Family Matters and Future Plans

Yoon Jihyuk probably smelled of sweet chocolate from the cookie sticks he always carried, yet his presence cleared my muddled mind as if I’d inhaled a refreshing mint scent. The nausea that had churned within me had vanished without a trace.

‘Yes, upon reflection, it had been an overreaction. It was as if the lingering emotions in my body had latched onto my soul, making Kwon Yohan’s ordeal feel like my own. I had accepted it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.’

‘This isn’t normal. Not at all.’

“It’s not exactly a place one visits with joy.”

“Is that so?”

“Not all families get along perfectly.”

“So I’ve heard,” Yoon Jihyuk murmured, then offered a faint smile.

“You’re even sharing such stories now.”

“There’s nothing to hide, really. Everyone already knows to some extent anyway.”

“That’s true too.”

Despite the abrupt halt in conversation, Yoon Jihyuk lingered, as if he still had something to say. Given the late hour, with no other tasks remaining, I simply gazed up at him, refraining from urging him on.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, a hint of awkwardness in his expression.

“Then…”

He then blurted out a question, completely out of context.

“Did you win?”

His tangled emotions were painfully obvious. I knew exactly what he was asking without him needing to elaborate further, so I answered as nonchalantly as possible.

“Hmm, half-heartedly?”

“What does that even mean?”

As he smiled, crinkling the corners of his eyes, I could still discern the lingering anxiety within him. Fortunately, my mind was working at full speed.

‘Enough to avoid unnecessarily concealing positive information and thus fostering an unstable situation.’

“Mother remains unyielding. However, Father and Sister were surprisingly amiable. My brother, it seems, is simply uninterested. With a bit of time, I don’t think persuasion will be overwhelmingly difficult.”

“Relief, isn’t it?” I added, and his expression brightened noticeably.

“Then we should properly persuade the two amiable ones first and make them allies.”

“Exactly. That’s why it’ll take time… It’s getting late, should we head in now?”

“Are you very tired? I was going to suggest a walk.”

“We both don’t have masks right now. You want to go for a walk like this?”

Only then did Yoon Jihyuk seem to realize the problem, and he obligingly followed my lead.

How uncharacteristically clumsy of him. Well, a touch of humanity isn’t so bad.

I soon understood why Yoon Jihyuk had been so unusually flustered.

“Seon said you were ‘stolen away’ to your family home… I thought something serious had happened. I overreacted for no reason.”

‘He must have thought Kwon Yohan’s parents had dragged him back to the family home, declaring, “This won’t do! Stop this at once!” I could roughly piece together the conversation that must have transpired. When Yoon Jihyuk asked what he meant, Seon would have surely claimed he tried to follow but was prevented. That was entirely like Lee Seon.’

‘I could vividly imagine him, unable to show his anxiety in front of the others, rushing out the moment it seemed I was returning.’

Yoon Jihyuk gazed up at the changing numbers on the elevator panel, murmuring to himself.

“It’s strange. Before, my only thought was that I couldn’t accept any more member changes… but now, the idea that you, Yohan, might leave the team worries me even more.”

I couldn’t tell if the faint, pricking pain in my heart was an aftereffect of the shock from the family home, or if it was my conscience bothering me. I idly kicked the floor as I replied.

“I told you, there’s no need to worry so much.”

The brief ascent through the floors felt excessively long.

****

The potency of Kwon Yohan’s father’s single phone call was evident the very next day.

“Why is he acting like that all of a sudden? Summer’s over, did he get heatstroke?”

Han Doyoung emerged from the CEO’s office, rubbing his arms ostentatiously as if he had goosebumps. The others who had gone in before him showed similar reactions, though they were merely more subdued.

The timing was perfect. Today, by chance, all the members had headed to the company to discuss tour period activities with the working-level staff.

‘The meeting itself was quite a spectacle.’

[We’re planning to start producing our own content, separate from behind-the-scenes videos, for our fans. This should also somewhat cover the reduced domestic activities during the tour.]

‘It felt as though a conversation that should have happened long ago was finally taking place.’

[And to improve our image, we intend to slightly shift the direction of our future activities.]

All plans to push them into survival programs had vanished, and their individual schedules were now literally packed with entertainment shows that could positively influence their image.

‘While there was still the issue of their somewhat old-fashioned way of thinking… what mattered was seeing a genuine willingness to do things properly.’

‘More precisely, the attitude of “as long as it creates buzz, who cares if the artists get hurt!” had disappeared, replaced by a more far-sighted perspective.’

‘Indeed, they must have learned a great deal from working overtime for days on end because of Han Doyoung’s incident.’

“What…?”

Lee Seon, who was the last to emerge from the CEO’s office, was as pale as if he’d seen a ghost. It wouldn’t be unlike him to genuinely believe the CEO was possessed.

‘If we’re being pedantic, what’s “possessed” is Kwon Yohan… but never mind that.’

“What did you hear, then?”

“He suddenly told me to speak up if anything was bothering me. Said he’d take care of everything.”

“So what did you say?”

“I said nothing was bothering me, but to just give me more individual schedules, and he said he’d do it?”

“Isn’t… isn’t that a good thing?”

“It is, but… something feels off. His smile was too fake.”

I briefly mourned for Choi Byung-joo, who, despite his attempts to do good, always seemed to be met with curses due to his past misdeeds. Yoon Jihyuk, who had been quietly listening to Lee Seon and me while nodding, then spoke.

“It seems everyone heard similar things. He suddenly called for individual consultations, so I thought I’d done something wrong. Doyoung, you didn’t have anything unusual, did you?”

“…He apologized.”

“Huh?”

“He suddenly apologized for yelling at me before, saying he’d been thoughtless.”

A heavy silence descended. Then Lee Seon mumbled.

“What if… what if he’s on drugs…?”

‘Such consistent suspicion.’

Well, it was gratifying to see things that had been clunky finally fall into place and start moving smoothly. Yet, there was one minor concern.

The members, still bewildered by the changed attitude of the working-level staff and now by the CEO’s sudden kindness, were overlooking one crucial fact.

Inserting their own content into an already jam-packed schedule, stretching all the way to the tour, simply meant they would be worked to the bone. While they had cut quite a few programs, they had filled those gaps with other commitments, so there was no room for relaxation.

‘Being busy was nothing new. It had always been this way, an unavoidable fate for rookies, after all.’

‘But the content itself…’

It seemed I was the only one who, relatively unfazed by the situation, had meticulously read the proposal from start to finish.

[Volunteer Work]

Because of this, everyone seemed to have only noticed the large title, but they needed to pay attention to the details written below. The location was designated as a remote overseas region.

While volunteer work itself was a good thing, was it truly necessary to insert an activity that would take several days and be physically demanding, especially when their fatigue was already accumulating?

The only fortunate aspect was that Kwon Yohan’s name was not among the participants.

“Don’t leave yet, just sit down for a moment.”

Claiming a chair in the small meeting room, I called out to the members who were about to head back to the dorm. Their murmurs subsided, and they obediently took their seats.

“Are we really doing this? Did you actually read the details?”

“What about it?”

Only then did the members properly read the content, and their reactions were slightly different than I’d anticipated.

“This much is fine.”

‘Choi Seung-beom, who clearly seemed interested in such activities, was one thing.’

“…It’s fine, but the optics are a bit strange?”

‘Han Doyoung seemed to accept the plan itself well, despite worrying it might look like he was reflecting on his actions.’

“Ugh… there’ll be so many bugs there, right?”

‘Even Lee Seon, who seemed to worry about nothing but bugs. There was no one who voiced any opposition. Yoon Jihyuk wasn’t a participant, as he had other schedules with me.’

“Are you all really okay with this? It seems like something they rushed in, and if we speak up today, they might still be able to adjust it. If you can’t do it, it’s better to go tell them now.”

The three exchanged glances, then simultaneously looked at me.

“Why bother?”

It was Han Doyoung who succinctly voiced their collective opinion.

‘Fine, do as you please. It’ll be your hardship, not mine. Seeing them suddenly act so good-naturedly made me chuckle for no reason.’

“Just don’t blame us later for not stopping you.”

As if my words had pricked his pride, Lee Seon pouted.

“You do you. You.”

“Me? Well…”

I flipped to the next page of the hefty proposal.

[Just for a Day!]

It was a public broadcast program with a cheerful title. Its main focus was showcasing cute children, with celebrity guests stepping in as temporary guardians to care for the kids for a day.

Usually, a team would be assigned one or two children, but the children we were to look after were… triplets.

‘It’ll be… fine, right?’

‘I’ve never looked after kids before.’

‘For now, let’s trust Yoon Jihyuk. He seems like he’d be good at it somehow.’