How to Avoid Debut

༺ How To Avoid Debut – 19 ༻

 

  It seemed like it hadn’t been long since a pile of fall clothes were delivered, but the weather was already too chilly to dress lightly. Had the season ever changed this quickly? The moon in the pitch-black sky, which he was looking at with his head completely tilted back, wasn’t round. 

 

  “That’s a waning moon.” 

 

  “How do you know?” 

 

  “The bright part is on the left, right? And considering the date too. It usually rises around this time.” 

 

  Jigu bent and unfolded his fingers, roughly estimating the date. It seemed that he somehow remembered it, even though it was based on the lunar calendar. 

 

  Looking at the moon, memories of being frequently teased together with his brother due to their names surfaced. Despite their names being given to be like the moon, many people thought of our brothers’ names in a hierarchical sense. 

 

  Whenever relatives gathered occasionally on holidays, they had to hear boring jokes like ‘The hierarchy between the brothers is clear.’ twice a day. Thanks to that, the idea of ‘up and down’ had become unthinkable. Of course, the more accurate reason was that they couldn’t easily mess with the brother who had been learning Taekwondo since elementary school. 

 

  “You’re smart.” 

 

  “I just like watching the sky.” 

 

  His face, saying that he likes to watch the sky, was clearly visible under the moonlight. Whenever he smiled, he looked his age, maybe because he was always expressionless. He looked genuinely innocent when he smiled with his round face, but the problem was that it was hard to see him smile. Either expressionless or troubled. Those were the expressions he wore all day during practice today. 

 

  “You look good when you smile. You should smile more often.” 

 

  “I do smile often.” 

 

  “When?” 

 

  “From morning till now, frequently.” 

 

  He wondered if the slight curve he occasionally saw at the corners of Jigu’s mouth was him smiling, and Jigu nodded without hesitation when asked. Then he turned on his phone screen, checked the time for a moment, and continued speaking. 

 

  “I am a bit… quite shy. So my expression hardens.” 

 

  Ah, it wasn’t a blank expression but a shy one. He thought he always had a face devoid of thought, as if to keep people at bay, but it turned out to be a face of shyness. 

 

  With his sudden confession, the young face, which he had to slightly look up to, seemed younger. While thinking why he appeared like the kid next door, despite being only a year apart, I gently grabbed his arm. 

 

  “What do you want to eat?” 

 

  “What kind… of food?” 

 

  “Whatever you want.” 

 

  For some reason, I had a sudden urge to buy me a meal, and thanks to Jigu’s choice of a convenience store, I turned into a know-it-all once again. Despite the boring chatter about all sorts of trivia related to convenience store food, the good junior showed satisfying responses and nodded his head, which made the meal enjoyable. 

 

  … And then they missed the last train.……  

 

  “Uh…”  

 

  Jigu, who was tracking the subway that had just left with his eyes, gently put his transit card back into his pocket. He didn’t want things to turn out this way. It was just a simple convenience store meal, but his intention of filling him up and sending him on the subway was in vain. 

 

  He glanced around the empty subway station and hastily checked his T-money balance. 3560 won. It was barely enough to cover the base fare and was too little to hand to Jigu and tell him to take a taxi. Thinking he should take the same taxi and get off first, he directed his wandering body towards the entrance. 

 

  “Let’s go, I’ll get us a taxi.” 

 

  “No, I have money for a taxi.” 

 

  “The fare is expensive at night. I have kept you up till this time.” 

 

  Jigu strongly negated his apology-filled words, and shook his hand frantically. 

 

  “I’m the one who ate the food. I can go alone. Goodbye.” 

 

  Polite as ever, Jigu, who had not even been caught yet, quickly escaped from inside the subway station. Watching his swift retreating figure, he picked up a discarded can on the floor and threw it into a trash can. 

 

  And then he searched for a phone number to call a taxi. As soon as he arrived home safely and comfortably in the taxi service that had now become his regular, he contacted Jigu. 

 

  [Did you get home safe?] 

 

  He regretted it a little after sending this, thinking it was not his place to ask such a question. However, without even a moment for regret, Jigu promptly sent a polite response. 

 

  [I got home safe.] 

 

  [I enjoyed today. Thank you.] 

 

  * * * 

 

  The slim, gentle hair attempted a dramatic change. The hair reflected in the mirror placed right in front of him began to take shape, moving this way and that, and something was sprayed on his face, which was merely washed.  

 

  The studio, bustling without a break, seemed to lack even air. As soon as the makeup was finished, they were loaded into cars by group and set off for the building where the recording would take place. Upon arrival, surprised by the spectacle that unfolded, he knocked on the tinted windows a couple of times. 

 

  There were seas of fans gathered from various singers. 

 

  “Wow. How many are there?” 

 

  “They said they accepted 200 through a first-come, first-served form submission on the official website.” 

 

  “Ah, it’s not just us doing this.” 

 

  Only after the car turned left and passed through the parking lot entrance at the back of the building, could he lower his head that had slightly lifted. Since many idols prefer pre-recording, he couldn’t tell how many faces he had only seen on TV he encountered while walking down the corridor of the waiting rooms. 

 

  They, who had not even debuted yet, were ordinary people, not knowing what to do but to bow their heads, and the celebrities, definitely different, accepted their awkward greetings naturally. 

 

  “I wasn’t nervous at all, but suddenly my throat is dry.” 

 

  “Just being in the same space gives a strange feeling.” 

 

  Gaon, who had been excited until the journey here, suddenly started looking for water, and Hwiyoung was searching for our waiting room as if lasers would come out of his eyes. The names of the groups attached to the doors of the waiting rooms seen while passing the corridor, killed the sense of reality. 

 

  It was a time when top-tier idols were making their comebacks en masse, and the weight of the name “MSM Music Broadcast” was more severe than expected. 

 

  “Wow, I want to see them.” 

 

  While looking for water, Gaon suddenly stopped in front of someone else’s waiting room and looked at the door with excited eyes. Looking at the group name on the door, it was a boy group’s waiting room that had been around for quite some years. They were active even when I was in middle school. 

 

  “We’ll be able to see them later, let’s go first. Straight.” 

 

  Pushing Gaon, who was standing still as if petrified, I continued to walk ahead and soon saw the end of the waiting room corridor. That’s when I saw the familiar faces of the other teams going into the large door. 

 

  “It seems to be at the end.” 

 

  Four teams had to share one waiting room, so it was assigned to a large place, and it seems to be at the very end. 

 

  Everyone except for Seongwon, who surprisingly knew a lot and exchanged greetings with passing idols, had a universally uncomfortable expression. Jigu in particular was walking with his head lowered, looking almost at his feet, and he was so fast that I thought he might fall. 

 

  Jigu, who had been walking far ahead, suddenly stopped. The team members, who were particularly slow because they greeted everyone passing by, also stopped almost simultaneously. When I lifted my bowed head due to the sudden pause, the voice of Jigu, who had been at the front, came first. 

 

  “Hello.” 

 

  After offering a brief greeting, Jigu passed by as if nothing happened, and the rest of the team members also continued towards the waiting room with hesitant greetings. The idol they encountered this time was of a very large scale, so it seemed difficult for everyone to easily greet. 

 

  Of course, it was very hard for me too. As an example, I’m still not greeting even though our eyes have met for quite some time. .

 

  I met an idol I used to like in the pre-recording waiting room corridor. There were two main options. 

 

Pretend not to see and pass by. 

 

Scream. 

 

  “Hello…”

 

  I chose to pass by with a greeting in a barely audible, crawling voice and my head bowed. My efforts to catch up with the team members, who widened their steps and marched ahead, evaporated when Seongwon pretended to recognize someone. 

 

  Who on earth doesn’t he know among the idols? The curiosity didn’t last long. This was because Seongwon began to greet by mentioning a specific member’s name. 

 

  “Hello, Taeyang-hyung.”

 

  I couldn’t understand why Seongwon, seemingly thinking we were in a fan signing event, was taking the time to call out by name and greet while we were busy passing by. I had always thought him strange, but it was baffling not being able to understand a fellow human being to this extent. 

 

  Jigu stopped right in front of the waiting room door. When Jigu, who paused  momentarily, raised his hand to the doorknob again, Seongwon greeted the remaining NOBLE members with a smiling face. 

 

  “Hello.” 

 

  “Oh, right. It’s been a while.” 

 

  “It’s the first time since we filmed the Hot Stage broadcast, right…? It’s good to see you after such a long time.” 

 

  Everyone seemed to have a flustered face but they were not in a bad relationship and easily accepted the greeting. Seongwon, who cherished each greeting, called Jigu again, who had not yet entered. 

 

  “Come and say hello, On Jigu. He’s your brother.” 

 

  The thought of why he was suddenly fussing about greetings disappeared instantly upon hearing Jigu’s full name for the first time. The family name ‘On’ was a rare one that could be counted on one hand in my life, and it was also the surname of Taeyang-hyung. 

 

  Because it was suitable to make slogans like ‘On Taeyang’, fans often cried, asking why his name was On Taeyang. And now, two names came out that anyone would think were brothers. The word ‘brother’ indeed came out of Seongwon’s mouth. 

 

  In the end, Jigu couldn’t turn the doorknob. The face that turned towards us was chilling. Because of the not so small voice, the waiting room corridor was already in chaos. 

 

  “What’s going on?” “Is there something wrong?” 

 

  The bustling staff members all stopped in their tracks and focused on us, and even the active idols were approaching, thinking that something had happened. Only then did I notice the obvious intention of Seongwon, and I opened my mouth to defuse the situation. 

 

  “Right, we need to go in quickly and check. Let’s go in.”  

 

  It was clear that I made a pointless remark to show Jigu up. For the moment, I grabbed Seongwon and pushed him towards the door of the waiting room, whereupon Jeonghun-hyung, who had been watching the situation, suddenly bowed his head in my direction. 

 

  As soon as our eyes met, Jeonghun-hyung slapped his palm with a fist and smiled brightly, and ominous thoughts engulfed my mind. 

 

  “Um…” 

 

  “Excuse us. Just a moment.” 

 

  Before Jeonghun-hyung could say something, I led Seongwon, making way and entering the waiting room. The moment all the team members entered the waiting room, the atmosphere cooled down rapidly. 

 

  While the team members were just rolling their eyes, Jigu was the one who started to move. Jigu, who slowly sat down in a chair, closed his eyes without a word, and plugged in his earphones from his pocket. Rather than getting angry, he seemed to decide to endure, causing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief and quietly take their seats. 

 

 

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading this chapter!

If you liked it, please help me continue translating by disabling adblock for the next chapter. Most of the few dollars I earn is from adsense, and your support means a lot! Thank you! ~ Xen

You can rate this series here.

If you want to donate please do so here.