IKC C1

Chapter 1

 

“Damn…! Fuck!”

 

The hand gripping my phone trembled uncontrollably.

 

“Seong Sehan! You crazy bastard…!”

 

Because my choreography practice had ended at three in the morning, I was completely exhausted. But the one person who could enrage me to the point of madness even when I had not a shred of energy left was none other than Seong Sehan.

 

“Ha…! What a lunatic…”

 

I should’ve just not opened my phone.

 

If I hadn’t, I could’ve slept soundly without knowing that this crazy bastard—no, this abnormal freak—had uploaded a video five hours ago that had since spread across every community board online.

 

The moment I checked *Dream*, the app where fans and idols exchange private messages, I had a chill run down the back of my neck.

 

[Taegyeong oppa! Did you and ‘Perfect’ Sehan oppa fight or something? LOL]

 

[Oppa, please check Perfect Sehan-nim’s Dream Talk. I think he’s talking about you, hehe]

 

[Taegyeong-ah, did you fight with our Sehan again?]

 

[Taegyeong-nim, our Sehan is exhausted and stressed writing songs these days, so please try not to weigh him down unnecessarily]

 

The *Dream* chat window was flooded with messages, and by the looks of it, there were even more Sehan fans than there were of ours.

 

It was no surprise. Perfect Puzzle was an overwhelmingly popular top idol group, and among them, Seong Sehan had the most dominant fan base. By sheer numbers, my own fans weren’t even worth comparing.

 

[Taegyeong-nimㅎㅎ Just because Sehan is always the one approaching first, you’re not looking down on him, right?ㅠ]

 

Naturally, invasive private messages like these often showed up. I quickly opened Sehan’s Dream Talk to figure out what was going on.

 

[Hi?]

 

[Having a nice evening?]

 

I rapidly scrolled through his messages that began like mundane greetings.

 

[Today felt kind of gloomy. Ah, I made a track—want to hear it?]

 

I paused briefly at the part about him feeling gloomy but, unable to resist, immediately played the video linked afterward. It looked like Sehan was still in his private studio when he recorded it.

 

But something about his face as he fiddled with the program was unsettling.

 

The snare layered with the bass line, the intricate beats—there was no time to admire any of it. His sudden glare into the camera revealed unmistakably crazed eyes.

 

⌜Fuck it!⌟

 

The half-muted expletive pierced through my ears, and I shut my eyes tight.

 

⌜Friendship forever my ass—it only matters when it’s convenient for you.⌟

 

Don’t curse. You’ll tank your image into the abyss, you crazy fuck! Please, just stop…

 

⌜Backstabbing, tripping me up, and still you dare call it friendship? You smugly say it with that shameless face! Even when I reach for you from where I’ve fallen, even when I miss your hand and crack my knees on the floor again! I brush off the dirt and laugh like a fool! I’m easy, I’m someone you can walk over! Right?⌟

 

I clenched my jaw shut and forced my eyes open, resisting the urge to close the video. Sweat as cold as ice trickled down my back.

 

⌜The friendship you wanted—where the fuck were you when I wanted it? When I was scouring auction sites and secondhand shops day and night for you, what were you doing? Oh, that’s right. You—couldn’t care less what I was up to! That half-baked so-called friendship, that “bond, bond, bond!” Why don’t you just smash me in the head with it, so I’ll wake the hell up!⌟

 

“Shit…!”

 

All that in just fifty seconds of video. I endured an emotional rollercoaster as wild as any I had ever felt.

 

My face, trembling as I clutched my phone, must’ve been pale enough to be pitiful looking.

 

Even though it was already past three in the morning, I didn’t hesitate. I pressed the familiar speed dial. After exactly three rings:

 

―Oh, Lee Taegyeong. You’re still awake?

 

The voice, casual and unconcerned as though nothing had happened, made me grind my teeth.

 

“Hey, Seong Sehan. Are you fucking insane?”

 

―Insane? Taegyeong, if you start by swearing at me, that’s really unfair.

 

His tone, feigning naïveté, nearly made me spit a string of curses. No, I shouldn’t sink to his level.

 

Pacing the practice room, I took deep breaths. At least one of us had to keep our composure.

 

“If we fought, we should deal with it on our own. Why the hell are you spreading it to the fans? Don’t you feel ashamed, with your title as a ‘genius idol’? Even a grade-schooler wouldn’t do something like that! You’re seriously not right in the head, you know that?”

 

―Taegyeong-ah.

 

Unlike me, grinding my teeth in anger, his voice remained maddeningly calm.

 

―I was just making a fun track and wanted to share it with the fans. How did that get turned into a misunderstanding?

 

“Hey!”

 

At last, I exploded, yelling. But Sehan didn’t so much as flinch.

 

―When did we fight? We were just exchanging opinions, weren’t we?

 

The whisper in my ear carried a mocking edge. I could almost see his smirking face, and in frustration, I swung my fist into empty air.

 

“Hey! You know damn well that if you rap like that, the fans will all think of me! You don’t get it? I’ll be the one who has to deal with the fallout!”

 

I pressed hard at my heated nape. The sweat-soaked shirt clinging to me might as well have dried completely from the feverish heat radiating out of my body.

 

―Ah, well.

 

He let out a sigh, as though to say he pitied me.

 

―Explaining every little misunderstanding to the fans would be ridiculous.

 

Then he continued, voice steady and brazen as ever.

 

―You should’ve just listened to me from the start.

 

Still clutching the back of my neck, I staggered in frustration. Who was the one making me suppress my temper and suffer like this?

 

“Sehan, is me being close to Yeondu really worth all this fucking drama? Did anyone say we were dating? And what if we were?”

 

―Lee Taegyeong. You dare to date? You think that makes sense?

 

“What? Why the hell not?”

 

What, because Yeondu’s a top girl group idol and out of my league?

 

―You said you were sorry for ignoring me for one year and five months, that you’d make it up to me. To pay it back, you’d have to dedicate every spare second of your life to me, for at least the next ten years. Can’t you do the math?

 

“Ah, fuck.”

 

Dizzy with rage, I slumped against the cold mirror in the practice room, resting my forehead on it.

 

Why the hell was I even trying to make female friends? It was all because of you, you bastard!

 

What the hell was I supposed to do when you ruined all of my relationships?

 

―Taegyeong-ah. If you just behaved, then there wouldn’t be any reason for me to raise hell. Isn’t that right?

 

And with that piece of bullshit, he ended the call.

 

I collapsed to the floor, still holding my phone, and sat cross-legged.

 

Closing my eyes, I recalled the day I went to Sehan’s funeral. Whenever I felt like I was about to explode with rage because of him, this was the trick I tried.

 

It worked every time. No matter what outrageous crap he pulled, the simple truth was that I still preferred him alive by my side.

 

As calm settled in my chest, I thought, maybe one day I’d reach enlightenment at this rate.

 

Ding-dong.

 

That was when the status window popped up. Alarmed, I snapped my eyes open, only to see words that made no sense.

 

[Your Inferiority Score has increased by +1.]

 

[Your Inferiority Score has increased by +1.]

 

“What the hell!”

 

There was no reason for my inferiority to go up today—what kind of bullshit was this? In despair, my unwilling gaze shifted to the hated status window.

 

[The accident risk of Genius Idol Seong Sehan has increased by +2.]

 

[To free him from the danger of death, reduce Lee Taegyeong’s sense of inferiority to 0 (zero).]

 

“That’s ridiculous! What inferiority did I feel today…?”

 

[Wow, he churned out that beat in an instant! Just how much of a genius is he? Look at that diction. Ugh… I can’t possibly match that.]

 

[So before I start getting friendly with girl idols, I should know my place first?]

 

My own hidden thoughts spilled from the status window in my own voice, leaving me gaping in shock.

 

“What? Anyone could think something like that. It’s not just me, right?”

 

As the absurdly high inferiority score made my blood pressure spike, I sat cross-legged again. At this rate, I might really become some kind of monk in the near future.

 

*

 

It wasn’t as though I’d felt inferior to Sehan from the very beginning.

 

I first met him at piano academy when we were twelve. Back then, I only thought this boy called a genius was amazing.

 

When the girls at academy, who wanted to date Sehan, offered me jelly snacks just because I was close with him, I was simply pleased at the “easy profit.”

 

Because I had no reason to feel beneath him. By my fourth year of elementary school, I had already been street-cast twice.

 

I was annoyed when girls came to my classroom just to see me, and popularity only felt bothersome.

 

Because all I needed was one person to give my heart to sincerely.

 

I thought I’d found fate when I was a first-year in middle school.

 

I had been thrilled when I was assigned to the same middle school as Sehan—but my joy evaporated in an instant when I was hit with a shock I couldn’t process.

 

The prettiest second-year girl in our school—the girl I had fallen in love with at first sight—confessed to Seong Sehan in front of everyone.