Chapter 20: Fan Letters?

“Seo-oh hyung, what do you want to eat? I’ll go see if I can buy something from the convenience stand.”

“Huh? Is it even open?”

“I don’t know. I was going to check.”

At Eunchan’s casual reply, Ryu Seo-oh let out a dry laugh.
His face clearly said, Guess he’s really bored.

“I’ll go check if it’s open and come back.”

Hyun Wooyoung stepped forward.

“Huh? No, it’s fine.”

“I’m staff, remember? I’ll check and let you know. If you walk there for nothing, you’ll just get tired, so stay seated and rest.”

Wooyoung tapped the staff lanyard hanging from his neck as he spoke.

Before Eunchan could say that he was just trying to move around on purpose, Wooyoung had already left the waiting room.

Maybe it had been a mistake to casually label him as staff. Eunchan stared at the door Wooyoung had gone through, lost in thought.
He seemed to emphasize the word staff more than necessary—was that just his imagination?
Did bringing him along as “staff” bother him?

If he was secretly sulking about it, that would be awkward.
…Or maybe he was just overly immersed in the role.

Deciding he’d read the room once Wooyoung came back, Eunchan closed his heavy eyelids for a moment and then opened them again.

“Let’s write the notes for the lunch boxes.”

“Oh, okay.”

Their manager, Kim Sunju, said as she entered the waiting room.

Eunchan took the memo paper and pen she handed him and began writing notes to attach to the lunch boxes for fans.
B the 1 had been allocated twenty seats.

Compared to the hundreds given to top-tier idols, it was painfully few.
Still, Sunju had told him that even though applications were accepted after Lee Haemin’s withdrawal notice, every single fan seat had been filled without a single no-show.

To prevent fans of other idols from pretending to be supporters just to attend the recording, they’d filtered applicants by fan café activity history and join dates.

The gratitude Eunchan felt toward fans who continued to support B the 1 without leaving, even during such a chaotic time, was impossible to put into words.

Even while filming his drama, he’d constantly wondered if there was anything he could do for them.

Winning someone’s heart was never easy.
Keeping that heart and interest was even harder.
Nothing in the world was guaranteed—Eunchan had already learned that lesson the hard way.
In his previous life, no matter how desperately he wished for fans, sheer longing alone had never been enough to gain them.

Back then, with consecutive member withdrawals and a failed cosmetic surgery, he hadn’t even had the mental space to think like this.
Fans had still come to support them then, too, but he’d been too busy barely holding himself together.
All he’d managed was a stiff, perfunctory wave.

Thinking back, Eunchan unconsciously bit his lip.

What he couldn’t do back then, he could do now.

“Hyung, I brought the Polaroid camera. What if we take selfies with it and randomly give one to each fan along with the notes?”

“Polaroid selfies?”

Sunju echoed, startled by the sudden suggestion.

“They came all this way, so just giving lunch boxes and notes feels a bit lacking.”

They’d prepared photo cards for public broadcasts, but not for the Idol Athletics Championships, and that had been bothering him.
These were fans who had continued to support them even after that announcement—he wanted to give them something, anything.

Listening to him, Do Junseo laughed incredulously.

“So that’s why you asked us to pack the Polaroid? The way you said it sounded like a dying wish, so I was wondering what was up.”

“What, why?”

“No, it’s a good idea. Right, hyung?”

Sunju burst into an easy laugh and said there was no reason not to.

Matching the number of lunch boxes prepared, the members took Polaroid photos together and wrote their notes.

Quite a bit of time passed, yet Wooyoung still hadn’t returned.

If there really was a convenience stand, it couldn’t be that far.
Had he gotten lost? Worry slowly crept in.
Wooyoung didn’t even have a phone, so there was no way to contact him.

“Minyu hyung, I’m going to go look for Wooyoung.”

At Eunchan’s words as he stood up, Jung Minyu—who had been talking with Moon Sebyeol—opened his eyes wide.

“Huh? He’s still not back?”

“Yeah. It’s crowded, so he might’ve gotten lost. I’ll go find him.”

“Alright, be careful. You’ve got your phone, right?”

“Yes.”

Leaving the waiting room, Eunchan glanced around before choosing a direction and walking briskly.
After passing beyond the waiting room area, he spotted someone in a black long padded coat surrounded by three girls in the distance.
The person’s back was turned, so he couldn’t see their face, but it was a tall staff member.

Wooyoung wasn’t the only tall person around, so he couldn’t be certain—but it was possible.

As he drew closer, he began to hear their conversation.

“Excuse me, are you staff? Could you please pass along a gift for us?”

The girls, who looked like fans, had apparently snuck into an area normally restricted to idols and broadcast staff.
Knowing they’d be turned away if they tried to deliver it directly, they’d chosen to grab a staff member instead.

So it’s probably not Wooyoung.

That was his first thought—because Wooyoung seemed like the type who would firmly say no in situations like this.

Whoever it was, they seemed new to the station.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be struggling like this after getting cornered by fans.
From the fans’ perspective, it was lucky, but it looked a little pitiful.

“Could you please give this to the Max Up In oppas?”

“Please give this to Wonmin oppa from Max Up In. I’m really begging you.”

“Please, just deliver it.”

Despite the distance, the hallway was quiet enough that their desperate voices echoed clearly.

There were always groups that made people wonder, That team is participating in the Idol Athletics Championships?
Max Up In was one of those groups.
In their seventh year with a solid fanbase, they still couldn’t refuse participation because their mid-sized agency was effectively held hostage by music broadcast politics.

As unfortunate as it was, requests like this had to be refused.

Passing along gifts wasn’t difficult in itself, but if even one success story made it onto social media, it would cause chaos.
People would start sneaking in and grabbing any staff member they could find.

Worse, there was always the risk of antis pretending to be fans and tampering with gifts.

There had been an incident where razor blades were hidden inside sandwiches disguised as gifts.
The manager had discovered it in advance and disposed of it, preventing an accident, but rumors spread quietly afterward, and most groups stopped accepting food gifts unless they came through official support channels.

The girls in front of him might not be malicious fans—but the possibility wasn’t zero.
There was no reason to take that risk.

Imagining B the 1’s fans doing something like this, Eunchan felt himself empathizing too deeply and bit his lip once.

Then the staff member finally spoke.

“I don’t think I can deliver gifts, but do you have fan letters?”

…What?

Eunchan’s eyes widened in shock.

“You will? Really? We have letters!”

At Wooyoung’s words, the girls’ faces flushed with excitement as they hurriedly pulled envelopes from their shopping bags and handed them over.
Before Eunchan could even react, the staff member accepted three envelopes and spoke firmly.

“Go now. I’ll make sure these are delivered, so don’t worry. And be careful not to get caught by security.”

“Ah—yes! Um, no—thank you! Thank you so much!”

The girls bowed repeatedly, overwhelmed with gratitude.

Was this what it felt like to get hit out of nowhere while wide awake?
The staff member’s actions were admirable—but also deeply concerning.

How was he planning to deal with the aftermath?
It wasn’t his problem… or at least, it shouldn’t have been.

But something about the voice felt familiar.

…No way.

Eunchan hurried toward the staff member.

When he caught a glimpse of the tall man’s profile, Eunchan froze on the spot.

“Eunchan hyung.
You came out.
If you turn that corner, there’s a convenience store.”

The staff member holding the fan letters—

was Hyun Wooyoung.

This was no longer someone else’s problem.

“…? What’s wrong? Did something happen? Are you not feeling well?”

Wooyoung’s calm expression softened slightly when he recognized Eunchan, but his smooth brow quickly creased in concern.

Realizing he was staring with his eyes wide open and mouth agape, Eunchan hastily pulled himself together.
Facing an entirely unexpected situation made it hard to think straight.

“No—Wooyoung.
It was you?
What are you doing?
Why did you take those?
Why would you accept them?”

“Fan letters?”

“Yes. Those.”

Wooyoung glanced down at the envelopes in his hand.