A few days later, I gathered the debut team guys, who were resting after afternoon practice.
Cha Min-seong was out, saying he had to drop by his family home for a bit, but I didn't even need to see him to know that guy would be no help at all in this, so it didn't matter.
"Does anyone know where Go Yeon-gyu lives, by any chance?"
"Eh, why do you want Yeon-gyu-hyung's house?"
"Just because."
"I've never been to his house so I don't know~ But I know his school!"
"I only know his school too!"
Seeing Ha Hyun, who hadn't answered, quietly shaking his head as well, it seemed none of the three knew much about where Go Yeon-gyu lived.
Go Yeon-gyu's personal information had been destroyed right after his trainee contract was terminated, so it wasn't left at the company either.
So much for barging into his house. And since it was school vacation now, camping out in front of his school to catch him was impossible too.
They say he doesn't answer the company's calls, so the only remaining option would be to call him out using the trainees he's friends with.
Before that, I decided to carry out the real purpose for which I'd gone to the trouble of gathering the guys.
"I see. Then is there anyone among you who's good at acting, by any chance?"
"Why do you want to know that?"
"Because I want to give you guys a critical mission in the near future."
"A critical mission?"
Seo Seo-jun's eyes sparkled, as if he found my proposal interesting.
"Yeah, so about that......."
Receiving the full attention of the trainees other than Cha Min-seong, I made a serious proposal.
"Cry."
At once, the three faces went cold.
I had no particular thoughts about the other two, but watching Ha Hyun make that face somehow made me feel... a little guilty.
"...I mean pretend you're coming to me for advice and try acting like a sad person."
"What does that have to do with a critical mission?"
"Because it's a mission where acting skill matters."
Seo Seo-jun seemed convinced right away and nodded. Pure kid.
Namgung Hyun and Ha Hyun looked thoroughly skeptical, but they seemed willing to go along.
First up was the overeager Seo Seo-jun.
"Then here I go, Seol-han-hyung!"
"Sure, come on."
Since he's at such an emotionally rich age, I'd held some expectation that he might do surprisingly well, but.......
"Aaaaaaaack!!!!!!!! Seol-han-hyung!!!!!!!!!!!"
What came back was the sound of some mansion's doorbell going off.
This isn't sad, it's just a blackout-drunk coworker.
"Next."
"Eh, already?!"
"You're out."
The guy wrapped his head in both hands like an Edvard Munch painting and despaired deeply. Did he honestly think that would work?
Next was the turn of Namgung Hyun, who stepped up full of confidence.
Not long after the guy got into position, a clear tear rolled down from beneath his dewy, deer-like eyes.
"Seol-han-hyung......."
Along with the frail call, the rims of his eyes, flushed bright red as his emotions welled up to the brim, were so natural that you could mistake him for someone who'd just suffered a major heartbreak.
Even the places tears linger are beautiful on a beautiful person. If I did that, it would just be embarrassing.
When I gave him a thumbs-up the way Namgung Hyun often did, the guy quickly composed his expression and grinned.
"How was it, how was it? Cool, right~ The best, right~ Praise me, quick!"
"Yeah, you're the best. This year's Oscar winner is already decided. When you get the trophy, make sure to display it in the company lobby."
"Uhahat."
Last up was Ha Hyun.
"Do I have to do it too? I think it'd be fine to just have Hyun do it."
"Just in case."
Ha Hyun took one deep breath in and let it out. Then he slowly lowered his eyes.
And he said nothing. He didn't shed tears either. He just kept his gaze lowered and blinked slowly. That was all.
But watching him, somehow it felt like a corner of my heart was blocked up tight.
If the two before him had been acting like sad people, should I say Ha Hyun felt like he'd become a sad person himself?
"Stop."
"It's bad after all, right?"
Looking at Ha Hyun smiling bitterly, I shook my head.
"No, I've decided you're the right person for this job."
"Huh?"
With this, the advance preparations were perfectly complete.
"Ha Hyun, can you contact Go Yeon-gyu and set up a meeting?"
"Huh? Yeon-gyu? Why all of a sudden......."
"He won't pick up, will he?"
Namgung Hyun, who had been listening from the side, clicked his tongue briefly.
"Is he the type to go off the grid a lot?"
"Not that. Normally he's the type who answers right away the moment you contact him, you know? But he's been weird ever since he left the company. The unread '1' never disappeared from any of the messages we've sent. Geez, is he planning to cut contact and live like this?"
"I left a hello once a day, but he didn't read any of them......."
In Seo Seo-jun's case, I suspect Go Yeon-gyu isn't just leaving the messages unread but blocked him long ago.
This had gotten to be a real headache.
If he was the type who didn't answer much to begin with, I'd take it in stride, but however you look at it, this was deliberate ignoring.
"Isn't there some way to get in touch? I really want to talk with Go Yeon-gyu once."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"I want to suggest that he join again as a trainee."
"Hmm? If Yeon-gyu comes back, that'd be great for us... but why you, hyungnim?"
Namgung Hyun, who'd been watching with his chin in his hand, said this while sending me a look full of suspicion.
Hm, that's a reasonable question.
If a guy who joined only recently suddenly says something like this, it'd be natural to find it untrustworthy.
"When you showed me the photo before, I thought it was a bit of a waste that someone this handsome got cut from the debut team, so I asked the staff. How did this Go Yeon-gyu kid end up getting cut? I wondered if maybe his skills were too lacking to make the debut team."
"You asked them yourself? You should've just asked us!"
Strictly speaking, I went there for something else and ended up asking while I was at it.
If I told the truth about that, I'd have to explain everything, starting with why I suddenly went looking for Jeong Ru-i's album, so for now, let's go with the setup of a reckless trainee who, one week into joining, asked the staff why someone else got cut from the debut team.
As long as the other party was company staff, they wouldn't bother trying to cross-check something like this anyway.
"So, what did the staff say?"
"His skills were fine, but he was on god-awful terms with one trainee who was confirmed for the debut team, so they had no choice but to cut him."
"Just in case, I'll tell you now: that wasn't us."
"I know."
If it were, would I be talking about it in front of you? I'm talking about it because I know the problem was the guy who isn't here.
"I heard that trainee has quit the company now."
"You heard all that too?"
"Yeah. So I asked whether, now that nothing's in the way, it'd be good to bring Go Yeon-gyu back. I asked if it wouldn't be a waste not to bring back someone with looks like that and good skills to boot."
"Yeon-gyu-hyung really is handsome......!"
Seo Seo-jun agreed, nodding vigorously.
To be exact, I'm pulling all this because I value that guy's songwriting skills, not his face.
"From the way they talked, the others seem to want Go Yeon-gyu to come back too. The problem is that no matter how much the company contacts him, he won't answer, so they can't make the offer even if they want to."
Ha Hyun, who had fetched his cell phone from the trainees' phone basket, asked.
"So that's why you asked if we could reach him."
"Right. I thought you guys might be able to since you're friends, but I guess not."
"Aigoo~ That Yeon-gyu, really. Even if he won't take our calls, he should take the staff's calls, shouldn't he? You never know where or how you'll run into each other later."
I'm of the same opinion as Namgung Hyun.
And if the company had been rude first, I'd understand him being this hostile, but wasn't Go Yeon-gyu getting cut from the debut team closer to an unavoidable choice?
If they'd blindly stuck guys who made even company staff nervous about what would blow up into the same debut team, that would have been the bigger problem.
Did they want to set the online communities on fire with feud rumors the moment they debuted?
"But if he joins as a trainee now, wouldn't he debut in the next group? Hmm~ that's a bit iffy."
"You don't have to worry about that. He'll go straight into the debut team once he joins."
"Eung? Really?"
"Yeah. Team Leader Kim Ji-su said she'd figure something out somehow, so just bring him in first."
Ha Hyun, who had been listening intently to Namgung Hyun and me with his cell phone in hand, carefully spoke up.
"If that's the case... please wait a moment."
Then he turned on the screen and pressed and held one number.
We heard the ringtone go several times, but the call didn't connect.
"Sure enough, he's not picking up. Not that I didn't expect it."
After pressing the end button, Ha Hyun seemed to hesitate for a moment, but soon seemed to steel himself and repeated hanging up and calling again every time the voicemail message came on.
"Ha Hyun, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to keep going until he picks up."
"He's really going to block you if you keep that up, you know?"
"If he's going to block me, let him. I don't need a nasty friend who ignores me first and then gets angry about it either."
When he'd called about thirty times like that, an irritated voice finally came through from beyond the receiver.
-...What.
With a blank face, Ha Hyun answered, enunciating each word.
"Hi, Yeon-gyu. If I talk long, you won't even pretend to listen, so I'll keep it short. Come out to Jellies at 2 this Saturday. You know it, right? The café in front of the intersection. If you don't come, I'll take it that you really want to end our friendship. Take care till then. I'm hanging up now."
And then, before the other party could even answer, he coldly pressed the end-call button.
No one who had watched the whole process could open their mouth, and the practice room went quiet.
Of all people, I never imagined Ha Hyun would do something like that.
Taking a deep breath in and out, Ha Hyun tilted his head up toward the ceiling.
"Ah, now I feel a bit better. Actually, I was secretly upset that he cut contact one-sidedly, too."
"...Won't calling him out like that make him even less likely to come?"
"Then, well. We'll just have to barge in ourselves."
Ha Hyun, who looked somehow relieved, smiled brightly.
"Actually, I've been to Yeon-gyu's house once, so I know where it is. I'm sorry I lied."
I called Namgung Hyun over to a corner for a moment. The guy seemed to recognize the seriousness too and followed without a word.
"How angry is Ha Hyun right now?"
"On a scale of 0 to 10, a 7. Normally, no matter how angry he gets, it's a 3."
That's serious. That's not just a little upset.
"Let me ask you something too, hyungnim. Why did you tell us to cry earlier? What does us being sad have to do with bringing Yeon-gyu back?"
"I figured if we persuaded him along with a close friend's tearful appeal, he'd think about rejoining more positively."
"It's a plausible method. So, think you can use it?"
"No. I just withdrew the plan entirely."
Namgung Hyun smacked his own forehead with a loud slap.
"Don't hit so hard. You'll hurt your skin."
"Is that the problem right now?"
"Of course. You're the member who'll be responsible for this group's visuals."
"Oh......."
"Do you know how much time and money it takes to erase a single scar on your face?"
Namgung Hyun, covering his mouth with both hands, sent me a sparkling look, then quickly switched to a thoroughly cooled-off expression.
It had gone in a completely different direction from what I first had in mind, but in any case, I now had a way to meet Go Yeon-gyu in person.
Whether Go Yeon-gyu would meekly agree to come back to the company... I can only pray for luck on that day.