Chapter 57: What Kind of Fanboy is That?

Was accepting the guest invitation to Novior’s concert truly a good idea?

Before the giant photos of himself, the Demon God experienced the unfamiliar emotion of ‘self-doubt.’

“Sun-woo, you don’t seem to like it as much as I thought? Zion said he did exactly as you told him?”

Ian, Novior’s leader, asked, puzzled.

“I told him to? I ignored all of Zion’s messages, though?”

“R-really?”

The Novior members murmured behind them.

“He said you were super close?”

“Weren’t they texting each other all the time?”

The Demon God ignored their reactions and demanded an explanation.

“Anyone who has heard from Zion what he means by ‘I told him to,’ step forward.”

However, there was no need for anyone to step forward. Ian, who had brought it up, knew the reason.

“He said you always tell him to hang up your photos?”

“Hm.”

It was true that he had said that.

He had said it openly, not just in messages, but anywhere.

While the Demon God was speechless, Ji-ho whispered from the side.

“I saw it in a short. An idol who forces people to hang up his photos, saying it’ll make things go well. You even have the nickname ‘Coercion-dol.’”

“Coercion? When did I ever? Did I not kindly suggest it?”

Wouldn’t ‘Kindness-dol’ be more appropriate?

The Demon God was dumbfounded by the humans’ misunderstandings and delusions.

Anyway, he now understood how the photos came to be displayed.

“Actually seeing it makes me feel a bit… strange.”

They were hung up so large.

When he told them to keep it by their bedside, he imagined a small framed picture to make a wish before sleeping, but these were printed immensely large.

“It seems a moderate display would suffice….”

At his words, the Novior members burst into laughter. Ian pointed at the photos with his finger.

“Thanks to him, we’ve gotten used to you, Sun-woo, and Pantheon too. What did you do to Zion?”

It was a casual question, but he was genuinely curious.

The Novior members didn’t know the story involving the evil spirit.

They had only heard Zion’s story about being saved when he was lost, so they wondered how he could fall so deeply for Sun-woo with just that.

“Do what?”

What did I—

And at that moment, the Demon God finally realized the cause of this situation.

“Ah, now that you mention it.”

“?”

“I did whisper it.”

“Whisper?”

A low word, uttered unconsciously.

– Come to Pantheon’s performance and worship me.

He had whispered it to the people who had gone missing into another dimension due to the evil spirit.

And because Zion was the MC for MAMA, he directly witnessed Demon God Sun-woo’s performance vividly from an angle that even fans couldn’t see.

The result.

“Sun-woo! My idol!”

He had lost his mind.

He had fallen into the abyss of endless fangirling and gone utterly insane.

“Zion, have you appeared—!”

Zion was wearing a T-shirt adorned with Pantheon photos, holding a lightstick with Pantheon’s logo affixed to Novior’s logo, and wearing an automatic bunny ear headband….

“Excessive!”

The Demon God quickly took a step back.

Then he firmly took two more steps back, then hesitated and took five more steps, and then, while he was at it, two more steps back.

How many steps did the Demon God take back in total?

Calculate the total.

The answer was ten steps.

‘Never, not even when fighting any god, have I retreated this much?’

The Demon God realized his retreat and sighed.

While his cults always had more than enough fanatics, this was his first encounter in the human world, leading him to display such an undignified act.

“Pantheon! Pantheon! Pantheon! Worship! Worship! Worship!”

Right, isn’t this Zion merely someone whose worship has reached a critical stage? Let us have compassion.

“Stop.”

Zion stopped.

“Jump.”

“Jump!”

“Turn around once.”

“Turn around once!”

“Do you worship me?”

“Yes!”

– Kiii-gi-gik.

From the chains visible only to the Demon God, a faint cracking sound was heard.

Zion’s devotion as a fan was real.

His devotion was so profound that the chains reacted.

“Hmph. In that case, I too shall worship you—!”

The Demon God let his words trail off subtly.

It was strange. When fans did that, it was fine.

But when a fellow idol did it, it was a bit, well? He didn’t particularly feel like reciprocally worshipping them?

“Anyway, continue to worship.”

“Yes!”

“Instead, let us moderate the expression of worship.”

“Eh?”

Amidst all this.

Excluding the Demon God and Zion, the gazes of the eight members of both groups exchanged complicated glances—

And reached a firm conclusion.

– Let’s pretend we didn’t see it.

Even though there were many people and different groups, at this moment, they were of one mind.

“Shall we talk among ourselves over here?”

“What do you think about the current state of K-Pop and the idol industry?”

“Oh! That’s an excellent topic.”

“Yes, in my opinion—”

While the Demon God adjusted the intensity of Zion’s worship, the eight members also socialized.

Somehow, it was a practice session where the two groups grew closer.

***

Before they knew it, the concert was rapidly approaching.

Pantheon completed most of their practice in the mansion’s practice room.

Though the song was already second nature, they continued to practice with utmost effort.

– When I saw you in the lightless sky

I became a comet and headed towards you

The moment Ha-gyeom’s part passed, the members flinched simultaneously.

Even the Demon God was no exception.

“Hm? Was something strange just now? Why are you all like that?”

Ha-gyeom, puzzled, briefly stopped singing.

“Strange? Quite the opposite.”

Tae-young shook his head.

“Ha-gyeom, your vocal skills have improved even more? I can feel it, even though it’s a song you always sing.”

The part they had heard countless times during their activities now felt deeper and more poignant. The album recording version could no longer match the live performance.

At Tae-young’s answer, Ha-gyeom’s face brightened considerably.

“Really? You think so too, hyung?”

“Yeah. And it’s not just me; everyone seems to have felt it, right?”

The other members also nodded.

“You said you wanted advice for growth before going to the late-night radio. You must have gotten really good advice. I heard you practicing every day after you came back, and you were changing more and more?”

Ji-ho, who spent the most time with him, felt that change sooner than anyone.

“The advice was a big help too.”

“The advice too?”

“Uhm….”

Ha-gyeom had mentioned experiencing a mass hallucination after going to the radio, but.

‘I can’t bring myself to say that I broke through my limits because of that experience….’

It felt that way, but he couldn’t explain it.

He wasn’t even sure of the cause-and-effect relationship.

He only saw Sun-woo nodding with a satisfied expression over there….

“What about you, Sun-woo? You said you’re practicing too, right?”

Ha-gyeom shook off the memories from the studio and posed a question to the Demon God.

Sun-woo had also received advice from composer Ki So-eun.

“Indeed. I was advised to recognize and express emotions in a varied manner. Thus, I am practicing.”

“You practice emotions? Like acting practice?”

Yoon-seo asked.

And in the very next moment, Yoon-seo regretted his question.

“That is correct. Looking in the mirror, thus, a ‘cheerful’ smile.”

Cheerful.

Bright and lively in expression or action.

The Demon God smiled broadly.

“……”

And, a heavy silence fell among the members….

Before their eyes was a smile with shining eyes, both corners of his mouth pulled almost to his ears, all teeth revealed, as if facing an enemy to be crushed.

“Is it cheerful?”

“……”

The members deferred answering the Demon God’s question to each other, until finally, they all looked at Tae-young.

“Hoo.”

Tae-young, as the leader, had no choice but to step forward and give feedback.

“W-well, Sun-woo, let’s practice by asking us first.”

“Hm? Why is that?”

“And absolutely never smile like that outside.”

“Why?”

“Shall we finish practice and go to bed now?”

“What is this, something feels strange.”

Instead of giving feedback, no questions were accepted.

It wasn’t something to be deeply discussed.

“What is it?! Why is everyone so quiet?!”

Leaving the Demon God behind, the members scattered to their respective rooms.

“Good night, everyone.”

“Good night.”

Somehow, sleep wouldn’t come easily tonight.

But since it seemed difficult to get [Demon God’s Sleep Massage] from Sun-woo, they would have to manage on their own.

“Kkeung.”

The Demon God remained alone for a while before finally entering his own room.

Judging by their reactions, it seemed [Cheerfulness] was a failure.

This wasn’t it, apparently.

‘Well…, I will grow soon enough.’

Hurrying, yet not hurrying.

For he would eventually reach it.

Closing his eyes, the Demon God fell into deep sleep within one second.

***

On the evening of the concert day.

Pantheon arrived early, greeted Novior, and headed to their waiting room.

On their way, they encountered an Ultranova executive in the waiting room corridor.

They recognized him as they had seen him during Novior’s concert practice.

““Hello!””

The members greeted him energetically.

“Hm? Did I not just greet Novior? Why is the executive here?”

The Demon God directly asked what he was curious about.

“Haha, Team Leader Oh, this fellow’s way of speaking still takes some getting used to.”

“I’m still not used to it myself. I just go with it.”

Team Leader Oh Dae-ho and the executive laughed heartily.

“Hahaha. There’s a lot of work for a concert, you see. Revisions or things to check often come up right until the last minute.”

“Hoh?”

The Ultranova executive burst into laughter again.

“It’s nothing major, so don’t worry about it. Pantheon’s stage will be perfectly fine. Well then, I’ll be off now!”

And he hurried away as if running.

“Heh, Novior has such a big presence in the company that the executive himself is running around.”

Yoon-seo opened his mouth.

“Indeed, even music shows always have things to check, so concerts must be the same, right?”

“Yoon-seo.”

“Yes?”

“What lies beyond that way?”

“Huh? That way? I’m not sure?”

“Hm.”

The executive had just spoken as if it were a simple stage check, but.

The Demon God could smell it.

The scent of anxiety and tension he had concealed.

Because the Demon God was sensitive to human negative emotions.

“Hmph.”

Satisfied.

Indeed, large-scale events happening in real-time always had a dash of chaos sprinkled in like seasoning.

Chaos was the perfect environment for fear to bloom.

Fear was his domain.

Amusing.

How amusing.

What could this matter be that the executive was trying so hard to hide at this point?

“Yoon-seo, what do you do if someone hides something from you?”

“Huh? Uh, well… I quietly pretend not to know and let it go.”

“Is that so.”

“What about you, Sun-woo hyung?”

The Demon God smiled faintly, looking at Yoon-seo.

“Hyung?”

“Guess.”

Yoon-seo, after a moment of thought, cautiously opened his mouth.

“Interrogate them until they confess…?”

The members who overheard the end of the Demon God and Yoon-seo’s conversation also added their two cents.

“Persistently track them down and find out?”

“Lock them up until they spill?”

“Beat them?”

The Demon God nodded.

“Indeed, my subordinates. All are correct answers.”

““Ack! Why are these correct answers?!””

Why correct answers, you ask?

He had always done it that way, hadn’t he?

The Demon God, puzzled, informed the members.

“I shall return shortly.”

“Ack! Sun-woo!”

***

Walking down the corridor, the Demon God sharpened his sensitive hearing.

It was quiet here, as people didn’t come and go this way.

Most of the waiting rooms were empty.

However, the sound of conversation came from somewhere.

It seemed one of the waiting rooms was being used by another guest today.

The nameplate had the guest’s name written on it.

[Lua]

And the Demon God’s hearing caught the executive’s voice coming from Lua’s waiting room.

Lua, was she a solo female singer?

The Demon God could also confirm Lua’s agency name on the nameplate attached to the waiting room door.

[ISM]

The Demon God’s interest was piqued.