The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

In Siren’s dorm without Bong Tae-Yoon, all of the Siren members sat around the living room after taking a shower. Normally, they would have gone to their respective rooms and fallen asleep, but there was a reason why they couldn’t do so.

“When is Tae-Yoon coming back?”

“Did he usually spend this long at the convenience store?”

“Is he eating something there?”

“What is it?”

30 minutes had passed since Tae-Yoon said he was going to the convenience store, and he still hadn’t come back. Normally, he would be back home by now.

“Search for Tae-Yoon’s name in places like Bluebird. He might be caught by fans or taking pictures for them there.”

“Wait a minute.” Park Dong-Jun took the lead and searched for Bong Tae-Yoon’s name on SNS but nothing came out. He even searched for Western names, but the results were the same.

“Let’s wait 10 more minutes for now.” Like this, the four Siren members looks endlessly at the clock. Although the promised 10 minutes have passed, Bong Tae-Yoon was still not back.

“Should I go out and look for him?” Lee Woon took the hat and planned to go find Bong Tae-Yoon by himself.

“Let’s go together if you’re planning to go out.”

“Then let me join too.”

With Woon’s lead, Kang Do-Seung stood up, and Park Dong-Jun also got up from his seat.

“Tae-Yoon is not even answering his phone…I want to go too. Let’s go together.” Woo Yeon-Hoon made a worried expression when Tae-Yoon didn’t pick up the phone and got up from his seat after taking a hat.

The four of them took the elevator and went out to the front door on the first floor. While going, Park Dong-Jun poked Kang Do-Seung on the side, and Kang Do-Seung looked at Park Dong-Jun with a questioning gaze. Kang Do-Seung wondered if Park Dong-Jun’s eyes had originally looked this profound and mysterious, and he unknowingly changed with the regressor Kang Do-Seung.

“It’s you, right?”

“Yep, it’s me.”

The two confirmed each other as regressors in a few words. Then Kang Do-Seung wrapped his arm on Woon’s shoulder and said, “Woon.”

“What?”

“Can you look at me right now?”

Lee Woon made eye contact with Kang Do-Seung and intuitively realized that the regressor Woon was needed now, and his identity also naturally switched to the regressor identity. Like this, a strange companionship of three regressors and Yeon-Hoon followed.

“How many convenience stores were there around here?”

“There are probably tons. Almost all the streets look the same…”

“Considering Tae-Yoon’s personality, he would have looked for the presence or absence of a traffic light if the distance was similar…So I think he went to the CS convenience store where he didn’t have to cross the traffic light.” While saying Tae-Yoon might have gone to the CS convenience store, his eyes looked towards the underground parking lot.

Since Bong Tae-Yoon said he was going to the convenience store, it would be right to go to the convenience store first, but Park Dong-Jun’s intuition was saying that something was going on in the parking lot. Park Dong-Jun had been on high alert since Bong Tae-Yoon asked him to help find the truck driver before. Even though Bong Tae-Yoon said he could safely face the truck driver, he didn’t know how truthful that was.

After regressing several times, he thought he had a good grasp of all his team members’ characters, but Bong Tae-Yoon was always a mystery. Therefore, apart from caring for Bong Tae-Yoon, he became someone who didn’t believe in Bong Tae-Yoon’s words and actions. They had to go through the parking lot entrance to get to the CS convenience store anyway.

While walking there, Park Dong-Jun poked Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung in the side. Then he pointed to the underground parking lot with furtive glances. Even though he didn’t say anything aloud, both Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung seemed to grasp the meaning behind his glances—that Bong Tae-Yoon might be carrying out the plan to meet the truck driver right now.

The most suitable place to meet the truck driver in this area was the underground parking lot. Just in time, an announcement came out from the speakers installed throughout the apartment.

—This is an announcement for all residents. Currently, there is a power outage due to an electrical wiring problem in the parking lot on the 2nd basement floor of Building 103. We will urgently take care of this matter, so please take note of this issue. We will inform you once again when…

If it was Building 103, it was the building where their dorm was, and if it was the parking lot on the second basement floor, it was the floor with a dedicated parking space for Siren’s dorm.

“Basement 2nd floor? We park our car there, right?” Woo Yeon-Hoon seemed to have noticed that something was off as well. Originally, Lee Woon, Kang Do-Seung, and Park Dong-Jun planned to make their moves while excluding Woo Yeon-Hoon as much as possible. However, now that it came to this, there was no more time to waste.

It was now almost certain that Bong Tae-Yoon must have met the truck driver in the underground parking lot. It won’t be too late to explain what happened to Yeon-Hoon later. The first thing to do now was to storm into the underground parking lot.

Sigh… “This is crazy.”

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Where are we going?”

“To the underground parking lot.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Let’s go first. I’ll explain it to you later.”

“Guys? What, the announcement said there was a power outage….Wait a minute…” Woo Yeon-Hoon didn’t know what happened, but he tried to follow the members into the underground parking lot. He was going to turn on his phone flash since he heard there was a power outage but…

Ziiing—!

Ziiiiiing—!

A departure siren, signaling the exit of a vehicle, rang at the entrance of Building 103. Even if they were in a hurry, they couldn’t go down recklessly when a car was coming out. However…

Screeeech—!

There was a vehicle that climbed the curved course of the underground parking lot at high speed. It was a white Elantra, and Park Dong-Jun remembered whose car it was.

“That’s the truck driver’s damn car!”

“What?”

“Really?”

“Truck driver? Huh?”

The car was moving dangerously even by a glance. This underground parking passage was designed so that cars didn’t drive fast, and it was very unsual for it to run this course at that speed. While the Siren members were wondering if they should stop the vehicle, the vehicle had already escaped from the parking lot. In that short time—

“Bong Tae-Yoon….?”

“What?”

“That’s Bong Tae-Yoon!”

“Tae-Yoon?”

They saw Bong Tae-Yoon sitting in the passenger seat. They had no way of knowing how things were going, but they knew that this wasn’t the time to act so leisurely like now.

“Run!”

The four Siren members all rushed to the underground parking lot, and then they rushed into their back-up vehicle; it was the old van from WD Entertainment. Even though the only person who should be able to drive was Woo Yeon-Hoon…

“…Do-Seung?” Kang Do-Seung all too skillfully started the car.

Woo Yeon-Hoon cried out, “You told me you can’t drive!”

“I’m sure Kang Do-Seung from this world also has a driver’s license.”

“But you said you had a license but couldn’t drive.”

“I know how to do it.”

“…What?”

Before Yeon-Hoon could even fully process what Kang Do-Seung said—

Broooom—!

The vehicle started.

“Get on.” The sight of Kang Do-Seung holding the steering wheel looked so natural that Woo Yeon-Hoon had no choice but to intuitively get on the back seat. He wondered if Kang Do-Seung might drive dangerously but—

Screech-!

“…What in the world.” Kang Do-Seung drove the nine-seated van much more skillfully than he did.

***

As soon as the vehicle got on the road, Kang Seok-Doo thought he had nothing to lose left. From now on, it would be better to cause an accident with another vehicle and force it to stop. At this speed, he could end up in a hospital for weeks without dying.

Whenever he tried to turn the steering wheel to induce an accident but Bong Tae-Yoon ordered, “Don’t turn it.”

—Don’t turn it.

“Fuckkk! Aghhh!” Contrary to his wants, his hands stopped at the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock and refused to budge. In the past, he was able to overcome Tae-Yoon’s unpleasant orders with pure spirit and grit, as with the help of the system, he could strengthen his mind and overcome his mind. However, it seemed Tae-Yoon had gotten stronger in that short period. He had no idea what happened, but Tae-Yoon had become an even bigger obstacle than before. It was like that in the parking lot earlier.

Kang Seok-Doo planned to speed up and slam the car into the wall altogether. The only way out of this situation was to hit the car against the wall with all his might. However, as soon as Bong Tae-Yoon stepped on the accelerator with all his might, Bong Tae-Yoon gave an order to leave the parking lot. Eventually, he had no choice but to drive out of the parking lot with the accelerator on full.

The vehicle went into the highway, and he didn’t know where they were going. He still wanted to cause a traffic accident, but as long as Bong Tae-Yoon had his eyes on him, it wasn’t possible. He tried to step on the accelerator to crash into the front car again, but—

“Stop.”

—Stop.

“Aghhh! You bastaaaard!” His foot that tried to step on the accelerator stopped in place.

“Move to the nearest Han River bridge from here.”

—Go to the nearest Han River bridge from here.

It was a longer order than before. After hearing Han River Bridge, he got a sense of what Bong Tae-Yoon was trying to do. Even though it was obvious what future awaited him if he drove there, his hand steadily dragged the car towards the Han River bridge.

“This damn punk…”

Bam! Bam! His hand steadily dragged the vehicle towards the Han River Bridge. The Hannam Bridge was the closest bridge to this location. He tried to resist by slamming his head on the steering wheel, but his will was of no use anymore. The vehicle started running towards the Hannam Bridge without giving him a moment to wipe the blood on his forehead.

***

Kang Do-Seung dragged the vehicle over the road. While going down to the underground parking lot, the truck driver and the car with Bong Tae-Yoon had already disappeared from view.

“Where would he have gone…Where would Bong Tae-Yoon try to drag the car…” Kang Do-Seung uttered to himself and scanned the road. He wasn’t certain, but that vehicle was probably under Bong Tae-Yoon’s control. If he had been detained and kidnapped, he would have been placed in the back seat or trunk, not in the passenger seat.

Furthermore, from the short glimpse he had of the window of the car, Bong Tae-Yoon seemed to be giving an order to the trunk driver. Thus, in other words, he was using the truck driver to move to another location, and they needed to go where Bong Tae-Yoon planned to go.

“Tae-Yoon is dragging the car…? What do you mean by that?” Yeon-Hoon asked from the back seat. However, all the other members immediately understood the situation.

“If it’s…Bong Tae-Yoon…won’t he go to the Han River Bridge?”

“The Han River Bridge?”

“He said he had to create a crack in the system and getting captured by that truck driver will cause a crack in the system. But considering that he’s going that far, it seemed like it won’t just end simply with him getting captured. In short, to create the biggest crack in the system…”

“He’s crazy.”

“No way, is he…”

“Wouldn’t that be death…?”

At Park Dong-Jun’s words, Lee Woon and Kang Do-Seung looked dejected, and Yeon-Hoon looked both terrified and frustrated.

“Die…? What do you guys mean? Tae-Yoon is going to die…What do you mean? No, what are you guys talking about!”

Woo Yeon-Hoon shouted unlike his usual self. Lee Woon was the first to answer.

“I want to explain everything right now, but it’s hard because there is so much to explain. One thing I can tell you is that…Tae-Yoon is trying to sacrifice himself for us right now.”

“Tae-Yoon is going to die for us? Can’t you explain properly so I can understand!”

“That’s the best we can tell you right now. What we need to do now is to stop Tae-Yoon from dying. If death was his goal, I would never have helped him…”

“…Okay, so I just need to know the goal is to stop Tae-Yoon?”

“Yes. I’ll make sure to explain everything to you after this is all over. I’m sorry.”

“You have to explain it to me. If you don’t, I really won’t let this slide.”

“Hannam Bridge! Hannam Bridge is the closest bridge from here! Turn the car over there!” While Lee Woon and Woo Yeon-Hoon’s conversation was ending, Park Dong-Jun specified the bridge Bong Tae-Yoon might have gone to, and Kang Do-Seung turned the vehicle towards him first.

The old van rumbled and ran to Hannam Bridge at the highest possible speed. When they were near the bridge, they were able to find the old, white Elantra they saw earlier in the distance. It had the same side mirror wrapped with blue tape. At that moment—

Bamm!

“Crazy…”

“Tae-Yoon!”

“Step on the accelerator! Hurry up!”

Bong Tae-Yoon’s car hit the guardrail on the sidewalk.