– Five years ago, January. First meeting. –
A bolt from the blue. That’s what Yuho was to Inhan. Someone who appeared out of nowhere and lodged themselves deep in his heart.
As for why Inhan took care of Yuho so obsessively—there wasn’t really a specific reason. He just kept finding his eyes drawn to him. His hands reached out, and his heart followed.
“Hello. I’m Seon Yuho. I’m nineteen years old. Please take care of me.”
Yuho appeared in front of Inhan one day out of nowhere. He showed up with a “ta-da” in the practice room where the debut team members were gathered, accompanied by the head of the new artist development team.
“This is the friend who’ll be joining the debut team. Handsome, right? He sings pretty well too.”
The first to express doubt was Taylor. How many trainees had quit because they couldn’t make it into the debut team? It made him feel upset.
“I don’t think I’ve seen him before?”
“Oh. We recruited him yesterday. Handsome, right? One of our team staff spotted him at some singing competition and brought him in. The kid sings pretty well too. Yuho, you said you were the vocalist for a band club?”
“No. Guitar.”
“Right. Guitar. So that’s why you brought your guitar?”
“Yes.”
Yuho’s two eyes sparkled brightly as he held a guitar case that looked as big as his own body and wore a headband, thinking it looked cool. His face appeared full of confidence and excitement.
“Alright. Then shall we have you sing something?”
“Oh. Yes!”
At the head’s words, Yuho quickly pulled out his guitar. And began to play. The debut team members’ eyes went wide at his expert-level skill. The problem was that the debut team wasn’t a band.
Finally, the singing began, and a pleasant, clear voice rang through the practice room.
It seemed he hadn’t received separate training—his skill was clean without any embellishments. Above all, his high notes went up effortlessly, as if he were naturally gifted in the upper register.
Even if he wasn’t main vocal material, he seemed perfectly suited to be a lead vocal.
But as mentioned earlier, the debut team wasn’t a band.
“Just now, that was…”
“It’s Circle by B.ACE.”
“Oh. That was Circle by B.ACE? I thought it was original choreography.”
Among the members who were left speechless after seeing Yuho’s dancing ability, only Taylor expressed his awkwardness.
“Yes… I practiced it for a few days…”
At Taylor’s blunt assessment, Yuho trailed off. His face gradually lost its vitality.
“It’s okay. You can practice from now on. Still, you prepared hard. Good job.”
The head comforted Yuho in a soulless voice. And Taylor still maintained his firm attitude.
“We have six months until debut, you know?”
“That’s enough. Enough. As long as you four dance well, that’s fine. Just hide him well in the back like Jueon. Right?”
“It took even Jueon-hyung a year just to keep up with the choreography.”
“But he’s young. He’ll learn faster. Right?”
“Oh. I…”
“Idols are singers too, so shouldn’t we add more vocalists? And this kid was in a band, so he has his own fans. Yuho, how many SNS followers did you say you have?”
“Oh. That’s, one thousand four hundred and twenty…”
“See? He’s already secured a thousand fans.”
“Sir. Let’s talk for a moment.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Taylor finally requested a private word with the head. Taylor was the longest-serving trainee and a core member of the debut team. At the same time, he was the only trainee who could stand up to the head.
After the two went outside the practice room, Yuho was left alone in front of people he’d never met. And the first person to speak to such a Yuho was none other than Inhan.
“Don’t just stand there, sit down. Hyung.”
“Oh. I’m fine.”
“So you’re going to keep standing?”
“Oh. Then I’ll sit.”
Yuho fumbled as he sat on the floor. Then he rolled his eyes around, gauging the atmosphere.
Inhan quietly watched Yuho’s behavior.
The way he fidgeted with his fingers and flinched at the slightest sound—he was like a small, white, timid purebred puppy.
With round eyes, a round nose, and a round head, he looked just like…
“He’s got the look that attracts fangirls.”
Raulie finished his assessment of Yuho’s face in just one sentence.
“Pardon?”
“Your face, hyung. It’s a face that idol fans would like. Kind of a ZM look.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
“How tall are you, hyung?”
“Oh, I’m 172cm, but… my mom said I’d grow taller.”
“Yeomin, how tall are you?”
“I’m 173cm.”
“Nice that your heights match.”
Yuho rolled his eyes and scanned the people in the practice room. Two really tall people, two medium-sized people including the leader hyung, and one who looked similar to him. It did feel very do-re-mi-like, but still, it was reassuring that there were pairs of two.
“I’m Lee Raul. Eighteen years old.”
“Oh. Yes. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Lee Yeomin. Same age as this one.”
“I know you. I saw you in a drama.”
“Oh. Really?”
Jueon watched contentedly from the side as the three puppy-like people chatted among themselves. Then he spoke to Inhan beside him.
“Looks like you like him?”
“Me?”
“You’re not usually the type to talk first to strangers.”
“Oh, just. He was standing alone.”
“Oh. Really?”
Even as he answered like that, Inhan’s gaze kept turning toward Yuho.
“Taeyoon-hyung will probably object, won’t he?”
And before he knew it, he was asking Jueon a worried question.
“Why? Are you in favor?”
“Just. I thought it wouldn’t be bad to observe him for a few days.”
Jueon smiled at Inhan’s answer. What’s with him? Inhan was acting strangely, as if he’d fallen in love at first sight, which was both awkward and cute.
At Jueon’s reaction, Inhan asked, feeling embarrassed:
“Why?”
“I was just thinking, there are times when you disagree with Taeyoon’s opinion too.”
“No. I’m not disagreeing.”
“Go talk to him. Taeyoon listens to you well.”
“Come on. Why would I go separately to talk about that?”
But why am I sitting here? Inhan thought, sitting in the hallway chair outside the small meeting room.
Even he thought it was ridiculous that he’d snuck out of the practice room by lying about needing to go to the bathroom.
Still, he didn’t feel like going back.
Soon, Taylor came out of the office, and Inhan stood up from his seat.
Taylor’s expression had turned serious. Inhan asked Taylor.
“What did the head say?”
“I don’t know. He said let’s just keep him for a month for now. If he was going to do this, why did he let all the other kids go? It’s annoying.”
Taylor brushed his hair back with an irritated gesture.
To Taylor, for whom skill was most important, Yuho’s looks didn’t even register.
He’d thought the debut team was well put together with elite members. Taylor wasn’t pleased with this variable called Yuho who had suddenly appeared.
“Can’t Yuho-hyung just be on our team?”
“What are you saying? You’re normally even more cold-hearted than me about these things.”
Taylor spoke in surprise at Inhan’s suggestion. Yeomin and Jueon were the type where whatever’s good is good, and Raulie was also generous toward the weak, so actually what Taylor had worried about most was Inhan’s reaction.
“I’ll teach him well.”
“What is this?”
“What?”
“You’re doing something you’ve never done before.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. And when did you even meet him that you’re calling him Yuho-hyung?”
“If we’ve exchanged names, he’s hyung.”
Ha. Taylor laughed in disbelief. It was ironic and suspicious that this kid who wouldn’t get close to anyone except longtime trainees was now defending someone he’d met less than an hour ago.
“Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“Why you’re doing something you’ve never done before.”
“It’s because I saw something in Yuho-hyung.”
“What? Potential?”
“A miracle.”
This isn’t some scene from a youth drama. Looking at Inhan speak with a fresh smile added to his words, Taylor’s expression rapidly soured. Taylor spoke to Inhan in genuine anger.
“What the hell. Did you take drugs?”
Despite Taylor’s scolding, Inhan smiled foolishly. Watching him, Taylor felt his future going dark.
This is ominous. He had a premonition that the path to debut, which he thought would be a flower road, would turn into a thorny path.
Should he call it a miracle? Should he call it a halo? When Yuho first appeared in the practice room, Inhan had thought there was a separate spotlight shining only on Yuho. Whether the person was glowing or the surroundings were glowing, Yuho kept sparkling in a way that made it impossible to look away.
“It’s love.”
“What?”
“Your eyes are too much like melodrama eyes. Do you like him that much?”
At Taylor’s words, Inhan was momentarily speechless. It had been a while since his gaze had been stolen by Yuho’s face as he sat in a circle with Yeomin and Raulie, chattering with his small lips.
Are people who grew up loved always like that? Watching the three people whose laughter never stopped whenever they gathered, Inhan couldn’t hide his envious feelings.
Especially Yuho. Yuho was spotlessly pure, like someone who had never experienced unhappiness in his life. Was that why? Why his eyes kept going to him, why his hands kept reaching out.
“Our Hyo-hyung is small and precious. We should take care of him.”
“You know dating is forbidden for three years, right? And I’m against dating within the team.”
“Hyung. What are you talking about? Yuho-hyung is a guy.”
What kind of dating with a guy. Even knowing it was a joke, Inhan denied Taylor’s words. Even though it was something that could be brushed off as a joke.
“And I only have Ahn Jia-noona.”
“Sure. You’d be better off dating that noona.”
Taylor’s words, which didn’t feel like a joke at all, made Inhan uncomfortable for no reason. He worried if he’d done something wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned Jia-noona. Inhan approached Yuho from behind where he sat looking dejected. Then he stretched out his arms and hugged Yuho. As expected, nothing was better than Yuho-hyung for comfort.
“Hyung. Why don’t you have any muscles?”
Inhan asked while kneading Yuho’s arms. Yuho spoke to Inhan with a gentle face, showing no sign of resistance.
“The trainer said I’m naturally the type where muscles don’t build easily.”
“But they’d still build if you exercised.”
“Yeah. But they said I’d have to work ten times harder than others to bulk up.”
“Then just don’t do it. Hyung, your existence itself is precious.”
My Yuho-hyung. Small and precious Yuho-hyung. Inhan buried his face in Yuho’s shoulder and thought. I hope hyung stays happy by my side like this forever.
With that thought, Inhan hugged Yuho even tighter.
