Hajun stood watching Park Moondae stare at his smartphone before sliding closer. “What are you looking at?”
“Monitoring reactions.”
“Let me see too.”
Leaning his head against Moondae’s shoulder, Hajun peered at the screen. Moondae felt like he was taming a wild predator—not a small alley cat, but something at least the size of a jaguar. The only members Hajun approached without hesitation were Ryu Cheongwoo and Lee Sejin, his age-mates. Now that Moondae found himself added to that list, Hajun’s large frame felt somewhat inconvenient, but Moondae chose to let it pass. Hajun had helped search for Ryu Gunwoo, and regarding his parents… he had shown genuine concern after all, even while assuming Moondae hated him.
While Moondae paused in thought, Hajun reached over and scrolled through the comments on his phone.
– The Great Rice Wrap Contest was hilarious! Meanwhile, is Hajun’s demure wrap technique for real? Is there anything our Assi can’t do? (Screenshot of Won Hajun wrapping a rice roll)
└ Eating it? (Photo of shoving a wrap into Cha Eugene’s mouth)
└ No, he ate! (Photo of accepting a wrap politely offered by Kim Raebin)
└ I thought their art styles were similar, but putting Kim Rabbit next to Won Demon, why is Rabbit such a soft baby rabbit?? Shocking, a real baby rabbit exists!
– Moondae-pup lost his soul along with his food hahaha his eyes have no focus hahaha
└ Don’t worry! Our Cali boys will bring his mind back ☆ (Screenshot of Park Moondae forced to sample Cha Eugene’s giant wrap while held by Won Hajun)
└ Did they eliminate him?
– Hajun Assi is legendary. Why did everyone barge into Moondae’s personal W-Live and drop visual peaks? Almost missed it! From now on I’m joining anyone’s W-Live right away!
└ Sorry, why do you call him Assi?
└ Because he’s so elegant and beautiful haha
└ Don’t lie above… That nickname stuck during the Idol Co-op leak because he said ‘Ah C…’ every five seconds haha
└ Oh my goodness
└ Ah hahaha memories unlocked haha ruined Idol Co-op acknowledged haha… wish it failed haha
└ ???: Playing around? Do it right! Ah C…
– I wish Hajun Assi would by mistake swear during his personal W-Live haha
└ Pervert!
└ Why, what’s wrong? Honestly, everyone wants to hear dirty talk in Assi’s voice once, right? haha
└ Oops… I might want to hear it in English?
└ The one above knows true taste;;;
– Don’t get fan-girls who stan male idols with awful personalities haha
└ ? Nobody asked you to understand
└ Hahaha yeah so I don’t understand haha
└ Ahjussi who isn’t a fan, get lost
└ Won Hajun just swears a bit, he’s a good kid, damn it
└ Agree, he only swore on that failed audition show, how sweet is he
└ No hahaha there’s no subject in your post, guys… calm down
└ No no, that person is a Won Hajun anti and keeps making similar posts
– People running to defend every time the ‘Male Idol Personality Top’ appears… Profile picture is another member, but defending so hard, so funny ㅠㅠㅠ Wait, doesn’t Won Hajun have solo fans?
└ We’re busy playing among ourselves ♡ Let me show you something good ♡ (Won Hajun whose t-shirt rode up while fooling around with members.jpg)
└ Oh my…
“Reactions to our W-Live stream.”
“…Huh? Ah, yes.”
“Why watch it?”
“Comments pass fast during live streams… It’s hard to check detailed reactions.”
“No, so what do you gain by looking at this? Almost all of them say the same things anyway.”
Here it came, the question mark attack. Moondae swallowed a sigh and found an answer to Hajun’s query.
“First… fans’ reactions matter. For future direction and things like that.”
“Still, you need to cut back. Look at you, smartphone addiction.”
“…”
“When I met Big Moon and talked to him,” Hajun adjusted his posture.
Moondae explained, “In the end, I realized the work I need to do doesn’t change. Finding the missing gaps in memory, escaping this status condition… Cleaving through all the missions is the only way to get clues.”
“I told you I’ll take care of your soul even if things go wrong?”
“…I plan to clear the missions as fast as possible. And do whatever it takes in the process.”
Cutting off Hajun’s offer without hesitation, Moondae continued. “So monitoring is essential. Reading reactions and leading the flow.”
“Sigh, long excuses. Fine, fine.”
“Excuses…”
He wasn’t Ryu Cheongwoo, so he didn’t plan on giving a long lecture about this. Tapping Moondae’s smartphone screen, Hajun told him to finish that important monitoring fast and play with him. He was bored.
“Just ten more minutes… Wait, don’t press whatever you like…!”
“Let’s see what our fans are saying. ‘Won Hajun is crazy, I want to lick his abs so bad,’ why’d you turn it off?”
“…”
Finding a fan reaction expressing raw desire hidden somewhere among those countless posts was a talent in itself.
“…Suing is out of the question.”
“Why sue over something like that? Hey, do you think all Americans are obsessed with lawsuits?”
Hajun scoffed, but Moondae didn’t return to that screen and moved elsewhere. To an anonymous corporate review app filled with the grievances of office workers, currently ablaze with exposures regarding the terrible work-life balance at entertainment agencies. T1 Stars sat at the forefront.
At least there wouldn’t be weird posts here.
– Don’t come here haha (T1 Stars Enter)
└ How hard is it…
└ Hahaha (T1 Stars Enter)
└ Oh dear, it’s a new company so it’s worse… Hang in there ㅠㅠ (LeTi Enter)
– Watching TeSTAR is great… Great, but… Sigh… (T1 Stars Enter)
└ Is working while seeing your favorite really that hard…?
└ Don’t know who your favorite is, but everyone except one person clearly suffers… Fandom and work are different, really… (T1 Stars Enter)
└ Why do I feel like I know who that one person is
└ Hahaha
└ Is it the one who thinks everything is easy…
└ Seeing the higher-ups’ heads still intact, maybe it’s fine…?
└ Ah hahaha as if an idol under contract would do that? But running away is possible…?
└ Stop talking off-topic~
– The singers are working so hard, but the higher-ups are really ㅋㅋㅋ… (T1 Stars Enter)
└ At this point, better to just hand the company over to the kids instead
Instead, it was filled with complaints about the company. And with good reason. The agency was terrible at its job. Just this time, they dragged in some strange game collaboration. Thinking about it made his head ache, so Moondae let out a low sigh.
“Sigh…”
“Why? Problem?”
“No.”
He was terrified that if he told Won Hajun, the guy might actually go smash the agency CEO’s skull. Instead of staring at the screen, Hajun, who had been braiding Moondae’s short hair for fun, glanced at the phone and asked.
“Internal company issues—hm, actually, I thought about buying shares earlier.”
“What? How much?”
“Nah, I dropped it. The parent company’s stake is too high, so it wouldn’t be of much use. Classified as a foreign investor, I’d easily get restricted if things go wrong.”
And in truth, it wasn’t a stock that appealed to him. Still, if it helped, he was willing to buy. Hajun tilted his head and asked.
“Need it? Should I buy? Not a huge amount, but maybe ten to twenty percent—”
“No, no. No. Please don’t.”
“You don’t need to say no three times.”
Moondae didn’t answer and shook his head. The braided hair loosened, leaving a slight wave. His head felt tangled in the same way. Were you planning to act like a male lead in a romance novel? He was scared to even ask how vast his wealth was.
“Hmm. As expected, it’s burdensome?”
“…”
Did he even need to ask? Anyone would feel the same if a fellow member singing and dancing beside them suddenly became a major shareholder of their agency. Resting his chin on one hand, Hajun muttered.
“Sorry. I’ve been told a lot to fix the habit of solving things with money, but it rarely fails, so it doesn’t change easily.”
“…”
“You just thought I was arrogant, didn’t you?”
“…No.”
Seeing Moondae avert his eyes, Hajun curled his lips into a smirk.
“Still, you don’t hate me.”
“…”
Having already made a promise before, Moondae couldn’t bring himself to deny it, so he silently rubbed the bridge of his nose. Yeah, I don’t hate you.
“Well, everyone’s like that, so no need to feel embarrassed. Even if they get mad and say no, they can’t resist my charm. That’s my middle name, Can’t resist.”
“…”
“Haha! Look at your face, so funny.”
Was this the same guy who asked with a sad face whether Moondae hated him just a few days ago? Laughing with that usual shameless, confident look, a sharp canine tooth peeked out. Moondae no longer felt scared or bothered by it.
Laughing for a while, Hajun glanced at the empty bed next to them and spoke as if just remembering.
“By the way, why hasn’t this guy come back yet? He said he was going somewhere after practice.”
“Who knows.”
“Is he meeting his family? Feels like it.”
Maybe so. Moondae just shrugged. Their routines were predictable anyway, and unless it involved dating, there was no need to meddle in members’ private lives. There was no sign of that with Lee Sejin.
Before long, Lee Sejin returned. His complexion looked poor, but since that wasn’t out of the ordinary for him, Moondae paid no mind.
Hajun wasn’t the same. Sensing a strange vibe, he asked.
“Where’d you go?”
“…Why do you care?”
“So touchy. Asking because your face looks terrible, that’s why. Complaining even when someone worries.”
“…I’m going to sleep, don’t touch me.”
His reaction was twice as sharp as usual. Hajun didn’t dig further and whispered low to Moondae.
“Something really happened, right?”
“Looks the same to me.”
“No, different from usual.”
Moondae didn’t seem inclined to listen. Hajun looked once at Lee Sejin, who had pulled the blanket over his head, and stopped. Poking him now would backfire. Let’s watch a bit more.
Because overnight, the division director got fired. Things got resolved much faster than exercising power as a shareholder, so it worked out well. Still, the leftover mess needed cleaning up.
The game collaboration. Hajun held a different view from Moondae’s opinion that it was trash.
“Well, I have a good feeling about it.”
“If that hyung says so, maybe we can look forward to it…”
“Do you have a good idea, Hajun?”
“Dunno, don’t even know what game it is yet.”
“That’s true.”
So they were on their way to a meeting to find out. Two employees from the game company had arrived first in the conference room. Exchanging light greetings, they quickly got down to business.
“This game we developed features a protagonist exploring a ruined Seoul caused by strange material from a meteorite…”
“Hmm.”
Didn’t you say you had a good feeling? Throughout the explanation, Moondae cast glances at Hajun, who looked completely uninterested in the game. Meeting his eyes, Hajun raised one eyebrow. What.
“Would you like to try playing it once?”
“Me! I’ll do it!”
Members leaned in to watch Cha Eugene take the smartphone from the staff member and control it. Moondae asked Hajun in a low voice.
“Thought you’d be good at games, guess not.”
“What? Of course I’m good. But I don’t play stuff like this anymore. What’s the point if everything resets no matter what level you reach?”
“…”
A pointed remark. Whether he was tired of resets in real games where time rewrote everything, or comparing his situation to it, or both.
Keun Sejin, oblivious to the deeper meaning, mentioned in passing as he overheard.
“Ah, there are times like that~ Forgetting to save, or quitting midway. Wondering what all that effort was for.”
“…Yeah.”
Noticing Hajun’s strange expression, Keun Sejin asked Moondae with his eyes. Did I say something wrong? No, just stay quiet.
“Umm, I haven’t played many games so I don’t know. How is it, Eugene?”
“It’s fun!”
At Ryu Cheongwoo’s question, Cha Eugene answered with a grin. Just as he finished Chapter 1 and tried to move to the next chapter, the staff stopped him and retrieved the phone. Eugene looked disappointed.
“Is there any part you think would be good for a collaboration?”
“Umm…”
“Hyung-nim, any good ideas? They say you’re a genius.”
Keun Sejin nudged Hajun with a playful ask, attempting to lighten Hajun’s slightly heavy mood in his own way. Whether the attempt worked, Hajun replied with a slight furrow of his brows.
“Teddy, genius doesn’t mean an idea vending machine. It means being able to calculate four-digit mental math in your head.”
“…Teddy?”
The confused male employee muttered without realizing it. Keun Sejin, used to Hajun’s antics, went Ah.
“Hajun-hyung? Could you stop calling me that in front of people?”
“Teddy bear, gummy bear. My darling dear, please come near.”
“…Ahaha~ Sorry, this hyung is just like this. Where were we? Ah, collaboration ideas.”
“It’s fine even if nothing comes to mind right away. There’s still plenty of time…”
The other employee smiled and waved a hand, saying there was no rush. Instead, everyone agreed to think of ideas until the next meeting, wrapping up the conference.
