Idol of the Heavenly One - vanish into fiction

Now, once the line “Were you waiting?” comes, I am supposed to nod, take his hand, and go with him…

“Let’s go.”

Huh? Wait. Did he just say “let’s go”?

I was not sure if I heard right, so I just stared blankly at Baek Jae-heon without even nodding.

“…”

But Baek Jae-heon simply held out his hand to me, showing no sign of hesitation. Since there was no “cut” from anyone around us, I eventually took his hand with a bit of hesitation.

Then we just stood there, looking into each other’s eyes.

“…”

It felt like time had stopped.

Had I ever stared into someone’s eyes for this long before?

It felt like I was being pulled into the depths of those eyes, as if time itself had frozen. The air felt subtly different, my breathing lighter. And just like Baek Jae-heon had said about “my own world,” no, “our world,” it was as if the whole world had quietly slipped away, leaving just the two of us.

So I was sure this would get marked as an NG. We had been staring at each other for far too long.

“Cut! Perfect!”

But when I came back to my senses, I realized my body was already moving, stepping through the white door with Baek Jae-heon. The director shouted “cut” behind us with satisfaction.

“…”

Looking back, it felt like I had gotten up and followed him almost unconsciously. And strangely, the moment did not feel unfamiliar. There was a warmth to it, as if it came from a memory from long ago.

I could still feel the warmth in my hand. When I looked down, I saw Baek Jae-heon’s large, firm hand still holding mine. It was warm, but the warmth felt like more than just body heat.

“Ah…”

Perhaps sensing my gaze, Baek Jae-heon’s hand slipped away from mine, and the warmth disappeared along with it. Just as I felt a pang of regret, I saw him already some distance away, thanking the staff politely. I stared at his back for a moment, then lowered my head to look at my now-empty hand.

…Regret?

Baek Jae-heon going through puberty is one thing, but apparently I have a problem too.

Every time I look at him, I space out. If it were some breathtakingly beautiful woman, at least I could justify my reaction, but why is it that my eyes keep getting drawn to the same guy, a member of my own group at that?

I really need to be extra careful.

From that day on, we recorded, filmed the music video, did weekly photoshoots, and practiced day after day. Time flew by so quickly that it had already been over two months since we moved into the dorm.

Because I usually collapsed into bed as soon as I got home, I barely ever ran into Baek Jae-heon.

Which was a relief. Thinking about that day still made me feel weird.

It is hard to explain… almost like a tickling sensation at my temples. It was a feeling I had never experienced, in either my past life or my current one.

Anyway, in the middle of those endlessly busy days, the day finally came for us to be revealed to the world.

<CZ Entertainment’s first boy group in five years! YEARZ — a debut that will take over a generation!>

Among the articles plastered with our name, I clicked the most recent one.

<CZ Entertainment has released the debut trailer video for the new boy group YEARZ, set to debut on September 11. This is the company’s first boy group in five years since DIFFER, and its members are I-rip, Hee-min, ISUNE, Jae-heon, Cheonmyeong, and Ji-hak.

Each member’s video will be uploaded one at a time in order, and the debut music video will be released a week after all members are revealed.

The first member to be featured in the debut trailer is the group’s powerful visual, “Jae-heon.”>

The article included several gif clips from Baek Jae-heon’s trailer, and this was roughly what it showed:

Jae-heon stands before a giant clock tower in a dark city, frowning with his eyes closed as if recalling something whenever the enormous second hand ticks forward. Then, one vivid image flashes through his mind—a man dressed in white lying on a sofa, his arm falling limply downward. In that moment, Jae-heon suddenly looks up, staring straight at the massive clock, and then runs toward the clock tower as the video ends.

“Damn…”

A deep sound of admiration escaped me—the kind middle-aged men make when they are impressed. Baek Jae-heon was the first teaser member, and it was impossible not to react like this.

I see that face every day, yet watching him on a well-produced screen with full makeup and styling was completely different.

Even if his inner world is different from mine, outwardly he is still my peer, just like me about to debut for the first time. How could someone our age already have eyes and gestures like that? His face catches attention even without makeup, but with hair and makeup done, he looked less like a human being and more like a CG character from some fantasy movie. Even the way he ran looked cinematic.

“Damn, that kid is seriously handsome…”

The words tumbled out from somewhere deep inside me, completely unfiltered.

“Myeong-hyeon hyung, you sounded just like my dad just now.”

“So what’s with your tone anyway, Myeong-hyeon?”