Some time later, Go Yeon-gyu, having finished signing his new contract, moved into the dorm dragging a suitcase.
The stuff that didn't fit in the suitcase he'd sent by parcel yesterday afternoon, so he said it'd arrive by tomorrow at the latest.
If there was a problem,
"We'll have to take out one single bed and buy a new bunk bed."
The dorm, made up of three single beds and one bunk bed, was short one person's bed. Naturally, since the dorm had been set up for five people to begin with.
Because of that, Kim Ji-su, who had come to look over the dorm, was deep in agonized thought.
"I'll sleep in the living room. Just give me a topper and I'll sleep fine."
"That won't do! Your back will ache!"
"Toppers are well made these days, so it's fine. I can even strut around like the living room is my room while I'm at it, so it's even better."
"Seol-han, you seem serious, but sometimes you say weird things."
I play the clown to lighten the mood, and she's still not satisfied.
It'd be a waste to throw out perfectly good furniture.
"The debut team isn't completely confirmed yet, after all. If we're going to change it, wouldn't it be better later, after the debut?"
"That's true, but......."
Before anything more could be said, I sent Kim Ji-su a link to a product I'd looked up in advance.
"Please order this one for the topper. It's a decent price and has good reviews."
"You really....... Okay, but if it's uncomfortable, you absolutely have to tell me, okay?"
I nodded, told her the trainees would handle the unpacking among ourselves, and sent Kim Ji-su back to the company.
Ha Hyun, who had been looking at me worriedly for a while, maybe feeling sorry about my situation of being exiled to the living room, spoke up.
"Hyung, just use my bed. I don't mind sleeping in the living room either."
"You want me to be roommates with Cha Min-seong?"
At that, the guy immediately shut his mouth.
Apparently even he thought that was a no-go.
"I'm fine sleeping on the floor too, you know? At home I just slept on a blanket. You take the bed, hyungnim!"
"Forget it. I can't make a senior sleep on the floor."
"What a courteous junior."
In the end, Namgung Hyun also shrugged and gave up trying to persuade me.
The residents of the pigsty have to stay in exile so they can't come out of their room.
I can't let the pigsty's territory cross the boundary called a room.
I'm not especially fussy about cleanliness, but a dirty room and a dirty living room are on different levels.
"Go Yeon-gyu, you go into the room I was using. There's a bed left there."
"No. A room used by a guy who looks like Baek Ji-hyuk—that's bad luck. Give me another room."
"I hear that room over there is the one the real Baek Ji-hyuk used, though. If you're fine cozying up with the warmth Mr. Baek Ji-hyuk left behind."
Hearing my joke, the guy's expression rotted rapidly.
At that level, weren't he and Baek Ji-hyuk enemies in a past life too?
"I have a house. Can't I just go there?"
"Once you debut, you'll have to stick to this dorm whether you like it or not because of schedules, so wouldn't it be better to just get used to it from now?"
Would the company staff even let you loose in the first place, with no idea what you'd get up to on your own? The dorm system didn't come about for nothing.
Here, at least, it didn't seem like they went as far as having a manager live in 24/7 to keep watch.
Along with allowing cell phone use, it seemed to run in a way that protected the trainees' autonomy, in its own way.
In the end, Go Yeon-gyu broke his stubbornness and went into the pigsty, stripped off all the bedding I'd been using and dumped it on the floor, then diligently ran the vacuum over the mattress.
I could feel a strong will not to let a single speck of dust bearing my trace survive.
I picked up the pitifully discarded bedding and tossed it in the living room. This is your place now.
Just then, Seo Seo-jun, who'd been dead to the world no matter who came, seemed to be woken by the vacuum's noise and looked down with half-open eyes.
"Uh....... Seol-han-hyung got a little shorter......."
"That's not me."
"Eh? Then who......."
Rubbing his eyes, Seo Seo-jun snapped them wide open the moment he confirmed it was Go Yeon-gyu, and hurriedly climbed down the ladder.
Then, before Go Yeon-gyu had time to dodge, he hugged him with all his might and bawled.
"Yeon-gyu-hyuuuuung......!"
"Loud. My ears hurt. And my body's going to break."
The moment he heard Go Yeon-gyu's voice, Seo Seo-jun only screamed and cried louder.
Won't he lose his voice and be unable to sing if he keeps that up?
"Surprisingly, he isn't pushing him away. He's taking it well."
"That kid's lenient with Seo-jun."
Maybe because Seo Seo-jun was an especially young trainee.
"It's plastic recycling day today, so I'm off~"
Namgung Hyun, with both hands full, hummed lightly as he went outside to put out the recycling.
Meanwhile, Ha Hyun, who had carried in a big parcel box and set it down in the entryway, called out toward the pigsty.
"Yeon-gyu, your bedding came to the front door. Should I take it out for you?"
"Leave it! I'll do it!"
When Go Yeon-gyu, busy cleaning, shouted irritably without even looking back, Ha Hyun let out a light sigh and took his hands off the box.
Leaving behind the pigsty, now someone else's territory, I walked to the living room with Ha Hyun.
"Sorry. Now he's even snapping at you."
"It's not your fault, hyung. I did call him out in a way that was kind of like a threat before."
"If the guy who went off the grid first gets angry about that, he's got no conscience. Ninety percent of it is probably just that seeing my face annoys him."
I looked at my face in the full-length mirror in the living room.
I hate to admit it, but looking only at the bare face at the exact same age, I really did look just like Baek Ji-hyuk.
"Maybe it'd be better if I covered my face a bit at the dorm for a while, even if it means wearing glasses or something."
Ever since I saw a photo of me go up as a supposed Baek Ji-hyuk sighting a while back, I'd always worn fashion glasses, and it did have some effect, you see.
Just one pair of glasses made a big difference to the impression.
"I don't know what happened with this Baek Ji-hyuk person, but anyway, if I talked a guy who didn't want to come into coming, I should show him the consideration that goes with it. ...Seo Seo-jun, come here a sec."
Seo Seo-jun, who happened to come out to the living room, came over excitedly like a puppy holding a toy in its mouth.
An energy you'd never imagine from a guy who'd been crying loud enough to bring the world down until a moment ago.
"Is there anything like glasses or a mask at Daisso, by any chance?"
"They have both, but why?"
"I've got a use for one."
"Oh, oh, wait a sec! I have one I bought!"
Then he quickly went into the room and brought back an item wrapped in plastic.
[~Surprise Halloween Party~ Costume Mask (2,000 won)]
...It was a shoddy hockey mask made of plastic.
"I bought it to wear last Halloween but never ended up wearing it! If you need it, you can just have it!"
If I wear this, I feel like I'll have to grab a machete in one hand and shoot a slasher movie. Isn't that somewhat irreverent conduct for an idol trainee?
Still, it'd be better than nothing.
Seo Seo-jun's kindness was sweet, too, so I handed him three thousand-won bills in exchange for the mask.
"Heok, you don't have to give me money! And this is two thousand won!"
A thirty-four-year-old shaking down a minor for free goods, of all things.
I'm already caught up in all sorts of bizarre things because my karma is overflowing; I don't want to voluntarily add more things to be punished for.
"It's fine, take it. The extra thousand won is just pocket money from me. Buy yourself an ice cream or something later."
If it were up to me, I'd have liked to toss him tens of thousands of won at a time, but I was barely scraping by myself right now, so a thousand won was my limit.
I'll have to find some way of earning money soon, within limits that don't get in the way of practice.
After a little hesitation, Seo Seo-jun respectfully took it with both hands, carefully folded the bills in his hand, and put them in his pocket.
I tore off the plastic wrapping around the white mask and tried putting it on my face.
It was fairly roomy, so the shoddy finishing didn't bother me much, and it passed on comfort.
"How is it?"
"Hmm....... Can I be honest?"
"Yeah."
Ha Hyun, who hesitated for a moment, lowered his gaze and answered.
"I feel like it wouldn't be strange if you showed up on the news as a bank robber......."
Seo Seo-jun, who'd been beside me until a moment ago, had at some point slunk behind Ha Hyun to hide.
You think that hides you? Your whole head shows because of the height difference.
I walked over to Go Yeon-gyu with the mask still on. The guy was roughly tearing open the parcel box that had his bedding in it.
"Anything else I can help with?"
"...Friday the 13th?"
Looking up at me, Go Yeon-gyu, far from being surprised, smiled as if sneering at something stupid.
"Now you're worth looking at. Wear that all day."
"My face will get humid, so no."
"Is that my problem?"
"Later I'm going to tell everyone you bullied me."
"Go ahead. Who'd believe that, looking at your size?"
Having finished dismantling the box, Go Yeon-gyu stood up brushing off his hands and sneered as hard as he could.
How big do you think I am, acting like that?
"Fine, then I'll see you as the Angel of Music. The Phantom mask is cool."
"Didn't you choose that because the angel's true identity is a monster, not because it's cool?"
"How'd you know? You've gotten a little smarter in the meantime."
Then he looked around and asked.
"Where'd Min-seong go?"
"He's been gone since last night for his grandmother's memorial rites. He'll probably go straight to the practice room without stopping at the dorm."
"Aha."
Cha Min-seong went back to his family home especially often. There were even days he skipped practice to go.
Maybe because of his years as a trainee, the company had never made much of an issue of it so far, but I do wonder whether it'll become a problem if he keeps getting called away like that after debut.
The debut team members other than Cha Min-seong, along with Go Yeon-gyu, who had finished unpacking, headed to the company practice room in time for 10 o'clock.
"Yeon-gyu, it's been a while, but your skills are the same!"
The vocal trainer, who came in for the morning class, didn't spare any praise the moment Go Yeon-gyu started singing.
Not just in vocals but in dance class too, Go Yeon-gyu showed outstanding skill that made a mockery of his roughly three-month hiatus. Even in group practice, he synced well without sticking out on his own.
He makes great songs and his dancing and singing are excellent too—a gifted guy really is a gifted guy. That's the kind of genius that hits it big even debuting solo.
"You passed this? Can this even debut?"
And since I was still in the state of a squid running across a grill (one month old), I got a scathing evaluation from the guy out of nowhere.
"Yeon-gyu, you shouldn't say mean things like that to hyung."
"Even that son of a b—tch Baek Ji-hyuk danced well."
"You shouldn't curse people like that."
"What else do I call a son of a b—tch but a son of a b—tch?"
"Just leave him. He only has to be careful when the cameras are rolling."
Ha Hyun, who had been diligently trying to shut his friend's mouth, finally gave up on stopping him and clutched his forehead.
The Go Yeon-gyu I knew wasn't someone who spat out profanity without separating public and private, so there was probably no need to worry much about this guy either.
And time passed, and the long-awaited day of the meeting drew near.