Idol Hides His Military Service

‘A great undertaking always starts with the fine details.’

Watching the expressions on coward Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon’s faces as they thought their little scheme had worked was genuinely entertaining, but I didn’t show it.

When Sun Wukong was bouncing around on the Buddha’s palm without realizing how high the sky was, the Buddha probably didn’t laugh.

The Buddha probably just watched the antics with a gentle expression—like I was doing now.

Ryu Ayeon was way too amateur.

If you blatantly whispered with coward Ryujin during the brief waiting time before the game started, anyone would notice something was fishy, unless they were rookies like Lee Gahyeon or Yuri.

-Nod.

Yunkyung and I—and Shinyu—didn’t even exchange words.

We just silently traded looks, and we were already having a conversation.

‘Lee Gahyeon has no sense, and Yuri has a high chance of betraying us.’

I thought for a moment about who to pick as allies, but the conclusion was easy.

Lee Gahyeon had a high chance of ruining the grand plan with awkward, wooden acting, and Kurosawa Yuri was definitely the type to stab someone in the back.

On the other hand, Shinyu was always reliable, and even though Yunkyung had been acting annoyingly smug lately, Yunkyung was sharp. I was sure Yunkyung would immediately realize that joining hands with me was the shortcut to victory.

The failure of the Double-R alliance was that they tried to monopolize everything with just two people.

They overlooked the fact that three is the most perfect number. Since I’d taught them a good lesson today, maybe I could look forward to a slightly more advanced version next time.

“Since when··· exactly!”

“Sion!!! Please, spare me!”

“Lee Sion··· as long as it’s not you, please!”

“At least when I sleep, I want to sleep comfortably!”

As I enjoyed the winner’s privilege with Shinyu tucked under one arm and Yunkyung under the other, thanks to our flawless strategy, the losers started wailing.

“What? Isn’t it a good thing to be in the same room as me?”

But mixed into that wailing were some truly outrageous remarks, and watching the members beg for anything as long as they didn’t have to share a room with me was absurd.

“Because of you, Suyeon and Nara had it so hard!”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you see their faces when they went back to the shared dorm!”

Hmm.

So rumors really were a blade sharpened by bullshit.

I couldn’t believe coward Ryujin, who never stopped slandering me as naturally as breathing, could say that with a straight face.

“What are you talking about? Me, Suyeon, and Nara had such a tight-knit dorm life.”

“What?!”

“Sion isn’t human!”

“That was a textbook abuser line just now.”

“Captain, even I think that was seriously shameless.”

It was so frustrating.

I wanted to show the members who were ganging up on me with one heart and one mind just how good the vibe in our shared dorm room had been.

-So where did we leave off yesterday?

-···I don’t know.

-Then let’s start from the Battle for Jing Province. To explain why this started, I have to go back to the Battle of Red Cliffs, but···.

-No! No!!! I think I heard the Battle for Jing Province already!

-It’s good to hear it again. So after the Battle of Red Cliffs···.

Those meaningful nights, lying in bed and falling asleep while cozily talking about the glorious tale of the three brothers.

Sometimes I’d explain how incredible Season 13 Seiker was as a solo-kill machine, and when I was in a good mood, I’d take the little misbehaviors I’d committed back in my old military-academy days and convert them into “school” stories to tell.

-Back when I was in my second year of high school—no, I mean, back then. Night study was so suffocating. So you know what I did?

-···.

-Are you asleep? When did you fall asleep? Then tomorrow, I’ll tell it again from the beginning···.

-No! I was listening!

-Yeah? Anyway, back then I···.

After about two months, both Suyeon and Nara had acquired the cultural literacy every modern person should have—starting with Romance of the Three Kingdoms and including Legend of Valley.

It got to the point where they’d even start debates with me about Three Kingdoms trivia.

‘I miss that.’

Thinking back on those memories, I suddenly missed Suyeon, who’d grown enough to trade Three Kingdoms talk with me.

It had taken a solid three months to develop Suyeon that far. Having someone who shares your hobby really is a good thing.

‘I should make a few here, too.’

coward Ryujin seemed to have a bit of Three Kingdoms knowledge, but the rest were complete beginners, so I’d have to spread the gospel slowly, step by step.

“Alright, then! Yunkyung, who earned the highest score in the pick-your-partner game, will now begin assigning the rooms!”

Clap clap clap.

After a brief round of bickering with the members, the important moment finally arrived.

Yunkyung stepped forward with a dignified swagger as the members applauded (Ryu Ayeon clapped halfheartedly with a wronged expression).

“In Iam’s dorm, there’s one biggest room. Please choose the first three members who will go into it.”

Oh.

The staff had brought out a board showing the dorm’s layout—who knew when they’d prepared it.

They also had small badges with our faces on them, and it looked like Yunkyung would assign rooms by sticking the badges onto each room.

‘It’s happening.’

I watched with satisfaction as Yunkyung fidgeted with the badges, face lit with excitement.

The moment my goal would be achieved was just ahead, so I was excited too.

There was only one reason I’d taken this room-assignment game seriously enough to build a scheme around it.

‘What do you mean only one room has a wired internet port?’

The first thing I did after walking in was quickly scan the place to see whether I could set up my computer.

For a comfortable dorm life, the presence of a wired internet port was the single most important factor.

-Wow! This room gets great sunlight!

-This one has a lot of storage space.

-The big room has single beds too, not just bunk beds.

While the other rookies were going on about sunlight and size and how cute and pretty the stuff was, I was checking one thing and one thing only: wired internet.

‘Sunlight’s bad for you if you get too much.’

Sunlight?

If you’d seen the senior NCO from my old unit, you’d know it was something you absolutely had to avoid.

Beds?

A pillow on the floor was more than enough.

Everything else—items and little decorations—was just luxury.

My target was only the second small room with the wired internet port.

‘Roommates, I don’t care who.’

Ideally, I’d share a room with coward Ryujin, that lackey of that bastard, and give coward Ryujin some proper “discipline,” but as long as I got the second small room, I didn’t care who I roomed with.

So I’d already asked Yunkyung ahead of time to assign me to that room if Yunkyung got first place, which meant I could watch Yunkyung’s choices with a relaxed mind.

“My choice is!” 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

And at last, Yunkyung picked up a badge and brought it toward the board.

The first badge Yunkyung picked up was the one with my face.

“Yeah! Hurry up and put me in the second small ro—huh?!”

Tap.

The badge went to the biggest three-person room.

***

“Im Yunkyung!!!”

Lee Sion’s roar rang in Yunkyung’s ear.

“For the biggest room, I chose Sion, Gahyeon, and Yuri!”

But Yunkyung ignored Sion’s shriek and, with a bright smile, looked at the camera and started explaining the reason.

“First, Yuri is our foreign member, so I thought Yuri would need help from the Korean members! And if you’re alone in another country, you get lonely, so I thought it’d be good if Yuri was always with the members—so, the biggest room!”

“Yunkyung! I love you!!!”

“And Gahyeon is the oldest among us, so I thought Gahyeon would take good care of Yuri. I also wanted Gahyeon to get a single bed.”

“See? I knew it. Our Youngest is the only one who takes care of me.”

At Yunkyung’s explanation, Yuri and Gahyeon walked up and hugged Yunkyung tightly, looking proud.

“And me! Why did you put me in there!! This is betrayal, Second Lieutenant Im—no, First Lieutenant Im, you should fear what comes la—mmph!!”

In the middle of all that, Sion tried to throw another fit and got grabbed and sealed off by coward Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon.

Tap.

After confirming Sion was properly sealed, Yunkyung continued assigning rooms without hesitation.

“In the first small room: Ryujin and Ayeon!”

“Why did you put the two of us together?”

When coward Ryujin asked, looking curious about the reason—

“You two need to get closer!”

“Huh?”

“You’re fine when you’re with the other members, but when it’s just the two of you, you get kind of awkward, right? I picked you as roommates so you’ll hurry up and get close!”

Hit right on the mark, coward Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon coughed and looked away, but the other members (excluding Sion, who was still being held) nodded like they agreed.

coward Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon’s eyes met for a moment.

Then, like they’d realized it themselves, they quickly looked away and quietly accepted Yunkyung’s choice.

Tap.

That left only the second small room, which naturally ended up with the remaining badges: Yunkyung and Shinyu.

“Why did you two choose that room?”

Ryu Ayeon watched and asked, curious why Yunkyung and Shinyu would specifically pick the second small room as their roommate room.

“Yeah. I thought Yunkyung would use the big room with Sion and Shinyu.”

“Right? Im Yunkyung is basically obsessed with Sion.”

“Yunkyung and Shinyu always take Sion’s side!”

It seemed everyone had assumed Yunkyung would try to share a room with Sion.

“This room is the only one with a wired port, so you can connect the internet!”

“Huh? Yunkyung, do you game too?”

“No! Shinyu is studying producing, so Shinyu needs the internet. And when you’re composing, it might get noisy, so we chose the second small room since it’s the farthest away.”

At Yunkyung’s answer, all the members (not Sion) smiled.

They were used to Yunkyung acting spoiled or doing cute things, so seeing Yunkyung make such a thoughtful assignment felt surprisingly moving.

And since everyone knew how much Yunkyung usually followed Sion around—

“Our Youngest is really impressive.”

“Seriously. We were fighting over which room we wanted, and···.”

“What is this—now we’re the only pathetic older sisters!”

One by one, they went over to Yunkyung, ruffling Yunkyung’s hair or patting Yunkyung’s shoulder and praising the considerate choice.

“Yunkyung···.”

“Don’t worry about me! Once I fall asleep, I wouldn’t notice even if someone carried me away, so work comfortably!”

Shinyu—arguably the biggest winner of today’s assignments—hugged Yunkyung too, and a warm atmosphere spread through the dorm.

Even the production crew seemed impressed by the wholesome ending, because they started chatting among themselves about how this would make a great ending scene for Episode 1.

Even Kim Miyoung, the main PD, looked fairly surprised—as if she hadn’t expected this outcome—then smiled.

“···.”

Only one person, apparently unsatisfied with the mood, stayed silent and watched.

Lee Sion.

Sion’s eyes looked like Caesar’s after being stabbed by Brutus.

***

“Twenty in total.”

Sanghyeok couldn’t hide the surprise on the face while looking over the proposals the marketing team leader handed over.

“That’s quite a lot, isn’t it?”

“This is after an initial cut. If we included every offer we received without considering scale, it would’ve gone into three digits.”

“Whew···.”

At the marketing team leader’s words, Sanghyeok let out a tongue-click, like the number exhausted Sanghyeok.

Sanghyeok was still a beginner when it came to the idol industry, but even Sanghyeok could tell the number of ads coming in for Iam right now was not normal.

“Cosmetics, fashion, food—there’s a wide variety.”

“A few are offers for Sion alone. In those proposals, they rated highly that Sion’s upbeat image comes across positively to consumers.”

“Let’s exclude the short-term ones first.”

“Those have higher rates, though···.”

“Of course they do. But for idols, something more important than money is building an image. Signing with brands that only want Iam’s buzz, chasing immediate profit, is self-cannibalization.”

“Yes, understood!”

Idols had many income streams.

Starting with the most basic, album sales, then events, concerts, appearance fees—there were all kinds of routes for profit.

And ads were one of them.

‘Ads aren’t just about making money. You have to think of them as part of building an idol group’s image.’

It was easy to find cases where celebrities—idols included—accepted any ad offered with only short-term profit in mind and ended up with irreversible image damage.

You could never forget that, for celebrities, ads were the consumption of the image they’d built.

Iam was a one-year project group, but that didn’t mean Sanghyeok had any intention of focusing only on profit and burning through the group and its members.

Sanghyeok planned to think long-term and turn them into a model case for KJ Entertainment.

“It won’t be easy.”

“We’ll have to think this through.”

If it were another agency, they would’ve screamed in joy at a jackpot like this, but Sanghyeok didn’t rush. Sanghyeok analyzed the situation carefully.

‘It’s too fast—way too fast.’

In Sanghyeok’s view, the problem was that Iam hadn’t even debuted yet.

Normally, receiving this kind of massive number of ad offers was something even top-tier idols could only do after years of activity, after building recognition and popularity.

But filming ads from the rookie stage?

-This is a hundred percent going to cause problems.

Sanghyeok remembered what Producer Raon had said not long ago.

Raon had said Raon had seen countless celebrities gain popularity early, get drunk on it, and disappear—and ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) that it had to be guarded against.

Raon had been worried that if Iam started shooting these ads while still young, before building real skill or a track record, Iam would change too.

Some might call Raon’s thinking old-fashioned, but Sanghyeok agreed.

Because Sanghyeok believed this was the most important time to practice the debut song and build their skills.

Of course, that didn’t mean ignoring every ad offer was the right answer, either.

‘The decision is on me.’

Sanghyeok’s role was to pick the offers that fit Iam and adjust the number to something appropriate.

Ads that wouldn’t damage the members’ images, wouldn’t over-consume them, and would instead raise the value of the Iam brand.

Sanghyeok also needed to find a way to turn the individual ad offers skewed toward Sion into a team-wide benefit.

All for One, One for All.

That was the motto of an idol group, in Sanghyeok’s eyes.

“Call a meeting. I think everyone at team leader level and above needs to gather.”

“Yes, understood!”

Tap.

Even after the marketing team leader opened the office door and left, Sanghyeok continued reviewing the incoming ad proposals one by one.

To find the best path among them.