After apologizing to Kim Shin-young for the ninety-ninth time and hearing her reply, “It’s okay, it’s okay, isn’t this great for generating buzz?” Liang Yun-ssileft the radio live broadcast room.
The moment he stepped out of the MBC radio building and into the van, Liang Yun-ssi felt like he had just survived a public execution.
He was completely drained, collapsing into the seat and covering his face with his arms, as if that could block out everything that had just happened.
In his mind, it was as if a broken tape recorder was endlessly looping three words—”big dog”—and the follow-up question that caused his social demise: “Are you perhaps allergic to dogs?”
Allergic?
I’m allergic to you, Ahn Yujin!
He could clearly recall his bewildered expression, his racing heart, and the embarrassment of his mind going blank at that moment.
His face, red enough to drip blood, must have been broadcast across all of Korea through the high-definition live camera.
He was finished; he had never been so humiliated in his life.
The image of the cool, melancholic, and talented singer-songwriter L.Y.
had completely crumbled into a pure-hearted fool who blushed when teased, all because of a woman’s prank, less than a week after his debut.
His Manager, Kim Min-ho, on the other hand, was in a completely different, almost bipolar, mental state.
One moment he would look at the self-isolating Liang Yun-ssi in the corner, displaying a desperate expression of “my rebellious son has broken my heart”; the next, he would look down at his phone, his face instantly switching to the ecstasy of “my family won a five-million-dollar lottery.”
“Crazy… This is truly crazy…” Kim Min-ho muttered, looking at the constantly refreshing real-time trending searches and forum posts on his phone.
“‘L.Y. big dog’ is third on Naver’s trending searches! ‘L.Y. crashed’ is fifth!”
“The Theqoo forum post has already reached over a thousand replies! They’re all discussing why you crashed at the mention of ‘big dog’!”
“Liang Yun-ssi… No, buddy! You’re my own buddy! Don’t you know that your one-hour live broadcast today had a better promotional effect than tens of millions the company spent?”
Liang Yun-ssi peeked out from under his arm, asking weakly, “…What are they all saying?”
Kim Min-ho cleared his throat and began to read with vivid expression:
“Theory One: L.Y.’s ex-girlfriend’s nickname was ‘big dog,’ so he was touched by a sad memory.—Supporters of this theory believe it perfectly fits his melancholic song style.”
“Theory Two: L.Y. has a very, very important ‘big dog’ at home, his most precious family member, so he became emotional when it was mentioned.—Supporters of this theory believe L.Y. looks like the kind of man who is gentle at heart and loves small animals.”
“Theory Three: ‘big dog’ is the code name for an unspeakable secret! It might be a secret signal between him and someone in the industry!—Supporters of this theory have already started wildly shipping him, with everyone from top girl group members to famous actresses becoming suspects…”
Liang Yun-ssi’s vision went dark, and he nearly fainted on the spot.
He was truly speechless; they were already shipping him…
Couldn’t these netizens use their imagination for something more serious?
“buddy, the company’s PR Department just called, asking if we wanted to respond.
Director Kimsaid…” Kim Min-ho paused, his expression turning a bit strange, “Director Kim said there’s no need to respond, let them guess.
Maintain an air of mystery.”
Liang Yun-ssi: “…Damn it…”
He realized that Kim Ji-yeon was a complete and utter devil.
She didn’t care about his well-being at all, only about buzz and commercial value.
“Damned capitalism,” Liang Yun-ssi grumbled inwardly.
And at this very moment, at the “crime scene” that caused all the commotion—the IZ*ONE dorm—the culprit was hugging a pillow, rolling around on the sofa in laughter, utterly devoid of any top girl group member image. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Ahn Yujin was still wearing the oversized white T-shirt with a golden retriever sticking out its tongue printed on the front.
Because she had been so nervous and excited during the phone call, a lovely pink flush appeared on her fair cheeks and slender neck.
She laughed without any regard for her image, her two straight, slender long legs kicking wildly in the air, and her soft short hair became messy from rolling on the sofa.
She looked like a large Samoyed who had just pulled off a prank and was now frolicking freely, full of cunning and vitality.
“Hahahahaha! Did you see it! His expression! That silly look! His ears were completely red! It was so much fun!” She laughed, handing her phone to Jang Wonyoung next to her.
The screen showed a screenshot of Liang Yun-ssi’s bewildered, frozen expression during the live broadcast, which fans had turned into various memes.
Jang Wonyoung, sitting next to her, was wearing a light purple silk pajama set, her smooth black long hair cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall.
She didn’t laugh as boisterously as Ahn Yujin, but quietly looked at the phone, a helpless yet doting smile playing on her lips.
In her clear, deer-like eyes, the embarrassed figure on the screen was reflected, a soft, almost imperceptible glow flashing within them.
She gently nudged the still-laughing Ahn Yujin with her elbow, her voice soft as she reminded her, “unnie, won’t this… cause him trouble? He seems genuinely distressed.”
“Trouble? This is increasing public recognition!” Ahn Yujin sat up, straightening her messy hair, her tone assertive.
“Look at how he usually is, as dull as a gourd. If I don’t give him a push, when will he ever break out? Now it’s great, everyone in the country knows he’s a pure-hearted man who blushes at the mention of ‘big dog’! What a cute persona!”
Jang Wonyoung could only shake her head helplessly at her unnie’s self-righteous demeanor.
Her unnie sometimes truly resembled an overgrown, overly energetic elementary school student.
By the time Liang Yun-ssi returned to his apartment, it was already dark.
He collapsed onto the sofa, feeling his body and soul drained.
He took out his phone, hesitated for a long time, and finally clicked on the familiar chat box with the winking dog avatar.
He took a deep breath, his fingers clattering across the keyboard as he typed out a line of text, full of anger and accusation.
“An! Yu! Jin! You bastard! You deliberately called to make fun of me, didn’t you? Is this fun?!”
He could almost imagine her smug expression upon receiving this message.
However, a few seconds later, her reply left him with a lump in his throat.
The reply wasn’t text, but a photo.
The photo showed a fluffy, tongue-out, huge golden retriever, tilting its head and looking at the camera with an innocent yet adorable gaze.
Immediately after, a voice message arrived.
Liang Yun-ssi played it, and Ahn Yujin’s laughing, deliberately lowered voice came through: “Yah, Producer-nim, what are you saying? I was just walking my dog, I didn’t hear clearly. What devil? What fun? I’m just an ordinary citizen listener living in Seoulwho loves dogs, you know~”
At the end of the voice message, a clear, sly chuckle was included.
Liang Yun-ssi: “…Damn it!”
He looked at the innocent golden retriever photo and the utterly shameless voice message, feeling his fists clench.
He had never seen such a brazen person in his life!
He was so angry that he typed out a long string of unprintable words on the keyboard, but he didn’t send a single one.
Because he knew that no matter what he said, she would deflect it with a clever retort.
He had never won an argument with Ahn Yujin.
“You rogue!”
After the message was sent, her reply came quickly.
It was an animated emoji: a Shiba Inu wearing sunglasses, proudly wiggling its butt and dancing.
Liang Yun-ssi completely lost his temper.
He sighed, looking up at the sky, feeling that his career had been cast under an indelible shadow named “Ahn Yujin” from the very beginning.
Over the next few days, Liang Yun-ssi’s schedule was packed.
One music show after another forced him to repeatedly experience the suffocating feeling of being surrounded by cameras and crowds.
But strangely, after enduring the “social demise” of the radio live broadcast, he found that his fear of the camera seemed to have lessened somewhat.
Perhaps it was a case of “too many debts to worry, too many lice to itch”; after all, his most embarrassing side had already been seen by the entire nation, so nothing could be worse than that.
With this devil-may-care attitude, he performed with increasing composure on subsequent stages at Music Bank and Inkigayo.
He no longer needed to consciously “act” a role, but simply sat there quietly, singing his songs.
The inner calm and focus of a musician that radiated from him, in fact, attracted more fans than any meticulously designed expression management.
His fan base grew rapidly, snowballing.
His fans also adopted a cute name—”Zookeepers.” Because they all wanted to know what kind of “big dog” could make L.Y.
blush.
And the story of L.Y.
and the “big dog” became one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in the Korean entertainment industry in the summer of 2020.
Today was the recording day for KBS’s Music Bank.
Liang Yun-ssi was in the waiting room, holding his guitar, doing a final practice of the song he was to perform today.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the waiting room door.
Kim Min-ho opened the door, and standing outside were those familiar figures again—the girls of (G)I-DLE.
“L.Y. xi, excuse us!” Song Yuqi was still that fiery little sun; she shook a bag of drinks she was holding.
“We just finished our stage, bought some drinks, and brought one for you too!”
Liang Yun-ssi quickly stood up, a little embarrassed as he took the drink.
“Thank you…”
His gaze instinctively drifted towards Jeon Soyeon, who was standing behind Song Yuqi.
Jeon Soyeon was wearing very strong smoky eye makeup today and a sharply tailored black stage outfit, exuding a powerful, unapproachable aura.
She didn’t greet him as enthusiastically as Song Yuqi, but stood there coolly, her eyes constantly scanning between Liang Yun-ssi and the guitar in his arms.
Just then, Song Yuqi suddenly leaned in and whispered in Chinese, gossiping, “Hey, buddy, let me ask you something, don’t get mad… Uh, what’s the deal with ‘big dog’? Our dorm is racking its brains trying to figure it out!”
“I…” Liang Yun-ssi’s fists clenched again.