Chapter 40: Not a Date, Just Dinner

Ring ring-

As he came out of the shower, his phone was ringing loudly.

Checking the caller, an unexpected name appeared on the screen.

He quickly pressed the call button and brought the phone to his ear.

“Hello, Ji-heon hyung?”

Yoon Ji-heon apologized for disturbing him when he was probably resting.

Jae-seo said it was fine and asked what was up, and a random question came out.

“Do you have time this evening by any chance?”

The question, almost as if leading up to a date invitation, made him feel uneasy inside.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t checked the favorability since this camp ended.

…It couldn’t be that his favorability suddenly went up in that time, right?

Of course, he didn’t think he had done anything to warrant it, but you never know.

Considering Chae Han-ul’s favorability or Yeo Hyun-tae’s, it wouldn’t be strange if Yoon Ji-heon’s favorability suddenly rose too.

“…Uh, yes.

I have time.”

It couldn’t be, right?

Thinking this repeatedly in his head, he answered carefully.

He could feel the other person let out a sigh of relief.

At that moment, for some reason, he got the strong feeling that this call wasn’t for the purpose he had suspected.

“I was thinking of having dinner together with whoever’s free.”

At the words that confirmed his very solid misunderstanding, he felt embarrassed for no reason.

Come to think of it, even if this was a game world with that kind of setting, aspiring idols, surrounded by so many good-looking and pretty people, wouldn’t easily like someone like him.

Recalling the moments he had even doubted and tried to avoid guys like Seo Jun-jae, Yeo Hyun-tae, and Yoon Ji-heon, a wave of shame washed over him.

Self-awareness should have its limits….

He was just clawing at the edge of his innocent pillow when he barely managed to say yes.

Yoon Ji-heon on the other end of the phone carefully continued.

“Jae-seo, have you seen the reactions to yesterday’s broadcast by any chance?”

Broadcast reactions?

The sudden question left him dumbfounded.

“No, not yet.

Did something happen?”

“It’s not that….”

The way he trailed off, saying it wasn’t that, meant something must have happened.

He immediately got up, sat at his computer desk, and lifted the laptop lid.

Going into the portal site, there were video clips of Please Take Care of My Idol Episode 3 on the main page.

He clicked on a random video and then the comment icon, and a “What is this?” automatically popped out.

“Looks like you saw something?”

“Clip video comments.”

The comment window, sorted by popularity, was filled entirely with criticism aimed at Seo Jun-jae.

Greedy, selfish, only thinking about himself—that kind of stuff.

Some of them mentioned his team members, especially Yoon Ji-heon and him, alongside the criticism, and next to his name, the word ‘PD pick’ was always attached.

PD pick—wasn’t that when the PD deliberately gives a specific member a ton of screentime and only highlights a good image to get them picked?

And that specific member was him?

Feeling bewildered, he thought back over past broadcasts and thought, maybe.

It wasn’t excessive, but compared to other participants, he was getting a fair amount of screentime, and most of it aired with positive evaluations from the trainers, so he could see how someone might feel that way.

But then the question arose: why would Producer Muk Sahyeon pick him of all people?

He wasn’t signed with a good company, his skills weren’t amazing, his looks weren’t outstanding….

Why, of all people?

Lost in thought, he was quiet, and Yoon Ji-heon asked in a worried voice if he was okay.

There hadn’t been anything that harsh, and if you were a fan of another participant, you might dislike it, so he answered casually that he was fine.

Yoon Ji-heon said that was a relief and continued.

“I’m used to it, so I’m fine, but I’m a bit worried about the others, especially Jun-jae.”

There were a lot of negative reactions, but Jae-seo thought that with Seo Jun-jae’s personality, he probably wouldn’t care about such things, but he just quietly listened to Yoon Ji-heon.

“I heard Jin-woo and Young-bin were depressed after seeing bad reactions before.

You guys are probably experiencing this for the first time, so I end up worrying more unnecessarily….”

Come to think of it, no matter how questionable Seo Jun-jae’s character might be in some ways, he was only twenty, so he might be struggling, just as Yoon Ji-heon said.

Of course, the thought that he probably wasn’t was stronger.

“So I was thinking of having dinner together.

Is that okay?”

At Yoon Ji-heon’s question, he recalled the last funds he’d seen in the game window.

It wasn’t exactly abundant, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t buy a meal in a situation like this, so he said it was fine and ended the call.

Soon, a message arrived from Yoon Ji-heon.

[Then let’s meet at Yoonjeongwon Hanwoo in XX-dong at 7.

I’ll make a reservation under my name.]

Completely unexpected, he stared blankly at the message without even blinking.

…Should I say I can’t go even now?

***

Unable to tell Yoon Ji-heon, who had arranged the meal out of concern for them, that he couldn’t go, Jae-seo sighed and walked into the restaurant with the sign ‘Yoonjeongwon Hanwoo’.

From the exterior to the interior design, everything was impeccably clean and luxurious, which only increased his worries about the cost.

Thinking he’d just show his face briefly and slip away, he hesitantly approached the staff at the counter.

“I have a reservation under Yoon Ji-heon’s name for 7 o’clock.”

The staff member, replying in a kind tone that they would check, soon guided him to a private room.

Sitting alone in the place where no one had arrived yet, he felt absurd.

Was it normal in the entertainment industry for a twenty-four-year-old to make a dinner appointment with trainee juniors in their late teens to early twenties and choose a hanwoo beef restaurant with a private room?

Recalling his own twenty-four-year-old self, who had bought 3,800 won cafeteria meals for juniors from group projects, he soon heard the door sliding open with a rumble.

Following the sound, he looked up to see Seo Jun-jae entering the room.

“Hey.”

“Uh, hey.”

Returning the greeting, he carefully examined Seo Jun-jae’s face as he sat down, but he didn’t look particularly different from usual.

Just as I thought, he seems unfazed.

As he was thinking this, Seo Jun-jae was already meeting his gaze and smiling.

“What?”

What are you looking at so intently?

That’s what he seemed to be asking.

Thinking it might be okay to give him a heads-up before Yoon Ji-heon arrived, Jae-seo opened his mouth.

“Ji-heon hyung was really worried.”

Even though he said it vaguely, Seo Jun-jae seemed to understand, nodding with an “Ah.”

Ji-heon hyung worried for nothing, Jae-seo thought, tearing open the wet wipe on the table and wiping his hands, but he kept feeling a gaze on his face.

Turning his head, Seo Jun-jae was resting his chin on the back of his hand, staring intently at him.

“Why….”

“What about you?”

At the sudden question, Jae-seo asked back, “What?”

Seo Jun-jae let out a low laugh and continued.

“Were you worried too?”

…About you?

Wondering if he’d heard correctly, he just sat there with his mouth open, staring blankly at Seo Jun-jae.

Suddenly, with a rumbling sound, the door opened and Lee Woo-rim and Lee Chan-seo entered.

“Hyung-nims, how do you do?”

At the title and greeting they never usually used, Jae-seo looked at them with a dumbfounded expression.

Woo-rim, glancing around awkwardly, whispered quietly.

“This is my first time at a place like this, so I tried a special greeting.”

Come to think of it, it didn’t make sense to ask teenagers to pay for the meal, so it seemed they’d have to treat them.

Just as he was thinking about how much he should pay before leaving early, noisy sounds came from outside the door, and soon Yoon Ji-heon, Ha Jin-woo, and Yeo Hyun-tae entered together.

“Everyone’s already here?”

At Yoon Ji-heon’s words, Lee Woo-rim turned his head this way and that and asked, “What about Han-ul and Young-bin hyung?”

Yoon Ji-heon, answering that the two couldn’t make it due to circumstances, adeptly called the staff over and handed us the menus.

Just as he was about to open the menu with trembling hands, Ha Jin-woo suddenly asked Yoon Ji-heon if it was okay.

“Ji-heon hyung, Jae-seo and Chan-seo are here too, isn’t hanwoo a bit burdensome?”

…Ah, so Yoon Ji-heon was treating us?

At the same time, he felt a bit wronged.

He wasn’t so lacking in conscience as to eat someone else’s treat, and excessively expensive hanwoo at that, to his heart’s content.

Lee Chan-seo, perhaps thinking the same, was making a sulky expression Jae-seo had never seen before.

“I can afford this much, so don’t worry about it and order whatever you want.”

Once again, he recalled his twenty-four-year-old self who had bought 3,800 won cafeteria meals for juniors.

Everyone’s circumstances were different, but the gap was so large it made him feel awkward.

At the same time, Yoon Ji-heon seemed incredibly cool and impressive.

Considering his original age, he’s much younger, but in this world, he was twenty too, so he’d just comfortably think of him as a cool hyung, he decided, opening the menu.