Chapter 11: Silver Linings and Unintended Chemistry

Branded as an idol who treated his fans like trash, it seemed like they would be forced into retirement just three weeks after their debut.

However, as the saying goes, even bad publicity is still publicity, and surprisingly, there was a significant influx of new fans.

People who hadn’t even known the group existed started mentioning them simply because Jung Woohyung was getting slammed.

To criticize Jung Woohyung, people began sharing fancams of the “fansign master” Yu Jemin, using captions like, [Look how hard the other members are working, he has no conscience].

On top of that, a few women’s eyes sparkled at the subtle chemistry between Eunhan and Jemin.

It wasn’t just fans of the other members who were joining the fandom, either.

There were truly all kinds of people in the world.

Quite a few people with bizarrely specific tastes found their hearts fluttering over Woohyung’s rude, cold, and aloof demeanor.

In particular, those starved for a “trashy top” trope in fiction were utterly ecstatic.

Usually, enjoying a trashy top through real-person fan fiction would draw endless backlash from other fans, but to think a real 3D guy was actually acting like a trashy top!

It was as if they felt safe writing fan fiction because it was based on actual documented facts.

Hanjem Stan @hanjemrealgayxxx

If it wasn’t for that bastard Jung Woohyung, Hanjem would be swallowing K-pop whole

Wish Jung-whatever would just leave the group.

│

Parasocial Stan @whismyslave_4ever

Go suck off your Hanjem couple lol

I want Jung Woohyung to leave the group too, so I can put a collar on him in my room and train him lol Mmh~

The fandom was split between Hanjem couple stans and Jung Woohyung parasocial romance stans.

Although their numbers weren’t massive, as the fandom grew larger than before, it became a constant battlefield every single day.

“Go Hanjem stans!”

Jemin silently cheered for the Hanjem stans.

It wasn’t because he particularly liked Eunhan in that way, but seeing them fight against Jung Woohyung’s solo fandom made him cheer them on involuntarily.

Of course, after a little time passed, he snapped back to reality with wide eyes, realizing that fandom division wouldn’t help them in the long run.

CEO Q was beginning to think he had utterly ruined this group.

Realizing that a group bringing in only 20 people to a fansign wouldn’t generate profit from album sales, he stopped booking fansigns altogether.

Instead, he recklessly scheduled any event performance he could lay his hands on.

He was in the middle of scheming to send them off to cheap local events in the provinces, perhaps earning local produce as payment.

“Guess I really gotta row while the tide is in!”

Suddenly, a casting call came in over the phone, and for a moment he wondered if they had confused them with someone else of the same name, but they were indeed looking for 4ever.

Without even checking what kind of show it was, he gave them a resounding YES.

This was CEO Q’s way of rowing.

“Woohyung, if you show a decent side of yourself on broadcast, you’ll be able to recover your image.”

“Yes.”

Woohyung replied mechanically to the CEO’s words.

‘It’s a relief I pretended to be Jung Woohyung and posted that long, heartfelt reflection post at dawn to smooth things over.’

Jemin thought to himself.

It was also Jemin who had clung to Jung Woohyung’s pant legs later that morning when Woohyung woke up and tried to post on SNS that he hadn’t written it, begging him to just let it pass this once.

Jemin had squeezed his brain to write a masterfully eloquent post that managed to soothe the enraged online public opinion without bruising Woohyung’s pride.

Thanks to that, the voices defending Woohyung grew louder, preventing the situation from escalating into demands for his withdrawal or suspension.

Still, there were lingering glances waiting to see how he would behave in the future.

“Since Woohyung going on air alone raises some concerns, it’d probably be better if you guys went together. All things considered.”

“Huh? We’re not appearing as a full group to promote us?”

Eunhan pointed at himself contextlessly and blurted out.

The CEO simply pretended not to hear him and moved on.

“Besides the broadcast… could we promote with a follow-up track now?”

Yoonbin expressed his true thoughts—“I’m too embarrassed to keep singing that trashy song”—in the gentlest way possible.

“A follow-up track?”

The CEO asked back with a scowl.

Fearing he had poured cold water on a good atmosphere, Yoonbin shrank back slightly for a second.

However, feeling that he wouldn’t get another chance to speak up if not now, he tried to calmly continue his point.

He was about to, but Woohyung, who had been sitting quietly with his mouth shut, cut in.

“Even if we couldn’t prepare it for long, we can make it work if we throw everything into it. And wouldn’t that be better than promoting the same song for another week? People are getting sick of it, and the original title track didn’t get a good response anyway.”

“Hey, you need to word things a bit more tactfully!”

Panicking over Woohyung’s overly blunt delivery, Jemin anxiously stomped hard on Woohyung’s foot.

Despite that, Woohyung gave Jemin a look that said, So what?

“We were originally planning to do follow-up promotions anyway, CEO.”

Yoonbin tried hard to wrap the situation back up and save it.

“…That’s true, but…”

Indeed, 4ever had originally planned for follow-up promotions.

However, rookie singers from small agencies often had even their main title track promotions cut short, let alone follow-ups.

So under the excuse that the numbers didn’t add up, the follow-up track was almost buried like a forgotten memory.

Yoonbin was arguing that they needed to dig it back up.

“We can do this.”

Yoonbin might be younger than me, but a leader really is a leader.

Jemin felt a surge of emotion.

Seeing the CEO finally nod, Jemin let out a sigh of relief as tears welled up in his eyes.

In this overly emotional state, Jemin happened to look to his side, only to lock eyes with Woohyung, who was shooting him a look of utter disdain.

Just from that glare alone, Jemin knew exactly what he was thinking, which ruined his mood.

“Watch your mouth on broadcast.”

Jemin whispered softly to Woohyung as they left the CEO’s office.

“I’ll be careful enough, so don’t worry.”

There was no way Jemin could trust those confident words coming out of Jung Woohyung’s mouth.

“Eunhan-ah, come over here for a sec.”

“Why? I just need to touch up my makeup!”

“Yeah~”

This was their first proper schedule since their last radio appearance.

Even though it was just a short guest appearance where they would likely only get reactions shown past the initial interview, they were deeply grateful for even this.

They used to wait in places so pathetic it was embarrassing to call them waiting rooms—spaces separated only by partitions—but for the first time since their debut, they had been assigned an actual waiting room.

Jemin, while monitoring the growing number of Hanjem stans, planned a selfie with Eunhan to drop some initial bait.

He had heard that a subtle cheek-to-cheek selfie was enough to sustain fans for three months.

“You said you’d help me, but this is nothing special.”

Unlike Eunhan, who meticulously requested makeup touch-ups, Woohyung’s makeup ended with just a natural base and eyebrows.

Because he finished quickly, he was sitting next to Jemin, picking a fight.

“This is tutoring you couldn’t buy with money anywhere. Listen closely.”

If Woohyung shows a changed side of himself, it could actually become a attraction point for new fans.

Plus, if people find out that I was the one who helped him change, my reputation will improve too.

Having finished those calculations in his head, Jemin clenched his fist tightly.

“Look at the SNS posts you’ve uploaded so far.”

At Jemin’s words, Woohyung pulled out his phone and scrolled down 4ever’s official SNS account.

“Don’t you feel like something’s missing?”

Even after scrolling down to their very first post, Woohyung replied in a calm tone, seemingly completely oblivious.

“I don’t know.”

How could he say he didn’t know?

Without even needing to look at the other members, shouldn’t the answer be obvious just by comparing mine to his?

Jemin wanted to fire back with a barrage of complaints, but fearing noise leakage through the thin walls of the waiting room, he spoke in a soft, low voice.

“Something that’s missing in yours, but present in mine.”

“I don’t know. Is there such a thing? I know the opposite, though.”

“The opposite?”

Woohyung continued as if it were nothing.

“Acting your age. Mine has it, yours doesn’t.”

“Ah~ Is that so?”

Looking at him now, he really has no manners.

Not that it’s news since I already knew, but still.

Jemin wanted to break Woohyung’s finger, which was currently pointing at his rabbit-filtered selfie.

“If someone likes another person, wouldn’t they miss them?”

“They can just look at me. It’s not like I’m someone you can’t find by searching.”

“Not like that, I mean something like a selfie! Something other than how you look on stage!”

“So I just need to take a picture and post it, right?”

Replying as if it were no big deal, Woohyung turned on his camera.

Snap, taken rigidly from a straight ninety-degree angle.

The flash even went off, as if he had messed up his camera settings.

Jemin watched quietly, assuming there was no way he would upload it without even looking at it.

“Hey, wait, wait!”

Speak of the devil.

Jung Woohyung was actually trying to upload that single photo he had just taken without even checking it.

Jemin hastily grabbed Woohyung’s hand to stop him.

“Are you crazy?”

“Why.”

Jemin hurriedly checked the phone screen first.

Fortunately, it hadn’t been uploaded yet.

He tapped back to check the photo.

“It’s… well-taken, but still. This isn’t an ID photo.”

It wasn’t that his eyes were closed or his expression was weird, but it was the very definition of rigid.

It was a photo relying purely on his face card alone.

“Are you just full of visual confidence, thinking you can take photos recklessly like this?”

“It’s always good to have high self-esteem.”

Jemin now gave up on trying to persuade Woohyung.

What am I even doing with a guy who won’t even call me ‘Hyung’ because he refuses to acknowledge me as one?

“You can use a filter that isn’t too extreme. Or since people like basic camera shots these days, you can use the basic camera, but not with a rigid pose like before. Stand there and strike a concept pose.”

“Ah, f*ck. It’s annoying. I don’t wanna do it.”

While Jemin and Woohyung were bickering, Eunhan, who had finished his makeup touch-up, stepped in between them.

“It’s so nice seeing you Hyungs hanging out~”

At the sound of a camera shutter, Woohyung and Jemin turned around.

“Seo Eunhan, what are you doing right now?”

Eunhan answered while his fingers moved busily over the screen.

“You two were so cute that I took a photo and uploaded it to SNS~”

“Hey!”

You uploaded a photo without even getting my confirmation?

Fearing that Eunhan might have uploaded an embarrassing photo, Jemin quickly logged into their official SNS account.

[From. Eunhan]

Jemin-hyung teaching Woohyung-hyung how to take photos

Our Hyungs are cute, right? lol

#Eunhan #EunhanPD #EunhanCamera #4ever #Woohyung #Jemin #WoohyungJemin Oh? WoohyungJemin? lol #Hyungjez lol

Realizing the photo hadn’t turned out too badly, Jemin let out a sigh of relief.

“Ask for my permission before uploading next time, okay?”

“Hyung, fans actually like these kind of natural photos way more.”

“Still…!”

“Alright~”

Since Eunhan had already posted the photo, they had no choice but to post a follow-up result too.

Besides, there wasn’t much time left before they had to go on air.

In this urgent situation where Woohyung was refusing to take photos out of annoyance, Jemin made his choice.

“Hey, Eunhan-ah! Come over here and hold Jung Woohyung down!”

“Yes sir!”

“Ah, what are you doing!”

[From. Jemin]

Taking a photo with Eunhan and Woohyung after a long time, all three of us!

Doesn’t Eunhan look totally like a puppy!

Look at Woohyung stiffening up because he’s nervous lol

Today’s schedule spoiler! Don’t make plans for Thursday night~

#Jemin #4ever #Forever #Eunhan #Woohyung

In the end, he used Eunhan to pin Woohyung down and forcibly took a photo of the three of them.

Even though Woohyung had a look on his face like he had swallowed a bug, Jemin smoothed it over in the caption.

It wasn’t Jemin’s intention, but the online reaction was explosive.

Hanjem Stan @hanjemrealgayxxx

Did you see him say “Our Hyungs are cute, right?”

Hanjem is a real-life couple for real.

│

Minefield-chan @ishipgaeminor

Why would “our Hyung” mean Yu Jemin?

It means Woo(hyung) + (Eun)han lol Hyungeun is real~

Retweets 10 | Quotes 68 | Likes 1