Idol Hides His Military Service

- “Last time our company got picked as the representative for inspection. Are we doing it again this time too?”

- “The battalion commander says, ‘Why are you going somewhere random instead of using the kids who are good at it?’ What can we do?”

All of a sudden, something from my old days as a company commander came back to me.

A horrific memory of doing well and having it come back to bite me.

There’s a reason the saying ‘You give an extra rice cake to the kid you hate’ exists.

I’d briefly forgotten this society’s absurdity—where the kid you like doesn’t even get a rice cake, they get handed more work.

Zhuge Liang is the perfect example.

Everyone kept saying he was so capable, so he took on everything, and then didn’t he end up with a catastrophe?

“Hm···.”

“Sion, what are you thinking about?”

“A fitting ending for a traitor.”

“Awesome!”

If someone does it to me, I pay them back.

Even if they don’t, I pay them back.

I pay them back before they can do it.

Yunkyung still didn’t seem to have a precise grasp of what kind of person I was.

I don’t forget favors, but I absolutely never forget grudges.

Before long, Yunkyung was going to face the day she regretted the choice she made today.

But if I got buried in that forever, there’d be no end to it, so adapting to the situation I’d been given came first.

“The room really is big.”

“Yuri’s gonna use the top bunk!”

After room assignment ended, the members and I moved to our rooms to unpack.

Since it was a three-person room, it was definitely pretty spacious compared to the others.

Even with the beds taking up a lot of space, it still looked like there was plenty of room for each of us to set our stuff down.

“We can use this as a shared vanity, right?”

“Let’s split the drawers by floor!”

A big room with basic supplies that were better stocked than the other rooms.

‘If only it had an ethernet port, it wouldn’t be bad.’

Maybe it was because I was comparing it to the old dorm that had nothing but a bed and a wardrobe, but I found myself thinking this was pretty decent.

“This is Yuri’s comfort stuffed animal!”

“I’m kind of sensitive when I sleep, so I brought a sleep mask and earplugs, and···.”

While I was looking around the room, over in one corner my new roommates, Lee Gahyeon and Yuri, opened their suitcases and introduced what they’d brought.

Of course, they weren’t doing it because they’d lost it with nobody around.

The filming crew had followed us as soon as the room assignment game ended and we split up to go to our rooms.

They filmed us looking around, then—

- “Open your suitcases and introduce your stuff, please!”

They were hurrying us along, telling us to show our belongings.

And the two of them who were introducing their stuff had suitcases that were different from the start—bigger—and once they began pulling things out, it didn’t stop.

‘Guess I should do mine too.’

Click.

I couldn’t just stand there watching, so I opened my suitcase to unpack.

“Huh···? That’s it?”

The cameraman, who’d been silently filming up until now, looked into my suitcase and seemed flustered.

“Look closely. This is a figure set that was released with the limited-edition Blu-ray after Resonance Romance of the Three Kingdoms ended, and the quality is no joke.”

The Liu, Guan, and Zhang figure set sitting in the center of my suitcase.

I’d even carefully wrapped it in soft clothes so it wouldn’t break, and thankfully it was still perfectly intact.

Thud.

I carefully lifted it and set it on top of the drawer, and it looked pretty legit.

“Lee Sion! What is this eyesore?!”

“Sion, were you that unhappy about being roommates with us?”

“This is interior decor.”

I could hear the slander being thrown at my precious 500,000-won limited-edition figure, but I ignored it with ease and kept unpacking.

First, my sleep sweat set, which was practically my other body.

“Isn’t that what you were wearing when you got photographed at the convenience store?”

“You remember?”

“How could I forget! That pink floral sweat set!”

“It’s seriously so comfortable.”

“Of course it is! It’s worn to hell!”

Hm.

I couldn’t say I didn’t understand Lee Gahyeon’s dumbfounded reaction.

My sweats already had a ton of pilling, lots of frayed spots here and there, and the butt area was shiny to the point it felt like you could see your face reflected in it—an unsettling state.

But even so, this was something I couldn’t give up.

‘It has to be this.’

When I got home and changed into this, it felt like real rest started. Something like that.

Just like the old rabbit plush Yuri had introduced earlier as her comfort stuffed animal, these sweatpants were my comfort pants.

At home, wearing these brought peace to my body and mind.

Other than that: a limited-edition hoodie commemorating my Seiker win, a few short-sleeve tees that doubled as pajamas, convenience-store runs, and everyday wear.

Two sets of “combat outfits” for when I had to go out somewhere far.

That was all the clothing I’d brought.

“Sion, did your parents not buy you clothes or something?”

“Why? I have a lot of clothes, don’t I?”

When all my clothes came out of my suitcase, Yuri voiced her confusion.

“Why do you only have T-shirts and jeans! You don’t have skirts or dresses or anything?”

“This is comfortable.”

“Comfort isn’t everything, Sion!”

Right next to me, Yuri and Lee Gahyeon launched into a full lecture about how a girl can’t go around wearing only stuff like this.

‘Same as the guys back in high school.’

Watching them made me think of my friends back in high school, who’d freaked out when they saw my casual outfits.

The ones who’d begged me to please go shopping with them just once.

But I didn’t have money to spend on clothes.

‘Women’s clothes are too expensive.’

The fabric area is smaller than men’s clothes—so why is the price double? Sometimes even triple or quadruple? I couldn’t understand it at all.

“And this is for washing up and skincare.”

“Wait, that’s all?”

“Yes!”

Next I pulled out shampoo, cleansing foam, soap, and an all-in-one lotion. I set the all-in-one lotion on the vanity and moved to the bathroom to put the rest in there.

“Is that even possible? She barely does anything—so why is her skin so soft and fresh?”

“Gahyeon, don’t try to understand Sion logically. Sion was too lazy to properly remove makeup and fell asleep, and there wasn’t even a single pimple the next day.”

“She doesn’t even use conditioner, let alone treatment—so why isn’t her hair frizzy?”

“I hate to say it, but if she’s going to use that face like that, she should just give it to me.”

When I came back after putting the shampoo and other things in the bathroom, the members had already gathered and were holding a debate.

They kept pecking at me like woodpeckers, complaining about who knows what, but I didn’t care and went back into the room to finish unpacking.

Slide.

My treasure, which I’d hidden in the very deepest part of the suitcase, finally revealed itself.

“A laptop?”

“This isn’t just a laptop.”

My trump card, finally showing its true form.

‘A desktop has better performance, but it takes up way too much space.’

For today, I squeezed my aunt for a final 2 million won, then topped it off with Mom’s help and bought a brand-new, top-of-the-line gaming laptop.

- “Madam Sukja, if you invest in me, I’ll pay you back five thousand times over, you know?”

- “What kind of nonsense is this girl spewing···.”

- “Hey, hey! You don’t trust someone who’s about to become the pride of the Lee family?”

Madam Sukja, who reluctantly chipped in from hidden emergency cash after my tantrum, to buy black-bean noodles··· no, a gaming laptop.

Normally, there’s no way she would’ve, but Madam Sukja was in a very mellow mood—probably because she’d regained her reputation after the Final Round stage.

And when I sweet-talked her and promised that when I made money as an idol later, the first thing I’d do was buy Mom a gift, she hesitated for a moment, then added in some of that emergency cash.

‘Anyway, I spent all the money I saved up, so I’ll have to replace my mouse and headset later.’

Either way, I carefully set my precious laptop on the bed and took out the mouse and accessories.

But maybe because they’d been forced to endure my passion for too long, their condition was tragic.

Soon I’d have to replace all of them too, but money was the problem.

To a gamer, gear is like a soldier’s weapon.

Maybe the reason I was still stuck in Silver was because of this gear, wasn’t it?

“Today’s filming ends here! Great work, everyone!”

While I was finishing up, it seemed like filming had already wrapped.

The crew told us good job and started packing up the equipment, getting ready to leave.

“It ended earlier than I thought?”

“Yeah. Let’s keep doing it like this from now on too, Sion.”

“You’ve got some nerve, absent without leave/unauthorized absence ninja.”

“Just do what the company tells you, don’t cause trouble, and don’t bully the kids.”

My aunt flicked my forehead and started nagging.

“What are you talking about? Didn’t you see earlier? I’m the one getting picked on.”

“I’m the one who can’t believe this. Anyway, I’m leaving! Have a good first day at the dorm.”

My aunt said what she wanted and vanished in an instant, and the production crew disappeared along with her.

“Phew··· now it finally feels like we really moved into the dorm.”

“Seriously! Up until now I was so tense because we were filming that it didn’t feel real!”

“We’re really debuting.”

Once the crew was gone, the members finally started acting like it felt real, flopping down on the sofa and on the floor, each sharing their thoughts about the dorm.

“Ah! Uh··· someone grab Sion!”

But my time started now.

“Second Lieutenant Im, don’t you think we need to have a talk?”

“It dropped from lieutenant to second lieutenant, and now it’s ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) second lieutenant? Captain! Calm down. The room assignment is over. It’s already done. It’s over!”

“It’s already over, huh···.”

Yunkyung was right.

Even if I took it out on her, it wasn’t like we could reverse the room assignment.

“Yunkyung, you know why North Korea is scary?”

“Huh? I don’t know?”

“Because they’ve got nothing to lose.”

But said the other way around, it also meant I had nothing to lose no matter what I did to Yunkyung.

“Kyaaaah!!! Help!!!”

“Lee Sion, give it a rest. Yunkyung didn’t mean it in a bad way—”

“Stop! If anyone comes to help Yunkyung right now, know this: every night, I’m going to break into that room.”

“What?”

Yunkyung urgently asked the other members for help, and Seo Ryujin started to step toward us with a face that said she couldn’t stop this.

But I held out my hand and stopped her.

“Locking the door won’t help. If you think some little doorknob is going to protect your nights, go ahead and interfere.”

At my threat that I wouldn’t forgive anyone who interrupted this sacred time of revenge, the members who were about to approach stopped in their tracks.

“You can see me.”

“Waaaaah!!!”

When my hand finally reached for Yunkyung’s face, screams rang out.

It felt like the dorm’s first night was going to be very long.

***

“Don’t be nervous. This kind of thing is all about establishing dominance.”

“Y-yes···!”

Thud.

In the passenger seat, Yunsik continued giving advice to Jiwoo, the rookie manager at KJ Entertainment.

“If they look down on you even once, you can’t control them after that. Sometimes you have to be so cold it feels harsh. If you don’t, you’ll just get dragged around and something will happen.”

“I’ll remember that!”

“Good. I’ll show you how it’s done, so memorize it and use it later.”

“Yes, sir!”

Manager.

A job that manages and supports a celebrity’s schedule—Yunsik was a seven-year veteran manager.

- “Yunsik, want to work with me?”

Yunsik had originally been under SY as Raon’s manager.

‘It’s a startup, but they said if you struggle for one year here, they’ll promote you straight to team-lead level.’

But the moment Raon’s contract with the agency ended, she declared a hiatus and left Yunsik flustered. Still, she didn’t cut off contact, and they stayed in touch now and then.

And then, out of nowhere, she said she wanted to be a producer and made a job offer: come to the new agency, KJ Entertainment, where Raon had joined as a director and producer.

Yunsik agonized over it, but in the end he accepted.

It made sense. He’d started as a road manager at SY and worked there for seven years, but it felt bleak—like he’d still have to wait another three years before he could become a team-lead manager.

A manager’s ranks were road–team lead–head manager, and in smaller companies you could get team lead in as little as five years, but—

- “Yunsik, I’m sorry, but there’s no team-lead slot open.”

Since SY was the top agency in the country, even after seven years he still couldn’t see a team-lead position, and he was exhausted.

So when Raon offered him a position at the new KJ Entertainment and promised him a team-lead role after one year, it was hard to turn down.

It was new, but with the KJ conglomerate behind it, it didn’t seem like it would collapse easily.

And most of all, road experience isn’t highly valued elsewhere, but once you’ve worn the team-lead title, that experience starts getting recognized. For the future, it seemed like the better move.

“I’ll handle Iam’s schedules, but I can’t really control dorm life, so you need to manage that well, Jiwoo.”

“Yes!”

Yunsik’s first mission after transferring to KJ Entertainment was being Iam’s road manager.

Of course, it’d be an issue for a male manager to handle the dorm by himself, so they paired him with Jiwoo, a rookie female manager who’d joined around the same time.

And training Jiwoo was Yunsik’s second mission.

He’d been given the heavy responsibility of taking her around for a year, teaching her the job, and raising her into a proper manager.

But Yunsik was confident.

‘No matter how wild they are, they’re still rookies.’

Yunsik hadn’t built seven years of experience for nothing.

Managing a rookie girl group that hadn’t even debuted yet wasn’t going to be difficult for him.

Ding.

Before meeting the members for the first time as their manager, Yunsik adjusted his expression in the elevator mirror.

So they wouldn’t look down on him, he had to build an image—one that made the members feel tense and follow his control just from seeing his face. He checked everything, from his expression to his voice.

Ding-dong.

After finishing all that, Yunsik pressed the bell at Iam’s dorm door.

“Who is it?”

Seo Ryujin’s voice came through the intercom.

“I’m Kim Yunsik, and I’ll be your manager starting today. You were notified, right?”

“Ah! Yes! But··· could you wait a moment?”

“Huh?”

“No, it’s just···.”

Seo Ryujin answered in a flustered voice without opening the door.

Clatter-bang!

At the same time, through the intercom he heard hurried movement—something scrambling around.

‘Don’t tell me they brought an outsider into the dorm.’

With years of manager experience, the moment Yunsik felt like Seo Ryujin was hiding something, he didn’t hesitate. He entered the front door passcode and sent Jiwoo in first.

A male manager barging into a girl group dorm could cause issues, so he told her to go in first, check if everything was fine, and report back.

“Uh··· sir?”

“Can I go in?”

“Y-yes··· I think you can come in, but···.”

When Jiwoo gave the okay, Yunsik immediately went inside.

Thinking he might have to confirm the facts and report to the company right away, Yunsik rushed to assess the situation.

But the scene in front of him left Yunsik unable to speak.

“Help!!!”

“Hey! Stay still!”

What came into view as Yunsik threw open the door was Iam’s members: Im Yunkyung and Lee Sion.

“What the hell is this···.”

Im Yunkyung was kneeling on the living room floor with something hanging around her neck, her hands raised, and Lee Sion was filming her with a solemn expression.

Completely dumbfounded, Yunsik forced himself to get it together and confirm what was hanging from Yunkyung’s neck.

The item hanging from Yunkyung’s neck as she wore a wronged expression.

It was a sketchbook.

And written on it:

- I am a traitor! -