The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Dong-Jun stared at me with a goofy smile on his face. It was as if he was trying to show on purpose that he didn’t hear anything. I could be overly interpreting Dong-Jun’s usual expression because I was paranoid, but I didn’t know what to think. Dong-Jun walked forward, maintaining a smile on his face. Woon and Do-Seung followed closely from behind with slightly tense expressions on their faces. They knew each other’s secrets and were trying to be discreet.

‘I think something like this happened before.’ I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. When I met Do-Seung as the first regressor at the dorm, I remembered Dong-Jun suddenly popping out and declaring that he would order malatang in the morning. I was relieved that the matter had passed like that…

‘But maybe he found out then?’ Once I started, my worries racked up on top of one another. Dong-Jun opened his mouth then.

“Yeon-Hoon said we should do a v-live as a commemoration for our winning first place in the waiting room.”

“Ah, really?”

“Oh.”

“That’s great.”

“Not for too long but for around twenty to thirty minutes.”

“That’s good.”

“But there are other people who have to use the waiting room too.”

“Ah, I see. We have to make space for them.”

A very awkward and stiff conversation continued. It seemed Do-Seung and Woon were trying their hardest to make a normal conversation, but the more they did this, the more awkward they appeared. I needed to get to the bottom of this matter since if Dong-Jun had heard, this conversation would be pointless anyway.

“Dong-Jun, did you hear the conversation we had outside the emergency door?” I asked blatantly.

Woon and Do-Seung turned toward me in shock. Their expressions seemed to be asking if I had lost my mind, but I wondered when else I could ask him. Dong-Jun looked back too and said in a carefree expression.

“Yeah, I did~” Dong-Jun’s tone and expression didn’t seem to match the content of his words.

“Oh…so you heard?” I didn’t expect his response at all. I had expected him to go, ‘Huh? I didn’t hear anything?’ or at least, hesitantly, ‘Yeah….I heard…’- not this bright exclamation of ‘I did~’.

If he really heard the conversation that passed between me, Woon, and Do-Seung, he shouldn’t have appeared so carefree but more astounded and confused by the situation. It was me who was baffled by his response now. We walked in silence across the hallways.

“But I didn’t hear what you all said too well. The door’s sound-blocking function is great~” Dong-Jun said. He was saying he heard us but not too well. Hearing this, I felt relieved. Woon and Do-Seung continued like they had been waiting for it.

“Ah, really?”

“Hahaha….yeah…the door is thick…”

“We didn’t talk too much. We just talked about the choreography and the song. You know since the three of us are in charge of the song production, lyrics, and choreography. That’s why…”

I didn’t know why Woon and Do-Seung failed to grow their lying skills after regressing so many times. Anyone listening to them could tell they were lying. Rather than intervening, I decided to watch from behind.

‘Dong-Jun heard us properly.’ All I could think right now was that Dong-Jun was playing with us, but I wondered what that would lead to. It wasn’t like Dong-Jun would suddenly change and try to harm us if he learned the truth. Thus, I planned to watch what happened for now.

“Let’s go to the waiting room first. Yeon-Hoon was wondering where you all are.”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

“Yeah, Yeon-Hoon must be waiting. Let’s go.”

“Let’s go in~”

We all headed there. When we opened the door, we found Yeon-Hoon waiting for us.

“What! Where did you go, you guys! Dong-Jun and I have been looking for you guys for so long.”

“We just had some things to talk about.”

“What? Without me and Dong-Jun?

“Yes…well…it’s nothing big.”

“It makes me feel a bit left out…”

“I’m sorry. We will tell you before we go next time,” I sloppily explained to Yeon-Hoon and sat on the waiting room sofa.

“Let’s turn on the v-live! We need to show off our first-place trophy and thank our fans.”

Like that, we began to prepare for our live broadcast with Yeon-Hoon taking the lead.

***

The live broadcast ended after twenty minutes. Because there was a strange tension between me and Dong-Jun and I had heard a terrifying mission at the emergency stairs just before, I thought wouldn’t be able to focus on the live broadcast. But after I looked at each of the comments coming up on the chat box, I quickly forgot everything else and focused on the broadcast.

—Congratulations on winning first place!!

—Siren first place!!

—You guys worked so hard

—Ahhhh This is only the beginning for Siren

There were just some short lines coming up on a small screen, but these comments touched my heart. I could sense the fans’ genuine feelings, congratulations, and worries in the comments. I thought this was the reason why some idols became addicted to doing v-lives. Since this was a broadcast that we decided to start at the spur of the moment, we didn’t talk for too long. The most important thing we talked about was, of course, us winning first place, and while we talked about how we each felt after winning first place, Yeon-Hoon burst into tears.

“If it wasn’t for you all, we wouldn’t even have been able to dream of this. Since The Showcase 2…you really…hmph…”

The mention of ‘The Showcase 2’ was the trigger for Yeon-Hoon. He cried when the show was mentioned on stage, and in his head, that time had probably been the hardest but most fulfilling time of our lives. Yet, the problem was that when Yeon-Hoon cried, Woon and Do-Seung also began to tear up. The only ones who didn’t cry were me and Dong-Jun.

“Our older members are so happy.”

“They are so in tune with their emotions.”

Because of their crying, we paused the broadcast temporarily; and by the time they calmed down, Dong-Jun progressed the broadcast.

“Mr. Tae-Yoon, how do you feel about winning first place?”

“First of all, I think this is a miracle that happened thanks to our Sailors. Furthermore, it’s a reward for our team who have worked so hard and busily until now. With this, I hope that our bond grows even stronger and we can stay close until we retire.”

“Ah~ You are already thinking about retiring on your first win?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me any questions?”

“Mr. Dong-Jun, how do you feel today?”

“I would also like to thank our Sailors first. If it wasn’t for you all, I wouldn’t even have been able to dream of achieving something like this,” Dong-Jun said while looking at the chat box. Then, he turned to me while continuing, “After winning first place today, all our memories of hard times during our trainee days and debut feel like a blur. It was a valuable and happy event that made me forget all the bad memories.”

I almost doubted my ears, hearing Dong-Jun speak. Since I couldn’t express my surprise on v-live, I controlled my expression. He just said that it was as if his memories got blurred. That was the last thing Woon, Do-Seung, and I said while we were under the emergency stairs. Was that just a coincidence? I thought it was unlikely.

‘Like a blur’ wasn’t a common expression people used. I glanced at Woon and Do-Seung. It appeared those two were currently this world’s Do-Seung and Woon and not their regressors. They showed no change of expression while looking at Dong-Jun.

“How does Woon feel after winning today?”

“Me? Well, I also really…”

Like that, the v-live continued with Dong-Jun leading it. Woon stopped in the middle of his speech to cry, and Do-Seung also teared up while speaking and moved his head away. Soon afterward, we had a short interaction with the fans on the chats.

“See you all next time!”

“We will see you soon!”

“We are going to upload part 2 of the cover video and Tae-Yoon’s comedic script soon!”

“See you~”

The v-live came to an end, and after it was over, Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna came in while holding a cake.

“Congratulations Siren!”

“We could only get this because we were in a hurry, but we thought we should get a cake for a day like this.”

“Wow…”

“Thank you so much.”

“This is awesome.”

My members looked touched seeing the cake that Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon brought. Dong-Jun was usually the first one to respond in the presence of a high-calorie food like this, but this time, he simply stood in the back quietly.

‘Haa…This is giving me a headache…’ Since my doubts started, every little thing that Dong-Jun did looked suspicious.

***

After the live broadcast ended and we shared the cake with the staff, we returned to our dorm. Since we didn’t have a fan meeting today, we could go home earlier than usual. And on our way, we talked more than usual inside the car.

“For our next album…”

“The song’s concept…”

“I think for the dancing…”

It seemed winning first place today really set a fire in my members’ minds, and they were already talking about the next album.

“Before that, we need to do some activities with our album’s track songs too.” Though thinking about the next album was great, this took precedence. After all, I needed to get rid of the death flag missions first.

“Ah, of course~”

“We need to seal the win with follow-up activities.”

“We can do it!”

It was great to see how high my members’ morale was. We soon arrived at the dorm and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna greeted us off while we got on the elevator.

“Ahh~ We are home!”

“We really went through so much today.”

“Today felt so long…”

“Good work you all!”

My members all slumped into the living room and conversed while rolling on the floor. Then, my members all went to take a shower one by one. There were a total of three shower rooms in this dorm: one in the living room and one each in the two big rooms.

“You guys shower first. Tae-Yoon and I can wash ourselves last,” Dong-Jun said.

“Oh, what? Why are you suddenly acting so serious?”

“Not as serious as the weight you pull at the gym.”

“…You know how to make a joke.”

After the members got into the showers, the only ones remaining in the living room were Dong-Jun and I. Dong-Jun and I sat on the sofa while looking at each of our phones. Usually, Dong-Jun would’ve tried to provoke me or even poke my side with his toes. That was the sort of personality he had.

Instead, Dong-Jun asked me, “Should we go out for a bit, Tae-Yoon?” Then, when I stared at him, he asked, “Don’t we have something to talk about?”

We did have things to talk about but how far did he know? Thus, I was trying to fish out the scope of his knowledge when Dong-Jun began, “Tae-Yoon, what is it about the regressors? And the second regression and Billboard Hot 100? And why will Do-Seung and Woon die?”

“Ah…”

There was nothing to fish. Dong-Jun heard our entire conversation.