Chapter 56: What Are You to Him?

“Everyone worked so hard!”

Along with the clinking sound of glasses filled with beer and soda following a verbal “Cheers!”, there was the sound of glasses clinking together.

Enviously watching Kim Jae-ho down his beer in one go with a relieved expression, he only took a sip of his soda.

“Jae-seo hyung can’t drink?”

He nodded at Na Woo-jae, who asked while shoving the complimentary roasted maize snacks into his mouth.

Of course, it wasn’t that he chose not to drink, but back then, with guys like Yoon Ji-heon, Seo Jun-jae, and Yeo Hyun-tae around, it was somewhat okay.

Here, if he collapsed, there would be no bigger nuisance than that.

…When did thinking about collapsing and being carried become so natural?

Feeling suddenly stifled, he downed another gulp of soda.

“But I heard Seo Jun-jae and Yeo Hyun-tae helped us with our formations?”

When he nodded, confirming it, Kim Jae-ho made a surprised face and asked if he was that close with them.

He had never really thought about it, but hearing it put like that, he guessed they were pretty close.

At first, both of them, especially Seo Jun-jae, had made him uncomfortable for quite a while….

As he was pondering how things ended up this way, he felt someone tap his leg with their foot under the table.

Looking up, Kwak Jun-sung was looking at him with a clearly displeased expression and gave a slight nod of his head.

“Gotta go to the bathroom for a sec.”

Sensing it meant ‘follow me’, he made the same excuse about going to the bathroom and went outside.

Suddenly, he was pulled into the alley next to the restaurant.

Feeling cramped with two grown men standing in the narrow alley, he looked at Kwak Jun-sung with annoyance.

Jun-sung didn’t speak, just pulled out a cigarette.

“Want one?”

When he answered that he was fine, Kwak Jun-sung, with the cigarette in his mouth, asked, “Should I not smoke?”

Jae-seo shook his head, saying he didn’t mind.

Jun-sung lit it with a lighter and after a moment, turned his head to exhale the smoke.

Bored, waiting for the silently smoking Kwak Jun-sung, Jun-sung suddenly uttered Seo Jun-jae’s name.

“What’s your relationship with Seo Jun-jae?”

At the following question, his face instinctively scrunched up.

It would have been easier if he hadn’t understood the implication, but he had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what it meant, which annoyed him even with himself.

Should I answer this?

If so, what should I say?

He deliberated, then finally….

“Do you like Seo Jun-jae?”

He countered with the same method.

Just like Kwak Jun-sung probably had been, he was quite serious too.

The way he had stared only at Seo Jun-jae before, and the strange expression he made today seeing Jae-seo with Seo Jun-jae—it was quite suspicious.

Of course, whether Kwak Jun-sung liked Seo Jun-jae or not had nothing to do with him, but if Kwak Jun-sung was misunderstanding the relationship between him and Seo Jun-jae, that was a different problem.

“What?!”

…Judging by his dumbfounded expression, the guess was completely wrong.

“Do you have any sense or not?”

Letting out a long sigh, Kwak Jun-sung opened his mouth as if resigned.

“It was you.”

He felt like he knew what it meant, but pretended not to, asking back, “Huh?”

If what he was thinking was right, he desperately hoped Jun-sung would change the subject now.

“The one I was interested in was you.”

…Well, having said that much, there’s no way he’d change the subject now.

So that danger signal I felt before was pretty accurate.

Goosebumps rose, but at the same time, he felt relieved.

The fact that it was past tense, not present, meant it wasn’t now.

“No, but the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it is?”

Kwak Jun-sung, who had been leaning against the wall and taking a long drag of smoke, suddenly pushed himself off and spoke in an incredulous voice.

“You knew I was interested in you, didn’t you?

At least you thought I liked guys, so you immediately asked if I liked Seo Jun-jae, right?”

Speechless and unable to answer, Jae-seo was silent.

Kwak Jun-sung clicked his tongue briefly.

“If I was interested in you, how could I like Seo Jun-jae?”

Then he roughly ruffled his own hair as if frustrated.

Jae-seo thought that just because someone was interested in one person, they could still like someone else, but judging by his expression, it wasn’t that kind of meaning.

“No matter how much I like guys, even if you gave me a truckload of Seo Jun-jae, I wouldn’t be happy.”

Kwak Jun-sung shook his head, saying Seo Jun-jae wasn’t his type.

Then he suddenly said, “My type is you,” and winked one eye at him, which genuinely made him feel nauseous.

Seeing his expression worsen, Kwak Jun-sung laughed cheerfully, “Haha,” and said it was a joke, continuing.

“It’s completely cooled off now.

I absolutely hate being entangled with those guys.”

By ‘those guys’, did he mean Seo Jun-jae and Yeo Hyun-tae?

He could understand Seo Jun-jae, but why Yeo Hyun-tae?

“You don’t happen to like guys, do you?”

Kwak Jun-sung’s question abruptly cut off the chain of thoughts forming in his head.

Flustered by a question he never thought he’d hear in his life, he nevertheless answered that yes, he didn’t.

Kwak Jun-sung let out a sigh, “E-hyu,” and touched his temple, his lips moving before he finally spoke.

“It’s not really my place to say, as I’m not involved, but wouldn’t it be better to stop getting entangled with them?”

Jae-seo wondered if there was anything worth calling an ‘entanglement’, when a hand suddenly reached out and ruffled his hair.

Frowning deeply, wondering what he was doing, Kwak Jun-sung jutted his chin out as if to say ‘see’.

“What do you think the reason is for me, the same age as you, not some much younger junior, to do this to you?”

Then he shook his head, saying “forget it,” and told Jae-seo to figure it out himself.

He had already said everything he wanted to say, so why pretend he hadn’t?

It was absurd, but at the same time, Jae-seo couldn’t deny some resonance with Kwak Jun-sung’s words.

It might differ for everyone, but from a general perspective, it was true that the distance with those two had decreased a lot for just being friends.

However, the thought that Seo Jun-jae and Yeo Hyun-tae, of all people, lacking nothing, would be interested in him—a feeling of ‘no way…’ was much stronger than any suspicion.

“Anyway, if any problems come up, tell me anytime.

This hyung-nim will at least listen.”

Saying that, Kwak Jun-sung tapped the cigarette ash into a portable ashtray and straightened up.

Looking at him with pity, muttering, “Of all people, why did you have to get entangled with them,” Kwak Jun-sung shook his head and turned away.

He wanted to ask what that muttering meant, but for some reason felt he shouldn’t, so he just kept his mouth shut.

…The more I think about it, ignorance seems like bliss.

***

[Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 3rd Contest Mission Evaluation Song Info Posted]

[http://tv.navum.com/43156236725]

[Concept Evaluation Song Preview | Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2]

VILLAIN / Dubstep genre / Composer D.Keith (composed Eternals’ Time Up, BURST’s Run, etc.)

Remaining members as of 2nd ranking announcement: Ki Jae-hyung, Kim Woo-hyun, Kim Jae-ho, Seo Jun-jae, Yeo Hyun-tae, Oh Jung-min, Yoon Jae-hee, Yoon Ji-heon, Lee Chan-seo, Hyun Young-woo (3 to be eliminated)

Beautiful Hate / Alternative R&B genre / Composer TEAM MAB (composed Male’s Without You, 4UR’s I Don’t Mind, etc.)

Remaining members as of 2nd ranking announcement: Kwak Jun-sung, Nam Jin-wook (left show), Rohan, Bae Jae-hyung, Sim Jae-seo (2 to join)

Into the Moonlight / Synth-pop genre / Composers My Nine’s Baek Ri-yu and Heo Song-a (composed My Nine’s After That, Mindset, etc.)

Remaining members as of 2nd ranking announcement: Kang Eun-hyuk, Park Seo-hu, Lee Seung-han, Jang Young-bin, Han Tae-woo (2 to join)

Want It / New Jack Swing genre / Composer Yelless (composed Boose’s Funky Night, CARR’s Pointed, etc.)

Remaining members as of 2nd ranking announcement: Na Yoon-jae, Park Kang-hoon, Choi Gyeom, Ha Jin-woo (3 to join)

Over the Sky / Tropical House genre / W.night (composed IWSP’s Callin, With You And Me, etc.)

Remaining members as of 2nd ranking announcement: Kim Ian, Na Woo-jae, Park Ye-chan, Park Hyun-jin, Lee Woo-rim, Lee Ha-jin, Jang Kyung-jung, Jo Do-hyung, Chae Han-ul, Choi Joon-yeop, Takaki Hiro (4 to be eliminated)

[Comments]

Huh My Nine is the My Nine from Please Take Care of My Idol 1?

↳ Yeah, it’s My Nine’s Baek Ri-yu and Heo Song-a from Please Take Care of My Idol 1

Holy will Ri-yu and Song-a appear on the broadcast?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

↳ Not sure about other composers, but My Nine will probably appear 100% lol

Holy so Ji-heon might work with the composer of BURST’s debut song?

↳ *222* Daebak I’m so excited lol lol lol lol

↳ Holy the Villain composer is the one who did BURST’s debut song?

↳↳ Yeah, he wrote the title track and two B-side songs. The songs are really good, but it’s a shame they were ruined by the other bastardsㅠㅠ

Huh?? Nam Jin-wook left the show??

↳ …Did you just crawl out of somewhere you were trapped???

↳↳ lol lol lol lol lolㅠㅠ

↳ Nam Jin-wook got a minor fan pregnant, pressured her to abort, and eventually it was revealed they were in a common-law relationship, so he left the show

↳↳ Holy isn’t he a crazy bastard??

Preview number 5 lol lol lol lol I thought I sensed a Dub.So vibe, and it really was Dub.So lol lol lol lol lol

I thought Want It was the only one that seemed a bit off, guess they haven’t done idol work beforeㅠㅠ

↳ No, the songs they listed as examples are just the most famous ones; these composers have written tons of idol B-side tracks..

A screenshot of Jae-seo’s A Letter stage and a thumbs-up were posted on MAB’s official account, so I wondered what it was, but they were the Beautiful Hate composers,,

↳ I heard that was on the contest day, Jae-seo must have done amazingly well on stageㅠㅠ

↳↳ Daebak lol lol lol lol They must have hidden it as much as possible for a spoiler lol lol lol lol

…

***

[x00526 Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 Episode 9 Live Discussion Thread]

[x00526 Please Take Care of My Idol Season 2 Episode 9 Live Thread]

[Comments]

I’m legendary for coming back here after having all my emotions drained by that Mr. Nam last week.. lol

↳ lol lol lol lol But the others (so far) haven’t done anything wrongㅠㅠㅠㅠ

↳↳ Right, so far they haven’t, so let’s just watch for now lol lol lolㅠ

But how did Nam Jin-wook get kicked off so quickly? Usually they’d stubbornly deny it, right? lol

↳ (Nam_Jin-wook_wedding.jpg) Because the marriage was revealed?

↳ (Nam_Jin-wook_evidence_collection.jpg) It wasn’t just the marriage that got exposed, a ton of stuff about him harassing multiple minor fans also got revealed

↳↳ It also came out that he lied to fans, saying they were his son or nephew. He did all kinds of shit, crazy bastard lol;

↳↳↳ Holy, vomit inducing, vomit,,

Coz is ruined for pushing NJW for nothing lol

↳ They have Kim Jae-ho, you know?

↳↳ NJW was always in the debut zone, Kim Jae-ho is in the PTSD zone, hanging by a thread. And Kim Jae-ho made it on his own; Coz never supported him.

↳↳↳ Same Coz only pushed Nam Jin-wook like crazy

…

I wonder how the teams will move around lol

The Villain team is losing three members? They were all goodㅠㅠ

Holy Jae-ho? Self-elimination? Why?ㅠㅠ

↳ He said he wants to do Beautiful Hate. He’s been going crazy practicing the Beautiful Hate dance already.. lol

I’m relieved Jae-ho wasn’t forcibly removed. Jae-ho, do whatever you want.

Oh, I wondered why only minors were left in the Over the Sky team, looks like the hyungs voluntarily left

↳ The song is good, but the choreography is too youthful. Last week you could already see some of them having regrets lolㅠㅠ

No, Woo-jae is also in Beautiful Hate? lol lol lol lol Fans failed at interpreting Woo-jae lol lol lol lol

Look at the editing for the Beautiful Hate team, they really worked hard to cut out NJWㅠㅠ

↳ How many people suffered because of that Mr. Nam? If he had any conscience, he shouldn’t have appeared in the first place

↳ Speaking of editing, did you see that the VS stage from 1st contest and the A Letter stage from 2nd contest were taken down, and individual edited cuts of other trainees were uploaded? I’m seriously pissed off;

↳↳ Same, what pisses me off is that in the 1st contest, the whole choreography was legendary during Ha-jin and NJW’s part, but in the individual edit, it was cut out. Jae-seo also had a legendary one-shot of his emotional immersion that got deleted lol lol lol lol

↳↳ *33* His character is trash but his greed is off the charts, he always took on so much crap. Looking at the parts that got cut out in chunks from other trainees’ individual edits, you can’t help but get angry,,

…

The contest is starting!!

Where’s team 1?

↳ Moonlight

Seeing this lineup again, the vocals are insane. Just Park Seo-hu and Lee Seung-han alone are strong, plus Kang Eun-hyuk and Hyun Young-woo

Holy vocals are good, but how’s the danceㅠㅠㅠㅠ

↳ Yu-sol ssam is flustered in real time lol lol lol lol

↳↳ Ju-ha ssam is flustered too lol How can you guys make a vocal teacher flustered by your danceㅠㅠ

Holy My Nine’s Heo Song-a is out!!

↳ They said thank you for choosing their song, the kids are so cuteㅠㅠ

But I’m still not sure why a girl group is appearing on a boy group survival show lol

↳ It’s not that a girl group appeared on a boy group survival show; it’s that Please Take Care of My Idol 1 seniors appeared on Please Take Care of My Idol 2

↳↳ Same My Nine is just from a girl group or from Please Take Care of My Idol lol

↳ Fr, coming as seniors to check out their song, why did they have to wear off-shoulder tops? Honestly, a bit over the top

↳ Wow what’s this now, off-shoulder bullshit; Stop harassing female idols doing business, obsessed with men

Into the Moon stage is starting!!

Park Seo-hu’s intro ad-lib is already legendaryㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Did My Nine write the lyrics too? They’re so good?

↳ Yeah, Baek Ri-yu writes a lot of lyrics for My Nine songs too

Ah but the dance makes it hard to immerse in the songㅠㅠ

↳ Fr they’re so incredibly clumsy?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

↳ *33* The song is so good, but the dance,,

The dance doesn’t even look hard, why are they like thisㅠㅠ

In the midst of it, Seo-hu’s high notes killed it againㄷㄷ

Seo-hu is legendary today, his dance is even somewhat better?

↳ The dance isn’t.. Let’s just praise the song..ㅠㅠ

Beautiful Hate!!

Holy what are those clothes;;

No, the front is just completely open??

The Beautiful Hate outfits are good, but I feel a bit guilty, and wonder if it’s okay to show this on broadcast,, I don’t know,,

↳ Same they’re good, but why do I feel like I need to cover my eyes

↳ *33* I’m worried about Rohan and Woo-jae the kidsㅠㅠ

I like it lol

↳ Same just enjoy it for a bit lol

The editing of the Beautiful Hate practice footage is really a mess,,

↳ It’s unavoidable because Mr. Nam left two nights ago, so 95% of what they filmed is different from the actual stageㅠㅠ

↳↳ I never thought I’d feel sorry for the Please Take Care of My Idol production team lolㅠㅠ

↳↳↳ *222* The editors are just ordinary office workers too, so it’s just sad

The Beautiful Hate team’s screentime is all messed up.. lol

But the positive thing is that with NJW gone, Jae-seo became the main vocal

↳ Jae-seo’s vocals were good in Team 1, so I’m excited lolㅠㅠ

Jun-sung at center is good too. Anyway, that greedy bastard used to take both main vocal and center for himself, right?

↳ Same Jun-sung at center looks much better than NJW at center

Ah it’s startingㅠㅠ You guys do wellㅠㅠ

Oh?? The empty spot is completely invisible??

↳ Same looks like a 6-member group from the start

↳ *33* How did they do the formations? It’s seamlessㄷㄷ

But the Beautiful Hate choreography is seriously awesome. I kinda get why Jae-ho and Woo-jae were Beautiful Hate parrots lol

↳ You too? Beautiful Hate has an artistic flavor(?) to it

↳ The choreography is restrained sexy, so classy lol

Jae-seo’s part is crazyㅠㅠ Everyone talked me out of it, but I wanted to pick Beautiful Hate from the beginningㅠㅠ

↳ Same I said Jae-seo’s vocals would suit Beautiful Hate well!!ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

↳ I didn’t pick Beautiful Hate, but thanks to the people who tried to sabotage him, I’m so grateful ^^

↳↳ Right, they picked the song they thought he’d be worst at to sabotage him, but a legend was born, what now? Puh!

f*ck what’s with Sim Jae-seo’s eyes,, what happened to him,,

↳ Fr honestly even with A Letter, it was like ‘he’s just closing his eyes’ or ‘he’s frowning’, but today he’s just f*cking sexy

↳↳ Same, cautiously, his facial expressions in A Letter were really bad, but today’s are so goodㅠㅠㅠㅠ

↳↳ *333* A Letter had one or two okay shots of a wistful expression, but today is legendary

Kwak Jun-sung – Sim Jae-seo bridge part, I think I’ve lost itㅠㅠ

I impulsively voted for Jun-sung and Jae-seo as my 2-pick today lol lol lol lol

↳ Same my bias will be fine,,

I really didn’t know Jae-seo would hit the jackpot with a sexy conceptㅠㅠ What if Jae-seo had gotten Into the Moonlight or Over the Skyㅠㅠ

↳ Right lol Who knew a legend would come out of Beautiful Hate, the song we hated lolㅠㅠ

↳ Our faith was too shallow. Of course, it was understandable, but from now on, let’s trust Jae-seo!!

…

Last!! Villain!!

So excited!!!!

Look at Yeo Hyun-tae’s face, if a villain like that existed, I’d probably give him whatever he wanted

↳ Same I’d give myself first!!

↳↳ ??? He probably doesn’t want that

Yeo Hyun-tae is a real villain because he stole my heart

Hey last week it was Seo Jun-jae, this week it’s Yeo Hyun-tae?? lol lol lol lol

↳ Fr the fact that drawing those lines on his face becomes a charm point is driving me crazy

I’m so grateful K-Stars both ignore everything else and focus on K-popㅠㅠ

This is what I wanted from the July Snow kidsㅠㅠㅠㅠ

↳ At least half of it is achieved now, so it’s okay lol

Hyun-tae is doing rap again??

↳ He’s good at rap, so no reason to drop it. It’s not like the others are great at rap either.

↳↳ Same but I also want to hear Hyun-tae sing, his cooldown is overㅠㅠ

↳↳↳ Fr July Snow rap -> dance position -> Villain rap, I’m going to forget what Hyun-tae’s singing voice sounds like,,

Yoon Ji-heon is sub-vocal 4?? Why??ㅠㅠ

↳ Jae-hee is there, and Jae-hee is better at singing

Ji-heon is best off establishing his image as the undeniable leader role like this, more than screentime. No one can even dream of taking that leader role lol

Oh the stage is starting!!

Already crazy and awesomeㅠㅠㅠㅠ

The choreography is crazy lol lol lol

Holy it starts with rap?

↳ Lee Chan-seo found the right team;;

↳↳ Same if it wasn’t Lee Chan-seo, the atmosphere would have been awkward and f*cking embarrassing lol

↳↳ *333* Fr it wouldn’t have worked unless you were really good

Yeo Hyun-tae is really good at rap too, the July Snow rap was just a joke, this is the real deal;;

Holy that dancing with eyes closed, is that part of the original choreography?

↳ Seems like only Hyun-tae is doing it, not sureㅠㅠ Anyway, it’s super cool and stylishㅠㅠ

Jun-jae’s vocals have gone crazy, right?

Seo Jun-jae with that face was main dancer last week and main vocal this week?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Holy is it the dance break already?

Wow.. Yeo Hyun-tae at center.. what..?

↳ Look at his expression, so fierceㅜㅜ

↳ Look at them doing huge close-ups of his face lolㅠ

Why is he so clean? The dance looks super easy (I know it’s not)

↳ Yeo Hyun-tae’s moves are seriously clean

The rotation Yeo Hyun-tae -> Seo Jun-jae -> Yoon Ji-heon is really insaneㄷㄷ

↳ Same did they come up with it themselves, or was the part just arranged that way by chance? Either way, it’s crazy

…