“Sit on the sofa. Just push the stuff aside.”
“Ah… yes.”
Another deeply bowed, courteous greeting. Then Go Won stuck his butt on the seat I’d offered, occupying the bare minimum space.
“Did you buy that for me to drink?”
“Ah, yes.”
What kind of answer is just ‘ah, yes’?
“Give it here. I’ll drink it well.”
Instead of handing it to me directly, Go Won set the coffee down on the table in front of me.
But since there was only one cup, I felt awkward drinking alone and glanced toward the mini fridge.
“There’s stuff to drink here too, want me to take something out?”
“No.”
…That was a fast answer.
He’s like a kid who’s been thoroughly taught not to accept food from strangers.
A brief silence descended. With not a trace of friendliness beyond the blemishes on his clean face, this guy was clearly not cut out for variety shows either.
“Um.”
After waiting a while, words finally came out.
“…Earlier, it wasn’t because I was dissatisfied.”
“Hm?”
“My eyes, it’s not because I’m dissatisfied—my expression is just naturally like this.”
Ah. The hand holding the coffee grew a bit heavier.
‘Oh, oh. I know you’re glaring daggers at me with those eyes, but I totally understand how you feel.’
…It seems my thoughtlessly thrown stone hit the newbie several times over.
But I didn’t feel entirely guilty, because while his actions were humble, his gaze remained quite insolent.
Who doesn’t know the sorrow of someone cursed with a naturally nasty expression?
I too have a large build and sharp features. Having debuted at fourteen, I was always the youngest wherever I went in terms of age, but with a face like this, I heard plenty of unpleasant things.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely a misunderstanding. Back then, Baek Hanje really did have a nasty temper.
That’s why I could easily detect the sharpness lodged inside Go Won.
Distrust, suspicion, and yet still wanting to grab onto something… a pessimistic flailing?
“Did Taeyoung hyung send you to make excuses?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“……”
His gaze dropped downward. Despite being young, he knows how to create a rather heavy atmosphere that says, ‘I don’t want to talk about it, so let’s move on.’
However.
“Are you ignoring what I’m saying?”
At the polite tone followed by blatant words, Go Won’s eyes widened.
“…You might work on my song, so I can’t have a bad… I mean, a bad expression…”
Well now, at least hearing the answer was refreshing.
At the same time, the sense of incongruity that had been wriggling since we first met began to take concrete shape.
I’d vaguely felt it in the meeting room too, but Go Won’s behavior didn’t match his specs.
First place in an audition survival program, exceptional looks even compared to other celebrities, and a massive fandom. Plus, the age of twenty—young enough to believe he could do anything.
Shouldn’t this be exactly when he’d be intoxicated with himself and flying high?
And yet, this guy had a lowered posture and resignation embedded in him.
Baek Hanje at twenty?
If the same situation as earlier had occurred, I would have finished off Executive Director Choi’s already sparse hair.
But Go Won just swallowed his emotions.
What was even stranger was that Go Won’s current demeanor didn’t seem to be his real personality either.
It’s a problem if a guy who hasn’t even debuted is too arrogant, but honestly, this is the more serious issue.
To put it nicely, he’s calm; to put it badly, he’s suppressed.
It feels like watching a kid who grew up too early, which means it makes even the observer feel solemnly moved for no reason.
“Anyway, Taeyoung hyung didn’t tell you to come, right?”
“…Yes. I thought I should clear up the misunderstanding first…”
“Then don’t do it from now on.”
Go Won looked a bit flustered.
“You make a living off your image, and it’s not good to see you crushing your pride already. It’s not like groveling to others is your preference, right? Being polite and being servile are clearly different.”
“……”
“Ah…, since I’m already being preachy, if it’s okay with you, let’s drop the formalities.”
“…You already dropped them from the meeting room, so I didn’t know I should mention it.”
Oh, was that unconscious sarcasm? He made an ‘oops’ face belatedly. But for me, this was actually better.
“In the meeting room, I said it so everyone would hear. You’re not unaware of that either, right?”
“…Yes.”
Unfortunately, the retort ended after just once, and he went back to giving short answers with his eyes cast downward again.
Somehow, that sight made me feel increasingly irritated.
Just lose your temper already, kid. I can clearly see you’re the same type as me, but you’re holding it in.
Anyway, I’ll do my best to break through the current situation.
This had not only my future as an artist at stake but also that shitty penalty of Kwon Taeyoung’s lifeline hanging on it.
And yet, what’s shaking both our livelihoods is just a kid who doesn’t seem to have an ounce of confidence.
“You don’t need to be grateful, and you don’t need to be sorry. It’s not like I took this on because I’m some wonderful senior who pities his juniors.”
I turned my head away, swallowing my irritation. But unfortunately, in that direction, Go Won’s photos that I’d been looking at earlier filled the monitor.
When I momentarily froze, Go Won turned his head in the same direction and caught me.
“…I was looking at reference material before working on the song.”
I felt quite embarrassed after blurting out those gruff words. Fortunately, he seemed not to think much of it.
“The song isn’t ready yet. I’ll play it.”
“Yes.”
I played the music through the speakers in the studio.
—In the unknown fog
Even a path without a path is fine
Even if it’s an endless fantasy
Expressionless Go Won looked up at the massive speakers booming throughout the room.
On his face that had been hiding his feelings until now, a reddish emotion finally appeared.
He must have listened to the file recorded in his own voice hundreds of times already. Having that taken away from him must be something he’d hate to death.
For just over three minutes, Go Won and I listened to the song without saying anything.
Finally, the speakers fell silent. Go Won waited for me to speak, then opened his mouth first.
“…What did you think?”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
“Ah…”
“Perfect to be lumped together with some guy who drove drunk. How did you end up with a friend like that?”
Right, the song is good. I’ll admit that.
‘But really, haa…’
I get that it’s supposed to have a spirited, energetic mood.
It might have been better if it were a love song comparing it to drifting.
But this.
Racing toward darkness, advancing endlessly, so intoxicated with the goal you can’t come to your senses… It’s elegantly blurred whether the subject is a lover or a goal.
It’s a plucky song perfectly picked for a rookie, but the fact that Go Won didn’t wring that drunk driving bastard’s neck despite him drenching every verse with the smell of alcohol is honestly impressive.
On the other hand, I was genuinely surprised because Go Won’s vocal tone was pretty good.
Is it because he speaks with his head down, mumbling? It was completely different from the voice he’d been using in conversation.
Especially the way he raps, striking down hard—it’s a natural talent. While you can plaster pitch with autotune to match the notes, the atmosphere that permeates a song is absolutely not something a machine can create.
I leaned back deeply against the chair.
“Good grief, where do I even start and what do I fix? First, what do you want to do?”
“I want to revise the song in a direction where drunk driving doesn’t come to mind at all…”
“That won’t work.”
Go Won opened his eyes as if puzzled.
“Saying I’d try to revise it was a lie from the start. If the A&R team agonized over it to the point of pulling their hair out and made a final selection of those lyrics and that mixing, then there’s no better version than that. Whatever we change will be compared to the current version and be unsatisfactory. Especially to you.”
I hadn’t not considered rearrangement, rewriting lyrics, etc., but I gave up after listening to the song just now.
Literally, this debut song has Kwon Taeyoung and the A&R team’s blood and tears dissolved in it.
This song is at its best right now, at the peak of its perfection.
This kind of judgment was also included in the creative ability stats I’d built up through the Quest window.
If I can’t break through this shitty situation, I’m going to lose everything.
‘…What the hell should I do?’
It had been a while since I’d faced such a hopeless situation.
“Go Won.”
“Yes, sunbae-nim.”
“I bought us some time, but honestly, I’m not sure if it’ll work or not. What will you do if we can’t find a solution?”
A brief ripple passed across his expression. The despair he’d expected. And resignation, thinking, ‘I knew it would turn out this way.’ But his answer came out calmly.
“…I still want to debut like this.”
“Aren’t you frustrated?”
Just like in the meeting room, his hands clasped tightly together. But the change in his face was minimal.
“If it’s not something I can solve, being frustrated is meaningless too.”
“……”
But saying that with fire in his eyes made it look like he was vowing never to suffer no matter what happened.
Seeing that appearance made me curious about one thing.
Then what exactly is Go Won’s penalty—that ‘Go Won ■■’ thing—if his debut falls through?
Go Won’s worries? Or concerns? About what to do going forward…
‘Insight’ will decrease by 10pt.
It’s giving me a gentle scolding not to talk nonsense.
I let out a deep sigh at the Quest window’s ridiculous behavior, but seeing me like that, Go Won bit the corner of his lip tightly.
“You don’t need to worry about it too much.”
Huh?
“…It must be sudden for you too, sunbae-nim, and it’s not your concern.”
“……”
A wall full of wariness descended before my eyes, growing even thicker.
Ah, I get it.
Why he’s so pessimistic and holding back his emotions so tightly.
‘He has no expectations of adults.’
Well, he’s still only twenty years old.
He worked part-time jobs like normal, then threw himself completely into a survival show and suffered terribly, only for it all to fall apart. The company he barely managed to enter is rolling along in this state too…
“Mm, and so?”
“I’ll just… handle it myself.”
And suddenly there’s me, strutting around saying I’ll try to do something, and he’s wary that I might ruin what little there is left.
