Idol Hides His Military Service

"I think we need a little time to talk among ourselves."

After Iam’s shocking stage ended, Seyoon had no choice but to ask for a brief discussion before giving the judges’ comments.

"You set up something like that and then complained to us that it was unfair?"

Twenty years.

That was how long Seyoon had spent since first founding SY Entertainment and planning idols.

But even in all that long time, Seyoon had never once seen a stage like this in an entire lifetime, so the shock still hadn’t faded.

"Raon, you’re seriously scary."

It seemed Park Taesu had been just as shaken by Iam’s stage as Seyoon was, because, toward Raon—who’d been acting weak up through the previous stages—he grumbled with irritation mixed in.

"It wasn’t something I prepared!"

Raon snapped in a sharp voice, acting wronged as if to say she really hadn’t known either, but of course Seyoon and Park Taesu didn’t believe Raon’s excuse.

If Raon, Iam’s producer, didn’t know about it, that meant the members themselves planned it and prepared it—and who would believe that?

'There’s no way a rookie girl group that just debuted could put together a stage that sends their producer off in one shot···no, a tribute stage.'

This was a stage that couldn’t come out—and shouldn’t come out—without Raon’s permission.

When Seyoon remembered Raon acting weak and whining that picking Anygirls and G.G after seeing LYNX and VYNNIA’s stages wasn’t “unfair,” Seyoon got goosebumps.

Back when Raon was at SY, Raon used to jokingly call Seyoon “Dad” while buttering Seyoon up. Now that Seyoon had learned Raon’s new side, Seyoon was freshly reminded that there really wasn’t a single person in the world you could trust.

"Feels like you won’t believe me no matter what I say, so can we move on to judging now?"

"We should."

"Hu···but judging isn’t going to be easy?"

Raon protested being wronged, but once it looked like no matter what, the two wouldn’t believe Raon, Raon hurriedly swung the topic back to judging.

At how obvious Raon’s dodge was, Seyoon and Park Taesu smiled faintly—then they couldn’t help falling back into worry again.

"LYNX’s stage was good. It reminded me of old Anygirls, but the song also had a completely different feel."

"Right. I think it was a stage that fit this week’s theme, Heritage."

Seyoon and Raon started by talking about LYNX’s stage, which reinterpreted the Anygirls song that had opened the theme.

Park Taesu was holding back, probably because it was his own group, but he nodded along to Seyoon and Raon’s praise, agreeing that LYNX’s stage had been good.

"Wouldn’t you say VYNNIA’s stage was basically the essence of K-pop?"

"It’s kind of awkward to say that with my own mouth, though?"

"I feel like Hyeryeong would get mad if she heard me say this, but I think they did it better than G.G did at debut."

Now the judges’ evaluation moved on to VYNNIA.

It was hard to believe VYNNIA had built the stage with only four members, but they’d handled G.G’s representative song so excellently that it didn’t fall short even compared to LYNX’s stage.

No—there were even parts where it felt ahead.

Because of that, the judges kept up their barrage of praise for VYNNIA’s stage right after LYNX’s.

"And lastly, Iam is···."

"It wasn’t just fresh. It was shocking."

"···."

Once the evaluation of VYNNIA ended and the talk shifted to Iam’s stage, Raon—who’d been actively giving comments up to now—didn’t say anything at all, only lowering her head.

"Unlike LYNX and VYNNIA, expressing the singer Raon herself was fresh. It felt like I peeked through singer Raon’s entire life, you know?"

"Honestly, watching the stage performance, I was impressed. To combine three songs into one and turn it into a play."

"···They were good." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

It seemed Iam’s stage had hit not just the judges, but everyone on-site, like a huge shock.

From behind Seyoon, she could hear the audience still murmuring even though a long time had passed since the stage ended.

"Did you see Lee Sion jump down?"

"What was the song at the start? I don’t know it, but it was insanely good."

"This made me think of when Raon was still a singer. I really loved Raon···to think it’d end up like this."

And even among the staff, Seyoon could clearly hear them talking about the stage.

"I almost messed up filming while watching a stage for the first time in forever."

"PD Miyoung has to be out of her mind. How did she approve this?"

"Who laughed when Raon’s photo came up?! It got picked up on the mic!"

'Yeah. In terms of impact, it was the best.'

And Iam’s stage was memorable enough that Seyoon could understand those reactions.

Sure, since they’d focused on performance, the detailed finesse was lacking compared to LYNX and VYNNIA’s stages—but the impact was strong enough to blow past that.

Especially—

"She has this pull that drags people in."

"Huh?"

"I’m talking about Lee Sion."

"Ah."

At Seyoon’s words, Raon nodded with an expression that screamed she didn’t want to admit it.

"It could’ve come off as an over-the-top performance, but because Lee Sion did it, it actually fit."

Park Taesu added that the reason the stage even worked was because of Lee Sion’s unique charm that drew people in.

"Raon had times like that too, but···."

"CEO?"

After that, the three judges—including Seyoon—kept discussing the stage for a while longer, and only then could they finally announce their evaluation.

***

"That stage was awesome. How the hell did you even do a flip like that?"

"If you live with Lady Sukja for a year, you can do moves like that too. Anyway, you worked hard too."

"Yeah? But are you okay?"

"Huh?"

After filming ended, while I was greeting the staff with the members, VYNNIA’s member Kaella walked up to me and started talking, saying she watched the stage and it was great.

I told Kaella it was a good stage too, but then Kaella suddenly asked if I was okay.

I didn’t get what she meant, so I shrugged, and Kaella started worrying, asking if my stomach was okay.

"I didn’t even know you could do moves like that, and I told you to eat more at the convenience store."

"Ah, that?"

It seemed she was still hung up on what I’d eaten at the convenience store before the stage.

'One cup ramen—no, I mixed it, so was it two? And then two 1+1 hot bars, banana milk, and lastly a box of Home Run Ball.'

When I thought back on what I’d eaten after hearing Kaella, it was exactly the kind of amount that was just a decent snack-meal.

"It digested a long time ago."

"Huh?"

"Doesn’t that kind of thing get solved if you run around a few times?"

"That does?"

Kaella looked like she couldn’t believe it, checking my stomach and my face back and forth, but I was just saying it digested because it really digested.

"Guess it’s thanks to youth."

"What are you talking about?"

"Last time, I ate at a barbecue place with Raon PD, and Raon couldn’t really eat."

"Seriously?"

Before, when we got first place on a music show, CEO Sanghyeok generously held a KJ Entertainment team dinner with beef.

-Ah···I can’t eat that much anymore.

I remembered Raon PD refusing after picking up only a few pieces of beef, saying she was full.

"Manager Yunsik used to be Raon PD’s manager, and he said she wasn’t like that before—he was sad about it."

How mournful Yunsik had been, saying Raon got older.

Thinking about it again, it really did feel like a brilliant decision to give singer Raon a flashy “finale” through this stage.

There’s that saying, isn’t there? Leave while people are still clapping.

While we were building a stage out of Raon’s songs, what I kept thinking was: even for young us, it’s hard—so for old and sick Raon to do it, that would’ve been elder abuse.

"Uh···really? But isn’t Raon PD still young?"

"Man, she’s old. At our company, we don’t watch the weather forecast. You know why? If Raon PD says her knees ache when she comes to work, it rains that day."

Kaella waved her hands like this was too much, like talking about a direct senior like that was burdensome, trying to stop me.

But the fact that Raon was old and sick was a clear truth recorded in Goguryeo Subakdo, so I was just about to start listing all the incidents I’d witnessed that proved how weak Raon’s body was—

"...So that’s how it is."

"Hm?"

"So that’s how our Sion sees me."

A cold, familiar voice came from behind me.

Sliiiide.

Back when I watched horror movies, I always felt frustrated seeing main characters sense something off and then not run, instead turning around on purpose.

But when I actually felt it myself, I couldn’t not turn around.

And there she was behind me—Raon, standing there and giving off a murderous aura.

Her eyes were full of killing intent, but her mouth was smiling, so it was a weirdly grotesque expression, and Raon grabbed my shoulder with her hand.

SQUEEZE.

"Kyaaaah!"

"You really killed me off, didn’t you?"

"S-Seo Ryujin! Seo Ryujin planned it!"

My shoulder, which usually ignored most shocks, couldn’t endure Raon’s grip strength, and I had no choice but to scream.

'0.9 Sukja?!'

I couldn’t say it out loud, but this was about 0.9 of Lady Sukja’s usual power.

I’d forgotten.

-Idols are surprisingly strong.

Even if idols look scrawny on the outside, inside they’re battle-compressed muscles forged by choreography.

And Raon had been doing intense choreography since a young age—if you put it in martial arts terms, she was an old master.

There was a reason wuxia novels have that proverb about being careful of the elderly, women, and children.

If I screwed up, it might not be the stage that ended today—it might be me.

So I immediately threw Seo Ryujin’s name out.

But—

"Ah···Seo Ryujin did it?"

"Yes, that’s right!"

"Ryujin, Sion says you did it?"

Sliiiide.

Seo Ryujin popped out from behind Raon—who’d been blocking my view.

"Planner: Lee Sion. Executor: Lee Sion. Accomplice: Geum Shinyu. The other members can’t be called innocent either, but I think at this level, it’s fair to call it aiding and abetting."

"You heard that, right?"

She looked like she’d already been recruited by Raon and spilled everything.

"Ryujin-scrub!!! You’re selling out a teammate you went through it with?!"

"Don’t be ridiculous. You’d sell my name first the second you got caught."

"That’s strategic—!"

Tap.

Raon’s index finger gently pressed over my mouth as I tried to rant about Ryujin-scrub’s vile betrayal of teammates.

"Miss Kaella?"

"Huh? Ah. Yes!"

"If you keep watching, I’ll get a little embarrassed."

"Yes! You worked hard today. I’ll head out first!"

"Mmph mph!!!"

"Oh, Sion! Yeah, see you next time!"

Pretending not to hear my desperate plea for help under Raon’s threat, Kaella waved at me {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} and hurriedly disappeared from view.

"I like Sion so much."

"···I like you too, Raon PD."

"That’s why I wish there were multiple Sions."

"Then I’ll urgently talk to Lady Sukja about it—"

"Do we really need to go that far?"

"Huh?"

The moment I finished speaking, Raon’s forearm slid around my neck.

"I’ll make two Sions for you!"

"Kyaaaah!!! Help me!!!"

Raon clamped down on my neck and snapped my waist with her knee, executing an Argentina Neck Breaker.

How Raon even knew this technique was one thing, but at this rate, I was about to get split into Lee Sion and Lee Sion.

"Raon PD, you’re here. You worked hard today."

"Oh? CEO?"

But the sky doesn’t abandon the good.

Right before Raon’s hands could put real force into tearing me apart, a familiar voice came from somewhere.

Sliiiide.

"Sanghyeok! It’s you again? You came to save me?!"

"Be quiet! Lee Sion! CEO, what brings you here?"

As Raon’s grip loosened, I turned toward the voice—and there stood an existence so radiant it practically glowed.

Kim Sanghyeok.

As the CEO of KJ Entertainment, as my savior, I almost teared up.

"I heard you were doing a stage themed around Raon PD today, so I came to watch in person."

"Don’t tell me you saw everything?"

"Of course. As the CEO, I’m lacking in experience and skill with things like this, so I can only apologize that you’ve been struggling in my place, and I’m only coming now to see it."

"CEO...."

Yeah. CEOs really were built different.

With a single line, CEO Sanghyeok’s deft verbal technique calmed down furious old-master Raon’s pressure in an instant, and I couldn’t help being impressed.

"And with the CEO here, you show something that embarrassing because of Lee Sion!"

"I’m reflecting sincerely, PD!"

"Seriously—if you couldn’t even talk, I’d at least hate you less!"

From the feel of it, her anger seemed to have cooled.

Not wanting to miss the chance, I apologized fast, and Raon let out a sigh and fully dropped her combat stance.

"Sion, Ryujin, you both worked hard as well. From what I saw, your stage was the coolest today."

"See? The CEO recognized it, right? Our sincerity?!"

"Yes, of course. But where are the other members?"

When Sanghyeok asked where the other members were—

"Guys, the CEO is here!"

Seo Ryujin called over the rest of the members, who’d been elsewhere greeting staff.

And when Sanghyeok said he’d prepared some simple drinks and snacks since we’d worked hard on today’s stage, and told us to go to the waiting room, me, the members, and even Raon PD perked up and moved together.

"By the way, where did Yunsik and Jiu go?"

"Right? Maybe the managers are waiting in the waiting room."

"···."

Flinch.

As we were heading to the waiting room, when Raon wondered out loud because Manager Yunsik and Jiu weren’t in sight, I saw it.

The slight tremble in CEO Sanghyeok’s eyes, and how his body flinched for an instant.

"Wouldn’t they be waiting in the waiting room?"

"Seriously, they’ve gotten lax! Back in my day, managers stayed on set the whole time during filming because something might happen during the stage."

"Our schedules are packed these days, so the managers need rest too!"

"Our Shinyu is so kindhearted, so why did she team up with Sion and prepare my funeral?"

"···Come to think of it, Manager Yunsik and Jiu have gotten lazy lately!"

Thanks to Sanghyeok hurriedly—but naturally—changing the subject, Raon and the members headed toward the waiting room in a noisy mood again.

Shh.

And in the middle of it, Sanghyeok—who was the only one who noticed that I’d noticed—raised his index finger at me, silently ordering me to keep quiet.

Nod.

I quietly nodded to signal I understood.

Because I didn’t know what it was, but I had a feeling—just a feeling—that something fun was about to happen.