Since he was boarding a plane, he couldn’t know what would happen. Whether he would die, or what kind of accident might occur. At the very last moment, perhaps if he just blinked his eyes the instant it turned exactly 12 o’clock, he might be there at age eighteen.
Instead, he just hoped it wouldn’t be a plane crash. If many people died because of him, he felt he really wouldn’t be able to bear it.
“You said the airport seems familiar? Traveling is my hobby. I was here last month too.”
When Siwoo didn’t speak, the writer asked a question first. At the question directed at him, Siwoo answered earnestly. Though it was like talking to himself, he had to keep chattering on. For Siwoo, a college student who was close to being an unknown singer, time was overflowing. When he wrote down the memorized numbers in the memorized draw, lottery winnings fell into his hands.
Once he had leeway in time and money, he traveled.
While talking about his solo trip to Europe last month, Siwoo arrived at the gate and was flustered that the camera didn’t turn off even there. There was no reason to film him this enthusiastically. It was clearly just to fill out the roster, or perhaps they had recruited him because they needed someone to help with the miscellaneous tasks of a famous idol.
Even so, the writer was sparkling her eyes and asking Siwoo many things, guiding the conversation.
“I’m used to traveling alone, so I do everything well by myself. I eat alone well, and I go to movies alone well too. Since the flight time is long, I prepared a lot of various things. First, this is a laptop with movies I’ve purchased. I bought them to watch today but haven’t watched them yet. Next, a moisturizing mask useful in the dry cabin. And this is a heated eye mask. I’ll use it when I sleep.”
Sitting in his first-class seat, Siwoo explained in a calm voice as he took out items one by one from the backpack he’d boarded with. Today was his last day before regression, and he had no intention of wasting his money either. The clause written on the paper only stated he had to arrive at the destination; it didn’t specify the flight seat. So Siwoo had upgraded his assigned economy seat to first class.
In the first-class cabin where no other passengers had boarded, Siwoo spoke comfortably without particularly lowering his voice. It was obvious that everything filmed of him would be cut and not appear on the broadcast, but he couldn’t ignore the writer-nim’s sparkling eyes as she kept talking to him.
Though it was close to talking to himself, this was fun in its own way. He always walked around quietly alone with earphones in his ears, but with the writer-nim and camera director-nim listening attentively to his words, it was a refreshing feeling.
“Kim Siwoo?”
Siwoo, who had been chattering away while taking out moisturizing masks and setting them up one by one, blinked his eyes and looked up at the sound of someone calling his name.
“Is it really Kim Siwoo?”
Siwoo looked blankly with his lips slightly parted and a dazed expression at the person who was confirming him again. Was there someone who recognized him? But soon a face he knew all too well. As he realized who the other person was, he unconsciously covered his mouth with one hand.
“Evan?”
“Wow. This is ‘Journey’ filming, right?”
As a large hand suddenly thrust out in front of him, Siwoo, still with a bewildered expression, brought his hand to meet his. He’d heard it would be with a famous idol, but he’d never expected they would recruit the leader of a world-famous boy group.
“Hello!”
After spacing out for a moment, Siwoo hurriedly stood up from his seat and offered a greeting first. He thought he’d lightly touched hands, but at some point Siwoo’s hand was firmly grasped in Evan’s large hand.
“Hello. I’m Evan Lewis, leader of Ocean.”
“Ah. Yes, yes. I’m Kim Siwoo.”
“It really is ‘Journey.'”
Evan looked at the writer and director rather than Siwoo as he spoke and naturally put down his luggage in his seat. Though it wasn’t intentional, Siwoo and Evan’s seats were side by side with only a narrow aisle between them.
Siwoo awkwardly clenched his fist at the hand that had suddenly lost its warmth. Then he looked around. Even the camera director who had been filming him was filming Evan. It was a sight that clearly showed he was the main attraction of the program.
“The PD-nim kept saying it was a secret, so I’ll have to give him a big hug when I see him later. I’m a fan of Kim Siwoo-ssi, you know. We’re the same age, should we drop honorifics?”
Unlike himself who was awkward with cameras, Evan was speaking far too comfortably. Caught up in his pace, Siwoo slightly nodded at the suggestion to drop honorifics.
He couldn’t believe Evan was his fan. It was even more amazing that he knew about a failed solo singer who was only in their third year since debut and had only released two albums. He was someone who didn’t draw people’s gazes even when going anywhere without wearing a mask. His official fan club membership count was exactly 62 people. And Evan knew about him?
More than anything, he was a common Beta. Alphas and Omegas didn’t pay attention to Betas. They had their own world. Perhaps unlike himself, Evan knew who the cast members were. That’s why he recognized him.
Siwoo clearly knew why he had never succeeded in the entertainment industry each time. But he just didn’t give up because he liked singing and liked dancing. In the entertainment industry full of Alphas and Omegas, Betas were at the level of extras.
To put it coldly, there were far more Betas than Alphas and Omegas even in the entertainment industry.
By birth, Alphas and Omegas were people externally superior to an incomparable degree compared to Betas. Ocean’s leader Evan, who was now smiling and talking to him, was also an Alpha. Though officially an Alpha, according to rumors, there was also talk that he was a Golden Alpha.
Ocean, the group he belonged to, was composed of five Alphas. Even having just one Alpha in a group would be an issue, but the fact that all members were Alphas drew attention even before their debut.
And now in their fifth year since debut, they were currently stars famous not only in Korea but worldwide.
“Coco, do you know who the ‘Journey’ cast members are?”
“Huh?”
At Evan’s question as he sat comfortably in his seat after finishing organizing his luggage, a spacey voice flowed out. Having nothing to do, Siwoo sat back in his place, fastened his seatbelt, and looked at him with a curious expression.
Rather than looking, he really gawked at a star he was seeing for the first time. While blankly spacing out and admiring him, a suddenly heard unfamiliar word pulled him back to reality.
Coco? Coco was a nickname that Siwoo’s handful of fans called him. After talk came out that he resembled an animal called a quokka, it started when they said “quokka” was both hard to write and difficult to pronounce, so they called him Coco. That’s why Siwoo’s official fan club name was Coco Mom.
Our Coco Mom with only 62 members.
“Coco. You are Coco, right? They call you that because you look like a quokka.”
Evan’s eyes, calling him a nickname that no one would know unless they were truly Siwoo’s fan, were a peculiar emerald color.
Evan, who had dropped honorifics far too comfortably, even laid out an accurate explanation of his nickname.
“How did you… No. The PD-nim said the cast members are secret…”
Rather than asking back how he knew even his nickname, Siwoo tried to answer his question.
“Hmm. You and me and Yechan, Hyunsu-hyung, Luca-hyung maybe? Five people? Or are there more?”
Listening to the names flowing from Evan’s mouth, Siwoo raised both hands to cover his face. He had clearly realized in what situation he had received this casting offer. What I need to do has become far too clear.
The people Evan just mentioned were members of prominent idol groups, and all were Alphas. If Evan hadn’t stopped talking, he was about to mention two names.
Ian and Louis. The problem was that these two were Omegas.
Unlike the Alphas picked one by one from different groups, perhaps because it was difficult to recruit them, those two were members of Phantom, a four-member group composed only of Omegas.
If what Evan knew and the information he knew were certain, the PD had pulled off something tremendous.
Four Alphas and two Omegas. And one Beta.
Considering the nature of overseas travel, the long schedule of 8 nights and 10 days, and the schedules of popular idols, it seemed these seven members would be traveling together.
If this fact was revealed, they could definitely stir up issues. Is that why they kept everything top secret? Members of similar ages, the most popular from each group, traveling together. Of course, with Alphas and Omegas mixed together who wouldn’t be strange even if they became lovers right away.
“Ian. Louis.”
Still covering his face with both hands, Siwoo muttered quietly. In any case, Evan had said what he knew, so it wouldn’t do for him alone to keep his mouth tightly shut.
“What? Phantom?”
“Yeah. Phantom’s Ian and Louis.”
“This PD-nim has really lost it. What are they trying to do? Is that why they said everything was top secret? Alphas and Omegas. And…”
At Evan’s voice trailing off as he looked at him after Alphas and Omegas, Siwoo slowly lowered the hands that had been covering his face. Then he looked at the camera filming him and Evan and bowed his head.
“Why? The camera? Just don’t worry about it and do what you want. They’ll edit it as they see fit. If you worry about the camera, you can’t do anything.”
Siwoo, who glanced sideways to gauge the reactions of the writer-nim and camera director-nim, squirmed and hung the moisturizing mask on his chin.
Since everyone was focused on Evan rather than himself, Siwoo shifted his body to sit in a more comfortable position.
Since today was the last day given to him, he hadn’t been able to sleep properly for several days due to his unsettled mind.
The fact that he, a Beta, had to do a broadcast with four Alphas and two Omegas wasn’t such a big deal. Since he would return to five years ago shortly anyway, it would just remain as a memory of “oh, that almost happened.”
As takeoff time approached, the filming staff left and a self-cam was placed in front of Siwoo.
“Uh. Um. They say we’re taking off soon. So as not to disturb others, I’ll leave it at that.”
Though they gave it to him to film more alone, Siwoo, who had started getting a headache, spoke in a small voice and turned off the cam as the camera director-nim had taught him. Then he stared blankly outside through the plane’s small window.
The plane, which had raced quickly down the runway, took off with a feeling of heavy pressure on his chest.
The time remaining for Siwoo now was 4 minutes.
