IKC C17

Chapter 17

The painful truth after debut was that the songs Seong Sehan, the so-called genius, had loved so fervently of mine—ended up being neither here nor there.

―“As long as Park Geonwoo doesn’t screw it up.”

“What…? Hey, Sehan. How can you say it like that?”

His piercing remark stung, but I had nothing to counter with. Sehan seemed to understand already that Geonwoo-hyung was overly conscious of him, to the point of losing touch with his own style. Damn it. The guy left no gaps.

―“Taegyeong, have you decided what you’ll sing for your content video?”

“Huh? Not fixed yet… but I was thinking of covering one of Yeeun-noona’s songs.”

He sighed slightly, dragging his words out. Whenever he did this, I couldn’t help but press the phone even closer to my ear, afraid I’d miss his voice.

―“You should pick a song that brings out your emotions.”

…Wow. Now he was openly interfering?

“Hey, our content team agonized over this and narrowed it down…”

―“If that’s what you came up with after all that, you should’ve just asked me. I’ll pick one for you today.”

“What…? Hey, hold up—”

―“Ah, I have to go. We’ll talk later.”

Click.

Staring at the screen after he hung up, I felt my blood pressure spike again. This bastard. Treating me better just made him cross more lines.

“Haaah… fine. We’ll see.”

Once I dropped my inferiority to 0, after that—he’d get no mercy.

February 10, 12:00 p.m.

Our team’s first member was unveiled on YouTube.

⌜“Hello for the first time. I’m Gun, leader of the new boy group from Global Entertainment after 3 years!”⌟

Even though we’d filmed together, watching Geonwoo-hyung’s video still made my legs tremble.

⌜“I’m in charge of songwriting, composing, and lead vocals!”⌟

His makeup and outfit paired perfectly with his boyish charm. Pretty boys always had strong demand—surely, he’d get a good response…

Too anxious, I started biting my nails.

⌜“For my opening stage, I’ll sing senior Kim Seokju’s ‘Your Birthday.’”⌟

It was a song about a boy secretly preparing a gift for his older sister he had a crush on. Since Geonwoo recorded it 20 times to perfect it, listening just now left my nose stinging.

“…Damn. Why does this make me feel this way.”

Thankfully I wasn’t watching with the members, or else they’d have seen me sniffle like a fool.

But the emotions ended there.

The video lasted 5 minutes 33 seconds. Then the crushing pressure rolled in, cold sweat soaking me.

Last time, our drama-style pre-debut video series hadn’t even passed 10,000 views total over 6 episodes.

The gap between our hopeful expectations and the brutal reality left us anxious and insecure.

And then—that was when, among just about 100 comments, one was an exposé of Kim Hyuksu’s school violence.

“…Ha… God damn it!”

The nightmare slammed back, and I clutched my head.

“Breathe. Calm down, Lee Taegyeong. Calm down!”

Distracting myself, I refreshed—and shocked wide when I saw it.

Barely 20 minutes since upload, and already 5 comments lined up.

“…Whoa!”

[“You sing so well! Excited to see a boy group from Global Entertainment.”]

[“First member is my type… I’ll be watchingㅎㅎ”]

[“Of all the covers of ‘Your Birthday,’ this one feels the bestㅎㅎㅎ”]

Just a few comments, and I was already thrilled, scrambling for my phone to call Geonwoo-hyung—probably trembling in his studio right now. But then… my thumb froze.

[“Is this the group with Kim Taegyeong in it? If all the members are this solidㅋㅋ I’m excited.”]

[“Curious which reveal day Kim Taegyeong will beㅋㅋㅋㅋ”]

…Huh? Kim Taegyeong—that had to mean me. But how did they already know—

“Ah.”

It must’ve been because of the photos with Sehan. Some people still remembered me.

“…Not bad.”

If this let our team’s name spread, then in a way… Sehan had helped.

“…To hell with it.”

Shaking my head, I got up. Speak of the devil—my phone buzzed with his name again.

“Hey, Sehan. Why’ve you been so hard to reach lately?”

The status window had gone quiet, no sudden events. If I could at least meet him, I might shave off my inferiority score somehow.

―“Taegyeong, your video goes up tomorrow, right?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

God, I wished he’d mind his own business.

―“Did you sing Yeeun-noona’s song?”

No. I sang your recommendation, bastard. Suin even choreographed it and we pulled in a dance crew for it. What now?

“Don’t even watch my video.”

―“Hahaha.”

He laughed—truly laughing, sounding happier than I’d heard in ages. For some reason, my chest ached to hear it.

―“These days… it’s fun, Taegyeong.”

The word again. Fun.

Him—already at the very top of idols—talking like he’d only just found something enjoyable. I couldn’t make sense of him.

I barely slept at all that night.

Kept replaying Geonwoo-hyung’s video. Refreshing, checking views, praying no bad comments appeared. Dozing, then waking to check again, until dawn broke.

9 a.m. The video was still under 24 hours—but it passed 30,000 views.

“Thirty thousand… oh my god.”

Was it real? I rechecked the counter over and over.

“Insane… last time we couldn’t get 10k in total…”

Too keyed up, my heart pounded out of my chest.

The meeting room door swung open—Jeongmin walked in.

“Hyung, eat something at least. You skipped breakfast.”

He placed a sandwich on the table, still damp-haired from a quick errand to the convenience store. What a good kid.

“Don’t stress. Sure, views are a little lower for Gun-hyung’s reveal, but they’ll rise. So—”

“What did you just say about the views?”

This clueless brat.

“Maknae, do you even know how hard it is to scrape together just 100 views? That means 100 real people listened to our song! Listen—10,000 is astronomical. Even one positive comment is so precious, so valuable. If you forget that, no matter how big your number gets—you’ll never feel real satisfaction, you’ll never understand the meaning. You need to carve this in your bones. We need to go in prepared—”

“Hyung! Why are you so worked up! I was just trying to say don’t stress too much—”

I squinted at him.

“Was that really for my sake?”

“…Okay, honestly—I do just want our views high. The company worked hard, spent money, promoted us. If it doesn’t do well, it feels like disappointing them.”

He scratched his head, slouching into a chair.

“If they’re backing us this much and we flop—how awkward does that look?”

“…Why do you care about their feelings.”

It’s still our debt to repay in the end, you know.

“All we have to do is give it everything.”

Still, I was grateful they were taking our demands seriously and giving us real support. Especially thanks to Geonwoo-hyung constantly fighting the content team, pushing for more.

11:58 a.m.

Hours passed trembling in that room. Tension peaked—but it left me strangely calm now.

I bit into the sandwich Jeongmin had left me. Couldn’t taste a thing.

Before noon, I set it down.

Then—at the stroke of twelve—my video went live.

⌜“Hello! I’m Taegyeong, the second member of Global Entertainment’s first boy group in 3 years!”⌟

…Oh god. Why was my makeup so heavy? I looked angry, mean.

⌜“I’m the team’s main vocal. I’m 20 years old. Please take care of me.”⌟

Oh, hell. Monitor playback didn’t look like this! Why did I look so awkward? Like my smile was forced!?

⌜“I’m mainly a vocalist, but I love to dance too. I wanted to show you that, so I prepared for you all. I hope you look kindly!”⌟

I couldn’t watch—covering my face in mortified shame.

Why did I look like I was groveling? I wanted to die from it.

⌜“I’ll be covering Britney Spears’ ‘Sometimes’! And the choreography was arranged by Suin, our youngest.”⌟

The intro began—and I snapped my head up. Still covering my cheeks, hot from embarrassment.

“…Whoa.”

The bright sky opening shot, the sweeping camera across the wide company rooftop—it stunned me. With filters, the screen looked exhilaratingly fresh.

The wide rooftop deck captured me center, six dancers spreading behind.

And my song began.

My voice.

I couldn’t breathe.

Had I really moved like that? Worn that expression?