‘Angel, my ass. All the angels are dead.’
He was so dumbfounded he even missed the timing to get mad.
He really doesn’t live up to his name. Why is he such a rude little shit? It feels like he was like this before, too… but was it this bad?
He didn’t not know that Cheon Sayun wasn’t just purely nice, but it felt like he was only realizing just now how bad it really was.
Go Youngin looked at Cheon Sayun with a face full of distrust.
No matter what was going through Go Youngin’s head, Cheon Sayun still looked innocent.
“Still half asleep?”
Cheon Sayun blinked harmlessly with that so-called “I don’t know anything” expression.
“The fu—”
[ Condition 28│A kind idol leader shows warm words and actions to members. ]
‘A kind idol… what?’
“…ck?”
[ Caution! ]
[ Accumulated Status: 1 Caution, 0 Warnings ]
Go Youngin trailed off.
The curse he’d been about to swallow the instant he saw that unfamiliar Status Window still slipped out.
Does he not learn. He thought he’d fixed his habit of letting curses fly, but apparently not.
Honestly, the moment he saw the new content, there was no way he couldn’t swear.
It was familiar, but the Status Window—subtly different from the one he’d seen so far—flipped his stomach inside out.
Of course, Cheon Sayun was absolutely part of what was making his blood pressure spike.
‘Don’t tell me “a kind idol leader” gets made like this?’
Not even being able to say what he wanted, forcing conversation, being nice. Huh? Fuck, what kind of brand-new bullshit is this?
Ha. He’d been back less than an hour and he already had 1 Caution……
If he hit 10 Cautions, that became 5 Warnings, and then after dying again—Reset……
Was I always this lacking in patience?
You idiot, Go Youngin……
‘Haa…….’
“Cheon Sayun, I get it, so get out righ—”
[ Condition 28│A kind idol leader shows warm words and actions to members. ]
This is insane. I seriously can’t say anything. What, is it telling me to go do a vow of silence?
At least the old Status Window that bitched at him not to make reckless remarks would more or less let things slide if his tone wasn’t the problem. But this was…
Go Youngin desperately hoped the way the corner of his mouth was twitching like it was cramping was just his imagination.
“…Can you go wait in the living room first?”
“Mmm.”
Cheon Sayun dragged out the ending like he was thinking, then broke into a bright grin. Please don’t waste that face on this.
“No. This is my room too.”
You don’t want to? I don’t either, you bastard……. Come to think of it, he felt like there’d been a time he’d roomed with Cheon Sayun before.
‘Then why the hell did you stall in the first place.’
Somehow he felt like he knew the answer, but he couldn’t stop himself from asking it inwardly.
The way he blinked, imitating an innocent face like something had happened, was ridiculously fake.
Maybe because he’d only started paying attention to what kind of guy he was now, he couldn’t get used to it at all.
No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand that bastard’s behavior.
[ Condition 11│A kind idol leader treats members with broad understanding. ]
‘…….’
Go Youngin swallowed what he wanted to say down inch by inch, then put a calm, faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
It was practically the smile of enlightenment.
Go Youngin, if you get mad, you lose. Calm down. He clenched and unclenched his fist once.
“…Cheon Sayun. Sayun.”
“Yes, hyung.”
Cheon Sayun held a bright smile on his face, like he didn’t get it. To Go Youngin, it looked like an extremely ominous smile.
“…No, it’s fine. Okay. Let’s get ready.”
If he said anything, only he lost, so he had no choice. He needed to at least wash his face and snap himself awake.
Right now, Go Youngin’s face looked like someone who’d been dragged off somewhere for days and couldn’t sleep.
[ Condition 1│A perfect idol must diligently care for their face for a perfect visual. ]
Yeah, I get it, fuck.
***
He rushed to wash up so he wouldn’t get told more annoying shit for making someone wait, and when he came back out, that crazy bastard had already disappeared.
‘If you were going to leave anyway, why did you pull that crap……?’
He was speechless. When he came out, the road manager was already waiting, so he hurriedly finished getting ready and got swept into the van, settling into a seat.
The moment he sat down, the person sitting next to him lazily waved and spoke to him.
“Go Young, you’re late? Not like you at all, seriously.”
It was Kyeon Inwoo—one of Zero One’s members, and the only one in the team who was the same age as Go Youngin.
Kyeon Inwoo had a black cap pulled low and his legs stretched out, leaning back like he was half-lying on the seat.
Because of his slouched posture, the thick horn-rimmed glasses that were probably just for fashion slid down a little, but he didn’t care at all.
“Guess I was tired. I had a nightmare.”
More like a nightmare so horrible it barely even counted as a dream. It made him wish it had just been some random nonsense dream.
“A dream? So you slept some.”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t know why “I had a nightmare” turned into “so you slept,” but anyway, it was true he’d gotten up later than usual.
Maybe something about it was funny, because Kyeon Inwoo, who’d been sprawled out with a lazy face, grinned. It was a cool smile that fit his face.
“Well, if it’s that, whatever. It’s not even tardy. Manager hyung was riding your ass like crazy because you weren’t picking up, but I already talked it out for you.”
“Ah, you did?”
Honestly, he didn’t know what to say back because Kyeon Inwoo was talking to him way more friendly than he expected.
Go Youngin nodded with an awkward expression. It was his way of saying thanks.
[ Condition 33│A kind idol leader can honestly express gratitude and apologies to members. ]
Oh, for fuck’s—
“…Thanks.”
The Kyeon Inwoo who’d been speaking so casually a moment ago didn’t even answer. Whether he didn’t realize it was directed at him or didn’t care, he didn’t even look over—he was focused on some phone game he’d apparently turned on at some point.
He hadn’t been expecting a response, but it still made him feel awkward.
You insane Status Window—does doing this over and over actually create any meaning?
Just thinking that he had to keep acting like this from now on drained him dry. Go Youngin let his suddenly exhausted body slump, then quickly straightened up again.
‘Enough. Get it together. There’s something more important right now.’
He was going to figure out what kind of image the group Zero One had right now, and what incidents were around this time.
But before that—
[ Condition 14│A perfect idol regularly takes time to communicate with fans. ]
‘Yeah, fuck. This is more important. More than being a kind leader, being perfect… anyway, it’s not like anything gets less hectic, and I still have to do what I have to do. Like hell I’m going to be some kind leader.’
Go Youngin picked up his phone and quickly sent the “Marble” messages he still hadn’t sent.
Marble was a private paid communication app where an artist and fans could exchange messages in a chatroom.
From the artist’s side, it was a group-chat format, but to fans, it looked like a 1:1 chatroom, so they could feel like they were personally contacting them.
Lately, it was one of the major important means of communication where you could contact fans directly.
One of the things the Status Window kept saying was important was stuff like this. Since when had he started looking for it on his own before the Status Window even rang?
‘What am I, Pavlov’s dog.’
Go Youngin always sent messages at a regular time.
Once he started doing it, it was also fun seeing the fans’ reactions.
Anyway, because Go Youngin—who never skipped sending a morning greeting—hadn’t sent Marble like usual, fans who were worried something happened kept sending messages nonstop.
Even if he failed, he’d debuted once.
He might not have become a perfect idol, but he wasn’t stupid enough to forget what he’d been doing.
────────────────
[ Go Youngin ]
It’s Go Youngin.
Did our Aon kids sleep well and wake up?
I’ll come see you soon looking pretty.
Have a happy, energetic day today too~
I miss On kids so, so much ????????????
────────────────
FiveAreMyCats???? @JJOB_Catmom
Youngin replied on Marbleㅠㅠ! His morning greeting is so freaking cuteㅠㅠ
Always pretty, Younginㅠㅠㅠ And the way he drags out words is such a babyㅠㅠㅠ
My little baby meow meow meowㅠ And please look at how he used an emoji that looks like him at the end, he really is the cat captain????????????
#YounginMarble #KittyMarble
Shares 721 │ Quotes 21 │ Likes 1,980
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CringeWordingPolice @tqakdnEvWkQO
Replying to @JJOB_Catmom
Go Youngin is a 22-year-old adult. Don’t consume a member as a toddler image.
│
FiveAreMyCats???? @JJOB_Catmom
Replying to @tqakdnEvWkQO
Who the fuck are you, you bastard, don’t ruin my mood when I’m screaming and go away
ㄸ @YuihdOOeQdv
If it wasn’t for Big 1’s Marble, I wouldn’t even know the app existed
Big 1 comes a lot, but are the other members even alive?
Shares 71 │ Quotes 345 │ Likes 53
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(LockedMain)(ZeroOne2ndAnniv❤)NoPatienceMinji @NOSTOP_minji
Replying to @YuihdOOeQdv
Youngin is originally a little lovebug so that’s why, geezㅎ
It’s not like they never come, Sayun came yesterday too, Inwoo came earlier, so why are you like this
Did you leave your fucking replies on deposit? Younginies aren’t glued to their phones like a shut-in fucking loser like youㅠㅠ
…At this point, it was basically another self. Maybe he sent it too giddily.
Every time he communicated, he’d worry for no reason whether it was okay to do it like this.
Would they like it. He wasn’t even good at saying cringey things, so it felt embarrassing, like he was lying.
‘No, but it’s not like I can swear at fans.’
Go Youngin made an excuse that nobody could hear anyway.
Somehow, he felt a subtle feeling. It was ticklish, but one corner of his heart was heavy.
He could almost see the faces of fans who’d been disappointed in Zero One and turned away.
He was thinking all kinds of things when suddenly one shoulder got heavy.
Go Youngin’s head turned on its own. Kyeon Inwoo had hooked an arm over Go Youngin’s shoulder and was grinning.
He didn’t know if this was just the kind of guy he was, but the guy who’d been indifferent earlier now looked weirdly cheerful.
‘What’s with him?’
[ Condition 2│A kind idol leader talks often with members, even if briefly. ]
No, seriously, what is this. No matter how he thought about it, wasn’t the Status Window bastard just making up Conditions however it wanted?
If he asked what kind of leader had to do even this, it was obvious it stuck some adjective like “kind” on the front just to leave itself an escape route.
“You look like you’re in a good mood?”
Is something wrong with his eyes. What the hell is he looking at.
Kyeon Inwoo pointed with his chin at the phone in Go Youngin’s hand.
“So. What are you working that hard on?”
“Marble.”
[ Condition 2│A kind idol leader talks often with members, even if briefly. ]
‘It said it doesn’t matter even if it’s short.’
Go Youngin grumbled inwardly and picked his words as carefully as he could.
“I send it every morning. For a morning greeting, too.”
“Ah, that.”
Kyeon Inwoo opened the Marble app on his own phone, then shoved the screen toward Go Youngin’s face.
Go Youngin frowned with a puzzled expression and looked at it.
Why is he grinning like he’s proud. So what.
────────────────
[ KYEONINWOO ]
lol
────────────────
────────────────
[ KYEONINWOO ]
Uh.
────────────────
“……”
Fuck.