Room 2 of the PLUTO dorm, located in a certain Seoul neighborhood.
In the room commonly known as 'the Pigsty (※somewhat improved),' Namgung Hyun, Seo Seo-jun, and I each occupied a bed.
There was one bunk bed and one single bed, so when I said I'd take the top bunk, the two guys I'd ended up rooming with fiercely talked me out of it.
'If you go up there, mister, you'll bang your head on the ceiling every time you get up!'
'I'm not that tall.'
'Seo-jun, bring the tape measure! Hurry and tell this hyungnim the truth!'
In the end, the guys pushed me into exile on the cozy single bed.
It felt like being an intern who can't even pull his own weight yet, seated in an executive chair fit for a bureau chief.
It's a shame. If this small room were a company, I'd at least leave it a five-star review on Job People.
As I was getting ready for bed, Namgung Hyun, lying on his side on the bottom bunk and looking my way, asked.
"Did you finish this week's practice journal? Isn't it getting checked tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I finished it."
"Wow, so diligent. You'd get 100% J on a personality type test."
"Didn't you guys all write one too? What's the big deal?"
"Writing it was such a pain that I wrote a whole week's worth all at once on Sunday!"
Like other agencies, Solar made trainees write a practice journal every day.
The other guys, who had taken the standard trainee route, were freed from this prison the moment they were picked for the debut team, but since I was a freshly joined intern, I had no choice but to write down and submit the work I'd done every day.
At least it was checked in one go every Monday, so the pressure was comparatively less.
Namgung Hyun, who had been on the bed across from mine, slowly crept over toward me.
"Let's see, let's see how this hyungnim writes his! ...Can I look?"
"Look if you want. There's nothing much, though."
"You never know with any practice journal until you crack it open!"
Namgung Hyun energetically opened my A5 notebook, and soon made a face like he was sick of it.
"Student Pyeong Seol-han....... A practice journal isn't a thesis or a report."
"Then what is it?"
"You just write it like a normal diary! The staff are going to run away halfway through reading this!"
"Let them run. It's something they'll have to face anyway—let's see how long they can avoid it."
"You really are a tough opponent."
Seo Seo-jun, who had come over beside us at some point and was looking too, was using every muscle in his face to express horror.
"And I've got to do at least that much for the staff to think this kid's actually useful, don't I?"
"Did somebody say something to you, hyungnim?"
"No. I just personally have something I need to earn the company's trust for."
Persuading Go Yeon-gyu had succeeded. The company staff were positive about Go Yeon-gyu joining, and the CEO would probably react similarly too.
The problem was me.
A six-member lineup is a little awkward, you see.
If push came to shove, Solar might try to cut me, with my ambiguous position, and debut the five-member lineup they originally had in mind.
After all, they only hurriedly brought me in based on nothing but my face resembling Baek Ji-hyuk's.
'That'd be a problem.'
So before telling Kim Ji-su I'd confirmed Go Yeon-gyu's intention to join, I had to find more solid uses for myself and secure my safety.
I quietly called to Piglet No. 1, who had finished his business and gone back to his nest.
"Namgung Hyun."
"......."
Why isn't he answering?
"Namgung Hyun, are you asleep?"
"...Namgung Hyun?"
When I called once more, Namgung Hyun asked back in an icy voice.
This punk, don't tell me.
"Seol-han-hyung, hurry and tell Hyun-hyung you're sorry and call him by his given name."
Seo Seo-jun said in a soulless voice, like a machine playing an automated message.
I don't think I've ever seen him act that bone-dry before.
That guy must have been disciplined by Namgung Hyun over something name-related at one point too.
"But there's Ha Hyun for 'Hyun,' too. Don't you think it's a bit unfair that you're the only one called by his given name?"
"But using my surname too seems so cold! I want to be called 'Hyun~' all friendly-like!"
He looked like he'd lie on the floor and throw a tantrum soon if I kept not calling him that.
"Fine, then, Gunghyun. Can I ask you something?"
Taking my decisive blow, Namgung Hyun cackled as if he were about to run out of breath.
I did that on purpose to mess with him, but apparently it was a hugely satisfying answer to the guy.
He likes this? Since his face is already so good, a name that's slightly behind the times doesn't count as a flaw at all—is that it?
"Uhahak! I've never seen anyone call me that! Yes, yes~ What do you want to ask? This genius secretary Gunghyun will answer anything for you!"
"Never mind, I'll just call you Hyun."
"Why are you giving up already? I liked it!"
"Hearing that makes me want to use it even less. And it's midnight, so laugh quietly. The people downstairs will come up."
Taking my input on board, the genius secretary diligently muted only his laughter and rolled around excitedly on his bed.
Good thing that guy doesn't use the top bunk. What did Seo Seo-jun do to deserve having to take that shaking?
"Okay, so hurry up and ask your question!"
"How many years have you been a trainee?"
"That's what you were curious about? Hmm~ one year?"
"Eh, isn't it longer? You were a trainee at HJ too, with Ha Hyun-hyung!"
Thanks to what Seo Seo-jun said, I remembered. Namgung Hyun and Ha Hyun were trainees who came from the major agency HJ Entertainment.
Maybe that was why the school newsletter the hallucination gave me recommended those two as teachers.
This was information I couldn't possibly know right now, so for the moment I decided to play along while pretending not to know.
"You came from HJ?"
"Came from, my foot. I was just there for a bit before."
I've never seen a guy talk about having trained at HJ this way.
And that's even though, for an office worker, it'd be the same as landing a job at a top-tier conglomerate.
"How many years is it if you include that?"
"...Four."
A bit, my foot. That's longer than the years he trained at Solar.
"That's a long time."
"That's standard. Lots of kids were trainees longer than me."
"There being people like that doesn't make the time you practiced count for any less."
I raised my eyes upward.
"Seo Seo-jun?"
"About two and a half years for me! Only here!"
Considering his age and the days left until debut, Seo Seo-jun's wasn't as short as I'd thought either.
"Then let me ask one more. In the eyes of you pro trainees, what do you think my use is?"
"Hyungnim....... Is it really hard for you? Did your self-esteem get chopped to bits because you tripped over your own feet and fell doing the basic steps the other day? Or is it bothering you that you wrote new history by cracking on every single high note in vocal training?"
"Ah, that was seriously amazing! When I first heard it, I thought it was the sound of one of those rubber chicken toys that squawk when you squeeze them!"
Look at that malice-packed choice of incidents and evaluation. My seniors' grace reaches the heavens.
"Let me change the wording. What merit would the company have in keeping me on as a trainee?"
"Looks like this mister really is having a hard time."
Namgung Hyun sat up and faced me squarely.
"Why is someone who never says stuff like this so down all of a sudden?"
"Because I wonder if there's any reason for me, lacking skill and experience, to be in this group once Go Yeon-gyu comes back. As you know, I really came in just to fill the headcount."
"Don't tell me you're doing this to quit?"
"Unfurrow your brow. You'll get wrinkles."
Even though I warned him, the guy's brow showed no sign of smoothing out. Maybe because he's still a teenager, he doesn't seem to know how scary wrinkles are.
"I'm asking because I don't want to quit. Even if I want to stay in the debut team, if the company tells me to leave, there's nothing I can do."
At that, Namgung Hyun's side went quiet, as if he were taking a moment to turn it over in his head.
I waited patiently without bothering to rush him, and after a while the guy came up with some kind of answer.
"...A glue-guy kind of charm? Not a super standout talent, but the kind of presence the members need to get along."
"Does that even count as a selling point for an idol trainee?"
"Someone who strengthens the bond between team members is important. You think leaders exist for nothing? It's because idols are ultimately a group activity too."
Considering his usual attitude, I'd thought he'd just crack a light joke. I could feel him taking the consultation quite seriously.
"Actually, the debut team's mood has gotten a lot better since you came in, hyungnim. That's not an empty compliment, it's true."
"Generous praise for a stiff robot you've barely known."
"I'm just stating a fact."
When the guy's this serious about it, it almost sounds true.
Then again, having gone through the sudden departure of their leader-type member, things inside must have been turned upside down once in a big way.
The team atmosphere of the old PLUTO I knew wasn't like this either.
They were just gathered around Baek Ji-hyuk; should I say I didn't sense much closeness among them?
"If you left, hyungnim... hmm, I don't think the mood we have now would stay the same."
"That's quite a leap. I'm not that great of a person."
"How can he look exactly the same, like someone just stuck the face right on, but act this differently......."
Namgung Hyun, who had been muttering lightly to himself, soon cheerfully went on.
"A leap, my foot! And, you know, isn't it basically you who brought Yeon-gyu here too? Wouldn't he be thrown if the very person who brought him disappeared?"
Well, if it's Go Yeon-gyu, I think he'd cheer at not having to see the Baek Ji-hyuk lookalike anymore.
"Anyway, how about playing up a strength like this? This isn't an ability you get from dancing well and singing well, you know, hyungnim."
A glue-guy kind of charm, huh.
I'd never even imagined I might have a strength like that. I had almost no friends around me, and my work at the company was mostly a solo game.
"If they really try to kick you out, tell me! I'll drag Ha Hyun and Seo-jun along and we'll protest together that we're doomed without you!"
"Heok, should we tie red headbands around our heads and stuff too?"
"Yes, yes, our Seo-jun should definitely wear one that says 'Product of Korea' on it~"
What, like farm produce?
Still, as Namgung Hyun said, this seemed like something I could put forward as a strength.
It seems that with this kind of thing, it's easier to get a handle on it by hearing other people's opinions than by thinking it over alone.
"Got it. I'll try it the way you said. Thanks for listening to my worries and giving advice even this late."
"This is nothing, come on!"
"Still, I should say thanks when I'm thankful."
"Enough, it's embarrassing!"
Behind Namgung Hyun's radiant smile, I thought I glimpsed a halo.
I felt I could finally understand why people came up with the phrase 'a dazzling smile.'
The guy added in a bright voice.
"If you're really thankful, pay me back by debuting together!"
His voice was endlessly light and bright, but I sensed an odd weight underneath. It was far from the feeling of someone just humoring me with plausible words.
Has he gotten attached already?
As befits a guy with extraordinary sociability, he seems to get attached much faster than others, too.
"Yeah, if I can."
"That answer's vague. Again."
Namgung Hyun immediately rejected it in a tone full of complaint.
I'd answered honestly and put my own kind of sincerity into it, so I had no idea where I'd rubbed him the wrong way.
"What's vague about it?"
"That's all? Nothing more to say?"
"I said I'll do it if I can."
"No, normally when you hear something like that, don't you give an answer with a bit more, um... sincerity pumped into it?"
"Why, what am I supposed to say? If there's something you want, give me an example."
Namgung Hyun, his expression wiped away rapidly as if doused with cold water, pulled his blanket up over the top of his head.
"Forget it. Let's just sleep."
"Yeah, good night."
"Mister, are you by any chance a robot, not a person?"
I thought for a moment, then came up with an answer.
"Probably a person, I'd say."
"Why add 'probably'?"
"Because being a hundred percent sure of anything without evidence seems like a bad habit."
"Is your blood blue?"
"No."
"Do you have to plug into a charger regularly to stay alive?"
"No."
"Then you're a person. What on earth are you talking about?"
I don't know.
I've never heard of a case where a person's body was taken over and controlled by someone else.
Is this body even a human body?
And.......
Is this really 'my body' at all?