Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Chapter 119:

I looked in the direction that Yu-geon pointed and saw Seon-woo and Seong-won sitting next to me. To be more precise, they were clinging to my sides with me in the middle.

Before I could answer, Yi-jun exclaimed, “Oh, a flower in each hand?”

“What are you talking about?”

It was no surprise that he said that. The two guys who were famous for being pretty even in Climax had each wrapped a blanket around themselves and held one of my arms.

“I feel a bit uncomfortable…”

As I tried to wriggle out of their grip, Seon-woo grabbed my arm with a cold sweat and a panicked expression.

Seong-won was the same. He didn’t look as openly freaked out as Seon-woo, but his face was paler than usual.

“Why don’t you just go to the next room if you’re both scared?”

I sighed and looked at the distant mountain, and Seon-woo quickly replied.

“I’m not scared at all!”

Seong-won chimed in without backing down.

“Who do you think is scared?”

“No, I’m just hot.”

I couldn’t understand why they had to endure it if they were scared. Why not just go to the next room with each other?

“Me, me too, I’m really not scared at all?”

They both didn’t want to be cowards, and they didn’t care that I was hot.

“Leader… You look so reliable.”

Hwijin turned his head quietly and swallowed his laughter. He barely opened his mouth. Was this reliable? I was just a human heater.

“Are we filming this right now? Oh, then me too!”

Shim Naru, who had been watching from the side, seemed to get some stimulation and quickly stuck to Hwijin’s side.

“If a real ghost comes out, our leader hyung will protect us, so I’m relieved.”

He casually hooked his arm around Hwijin’s and stuck to him. It was quite a sight.

He had changed into a nightgown with small lace on the sleeves that covered his hands. And now that I looked at him, he was even wearing a bunny-shaped sleeping headband.

“…”

I lost my words at his unexpected outfit and rubbed my eyes. Yu-geon opened his mouth instead of me.

“You might have a lot to say, but just bear with it. We’re enduring it too.”

“Why! Why do you always tease me!”

Naru, who had been different from us until now, suddenly raised his voice with aegyo and pouted. He tried to show that he was upset.

“Just let it go. There are other groups here too.”

Yu-geon patted Naru’s shoulder with a reluctant expression. Then Naru turned his head with a snort, as if he was a little better.

‘Why did we bring him here.’

I had a lot to say, but I waited for someone to summarize the story.

“Then let’s decide the order first. Shall we start with Hwijin and go around the Floss members and then to us?”

Kyunghwa volunteered to be the host and prevent the conversation from dying.

The one sitting closest to the door was Hwijin, and next to him was Naru, and next to him was Yu-geon.

To be exact… Naru, who was sitting between Hwijin and Yu-geon, had firmly grasped one arm of each of them.

Should I be glad that Naru wasn’t clinging to me too?

But no matter how I tried to think positively, his outfit was a bit of an eyesore.

“Okay. So the order is Hwijin, Naru, me, Seong-won, Ise, Seon-woo, Yi-jun, and Kyunghwa. Is that right?”

Yu-geon confirmed with Kyunghwa and everyone nodded in agreement.

“Okay, then we’ll go around once and then vote on who had the scariest story and decide if we want to go another round.”

If there were only five or so people, we would have to go twice to have enough content.

But with eight people, one round seemed enough.

“Okay, then I’ll start.”

Hwijin took the candle in the middle and brought it to his front and began his story.

“There was a gloomy hotel in a rural town in America. It seemed like there were no guests, but there was always a sign for hiring staff.”

Hwijin started his story in his low and soft voice, and everyone felt sleepy even though it was supposed to be a ghost story.

The content itself was clearly a Neapolitan-style ghost story. The staff disappeared one by one, a suspicious guest was caught on CCTV, the door opened and closed, and so on.

The problem was, first, that Hwijin looked young, but his voice sounded like he was in his late twenties. Second, that he was used to being the presenter in the team, so his tone was too formal.

‘It’s more like a narration than a ghost story.’

Seon-woo and Seong-won listened calmly without much reaction, and the ghost story ended before I knew it.

“Is that it?”

Kyunghwa asked carefully without any malice.

“Uh, yes. That’s it… Wasn’t it scary?”

Hwijin looked around cautiously and asked the rest of the group.

“What…? Huh…? No, no, no!”

I thought Seon-woo was just unresponsive, but he suddenly lifted his head with a startled sound.

You were sleeping, weren’t you?

The answer was obviously… Sorry, but it was YES. It didn’t feel scary at all, just like listening to a documentary.

“No, I was really terrified! What if I can’t sleep tonight because of Naru?”

Naru pretended to cover her face with both hands, then peeked through the gap between her fingers.

‘…’

Is this what my friends like these days? Then Yi-jun was a pro in a different sense.

This concept was something that people would pay money for, but couldn’t get. Of course, objectively speaking, he had a good appearance.

He was the only one among the members here who was in the early 170s in height, with slender and white arms and legs. He wore an oversized shirt pajama that reached below his thighs, with loose sleeves.

I knew that there was a solid demand for this taste, so I called him ‘our baby’.

‘Our (baby) pig is not this type at all.’

Seon-woo was not the type to lose out to anyone in terms of looks, but he was not very tall, which made him look delicate.

‘I wonder if that’s why Seon-woo didn’t do well in his debut.’

I suddenly realized this, but I didn’t want to impose that image on Seon-woo.

“Shall we move on to Naru’s turn now?”

Kyunghwa also seemed to have little experience with this type. But he was doing a great job, showing that he was strong in real situations.

“Ah, yes~! Then I’ll start!”

Naru lifted his arm with a flourish, clutching the sleeve of his pajamas with his fingertips, and began his story.

He was a completely different person from the one who was barely visible on camera or who stayed silent when the mic was off. He had the enthusiasm of a professional storyteller.

And then, a moment later.

“…The real estate agent took one look at the blueprint and said! This is not a house for ordinary people, you know~. Isn’t that scary? Huh? Right, bro?”

If Hwijin’s voice wasn’t so soothing, it wouldn’t have been scary. But this guy, on the other hand, had such a cheerful voice that it wasn’t scary either.

Let’s think of this as a professional mindset. After rationalizing it in my head, it didn’t look so weird anymore…

Yeah, right.

“Huh? Hyunjin, aren’t you scared? Am I the only one who’s terrified?”

At this point, he must be enjoying it, otherwise it would be impossible for him to endure. It was supposed to be a horror special, but instead of getting goosebumps, I felt my blood run cold for a different reason.

“…”

Seon-woo and Seong-won, who were sitting next to me, had already calmed down and moved away, sitting upright.

“Shall we move on to the next turn?”

Kyunghwa tried to coldly skip the turn without listening any further, but Naru raised his hand again with a flash.

“I’m not done talking yet, you know?”

He then puffed up his cheeks and made a sulky face, but no one paid any attention to his tantrum.

“Ah, yes. Please continue.”

And so, the ghost story session went on in a completely unexpected direction, and the night grew deeper.

“Hmm…”

Maybe it was because there were more people in the room than usual. Or maybe it was because I slept on the floor heating for the first time. The floor was so hot that my throat was dry and I woke up from my sleep.

The ghost story session, which I thought would be thrilling, ended in a chilly atmosphere.

The only time a scary story came up was during Kyunghwa’s turn, but the timing was bad.

“Aaah-!”

A deer’s cry echoed from the mountain, and Hwijin broke out in a cold sweat and retired.

“Did someone get killed on the mountain?”

Hwijin was at a loss for what to do, and Kyunghwa calmly reassured him.

“That’s not a human scream, it’s a deer.”

Even then, the deer kept running around the mountain and screaming, and Hwijin shook his head and refused to believe it.

This kid, he said he was a veteran. Where did he do his military service?

“No, the sound is too suspicious! How is that a deer’s cry!”

It’s really a deer, I’ll go and check. vs What if it’s a crime scene when I go out?

After a long argument, they opened the door and saw a deer that had come down to the field, chewing on the leftover cabbage that had been picked.

“The Floss leader is a coward.”

Everyone had the same sentence in their minds.

That’s how the awkward ghost story session ended and everyone got ready for bed. As soon as it was quiet, I fell asleep.

Yu-geon and Hwijin didn’t want to sleep with Naru, but when I looked at where they lay…

“Naru must have slept very happily.”

Naru was in the middle, and Yu-geon and Hwijin were side by side.

The sentence ended with a guess because one side of the bed was empty.

“Where did he go again, saying he was scared?”

I got up from my bed with a worried feeling and opened the door. Ugh, a cold wind blew in from the wooden floor.

I couldn’t go out bare-bodied, so I crawled back to the bedroom and put on a coat that was hanging on the wall.

Creak, I opened the sliding door and stepped outside. There was white smoke rising from the yard.

“Ah.”

Hwijin heard me behind him and turned around. He quickly put out the cigarette he was holding in his hand.

“You can keep smoking.”

“No, I was just about to get rid of the smell and go in.”

Actors tend to not care about this side of things. They even brag about it on TV like a medal.

As I looked at the cigarette that still had a faint ember, Hwijin asked me.

“Are you guys really that close?”

What kind of question is that? I remembered Yu-geon asking me something similar.

“Is there such a thing as fake closeness?”

It wasn’t on air anyway, so I switched back to a more casual tone. He laughed as if he thought it was a joke.

“So you’re fake close with me, and real close with the members?”

To be honest, it wasn’t a wrong statement. I couldn’t help but get close to them after spending half a year with them.

Right now, I wasn’t just a toothless tiger, I was trying to be a father figure to them.

“No, I didn’t mean that.”

“It’s okay. I’m honestly jealous that it’s not business.”

It wasn’t a good expression to think about what business meant in the idol industry.

“Are you not close with the other members?”

At my blunt question, he hesitated for a moment and opened his mouth.