Between frowning Jeong Yusang and indifferent Go Won, the first to turn his head away was Yusang’s side.
“Wow! Stan hyung, what’s that!”
Jeong Yusang specifically asked the person who returned with the box, not Go Won who was holding it.
“It’s a microphone?”
“The thing behind this… is that a mic stand?”
“Oh, this shape! It’s exactly the same as what was under the teacher’s desk!”
The group who guessed the escape keywords one by one set up six standing microphones in front of the classroom.
“Looking at it being standing mics… we don’t particularly need to do choreography, right?”
“How can I do choreography when my hands are like this!”
“But whose cover stage should we do?”
“Um.”
“Hm?”
“Since there’s 6 people, how about yACE sunbae-nim?”
A suggestion came from guest Go Won, who had silently just worked throughout the broadcast.
With his uniquely weighty voice, and having barely spoken, his opinion couldn’t help but feel larger than other people’s remarks.
“yACE, great!”
“Hey, idol military academy or whatever. If you don’t want the school to close tomorrow, you absolutely can’t deny that yACE is the best idol.”
“Right, Spades from around the world are watching!”
Thinking they’d seized victory for the escape, they freely mocked the school broadcast—the production crew behind it.
-We will now begin the graduation performance of Class 4, 3rd Year.
Then the interlude was heard.
-♬♪
“…What?”
“W-wait a minute.”
Confusion appeared on the faces of those who had been confident.
“…Is this… a yACE song?”
“No, didn’t we decide to sing <Night Flight>? Hyung submitted the application earlier…”
“Ku… kukukuk…”
Then, one panelist deeply bowed their head and began laughing eerily.
“Ku, kikikik! You can’t get out! You’re going to perform here with me forever!”
“Uh, uhh…?!”
This couldn’t be.
One of the panelists who had been plotting escape together betrayed them…!
Moreover, that identity was the flower-holder middle-aged person who made the ‘if I’d married early, my child would be an idol’ remark early on.
Bang! Bang!
The idol ghosts also roughly pounded the windows and doors to make the repeating students who failed the mission into companions.
“I do know this one! Isn’t it that thing that appears often on Reels? Angel hip-hop in a ruined world?”
“‘We are those who inherited peace!’ I can do that clip part…”
“I’ve heard it too!”
After being in a panic for only a moment, they grabbed the microphones again, recalling the melody they’d heard in Shorts.
But there was something they overlooked.
The parts other than what appeared in Shorts were much longer.
Moreover, the beginning is a rap part!
“Ah shit, we’re screwed. I should have figured it out when that hyung suddenly stepped forward saying he’d do it…!”
Then.
-We pray for peace, not fear.
Ruins grasped with burnt wings
They taught us how to fight (No)
Resisting salvation, we’ll create our own Paradise.
A low voice sharply hit each rap verse.
-Scriptures each speaking different words
What should angels follow
6 Angels betray a god
No more heaven, no more hell
While everyone had given up, Go Won brought the entire rap part to life.
“Wow, wow, wow!”
“H-here, from here I know it!”
Then Yusang quickly picked up the vocal part, and everyone sang along in the pre-chorus and chorus famous as memes.
Thus, the mission that seemed destined to fail turned into success.
“Nooo—!”
Only the betrayer was dragged away by the ghosts who laughed creepily saying “Let’s perform with us forever.”
-Congratulations on graduation. Please continue to work hard to become excellent idols.
Thus, five people could safely escape.
“Hey, Go Won is really amazing. How did you know that?”
“I know almost all yACE sunbae-nims’ songs. I listen often.”
“I only got confused for a bit on the rap part…!”
Behind their departing figures, through the window, the betrayer completely assimilated with the idol ghosts appeared.
Thus, the cursed idol military academy waits for new students anytime…
Watching the lingering ending through the screen, I grimaced and contorted my whole face.
“That one really revives whenever it’s about to be forgotten.”
yACE’s debut song with its disastrous title, lyrics, and concept now floated around like a kind of meme. So it keeps reminding the parties who want to forget the past of their dark history…
Now that yACE has succeeded, it seems to be packaged as something like that era’s sensibility.
When I lazily walked out of the room, I could encounter Go Won in the living room.
“Hey.”
“…Yes?”
“Do you know what action you absolutely must not do at a funeral?”
“What… is it?”
“Resurrection.”
“……?”
I’m saying because of you, that song’s lifespan seems to have extended by another year…
Today too, Go Won sneakily avoided my gaze as soon as he saw me and seemed to be gauging an angle to escape.
‘What, how long is he going to be like this?’
“Go Won.”
“Yes?”
“Did you eat?”
“No…”
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
Going out is bothersome, so I turned on the app to order, but Go Won stopped in place for a while then hesitantly approached. And he stood leaving about two steps. It was the closest distance in recent times.
When I looked up, he had quite a resolute expression while… looking at my phone.
“…Hyung, can I use the kitchen to make food?”
“You cook too?”
“Yes.”
“Mm…”
Honestly, I wanted to just say let’s order since it’s bothersome, but since the kid spoke up without running away for the first time in a while…
“Give it a try.”
Well, something decent enough for one meal will come out.
…While I was sprawled out in the living room, increasingly delicious smells grew thicker.
“You, what did you make?”
Unable to contain my curiosity, I sneakily approached the kitchen where vermilion-colored doenjang jjigae, rolled omelet, and fluffy rice were being completed.
“Did you even find rice?”
“Yes. I found it in the lower cupboard.”
“Wow, now you seem more like the homeowner.”
“…Please sit at the table. It’ll be ready soon.”
Go Won moved the completed food to the table. Arranged on the table, it looked even more splendid.
Soon, the moment I spooned the doenjang jjigae, my eyes opened wide.
“Hey, this tastes like my mom’s. Amazing.”
It was that taste I eat every time I go down to Daejeon.
“I made it exactly.”
“Huh?”
“I made it exactly like your mother does.”
“How do you know… what my mom does?”
“Hyung, you called your mother on that camping variety show before and asked. I followed that recipe exactly.”
When on earth was that? Not only the son who asked, but even the mom who told him would have forgotten.
‘Did that variety show video revive too?’
Is it appearing in the algorithm because it’s gradually becoming camping season as the weather gets warmer?
He won’t be able to dream of camping for a while, so why did he click on something like that?
Go Won watched me eat for a moment, then served rice with a relieved look.
Sitting across from each other, I recalled Go Won from the variety show I just monitored, who had memorized our failed album’s lyrics perfectly.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“You filmed a variety show with a Newton member, you weren’t bullied again, right?”
“Ah. That.”
He can recite other people’s variety shows from years ago word for word, but for his own variety show from just last week he’s going “Ah, that.”
“The sunbae who went with me is younger than me.”
“What does being young have to do with anything?”
“There was nothing at all to worry about. Just…”
“Just what?”
“That sunbae, when I watch him, I think of my younger siblings…”
If looking at such a bratty kid makes him think of his real siblings, doesn’t that just mean he gets hit by his real siblings too?
“……”
“Why. What.”
The kid glanced at me while eating. It’s fine to just leave him alone, but it bothers me for no reason.
“…Are you asking if there’s anything else you want to eat…?”
What’s this?
‘Quest window.’
Go Won
Current Status: ■■■.
Go Won’s intermittently appearing psychology was still difficult to understand.
Lately, the gaze that’s neither prickly nor obedient is just confusing.
* * *
“Won, should we start preparing a new song soon?”
Go Won had finished today’s training and been called to the general manager’s office.
Go Won’s eyes widened after letting out a short breath.
“Thank you…”
He hadn’t imagined at all he’d hear such talk not long after getting severely scolded for the mistake behind the stage.
