Idol of the Heavenly One - Chapter 7.2
“Ah, sorry.”
“What are you sorry for? I was just asking why you were laughing.”
I wanted to ask, When I see your face, I can’t help but laugh — you still don’t know that? But I forced my expression under control and answered as if it was nothing.
“I just thought it wasn’t very polite to laugh to myself in front of someone, even if it’s because of a good thing, so I said sorry.”
“You’re going to CZ, right? Me too. Let’s go.”
Normally, kids would get flustered by such a grown-up apology, then get all sheepish and start approaching me in a friendly way. This trick is how I survived the survival-of-the-fittest world that was middle school.
“No, seriously, why were you laughing?”
“Hm?”
“You laughed at me. On the first day we met, and just now.”
Apparently, Baek Jae-heon isn’t just above average in looks — his personality isn’t average either. Sure, that part of him was cool too, but it made me feel like I was taking a call from a nightmare customer, and I was about to get PTSD.
“Just because you’re handsome.”
“…?”
“Because you look like you could make a living off your face.”
At times like this, you can’t get flustered or drag out your words. You have to make your point clearly and decisively, then ignore any repeated questioning.
A kid like you could make a living with that face.
Huh? Wait — have I said something like this before? The strange déjà vu made it feel like something that happened in a past life. I couldn’t remember when or in what situation I might have said it, so it must have been a long time ago when I was working.
“Anyway, let’s go already.”
Well, it didn’t matter. That was a past life. What mattered was now — whether or not I could debut alongside Baek Jae-heon. Yoo Myeong-jin said he’d push for me hard, so all I could do was practice diligently and make it into the debut lineup.
And today was the start of that practice. I gestured for Baek Jae-heon, who was still standing there blankly, to hurry up, then stepped into the CZ Entertainment building first.
***
“This is the new trainee, Ji Myeong-hyeon. Since this is Myeong-hyeon’s first time as a trainee, Ji-hak and I-rip, help him adjust. You’ve met before, right? And Hee-min, make sure you take Myeong-hyeon with you later for vocal lessons. Got it?”
A strict-looking man — apparently the head trainer — brought me in, stood me in front of the other trainees, and introduced me. Ji-hak and I-rip, whom I’d met last time, just raised their eyebrows at me and greeted me briefly.
“Huh. He’s taking vocal lessons with Go Hee-min?”
“What, does he sing well or something?”
“That’s one thing, but if he’s paired with Go Hee-min, he might make the debut lineup?”
“Come on, it’s his first time as a trainee. They’re announcing the debut lineup next month. No way.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
And the moment I heard the name “Hee-min,” the whispers around me grew louder. That must mean he was as much of a guaranteed debut pick as Baek Jae-heon. He must sing really well. Just hearing the name, I could tell he was basically confirmed to debut — Go Hee-min.
Go-hee (古稀): a term meaning “to live as one should, without straying,” referring to age seventy.
So which one of these people was Go Hee-min? I slowly scanned all the trainees one by one as they stared at me like I was a zoo exhibit.
But seriously, why are there so many of them? Just counting roughly, there were over twenty boys here right now. Are half of them going to debut?
That couldn’t be it. If I count by age groups, at most fifteen could debut, but there’s no way all fifteen would.
Names like Kwon Ji-hak, Joo I-rip, and Go Hee-min sounded perfectly normal as people’s names — but no one would actually be named things like “Bulhok” (Forty), “Hwangap” (Sixty), “Jingap” (Seventy), “Mangpal” (Eighty), “Manggu” (Ninety), or “Jolsu” (Final Years).
If I narrow it down to names that at least sound plausible, there’s Yakgwan (Twenties), Isun (Sixties), Sansu (Eighties), and Sangsu (Hundreds). But they wouldn’t use “Sangsu” here, not when Baek Jae-heon is already here. So that leaves three.
My best guess would be Isun. It’s the kind of name they could play around with, like with Go Hee-min.
Ah, so which one here is Go Hee-min?
“Can you even sing?”
The question came right as my thoughts ended, catching me off guard.
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