Idol of the Heavenly One - vanish into fiction

Over there was the vocal instructor called Se-jin hyung, the one Go Hee-min worried about so much. He was talking to someone who seemed to be from the same company, badmouthing Go Hee-min.

“Why? Did something happen again?”

“No, I told him to sing falsetto for the end-of-month evaluation. But he ignored me and sang in his natural voice. Rude little punk.”

“Oh, yesterday? But honestly, I think singing in natural voice was better?”

“Exactly. It was like he was making a desperate attempt. As if he really thinks he can make it with singing.”

It was shocking, but not too much. From the first time I saw this man, his tone and behavior made it clear he had plenty of malice. What was surprising was that this malice seemed to be aimed especially at Go Hee-min. I thought the two of them were close.

“Well, you sing just as well as Go Hee-min, and you’re better-looking too. There’s no way Go Hee-min will debut.”

“Exactly. That’s how it should be.”

Eight wasted years could be this frightening. They had filled a person with so much malice.

I felt bad for Go Hee-min. He had even asked me, someone he barely knew, not to show any hint of it for that vocal instructor’s sake, yet here that instructor was taking out his frustrations on him for no reason.

But I could not suddenly step in like in a movie and say something like, “Why would you say that? Go Hee-min thinks well of you!” It would not improve anything anyway.

Above all else…

“That kid, I’m giving him the lowest score possible for character tomorrow. You know how important character evaluation is for the debut lineup, right? I’ll ruin him.”

I only felt sorry for that kid. He was just twenty-three years old, still a very young adult. Just because he could not have the job he dreamed of, he was trying to drag others down, filled with nothing but malice. It was pitiful. At twenty-three, there are so many fresh starts one can make in the world.

But this too is something one cannot understand until they go through it themselves. For him right now, this situation must feel like his entire world.

I decided I would quietly return to the practice room and focus on my own training.

“…Hm?”

But then I noticed that I was not the only one there. On the opposite wall, I caught a glimpse of someone’s foot before it disappeared. Who was that? Ji-hak? Another trainee? A manager? Or was it Go Hee-min?

When I got back to the practice room, Ji-hak was sitting on the floor, taking a break. At least it did not seem like the foot belonged to him. That was a relief. If he had gone to the bathroom first, he might have overheard that conversation, and being as young as he was, he might have repeated the vocal instructor’s words to Go Hee-min, thinking they were absolute truth.

“Did Go Hee-min come by, by any chance?”

“Huh? Hee-min hyung?”

“Yeah.”

“No? Hee-min hyung is kind of a night owl, so if he comes, it will be during the day. Why?”

So that foot earlier probably was not Go Hee-min’s. That was a relief. Sometimes it is better not to know the truth.

“Nothing. Go use the bathroom.”

“Yes!”

Even if that instructor tried to mess with Go Hee-min’s character score, Go Hee-min would still definitely make the debut lineup. That instructor had only been promoted from trainee to teacher just one year ago, so his influence inside the company would not be that strong. Besides, Go Hee-min’s name itself felt like destiny, and his singing ability was extraordinary. If he did not become a singer, no one could.

“Hyung, good job today!”

“Yeah. Thanks for today. See you tomorrow.”

“Yes!”

In the end, it was just me and Kwon Ji-hak practicing together from start to finish. None of the other trainees showed up. Even the dance instructor had the day off or something. Then why did they even tell me to come?

Well, at least I learned a lot from Ji-hak, so it was fine. After saying goodbye to him, I headed to the subway station to go home.

“…Huh?”

At the station entrance, I spotted a familiar figure standing there.

“Baek Jae-heon?”

It was Baek Jae-heon. Today at the practice room, it had been just me and Ji-hak, so Jae-heon must have been in a different practice room. Since he was the one who told me to work on my core strength, I felt glad to see him and walked over.

“What Park Se-jin said earlier.”

But Baek Jae-heon glared at me as he spoke.

“Don’t tell Go Hee-min.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t tell him about Park Se-jin saying he’d mess with his character score.”

Almost unconsciously, I looked down at Baek Jae-heon’s shoes. They seemed to match the sneakers I had glimpsed earlier. So the owner of that foot was Baek Jae-heon.

“Why?”