The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

Why the hell was this guy suddenly texting me? We hadn’t contacted each other personally before, but as soon as we received information about the camp, I received a text from him. It was a text message that seemed like it had hidden intentions. A training camp meant that we were all going to eat and sleep together...

‘Is he warning me that he’s going to beat me up at camp?’ I thought that this text might be a kind of declaration of war, but I erased this thought with a hollow laugh. I had a tendency to take my imagination way too far when Kang Hyun-Sung was involved. It might just be a text without much meaning.

—You should be prepared. I’ll make you practice really hard.

…I guess he really was planning to beat me down, military style. Besides that, I wondered why he sounded strangely like a middle-aged man in his text. I turned off my phone. I thought I had to reply something, but I also wondered if I had to if I was going to see his face in a few hours anyway.

“What are we going to do about this training camp?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“If we go, we probably have to gather in our assigned teams, not groups, right?”

A dark cloud loomed over the members’ faces.

“We have to eat and sleep with those OnebyOne members, right…?”

“Seriously…”

“Guys, hold me back so I don’t hit them.”

“…Yeah, but I can’t guarantee it. I don’t know if I can stop myself from hitting them either.”

At Yeon-Hoon’s words, Woon, Dong-Jun, and Do-Seung showed similar responses. If I had to sleep in the same room with Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon, I would have also reacted like them. They were infuriating even during practice, so I wondered how even more annoying it would be to live together with them.

“We’re living together for a week, right?”

“Yes.”

Sighhh.

Furthermore, it was not a day or two, but we were spending a whole week together. There was no way that they could avoid a mental breakdown for a week.

“…They say if you remain patient three times, it would save you from committing murder.”

“…I think I’ve already shown patience a hundred times."

“…Pweh.”

Then the members resolved with determined expressions.

“Let’s manage our expressions in front of the camera no matter what.”

“We just have to smile and answer well whatever happens.”

“Just think of them as dogs barking, not people.”

“We can’t ever show our fists.”

The members exchanged words like this as if they were chanting a Buddhist prayer and trudged out for team practice. We went down to the underground parking lot, and Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna were waiting for us. Both of their expressions looked dark as they probably had a lot of things to discuss about the training camp.

“Ah, um, Mr….Yeon-Hoon?”

“…Yes?”

However, since the members’ faces looked even worse the usual, the two couldn’t say anything and stepped back. Then the members got into the van. But before Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna went up to the driver's and passenger’s seats, I called out to them.

“Um, Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon.”

“Yes?”

“Hmm?”

I was sure that both of them were having a headache about the training camp, but I had important information to relay to them.

“Did you perhaps, receive any special information about my family?” It was about my aunt. Before our current head manager, the former head manager was well aware of my family situation, and he probably handed over this information to Yoon Tae-Hyung, the current head manager. Then Ms. Hyuna and Ms. Seung-Yeon should have also received information about that but…

“No?”

“Did something happen?”

Of course, I couldn’t expect anything from Yoon Tae-Hyung. I pressed my finger against my temple and slowly said, “Well, someone claiming to be my aunt might contact the agency soon.”

“Yes.”

“Your aunt?”

“Yes. Aunt. But you can’t tell her anything about my schedule or the location of our dorm. No, I would appreciate it if you could just answer all her questions by saying 'no, it's confidential.'” I repeatedly asked Ms. Seung-Yeon and Ms. Hyuna to answer like this, and the two listened to me for a while nodding their heads. They probably were wondering why it was my aunt calling and not my parents, and why they couldn’t tell her anything. However, neither of them was tactless and probably realized this was a sensitive issue.

“Sure thing!”

“Please don’t worry!”

They nodded reassuringly to my request without asking any more questions.

“But by the way, what’s the news about the training camp?”

“Did the cast get notified of it beforehand?”

They must have wanted to ask about the camp, not about my family.

I answered, “Ah, it’s the first time we heard about it, and we also heard about it today. The members and I will take care of the packing and other necessities, so all you have to do is just drive us to the pension.”

“Ah, yes, I got it.”

“Please contact us if you need anything.” After sharing only the information we needed, we got into the van.

I got off right in front of Kang Hyun-Sung’s practice room, and the members moved to another place where their team practice room was.

“See you later at night.”

“Bye.”

“Work hard in practice.”

The members said their goodbyes as I got off, but their expressions looked listless and tired.

‘They look like people being sold off. I should crush Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon at the training camp for sure this time.’ If I just left the situation as it was, I thought it would have a significant impact on their morale. I left the van behind and went up to the practice room.

* * *

When I went up to the practice room, I noticed that the other team members had arrived earlier than me. They had already gathered amongst themselves and were talking about the training camp. However, in stark contrast to my members, they all seemed to be very excited about the training camp.

“I clicked on the link, and it seems like they’re borrowing the whole villa.”

“Did you see how there’s a pool?”

“Wow, I always wanted to go to a place like this at least once.”

“It would be a good idea to bring my swimsuit, right?”

“It’s March and you’re going to swim…?”

“…Well, you never know.”

The atmosphere hadn’t been this lively when we played the mini-games before. Perhaps, it was because while the mini-game competitions felt like it was stealing our practice time, the training camp sounded like it could increase the efficiency of our practice. Thus, people seemed to be looking forward to it instead.

“It’s my first time going on a trip like this! Except for summer Bible school!”

As for me, I had never been on a school field trip or retreat.

“Oh? That’s the same for me too.”

“Me too.”

“Isn’t it the same for everyone here?”

Other trainees sympathized with these words. All the people here were in their early 20s, and that meant they had been trainees since their childhood. As a trainee, it often became difficult to participate in events such as school field trips and retreats. The reason was simple—it was because they could practice more during that time. A similar example would be physical education students who also did not go on such trips. Of course, there were exceptions even among idol trainees, but it seemed as if this didn't apply to anyone here. Thus, that was why they were so excited about going to this training camp.

“Mr. Tae-Yoon, it’s your first time on a trip like this too, right?” Park Young-Ho approached me and suddenly asked.

Honestly, it was not my first time going on a trip, but I hadn’t gone many times either. Thus, I answered, “I’ve been on a few trips before.”

“Wow! I’m jealous!”

“But Mr. Young-Ho, didn’t you say you went on summer Bible school trips.”

“Ah, yes. But I couldn’t play because I went there to help the missionaries.”

As I was having an awkward conversation with Park Young-Ho, Kang Hyun-Sung approached me from afar. His eyes were smiling, but his mouth squirmed as if he had a lot to say to me.

I wondered what he wanted to say to me when he suddenly said, “You’re late?”

“Oh, was I late? I came exactly on time.”

“No, I’m saying you came later than yesterday.”

“Ah, yes.” I was appalled by his outdated remark, and I held back from saying, ‘Why are you nitpicking that I came on time and not earlier when you’re not even paying my salary?’

Then he said, “Have you seen my message?”

“Yes, I saw it.”

Kang Hyun-Sung didn’t say anything for about three seconds.

“Let’s go and practice hard.”

“Yes.”

Like this, a fruitless conversation passed between us and ended. I thought we were going to start practicing now, but someone else approached me.

“Um, Mr. Tae-Yoon.” It was Choi Jin-Young and Kim Sang-Hoon from OnebyOne. Judging by their expressions, I could guess what they were here to say.

“Um, were the Siren members feeling okay yesterday?” As expected, they were here to talk about Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon.

“Truthfully, when we went back to our dorms yesterday, we heard Young-Joon and Joon-Hyuk boasting that they put Siren in their place, so we were worried that they could've given the Siren members a hard time.” I couldn’t believe they had made such shameless boasts when they went back to their dorm yesterday. I wondered how there could be such infuriating people in the world. If I could, I would’ve punched their heads… They must have seen my expression go cold as they quickly added.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“Even if they talk like that, they’re kind in natu…”

“Yes, I got it.”

I didn’t want to talk to them anymore and didn’t want to hear things like Young-Joon and Joon-Hyuk were actually good people inside or were affectionate or whatever. If I talked to them anymore, I thought I might ruin the atmosphere of today’s practice. But I recalled again how those two had boasted of putting Siren in their place.

‘How ridiculous.’ They should be grateful that my members were trying to include them and help them stand out on performance; if they really wanted, they could completely crush the OnebyOne members’ spirits and confidence. In terms of visuals, skills, and ideas, Kim Joon-Hyuk and Lee Young-Joon were worse than my members in every way. It made my mind boil, imagining how they made fun of my members with their senseless, stupid minds. If possible, I would have liked to grind them with a shredder…

But I had no choice but to endure it because it would be a crime to carry out what I wanted, so instead, I said, “Let’s concentrate on our practice today.”

“…Yes, let’s practice.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

The practice continued no differently from yesterday. We learned and memorized the choreography, and Kang Hyun-Sung adjusted the choreography a bit based on the rough version of the rearrangement he received from a music composer. I thought the music composer must have worked very fast, as the quality was good even though it was a rough version.

“The finished version will come out this week, but the composition or feel of the song won’t change from this rough version.”

“Wow.”

“Where did you find such a talented person?”

“As expected of the leader. You’ve completely transformed the arrangement.”

It seemed as if they were comfortable with Kang Hyun-Sung now as they joked around with him, but Kang Hyun-Sung did not respond to their jokes and said indifferently, “Let’s practice.”

The choreography was mostly created by Kang Hyun-Sung; everyone gave various ideas, but in the end, his choreography was chosen as the final choreography. It wasn’t because we were all too afraid to go against him, but his choreography was objectively the most suitable for the song. However, the problem was–

“Did you always dance that badly?”

“...I’m trying.” My foundation was a bit wonky when I danced without using Insight. Shivers ran down my spine when Kang Hyun-Sung spoke honestly to me while the observation camera’s memory cards were being switched out. I thought that he might take me out as center at this rate, so I ended up using today’s Insight again to learn the choreography.

Perhaps because my skills suddenly improved like crazy, Kang Hyun-Sung stared at me quizzically during practice. “...?”

“I said I was trying,” I answered his gaze with a confident expression.

And like this, the practice continued nonstop until 8 pm. When I thought it was probably about time for practice to finish-

Ding-dong.

Someone rang the practice room bell while we were busily practicing. We tilted our heads when the bell rang for the first time since we began practicing here. Even the Only One members looked surprised and seemed to have never heard the practice room’s bell ring. On the other hand, only Kang Hyun-Sung wore his mask as if he had expected this and went downstairs. Then he came back with many boxes in both hands.

“What?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s not delivery food?”

Everyone flocked around the box.

“When a team was formed, I thought about what could strengthen our teamwork, so I prepared this,” Kang Hyun-Sung said and opened the box. “Fortunately, they arrived the day before the training camp.”

I wondered what it was that he prepared, and it was–

“What?”

“Wow!”

“It’s a group outfit?”

“No way! Isn’t this the new model?”

It was a set of sweatshirts and training pants from a famous sports brand. I thought the combined price of the two pieces would be about 200,000 won. However, there was one problem.

“Aren’t you going to take it, Mr. Tae-Yoon?”

It was the design of the clothes. I couldn't even be surprised that Kang Hyun-Sung prepared these expensive training clothes for all of us because–

“...Thank you, I’ll wear it well.”

It was the exact same clothes I was wearing when I was with my aunt in the future I saw with Precognitive Vision.