The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Yeon-Hoon, Do-Seung, Woon, and Dong-Jun—all four Siren members met in front of the apartment entrance.

“Huh? Do-Seung?”

“Yeon-Hoon?”

“Did you come back after finishing your work?”

“Ah yeah. But I couldn’t finish and just did the general framework.”

“So, so cool. You really are awesome, Do-Seung.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung met first.

“Ohh! You guys! Let’s go together!”

“Dong-Jun?”

“It’s Woon.”

The moment that the two were passing through the entrance door, Dong-Jun and Woon came running from far away. They had come rushing after spotting Yeon-Hoon and Do-Seung.

“Did you guys practice dancing a lot?”

“Yeah, wow you guys. Woon is really no joke.”

“What is no joke?”

“He really just dances for two hours non stop without rest. Even I never worked that hard during my trainee days.”

“You said we should go harder today to burn off the calories from eating mala hot pot.”

“I didn’t realize that we would go this hard.”

Dong-Jun and Woon talked about the dance practice they had today. Yeon-Hoon watched the two adoringly. Do-Seung looked at Dong-Jun a bit disapprovingly and added a snide comment in the end, “If you danced to burn calories, you should’ve told me, and we could’ve just gone to the gym together. Why are you trying to use an inefficient exercise method to burn calories?”

“…”

Do-Seung was peeved that Dong-Jun didn’t go exercising with him. Aghast, Dong-Jun said, “Don’t you think that I might have chosen dancing because I didn’t want to go to the gym?”

“Working out at the gym is more fun.”

“Why don’t you just make a gym inside your studio?”

“I already did.”

“…You are crazy.” Do-Seung seemed to not notice Dong-Jun’s gloomy expression and opened his phone’s gallery collection to show Do-Seung the home gym he installed.

“If I get tired while working on a song, I do a deadlift once. Then, I feel blood circulate my blood, and I feel more awake.”

“I want to run away from you now.”

“Furthermore, since this equipment model has a cable, I can really stimulate my back muscles too.”

“Are you not listening to me?”

Do-Seung and Dong-Jun talked to each other in the same manner they always did and arrived at the first floor elevator.

“Let’s get on~” Yeon-Hoon took the lead and got on the elevator.

“I wonder what Tae-Yoon is doing alone.”

“Considering Tae-Yoon’s personality, he’s probably quietly looking at his laptop.”

“Who knows? He could have brought in a hidden girlfriend.”

“Tae-Yoon, dating?”

“I’m just saying. He doesn’t even have the time to date. Not like he looks that interested in doing that right now either.”

“Yeah.”

“If Tae-Yoon dates…that will be one of the most shocking things I see this year.”

Siren shared meaningless talk as they walked towards their dorm.

“Let’s quickly wash up and go to sleep.”

“Yeah.”

“If we have to prepare for the concert we made a pledge about, we need to work hard again. Let’s save our strengths.”

“Yeah, let’s keep going strong everyone.”

While exchanging such lines, they opened the entrance door.

Bang! Bang! Creak—boom!

“…?”

“…What?”

“…Is it a thief…?”

A strange and suspicious activity was coming from inside of the house. It sounded as if somebody was opening the closet or cabinet doors and taking out something from it. The same thought crossed all the members’ minds at once then.

“…A stalker?”

“Haa…”

“Guys, stay calm…stay calm.”

It was a common story for stalkers to trespass into celebrity houses and steal their goods. Yet, this was more in the past, and they didn’t think there were still people these days who did something like that…still, it was a possibility. By this time, stalkers could’ve found out the location of their dorms by now.

Here, they could make either of the two choices. They could leave this place right now and report to Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna; or they could all enter the dorm together and catch the stalker. Then, they could report the news to their managers. The members decided to do the latter.

“What if the stalker takes our goods and runs away with them…?”

“You don’t know if they installed secret cameras.”

“I think things would get resolved faster if we went inside and caught the culprit.”

Perhaps, it was because they were all active, young men, they thought of confronting the culprit first hand before escaping. In the end, the four Siren members cautiously went inside their dorm. Simultaneously, Dong-Jun grabbed the TV remote that had been carelessly laid on top of the sofa. It didn’t appear very effective as a weapon but he probably had grabbed anything within his reach. Eventually, they slowly approached the room where they heard sounds from.

It was the room that Woon shared with Tae-Yoon. It was then, the members realized that Tae-Yoon must still be inside the dorm.

‘What if Tae-Yoon is captured as a hostage?’

‘Is Tae-Yoon in trouble?’

“What did they do to him?’

Though it was very unlikely that a stalker was keeping Tae-Yoon hostage, the image of a ‘stalker’ had been so strongly established as a criminal who was capable of all sorts of crimes in their minds.

“No!” Yeon-Hoon cae up with the most dramatic imaginations and pushed open the door frantically.

“…Huh?”

“…What?’

“…There’s no stalker?”

“…What?”

What they saw inside the room was completely different from what they had imagined. Tae-Yoon was standing alone while staring at them. Yet, there was something off about his posture. He stood right in front of the closet and his expression looked like he was someone caught in the middle of trying to hide something. Though they had avoided the worst-case scenario of facing a stalker…

“…Tae-Yoon what did you do…?” This was also a very strange situation. Not only was there something wrong about Tae-Yoon’s expression, there was a strange atmosphere filling up the room. And what was with Tae-Yoon’s pose that was clearly trying to hide something inside the closet? His whole body gesture seemed to scream suspicious.

‘No way…’

‘Ah…’

‘Really…?’

There was another thought that simultaneously passed the Siren members’ minds then. It was what Dong-Jun had said jokingly while they were coming up the elevator about Tae-Yoon bringing his girlfriend secretly into the dorm.

Now that they thought about it, there was a time when they suspected him of leaving the dorm alone to meet his girlfriend. They later found out that there had been a misunderstanding then but once the suspicion had been raised, it was easier for their thoughts to head in that direction.

It didn’t take long for their doubts to solidify, and soon, all the members became certain that inside the closet, there existed a source that could pull apart the group in tatters.

“Tae-Yoon…move side,” Yeon-Hoon said in a cold voice.

“Tae-Yoon, get away from the closet.” Do-Seung also commanded in a similar tone.

“Ah…no…well…I can explain this to you guys. Hear me out a bit.” Seeing Tae-Yoon respond to them flustered, the members became even more certain. Thus, they planned to forcefully push Tae-Yoon aside.

“Get out. We are going to drag you out if you don’t.”

“Wait you guys.”

“Tae-Yoon!” In the end, Do-Seung yelled.

Boom! That moment, the closet door made a loud thud as if someone was inside it. The Siren members’ faces changed immediately. A shadow cast on Yeon-Hoon’s face, rage bloomed on Do-Seung’s, resignation on Woon’s, and disappointment passed over Dong-Jun’s. In response, Tae-Yoon’s face simply looked baffled and astounded.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The closet door began to shake then.

“Just tell…her to come out…” Yeon-Hoon said in a tone like he had given up.

“Please let me out. I think my back is going to break here.” It was then, they heard an unfamiliar man’s voice inside the closet and the Siren members’ expressions turned more shocked than before. They had believed Tae-Yoon was hiding his secret girlfriend but…

“Tae-Yoon…!”

“You…!”

“It was a boyfriend?”

Their eyes widened in realization that the secret was a man.

“What?”

“Sorry?”

Tae-Yoon and the mysterious man inside the closet asked simultaneously.

“What are you saying you guys!” Tae-Yoon asked, and the man in the closet said,” Please move aside.”

Tae-Yoon finally moved away from the closet and the closet’s door opened to reveal the man inside.

“…What?”

“…Ah?”

“Senior Kang Hyun-Sung?”

“What…why are you in our closet?”

All the members looked shocked to see a person they hadn’t expected. Dong-Jun especially looked out of it.

“This isn’t a dream right…? This is so unexpected and out of context…”

All the Siren members stood in shock and Tae-Yoon seemed to also have a brain overload and simply stared into space. Seeing this, Kang Hyun-Sung sighed deeply and explained.

“Tae-Yoon suggested I shoot a challenge video with him so I came to film that. But it seems he didn’t want to get found out by you all and pushed me in here. It all happened because Mr. Tae-Yoon overreacted by himself at the last minute so I hope none of you all misunderstand.”

Everyone’s mouths gaped slightly open with Kang Hyun-Sung’s clean explanation. The person who appeared most shocked was Tae-Yoon. His face flashed red in an instant and he muttered, “Ah…it was possible to summarize the situation so easily….”

***

After the incident with Kang Hyun-Sung and the closet, I received a lot of criticism and blame from my members. They rebuked me for overreacting and creating misunderstandings. They also questioned why I didn’t tell them beforehand that I was going to film a challenge video with Kang Hyun-Sung since they would’ve lent me the dorm or practice room to me then.

Above all, they couldn’t understand why I even bothered to hide another person by shoving them into a closet when it was totally fine for me to bring someone over.

Everything they said was right, and I had no excuses to make. In certain points of a person’s life, there were times when they made certain misjudgments and misses and today was one of those days. If I must explain myself, it was because I didn’t want to show my members a scene of me receiving help from Kang Hyun-Sung. I had a strong desire to solve the team’s problem by myself.

‘Above all, it kind of felt like I was betraying them.’ Because it felt like I was betraying my members, I thought I tried to hide what happened today. Though it was an overreaction to protect the team more than anything else, I thought in a way, I might have felt a strange sense of guilt bringing Kang Hyun-Sung to our group. But the biggest reason for my action was just…that I panicked.

“I don’t know why I did that either. I just panicked. I swear.” When I heard someone click the door password, my head just went blank. It was like I went into panic mode since I was filming a challenge video without telling my members.

“Okay, I get it. But next time, tell us stuff like this from now on.”

“Okay.”

Soon afterward, we uploaded the challenge video I filmed with Kang Hyun-Sung on Siren’s official account. Kang Hyun-Sung also shared that video on his private social media account too. The remaining thing was for Willy Freedman to see that video. But perhaps, Willy Freedman’s relationship was closer to Kang Hyun-Sung than I thought because I heard news sooner than I expected.

“…?”

“Hey guys! Willy Freedman did a challenge video of our song and uploaded it!”

Gasp!

“That’s crazy!”

About two hours after Kang Hyun-Sung and I uploaded our challenge video, Willy Freedman filmed a challenge video of “Blue Ocean” and uploaded it to his private social media account. Soon afterward, Kang Hyun-Sung contacted me.

—Willis says that he wants to meet you on his tour. Please share the news with your teammates.

“…It really happened.”