The sky, once tinted a deeper blue, had begun to turn ashen, and as nature prepared for winter in early October, WH Entertainment’s stock price soared—up more than fifty percent from the year before—thanks to the boundless popularity of its male idols.
Would Black Call successfully renew their contract? Would Hi-Five seize the Grand Prize again this year? Would The Dawn’s next album also make it onto the Billboard charts? And would the rookie group Estelle spark a new wave?
Despite all the noise and chaos, attention remained squarely on WH Entertainment.
[Title: That lunatic—I really can’t figure him out
Around autumn, Kang Ichae was practically glued to Seo Hoyun, all “Hyung♡ what are you doing♡ let’s do it together♡,” and now he’s totally cold.
1. What’s wrong with Kang Ichae?
While the maknae went off to film his MC segment, Kang Ichae, Kim Sunghyun, and Sung Jiwon suddenly appeared for a surprise cup-ramen mukbang live. Then Seo Hoyun barged in.
Seo Hoyun: What are you doing.
Kang Ichae: Hmph!! Tch!!
Seo Hoyun: ...?
Kim Sunghyun: (Here we go again,,)
2. The insane-eating rapper
Apparently, Seo Hoyun heard from Sung Jiwon that the guys were eating ramen and brought them kimbap. The way he came in looked exactly like a dad coming home from work, which was... a bit much.
Sung Jiwon: Wow, thanks, Hoyun!!! ^—^
Seo Hoyun: Yeah, haha.
Everything seemed peaceful, until—
Kang Ichae: Sorry~~ but the ramen + kimbap combo went out of trend a long time ago~~
?? hahaha what??
When exactly did that go out of trend...?
Kang Ichae claims the new hot combo is ramen and strawberry ice cream.
└ Kang Ichae was just recently all “Hyung♡ Hyung♡” to Seo Hoyun and now he’s like that.
└└ Did they fight?
└└ Seo Hoyun must’ve done something. He sighed like crazy, then seriously came back with ice cream lol.
└└ Aren’t they always like that? lol Everyone worries about bad blood, then the next day they’re besties again on live.
└ Even if a gossip account edits this maliciously, there’s no way it’d cause controversy.
“How about this headline: ‘Rapper throws a fit demanding the eldest buy strawberry ice cream during livestream.’”
└└ Just a bit TMI.
└└ lmfaoooooooo
└ The older members staying calm beside them is hilarious. They’ve seen it too many times.
When foreign Noeuls commented “Is Ichae crazy?” Kim Sunghyun answered, “Always...” ]
Despite the attention, the artists and their fans were peacefully living their lives.
Of course, in another corner of the internet, some were still heatedly debating the photos posted weeks ago.
[Has it still not been revealed why Joo Woosung and Lim Hyunsu were together? I’m dying of curiosity.]
[Blue Tiger and Woosung each knew Seo Hoyun already, but I didn’t know Blue Tiger and Woosung were close.]
[No, I think they already knew each other three years ago? He got songs from her too, didn’t he? They didn’t look super friendly but still.]
[Joo Woosung’s just using that as a smoke screen because he’s seeing someone lol. Some habits die hard.
└ People like you are gonna get sued for that,,]
[Min Jiheon wasn’t filming a drama then, right?? The photo just looked like a drama still lol.
└ It’s been weeks and I still don’t know either.
└ Nah, someone said Jiheon went to see his old theater troupe.
└└ Oh, so they must’ve gone together.
└ Maybe he was happy to see familiar faces again... I’ve followed Jiheon for years and I’ve never seen that expression before.]
[I fully support that comboㅠ Jiheon finally showed his face again thanks to Seo Hoyun. I was so worried since he hadn’t worked for a whole year T_T And he doesn’t even use SNS, so it’s impossible to get updates...]
[Look at Seo Hoyun’s face frozen stiff lol. Didn’t even greet the photographers, just walked by.
└ He waved right after that though.]
[“Love for fans” my ass lol. Just rude.]
[Got on Billboard once and did Song Camp, and now he’s acting like some top star~ ㅎㅅㅎ]
Among the chatter were plenty of comments belittling The Dawn’s recent fame. Naturally, the fans—who’d weathered every storm imaginable—were unfazed.
[But... aren’t our boys actually top stars?]
[When they mentioned Billboard, I thought it was WH’s secret PR trick and kept reading...
└ Same lol. Thought the Billboard thing was some backhanded compliment and went, “Right... The Dawn really worked hardㅠ,” and got attacked by both sides.
└└ hahahahahaha god that’s hilarious, fuck]
[These days I don’t even feel like arguing. No need to prove anything to lunatics, just... whatever~]
[Thanks for the backhanded compliment.]
Just as Noeuls’ focus was shifting to wondering what kind of album would come next, The Dawn’s official account posted a photo—five hands intertwined, each wearing the same ring.
【THE DAWN FULL ALBUM Comeback Announcement】
It was the signal flare for The Dawn’s final comeback of the year.
***
“Ah, you’re here?”
“Yeah.”
Backstage at the YuYu Bank set.
Since The Dawn’s comeback was near, Jung Dajun, who was graduating from his MC position, had a special performance scheduled today. To support him, Kim Sunghyun and I brought a camcorder and arrived at the prerecording site. Starlight, a survival audition program for girl groups, was also being filmed here. Down the hall, Sung Jiwon was chatting with a staff member.
When their conversation ended, Sung Jiwon bowed politely, spotted us, and waved with a bright smile.
“Is your schedule over?”
“Yeah. What about Ichae?”
“He said he couldn’t make it because of the recording for the sub-track. He was almost crying, asking me to film with the camcorder.”
“...It’s gonna air on TV ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) anyway.”
Kim Sunghyun shrugged like he couldn’t understand and Sung Jiwon burst out laughing as he led the way.
Recently, WH Entertainment had been unusually proactive in supporting The Dawn. With the whole company buzzing from Black Call’s contract talks, it was obvious they wanted to squeeze every bit of profit out of the fish still swimming in their tank—The Dawn.
Still, thanks to that, our tracklist had grown considerably. Kang Ichae, who’d been editing until the last possible minute, was practically dying.
‘Well, perfection’s never a bad thing.’
After all, this would be my last album—
—or maybe not. Either way, I wanted to make it the best it could possibly be, both in results and quality.
The members too were exhausted; their faces shone under the lights, but a certain fatigue lingered beneath the glow.
“My stamina really isn’t what it used to be...”
“Haha, Sunghyun, what are you talking about?”
Laughing heartily, Sung Jiwon opened the waiting room door. Inside, a monitoring TV was showing the live prerecording feed.
“...Ah, Dajun’s on.”
Jung Dajun appeared on stage with a radiant smile, moving naturally without a hint of nervousness.
【Every day I’m closing the distance between you and me
If you’re struggling, I’ll smile for you
Just tell me yes】
“Wow, he’s a born celebrity.”
He must’ve done well as an MC; all the staff watched with misty eyes.
Kim Sunghyun, noticing him, leaned slightly toward me and whispered with a smile,
“We should feed the maknae Hanwoo tonight.”
【This goodbye won’t be the end
We’ll meet again someday
Until that day, please smile!】
I could see why Kang Ichae wanted to film it on camcorder. I nodded at Sunghyun’s words, but my mind was elsewhere.
“Now that I think about it, if I were you, I’d probably doubt it too.”
That was what Min Jiheon had said the morning after we’d stayed at the pension, right before leaving for home.
“...What do you mean?”
“You’ve got a younger brother, right? Ten years apart.”
The mention of that subject twisted my lips. Seeing that, Jiheon took a cautious step back before continuing quietly.
“...I used to think it was just my imagination, but now it seems too connected that only you turned ten years younger.”
Maybe all the brutal circumstances he’d endured made him see things more sharply than most.
“If it were me... I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that, in the original world, that younger brother might not exist anymore.”
At times, Jiheon could be alarmingly rational.
‘...I know.’
I’d already realized that possibility years ago.
‘I just have no way to prepare for it.’
Every day was consumed by the crises right in front of me. Even now.
Because the system window kept repeating “unknown,” there was no way to confirm Seo Hojin’s safety in the original world unless I cleared Nugu Actor Tycoon completely and returned there.
I wasn’t unaware that the system itself was suspicious. But hearing someone else point it out—
“—Yoon-ah.”
...it just pissed me off.
“—Hoyun!”
I snapped out of it and looked up. Sung Jiwon was watching me with concern.
“You okay?”
“...Yeah.”
I gave a small nod and forced a faint smile.
“Dajun’s doing great.”
“...Yeah...”
Sensing he wanted to say more, I pretended not to notice and slipped out of the waiting room to find Dajun.
Turning the corner toward the backstage, I ran into a group of Starlight trainees gathered around a vending machine.
“Mentor Sung Jiwon! Seniors! Hello!!”
The trainees spotted us and bowed sharply at a perfect ninety degrees.
“Not tired?”
“No, sir!!!”
At Sung Jiwon’s gentle question, they all shook their heads wildly, insisting they were fine. A few of them even looked at us with wide, fascinated eyes.
I kept my distance, not wanting to get entangled in anything unnecessary—when something caught my eye.
“PD-nim, seriously... what should I do?”
“—On unnie, weren’t you fine just now?”
“You said you were nervous, but that was a lie. As soon as the music started, you were flying~.”
In that instant, my heart dropped.
“Really! You’re teasing me, aren’t you...”
“Why do you stay with that company?”
“...Yeah, I don’t even know what to do anymore.”
“Just clear your head for now and think things through.”
I had tried to pull her out of that abusive agency—
“Song Jion, take it.”
—to help her debut. But I failed.
[...I’m really sorry. Please don’t mind the rumors online. It’s about the agency.]
[I’ll leave the company like you advised, and I’ll clear things up publicly so people know you weren’t the PD. ...If worst comes to worst, I’ll try again even as a freelance trainee—yes—....]
The trainee from the survival audition program I once produced—
“I was just doing my best...”
Song Jion now stood before me, looking more mature than before.
