemistry with the oppas at the fan signing later should be good, right?”
“Let’s record video. If he delivers props or fixes ribbons, it’ll be a hit.”
The hommas murmured briefly. They’d come to fan over their main bias, but occasionally good-looking security guards also became good photo material. When soft scenes appeared, like carefully placing a wreath on an idol with a cold expression and overwhelming physique, or tying a loose ribbon, it would often go viral on the internet as so-called ‘gap moe.’ It naturally helped promote the group.
Just then, the murmuring from one side of the event hall grew louder. The fans’ breathing stopped in an instant.
And the next moment.
Following the predetermined route, four silhouettes appeared one after another. Not only fans but even regular customers visiting the department store gathered, and the venue quickly filled with heat.
“Kyaaaaaahhhhh!!!”
Along with the fans’ screams, camera shutter sounds rang out frantically.
Leading at the front was main vocal Han Siheon. Tall height in the late 180cm range with broad shoulders. Facial features that were both glamorous and wild. Even his relaxed expression as he slightly leaned his face toward the camera flash. The fatal aura unique to idols poured out.
“Kyaak, Siheon oppa—!!”
“Behind you, behind! Don’t push!”
“The camera angle is crazy today!!!”
Behind him, the team’s main dancer, rapper, and sub-vocal walked in one after another. Every step drew everyone’s gaze. There wasn’t a single point of dishevelment until they stood in front of the photo wall with the sports brand name written large.
“Please look this way once.”
Fans held their ground to avoid being pushed and were frantically taking pictures of the idols before their eyes. Han Siheon, who turned his gaze, smiled while creasing the corners of his eyes. It was truly the expression of a man who knew the stage.
‘Stars really are different.’
Even to Sejin, who knew nothing about the entertainment industry, AETHER, especially Han Siheon, was special. Sejin was newly impressed by his appearance that sparkled particularly among the members, his unique composure and mystique. They probably weren’t that many years apart in age, yet they stood in positions as different as heaven and earth.
―Entrance A-3. No issues.
A voice passed through the wireless earpiece. Sejin lightly checked his wristwatch, then gently pressed the mic button with his index finger.
“Photo line, no issues. Members may be seated.”
Taking a breath, Sejin kept AETHER behind him and stared at the crowd. Never distracted while working. Sejin was watching people carefully and accurately from behind his sunglasses.
“Oppa, I took vacation to come here? You should praise me.”
“If you used vacation… did you eat something delicious for lunch?”
“How could food go down when I’m coming to see oppa? You have to take good pictures today, okay? I’ll be upset if they come out rough.”
Siheon turned his head toward the fan’s phone camera and struck a pose.
“Like this? Satisfied?”
“Insane…. Oppa, why is your face so perfect today…. I’m going to cry.”
To the fan who’d dressed up to come out, Siheon responded faithfully. It was true that fan signings were a paid service. Fans worked hard to purchase products from that brand and used precious vacation time to be selected for this spot today. Siheon cunningly appreciated that effort. It was also the reason why Siheon, who’d experienced quite a major scandal, was still going strong in his fifth year. Siheon extremely abhorred those who already had dead fish eyes when they were still rookies just because they’d gotten a bit popular.
‘Where is there such an easy job? Just smiling makes money….’
Emotional labor was essential, but the idol profession was perfect for Siheon, who was an attention seeker himself. He even possessed the so-called ‘training’ skill of appropriately scolding problematic fans.
‘With such a good job, why do they whine?’
Fans cried and laughed at a single expression of his. Journalists added flesh with a single article, and brands increased sales with one gesture of his.
‘This is why I do it.’
Siheon turned the autograph board and handed it to the fan while raising the corners of his mouth. His expression showed he already knew how well he’d come out in the photo just taken.
The lights, the camera angles, even the fans’ reactions—the feeling that everything revolved around him. That’s what made Siheon feel alive.
‘Popularity? It’s not infinite. So… I need to pull in as much as I can right now.’
Siheon briefly turned his gaze away, then looked directly into the fan’s eyes and smiled again. It was a perfect fan service smile.
Siheon, the second son of a family that wasn’t chaebol but lived quite comfortably, had actually caused his parents quite a bit of grief. Saying he’d become an idol, he put studying on the back burner throughout his adolescence and went around learning dance and attending auditions without permission. His parents shed tears saying their child had a good head but had gotten strange ideas.
In fact, even by his own assessment, he was right that he had a good head. With looks like his, he’d calculated early on that it made more sense to use them rather than halfheartedly entering a mediocre university and a backward company through studying that didn’t even suit his aptitude.
The result was a huge success. His father, who’d said over his dead body would his son be an entertainer, had been busy bragging about his child everywhere since being gifted the latest model foreign car.
An apartment with a Han River view, luxury brand sponsorships, the luxury of buying what he wanted without hesitation, and a string of romantic interests following him.
‘At my age, what else could I do to enjoy this level of success?’
Moreover, in the entertainment industry, popularity was power. That power dynamic also suited Siheon’s taste perfectly. Typical types who were strong to the weak and weak to the strong were heavily positioned there, so they clung to and sucked up to popular him. He also loved that he could now make the sponsorship offers he’d received as a rookie. There was a truckload of people who would spread their legs for him with just a glance, but that wasn’t his taste.
‘Even if I only enjoy the prettiest, most expensive, and most splendid things, there’s not enough time….’
Today, after finishing the fan signing, there was an evening concert schedule. Although the schedule was tight, he was able to attend the signing event schedule thanks to finishing all rehearsals yesterday.
‘Will Lee Dogyeom come?’
His eyes unconsciously narrowed at the name that suddenly popped into his head. The probability was fifty-fifty.
‘There are plenty of replacements.’
Siheon deliberately acted nonchalant. His phone overflowed with contact information for betas and omegas who would come running with one phone call from him. But it annoyed him that Dogyeom’s face came to mind more clearly among them. That sexy baby face.
Siheon put down his pen and lifted his chin slightly. The fans cheered, and shutters went off crazily again. Over all of that, one person’s shadow overlapped. Still prickly toward him, but nevertheless… someone he kept worrying about.
“Wow, did you see today’s security team? I need to get his number.”
Youngest member Yujin made a fuss as soon as he got in the car. Even though they were idols, since they were guys around the same age gathered together, their topics of conversation weren’t much different from their peers. Especially since there were no omegas among the AETHER members, there was even less to be mindful about.
“You perverted bastard. Why is a beta obsessed with alphas? And you only pick ones with good builds….”
“What, is Siheon hyung sulking? Our CP is forever.”
“Ugh. Get away. You’re disgusting. It’s revolting that I’d top you, but to bottom? Seriously, I can hear the sound of fans dropping off from here.”
“Why? There’s decent demand for hyung bottoming too.”
“My ears are rotting. Be quiet.”
At leader Gahyeon’s rebuke, Siheon and Yujin simultaneously shut their mouths. But Yujin soon started chattering again.
“Did you see his pecs? Wow, his body was so thick front to back that his clothes looked like they’d burst.”
“Why are you looking at another alpha?”
“He had dumpling ears. Wow… I’m dead.”
“Ugh, I’m really going to puke.”
“Ah, I want to lick those dumpling ears. I wonder how cute he’d be if I topped him.”
Siheon, though annoyed, responded to Yujin’s every word. Gahyeon chuckled inwardly.
‘Because you respond like that, Yujin keeps spouting nonsense.’
In Gahyeon’s view, Siheon was secretly a fool who went out of his way to take the hard road. Leaving aside all those omegas and betas who liked him, desperately offering even concert tickets to the youngest at the hair salon—that was exactly it.
‘Well, that designer might be a complete fox.’
Right now, Dogyeom’s ambiguous attitude was perfect for stimulating alphas’ hunting instincts. It definitely had an appealing taste even to him.
‘Han Siheon, that idiot. Acts so high and mighty… but in the end got hooked on one person.’
Of course, after sleeping with Dogyeom a few times, he’d quickly get bored again and whine about being sexually frustrated. The question was whether Lee Dogyeom would actually come to the concert today.
‘I should sleep with him first and then suggest a threesome.’
Gahyeon thought this with an unbothered face and turned his eyes to the mobile game he’d been absorbed in lately.
The tension and excitement before a concert, and the emptiness after finishing. Nothing beat sex for relieving that.
