“I don’t know where you heard that, but … it’s all just a rumor. Because soon, he’ll be releasing a song together with me.”
Both men’s eyes turned to me.
Kinder’s eyebrows furrowed fiercely, and Lee Chise’s eyes were wide with surprise. I ignored their stares and continued.
“It seems like a misunderstanding has arisen because I’ve been keeping Lee Chise-sunbaenim waiting for a while. I apologize for causing any unnecessary confusion. I’m still lacking in skill, so I need the help of an outstanding expert like Lee Chise-sunbaenim.”
“Ha, hahaha! Ahahahaha!”
Kinder burst out laughing loudly at what I said. In truth, it wasn’t even that funny, but it was obvious he was deliberately exaggerating his laughter, which made it hard to bear.
‘What are you laughing at, f**ker….?’
Put up with. Hold on.
As I held back from reacting to all the ridiculous antics happening in front of me, Kinder finally spoke up.
“Now that Seo Yutae is gone, you switched to this guy.…”
I only heard a few words, but I already had a feeling that he was going to start talking nonsense. I immediately cut him off and continued my response.
“I have no interest in hearing about Lee Chise-sunbaenim’s personal matters through someone else. It doesn’t even sound like an interesting topic. If you have something you want to discuss with him, I suggest you meet privately. In this industry, words are more dangerous than anything else. I have no intention of getting caught up in any trouble caused by careless talk.”
It was a way of telling him to shut up.
Although it wasn’t said outright, Kinder’s forced smile vanished as he realized the remark was clearly pointing out his recklessness, and he glared at me.
“You…….”
“Yes.”
I met Kinder’s furious gaze head-on, not flinching even as his eyes seemed to challenge me to a confrontation.
‘Yeah, what else can you do besides staring?’
Mentioning ‘
Seo Yutae
‘ in front of a Prism’s member was clearly crossing a line.
Kinder had already faced backlash once for his reckless comments. With the public and fellow celebrities already casting harsh gazes his way, it would be impossible for him to pick a fight with me.
‘How dare you harass my child?’
While thinking such thoughts and and unable to calm the raging anger, my cheeks were pressed on both sides, causing my lips to protrude forward like a fish’s.
“Uh.”
‘What?’
When I turned my head to the side, I saw Lee Chise pressing my cheek with a playful expression. And when our eyes met, he grinned widely.
“Seungbeomie, are you angry because of me? This is so touching? But you don’t have to be so angry.”
“Whut?”
When I forced myself to speak with cheeks that didn’t move well, a muffled, awkward pronunciation came out. Lee Chise lightly laughed at that and pressed my cheeks even harder.
“I’m not going to talk to someone who can’t even do something as basic as greeting. Just ignore him.”
At those words, Kinder’s face turned pale with shock, “You can’t be serious, you have been ignoring me all this time?!”
I see. From the beginning, Lee Chise had no intention of having a conversation with Kinder, who hadn’t even shown the most basic manners. I finally understood Lee Chise’s attitude and let out a heavy sigh, feeling completely drained.
‘So that’s what it was? I got worked up for nothing. I was surprised, you rascal.’
It was a relief that he wasn’t too intimidated to respond. As his eyes, which had shot upward toward the ceiling as if about to pierce it, returned to their normal position, Lee Chise let out another hearty chuckle. He then ran his fingertips over the corners of my eyes and, fixing his gaze on my face, spoke.
“I’m only going to tell you this once, so listen carefully. I’m always worthy of living. Because I’m Prism.”
‘What are you talking about?’
For a moment, I thought Lee Chise was talking to me. But the context was too strange for that.
“Seeing you crawling out again, looks like your life is worth living now, huh?”
I racked my brain for a few seconds, and then I figured out the answer. He was answering Kinder’s question.
Kinder must have realized it too, because he glared at Lee Chise through clenched teeth.
Despite Kinder’s piercing gaze, Lee Chise continued to answer each question in turn without stopping.
“How many years has it been since you’ve shown your face, except for Prism songs?”
“It’s only been 2 years since I released my last solo release, so please be patient. I’m different from you, I’m very busy.”
“In the end, you’re nothing without the name value of Seo Yutae or Prism.”
“Do you really think I’ve benefited from Prism’s fame? I’m
the
Lee Chise. If anything, it was probably my role that played a significant part in establishing Prism’s image as a group of talented idols.”
“All you have is rapping and stage performance, there’s nothing else worth seeing about you.”
“As long as a rapper raps well and performs well on stage, that’s all that matters. You lost to me because you lacked that.”
“Filling a 3-minute song with just 20–30 seconds of rap is something even a dog or cat can do.”
“I even saw that you ruined a featuring that was less than 20-30 seconds and got dragged for it.”
“…….”
“If you have time to look down on idol rappers like that, you should spend it practicing your rap instead. Or maybe do some meditation. Since you keep blaming others, saying you failed to win because of the Lee Chise’s fandom … you’re getting left behind.”
At the blunt words exposing his true feelings, Kinder’s face turned red with anger. It seemed like he was conscious that I had heard all of Lee Chise’s criticisms, as he stole glances at me before clenching his fist in resentment. Then, he shouted with a venomous tone.
“I’m not blaming others, it was all because the Prism’s fandom turned it into a popularity contest!”
“How many idols failed to make a proper impact and were eliminated from that show? Why are you still whining about fandoms? After enjoying the greatest success ever thanks to me, it’s troublesome if you continue to be a nuisance like this.”
“…….”
Kinder, at a loss for words, closed his mouth. Only then did Lee Chise finally turn his gaze toward him.
“Contact me, Youngho-ya. I’m willing to match my comeback date with yours. Let’s face each other head-on. I’m not scared.”
“…….”
“But do you really have the courage to do that? I heard rumors that you’ve been nervously running around trying to find out my comeback date.”
“Oo…..”
I turned to Kinder with a small exclamation, as if to question whether what Lee Chise said was true. My cheeks, which had been thoroughly teased the whole time Lee Chise was talking, ached, but I kept a straight face.
Kinder was very shaken by my reaction and screamed loudly, “Who said that! I’ve never done that before?”
And then he started backing away, step by step.
‘He’s running away…….’
After securing a distance of nearly 3 meters, Kinder let out one final shout.
“Just you wait! My schedule is packed, so I’m not going out of my way to match my comeback date with yours, but someday, I’ll crush you! I’ll make it clear, my comeback date doesn’t overlap because my schedule is just too tight!”
“…….”
Then, as if he didn’t want to hear our answers, he stormed off.
‘.…Why did he come here and act so cocky when he knew he was just going to get beaten?’
What the hell did he come here for?
As I watched Kinder’s unattractive back figure with cold, uninterested eyes, my arm was suddenly grabbed. Before I could even resist, my body involuntarily spun around and around by Lee Chise’s superhuman strength.
“Wow! We defeated the villain!”
“Let go, let go, let go.”
I was hopping around like a forced play of
Ganggangsullae
1
, and I started to feel like I was about to vomit everything inside me. In a hurry, I tapped Lee Chise’s arm. At that, Lee Chise immediately stopped his movements and hugged me tightly as if to crush me.
“Thank you, Seungbeom-ah!”
“Ugh … what for?”
I asked in confusion, puzzled by the sudden expression of gratitude, and Lee Chise calmly continued.
“If it weren’t for you, I might have acted impulsively out of anger. I’m so glad you intervened in the middle.”
‘Impulsive, my foot.’
You’re telling me you were angry? With such a calm face? Yeah, I really believe it.
“No need. I just couldn’t stand to see Trainer Kinder cross the line.”
“Haha, he’s always like that. He tends to speak without thinking. I know his personality well, so I usually try to act like it doesn’t bother me, but honestly, when he mentioned Yutae-hyung, I couldn’t help but get a little angry. I guess it doesn’t get less painful no matter how much time passes.”
My name was mentioned again by Lee Chise.
I vaguely avoided his gaze and changed the subject, “More than that … is it true that you can’t write songs?”
At that, Lee Chise hesitated for a moment as if finding it difficult to answer, then finally spoke up.
“I guess you could say I’m in a slump. After going through that incident you probably know about, I haven’t been able to write songs. It’s not that I’ve lost my talent to write, it’s more of a mental issue. So what Kinder said isn’t exactly right, but it’s true that I can’t write my own songs right now. All I can manage is to write short raps for Prism’s songs.”
Lee Chise seemed to feel the need to give me a general explanation, as we would be working together in the future, so he revealed his current state very honestly. As I listened, I felt an indescribable sense of guilt.
“…Are you showing any signs of overcoming your slump?”
“Umm, no. I’m completely lost, to be honest. I can’t get a grasp of anything. Yutae-hyung was basically my muse. After losing him, I haven’t been able to recover well. That’s why I stopped all my broadcast activities and took a break. Cha Woon-hyung probably called me that day because he knew I was wandering around like this!”
Lee Chise scratched the back of his head and replied cheerfully. He didn’t look like someone struggling with a slump at all, but because I knew that his insides had already fallen apart, I couldn’t treat it lightly.
As my expression darkened, Lee Chise let out a light breath and placed his hand on my head.
“But then, in the middle of all that, I met you. It was really surprising. When I listened to your work, it stirred up the same kind of inspiration I felt when I listened to Yutae-hyung’s songs. It had been so long since I felt that way, so I ended up forcing my will on you.”
‘So this is why he was so obsessed with my song.’
I suddenly understood why Lee Chise was so insistent on my song. If I knew this was the case, I would have just given it to him.
“I don’t want to just sink like this. If he found out I was acting like this, that hyung of mine definitely wouldn’t be able to rest in peace. Knowing my hyung’s personality, he might even jump out of his grave yelling, ‘
You rascal! Get your act together and live properly!
‘ Haha.”
At the end of the words that burst out slightly playfully, Lee Chise added in a soft voice, “I hope that really happens.”
After hearing that, I felt a pain in my chest as if something was tearing at my heart. I pressed my lips tightly shut and lowered my head, and seeing this, Lee Chise became visibly flustered. He leaned down to try to look at my face.
“Uh, uh, what’s wrong with Seungbeomie! Seungbeom has better empathy than I thought?”
Even after all that, when I stubbornly hid my face, Lee Chise let out a laugh that was closer to a sigh and patted my head lightly.
“I am Lee Chise. I have the ability to make even the smallest opportunity mine, and I have the confidence to overcome this crisis. I will rise again through your song. So, you don’t have to be so sad.”
“…Please wait a little longer. I’ll be back with a good song.”
“Okay! That’s all I need.”
When I finally uttered a proper sentence, Lee Chise’s face turned brightly with color as he eagerly nodded his head. Then, with a clear voice, he said,
“I gave you the possibility to go further up.”
“…….”
“So, please give me the opportunity to rise again.”
My throat tightened, and I couldn’t bring myself to answer. Instead, I dropped my gaze downward.
Then, Lee Chise grabbed my hands with both of his and lowered his body to meet my gaze.
“I will wait for you, Seungbeom-ah.”
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Translator’s Corner:
Ganggangsullae (강강술래)
is traditional
Korean circle dance play
. It’s an ancient Korean dance that was first used to bring about a bountiful harvest and has developed into a cultural symbol for Korea. It is often associated with the Chuseok holiday and Daeboreum and is performed when the full moon rose above the mountains. ↩︎
There was a blackout in my place for 7 hours and the whole time I WAS BECOMING MOSQUITOES’ SNACKKKK I’M SO SICK OF THEM (i hope this didnt get jinxed into literal meaning, i dont want to get sick because of their bite). I usually kept my fan 24/7 but as soon as it turned off for a long time because no electricity, THEY ATTACKED ME?????? WHERE DID THEY EVEN COME FROM? (actually it’s probably my fault) (I kept a lot of flower bouquets that I got on my graduation last month in my room) (they all dried up already but idk what should I do with them???? throwing them away feeling like such a waste because my friends def spent a lot amount of money to buy them for me…..) (why flowers are so expensive for something that doesnt even last that long???????)
ANYWAY THIS CHAPTER IS T_T you can imagine how shocked MC is. if you read the previous chapters carefully, Lee Chise is the most emotionally healthy member of Prism (that’s why he didn’t deny it and talk about it so honestly like this) (even I can’t do that)